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THE 
 
 TRAGEDIES 
 
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 SOPHOCLES: 
 
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PREFACE. 
 
 The cliief aim of the publisher in the present volume was 
 to furnish an improved reprint of the Standard Oxford version, 
 ■without depriving the original work of those features which 
 have insured its favorable reception in both Universities. 
 
 To cany out this view, the editor has carefullj revised the 
 translation throughout, adhering closely to the text of Dindorf, 
 which is now universally established, and is adopted by our 
 public examiners. In a few cases, the corrupt state of the 
 original has rendered a different course necessary, but every 
 departure from the received text has been pointed out at the 
 foot of the page. 
 
 The version has, where possible, been made more literal, es- 
 pecially as regards the choruses ; and many words and -pnv- 
 ticles, before indistinctly rendered, have, it is hoped, recovered 
 their force and meaning. 
 
 Arguments before each play, and a brief introduction have 
 been added, and the notes have been considerably augmented. 
 These additions are distinguished by the initial of the preser-t 
 editor. 
 
 TiiEODOKE Alois BuckleT' 
 
 Christ Church, Oxford. 
 
INTEODUCTIOK* 
 
 Sophocles, son of Sopliilus, was born r^t Colonus, a demo 
 of Attica, B.C. 495. His father was of a iioocl and wealthy 
 family, and so careful of the education of his son, that at 
 the age of sixteen he gained prizes for music, his instructor 
 being the celebrated Lamprus. About the year B.C. 4G8, 
 when the bones of Theseus were removed by Cimon from 
 Scyrus to Athens, ^schylus and Sophocles were competitors 
 in the tragic contests, which would seem to have been the 
 first appearance of cur poet in the character of a dramatist. 
 Sophocles obtained the first prize, and iEschylus departed for 
 Sicily. The beauty of his appearance and his gracefulness 
 of demeanor increased his popularity, but a weak state of 
 voice and delicacy of lungs prevented his progress as an actor. 
 In 440 B.C. the '-Antigone" was produced, and to the sagaci- 
 ty of the political precepts therein delivered, he is said to have 
 been indebted for his appointment as one of the colleagues of 
 Pericles. 
 
 In old age Sophocles was considerably engaged in public 
 duties, being priest to the hero Alon, and likevrise ^ prohoulos 
 or commissioner upon the fatal termination of the Sicilian 
 expedition. He subsequently connected himself with the aris- 
 tocratic views of Pisander, aud was concerned in forming the 
 council of four hundred, "wnth which fell the old constitution 
 of Athens. This conduct he was accustomed to defend upon 
 the plea of expediency. 
 
 In consequence either of a family jealousy, or of his too 
 
 ' The materials of this memoir are chiefly derived from Lcssing, as 
 ppitomized in the "Theatre of the Greeks," ch. v., p. 72. 
 
vi LXTKODUCTIOX. 
 
 great attention to dramatic affairs, he ^vas at length, at an 
 advanced age, charged Avith dotage, and incapacity of con- 
 ducting his family affairs, by his son lophon. It is said tliat 
 he gained the favorable suffrage of his judges by reciting the 
 newly-finished tragedy of the " CEdipus at Colonus," but 
 chronological difficulties rencfer this story doubtful. Plis death 
 took place at the beginning of tiie year 405 B.C., either from 
 over-exertion in reading, or from suffocation by a gi'ape dur- 
 ing the Anthesterian festival. He was buried at Decelea, the 
 family's bmying-place, but not before the permission of Ly- 
 sander was obtained, the place then being in possession of the 
 Lacedemonians. The number of his genuine dramas probably 
 amounted to 110. 
 
 The truckling and inconsistent character of Sophocles was 
 evinced even in the politics of his plays, V\'iiilc in private life 
 he was rather the agreeable companion than the practical mor- 
 alist. Still, a dignified gentleness and a contented simplicity 
 pre-eminently distinguished him, v/hilo his whole ILb, as his 
 vmtincs, exhibited an unrufiled comnosure, almost amounting; 
 to indifference. 
 
 Only seven plays and some comparatively unimportant 
 fragments of this author have survived the ravages of time, 
 but v/c have been fortunate in obtaining at least four of the 
 best among the few Vvdiicli have been preserved, viz., ':hc 
 " Phiioctetes," "Antigone," and two " QEdipi.''^ The con- 
 nection betvv'een the last three plays, though remarkable, vras 
 not the result of previous design, as tlio '' G^dipus at Co- 
 lonus" was exhibited four years after the death of the author 
 by the younger Sophocles, and the '• Antigone," posterior to 
 it in point of historical time and events, was produced 440 
 B.C., as above mentioned. Still, they should be read in the 
 order which the natural sequence of circumstances demands, 
 
 ' But Schlegel, p. 100, cnumcrcitcs the "Antigone," "Elcctra," and 
 two " CEdipi" as those most approved by the ancients. 
 
IXTRODUCTION. ^ij 
 
 We can not, perhaps, better employ the present opportunity 
 than by briefly sketching some of the chief characters of these 
 phiys, in connection with such critical remarks as naturally 
 arise. ^ 
 
 The " OEdipus Rex" is the most complicated and artfully 
 sustained of extant Greek plays. From the first few lines, 
 where Qildipus appears as the heaven-bidden prosecutor of 
 the rcfricide of old, to the last stroke of fotal evidence that 
 dooms him to self-courted ruin and despair, we arc continually 
 kept in alternate doubt, fear, and hope4 At one moment the 
 denunciation of the seer is contradicted by the seeming incon- 
 sistency of predestination, and the very cause of that hope 
 presently turns to be the damning proof of guilt and pollution. 
 Xor is this dreadful process of fotalism less fearfully realized 
 in the accidental expressions unwarily let drop by (Edipus. 
 Thus, when he imprecates curses on himself, 
 
 "Yea, on inyself, if conscious of the deed 
 I grant the wretch asylum in my home, 
 The same dread curse, in all its vengeance, fall !" 
 
 Tiresias afterward charges him : 
 
 " Pla ! is it thus 1 Nay, then, I tell thee, king. 
 Adhere to thine own edict ; from this hour 
 No more hold converse or with these or mc, 
 Thou art the solo polluter of our land." 
 
 The impetuous spu'it of CEdipus breaks forth, and he ac- 
 cuses the seer and Creon of caballing to drive him from the 
 throne. Jocasta seeks to appease the quarrel, and thereby 
 l)ecomcs instrumental to the sad discover^' of the truth. The 
 death of Polybus gives a momentary respite from anxiety, and 
 Qi^dipus almost equals his mother-wife in skepticism. But 
 here again the wild determination of Qi^dipus works out his 
 doom. In a paroxysm of agony, Jocasta would suj)press the 
 
 ^ In this task I shall partly avail myself of the remarks of Schlegel, 
 Lect vii. p. 100-110, and Buhver's " Athens,"' Book v. ch. 4. 
 
viii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 tidings she knew too late, but Qilclipus compels the messenger 
 to recount the whole tale, and then madly confesses how fear- 
 fully the ancient curse of the gods was brought to pass. The 
 vain attempt to escape from fate, and the thereby falling into 
 the performance of what he strove to avoid, reminds us of the 
 complete and beautiful story of Prince Agib in the Arabian 
 Nights.^ Both tempted futurity, and became murderers ; both 
 sought for knovv^ledge which they were warned was dangerous, 
 and both suffered sadly for their curiosity. 
 
 Among the subordinate characters of the piece, that of 
 Jocasta is the most painfully drawn. Her arrogant levity 
 and confidence almost breathe the ruin darkly hinted at by 
 the chorus, and we feel that the curse of " blindness of heart" 
 is upon her. She is, moreover, selfish in her very affection 
 for Qildipus. His anxiety for the dying people she shares not. 
 Her religion is a blind belief of convenience, and she would 
 even charge the mistakes of human seers to the blindness or 
 inconsistency of the gods. Of her late husband she has so lit- 
 tle thought, that the personal resemblance of QKdipus never 
 occurs to lier.2 The questions concerning his death awaken 
 no regrets ; in short, she is as bad a widow as Steele could 
 depict, even ih the " Funeral." Her death is fraught with no 
 words of tenderness for her infant children, but is the deed 
 of a wild, unholy phrenzy. Qidipus, on the contrary, toils 
 out his term of woes, and meets death with manly composure. 
 Though stern in his hatred toward his undutiful sons, his 
 daughters claim his tenderest regard. In his wanderings, 
 amid beggary and wretchedness, a by-word for the scoffer, a 
 proverbial vagabond, he is still '• every inch a king." His 
 philosoi:)hic moderation is shown at the beginning of the 
 " GEdipus Coloneus," where he tells us how sufferings, and 
 
 -' See the " Story of the third Royal Mendicant," vol. i., p. 183-5^ 
 Lane's translation. 
 
 ^ See Schlegel, p. 102. 
 
INTIIODUCTIOX. ix 
 
 lapse of tiDic, and native nobleness had tanglit him to deem 
 the beggar s pittance enough. 
 
 In this play, it has been well remarked that the poet ap- 
 pears as the panegyrist of Athens. And this is evident from 
 the very commencement, where the description of the Furies' 
 grove, so praised by Humboldt, ^ and the subsequent charac- 
 ter of Theseus, mark the povrer of the poet to blend local 
 and picturesque with political interest. As the waters of the 
 llissus were consecrated by the mystic love-lore of Socrates, 
 so was the silent Cephisus made solemn by the last sojourn of 
 QEdipus while living. To the Lacedemonians nature was but 
 the rude element of strife, their land was dear to them as a 
 safeguard in war, not sweet with the remembrance of those 
 who taught peace and cherished the arts of life. But to the 
 Athenian's mind art had made nature a subject of contempla- 
 tion, philosophy had associated nature with nature's causes, 
 and religion had interwoven place with thought, and sancti- 
 fied each village, stream, or grove vntli the remembrance of 
 the days Vv'hen the gods Avalked the earth. The '' Qildipus at 
 Colonus" could teach how the earlier ages of Athens retained 
 a holy simplicity, when the rights of the suppliant or herald, 
 though in an evil or forlorn cause, were equally respected : it 
 could show reasons for hero-worship, and from the glory of 
 the past could awaken the listlessness of future generations. 
 In short, Theseus, himself mythical, was the connecting link 
 in political theory between the mythical and the real. His 
 character possessed the glories of the one blended Avith the 
 probability of the other. 
 
 In this play we find the character of Creon, which Avas of 
 but little importance in the '• King Qildipus," ripened into 
 the tyrannical and arbitrary disposition, which ascends to its 
 liighest pitch and subsequent fall in the "Antigone." Still, 
 in all the three plays, Creon is but instrumental to the devel- 
 ^ Cosmos, vol. ii., p. 377 of Bohn's edition. 
 
 1* 
 
X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 opment of other characters and tiie progress of the story. 
 As in the first play, he brings out the petuhmt disposition of 
 Qi^dipus, and excites that curiosity which is to lead to the 
 fatal discovery — as in the '^ Antigone" he is but a foil to set 
 forth the mighty spirit of tlic heroine, so in tlie Oedipus at 
 Colonus he leads to the generous intervention of Theseus, 
 and hastens to bring gradual ruin upon his own house and 
 city. Furthermore, it was necessary that GEdipus should be 
 tried to the fullest extent, in order that his gloomy fatalism 
 might be thoroughly enhanced. Hence his paternal feelings 
 are aroused to love by the seizure and subsequent restoration 
 of his daughters, and to hatred by the intervention of the 
 repentant but ill-fortuned Polynices. 
 
 The same remark applies to the selfish and insipid Ismene, 
 who is tv>'ice placed in contradistinction to the warm-hearted 
 and principled Antigone. Her position in the present play is 
 but preparatory to her ripened selfishness in the third of these 
 continuous dramas. 
 
 It has been objected that the self-justification of Oedipus in 
 this play is inconsistent with his despair in the first. But 
 time, lonn-sufierinfr, and the consciousness that an end of troub- 
 leg was at hand, might well nerve the hapless old king to a 
 sense of his unmerited woes. Moreover, it is in human nature 
 to retort upon an unworthy accuser, though the charge be true. 
 If Creon was the champion of rapine and tyranny, the good 
 king of old times could ill plead his own unworthiness to such 
 an n'ccuser. 
 
 V^ We now come to the Antigone, a play almost as popular 
 in modern times as celebrated in antiquity. There can be 
 little doubt that the character of Antigone is the gem of the 
 Athenian stage; she is, as Bulwer observes, the " Cordeha 
 on whom Oedipus leans — a Cordelia he has never thrust from'* 
 him." Her patient afi'ection bears with the jieevish com- 
 plaints and desolate poverty of her fiilher, and, at his death, 
 
LXTllODUCTIOX. xj 
 
 her feeli!i2;s of dutv are transferred to the fulfillment of her 
 brother's last entreaty. lie had gone forth the predestined 
 victim of the light ; his corse lay desecrated, and fear re- 
 strained all from bestowing even a handful of dust upon the 
 imliallowed dead. True to her promise, and reckless of the 
 tyrant's mandate, Antigone dares to do the deed of piety, 
 and seeks not to deny or excuse it. She has determined 
 tj encounter death itself on behalf of the dead. Neither 
 the dissuading v\'ords of her timid and selfish sister, nor 
 the hope of a royal marriage with a loved object, can retard 
 her resolution. She is the victim of a good principle, as 
 Creon is of a bad one. With him, selfish aniirandizement is 
 the main spring of action ; with Antigone, to have forgotten 
 self is to have o:ained all thin";s. She mourns the sunlio-ht 
 which is to be closed from her forever, but finds a gleam 
 of hope even in the murky dens of Plades. She has no fears 
 for the future, and her spirit rises above the petty affections 
 that bid her cling to life. Pier magnificent and daring de- 
 nunciation of Creon's boasted laws, and her sublime descrip- 
 tion of the eternal, un^^Titton code, sealed only in the tablets 
 of time, is powerfully contrasted with her tender address to 
 her dead relatives, and the sv/an-like dirges in which she be- 
 wails her untimely fate. 
 
 I may here take notice of the opinion relative to ^erse 572, 
 wliich many commentators still assign to Ismene. Surely, if 
 only upon grammatical grounds, the reply of Creon is sufficient 
 to show that Antigone must have uttered the ejaculation : 
 
 " O dearest HEmon, how thy father wrongs thee !" 
 
 A sudden burst of feminine tenderness is in no wise incon- 
 sistent with the Grecian heroine. If Ismene had uttered it, 
 we should feel at some loss for so sudden a warmth on the 
 part of this young lady, v>'lio is generally as passionless and in- 
 sipid as the best genteel comedy heroine of modern times. 
 
xii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 It may be cloubted Avhcther the frequent success of Men- 
 delssohn's " Antio-one," with which Mr. Donaldson is some- 
 what merry" in his clever and amusing preface, might not 
 have proved instrumental in reviving a taste for the classic 
 drama. But there is so general a deficiency in modern actors 
 and audiences, that unless a sentiment is accompanied by a 
 storm from Costa's band, it has little chance. Still, wo even 
 wish that " Antigone" had been made a musical study for Yi- 
 ardot and Marin i. 
 
 Vrith some apology for this digression, v.e turn to the minor 
 characters of the piece. Of Creon we have already spoken, 
 but we may farther observe the superstition to vrhich, despite 
 his boastful sternness, he is subject. Tiresias, who had in a 
 manner befriended him when CEdipus was living, can hardly 
 command respect w^iile present ; but immediately he departs, 
 the ill-omened w^ords of his prophecy weigh heavily on the 
 mind of the king, and he timorously obeys the ad\-ice of the 
 chorus, and hearkens to those whom he had spurned with 
 threats. 
 
 The character of Ilaimon seems to have been framed to 
 please the popular ear. He is a true Athenian pleader. Util- 
 ity is his excuse for justice, justice the available consequence 
 of utility. The voice of the people must be respected — and 
 this is the burden of his speech. But, although his argu- 
 ments are scarcely solid, yet they are suited to the hearer, and 
 are likely to prevail, v/here religion and tenderness v/ould have 
 little Vv'cight. Besides, there is much modesty and dutifulness 
 in the first part of his address, and his devotion is fully shown 
 in the catastrophe. Tlis turning upon liis father, sword in 
 hand, was a mistake of the poet. Attempted parricide, how 
 great soever the provocation, was an unnatural and revolting 
 anticlimax to his previous beliavior. ^^ 
 
 The " Electra" naturally follows the " Antigone" in a 
 cntical consideration of ethical developcmcnt. Both Electra 
 
INTRODUCTION. xiii 
 
 and Antigone appear in behalf of the wronged dead, but in 
 Electra, love has been sharpened into keen hatred, tenderness 
 to a deceased fatlier has hardened into vindictive wrath against 
 his murderers, and Electra is a virago almost bereft of female 
 feelings. There is, however, a selfishness in her grief that 
 distino-uishes itself from the noble and disinterested darinji: of 
 Antigone. Constantly mourning her own misfortunes, her 
 grief for her father is but for the sufFerings his death has brought 
 upon herself, her hopes of Orestes but the expectation of safety 
 and comfort in lieu of desolation. The mind of Antigone 
 glov/s with youthful impulse, chastened with matured principle, 
 v/hile Electra exhibits little else than the accumulated bitter- 
 ness of continued years of misfortune. Even her mournings 
 at the supposed death of Orestes teem with selfishness, while 
 the consciousness that she is " unmarried, at her age," is al- 
 most ludicrously dwelt on at every opportunity. 
 
 Bulwer has rightly observed that the interest excited by the 
 splendid description of the chariot-race and of the pretended 
 death of Orestes is lessened by the knowledge that it is a feign- 
 ed story, and the appearance of Orestes excites little interest, 
 because we are fully prepared for it. 
 
 The catastrophe of the play, like that of the Chocphoras of 
 .3ilschylus, is bold and animated, but the death of ^gisthus has 
 too much of deliberation. Nevertheless, the cool, deathly pur- 
 pose of Orestes is replete with the retributive terrors of divine 
 justice, and the death of the murderer in the very place of his 
 own crime Avas a necessary sacrifice to the notion of an aven- 
 ging deity and mindful fury. Orestes is the very embodiment 
 of this principle, but his character is drawn with less strength 
 than in ^schylus. 
 
 Clytemnestra is not the Clytemnestra of^schylus; she lacks 
 the tact and boldness of the heroine of the "Agamemnon." 
 She here appears rather as the sophistical sensualist, striving 
 to supply the want of truth by violence, and jdelding to super- 
 
xiv IXTRODUCTiON. 
 
 stition and impiety at the same moment. Nay, the Clytem- 
 ncstra of ^Iischylus has certain qualities ahiiost commanding 
 respect. Her bold energy and haughty indifference to con- 
 sequences equal the mad devilry of Lady Macbeth, but in 
 Sophocles, Clytemnestra is scarcely a tragic character. Her 
 paltry and sophistical reasoning with Electra renders the abuse 
 v/ith which it is accompanied almost contemptible. ^^,^^'''' 
 
 The '^TEAcrma^E" is, dramatically speaking, the worst of 
 the existing plays of Sophocles. Its beauties lie in the feminine 
 gentleness of Deianira, and in occasional strokes of poetry in 
 the choruses. The character of Hercules is lipfht, vindictive, 
 and contemptible. 
 
 We now arrive at tAvo plays, the heroes of which have been 
 repeatedly compared with one another, viz., the " Ajax" and 
 " PniLOCTETES ;" and yet the catastrophe in both is different. 
 Ajax is led to death by despair resulting from disappointed 
 ambition and revenge. It is not the phrenzied despair of a 
 Jocasta, but the deliberate despondency that a series of annoy- 
 ances have wrought in a sensitive mind. Like Cato, he 
 almost reasons himself into suicide, but, unlike him, he has 
 no sublime hopes of futurity to gladden the act. The tender 
 and soothing character of Tecmessa fails to soften his stern 
 determination, but the sight of his only son gives occasion to 
 one of the noblest bursts of parental tenderness found in any 
 dramatic Vv'ork. Still, there is a selfishness in the honorabiG 
 character of Ajax. He dares not, for his wife and child's sake, 
 endure the shame, and face the enemies, to which he was te 
 leave them suljject. Trifling as is the character of Teucer. 
 there is a warm and liealthy generosity, and. useful intrepidity, 
 that, though less heroic, is more estimable than the feverish 
 passion of Ajax. 
 
 Of his concluding farewell Bulwer observes: ''It is charac- 
 teristic of the Greek temperament that the personages of the 
 Greek poetry ever bid a last lingering and half-reluctant fiu'e- 
 
INTRODUCTION. XV 
 
 well to the ?iin. There is a masnificent fullness of life in those 
 children of the beautiful ilellas. The sun is to them as a fa- 
 miliar friend ; the aliiiction or the terror of Hades is in the 
 thouiiht that its fields are sunless. The orb which animated 
 their temperate heaven, -syhich ripened their fertile earth, in 
 Nvhich they saw the type of eternal youth, of surpassing beau- 
 ty, of incarnate poetry — human in its associations, and yet di- 
 vine in its nature — is equally beloved and equally to be mourn- 
 ed by the maiden tenderness of Antigone, or the sullen majesty 
 of Ajax." 
 
 Philoctetes is the very contrary to Ajax, yet, to use the 
 Vv-ords of Schiegel, " if Ajax is honored by his despair, Philoc- 
 tetes is equally ennobled by Lis constancy." Without the 
 comforts, vv'ithout the practical ingenuity of Defoe's hero, he 
 is the classic Eobinson Crusoe, and spends a long lapse of 
 years amid birds and beasts, whose only friendliness was in 
 providing him with food. The tortures of disease, and the 
 rankling remembrance of Grecian ingratitude, cease not to 
 harass him, yet his mind rises superior ; and, as Yvlnkelmann 
 observes, Philoctetes, like Laocoon, " suffers with the suppress- 
 ed agony of an heroic soul never altogetlicr overcome by his 
 pani. ^ 
 
 In perfect simplicity and clear dramatic construction this 
 play almost deserves the encomium of an ingenious scholar, 
 who styles it the " masterpiece of the Athenian stage.''^ There 
 is so perfect a unity of events, and so consistent a prosopojiocia., 
 that we are never shocked bv inconjiTuitv. "Well has Bulwer 
 asserted that *• the character of 2seoptolemus is a sketch 
 v/hich Shakespeare alone could have bodied out." With all 
 his natural generosity and lioncr, he is still easily persuaded ; 
 but, when once aroused to shame, his better feelings remain 
 fixed and immovable. The simple taking away and restor- 
 ing of the bow and arrows is at once the test of his character 
 
 ' Schiegel. p. 19 J. ^ Mr. G. Bar^-co. prcf. to Philcctelcs. 
 
x^-i INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and the incident of the play. If any tiling can be found fault 
 with, it is the entry of the god at the conclusion of the piece. 
 But this was necessary to preserve the consistency of Phi- 
 loctetes in his hatred of the unworthy Greeks, to aid the 
 interests of the generous xseoptolemus, and — to finish the 
 play. 
 
 1 have but one more remark to make, and that is directed 
 against the extraordinary idea of AVundcr, judiciously disre- 
 garded by Hermann, that verses, particularly in the Tracliinia?, 
 were often added by the performers. I am perfectly aware 
 that Garrick, John Kemble, and Macready have successively 
 appeared as the remodelers of Shakespeare, or Beaumont and 
 Fletcher ; but I believe their efforts were generally directed to 
 2)opularizinrj the plays they altered. Now, if this end could be 
 answered by adding iimntcUiijihk verses, I have nothing to say. 
 If not, "SVunder had better seek to amend or explain the many 
 passages lie can not understand, than adopt that easiest of all 
 critical edge-tools, the pruning-knife. AVunder is an able in- 
 terpreter, an ingenious man, and a correct Grecian. But for 
 the histrio-critics of the Greek Drama, we have about as m.uch 
 belief in them as in the comic powers lately attributed to the 
 guard in the " Antigone," after the joke had lain concealed for 
 rather more than two thousand years ! 
 
(EDI PUS REX. 
 
ARGUMENT OF THE CEDIPUS REX. 
 
 CEpipl's was reproached with being the supposititious child of Polybus^ 
 the king of Corinth, and in disgust exiled himself, and went to Thebes. 
 Here he solved the riddle of the Sphinx, and as a reward received the 
 kingdom, and the hand of tiie queen Jocasta in marriage. A long 
 ))iague ravaged Thebes, and, on Creon being sent to Delphi, the mur- 
 derer of Laius, the former king of Thebes, was denounced as the cause 
 of the evil. In his anxiety to discover the murderer, and through the 
 statements of Tiresias, corroborated by those of certain old servants, 
 CEdipus made the fearful discovery that he had been exposed in child- 
 hood, to avert an awful prophecy, which he had unv.ittingh' fulfilled 
 in the murder of his father Laius on his way from Corinth to Thebes, 
 and in his subsequent cohabitation with his mother Jocasta. Jocasta 
 hung herself, and CEdipus, in despair, tore out his eyes. — B. 
 
<EDIPUS TYRANNUS 
 
 J 3 J 
 
 * O JO 
 
 
 
 * ,^ 
 
 DEAMATIS PEESON^, 
 
 CEDiprs.' 
 
 Priest. 
 
 Creox. 
 
 Chorus of Aged Theba>'s. 
 
 TiRESIAS. 
 
 JOCASTA. 
 
 Messenger. 
 Servant of Laius. 
 Messenger extraordinart. 
 
 fiEpiPUS. My children, youthful geueration of Cadmus of 
 oM, what can be [the meaniug of] these sittings ye are 
 throno-ing^ hither before me, decorated with supphant 
 branches? while the city is at the same time fraught with 
 incense-offerings, and at the same time with both paean- 
 hymns and wailings. AYhich things, I thinking it my duty 
 not to hear from others, and those messengers,* my children, 
 have myself come hither ; I, Oedipus, styled by all^ the Elus- 
 tiious. But, O aged man, say, since it naturally becomes 
 thee to s}3eak on behalf of these, in what mood ye stand 
 
 ^ Arriaii, ap. Stob. S. 97. 28, hints that both the CEdipi were per'" 
 sonated by Polus, a distinguished actor, of whom Gelhus makes men- 
 tion, 7. 5 
 
 2 The word " thronging" takes in both the ideas usuallj applied to 
 this word. Wuiider takes it merely to mean "sitting, occupying," and 
 so Buttmann, Lexil. sub voc. Cf. ^sch. SuppL 595. Others render it 
 *' hurrying." The word is probably akin to 6o6r. See Erfurdt, and 
 Liddel's Lexicon. B. 
 
 ^ So Wundcr, quoting Eur. Orest. 531, ri papri'puv uXKidv dicovsiv 
 Ssl fJ d -f kiaopCiv ■Kupa. This corresponds to the Latin exegetical use 
 of adeo. But perhaps uA?mv is merely redundant in opposition to 
 avToc. B. 
 
 4 From the position of 7tu<7i it might not be improper to translate 
 "the all-illustrious," with a construction like that of v. 40. See also 
 (Ed. Col. 1446. Tr. — This verse might more poetically be rendered, 
 " I, (Edipus, by all illustrious height" It is condemned by "Wunder as 
 sDurious- B. 
 
 A 
 
2 GEDIPUS TYRAXXUS. 11—30. 
 
 affected , feaiing,' or cnrnestly seeking:; since I vrould willingly 
 give you every succor ; for I were unleejing not to compassion- 
 ate a, meeting such as this. 
 
 Priest. ]3ut, O Oedipus, thou who rulest over my country^ 
 ar, indeed thou beholdest, of what acres are we who sit as 
 suppliants before thine altars here ;" some of us not yet of 
 streEgth,tp wing.ouv fii2;ht afar ; others priests w^cighed down 
 with x}j.d aire, i niy.*«e/f the priest of Jupiter ; and these other 
 chosen' df^tlfe 'ycfuth^: iJut the rest of the populace decked 
 .Vitii.'biriRfjJiGSyi i'3' ^(^ateCi \i] the market-places, and near Loth « 
 • 4T1G? 8k*i5ne's 'p(' Piillas, land' /iVlsmenus' ashes of didnation.^ 
 For the'cit}', as thbii thyself behold, is now over-roughly 
 tossing, and from the depths of tlie bloody surge can no 
 longer lift her head ; withering in the ripening husks* of the 
 soil, withering in the pasturing herds of kine, and in the yet 
 unborn labors of women : and the fire-bearing god, most 
 hated pestilence, having darted down, ravages the city ; by 
 whom the house of Cadmus is made empty, but dark Hades 
 
 * I have preserved the participles, to make the translation of this 
 awkward passage more clear. After the remarks of AVunder, it seems 
 evident that dttaavrer denotes the /ear which led these suppliants, arep- 
 yeiv, to seek for assistance. A^s oTspyftv is used to denote a passive 
 content or satisfaction (see Elomf on -(Esch.. Prom, ii.), so it may pass 
 to another signification, by which wo are said to seek thos3 things which 
 we should be pleased to have. In (FA. C. 518, wc Und orep^ov explained 
 by tteWov immediately following, which is just the reverse of the present 
 sense. Otherwise, we miglit render the passage : " are ye fearing an im- 
 pending, or enduring a present evil?" (So St. Gregory, Horn. i. in Ev. 
 § 1, " Ex quibus profecto omnibus alia jam facta cernimus, alia prox- 
 imis Ventura fonnidaraus.") Some may regard this as a frigid antithesis, 
 but CEdii)US, like Puff's hero in "The Critic," does not ask for informa- 
 tion for himself, but for the benefit of the audience. B. 
 
 2 The altars alluded to were of various deities, placed by individuals 
 before their houses, as patriotism or private gratitude might dictate. See 
 the Curculio of Plautus, I. i. 7 ; Arist. "VVasps, 875. 
 
 3 " Both the shrines." Minerva had a temple at Thebes in virtue of 
 her name Oncoca, and another as Ismeiiia, Avhich latter name Apoilo also 
 bore, and presided over an altar of burnt sacrifices. 
 
 4 I have here followed Wuuder. h/Kup-oi^ must mean the corn just 
 .ripened, but blighted at the very moment of bursting, -repl clrov iKi3o'/.t)v, 
 in Thucyd. iv. 1. Soon after the epithet dyovoi^ does not mean " abor- 
 tive," but " unborn," owing to the strength of the mothers failing. 
 AVunder appositely compares Ilerodot. vi. i:59. Compare also Seneca, 
 (Edip. Act. i. sc. 2, v. 33, nay, the whole description. B. 
 
I 
 
 so— 64. CEDIPU3 TTRAXXUS. 3 
 
 e:rows rich ^vit]l wailings and groans. Now I and tliese 
 youths here arc seated petitioners by the house, deeming thee 
 not equal to the gods, but of men the first, ^vhether for the 
 casualties of life, or the interventions of the gods. AVho, 
 indeed, Avhen thou Avast come to ^Cadmus^capital, didst put 
 an end to the tribute of the stern chantress, which we were 
 larnishino^ : and this too neither knowing: nor tauo-ht bv us, 
 any strange knowledge ;^ but by the prompting of god thou 
 art reputed and believed to have righted our condition. Now 
 too, O head of (Edipus, owned most potent by all, we implore 
 thee, all prostate here before thee, to find some help for us, 
 v.hether thou, bv hearin.nr the voice of anv g-od, or from any 
 human source, knowest such : since to the experienced I 
 observe even the issues of their counsels to be the most flour- 
 ishing. Go, best of mortals, re-establish the state, go, take 
 good counsel ; since at present indeed this our land celebrates 
 thee as its preserver for thy former zeal — and may we in no 
 wise remember thy reifjn for our havino- both ree-ained cur 
 footing and afterward fallen ; but r^iise up this our city in 
 safety. For as with propitious augury thou didst render to us 
 the former lucky service, so in the present instance be equal 
 [to thyself]. Since if in sooth thou Avilt govern this our land, 
 j.s thou dost swav it, it is a fairer thino^ to rule it with its men, 
 than desolate. For neither tower nor ship is aught, if destitute 
 cf men dwelling therein. 
 
 QLb. My children, objects cf my pity, you have come 
 wishing for things known, and not unknown to me ; for well 
 am I aware that ve are all sickenins:," and sickeninir thouirh 
 ye be, there is not one of you who sicken equally Avith me. 
 
 ^ 77?Jov can not mean "any thing further," z. e., than the bare fact of 
 the riddle proposed, as the translators have supposed ; but t'/Joz' eldivat 
 is a farm peculiarly applied to the possession of occult knowledge. Co in 
 Nicolaus Damascenus, from a MS. in the Escurial, fol. 3 A, 6 Baftv/M- 
 riog. £1 (h/ Tt TT/.elov ~d dela sldur, cvuSu/.'afl rt/v rov,ovELpov 07]lit]v. 
 And of Joseph's skill in dreams, Clemens Alexandr, Strom. V. p. 245, 
 38. viov TOVTOV ^ri7.uaav~£g ul ude/.ool, tt/Mov tl TrpooputzEvcv Kara t?/V 
 ■)vQglv. B. 
 
 2 " Diseased'' is certainly literal, but an equivocal term is required to 
 express the bodily disease of the people, and the '"hearts' aching" of 
 G£dipus in his despair. I think " sicken" better expresses this double 
 sense of voaelv than " diseaso." Others render it by " being distress- 
 ed." U 
 
4 OEDIPUS TYRAXXUS. G5— 89 
 
 For your affliction falls on one alone, in liis own person and 
 on none other ; uliile my soul siglis at once both for the city 
 and for myself and for you. So that ye awake me not indeed 
 slumberiuo- in repose, but know that I already have shed 
 many tears, have traversed many paths in the wanderings of 
 thought ; and that only mode of cure which I had discovered 
 by careful scrutiny, that have I put in execution. For Creon^^ 
 the son of Menoeceus^ my kinsman by marriage, I dispatched 
 to the Pythian-shxi2io_of^AjX)llo, to inquire by what deed or 
 word Imight deliver this city. And the day being already 
 commensurate with the time [for his return], pains me for his 
 fate, since beyond reasonable expectation he is away a longer 
 than the due period. But whenever he shall have arrived, that 
 
 X instant I v.ere a villain not to perform to the full all that the 
 god may reveal. 
 
 Pr. Nay, thou hast both well said, and these too just now 
 ■ sig!jify to me that Creon is approacliing. 
 
 Q5d. Hear, king Apollo, for O that he may have come 
 with sojne saviour fortune at least, even as he is sparkling of 
 eye. 
 
 Pr. If one may guess, however, he is welcome ; else would 
 lie not be coming hither, his head thus amply wreathed with 
 all-fruitful laurel.^ 
 
 (Ed. Quickly shall we know, for he is within reach of 
 hearing us. Prince, my relation, son of Menoeceus, Avhat re- 
 port from the god comest thou bringing to us ? 
 
 Creon. Good : for I assert that even our grievances, should 
 they chance to have their issues aright, might be altogether 
 fortunate." 
 
 CEd. But of what purport is the oracle V For I am neither 
 
 ^ The laurel crown, say the commentators, was the privilege of those 
 "quibus lastse sortes obtigerant." Chremylus in the Plutus, however, 
 will hardly allow the " laetas sortes" to be his lot, though his slave wears 
 the chaplet. 
 
 ' A purposely dark answer, breathing the true Loxiau spirit. 
 
 ^ Gr. iariu di ttoIov tovkoc ; Quid hoc scrmonis est? Br. " TVhat 
 mean thy words?" Dale. 'E~or is emphatically an oracle, and moreover 
 tlie expression tgj }f vvi> loyu would be a mere repetition, if Brunck's 
 translation were correct. In the same passage the opposition of dpaavQ 
 to -podeiaag gives confirmation to the distinction made between t>fjuaog 
 and th'ipaor, audaeia and liducia. Tu. — I prefer " emboldened" to ''rashly 
 Bunguiue." B. 
 
89—111. (EDIPUS TTRANNUS. 6 
 
 emboldened, nor yet prematurely alarmed, at least by tby 
 present speech. 
 
 Cr. If thou choosest to hear ^Yhile these are by, I am ready 
 to tell thee, or else to retire within doors. 
 
 CEb. Speak out to all, for I endure more suffering for these 
 my people than even for my own life. 
 
 Cr. I will say Avhat I have heard from the god. JKing. 
 Ehcebus openly enjoins ns to expel from the country a' pol- 
 lution, as having been bred in this our laud, nor to foster what 
 is incurable. 
 
 Q^D. By what kind of purification ? AYhat is the manner 
 of the evil ? 
 
 Cr. By banishing, or requiting death with death, since the 
 following bloodshed troubles the state.' 
 
 QiD. Whv, of what manner of man does he indicate this 
 fate? 
 
 Cr. We had orice^ O kin g, Laiii a as the sovereign of this 
 land, ere thou didst regulate this state. 
 
 GLd. I knew him by hearsay, for I never as yet saw him at 
 least. 
 
 Cr. This man having perished, Apollo nov»^ clearly gives one 
 orders to punish his assassins.^ 
 
 (Ed, But Avhere on earth are these same ? Where shall be 
 discovered this track of an ancient crime, hard to con. 
 jecture ? 
 
 Cr. He said, in this land. But what is searched for, is to 
 bo got at, while that which is unregarded escapes. 
 
 ^ This is much more correct than " the pollution." It was as yet un- 
 known v.'hat the pollution was, as is evident from the inquiry of (Edipus : 
 r/V o rponog ri/g ^v/u-cpopug , which has been wrongly taken to mean, 
 " what is the method of averting the calamity ?" B. 
 
 2 -;';(5' al/m jfiudsoi' tto/uv. Although the translator has not ventured 
 to render this otherwise than Erfurdt, Hermann, and Elmsley have given 
 it, i. e., as an accusative absolute, and with the word rode referring to 
 something subsequent, he has still a doubt whether iori might not be 
 understood, and the passage construed thus : " Since this is a case of 
 bloodshed troubling the city," The ansvv^er of Oedipus will then run 
 thus : '• How so ? for of what manner of man," etc. ; but it hardly seems 
 natural that (Edipus should interrupt one who indicated (as is done by 
 - (h, according to the critics) his purpose of immediately proceeding to 
 specify the murder. Tr. — Another translation has " since this blood \a 
 a'j pernicious as winter to the city." B, 
 
 3 But see my note on v. 140. B. 
 
6 CEDIPUS TYR ANNUS. 112—140, 
 
 Q^D. But is it in the liouse, or in the field, or in anotlier land, 
 that. L;:"iiis encounters this bloody death ? 
 
 Cr. Quitling home, as he told us, to consult the oracle, he 
 never retained home, as he had departed. 
 
 G£d. And was no messenger, nor partaker of his journey, a 
 ■witness to this, from whom gaining intelligence one might have 
 used it ? 
 
 Cr. No ; for they are dead, except one individual, who, hav- 
 ing fled in terror, could tell for certain nothing he saw, but onei 
 fact. 
 
 CEd. Of v»"hat nature that fact ? for- one thin 2: mio-ht find 
 means to learn many, could we lay hold of but a slender found- 
 ation of Iiope. 
 
 C[{. lie said that robbers, having encountered him, slew 
 him, not by the valor of one arm, but with a number of 
 hands. 
 
 Q^D. How then would the bandit, had there been no tam- 
 perings by bribes from hence, have reached such a pitch of 
 audacity as this ? 
 
 Cr. This Avas suspected ; but amid disasters there came 
 forward no one as the avenger of Laius now no more. 
 
 CEd. But what kind of distress interfering, when the 
 monarch^ had thus fallen, checked you from sifting out this 
 matter ? 
 
 Cr. The Sphi nx, my sterious^_son^stress, compelled us to look 
 to that which was before our feet, having abandoned what "was 
 obscure. 
 
 Old. But from its first cause will I bring it to light again. 
 For right wortliily has Phoebus, and worthily hast thou set 
 on foot this pref^ent examination in tlie cause of the deceased : 
 so that deservedly ye will see me also your abettor, avenging 
 at once my land here, and the god. For in behalf, not of 
 my more distant friends, but myself of myself, shall I dis- 
 perse this pollution. Since whoever it was that murdered 
 him, he might perhaps wish to' take vengeance on me too 
 
 ' I prefer taking rvpavvidog as abstract for concrete, with the old 
 translation. B. 
 
 - This is ccrtaiiil}" the usual sense of Tifuonav. But Wunder thinks 
 tlio sense of " slayin;^" or "killing" more suitable, and thinks that ia 
 V. 105, ;i;f«p' TiiMpclr conveys the like idoa. (J ranting, as I do, that this 
 sense is more suitable (and I think defensible) in tl.e present passage, 
 
141—162. CEDIPUS TYR ANNUS. 7 
 
 with like hand. In supporting Ms cause, therefore, I advan- 
 tage myself. But with what speed ye may, my children, do 
 you on your part arise from otf your seats,^ taking up these 
 branches of supplication ; but let some one else assemble 
 hither the people of Cadmus, since I purpose to take every 
 step. For we will prove ourselves either with heaven's aid 
 prosperous cr undoiie. 
 
 Pr. My children, let us rise; since even for the sake of 
 those things ^ this man promises, came we hither. But may 
 Phoebus, who has sent us these divinations, come with them 
 both a deliverer and as a healer to our sickness. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 O svreetly-speaking orac'e of Jove, why canst thou have 
 come from Pytho stored with gold, to illustrious Thebes 1 I 
 am on the l^ife^'in my timorous spirit, quivering with dismay, 
 
 healer, Delian, Poean, awfully anxious about thee, as to 
 what matter thou wilt bring to pass for me, either at once, or 
 hereafter in the revolving seasons. Tell me, thou child of 
 golden hope,^ immortal Voice. First I invoke thee, daughter 
 of Jove, immortal Minerva, and thy sister, protectress of our 
 soil, x\rtemis, who* sits enthroned on her glorious circling 
 chair in the market-place, and far-darting Apollo : oh, bo ye 
 
 1 am even more certain of v. 140. where, in roig ahrohrar ;^eip^. 
 Tiuupelu we have " death for death" implied iu an almost pro\^erbial 
 manner. So ^sch. Choeph. 312, ilvrl 6^ '!TAT]y?/c ^oviag ^oviav 
 UA7jy})v TwivLj. dpdcavTi Tradelv TpLytipuv fivOog rude duvei. C£ Eum. 
 264. B. 
 
 ^ Yv'hen the request v\^as granted, tlie suppliants took up the boughs, 
 which tiiey had previously laid on the altar, and departed. See Wun- 
 der's 1st Excursus on v. 3. B. 
 
 2 'For e^ayyOJ-eTrti, " promises," cf. Eurip. Keracl. 531. Kd^ayye/.'/.oiiai 
 OvT/aiceiv (j.de'k(^C)v tuivSe KauavrT/g v~ep. B. 
 
 ^ Dr. Spillan has rightly seen that Fame has nothing to do with the 
 matter. ^uLia is the voice of the oracle hero invoked. The construc- 
 tion of KeK/u)i^ei'OQ soon after (for which the translator read iceiUMtitvu) 
 1-3 well defended by Wunder. B. 
 
 ■1 There is much difficulty about the epithet EviiTiea, which, if considered 
 as the Epic accusative for evic'Asd, violates the meter. Respecting tho 
 epithet of Artemis, EvK/.eta (whence Brunek and Elmsley read EvK/.ia), 
 see Wunder, and Pausanias i. 14, and ix. 17. On tho many meanings 
 assigned to KVKAnh'ra, see Wundc^r. The most plausible seems to bo 
 Dr. Spillan's: '• tiie scat onch-cled by the forum." B. 
 
8 (EDIPUS TY II ANNUS. 1G3— 186. 
 
 timely present to me, three severnl averters of destruction, if 
 ever, iu tlic case of a previous calamity also hovering over my 
 country, ye thoroughly exterminated the flame of mischief, now 
 too come ; ye gods, for I sutler incalculable miseries ; nay, my 
 Avhole people to a man is sickening ; nor is there among us 
 a weapon of precaution, wherewith one shall defend himself; 
 for neither do the productions of our celebrated^ soil thrive, 
 nor in childbed do our women recover from their poignant 
 throes ; ^ but one upon another mightcst thou see, even as a 
 well-fled2:ed bird, more fiercely than uncontrollable fire,^ 
 speeding toward the shore of the western god/ In the un- 
 counted hosts of whom the city is perishing, and the deadly^ 
 generations of men impitied arc lying without a tear (to their 
 * memory) on the plain ; while among them wives and gray- 
 haired mothers withal, some from this, some from that 
 quarter, along the rising altar-slope as suppliants, wail sadly 
 because of their deplorable afflictions. And clear bursts forth 
 
 ^ Bruuck says that one codex reads kavtu, but the plain cf Boeotia is 
 particularized by ancient writers, and, among others, by Thucydides in 
 his preface, for its fertility. Tr. — I should prefer taking k/.i rJf as an 
 epithet of the earth simply. 13. 
 
 2 drexovai, "bear up with." All the commentators seem to coincide 
 in accei^ting Hesychius's interpretation of Irjio^, as translated. 
 
 3 In the Hecuba of Euripides, the anarchy of a ship's crew is termed, 
 Kpcicauv TTvpoc;, in a similar sense to that given in this translation ; yet 
 the second interpretation of the scholiast, "too fast for the (funeral) fires 
 though unquenched," derives plausibility from Thucydides' account of 
 (IvaiaxvvTOL V7/Kai, ii. 52. 
 
 4 " Western god." Xeminem pra3terea novi qui sic Plutonem vocavc- 
 rit, TTopEv^ 'AxtpovTog duTu Trap'' evgklov habet Pindarus Pyth. ii. str. 2. 
 Vide et Antig. 806, 7." Musgrave. In the peroration of Lysias' Oration 
 against Andoeides in this passage, '"To expiate this pollution" (tho 
 mutilation of the Ilermaj), " the priestesses and i)ricsts, turning toward 
 tho setting sun, the dwelling of the infernal gods, devoted with curses 
 the sacrilegious wretch, and shook tlieir purple robes, in the manner pre- 
 scribed by that law which has been transmitted from earhest times." 
 Mitford, Ilist. of Greece, c xxii. sect. 2. 
 
 5 The reading OavaTrj(^:'ip(j was adopted by all tho translators, except 
 a recent one, wlio renders OamrTid-.pn simply "dead." I have rendered 
 it by " deadh'," for, as "Wunder well remarks, contagion rendered then> 
 so, and prevented them meeting with the customary mourning and funeral 
 rites. Cf. Seneca, Qidip. G2. " Quin luctu in \pso luctus cxoritur novus, 
 
 Sua^quo circa funus exequiie cadunt Decst terra tumulis, jam 
 
 rogus silva) ncgant." L. 
 
186—224. (EDIPUS TYRANNUS. 9 
 
 the paean antliom, and a sorrow-breathing voice chimin o- in. 
 AVherefore, O golden daughter of Jove, send thine aid, fair 
 of aspect, and make the ravening ]\Iars, -who now unarmed 
 with brazen shield rushing en with loud roars, scorches me, 
 to turn his back in homev.ard huriying flight, an outlaw from 
 my country, either to the vast_^r^^f Am^ihitiite,. or to that 
 inhospitiible harborage the Thracian breakers ; for, in fine, 
 if night have spared a rol i c, "^ay assails' Tt 7 Which (Mars), 
 O thou that wieldest the sovereignity of the fiery lightnino-, O 
 Jove our sire, blast by thy thunderbolt. Thine invincible 
 arrows also, O lord of light," from the golden twisted horns 
 of thy bow would I gladly celebrate as champions sent forth 
 to our aid, and the fiery torches of Diana, wherewith she 
 scours the Lycianmountains : liim of the golden miter, too, I 
 call, surnamed!°~of tTiTsour land Bacchus Evius, of aspect 
 flushed with wine, fellow-rambler of the Msenados, to approach, 
 flaming with beamy pine-torch, upon the god unhonored 
 among gods.^ 
 
 (Ed. Thou petitionest; but for thy petition, if thou be 
 willing to hear and receive these m}^ words, and to give thy 
 attention to the disease, thou mightest obtain succor and 
 alleviation of thy miseries : which words I shall speak as a 
 stranger to this tale before us, a stranger to the ciime com- 
 mitted. For I by myself could not trace the matter far, un- 
 less I had some clew : but now, seeinij that I am enrolled 
 among cur citizens' a citizen of latest date, to all you Cad- 
 maeans I make proclamation thus v' Whatsoever man of you 
 
 1 Oa/a//of I have rendered "grot," which seems more poetical than 
 " bower," '"bed," or "chamber," when apphed to Amphitrite. B. 
 
 2 The old word 7.vKr] or AVKoq (wlience, probably, the Latin lux\ 
 forms /.VK6(j)vg and /.vnupac. The latter word occurring in Apolloniua 
 Rhodius, Argon, i. 198, first suggested to the translator of this play an 
 idea which he is happy to find sanctioned by Maltby's autJiority (v. 
 /.vK£Lo^\ that even the Sophoclean avkoktovo^ is one, amocg many other 
 fanciful substitutes, for the true origin of this epithet. Te. — So also 
 Miiller, Dor. ii. 6, § 8; but I should prefer retaining "Lycian King." 
 Cf. ^Esch. Sept. c. Th. 145. B. 
 
 ^ (iTiOTi/xog, Pindar, Pyth. ii. 80 : 
 
 Tovov v-£p(pla?.ov, 
 
 Mora, Kal fiovov, ovr ev ar- 
 
 dpuat ycpaa6opov. ovr'' tv OeQv vofxoic. 
 
 * Elmsley and '\^"under read (Ivrog for ugtoc, which seems preferable. B. 
 v-ne^E/.L.v roi'-'iKAima, "crimen confitendo diluens." Elm.s. "Con- 
 
10 (EDIPU3 TYRANNUS. 225—253. 
 
 chances to know of Laius son of Labdacus, by what man be 
 fell, him I command "to irialce full confession to me. And 
 whether he fears, a^, having to divulge from concealment the 
 impeachment himself against himself; let him, seeing he shall 
 sutler nothing else unwelcome, but shall quit the country un- 
 harmed ; or Avhether on the other hand, any one have known 
 another' from another land as such, let him not be silent as to 
 the assassin, for his reward I will pay, and gratitude shall 
 accrue to him besides. But if, on the contrary, ye shall be dumb, 
 and any one apprehensive either on his friend's account, or 
 even on his own, shall reject my words, ye m.ust needs hear 
 from me what I shall do hereafter, /l prohibit any one of this 
 land, of which I wield the powers and royalties, from either 
 receiving or accosting, from making a communicant with 
 himself or either vows or sacrifices to the gods, and from 
 apportioning the lavers of holy water to this man, whoever 
 he is : but^ I command that all thrust him from their homes, 
 as this man being the defilement upon us, as the Pythian 
 oracle of the divinity has just now revealed to me. Such an 
 ally then am I both to the deity and the mortal who is dead. 
 But I imprecate on the perpetrator, whether he have escaped 
 detection being some single person, or vdth more, that, evil- 
 doer as he is, ho may in evils drag out an unhappy existence. 
 But should he be an inmate in these my halls v.ith mv knowl- 
 edge, I pray that I may suiTer the "very penalties" which I 
 iiave just now invoked on these. But on you I strictly impose 
 the performance of all this, both en my own behalf, and of 
 
 ditum promens." Hermann; who quotes the Electra, 1411, where the 
 schohast's interpretation is plainer than ]iis own ; and Eurip. Hipp, 629 
 (ed. Monk), wliere Monk says, " hunc versum forsan omitti potuisse ceii- 
 suit Valkenairius;" and where the idea of draining silently off, seems 
 as apposite as condiium promens, when apphed to u/,i3ov duudruv. In 
 the 4th_book of Thucjdides, c. 83, the better authorities have v~£^'eleti\ 
 for v7ce^e7,6Elv tu (Jfnu, which is most aptly rendered "to remove out 
 of the way." The reader must choose between the note and the text, 
 which follows Hermann. Tr. — Wundor's interpretation, derived fi-oin 
 Matthias, is as follows : " et si mctuit (sc. vttQv ri^ Tcuvra crjuaiveiv 
 Ifiol) crimen cfcdis, cujus ipse reus sit, surripiat. sive subterfugiat, et in 
 ternim percgTinam abeat ; nullum enim alia patietur malum,'' ^Elmsley's 
 view seems simplest. B. 
 
 1 Wunder approves of the emendation of Nevius, x^Pk for x^^ovbg. Bui 
 Vauvillicrs more neatly proposes, ua-i,r, i) '^d'A/jjc x<foi'6r. C. 
 
 ^ Kg'uvu must be taken from the preceding drraiuSu. B. 
 
254— 2S5 CEDIPUS TYRAXXUS. H 
 
 the god, and of tliis our land, tlius without its fruits and 
 ■without^ the o'ods brouo-ht to decay. For not even if the 
 matter had not been taken up by the god, ought you in rea- 
 son to leave it thus unatoned, -when the best of men, and 
 your monarch, had perished, but thoroughly to sift it : but 
 now, since it is I who possess the authority which he held 
 before, who possess too his bed, and the same wife to raise 
 up seed ; and since a common offspring to his in common 
 would have been of her born, had not issue unhappily failed 
 him, whereas now fote has fallen violently on his head ; for 
 these causes I will thus do battle for him, even as it were 
 mine own father ; and will resort to all means in seeking to 
 take the doer of his murder to the son of Labdacus, and of 
 JBalydorus, and of earlier Cadmus, and of the ancient Age- 
 nor : arid for those ^\^cr!ail to perform these orders, I pray the 
 go3s to aiiov/ to spring neither seed-crop to them from their 
 land, no, nor children from their wives ; but that they may 
 be wasted away by their present doom, and by one yet more 
 hateful than this. But to vou the other Cadmseans, unto as 
 many as these designs arc acceptable, may both the friendly 
 power, Justice, and all the gods' weal, be present evermore. 
 
 Ch. Even as thou hast involved me in a curse, thus, O 
 king, will I speak : for neither was I the slayer, nor ha\e I 
 power to disclose that slayer. But this same question it was 
 the part of Phcebus who gave the message to have it declared, 
 namely, who on earth has done the deed. 
 
 (Ed. Thou hast rightly spoken. But to compel the gods to 
 that which they shall not be pleased to do, could no man have 
 power. 
 
 Cn. I v/ould fain suggest the second step after this which 
 occurs to me. 
 
 GLd. 'Nay, even if there be a third, see thou omit not tc> 
 give it utterance. 
 
 Ch. I know that kingJ|_T2resias most especially has insight 
 into the same things with king Apollo, from whom one in- 
 
 ^ udiug, "neglected by the gods." So El. 1181, and below, 661, eTrei 
 uOcog ddi/.og. . . .6/.oluav. B. 
 
 ^ The expression dva^ refers here to the functions of king, priest, and 
 prophet, which were united from the earliest times, and whicli neither 
 the Athenians nor Romans, wlien they abolished the regal power, dared 
 nominally to separate, but still retained their titular BaatAevg and re*. 
 
12 (EDIPUS TYRANNUS. 286—319. 
 
 quiring of these matters, O king, might derive the clearest 
 knowledge of them. 
 
 CEn. liut not even this have I managed as a slotlifiil work, 
 for I have dispatched, at Creon's word, two to fetch him ; and 
 long since ho moves my wonder by his non-attendan»ce. 
 
 Cii. AVell, certainly the other sloiies are absurd, and stale. 
 
 (Ed. To what purpose these same ? for I scrutinize every 
 report. 
 
 Cn. He was said to have fallen by some wayfarers. 
 
 Q^D. I, too, have heard so ; but the Vvitness of this no one 
 knows. 
 
 Ch. But surely, if he possess one particle of fear, at 
 least he will not endure hearino- such curses as these of thine. 
 
 CEd. Ilim v.'ho can have no horror of the deed, neither 
 will a word overawe. 
 
 Ch. Yet is there one who shall expose him, for those yon- 
 der are slow conducting: hither the heavenlv seer ; in whom 
 alone of men is the truth innate. 
 
 Q^D. Tiresias, thou who dost contemplate all things, both 
 (hose which may be taught, and those which are unspeakable, 
 and those which are of heaven, and those that tread our earth ; 
 under what a disease our city labors, even though thou seest 
 not, thou must still be sensible : wherein we discover thee, O 
 king, our only protector and deliverer. For Phoebus, should 
 thou be not informed of it by the messengers, has sent word 
 in return to us who sent to ask that release from this our 
 present sickly state alone could come, if, ha\ing rightly dis- 
 covered, we should put to death those who killed Laius, 
 or send them into banishment from the land. Do thou, 
 therefore, on thy part, grudging us neither response from 
 auguiy, nor if thou hast other way of divination whatever, 
 redeem thyself and the state, redeem me, redeem the whole 
 pollution of the dead.^ For in thy hands we are ; but for a 
 man to do benefit from such means as ho may have and can 
 use, is of labors the most glorious. 
 
 Tiresias. Woe, woe, liow dreadful to be wise, where it 
 can not pay its profits to the wise. Alas ! for though I knew 
 this well, I altogether forgot it, else had I not come hither. 
 
 CEd. Nay, what is this? how dispirited ai't thou come to 
 
 u^^ ' 
 
 ro 
 
 ' That is, " all that the death of Laius has polluted." 
 
320—338. OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 13 
 
 Tix Dismiss rae to my home, for most easily wilt thou 
 endure thy doom and I mine, if thou wilt be prevailed on by me. 
 
 CEd. Thou hn^t said what is neither lawful nor friendly to 
 this tiiy country which nursed thee, in depriving her of this 
 divulgeiiient. 
 
 TiR. Why, I observe that neither does thy speech proceed 
 from thee seasonably ; I do it, therefore, that I may not sutler 
 the same evil on my part. 
 
 Ch. Do not, in the name of the gods, if aware of this, be 
 averse [to speak], since we all here, prostrate as suppliants, 
 kneel to thee. 
 
 TiR. Because ye are all infatuated : but I ,^ no, never ; 
 
 be it that I may not, by telling my own, unfold thy miseries. 
 
 Gld. What sayest thou ? though knowing it, wilt thou not 
 give it utterance, but thinkest thou to betray us, and destroy 
 the state. 
 
 _TiR. I will grieve neither thyself nor thee. Wherefore 
 dost thou vainly probe these matters/^ for never shalt thou 
 learn them from me. -*-•«««-«-'- 
 
 (Ed. What, worst of villains ! for thou on thy part wouldst 
 enrao-e the temper even of a stone ; wilt thou never declare it 
 at aH, but shov/ thyself thus unsoftened and unsatisfying ? 
 
 TiR. Thou hast complained of my ill humor, but thine own 
 that dwells with thee hast thou not discerned f yet blamest 
 thou me. 
 
 1 " But I ." This is translated after tlie punctuation of Hermann's 
 
 edition. In his addenda, however, Elmsley considers Erfurdt to have 
 correctly interpreted the passage, the second //?/ to redound, and the 
 order to be, eyd 6e oh jiii~ore £K(p/jvu> (id est, ov-ore eKonvQ) ru ad 
 KfiKu, ug ui> elno) Tu £/j,u fiavTevfiara. " Never imagine that I will bring 
 to Kght thy misfortunes, in order that I may utter my prophecies." Tr. 
 — Dindorf s text seems unintelligible. B. 
 
 ■•^ Hermann considers that Eustatiiius is right in attributing to these 
 words an allusion to Jocasta, and says, that the expression duov vaiovaav 
 is otherwise useless ; which, however, it would not be, since it contains 
 the very reason which gives Tiresias's remonstrance so much force. The 
 ambiguity, if any ought to be, is well preserved in these lines : 
 " Thou has reproved my warmth, yet little know'st 
 What dwells in thine own bosom, though on me 
 Thou heap'st reproach." 
 
 Dale's Trans, vol. i. 32. Tr. 
 See V. 414, and of. Nonnus Dionys. xxv. 20. — ije fSoijau Uarpocpovov 
 noatv via Trapevvd^ovra TeKovay. Statius Theb. 1, 68 ; Si dulces furiag, 
 et lamentabile matris Connubium gavisus ini. B, 
 
14 OEDIPUS TYRANNU3. 339—365. 
 
 (Ed. I do ; for Avho \vould not be incensed at hearing sucli 
 AYords as those, in -which tliou now settest at naught this 
 city ? 
 
 TiR. Why, they ^vill come to pass, even though I suppress 
 them in silence. 
 
 OEd. Oughtest not thou, then, to inform me of at least that 
 -which vnll come to pass? 
 
 Tm. I can tell thee no further ; \vherenpon, if thou Avilt, 
 he exasperate -svith whatever rage is most ferocious. 
 
 (Ed. Ay, on my soul, and I Avill at least pass over nothing, 
 so enraged am I, of what I am apprised of. For, knovr, tliou 
 art suspected by m.e both to have helped engender the deed, 
 and to have done it, in all but kihing him with thine hands; 
 nav, liadst thou possessed sight, even this deed its very self 
 had I asserted to be thine alone. 
 
 TiR. Is it even so ? 1 charge thee to abide by the proc- 
 lamation, even that which thou hast promulged, and from this 
 day forth to accost neither these present, nor me ; for that thou 
 art the unhallowed detiler of this land. 
 
 (Ed. Hast thou thus shamelessly mven vent to these words 
 of thine, and canst thou possibly expect that thou shalt acquit 
 • thyself of this ? 
 
 TiR. I stand acouitted, for I cherish truth in its streno-th. 
 (Ed. At whose hand schooled \ for surely not from lliy 
 art. 
 
 TiR. At thine ; for thou hast provoked me reluctant to 
 speak. 
 
 Q^D. "What manner of speech ? speak again, that I may the 
 rather apprehend. 
 
 Tin. Understood'st thou not before, or temptest thou my 
 v»'ords ? 
 
 (Ed. jSTo, not at least to have termed it intelligible ; but say 
 again. 
 
 TiR. I say thou art the murderer of the man whose mur- 
 dererthou seekest. 
 
 (Ed. But in no v.isc with impunity shalt thou twice at least 
 utter taunts. 
 
 TiR. Shall I tell thee, then, one other thing also, that thou 
 raayest be the more angered ? 
 
 (Ed. As much at least as thou inclinest, since it will bo said 
 in vain. 
 
3GG— 392. (EDIPU3 TYRANXUS. 15 
 
 TiK. I amrm tiiee fo he unconsciously Loldinof the most 
 ehameful intercourse Avith thy dearest friends, and not to see in 
 what state of evil thou art. 
 
 CEd. And dost think thou shalt always say these thino-s even 
 exulting'ly ? 
 
 TiR. Yes, if at least there be any mio-ht in truth. 
 
 CEd. Xay, there is, save to thee ; but to thee there is not 
 this, since thou art blind both in thine ears and thy mind and 
 .thine eyes. 
 
 ' TiR. But thou at any rate art Avretched in reproachinir me 
 with this, y>herewith is there not one of these present Avho 
 Avill not speedily reproach thee. 
 
 CEd. Thou art fostered by night alone, so that thou couldst 
 never do either me or any other, ^vhoever he be, that looks on 
 the light, a mischief. 
 
 TiR. For it is not fated thou shouldst fall, at least by me, 
 since Apollo is sufficient, ^vhose care it is to accomplish ali 
 this. 
 
 (Ed. Are these the inventions of Creon, or thine ov.n ? 
 
 TiR. Xay, Creon is no bane to thee, but thyself to thyself. 
 
 CEd. ^vealth and sovereignty, and art surpassing art in 
 this life of constant emulation, how great is the jealousy 
 stored up am.ong you ! if at least for the sake of this my 
 power, which the city reposed in my hands, a free gift and 
 not solicited, Creon the loyal, my former friend, secretly 
 supplanting me is longing to eject me from it, having 
 suborned a sorcerer such as this, a vamper-up of plots, a ^vily 
 mountebank, a y>i'etch that hath eyes only for his gains, but 
 as to his art v»as born blind. For if not, come tell me, 
 -wherein thou art a true seer ? Hovr didst thou not, when the 
 -monster of v^ild song^ vras here, pronounce £ome spell of 
 
 ^ ■/) paii)0)Sdr Kvuv.] A puzzling title to translate ; but the Spliinx was 
 all a puzzle, and would have made a great figure in these days of Egyp- 
 tian statues and hierogh-phics, particularly as her acted charades were 
 better than her spoken, at least they nonplussed the poor Thebans Kore, 
 being of that ancient kind which he Vv-ho receives ariirht "had need from 
 head to foot well understand." For the translation, if any one have so 
 much of Euripides, or rather Diogenes, in liim as to prefer "enigmatical 
 bitch," he may find in the poem of Christabelle one of the same breed, 
 and most " enigmatical."' vv. 2 et seq. Tr. — !:vcoi> is applied to the 
 Sphinx, as to the hydra by Eurip. Here. F. 1277, and to the Harpies in 
 Apolion. 13, 280. So Brunck. See also ^sch. Prom. 803. Soph. 
 
16 (EDIPUS TYRAMXUS. 393—416. 
 
 deliveranoe to tlies8 our citizens ? And vet her riddle at 
 least was not for a cliance-comer to expound, but required 
 divination, ^Yl^cll tliou plainly exposedst thyself as not pos- 
 sessing, either from birds or known from any one of the gods ; 
 but I, Avhen I was come, the nothing-knowing CEdipus, put her 
 down, having mastered it by judgment, and not ha\ang learned 
 it from birds : I, whom forsooth thou must try to depose, ex- 
 pecting that thou shalt stand next in place near the Cretonean 
 throne.^ To thy cost methinks both thou and he that con- 
 trived all this will go exorcising pollutions : nay, but that thou 
 seemest an old man, to thv cost hadst thou known^ what man- 
 ner of things they be thou purposest. 
 
 Gh. As we conjecture, both this man's Avords and thine, O 
 Q^iipus, appear to have been uttered in passion. But there is 
 want not of such words as these, but to consider, but how we 
 shall best expedite the oracles of the god. 
 
 TiR. Even though thou art a king, the right of an equal 
 reply at any rate must be equally granted to both, for of this 
 I too am master. For in no wise do I hold life as servant to 
 thee, but to Loxia s, so that I shall not by and by be entered 
 under Creon as jmtron. But I tell thee, inasmuch as thou 
 has taunted me with being blind also : thou actually hast thy 
 sight, and seest not in what evil thou art, nor where thou art 
 dwelliuof, nor with whom thou art consortins*. Knowest thou 
 now from whom thou art ? Thou art even unaware that thou 
 art the enemy of thine own buried kindred, and of those on 
 
 Electr. 1388. It Vv^as probably applied to the Sphinx from her rapacity 
 and robberies See Pausan. ix. 26. Hygin. Fab. Ixvii. or from her par- 
 ticipating in tlio form of a dog. Paloephat de incred. hist. § 7. B. 
 
 ' On the expression ~u AajSaneicj Trattil (v. 267), Brunclv has a long 
 note from Eustathius, producing two examples from Homer of theso 
 adjectives in eio^, in both of which there seem a certain solemnity and 
 state intended to be expressed, which indeed are more palpable in these 
 instances from Sophocles : rw AaiSduKnv te Tzaidi, Avould not have tho 
 sumo fjrce. 
 
 '■^ Brunck renders " damno tuo cognosccres, quara male sentias." This 
 is not satisfactory', the force of tho particle ~tii being entirely lost, unless 
 it be thought implied by " sentias." Since Oedipus appears confident of 
 tho nature of Tiresias' intentions, may we translate "thou hadst known 
 as the sufferer just what thou knowest as the designer," and consider it 
 a threat of banishment ; or does ola mp mean qualia cunque ? Elmsley 
 prints them together, olcTrep ; Hermann, separately. 
 
4n— 441. CEDIPUS TYRAXNUS. l"? 
 
 enrth above. And tbee with fearful steps shall a curse botli^ 
 from thv mother and thv father, one dav, with double stroke 
 chase from this land, thee seemg cow mdeed rightly, but 
 then darkness. But with thine outcry what manner of 
 haven, what Cithaeron, shall not speedily be in unison, when 
 thou slialt have become sensible of the marriage into which, 
 though void of harborage, thou hast in thine halls steered 
 thy course, happening on a foir voyage time ? But thou dost 
 not feel conscious of a multitude of other evils, which^ shall 
 Jovel thee with thy real self and with thy children. Now 
 then revile both Creon and my w^ords, for there lives not the 
 mortal who shall ever wear himself away more direfully than 
 thou. 
 
 CEd. And is all this then bearable to hear from this thins: ? 
 Wilt not away to thy death ? Wilt not instantly ? Wilt thou 
 not turn thy back upon these halls, and get thee away again 
 in haste ? 
 
 TiR. Nav, I for my part had not come, hadst thou not bid- 
 den me hither. 
 
 Q^B. I did, because I was by no means aware that thou 
 wouldst utter folly, else had I taken my time at least in fetch- 
 ing thee to my dwelling. 
 
 "im. Such as we are, we are, to thy thinking, fools ; but to 
 the parents who begat thee, wise. 
 
 (Ed. What parents ? tarry : nay, who of mankind is my 
 parent ? 
 
 Tin. This day shall give thee thy birth and thy destruc- 
 tion. 
 
 QEd. How over-mysterious and obscure dost thou speak 
 every thing ! 
 
 Tin. Art not thou then by nature the aptest at discovering 
 these ? 
 
 (Ed. Revile me, and welcome, in those things in which thou 
 wilt find me great. 
 
 1 SeivoTTovc. 
 
 " And long upon my troubled ear 
 Rang his dark courser's hoofs of fear." — GiAOUR. 
 ^ There is probably a play upon the word lauc, referring to CEdipus 
 discovering both what he himself was, and also how he stood related to 
 hia children. See "Wunder. B. 
 
18 CEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 442— 4*78. 
 
 TiR. Yet is it nevertheless this very success v>'hich has been 
 thy ruin/ 
 
 CEd. Nay, but if I liave rescued this our city, I care not. 
 
 TiR, Now then will I depart, and do thou, boy, conduct 
 me. 
 
 (Ed, Well, let him conduct thee, since while here thou 
 troublest and hinderest us, and, wert thou gone, thou couldst 
 not annoy us more. 
 
 Tin. I will be gone when I have spoken that for ^^•hich I 
 came, not from awe of thy presence.^ For there is no mean 
 whereby thou shalt destroy me. But I tell thee : this very 
 man, whom all this while thou art searching out with menaces 
 and proclamations touching Laius' murder, this man is here, 
 a foreign settler here by report, but by and by shall he be 
 manifested a Theban born, nor v.ill he be pleased with his 
 fortune. For blind instead of seeing, and a beggar instead of 
 rich, over a strange land shall he be a wayforer, assaying his 
 way with a staff ; but with his own children shall he be de- 
 tected abiding, at once their brother and their sire, and of 
 the woman of whom he was born both son and husband, and 
 of his father both co-rival and assassin. And these things, 
 going in-doors, reason over with thyself; and if thou detect 
 me to have falsified, say then that I have no skill in divina- 
 tion. 
 
 Cho?vU3. Who is he whom the prophetic Delphic rock 
 denounced as having wrought with murderous hands the most 
 nefarious of nefarious deeds ? Time were it for him to em- 
 ploy in flight a foot more vigorous than coursers swift as the 
 storm; for the ofispring of Jove all armed with fire and 
 lightnings is springing upon him, and together are following 
 the dread inevitable fates. For a voice "hath glanced forth, 
 but now appearing from the snowy Parnassus, that every one 
 must track tlie undiscovered ci'iminal. For under some' wild 
 wood is he sti'a}'ing, among caverns and crags, like a bull,' 
 
 * Compare "Fatal !Marriago," Act v. po. 4: 
 
 "Why, that which damns most men has ruiuod mc; 
 The making of my fortune." B. 
 J2 TTormann imdorstands by TrpoauTrou audacity; but as it is used with 
 y6X/j.r]r in a subsequent passap-o, the transhitor liiis followed Brunok. 
 ^ 3 " Like a bull." See Virgil's Goorj>-ic, iii. 2I9-2:^G. The expressions 
 u7rovoj<pi^;ui; nepiTTOTdrai, etc., seem allusions to the oestrum. And the 
 
479—524. CEDIPUS TTRANNUS. J 9 
 
 Tvith miserable foot a miserable widower: sliimning the propli- 
 ecies s})riing from earth's middle: but they flit around him, 
 ever liviii^j-. Fearfully, however, fearfully coes the sage augur 
 trouble me, neither assenting uor denying;' nay I am at a 
 loss what to say. But I fluUer on hopes, seeing neither in 
 prospect nor in retrospect ; for what feud lay betw^een either 
 the Labdacidaa or the son of Poly bus, I for my part never 
 learned neither heretofore, nor in the present case have I yet 
 irom any one^ with v/hose test I, as an avenger of the Labda- 
 cida3 in respect to that mysterious murder, should go ngainst 
 the popular fame of OEdipus. Yet Jupiter and Apollo how- 
 ever are wise, and ken the aftairs of mortals ; but among men, 
 that a soothsayer is of more account than I, is no certain 
 conclusion ; yet a man might surpass wisdom by wisdom :^ 
 Dut never would I for my part, until I sav/ [the seer's] words 
 prove true, agree with those who condemn him. The Avinged 
 maid came once publicly, and he was then upon trial seen to 
 be sage, and the city's friend ; wdiercforc in my mind he shall 
 never be cast as guilty of a crime. 
 
 Creon. Men and citizens, having learned that (Edipus the 
 Ivino' accuses me in grievous terms, I come before you ill 
 brookino- it. For if in these the distresses of the present 
 time he considers himself to have suffered aught at my hands, 
 at least by word or deed tending to his injury, truly I have 
 no hankerins: after a lono'-endurino; life while I bear this 
 report. For the penalty of this calumny upon me tends to 
 no siinple evil, but to one of the first magnitude, if I am 
 henceforth to be called a traitor in the citv, a traitor before 
 thee and my friends. 
 
 Ch. Yet surely this said reproach came, as it might be, 
 forced out by rage, rather than by judgment of the mind. 
 
 epithet ;\;?;p£ycj7', which might apply so well to the bull, derives a tre- 
 mendous force from the contrast of the murderer's actual condition. 
 
 ^ So above, 89. ovrs yap dpaavr, Oiir' ovv irpoSelaa^ elfil rw ye vvi> 
 loy.;). But ovTE SoKovvT^ ovt' uKoduaicovO^ are generally taken, with 
 deivd, SiS nominatives plural, and explained, as by the Scholiast: nvra 
 niaTu OVTE a-toTa. Yet, as the prophet /^ctc? affirmed (Edipus to be the 
 murderer, the Chorus could hardly say that his words neither asserted 
 nor denied, and I therefore think the present translation the best. B. 
 
 2 Here there is a lacuna, which Brunck supplies by .tP'^cra/iei-'or. B. 
 
 3 Cf. v. 380 — Kol Texvf] t^x^V^ 'XTzepipipovaa. B. 
 
20 CEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 525— 55Y. 
 
 Cr. But by what did it appear tliat, piirsuaded Ly my 
 counsels, the prophet speaks his words falsely ? 
 
 Cii. This was indeed averred, but I know not with what 
 meaning. 
 
 Cr. But was this same accusation alleged against me with 
 eves and mind set ario^ht ? 
 
 Ch. I know not, for I have no eyes for what my masters 
 do. But the man himself is now sallying forth from the 
 2)alace. 
 
 CEdipus. IIo, fellow ! how earnest thou hither ? hast thou 
 such a front of impudence that thou art come to my very roof 
 being pal2:>ably the assassin of this man, and the confessed 
 robber of my royalty ? Pray tell me, in heaven's name, what 
 cowardice or idiocy having remarked in me hast thou plotted 
 to do this ? Was it that I should not detect this work of 
 thine, creeping on me by stealth, and when I had learned 
 should not protect myself against it ? Why, is not this thine 
 enterprise a silly one, without a multitude of friends to be 
 hunting after empire, which by numbers and by wealth is to 
 be achieved ? 
 
 Cr.^ Knowest thou what to do? In answer to what has 
 been said, listen to an equal statement, and then be thyself 
 the arbiter when informed. 
 
 GLd. Thou art shrewd at speaking, but I am dull at learn- 
 ing of thee ; for I have found thee ill-disposed and irksome 
 to me. 
 
 Cr. This very point now first hear from me as I shall 
 state it. 
 
 CEd. This very j^oint now see thou tell ,me not, how thou 
 art not a -sdllain. 
 
 Cr. Truly, if thou thinkest willfulness to be any gain when 
 separate from understanding, thou thinkest not wisely. 
 
 QiD. Truly, if thou thinkest that ill-treatment a kinsman 
 thou shalt not undergo the penalty, thou thinkest not wisely^. 
 
 Cr. I agree Avith thee that this is spoken with justice : 
 but inform mo of the grievance, what it may be that thou 
 prr)fessest to have suffered. 
 
 OEd. Didst thou persuade or not pursuade nie, that ir be- 
 hooved me to send some one for the holy man of ])rophecy? 
 
 Cr. Ay, and am even yet constant to my counsel. 
 
 * See Koen on Gregoriiis do DLiil. Attic. § 2. B. 
 
55S— 579. OlDIPUS TYKANNUS. 21 
 
 (Ed. Well, liow long lime may it be now, then, since 
 Laius — 
 
 Cr. Did what manner of deed ? for I comprehend not. 
 
 CEd. Mysteriously disappeared by a fatal assault. 
 
 Cr. Long and ancient periods might be reckoned up. 
 
 QEd. Was, then, this same diviner at that time in the 
 practice of his calling. 
 
 Cr. At least he was as sage and as much respected. 
 
 CEd. Well, made he any mention of me then at that time ? 
 
 Cr. Certainly not, never, at least, where I was a bystander. 
 
 G^D. But held ye no inquisition for the deceased ? 
 
 Cr. We commissioned one ; nay, how should we not ? and 
 heard nothing. 
 
 " CEd. How was it, then, that at that time this sage revealed 
 not these thinorg ? 
 
 Cr. I know not ; for in matters on which I have no under- 
 standing I prefer being silent. 
 
 Gj]d. Yet this much at least thou knowest, and would state 
 if honest of purpose. 
 
 Cr. Of what sort is this thing ? for if I do know it, I will 
 not deny it. 
 
 (Ed. It is, that unless he had conspired with thee,^ he never 
 could have said that the destruction of Laius was my doing. 
 
 Cr. AVhether he says so, thou thyself knowest ; but I claim 
 the right of ascertaining from thee just the same things which 
 thou hast now from me also. 
 
 CEd. Ascertain them ; for certainly I shall not be detected 
 a murderer. 
 
 Cr. What sr.yst tliou, then ? art thou married to my own 
 sister ? 
 
 (Ed. There is no denial of that thou questionest. 
 
 Cr.^ And hast thou the same sovereignity with her, swaying 
 in equal share of territory ? 
 
 1 "0^' ovveKa.'] Thus in the old English, the ballad of the field-mouse: 
 
 "Who for because her livelihood was thin, 
 Would needs go seek her townisli sister's house." 
 
 2 Doederlin remarks that yr/g ought rather to be made to depend upon 
 upX^i^^ than upon laov, and he prefers interpreting Icnv vfjucov, " parem 
 dignitatem irihiLens, soil. Jocastte, ut Phil. 1020: ov6ev i^dv yap deol 
 viLicvol fioL, coll. v. 1062, Ant. 1371, nam de liberalitate (Edipi sermo 
 est, quffi in dando posita est, non de poteutia ejusdem, quae in obtinendo 
 cernitur." B. 
 
22 GEDTPUS TYR ANNUS. 580—616. 
 
 CEd. Whatever be lier pleasure, she obtains every thing 
 from me, 
 
 Cr. Am not I then the third on a par with you too ? 
 
 (Ed. Why 'tis even in this in fact thou showest thee a 
 folse friend. 
 
 Cr. Xot so, if at least thou wouldst reason with thyself, 
 as I do. But retlect on this first, if thou think that any 
 Vr'ould choose for himself, to rule in a state of apprehension, 
 rather than to sleep fearless, if at least he shall still have tho 
 same powers. Neither, then, am I myself of a nature to 
 covet the beino: a monarch rather than the actinar as a monarch, 
 nor any other who has a sense of prudence ; for now indeed 
 I receiv^e every thing from thee without fear, but were I king 
 myself, I should do many things even against my wishes. 
 IIov/ then is monarchy naturally more pleasing to me to 
 possess, than rule and puissance without pain? I do not yet 
 happen to be so much deceived as to wish for aught else 
 than what is with profit honorable. Nov/ I am friends with, 
 nil, now every one salutes me, now they who liave a suit to 
 thee^ summon me out ; for their success is centered altogether 
 in me. How then should I, having abandoned this place, 
 grasp at that other? A vrell-intentioned spirit could not 
 become v\'icked. But I am neither by nature a warm admirer 
 of this same sentiment, nor should I CA^r venture on it with 
 another to effect it : and as a test of this, in the first place, 
 go to Delphi, and inquire if I liavc fairly reported to thee, 
 what was prophesied ; thus much more ; if thou detect me 
 to have complotted aught in common with the soothsayer, 
 take and put me to death, not by a single suftrage, but by 
 a double one, both mine and thine ; but hold mo not guilty 
 without a hearing, on an uncertain opinion. For it is not 
 just lightly to deem the v/icked good, or the good wicked. 
 For to cast away a virtuous friend, I call as bad as to cast 
 away one's own life, which one loves best. But in time 
 thou shalt discern all this, without fail, since time alono 
 develops the honest man ; but a trjiitor thou mightest discover 
 even in one day. 
 
 Ch. Commendably liatli he spoken to one who is caution? 
 
 * "Wunder reads nlicu/J.ovni, "court mc," from tlie conjecture of Dind 
 Perhaps tlie common reading may bo defended by Trach. 120G, old ji 
 
 IKKaAel, TTUTCp. 
 
en— 641. CEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 23 
 
 of falling, O prince ; for they -svlio are liasty to judge are 
 insecure. 
 
 Q^D. When any one takes quick steps in covert plots, it 
 needs ine to counteract him in counsel quickl}" ; but if, keeping 
 quiet, I wait for him, his plans will be accomplished, but 
 mind marred, 
 
 Cr. Well then, what is thine aim ? To eject mo from the 
 land ? 
 
 G^D. By no means : I wish thee to die, not to be exiled. 
 
 Cr. V/hen thou shalt fiist have shown the nature of thy 
 grudge to me. 
 
 Q^D. Speakest thou as one v>'ho will obev neither command 
 nor agreement V 
 
 Cr. Yes ; for I see thou art not in thy rio-lit mind. 
 
 (Ed. For my own interest at least. 
 
 Cr. But thou oughtest as much for mine too. 
 
 (Ed. But thou art a born traitor. 
 
 Cr. But what an thou understandest nothing; ? 
 
 (Ed. Yet still one must be ruled. 
 
 Cr. Surely not by a bad ruler at least. 
 
 (Ed. O city, city ! 
 
 Cr. I too have a part in the city, and not thou on!r. 
 
 Ch. Princes, desist ; but opportunely for you both, I see 
 Jocasta advancing from the palace, in concert with whom 
 you are bound amicably to settle your quarrel now pending. 
 
 Jocasta. Why, infjituate^ have ye raised this unadvised 
 strife of tongue, nor blush ye, v/hen our land is thus diseased, at 
 stirring up private mischiefs ? Wilt not both thou get thee 
 home, and thou, Creon, to thy dwelling, and not raise a 
 nothiuo- of an ofFonso to map-nitudo ? 
 
 Cr. Sister, (Eclipus, thy husband, thinks proper to do me 
 foul wrong, having limited choice to two evils, either to 
 banish me from my father's land, or to take and slay mc. 
 
 - Dr. Spillan's version has, " Say you that you will not yield and sub- 
 mit ?" The Cambridge, " Do j-ou speak as not about to depart nor to 
 obey me?" The old Oxford, "Sayest thou that thou wilt neither yield, 
 nor obey?" ISTone of these interpretations appear satisftictory. I think 
 there is some error in niarevauv, and poihapc no interrogation is needed. 
 One would almost expect such a sense as this- " Ynu T^pcsi? as one that 
 can neither yield nor convince." Tup is cimilarlv as^^ri "ii '»- ^q'^S'^.p-r very 
 like the present one, Trach. 1232, <1)C epjaoeM^ o'<Si" uu' A^r/os fl-'OEig. 
 YAA02, -/'-■ yap t:oO\ B. 
 
24 (EDIPU3 TYR ANNUS. 642—678. 
 
 CEd. I confess it ; for I have detected liim, lady, in mal- 
 practices against my person with Avicked craft. 
 
 Cr. Now may I never prosper, but perish accursed, if I 
 have done aught to thee of what tliou accusest me of doing. 
 
 Jo. Oh ! in the gods' name, Q^dipus be persuaded to this : 
 most especially, indeed, in respect to this adjuration of the 
 gods ; secondly, to both me and these who are here present. 
 
 Ch. Be prevailed on, willingly and sensibly, O king, I 
 im])lore thee. 
 
 GLd. What wilt thou, then, I shall concede to thee ? 
 
 Ch. To respect him who neither ere now was imprudent, 
 and now is mighty in virtue of his oath. 
 
 OEd. Dost know then what thou wishest ? 
 
 Ch. I do know. 
 
 (Eb. Explain, then, what thou hast so say. 
 
 Ch. That thou bring not into impeachment and disgrace 
 thy friend, who has thus made oath,' at least upon an un- 
 certain charge. 
 
 Q^D. Know now full well, that when thou seekest this, 
 thou art seekinof death or banishment from this land for me. 
 
 Cn. No, by the god, chieftain of all the gods, the sun, 
 dnco I v.'ish I may die godless, friendless, the direst of 
 all deaths, whatever it be, if I have this design ; but the 
 withering land wears out the spirits of hapless me, especially 
 if these troubles, I mean those which arise from you two, 
 shall attach to the previous afflictions. 
 
 CEd. Then let him be gone ; ay, if it be my destiny utterly 
 to fall a victim, or be thrust out by violence, dishonored 
 from this country ; for 'tis thy piteous appeal, not his, that I 
 compassionate ; but he, wherever he shall be, shall be loathed. 
 
 Ci{. Full of loathing, indeed, thou plainly showest thyself 
 in yielding ; but, sad [wilt thou be], when thou shalt have 
 exceeded in thy passion. Such tempers, however, are justly 
 the most painful to themselves to bear with. 
 
 (Kd. Wilt thou not leave me alone, and get thee forth ? 
 
 Cr. I will be gone, having met with you indeed who know 
 me not ; but in the eyes of these men just. 
 
 Ch. Lady, why delayest thou to convey this man within 
 the house ? 
 
 ^ This is Erfurdt's interpretatiou of iiny?/. Liddcll well renders it, 
 " who has pledged himself under a curse." Sec Lexicon, sub v. B. 
 
673—706. OEDIPUS TYRAXNUS. 25 
 
 Jo. I will, when I have learned at least what may have 
 happened. 
 
 Ch. An uncertain suspicion came of certain words : even 
 the unjust taunt is cutting. 
 
 Jo. From both of them ? 
 
 Ch. Even so. 
 
 Jo. And what was the saying ? 
 
 Ch. Enough, enough to me at least it seems, when the 
 land is previously distressed, that it rest there where it left 
 off. 
 
 (Ed. Seest thou to what thou, a man of upright intention, 
 art come,' giving up my side, and hardening your heart 
 ao:ainst me I 
 
 Ch. O prince, I have said not once alone, but know that 
 I should show myself beside my senses, incapacitated from 
 reofainino- those senses, where I to secede from thee, who hast 
 piloted right steadily down the stream mme own dear land, 
 when rocking about in troubles ; and now too,^ be safe con- 
 voy to it, if thou mayest- 
 
 Jo. In the gods' name inform me also, O king, from what 
 circumstances on earth thou hast conceived so great wrath 
 as this. 
 
 (Ed. I will tell thee ; for I hold thee, lady, in more re- 
 spect than these : it is from Creon ; that he has plotted such 
 devices ao^ainst me, 
 
 Jo. Speak, if thou wilt plainly state the cause of quarrel, 
 charging it on hi mi" " ^ "^ -^ — , 
 
 (Ed. He says that I am the murderer of LaiuF^ 
 
 Jo. Of his own privity, or having learned it from other ? 
 
 (Ed. Why, by having sent me a knavish soothsayer, 
 however ; for as to himself, at least, he exculpates his speech 
 entirely.^ 
 
 1 So F. Jacobs : irapulg is, to the best of ray knowledge, always used 
 of what one does of or to ones^ self^ not of what one causes another to do. 
 (See EllendL) The same remark applies to vcpelg. The old translation 
 was, "by lowering and deadening my spirit" B. 
 
 ' C£ V. 52* sq. B. ylvov is condemn-ed by Hermann as spurious. 
 
 ^ i. e., from having accused me. It appears strange that so many com- 
 mentators should have missed the true sense of a passage so strongly 
 marked by the particles fiiv ovv, and the ye in the next clause. (Edipua 
 is positive (ovv) of Tiresias being merely Creon's mouth-piece, though 
 Creon himself had vindicated his own language. See Hermann'a and 
 
 B 
 
26 (EDIPU3 TYRANNUS. 707—739. 
 
 Jo. Do thou now, leaving thine own matter alone, as 
 touchino- the thino;s thou sucahest of, o-ive ear to me, and 
 learn for thy comfort, that there is no mortal thing possessed 
 of the prophetic art. But I will develop to thee concise 
 evidence of this. For lono- aij^o came an oracle to Laius, I will 
 not assert from Phoebus himself, however, but fi'om his min- 
 isters, that his doom should come for him to fall by a sou who 
 should be begotten of me and him. And him, indeed, at 
 least as the story goes, do foreign robbers murder on a time, 
 at the junction of three carriage-ways. But from the birth 
 of the child there intervened not three days before he, having 
 tied the joints of its feet together, cast it away by others' 
 hands, upon an untrodden mountain. And therein Apollo 
 brought to pass neither that it should be the slayer of its 
 fiither, nor that Laius, the disaster ^vhich he then dreaded, 
 should die by his son's hand. Such fates did the prophetic 
 declarations predetermine, of which take thou no heed. For 
 whatever the god investigates as necessary, uill he in person 
 easily make appear. 
 
 GLd. AVhat distraction of soul and perturbation of feelings 
 at this moment possesses me, liaving heard thee, lady. 
 
 Jo. By what manner of solicitude altered in mind sayest 
 thou this ? 
 
 (Ed. I thought I heard this from thee, that Laius vras 
 slaughtered near three highways. 
 
 Jo. Yes; for these things were rumored, nor have they 
 yet ceased to be. 
 
 CEd. And where is this said spot where this catastrophe 
 occurred ? 
 
 Jo« .Fh2d.S-.the land is called : but a separate road leads to 
 the same point from Delphi and from Daulia. 
 
 CEd. And wdiat is the time that has elapsed to these 
 events ? 
 
 Jo. Some short time previous to thy coming forward as 
 ruler of this land, w^ere these rumors published to the city. 
 
 (Ed. O Jupiter, what hast thou purposed to do by me ? 
 
 Jo. But what, O Oedipus, is this monster of thy thought ? 
 
 Erfurdt's notes. Tr. — !Nfore simply, " he keeps hia speech free from 
 nuch assertion." In Liddcll's Lexicon it is rendered, " every man's tongue 
 is ready to acquit himself." B. 
 
>?40— VGl. CEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 27 
 
 ffiD. Question me not 3-et.* But of Laius tell me what 
 personal aj^pearance he had, and that " at what era of his 
 prime. 
 
 Jo. Of lofty port, just now whitening to down the hoary 
 honors of his head : but he was not very unhke thy own 
 form.^ 
 
 CEd. AYog me unhappy ! It seems I have, without know- 
 ing it, even now forced myself prematurely into horrid curses. 
 
 Jo. How sayest thou ? veiily I shudder as I glance at thee, 
 O kinof, 
 
 CEd. Fearfully am I despondent, lest the prophet see too 
 well : but thou wilt the surer demonstrate it if thou wilt be 
 explicit on one more point. 
 
 Jo. Indeed, indeed [ shrink from it ; yet w^hat thou shalt 
 ask, if aw^are, I will tell. 
 
 (Ed. AYas he journeying thinly attended, or with a train 
 of many arined_ cgtainers, as one of a chieftain's rank should ? 
 
 Jo. They were five altogether ; and among them was a 
 herald : but a single chariot conveyed Laius. / \ 
 
 CEd. Alas ! all this is now full clear. AVho on earth was 
 he who tald this same narrative to you, lady ? 
 
 Jo. A certain domestic, who in fact v\'as the only one who 
 returned safely escaped. 
 
 CEd. And does he happen to be now at hand in the 
 palace ? 
 
 Jo. O no ! for from the time when he returned thencs 
 and saw both thee holding the government, and Laius dead, 
 he petitioned me, grasping my hand, to send him into the 
 
 ' "Not jct," Porson says, ad Hec. 12G0 (ed. Pors.), that /it/ttu ig 
 used for ^i/Trore, which Erfurdt quotes on this place, aithougli totally 
 inapplicable, and quotes moreo^^er v>nthout the most essential part, the 
 " 7.LTi,7i]<; quajdam" of /zz/ttw for [lyTcoTe ; v\'hicli omission might lead 
 one to suppose that Porson thought the two words equivalent, and the 
 particle ttcj to have two senses. 
 
 2 "And that." Erfurdt's note on this place is truly admirable, when 
 contrasted with the opinions of those learned men who, b}^ dubbing those 
 v/ords noil's faineants which they can not express, would conceal their 
 own laziness or the poverty of modern languages. '"Participia t'A'wv, 
 /MpcJr, et alia nunquam sic ponuntur, ut nihil plane significentj sem- 
 perque imaginibus rerum ad summam illam, cui Gracorum nobilissima 
 gens per omnia studebat, perfectionera exprimendis inserviunt." 
 
 » See Schlegel's Yllth Lecture, p. 102. B. 
 
28 CEDIPUS TYR ANNUS. 701—192. 
 
 country and to the pastures of tlie flocks, that he might be 
 most completely removed from sight of this city. And I sent 
 him : for he was worthy, considering he was a slave, to 
 obtain even a higher fovor than this. 
 
 CEd. Would then that he might return to us speedily ! 
 
 Jo. It is possible : but wherefore seekest thou this ? 
 
 GLd. For myself I fear, lady, lest overmuch have been 
 said by me, for which cause I wish to see him. 
 
 Jo. Nay, he shall come. But surely I also am worthy to 
 learn, at least, vfhat circumstances are irksome to thee, O 
 kin Of. 
 
 OEd. And thou surely must by no means be disappointed 
 of this, when I have now arrived at such a pitch of expect- 
 ancy.^ For to whom could I speak who would be of more 
 account even then thou, when implicated in such a fate as 
 this ? I had for my father Polybus_of Corinth, for my rQothg^ 
 Merope of Doils : and T was esteemed chiefest in rank of the 
 citizens of Corinth, before an accident befell me such as I 
 shall tell, worthy indeed of wonder, but unworthy never- 
 theless of the interest I took in it. For at a banquet a man 
 overcharged with wine, brands me over his cups with being 
 a supposititious son of my father. And I, deeply displeased, 
 with much ado restrained me for that day ; but on the next 
 I visited my mother and my father, and strictly questioned 
 them ; but they were highly olfended for the affront with 
 him who gave vent to the assertion. And I was pleased 
 indeed with them : but yet this [innuendo] was al\va3's 
 galling me, for it had sunk deep in my mind. So unknown 
 to my mother and father I go on a journey to Delphi. And 
 Phoebus, as to the matters for wliicli I came, sent nie away 
 without the lionor of an jinsw er ; but other fortunes, wretched, 
 and horrible, and deplorable, he was but too ready to tell ;'■" 
 that it was my doom to commit incest with my mother, and 
 that I should bring to light a progeny mankind should not 
 
 1 Erfiirdt, referring to v. 829, thinks D.ttIc correctly translated hy Jwpe 
 here. The other seems the most natural sequel to Qildipus' words im- 
 mediately preceding. 
 
 ■^ npov(pavr] /Jyur. Apcrte prcBdixit, Brunck. But both the sense 
 of the passage and the force of -tju^arrjre in the first chorus are in favor 
 of liie otlior rendering Til. — Wunder reads Tzpoxxprjvev, ?.tyujv. Seo his 
 aoLe. B. 
 
•793—811, (EDIPUS TYRANNUS. 29 
 
 endure to behold, and that I slioiild be tlie murderer of tba 
 father who begot me. And I on hearing this, from that time 
 forth measuring ^ out the site of the land of Corinth by the 
 stars, began my flight from it to where I might never witness 
 the scandals of those evil prophecies about me accomplished. 
 ,J3ut in my travel I reach those very spots on which thou 
 ,j;ayest that this same monarch met his death. And to thee, 
 lady, will I di\TiIge the truth : when I wending on my way ^ 
 Avas close upon this triple road, there did both a herald, and 
 a man mounted on a chariot with young steeds, even as thou 
 describest, meet me ; and both the guide and the old man 
 himself were for driving me by force otF the road. So I in 
 passion strike him who was turning me off, the charioteer. 
 And the old man when he sees this, having watched my 
 passing by, struck me from the car with a doubled goad a 
 descending blow on the middle of the head. Ay, and he paid 
 a penalty not equivalent, I trow, but hastily struck by a staff 
 
 ' But see Heath. B. 
 
 ■^ This is the first of four passages which Hermann in his preface to 
 Erfardt's edition has specially noticed. Elmsley in his preface has these 
 words. " 'H pro r/v, ermn, quater reposui. 'Hv aliquoties ante vocalera 
 legitur apud Euripidem, ut in Hippol. 1012; Ale. 658; Iph. Aul. 944; 
 Ion. 280. Quamquam htec omnia corrupta esse suspicor. Sic etiam te^ 
 Aristophanes, sed in Pluto, novissima omnium fabula, v. 1:9, 695, 823. 
 Nihil tale apud Sophoclem reperitur. Yid. (Ed. Tvr. 801, 1123, 1389, 
 1303; (Ed. Col. 768, 973, 1366; Trach. 87, 414; Aj" 1377; Phil. 1219; 
 El. 1023." From this remark of our critic, Hermann has taken occasion 
 to dilate at some length on the propriety of limitmg the alteration pro- 
 posed, and brings forward the following points for consideration : 1st. 
 That if the tragic writers never, and Aristophanes only in his latest writ- 
 ten play, used ?/v, it is strange that Plato, many of whose writings are 
 subsequent to the Plutus, should have adhered to the obsolete form. That 
 to t'ao above lines of Euripides no otlier suspicion of a corrupt text can 
 attach than the identical // in question ; and that therefore it were safer 
 to have determined that tragic and comic writers used yv, in order to 
 avoid the hiatus before a vowel. 2d. That if la or 7/a and hv be found 
 in Homer as imperfects of eljui, the old grammarians considered ?'7}v no 
 loss so (II. o, 80) : that the ta of Herodotus, the imperfect, seems differ- 
 ent from Homer's ta, which in one instance (Od. s 351), must be taken 
 as an aorist, and may in all he has cited. 3d. That the Attics may, as 
 in other cases of a double imperfect, have taken r/, though formed from 
 t'le undoubted imperfect ta, as an aorist. For the examples adduced in 
 support of this opinion, see Hermann's preface. In this passage he re* 
 tains iji>, admitting cither to be correct. 
 
30 CEDIPUS TYRANNUS.- 811—848. 
 
 from this Land, lie is instantiy rolled out of tlio chariot pros- 
 trate, and I slay the whole of them. But if Lnius and this 
 panic stranger have any near connection,' who is a more pit- 
 iable ohJGct than I, even I ? What man could there be more 
 abhorred of the gods ? to whom it is permitted that none of 
 ctrangers or natives should admit him within their dwelhngs ; 
 that none should even accost him, but thrust him from their 
 dwellings : and this it was no other than I, that fastened on 
 myself even these curses. Nay the couch of him who is 
 deceased do I pollute by my hands, those hands by which he 
 fell. Am I not by nature a villain ? am I not totally impure ? 
 if I must needs flee the country, and havinnr fled am to be 
 
 ti 1 CD 
 
 permitted neither to behold my own, nor to set foot on my 
 native soil ; or I am doomed to be yoked in v»-edlock with my 
 mother," and to kill outright my father Polybus, who reared, 
 who begot me. And would not any one, pronouncing all 
 this to be the work of a ruthless daemon upon me, be right 
 in his words ? Then O may I never, may I never, thou spot- 
 less majesty of heaven, see this day, but may I be gone from 
 amono; mankind into darkness ere that I viev? such a taint of 
 misery come upon me. 
 
 Ch. To us, O king, these tidings are alarming : until how- 
 ever thou hast ascertained fully from the eyewitness, have hope. 
 
 Q3d. Yes, certainly, so much hope at least I have, as 
 merely to abide the coming of the man, the herdsman. 
 
 Jo. But when he has made his appearance, what re- 
 assurance canst thou have ? 
 
 CEd. I v.-ill inform thee. For should he be found to be 
 in tlie same story with thee, I for my part may have escaped 
 the woe. 
 
 Jo. But v.hat word heardst thou from me, so particularly 
 remarkable ? 
 
 Q^D. Thou toldst that he spake of certain robbers, that 
 they slew the king : if tlierefore he shall report the same 
 number still, I was not his slayer, for one at least could not 
 be the same with many. But if he shall mention one man 
 journeying alone, this veiy deed thereupon plainly falls upon me. 
 
 Jo. Nay, be assured that the tale was so published at 
 
 1 This verse is condemned hy L. Dindorf and Wundcr, B. 
 - Wundcr'a objections to this verso saems reasonable. B. 
 
849—890. (EDIPUS TYR ANNUS. 31 
 
 least, and lie can not aj^ain nullify this at any rate ; for tlie 
 whole city, and not I only, heard these tidings. But if, after 
 all, he should in any point deviate from his former account, 
 never, O prince, shall he show that Laius' murder at least \ 
 was duly consistent, whom I ween Loxias declared must | 
 perish by a son of mine.' And yet he, (Ke ill-starred babe, 
 never slew him, but himself perished long before. So that I 
 never ao-ain for the sake of divination at least would turn 
 mine eyes either this way or that. 
 
 Q^D. Well dost thou determine ; but yet send one to con- 
 vey hither the hind, nor neglect this. 
 
 Jo, I will hasten to dispatch one ; but let us go in doors ; 
 for I would do naught which might bo displeasing to thee. 
 
 Chorus. O may it be my lot to support the all-sainted 
 purity of every vv'ord and action, regarding which are pro- 
 pounded laws of state sublime, engendered within the fir- 
 mament of heaven, whose only father is Olympus ; nor did 
 the perishable nature of man give them being, no, nor shall 
 oblivion even drown them in sleep. Great is the divinity in 
 these, nor groweth old. Insolence engenders the tyrant, 
 Insolence, if idly she have been over-glutted with much that 
 is neither seasonable nor serviceable, having surmounted the'^ 
 topmost precipice, dashes onward into ruin, where she useth 
 her feet in vain. But the rival energy that profits the state I 
 implore the deity never to unnerve ; whom never v/ill I cease 
 to take for my patron. But if any w^alk presumptuously in 
 deed or word, unawed of justice nor reverencing the seats of 
 the powers above, m,ay evil doom overtake him in reward of 
 his fatal wantonness ; until he shall gain his gains honestly, 
 and refrain himself from all unhallowed things, or if he, vain 
 fool, shall grasp at v/hat is sacred from the touch.^ In this 
 
 1 This passage is not clear. Biithe and Wunder read, guv ye for r6u 
 ye, " nondum tamen a te Laium interfectum esse omnino probat." B. 
 
 2 But uKporarov and uTvorounv can not be joined, and there is equal 
 difficulty in the metrical disagreement between this and the strophic 
 verse. Dindorf supposes some substantive lost, which Wunder thinks 
 may have given place to one of the adjectives. I do not, however, seo 
 why ho should object to joining d~uTounv with uvayKav. for aTztnoiw; 
 may bo taken both in its ordinary sense of " abruptus" (Cf. Herodot, 1, 
 84:)^ and for "harsh, rough," as \wq find in Eurip. Alcest. 931, ov6s tlq 
 uKornunv /.fjuarog earti' alScJc. B. 
 
 ^ The di3icalty in this passage arises from the separation of the two 
 
32 CEDIPUS TYRANXUS. 891—91]. 
 
 state of tilings, what man will ever gain glory' in repulsing 
 from Lis soul the darts of passion ? for if practices sucli as 
 these be had in honor, why need I lead the chorus ? Never 
 again will I make pilgrimage to the hallowed center of earth 
 as worshiper, nor to the shrine at Abae, nor to the Olympian, 
 unless^ these matters shall turn out congruous, so as to bfe 
 pointed at by the finger of all mankind. But, sovereign 
 J ove^ if indeed thou art riglitly styled ruler of the universe, 
 be it not unregarded by thee and thine ever-undjring empire. 
 For already they are overthrowing the prophecies delivered 
 to Laius, which fall into decay, and nowhere is Apollo con- 
 spicuous in w^orship, but all that is diWnc is going to ruin. 
 Jo.^ Pnnces of the land, the design has suggested itself to 
 
 clauses, ei' tic. .Tropherat and y ruv dd . e^ . fiard^^uv, by the intermedi' 
 ate words. With tp^ETai we must understand fif), and connect it closely 
 with the preceding words. B. 
 
 ^ This translation follows Hermann's correction ev^erai. .Ovfiov. . 
 djuvpeiv ; but Hermann has himself changed his mind, and would throw 
 out tp^erai altogether, in which he is followed by "Wunder in his third 
 edition, ip^erat can not be construed. Hermann's third opinion is that 
 we should read tic £Ti ttot' eu toIg6^ dvfjp, Otdv dt/.y rr^^'C djuvveiv. 
 Brunck reads e^ei, Elmsley dp^eTai. As this variation of ophiions will 
 sufficiently puzzle the reader, I will merely observe that Brunck's reading 
 appears easiest, and that Hermann's last opinion, as in many other in- 
 stances, is his worst. Dindorf leaves the text unintelligible. 6vfiC> must 
 not be altered, for it is against passion that the whole advice of the 
 Chorus is directed. And if altered, what are at -otaide npd^eic ? The 
 sense ought doubtless to be that expressed by the translator, or some- 
 thing near it, and the chief difficulty appears to rest in the verb to be 
 employed. With this chorus compare the one in the 4th act of Seneca's 
 (Edipus. B. 
 
 2 The construction seems rather to be el /ly Tuth upjioceL ttuoiv iSporolg, 
 tJGTe x^ipof^^ciiTa dvai, " unless these things shall turn out to the satisfac- 
 tion of all mortals, so that they may point to them with the finger." B. 
 
 3 Jocasta here, contrasted with the Jocasta of the following scenes, * 
 seems an instance of that ouaAdc di'cjfj.n?.oc of Aristotle, which Bossu so 
 well illustrated by the regular irregularities of "th' inconstant moon." 
 That Jocasta is di>u/za/io^ in the play is evident ; but is she so 6/j.a?Mc ? 
 
 ■""^he motlior who in three days from the birth of her first-born could 
 abandon him to his fate without an effort to save him ; the queen-consort 
 who could so soon forget the husband of her youth that in such time as 
 it took to finish a journey from Delplii to Thebes, hear and solve a riddle, 
 she could wed an utter stranger; such a woman might assuredh', without 
 violation of historic truth, be represented as changing with the breath o/ 
 every rumor. If any thing were wanting to make the character moro 
 natural, it is supplied in her clear-sightedness with regard to her husbandj 
 
912—941, CEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 33 
 
 me of repairing a suppliant to tlie temples of the gods, having 
 taken in my hands these chaplets and incense-ofl'erino-s. For 
 Oedipus raises his feelings to too high excitement by griefs 
 of every variety, nor, as should a man of understanding, 
 conjectures what is new by what is old ; but is the speaker's 
 dupe, if he but speak of horrors. Since then by advising I 
 make none the more progress, to thee, O Lycasan Apollo/ 
 seeing thou art nearest at hand, am I come ~a petitioner with 
 these rites of prayer, that thou mayest furnish us with some 
 holy remedy, since now we are all quailing to see him, as 
 pilot of the vessel, horror-stricken. 
 
 Messenger. Could I learn from you, stranijers, where is the 
 abode of the monarch (Edipus? but chiefly of himself, tell 
 me if ye know where he is. 
 
 Ch. This is his mansion, and himself is within, stranger ; 
 but this lady is the mother of his children. 
 
 Mes. But may she be prosperous herself, and ever con- 
 sort with the prosperous,^ for that she is his true and proper 
 wife. 
 
 Jo. Xay, and thou also the same, O stranger, since thou 
 deservest it for thy courteous accost : but make known in 
 quest of what thou hast come, and what desirous to impart. 
 
 Mes. Good to thy house and husband, lady. 
 
 Jo. Of what nature this same good? and from whence 
 arrived ? 
 
 Mes. From Corinth ; but at the tale which I shall divulge 
 thou mightst perhaps be gi'atified ; nay, how shouldst thou 
 not ? yet haply mightst thou be sorry. 
 
 Jo. But what is it? v.'hat sort cf twofold force does it 
 
 ,1 n «MP— r ■ rill li ". 
 
 thus possess i 
 
 Mes. The inhabitants of the Isthmian land will set him 
 up for their king, as was there reported. 
 
 Jo. But what ? is not the aged Poly bus still on the throne ? 
 
 who, she says, eutl tov Tih/ovroq, quite unconscious of this being her 
 own chief weakness. 
 
 ^ Probablv having an altar on the stage, in front of the palace. See 
 the Schol. B. 
 
 2 Here seems to be a masterly allusion to the real state of things. The 
 very messenger, whose intelligence leads to the fatal discovery, lays em- 
 phatic stress upon the married felicity of JocastaJ Musgrave has made 
 a similar remark respecting the words, > vv?) (51 n-qrrjp. B. 
 
 2* 
 
34 (EDIPUS TYRANNUS. 942—970. 
 
 Mes. No truly, since deatli prisons liim in the grave. 
 
 Jo. How hast thou said ? is Polybus deceased, old man ? 
 
 Mes. If I speak not the truth, I confess me worthy of 
 death. 
 
 Jo. IIo, handmaiden, wilt thou not he p^one and tell this 
 with all speed to thy lord ? Predictions of the gods, where 
 are ye ? This very man CEilipus, long ago in alarm lest he 
 should murder, went into banishment, and now, hehold ! he 
 has perished by course of nature, not by my husband. 
 
 (Edipus. O dearest head of my wife Jocasta, wherefore hast 
 thou sent for mc hither out of the palace here ? 
 
 Jo. Listen to this man, and as thou hearest, mark to what 
 are come the solemn predictions of the god. 
 
 (Ed. But who can this man be, and what has he to tell 
 me? 
 
 Jo. From Corinth, to bring thee news that thy father Polybus 
 is no more, but is dead. 
 
 QEd. What sayest thou, stranger ? Do thou thyself become 
 my informant. 
 
 Mer. If I must first deliver me of this fact clearly, be 
 assured that he is dead and Q-one.^ 
 
 (Ed. By treachery, or the encounter of desease ? * 
 
 Mes. a triflino; bend of the scale sends ao-ed frames to rest. 
 
 (Ed. By sickness, it seems, the poor sufferer wasted away. 
 
 Mes. And^ commensurcitely, I ween, with a long time 
 of life. 
 
 (Ed. Alas ! alas ! when then, my queen, should any one 
 regard the prophetic he.-ii-tli of Pytho, or the birds that scream 
 above our heads, under Avhose predestination I was fated to 
 slay my own father ? But he is dead and buried deep dowji 
 in earth, while I here before you am guiltless of handling 
 weapon against him, unless in any degree he pined away from 
 regret of me,* but so he might have died by my means. The 
 
 ' Not with 6S6v understood after Oavdai/iov, but the latter agreeicg 
 with fSejirjKura, according to Erfurdt. 
 
 ^ Ssneca (Edip. act iv. sc. 2, 4, " Edisscro ogcduni, quo cadat fato 
 parens. Sexex. Animam senilem mollis exsolvit sopor." B. 
 
 ^ ^vjUfierpov/iiEvng must be taken with lolhro understood, as if it were 
 the adverb ^vu/iETf)ovfitvu)r. Tliis is much tlie most simple way. B. 
 
 * Perhaps for ovru iV we should read ovru y\ "ita saltern," "So, for- 
 sooth, lie might have died by my means." B. 
 
971—993 (EDIPU3 TYR ANNUS. 35 
 
 present oracles tlieii Folybus lias swept off with liim utterly 
 Avorthless, and lies in Hades. 1 
 
 Jo. Did I not now forewarn lliee of this Ions: a2:o ? ' 
 
 (Ed. Thou didst say it ; but I was led away by my fear. 
 
 Jo. See thou no longer give one of them place in thy mind 
 now. 
 
 CEd. And how must I not shrink from a mother's bed? 
 
 Jo.' But why should man fear, whom the decrees of chance 
 control, while there is no certain foresight of aught ? 'T were 
 best to hve at random, e'en as one could. But have thou no 
 fear of the bridal alliance with thy mother ; for many among 
 mankind have ere now, and that in dreams, done incest with 
 a mother ; but to whomsoever this reckons as nothing, he 
 bears his life the easiest. 
 
 (Ed. Fairly had all this been stated by thee, had my 
 mother happened not to have been alive ; but now, since she 
 does live, there is positive necessity, even though thou sayest 
 fairlv, for me to recoil. 
 
 Jo. And yet the burial of thy father at least throws a great 
 lisrht on this. 
 
 (Ed. Great, I admit ; but I liavo dread of the surviving 
 woman. 
 
 Mes. But on what woman's account it is even that ye are 
 afraid ? 
 
 (Ed. Qf Mer ope, old man, with whom Polybus used to hye. 
 
 Mes. But what is there of" her which makes to your ap- 
 prehension ? 
 
 (Ed. a dreadful heaven-sent prediction, stranger. 
 
 Mes. Is it to be spoken, or is it not lawful that another 
 know it ? 
 
 1 These reflections on the part of the khig and queen are the more un- 
 grateful, in that Apollo had just sent them, without demur, instructions 
 for the removal of the plague. The whole demeanor of these impious 
 personages, who 
 
 " Lifted up so high, 
 
 Disdained subjection, and thought one step higher 
 
 "V\'ould set them highest ;" 
 and their encouragement of each other in irreligion. reminds one forcibly 
 of Yathek and Nourouihar, when " with haughty and determined gait" 
 they descended the staircase of Istakhar to the Hall of Eblis. In both 
 princes curiosity is the prime agent ; and in both 'YiSpiCj uKporarov 
 tiaavaSda' u~6touov, upovaev it; uvilyKav. 
 
36 CEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 994— lOH. 
 
 (Ed. Most certainly it is. For Apollo foretold once that 
 it was my destiny to be my own mother's paramour, and with 
 mine own hands to shed my father's blood. For which cause 
 has Corinth, this long while, been dwelt far away from by me, 
 prosperously indeed ; but still it is most sweet to behold the 
 faces of one's parents. 
 
 Mes. Why, was it in dread of this thou becamest an exile 
 from thence ? 
 
 QLd. And from desire also to avoid being my father's mur- 
 derer, old man. 
 
 Mes. Why then have I not released thee from this thy 
 fear, O king, since in fact I came thy well-wisher ? 
 
 Q5d. And if you do so, thou shalt have a right worthy re- 
 compense of me. 
 
 Mes. Ay, and I swear I came especially for this, that, on 
 thy restoration to thy home, I might in some way be advan- 
 taged. 
 
 (Ed. But never will I come into the presence of my parents, 
 at least. 
 
 Mes. My son, thou^ fairly showest that thou knowest not 
 what thou art doing. 
 
 (Ed. How, old man ? In the name of the gods, instruct 
 me. 
 
 Mes. If for these causes thou shunnest to return home. 
 
 (Ed. It is at least from alarm lest Phoebus prove in the 
 issue true toward me. 
 
 Mes. Is it lest thou shouldst contract contamination from 
 thy parents ? 
 
 (Ed. This very thing, old man, even this forever aftVights 
 me. 
 
 Mes. Knowest thou not, then, that thou tremblest with no 
 just cause ? 
 
 (Ed. Nay, how should I not, at least if I was the child of 
 these progenitors ? 
 
 Mes. Even because Polybus was in no wise of kin to thee. 
 
 (Ed. How hast thou said ? why, was not Polybus my 
 father ? 
 
 ' This is the most literal construing of /ca/lwf el dr/Xoc. On Ka?.cJc in 
 the sense of "valde," "prorsus," see Wakefield and Schajfer. Compare 
 the Latin phrases " pulchre scire, intelligere." B. .-■' 
 
1018—1035. (EDIPUS TYRANNUS. 37 
 
 Mes. Not a whit more than he thou seest before thee, 
 about as much. 
 
 CEd. And how comes one's father to be on a par with no 
 one ? ^ 
 
 Mes. But neither he begat thee, nor I. 
 
 (Ed. But in consideration of what, then, did he allow me 
 a son's title ? 
 
 Mes. Know, it was from having received thee formerly a 
 present from my hands. 
 
 (Eb. And then did he, though from another's hand, thus 
 dearly love me ? 
 
 Mes. Yes, for his former childless state induced him. 
 
 (Ed. But wert thou my purchaser or parent,'' and gavest 
 me to him ? 
 
 Mes. Having found thee in tha kB^^IJj^Slil^ Cithaeron. 
 
 (Ed. But for what purpose werTmoiTT'waylarer m^those 
 said reofions ? 
 
 Mes. I used to be superintendant there of the mountain 
 flocks. 
 
 (Ed. How ! wert thou a shepherd and a wanderer on a 
 menial drudgery ? 
 
 Mes. Ay, but thy saviour at the same time, my son ! 
 
 (Ed. But what pain dost thou find me suftering in that 
 wretchedness ? 
 
 Mes. The joints of thy feet might attest that. 
 
 (Ed. Woe is me ! whv mention this ancient curse ? 
 
 Mes. I unbind thee having the soles of thy feet bored 
 through. 
 
 GEd. Dire indignity, indeed, did I sustain from these 
 tokens.^ 
 
 ^ This, according' to Erfurdt, is not to be understood of the meanness 
 or nothingness of the herdsman, but, as he paraphrases it, " Qui dici 
 possunt genuisse ahquem, quorum nemo genuit J" See v. 838, and the 
 note following. 
 
 2 " Or parent." Hermann remarks that it might seem wonderful for 
 (Edipus to ask this, when the messenger had just "told him that he was 
 not his father any more than Polybus ; but that he must consider 
 (Edipus as attending to the intention of the old man, and not his words. 
 Hence, too, when (Edipus says rug 6 (pvaag kq 'iaou tcj /uri^evi , he does 
 not allude shghtingly to the old man, but merely to himself having no 
 father. 
 
 ' Brunck translates airupyava by crepundia, child's baubles or badges, 
 not supplying Ik, which dpeth'niTjv however seems to require. Perhaps 
 
38 CEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 1036—1056. 
 
 Mes. Insomucli that tliou M'ert named this misfortune as 
 thou art. 
 
 CEd. Say, in heaven's name, by my father's or my mother's 
 deed ? 
 
 Mes. I know not ; but he who ff-ave thee understands this 
 better than I. 
 
 CEd. AVhy didst thou receive me of another, nor find me 
 thyself? 
 
 Mes. I found thee not, but 'tis another shepherd v/ho trans- 
 ferred thee to me. 
 
 CEd. Who was this ? knowest thou to designate him in 
 words ? 
 
 Mes. He was named, I am sure, one of the servants of 
 Lai us. 
 
 QLd. Of him who was monarch of this land long ago ? 
 
 ^Ies. Certainly. Of that very man was this a herdsman. 
 
 Q^^D. And is he yet alive, that I may see him ? 
 
 Mes. You, the natives of this country surely should best 
 know. 
 
 (Ed. Is there any of you bystanders who knows this herds- 
 man to whom ho alludes, having seen him in short either in 
 the country or here ? inform me, since it is the moment for 
 this to be investio-ated. _ 
 
 Ch. I, indeed, deem him none other than the "servant from 
 the country, whom even before this thou soughtest diligently 
 to see. But, however, Jocasta here could certify this the best. 
 
 Q^D. Lady, knowest thou him whom but nov/ we were earn- 
 est should come, and of whom this person speaks ? 
 
 Jo. {loildbj.) But who, who is he of whom he spake ? 
 Ileed it not : nay, what has been uttered, do not wish so 
 much as to remember for no good. 
 
 there might have been in c-upyavov a sense not given bv lexicographers, 
 from the verb c-apydo), tumeo. Tr., wlio rendered it, '"Ah, dire indig- 
 nity, indeed, did I bring off with me from my swaddling clothes," Eut 
 it is far more elegant to suppose an allusion to the crepundia, which were 
 hung about the necks of children when exposed. (See V.'under's note.) 
 To these (Edipus compa,rcs the wounds in his feet. Nicolaus Damascenus, 
 in the same MS. extract quoted above, uses the phrase, udei yap roi\ 
 7ro(5af vTro uTzapydvov. Seneca, who imitates this whole scene closely, 
 understood it as I do, act 4, sc. 2, 39 : Q^]dipus. " Xunc adjice certas 
 corporis nostri notas. Senex. Forato ferro gesseras vestigia, Tumoro 
 nactus nomen ac vitio pedum." U. 
 
1057—1086. CEDIPUS TTRANXU3. 39 
 
 (Ed. This can not be, that I having obtained such a clew as 
 this, shall not elucidate my descent. 
 
 Jo. By the gods I beg thee, do not, if at least thou care 
 for thine own life, investigate this : 'tis enough that I be ill 
 at ease. 
 
 (Ed. Courao^e ; for nc^'er, not even v»-ere I proved by three 
 descents a trebly servile slave, wilt thou be exposed as base. 
 
 Jo. Yet obey me, I conjuie thee : do not this. 
 
 (Ed. I could not obey thee in not clearly sifting this out. 
 
 Jo. And yet vdth kiud intentions at least I advise thee for 
 the best. 
 
 (Ed. Why now it is this very best that long since aggrieves 
 me. 
 
 Jo. Miserable man, I would thou mightest never know 
 who thou art ! 
 
 (Ed. Y/ill some one go and bring hither to me the herds- 
 man ? But for her, leave her to enjoy her noble lineage. 
 
 Jo. Woe, woe, unhappy man ! for this only have 1 to say to 
 thee, but other won I hereafter — none. 
 
 Ch. For what possible cause can the queen be gone, O 
 (Edipus, having rushed away under the impulse of a wild 
 anguish ? I dread lest from this very silence there burst forth 
 mischief. 
 
 (Ed. Burst forth whatever v/ill : but I shall choose to dis- 
 cover my origin, even if it be humble. But she perhaps, 
 since for a woman she has a high spirit, is scandalized at this 
 my meanness of extraction. But I, ranking myself the child 
 of that Chance which gives me her blessing, shall not feel 
 dishonored. For of her, as of a mother, was I born,^ and 
 the congenial months ordained me humble and exalted. 
 But being born such, I could never turn out to be another, 
 that I should not search out my pedigree. 
 
 Chorus.^ If I am indeed a prophet, and knowing in my 
 
 ^ Hermann understands by cvyyevel^ urjvsq, menses qui mecuTn fucnint, 
 i. e., vit<£ niece. The translation above given is susceptible of the same 
 meaning. 
 
 •^ The chorus here changes its tone from that of the preceding ode very 
 suddenly, and more for the advantage of the reader (who thereby gains a 
 beautiful snatch of a Greek allegro) than of its own character for consist- 
 ency. Still tiiese fond ancestral reveries in honor of a patriot king 
 awaken in us the sense of contrast by touches almost Miltonic : them- 
 Beives a fairy dream, they shape us out a fearful reality, " which sub* 
 
40 CEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 1087—1121. 
 
 mind, thou, O Cithaeron, I swe ar by Olympus, sLalt not, by 
 to-morrow's fuTPmooii, be witbout experience of our extolling 
 tbee at least as botb of one country with Gidipus, and as his 
 nurse, and as his mother, nor of being visited by us in choric 
 dances, as performing acceptable service to my princes. But 
 O that this, Q ^ Heal er Apollo, might be agreeable to thee. 
 Who, O son, what daugiiLt^ '-Of the immortals, I wonder, was 
 thy mother, visited haply as a_ par amour by moufttft in-rangin g 
 Pan, or, since 'tis thou, by Apollo ? for to him the champaign 
 clowns are all endeared : or did the reigiuug^-prince oJ^Cyjlene, 
 or the Bacchanalian god, whose home is on the topmost hills, 
 receive thee a foundling from some one of the Heliconian 
 nymphs, with whom he is oftenest frolicking. 
 
 QiD. If I too have any right to conjecture, old man, who 
 have never yet had converse with him, methinks I see that 
 very herdsman, whom all this while we are seeking. For in 
 his extreme old age he corresponds as the cotemporary of 
 this man here ; and besides, I recognize his conductors as 
 my own domestics. But in acquaintance with him thou very 
 possibly mayest have the advantage of me, from having seen 
 the herdsman before. 
 
 Ch. Why yes, be sure I do ; for I have known him since 
 he belonged to Laius, trusty in his degree of grazier, if ever 
 another were. 
 
 CEd. Thee first I interrogate, the Corinthian stranger , is 
 this the man thou meanest ? 
 
 Mes. This very man whom thou seest. 
 
 (Ed. Ho, thou old man, look hither toward me, and 
 answer to all that I shall ask thee. Wert thou ever in 
 Laius' service ? 
 
 stance may be called, yet shadow seems," and, like the funeral oration 
 of Pericles, are ever linked and haunted with an opposing spirit, a mys- 
 terious douhle of what meets the ear. 
 
 1 Hermann's alteration of the punctuation here has restored OvyuTrjp 
 to her rightful inheritance, by omitting the note of interrogation after 
 fiaKpai(l)V(j)v. If his note leave anj^ thing unexplained in full, it is the 
 force of at' ye, which probably infers Apollo, father of ffidipus, because 
 the latter was so apt in solving hard sayings. Tr. — The passage is still 
 unsatisfactory ; and Wunder condemns both r/f Uvydrjip and gs yk as cor- 
 rupt. Perhaps we might read Wavoq dpeanti^ard ttov (or (Sardo with 
 Wunder). Upoc~e?MaOda'' nre ae rir 6v}nrj]p Ao^iov, i. e., Havoq elre 
 An^iov. On the omission of the first elre, of. ^sch. Ag. 1403, and abovo 
 617, 'Aoyoiatv nr^ tpyniaiv. B. 
 
1122— 1U9. CEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 41 
 
 Servant. I was ;^ a slave, not purchased, but reared in 
 his house. 
 
 CEd. Concerned in what avocation, or manner of life ? 
 
 Ser. For the best part of my life I was in attendance on 
 flocks. 
 
 CEd. In what places principally a resident ? 
 
 Ser. It would be Cithaeron, and it would be the adjacent/ 
 districts. 
 
 Q^D. Well then, knowest thou this man, having made 
 acquaintance with him any where in these parts ? 
 
 Ser. As doing what thing ? of what manner of man even 
 art thou speaking ? 
 
 Q^D. This man, who is before thee : hast thou ever before 
 now had dealings with him ? 
 
 Ser. Not at least that I could readily affirm it from 
 recollection. 
 
 Mes. And no wonder either, my lord : but I will distinctly 
 remind him of forgotten times ; for I am sure he knows when 
 in the region of CithcBron, he being with two flocks, I with 
 one, I was the neighbor of this veiy man from spring to 
 early autumn, three entire periods of six months each. And 
 when now it was winter, I used on my part to drive my 
 charge into sheepcotes, and he to the pens of Laius. Say I 
 any of these things or say I it not as was done ? 
 
 Ser. Thou speakest the truth, though in sooth from a 
 distant time. 
 
 Mes. Come, now tell me ; rememberest thou to have given 
 me any child at that time, that I might rear it as a nursling 
 to myself? 
 
 Ser. But what means this? wherefore inquirest thou in 
 these words ? 
 
 Mes. This, ray comrade, is that very one who was then an 
 infant. 
 
 Ser. "Will not perdition seize thee? wilt not hold thy 
 peace ? 
 
 (Ed. Hold, old man ! chastise not this man, since thin^ 
 own words have more need of a chastiser than his. 
 
 Ser. But in what, my most gracious liege, am I in fault ? 
 
 ^ Hermann reading r) here, says, " et hie quidem aperta eet ^oris+i sig' 
 nificatio neque id eram quisquam, sed fui vertit." See note on v. 7S3. 
 
42 (EDIPUS TYRANNUS. 1150—1164. 
 
 (Ed. In not declarinof the child of whom this man asts 
 thee. 
 
 Ser. Because he speaks knowing nothing, but labors in 
 vain. 
 
 CEd. Thou indeed wilt not speak as a favor, but to thy 
 cost thou shalt speak.^ ^ 
 
 Ser. Do not, 1 pray, for the love of the gods, ill use me, 
 an old man. 
 
 (Ed. Will not some one with all speed tie this fellow's 
 iands behind him ? 
 
 Ser. Wretched man, for what purpose ? what wouldst 
 thou know more ? 
 
 Q^D. Gavest thou to this man the boy of whom he questions 
 thee? 
 
 See. I did ; but O that I had died on that day. 
 
 (Ed. Nay, to this thou wilt come, at least if thou speak 
 not the truth. 
 
 Ser. Much more certain is my destruction, if I shall 
 speak. 
 
 (Ed. This fellow, it seems, is driving at delay. 
 
 Ser. Not I, truly ; but I said long ago that I had given 
 the boy. 
 
 <Ed. Whence liaving got him ? of thine own house or of 
 any other ? 
 
 Ser. Surely I gave not my own away, but I received him 
 from some one. 
 
 (Ed. From whom among these citizens, and from a bouse 
 of what degree ? 
 
 * Tlie altercation with Creon, and Ibis scene with the shepherds, from 
 the snarling repartee which runs through then], are supposed by Twining 
 to be among the parts of our poet which gave occasion to the ridiculous 
 idea of a comic writer in Diogenes Laerlius (4. 20.) that Sophocles had 
 a dog to help him write tragedies ; uvuv ng edoKsi avuTroulv MoAoTrmoc. 
 That eminent translator seems to forget that anger levels most men, and 
 that of kings especially '-the wrath is great;" he forgets that every pass- 
 age, he has produced from Sophocles lo this point, is the expression of 
 angry feeling ; he forgets tlie simplicity of tlie times of which ho la 
 writing. But when he quotes Longinus, to prove that in these places 
 the spirit of Sophocles ciievvvrai u/mjijJc, koI ■niTrret drvxiararu- putting 
 aside that as to Loaginus's meaning he begs the question, let him show 
 t.hat Longinus ever wrote naturally for ten lines together, ere he takes 
 ibat really great critic's dictum on the expression of heated feelings. 
 
11G5— 118G. (EDIPUS TYRAXXUS. 43 
 
 Ser. Do not for the gods' sake, do not, my sovereign, 
 inquire further. 
 
 (Ed. Thou diest, if I shall ask thee this again. 
 
 Ser. It was then one ol:' Laius' otispring. 
 
 (Ed. a slave, or one by birth of kin to him ? 
 
 Ser. Woe is me ! I am surely on the verge of speaking 
 the very horror. 
 
 (Ed. And I surely of hearing : yet it must be heard. 
 
 Ser. Why then, it Avas said to be actually his own child ; 
 but the lady Avithiu could best inform thee how this stands. 
 
 (Ed. Why, is she the donor of this child to thee ? 
 
 Ser. Even so, sire. 
 
 (Ed. For what purpose ? 
 
 Ser. That I might make away with him. 
 
 (Ed. The own mother, hard-hearted V 
 
 Ser. In horror, however, of evil prophecies. 
 
 (Ed. Of what import ? 
 
 Ser. There was a story, that he should be his parents' 
 murderer. 
 
 (Ed. How earnest thou then to resign him to this elder ? 
 
 Ser. Pitying it, my liege, as supposing that he would 
 carry him away to another land, whence he himself v>'a3 : but 
 he reserved him for the direst miseries : for if thou art he 
 whom this man declares thee to be, knov*^ thou art born to a 
 cursed destiny. 
 
 CEd. Alas ! alas ! All the predictions turn out true." O 
 light, may I look on thee now for the last time : I, that have 
 been shown the son of those of v/hom I should not have been, 
 holding commerce with those with whom it became me not, 
 and having killed whom it was my duty never. 
 
 Chorus. jCL^geuerati ons of mortals, how as nothing do I 
 reckon you in tbis life ! For wher.', where is the man that 
 achieves more of happiness,^ than barely so much as to fancy 
 
 ^ Eifurdt has a note here from Euhnken's Preface to Scheller's Lexi- 
 con, which seems uncalled for. T'/S/ul means '• to have the heart" to do 
 any thing ; and t/jiuuv here takes this signification much better, surely, 
 than that of perdlta or r.iiser. 
 2 See Wunder on v. 922. B. 
 ' Grotius elegantly translates : 
 
 "Hffic est sola beatitas Ilumano generi data, 
 Quam quis dum putat accipit, Ammittitque putando." B. 
 
44 CEDIPUS TYRANXUS. 1187—1237. 
 
 he has it, and so fancying to fall away from it ? Even^ thine 
 example having before me, thy destiny, even thine, O hapless 
 (EJipus, I term^ nothing of mortal fortunes happy: thou 
 ^Yho with excess of fortune aimed at and achieved the prize 
 of all-blissful prosperity, O Jove ! having done to death the 
 maiden prophetess with forked talons, nay, a bulwark against 
 slaughters didst thou stand up to my country, whence also 
 thou art titled my sovereign, and hast been supremely digni- 
 fied with honor, lording it in Thebes J he mighty. But now 
 as I hear, who is more miserable ? who in reverse of state is 
 more familiar with cruel griefs and troubles? Alas! Oh 
 glorious majesty of (Edipus, to whom one and the same 
 ample haven was enough for son and fiither as a bridegroom 
 to run into: how ever, how ever were thy father's furrows 
 enabled to endure thee in silence so long, unfortunate ? Time 
 the all-seeing detected thee reluctant; justice long since 
 sentences the marriageless marriage, begetting and begotten. 
 Oh ! son of Laiiis, would, would that I "had never seen thee. 
 For I mourn with passing sorrow from loudly-plaintive lips. 
 Yet to tell the truth, by the bounty have I drawn my breath 
 again, and closed mine eyes in repose. 
 
 Messenger Extraordinary. O ye, ever respected the 
 most highly of this land, what deeds shall ye hear, what 
 deeds shall ye witness, hov/ heavy a grief shall ye have to 
 bear, if from a feeling of kindred ye are yet concerned for 
 the-Jiouse o f Lab dac iis? For, I believe, neither Ister^ nor 
 £hasis, cmTld lave~~vvith water of purification this roof before 
 you of all which it conceals : while other ills Avill forthwith 
 show themselves to the light, ills voluntary, and not unin- 
 tended. But of mischiefs, "those are the most afflicting which 
 show themselves self-incurred. 
 
 Ch. ^N'ay, even what we knew before lacks nauo-ht of being 
 deeply dej^lorable : but what hast thou to tell in addition to 
 those ? 
 
 M. E. The speediest of tales both to tell and to hear : the 
 most noble Jocasta is no more. 
 
 Ch. Most unhappy woman ! By what earthly means ? 
 
 M. E. Herself by her own hand. But of the action the 
 
 ' TTnnder moro rightly reads witli Camorarius ruv g6v toi, "holding 
 thy fortunes, yea thine, as an example." B. 
 
 =i ovdna i3 against the meter, and altered by Hermann. B. 
 
1238—1271. (EDIPU3 TTEANNUS. 45 
 
 most painful part is spared us, since the eyc-^itness is not 
 ours ; but yet, as far at least as the memory of them resides 
 in me, thou shalt hear the sufferings of that lost princess. 
 For when, instinct with fury, she passed by within the portal, 
 she went straight to her bridal bed, tearing her hair with 
 both her hands ; and having, as soon as she was within, 
 violently closed the doors on the inside, she cries on Laius, 
 now long since dead, bearing in memory that ancient issue 
 by whose hands he was himself to die, and leave the mother 
 to his own, a pro creatres s of wreicjied . children. But she 
 mourned over the couch where she had become, unfortunate, 
 the mother of a double progeny, husba nds by husband, 
 children. . by^ children, - And how after this she perished I 
 have no further knowledge ; for Qj]dipus with outcries broke 
 in, for whom it was impossible for us to witness her fate to 
 its end ; but we turned our eyes on him ro\'ing round. For 
 be begins wildly rushing, beseeching us to furnish him with 
 a weapon, and tell him where to reach " the wife yet no 
 v.ife, his mother with her common womb for himself and his 
 children." To him in his frenzy some unearthly power dis- 
 covers this, for it was no one of us men who were standing 
 by : but shouting fearfully, as with some guide to lead him 
 he sprung in against the double doors, and from their very 
 deepest fastening he wrenched the hollow staples, and falls 
 in upon the apartment ; where we then looked in upon his 
 wife suspended, entangled in twisted nooses. But he, when 
 he sees her, with horrible bellowings, poor wretch ! loosens 
 the hanging knot ; but when the hapeless was laid on the 
 ground, the sequel v>a3 awful to behold : for having torn off 
 from her the gold-exiibossed cLa^s' of her vestments, where- 
 with she used'''fo~adorn herself, ho lifted them and smote the 
 balls of his own eyes, uttering words of this sort, " that 'twas 
 because they had discerned for him neither what mischiefs 
 
 ' Perhaps this was an attempt of the poet to reconcile his fair-armed 
 country-women to long sleeves, they having lost the privilege of the 
 TTspovai by their inhuman conduct toward the ^ole survivor of the dis- 
 astrous ^.ginetan expeditioo- See Herod, v. 87 ; on T^-hich place Larch- 
 erquotes an old scholiast, to prove that the Lacedremonians adopted 
 this dress with clasps in order to make their womeTf masculine, and the 
 ^^lllgnia!ja.the Ionian with a view to the opposite effect. As the Ajgivo 
 IaiiLe«-wore large clasps on this same event taking place, 'tis to be hoped 
 they did not worship Juno in vain. 
 
46 (EDIPUS TYRAXXUS. 1272—1307. 
 
 he was siifFerIng, nor vvliat lie was do'mrr -^ but darkly should 
 they see, for the time to come, those Avhom he ought ^ever 
 to have seen, nor should they recognize those whom he so 
 longed to recognize." Venting curses such as these full 
 often, and not once only^ did he wound them, forcing up his 
 eyelids. And at once the bloody pupils bedewed his cheeks, 
 nor emitted mere humid drops of gore, but all at once, a 
 fhower of sable blood-clot hail was shed.^ These are miseries 
 that broke forih of two, not of him alone, but the consorted 
 miseries of a husband and a wife. For their happiness of a 
 long date before, 'twas hitherto deserving of the name ; but 
 now, on this very day, lamentation, ruin, death, dishonor of 
 whatsoever ill whatever name there be, not one is Avanting. 
 -. Ch. But in what respite from ill is the sufferer now ? 
 
 M. E. He is shouting for some one to open the barriers, 
 and expose to all the race of Cadmus the slayer of his father, 
 his mother's — uttering unholy things, things not for me to 
 speak ; purposing seemingly to make himself an outcast from 
 the land, nor any longer to tarry in his home accursed, as ho 
 cursed himself. Yet still he wants strenirth at least, and 
 some one for his guide ; since his disease is greater than ho 
 can bear. Nay, he will show thee so himself. For these 
 fastenings of the gates are being opened, and speedily shalt 
 thou behold a spectacle of such a sort as even an enemy must 
 pity. 
 
 Ch. Oh, disaster fearful to mankind to behold ! Oh most 
 fearful of all that I have ever yet encountered ! What 
 frenzy, sad sufferer, beset thee ? AYliat demon is it that, 
 with mightier than the mightiest bound, hath sprung on 
 thine unblest fate ? Woe, v>'oe, unfortunate ! But 1 can not 
 so much as look on thee, anxious as I am to question much, 
 much to learn, and much to see, such shuddering dost thou 
 cause me. 
 
 GEd. Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, alas, alas, wretch that I am ! 
 whither on earth am I, miserable, carried ? Where is Hitting 
 
 ' nermann joins tho words 7to7,?iukic re kovk uttq^ with e(l>vfiv:Zv\ and 
 says of Elmsley's punctuation that it gives a meaninp: " justo crudclius." 
 The imperfect iipaaae^ however, favors tho old way of rendering. Potter 
 translates as Hermann. 
 
 2 The two following verses are bracketed by Dindorf, and considered 
 corrupt by "Wunder. B. 
 
1303—1359. (EDIPUS TYRANis'US. 47 
 
 this voice wliicli I lieav thus liurriedly ? Oh, fate, whither 
 hast thou leaped ? 
 
 Ch. To horror, not fit for li earing, nor for sight. 
 
 (Ed. O cloud of my darkness, abominable, falling upon me 
 imspeahable, in that thou art alike unconquerable, and all- 
 prosparous to my bane. Ah me ! Ah me ! again and again, 
 Ah me ! How hath sunk dee]) within me hand in hand at 
 onc3 the maddening sting of these goads, and the memory of 
 my woes ! ^ 
 
 Ch. And surely it is no wonder, in afflictions great as / 
 these, that thou hast a double sorrow, and beaiest double ills. I 
 
 (Ed. O my fiieud, thou as mine adherent art still constant, 
 for still dost thou submit to care for me the blind. Alas ! 
 alas ! for thou escapest me not, but well do I know thee, 
 darkened though I be, at least thy voice. 
 
 Ch. O thou of dreadful deeds, how hadst thou the heart 
 thus to mangle thine eyes ? What higher power prompted [ 
 thee to it ? ^ 
 
 (Ed. Apollo was he, Apollo, O my friends, that brought 
 to pass these my, my wretched sufferings. But no one wil- 
 fully pierced them, but hapless I. For what need hr.d I of 
 sight, I, to whom when seeing there was naught sve^-t to 
 look on ? 
 
 Ch. This was so, even as thou sayest. 
 
 (Ed. What then, I pray, have I, object of sight, of love, of 
 accost, that I could hear any longer v/ith pleasure, my friends ? 
 Bear me away from the place with all s}>eed, bear me away, my 
 friends, the monstrous destruction, the most accursed, and most 
 god-cletested of human kind. 
 
 Cn. O lamentable alike in thy feeling and th}^ fate, how have 
 I wished that I at least had never known thee ! 
 
 (Ed. Perish he, whosoever he be, that took me from the 
 barbarous chain that pastured on my feet, and rescued and pre- 
 seived me from a violent death earning a thankless return ; for 
 had I died then, I had not been so great a sorrow to my friends 
 nor self 
 
 Ch. This would have been to ray wish also. 
 
 OEd. Ay, then I had not come the slayer of my father at 
 least, nor been titled by mankind the bridegroom of those of 
 "whom I sprung. But now am I a godless being, child of unho- 
 ly parents, allied to those from whom I wretched drev/ my birth. 
 
48 (EDIPUS TYRANNUS. 1360—1384 
 
 But if there be in kind one evil among evils paramount, tiiis to 
 his share hath (Edipus. 
 
 Ch. I know not how to say that thou hast well advised ; for 
 thou wert better to live no longer than live in blindness. 
 
 CEd. That this hath not been best done thus, tutor me not, 
 nor counsel me longer. P'or I know not v>ath what manner 
 of eyes beholding, I could have looked my father in the face 
 when I went down to Hades,^ no, nor my hapless mother, to 
 both of whom deeds havTl55en done by me that hanging is 
 too good for. But forsooth the sight of my children was to 
 be coveted by me to see, springing forth as they sprung. 
 No, to my eyes never : nor citadel, -nor to wor.^ nor eacred^ 
 iniages__of gods, whereof ITtKe all-unhappy, noblest by birth 
 of any one at least in Thebes, have bereaved my own self, 
 myself enjoining all to thrust out the impious one, the man 
 branded of heaven as polluted^ [and proved to be] of the race 
 of Laius, could I, who h.ad exposed such a blot in mine own 
 person, ever look on these with steadfast eyes? No, never, 
 surely ! Nay, had there been yet means of stoppage of the 
 fountain of hearing through my ears, I would not have re- 
 frain2d from blocking up my miserable body, that I might 
 have been both sightless and devoid of hearing :^ for to have 
 one's feelings abiding beyond reach of one's misfortunes were 
 sweet. Alas, Cithseron, wherefore harboredst thou me ? 
 wherefore havinq; taken mo in diJ.st thou not fortwith kill 
 me, that I had never shown mankind in the lineaofe whence I 
 sj^rang P O^ Polyb us and. Corinth, and ancient halls, reputed 
 
 1 The ancients believed that whatever defects or injuries men suffered 
 during hfe, they carried with tliem to the shades below. Thus, in Virgil, 
 ^n. vi. 450, ^neas meets Dido "recens a vulnerc," and 495, " Dei- 
 phobuin vidit, lacerum crudeliter ora." So Clytaamnestra says in-^sch. 
 Eum. 103, upa (5t 7i7.r]ydg Tuai)e. B. 
 
 2 Hermann's punctuation has been followed here in joining Kal yfvovc 
 Toi' An'iov to the next line. Tii. — I have preferred following Dindorf and 
 "Wunder. B. 
 
 3 " ilic etsi imperfectum recto so habet, ut essem coecus et surdus, tamen 
 ctiam aoristo locus est, utfactm essem cuecvs et surdus, verbo /) idem quod 
 iyevuiiriv significante." Herm. Pref see note on v. 793. 
 
 4 nermann, reading r/r, observes that here, if any where, an aorist 
 might be thought needful, to express the sense 6>r Ichi^a /it/ttots ivOev 
 iyevv7j0r]v. But though ?) without the participle would stand for tyev- 
 VTjBriv, with it ?} will not, because yeyug implies time present, and thus 
 fj yeyuc would bo unde natics fuissem, a proper expression of one once. 
 
1333—1433] OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 4y 
 
 iiiv ancc?toi's', what a goodly outside skin of scars beneath 
 have ye reared me ! For now am I discovered vile, and of 
 the vile. O ye three i-oads, and thou concealed dell, and 
 oaken copse, and narrow outlet of tln-ee ways, v/hich drank 
 mine own blood from my father, shed by mine own liands, do 
 ye remember me how that I — what deeds having done to you, 
 then came hither, and again v/hat deeds I perpetrated ? O 
 bridals, bridals, ye have begotten us, and having begotten, 
 again ye brought to light the selfsame seed, and display fa- 
 thers, brothers, sons, blood all of one tribe, brides, v/ives, and 
 mothers, and all the deeds that are most infamous amona; man- 
 kind. But, for it is not fitting to utter Avhat neither is it fit- 
 ting to do, with all speed, in heaven's name, hide me some- 
 where far av/ay, or slay me, or set me adrift on the sea, v/herc 
 never again ye shall behold me. Come, deign to touch a wretch 
 forlorn. Be prevailed on, fear not ; for evils such as mine no 
 mortal but I is liable to bear. 
 
 Cii. But for what thou requestest at an apt moment comes 
 Creon here, to act or to advise, since he is left sole protector 
 of the realm in thj'^ room. 
 
 G^^D. Woe is me] In what w^ords then shall we address 
 him ? What trust shall there in reason be shown to me by 
 him ? For in the former transactions have I been discovered 
 altogether base toward him. 
 
 Creox. Not as a scoffer, OEdipus, have I come, nor to re- 
 proach thee with any of the former wrongs. But do yc, if yc 
 no longer blush before the race of man, at all events respect 
 more the fire of the royal sun that feeds all things, than to 
 exhibit a pollution such as this thus uncovered, which neither 
 earth, nor heaven-sent^ rain, nor light will put up w^ith. But 
 as speedily as possible convey him to his home ; for that those 
 of the family alone should see and hear the miseries of a rela- 
 tive, is what piety requires. 
 
 Qi^D. For the gods' sake, since thou hast forced me from' 
 my expectation by coming the noblest of men as thou art, to 
 
 but no longer alive : el/u.t yeyur then standing for the present, ?/v yeyug 
 becomes froin a pluperfect an imperfect; and if by the laws of the language 
 cjg del^u) tvOei> el.ul jeyug, when changed by a person speaking of a past 
 event, would have required ug iSsi^a tuOei' ijv yeycjr, then is the latter 
 form correct here. See note on v. 793. 
 
 ' 6/ij3pog Ipor. So Slag ipojiddor, Eurip. Helen. 2. — B. 
 
 c 
 
50 CEDIPUS TYRANNUS. [1434— 14G3. 
 
 mc the vilest, concede one thing to me, for I will speak for thy 
 interest unci not mine. 
 
 Ck. And to obtain what demand art thou thus urgent vrith 
 me? 
 
 Qili). Cast me out from this land with what haste thou may- 
 cst, where I shall be found by no earthly being to be spoken 
 wdth 
 
 Cn. had done it, of this be satisfied, had I not first of 
 all been anxious to learn from the divinity what was to be 
 done. 
 
 CEd. But surely his whole prophetic answer openly ordered 
 to put to death the parricide, the impious, myself. 
 
 Cu. So this was said ; but still in the emergency wherein 
 we arc placed, 'twere better to learn what is to be done. 
 
 QCd. Will ye then thus inquire cn behalf of a creature ut- 
 terly fallen ? 
 
 Ck. Yes : for even thou surely mightest now give credit to 
 the cod. 
 
 Q]d. To thee then do I solemnly give cliarge, and will 
 exhort thee too ; of her within the house make such sepulture 
 as thou choosest, for duly wilt thou perform this on behalf of 
 thine own at least.^ But me, never let this, the city of my 
 fathers, deign to admit a living inhabitant ; no, suffer me to 
 abide in the mountains, where is that very CithaTon surnamed 
 mine, which both my father and mother allotted to me yet 
 living as my proper tomb, th.at I may die by their counsel, 
 who were indeed my destroyers. And yet this much at least 
 I know, tht'it neither disease nor any other chance shall be 
 my downfall ; for never had I been saved in the hour of death, 
 imless for some dreadful evil. But for mv fate, let it 2:0 which 
 way soever it will : but for my children, on the males I would 
 not, Creon, thou shouldest concern thyself more ; they are 
 men, so that they never can feel a scarcity of sustenance 
 Avherever tlicy shall chance to be ; but on my hapless and 
 pitiable girls, before Vviiom Avas never my table laid without 
 
 * Tuv, sell, rot av. See v. 144G (ed. Herm.) and Eurip. Med. v. 1011. 
 Porson. 
 
 ^ Jocasta being liis sister. The confidence reposed by Qi]dipns in one 
 who was afterward to a})pcar as the infringer of these most sacred rights, 
 and that toward CEdipus's son and his own nephew, is introduced with 
 the poet's usual refinement of art. 
 
 } 
 
1464— 1501. J CEDIPUS TYRANTs^US. 51 
 
 food, Avaiiting mj own presence, but of all that I touched were 
 tlicy two ever the partakers : for whom do thou interest thee 
 for my sake ; and above all, suffer me to feel them with mine 
 hands, and pour a last lament over their misfortunes. Do it, 
 O prince, do it, O thou thyself of pure lineage and noble. 
 Surely if I touched them with these hands, I should fancy J 
 held them, even as when I had my sight. What shall I say ? 
 Tell me, in the name of the gods, do I no<^ surely hear my dar- 
 lings crying ? And has Creon in compassion sent me the best 
 beloved of my children ? Am I right ? 
 
 Ck. Thou art right ; for I am. he that supplied thee with 
 these babes, having known the yet lively delight which from 
 old time possessed thee in them. 
 
 CEd. Then all happiness to thee, and for this their coming 
 may thy tutelary power protect thee better than me. My 
 children, where can ye be? drav/ near hither, come to these 
 my fraternal hands, which have thus served the once briirht 
 eyes of the author of your being for you to see ; of me, my 
 children, who without sight, without question of it, was 
 proved your father by that source from Avhence myself had 
 been raised. And for you I weep, for I have no power to 
 behold you, in imagining the rest of your bitter life, with 
 what treatment at men's hands ye are doomed to live it out. 
 For to what social meetings of the citizens will ye come ? 
 nay, to what festivals, Avlience ye will not betake yourselves 
 home all in tears in place of enjoyment from the scene.^ 
 But when a.t length ye shall have come to marriageable years, 
 who will be he? who will rashly risk, my children, to incur 
 such scandals as will be destruction to those at once my 
 parents and yours ? For what horror is wanting ? your father 
 murdered his father ; committed incest with that mother 
 whose seed he was himself, and from the self-same source 
 whence he was born, begat himself you. In such sort will 
 ye be reviled ; and then who v\'ill espouse you. There is not 
 a man, my children ; but too plainly is it your destiny to pine 
 
 ^ If Musgrave's references to ^^schylus's Choephorse, vv. 450 and 719 
 (ed. 131am.) be correct, and they arc approved by Abreschius and B!om- 
 field, the passage can not stand as the former edition, following Brunck, 
 has it, viz., •'from whence ye will not return lamented rather than the 
 spv?ctacle exhibited;" because kck? avfiivac in neither of those passages 
 has a passive sense, and is by Blomfield translated lachrymis perfusus. 
 
52 CEDIPUS TYRANNUS. [1501—1527. 
 
 to death barren and nnwedded. Ikit since, O son of MenoeceuSa 
 thou an left sole fatiicr to these twain, for we their natural pa^ 
 rents are both fallen victims to destruction, do not thou look 
 on and see them, thy kindred, beggars, husbandless, wanderers, 
 nor make them sharers in my woes ; but pity them, seeing 
 them as thou dost at their tender years destitute of every thing, 
 except as far as thy part goes. Accord this, O noble sir, pledg- 
 ing me with thine hand. But to you, my children, if ye had 
 already understanding, I would have given much advice ; but 
 now^ pi'ay this on my behalf, that I may ever live where it is 
 for me to live, and may ye meet with a better life than that 
 of the father who begot you. 
 
 Ch. Enough of tears hast thou shed, go now within doors. 
 
 Ql^d. I must needs obey, though it be no pleasing thing. 
 
 Cr. Whv, all thiniTS are becomino; in their season. 
 
 Q^D. Know you then on what conditions I will go ? 
 
 Cr. Thou shalt tell me, and hearing 1 shall then know. 
 
 (SEd. That thou wilt send me into exile from this land. 
 
 Cr. Thou askest me what is the gods' to give. 
 
 CEb. But to the gods at least I come most odious. 
 
 Cr. AVherefore, be sure thou shalt be quickly gratified. 
 
 CEd. Saycst thou so, then ? 
 
 Cr. Yes, for what I mean not I am not wont idly to say. 
 
 QCd. Away with me then from this spot now. 
 
 Cr. Proceed then, and let go thy children. 
 
 CKd. By no means take these at least from me. 
 
 Cr. Seek not to have thy way in every thing, for that 
 wherein thou hadst thy will conduced not to thy welfare in 
 life. 
 
 CnORrs. O inhabitants of Thebes my country, behold, this 
 
 / QCdipus, who solved the famous enigma, and was the most 
 
 exalted of mankind, who, looking with no envious eye^ upon 
 
 the enviable ibrtuijes of the citizens, into how vast a stormy 
 
 ^ evx^(^Oe can not, I think, be taken passively, and I have therefore 
 followed Dindorf, whose emendation is also adopted by ^^'under. In 
 itaiph^ there is, I think, a double meaning, both of the fated spot where 
 (Edipus should dwell or die, and a reference to its ordinary meaning, as 
 less shockinrr to the hearers. — B. 
 
 - Erfardt has a long and excellent note on the word ^7rij3?.t-7ruv, which 
 he shows to answer exactly the Latin " invidens." Hermann's reading 
 has been followed for the rest. — Tn. I have given the best sense to this 
 p^ssa^e in r.;y power, but I still think C?/'/(;J kcl Ti\\aic a harsh endyadif 
 
1528—1530.] GEDIPUS TYRAXNUS. 53 
 
 sea of tremGncIoiis misery he hath come ! Then mortal as 
 thou art, looking out for a sight of that day, the last,^ call no 
 man happy, ere he shall have crossed the boundary of life, the 
 sufferer of nought painfuL 
 
 for ^Tj^iidToiQ TvxaLc, and that C'P-'^ would be more naturally joined with 
 £-ifi'A£-.Tt)v. Should we read — 7ro?ATU)v riir ri'xag £Tn[3?iETnjv ! — B. 
 ^ " The first dark day of nothingness, 
 The last day of danger and distress," 
 says Lord Byron, and so said (in part, at least) Solon before him. But 
 Aristotle, who was not a man to adopt hypothesis for fact, whether sup- 
 ported by poet or philosopher, disputing the first axiom in toto, brings 
 *.he second into considerable doubt. — Eth. 1. 
 
tl— 15. 
 
 (EDIPUS COLONEUS. 
 
 <^DiPUs, banished from Thebes, comes to Athens under the guidance of 
 his daughter Antigone, in fulfillment of an oracle, which declared that 
 he should end his days near the wood of the Euraenides. Creon makes 
 an unsuccessful attempt to carry him back to Thebes, as also Polynices, 
 as the oracle had declared that victory would attend those among whom 
 CEdipus should die. But CEdipus remains firm, and having charged 
 Theseus concerning his future conduct, he disappears amid a fearful 
 storm, and the place of his burial is handed down to none save the per- 
 petual successors to the throne of Athens. — B. 
 
 DRAMATIS PERSOX.E. 
 
 CEdipus. 
 
 Antigone. 
 
 Citizen of Colonus, 
 
 Chorus of Attic Elders, 
 
 ISMENE. 
 
 Theseus. 
 
 Creon. 
 
 Polynices. 
 
 Messenger. 
 
 CEdipus. Child of a blind old man, Antigone, to what 
 regions are we come, or city of what people ? who will wel- 
 come CEdipus the Avanderer for the present day with scantiest 
 alms, craving but little, yet obtaining even less than that 
 little, and that sufficient for me? For to be content my 
 sufferings, and time so long my familiar, and thirdly, my 
 native nobleness, teaches me. But, my child, if thou be- 
 holdest any seat, either by the common haunts of men, or 
 by the groves of the deities, place me and seat me there, that 
 we may inquire where, after all, we are. For we are come 
 strangers, to learn of citizens, and perform that which we shall 
 have heard. 
 
 Antigone. My woe-worn father, ffidipus, there are toAvers, 
 which impale^ a city, to judge by mine eye, at some distance. 
 
 ^ OTeyovciv. Rcsifj translates this orculinit, Hermann confincrJ, add- 
 ing, "quod qui ita dictum putant, ut tueri urbem turrcs significentur, 
 non ita absurd! sunt ; pracsertim quum vix dubitari possit, quin arx Athc- 
 narum sit intclligcnda. Certe -Eschylus sic Sept. ad Thcta> 803, dixisso 
 
IG— 42.] CEDIPUS COLONEUS. 55 
 
 But this spot here is consecrated, as one may certainly con- 
 clude, all full with the bay, the olive, the vine, while within 
 it dense flocks of winged nightingales are singing sweetly : 
 where bend thou thy limbs upon this unpolished stone, for 
 thou hast traveled onward a long way for an old man. 
 
 CEd. Seat me, then, and take care of the blind. 
 
 Ant. If but for long time's sake I need not learn this. 
 
 GCd. Canst thou nou^ instruct me Avhere we have halted? 
 
 Ant. That it is Athens at any rate I know, but the spot I 
 do not. 
 
 (li^i^. Why, tliis^ at least every wayfarer told us. 
 
 Ant. But shall I go somewhere and learn what place it is? 
 
 G^D. Yes, my child ; that is to say, if it be habitable. 
 
 Ant. Kay, it is actually inhabited. But I think there is 
 no need, for I see this man here close to us. 
 
 GiId, Yv'hat, walking hitherward and quick in motion? 
 
 Ant. Nay, now present indeed ; and Avhatever is seasonable 
 for thee to say, speak it, since here is the man. 
 
 Qi^D. Friend, hearing from this female, who uses sight 
 both on her own behalf and mine, that thou art come a guide 
 opportune for us to tell us that about which we are uncer- 
 tain — 
 
 CoLONEAN. Ere nov>^ thou question further, retire from this 
 thy resting-place ; for thou occupiest a spot whereon it is not 
 pious to set foot. 
 
 G2d. But what is the spot ? to which of the gods is it dedi- 
 cated? 
 
 Col. It is not to be touched nor dwelt in ; for the awful 
 goddesses possess it, daughters of Earth and Darkness. 
 
 CEd. '^V'hose august name might I, hearing it, worship in 
 prayer ? 
 
 Col. The all-seeing Eumenidie the people here at least 
 
 videtur artyet ci Trvpyor'" From the appearance of the Acropolis it might 
 be translated " crown ;" yet perhaps lleisigius is right, for Colonus is 
 north of Athens ; and up to the time of Theseus the greater part of the 
 city was built on the rock and to the south of it, as proved, says Thucyd- 
 ides, by the site of the most ancient temples at Athens. — Tr. Wundcr 
 follows Wakefield's conjecture, crtdovcnv. — B. 
 
 ^ " Why, this." Whether we look to the general arrangement of these 
 short dialogues, or to the more important point of propriety in the charac- 
 ters, we shall be equally convinced that this peevish rejoinder is rightly 
 asL-igned to GJdlpus. 
 
5G CEDIPUS COLOXEL-.S. [43—65. 
 
 would call them : but other names arc m other places in es- 
 teem. 
 
 CEi). But O that they would but kindly receive their sup- 
 pliant — then may I no more remove from my seat on this their 
 soil 
 
 Col. Nay, what is this ? 
 
 QEd. The watchword of my destiny. 
 
 Col. But I too lack boldness Avithout the city's warrant to 
 dislodae thee, at least ere I shall communicate to them what 
 I do.i 
 
 Q^^D. Now, for the love of heaven, stranger, disdain me not 
 a wanderer such as this, the boon I ask of thee, to tell me. 
 
 Col. Specify it, and thou shalt not find thyself repulsed in 
 scorn by me at least. 
 
 CKd. But what place is this, then, into which we have pro- 
 ceeded '? 
 
 Col. Thou shalt hear and be acquainted with the whole 
 amount of that which I knovr. This region is all hallowed ; 
 and the venerable Neptune possesses it ;^ there too is the fire- 
 wielding divinity, the Titan Prometheus : but for the place on 
 which thou steppest, it is titled tlie brazen-paved cau.-eway of 
 this land, defense of Athens ; but the neighboring lands claim 
 proudly this the knight Colonus as their chieftain, and all bear 
 liis name in common being thus desiirnated. Such is this ac- 
 count for thee, stranger, not renowned in story, but rather by 
 custom.3 
 
 CEd. '\Vhy, are there any dwellers in these said regions ? 
 
 Col. Ay, surely, even the bearers of this deity's name. 
 
 ^ ri dpuv is Hermann's reading, after Reisigius, which makes the 
 meaning much less obvious. 
 
 2 "its master." Pausanias speaks of altars in Colonus to equestrian 
 Minerva and Neptune, and mentions an altar to Prometheus in the 
 Academy, formerly a starting-place for those who contended in the game 
 Aa/j.7Ta67i6opla. The scholiast says that there were brazen mines at Co- 
 lonus. 
 
 ^ " not renowned in story, but rather among the neighborhood.'' 
 Brunck's idea is very dilTerent, " non fama magis quam ipso usu nota," 
 which, if it be adopted, the sentiment may be referred to Athens in gen- 
 eral ; which "//oj?/ ruiv vi'V uKoT^g Kpucciov ^c ~dpav tpxsTai..'' Thucyd. 
 2. — Tn. I have followed the schohast and Keisig. But since the stran- 
 ger pointed to the statue r.f Colonus near at hand, it is proDable that he 
 also ailudrs to the presenoj of tbc-ir chieftain among them, jnoi-ou must 
 of course be s'.jpplied witi rJ.vi.iq.. — B. 
 
G3— 93] (EDTPUS COLONEUS. 57 
 
 Q^D. Dogs any one sway them, or is the authority in the 
 people ? 
 
 Col. These parts ai-e governed by the king in the city. 
 
 G^D. But who is he pre-eminent both in right and power? 
 
 Col. His name is Theseus, ofi'spring of ^geus his prede- 
 cessor. 
 
 QiId. Would any one of you go to fetch him ? 
 
 Col. AVith a view to what, to speak to him, or induce him 
 to come?^ 
 
 CEd. That lending a little aid he may reap a great gain. 
 
 Col. And what ad^'antage can there be at the hands of a 
 sightless being ? 
 
 Q^iD. "Whatsoever words we shall speak, we shall speak them 
 all clear-sighted. 
 
 Col. Knowest thou,^ stranger, how in this case to guard 
 against failure ? since noble art thou, to another's eye, save in 
 thy condition. 'J arry here, even where thou hast appeared, 
 until I shall repair to the burghers of this place here, not those 
 in the city, and report to them all this ; for they at least will 
 determine whether it be fit for thee to remain, or go thy way 
 back aoain. 
 
 QCi). My child, has the stranger quitted us? 
 
 Ant. He has so, wherefore thou ma}'st utter every thing in 
 peace, my father, since I alone am by. 
 
 CEd. Ye reverend powers of dread aspect, forasmuch as I 
 have this day inclined me to the seats of you the first in this 
 country, be not ungracious to Phoebus and to me, v/ho spake 
 to me, when he foretold those numerous ills of mine, of this 
 respite in a long lapse of time, when I should arrive at the 
 boundary-land, v/here I should obtain a resting-place and hos- 
 pitable shelter from the venerable deities, that I should here 
 turn the goal of my wearisome existence, dwelling as a gain to 
 my hosts,"" but ruin to my dismissers, who thrust me forth : but 
 
 ^ " Frustra sunt conjecturs doctorum virorum, quas commcmoravit 
 Elmsleius. Nam sana est veterum librorum scriptura, quae sic est accipi- 
 enda : wf rrpug tl /xoTieip 71t,uv y KarapTvcuv;'''' — Herm. This seems 
 Bcarcely satisfactory. I think the participles should refer to Theseus in this 
 cense : "wherefore should he come, what bidding? what arranging?" — B. 
 
 ^ olcd' wf. This is a similar construction wilh olcO' wf Tzoiriaov. Q]d. 
 Tyr. 542, on w^hich see Hermann's note. 
 
 ■" Such is surely the simplest way of taking the words Kepfirj jlfv oIkt/- 
 cavra roig dedeyixivotg. lieisig and Wunder are not happy in theii defense 
 
 C2 
 
58 CEDIPTJS COLONEUS. [94—130. 
 
 that signs as pledges of these things should visit me, either 
 earthquake or some peal of thunder, or flash of Jove's light- 
 nino-. I am sure then that it can not be but that faithful 
 omen from you hath brought me home by this my present jour- 
 ney to this grove ; else liad I never, wending on my way, en- 
 countered you the first : I sober, you averse to wine ;^ nor had 
 I seated me on this hallowed unhewn seat. But grant me, ye 
 goddesses, according to the oracles of Apollo, at length some 
 accomplishment and final close of life, unless I seem to you too 
 debased for this, I perpetually a slave to hardships the extrem- 
 est man can bear. Com.e, ye sweet daughters of primeval 
 Darkness, come, thou Athens, of all cities the most esteemed, 
 assigned by fame to Pallas the mightiest, compassionate this 
 woe-begone phantom of a man in CEdipus ; for indeed this is 
 not my original frame. 
 
 Ant. Be silent, for there arc novv^ wending hither some 
 personages advanced in years, to take survey of thy resting- 
 place. 
 
 Gi)D. Yes, silent I ■\\aH be, and do thou guide my footsteps 
 secretly out of the road to within the grove, until I shall have 
 ascertained from these Avhat words they will utter, for in such 
 knowledse is centred wariness of action. 
 
 Chorus. Look out, who, I wonder, was he ? where abides 
 lie ? where is he, having hurried from this place, of all men, 
 ay, of all the most reckless ? Inquire for him, spy him out, 
 look for him every where.^ A vagrant, some vagrant is the 
 old man, and not a native, or he would never have trespassed 
 on the untrodden plantation of these invincible virgins, whom 
 w^e tremble to name, and pass by without a glance, without a 
 
 of the phrase oIksIv KepSj] — oIkt^giv oIkeIv Kepc^a/Jav, especially as KtpSrj 
 may be put for Kepda/Jur. Honnann reads oiKiaavra, whicli scorns 
 harsh. I can not help thinkinjr that ovplcavra is the true rcadinr^, 
 "wafting a gale of profit." Cf. GEd. Col. 695. aAvovaav nar' upduv 
 ovpioag. In .Esch. Pcrs. 602, I think ovpieiv rvxvc means, " to waft 
 a prosperous breeze," and that tvxtj^ is not to be taken with 6ai./uova. 
 Eurip. Andr. 610. a./.?.' ov tl ravrri cuv (^povrjii iTTOvpiaag. In Troch. 
 8127, we have KarovpKeiv intransitive. 
 
 ^ "you averse to wine." '• AVine vvas never used in the sacrifices of- 
 fered to the Furies. Hence the Chorus, in enjoining Oedipus to propi- 
 tiate the goddesses, expressly command him, /J7]6t TzpoaibtptLv fitdv, not 
 to present wine " — D.\le. 
 
 ^ " Inquire for him." Hermann reads Trpo^-evOov, ?.€vcct vtv, Trpoc- 
 drpKnv Tzavrax'/. 
 
131—167.] CEDIPUS COLONEUS. 59 
 
 sound, "without a word, uttering in silence the languuge of 
 reverential thouiiht alone, but whom now there is a tale that 
 one has come in no wise reverencing, whom I looking round 
 the whole sacred precincts can not learn where he can possi- 
 bly be staying. 
 
 QEd. Here am I, that man ; for by the voice I see, as is 
 the by-word. 1 
 
 Cii. Alas ! alas ! fearful to see, fearful to hear. 
 
 Q^D. Pray you look not on me as lavvdess. 
 
 Cii. Now Jove protect us! who can the old man be? 
 
 CKd. By no means one to congratulate on his fortunes beinsc 
 of the first order, ye guardians of this land. Nay, I evince it ; 
 for else I had not been creeping thus by light of eyes not mine 
 own, nor, bulky, been leaning on the slender.^ 
 
 Ch. Alas I alas! and wast thou blind of eyes from thy 
 birth, since thou art at least grown old in this wretched life, 
 methinks? But yet, if I for my part can help it, thou shalt 
 never add to them these curses: for thou trespassest, thou 
 trespassest ; but beware thou stray not into this silent grassy 
 grove, where the limpid basin flows blended with the gush of 
 honeyed draughts. Wherefore, all-helpless stranger, beware 
 thou well ; remove thee away. A long way separates us ;^ 
 dost hear, O woe-begone vranderer ? If thou wilt offer any 
 parley in conversation with me, having quitted the prohibited 
 
 ^ Cf ''Beaux Stratagem," Act i. sc. 1, "Yes, sir, Fm old Will. Boni- 
 face, pretty well known upon this road, as the saying is.'' — B. 
 
 ^ Reisig conjechires here e~L a/iiKpag, and quotes v. 750 (746-7, 
 Brunck). Hermann paraphrases the passage thus : " Sum ego profecto 
 infortunatissimus : aliter enim non ita alienorum ope oculorum venissem, 
 et exigui muneris causa, qui magnus atque insignis vir sum, hoc in portu 
 constitissem." The contrast CEdipus expresses (according to the trans- 
 lation) being to a general rule, there seems no impropriety in applying 
 ajj-LKpolg, as it stands, to Antigone. The allusion to his and his daugh- 
 ter's appearance is certainly most pathetic, and in the manner of Euripi- 
 des ; for the difference between these poets seems to have been, not in 
 their knowledge of the means, but their choice of the end. Here, accord- 
 ingly, for a transitory purpose, to move the pity of his hosts, CEdipus al- 
 ludes to his helpless condition of body ; his end carried, he opens loftier 
 viev.'s, and speaks to a loftier impulse, as in a nobler auditor. Euripidets 
 would have remained content with the first effect. 
 
 ^ ejj^TVcL. Hera:iann agrees with the scholiast in supposing these words 
 to indicate a fear on the part of the Chorus lest CEdipus should not hear 
 thein. 
 
60 CEDIPUS COLONEUS. [168—201. 
 
 precincts for a spot where all are permitted, then speak • but 
 before that refrain thee. 
 
 GijU. Daughter, to v\'hat o[)inion may one come? 
 
 Ant. My father, we needs must behave ourselves as the cit- 
 izens do, yielding where it needs, and obeying. 
 
 Q£d. No\v then take hold of me. 
 
 Ant. Even now I touch thee. 
 
 CEd. Strangers, let me not be -wTonged for trusting to thee,^ 
 in quitting my station. 
 
 Cii. Never fear that any one shall ever carry thee from 
 these abodes, old man, against thy consent. 
 
 Q^D. Forward, then? 
 
 Cir. Go farther on. 
 
 CEd. Still? 
 
 Cn. Lead him, damsel, farther on, for thou understandest 
 us. 
 
 Ant. Nay follow, follow me thus with unwary^ foot, my fa- 
 ther, by the way I am leading thee. 
 
 ******* 
 
 Cii. Resolve thee,^ poor sufferer, strange in a strange land, 
 to detest whatever the city holds by nature odious, and what 
 is welcome to it to respect. 
 
 Q^D. Do thou now, my child, lead me, that we may at 
 once, adopting a pious course, be partly speakers, partly list- 
 eners, and not war with necessity. 
 
 Ch. Plere, no farther move thy foot beyond this terrace firm 
 as rock. 
 
 CEd. Thus? 
 
 Cii. Enough, as thou hearest. 
 
 Q3d. Must I be seated here? 
 
 Cii. Yes, edgeways on the end of the stone, bending short. 
 
 Ant. My father, this is my duty, see thou quietly adjust thy 
 step by my step — 
 
 G^d. Ah me ! ah me ! 
 
 Ant. Leaning forward thine aged body on my friendly 
 hand. 
 
 ^ " to thee." Speaking to the CoryphsEUS now, to the Chorus before. 
 
 ^ It is better to take ujiuvpC) ic6/.(^ for "crcco'' with Wunder, than lor 
 "infirmo" with Brunck. Cf. Virg. ^^n. vi. 30, "caeca retrens filo vesti- 
 gia."_B. 
 
 ^ So in Latin, ^' Aude, hospes, conteninere opes." — B. 
 
203—233.} (EDIPUS COLONEUS. 61 
 
 GKd. V\''oe is me for my grievous calamity ! 
 
 Cii. Unfortunate, now that thou yieldest,^ tell us who of 
 men art thou ? "who art thou, who, thus rife of misery, art led 
 about ? What country should I learn by askino; to be thine ? 
 
 LEd. Strangers, I have no countiy, but do not — 
 
 Cii. Vrhat is this thou warnest me against, old man? 
 
 Ql>d. Do not, do not, do not ask me whom I am, nor exam- 
 ine me with farther question. 
 
 Ch. AVhat isthis? 
 
 CE,D. Horrible is my generation. 
 
 Cii. Speak it. 
 
 QKd. My child, oh me ! what am I to say ? 
 
 Cii. Tell as of what extraction thou art, O stranger, by the 
 father's side. 
 
 CEd. Oh, woe is me I what will become of me, mine o"\mi 
 child ? 
 
 Ant. Tell them, since thou art indeed come to the utmost 
 pass. 
 
 Q^D. Nay, I will tell it, for I have no means of concealing it. 
 
 Cii. Ye delay a Ions; while, but make haste. 
 
 QEd. Know ye any son of Laius? 
 
 Cii. o: oi'^O! ■' 
 
 Q^D. And the line of the Labdacidas ? 
 
 Ch. Great god ! 
 
 CEd. The lost CEdipus? 
 
 Ch. And art thou he? 
 
 CEd. Be not alarmed at what I say. 
 
 Ch. Alas!2 
 
 CEd. Ah, \\Tetched me ! 
 
 Cir. Alas! 
 
 G:] D. My daughter, what in the world will presently befall us ? 
 
 Cii. Get ve far away out of this land. 
 
 CKd. But how ^^'ilt thou make good that which thou prom- 
 isedst ? 
 
 Cii. Doomed vengeance visits no man for that in which he 
 has been the first outraged, to retaliate ; but one deceit match- 
 ed against other deceits requites the feeling of pain, not pleas- 
 ure. But do thou, again an outcast from these abodes, again 
 
 ^ Xa?MC, V. Hne 844. 
 
 * These three following lines have been made into one, and assio[ned to 
 the Chorus, by Hermann. — B. 
 
62 (EUIPUS COLONEUS. [234—276. 
 
 in bauishinont from this my land, hurry away, that thou at- 
 tach no I'arthcr trouble to my country. 
 
 Ant. O strangers! compassionate at heart, since ye can not 
 brook the presence of this my blind father, v\'hen ye hear the 
 confession of involuntary deeds, yet, I beseech you, strangers, 
 show i)ity to wretched me, Avho in behalf of my father alone 
 implore, implore you, looking in your eyes with eyes not sight- 
 less, as one that is clearly sprung from your blood, ^ that the 
 unfortunate may meet with respect : on you, as on a god, do 
 hapless we depend ; but com.e ye, accord the unlooked-for fa- 
 vor, I beseech thee by all that from thyself is dear to thee, be 
 it child, be it wife, be it pelf, or deity ; for thou couldst not, 
 wert thou to search, discover the mortal who, if a higher pow- 
 er led him on, could escape. 
 
 Ch. Nay, be sure, child of CEdipus, that we compassionate 
 him and thee equally on the score of your distress; but, trem- 
 bling for heaven's vengeance, we could not speak a word be- 
 yond what has now been said to thee. 
 
 Q.\.D. What profit is there, then, in glor}', or what in good 
 report that vainly glides away ? If men, forsooth, report that 
 Athens is most devout to heaven, that she alone is capable 
 of delivering the oppressed stranger, that she alone has power 
 to aid him, and yet to me where is all this? ye men Avho, 
 having moved me from these seats, are then for driving me 
 away, terrified at a mere name ? For surely it is not at my 
 person at least, nor yet m.y deeds, since, in good truth, my 
 deeds liave been suffered rather than done,^ if I am compelled 
 to speak to thee of my mother's and father's fate, on which 
 account ye are scared at me. This I know full well ; and 
 yet how am 1 by nature wicked, v/ho suficring retorted, so 
 that, had I done it in consciousness, I had not even thus been 
 reprobate? But now have I come to v/here I have come in 
 ignorance, but by those from whom I suffered, they well 
 knowing what they did, was I doomed to destruction. For 
 all v»hich things I entreat you by the gods, strangers, as ye 
 have raised me up, even so preserve me ; and do not, rev- 
 
 ^ Hermann here adopts tlic first explanation of the scholiast, (l>c (tv rig 
 KoivT/C «? 6p(j~6ri]Tog Ixovca ru cvyyeveg. Rcisig thinks the address is 
 made to the Chorus as to parents. 
 
 ^ Thus Lear : " I r.ni a man 
 
 More sinned against than sinning." 
 
277—304.] (EDIPUS COLO.XEUS. 63 
 
 erencing the gods, tliereupon make the gods of no account, 
 but believe that they look on the mortal who is pious, and 
 that they no less look on the impious, but that never yet has 
 tliere been escape of any man among men irreligious : with 
 whose arace^ do thou beware of obscuring' heaven-blest 
 Athens by truckling to unholy practices. But as thou hast 
 accepted the suppliant under thy pledge, rescue and preserve 
 me ; nor looking on my disfigured head, despise me. For I 
 am come, hallowed and pious, and bearing advantage to these 
 'thy fellow-townsmen. But when the sovereign, whoever he 
 be that is your chieftain, shall be present, then shall he hear 
 and know all ; but in the interim, by no means do thou 
 basely. 
 
 Cii. Much necessity is there to be awed at the sentiments 
 uttered by thee, old man ; for they have been specified in no 
 light words : but I am content that the princes of our land 
 take cofrnizance of these matters. 
 
 QCd. And where, strangers, is he that lords this your coun- 
 try? 
 
 Cii. He resides in the city his fathers held in our land ; but 
 the messenger who fetched.'^ m.e also hither is gone to bring 
 him. 
 
 GLd. And think ye that he will have any regard or care for 
 the blind, that he himself should come near me ? 
 
 Cii. A}', greatly so, at least when he shall hear what thy 
 name is. 
 
 QCd. But who is he that will tell him this? 
 
 Cii. Long is the way ; but many sayings of the wayfarers 
 are wont to circulate at random, which he hearing, be sure, 
 
 ^ ^vv olc, scil. Oeol^, according to Hermann. Elmsley thought ku/^vtzte, 
 used for Karaiaxwe. — Tr. So Aristoph. Plut. 114., ol[iaL ytip, oJjuai, civ 
 6cC} 6' dpi'/OETai. But Dindorf cleverly conjectures Tad' ovv {iiporCjv 
 being repeated from above) ^vvelg cv, which is received by A\'under. 
 With the whole reasoning v.e may compare Sextus Empir. adv. Phys. ix. 
 p. 551, speaking of Diagoras : ('uUKr/6eir VnO rcvog i~iopK7jcavrog Kal jur/Sh 
 h'EKa TovTov ncOovTog fieOrjCuocaro eig to /.eyeiv fiy eJvat 6c6v, where see 
 Fabriehis. Claudian in Rut. i. 21 — "jam non ad culmina rerum injustos 
 crevisse queror : toliuntur in altura. ut lapsu graviore ruant." Sec also 
 Blomf .Esch. Ag. 369, sqq.— B. 
 
 ^ Donaldson on Antig. 19, well remarks that TTefnreiv and its com- 
 pounds of; en mean to accompany a person, and thence to fetch them to 
 a place. — B. 
 
G4 CEDIPUS COLONEUS. [305—333. 
 
 will come ; for much, old man, does thy name spread among 
 all, so that even if he be slumbering at his leisure, hearing of 
 you he will come hitherward in haste. 
 
 Q^Id. But prosperous may he come both for his own country 
 and for me: for Avhat good man is not his own friend?^ 
 
 Ant. O Jove, what shall I say, whither turn my thoughts, 
 my father? 
 
 QCd. Kay, what is it, my child Antigone ? 
 
 AxT. I see a woman drawing nearer to us, mounted on an 
 ^'Etnean steed,- Vvhile on her head a Thessalian cap shielding 
 her from the sun encircles her countenance. What shall I 
 say ? Is it ? Is it not ? or do my senses wander ? I both 
 affirm it, and deny, and know not what to say. Ah unhappy ! 
 It is none" else ; with a bright glance she hails me by the eye 
 as she draws near, and gives proof that this is plainly Ismene 
 in person and none other. 
 
 G^^D. How saidst thou, my child ? 
 
 Ant. That I behold my child and my sister, but this mo- 
 ment thou mayest discover her by her voice. 
 
 Ismene. Oh double salutation of a father and a sister to me 
 most delightful, how, having hardly found you, can I in the 
 next place for sorrow hardly look upon you ! 
 
 CEd. My child, art thou come ? 
 
 Ism. Ah, father, distressful to look on ! 
 
 CEd. My child, and dost appear ?3 
 
 Ism. Ay, and not without trouble to me. 
 
 CFiD. Embrace me, my daughter. 
 
 Ism. I clasp you both together. 
 
 CEd. Ah ! .seed of a common stock! 
 
 Ism. O sadly -SATCtched family ! 
 
 (Ed. Meanest thou of her and me? 
 
 Ism. And of unfortunate me the third. 
 
 CEd. My child, but wherefore hast thou come? 
 
 Ism. From precaution on thy account, my sire. 
 
 G^D. From a lon<iinG^ to see me? 
 
 ' Qi]dipus says this in allusion both to himself and to Theseus. Simi- 
 larly the Psahnist, '• As long as thou doest good to thyself, men will 
 speak well of thcc."' 
 
 ^ For the excellence of the Sicilian horses, see Pindar's Odes to Hicro 
 of Syracuse, whom he calls founder of .Etna. 
 
 ' I need hardly observe that rri'^^rcf bears a present signification. — 13. 
 
333— 3G0.] CEDIPUS COLONEUS. Go 
 
 Ism. Yes, and for a message besides, myself the bearer, 
 with the only one of our domestics whom I had faithful to 
 me. 
 
 GilD. But the young men thy brethren, where were they 
 for the toil? 
 
 Is-Ai. They are where they are. Dire are their present 
 deeds. 
 
 CEi). O they in all things to the manners of Eg;y73t likened 
 in nature and in the breeding of life.^ For there the males 
 sit in-doors working at the loom, while their consorts always 
 are procuring the means of support raised out of doors ; but 
 they Avhose proper care it was to take this trouble off' your 
 hands, my daughters, are keeping house at home hke maidens, 
 while you in their room weary yourselves in relief of my 
 miseries, wretch that I am. One of you, from the moment 
 she left off" the nurture of a child, and acquired strength of 
 frame, perpetually, to her sad fortune, wandering with me, 
 is the old man's guide, many a time straying famished and 
 barefooted through the wild forest, and toihng, poor sufferer, 
 through many a storm and many a scorching sun's heat, she 
 holds but secondary the comforts of her residence at home, 
 if her father can be maintained. But thou, my child, hereto- 
 fore hast come forth Avithout the Thebans' privity, bringing 
 thy father all the prophecies which were divulged touching 
 this mortal mould, and stoodest up my trusty protectress when 
 I was being ejected from my country ; and now again what 
 tidings bringing to thy father comest thou, Ismene? what 
 movins: cause has roused thee from home ? For thou corniest 
 not empty-handed at least, this I well know, nor without con- 
 veying to me some alarm. 
 
 ' Diodorus Siculus (i. 27) thinks that the female ascendency prevalent 
 in Egypt arose from a wish to perpetuate the memory of Isis' beneficent 
 rei^n. The schoUast on Sophocles attributes the effeminacy of the 
 Egyptian males to a policy of Sesostris, similarly to that recommended by 
 Croesus to his conqueror. "Whatever cause produced the petticoat govern- 
 ment of that land, it has been sufficiently atoned for since by the degraded 
 condition of the women in Egypt for centuries past. One might conjec- 
 ture chess to have been invented on the banks of the Nile during the prev- 
 alence of the ancient manners, but for the higher claims of the Lydians 
 to inventions of the sort, who, moreover, if Omphale may be taken as a 
 specimen, w^ere much on a par with their southern neighbors in female 
 consequence. 
 
66 CEDIPUS COLONEUS. [361—393. 
 
 Is.M. The liardsliips I undenvent, my futlier, seeking for 
 thy abode, where thou wert inhabiting, I will pass by and 
 omit ; for I have no wish twice to be pained, both in the 
 suffering them and again anew in the recital. But the mis- 
 chiefs which liow environ thj two luckless sons, to signify 
 those to thee have I come. For erewhile their strono- desira 
 wss both to resign the throne to Creon, and not to pollute the 
 city, when they reasoned over the calamity of their birth of 
 old, how it had fallen on thy hapless house ; but now from 
 some one of the gods and from their wicked spirit there har? 
 arisen between them trebly wretched an evil feud, to seize 
 upon the sovereignty and kingly sway. And the younger and 
 inferior in time of birth deprives the elder born Pohiiices^ 
 of his throne, and has expelled him from his country. But 
 he, as is the prevailing rumor among us, having retired in 
 exile to the vale of Argos, is attaching to him both a new 
 connection and armed friends confederate ; as if Ar"-os were 
 tbrthwith either to surpass the Cadmeian plain in glory, or to 
 exalt it to hea,ven. This is no sort- of words, my father, but 
 fearful facts. Thy troubles, however, in v.diat v/ay the gods 
 will commiserate, I can not learn. 
 
 CEi). Why, hadst thou yet a hope that the gods v/ould take 
 any thought for me, that I might at length be saved ? 
 
 Ism. Yes, that have I, from the present oracles at least, my 
 fatlier. 
 
 (Ed. Of what nature these ? and what has been prophesied, 
 my child ? 
 
 Ism, That thou^ wilt one day be an object .of search to the 
 men of that land botli in death and life, for their ovm safety's 
 sake. 
 
 CEd. But who could derive any benefit from such a ono 
 as I? 
 
 Ism. 'Tis said that on thee depends their povrer. 
 
 CEd. AVhy, then, Avhen I no longer am, then it seems I am 
 a made man. 
 
 ^ Euripides, on the contrary, makes Eteocles the elder and is support- 
 ed by other writers. 
 
 ^ " sort," contemptuously : "ye shall be slain all the sort of you." 
 ' "That thou." Hermarm complains here of a want of jud'Tment in 
 fhe poet, in havinir excited liis hearers to the expectation of some nc.v 
 oracle, when about to produce nothing more tlian thry v.'crc ah-cady in- 
 fjrmeJ of by Oedipus 
 
394— 414.T> CEDIPUS COLONEUS. G7 
 
 Is3i. Yes, for now the gods stablish thee, before now they 
 cast thee doAvn. 
 
 QEd. Yet 'tis a paltry favor to set up in age one who in 
 youth has fallen. 
 
 Is3i. Be assured, however, that Creon, on account of these 
 things, will shortly come, and in no long time. 
 
 CEd. To do what, my daughter? tell me. 
 
 Ism. To place thee near the Cadmeian land, that they may 
 have thee in their power ; but thou mayest not enter the 
 boundaries of the land. 
 
 Q^2d. What aid is there from me Ivinir at their cates? 
 
 Is3i. Thy tomb, if deprived of just rites, threatens them 
 with danger.^ 
 
 G^D. Even without a god, any one might learn this at least 
 by his natural sense. 
 
 Ism. On account of tliis, therefore, do they wish to place 
 you near the land, not where you may be your own master. 
 
 GLb. Will they even enshroud me in the dust of Thebes? 
 
 Ism. Nay, the blood of kindred forbids you, O father. 
 
 Gi^D. Of me then sure they never shall obtain possession. 
 
 Ism. This therefore shall at some time be a heavy woe to 
 the sons of Cadmus. 
 
 CEd. By what circumstance arising, my child ? 
 
 IsM. By thy wrath,- Vvdien they shall stand at thy se- 
 pulchre. 
 
 QCd. But from whom hearing what you pronounce, do you 
 relate it, my child ? 
 
 Ism. From men sent to consult the gods, returning from the 
 Delpliic shrine. 
 
 (Ed. And has Phoebus declared these things to depend upon 
 me? 
 
 ^ R,ecte 6v(jTvx<^v, quod justis Jionorihus carens signiucaro viJetur. 
 Tali sepulturae ne traderetur CEdipus, mutuebant Thebani ab oraculo 
 moniti, nee tamen eum in patria sepelire volebant. Hoc coiislat c v. 407. 
 Ehnslpv. — Tr. Oil the misery of sepulture in a foreign land, of. .Esch. 
 Ch. 913. Virg. ^En. i. 94, sqq.— B. 
 
 2 An allusion is made to the invasion of Attica by the Thebans ; and 
 victory is of course promised to the Athenians. The whole of this play, 
 indeed, abounds with instances of flattery and similar presages of triumph. 
 The poet knew his countrymen : no people in the world were ever more 
 easily captivated with praise, when it was bestowed upon them univer- 
 sally ; or more credulous of caluniuy, when it attached to an individual. 
 
68 (EDIPUS COLONEUS. [415—444 
 
 Ism. So tliey say, who have come to the plain of Thcbe.^ 
 
 GCd. AVliieh then of my sons heard this? 
 
 Ism. Both ahke, indeed ; and well do they fully know it. 
 
 Ql)d. And yet did these basest wretches, when they heard 
 this, place the kingly power before the regret of me ? 
 
 Ism. I grieve to liear the intelligence ; but still I liear it. 
 
 Qi^D. But may the gods never quench to them this fated 
 strife ;- and with me may the issue rest concerning this com- 
 bat in which they now engage, and uplift the spear ; so should 
 neither he who now holds the sceptre and throne remain, 
 nor he who has gone forth ever return airain to the citv. 
 They, at least, neither retained nor defended me, their pa- 
 rent, thus with loss of honors driven out of the country ; 
 but expelled I was sent away by them, and was proclaimed 
 forth an exile. You may say that the city then reasonably 
 vouchsafed this gift to my wishes. No, in truth ; since on 
 that very day, when my spirit boiled, and it was sweetest to 
 me to die, and to be stoned with stones, no one appeared to 
 gratify this desire ; but when, after a lapse of time, all my 
 griefs were now mellowed, and I had learned that my anger 
 had rushed forth too severe an avenger of my former sins, 
 then at length, after long stay, the state indeed drove me by 
 force from the land ; but they, offspring of a father, and able 
 to aid a father, were unwilling to do it ; and for want of a 
 small word,^ I wandered abroad an exile and a bengar. Bu*. 
 
 ^ When the noun is in the sintjular, it must be understood as meanin2 
 the nymph Thebe, and is thus most poetically and correctly rendered. 
 
 ^ The curses which CEdipus imprecates on his sons throughout this 
 play are bitter and strong, and, perhaps we might add, unnatural. He is 
 what Dr. Johnson w^ould have called " a good hater ;" stern and im- 
 placable, he seldom or never forgets his wrongs, and seems to feel, like 
 Lear, 
 
 " How sharper tlian a serpent's tooth it is 
 To have a thankless child." 
 
 The cause of this may perhaps be found in the ingratitude with which 
 Sophocles was treated by his own children. ^V'e are told by Cicero that 
 this very play was written at the time that his sons presented a petition 
 to court to have him removed from the manajjement of his own ailairs on 
 account of idiocy. The poet's whole defense consisted in readin""- this 
 splendid production ; and he was not only acquitted of the charge, but 
 applauded to the skies. Happy the poet that lived among such a people, 
 and happy the people that could boast of such a poet ! 
 
 ' That is, for want of a small word spoken by his sons in hia defense 
 
445-_474.] CEDIPUS COLONEUS. 69 
 
 fi'oui these two, who arc virgins, as far as their nature permits 
 tiieiii, 1 receive both tiie sustenance ot'Ufe, and security on the 
 earth, and the offices of kindred. Tiiose, in preference to a 
 father, choose to sway thrones and sceptres, and to lord it o'er 
 the land ; but neither at all shall they gain me as an ally, nor 
 shall ever any enjoyment of tiie empire of Cadmus come to 
 them. This I know, both hearing the oracles from this girl, 
 and also reflecting upon the ancient predictions, which Phoe- 
 bus erst accomplished unto me in mine own person. ^ There- 
 fore, let them botli send Creon to search me out, and whoso- 
 ever else is powerful in the state ; for if you, O strangers, are 
 "willino- to defend me, alonn; ^^'itll these awfnl fjoddesses, who 
 preside o'er your people, you will procure a mighty savior to 
 this city, and troubles to my enemies. 
 
 Cii. Thou art indeed worthy, CEdipus, of pity, both your- 
 self and these thy daughters ; but since you introduce yourself 
 in these w^ords as the savior of this land, I wish to recommend 
 to you what is expedient. 
 
 CEd. O dearest, interpret it to me, as now about to perform 
 eveiy tiling. 
 
 Cii. Institute now an expiation to those divinities to whom 
 you first came, and whose'^ plain you have trodden. 
 
 G^D. In what modes ? O strangers, instruct me. 
 
 Cii. First bring sacred libations from the ever-flowing fount, 
 touching them with holy hands. 
 
 CEd. And when I have taken the pure stream ? 
 
 Ch. There are cups, work of a skillful artificer, the heads 
 and double handles of which do thou crown. 
 
 CEd. With boughs or threads, or in Avhat way ? 
 
 In this interpretation I follow Brunck. Others take iTrog in the meaning 
 it soaietimes bears of rrpuyfia, res, and translate it " on account of a 
 small crime." Granting the sins of CEdipus to have beeen involuntary, 
 it v.'ould scarcely, however, be decent to make him talk of patricide and 
 incest as such triflincj matters. 
 
 ^ Whatever be the ditliculties of this difncult passage, the translator to- 
 tally mistook '/jVVGEV when he rendered it "communicated." Wunder 
 objects to the common reading, and adopts the conjecture of Heath, re 
 Ta^ tjiov. Hermann construes the words thus : rd re ufiot ^oljSog t^ 
 ifiov Tzore yv. rrcA. " id ego scio et hujus audiens oracula, quum reputo, et 
 per me quas Phoebus olim antiquas dictiones effectum dedit," which, in ab- 
 sence of something better. I have followed. Perhaps, however, e[j.ov is re- 
 peated from the second line below, and has displaced the right word. — B. 
 
 - But see Wunder. — B. 
 
70 CEDIPUS COLONEUS. [475—485. 
 
 Cii. ^Vrcatliing thcni Avilh the iiew-boni avooI of a young 
 lamb. 
 
 CEd, Y\'ell ; but as to what remains, -where is it fitting that 
 I should accomplish it ? 
 
 Cii. To pour the libations, turning to the rising m.om.^ 
 
 QCd. Shall I pour them from these urns you speak of? 
 
 Cii. Three streams, at least ; but the last entire. 
 
 Q^D. With what, having filled this, shall I oflter it? Teach 
 me also this. 
 
 Cii. With water and with honey. Add no v,ine. 
 
 Gl.d. And when the earth with its dark verdure shall have 
 drunk these ? 
 
 Cii. Placing in it thrice nine boughs of olive, with both, 
 hands, utter over them these prayers. 
 
 QEd. These I wish to hear, for they are of the greatest con- 
 sequence. 
 
 ^ The practice of turning to the sun on solemn occasions, or even ad- 
 dressing him as he rose, was a common superstition among the ancients. 
 It is not exactly known wliat was the purport of this form, but it prob- 
 ably originated in the religious grandeur of the scene, and the emotions 
 excited in the breast of the votary by the visible presence of the god. 
 Clytemnestra, in the Elcclra, goes forth to tell her alarming dream to the 
 rising sun : 
 
 ToLavra rov irapovrv^, r/vcx' 'HAiw 
 deiKvvGC Tovvap, i:K?.vov i^j]jov/j.evov. 
 
 Cratinus also mentions it as a religious ceremony : 
 
 "Aye di) irpug eo) TrpuTov uttuvtuv tarco, 
 Kal AajiiiuvE X^P^'- 2;i;Zx'oy [1£yu7.i]v. 
 
 And in the Necyomantia of Lucian, we are told by Menippus that, pre- 
 paratory to his descent to Hades, Mithrobarzanes the Chaldean conduct- 
 ed him at daybreak to the banks of the Euphrates, Trpyf dvaTt}i7\,ovTa rov 
 ri7uov, pyclv riva jianpuv irciMyuv. — Tr. So after a dream in Statius, 
 Thcb. ix. GOl, 
 
 "Ergo, ut inane nefas merso trr crive piavit, 
 
 Verbaque soUicitas matrum solantia curas, 
 
 Addidit, arniataj ruit ad delubra Dianae. 
 
 Ivorc sub Eoo — " 
 
 So in Xcnoph. Cyrop. vii. s. 3, Cyrus orders the camps to be pitched, 
 irpug £<J jS'/itTTOvaav . Achilles Tat. Isag. Aral. (^ i. ^c(poi;/.7/g (5e Eig 
 'Arpta T7/V tvpeoiv uva(^tpet, ?Jjo)V • Tziig TrpogKVvn t't tIv orptfovra 
 kvk'Aov t/?uov. Hence the sun is frequently invoked as a witness, Apul. 
 Mctam. i. p. 3, and the apparition of the sun in a dream v. as a prosperous 
 omen, Libanius, t. ii. Orat. xi. p. 344. Thus also Ptolemy Philopater, 
 after a victory, turned the eleph.ants to the smi. {hoi ihcv mifflit ciTcr 
 their supposed adoration. ^Elian. Hist. An. vii. 44. — B 
 
488—511] ■ CEDIPUS COLONEUS. 71 
 
 Cii. As we c;ill llicm the benevolent goddesses, that they 
 may thus with benevolent hearts receive their suppliant in 
 salet}-, do you yourself implore ; or, if there is any other in 
 your phice, speaking inaudible V\'ords, nor making the voice 
 heard afar. Tlien slow depart, without turning back. "When 
 you have done these things, I with confidence would stand 
 l)}^ you ; but otherwise, O stranger, I should fear concerning 
 you. 
 
 CEd. O my daughters, do you hear these stranger-dwellers 
 in this land ? 
 
 A>:t. Wc have heard ; and do you command what is fitting 
 to do. 
 
 CEd. By me the way may not be trodden ; for I am defi- 
 cient in the want of power and in the want of sight — two evils : 
 but let one of you, going, perform these things ; for I am of 
 opinion that one soul, if it be present with kindly feeling, will 
 suffice in place often thousand in working this expiation. But 
 Avith speed do ye something ; only leave not me alone, for my 
 body would not be able to craAvl on unassisted, nor at least 
 without a guide. 
 
 Is?.i. I go to perform it ; but the place where I shall fir. 1 the 
 requisites, this I wish to learn. 
 
 Cii. In that part of this grove, O stranger maid ; and if you 
 have need of any thing, there is a dweller in the place who will 
 inform vou. 
 
 Is:.i. I will then, if you please, go for this purpose ; but 
 do thou, Antigone, here watch cur father ; for if any one 
 toil for a parent, it is not fitting to bear remembrance of the 
 toiili 
 
 Cii. It is dreadful indeed, O stranger, again to awaken a 
 grief that has already long slumbered, yet still I long to in- 
 
 1^ 
 
 C'mre." 
 
 ^ This v/cre a fine sentiment if it came from any lips but those of the 
 selfish and unamiable Israene. She can r.ct do the most trifling piece of 
 service to her father without makino- a fuss about it, and taking credit to 
 herself for her exertions. 
 
 " If the Chorus had been possessed of a common share of delicacy or 
 politeness, they v/ould have restrained their longings, especially as they 
 seem already to have been sufllcicntiy acquainted wich the revolting sub- 
 ject. There was an awkward pause, however, occasioned by the departure 
 cf Ismer.c ; and tlicy thour-ht, perhaps, this conversation more dir;i:if:cd 
 than a diccoursc on the state cf the weather or any other vulgar topic. 
 
72 CEDIPUS COLONEUS. [512— 53G. 
 
 (Ed. What is this? 
 
 Cii. Concerning that sorro^v which has arisen, wretched and 
 extricablc, in which you are situated. 
 
 QOd. Do not, kind friend,^ by thine hospitaUty, lay open ab- 
 horred deeds. 
 
 Cji. I wish, stranger, to hear correctly that report which has 
 spread far, and nowhere yet ceased. 
 
 ODd. AVoe is me ! 
 
 Cii. Acquiesce, I beseech thee. 
 
 Gi^D. Alas ! alas ! 
 
 Cii. Obey nie, and I also [will obey you] as far as you re- 
 quire. 
 
 CEd. I have endured, O strangers, the worst of ills; I have 
 endured them unwillingly, heaven knows ; and of these nought 
 was of my own choice.'-^ 
 
 Cii. But to what are they to be ascribed ? 
 
 QCd. The state bound me, all ignorant, in an evil union, in 
 the accursed bane of Avedlock. 
 
 Cii. Didst thou with thy mother, as I hear, fill a bed that 
 is horrible to name ? 
 
 CBd. Oh me ! these things, stranger, are death to hear ; but 
 these two from me — 
 
 Cii. Plow sayest thou ? 
 
 GiId. Daugliters, yet twin curses — ^ 
 
 Cii. O Jove ! 
 
 CEi). Sprung from the throes of a common mother. 
 
 Cii. And are they then thy daughters ? 
 
 CEd. And also their father's sisters, of one blood. 
 
 Cii. Woe! 
 
 ^ TTt-ov is the elegant emendation of Bothe, approved by Dind. and 
 Wunder. — B. 
 
 ^ On the metrical and grammatical corruptions of these verses, see 
 AVunder. — B. 
 
 ^ Vulgo Traldec 6vo (V urac. Id Heathius vcrti jussit, filii vcro duo 
 nox(Z. Quern Elmsleius miratur non vidisse filias Traldag, filios autem 
 Lira ab Q^dipo nominari. Ego utrun^squc miror. Nihil cnim istis inter- 
 pretalionibus lingi invenustius potest. FiUorum nuUa hie mentio. Ha:, 
 inquit, ex mc natce sunt /dice quidcm ducc, scd ducB noxce. Nempe ct ipsE3 
 labcm originis gcrunt, et patri, qui gcnuit, opprobria sunt. Ita haec etiam 
 Brunckium intcllcxisse ])Uto. llau^e recte dedit Elmsleius, pariterque, 
 quod nonnulli libri habcnt, ura. — Hermann. 
 
637-553. J CEDIPUS COLONEUS. 73 
 
 Q^D. ^Voe indeed! returns of ills unnumbered!^ I have 
 su acred tliinfjs to be borne without oblivion. 
 
 Cii. Thou hast done. 
 
 O^D. I have not done. 
 
 Cii. How, pray? 
 
 Q^D. I received a ^dft, which, would that I, wretched, had 
 never merited to win from the state. 
 
 Cii. Unhappy man ; what then ? thou didst commit the 
 murder. 
 
 Q^D. What is this? and Avhat dost thou wish to learn? 
 
 Cii. Of a father? 
 
 Q^D. Alas ! thou hast inflicted sickening giief on grief. 
 
 Cii. Thou didst slay. 
 
 CEd. I slew, but I have — 
 
 Cii. AVhat? 
 
 CEd. Somewhat to justify me. 
 
 Cii. How? 
 
 OiiD. I v.'ill tell ; for I both slew and destroyed unwittingly, 
 and innocent by law, and ignorant, I did the deed. 
 
 Ch. But hither comes the king, tlie son of .^Igeus, The- 
 seus, according to }-our request, for the things for which he 
 was sent. 2 
 
 Theseus.-^ Loarnin2; from manv, both in former time, the 
 bloody destruction of your eyes, have I recognized you, O son 
 of Laius ; and nov/ on my vray hith-cr hearing of you, I the 
 more fully know you ; for both your garb and your Avretched 
 head show us who you are : and pitying you, unhappy G{ldi- 
 pus, I wish to ask you, what supplication having to me or to 
 
 ^ 'Eiriarpopat KaKuv, vortices maloriim. — Musgr. Scholiastes avva- 
 OpoloEig. Winsemius aimuli, Brunckius rcciprocationes, Reisigius vicis- 
 sitiidines. Tain multas signiticationes habct eTtiarpocp?}, quarum vix ulla 
 ab hoc loco prorsus aliena est, ut optimam eligere difficillimura sit. 
 Ehrisley. — Tr. I follow Liddell. See Lex. Gr. emarpocpr'j. — B. 
 
 - This is according to Dindorf s emendation c<p' ugtu/i] for uTrearuAr]. 
 Ke aptly compares Eurip. Bacch. 454 : ed' oTrep elg Q7j(iag Trdpec. The 
 sense is, he is here according to ^our request, in order to do that for 
 which his presence vras required. — B. 
 
 •^ The character of Theseus is represented in a way that must have been 
 highly agreeable to the descendants of the people he ruled. He is full 
 of the most dignified and moral centiments, and displaj^s l;is generosity 
 and pity in a very interesting manner. It might appear hypercritical to 
 mention our only objection, that he is, perhaps, rather stilf, and not suffi- 
 ciently spirited and ticry for the boldest hero of chivalrous antiquity. 
 
74 CEDIPUS COLOXEUS. [559—587. 
 
 the state, liave you come, both you yourself, and she, the ha[>- 
 less maiden by your side i Inibrm me ; it would be a dread- 
 ful task you must mention, from v.diic'h I would shrink ; since 
 I myself at least know how a stranger, like you, I was reared 
 abroad, and how in man's estate I struiriiled with the neatest 
 number of dangers in my own person, in the land of strangers. 
 From no one, therefore, who was a stranger, as you are now, 
 would I turn away, so as not to assist in saving him ;^ for I 
 liave known that I am a man, and that to me there is no more 
 share in to-morrow's day than to you, 
 
 QLd. Theseus, your generous spirit has displayed itself in a 
 few words, so as to require me to say little ; for you have de- 
 claimed who I am, and from what father sprung, and from what 
 land I came ; so that nothing more remains to me than to say 
 what I seek, and the tale is sped. 
 
 Tii. This very thing now teach me, in order that I may 
 fully learn it. 
 
 QCd. I come to bestovv^ on you, as a gift, this my wa-etched 
 body, not goodly to the sight ; but the advantages to be de- 
 rived from it are of greater consequence than a fair form.^ 
 
 Th. And what good do you, coming, claim to bring? 
 
 (Ed. In time you may learn it, not at ail at present. 
 
 Tii. V\liy, in what time will your gift be made manifest ? 
 
 GiId. When I die, and you shall become my burier. 
 
 Tii. You ask the last offices of life ; but the things inter- 
 mediate you have either forgotten or hold in no account. 
 
 Qi)D. For there these are concentrated to me.^ 
 
 Tii. But in a trifle you ask this favor of me. 
 
 CBd. Look to it, however : this contest is not trifling ; no, 
 by no means. 
 
 ^ Virgil had this passage in view in his speech of Dido to ^Eneas : 
 
 " Me quoquc per niultos similis fortuna labores 
 Jactatam, hac demum voluit consistere terra. 
 Non ignara mail, njiseris succurrcre disco." 
 
 ' King Henry the Eighth, Act iv. sc. 2, 
 
 " O Either abbot, 
 An old man, broken with the storms of state, 
 Is come to lay his weary bones among ye ; 
 Give him a little earth for charity !"' — 1^. 
 
 ^ " In hoc enim uno (/. c, si meam scpulturain curaveris), reliqua ilia 
 continentur.'' — Musgravc. 
 
588—615] CEDIPUS COLONEUS. 75 
 
 Tir. Whether do you speak of the affairs of your chikU'en, 
 or of me ? 
 
 CEd. They avguM compel me to repair thither. 
 
 Tii. But if they at least wish it, it is not creditable to you 
 to fly. 
 
 CEd, But they, Avhen I myself wished [to remain], did not 
 permit me. 
 
 Tii. O foolish man, anger in misfortune is not good. 
 
 CEi>. When you have heard me, school me ; but at present 
 bear with me. 
 
 Til. Instruct me, for Avitliout judgment it does not befit me 
 to speak. 
 
 (-Ed. I have suffered, O Theseus, dreadful ills on ills. 
 
 Tii. Will you speak of the ancient calamity of your race ? 
 
 (Ed. No, in truth, since every one of the Greeks at least 
 talks of this. 
 
 Til. For with what ill beyond the lot of man are you af> 
 flicted 1 
 
 (Ed. Thus it is v^ith me : I was driven from my land by 
 my own seed ; and it is never permitted to me, as being the 
 slayer of a father, to return again. 
 
 Til. Plow, in truth, should they send for you, so as to live 
 anart ? ^ 
 
 CEd. The words of heaven compel them. 
 
 Tii. Dreading wliat suffering from oracles? 
 
 (Ed. That it is fated that they should fall by the stroke in 
 this land.^ 
 
 Tii. And how should my interest and theirs becom.e hostile ? 
 
 Q'Id. O dearest son of yEgeus, to the gods alone old age be- 
 longs not, nor indeed ever to die ; but every thing else does 
 all-powerful time confound. The vigor of the earth indeed 
 decays, and the vigor of the body decays ; faith dies, and false- 
 hood springs up ; and the same gale hath never at all blown, 
 neither to friends among men, nor to state toward state. For 
 to some indeed already, and to others in after time, the things 
 that are sweet become bitter, and again friendly. And nov/ 
 
 1 Miratur Theseus, qiiomocio rovocent ffidipum Thebaivl ita, ut iile ta- 
 nipii propter parricidiuni non ingrcdiatur fines ecrum. — Hermann. 
 
 ^ GEuipus, more than once in this play, i.'3 not quite correct as to the 
 pLicc where he denounces the fall of his sons ; but poets must be allowed 
 siiiie license, crA prophets some mystery. 
 
76 CEDIPUS COLONEUS. [61G— G47. 
 
 if every tiling is prosperously tranquil to Thebes with you, 
 infinite time will, in his course, beget an infinite number of 
 (lays and nights, in Avhich, from an insignificant cause, they 
 will dissolve with the spear tlieir present harmony of plighted 
 right hands in that place wherci ^^^y sleeping and ensepul- 
 chred corpse, long cold, shall drink their warm blood, if Jove 
 be still Jove, and Phcebus son of Jove be true. But as it is 
 not pleasant to utter words that should be undisturbed, ^ per- 
 mit me to go on in the way I have begun, only preserving your 
 own faith, and you sliall never say that you received Q^dipus 
 an unprofitable inhabitant of these places here, if the gods do 
 not deceive me. 
 
 Cii. O king, even before hath this man shown himself as 
 about to consummate these, and such as these promises to this 
 land. 
 
 Tii. Who, in truth, would reject the kindliness of a man 
 like this, to whom, in the first place, there is ever with us the 
 common altar of our friendship of the spear? And next com- 
 ing a suppliant of the goddesses, he pays no small tribute to 
 this land and to me ; Avhich things revering, I will never cast 
 away the favor of this man ; but, on the contrary, will give 
 him a seat in the land. But if it is agreeable to the stranger 
 to remain here, I will appoint thee to Avatch him ;3 or if it h 
 agreeable to go along with me, I will grant you, O Gildipus, de- 
 ciding on one of these, to avail yourself of it ; for in that way 
 I will coincide with you. 
 
 GiId. O Jove, mayest thou bestoAA^ thy blessings on such men 
 as these ! 
 
 Tii. "What then do you wish? to go to my palace? 
 
 Qi.1). [I would] if at least it were lawful to me ; but tliis 
 here is the spot — 
 
 Tn. In which you will do what? for I will not oppose 
 
 you. 
 
 G^D. In which I will conquer those who cast mc out. 
 Til. You would boast a great gift of your residence here. 
 
 ^ Heath, Ehiislc}-, and Hermann translate Iva in co loco ubi. Schsefer 
 alone considers it as denoting time, and not place. 
 
 ^ TaKtvrjT' Itzt] h taken hy some in the way I have given it, as words 
 of awful sanctity ; by others, as meaning the lixcd and unalterable or- 
 acles. 
 
 ^ Addrcssuig this injuncliou to the Chorus. 
 
648— G73.J GEDIPUS COLONEUS. 77 
 
 Q^D. If, while I accomplish it, there remain o you at least 
 those things you promise. 
 
 Tn. Be confident as to my part, at least I will never be- 
 tray you. 
 
 GhD, I will not indeed pledge you, like a wicked man, by an 
 
 oath. 
 
 Tii. You would, gain nothing fiu^ther at least than by my 
 word. 
 
 Q^D. How then will you act ? 
 
 Tii. Of what does the fear principally possess you ? 
 
 Q{1d. Men will come. 
 
 Tii. But to these it will be a care. 
 
 CEd. Take heed leaving me. 
 
 "i'li. Do not teach me what it befits me to do. 
 
 (Ed. There is need to one who fears. 
 
 Tii. My heart does not fear. 
 
 (Ed. You know not the threats. 
 
 Tii. I know that no man shall carry you hence against my 
 will. Many threats menace many vain words in their rage, 
 but when the mind returns to itself, the threats are vanished. 
 And to them, even though there has been courage given to say 
 terrible things about taking you away, I know that the sea^ 
 hitlier will appear long, and not to be sailed. I therefore bid 
 you be confident, even without my care, if Phoebus conducted 
 you ; and still, though I be not present, I know that my name 
 will protect you from suffering ill. 
 
 Chorus. Thou hast come, O stranger, to the seats of this 
 land,"^ renowned for the steed ; to seats the fairest on earth, 
 the chalky Colonus ;^ where the vocal nightingale, chief 
 abounding, trills her plaintive note in the green dells, tenant- 
 
 ' i. e., the attempt will appear a difHcult one. Such proverbs and 
 phrases are constantly used when great extent or difficulty is spoken of. 
 — B. 
 
 2 I have endeavored to avoid the unpleasant pleonasm Vvhich deforms 
 the opening of this beautiful chorus. I must, however, inform my read- 
 ers that it were perhaps more correctly rendered, '' Thou hast come, O 
 stranger, to the best seats of the land of this earth." Elmsley alone, of 
 the editors of this play, has sanctioned the construction adopted above. 
 
 ^ This is often translated, by way of being gay, " the silvery Colonus." 
 Bi^-.siJos that the epithet is rather unmeaning, it is very bad taste to tako 
 any iiherties which violate the locaUty of the scene, and destroy the nat- 
 ural picture to the eye. 
 
78 CEDIPUS COLOXEUS. [G71— 713. 
 
 ing the diirk-hucd ivy and tlic leafy gi'ove of the god, un- 
 trodden, teeiiiing v/ith Iriiit^^, impervious to the sun,^ and 
 unshaken by the vv^inds of every storm ; Avhere Bacchus the 
 reveler ever roams attending his divine nurses.^ And ever 
 day by day the narcissus, with its beauteous clusters, bursts 
 into bloom by heaven's dew, the ancient coronet of" the 
 mighty goddesses, and the saffron with golden ray; nor do 
 the sleepless founts^ of Cephisus that wander through the 
 fields fail, but ever each day it rushes o'er the plains with its 
 limpid v/ave, fertilizing the bosom of the earth ; nor have the 
 choirs of the muses loathed this clime ; nor ^^enus, too, of 
 the golden reign. And there is a tree such as I hear not to 
 have ever sprung in the land of Asia, nor in the mighty 
 Doric island of Pelops, a tree unplanted by hand, of sponta- 
 neous grovv^th, terror of the hostile spear,^ which flourishes 
 chiefly in this region, the leaf of the pale gray olive that 
 nourishes our young. This shall neither any one in youth^ 
 nor in old age, marking for destruction, and having laid it 
 waste with his hand, brins; to nouaht ; for the eye that never 
 closes of Morian^ Jove regards it, and the blue-eyed Minerva. 
 And I have otlier praise for this mother-city to tell, the 
 noblest gift of the mighty divinity, the highest vaunt, that 
 she is the great of chivalry, renowned for the steed and 
 famous on the main ; for thou, O sovereign Neptune, son of 
 
 ^ Lucan, Phars. iii. 399, " Lucus erat longo nunquam violatus ab sevo, 
 Obscurum cingens connexis aera ramis, Et gelidas alte summatls Solibus 
 umbras.'' — B. 
 
 - The nymphs ofNyssa received the infant Bacchus after the death of 
 Semelc, and nursed him amid the mouHtains. There arc frequent allu- 
 sions to this circumstance to be found in the poets. Thus Eurip. Cyclop. 4. 
 
 fsvucpag opelar cic/uttcov o)Xov -rpo^ovg. 
 
 Hyginus, Astron. Poet. lib. ii. 17. — " Liberum patrem — ut rcdJercnt nu- 
 tricibus nymphis." 
 
 ^ Sophocles here avails himself of the poetical license, at least if v%e 
 may give credit in preference to the accurate Strabo : 6 /Jtr K7]QiacGr — 
 ^£i/j.ufjf)cj6>/r TO rr'Atov, Otpovg 6c /ueiovrat reAtur. — Tu. But sec Brunck. 
 — B. 
 
 ■^ Even the LacedaDmonians, in their ravages of Attica, spared this con- 
 secrated tree. 
 
 * i. c, neither Xerxes nor Archidamus. Sec Hcrodot. viii. 55, and Rci- 
 Big's note. — B. 
 
 * Sec Rcisig. — B. 
 
714—748.] CEDIFUS COLONEL'S. 79 
 
 Saturn, lir.st raifeed her to this gloiy, having first, in these 
 iields, Ibunded the bit to tame the horse ; and the well-rowed 
 boat da^^hcd forth by the hand, bounds marvelouslj through 
 the brine, tracking on the hujidred-footcd^ daughters of Ke- 
 rens. 
 
 Ant, O plain, highest commended with praises, now it is 
 fitting for you to make manifest these brilliant eulogies. 
 
 CEd. And Avhat new event is there, my child ? 
 
 Ant. Creon here, O father, approaches near us, not with- 
 out attendants. 
 
 OSi). Dearest old men, from you row already may the goal 
 of safety appear to me. 
 
 Cii. Be confident, the safety shall be present ; for though 
 I am an old man, the strenijth of this land hath not crown 
 old. 
 
 Ckeox. Ye men, illustrious inhabitants of this soil,^ 1 per- 
 ceive from your eyes that you have felt some sudden fear at 
 my approach, wliom do ye neither fear, nor assail mth evil 
 word ; for I come not as wishing to do any thing, since I 
 indeed am an old man, and I know that I come to a city 
 which, if any other in Greece, is mighty in power. But I, of 
 such an age, was sent to persuade this man to follow me to 
 the Cadmeian plain, not from the bidding of one, but charged 
 by all the citizens, since it appertains by affinity to me, most 
 of all the citv, to mourn the sutierings of this man. But. O 
 wretched CEdipus, listening to me, return home : all the 
 people of Cadmus justly invite you, and of these I most of all, 
 inasmuch as, if I vrere not by nature the basest of men, I 
 crieve more over your misfortunes, seeing you unhappy, 
 beino; indeed a strancer, and ever a wanderer, and with 
 the aid of a single attendant, going in want of life's sub- 
 sistence : vrhom I, Tv'retched, never thought v/ould have fallen 
 
 ^ This does not imply that each of the daughters had a hundred feet, 
 but that, being fifty in number, they mustered, at the usual allowance cf 
 two apiece, this quantity altogether. The conceit is silly, mean, and un- 
 v>orthy of the poet. — Te. But see Wunder. — B. 
 
 2 Brunck has much improved the text here by substituting iyyeieJg for 
 the old reading evyei'elg. The epithet is used with much address by the 
 insidious Creon ; for there was no point on which the Athenians loved 
 more to be complimented than on being yrjyevelq or airoxGove^, the ab- 
 ori:Tir!al iidiabitants cf the soil. — Tr.. But surely cvyevel^ comes to the 
 Ga.:i;c tliin-il— B. 
 
80 CEDIPL.S (;OLONEi:S. [749—792. 
 
 into fco much of misery, as liaplees rIig lias fallen, always car- 
 ing for you and your person V\'itli the food of beggary, of such 
 an age, yet not liaving experienced wedlock, but the prey of 
 every one who meets her to ravish. Have I not then, O mis- 
 erable man that I am, uttered a wretched rcproacli against you, 
 and me, and our whole race ? ]jut, for it is impossible to con- 
 ceal the things that are exposed to the view, do you now, O 
 Oedipus, by the gods of our country, obeying me, conceal them, 
 having been willing to return to the city and hemes of your 
 fathers, bidding friendly forewell to this city, for she is worthy 
 cf it ; but your city, at home, may with right be more revered, 
 being of old your nurse. 
 
 CKd. Oh thou who darest every thing, and who from every 
 just speech extractest the wily device, why do you attempt 
 these things, and why do you, a second time, vrish to catch 
 me in what I should most grieve when caught? For for- 
 merly, when I was sickening with domestic evils, when it 
 was agreeable to me to be exiled from the land, }-ou were not 
 willing to grant this favor to my wish ; but when already I 
 Yv'as satisfied with anger, and it was sweet to me to spend my 
 days in my home, then you drove me cut and cast r„c forth ; 
 nor then was the tie of kindred by any means dear to you. 
 And now again, when you see this city meeting me with 
 benevolence, and all its peoj^le, you attempt to drag me away, 
 proposing harsh measures in a soft way. And yet what 
 pleasure is this to love people against their will ? as if any 
 one to you, pressing to obtain, should grant nothing, nor 
 wish to aid you, but to you, having your mind satisfied with 
 what you required, should then give it when the favor 
 procures no gratitude, would not you obtain this a vain 
 pleasure? Such things do you indeed also offer to me, in 
 word good, but in fact evil ; and to these also will I tell it, 
 that I may prove you base. You come to take me away, not 
 that you may conduct me home, but that you may place me 
 by your borders, and tliat your city may 1)0 freed to you 
 unhurt by evils from this land. These things are not grant- 
 ed to you ; but those are, my avenging spirit ever dwelling 
 there in the land ; and to my sons it is permitted to obtain at 
 least so great a portion of tlie soil as only to die in. Do 1 
 not then conceive better of the affairs of Thebes than ycu ? 
 ISfiu'Ii better, sure, inasmuch as I hear llicm from li.orc i:n- 
 
793—817.] CEDIPUS COLONEUS. 81 
 
 erring sources, from Phoebus,^ and from Jove himself, who is 
 his sire. But your falsified lips have come hither, having 
 much tongue-doughtiness ; but by your speech you will get 
 more harm than safety. 3)ut, for 1 know that I shall not 
 thus persuade you, go, and suffer us to live here ; for not 
 even faring thus, shall we live unhappily, if we are con- 
 tented. 
 
 Ck. Whether do you deem, in your present v/ords, that I 
 am unfortunate as regards your affairs, or rather you as re- 
 gards your own ? 
 
 CEd. It is most agi'eeable to me, indeed, if you are neither 
 able to persuade me, nor these beside me. 
 
 Cr. Unhappy man, neither by time do you appear to have 
 given birth to vv^isdom, but nourish the bane of old age. 
 
 QCd. You are powerful in tongue ; but I never knew him 
 a just man wdio makes a good story out of every thing. 
 
 Cn. It is a different thing to s^Dcak much and to speak 
 things opportune. 
 
 Gi.D. As you forsooth utter these things both briefly and to 
 the point. 
 
 Cr. No, in truth, to wdiomsoever at least there is a mind 
 like that in you. 
 
 G^D. Depart, for I will speak also for these, nor guard me, 
 keeping a look out where it is fitting I should dwell.'- 
 
 Cr. I call these to witness, not you. But for the w^ords 
 you answer even to your friends — if ever I take you-^ — 
 
 CEd. And who shall seize me against the v/ill of these my 
 allies? 
 
 Cr. Assuredly, even exclusive of this, you shall grieve* 
 
 GiId. With what sort of deed do you threaten this 1 
 
 ^ Tha ancient superstition was, that Phoebus only retailed the oracles 
 which he received from his father Jove. Thus .^Eschylus in the Suj». 
 plices : 
 
 "EreXTielv orrog ruxLora- ravra yup TcaTijp 
 Z£j)f h/Kadel A.o^ia. — Tr. 
 Eum. 19, Aiaf Trpo(p7]T'i]g 6' earl Ao^iag rrarpo^. Virg. ^-En. iii. 251. 
 " Quae Phoebo pater omnipotens, mihi Phoebus Apollo Pra3dixit." — B. 
 
 ^ Such is the sense of ecpop/ielv (for ecjyop/idv is not the word, as Rost 
 observes). So it is used of blockading a harbor in Xcnoph. Hellcn. i. G, 
 .38 ; vi. 2, 7.— B. 
 
 ^ See Hermann's note. — B. 
 
 * That is, " exclusive of my overpowering your defenders, and carry- 
 in t you off." 
 
 D 2 
 
82 CEDIPUS COLONEUS. [818—840. 
 
 Ck. Of your tv/o daughters, having just seized one, I have 
 sent her away, and the oth.er I will quickly bear oiF. 
 
 CEd. AVoc is nie ! 
 
 CiJ. You shall speedily have reason to cry Avoe the more for 
 these thiniis. 
 
 err 
 
 (Ed. Have you my child ? 
 
 Cr. Ay, and shall have this one too, in no long lime. 
 
 CKd. Oh strangers! AVhat will ye do? Will ye betray 
 me? and will ye not drive avray the impious man from this 
 land? 
 
 Cii. Away, stranger, out with speed, for neither now dost 
 thou what is just, nor previously didst thou. 
 
 Ck. It must be your office to conduct her away against 
 her will, if she will not go willingly. 
 
 Ant. Woe is me, unhappy woman ! Whither shall I fly ? 
 What aid shall I gain from gods or men ? 
 
 Cii. What doest thou, oh stranger? 
 
 Ck. I will not touch this man, but her, mine oa\ti.^ 
 
 Q'^D. Oh, princes of the land ! 
 
 Cii. Oh stranger ! thou doest not what is just. 
 
 Ck. It is just. 
 
 Cii. How just? 
 
 Cr. I carry away mine own. 
 
 Ant. Oh state P 
 
 Cii. What doest thou, oh stranger? Will you not let her 
 go ? Ouickly shall you come to the trial of arms. 
 
 Cr. ilold off. 
 
 Cii. Not from you at least, while bent on these things. 
 
 Cr. For you war with the state, if you injure me in 
 ausfht.^ 
 
 Gi)d. Have I not foretold this? 
 
 Cii. Let go the maid immediately from your hands. 
 
 Cr. Command not those things of which you are not 
 master. 
 
 Cii. I bid you let go. 
 
 Cr. And I bid you proceed on your way. 
 
 ' " My kinswoman," wliicli sho was by l>cin;T the (laughter of his sister 
 Jocasta. This was but an incliUcrcnt plea, however, for carrying her olV 
 from her father. 
 
 ' Assigned to (Edipus by Wander. — 13. 
 
 ^ The dramati.s persona) arc arranged according to Dir.d. and WunJ.— B. 
 
841—872.] CLIBIPUS COLONEUS. 8S 
 
 Cii. Conic liillicr, conic, come, ye dwellers in the place. 
 The city, my city, is violutcd by force. Hither come to me. 
 
 Ant. I, wretched, am dragged away, O strangers ! stran- 
 gers ! r 
 
 Old. Vriierc, my child, are you? 
 
 AxT. I go away by force. 
 
 QiId. Stretch forth, my daughter, your hands. 
 
 Ant, liut I have not the pov^^er. 
 
 Cn. Vrili you not drag her away? 
 
 HId. Oh wretched, wretched man that I am ! 
 
 Cr. Xo longer, then, on these two props shall you travel 
 along ; but since you Avish to prevail against your country 
 and your friends, by whom I, appointed, do these things, even 
 although king, prevail. For in time I know you will under- 
 stand this much, that you neither now do what is goodly 
 yourself tovrard yourself, nor formerly did, against the will 
 of your friends, gratifying that anger which always works 
 your ruin. 
 
 Cii. Hold tliere, stranger. 
 
 Cr. I forbid you to touch me. 
 
 Cii. I will not, deprived at least of these two maidens, let 
 you go. 
 
 Cr. You will quickly, then, cause a gi-eater pledge to be 
 redeemed by the city; for 1 will not lay hold of these two 
 alone. 
 
 Cii. But to what will you betake yourself? 
 
 Cr. Seizing hold of this man, I will carry him away. 
 
 Cii. Your threat is dreadful. 
 
 Cr. Believe me that it shall soon be now accomplished, if 
 the ruler of this land 2:)revent me not. 
 
 CEiy. O shameless voice ! for wilt thou touch me ? 
 
 Cr. I command you to be silent. 
 
 G{)d. 2no ; for may not these goddesses yet make me silent 
 of this curse, at least against thee, y>'ho, O basest AATetch, in 
 addition to the loss of my former eyes, hast gone off, car- 
 lying away by force my only eye that v.^as left ; therefore 
 may the all-seeing sun of the gods give thee thyself, and thy 
 race, some time or other, to grow old, like me, in a life such 
 as this. 
 
 Cr. Behold ye this, ye inhabitants of this land? 
 
 CEd. They see both thee and me; and undcrt^tand that. 
 
84 Q]I)IPUS COLONEUS. [873—005. 
 
 liavimr suilercd in deeds, I revenfjc mvself on thee with 
 "\vord<. 
 
 Ck. I will not restrain iny anger, but will carry him off by 
 force, even though I am alone and slow through age. 
 
 (Ed. O wretched me ! 
 
 Cii. AYith how much audacity hast thou come, O stranger, 
 if you deem you shall accomplish these things ! 
 
 Cr. I deem I shall. 
 
 Cii. Then I no longer count this a state. 
 
 Ck. In the cause of justice, even the small overcomes the 
 crreat. 
 
 G^D. Do you hear what sort of things he utters ? 
 
 Cii. Things which at least he shall not accomplish. 
 
 Cr. Jove may know these things, but not thou. 
 
 Cii. I^ut is not this insult 1 
 
 Ck. Yes, insult ; but it must be borne. 
 
 Ch. Ho ! all ye people ! IIo ! ye chiefs of the land ! 
 Come Vv'ith speed ; come, since they already are passing all 
 bounds. 
 
 Theseus. What can be this clamor? What is the matter? 
 From what possible fear have ye checked me in the sacrifice 
 of oxen at the altar to the ocean-god, the president of this 
 Colonus? Tell me, that I may know the whole, for the sake 
 of which I have rushed hither more quickly than suited the 
 ease of my feet. 
 
 QEd. O dearest friend — for I knew thy voice — I have just 
 suffered dreadful things at the hands of this man. 
 
 Tii. Of what kind are they ? and who did you the wrong ? 
 Speak. 
 
 (Ed. Creon here, whom you see, has carried off the sole 
 pair of my daughters. 
 
 Tii. How sayest thou ? 
 
 (Ed. Thou hast heard what things I have suffered. 
 
 Tii. AvlU not, then, some one of the servants, going as 
 quickly as possible to these altars, compel all the people, both 
 unmounted and mounted, to hasten from the sacrifice with 
 loosened rein, where the double-opening paths of the way- 
 farers nearest meet, that the virgins may not pass by, and I, 
 vanquished by force, become a laughing-stock to this stranger 
 ilUow? Go, as I have commanded, Avith speed. And this 
 man, indeed, if I had come witli the anger of which he is 
 
GOG— 938. J (EDIPUS COLONEL'S. 85 
 
 worthy, I should not have giiifcred to pass through my hands 
 without ii wound ; but now with those laws, which having, 
 he entered the country,^ vrith those, and no other, shall he 
 be fitted. For you shall never depart from the land till, 
 bringing those virgins here, you place them plain before me, 
 since you liave acted in a way neither worthy of me, nor 
 of those from whom you are sprung, nor of thine own 
 country ; you who entering a state that practices justice, 
 and ratifies nothing without the law, and then disregarding 
 the authorities of this land, breaking in thus, carry off what 
 you choose, and make them subject to you by force. And 
 to me, you must have thought that there was a city void 
 of men, or slavish, and that I was the same as nobody. And 
 yet Thebes, at least, did not teach you to be base ; for she 
 is not wont to train up unjust men, nor would she praise 
 you, if she heard of you violating my rights, and those of the 
 gods, carrying away by force the suppliant bodies of wretched 
 mortals. I would not certainly, entering your country, 
 though I had the justest pretenses in the world, I would not, 
 without the ccmsent of the sovereign of the land at least, 
 Avhosoever he were, have either dragged or carried away ; but 
 I would have known how it were proper for a stranger to 
 conduct himself among citizens. Eut jou yourself disgrace 
 your own country, not worthy of reproach, and increasing years 
 make you at once an old man and a dotard. I have said then 
 both before, and I repeat it now, let some one, as quickly as 
 possible, bring hither the maidens, unless you wish to become 
 a, foreign dweller in this land by force and against your will ;2 
 and this sentence I pronounce to you equally with my mind 
 and with my tongue. 
 
 Cii. Do you see to what you have come, O stranger? so 
 that by those from whom you are sprung you appear just, but 
 are detected in doinn; what is base. 
 
 ^ That is, " Quandoquidcm sub amici specie venit, non pro hoste habe- 
 bitur." — Musfjiave. 
 
 ^ MtTOLKog was the name appropriated to df signate a foreigner resident 
 in Athens. There was a very large class of this description, as we may 
 ece by the numbers of them that went out in various expeditions during 
 the Peloponnesian war. It is in this body that Theseus threatens to in- 
 corporate Creon ; adding, for the sake of perspicuity rather than brevity, 
 that it should not only be by force, but <i}ko against his will. — Tr. The 
 wonder is, how Creon was silly enough {.o trust himself upon a frecboot- 
 ing adventure in a country not his own, 'v/ith no efficient guard. — B. 
 
86 a^Dir-C.S COLONEUS. [939— 9G8 
 
 Cr. I, neither considering this city without citizens, O son 
 of ^Ii^geus, nor without counsel, as you allege, have achieved 
 this deed; but conceiving that no such violent love of my 
 kindred would ever fall on these men, so that they Vv'ouid 
 maintain them against my will. And 1 knew that they would 
 not receive a parricide and wretch impure, nor one to wliom 
 there was found subsisting the unhallowed marriage of child 
 [with mother]. Of this nature I knew v/ith them the Areo- 
 pagus' sage council coeval with the soil,^ which does not per- 
 mit such wandering beggars to dwell to«:ether in this citv. 
 On it relying I essayed this prey ; and I would not have done 
 so had he not imprecated bitter curses on me myself, and on 
 my race ; in return for which, I, having sufiered, thought tit to 
 make this retaliation ; for of anger there is no other old age 
 except in death, but no grief alfects the dead. You will there- 
 fore do vvdiatsoever you please, since my unguarded state, even 
 tliough I say what is just, makes me feeble. But to deeds, 
 nevertheless, even being aged as I am, I will endeavor to make 
 requital. 
 
 G^D. O shameless audacity! whom do you think you insult 
 in this, v.diethcr me, an old n^ian, cr yourself? who h.avc 
 uttered to me from your lips the slaughters, and marriages, 
 and calamities, Vvdiich I, Avretched, have unwillingly endured. 
 For to the gods it thus seemed fit perchance, beai'ing wrath 
 for some offense against the race of old ;^ since in myself at 
 least you would not find any reproach of guilt, in return for 
 
 ^ XdSviov is translated by some " subterraneous," referring it to the 
 manner in which the council sat, always in the dark, and deep below 
 ground. The compliments which Creon pa3-s it are just ; for though the 
 nature of it be not so well known as might be wished, there is little doubt 
 that it was one of the wisest and best institutions of antiquity. The proof 
 of this is found in its rigid and impartial administration during the most 
 corrupt times, and in its duration and reverence long after the more splen- 
 did glories of Athens had all departed. 
 
 ^ The Calvinism, or rather fatalism, of the Greeks was very strong. 
 They implicitly believed in a predestined chain of evils, commencing with 
 the guilty deed of some individual, and continuing through all his future 
 race, till vengeance was fully wreaked by its extermination. The trage- 
 dians avail themselves very successfully of this superstition ; and the prin- 
 ciple is in itself, indeed, finely calculated for heightening the dramatic ef- 
 fect. There is something fearful in the darkling way in which the de- 
 voted victims of heaven's wrath are hurried on to penal destruction, while 
 there is an adaiirable opportunity aiforded, by the innocence of the prin- 
 cipal sufferer, to awaken and justify the sympathy of the audience. 
 
906—998.] a:DIPUS COLOInEUS. 87 
 
 v.liich I perpetrated these sins against myself and my kindred. 
 For tell me, if an annunciation from bcaven Lad come to my 
 fatlier by oracles, that he should die by his children, hov,' can 
 you justly reproach me with this, wlio had not at ail any 
 jrenerative increase from father or mother, but was then 
 unborn J And if, again, when born to misery, as I w^as born, 
 I came to strife with my father, and slew him, unweening of 
 any thing I did, and against whom I did it; how, at least, 
 could you justly censure that Avliich was sure an unwilling 
 ' deed '? And arc you not ashamed, wretch, to make me speak 
 of the marriage of my mother, vrlio was your sister ? a mar- 
 riage such as I shall speedily declare ; for I then will not be 
 silent, when thou, forsooth, hast proceeded to this imhallowed 
 tale. For she bore me, she bore me, woe is me for my mise- 
 ries! she ignorant, me ignorant, and having given me birth 
 she produced to me children, her ovrn reproach. But one 
 thing, at least, then I know, that you indeed willingly have in 
 these words reviled me and her, and that I unwillingly mar- 
 ried her, and miwillinslv mention this. Yet neither in this 
 marriao'c shall I be talked of as wicked,^ nor in- the slaughter 
 of m.y father, with Avhich you always charge me, bitterly 
 upbraiding. For answer me but one thing cf what I ask you : 
 If any one standing by here should immediately attempt to 
 slay you, the upright m.an, v/hether would you inquire if your 
 father were the assassin, or v/ould you straightway avenge 
 yourself on him? I think, indeed, an you love life, that you 
 Avould take vengeance on the guilty, nor v.-ould consider 
 what is iust. Into such evils I also have entered, the gods 
 impelling me ; to which declaration I deem that the ghost" cf 
 
 ^ The justification v/hicli CEdipus oners cf himscif in this speech is a 
 little inconsistent vvith the violent remorse ^vhich he elsewhere exhibits. 
 lie Vv-as incensed, hovvevor, by the remarks ofCreon ; and might feel like 
 many other people, who talk freely cf their own imperfections, and yet 
 get very wroth if their neighbors take the same liberty. 
 
 2 The writings of the tragedians, and, indeed, of all the ancient poets, 
 teem with the notion of a reappearance of the dead, and a revenge upon 
 those who had done them ill during life (see ^sch. Choeph. 32, 136, 
 315, 333, 479; Eum 94, sqq. ; Eurip. Hec. 1, sqq.); and thence it was 
 believed that the ghosts of the dead might be summoned into lile, either 
 to give advice, as^Darius appears to Atossa in the Persp, and as in the 
 resuscitation of Polycritus mentioned by Phlegon, Trallianus, de mirab. 
 q. 2, p. 21, ed. Meurs., or to denounce their murderer, as Clytemnestra 
 
88 (EDIPUS COLONEUS. [999—1029. 
 
 my lather, could it live, would not say the contrary. Ikit you 
 (for you are not just, but deem eveiy thing j^roj^er to mention, 
 ■words that may, and words that may not be spoken) reproach 
 me witli such things in the presence of these men. And ret 
 it seems honorable to you to Hatter the name of Theseus and 
 Atliens, how nobly she is constituted ; and while you thus 
 praise many things, you forget this one, that if any land 
 knoAvs to Avorship the gods with honors, in that this land 
 excels, from which you have endeavored to steal away me, 
 myself, an aged suppliant, and have gone off with my daugh- 
 ters. In return for which, I now, invoking these goddesses, 
 supplicate them and enjoin them in my prayers to come my 
 aUies, and aid, in order that you may well learn by what sort 
 of men this city is guarded. 
 
 Cii. The stranger, oh king, is a good man ; but his suffer- 
 ings are utterly ruinous, and worthy of protection. 
 
 Tii. Enough of words, since the ravishers indeed hasten 
 away, and wo, the sufferers, stand still. 
 
 Cr. V\liat, in truth, do you command to a feeble man to do? 
 
 Tii. To begin the way thither, and to go a guide to me, in 
 order that, if you have our maidens in these places, you your- 
 self may show them to me. But if those who have them in 
 their power fly, there is no need to take the trouble ; for 
 there are others who hasten, for whom having escaped out of 
 this country, they'll never have to thank the gods. Eut 
 lead on the way, and know that seizing, you are seized, and 
 that fortune hath taken you, the hunter; for possessions ac- 
 quired by unjust trick are not preserved. And you shall have 
 no other one to assist you in these things ;^ since" I know, from 
 the daring at present exhibited, that you have not come 
 
 in the Eumenides, and as the wronged virgin who had appeared to Pau- 
 sanias at Byzantium, and subsequently being evoked etc tu i^-iwoTrofi-elov 
 by her murderer, foretold his end in a mysterious prophcey. Cf. l^lutarch 
 do sera num. vind. p. 40, ed. Wytt. So, also, the ghost of the departed 
 13 evoked to declare his murderer, in Apul. Mctam. ii. p. 35 ; and a 
 similar ceremony is fully described in Heliodor. Ethiop. vi. 14. The 
 Trophonian vcKvo/xavTclav is described by Maximus Tyrius, xiv. ^ 2, 
 and tlie -d'vxayuyol by Plato de legg. x. ji. 909, B. Stcph. and Liban! 
 t. i. p. 900, Tibull. i. 2, 23. Hence the reader may perceive how frrcat 
 was the strength of this adjuration in a day when the belief that the 
 dcc-rascd might confront his murderer even in this world, existed — B 
 ' J3i:t see \^'under.— B. 
 
1030—1072.] (EDIPUS COLOMEUS. 8'j 
 
 unattciKled or unliarmed for such great insults; but there is 
 something, on which relying, you have done these things 
 wiiich it behooves me to examine, nor to make this city weaker 
 than a single man. Understand yoa aught of these words ? or 
 do they appear to you to have been vainly spoken, both just 
 now, and when you contrived this attempt ? 
 
 Cr. You Aviil say nothing while here to be found fault Avith 
 by me ; but at home we shall know Avhat it is fitting to do. 
 
 Tii. Go now and threaten. ^ But do you, O CEdipus, remain 
 here with us in quiet, assured that if I do not first die, I shall 
 not cease until I put you in possession of your children. 
 
 GLd. May you be blest, O Theseus ! both for the sake of 
 your generous spirit, and your righteous provident care of us. 
 
 Ciionus. Would that I were where the gatherings of hos- 
 tile men shall quickly mingle in the brazen din of battle, either 
 by the Pythian shrines' or the gleaming^ shores, where the 
 awful goddesses foster for the mortal race* those hallovv'ed 
 rites of which the golden key hath even come upon the tongue 
 of the ministering Eumolpida?.^ There methinks that Theseus^ 
 awaking the fight and the twin virgin sisters will quickly en- 
 gage with prevailing shouts in these regions ; or somewhere 
 are they approaching, from .iEa's pastures, the western ridge 
 of the snowy rock, flying on steeds, or with racings that whirl 
 alonn; the car? He will be taken.'^ Dreadful is the martial 
 spirit of the natives, and dreadful the might of the sons of 
 Theseus ; for every bit is gleaming, and every one is hastening 
 to mount the steeds with frontlet trappings — they, who honor 
 equestrian jMinerva, and the earth-encircling king of ocean, 
 
 ^ See Rcisig. — B. 
 
 2 The slirine alluded to was dedicated to the Pythian Apollo at Mara- 
 thon. 
 
 ^ Gleaminof with the sacred torches made use of in the Eleusinian 
 mysteries. 
 
 * There is something in the mystery and solemnity of this expression 
 that would half induce one to believe in Warburton"s theory of the wor- 
 ship of the one and true God being preserved at Eleusis. 
 
 ° The scholiasts give us different accounts of the lirst Eumolpus ; but 
 whoever he may have been, his descendants retained his name and office 
 of priesthood at Eleusis. 
 
 ^ But sec Herm. and Wund. — B. 
 
 ■^ Hermann v/ell remarks that u'Auaerat refers to Creon. The translator 
 had connected it v.ith 6ccvug....'ApTj^. — B. 
 
DO CEDIPUS COLONEUS. [1073—1108. 
 
 Ehcii's clear son. Do they fight ? or arc they on the point of 
 engaging?! How my mind presages something to me, that 
 they shall quickly give up her who has endured dreadful things, 
 and met with dreadful sufterings at the hands of her kindred ! 
 Jove will accomplish, he will accomplish something this day. 
 I am the prophet of a successful strife. Would that I a dove, 
 borne fleet as the M'hirhvind, with the speed of strength, might 
 from a cloud on high reach these contests, having lifted aloft 
 mine eyes!^ O Jove, all-ruler of gods, whose eye is over all, 
 grant to the leaders of the people of this land in conquering 
 strength to crown their ambush with the glorious prey ! and 
 thy hallowed daughter, Pallas Minerva ; and the hunter Apol- 
 lo, and his sister that pursues the swift-footed dappled fawns 
 — I implore to come a twofold aid to this land and to its citi- 
 zens. Oh wandei'ing stranger, you will not say to your watch- 
 man that he is a false prophet, for I see these virgins again 
 liither near approaching. 
 
 (Ed. Where ? Avhere ? Vriiat say you ? How said you ? 
 
 Ant. Oh father! father! who of the gods would grant 
 you to behold this best of men, who has sent us hither to 
 you? 
 
 CEd. Oh my child, are ye two present ? 
 
 Ant. Yes ; for these hands of Theseus, and of his dearest 
 attendants, have preserved us. 
 
 Gi^D. Come hither, oh dauahtcr ! to your father, and "-rant 
 rce to touch that body v/hich I never hoped would have re- 
 turned. 
 
 Ant. You ask what you shall obtain ; for v.'ith longing is 
 this favor [granted]. ^ 
 
 Q^D. Where, in truth, where are ye? 
 
 Ant. Here we are, approaching together. 
 
 Gi^D. Oh dearest branches ! 
 
 Ant. To its author every thing is dear. 
 
 ^ MDJ.nvat is VvTongly given by Brunck " iiiorantur," which is not 
 only false to the meaning, bat totally does away with the energy of the 
 passage. — Tr. Cf. Thucyd. i. ?/ [j.tX7<.ov~cg rrokcfiTicELV, 7} Lv dvru ydi] 
 ovreg. — B. 
 
 ^ The order is TzeACLug {<!(/) aWcpiac ve(p' icoprjaaca Tovfibv 6fi/j.a Kvp- 
 aai/LLi TcJvd' uvuvcjv. See Wunder. — B. 
 
 ^ Gvv Tzodco yap y X'^P'-^i ^- ^-i gratiam pctis quam ipsa) ultro pracstare 
 cupidissimae sumus. — Musgravc. 
 
1109— 1149. J CCDIPUS COLONEUS. 91 
 
 CEd. Oil props of a mar. — 
 
 Ant. Of an unljappy man, tliougii, the miliappy props — 
 
 CEd. I clasp what is tlcarcFt to me ; nor slioiiH I any lon- 
 ger be utterly wretched in death, you two standing by me. 
 Support, oh my child, both my sides ; implanting yourselves 
 in }our planter, and make me to cease from my fomier solitary 
 and wretched wandering; and tell me Avhat has been done, as 
 brielly as possible, since few words suffice to virgi'^s of such an 
 aiie. 
 
 AxT. This is he here who saved us: to him U is fitting to 
 listen, oh fatlier ! and this business will be shorl both to you 
 and me. 
 
 G^D. O stranger, wonder not at my earnestness, if, my chil- 
 dren having unexpectedly appeared, I lengthen mj w^ords ! for 
 I know that this delight, given by you to nifi in them, has 
 arisen from no other ; for you have preserved them, and no 
 other mortal. And may the gods give to you, ns I Avish, both 
 to yourself and this land ; since among you, at least, alone of 
 men, have I found piety, and equity, and truth. And having 
 experienced them, I repay them with these wrrds ; for I have 
 w^hat I have through you, and no other mort^^l. And stretch 
 cut, oh king, your right hand to me, that I y^ay touch it, and 
 kiss, if it be lawful, your brow. And yet what do I say? 
 How should I, wdio have been miserable, Vv'ish to touch a man 
 v,'ith whom tlicre is no stain of evils an inj^iate '? I will not 
 touch you, nor, therefore, will I permit you [to touch me] ; 
 for it is possible only to such mortals as hnve had experience 
 of them, to join in supporting miseries lik'^. these. But do you, 
 from that spot, receive my farewell, and for the future justly 
 take care of me, as you have done to thh day. 
 
 Tii. Neither if you have made the length of your words 
 greater, being delighted w^itli these diildren, do I wonder ; 
 nor if, in preference to me, you hr-ve first chosen their con- 
 A'crsation ; for no displeasure froPA these things possesses me ; 
 for I do not strive to make mv hie more glorious bv words 
 tlian by deeds. And I prove it c for of those things which I 
 swore, I have deceived jou, o(d man, in nothing ; for I r.m 
 present, bringing thes^ \irgin.s alive, uninjured by what v. as 
 threatened against them. UKiKi how, indeed, this contest was 
 v.on — wnat need i^ there vainly to vaunt that which you, at 
 any rate, v/,ll >.£-,/ p, ^o^^j^'if from these tvro, associating with 
 
92 CEDIPUS COLOXEUS. [1150—1175 
 
 them ? lUit apply }-oiir mind to the tale that has just met me, 
 coming hither, since it is trifling indeed to tell, but worthy to 
 excite Avonder ; and it is titling that a man should neglect no 
 matter. 
 
 CEd. And what is it, son of ^geus? Instruct me, as I 
 myself know nothing of those things of which you are inform- 
 ed. 
 
 Tii. They say that some man, being no felloAv-citizen indeed 
 of yours, but a kinsman, sits somehow a suppliant at our altar 
 of Neptune, by which I chanced to be sacriiicing when I rush- 
 ed aT^'ay. 
 
 Q]d. Of what country ? Seeking what by this supplicatoiy 
 posture ? 
 
 Th. I know but one thing ; for he requests, as they tell me, 
 a short conversation with you, not full of trouble. 
 
 GLd. Of what kind ? for this sitting by the altar is of no 
 slight import. 
 
 Th. They say that he, coming, requests to come to conver- 
 sation Avitli you, and to depart without injur}^ from his journey 
 hither. 
 
 Q^D. A^lio then can he be who sits in this posture ? 
 
 Th. See if at Argos there be any kinsman to you, who would 
 seek to obtain this from you. 
 
 QiiB. Oh, dearest friend, hold where you are. 
 
 Th. "What is the matter ■s\'ith you? 
 
 OEd. Ask me not. 
 
 Th. Of what sort of thing? Speak. 
 
 CEd. I fully know, hearing these words, ^ who is the suppli- 
 ant. 
 
 Th. And who at all is he whom I should have cause to rep- 
 rehend ? 
 
 G^D. It is my hated son, oh king ! whose words most pain- 
 fully of all men would I endure to liear. 
 
 Tii. But why ? Is it not permitted you to hear and to 
 
 ^ uKovuv TcJvde, sc. /mjcov. Brumoy conceives TraiSov to be the word 
 understood ; "Antigone et sa soeur devinent que cVst leur frere Polvnicc, 
 ct elles le disent a leur pere." Pray what is the occasion o{ givintr the 
 young ladies more penetration than their father ! The words of Theseus 
 were so plain that Q^dipus, except he v.'erc deaf as well as blind, must 
 have very easily made out the matter. 
 
1173—1219.] CEDIPUS CGLONEUS. 93 
 
 refrain from doinsi; -wliat you do not wisli? Vx^liy is it disa- 
 grccable to yon to listen ? 
 
 (i^^D. This yoicG, oh king! comes most hateful to a father; 
 and do not urge me of necessity to grant this request. 
 
 Tii. But if his seat compel you, consider if the reverence of 
 the diyinity be not to be obseryed. 
 
 Ant. Father, obey me, though young I give adyice. Suf- 
 fer this mau^ to 2:iye gratification to his own mind, and to 
 the god what he wishes ; and to us twain gi'ant that our 
 brother should come ; for be confident that whateyer he shall 
 say inexpedient to you, will not peryert you by force from 
 your purpose. And what hurt is it to hear words? works 
 of the most glorious inyention are made known by words. 
 You begat him ; so that neither, O father, though he did to 
 you the worst of most impious wrongs, is it lawful for you at 
 least to repay him with eyil i^ but sutler him ; there are also 
 to others bad children and fierce anger, but admonished by 
 the spell-words of friends, they are softened in nature. But 
 do you not now look back to those sufferings from father and 
 mother which you endured ; though eyen if you look on them, 
 I know you y/ill perceive the end of evil anger, how it comes 
 in addition evil; for you bear no slight impressions of this, be- 
 ing deprived of your sightless eyes. But yield to us; for it 
 is not good for those to press, who ask for just things, nor for 
 you yourself to receive benefits, and having received, not to 
 know how to repay them. 
 
 (Ed. '^ly child, ye gain from me by your speeches a re- 
 luctant pleasure. Let it be then as is agreeable to you ; only, 
 friend, if he shall come hither, let no one ever liave control 
 over me. 
 
 Tii. Once, old man, not twice, do I seek to hear such re- 
 quests. I wish not to boast ; but know that you are safe, if 
 any one of the gods shall also preserve me. 
 
 Chorus. Whoever seeks to live for a lengthened term, neg- 
 lecting the mean, will be proved in my mind to cherish folly; 
 since oft has length of days brought us nearer to pain, and you 
 can nov/here see aught of joy ^^'hen any one may meet with 
 
 ^ Theseus, not Polyniccs. 
 
 ^ The character of Antigone ahvays appears in the most amiable light. 
 Her sentiments breathe at once of the purest sisterly love, and of a spirit 
 01 forgiveness almost worthy of a Christian. 
 
94 CEDIPUS COLONEUS. [1220-^1251. 
 
 more thaii his ^vislies require ; but death is the aid (of our 
 troubles) that ends with the grave, ^ when that fate hath ap- 
 peared without nuptial hymn, without lyre, or dance, and 
 death to close the scene, o^ot to have been born at all is su- 
 perior to every view of the question ; and this when one may 
 have seen the light, to return thence vvdience he came as quick- 
 ly as possible, is far the next best. For wlien youth comes 
 bringing light follies, who wanders without the pale of many 
 sorrows ]- v.diat suffering is not there ? murders, factions, strife, 
 battle, and envy : and loathsome old age hath gained the last 
 scene — impotent, unsociable, friendless old age, Vvdiere all ills, 
 v/orst of ills, dwell together. In which state this wretched 
 man, not I alone, as some promontoiy exposed to the north, 
 is beaten on all sides by the dashings of the billows in the 
 winter storm ; thus also dreadful calamities, bursting like 
 waves over his head, ever present beat on him — some indeed 
 from the setting of the sun, and some from his rise, and some 
 from his midday beam, and some from the cloud-dimmed stars 
 of night.3 
 
 Ant. And in truth, liitherward to us, as appears, the 
 stranger, O father ! unaccompanied, at least, by men, makes 
 his way, copiously shedding tears from his eyes.* 
 
 ^ I have rendered this difficult passage according to Dindorfs text. 
 But Wunder reads old tret Kopog, and joins Molpa laof 'A'i^og. None of 
 the present explanations seem satisfactory, e~LKOvpog is perhaps required 
 by what follows, being used in the sense of " levaraen." Cf Silius xi. 
 185, " nuilo vos invida tanto Armavit Natura bono, quam janua mortis 
 (Quod patet) e vita non aqua, exirc potestas." — 13. 
 
 - Tic t^o) rov 7ro/.vfj.oxOog elvai l--'/.avr;6?]. — Scholiast. 
 
 ^ The poet, who through the whole of this chorus has been comfortably 
 obscure, works himself up by the end of it into absolute mysticism. It 
 seems like an imitation of the worst style cf yEschylus, and bears very 
 few marks of the correctness and good taste for which Sophocles is usu- 
 ally distinguished. — Tr. Some commentators, with the scholiast, under- 
 stand vvxulv drrb 'Fittuv as referring to the Rlnpa^an Mountains, thereby 
 pointing to the northern parts of the heavens. This is somewhat favored 
 by the preceding words. But I think it is more natural to take the whole 
 passaoc as referring to the troubles that befall men at different times of 
 life. °Cf vs. 1229-37, ^sch. Choeph. G2, rol^; /dv Iv (^du, Ta 6' h 
 fieTaixpi<f> OKorov. . . .rovg 6' aapavroc tjfi vv^. The phrase vvxlu^v ap- 
 pears to denote the weak, uncertain light cf the stars struggling through 
 the clouds on a dark night. Cf Booth, de Consol. I. metr. vii. «. : " Nu, 
 bibus atris Ccndiia imllum Fnnclere possunt Sidcra lumen.'' — C. 
 
 * (laraKTi, I'.ot in drops, but in showers. 
 
1252— 1282.J CEDIPUS COLONEUS. 95 
 
 (Kd. Who is he? 
 
 Ant. Even v/hom wc formerly coiiccivcl i;i mind; Folyni- 
 ces is here present. 
 
 PoLYNiCES. Woe is mo ! whut shall I do ] "Whether, sis- 
 ters, shall I first weep over my own misfortunes, or those 
 that I behold of this my aged father? whom, on a foreign 
 soil, I have found, v.'ith you two here, cast out, clothed in such 
 a garment, whose loathsome aged filth hath fixed itself on the 
 old man, wasting away his body, and on his sightless head 
 his uncombed hair streams to the wind ; and con";enial to 
 these, it appears, he has the nourishment for his miserable 
 stomach. x\ll which things I, utterly abandoned wretch ! 
 too late learn ; and I call you to witness that I have come, 
 the worst of men, in providing for your support :^ seek not to 
 know my state from others. But since over every work is 
 iMercy joint assessor to Jove on his throne, let her, O father ! 
 also take her stand bv thee ; for of tranSiiressions there is 
 remedy, though no longer recall.- Why are you silent? 
 Speak something, O father! do not turn away from me. AVill 
 you not answer any thing to me, but send me avr^ay, di. - 
 honoring me, without a word, nor telling at Avhat }'oa au 
 angry? O daughters of this man, and sisters mine, \aX do 
 vou at least attempt to awaken our father s words, difficult to 
 gain, and devoid of affability, that he may not thus, at any 
 rate, send me away dishonored, at least as suppliant of the 
 god, replying not a single word. 
 
 AxT. Say, oh unhappy man 1 yourself, in want of what you 
 are present ; for oft have Vv'ords, either causing some delight 
 
 ' Some give the meaning of this passage thus : "I call you to witness 
 that, though I am the worst of men, I have now come to provide for your 
 support." This is plausible enough ; hut what immediately follows, 
 TovTo firj t'^ u/J.cju Trvd/j, makes it much more lilie an acknowledgment 
 of (Tuilt. 
 
 - This is another disputed point. The scholiast, whom I follow, ex- 
 plains TzpoGOopd as meaning iTravd/^Tj-i-ng ; Brunck, " exprobatio ;" and 
 Musgrave supplies rcJv dyuv after Trpoagopu. Remedia quidcm adsunt, 
 sed ea admoverc non licet. — Tu. I think that Trpoodopd can not bear the 
 sense assigned to it by the translator, especially as the scholiast's gloss 
 belongs to ukt]. Hermann well remarks that Polynices says, "priora 
 pcccata se velle corrigere. non augere aliis." But to gain this meaning, 
 a strong adversative particle seems to be required. Perhaps we should 
 read TtpoaAopu, yap ova trc, or -pQu(l)opa 6' cvk tart dij. — B. 
 
96 CEDIPUS COLONEUS. [1283—1314. 
 
 or displeasure, or ino\ing somehow to pity, give some speech 
 to the silent.^ 
 
 Pol. But I will speak out [for ivcll you direct me], first 
 making the god himself my ally, from whose altar the king 
 of this land raised me up to come hither, granting both to 
 speak and to hear Avith safe departure ; and these boons, O 
 stran"-ers, I should wish to gain from you, and from these my 
 sisters, and from my fatlier. But for what purpose I have 
 come, I now wish, O father, to tell you. I have been driven 
 forth an exile from my native soil because I claimed, being 
 sprung from elder birth, to sit on thy imperial throne. 
 AVherefore, Eteocles, being by birth the younger, drove me 
 out of the land ; neither having overcome m.e by Cjuestion of 
 right, nor having come the trial of hand or deed, but having 
 persuaded the city : of which misfortunes I account your im- 
 precated vengeance to have been the principal cause ; and 
 then from prophets also I hear it declared in this way. For 
 wdicn I came to Dorio Argos, having gained Adrastus as my 
 father-in-law, I procured sworn associjites to myself, as many 
 as are styled the chiefs of the Apian- land and are honored 
 in war, in order that, liaving assembled with these an expe- 
 dition, led by seven spears, against Thebes, I might either 
 rightfully fall,^ or drive forth from the land those who 
 wrought these deeds. So far, so good. Why in truth do I 
 now chance to have come ? To thee, O father, bringing sup- 
 pliant prayers myself both for myself and for my allies, who 
 now with seven squadrons, and with seven spears, encircle 
 all tlie plain of Thebe ; such as is Amphiaraus, brandishing 
 his spear, holding the first place in v/ar, and the first in the 
 
 ^ I can not help thinking that rivu is a botch to the verse, and that we 
 should read Trc/Jto^e (jiuvyv rolg u(pG)v}]Toig TTupor, " to those befort) 
 silent."' — B. 
 
 2 Apia was the old name of the Peloponnesus. The origin of it is given, 
 though with no great probabihty, in the Suppiices of ..Eschylus. 268. 
 
 ^ Mu.'-.grave takes TzavdiKcog along with cr/eipai; ; and Benedict with 
 lKj3dA0Liu. There is no great occasion for forcing it so violently out of 
 its natural place. Polynices means to say that if he foil in attempting to 
 regain his own, he would fall at least in a rightful cause. — Tr. W un- 
 der would interpret TravdlKior, " radicitus funditus," after Doederlin, which 
 seems the idea of a grammarian rather than a poet. I prefer keeping 
 the chivalric sense of rrarcV'/vwr, although I will s[;arc my reader certain 
 quotations from '• King Arthur"' and the " Fairy Queen." — B. 
 
1315—1357.] CEDIPUS CCLOXEUS. 97 
 
 paths of birds ; and the second is an JEtolmn, Tydeus, son 
 of JEncus; and the third is Eteocles, by birth an Argive ; a 
 fourth, Hippomedon, his father Talaus hath sent ; the fifth, 
 Capaneus, boasts that he will quickly in flames lay level with 
 the gi'ound the city of Thebe ; and sixth, the Arcadian Far- 
 thenopa?u3 rushes on, bearing the name of his mother, in for- 
 mer time long a virgin, sprung from her throes, the doughty 
 son of Atalanta ; and I, thy son ; if not thy son, but sprung 
 from evil doom, yet thine at least by name, do lead the fear- 
 less host of Argos against Thebes : who all in supplication im- 
 plore thee, O father, by these thy children, and by thy life, to 
 mitigate thy hea\y wrath against me proceeding to the pun- 
 ishment of my brother, who drove me out, and robbed me. 
 of my country. For if there be any faith in oracles, with 
 whomsoever you may join, to these the god declared that the 
 victoiy would be. Nov>', by our native fountains and oui 
 idndred gods,^ I implore you to obey me, and to yield from 
 your purpose, since vre are j)Oor and strangers, and you a 
 stranger ; and you and I live paying court to others, having 
 gained by lot the same fortune. Eut he at home a king, un- 
 happy me ! laughing in common at us, pampers himself up : 
 whom, if you accord with my inclinations, I will overthrow 
 with slight trouble and time ; so that, bringing you, I shall 
 place you in your palace, and place myself there, driving out 
 him by force. And this, if you assent to my w^ish, it is al- 
 lowed me to boast ; but without you, I am not even able to 
 be saved. 
 
 Cii. Having said, oh CEdipus ! to this man, for the sake of 
 him that sent him, what is expedient, again send him back. 
 
 (Ed. But if indeed, ye men, Theseus, the ruler of the 
 people of this land, had not chanced to send him hither to 
 me, claiming that he should hear my words, he had never at 
 any time heard my voice ! but nov/ he shall depart gifted with 
 that honor, and having heard too from me such things as 
 will never cheer his life. You indeed, oh basest of men I 
 who having the sceptre and the throne which your brother 
 now sways in Thebes, yourself drove away this your own 
 fiither, and forced him to be an exile from the city, and to 
 
 ^ Nothing can be more beautiful and impressive than this appeal : even 
 the old muddled scholiast is aflected by it •. rraOTjrcKov iari to rrpb^ na- 
 Tp(ju)v icpi]vcjv opKovv, 0)^ el tip?) Trpof tow eKOpe^uvTuv ce vduTuv. 
 
 E 
 
08 CEDIPUS COLONEUS. [1358-1391. 
 
 wear tliesc garments, which you now beholding, weep, when 
 you chfince to have come into the same trouble of sorrows 
 Avith me. But these things are not to be wept by me, but to 
 be endured while I live, bearing remembrance of you, a 
 iiiurdererJ For you have made me fellow with this toil, you 
 have driven me out, and by your work I wandering beg from 
 others my daily subsistence. And if I had not begotten 
 these as nurses to myself, these daughters, assuredly 1 had 
 been no more, for thy part ; but now these preserve me, these 
 my nurses, these men, not women, to assist in toil. Ye have 
 been born from some other, and not from me. "Wherefore 
 the divinity beholds you, not at all just now, as if shortly,^ 
 indeed these squadrons are moved against the city of Thebe. 
 For it can not be that thou shouldst overthrow that city, but 
 first thou shalt ftill defiled with blood, and your brother 
 equally. Such curses formerly did I emit against you,^ and 
 now I again invoke them to come allies to me, in order that 
 ye may think it fit to reverence parents, and may not treat 
 them with dishonor, if such ye twain have sprung from a blind 
 father ; for these viroins did not thus. AYhereibre the curses 
 shall possess your seat and your throne, if Justice, famed of 
 old, jointly preside with Jove over his ancient laws. But do 
 you go to ruin, both spurned and disowned by me, basest of 
 the base, taking with you these curses, which on you I in- 
 voke, never to gain possession of your native land by the 
 spear, and never to return to hollow Argos, but to die by a 
 brother's hand, to slay him by whom you were driven out. 
 Such curses I imprecate, and I invoke the murky parent 
 gloom of Tartarus to receive you in its mansions :* and I 
 
 ^ Polynices ab Gi]dipo vidctur consulto ^ovevg appellari, ut Bcquali sc 
 calamitate a fiiiis suis adfici indicaret, qua ipse ignarus Laium patrem 
 suum e vita sustulerit. — Benedict. 
 
 " That is, " Fortune will then frown upon you." 
 
 ^ The scholiast gives rather a quizzical account of these former curses 
 of Oedipus. His sons had been in the practice, when they sacrificed, of 
 sending him a shoulder, but on one occasion they disappomted the old 
 gentleman of his favorite part, and only sent him a thigh. He was so 
 enraged at them for their joint neglect, that he uttered those curses which 
 entailed ruin and death on their heads. 
 
 * There i.s nothing, even in the curses of Lear, more strong and horri- 
 ble than this. The expressions on the occasion of the thigh are not 
 handed down to us ; but it is to be hoped that they were r.ot quite sc 
 bitter as this second and improved edition. 
 
1392—1428.] CEDIPUS COLOrsEUS. 99 
 
 invoke these goddesses, and I invoke Mr.rs, who has inspired 
 you with this dire hatred. And having heard these words, 
 depart, and going, announce both to ail th.e people of Cadmus, 
 and at the same time to your faithful allies, that Gi)dipus has 
 awarded such gifts to his children. 
 
 Cii. Polynices, I do not congratulate you on the way you 
 have passed; and nov>^ go back again with all speed. 
 
 PoL- Woe is me for my journey, and for my ill success ! 
 and woe is me for my associates ! For v.'hat an issue of our 
 expedition then have vre set out from Argos? Oh, unhappy 
 me ! such a one as it is neither allowed me to tell to any of 
 my associates, nor to turn them back, but remaining silent, 
 to encounter this fate. Oh sisters ! sprung from the same 
 blood with me, but ye, since ye hear our father imprecating 
 these harsh curses, do not ye at least, by the gods, if the 
 curses of this my father be accomplished, and ye have any 
 return to your home, do not ye at least, by the gods, treat 
 me with dishonor, but lay me in the tomb, and with funeral 
 rites. And praise, which you now carry oil from this man 
 for the things in which ye labor, you wdll gain another no 
 less from your ministry to me. 
 
 Ant. Polynices, I beseech you in something to obey me. 
 
 Pol. In what sort of thing, dearest Antigone ? Say. 
 
 Ant. Turn back, as quickly as possible at least, your arma- 
 ment to Argos, and do not destroy both yourself and the city. 
 
 Pol. But it is not possible. For how could I again lead 
 the same army, hax'ino; once trembled?^ 
 
 Ant. And v.diat need is there, O youth, again to give w^ay 
 to your anger % What gain results to you, having overthrown 
 your native country? 
 
 Pol. It is base to fiy, and that I, the elder, should thus be 
 lauglied at by my brother. 
 
 Ant. Do you see, then, how you directly bear to fulfiilment 
 his oracles, who predicts to you death by each other's hands? 
 
 Pol. Yes, he wills it so,^ but vre must not }aeld. 
 
 Ant. Woe is me, unhappy woman ! But who will dare to 
 follow you, hearing the prophecies of this man, such as he 
 has delivered? 
 
 ^ Sse Vv'under. — B. 
 
 2 So Hermann, more forcibly than according to the ordinary interpret- 
 ation : " lie predicts it." The predictions were aheady known. — B. 
 
100 (EDIPUS COLOXEUS. [1429—1544. 
 
 Pol. AVe Avill not announce Avliat is bad, since it is the part 
 of a good general to speak of success, not failure. 
 
 Ant. Thus then, O youth, are these things decreed by you. 
 
 Pol. Yes, and do i;ot indeed restrain me. l^ut to me this 
 expedition will be a care, though consigned to misfortune and 
 ruin by my father and his Furies. And to you may Jove 
 grant a propitious way, if ye perform these things to me in 
 death ; since to me in life, at least, you will not again have 
 it in your power. And now let me go, and fare ye well, for 
 ye never will more behold me alive. ^ 
 
 Ant. O unhappy me ! 
 
 Pol. Do not mourn for me. 
 
 Ant. And who, O brother! would net groan over you, 
 rushing to evident destruction ? 
 
 Pol. If it be fated I shall die. 
 
 Ant. Do not you, sure you will not, but be persuaded by 
 me.- . 
 
 Pol. Do not persuade me what is not fitting. 
 
 Ant. Unhappy then am I, if I be deprived of you. 
 
 Pol. These things rest with the divinity, to lake place in 
 this way or that way. But I pray the gods that ye may 
 never meet with evils, for ye are in all respects unworthy to 
 be unfortunate. 
 
 Ch. These nevv^ evils have come anew^ upon me, new evils 
 of heavy fate from the sightless stranger, unless fate be coming 
 somewhere^ — for I can not say that any decree of the gods is 
 in vain. Time regards, ever regards these things,* sometimes 
 
 ^ It v;ould appear from this expression that Antigor.c, in the agony of 
 sisterly love, had thrown her arms around her ill-fated brother, and en- 
 deavored thus to restrain him, when her tears and her prayers ^Ye^c of no 
 avail. The whole scene is exquisitely tender and beautiful, and presents 
 a fine contrast to the unnatural sentiments and stern curses which CEdipus 
 had just before uttered. 
 
 ^ Such is the only way in which the force of the ys, in this place, can 
 properly be given. 
 
 ^ I have translated this phrase el ri fiolpa pi layxdvei as an abrupta 
 orat.io. The Chorus, alarmed by the lowering sky, and inspired with 
 some uncertain presage, speak of impending evil, yet scarce kj^.owing 
 whether that fate awaits them or tlieir hapless guest. I think that an 
 accusative is omitted out of a dread of m.entioning the death of Oedipus 
 clearly. This view of the presage is conlirnied by the following verses. 
 See, however, Plermann, who, with the scholiast, plainly refers it to fate 
 overJaking QOdipur;. — B. 
 
 * There U mucli ditliculty in these lines, especially in ^-ct, which can 
 
1455—1485.] (EDIPUS CCILOll^Strk \ ; 101 
 
 ■> -, ■> 
 
 adverse, yet aGfaiii uplifting; tliera eacL day/, Hie" firmament 
 hath thundered, O Jove! : ;;-'^ ', ' l" ', ,' ^ °^ j ^; "^ ,» ^ ^ 
 
 (Ed. O children! chiktren ! hbw,*iF there be here any 
 dweller in the place, would he send hitlier the all-excellent 
 Theseus?! 
 
 Ant. But what, father, is the plea upon which you summon 
 him ? 
 
 GiId. This winged thunder of Jove will straightway bear me 
 to the shades ; but send with all speed?" 
 
 CiT. Behold a mighty unspeakable peal, sent by Jove, is 
 crashing along. Terror hath crept along the summits of the 
 hairs of my head. I crouch in spirit, for the lightning of 
 heaven is again blazing. What issue indeed will it produce ? 
 But I fear ; for never does it rush from heaven vainly or with- 
 out consequences. O mighty firmament ! O Jove ! 
 
 G'Id. Oil my children, the predicted end of life hath come to 
 me, and there is no longer escape from it. 
 
 AxT. How do you know it? by what do you conjecture it?^ 
 
 CEd. I know it well ; but let some one, going as quickly as 
 possible, send hither to me the king of the land. 
 
 Cii. Oh ! oh ! Behold how terribly again the piercing^ 
 ro:ir rolls around us. Be merciful, oh divinity, be merciful, if 
 you chance to bear some dark doom to my mother earth : and 
 may I meet with a man propitious ; nor having seen an ac- 
 cursed one,^ may I anyhow reap a bootless favor. King Jove, 
 to thee I spec'^k. 
 
 scarcely stand for ug, as Wundcr supposes. I think that it must be cor- 
 rupt, and that some word equivalent to tad' ore or ottov has dropped out 
 in its stead. As it is, I have chiefly followed Hermann. — B. 
 
 ' CEdipus immediately perceives that his hour is come. Early in the 
 play he mentions that he expected such a sign : 
 
 27]/ie7.a 6' ij^eiv rtjx^d' £[xoi TrapTiyyva, 
 
 'H GELGtluV, 1] j3pOVTTJV Tiv' ?/ Aiof CE'kag. 
 
 This circumstance is in itself productive of a sublime and almost appal- 
 ling sensation ; and the play proceeds from this point to the catastrophe 
 in a strain of unequaled grandeur and effect. 
 
 ^ Pindar, Nem. xi. 43, aviiSa/.elv Aiav evjuaptg. Nicolaus Damasc. 
 M.S. fol. 3, av/Uj3d/J.ei r/'/v rod ovelpov <p?j/itTjv. — B. 
 
 ^ Aia-pvaiog, "penetrans ;" by which may either be expressed the re- 
 verberation of sound through the sky, or the Chorus may mean that the 
 thunder thrills, if we may so say, through them. 
 
 * Since d/Mcrog is akin to aAuGTup, and we meet with Tzarpbr tiidvrov 
 'A/M7T0V al/ia in vs. 1G71, it is strange that the translator should hava 
 
10-2 CEDIPUS COLOXEUS. [1486— 1 Hi 7. 
 
 »'(Ep< Ig ^10 ^att ^i^art .Will he yet, my cliilJren, find me 
 a'iiVt',:'a''id possi'ssed of my senses f 
 
 Ant. And what secret trust Avould you wish to commit to 
 his breast ? 
 
 (Ed. In return for the favors I have received, to give him 
 the consummation of the favor I promised. 
 
 Cii. llo, ho, my son ! come, come, if at the extremity of 
 tlie beach you are con^rating the sacrificial altar to Neptune, 
 god of the sea, come ;^ir the stranger deems it right to return 
 to you, and to the city, and to his friends the just favors he has 
 received. Hasten, rush, oh king! 
 
 Tii. What common uproar again resounds from you, clearly 
 proceeding from yourselves, and distinctly from the stranger ? 
 Has some bolt of Jove, or shower of hail burst upon you ? for 
 one may conjecture eveiy thing of this kind, when the god 
 raises the storm. 
 
 (Hd. Oh king ! you have appeared to me \\dshing, and some 
 god gave you the happy fortune of this coming. 
 
 Til. But what new thinjx, O son of Laius, has ajiain arisen? 
 
 CEd. This is the crisis of life to me,^ and I wish to die with- 
 out deceiving you and this city in what I promised. 
 
 Tii. On what certain sign of death do you depend ? 
 
 Qi!d. The gods, themselves their heralds, announce it to me, 
 being false to none of the previously-concerted signs. 
 
 Tii. How sayest thou, old man, that these things are un- 
 folded? 
 
 Q^D. The frequent continuous thunderings, and the many 
 bolts flashing from the hand in\'incible. 
 
 Th. You persuade me, for I see you predicting many things, 
 and these not of false report ; and tell me what it is fitting 
 to do. 
 
 rendered it " not to be forrrottcn ; for the sentiment, liy ^^'llich those 
 who held communion v.ith the impious were supposed to sutler the 
 penalty of their crimes, was very common. Cf. Hesiod, tpy. 238, 
 TToTiAuKi Kol ^vfiTzaaa 'no'kig Kanov dvSpug d7r?jvpa, "Ocrig lUurpaivei Kal 
 <lTda6a?M ^iTJXCivuarai. Tolcnv 6' ovpavddev fir/ ETT?/yay£ TzJjua Kpoviuv 
 Aifiijv ojiov Kal ?Mi/i6v, dnrocpdcvi'dovGC di ?.aol. Ovde -^vvcuKeg TtKTOvcjiv, 
 fiivvdovGt di oIkgl. Babrias, Fab. 117, hug yup daejiovg i/j.iSeidijKdrog 
 TTAoiG), Ilo2.?uOvg GOV av7(7j jiTjdtv alriovg 6vr/CK£LV. Sec Comm. on Hor. 
 Od. i'ii. 2. 
 
 ^ Or, " ATy life is vcrfring to its close." The meaning of /5o-?/ is taken 
 from the turn of the balance. 
 
1518— 155G.] CEDIPUS COLONEUS. 103 
 
 QP.D. I v/ill teach you, O son of ^^geu?, things which, 
 uninjured by age, shall be stored up to this city. I myself, 
 untouched by a guide, Avill straightv/ay point out the spot 
 where it behooves me to die. This never tell to any mortal, 
 neither where it is concealed, nor in what place it lies, since 
 it will ever provide you a defense against your neighbors, 
 superior to many shields and to foreign spears. ISut the 
 things that are sacred and are not uttered in words, you 
 yourself shall learn when you come tA||e alone ; since neither 
 would I declare them to any one of tnese citizens, nor to my 
 children, though I love them. But do you yourself always 
 preserve them, and when you come to the end of life, reveal 
 them to the foremost in power alone, and let him ever show 
 them to his successor ; and thus you Avill inhabit this city 
 unhurt by the men that sprung from the dragon's teeth.^ 
 But numberless cities, even though one rule them well, easily 
 give way to insolence ; for the gods full well, though late, 
 pay regard when any one, despising holy things, may betake 
 himself to phrensy ; which do you, O son of -3^geus, be un- 
 willing to suffer. I instruct, however, one who knows such 
 things. But let us now go to the spot, for a present impulse 
 from the god urges me on, nor yet let us feel awed. Oh, my 
 daughters, this way folloAv me, for I in turn have appeared a 
 new guide to you, as ye were to your father. Go, and do 
 not touch me, but suffer me myself to find out the sacred 
 tomb where it is fated for me to be ensepulchred beneath 
 this soil. This way, hither, this way advance, for this v/ay 
 there is leading me on Hermes the conductor,- and she, the 
 goddess of the shades.^ O liglit, rayless to me, formerly 
 somewhere, once on a time thou wert mine, and now, for 
 the last time, my body touches thee ; for now^ I go to conceal 
 the close of mv life in the shades. But, O dearest of friends ! 
 may both you, and this land, and your servants,^ be blessed 
 of heaven, and in your success remember mj death, ever 
 prospering. 
 
 Ch. If it be lawful for me to worship with prayers the 
 
 * A designation of the Thebans, derived from their fabulous origin. 
 ^ That is, the conductor of the dead. 
 
 " Proserpine. 
 
 * The Athenip.ji people. 
 
101 CEDIPL'y COLOXEi'S [1557—1594. 
 
 unseen goddes?!,^ and tliee, Pluto, Pluto, king of those who 
 d'vvell in night, I beseech you that neither with pain, nor 
 in a painful dcatli of jjitter suffering, the stranger accomplish 
 his way to tlie plain of the dead below the earth that incloses 
 all mortals, and to the Stygian mansions. For many suifer- 
 ings, ;i;tI those undeservedly, having come upon you,- may 
 the just divinity again exalt you. O ye goddesses below the 
 earth, and form of the invincible monster, who, they say, has 
 his lair by the well-pplished gates,^ and whom fame ever 
 reports to gi-owl from his den, the unconquerable guardian of 
 Orcus .... whom, O son of Earth and Tartarus, I implore 
 gently to meet the stranger advancing to the infernal plains 
 of the dead ; thee I invoke, thee, who never slumberest. 
 
 Messenger. Ye citizens, I may in very brief words express 
 to you that (Pldipus is dead: but what was done, neither is 
 there language to relate shortly, nor the circumstances, as 
 many as took place there. ^ 
 
 Cii. For has the wretched man perished? 
 
 Mess. Be assured that he has forever bid farewell to life. 
 
 Ch. How? Did the unhappy man die by a doom sent from 
 heaven, and void of pain ? 
 
 Mess. This already is lit even to excite astonishment. For 
 how indeed he went hence, you too, being somewhere present, 
 know, no one of his friends acting as guide, but he himself lead- 
 ing the way to us all. But when he came to the threshold 
 of the steep descent, firm-rooted in earth with brazen steps, 
 he stood in one of the many-dividing ways near the hollow 
 caves, where lie the ever faithful pledges of Theseus and Piri- 
 
 ^ " Cur deo3 infernos adoraturus veniam quasi prsefatur ? An quod 
 Pluto Kij^ed re GToi'axur -' t/Mxe (ut ait Stesichoras) non preces 1" — Mus- 
 grave. 
 
 ^ Murav. Having come vainly, because there \%-as no occasion fov 
 thsm by prior guilt. 
 
 ^ The gates of the infernal regions appear to be called well-polished, or, 
 more literally, polished by many, from the crowds that constantly made 
 their entrance. We have something similar in Lucretius : 
 
 " turn, portas propter, ahena 
 
 8igna manus dextras obtendunt adtenuari 
 
 Sffipo salutantum tactu, praeterquc meantum.'" — Lib. I. S17. — Tr. 
 Wunder reado 'rro?,v^Ei>Oic from Musgrave's conjecture. — B. 
 
 * If so very nuic'i took ])la(c daring the time that the Chorus was sing- 
 in:: this stave, we are afraid that one of the unities, to which the Oleics 
 piid sv;cli altention, must have been not a little violated 
 
iO'Jo— 1632.] CEDIPUS COLONEUS. 105 
 
 tlious.^ Standing between Avliicli place, antl the Thorician 
 rock, and the hollow thorn and the sepulchre of stone, he sat 
 him dov/n. Then lie loosed his squalid garments ; and next, 
 having called on his daughters, he ordered them from some 
 place to bring water for the bath, and libations from the run- 
 ning stream. And they, going to the conspicuous hill of the 
 verdant Ceres, performed in a short time these injunctions to 
 their father ; and with lavers and with robes they decked him 
 out in the vv^ay that is ritual. And when he had satisfaction 
 in every thing being done, and there was nothing any longer 
 undone of what he desired, Jove indeed thundered beneath the 
 earth, and the virgins were frozen with horror as they heard 
 it ; and fiiUing on the knees of their father, they wept, nor did 
 they cease from beatings of the breast and lengthened groans. 
 But he, as he suddenly heard their bitter cries, folding his 
 hands over them, said, " O children, there is no longer to you 
 this day a f\\ther ; for all that vras mine has perished, and you 
 no longer shall have the difhcult toil of supporting me : griev- 
 ous it vras, I know, my daughters ; but yet one word does 
 away with all these troubles ; for you enjoyed love from no 
 one more than from me, of whom deprived, you will now 
 spend the remainder of your life." Thus clinging lo one 
 another, they all, with sobs, wept. But when they came to 
 the end of their Availings, and no cry arose, silence indeed 
 prevailed ; but the voice of some one on a sudden loudly call- 
 ed him, so that all, trembling with terror, instantly raised up- 
 rio'ht tlieir hairs ; for the eod oft in various ways summons 
 liim ; '• PIo you ! ho you CEdipus ! why linger we to depart ? 
 Long since there is delay on your part." But he, when he 
 perceived he Vv^as summoned by the god, calls on Theseus, the 
 kin^ of the land, to come to him ; and when he came, said, 
 " O beloved friend, pledge to my children the former faith of 
 
 ^ Theseus had made a solemn league of friendship with Pirithous on 
 this spot, and agreed to accompany him to the lower regions to assist him 
 in recovering Proserpine, the object of his passionate love, from the 
 clutches of Pluto. The love and the friendship were alike ill-starred. 
 Theseus was separated from his heroic companion by an earthquake, and 
 with difficulty regained the light ; but Pirithous was detained, and con- 
 demned to eternal darkness and chains. 
 
 " amatorem trecents 
 
 Pirithoum cohibent Cct3naB."' — Horace. 
 E 2 
 
lOG CEDIPUS COLONEUS. [1633— 1G38. 
 
 your right hand ;i and ye, my daughters, to him ; and solemn- 
 ly ratiiy that }ou will never willingly betray them, but will 
 always perform whatsoever you conceive advantageous to 
 them." And he, like a noble man without lamentations, prom- 
 ised an oath to perform these things to the stranger. And 
 when he had done this, Q^^lipus, touching Avith unseeing hands 
 his children, says, '' Oh children twain, it is necessary that, 
 supporting generous resolutions in your minds, you should 
 depart from these places, nor claim to see what is not laA\ful 
 to see, nor to hear those speaking such things.^ But depart 
 as quickly as possible, only let king Theseus be present to 
 learn what is done." So much we all heard him utter, and 
 groaning with abundant tears, we departed along with the 
 virgins ; and when we had gone away, turning in a short time, 
 we saw the man no longer, indeed, any where present, but the 
 king himself, holding his hand over his brow to shade his 
 eyes, as if some horrible sight of fear had been disclosed, nor 
 what was endurable to look upon.^ A little afterward, and 
 in no long time, we see him paying adoration to earth and to 
 Olympus, seat of the gods, in the same prayer. But Theseus : 
 for neither did any bolt of the god, wmged with lightning, 
 destroy him, nor tempest raised from ocean at that moment ; 
 but it was either some messenger from the gods, or sunless 
 gap^ of the shades beneath the earth, mercifully opening to re- 
 ceive him ; for the man is not to be lamented, nor was he dis- 
 missed from life wretched with disease, but, if any other of 
 mortals, worthy of admiration. And if I seem to speak not 
 being in my senses, I would not yield to those to Avhom I ap- 
 peared deprived of sense. 
 
 Ch. But Avhere are his children and the friends who con- 
 ducted them? 
 
 Mess. They are not fir off, for the sounds of mourning not 
 
 of me. 
 
 ^ " The faith which I have already tried and proved in your protection 
 
 me." 
 
 ^ We are afraid this would operate with most women as a strono- in- 
 ducement to disregard the advice. 
 
 ^ The picture to the eye is here admirable, and afTords one of the best 
 examples of the author's graphic power. The whole of the description, 
 indeed, is at once interesting and sublime, and has obtained peculiar 
 praises from the highest critical source — the pen of Longinus. 
 
 * k50 Wunder, from the Scholia, for aAv~i]Tov. — B. 
 
1669—1704] CEDIPIJS COLOXEUS. 107 
 
 indistinct signify to us that tliey arc approaching hither- 
 ward. 
 
 Ant. Woe, woe ! alas ! 'tis not for us hapless^ to mourn 
 in this, or that respect, the accursed kindred blood of our fa- 
 ther, for whom we firmly bore many toils in many places, but 
 in this last shall endure incalculable calaraitiegj seeing and suf- 
 fering them. 
 
 Ch. What is it ^ 
 
 Ant. Ye may conceive it, my friends, 
 
 Ch. Is he gone ? 
 
 Ant. Ycs, as you would feel most desirous he should. For 
 why? whom neither Mars nor ocean met, but tbe unseen 
 plains, bearing him with them, swallowed in a certain myste- 
 rious fate. Unhappy woman that I am ! for to us has the 
 night of destruction come over our eyes ; for how, wandering 
 either to some foreign land, or over the billows of the deep, 
 shall we gain life's hard-earned subsistence ? 
 
 Ism. I know not. May bloody Pluto bear me down, to die 
 unhappy along -v^'itli my aged father ; since to me at least, the 
 life to come is not worth living for, 
 
 Cii. Oh ye twain, best of children, it is fit to bear that well 
 which comes from God, nor do ye too much inflame your 
 grief: your lot is not to be found fault with. 
 
 Ant. There was then some desire even of miseries ; for 
 that which is by no means pleasant, Avas pleasant when, at 
 least, I held him in my arms. Oh father! oh dear father! 
 oh thou who art enveloped forever in darkness beneath the 
 earth, neither in your old age were you ever unbeloved by me, 
 nor shall be. 
 
 Ch. He has fared — ■ 
 
 ^ The scholiast has here very rashly ventured on a piece of criticism. 
 His words are tu f^e|//f rod dpuuarog ovk eanv evKa~a6p6vrjTa. We 
 ditier with him toto coclo. The play ought to have ended with the speech 
 of the messenger, and to have closed, as the interest closes, with the sub- 
 lime catastrophe there so magnificently described. The vvhinings of the 
 girls after this could not fail to appear feeble ; and to complete this nat- 
 ural disadvantage under which they labor, the poet has contrived to render 
 them most intolerably stupid. Some, however, may be of the pathetic 
 scholiast's opinion ; and to them we willingly make a present of ai, al, 
 ^Ev, ^ef', and Co. — Tr. There is the same anti-climax, or rather tedious 
 '•' tag,"' to the Persae of ^Eschylus, and the King Kcnry the Eighth of 
 Shakespeare. But the Greeks, as well as the modern dramatists, often 
 fell victims to " legitimate" five-act measure. — B. 
 
108 CEDIPUS COLONEUS. [1704—1743. 
 
 Ant. He lias fiired as lie wished. 
 
 Ch. And how ? 
 
 Ant. As he desired, he has died in a foreign land, and he 
 has an ever-shaded bed beneath the earth, nor has he left 
 riionrning without tears; forever, oh lather, this my weep- 
 in^ eye laments you, nor know I how it is possible for me, 
 wretched, to banish such great afiiiction. Alas! you ought not 
 to liave died in a foreign land, but thus you have died deserted 
 
 by me. 
 
 Ism. O unhappy me ! what desolate, distressing fate again 
 awaits me and thee, dear sister, thus bereft of a father ! 
 
 Cii. But since he has happily at least, dear virgins, closed 
 the term of life, cease from this sorrow, for no one is a difficult 
 prey tc misfortune. 
 
 Ant. Let us haste, loved sister, back. 
 Is:>i. That we may do Avhat ? 
 Ant. a desire possesses me — 
 Ism. What? 
 
 Ant. To see the sepulchral home — 
 Ism. Of whom 1 
 
 Ant. Of our father. Oh, unhappy me ! 
 Ism. But how is this lawful ? Do you not see — 
 Ant. Why do you reprove this ? 
 Ism. And this, how — ^ 
 Ant. Why this so much again — » 
 
 IsM. He has fallen unburied, and apart from eveiy one. 
 An't. Conduct me, and then slay me. 
 
 Is.^r. Woe, woe is me, unhappy ! Where, in truth, hence- 
 forth shall I, thus desolate and in want, endure my wretched 
 existence ? 
 
 Cii. Dear maids, fear nothing. 
 Ant. But wlicre shall I fly ? 
 
 Cii. Even before there has escaped — 
 
 Ant. From what ? 
 
 Cii. Your state from flilling into misery. 
 
 Ant. I think — 
 
 Cii. What, in truth, do you over wisely think. 
 
 Ant. I know not hoAV we shall return home. 
 
 Cii. Do not, then, inquire into it. 
 
 ' The meaning of these two or three speeches is obviously destroyed by 
 corruption, or rather mutilation, of the text. 
 
1743-1780.] CEDirJS COLONEUS. 109 
 
 Ant. Trouble possesses me. 
 
 Cii. And formerly did. 
 
 Ant. At one time indeed it advances farther, and at anoth- 
 er passes all bounds. 
 
 Ch. Ye have tlien obtained for your lot a vast sea [of 
 troubles]. 
 
 Ant. Yea, yea.^ 
 
 Cii. I too assent to it. 
 
 Ant. Alas 1 alas ! where shall Ave go, O Jove ? for to v/hat 
 hope does the god now, at least, incite us? 
 
 Theseus. Cease, virgins, from your dirges, for in those 
 cases Avhere joy at least is stored up beneath the earth, we 
 ouo"ht not to mourn : for there would be indifrnation of heaven. 
 
 Ant. O, son of ^'Egcus ! we fall dovrn before thee. 
 
 Th. To grant wliat boon, ye maids? 
 
 Ant. We vv'ish with our ovrn eves to behold the tomb of 
 our father. 
 
 Tii. But it is not lawful. 
 
 Ant. How sayest thou, king, ruler of Athens? 
 
 Til. He forbade me, virgins, that any one of mortals should 
 approach those places, or address the sacred sepulchre whicli 
 he tenants ; and he said, if I did this, that I should always 
 gloriously possess this land uninjured. These words of ours, 
 therefore, Jove heard, and he that hears every thing, the oath 
 of Jove. 
 
 Ant. If these things are agreeable to him, they will suffice 
 to us ; but send us to Ogygian Thebes, if we may in any way 
 prevent the slaughter coming on our brothers. 
 
 Tii. I will do this, and every thing at least which I am 
 about to perform advantageous to you, and gratifpng to him 
 below the earth, who is just gone ; for it does not befit me to 
 v/eary in this task. 
 
 Ch. But cease, nor any lon";er awake the voice of sorrow : 
 for these things completely have ratification. 
 
 ^ These two Hnes are omitted by Dind. a-cl V.'u-dcr. — B. 
 
[1-4. 
 
 E L E C T Pt A.' 
 
 OncsTDG, in company with his tutor and Pylades, comes to Argos, and, 
 having deceived iEgisthus and Clytemnestra with the report that he 
 had been killed by falling from his chariot in the Olympic games, he 
 reveals his being yet alive to his sister, who had bewailed him as dead, 
 and slays the two murderers, while vainly exulting in his own supposed 
 end.— B. 
 
 DRAMATIS PERSON.E. 
 
 Attendant. 
 Orestes. 
 Electra. 
 Chorus. 
 
 Chuysothemis. 
 Clytemnestra. 
 
 .^GISTHUS. 
 
 Attendant. O son of Agamemnon, who once commanded 
 the army at Troy,^ now mayest thou here present behold those 
 things for which thou wert ever eagerly longing ; for this is 
 the ancient Argos,^ which thou didst desire, the grove of the 
 
 ^ This play was translated into Latin by Attilius. Cic. de Fin. I. c. ii. 
 ^ 5. ^^ A quibus tantum disscniio, ut, quum Sophocles vcl optimc scripscrit 
 Eleclram, tamen viale conversam Altilii Icgcndam putcm ; de quo Licinius, 
 ferreum scripLorem ; verum, opitior, scriptorcm tamen, ut legendiis sit.''^ 
 See Bentley on Tus. Qncest. p. 56. Hermann. 
 
 ^ Euripides twitted Sophocles with this line as superfluous, who re- 
 torted with the same objection on the two first lines of the Phoenissa^. — 
 Sch. ad Phcen. Hermann thinks either exordium would be the worse for 
 the omission. 
 
 ^ Argos is here applied to the country by Brunck ; but according to 
 the Museum Criticum, No. I., "The cities of Argos and Mycena?, being 
 almost contitruous, went by the general name of Argos, as the cities of 
 London and Westminster are known by the common denomination of 
 London." If the ancient reading, ro yap, be revived, and the colon after 
 ovniideig removed, take ulcoc in apposition with Argos. Brunck's read- 
 ing injures the metre. Hermann quotes Euripides to defend Sophocles' 
 boldness ; \vuxov poal: he considered Argos used loosely to denominate 
 the whole country and its divisions alike. 
 
5— 3G.] ELECTRA. HI 
 
 phrensj-stricken daughter of Inachus,^ and this, Orestes, the 
 Lyctean forum of the wolf-slaying god ; but this on the left, 
 the renowned temple of Juno ; and for the place Avhither we 
 are arrived, assure thyself thou seest the all-opulent Mycence : 
 and this the habitation of the Felopidas teeming with murders, 
 whence I formerly, having received thee from thine own sister, 
 bore and rescued thee from thy father's bloody fate, and nour- 
 ished thee thus far onward in thy youth, as an avenger of liis 
 murder to thy sire. Now therefore, Orestes, and thou, Pyla- 
 des,2 dearest of foreign friends, what it is needful to do we must 
 quickly consider, since already the brilliant light of the sun 
 wakes clear the morning carols of the birds, and the dark night 
 has gone from heaven. ^ Ere, therefore, any of the inhabitants 
 walk forth from his dwelling, we must confer in counsel, since 
 we arc come to that point where there is no longer any season 
 for delay, but the crisis for action. 
 
 Okestes. O most beloved of serving-men, what evident 
 proofs showest tliou that thou art good toward us ; for even 
 as a generous horse, although he be aged, in danger has not 
 lost his spirit, but pricks his ears upright, even so thou both 
 uro;est us forward and art among; the first to follow us. 
 Wherefore my determination will I unfold ; and do thou, 
 lending; an alert attention to mv words, if in aught I miss of 
 what is fitting, set me right. For when I came a suppliant 
 to the Pythian oracle, that I might learn in what way I should 
 exact justice for my father from his murderers, Phoebus gave 
 mc an answer, such as thou presently shalt hear : " That in 
 person, alike unfurnished with armor and with martial host, 
 
 1 lo, whose story is told in the Prometheus of ^Eschylus, from Vvhich 
 play the word Glarpo-A?]^ is borrowed. The temple of Juno was, accord- 
 inar to Strabo, fifteen stades to the left of the town : she was the patron- 
 ess of Aro-os. 
 
 ^ Pylades was the son of Strophius, a Phoolan prince, by a sister cf 
 Ao-amemnon, and beino- educated with his cousin Orestes, formed \vi:h 
 liini a friendship that has become proverbial. 
 
 ^ Commentators disagree on the interpretation cf this place. The 
 cchoiiast suggests two constructions, an antiptosis, /le/.aivr]^ vvktoq Tii 
 ilarpa eK?jAoi-£v, which has been foilov/ed by Brunck, and eKAD.oi-e 
 Tu)V ucjTpuv y fit/.aiva evopovrj. jMusgrave translates iK/J/oc-rrev cx- 
 ccssit^ understanding darpa to mean the whole heavens, as ^"irgil, ^En. 
 III. 567 : 
 
 " Tcr spumam elisam et rorantia vidimus astra." 
 
 And this last is approved of by TJonk in the Museum Criticum. 
 
1j2 ELECTRA. [36— G3 
 
 by craft I should steal the lawful slaughter of mine hand." 
 Since, then, Ave have heard such an oracle as this, do thou 
 entering, when opportunity shall introduce thee, into this 
 house, learn all that there is doing, that being informed thou 
 mayest tell us sure tidings. For fear not that with both thine 
 own a""e and the long lapse of time they shall recognize thee, 
 or even suspect thee thus tricked out.^ But make use of some 
 such tale as this, that thou art a Fhocian,^ stranger, coming 
 from Plianoteus, since he is tlie chiefest of the foreign allies 
 they have. But announce^ adding an oath,^ that Orestes is 
 dead by a violent death, having been tumbled from a wdieeled 
 chariot-car at the Pythian games. So let thy story stand. 
 Bat we having, as he enjoined, first crowned my father's sep- 
 ulchre with libations and locks cropped from my head, will 
 then come back again, bearing in our hands a brazen-sided 
 vessel, Avhicli thou also knowest is somewhere hidden among 
 the brushwood, that cheating them with words w^e may bring 
 them pleasant tidings, how that my body is perished, already 
 consumed by fire and reduced to ashes. For what does this 
 pain me, when, dead in words, in deeds I shall be safe, and 
 bear away renown ? I indeed think no expression ill-omened 
 which gain attends:^ for already have I firequently seen the 
 wise also in story falsely dying y' then afterward, Avhen they 
 
 ^ Musgrave objects to this meanincr of tlie word ■'jvOiGfi.tvov, and also 
 to the scholiast's idea : he proposes himself to render it " canis capillis 
 variegatumy uvOoq is certainly applied to the hair. Suidas and Mos- 
 chonulus are ajrainst him. 
 
 ^ ^uKiiug Trap' uvSpug ^avor^cjg is BlomfielJ's reading. !Mus. Crit, 
 4»cj\-fiV. — H. 
 
 ^ The objection of Camerarius, that Orestes should not be made to 
 advis3 perjury, has given Musgrave great trouble; and proposes fjr 
 c'p.cfj to read oy/c.'j. Bat it is too true that Orestes, b}^ his own admis- 
 sions just after, could make, like Ulysses, liis own principles and those 
 of others equally subservient to liis intere.st without much remorse. For 
 the suppressed v/ord dyye/.iar, sec Brunck's note. 
 
 * Thus Menelaus in Euripides : 
 
 icaaog [itv upvig' ci 6e iccpdavij /Jyuv 
 iroLiiog elfii, fi?/ Gavdv, /.oyu Oavelv. 
 
 * This alludes to Pythagoras, who feigned himself dead to acquire the 
 reputation of prophetic skill. Zamolxis and Aristcus of Proconnesus, 
 author of the Arimaspians, have similar stories told of them by Herodo- 
 tus, B. IV. Hermann wonders at the commentators for their illustra- 
 tions here, understanding the poet to allude to such distinguished men 
 
64—93.] ELECTRA. 113 
 
 shall again have returned home, they have been the more hon- 
 ored. As I presume that I also, coming to life subsequently to 
 tl.is report, shall yet blaze forth, as a star, to my foes. Eut 
 O land of my forefathers, and ye its gods indigenous, welcome 
 me as prosperous in this my journey ; and thou too, O abode 
 of my ancestors, for, urged by an impulse from heaven, I come 
 to purge thee by my just revenge: then dismiss me not in dis- 
 honor Irom this my country, but [make me] master of my 
 Avealth and the restorer of my house. ^ This now I have said, 
 but, old man, be it at once thy care, having gone, to execute 
 with caution thy duty, but ^YQ will go forth, for it is the season; 
 which indeed is to mankind the greatest arbiter of every act.^ 
 
 Electra. Alas! ah me unhappy! 
 
 At. In sooth methought I heard from the door some female 
 servant inside heaving a suppresed sigh, my son. 
 
 Or. Can it be the hapless Electra? wilt thou tarry here and 
 listen to her cries ? 
 
 At. By no means. Let us attempt to execute nothing prior 
 to the commands of Loxias,^ and from these to commence our 
 course, pouring out the libations to thy father, for this brings 
 us both victory and strength in action. 
 
 El. O holy light, and air that sharest equal space with 
 earth, how many a strain of mournful dirges, how many a blow 
 against my bleeding breast hast thou witnessed for me, when 
 murky night shall have retired !^ But for my livelong nights — 
 the hateful couches of this house of woes are conscious : how 
 
 generally as, being at one time in disgrace with and banishment frona 
 their country, v/ere afterward held in greater repute than ever. 
 
 ^ This may be given better thus, perhaps : " And make me not a dis- 
 honored outcast from my country, but a master," etc. 
 
 2 Thus in Philoctctes, v. 837 : 
 
 Kaipug rot ttuvtov yvijjuav laxf^v 
 TToAi) TTcpa Tioda updrog upvvrac. 
 
 ^ " The epithet ' Loxian,' so constantly used by the Greek poets, ia In- 
 terpreted by the scholia in tvv'O ways, either as referring to the oblique 
 direction of his voice {i. c, the ambiguity of his oracles), or as belonging 
 to him from the oblique path of the sun through the ecliptic." Oxf. 
 Translation of Aristophanes. 
 
 * 'T'!TO?.et(l>0ij, Schol. TrapeZO?;, Brunck reccssit. Musgrave says, "iiTro- 
 ?.£i'rreiv, quod pro dcjiccrc, minui positum citat Budseus ex Aristotele, me- 
 lius omnino hie convenit quam passivum vTro?iei7rca6at, quod rcsto, svper- 
 S7im valet. Utrum tamen legcndum sit v~o?.eiTT7i an vTru^Etipri, mihi non 
 Eatis liquet." 
 
114 ELECTRA. [94—137. 
 
 oft I mourn mine unhappy sire, whom in a foreign country 
 gory Mars entertained not/ but my mother, and^gisthus the 
 partner of her bed, lop off his head with nuirdcrous axe, as 
 wood-cutters an oak. And for all this no pity is felt by any 
 other save me, when thou, my father, hast perished so dis- 
 ccracefully and piteously. But never then wdll I desist from 
 laments and bitter cries, as long as I look on the ail-glowing 
 beams of the stars, as I look on this daylight ; so as not, like 
 some nightingale that has lost her young,^ to pour forth to all 
 mine echo inviting to shrill lament before these gates of my 
 native home. O abode of Pluto and of Proserpine, O nether 
 Mercury 3 and awful Curse, and ye venerable children of the 
 gods, ye Furies, wdio regard them that unjustly perish, them 
 that by stealth usurp another's bed,^ come ye, lend aid, avenge 
 the murder of our father, and to me send my brother, for alone 
 I have no longer strength to weigh up the burden of affliction 
 that is in the opposite scale. 
 
 Chorus. Ah! Electra, child, child of a most wretched^ 
 mother, wdiy thus insatiably dost thou pine in lamentation, for 
 Agamemnon long since taken most godlessly in snaTes by thy 
 crafty mother and to an evil hand betrayed ? O that he who 
 caused this might perish, if it be lawful for me to utter this. 
 
 ^ Cf. ^sch. Choeph. 345, el yiip vtt' 'i/u(p Ilpog rivog Aviuojv, Tzdrep 
 6opir/UT]7og KarrjvapLGdrjq. — B. 
 
 ^ Brunck translates the Greek word ^' pullis orhafa.'" Musgrave, how- 
 ever, considering it an alkision to the fate of Philomela and Itys, renders 
 it *■• libcrorum suoruin interfcctrix.''' As Franklin observes on v. 147, 
 Procne, who put Itys to death, is supposed by u^Eschylus, Euripides, and 
 Aristophanes (in his play of the Birds) to have been changed into a night- 
 inoale. 
 
 ^ Mercury is addressed by this name in allusion to his office as con- 
 ductor of the dead : 
 
 " Animas ille evocat Oreo 
 
 Pallentes, alias sub Tartara tristia niittit ; 
 
 Dat Gomnos adiniitque, et luniina morte resignat." 
 
 From the third office enumerated by Virgil, we may suppose that Elec- 
 tra's prayers had already been cfTectually addressed to this god, as Cly- 
 temnestra shortly after sends offi»rings to Aganiem.non's tomb in conse- 
 q^ucnce of having had her rest disturbed by dreams of ill omen. 
 
 * Hermann, admitting an hiatus of some words before Tovq, fills it up 
 thus : aloxpCJg "kiarpuv Trpodurov; evvar, quibus furto crcptus est proditiis 
 torus. 
 
 * " AvaravoTurag, Schol. t^o)?.cGruTT]c rccte. Vide Musgravium ad 
 Euripidis Here. Fur. 1349." — Brunck. 
 
J 
 
 12S— 163.] ELECTRA. 115 
 
 El. Oitspring of noble parents, ye are come as the solace of 
 mv troubles ; 1 both know and am conscious of this : in no 
 wise does it escape me, nor will I forsake this [task] so as not 
 to bemoan my wretched father. But, ye that requite the boon, 
 of every kind of friendship, leave me thus to languish, alas ! 
 alas ! I implore you. 
 
 Cii. Yet still thou wilt, never raise thy father at least from 
 the lake of Fluto, man's common bourne, neither by shrieks 
 nor prayers.^ But from moderate [laments] to a grief beyond 
 reason, thou ever with groans art perishing. In matters 
 wherein there is no release from evil, why, I pray you, art 
 tliou fond of misery intolerable? 
 
 El. Foolish he, who is forgetful of his parents calamitously 
 deceased. But the sorrov/er that mourns for Itys,- ever Ity 
 that aiirighted bird, messenger of Jove, accords with my feel 
 ings at least. O all-wretched Niobe, thee, thee I account a 
 deity, who ever in thy stony tomb weepest, alas ! alas ! 
 
 Ch. Not to thee alone, be sure, my child, among mankind 
 hath grief arisen, wherewith thou surpassest those Avitliin, 
 with whom thou art from the same source, and by birth akin : 
 as is the life of Chrysothemis and Iphianassa, and he that 
 sorroYv'eth in his youth concealed,-^ whom one day the re- 
 nowned land of the Mycenians shall welcome haply, in ances- 
 try illustrious, under the benign conduct of Jove returning to 
 this land, Orestes.* 
 
 ^ Hermann reads ui-Tatc, the vestiges of which he thinks he has found 
 in Hesychius : dvT?}aet (scribe uvrriai), /uravelair, uvrr/aeacv. 
 
 ^ Penelope, in the Odyssey, similarly describes her grief. Od. xix. 
 520. See some excellent observations on the line ?/re Oafiu rpo-nuaa 
 X££i TTo^.vrjXEa cpuvTiv among Twining's remarks on the expression of 
 musical sound by poetry. Arist. Poet. Prel. Diss. 
 
 ^ Hermann makes ux^f^v a noun, and construes it with Kpvrcra. 
 " Happy in a youth unknown to sorrows :" semota a dolor ihus. This 
 is much less forced than the common version. — Tr. But if Orestes was 
 free from evils, why mention him"? If we read Kpv-ra 6' dx^^uv, and put 
 a longer stop after 'l(ptdvacaa, we shall have a better sense : " thou art, 
 like them, unhapp}^ ; but blest is he, whom now in age of sorrow reckless 
 at soniC time Mvcene's jrlorious land shall hail." — B. 
 
 * The withholding this magic of a name till the last, to crown the aiTec- 
 tionate appeal to Eiectra's happier thoughts, is worthy of Sophccles ; and 
 if equaled at all, is so in the turn given by Electra's v.ounded spirit to 
 that which was meant so differently. This, however, none of the older 
 editors have preserved ; and Brunck's and Musgrave's annotations on this 
 passage show their error. 
 
IIG ELECTRA. [1G4— 204. 
 
 El. Whom forsooth I unceasingly expecting, wretch that I 
 am ! childless, unwedded, am ever roaming, drenched in tears, 
 supporting unceasing pain of miseries ; while he is forgetful 
 of all that he has received, and all he has been taught. For 
 what messatre sroes forth from me that is not mocked ? Since 
 he is ever loni^in<i- indeed, but thouuli he lonfrs, he deigns not 
 to make his appearance. 
 
 Cii. Courage, my daughter, courage ! There is a mighty 
 Jove in heaven,^ who overlooketh and swayeth all things ; to 
 whom referring thy too bitter choler, be neither over indignant 
 v/ith nor forgetful of those whom thou detestest : for time is a 
 lenient god. Since neither is the son of Agamemnon that 
 lives on the herd-pasturing shore of Crisa^ without return, nor 
 the god that reigns by Acheron. 
 
 El. But from me the greater part of life hath already 
 passed away without hope, nor can I longer endure, who with- 
 out parents am wasting myself away, for whom no man stands 
 forth as champion, but like some worthless stranger I dwell 
 in the chambers of my father, in raiment thus disgraceful, and 
 take my place at empty tables. 
 
 Ch. Pitiable indeed were the words at his return,^ and 
 pitiable that in thy father's chambers, when the adverse stroke 
 of the ail-brazen axe was inflicted on liim. Fraud it was that 
 prompted, lust that perpetrated, the murder, having fearfully 
 brought into being a fearful shape, "^ whether it were god or 
 mortal that did all this. 
 
 El. Oh ! that day, that dawned above all indeed most hate- 
 ful to ,me : O nighty O shocking woes of that horrible banquet 
 
 ^ Plato Phacdr., p. 344, 11. o fiiv 67) fieya^ yyi/xuv kut' ovpavuv Zevg 
 ....diaKooficjv -TTcivra kol eTi/ne/.ofievog. Cf. Themist. Oral. xv. p. 332 ; 
 Maximus Tyr. xxix. p. 348. — B. 
 
 ^ Crisa, usually written Crissa, was a large town of Phocis, said to be 
 the capital of Strophius. It gave name to the Crissaean bay, the scene of 
 several actions in the Pcloponncsian war. 
 
 ^ Alluding to the presaging sorrow of the Argive people on Agamem- 
 non's return, the adulterous loves of ^Egisthus and Clytcmncstra being 
 known to them. See ^schylus. 
 
 '^ Precisely Shakespeare's idea : 
 
 " Between the acting of a dreadful thing, 
 And the first motion, all the interim is 
 Like a phantasma, or a hideous dream."' 
 
 Jul. Ccrs., act 2, sc 1. 
 
-;.0o— 243.] ELECTRA. 117 
 
 — ilie disgraceful death my sire beheld from twain assassins, 
 that seized upon my life betrayed, that destroyed me ! To 
 whom may the mighty god of Olympus give to endure retrib- 
 iiti%^e sufferings, and may tliey never enjoy their splendor, hav- 
 ing accomplished such deeds. 
 
 Cii. Bethink thee : speak no farther: art thou not conscious^ 
 from what a state thou faliest at present into hardships all 
 tliine own thus unworthily! For thou hast incurred over and 
 above ail excess of evils, continually gendering quarrels by thy 
 sad spirit. But these matters are not worth the strife, to cope 
 Avith those in power.^ 
 
 El. By dreadful woes have I been forced to it, ay, terrible. 
 I am fully conscious of my wrath, nor does it escape me. But 
 enough, amid such atrocious crimes I shall never check^ these 
 miseries as long as life shall contain me. For from whom, O 
 friendly race, could I ever hear a profitable Avord ? from Avhom 
 that which is opportune. Forbear, forbear me, ye comforters ; 
 for these woes shall be ne'er relaxed ! never "\\dll I rest from 
 these troubles thus countless in my laments. 
 
 Cir. Nay, but with good-will at least I advise as a faithful 
 mother, that thou beget not woe on woe. 
 
 El. And vv^hat measure exists to my wretchedness? Come, 
 how is it honorable to be careless of the dead ? with whom 
 of mankind originated this ? ^ May I neither be had in honor 
 among them, nor if I am united to any good may I dwell with 
 it in tranquillity, if I repress the flights of my shrill-toned 
 
 ^ Musgrave, in his notes, proposes the following alterations in these 
 lines ; 
 
 O'j yvuuav lax^iC £^ oguv 
 
 ra TTapovr' o'cKelg, a r' elq arag 
 
 'Eu7ri~Teig ovru CKaiuJg. 
 
 He also interprets, and perhaps with correctness, uttj by vesania. — Tr. 
 olKEcag uTag, "evils all your own." For Electra had not shown the 
 same submission as Chrysothemis, and consequently met with harsher 
 treatment. — B. 
 
 ^ Harm. "ivx^ Tzo/.tjxovg, rdde rolg dvvarolg 
 
 OVK kpLGTU, 'TZAudeLV. 
 
 " So as to cope with those in power on these points v/hich admit not of 
 gainsaying.'' — Tr. Perhaps we should read tz'/AOdv. — B. 
 
 ^ arag, see v. -08. 
 
 * Or, " in whom of inen hath this arisen"!" This is perhaps the better 
 translation. Brunck-s Latin version has, uhinam homo est en mgenio 
 natus 1 
 
118 ELECTRA. [244—283. 
 
 shrieks to the dishonor of my parents ; for if he, having fallen, 
 shall lie in eartli a thing cf nought, and they shall not in turn 
 give satisfaction with blood for blood, then may shame and 
 piety from all mankind be annihilated J 
 
 Cii. I indeed, my child, came to promote at once thy wel- 
 fare and mine own ; but if I advise not well, do thou prevail, 
 for we will follow in thy company. 
 
 El. Ladies, I blush, if in my many lamentations I seem to 
 you to be too dov\"nhearted, yet, for their violence forces me to 
 do it, forgive me. For how could any woman of high family, 
 looking on her father's wrongs, not act thus? "VATongs that by 
 day and by night I see continually budding rather than 
 withering;'^ to v/hom, in the lirst place, the deeds of the 
 mother that bore me have turned out most hateful; next, in 
 mine own home I consort with the assassins of my father, and 
 by these I am controlled, and from these it is my lot alike to 
 receive and to want : furthermore, what manner of days think 
 you I pass, when I behold ^gisthus seated on my father's 
 throne ; and look on him dressed in the very garments that he 
 wore,^ and pouring out libations to the household gods, where 
 he slew him ? when I see, too, the crowning insult of all this, 
 the assassin himself in the bed of my father with my guilty 
 mother, if I must call her mother, thus cohabiting with him? 
 So hardened is she, that she lives with that pollution, in fear 
 of no avenging Fury ; but as if triumphantly laughing at what 
 she has done, having looked out for that day on which she 
 formerly slew my father by treacher}^, on that day she insti- 
 tutes the festive dance, and sacrifices the monthly offerings of 
 sheep to her guardian gods ; ^ while I, the miserable, witnessing 
 
 ^ Timon's curse on Athens, when he quits it forever, is a fine amplifi- 
 cation of this prayer (if it be a prayer) of Electra. See Timon of Athens, 
 act 4, sc. 1. 
 
 ' Similarly Philoctetes : 
 
 7] 6' hfif) voGog 
 del TedrjXe, Karri fiel^ov tpxcrai. — V. 258. 
 
 ^"Vestimenta regibus solemnitcr jnrestata. Statins. Theb. v. 315, 
 notas, regain gcstamina, vcslcs: ct vi. 80, cultus(]ue, insignia rcgni, Fur- 
 pureos. Germanic. Arat. Phaenomen. Rcgcs — satis religiose tumcati. 
 Nonnus. K. 20. 
 
 ^aGOJi'ia ^aiopu. tokIjQQ 
 t^vauTo^ TTopipvpeCf) TTSTraTiay/xtva (pdpea koxo).'" — ^^lusgrave. 
 
 ^ " Clytcmncstra. in imitation of the solemn honors [aid to the gods 
 
282—307.] ELECTRA. 119 
 
 all this at home, lament, pine away and shriek over the ill- 
 omened least that bears my father' & name ; alone, to myself, 
 for I have not power even to v/eep so much as my soul has 
 pleasure in doing ; since the woman herself, in words high- 
 spirited,^ accosts ana reviles me with such harsh terms as 
 these : " O god-detested thing of hate, to thee alone is thy 
 father dead ? Is none else of mankind in grief? Mayest thou 
 perish evilly, nor may the nether gods ever release thee from 
 thy present woes." Thus she insults me : but when she hears 
 from anv that Orestes is about to come, then infuriate she 
 comes and cries aloud : '• Art thou not the cause of all this to 
 me? Is not this thy work, that didst steal and spirit aAvay 
 Orestes from my hands ? But be assured that thou shalt pay 
 a deserved penalty at least."- Thus does she bark upon me, 
 and with her close at lier side sets her on to this that glorious 
 man, her husband, that utter dastard, that very pest, that fight- 
 er of his battles with woman's aid. While I, unhappy, expect- 
 ing from time to time that Orestes will come upon them to put 
 a stop to all this, am undone. For, ever purposing to eliect 
 something, he hath ruined my hopes both present and to come."' 
 In euch a condition, then, my friends, there is no room fcr 
 
 and heroes on the new moons, called therefore, t/i//7?x'a ifpa, insiiiuted a 
 monthly festival, Vv'ith sacrifices to the gods her preservers, on the day on 
 which Agamemnon was murdered. This was celebrated with songs and 
 dances, and a feast insolently called Epulse Agamemnonise." — Potter. To 
 which Franklin adds, that Dinias, in his history of Argos, informs us it 
 was on the thirteenth of the month Gamelion, which answers to the be- 
 ginning of our January, or, according to Potter, the latter end of that 
 month, or beginning of February. 
 
 ^ Musgrave objects to the idea of Clytemnestra being noble in words, 
 and proposes to read 'aoxolgi yevvaia, ilia in insidiis forhs. — Tr. But as 
 yevvatoi is ofLen used ironicaliy, we may very well take yew. Auy. to 
 mean "word-valiant."' The translation, "as she is called," is quite 
 wrong.— B. 
 
 2 hideed it is by no means easy to see why Electra had not ere this 
 fallen a victim to the vengeance of her mother, as by her own account 
 she took no pains to conceal her abhorrence of Clytemnestra's conduct. 
 Perhaps we must refer it to the same cause which, in the Odyssey, pre- 
 serves Telemachus so long — superstition ; to which the Greeks were most 
 prone, and which by no means ceases with religion and virtue, as both 
 the impious festival and penitential offerings of the Argive queen sulti- 
 ciently prove. 
 
 ^ By ovGG^ Kcl d-ovcar, Hermann understands her hopes in herself 
 present and in Orestes absent. Many probably will disagree with 
 
120 ELECTRA. [30S— 337. 
 
 either prudence or proper respect, but in evils forsootli, there 
 is absolute necessity to be subservient to evil. 
 
 Cii. Come, tell me, whether sa^-est thou all this to us, iEgis- 
 thus being at hand, or having quitted his home? 
 
 El, Even so. Think not I could walk abroad were he near ; 
 but now he happens to be in the country. 
 
 Cn. Truly, then, would I with greater boldness join with 
 thee in discourse, if this be indeed so. 
 
 El. As he is now absent, question what thou wilt. 
 
 Cii. Then I ask thee, what sayest thou of thy brother ? will. 
 he come, or delays he? I wish to know. 
 
 El. He promises at least, but j^romising he pcrform.s nought 
 of what he says. 
 
 Cii. Ay, for man in the performance of a mighty deed is 
 wont to delay. 
 
 El. And yet it was not with delay I saved him. 
 
 Cii. Courage ; he is naturally generous to aid his friends. 
 
 El. I am confident of it, else had I not Ions: to live. 
 
 Cii. Speak nothing farther at present, since coming out of 
 the house I perceive thy sister, by birth of the same father and 
 mother, Clirysothemis,i bearing the sepulchral offerings in her 
 hanJs, such as are the appointed due of the dead. 
 
 CiiKYSOTiiEMis. Sister, what talk is this thou again bold- 
 est, having come forth to the entrance of the vestibule; nor 
 art willing to be taught by length of time not idly to gratify 
 a fruitless rage? ^Nevertheless thus far I know myself, that 
 I am grieved at present circumstances ; so much so that were 
 I to acquire tlie power, I would disclose what are my senti- 
 ments toward them. But now in miseries I think fit to voyage 
 witli lowered sail, and not fancy indeed I effect somethinf^, 
 yet woi'K them no mischief. Thus moreover would I have 
 
 him. — Tr. Liddell, s. v. d-n//i, v.'cU remarks that this is merely like 
 ovTeq Kol a-ovTEQ, and means "all the hopes I have.'' — B. 
 ^ Thus Komcr, 11. ix. : 
 
 " Yet more — three daughters in his court are bred, 
 And each well worthy of a roj-al bed ; 
 LaoJice, and Iphigcnia fair, 
 And bright Chrysothemis with golden hair." 
 
 The original bar, Iphianassa. which Pope appears to have little reason for 
 changing to Ipbigenia, who had been sacrificed at Aulis. Elcctra is usu- 
 ally considered the same with Laodice. — Tn. But they are one and the 
 same person. Cf. Lucret. I. 85. — B. 
 
338— 3G4.] ELECTRA. 121 
 
 thee jilso act : aiitl yet the right is, not wherein I speak, but 
 wheroiu thou judgest. But if I must needs live free, I must 
 wholly obey my master. 
 
 El. Shameful at least is it,^ that thou being from the father 
 whose born child thou art, forgettest him, but art regardful of 
 thy mother. For all these admonitions to me are taught thee 
 by her, and nought thou spcakest of thyself. Else choose at 
 least one of the two, either to be senseless, or in thy senses to 
 have no remembrance of thy friends, since thou just now sayest, 
 couldst thou but get strength to it, thou Avouldst demonstrate 
 thy abhorrence of these ; but with me, Vvdio am in all things bent 
 on vengeance for my father, thou not only dost not co-operate, 
 but also dissuadest me in action. Hath not this cowardice to 
 add to misery ? For instruct me, or learn of me, what advant- 
 a""e could accrue to me havin"; desisted from these wailint]fs. 
 Do not I live ? but ill, I know, yet well enough for me. And 
 I annoy them, so as to attach honor to the dead, if in the 
 other world there be any pleasure : while thou, our hater, 
 hatest them in word, but in deed consortest with thy father's 
 murderei-s. I then would never, not even if any one were 
 purposing to bring me these thy gifts, wherein thou now wan- 
 tonest, submit myself to these : no, to thee be the wealthy 
 board set out, and plenty flow around thee : to me the only 
 nourishment be not to pain myself ;'2 thine honor I covet not 
 
 ^ This whole scene between the two sisters closely resembles the first 
 between Antigone and Ismenc ; as w^eil in the dispositions of the parties 
 concerned, as in the subject of their discussion, the necessary respect to 
 be paid to the dead. And when we sec some of the finest productions of 
 the Greek language depending for their catastrophe on this point, we shall 
 perhaps the less wonder that an idea so constantly implanted in the mul- 
 titude as the connection of the dead with the living, should have taken 
 root, even in so vigorous a mind as Aristotle's. 
 
 " See Brunck's note. Musgrave, who retains the common reading, 
 thus remarks ; " Schoiiastes et hoc in MSS. invenisse vidctur, ct prsterea 
 "kLTTElv, quod hunc sensum efficeret : Milii satis non dcficcre alimenta. 
 Sed omnino retinendum avtceIv. Mihi tnstar pabula sit, non me diin- 
 taxat, scd alios angerc.''' — Confer, v. 357. Hermann retains the common 
 reading Tovfit /i?/ /.v-elv, which he renders miJd non dolorcm creare 
 (rmhi hoc tantuvi csto 'pabulum) and understands Electra to allude to the 
 remorse she must experience, if she paid an impious respect to ^Egisthus 
 and her mother. — Tr. I have adopted Hermann's interpretation, as be- 
 ing best suited to the sense, although I am persuaded all is not right in 
 the text.— B. 
 
 F 
 
122 ELECTRA. [365—392. 
 
 to obtain ; nor v/ouldst thou, at least wcrt thou wise : but now 
 when thou hast in thy power to be called the child of a sire 
 the noblest of all, be called thy mother's : for thus to most men 
 wilt thou show thyself base, deserting thy murdered father and 
 tliy friends. 
 
 Cii. Nought v.-rathfuily, I pray you by the gods : since there 
 is profit in the words of both, wouldst thou but learn to make 
 use of hers, and she in turn of thine. 
 
 I CiiR. I, ladies, am in some sort accustomed to her Avords: 
 nor htfxl I ever recalled it to her mind, had I not heard of a 
 most grievous aiiliction coming upon her, which v/ill v/ithhold 
 her from these protracted lamentations. 
 
 El. Come, tell me then the hardship : for shouldst tho'^a tell 
 me aught greater than tliese present, I would no longer con- 
 tradict thee. 
 
 CiiR. Nay, I will tell thee all, as much as I know. For 
 they purpose, if thou wilt not desist from these wailings, to 
 send thee thither, v.'here never shalt thou behold the light of 
 the sun ; but living in a confined vault, without this country, 
 shalt thou chant thy woes. AVherefore bethink thee, and never 
 hereafter when thou hast suffered blame me. For nov/ it is 
 thine to be Avise in good time.^ 
 
 El. What, then, and have they resolved thus to treat me ? 
 
 Cue. Most surely ; when, in fact, ^gisthus shall come 
 home. 
 
 El. Nay, then, may he quickly arrive for this at least. 
 
 CiiK. What words are these thou curscst thyself vv'ithal, un- 
 happy ? 
 
 El. That he may come, if he purposes to do aught of this. 
 
 Cue. That thou mayest feel what suifering 1 Where can 
 thy senses be ? 
 
 El. That I may escape as far as possible from you. 
 
 Ciiit. But hast thou no regard to thy present life ? 
 
 ^ It has been before remarked that this scene resembled one in An- 
 tigone : the coiRcidencc of the two plays is here made still more striking 
 by the punishment with whieii Electra is threatened. 
 
 " If mournful erics and wailings before death 
 Availed, there is not one, be well assured, 
 That ere would cease them. Instant take her hence, 
 Inclose her in the rock's sepulchral cave, 
 As I commanded ; leave her there alone. 
 Either to die, or thore to live entombed." — Potter, Ant. p- ir>3. 
 
£S3— 110.] ELECTRA. 123 
 
 Et« Ay, a line life is mine, worth admiring ! 
 
 CiiK. Jvay, it might be, and thou knewest how to be wise. 
 
 El. Teach me not to be a traitress to my friends. 
 
 Ciiii. I teach thee not so, but to give way to those in power. 
 
 El. Do thou thus flatter ; thou speakest not my wont. 
 
 Cim. Yet surely it is honorable at least not to have fallen 
 from imprudence. 
 
 Eu I will fall, if needs I must, in avenging my father. 
 
 Cue. Our father, I am sure, grants indulgence in this.^ 
 
 El. These v/ords it is the coward's part to praise. 
 
 Cim. But wilt not thou be persuaded and consent to me ? 
 
 El. Ko, truly. May I not yet be so void of understanding.^ 
 
 Cim. Then will I too begone on my way, whither I was 
 sent. 
 
 El. But v/hither art thou wending? to whom carriest thou 
 thes;p ofierings ? 
 
 CiiK. My mother sends me to make libations at my father's 
 tomb. 
 
 El. How sayest thou ? to the deadliest of her human en- 
 emies ? 
 
 CiiK. Whom herself slew :^ for this wouldst thou say. 
 
 El. At the persuasion of whom of her friends ? Whose 
 pleasure is this? 
 
 Cim. From some nocturnal fright, to my thinking. 
 
 ^ Thus Ismene to her sister : 
 
 '' I then (of those beneath the earth revered 
 Imploring pardon, since by force constrained) 
 Will yield obedience to one potent lord. 
 Attempts beyond our strength no prudence show." 
 
 Potter, Ant. v. 69. 
 
 ^ Mz/TTO), per lATOTrira for jXTinGre, since 'Tzu, as Euttraann has observed 
 in his Gicck Grammar, includes always a reference to past time. On 
 this ?uT6T7]r see Porson ad Hec. 1260. 
 
 ' Homer's account is different : vid. Od. IV. 529 : 
 
 AvTCKa 6' Aljiadog doAtrjv tcppdaaaTo rexvrjv 
 KpLvuiJ.evog Kara djjfxov Ieluggl (j)cJTag upiaTOvg, 
 'Elae ?.6xov, eripudrj 6' uvuysi dalra iriveadat. 
 AvTup 6 (Sfj KUAEUV 'Ayafj-e/Livova, iroiusva ?.aQv. 
 
 "l-n-uOiaiV KGL Oj£f7d>a', UElKea jUEpfir]pL(^UV. 
 
 Tuv 6' ovK £i6ot' b7.eBpov avr/yaje nal KaTETTe(f>v£ 
 
 AeiTTVLGoag. 
 He farther adds, that .■Egisthus alone escaped, both his own and Aga' 
 (lieiiuion's followers being slain. 
 
124 ELECTIIA. [411—442 
 
 El. O gods of my fathers ! aid me even nov/. 
 
 CiiK. Hast thou any cheering hope respecting tliis terror? 
 
 El. Wouldst thou relate to me the vision, 1 then could tell 
 thee. 
 
 Cim. I know not, save a little, to tell thee. 
 
 El. Nay, tell me that. Many a trifling ATord, believe me, 
 hath ere now both overthrown and established mortals. 
 
 Cur. There was a report that she witnessed a second time 
 the presence of my and thy father having returned to life, and 
 then that he, having taken the staff which once he bore, but 
 now -3Cgisthus, fixed it in the earth, and from it sprouted up a 
 vigorous scion, wherewith the whole land of Mycenas was over- 
 shadowed.^ This I heard from one who related it, who was 
 present while she reveals her dream to the sun.^ But more 
 than this I know not, save that she sends me in consequence of 
 this alarm. Kow by our country's gods I implore thee, yield 
 to me, nor fall by imprudence ; for if thou shalt repulse me, 
 hereafter thou wilt send for me in trouble.^ 
 
 El. But, my beloved, of all this that thou earnest in thine 
 hands, attach nothing to the tomb : for it is not lawful for 
 thee, nor pious, from that hated woman to place funeral gifts, 
 or to carry expiatory libations to my father. But away with 
 them secretly, either to the winds, or to deep-sunk dust, where 
 never any of them shall approach my father's place of rest : 
 but when she shall be dead, lie they in earth a deposit for her- 
 self; for had she not been naturally the most daring of women, 
 she in the first j)lace had never at any time crowned these 
 hateful libations for him, whom at least she slew. For con- 
 sider, whether the entombed dead in thy opinion receives these 
 
 ^ Compare the Choephorse of ^schylus, from v.hich Sophocles has 
 borrowed the idea of the dream. 
 
 ^ Under an idea that the god who dispelled the shades of night froa 
 the earth was also capable of averting the evils whicli had been threat- 
 ened during that night, the ancients, having been alarmed by dreams, 
 used to tell theia to the sun ; and hence, says Franklin, Apollo was termed 
 ^TTorpoTralog. 
 
 " Scnscrat ut pnlsns tandem Medea tenebras, 
 Ilapta toris, primi jubar ad placabilc Phocbi 
 Ibat." Val. Flacc. v. 330. 
 
 ' Hermann has here ably pointed out the skill of the poet in coiinect- 
 j.''.j Chvysothemis' v.'arning (o her sister with the account of Clytemnes- 
 ir: ;j ;darm, v.ho \,oulJ be made doubly vindictive in her purposes tov.'urd 
 JLlccLi.i l.v i'jj.T. 
 
443—476.] ELECTRA. 125 
 
 honors in mcocl fricncllj to her ; by A\'hom perishing imhonor^ 
 ed, Uke a foe, he Avas mangled, and I'or a purification §lj£ wiped 
 oft' her spots upon liis head.^ AVhat, tiiinkcst thou ^o bear 
 these atonements of" the murder for her ? It can not be. But 
 leave these alone, and do tliou, having cut from the ringlets on 
 thine head the extreme hairs,- and from me unhappy, a paltry 
 gift indeed, but still such as I have, give him this squalid^ 
 [hair], and my girdle, not garnished with fineries. And fall- 
 ing down, beseech him from the earth to come a kindly aid to 
 lis against our enemies, and that his son Orestes with mightier 
 hand may alive trample under foot his foes, that henceforth we 
 may crown him with wealthier hands than wherewith we now 
 Oiier our gifts. I think indeed, I think that he hath some plan 
 in sending to her these dreams of horrid aspect. But, how- 
 ever, my sister, perform this service for both thyself and me an 
 aid, and for the most beloved of all mankind, now lying in 
 Hades, our common sire. 
 
 Cii. "With piety the damsel speaks : but thou, my friend, if 
 thou be wise, wilt do this. 
 
 Cim. I will do it ; for that which is right has no good rea- 
 son for one to strive with two, but to hasten its performance. 
 But, upon my attempting thes^deeds, let there be silence on 
 your part, for tiie gods' sake, my friends, since if my mother 
 shall hear of this, a bitter attempt, methinks, I shall yet hazard 
 in this. 
 
 Cii. If I be not born a foolish prophet, and wanting in wise 
 judgment, there will come Justice the prophetic, bearing in 
 
 ^ Those among the ancients who had murdered any person believed 
 that the wiping their swords, or any other weapon they had used, on the 
 head of the deceased, v/ould prevent his avenging spirit from having pow- 
 er upon them. The cutting off and wearing under their arms a piece of 
 flesh taken from the dead body was also thought a spell of Uke influence. 
 
 ^ " It hath been observed that the ceremony of cutting ofl' the hair, 
 while it was obviously expressive of violent emotion, had a latent mean- 
 ing couched under it. As the hair was cut oft" from the head, never more 
 to be united to it, so were the dead cut oft' from the livino-, never more to 
 return. This usage was not confined to the heathen world. It is taken 
 notice of in Scripture : Ezekiel, describing a great lamentation, says, 
 ' They shall make themselves utterly bald for thee :' c. xxvii. 31." Notes 
 to Trans. Min. Poet. Q. 191. 
 
 ^ " Defendi potest d?..i7Tap7j, modo ca vox significare putetur comam non 
 accommodatam supplicaticni, ut quce non satis compta atque nitide ha- 
 bita sit." — Kerm. 
 
12:] ELECTRA. [477-520. 
 
 lier hands righteous niastciy : she will pursue them, my child, 
 lit i!0 distant period. Confidence rises v/ithin me, just nov/ 
 hearing the s\veetly -breathing dreams.^ For never is thy par- 
 ent the kini!; of Greeks forgetful at least, nor the ancient brazen 
 two-edged axe, which slew him with most shameful insults. 
 Also shall come the many-footed and many-handed Erinnys of 
 brazen tread, that is concealed in dreadful ambush. For an 
 incestuous unhallowed rivalry of blood-defiled nuptials has 
 come upon those to whom it was unlawful. For these deeds, 
 of a truth, it holds by me that no portent can ever, ever be 
 come upon us without harm to either the doers or the accom- 
 plices. In good truth, there are no auguries to m.ortals in 
 alarming dreams, nor in oracles, unless this apparition of the 
 night shall anchor at last in good.^ O toilsome horsemanship 
 of Felops in old time, hov/ woeful camest thou to this coun- 
 try ! For since the drowned Myrtilus^ was sent to [his last] 
 sleep, hurled headlong forth in dire insult from his all-golden 
 car, no calamity of many troubles hath ever yet been wanting 
 to this house. 
 
 Clyte3dje3tra. Let loose, it seems, again tliou roamest ; 
 for -3i^gisthus is not here, who ever checked thee lest, being 
 abroad, thou shouldst dishonor thy friends. But now, as he 
 is absent, thou heedest not me at least. Nay, more, thou 
 hast actually denounced me at large and to many, as that I 
 
 ^ That is, to the party of Agamemnon, in proportion as they came un- 
 welcome and alarming to Clytemnestra. 
 
 ^ Musgrave considers the latter part of this chorus as out of place after 
 the promise of a prosperous fortune to the house of xlgamcmnon. Yet 
 as this could not be without a crime ; since " sanguine qusrendi redi- 
 tus ;" Hermann defends the transition made to the primal curse of the 
 ill-starred royal family of Argos. 
 
 ^ Myrtilus, son of Mercury and Phsctusa, was charioteer to Q^nomaus, 
 king of Pisa, the father of Hippodamia, whose horses he rendered the 
 most famous for their swiftness in all Greece. This it was which pro- 
 duced the confidence of CEnomaus in challenging his daughter's suitors 
 to the chariot race, and had already been the destruction of thirteen chiefs, 
 when Felops bribed Myrtilus with a promise of sharing the favors of Hip- 
 podamia. Thus allured, he gave an old chariot to Q^nomaus, which broke 
 down in the course, and killed him. ^^'hen, however, Myrtilus demand- 
 ed the reward of his perfidy, Pelops threw him into the sea, thus exem- 
 phfying the words of Shakespeare's Henry : 
 
 " Tho}'' love not poison, that do poison need ; 
 Nor do I thee, though I did wish him dead. 
 I hate the murderer, love him murdered." 
 
521—553.] ELECTRA. 127 
 
 am impudent, and, contrarj^ to justice, am the aggressor in 
 insolence to thee and thine.^ Yet have I no insolence; but 
 bespeak thee evil' by being so often slandered by thee. For 
 that thy father, no other pretense hast thou constantly, fell 
 by my hand. My hand : I know it well, I have no denial to 
 make of this. For Justice took him not I only, which thou 
 oughtest to aid, wert thou haply in thy senses. Since this 
 thy father, whom thou art ever wailing, alone of Greeks 
 could bear^ to sacrifice to the gods thine own sister, though 
 lie suifered not from pain, when he begat her, equally with 
 me that bare her. Enough : teach me now for whose sake 
 he sacrificed her.^ "Wilt thou say, for the Greeks ? But they 
 had no claim to kill my daughter at least. But if forsooth 
 then for his brother Menelaus lie murdered v/hat was mine, 
 was he not bound to give me due satisfaction ? Had not he 
 tvv'o children,^ for whom to die was more reasonable than for 
 her, they being of the father and mother for whose sake was 
 the voyage? What, had Hades a desire of my children, 
 rather than hers, to glut herself with them 1 Or was affection 
 for his children by mo, neglected by their abandoned father, 
 yet remained in Menelaus? "Were not these the acts of a 
 witless sire, a villain in purpose? I indeed think so, even 
 though I speak contrary to thy sentiments. But the deceased 
 at least would say so, could she resume her voice. I then am 
 not disheartened at what I have done ; but if I seem to thee 
 to judge amiss, do thou, preserving righteous judgment, re- 
 proach those near of kin.^ 
 
 El. Thou wilt not now at least assert that I, having com- 
 menced with some offensive w^ords, have then heard this from 
 
 ^ Rermann places a comma after apxcj, not, he says, because the read- 
 ing adopted by Brunck and others is incorrect (v. Matth. Gr. Gr. ^ 549), 
 but because irecpd cliajg apx(^ is a better sequel to the preceding Opacua 
 el/it. 
 
 ^ Cf. ^-Esch. Ag. 224 : cT?.a 6' ovv dvrjip yevscdac dvyarphg. — B. 
 
 ^ Herm. rov, X'^P'-"'^ rlvog tdv. av. " In return for what, in favor to 
 whom." Thus in the Nubes, uvrl before rov is omitted, v. 22, 
 
 ^ This, says the scholiast, though it militates against Homer's account, 
 is in 'u ion ^vith Hesiod's : 
 
 "H T£Ke6' 'Ep/iii67]v covpiK/.ctru 'Meve/.du, 
 '0-7,6ra~ov d' trf/ce ^^LKooTparov, opov 'Aprjog. 
 
 * i. c, 'by father. 
 
128 ELECTRA. [554—587. 
 
 thee; ]jut, wouldst thou permit me, I would rightly argue at 
 cncc in behalf of the deceased and my sister. 
 
 Cly. x\ny, then, I do permit ; but hadst thou always thus 
 begun thine address to me, thou hadst not been oftensive to 
 listen'to. 
 
 El. AVell, then, to thee I speak. Thou ownest thou killed 
 my father. Than thi^ what confession could be yet more 
 base, whether in fine with justice or without? But I will 
 prove to thee that thou didst not slay him with justice at 
 least; but persuasion from a villain, with whom thou now 
 companiest, allured thee to it. Kay, ask the huntress Diana, 
 in revenge for what those many winds detained them at Aulis ; 
 or I will tell thee, for from her it is not allowed thee to learn. 
 My father once, as I hear, sporting in the groves of the god- 
 dess, roused en foot a dappled, antlered stag, in whose 
 slaughter exulting,- he chanced to utter some [haughty] word.^ 
 And, thenceforth angered, the maiden daughter of Latona de- 
 tained the Greeks, that my father, as satisfaction for the beast, 
 should oifer up his daughter. Thus was her sacrifice ; since 
 no other release was there to the host, homeward or to Troy. 
 On whose behalf, having been forcefully constrained, and 
 having resisted much, he reluctantly saciificed her, not for 
 Menelaus's sake. If, however, for I will state even thy plea, 
 wishing to profit him, he acted thus, ought he for this to 
 have died by thy hands'? By what right? Beware, lest in 
 ordaining to mankind this rule, thou ordain thyself woe and 
 repentance. For if we shall slay one for another, thou, mark 
 me, shouldst die the first, at least hadst thou thy due. But 
 look to it, lest thou set up a plea that does not exist. For 
 tell me, an thou wilt, in requital of what thou happenest at 
 present to be committing deeds the most infamous possible ; 
 thou that couchest with the assassin, with whom thou erst 
 
 ^ The business of the ancient poets, and, till very lately, of our own, 
 has eonslantly been to inculcate submission to the will of Heaven, and 
 respect for all thintrs more immediately connected with it. In conformity 
 to this proposed object, insolence to Minerva is stated by Calchas to be 
 the cause of Ajax's madness ; and the wound inflicted on Venus by I)i- 
 omed leads to his expulsion from liis home by an unfaithful wife ; while 
 the still more audacious, because the more personal, insults to tlie deities 
 ciTered by Laomedop., lay the towers of liium, the work of more tlian hu- 
 man hando, in the dust. Nor was the prince of lyric poets less reUgious 
 than the t a-edians : vid. 01. 9, 5G. 
 
533—611] ELECTRA. 129 
 
 didst destroy my father, and luist cliildren by liim ;^ while thy 
 former lawful progeny, from lawful lineage sprung, thou cast- 
 est out. How could I approve of this? Wliat, ^v-ilt tl^ou say 
 that this too is vengeance thou takest for thy-daugliterf- Base- 
 ly, even shouidst thou say so ; for it is not honorable to marry 
 with enemies for the sake of a daughter. Hut it is not allow- 
 ed even to advise thee, thee, that ventest thy whole talk of 
 how I slander my mother. Nay, I at least account thee a 
 mistress rather than a mother to us, I that live a wearisome 
 life, ever treated with evil from thee and thy paramour ; while 
 the other ftar away, having hardly escaped thy hand, hapless 
 Orestes, wears out a melancholy existence, whom thou hast 
 often accused me of bringing up as an avenger of thy pollu- 
 tion ; and this, had I had power, I had done, of this be well 
 assured. For this at least proclaim me to all, whether thou 
 wilt as wicked, or abusive, or full of impudence ; for if I am 
 naturally an adept in these practices, I am almost no disgrace 
 whatever to thy nature. 
 
 Cii. I see her breathin;:^ racre ; but whether or no it exist 
 with justice,-^ of this I see no farther thought. 
 
 }.oi5op7iaaL 
 diovg, tx^po, aocpla ■ koI 
 TO Kai'xaadat Tzapa naipov 
 Maviaiatv vrroKpiKei,. 
 
 Hence we see thtit it wanted but little supernatural influence to drive Ajax 
 to the phrensy with which he was afterward possessed. 
 
 ^ Pausanias mentions Erigone, a daughter of ^Egisthus, of whom 
 Tzetzes ad Lycoph. 1374, plainly calls Clytemnestra the mother. — Herm. 
 
 ^ Euripides strengthens this plea by the addition of another, which the 
 ladies will think more forcible, viz., that Agamemnon kept another wom- 
 an, and even brought her into the house with his wife. This fact is thus 
 alluded to by Ovid : 
 
 " Dum fuit Atrides una contentus,- et ilia 
 Casta fuit : vitio est improba facta viri." — Franklin. 
 
 ^schylus also mentions the arrival of Cassandra at Argos, and her proph- 
 ecies of her own and Agamemnon's fate. Indeed, the Grecian chiefs iq 
 general appear to have so Uttle observed conjugal fidelity, that their wives' 
 treachery hardly need be referred to the wrath of Venus, or any other 
 deity. Ulysses alone (his loves with the goddesses must be excused on 
 the score of influence beyond human power to counteract) appears to have 
 had a just sense (vid. Od. I. 433) of decorum in this particular, and ac- 
 cordino-lv his wife continues faithful to him throufjhout. 
 
 ^ Hermann corrects the scholiast's interpretation thus: ''but whether 
 Electra justly harbors anger," ^vvean, scil. rcj jievsi. 
 
 F 2 
 
130 ELECTRA. [612—037. 
 
 Cly. "VYliv, v.hat thought sh.ould I have about her at least, 
 who in such terms hath insulted her mother, and that too at 
 such an age?^ "What, does she not seem to thee likely to jDro- 
 ceed to any crime without shame ? 
 
 El. Be now well assured that I feel shame at all this, even 
 though I seem not to thee so to do ; and I am conscious that 
 I act as disbecomes both my age and myself — but alas ! for 
 thy enmity and thy crimes compel me to act thus perforce, 
 since by the base are base deeds taught. 
 
 Cly. O shameless creature ! doubtless I, and my words, and 
 my deeds cause thee to speak a great deal too much. 
 
 El. Thou speakest them, not I ; for thou doest the deed, 
 and deeds find themselves words. 
 
 Cly. But never, no, by Queen Diana,- shalt thou go unpun- 
 ished for this insolence, when ^gisthus shall retur^i.^ 
 
 El. Seest thou? thou art hurried off into rage, though hav- 
 ing given me leave to say whatever I might wish ; nor know- 
 est hov/ to listen. 
 
 Cly. Vfiit thou not then suffer me even to sacrifice amid 
 sounds of good omen,^ now that I have allowed thee at least 
 to say thy all ? 
 
 El. I suffer, I bid thee, sacrifice ; nor blame my lips, since 
 I will speak no farther. 
 
 Cly. Then do thou, that art here with me, take up the 
 offerings of various fruits, that to this king I may offer up 
 vows for deliverance from the terrors which now I feel. Now 
 
 ^ It is hard to say whether this is meant as a reproach to Electra's 
 youth or maturer age. The context seems to intimate the former, but the 
 probable age of Orestes the latter. 
 
 ^ Electra having in a former passage declared that her mother, as a 
 murderess and adulteress, was unfit to inquire aught of the goddess of 
 chastity, by this oath Clytemnestra means to contradict her. 
 
 ^ Take ovk a?.v^£ig here as equivalent to ovk tlEeig uTiv^lv, and under- 
 stand a7.v^L^, not in a passive but an active sense ; not " effugium ejus 
 qui eflugitur," but " effugium ejus qui effugit." — Herm. 
 
 * This is well known to have been a point of great importance among 
 the Greeks. Ulysses, relating the cause of Philoctetes' expulsion from 
 the army, says, 
 
 or' ovTE ?.otPf/g rjfuv, ovte Ovfidruv 
 
 Tzapyv iKrJAoig Trpoadiyeiv, uX?J dyptaig i 
 
 Karelx' ^^^ ^"^ arpaTuTredov dva^rjfica g. — Phil. v. 8. 
 
 Hermann, however, takes ev(p/^/iGV j3o7/g to mean merely silence, as in the 
 CEdipus Coloneus, v. 132. 
 
637— G72.J ELECTRA. 131 
 
 mayest thou hear, Apollo our protector, my concealed address. 
 For my speech is not before friend^', nor suits it to unfold all 
 to light, while she is close beside me, lest with malice and 
 babblinsf clamor she circulate an idle tale throujihout the 
 town.i But hear me thus, for thus will I address thee. The 
 apparitions of a twofold dream that I have this night beheld,^ 
 these grant me accomplished, O Lyccean king, if propitious 
 to me they have appeared, but if hostile, let them recoil on 
 my fjcs. And if any by treachery are plotting to expel me 
 from my present good fortune, permit it not ; but grant that 
 I, ever living a life thus unharmed, may sway the Atrida^'s 
 palace and this sceptre, in happy hour consorting with those 
 of my friends with whom I now consort, and as many of my 
 children, as from whom no ill will attaches to mte, nor bitter 
 annoyance. This, O Lyca^an Apollo, favorably hearing, grant 
 to all of us, even as v/e ask ; but all the rest, though I be si- 
 lent, I deem thou knowcst, as being a god.^ For it is meet 
 that the race of Jove sees ail thinfrs. 
 
 Att. Stranger females, how might I surely know if this be 
 the palace of the king ^gisthus? 
 
 Cii. This is, O stranger. Thyself hast rightly conjectured. 
 
 Att. And am I right in guessing also that this is his wife ? 
 For she is dignified as a sovereign to look on. 
 
 Cii. Most certainly of all. This is she, here before thee. 
 
 Att. Hail, O queen. I come bringing to thee pleasant tid- 
 ings, and to ^-Egisthus alike, from a friend. 
 
 CiA'. I accept the uttered omen. But first of all I wish to 
 know of thee, who of mankind dispatched thee. 
 
 Att. Phanoteus the Pliocian ; forvv'arding an important 
 matter. 
 
 Cly. Of wdiat kind, stranger ? say ; for being from a friend, 
 I am w^ell assured thou v, iit speak friendly words. 
 
 ^ Thus Virgil : " Hinc spargere voces 
 
 In vulgum ambiguas." — ^neid II. 
 
 ^ " ^lggQv, duplicium id est ambiguorum. Sic Lucianus in Alexandre, 
 p. 218 : SiTTOvg rwag kol d/KpiBo/iovg Kal lo^ovg xPV<^/^ovc (Tvyyu(pcjv.'' — 
 Brunck. It may, however, be an allusion to the vision which ^schylus 
 has related. 
 
 2 Similarly the Chorus in (Edipus Tyrannus : 
 
 'A/L/V 6 ficv ovv Zeiig, 6 r' 'A-:t6?.?.uv 
 
 ^vverot, Kal to. ippordv 
 
 EMJref. V. 498. 
 
•J 32 ELECTRA. [673—697. 
 
 Att. Orestes is dead : I speak compressing it in brief. 
 
 El. Unhappy me ! this day am 1 undone. 
 
 Cly. What sayest thou, what sayest thou, stranger? heed 
 not her. 
 
 Att. Now, as before, I dechire that Orestes is dead. 
 
 El. Wretched I am lost. I am no longer aught. 
 
 Cly. Look tliou to thine own alfairs ; but do thou, stranger, 
 tell me the truth ; in what way perishes he ? 
 
 Att. And for this I was sent, and I will tell the whole. 
 For he having come to the glorious pageant of games of 
 Greece,^ for the sake of Delphian prizes, when he heard the 
 loud announcements of the herald proclaiming previously the 
 race, the decision of which comes first, entered [the listsj 
 illustrious, the admiration of all there present. And having 
 made the goals of the course even with the starting-place,^ he 
 went forth, carrying the all-honored prize of victory. And 
 that I may tell thee sparingly amid abundance, I have not 
 known the deeds and might of a man like him. But know 
 at once ;^ of as many double courses as the umpires pro- 
 claimed the five prizes which are customary, of these obtaining 
 all the meeds of victory, he was hailed happy, announced as 
 an Argive, by name Orestes, son of Agamemnon, that once 
 assembled the fiimous armament of Greece. And such were 
 these events. But when any god shall afilict him, not even 
 
 ' Tho Pythian games were instituted in honor of Apollo's victoiy over 
 the serpent Python, and are thought to have been at first confined to a 
 contest of musical and poetical skill in hymning the praises of the victor 
 god. The 6 tavXo^ here mentioned was when the competitors in the foot- 
 race doubled the goal, and returned to the starting-place. The 7:i-vTaQ}.ov 
 is usually supposed to be comprised in the celebrated verse — 
 
 'Alfia, TToSuKeLTjv, dloKov, uKOvra, 7:d?.7]v. 
 
 The prizes were sacred apples, to which some add wreaths of laurel, or, 
 according to Ovid, of beech. As Pausanias has stated, x. 7, 3, that most 
 of the Pythian rules were adopted from the Olympic games, we find 
 "the order of the course," (ViavAor, first here. 
 
 ^ See Brunck's note. Hermann's better taste has rejected so epigram- 
 matic a prettiness as that of Antipater ; and he justly observes that Soph- 
 ocles, in saying that Orestes made his starting-place his goal, exactly de- 
 scribes the 6iavXo^. 
 
 ^ Hermann has a comma between f^p6fiur> and ^,iav?.o)v, and considoro 
 what follows as equivalent to iTEvrdOAuv u vojil^craL. — Tn. Dindorf lias 
 rightly followed Porson. — B. 
 
698—720.] ELECTRA. 133 
 
 the strong man could escape. For he on a following claj,^ 
 Aviien at sunrise there was a swift contest of horsemanship, 
 came in with many a charioteer. One was an Achaean, one 
 from Sparta, two were Libyans drivers of yoked chariots ; 
 and he among them the hfth, guiding Thessalian steeds, the 
 sixth from ^toha with chestnut filhes, the seventh a Magne- 
 sian, the eighth, with Avhite horses, an -3!^nian by race, the 
 ninth from the god-erected Athens, the other a Boeotian, 
 hlhng up the tale of ten chariots.- But having taken their 
 stand where the appointed umpires had thrown for them with 
 lots, and ranged their chariots, at the sound of the brazen 
 trumpet they started, and all at once in concert cheering on 
 their horses shook the reins in their hands : the whole course 
 within was filled Avith the noise of rattling chariots;-^ the dust 
 was tossed on hish ; while all tooether in confusion were 
 sparing nouglit of the lash, that each might get beyond the 
 other's wheels,^ and snortings of their steeds, for the breath- 
 ings of their horses were at once falling npon and covering 
 with foam their backs and the circles of their wheels. But 
 he keeping under tlio very last column,^ continually w^as 
 
 ^ Translators and ccn}n?e.ntators agree in considering uJ.^.oq here as 
 synonymous with dtvrzpoq (the Latins have the same idiom, as in 
 Cicero ; xinus, alter, tcrthis) ; but as it is not certain how long the Pythian 
 games lasted, this appears a gratuitous assumption. Certainly Poppo, in 
 
 his note on Thucyd. III. 59, denies the converse : " provocat 
 
 enim ad Pind Olymp. I. G9, ubi postquara Pelops dictus est a Neptuno 
 raptus atquc in Jovis domum traductus esse, subjicitur : 
 
 "Y.vOa devTtpc) XP^'^'^ 
 ''H/.Oe Kol Vavv/LiTJdrjg. 
 
 Quo in loco quura scholiasts multas turbas movissent, Ganymedem Pe- 
 lopc priorem fuisse dicentes, Heynius devrtpo) XP^'^V positum esse voluit 
 pro u?./.(i) xpo't'V^ quod satis rcfutavit Bocckius, quern vide in Notis Criti- 
 cis, p. 346. Aeirepog enim nonnisi ibi usurpari potest, ubi de duobus 
 sermo est, ideoque non cum uA?.og sed cum erepog cohaeret ; a quo tamen 
 ita diiTert, ut irepor unum ex: duobus eignificet sine ulla vel temporis vel 
 ordinis sive dignitatis notatione, unde unus ille et prior et posterior esse 
 potest, devrepog autem nonnisi de posteriore plerumque dicatur :" p. 63. 
 — Tr. See Liddell and Scott, s. v. cAAof, no. 7. — B. 
 
 ^ Hence v/e learn the number allowed to run at the Pythian games at 
 one time. 
 
 ^ Quadrijugcs currus. — Brunck. "The harnessed car." — Potter. 
 " 7iEvyo)Tuv. — Hesychius. ^vyucu — /v/,fiC7«."— Musgra^e. 
 
 * XvoaL are properly the sockets into which the axle-tree? ^rt^ put 
 
 ° iax^TJ] cT7j}.T} is the last in ordeV oi Rtveral colui:n;s o/ obftU-sks 
 
134 ELECTRA. [721—740. 
 
 wheeling in his axle's nave, and giving rein to tlic right steed, 
 held in the near horge. And hitherto all the chariots contin- 
 ued upright ; but then the hard-mouthed steeds of the .zEnian 
 run away with him, and in turning at the completion of tlie 
 sixth, and now on the seventh course,^ they dash their fronts 
 on the Barccean car.^ And thenceforth, from a single mishap, 
 one was -crushing and tumbling on another, and the wlioie 
 Crissa2an plain was being filled with the wrecks of shattered 
 chariots. But the skillful charioteer from Athens, aware of 
 this, drives by outside them, and slackens speed, having suf- 
 fered to pass him the tossing tide of horses confounded in the 
 centre. But Orestes was driving the hindmost,^ indeed, 
 but keeping back his coursers, placing his trust in the issue. 
 Bat the other, when he sees him left alone,^ having cracked in 
 the ears of his swi(t m.ares the shrill sound of his whip, pur- 
 sues him ; and having brought their poles in line, they were 
 driving, now one, and then the other, pushing forAvard the 
 heads of their chariot horses. And all tlie other courses in 
 safety the hapless youth drove erect in his car upright ; but 
 tlien, slackening the left rein of his wheeling horse, he una- 
 wares strikes the pillar's edge,^ and breaks the middle axle- 
 nave, is tumbled from his chanot, and entangled in his reins, 
 while on his falling to the ground his steeds were dispersed 
 over the middle of the course. But the assembly, when it 
 
 erected in the Hippodrome, and does not, as some have supposed, allude 
 to the last turn round the goal. See Hermann's dissertation on the words 
 used by the Greeks to express the movements of horses, Beckii Conmi. 
 See. Phil. vol. i. part i. p. 49, and Bulcnger de Circo Rom. c. 29, in 
 Grffivius, Thesaur. Ant. Rom. t. 9. 
 
 ' Hcruiann understands i-ttol here, agreeing Vt'ith the masculine re- 
 ?^ovvTcg. 
 
 - This is an anachronism. V. Herod, iv. IGO. 
 
 ^ Monk translates this, " Now Orestes drove the last to be sure, but 
 keeping his horses back, as he placed his confidence in the end of the 
 race." 
 
 * " The sclioliasts do not state v.hom they understand to be meant by 
 u (5t' and vtv respectively. Later interpreters refer the former to Orestes, 
 the latter to the Athenian ; but in that case one would have expected 
 tr.eZvnv rather than vtv, which last must a})ply to the principal subject of 
 discourse ; and that subject is Orestes." — Herni. 
 
 * As his other instructions agree with the ])lan pursued by Orestes, so 
 this is the accident against which Nestor particularly warns Antilochus, 
 11. xxiii. v. 334. 
 
750—787] . ELECTRA. 135 
 
 perceives him tliro'.vn cut of his sent, shrieked aloud over the 
 youth, that, after having done such deeds, he meets with such 
 a disaster, whirled along on the ground, and then again tossing 
 up his limbs to heaven : until the charioteers liaving with dif- 
 ficulty stopped the horses' speed, released him, all bloody, so 
 that none of his friends by looking on him could have recog- 
 nized his hapless person. And having forthwith burned him 
 on the pyre, in a little brazen urn a huge body of melancholy 
 ashes- are appointed men of Phocis bringing, that he may 
 inherit a tomb in his fatlier's land. Such, look you, are 
 these tidings, as in story told,- piteous, but to us eye-witness- 
 es that saw it, the greatest of all misfortunes that I ever 
 beheld. 
 
 Cii. Alas !^ alas! It seems then the whole race of our for- 
 mer lords from its very roots has perished. 
 
 Cly. O Jove, whether shall I call these news fortunate 7 or 
 terrible, yet gainful ? yet 'tis a painful case, if by mine own ills 
 I save my life. 
 
 Att. But why, lady, art thou so dispirited at my present 
 words ? 
 
 Cly. 'Tis a dreadud thing to be a mother ; for not even to 
 the ill-treated does hatred to those she has borne attach. 
 
 Att. It seems then we are come in vain. 
 
 CiA\ No, believe me, not in vain at least ; for how couldst 
 thou tell me in vain ? if thou earnest possessing sure proofs 
 of his death, who born of my life, an alien from my breast 
 and nurture, estranged himself in exile, and since he quitted 
 this land never beheld me, but laying to my charge his father's 
 murder, was ever threatening to perform dreadful deeds, so 
 that neither by night nor by day did sweet sleep overshadow 
 nie ; but progressing time ever led m.e on as doomed to die. 
 Now, however (for on this day am I released from alarm at 
 her hands and his, since she the greater pest was living vdth 
 me, ever drinking up my pure life's blood), now haply shall we 
 pass our d;i3"3 in quiet, as far as relates to her threats.-^ 
 
 ^ Thus Hermann, rejecting both Brunck's idea of antiptosis and Scliae- 
 fer's construction of x'^^^'^'? crrrodo?. 
 
 ^ Simiiariy the messenger in (Edipus Tyrannus, v. 1237 : 
 
 a/.ycar' uttegtlv ij yap otjng ov Tcdpa. 
 ' " Ma'c Brunckius f5' post vov delevit, quod rcpeti post parenthcsin 
 notavi ad Vigcrum, p. 847. Conipare -Esch. Chocph. 621-629.'' — Kerm. 
 
136 ELECTRA. [788—818. 
 
 El. All me, unhappy ! for now 'tis mine to wail, Orestes, 
 thy misfortune, that thus conditioned thou art insulted by this 
 thy mother ; is this well ? 
 
 Cly. Not with thee, be sure ; but he, as he is, is well. 
 
 El. Hear, avenging spirit of the lately dead.^ 
 
 Cly. It hath heard whom it ought, and well fulfilled the 
 prayer. 
 
 El. Be insolent ; for now thy lot is prosperity. 
 
 Cly. So shall not Orestes and thou repress it. 
 
 El. We have been put down ourselves, on fear that we 
 shall put thee down. 
 
 Cly'. Thou wouldst become deserving of many things, 
 stranger, hadst thou checked her babbling clamor.- 
 
 Att. I would be gone then, if this be well. 
 
 Cly'. By no means ; since thou wouldst be about to act in a 
 manner worthy neither me nor the friend that sent thee. But 
 go ye within, and leave her to lament from without both her 
 own and her friend's calamities. 
 
 El. And does the wretched woman seem to you, as 
 grieving and in pain, bitterly to weep and wail over her son 
 thus perished ? Ko, in derision is she gone. O unhappy 
 me ! Dearest Orestes, how by thy death hast thou undone 
 me ! for thou are gone, and hast torn from my heart the only 
 hopes that yet remained to me, that thou wouldst one day 
 come a living avenger of my father and of me ill-fated. But 
 .now whither must I go? for I am lonely, bereft of both thee 
 and mv father. Now must I ajiain be a slave to those amons 
 men most hateful to me, the murderers of my sire. And is 
 this well with me? But no, never again hereafter will I be 
 their co-mate,^ but at this gate having thrown myself along, 
 
 ^ Nemesis, daughter of Xox, anfl by some supposed to be the same with 
 Leda, was intrusted with the care of avenging all manner of impieties, but 
 especially those committed against the dead. It was in this latter char- 
 acter that Adrastus, in his second expedition to Thebes, to avenge the re- 
 fusal of burial to his son-in-law Polynices, erected a temple to her. The 
 Greeks also celebrated a feast in her honor, called Nemcsia. 
 
 ^ Hermann refers to Matth. Gr. Gr. () 524, for the construction of this 
 passage, defending the common reading against Monk's remarks in Mus. 
 Grit. 
 
 ^ Brunck's reading t:Gaoj£ is an elision unknown to the tragic dialogue : 
 ^vvoLKoq taouai may be read, according to Hermann, with a hiatus : lie 
 himself reads etGei/x' ; Monk and others, tao/uai ^vvoiKog. ^'■Scd transpo- 
 
819—81-1.] ELECTRA. I37 
 
 friendless "vvill I Avlther away life. AVherefore, let any of those 
 within slay me, if he be oftended, since 'tis pleasure if I die, 
 "pain if I live, and for life I have no wish. 
 
 Cii. Where can be the thunderbolts of Jx)ve,^ or where the 
 beaming sun, if looking on these things they silently hide?^ 
 
 El. O! O! alas! alas! 
 
 Cri. My child, why weepest thou ? 
 ^ El. Alas! 
 
 Cii. Sob not thus violently. 
 I El. Thou wilt kill me. 
 
 Cu. How'? 
 
 El. If thou shalt suggest a hope for those who have mani- 
 festly sunk into the grave, thou wilt the rather trample on me 
 wasting away. 
 
 Ch. I did it, for that I know that royal Amphiaraus was 
 ensnared by stealth in the golden- wreathed fetters of a woman,^ 
 and now beneath the earth — 
 
 El. O! alas! alas! 
 
 Ch. Immortal he reiirns. 
 
 El. Alas! 
 
 Ch. Alas, indeed ! for she deathful — 
 
 El. Was over-mastered 1 
 
 ncndi ratio, hodje est tnstar aciiti cultri in manilus puerorum.^^ — Herm. — 
 Tr. Bat Dindorf retains tc7(70//'. — B. 
 
 ^ *' These four lines must be restored to the Chorus, whose claim to 
 them is irrefragable. They insinuate a ground of hope for Electra, to 
 which she alludes in v. 833. The exclamations in v. 827 are Electra's." 
 — Mus. Grit. i. 204. 
 
 ' This word is with peculiar fitness applied to the sun : 
 
 Aelvov yup 6eov alSe (Soeg koI l^ia ////Aa, 
 'HeAiOV, bg ttuvt^ i<popa kol ttu.vt' eTzaKovei. 
 
 Od. xii. 322. 
 
 ' The story of Amphiaraus bears a resemblance to that of Agamemnon. 
 He was the son of Oicleus, and the greatest soothsayer of his time. Fore- 
 seeing the fatal issue of the Theban war, he would have declined assist- 
 ing Polynices, and hid himself for some time, but was betrayed by his 
 wife Eriphyle, whom Polynices had bribed with a golden necklace, and 
 who, lilie Clytemnestra, fell by her son's hand. Although Homer hasj 
 assigned the chief place among deceased prophets to Tiresias, it is cer- 
 tain that high honors were paid to Amphiaraus after death, at Oropus in 
 Attica, where he had a temple. — Tr. So uva^ is applied to Tiresias in 
 (Ed. Tyr. 304. On Amphiaraus cf Pindar 01. VI. 21. Apollodor. IIL 
 6, 2. His oracle is mentioned by Cicero de Div. I. 40. Minutius FeliXf 
 Oct. <J 26. Athcr.agoras, legat. p. 139.— B. 
 
138 ELECTRA. [845—880. 
 
 Cii. Yes. 
 
 El. I know it, I know it ; for a careful friend arose to him 
 in sorrow ; but to me there is no longer any, for he Avho yet 
 existed is torn away and gone. 
 
 Cii. Wretched, thou hast a wretched fate. 
 
 El. I too am conscious, too conscious of this by a life which 
 every month sweeps in a mass of many things grievous and de- 
 testable.^ 
 
 Ch. We know all that thou bewailest. 
 
 El. No more, no more now mislead me, where no more- — 
 
 Cii. What say est thou ? 
 
 El. Are present the aids of hopes of kindred blood and high 
 ancestry.-^ 
 
 Cii. Death is natural to all mankind. 
 
 El. What, and in the rivalry of swift steeds thus to be en- 
 tangled in the reins, like him wretched ? 
 
 Cii. The misfortune is inconceivable. 
 
 El. How should it not? if in a foreign land without my 
 hands — 
 
 Cii. O heavens ! 
 
 El. He was inurned, having met with neither sepulture nor 
 dirse from us. 
 
 CiiR. With joy, my best beloved, I speed me hither,* dis- 
 missing decorum, to hasten with alacrity ; for I bring both joys 
 and resDite from the ills which before now thou didst cherish 
 and sigh over. 
 
 El. But hence couldst tliou discover a consolation of my 
 troubles, a remedy whereof it is impossible to find ? 
 
 Chr. Our Orestes is at hand, be sure of this, hearing it of 
 me, as certainly as thou lookest on me. 
 
 El. What ! art thou frantic, wretch, and mockest thine own 
 woes and mine '? 
 
 ^ If Hermann's reading, aluvt, be here adopted for d;^;^^^ (as 7ra/ii/ii7jV(p 
 Tzavavpru can not well stand for substantives, if without the article), the 
 reader may compare Hermann's explanation, Tzdvcn'pTog Truat [itjcI, with 
 Thucyd. 2, 44, ivevSai/LLOvTjaai re Kal Ivre/.evTy/cat riv (Uov. 
 
 ^ Johnson, and after him Brunck, unaccountably translates the word 
 Trapaydyyr by solcris, to which Musgrave Vv'ith reason objects, and ren- 
 ders it demulceas verbis, dccipias. 
 
 ^ dpcjyai, Hermann, from the scholiast. 
 
 * ?tiuch of the beauty of this scene is lost to us in tlie closet ; on the 
 stage its eiTect must have been wonderful. 
 
881—907.] ELECTRA. 139 
 
 Chr. Ko, by my fatlier's hearth, I speak not this in insult, 
 but that he is at hand to us. 
 
 El. Ah me ! unhappy ! and from whom of men hearing this 
 tale, believest thou this fondlv ? 
 
 Chk. From myself and none else, having seen sure proofs, I 
 believe this tale. 
 
 El. V»liat proof having beheld, unhappy girl! looking on 
 ■vvliat, say, art thou heated with this fever of the soul past 
 cure'?^ 
 
 CiiK. Now, by the gods, listen, that, having learned of me, 
 thou mayest call nic henceforth either sensible or senseless. 
 
 El. Nay, then, do thou say on, if thou in speaking hast any 
 pleasure. 
 
 CiiK. Well then, I tell thee all that I behold. For when 
 I came to my father's ancient tomb, I see from the top of the 
 mound fresh-running streams of milk, and my sire's grave 
 garlanded all around with every flower that grows. But 
 having seen tliis I began to feel wonder, and gaze around, 
 lest haply any mortal be stealing close upon me. But when 
 I saw the whole spot tranquil, I crept nearer the tomb, and 
 at the edge of the pile I discern a fresh-cropped lock of hair.^ 
 And the instant I hapless discovered it, an accustomed fancy 
 strikes upon my soul, that I was looking on this a memorial 
 of Orestes, the dearest of mankind, and raising it in my hands, 
 I speak not words of ill omen, but for joy have mine eyes 
 filled instantly ^vith tears.^ And now, too, equally as then, I 
 
 ^ The same epithet is applieJ to the madness of Ajax : 
 " 'E}cj cci' aTTclpycj, dvc^opov^ l~' o/ifiaat 
 Tvujtag j3a?MvGa, tT/c uvrjueGrav x'^p'^C-''^ — v. 51. 
 ^ Schaefer conjectured Tzvpa. Retain the genitive and join it with opcj, 
 a summo tumulo conspicio cincinnum, according to the Greek fashion of 
 measLirement, not from the spectator to the object seen, but the reverse. 
 See also v. 882. — Herm. 
 
 ^ Brunck translates this, voccm quidem compressi, evidently considering 
 oo cvo(p7]fj,ci) as equivalent to Ev^ijfiC) in its second sense. Eut Potter, 
 ■with greater reason gives it thus : 
 
 " And from mine eves pushed tears : account not these 
 Omens of ill, for \.\\cy were tears of joy." 
 Chrysothemis, wiih the natural anxiety of a Greek bringing good tidings, 
 •explains away a circumstance which might change their nature, even be- 
 fore she states what that circumstance was. But that it was considered 
 in general of ill omen, we learn from Homer, Od. B. XX. — Tr. Apu- 
 leius Met. p. 107, ed. Elm. : '• ut lacrymse sspiculc de gaudio prodcunt, ita 
 et in i'llo nimio pavorc risum nequivi contincrc." — B. 
 
140 ELECTllA. [908—942 
 
 am Fure that this ornament could come from none hut him. 
 For to ■\vliom is this a natural duty, save at least to thee and 
 me? And I did it not, this I ■well know, nor again didst 
 thou. For how shouldst thou, to Vvhom at least it is not per- 
 mitted with impunity to quit this roof even to [worsliip] the 
 gods? But of my mother, too, neither is the S23irit wont to 
 act thus, nor had she done it unobserved : no, these marks of 
 respect are from Orestes. Come, my dear sister, take courage. 
 To the same persons the selfsame genius is not always present. 
 But ours v/as ere novv^ detestable, 3'et haply the present day 
 v.'ill be the confirmation of m^any good things. 
 
 El. Alas! how do I long since pity thee for thy infatua- 
 tion ! 
 
 Che. 3>ut what is it ? do I not speak this to thy delight ? 
 
 El. Thou knowest neither whither on earth nor whither in 
 thought thou art hurried. 
 
 Cue. But how know I not that at least which I saw plainly? 
 
 El. He is dead, miserable woman ; and all protection to 
 thee from him is vanished ; look not to him at least. 
 
 Cue. Unhappy me ! from whom of men hast thou heard 
 this? 
 
 El. From one who was near at hand when he perished. 
 
 Che. And where is this man ? amazement comes over me. 
 
 El. Within, acceptable, and not displeasing to my mother. 
 
 Che. Unhappy me ! and from whom among men could 
 have been the many funeral offerings at my father's tomb ? 
 
 El. I am most led to believe that some one placed them 
 there as memorials of the deceased Orestes. 
 
 Cue. Ah ill-fortuned ! while with joy I bringing such a tale 
 was hastening, not knowing, I am sure, in what woe we were 
 plunged !^ But now, vv'hen I have come, I find the previously- 
 existing evils, and fresh ones also. 
 
 El. Thus it is with thee ; but if thou v/ilt be persuaded by 
 me, thou shalt lighten the weight of thy present affliction. 
 
 Cue. "What, shall I ever raise the dead? 
 
 El. That at least is not what I said, for I was not born so 
 senseless. 
 
 Che. What then dost thou require, to which I can pledge 
 myself. 
 
 ' "Kpa est ergo, quod hie in media oratione cum dolorc additum. — Kernx 
 ad Aj. 1005. 
 
04a—074.] ELECTRA. 141 
 
 El. That thou take heart to execute what I shall advise. 
 
 CiiK. Nay, if there be any profit in it at least, I will not re- 
 ject it from me. 
 
 El. Observe, without trouble, be sure, nothing is success- 
 ful. 
 
 CiiR. I do observe. I will lend aid in all whereunto I have 
 strength. 
 
 El. Hear tlien now, in what way I have planned to effect 
 it. Tiiou too art surely aware that present countenance of 
 friends there is none to us, but Hades has taken and deprived 
 us of them, and we are left alone. ^ I at least, wdiile I heard 
 that my brother v,^as flourishing in life, maintained hopes that 
 he would one day come as avenger of my father's murder -^ 
 but now, since he is no more, I therefore turn to thee, that 
 with me thy sister thou wilt not be reluctant to slay the per- 
 petrator of our father's murder, ^gisthus. For I must con- 
 ceal nought from thee any longer. Since how long wilt thou 
 continue slothful? with a view to v/hat farther rational hope? 
 who hast cause to sigh being deprived of the possessing of 
 thy sire's v/ealth, and cause to sorrow, so long a time growing 
 old unwedded and unbetrothcd. And do not any longer hope 
 that you will ever obtain these things. For ^.gisthus is not 
 so imprudent a man as ever to suffer thy progeny or mine 
 to spring up, an evident annoyance to himself.'^ But if thou 
 be induced by my counsels, first thou wilt reap the praise of 
 piety from thy father in the grave, and also from thy brother, 
 and then as thou wast born, thou wilt be called hereafter 
 free, and wilt gain thyself a worthy marriage. For every 
 one is wont to have re2:ard to wdiat is virtuous. But in the 
 report at least seest thou not what high renovvm thou wilt at- 
 tach to thyself and to me by being persuaded by me ? For 
 
 ^ Hermann here defends the first person dual against Elmsley and 
 Monk ; it is found once only in Homer, II. '^. 485, where Ehnsley pro- 
 posed to read TT^pi'liJ/asad', once besides this place in Sophocles, at Phil. 
 1079. where also Hermann has retained the dual : 
 
 "Observa, ^Egistho, non ciiam matri, necem parare Electram." — H. 
 
 ^ UpciKTup is properly the exactor of retribution. 
 
 ^ Thuc. III. 40. M-i-Ziora 6i ol iir] ^vv Trpo^aaa rivj. /ca.vwf TTOtovvrcg 
 t--e^tp\o!'Tat icnl dio.O.vvTai^ ~ov Kivdvvov ixbopujicvoL rov vrroAeinOfitvov 
 tX^pov. " ?i'on pi.t?m rospexisse Sophoclem versum pancmiacum V7i~loq 
 or izarepa Krr/ci>aQ Traldag Kara'Acimjc, ut Schaefero videbatur ia Melct. 
 Crit. p. r^b'."— Herm. 
 
142 ELECTIIA. [97.")— 1004. 
 
 who of towiismcn or strangers bcholdin-r us will not wclcomo 
 us with applauses such as these '? " BeholJ, friends, these Uvo 
 sisters, that saved their father s house, that of their lives un- 
 sparing, took the lead in shiying their foes who once were 
 liigh in station ; these ought we to love, these ought all to 
 venerate, these all to honor, both at the festivals and in the 
 r.tatcs' popular assemblies, in reward of their courage."^ 
 Thus, be sure, will every man proclaim of us, that glory sliall 
 Uili us not, alive or dead. But, my beloved, be persuaded, 
 join in toiling for thy father s sake, in laboring for thy 
 brother's, respite me from misery, respite thyself, being 
 assured of this, that "basely to live is base for the nobly 
 born." 
 
 Cii. In words like these precaution is a help both to the 
 speaker and hearer. 
 
 CiiK. Yet before she spake, ladies, had she chanced to bo 
 other than perverse of thought, she had preserved that caution, 
 even as she doth not preserve it. For whither possibly turn- 
 ing thine eyes, art thou at once arming thyself v>dth such 
 daring, and callest on me to support thee ? Seest thou not '? 
 thou wert born a woman, and no man, and art in power less 
 strong than thine opponents. But to them is destiny daily- 
 propitious, while to us it is retrograde, and comes to noiight.-^ 
 Who then, plotting to ensnare such a man, shall be let off 
 unpained by calam.ity? Bev/arc lest faring badly we work 
 ourselves v>'eighticr evils, if any one shall hear these words. 
 
 ^ " Notvvithstandinfj the decent rcser\-edncss of female manners in an- 
 cient Greece, the virgins were not only allowed to be present at certain 
 religious solemnities, but their attendance was necessary ; they formed a 
 distinguished part in the sacred processions, and were led by some virgin 
 of the highest rank." — Potter. In Spain, where the strictness of fcmule 
 confinement outdoes even that of ancient Greece, the same license is al- 
 lowed on the festivals of particular saints. 
 
 ^ The desmon, which in Socrates supplied the office of common sense, 
 was considered by the ancients as a being of an intermediate order be- 
 tween God and man ; being synonymous with the genii (perhaps origin- 
 ally with the giants), and therefore sprung from earth {y:/) previously to 
 the creation of man ; they were supposed to control by their inlluencc the 
 fortunes of the human race, each of which liad his particular guardian 
 povvcr, who knew (AaT^fiuv) all his actions, and furthered or prevented his 
 purposes. From this probably was modified the llosicrucian system. — 
 Tr. These remarks are misapiilied. No allusion to guardian genii is in- 
 tended, and daciiuv, as almost every where ia the Tragedians, luean* for- 
 tune. — 1), 
 
1005—1033.] ELECTRA. 143 
 
 For it neither profits nor assists us auglit, Iia\diig gained an 
 honorable fame, to perish with infamy ; for 'tis not death that 
 is most h-ateful, but \vhen one longing to die then have not 
 power to obtain it. But I conjure thee, ere we perish utterly 
 in complete destruction, and desolate our race, repress thy pas- 
 sion. And- what has been said I will preserve for thee, undi- 
 vulged as ineffectual ; but do thou thyself at least after so long 
 a time take thought, since tliou hast no power to submit to thy 
 superiors. 1 
 
 Cii. Be persuaded. Tiiere exists not to man a profit more 
 desirable to gain than forethought and wisdom of mind. 
 
 El. Thou hast said nothing unlooked for ; nay, I well knew 
 thou wouldst reject v/hat I proposed. But by me alone and 
 single-handed must this deed be done ; for positively I will not 
 leave it unassayed at least. 
 
 CiiK. Alas ! would thou had been such in spirit y/hen our 
 father fell ; for thou wouldst have accomplished all. 
 
 El, Nay, I was naturally at least such, but at that time of 
 weaker judgment. 
 
 CiiR. Practice to continue such in mind throughout life. 
 
 El, As not purposing to co-operate with me thou advisest 
 thus. 
 
 CiiK. Yes, for it is likely that one who takes in Land to 
 w^ork ill will fare ill. 
 
 El. I envy thee thy prudence, but abhor thy cowardice. 
 
 Cmi. I fain must hear you, even when thou shalt commend 
 m.e.- 
 
 El. But think not from me at least thou shalt ever meet 
 Vv'ith this. 
 
 Ciui. Nav, future time is lone; Gnous!;h to decide on this. 
 
 El. Away, for there is in thee no help. 
 
 Chk. There is, but thou hast not docility to learn it. 
 
 El. Go and disclose ail this to thy mother. 
 
 ^ 'A?-?J Ivvoelv XPV ~ovro plv, yvvalx' on 
 
 'Fj(pvij.ev, cjf irpuc; uvSpag ov fiaxovfjeva' 
 "E-ffra 6' gvvck' unxofJ-ecQ' t/c KpscaGovuv. — Ant. v. 61. 
 
 ' Schol. LGTac Kaipv^., ore jus evprjjUT/Gcic. Potter makes the sentence 
 break ofF abruptly, Vvhich seems contrary to the practice of the Greek 
 poets, the connection being nowhere afterward resumed. Hermann 
 translates it thus : " Oportebit me audire te etiam laudantem mores mcos." 
 Monk, '• Sustinebo tc audire, etiamsi mutas orationem et probas mores 
 meos." 
 
144 ELECTRA. [1034—10,'^^ 
 
 CiiK. Nay, I liacG tlice not Avith so great hatred. 
 
 El. Well, then, think at least to Avhat infamy thori art lead- 
 ing me.^ 
 
 Cnii. Not infamy, but forethought for thyself. 
 
 El. What! must I then follow thine idea of justice? 
 
 Chii. Yes ; for when thou art in thy right mind, then shalt 
 tlioa lead me. 
 
 El. Truly 'tis hard, that one ,who speaks so well should 
 err. 
 
 CiiR. Thou hast rightly stated the evil in which thou art 
 implicated. 
 
 El. But how? do I not seem to thee to say this with just- 
 ice? 
 
 Chr. Yet there are cases where justice causes injuiy. 
 
 El. By these rules I choose not to live. 
 
 CiiR. Yet if thou shalt so act, thou wilt commend me.^ 
 
 El. Yet will I do it at all events, no ways frightened by 
 thee. 
 
 CiiR. And is this certain, and wilt thou not re-deliberate? 
 
 El. No, for nothing is more detestable than base delibera- 
 tion. 
 
 CiiR. Methinks thou givcst not a thought to aught I say. 
 
 El. Long since, and not lately, hath this been resolved on 
 by me. 
 
 CiiR. Then I will be gone, for neither canst thou endure to 
 approve of my words, nor I of thy conduct. 
 
 El. But go in ; for think not I shall ever follow thee, not 
 even if thou chancedst to be very desirous, since even the pur- 
 suit of shadows is the part of great folly. 
 
 CiiK. But if haply thou seemest to thyself to possess any 
 
 - But Hermann, " Refcruntur hacc ad prfficedentia ut plena oratio sit, 
 a7J}J ovv eTTiarcj / exOaipovaa, ol //' uriixlag ayeig : at sane te scias me 
 odisscpro co gradii contonlus, ad qucm usque usque mc dcspicis.'" Brunck's 
 explanation he terms all but unintelligible. — Tr. Brunck seems right. 
 I-lcctra complains that her sister, by not aiding in her plans of revenging 
 her father's death, exposed her to the disgrace of seeming backward in 
 such a cause. — B. 
 
 ^ That is, " Having made the attempt you intend, in the hour of pun- 
 ishment (or failure) you will too late commend my prudence in declining 
 to aid you." That this meaning must lie given to the sentence is evident 
 from Electra's answer. !Sce also v. 105G. 
 
lO.'G— 1000.] ELECTRA. 1 
 
 A 
 
 o 
 
 ?cnse, Stiow your sense thus ; for when now thou shalt have 
 set tliy foot into troubles, thou Vv-ilt approve of my ^yords. 
 
 Cii. VV'hj, beholding the birds of air, most feeling, busied 
 in providing support for both those from whom they have 
 sprung, and those from Avhom they have derived benefit, do 
 we not equally practice this?' But no, by Jove's lightning 
 and heavenly Themis, long will they not be unpunished. ^ O 
 rumor of mankind that piercest earth, echo for me downward 
 a lamentable cry to the AtridaB beneath, fraught with joyless 
 disgi'acc : that now their domestic aftairs are distempered, and 
 that as concerns their children, a discordant strife no longer 
 suffers them to meet in affectionate intercourse ; but abandon- 
 ed, alone, sad Electra is agitated, ever sighing for a father, like 
 the all-sorrowing nightingale, now utterly careless of death, 
 nay, ready to quit th'3 liglit, when she has destroyed the twin 
 Fury. ^Vho ever so noble could have arisen?^ No one of 
 noble state, in adversity, is willing nameless to debase its high 
 renown, my child, my c hild, even as thou hast adopted a vile 
 life of utter misery, warring down the dishonorable, to reap 
 two benefits in one word, the reputation of being both wise 
 and the best of children,,^ I pray tliou mayest live in might 
 
 ^ Alluding to the filial affection of the stork, and that bird only, as is 
 evident from the Birds of Aristophanes : 
 
 'X7J. tGTLv yulv rolatv opvictv v6[iog 
 Tra/MLug, Iv rolg rd)V TzeAapyuv KvpjSeciv 
 eiryv 6 Trarf/p 6 7re?.apyog cKTreTTjCjl^uovg 
 'nuvrag ttoctJg^ tovq TreAapyidelg rpeipuv, 
 6eI Tovg vEOTTOvg tov Tzarcpa 7tu?uv rpsc^eLV. 
 
 Aw. V. 1353. 
 
 The rest of the feathered race arc represented as killing their parents, 
 which circumstance indeed brings the parricide to cloudcuckooburgh. 
 
 ^ '* Quod Monkio placet, hoc dici scilicet at punicntur libcri qui hoc offi.- 
 ciuin ncgUgunt, id quum propter grave m illam Jovis et Themidis obtesta- 
 tionem, quae frigida foret in tali sententia, non est verisimile, turn etiam 
 propter dapov, quod nisi ad (Egisthum et Clytemnestrarn spectaret, plane 
 csset supervacaneum " — Herm. 
 
 ^ "■ Camcrarius sic vertit. In taline for tuna fior ere qiicat ulla paternce 
 nGbilitatis conscia 1 Pari fere scnsu Johnsonus : Quis bonis prognatus 
 s:c vivcrc sustincat 1 Mihi versus cnthusiastice a Choro proferri videtur, 
 magnanimitateni Electrs miranti : Qius unquam adeo gcncrosa extitit.'' — 
 Musgravc. " Vv'hon shall such hero live agayi !" — Giaour. — Tr. "De- 
 voted to her father." — Liddell, s. v. Ivrzarpig. — B. 
 
 * '• /i'a lu quot/uc iUcctabilc commune fatum pratulisti, scelus armans, 
 ut dapliccm fcrrcs laudcra, simulqtix ct sapiens ct optima filia diccrere. 
 
 Gr 
 
IIG ELECTRA. [1091—11,5. 
 
 and opulence as much superior to thy foes as now thou dwcll- 
 est beneath their hands ; since I have found thee not indeed 
 moving in a prosperous station, but observing the most excellent 
 of" tliose laws which Hourish the highest, by thy piety to Jove. 
 
 Oil: Have we, ladies, been rightly informed, and are we 
 rightly journeying whither we desire? 
 
 Cii. Ijut what dost thou inquire of us, and with what wish 
 1 't thou here ? 
 
 Ok. Lon2j since am I askins; for yEeisthus, where ho dwells. 
 
 Cii. Nay, then, both riglitly art thou come, and thy inform- 
 ant is blameless. 
 
 On. Who of you then would announce to those Avithin the 
 wished-for presence of our common feet.^ 
 
 Cii. She will, if at least it behts the nearest relative to her- 
 ald this. 
 
 Or. Go, lady, within, and signify that certain men from 
 Pliocis are in quest of ^ligisthus. 
 
 El. Ah unhappy me ! surely they can never be bringing 
 evident proofs of the report which we have heard ? 
 
 Or. I knov/ not the rumor thou hintest at, but the aged 
 Strophius bade me bring tidings concerning Orestes. 
 
 El. But what is it, stranger ? PIov/ fear steals upon me ! 
 
 Or. Bnnging them in a narrow urn, we, as thou seest, con- 
 vey the poor remains of him dead. 
 
 El. Unhappy me ! this then is that now certain : it seems, 
 I see my sorrow manifested. 
 
 Or. If at all thou wcepest for Orestes' ill, know that this 
 vase incloses his remains. 
 
 Eu O stranger, give it me now, if truly this vessel enshrines 
 him, to. hold in my hands, that I may v/eep and lament m}'- 
 self and my whole race at once together with tliese ashes. 
 
 Or. Bring it forward and give it her, whoever she is; for 
 rtot as in enmity at least to him she requests this, but being 
 either some friend or by birth akin. 
 
 Armare enim quum dicitur Electra scelus, id patct idem esse acprovocare 
 ad dimicationem, cujus incertus est eventus, unde mortem ilia prccoptusse 
 dicitur." — Herm. 
 
 ^ See V. 1358, upon which Franklin has the following note : " The ex- 
 pression in the original is remarkable, T;6iarov txuv TrodcJi' v~T/piT;;ua, 
 ilulcissimum habens pedum ministerium ; not unlike that of the prophet 
 Isaiah : ' How beautiful upon the mountains arc the feet of him that 
 bringeth glad tidings !' " 
 
112G— 1152] ELECTRA. I47 
 
 El. O monument of him amono; mankind dearest to me 1 
 relic of the living Orestes, with hopes how changed from those 
 ■wlierewith I once sent thee forth, do I receive thee back ! For 
 rjow I befir thee in my hands, a nothing ; but from tliy Eome, 
 my boy, I sent thee blooming forth. How would I that had 
 quitted life, ere v/itli these hands having stolen, I dismissed 
 thee to a foreign land, and rescued thee from m.urder, that 
 thou on that day hadst lain a corpse, and shared a common 
 portion of his tomb y/ith thy father ! But now, far from thine 
 home, and in a foreign land an exile, miserable hast thou 
 perished, away from thy sister ; nor Avitli affectionate hands 
 have I prepared the bath for thee,'- nor from the all-consuming 
 l"/yre borne away, as lilting, the hapless burden. No, but by 
 stranger hands thou, hapless, cared for, art come a little freight 
 in a little urn. Woe is me unhappy for my nurture of yore, 
 unprofitable ! wherein I oft engaged for thee with pleasing 
 toil ! for never vrert thou dearer to thy mother than to me ; 
 nor were they Vvithin, but I, thy nurse, yes, I as a sister was 
 ever accosted by thee. But now hath ail this vanished in a 
 single day with thee, no more ; yes, all hast thou with thee 
 swept, and like a humcane art passed away. My father is 
 departed, I with thee am dead — thyself art dead and gone ; 
 
 ^ Aulus Gellius, 7, 5, relates of Polus, a distinguished Athenian actor, 
 already mentioned in a nclc at the beginning of the Qi^dipus Tyrannus, 
 that not long before the acting of this play he had lost a much-loved and 
 only son. Having to perform in the character of Electra, he brought his 
 son's urn and ashes from their sepulchre on the stage, and thus turned a 
 counterfeit into a real passion. — Hcrm. 
 
 ~ " The custom of washing the bodies of the dead is very ancient. This 
 ciTice v.'as ahvays performed by the nearest relations : Socrates, as \vc arc 
 informed by Plato, washed himself before his execution, probably to pre- 
 vent its being done by strangers : Alcestis likewis^e, in Euripides, after 
 she had determined to die for her husband, washes herself T'ii« Remans 
 adopted this custom from the Greeks ; and wc fmd the mother of Eurya- 
 lus niaking the same complaint as Electra, 
 
 " Xcc te tua funcra mater 
 
 Produxi, pressive oculos, aut vulnera lavi. 
 
 Vir'g. ^En. IX."" — Franklin. — Te. 
 
 Cf Tibullus, I. 3, 3. " Mc tenet iornotis egrum Pha^acia terris. Ah- 
 Etincas avidas mors modo nigra manus. Abstineas, mors atra, prccor ; 
 'ion hie mihi mater, Qua legat in mcpstos ossa perusta sinus. Ncn sorer, 
 Assyrios cincri qvi-s dedat cdcres, Et fleat cii'usis ante sepulchra comis."' 
 8co also Lucan. vii. 739. — B. 
 
148 ELECTRA. [1153— 117G. 
 
 but our foes laugli ; and our unmotlierccP mother is frantic 
 M-itli delight ; on whom tliou oftentimes Avouldst send me 
 word in secret that thou wert on the point thyself to come an 
 avenger. l)ut tliis thine and my luckless destiny hath Avrcsted 
 from us, which hath sent thee to mc thus, in place of a form 
 most dear, ashes and unavailing shadow. Ah me, ah me ! O 
 piteous corpse! alas! alas! O best beloved, brought on thy 
 way most dreadful, ah mc ! mc ! how hast thou undone me, 
 indeed undone mc, mine own brother ! Wherefore admit tliou 
 mc into this thy mansion, mc a nothing, to a nothing, that 
 v.'ith thee in the grave I may henceforward dwell ; lor as, 
 when thou wert on earth, with thee I shared an equal fortune, 
 so now in death I long not to fail of [sharing] thy tomb ; for 
 I sec not that the dead arc pained. ^ 
 
 Cii. Thou art begotten of a mortal father, Electra, reflect ; 
 and mortal is Orestes, wherefore sigh not too deeply, for to all 
 to suiter this is owing. 
 
 Ok. Alas ! alas ! what shall I say ! whither, at a loss for 
 words, shall I betake mc!^ For control my tongue can I no 
 longer. 
 
 El. Ijut what grief didst thou feel ? wherefore hajipcns it 
 thou sayest this ? 
 
 ^ The general ar.alogy of language, and the use of ciniilar vrordG by the 
 best authors (as of " unfathered, unkinged," by Shakespeare, and " un- 
 childed," in a sense corresponding to that of the Greek word here, by 
 Bishop Hali), will, it is hoped, excuse this expression, though the trans- 
 lator is not prepared to adduce any passage in its support. To those who 
 think this too great a liberty, the translation of Savage in his first poem, 
 " O mother, yet no mother !" will be an acceptable refuge from FrankUn's 
 or Potters. 
 
 - Brunck translates this " incrtnos cnim dohre ccvfiiclari non video.'''' 
 Franklin, " t!ie dead are free f:om sorrows.'' Potter, 
 
 '• The dead arc free 
 
 From all the various woes of mortal life."' 
 The tvv'o latter did not, it appears, consider it as any thing more than a 
 general sentiment. The translator is rather inclined to suppose it a re- 
 proach, thougli "clerkly couched," to tljc shade of Agamemnon, the 
 cI)uliition ci despair at the neglect of all licr prayers and the frustration 
 of all her hopes. — Tr.. V.'itli the preceding v.ords couipare Antig. 897, 
 
 ^^'1~^- 
 
 ^ " 'AfiTjX'^>'<^^'- Malim s'.c, ut f:it part.cipium, vulgo dfnjxf^vuv ab 
 
 i!^./7^'avo^-." — Musgrave. "Which Brunck conilrir.s (.see his note) on au- 
 thority. " BcnC; mea sententia, modo ne pravani interpuiictioncm adjc- 
 cissct. Nam, ut rcctc monet Monkius, tzoi loyuv jungcnda sunt, qui 
 ti::nen addcre debcbat ad oumdem genitivum etiam participium a//7i\av(Zv 
 rclc':x'i:dn;:i cs^e. — -'Herm. 
 
1177—1201 J ELECTRA. . U^ 
 
 Ok. Is this of thine the illustrious form of Electra^ 
 
 El. This is that person, and in most woeful plight. 
 
 Or. Then \voe is me for this sad mischance. 
 
 El. Wherefore, stranger, can it be, that thou thus sighest 
 over me? 
 
 Oil. O form, in disgraceful and unholy sort impaired ! 
 
 El. It can be none else but me, surely, O stranger, that 
 thou deplorest. 
 
 Or. Alas for thy marriageiess and ill-fated life ! 
 
 El. For what possible reason, stranger, canst thou thus 
 ffazinsr on me be mourning;'? 
 
 Or. Plow truly nothing had I known of my miseries ! 
 
 El. In what that has been spoken hast thou discerned this? 
 
 Or. Beholding thee conspicuous for thy many griefs. 
 
 El. And yet thou seest at least but few of mine ills. 
 
 Or. And how could there ever exist more hateful than these 
 to look on ? 
 
 El. For that I am an inmate with the assassins. 
 
 Or. With v/hose ? Whence this evil thou didst mention 1 
 
 El. My father's. Nay, more, to them perforce I slave. 
 
 Or. AVhy, who of mankind impels thee forward to this ne- 
 cessity ?^ 
 
 El. My mother she is called; but with a mother hath 
 nought in common. 
 
 Or. Perpetrating what ? with violence, or with penury of 
 living? 
 
 El. Yfith violence, with penury, with every ill. 
 
 Or. And is there none at hand who will aid thee, and pre- 
 vent her? 
 
 El. None indeed ; for him I had, hast thou brought hither 
 in ashes. 
 
 Or. Ah hapless ! how long since beholding do I pity thee ! 
 
 El. Know that of mankind thou alone hast compassionated 
 me now at last. 
 
 Or. Yes, for I alone come in pain for thy woes. 
 
 ^ Hermann somewhat differently : " uvdynri ryde non est dativus, idem 
 significans quod elr dvdyK7]v T?'jv6e, sed ablativus : Quis te mortalium hac 
 scrviendi necessitate cogit 1 Quod exquisitius dictum pro, quis tihi hanc 
 nccessiiatem im.ponit 1 'Avdyic?) TzpoTpeTreL idem est quod dvajK-d^et : et 
 quum ravra diccrc deberet, pronomen ad nomen avdyuy accommodavit, 
 ut solent." — Tk. Hermann is right. Translate : " what man rules thee 
 under this slave's lot !" — B. 
 
loO ELECTRA. [1202—1223. 
 
 El. Thou surely nrt not come from some quarter akin to 
 me? 
 
 Ok. I would tell thee, if the presence of these be friendly. 
 
 El. It is friendly, so that thou wilt speak before the 
 trusty. 
 
 Oil. Give up this urn now, that thou mayest learn the 
 whole. 
 
 El. Nay truly, by the gods, deal not thus with me, 
 stranger. 
 
 Or. I5e persuaded as I say, and then never wilt thou err. 
 
 El. Not, by thy beard' I pray thee, bereave me not of 
 wjiat 1 hold most dear. 
 
 Ok. I can not consent to let thee. 
 
 El. Ah me unhappy for thee, Orestes, if I am to be de- 
 prived of thy tomb ! 
 
 Ok. Speak auspiciously, for not v/ith reason dost thou 
 mourn. 
 
 El. How mourn I not with reason my dead brother? 
 
 Or. It suits thee not with these words to accost him.^ 
 
 El. Am I thus unworthy of the dead ? 
 
 Or. Unworthy of no one. But this is not thy part. 
 
 El. At least, if this that I bear is the body of Orestes. 
 
 Or. It is not Orestes', except in tale at least worked up. 
 
 El. liut where is the tomb of him unhai:)py'? 
 
 Or. It is not ; for the living has no tomb. 
 
 El. How hast thou said, young man? 
 
 Or. Nought that I say is falsehood. 
 
 El. Wliat, lives the man ? 
 
 Or. If at least I am alive. 
 
 El. How, art thou he? 
 
 Or. Having inspected this my father's seal,-^ ascertain if 1 
 speak truth. 
 
 ^ " By thy beard." This was a frequent acljuration amonjj the ancients, 
 as the beard was an object of great care, and the loss of it esteemed a 
 great disgrace, as in the case of David's messengers to lianun. In tlic 
 Arabian Nights there is a proclamation in which the loss of the beard is 
 a threatened penalty for failing to expound certain difficulties. 
 
 * Potter translates this, " Thy state it suits not tlius to speak." Brunck, 
 "iYo;i U deed ista loqui." But the word Ttpoa^uve v seems to require 
 that its preposition be more fully marked, besides that it makes the dis- 
 covery more gradual, wliich is clearly Orestes' aim. 
 
 ^ " \Vhat this mark v.as, has greatly puzzled tlie commentators. The 
 
1224—1254.] ELECTRA. 151 
 
 El. O day most -^A-elcome ! 
 
 Ok. Most welcome, I join to witness. 
 
 El. O voice, art thou come? 
 
 Of- xno more inquire elsewhere. 
 
 El. Hold I thee in my hands? 
 
 Ok. So mayest thou ever henceforth hold me.^ 
 
 El. O dearest women, O my countrywomen, you see Orestes 
 here, in artifice deceased, but now by artifice preserved. 
 
 Cir. We see, my child, and at thy fortune the tear of glad- 
 ness steals from mine eyes. 
 
 El. O offspring, oftspring of persons to me most deai', at 
 length art thou come ! thou hast found, thou hast come, thou 
 Jiast looked on those thou didst desire. 
 
 Ok. AVe are here ; but tarry, keeping silence. 
 
 El. But wherefore this? 
 
 Or. Better be silent, lest one from within hear us. 
 
 El. But no, by the ever virgin Diana, this -VNdll I never 
 deiizn, to dread the useless load of women that ever abides 
 within." 
 
 Or. Yet see now at least how even in women warlike dar- 
 ing exists: thou surely having experienced this, knowest it 
 full welh 
 
 El. Alas ! alas ! thou hast introduced unclouded a calami- 
 ty never to be remedied, never to be forgotten, such as was 
 ours.^ 
 
 Ok. I knov/ this also ; but Avhen occasion shall prompt, then 
 must we call to mind these deeds. 
 
 El. All times,* all times were to me fitting as they passed 
 
 scholiasts, whose conjectures arc generally whimsical, will needs have it 
 to be some remains of the ivory shoulder (vid. Find. Olymp. I.) of Pelops 
 which was visible in all his descendants, as those of Cadnms were mark- 
 ed v/ith a lance, and the Seleucidse with an anchor. Camerarius, and 
 after him Brumov. call it a ring or seal, which indeed is the most natural 
 
 - ^ , . 1 • 
 
 interpretation of the Greek word cOpayiq : though it may be said, in sup- 
 port of the other opinion, that the natural or bodily mark was more cer- 
 tain, and therefore a better proof of identity in regard to the person of 
 Orestes.'' — Franklin. 
 
 ^ Hermann, however, for wf reads ojf. — Tr. And so Dind. — B. 
 
 2 " Sensus est, kanc quidcm non dignam hahcbo guam mctuam Chjtcm- 
 ncsim nimiam semper scvcritatcm'' — Herm. Let the reader choose. 
 
 ^ t.vi(^c'/Mv t:7ri;3a/.cr arc to be construed together ; '/rjcojievov pas- 
 sively. 
 
 * Th'j3 i:i PhiloctetcE, v."hcn Ncoptolcmur; cays he will sail en (ho first 
 
152 ELECTRA. [1255—1286 
 
 to denounce -with justice this ; for scarcely now have I freedom 
 of speed 1. 
 
 Ok. 1 too agree Avith thee, wherefore keep this in mind. 
 
 El. By doing what? 
 
 Oi:. Where it is unseasonable, wish not to speak at length. 
 
 El. "Who, then, when thou hast appeared, would thus 
 change their words for silence, at least of any worth? since 
 now I have beheld thee, unpromised, as unhoped for. 
 
 Ok. Then didst thou behold me, ^ when the gods urged me 
 to return. 1 
 
 El. Thou hast told me a joy yet higher than my former, if 
 heaven hath impelled thee to our abodes : I count this a thing 
 of heaven's sending. 
 
 Or. In part, I am reluctant to repress thy joy ; in part, I 
 fear thy being too much overcome by rapture. 
 
 El. O thou that thus hast dei":ned in len2;tli of time to show 
 thyself with welcome approach to me, do not, I pray, having 
 seen me thus deep in misery — 
 
 Ok. What must I not do '? 
 
 El. Kob me not of my joy at thy countenance, that I give 
 
 Ho 
 up." 
 
 Ok. Nay, I were enraged to see it even in others.^ 
 
 El. Dost thou consent ? 
 
 Ok. How should I not ? 
 
 El. My friends, I have heard the voice I never could have 
 hoped to hear. I was cherishing a voiceless passion, T\Tetched 
 as I was, not even hearing the news with a shriek.* But 
 now I have thee ; and thou hast dawned upon me with most 
 
 favorable breeze, but that the wind is then adverse to them, Philoctetes 
 replies, 
 
 ael Ka7iug 7r?.ovg tad' vrav (bevyrir KaKtl. 
 
 ^ Hermann supposes some such verse as the follov^ing to have been 
 lost from this place : 
 
 avTol yeycJrrg rJ/cSe r./f 66ov fSpafSyg. 
 
 ^ Construe JjSovuv with a-oarepycric. " Gracci, cum verba duo, diver- 
 sos casus rcgentia, ad idem iiomcn scque refcrantur, ne nomen proprium 
 aut pronomeu minus suavitcr ropetatur, in utrovis rcgimine semel ponunt, 
 altcro omicso." — Pors. ad Med. 734. Hermann justly, therefore, wonders 
 that Porson should liavc altered the accu.sative here into u6ovuv. Of 
 il-oarrpdv v.ilh a double accus. sec Matt. Gr. Gr. ^ 412. 
 
 ^ That is, "Were I to ccc any otlier attempting to rob thee of that joy." 
 
 * Tl is beautifully expresses the depth of ElectraV- misery at the tidings 
 ^rf ];cv brother's death ; f )r as Malcohu observes to Macduif, 
 
1237—1311.] ELECTRA. 153 
 
 dear aspect, wliicli I never could have forgotten even in 
 misery. 
 
 Ojr. This overflow of words dismiss, and tell me neither how 
 wicked is my mother, nor how yEgistlius drains the riches of 
 my fathers house,i and part he Avastcs, and part he idly 
 squandci-s; for this thy tale would obstruct the timely occa- 
 sion ; but what will suit me best at the present season, instruct, 
 where showing, or concealing ourselves, we may by this our 
 journey quell our insulting foes. But so [beware] that thy 
 mother sliall not find thee out by thy cheerful countenance, as 
 Ave enter the palace, but, as for the calamity falsely announced, 
 lament ; for when we shall have succeeded, then will be our 
 time to rejoice, and freely laugh.- 
 
 El. But, O my brother, since thus it pleases thee, so shall 
 my pleasure also be ; since the joys I have received, I have so, 
 deriving them from thee, and not mine own. And not by 
 paining thee even a little would I choose myself to obtain a 
 great advantage ; for thus I Avere not duly obedient to our 
 present good genius. But thou knowest all from hence ; how 
 shouldst thou not? hearing that ^gisthus is not within, but 
 my mother is at home, whom nevcj* dread thou, that she shall 
 see my countenance glowing Avith a smile ; for both mine an- 
 cient hatred hath sunk deep into me,^ and since I ha\-e looked 
 on thee 1 shall never cease shedding tears of joy. For how 
 
 " The grief that does not speak, 
 
 Whispers the o'erfraught heart, and bids it break." 
 
 Hence Sophocles with the same idea makes Jocasta in CEdipus, and the 
 queen in Antigone, quit the stage in silence ; upon which latter occasion 
 the Chorus says, on being asked by the messenger what Eurydice's sor- 
 row may mean, 
 
 " I know not, but a silence so reserved 
 Imports some dread event : such are my thoughts ; 
 A clamorous sorrow wastes itself in sound." 
 
 Hermann understands the passage very differently : " Nequc dubitari 
 potest, quin uvavdov ovSk avv [3od K7.vovaa ad vocem hanc referendum 
 
 sit, quam obticuisse mortuo Oreste acceperat Electra Facile con- 
 
 jicias uq taxov opyuv, vel a^- .... Id non cum opyuv sed cum av6dv 
 conjungi deberet, hac constructione uv uvavdov ovSk civ [Sod KAvuvca 
 taxov avSuv."" 
 
 ^ Horner mentions the seduction of Clytemnestra, and luxurious inda 
 Icncc of ^Egisthus. at large in his Odyssey, B. III. 
 
 - Exactly the old saw : " Let them laugh that win." — B. 
 
 ^ Literaiiy, "hath melted like wax into me." 
 
 G2 
 
154 ELECTRA. [1312—1342. 
 
 how should I cease, who in a single journey have beheld thee 
 both dead and alive ? Yes, thou hast dealt unexpectedly with 
 me ; so that v/ere my father to come to me alive, no longer 
 should I account it a prodigy, but believe I saw him. AVlien 
 then in such a way thou comest to me, lead thou, as thou art 
 minded ; since I alone had not failed of two things, for either 
 I had nobly delivered myself, or nobly perished. 
 
 Oii. I recommend thee to be silent, since I hear some one 
 of those within proceeding as on his way out. 
 
 El. Enter ye, strangers, especially as bringing what none 
 might reject from his house, nor be glad to receive within it.^ 
 
 Att. O utterly senseless and blasted in understanding! 
 What, have ye not longer any care for your life ? or have ye 
 no inborn prudence in you, that, although no longer on the 
 verge, but in the very midst of the greatest dangers, ye know 
 it not? But had not I chanced long since to be watching at 
 this portal, your schemes had been within the house before 
 your persons ; but now I have exerted precaution against this. 
 And now having bid adieu to protracted converse, and this in- 
 satiate clamor of delight, get ye privately v.ithin, since to de- 
 lay is in such cases harm, but the crisis requires one to have 
 done with it.^ 
 
 Or. How then are matters from thence with m.e if I enter? 
 
 Att. Well ; for it chances that no one knows thee. 
 
 Or. Thou hast reported, I suppose, that I am dead 1 
 
 Att. Know now, that, here a man, thou art one of those in 
 Ilades.^ 
 
 ^ This speech of Electra, as several of those she aflcrwartl addresses 
 to .^gisthus, is craftily ambiguous, iu obedience to Orestes' instructions 
 at V. 1296. 
 
 ^ Brunck translates this, " tirgct aulcm occasio rci pcrcndcc ;" and 
 Johnson, '■'tcmpns autcm ipsmn jam instat cxscqucndi ;''^ but as the verb 
 uTza/JAacoiiai occurs just above, there seems no reason to alter its sense 
 immediately afterward. Of course the expression may be considered as 
 relating ciUier to their "ridding tliemselves of the business by executing 
 it," or to their bidding a temporary adieu to each ether : on these the 
 reader must decide for liimself — Tr. I think the phrase I have adopted 
 the most literal, and also the most correct to the sense. The same thing 
 is expressed in v. 21 : ug tvravO' tva Ovic tor' tr uKvclv Kaipog, (JaX' tp- 
 yuv iiKfiij. — B. 
 
 ^ I have some doubts whether greater stress should not be laid upon 
 h>6uSe, and the words construed thus : fiuvdav' dg cjv dvi/p ^uv iv- 
 
1313—1371.] ELECTRA. 15 
 
 o 
 
 Or. Are they tlien glad at this? or Vv^hat arc their senti- 
 ments ? 
 
 Att. Wlicn all these things arc finished, I would tell thee ; 
 bnt as things now go all is well with them, even what is not 
 weU.i 
 
 El. Who is this, my brother ? tell me, by the gods. 
 
 On. Kno\vest thou not ? 
 
 El. At least I bring him not to mind. 
 
 OiJ. Knowest thou not into whose hands thou once didst 
 deliver me ? 
 
 El. To whom ? How sayest thou ? 
 
 Ok. By whose hands I was privately conveyed to the Pho- 
 cian's land, by thy forethought. 
 
 El. What ? is this he, whom once alone of many I found 
 faithful at the time of my father's murder ^^ 
 
 Ok. Tiiis is he ; question me with no more words. 
 
 El. O dearest light ! O sole preserver of Agamemnon's 
 house, how hast thou come ? what, art thou he who saved him 
 and me from many a avoc ? O dearest hands ! O thou that 
 hast the most welcome service of the feet!^ How thus Ions; 
 present to me didst thou elude, nor disclose thyself to me, 
 but didst destroy me in Vv^ords, bearing deeds most pleasant to 
 me 1 Hail, my father, for a father I seem to behold ; O hail ! 
 But know that thee of all men I most abhorred, most loved, in 
 a single day. 
 
 Att. Methinks it is enough ; since for the tale^ that inter- 
 venes, many a night and day as long revolves, which shall 
 explain ail tliis clearly to thee, Electra. But I advise you at 
 least that stand here, that now is the season for action ; now 
 Clytemnestra is alone ; nov/ tliere is not a man within ; but 
 if ye shall delay, bethink you that ye will have to battle with 
 both these and other foes, more crafty and more numerous 
 thai\ these. 
 
 "AiSov ivOuSe, " know, that thou art an inhabitant of Hades, as far as 
 those here are a whit the reiser,'''' i. c, you're dead, for all they know, — B. 
 ^ i. e. the conduct of Clytemnestra and .Egisthus. 
 
 * " Faithful found, 
 Among the faithless, faithful only he." 
 
 ' Sec note on v. 1104. 
 
 * Cf. " Two Gentlemen of Verona," Act 2, sc. 4 : 
 
 *' Please you Ili toil j-ou as \vc pass alon^. 
 That vou will wonder what hath fortuned." — B, 
 
15G ELECTRA. [1372—1399. 
 
 Ok. No more of lengthened discourse to us, O Fylades, doth 
 this work admit of, but with all speed to haste within, having 
 saluted the paternal abodes of the deities, as many as dwell in 
 his vestibule. 1 
 
 El. King Apollo, favorably hear them, and with them 
 mc, who many a time indeed with suppliant hand, and such 
 store as I possessed, have stood before thee. But now, Ly- 
 ca?an Apollo, with such as I have, I beg, I fall before thee, 
 1 implore thee ; be thou a willing abettor to us in these de- 
 signs, and show mankind what reward, the price of impictj, 
 the gods bestow 
 
 Cii. Behold where Mars spreads forth, breathing the blood 
 of sad strife. Even now are entering beneath the palace roof 
 the hounds that follow after evil villainies, from whom is no 
 escape ;'' wherefore not much longer will the presage of my 
 soul continue in suspense. For the stealthy-footed avenger 
 of the dead is brought within the house, to the dwelling of 
 liis father teeming with ancient wealth, having upon his hands 
 blood newly shed ;^ and the son of Maia* Mercury conducts 
 liim, in darkness burying his guile, to the very boundary', nor 
 longer tarries. 
 
 El. O ladies, most beloved, the men will forthwith accom- 
 plish the deed ; but wait it in silence. 
 
 ' Thus Philoctetes, by the desire of Neoptolemus, salutes the tutelary 
 guardians of his dreary abode when on the point of quitting liemnos. 
 
 ' Ilcrmann understands this of Orestes and Pylades. 
 
 ^ Hermann has dissipated the clouds of the grammarians respecting 
 al/Lia in the sense of sword, by showing that the metre requires veoKo- 
 VTjTov, from Kevu. Cf. Eu. El. 1172. The veree is a double dochmaic. 
 
 * " Mercury W'as the god of fraud and treachery, and called 6u/.ioc, or 
 the deceiver ; to him therefore were attributed all secret schemes and ex- 
 peditions, good or bad. The propriety of Meixury's peculiar assistance 
 in this place may likewise be accounted for from his relation to Myrtilus, 
 who was slain by Pclops." — Franklin. To which he might have added 
 tlie pcri^nnal slight that Mercury had received from ^Egislbus. Seo 
 Homer, Od. 1 : 
 
 *' Hermes T sent, vv'hile yet his soul remain'd 
 Sincere from royal blood, and faith profaned ; 
 To warn the wretch that young Orestes, grown 
 To manly years, should reassert the throne : 
 Yet impotent of mind, and uncontroll'd, 
 He plunged into the gulf which heaven foretold " 
 
 Pope's Trans / 19 
 
1400—1423.] ELECTRA. 157 
 
 /pH.' How then? Wliat do they now 7 
 
 ^L. She is preparing a cauldron for the burial, but they are 
 standing close by her. 
 
 Cii, And wherefore hast thou hurried out? 
 
 l^L. To watch that iEgisthus may not escape us on return- 
 ins: within. 
 
 \_Chjtemn€strafromii'ithin.'] Oh! oh! alas! alas! Oh dwell- 
 ings, destitute of friends, but full of the destroyers ! 
 
 El. Some one shrieks within. Plear ye not, my friends ?i 
 
 (Cir. I unhappy heard what was not fit to be heard, so that I 
 shuddered. 
 
 Cly. Unhappy me! ^gisthus, where canst thou be? 
 
 El. Plark! acrain some one cries aloud. 
 
 Cly. My son, my son, pity her that bore thee. 
 
 El. But not by thee was he pitied, nor the father that be- 
 gat him. 
 
 Ch. O city, O race ill-fated! now destiny day after day 
 wastes thee, wastes thee ! 
 
 Cly. Ah me, I am stricken ! 
 
 El. Strike, if thou hast strength, a double stroke. 
 
 Cly. Woe is me again and again ! 
 
 El. Would it were likewise woe to .^gisthus. 
 
 ^Cii. The curses are fulfilled ; they that lie beneath the earth 
 are alive ; for the long since dead are secretly shedding the co- . 
 pious-streaming blood of those that slew them. And now in- 
 deed they are here, and their gory hand is dripping with the 
 first sacrifice to Mars ; yet can I not speak !- 
 
 ^ "Dacier puts theso words into the mouth of one of the women that 
 compose the Chorus ; because (says he) Electra would never have said 
 ' some oyie cries out,' as she knew it must be Clytemnestra. The reader 
 may take his choice in regard to this alteration. I have left it as it stands 
 in the original, being a matter of no great consequence." Thus Frank- 
 lin ; neither he nor the French critic seeming aware that ng in this pas- 
 sage no more implies ignorance of the person, than it does in many pas- 
 sages of Aristophanes ; for instance, in the Rana?, vv. 552, 601, 628, or 
 than in St. Luke, c. viii. v. 46. 
 
 ^ Hermann reads iiityecv, putting these lines into the mouth of the 
 Chorus, and the following half verse, which he gives to Electra thus : 
 'Opeara, Trijg Kvpel 6e ; but to understand these words, ov6' tx(-) ifiyeiv, 
 of the murder of Clytemnestra, would suit neither the character of the 
 Chorus nor the time. Hermann has therefore referred them to 'Apeog, 
 after which he puts a comma, and compares II. A. 539. — Tr. I have fol- 
 lowed Dindorf — B. 
 
158 ELECTRA. [1424—1453 
 
 El. Orestes, liow is it? 
 
 Ok. For what is within the palace, well, if well Apollo hath 
 predicted. 
 
 El. Is the wretched woman dead ? 
 
 Ok. No longer fear that thy mother's spirit will ever insult 
 thee.,.^^^ - — 
 
 Cn. Have done, for I plainly perceive -ZEgisthus. 
 
 El. Youtlis, will ye not retire hastily ? 
 
 OiJ. Perhaps ye discern the man [coming] toward us?^ 
 
 El. He from the suburb advances rejoicing. 
 
 Cn. Go through the opposite doorway with all possible 
 speed :- now, having w^ ell-disposed of all before, so [do] this 
 again in turn.^ 
 
 On. Courage ; Ave will effect it. 
 
 El. Hasten now, whither thou purposest. 
 
 Or. Well, then, I am gone. 
 
 El. The rest should be my care. 
 
 Cii. It would be useful to whisper a few words at least as 
 mildly as possible to this man in his ear, that headlong he may 
 rush into the covert strife of vengeance. 
 
 ^GiSTiius. Who of you knows where the Phocian 
 strangers can be, who, they say, bring us news that Oi'cstes 
 has lost his life amid the wrecks of the chariots? Thee, yes, 
 thee, even thee I question, in time past so audacious, since I 
 think thou hast most care for it, and best knowest so as to tell 
 me. 
 
 El. I do know it ; for how should I not ? for else had I been 
 stranger to a casualty of dearest import of all to me. 
 
 JEcr. "Where then may be the strangers ? instruct me. 
 
 El. Within ; for a friendly hostess have they encoun- 
 tered. ^ 
 
 JEg. Vriiat, and reported they of his death as certain ? 
 
 ^ Orestes, elaopure ttov tov ai-rJp' ; and then Elcctra, ^0' vfiiv, k t. 2. 
 So Hermann, who excepts the verb from the interrogation thus : " Ye see 
 the man : where V 
 
 ^ '' Est dvriOvpov locus in scdibus interior oppositus foribus. V. Lucian 
 Aloxandro 16; Kermsterh. App. Anim. p. 15.'' — Hermann. 
 
 •' 07/cOe is to be understood. — Herm. 
 
 * There is an intentional ambifruity in all Electra's language here ; 
 Kar/jwcav, upon which depends the genitive, has a double meaning of 
 ihe proposition naTii : confcccrunt \_viain vcl rcm'\ Kara. — Herm. 
 
]453— 1475.] ELECTRA. I59 
 
 El. Nay, but they have also shown it to sight, not in words 
 only. 
 
 JEg. And is it for us to ascertain it as evident also ? 
 
 El. It is indeed at hand, and a most unenviable specta- 
 cle. 
 
 ^G. Yerily thou hast bidden me rejoice much, not in thy 
 wonted manner. 
 
 El. Joy thou, if such as this is joy to thee. 
 
 JEg. I bid you to keep silence, and to throw open tlie 
 gates for all Mycenae and Argos to behold, ^ that if any among 
 them was heretofore buoyed up with em.pty hopes of this 
 man, now seeing him dead he may receive my curb, nor to 
 his cost beget him after-wisdom, meeting with me his chas- 
 tiser. 
 
 El. And nov/ is my part fulfilled, for at length I have got 
 the sense to suit my betters. 
 
 -ZEcr. O Jove, I behold a sight that hath not flillen without 
 the ill-will of the gods ; but if Nemesis attend, I recall my 
 words.2 Remove all covering from mine eyes, that my kin- 
 dred, look you, may meet with lamentation from me too. 
 
 Or. Do thou thyself lift it : this is not my part, but thine, 
 both to look on this, and accost it as a friend. 
 
 ^G. Nay, thou advisest well, and I Avill obey ; but do thou, 
 if haply Chtemnestra be Vvdthin, call her. 
 
 Ok. She is close by thee, look not elsewhere. 
 
 JEg. Ah me ! what do I behold ? 
 
 On. "Wliom fearest thou ? whom knowest thou not ? 
 
 ^ It was a common practice among the Greeks to set the corpse out to 
 view. See Adam's Roman Antiquities on the word deposilus, v/here he 
 observes that this custom was probably derived from that of exposing sick 
 persons before the doors of their houses, that the passers-by might suor- 
 gest any raadicine they had known to be of service in such cases, as men- 
 tioned by Herodotus, b. i. 197. " ^^gisthus, imagining that these Pho- 
 cian strangers had brought the dead body of Orestes, expected to find it 
 111 I at the entrance of the house, ad limcn, such being the general usage 
 of antiquity." — Potter. 
 
 - See note on v. 792. Potter remarks on the peculiar indecency of 
 •which ^Eixlst'ius was here guilty (and in which he checks himself), he 
 being a re ir relation to Orestes. But Hermann retains in the former line 
 the old reading ov, and compares ^■Esch. Agam. 913, with this meaninrj : 
 '^ cccidit illc via ct insidia dcon/m, si fas c>:t hoc diccre. Sentit enim ipse 
 impudentnr se banc mortem justitis deorum adscribere ; unde addit, si 
 ho: ncfas est indxtuvi vo'.o.'^ 
 
IGO ELECTllA. [147G— 1503. 
 
 JEg. Into what men's surrounding trammels can I wretch- 
 ed have fallen ? 
 
 Or. What, perceivest thou not long ago, that thou parley- 
 est with the living just as dead ? 
 
 JEg. Ah me ! I comprehend thy Avords ; for it can not be 
 but this that speaketh to me must be Orestes. 
 
 Ok. Ay, and though so good a prophet, wert thou deceived 
 thus long !^ 
 
 ^^G. Then wretched I am undone : but permit me to say, 
 though but a little. 
 
 El. Let him speak no farther, in heaven's name, my brother, 
 nor lengthen out his words. For what profit should he among 
 mortals involved in evils, that is about to die, gain by time? 
 No, slay him with utmost- speed; and having slain, expose him 
 to buriers, such as 'tis reason he should have, unseen of us.- 
 Since this could be the only atonement to me of my former 
 
 wrongs. 
 
 Oil Thou must go speedily within ; for the strife is not 
 now of words, but for thy life. 
 
 JEg. AVhy takest thou me in-doors ? how, if this deed be 
 honorable, needs it darkness, and why art not thou ready with 
 thine hand to slay me ? 
 
 Ok. Order not, but go thither, where thou slewest my father, 
 that on that very spot thou mayest die. 
 
 ^G. AVhat ! is it absolutely doomed that this roof witness 
 both the present and future ills of the Pelopidte } 
 
 Ok. Thine at all events. I am in this a capital soothsayer 
 to thee. 
 
 ^G. But no paternal art is this thou hast vaunted. 
 
 Ok. Thou answerest much, while thy departure is retarded ; 
 but begone. 
 
 ^Eg. Lead the way. 
 
 Ok. Thou must go first. 
 
 ^G. Is it that I escape thee not? 
 
 Ok. Nay, lest thou die then with jileasure :^ it is my duty 
 
 ^ Orestes means that .Egisthus, who could now foresee his fate so 
 clearly, might have anticipated it long ago. 
 
 ' Potter observes, on the authority of Pausanias, that ^^gisthus and 
 Clytemnestra, being held unworthy of a tonil) in the same place in which 
 Agamemnon lay, were buried just outside the city walls. 
 
 ^ Compare this sentiment of Orestes with that of Hamlet, where ho 
 
1504—1510.] ELECTRA. Id 
 
 t o ke efijtliis bitter to tlice ; but good were it that this -/engc^ 
 ance were immediate on all, at least, whoever wishes to trans- 
 gress the laws, to slay them. For then were not villainy 
 
 abundant. ^^ 
 
 z^ Cii. O seed of Atrcus, liow mucli having suffered hast thou 
 hardly worked out thy Avay to freedom,^ brought to comple- 
 tion by the present attempt ! 
 
 hesitates to kill his uncle while prayincr. We must hope, for the sake of 
 t.ie authors, that they considered both their heroes as madmen. 
 ' Or, " come by freedom." 
 
tl-5. 
 
 ANTIGONE. 
 
 Creox, having cast out Polyniccs (who had fallen in single combat with 
 his brother) without burial, Antigone, his sister, despite the proclama- 
 tion of the king, buries him herself She is at length discovered by the 
 guards, and, despite the intercession of Hsemon, is ordered to be en- 
 tombed alive : Creon's cruelty is visited by the death of his son and 
 Wife, as Tiresias has predicted, and his rcpentamce and wish to save 
 Antigone come too late. — B. 
 
 DRAMATIS peesonj::. 
 
 Ant;gone. 
 
 IsMENE. 
 
 Chorus. 
 Creon. 
 
 Messengers. 
 
 H^EMOX. 
 
 Tiresias. 
 eurydice. 
 
 AisrriGONE. O kindred form of my ow^i sister Ismene,^ 
 knowest thou what^ of the ills which spring from Q^dipus — 
 what not — doth Jove yet accomplish to us in life ? for there 
 is nothing, either wretched or ruinous,^ or base and degrading, 
 
 ^ The curses of CEdipus have now been fulfilled : Polynices and Eteo- 
 cles have fallen by each other's hands, and the army of the Argivcs has 
 been routed before the walls of Thebes. Antigone is not forgetful of the 
 request of Polynices at their last interview, and determines, in spite of the 
 edict to the contrary, to bestow the rights of sepulture on her unhappy 
 brother. As the play mainly turns on this circumstance, it is necessary to 
 bear in mind how much importance the ancients attached to the burial of 
 the dead. The constancy of Antigone's resolution will thus be explained, 
 the violence of her sisterly affcrtion justified, and even the merit of her 
 generous conduct enhanced. — Tr. " Ismene, dear in very sisterhood," 
 Donaldson, who has a somewhat ingenious note upon the periphrase lulpa 
 'lcjj.rv-i]r. He compares the English "poll" in "polling," " catch-poli,"' 
 etc.— B 
 
 ^ I have rendered this papsa<ie literaliy, b.ut the intervening interroga- 
 ti :n oTTolov oi'xl causes much difliculty. If we read on, the construction 
 will be simpler. — B. 
 
 ^ The reader must choose between uyrjc urep (the common, but ap.pn- 
 '•orti\- corrupt reading), a,-) -rj^ uTEp—nnC7iviahle, of Coray, which Wundet 
 
G— 29] ANTIGONf. 1G3 
 
 which I have not beheld in your evils and mine. And now 
 again, Avhat is this prochimation whicii thej say the ruler has 
 ju^t propounded to all the people of the city ? Knowest thou? 
 and hast thou heard auo;ht ? or do the hiiuries of enemies ad- 
 vancing against friends escape thee? 
 
 IsMEMi:. To me indeed, Antigone, no tidings of friends, ei- 
 ther sweet or sorrowful, liave come from the time that wc two 
 were bereft of tv/o brothers, dying on the same day by a twin 
 slaughter ; and since the army of the Argives has disappeared 
 durino- this ni2;ht, I know nothing farther, whether I fare bet- 
 ter or am more atiiicted. 
 
 AxT. 1 knew it well ; and therefore have I brought thee^ 
 v/ithout the gates of the courts, that you might hear alone. 
 
 IsM. But what is it? for you appear stirred at some tid- 
 ings.'- 
 
 Ant. For has not Crcon distinguished one of our brothers 
 with burial rites, but deprived the other of this honor? Ete- 
 ocles, indeed, as they say,'^ acting upon the rights of justice 
 and law, he has intombed beneath the earth, honorable to the 
 gods below ; but the corpse of Polj^nices, wdiich wretchedly 
 fell, they say it has been proclaimed to the citizens that no 
 one shall inclose in the tomb, nor wail over, but leave it un- 
 lamented and unburied, ^ a sweet store for birds greedily eyeing 
 
 follows ; (Irrjg txov, of Porson ; or utj]v uyov, of Donaldson. The com- 
 mon reading is thus explained by Hermann : ovdev rutv ejidv Kai-cdv ova 
 uXyELVuv oTTu~a ovt' GrruTza (this being the leading part of the sentence) 
 a,r7]g urep, ov6' tariv ottoIov ovk alxpov ov6' arijiov oTrurra. An Attic au- 
 dience must have had little relish for plain speaking, who could bear a 
 Bcntcnce that might be negative or affirmative at pleasure ! — B. 
 
 ^ On E^eire/Lnrov, see Donaldson. — B. 
 
 - I am again indebted to Donaldson, who has clearly shown that KaA- 
 Xatvovaa is intransitive, and that trzog refers to what Antigone had to 
 communicate. This is confirmed by the preceding words of Antigone, to 
 which the answer now seems a natural one. — B. 
 
 ^ There is much difficulty about this passage. Herm.ann would read 
 XpycOdr in the sense " rogatus justa," alluding to the request of Eteocles 
 to Creon. See Scholia. Donaldson reads irpGcOeig. The explanations 
 of the common reading are quite unsatisfactory. — B. 
 
 * This was the judgment wliich God denounced against Jehoiakim, king 
 of Judah : " They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah, my brother ! or, 
 Ah, sister ! they shall not lament for him, saying. Ah, lord ! or. Ah, his 
 glory ! He shall be buried with the burial of an ass," etc. — Jer. xxii. 18, 
 19. The customs and manners of tlie Greeks were originally drawn from 
 the Eastern nations, which accounts for the similitude so observable in 
 
1G4 ^TIGONE. 130—57 
 
 the delight of the banquet. Sucli thuigs thiej say that the 
 good Creon has proclaimed to you and me, for I say even me, 
 and that he is coming hither to herald them clearly forth to 
 those -who do not know them, and to bid them consider tlie 
 matter not as a thing of nought, but whosoever shall do one 
 of those things, that a death by the stoning of the people is 
 decreed him in the city. Thus rests this case to you, and ycu 
 will quickly show whether you have been born of generous 
 spirit, or degenerate from the good. 
 
 Ism. But what, oh Vv-retched woman ! if these things are in 
 this state, vv^hat could I avail, loosing: or binding- ?^ 
 
 Ant. Consider if thou wilt labor along with me, and assist 
 me in the work. 
 
 IsM. In what sort of hazard ? Where possibly are }'ou in 
 thoudit ? 
 
 AxT. If you Avill raise up along with this hand the dead 
 body. 
 
 ls:\r. For do you design to bury him, a thing forbidden by 
 the state % 
 
 A^-T. Yes, him who is at all events my brother ; and yours, 
 though you wish it not ;2 for I will not be caught betraying 
 him. 
 
 IsM. Oh daring woman ! when Creon has forbidden ? 
 
 Ant. But he has no business to put a barrier betwixt me 
 and mine.^ 
 
 IsM. Ah me! consider, oh sister! how our father perished 
 in odium and infamy, having, upon his self-detected guilt, 
 himself torn out both his eyes with self-destroying hand ; then 
 his mother and wife, a double title, mars her life by the sus- 
 pended cords ; and third, the two wretched brothers, slaying 
 themselves on the same day, wrought their mutual death each 
 
 Sophocles, and other heathen writers, with some parts of Holy Writ. — 
 Franklin. 
 
 ^ Donaldson rejects Boeck's view, and renders it generally, " by doing 
 or undoing." But see Wunder's note. — B. 
 
 ^ That is, " Though you, an unnatural sister, would disown him ;" or 
 it may be, more simply, " I will bury him, though you do not wish it." 
 
 ^ This dialogue between Antigone and Tsnicne exceedingly resembles 
 that between the sisters in the tragedy of Electra, by the same author. 
 The sentiments and the characters entirely correspond. Antigone and 
 Electra are generous and bold ; Ismene and Chrysothcmis selfish and 
 pitifiil. 
 
58— S5j ANTiGONE. IGo 
 
 by ii brother's liaiicl. And noAv avc two, being left alone, con- 
 e^ider by how mueli the worst of all we shall perish, if, in vio- 
 lation of the law, we transgress the decree or power of superi- 
 ors. But it behooves us, indeed, to reflect, in the first place, 
 tliat we are by nature women, so as not able to contend against 
 men ; and then, since Ave are ruled by those most powerful, to 
 submit to these things, and things still more painful than these. 
 I then, indeed, asking those below the earth to forgive me, 
 since I am constrained to this, will obey those who walk in 
 olHce ;^ for to attempt those things beyond our povrer imjilies 
 no wisdom. 
 
 AxT. Neither will I request yon, nor though you now wish 
 to do it, sliould 3'ou act along Avitli me, at least Avitli my good- 
 will. IJut be"^ of such a character as seems good to you ; but 
 I v/ill bury him : it were glorious to me, doing this, to die. I 
 beloved will lie with him — with him I love, having audacious- 
 ly done Avhat is holy ;'^ since the time is longer wdiicli it be- 
 hooves me to please those below than those here ; for there I 
 shall ever lie. But if it seems good to you, do you hold in dis- 
 honor those thinss which are honored of the gods. 
 
 Ism. I indeed do not hold them in dishonor; but to act 
 against the will of the citizens I am by nature incapable. 
 
 Ant. You indeed may make this pretext, but I will go to 
 raise a tomb for my dearest brother. 
 
 IsAi. Woe is me ! for you unliappy ! how exceedingly I fear 
 for you \^ 
 
 Ant. P'ear not for me ; direct aright your OAvn fate. 
 
 Ism. But do not then, at any rate, j^reviously disclose this 
 deed to any one, but conceal it in secret, and in like manner 
 Aviil I conceal it. 
 
 ' This is a principle of ccnduct with a great many people besides Is- 
 menc, though they may not always be quite so candid as the young lady 
 in confessino- it. 
 
 - Brunck has here made a mistake in deriving icdi from larj^uc scio, in- 
 stead ol' elui sum. 
 
 ^ '• Wickedly" w-ere perhaps a better word, did it not make the ex- 
 pression rather too contradictory. Antigone confesses her violation of 
 the law, but justifies the means by the end. This is what is iniplied in 
 uaia 7:avovpy7,aaaa, to which we have something similar in the phrase of 
 " a pious fraud." 
 
 * Oljioi ra/.atvjjg dicit hoc scnsu, Hei mihi prcptcr tuam audaciam. — 
 Herm. 
 
166 ANTIGONE. [83—120. 
 
 Ant. All mc! speak it out. YouAvillbc mueii more hate- 
 ful silent, it' you do not proclaim these things to all. 
 
 Ism. You have a v/arni spirit in a cliilling enterprise. 
 
 Ant. Ikit I know that I please those Avliom it most befits 
 me to please. 
 
 Ism. Aj, that is if jou shall be able ; but you long for things 
 impossible. 
 
 Ant. Therefore wlien I liavc not power I shall cease. 
 
 Ism. But it is not fitting to pursue at all Avhat is impossi- 
 ble. 
 
 Ant. If you will speak thus, you Aviil be hated indeed by 
 me, and will jusly be hated, in addition, by him that is dead. 
 But suffer me and my rash counsels to endure this danger ; 
 for I shall not suffer any thing so great, so as not to die glo- 
 riously. 
 
 Ism. I^.it, if it thus seem good to you, go ; and know this, 
 that you go indeed unwise, but to your friends in truth a 
 friend. 
 
 Chorus. Beam of the sun,i that liath shone the fairest light 
 of all before to seven-gated Thebes, thou hast at length gleam- 
 ed forth, oh eye of golden day ! coming above the clianncls of 
 Dirce's streams, having driven a hasty onward fugitive with 
 keener-urged rein the chief of the silver shield, ^ who came 
 from Argos with all his panoply — wliom,^ shrilly clamoring 
 against our land, uproused by a doubtful contest, Polyniccs, 
 like an eagle hovered over the earth covered with the v/ing of 
 white snow, with many a shield, and with plumed helms. And 
 having taken his stand above our palaces, ravening all around 
 with bloody spears the outlets of the seven gates, lie departed 
 
 ^ Musgravc suggests that the poetry of this beautiful passage will be 
 heigliteiicil l)y supposhig the Chorus to deUver their address to the sun 
 iminodiatoly after his rise. The probability of it is confirmed l>y the 
 splendor and abruptness of the apostrophe, and stiil more by the moment 
 being marked when the rays of the luminary begin to stream over the 
 fountains of Dirce. — Tr. But sec Donaldson. — B. 
 
 ^ Adrastus, the king of Argos, and leader of the vanquished anny on 
 this occasion. 
 
 ^ The explanation of this passage is due to Mr. Jelf, in his Greek 
 Grammar. He takes ov b^ta K/.i^duv together, treating v^ta adverbially. 
 The advantage of this is, that we need not alter lldlvreiuijg to the geiii- 
 tive, as Wunder and others have done. The only awkwardness is in the 
 hyperbaton. K?iu^eiv is used in the same sense in ^Esch. Ag. 4S, jueyav 
 Ik Oivjou icXa^omr Wprj, Tponov alyvTrtuv. — B. 
 
121—111] ANTIGONE. 1G7 
 
 before that he hnd gorged his jav.'S v/ith our blood, and pitchy 
 flame had seized tlic coror.et of cur towers : such a martial 
 clatter was raised in his rear by the dranon his match, as 
 could not be overcome.^ For Jove beyond measure hates the 
 vaunts of a hau<zhtv tongue ; and seeinn; them rushin"; on in a 
 mighty stream, Avith the clangor of gold, and in the pride of 
 armor,- he dashes down with brandished flame, him, who Avas 
 already hastening to shout forth the strain of victory on the 
 summits of the battlements.^ And the bearer of the fire^ fell 
 shattered Avith rebound on earth, he who then raging with 
 frantic spirit, bicAV upon us with the blasts of most hateful 
 Avinds. And in one quarter a different fortune indeed pre- 
 Aailed, but mighty Alars leadins: the rinht AA'inc;-^ and thickeninsr 
 
 ' C: J SCO O 
 
 the fraA% directed other evils acrainst others. For seA'en lead- 
 ers, marshaled against seven gates, equal against equal foes, 
 left to JoAC, the god of trophies,^ their all-brazen arms, except 
 the accursed tAA'O Avho sprung from one father and one mother, 
 
 ' Vcrte : talis circa Icrgum (aquilc:) intcndchatur Martis strcpitns, hos- 
 tili draconi (Thebanis) traclafic di^icilis, mivAmc, \it Brunckius accep: , 
 itisuvcrabilis. — Erf. Hoc dicit : tantus a tcrgo concitatus est strrpitu : 
 Martis, insiipcrahilis propter advcrsarium draconcrn. — Herm. — T.t. I 
 have translated according to Donaldson's view of the constructici: : ro'c^ 
 77C7. 'Ap. u. vutra [rod aleovl dvT. dpuK. (5v<7X- ^~^0}]. Since the pursu- 
 ing host had proved a match (drriTraZof) for the conquered Argives, so 
 their pursuit v»'as 6vcx£ip(^l^0-, a thing hard to be overcome. — B. 
 
 - The readings here arc so uncertain, that I have preferred not attempt- 
 ing any alteration. Donaldson's idea of joining jpt'cou with fjevfiart, and 
 reading icavaxy G' vTcepoTz/.ovg ("'in a swollen torrent of gold advancing, 
 and proud in the rattle of armor,'" is his translation), seems more plausible 
 than the other elucidations hitherto attempted. — B. 
 
 ^ I should prefer " at the very edge of the battlements,"' i. c, as scon 
 as he had set his foot upon them. — B. 
 
 '' Capaneus, who threatened to give Thebes to the flames, and who was 
 struck down by a thunderbolt v.hiie he attempted to scale the walls. 
 There are magniiicent descriptions of his fate in the Seven Chiefs against 
 Thebes of ^Eschylus, and of that most beautiful of plays, the PhcEnisss 
 of Euripides. 
 
 ^ AeELOGeipoc, literally the right trace horse. The Greek cliariots were 
 drawn by four horses abreast, two harnessed to the pole and two in traces. 
 As the turn in the race-course was usually to the left (v. 11. 23. 335), the 
 strongest horse was generally placed farthest to the right. Hermann has 
 therefore justly observed : " Sic appellavit Martem Sophocles, ut irapetu- 
 osum, dcxtri cqui more, significaret. Pariter /Eschylus, quum fortem ct 
 vaiidum vellot indicarc, cccpaonpcv Kpiduvra ttu/.ov dixit Agam. lC-51, 2," 
 
 * Or, " Jove that turns the battle." 
 
1G8 ANTIGONE. [145—189. 
 
 having raised against tlicnisclvcs tliclr cqiiall/ victorious 
 spears, both shared tlie lot of a miitiud death. ]^ut since 
 hiijjh-rcnowncd A'ictory hath come with joys to compensate 
 Thebe, the mistress of many a car, now indeed let us forget 
 those wars,^ and let us approach all the temples of the gods 
 with dances that last through the livelong night ; and let- Bac- 
 chus, shaker of the Theban land, begin the revelry. Eut 
 [cease], for Creon, son of Menoeceus, the new king of this land, 
 comes hither, upon these new casualties of heaven, revolving 
 doubtless some anxious thought, since he hath announced this 
 assembled conference of senators, sending for them by common 
 proclamation. 
 
 CiiEON. Ye men, the gods have again established the safety 
 of the city, after having shaken it with many a Avave ; but I 
 liave sent for you by messengers to come apart from all, both 
 knowing well that you ever reverenced the might of the throne 
 of Laius, and again, when (Edipus directed the state, and 
 when he perished, that ye remained Avith constant spirits 
 toward his sons. Since, therefore, they have perished on the 
 same day by a mutual death, striking and stricken in suicidal 
 blood-guiltiness, I hold all the poAver and the throne by af- 
 firiity of race Avith the dead. Eut it is impossible to ascertain 
 the soul, and spirit, and judgment of every man, before lie 
 sliali bo seen tried by office,'-' and the administration of the 
 laws. For Avhosoever, ruling a AA'hole state, applies not to the 
 best counsels, but from some fear restrains his tongue, appears 
 to me, both now and formerly, to be the basest of men ; and 
 Avhosoever esteems his friend more than his country, him I 
 hold in no account. For I — let Jupiter, Avho beholds all 
 tilings, knoAV it — AA'Ould neither be silent, seeing ruin in jdacc 
 of safety coming upon the citizens, nor Avould I ever make a 
 man avIio Avas hostile to my country a friend to myself, knoAv- 
 ing this, that it is our country Avliich preserves us, and that, 
 
 ^ I am not sure but the construction of thia prsjafrc proposed by Er- 
 far;]t is better tlian Brunck's : " ruv rvv noa vitlctur ad iro/Jficov pcrtinc- 
 re : nam et lan<rui(luni foret, nee dicitur luOicOcL lr]Cfi0Gvvi]v, sed O^cOaL. 
 Quare jungerida ccnseo verba sic : in TroPu-'/zw?', post bcllum, OicOe 7.7]ciio- 
 avvav Tijv I'vr, oblivi.seamiiii prtcsentia, i.e. f.mera fratruni."' 
 
 ^ 'Apj// (j.v(^pa dft^ei, from wliich Creon borrowij his maxim, ^va? an 
 old proverbial saying, attributed originally to Bias of Priene, one of the 
 seven sages of Grccco. 
 
19;)— 215.] ANTIGONE. 1G9 
 
 saiiiiiii' in her unfoundered, we make friendsJ By such laws 
 ao tlia33 I will exalt this city, and no\v I have proclaimed to 
 th3 citizens things akin to these concerning the sons of (iudi- 
 pus. Efceocles indeed, who fell fighting for this city, bear- 
 ing the pidin in every thing with his spear, I have commanded 
 thorn bath to enshroud in the tomb, and to consecrate to him 
 all th3 honors that fall to the lot of the gallant dead below. 
 But him again, the brother of this man, I mean Polynices, who, 
 on his return from exile, wished to consume utterly with flames 
 the country of his fathers, and gods of that country, and wish- 
 ed to glut himself v/ith kindred blood, and having enslaved 
 the citizens, to lead them away — him it has been proclaimed 
 to this city, that neither any one shall lay with rites in the 
 tomb, nor wail over him, but leave him unburied, and behold 
 his body devoured and mangled by birds and dogs. Such is 
 my Avill ; and never from me at least shall the wicked have 
 honor in preference to the just ; but whosoever displays good 
 v/iil to this city, shall, both in life and death, be equally hon- 
 ored by me. 
 
 Cii. The same things please me as please thec,^ Creon, f^on 
 of Menccccus, concerning the one Avho was an enemy, and the 
 other, who Avas a friend to the city; but it resides"^ in you to 
 use any law, both concerning the dead, and concerning us, as 
 many as live.* 
 
 Cr. See that ye be now guardians of the edict,^ 
 
 ^ Creon, though an absolute monarch, dreaded the unpopularity of his 
 sacrilegious edict. He therefore endeavors, by a great many plausible 
 expressions of patriotism and integrity, to do away with unfavorable im- 
 pressions in the minds of the citizens, and to extort from their fear an ap- 
 probation ol his conduct. 
 
 * 2o; non ad dpeoKei, sed ad ru avrd refertur, subaudito alio pronomine 
 fxL Constructio est, apsaicsc fis rd ahrd col. — Brunck. 
 
 ^ Dindorf reads Tzavri ttov Tcdpcarc goc, v.hicli Y/under foliov/s. Don- 
 aldson TavTaxov Trupeari, ooi. — B. 
 
 * The Chorus are as complying and servile as Creon could desire. 
 Later in the play they rather change their tone ; but it is a pity that they, 
 whose office it was to deliver the lessons of morality and virtue, should 
 have at all been represented out of their natural character. It has been 
 suggested by some that the poet meant to gratify his countrymen by 
 placing their enemies, the Thcban.s, in the contemptible light of slaves. 
 If this reason be true, wo can only regret tiiat he was induced, by such 
 an unworthy motive, to deform one of his finest productions by a disa- 
 greeable inconsistency. 
 
 ° ^^f dp for u'^ ui' is the emendation of Dindorf 
 
 II 
 
170 ANTIGONE. [21G— 236. 
 
 Cii. Impose this on some younger one to bear. 
 
 Ck. But there are "watchers of the corpse, at least, pre- 
 pared. 
 
 Cii. What farther than this in truth Avonld you yet en- 
 join ? ^ 
 
 Cr. Not to give ^vay to those that disobey this mandate. 
 
 Cii. There is no one so fooHsh as to desire to die. 
 ' Cr. And in truth this at least is the reward ; but cain has 
 oft, by means of hope, destroyed men. , 
 
 Messenger.'-^ O king, I will not indeed say that I come 
 panting with speed, having lifted up a nimble foot, for I had 
 many baitings of thought, wheeling myself round in the way 
 with the view of returning, and my mi?id holding a dialogue 
 with me, said many things. "Wretch, Avhy goest thou Avhere 
 coming you shall sutler punishment '] Yet, wretch, do you 
 stop? And if Creon shall learn these things from some other 
 man, how in truth shall you not smart for it ?" l^evolving 
 such thoughts, I made out my journey tardy with delay,^ and 
 thus a short Avay is made long. In the end, however, the 
 resolution j)revailed to come hither ; and to you, though I say 
 nothing agreeable, I will nevertheless speak, for I come cling- 
 ing fast to the expectation that I shall sutler notliing else ex- 
 cept what is fated.^ 
 
 ^ Hermann defends a7jM, rendering- it "cur crfjo ctiam alii hoc mar>- 
 datum cupiasl" " Nempc," respondit ii!e, "■ ne quis negligi imperia mca 
 sinat," according to the old scholiast. — B. 
 
 ^ This 'KyyeAog or <&rAa^ (for editors disagree about his designation) 
 is a very prating and impertinent sort of person. Few tyrants would have 
 contented themselves with saying u^ 7A7.Tiiia 6~i7>,ov tK7re(lwKuc el, but 
 would have been much more likely to have chopped off his head for his 
 pains. — Tii. I can not help thinking that Mitchell, Donaldson, and others, 
 have much exaggerated the comic powers of this messenger-guard. Don' 
 aldson's paraphrase (for translation is out of the question) introduces so 
 many modern conceits, that Sophocles is utterly forgotten. — B. 
 
 ^ JDindorf and others adopt the reading cr^\V{7 ~(^X^'C, a frigid antithesis; 
 condemned by AVunder. — B. 
 
 * Some commentators, especially Mitchell, find something very witty 
 in this " touch of fatalism, coming from such a presence." Supposing i* 
 were so, there would be nothing very remarkable or entertaining in the 
 guard talking like every one else in every extant Greek drama ! But the 
 fact is, TO fiupaifwv simply means "death," expressed by an euphemism, 
 for that the witty (si Diis placet I) guard had made up his mind to the 
 worst is evident from v.s. 228. Cf Homer II. xv. 613 ; xxii. 13. Pin- 
 dar OL II. 18. JEsch. Suppl. 47; Sept. c. Th. 2G3.— B. 
 
237—263.] ANTIGONE. 171 
 
 Ck. But wliat is it from wliicli you feel tliis faint-hcarted- 
 ncBsP 
 
 INIess. I Avisli first to tell what regards myself; for I neither 
 did the deed, nor did I see who was the perpetrator, nor ought 
 I justly to fall into any mischief. 
 
 Ce. You feel your way carefully, at all events, and fence it 
 all round ; but you seem about to signify some news. 
 
 Mess. I'or dangers in cood truth create much fear. 
 
 Ck. AVill you never speak, then, and then take yourself 
 off? 
 
 Mess. And now, indeed, I tell you. Some one has gone, 
 having just buried the dead body, and having sprinkled the 
 dry dust over the skin, and having performed the pvoper 
 rites. 
 
 Cn. What say you ? what mortal dared this ? 
 
 Mess. I know not ; for there was neither stroke of axe, nor 
 aught cast up by the spade, but the earth was firm and the 
 soil unbroken, nor tracked by ruts of wheels, but the worker 
 was one who left no trace.^ And when the first watchman of 
 the day discovers it to us, painful wonder Avas felt by all. For 
 he indeed had disappeared, yet not inclosed in a tomb, but a 
 slight covering of dust was over him, as if bestowed by some 
 one avoiding the pollution ;^ and there appeared no marks of 
 a wild beast or dosf coming and tearing him. Then revilings 
 were uttered against each other, watchman charging his fellow, 
 and it would have ended in blows, nor was there any one to 
 prevent them ; for each individual was the perpetrator, and no 
 one was convicted, but put in the plea of ignorance.^ And we 
 
 1 Cf. (Ed. Tyr. 319 : ri 6' tariv ; 63^ adr/iior elce?///.vOag.—B. 
 
 ' The messenger wishes to clear himself by insinuating that it was not 
 any mortal power that had perforiiied these operations. The Chorus, 
 when he concludes, expresses the same opinion ; but Creon v/as not to be 
 60 easily deceived. 
 
 ^ The person who passed a dead body without bestowing a handful of 
 dust on it, was held by the ancient superstition to be {evayrjc) polluted. 
 Archytas, in the well-known ode of Horace, enjoins the mariner to ob- 
 serve the pious rite : 
 
 Quanquam festinas, non est mora longa, licebit 
 Injecto ter pulvere curras. 
 
 * This is Donaldson's explanation, taking (pevyeiv in its legal sense, of 
 being defendant. Dindorf and AVunder read u7.7J t<pevye Tzdg rb fx?j, scil. 
 i^Eipyaoficioc eh'at. — B. 
 
172 ANTIGONE. [264—305. 
 
 were ready to lift masses of red-hot iron in our hands, ^ and to 
 pass through fire, and to appeal to tiie gods hy oath that we 
 neither did it, nor were conscious to any one who devised or 
 executed the deed. In the end, when there was nothing 
 gained by our inquiries, some one speaks, who made us all 
 bend our heads to earth through fear ; for we knew not how 
 to object, nor liow doing it we should prosper ; and his words 
 were, that the deed should be reported to you, and not con- 
 cealed. This proposal prevailed ; and the lot seizes on mc, 
 unhappy, to gain this prize ; and I am present, I know, un- 
 v/iliing and unwelcome, for no one loves the bearer of evil tid- 
 ings, 
 
 Cn. My mind, O king, is from long since deliberating 
 whether this deed be wrought by heaven. 
 
 Ck. Cease ! before you fill me with anger, lest you be 
 discovered at the same time a fool and a dotard ; for you 
 say what is intolerable, saying that the gods have provident 
 care concerning this corpse. Whether, highly honoring him 
 as a benefactor, have they buried him who came to set on fire 
 their pillared temples, and to destroy the consecrated gifts, 
 their land and laws? or do you see the gods honoring the 
 wicked ? It is not so ; but the citizens bearina; these thiniis 
 ill, even formerly murmured against me, secretly shaking the 
 head, nor did they stoop the mane, as they ought, beneath the 
 yoke, so as to submit to me. I well know that these men, 
 corrupted by bribes from them, have done this. For no such 
 evil institution as money has arisen to men. It lays Avastc 
 cities Y it drives away men from their homes ; it seduces and 
 perverts the honest inclinations of mortals to turn to base ac- 
 tions ; and it has taught men to learn villainies, and to knovr 
 the impiety of every deed. 15ut as many as for hire have done 
 this, liave in time wrouglit out their f.ite, so as to suffer 
 puni.slmicnt ; and if Jove still has reverence from me,^ knoAV 
 this Avell, and under an oath I say it to you, if you do not, 
 
 ^ Thi.s is an carl)- allu.sion to the use of the orucals, aucrward so prcw 
 alent in Europe durinjr the Dark A^-cs. There are many miraculous es- 
 capes from both fire and v/aLcr detailed in the monk.i.sh histories of our 
 own country. 
 
 ' " Ditrulit urhiuin 
 
 Portas vir Macedo, ct subruit scmulos 
 lieges muneribus. — Hor. III. IG. 
 
 ^ The scholiast explains this, i\ rifiu nal ci^iu rlv Ala, kci fi) l-iopKu 
 avTov. 
 
30G— 335] ANTIGONE. I73 
 
 discovering liim who with his own hand made the tomb, pro> 
 duce him to mj eyes, death alone shall not suffice for you, be- 
 fore that, hung up alive, ye make manifest this insult, in order 
 that, knowing whence gain is to be drawn, you may for the fu- 
 ture seize it, and may learn that it is not fitting to wish to make 
 prolit from every thing ; for by unjust gains you will see more 
 ruined than preserved. 
 
 Mess. Will you grant me to say something, or, turning, shall 
 I thus depart '? 
 
 Cii. Do you not know even now hov/ disagi'eeably you 
 speak ? 
 
 Mess. Arc you pained in the cars or in the mind ? 
 
 Ck. Why ? do you explore my grief where it lies? 
 
 Mess. He who did it pains thy mind, and I thine cars. 
 
 Cr. Alas me ! how plainly you arc by nature a babbler.^ 
 
 Mess. I, at all events, am not the man ^^'ho did this deed. 
 
 Cii. Yes, and that for money too betraying your life. 
 
 Mess. Alas ! it is hard that to whom at least there are sus- 
 picions, his suspicions should be false. 
 
 Cii. Talk big now about suspicion ; but if ye do not show 
 to me those who did this, ye will confess that wicked gains 
 y^'ork ruin. 
 
 Mess. But may he by all means indeed be discovered ; but 
 be he taken cr not, for fortune will decide this, it is not likely 
 you shall sec me coming hither again. And now, preserved 
 beyond my expectation and opinion, I owe many thanks to 
 the fTods." 
 
 t_-' 
 
 CnOKUS. Many are the mighty^ things, and nought is 
 more mighty than man. He even sails beyond the sea, when 
 whitened into foam with the wintry south wind's blasts, pass- 
 ing amid' the billows that roar around ; and the supreme of 
 
 ^ I see no reason for changing 2.u?.i]/J.a to u?.7]fia. The former word is 
 somewhat hke the Kpovvoxv-poAr/patog of Aristoph. Eq. 89. — B. 
 
 ^ Mitchell observes, " The Phylax retires, it is to be presumed, amid 
 much laughter on the part of the audience." If so, their risible powers 
 must have been below the standard of the Nev/ Cut. An audience so 
 easily excited to risibility would be invaluable to many a modern farce- 
 writer. — B. 
 
 ^ Thus Donaldson. A late translator has " awful !"' — B. 
 
 * This seems the easiest way of translating vrru, which is used of the 
 vessel cleaving its way through the waves, so as to be partly hidden bo • 
 neath them. — B. 
 
171 ANTIGONE. [33G— 35U. 
 
 divinities immortal, undecaying Earth, lie furrows, liis plows 
 circling^ from year to year, turning up her soil with the off- 
 spring of the stced.2 And ensnaring the brood of light- 
 minded birds,^ he bears them away as his prey, and the 
 tribes of the monsters of the wild, and the marine race of 
 the deep in the inwoven meshes of his nets, he, all-inventive 
 man ; and he masters by his devices the tenant of the fields, 
 tlic mcuntain-ransino; beast, and he will brinfi; nnder^ the 
 neck-encircling yoke, the shaggy-maned horse, and the un- 
 tamable mountain bull. And he hath taught himself lan- 
 guage and lofty wisdom,^ and the customs of civic law, and 
 
 ^ Although i/J.oatvuv may refer to the i3ovaTpo(^i]6ov movement in 
 plowing, I still have strong suspicion that wo should read ilporuv, or, 
 as others accent it, uporuv, "as seed-times return year by j'ear."' So 
 Hcsiod, tpy. 448. Gaisf. y r' uporolo re cyfia (pepei, Kcii x^^fiarog uprjv 
 AeiKvvEL oHjSprjpov. Soph. Trach. 69, rvv rrape'/.dSvT' uporov, and 825, 
 6o)6i:KaTog dporog. See also Comm. on Virgil, Eel. I. 70, " Post aliquot 
 ...aristas." That the verb may be rightly, thus used is easily seen from 
 the interpretations given by some of the ancients to the celebrated pas- 
 sage of Plato's Tima^us, p. 530, E. Laem. cf. Ruhnk. on Tim. Lex., p. 69 
 sqq., and more particularly Simplicius on Arist. de Ccel. F. 125. — B. The 
 sense will thus correspond to the Homeric rrepiTeX/iO/xivuv iviavroJv, II. 
 II. 551, VIII. 404.— B. 
 
 ^ I can not rcsi-st giving my readers this sentence from the translation 
 cf Adams : "He traverses the hoary main in stormy winds, by the rat- 
 tling tumors of swollen sails, and pierces the supreme incorruptible land 
 of the immortal gods, year after year returning to plow it with horse- 
 kind."— P. 189. 
 
 ^ Kovipovuuv. Libri omnes Kovdovtov, mendose. — Brunck. In spite of 
 this authoritative judgment, we are inclined to think the "libri omnes" 
 arc correct. Wakefield approves o1i Kov(poveu)v in his notes to Lucretius, 
 VI. 743, and renders it " celeriter navigantium," a meaning much more 
 applicable to the passage and consistent with the general spirit of the 
 Chorus. An epithet indicative of the speed of the birds, heightens the 
 difficulty which man's power has to overcome ; and we find in the other 
 instances that the poet has made a most judicious choice of expressions 
 with a view to this effect. — Tr. The gloss of the schol. Kor^o/f koI 
 rax^ug ^cpofih'uv, evidently can not belong but to /coi'^oi'twr, which 
 Wunder has not perceived. — B. 
 
 * I have translated v-a^crcu, but tlie conjecture of Franz, ox/iu^erni, 
 is well supported by Donaldson, though I do not sec the necessity for 
 reading ^vjuv. — B. 
 
 ^ I have followed Hcsychius in the explanation of ''/vefxoev, as simply 
 meaning vih7//6v /lerfcopov. Brunck has it, " Sublimium rcrum scini- 
 tiam," v;hich he copies from the rrepl tljv /iFTfupcjv (piAoaooiav of Ihc 
 scholiast. Erfurdt and Hermann understand it as expressive of the spccJ 
 
357—394] ANTIGONE. 
 
 lO 
 
 to avoid the cold and stormy arroAvs of uncomfortable frosts. 
 Finding; a Avav throuoh every thin 2; without a resource, he 
 comes upon nothing in respect to the future.^ Of the grave 
 alone he shall not introduce escape ; but yet he hath devised 
 remedies against bafHing disease. Having beyond belief a 
 certain inventive skill of ra't, he at one time advances to evil 
 and at another time to good. Observing^ the laws of the 
 land, and the plighted justice of heaven, he is high in the 
 state ; but an outcast from the state is he, •with whomsoever 
 that Avhich is not honorable resides by reason of audacity ; nei- 
 ther may he dwell with me, nor have sentiments like mine, who 
 acts thus — 
 
 I am in doubt at this strange prodig}- ! How knowing her 
 shall I deny this to be the maiden Antigone ? O "\ATetched 
 w^oman, and sprung from a wretched father, CEdipus, what 
 at all means this? Sure they do not lead you, at least, dis- 
 obeying the mandates of the king, and having seized you in 
 the frantic attempt '? 
 
 Mess. This is she that have wrou2;ht the deed. Her v>'c 
 found emploj'ed in the burial — but where is Creon ? 
 
 Ch. Returning from his palace ; he is passing out to meet 
 the opportunity. 
 
 Cr. What is it? "VYhat chance thus coinciding has hap- 
 pened ?^ 
 
 Mess. O king, nothing is to be disavowed by mortals, for 
 later opinion gives the lie to the judgment ; since I would con- 
 fidently have maintained, that I would have been slow of ever 
 returning hither, on account of your threats,^ in whose storm 
 I was formerly endangered. But, for the joy which is with- 
 out and beyond the hopes resembles in magnitude no other 
 pleasure, I come, though pledged to the contrary by oaths, 
 
 of thought ; but Benedict disagrees with them for the following reason : 
 " Sensus sublimes docendo quidcm insUilari possunt humans menti, non 
 auteni cogitationum celeritas, qua3 major sivc minor ex mdole cujusque 
 naturali dependot." 
 
 ^ This is Donaldson's interpretation : '• with plans for all things, plan- 
 less in nothing, meets he the future !" — C 
 
 ' yepaiuv is the ingenious conjecture of Musgravc, approved by Don- 
 aldson. Wander's Tvepaivuv is absurd. — B. 
 
 ^ Donaldson, "what hap holds sortanco with my coming forth 1" — B. 
 
 * Tclg ca.r u.-rrci?.air, propter n^Jnas tucs. Vide ad CEd. Col. 1£80. — 
 Jklusjirave. 
 
17G ANTIGOXE. [395-432. 
 
 l)ringing this virgin, v*'lio v/as detected adorning the tomb. 
 The lot here was not shaken, but this is my prize, ^ none 
 other s. And now, O king, taking her as you please, yourself 
 question and convict her ; but I freed am justly entitled to get 
 rid of these evils. 
 
 Cr. In what way do you bring her? v>'hencc taking her? 
 
 Mess. She v\'as burying the man : you know all. 
 
 Cu. Do }-ou both understand and correctly deliver what 
 you tell? 
 
 Mess. Having at least seen her in the act of burying the 
 dead body which you interdicted. Do I relate these things 
 clearly and plainly ? 
 
 Cr. And how was she seen and found taken in the act ? 
 
 Mess. The circumstances ^^'ere of this nature : For Avhen 
 Ave came, threatened with those dreadful torments by you, 
 having swept away all the dust which co\ered the corpse, and 
 having well stripped the clammy body, v.-e took our seat to 
 the windward of the top of the hill, having avoided the stench 
 from the body least it should reach us,'^ each keenly rousing 
 his fellow Avith bitter reproaches if any one should be sparing 
 of this toil. These things continued for so Ions; a t'.iuQ, until 
 the brilliant orb of the sun took its place in the middle of the 
 firmament, and the heat was burning, and then suddenly a 
 storm having raised a Avhirlwind from the on-ound, a heaven- 
 sent pest, fdls the plain, Avatering all the tresses of the Avood- 
 lands ; and the mighty air Avas filled ; and having closed our 
 eyes Ave endured the heaA'en-sent plague. And this haA'ing 
 departed in length of time, the maiden is seen in view, and 
 she is Availing forth the bitter note of the plaintive bird, like 
 Avhen it beholds the bed of its empty nest deprived of its 
 young. Thus also she, Avhen she beholds the dead body bare, 
 burst forth into strains of grief, and baneful curses did she 
 imprecate on those Avho Avrought the deed, and straightAA-ay 
 she brings the dry dust in her hands, and from the Avell- 
 fashioncd brazen in'u high-raised aloft Avith thrice-poured li- 
 bations she croAvns the dead. And Ave secina; it rushed 
 
 o 
 
 ^ All lucky and unexpected gain v/as ascribed to the kindness of the 
 god Hermes ; a:id the word tpfiatov refers to this attiibatc, and is derived 
 from his name. 
 
 ^ Construe! io est: -rze^cvydrcg bcivjv ('t' avroi\ ///) j3d2.oi, fugicntes 
 o lorera ejus, r.e lios f^'rirrt. — Musgia e. 
 
433-457.] ANTIGONE. 177 
 
 and iniinedititely seized Iicr, not in tlio least appalled; 
 and we accused her both of the former and t!ie present do- 
 ings, and denial of none of them was attempted. But this 
 to me at least is at the same time pleasing and painful ; 
 for to escape from evils myself is most pleasing, but to bring 
 friends into misfortune is painful. But it appertains to m.e 
 by nature to consider all these things less important than my 
 own safety. 
 
 Cr. You, you bending your head to the ground, do you 
 confess or do you deny having done tliis? 
 
 AxT. I both confess I did it, and I do not deny that I did 
 not. 
 
 Cr. You may take yourself off -where you please,^ free from 
 the heavy charge. But do you tell me not at length, but 
 brieiiv, did vou know the proclamation forbiddina: this?^ 
 
 Ant. I kncAV it. And why should I not ? for it was plain. 
 
 Cr. And have you dared then to transgress these laws '? 
 
 AxT. For it was not Jove Avho heralded these commands,"^ 
 nor Justice, that dwells with the eods below the earth, wdio 
 established these laws among men ; nor did I think your proc- 
 lamations had so much power so as being a mortal to trans- 
 gress the unwritten and immovable laws of the gods.^ For 
 not now, at least, or of yesterday, but eternally they live, and 
 no one knows from what tmie tliey had their being. I was 
 
 ^ Addressinnr the Messenger. 
 
 ^ Addressing Antigone. 
 
 ^ This speech of Antigone contains a fine expression of high-toned 
 feelincr and virtuous resolution. Nothing can surpass the sublimity with 
 Vv'hich she alludes to the power of principle, and eternity of duration in 
 the laws of heaven ; and the touching manner in which she consoles 
 herself for her untimely doom, is the noblest picture of devoted heroism 
 triumphing over nature and the weakness of woman. — Tk. This passage 
 has been frequently quoted and applied by other authors : thus Philostra- 
 tus, de vita ApoUon. N. 38, TrpSg yap ru 'Nfpijvog icripvyfiara 61 uv 
 e^elpyot (pi2.0Gootav, tanv i/filv rb rod I:0(poK'Aiovg lajijinov, " ov yap 
 71 [loi TLeiig i,v 6 icTjpv^ag rcloe," ov6e Movcac, Kal 'A~u/Jmv /.oyior. 
 On laws as sprung from the gods, cf CEd. Tyr. 867 ; Plato Legg. I. 1 ; 
 and Minos, p. 46. Dion Chrys. Or. i. p. 56. Cicero Tusc. Q. ii. 13, on 
 the dypadoL vouot, cf Aristot. Rhet. I. 10 and 13. — B. 
 
 * This may either refer, as I have taken it, to Creon, or to Antigone 
 herself: ''so as being a mortal I should venture to transgress these 
 laws." There is this objection, however, to the latter mode, thai lirep- 
 r^iYftv d.ie.-i not so properly mean violare, as superare, vincerc. Vida 
 Benedict. Oba. 117. 
 
 H 2 
 
178 ANTIGONE. [458—495. 
 
 not going llirongli fear of llic spirit of any man to paj tlic 
 penalty of tlicir violation to the gods. For I knew I must die 
 (and why not ?), even though you had not proclaimed it, and 
 if I die before my day I account it gain ; for wliosoever lives 
 like me in many sorrows, how does not he by death obtain ad- 
 vantage?^ Thus to me, at least, to meet with this fate, the 
 sorrow is nothino: ; but if I had suffered him who was born of 
 my mother to lie in death an unburied corpse, in that case I 
 would have sorrowed : in this I sorrow not. But if I seem to 
 you now to happen to do what is foolish, I merely incur the 
 imputation of folly from a fool. 
 
 Cii. The spirit of the daughter shows itself stern from a 
 stern father, and she knows not to yield to misfortune. 
 
 Ck. But know in truth that too stern spirits bend the most ; 
 and you will most frequently see the hardest steel, forged in 
 the lire till brittle, shivered and broken ; and I ha.^•e known 
 high-mettled horses disciplined by a small bit ; for it is not 
 right for him to have proud thoughts whosoever is the slave 
 of others. She indeed then first learned to b3 guilty of inso- 
 lence, transgressing the ordained laws ; and this, when she 
 had done it, is the second insult, to glory in such deeds, and 
 to laugh having done them. In sooth, then, I am no man, but 
 she a man, if this victory shall accrue to her Avithout liurt. 
 3kit whether she be sprung from my sister, or one more near 
 of blood than all beneath the protection of our household god,^ 
 she and her sister shall not escape the most wretched fate ; 
 for I charge her equally with having planned the measures 
 respecting this burial. And summon her ; for just now I saw 
 her within raving, not possessed of her senses ; and the mind 
 of those who unjustly devise any thing in the dark, is wont 
 to be prematurely detected in its fraud.^ I indeed at least 
 
 ^ Toy ^yv ue XvTrpGJg Kpelaaov tan nardave'v. Er.rip. Troad. v. 632. 
 
 ^ The meaning of the phrase rov izavru^ Zyjvu^ 'EpKecov can only be 
 expressed, as the reader will easily perceive, by a periphrasis. The a'.tar 
 of Hercccan Jove stood in the court of every house ; and he was wor- 
 shiped, as his name imports, in the light of its guardian and defender. 
 — Tr. But surely Ztji'o^ kpudov means nothing more than *' our whole 
 house," as " penates" would be used in Latin. — B. 
 
 ^ KAoirevg. Conjungo cum rcpocOev ijpT/aOai, ut constructio sit: 6 oe 
 Gv[iu£ Tuiv tv oKuTif) /irjdiv opOug rexvu/itvuv, (pi/.el TzpoaOev K7,o-evg 
 ypJ/fjOai. " Mens autem corum, qui in tencbris pravi aliquid moliuntur, 
 soletprius malefica convinci, i. c.,malelicii convinci." — Musgravc. ''Mens 
 
4PG— 515.] ANTIGO.NE. 179 
 
 hate when any one, discovered in guilt, may then wish to gloss 
 it over. 
 
 Ant. Do jou wish any thing more than taking me to put 
 me to death? 
 
 Cn. I indeed wish nothing more. Having this I have 
 all. 
 
 Ant. Why in truth do you delay ? since to me none of 
 your words are pleasing, nor may they ever be pleasing ; and 
 in like manner also, .to you mine are naturally displeasing. 
 And yet whence could I have gained a glory of higher renown 
 than by laying my own brother in the tomb ? It would be 
 said that this was approved of by all these, did not fear seal 
 their tongues. But regal power is fortunate in many other 
 things, and in this, that it is allowed to say and to do v>'hat it 
 pleases. 
 
 Cr. You alone of these Cadmeans view it in this light. 
 
 AxT. These also view it in the same light, but for you they 
 close the lips. 
 
 Cr. And are not you ashamed if you have sentiments dif- 
 ferent from theirs? 
 
 Ant. No, for it is nothing shameful to revere those Avho 
 sprung from the same womb. 
 
 Cr. AVas not he also your brother who fell on the opposite 
 side ? 
 
 AxT. Pie was my brother from one mother and the same 
 father.^ 
 
 Cr. How then do you award an honor that is impious to 
 him ? 
 
 Ant. The dead below the earth will not testify this. 
 
 eorum, qui aliquid sceleris clam moliuntur, quum alioqui sit illius occul- 
 tatrix, solet tanien prius dcprehendi." — H. Stephanus. This latter ex- 
 planation is obscurura per obscurius with a vengeance. 
 
 1 " He was. The original is, ' He was my brother by the same father, 
 and by the same mother.' The Greek writers, though generally concise, 
 arc sometimes very prolix, as in the passage before us, where the senti- 
 ment takes up a whole line in the original, and is better expressed in 
 these two words of the translation." — Franklin. This notable person, 
 since he had not the taste to perceive the elegance of the original, may 
 make himself as happy as he pleases with his two monosyllables. After 
 having the presumption to think himself qualified to improve upon Sopho- 
 cles, we can not hs'p sugaestinop that he might have devised something 
 much more sublime than the subject of his self-congratulatory comment, 
 the boasted he was. 
 
180 ANTIGONE. [010—543. 
 
 Ck. lie will, if you lionor liim equally with the impi- 
 ous. 
 
 .\>:t. For not in aught a slave, but my brother he fell. 
 
 Cr. Laying waste at least this land, but the other resisting 
 in its defense. 
 
 Ant. Still the gi-avc at least desires equal laws. 
 
 Cr. Hut not the good to obtain an equal ^hare with the 
 bad. 
 
 An't. Who knows if these things arc held holy below ? 
 
 Cn. Never at all is the enemy, not even in death, a friend.^ 
 
 AisT. I have been formed by nature not to join in hatred, 
 but to join in love» 
 
 Ck. Going now below, if you must love, love them ; but 
 while I live, a woman shall not rule. 
 
 Cii. And in truth before the gates here comes Ismene, 
 lettin"- fall the tears of a sister's love, and the cloud on her 
 brow bedewing her beauteous face, mars the glow of her 
 cheek. 
 
 Ck. But you, who in my house, like a vijDer, stealing on 
 without my notice, sucked my blood, and I was not aware that 
 I nursed two fiends and traitors to subvert my throne, come, 
 tell me, do you too confess that you shared in this burial, or 
 do you deny the knowledge of it ? 
 
 IsMEXE. I did the deed, if she also says so, and I participate 
 in and bear the blame.^ 
 
 Ant. But justice will not permit you to do this, since you 
 neither were wilHng, nor did I make }0u my partner. 
 
 Ism. But in your evils I am not ashamed to make myself a 
 fellow-voyager of your sufierings. 
 
 Ant. Whose deed it is. Hades and those below the earth 
 are conscious ; but I do not love a friend that loves with 
 words. 
 
 ''■ Euripides, following a much more natural and amiable sentiment 
 than this expressed by Creon, makes Polynices with his last breath speak 
 kindly of his brother : 
 
 ^iAof yap Ixdpuc iyiver', dZA' ouuc (pD.oc- — PhocnisssB, 1445. 
 
 ^ Ismene, whose conduct and sentiments we have always hitherto found 
 disgusting, continues to appear here in a still more unfavorable light. iSlie 
 would fain take the seeming credit of generosity, and yet at the ver\' first 
 moment she insinuates her innocence, or at least extorts from Antigone, 
 by her saving clause, an acknowledgment to this etfecf- 
 
544—572 . ] A NTIG ONE. 181 
 
 Is:\r. Do not, sister, deprive me of the honor of dying with 
 yon, and of paying the rites to the dead. 
 
 Ant. Do not yon die along Avith me, nor make yours y\^hat 
 you did not touch. I will sutlice to die. 
 
 Isii. And what life is dear to me bereft of you? 
 
 Ant. Ask Creon ; for you court him. 
 
 Ism. Vihj do you pain me with this, being yourself nothing 
 Lenefited by it? 
 
 Ant. Yet I am grieved, in truth, though I deride you. 
 
 IsAi. In v/hat else could I now benefit you ? 
 
 Ant. Preserve yourself: I do not grudge your escape. 
 
 Is^r. Woe is me unhappy ! And do I fail to share your 
 fate '? 
 
 Ant. For you indeed choose to live, but I to die. 
 
 IsM. But not at least without my warning being addressed. 
 
 Ant. You seemed wise indeed to some, but I to others.^ 
 
 Ism. And, in truth, the guilt is equal to us. 
 
 Ant. Be confident ; you indeed live, but my soul has long 
 since died, so as to aid the dead. 
 
 Cr. I say, as to these two virgins, that the one has just 
 appeared mad, and the other from the time she was first 
 born. 
 
 Ism. For never, O king, docs the mind which may have 
 originally sprung remain the same to those in misfortune, but 
 is changed. 
 
 Cr. To you, at any rate, it did, wlien }'ou chose to work 
 evil with tlic evil. 
 
 Is:m. For how is Hfe to be endured by me alone without 
 her ? 
 
 Cr. But do not say her, for she is no longer. 
 
 IsM. But will you kill the bride of your own son? 
 
 Cr. For the furrows of other women may be plowed. 
 
 Ism. Not so, at least, as troth was plighted 'twixt him and 
 her. 
 
 Cr. I hate bad Avives for my sons. 
 
 Ism. O dearest Hcemon, how your father disallows thee!^" 
 
 ^ I prefer taking rolg ficv, role; 6t of persons, not things, not with 2,6'yoig 
 understood. — B. 
 
 - This verse is by Boeck, "Wunder, and others, rightly assigned to An- 
 tigone. But Schlegel, p. 105, and Buhver, Athens, V. 4, 7, prefer giving 
 it to Ismene. — B. 
 
182 AXTIGOXE. [573-G12. 
 
 Oil. You at least give mc too much trouble, Loth you and 
 the marriage you talk of. 
 
 Ism. What! will you deprive your own son of her? 
 
 Cr. The grave was destined to put a stop to this marriage. 
 
 Is^r. 'Tis destined, as it seems, that she shall die. 
 
 Cii. E'en as thou thinkest, so I.^ Make no more delay,^ 
 but conduct her, ye slaves, within ; and from this time it is 
 fittin"" that these women should not be left at libertv, for 
 even tlie bold fly, when they already see the close of life 
 near. 
 
 Cii.-^ Blessed are they to whom there is a life that tastes 
 not of misfortune ; for to whomsoever their house shall have 
 been shaken by heaven, nought of mischief is wanting, lurking 
 through the fullness of their race ; like as v.'hcn beneath the 
 sea-traversing malignant Thracian blasts a billow runs over 
 the marine darkness, it stirs up from the deep the black and 
 storm-tossed shingle, and the wave-lashed sliorcs moan with 
 the roar, I see the ancient sufferings of the house of Labdacus 
 following on the sufferings of the dead; nor does one generation 
 quit the race,'^ but some one of the gods keeps felling it, nor 
 has it a moment's release. For now what light was spread 
 above the last root in the house of Gildipus, again the death- 
 ful dust^ of the infernal powers sweeps it away, and phrensy 
 of words, and the mad fury of the mind. O Jove ! what dar- 
 ing pride of mortals can control thy power, which neither the 
 sleep which leads the universe to old age^ ever seizes, nor the 
 unvN^earied months of the gods ? Through unwasting time, 
 enthroned in might, thou dwellost in the glittering blaze of 
 heaven ! For tlie future, and the instant, and the past, this 
 
 ^ So "Wundcr : " Ut tibi quideni videtur a nie decretum esse, ita niihi 
 videtur."— B. 
 
 ^ Tj)Lj3u(; is governed by ttoicIts or ayere, or some such word under- 
 stood. Musgravc very well remarks that there is no more fitting occa- 
 sion for an ellipsis than when the haste of an angry man is to be 
 painted. 
 
 ^ This Chorus is enriched with some of the most subhme imatrerv and 
 conception to be met with in any poet. The lines, in particular, which 
 celebrate the power of Jupiter are grand beyond expression. 
 
 * " Atone for, or pay the reckoning of the race.'' 
 
 ° Sec Donaldson. — B. 
 
 ' In Liddeli's Le?c;cjn, the conjecture of Reimer, Travrdyrjpug, "never 
 growing old,"' is approved. It certainly seems sunpler than the TrayKpa- 
 r?;f of Donaldson. — B. 
 
013—055.] ANTIGONE. 183 
 
 law will suffice : nothing comes to the life of mortals far re- 
 moved at least from calamity.^ For much-deceitful hope is 
 a gratification to many, and to many the beguilements of 
 light-minded love ; but ruin advances on man, all-ignorant, 
 before that he touch his foot with the Avarm lii'e. In wisdom 
 hath an illustrious saying been by some one set forth : That 
 evil on a time appears good to him whose mind the god hur- 
 ries on to judgment, and that he lives for a brief space apart 
 from its visitation. 
 
 But here is Harmon, the youngest by birth of your children. 
 Does he come, lamenting the fate of his betrothed bride An- 
 tigone, grieving at being defrauded of the nuptials ? 
 
 Cr. We shall soon know better than prophets. O my son ! 
 having then heard the ratified decree against your bride, do 
 you come, raging against your father? or are we, in whatever 
 way acting, dear to you '? 
 
 H.E?.iON. Father, I am thine ; and you, having good coun- 
 sels for me, which I will follow, direct me aright. For no 
 marriage will justly be considered greater with me than you, 
 while cuidins; me well. 
 
 Cr. For thus, O my son, it is fitting to feel in your breast 
 that every thing takes its place behind the judgment of a 
 father ; for on account of this men pray that begetting 
 children, they may have them obedient in their house, in 
 order that they may both repay an enemy with evil,^ and 
 honor a friend equally with their father. But whosoever 
 begets useless children, what would you say that he did else 
 than engender toils to himself, and much laughter to his en- 
 emies ? Do not you now, my son, for the sake of a woman, 
 ever drive away your senses by pleasure, knowing that this 
 is a chiUing embrace, a bad wife, the partner of your bed at 
 home. For what Avorse ulcer could there be than a false 
 friend ? But, spurning her as an enemy, suffer this virgin 
 to marry some one in the shades. For since I have clearly 
 
 ' This is very corrupt. Donaldson \vould read, vo/uoq 6d' dvSpoQ 
 alaav. " Qvaruv [Siorcp TTufirro/ug drjLv ura ; " In all the life of mortals 
 mischief in every state her franchise clahns." — C 
 
 ^ There is a strontr resemblance in this to the sentiments, not to say 
 the language of the Psalmist : " Like as arrows in the hand of the giant, 
 even so are young children : happy is the man that hath his quiver full 
 of them ; they shall not he ashamed when they speak with their enemies 
 in ths gate." — Ps. cxxvii. 5, 0. 
 
18-1: ANTIGONE. " [GoG— GOO. 
 
 discovered her alone of all the city acting Avitli disobedience, 
 I will not prove myself false to my country, but will put 
 her to death. Let her, therefore, invoke Jove, the god of 
 kindred ; for if I rear those who are my natural kin dis- 
 orderly, much more shall I tlius rear those wdio are not con- 
 nected with me : for whosoever is a good man in his own 
 family, will also be shown to be just in the state ; but who- 
 soever acts with violence in transgressing the laws, or thinks 
 to command those in power, it is impossible that he should 
 meet with praise from me. But whom the city may appoint, 
 him it is proper to obey in small things or in great, just or 
 unjust ;i and this man I am confident would rule well, and 
 would be willing to be wxU ruled, and in the tem.pest of the 
 spear would remain at his post a just and brave companion in 
 arms. There is no greater bane than anarchy: it destroys 
 cities, lays houses low, and in the combat with the spear scat- 
 ters to the rout ;^ but discipline preserves the most of those v/lio 
 are under rule. There must thus be aid given to those that 
 govern, and we must by no means yield to a woman ; for it 
 were better, if necessary, to be vanquished by a man, and we 
 would not be called inferior to women. 
 
 Cii. To us indeed, if we are not misled l)y old age, you seem 
 to speak wisely concerning what you speak. 
 
 ILe. Father, the gods implant wisdom in man, the highest 
 of all possessions as many as exist. But I should neither be 
 able nor know to express that you do not say these things 
 aright. For another indeed it might be proper.^ For your 
 interest, then, I have been accustomed to consider every 
 thing that any one says or does, or has to blame ; for your 
 eye terrifies a common citizen from using those word^ which 
 
 ^ On this modest idea of sovereignty cf. -Esch. Chocph. 78, dinata 
 Kul fifj diKaia, jifj TrpiTTOvr' I'lpxal^ (Stov, ftia ^epoiitvuv alveaai, TTiKpuv 
 ^pevcjv GTvyog Kparovay. — Seneca .Med. 195. " ^Equum atque iniquara 
 regis impcrium feras." — Piaut. Amphit. I. 1, 19. — 13. 
 
 - narap^. rpoTruc;, i. c, uar. ojote rponilg eliai. Sec Wunder. — B. 
 
 ^ Such is the interpretation of Heath : '• Fieri quidcm id possit ab alio 
 (qui filius non sit tuus) et quidem non indecore." Hfenion delicately in- 
 sinuates that the conduct of his fatljcr is o!)jcctionable, but will not al- 
 low himself, from filial respect, to give vc::t to unbecoming censure. 
 Brunck's translation bears about as much relation to the orijiinal as it 
 docs to sense and intelligibility : " Est tan.ra ut alius etiam vera diccre 
 qucat." 
 
091—727] ANTIGONE. IS^i 
 
 you Avould not be pleased to hear ; but I, in the sliade, can 
 hear them, in wliat way the city mourns for this virgin ; hov/ 
 she, the most undeservedly of all women, perishes by the most 
 wretched death, after most glorious deeds ; she who did not 
 suffer her own brother, having fallen in the slaughter unburied, 
 to be destroyed by ravening dogs, nor by any bird. Is not 
 she worthy of gaining golden honor? Such a hidden report 
 makes its way on in silence. To me, father, there is no pos- 
 session more honorable than }-our prosperity ; for what is a 
 greater ornament of glory to children than a father flourish- 
 iiig ? or what to a father than his children? Do not now 
 bear this one disposition of mind only in yourself, that what 
 you say, and nothing else, is right ; for whosoever thinks that 
 ho liimself alone has wisdom, or a tongue, or a soul, such as 
 no other, these men, when laid open, have been seen to be 
 empty. But it is no disgrace to a man, even though he be 
 wise, to learn many things, and not to strive too much against 
 others. You see by the channels of -s^'inter streams how as 
 many trees as yield preserve their boughs, but those that re- 
 sist perish with the very root. And in like manner, whoever 
 managing a ship, having dravv^n firm the sail-rope, gives no 
 Avay ; he upsetting her, navigates for the future with benches 
 turned upside down. But yield from your anger,i and grant 
 a change. For if there is any judgment with me too, though 
 a younger man, I say that it is far the best for a man to be 
 by nature full of knowledge ; but if not, for it is not wont to 
 incline in this way, it is also honorable to learn from those that 
 advise well.-^ 
 
 Cii. O king ! it is meet, if he speak to the purpose, that you 
 should learn from him ; and you, H^emon, again from your 
 father ; for it has been well spoken on both sides. 
 
 Cr. Shall Ave, of such an age, be taught wisdom by one of 
 his time of life ? 
 
 ^ Dindorf strangely retains dvfiC). — B. 
 
 ^ There is a passage very similar to this in Hesiod, which the readers 
 of Aristotle will remember quoted in the first book of the Ethics : 
 Kelvoc /-lev rravcipiarog, og avrbg Tzuvra voi^G€L 
 ^paaau/uevoc rd k' trretra Kal Ig T£/.og yaiv o/neivw 
 'Ec^Aof 6' av KciKetvog, bg ev eItzovtl TrWrjrac. 
 "Og de Ke jutJt' avrbg voCri, fii'iT]' u/Jmv ukovlov 
 'Ev 6v[iC) i3d/.7.rjTai, 66' avr' uxpv'iog uvrjp. 
 
 Hesiod. 'Epy. 290. 
 
18G ANTIGONE. [728—751. 
 
 HyE. Nothing which is not just; but if I am a young man, 
 it is not fitting to retard years more than works. 
 
 Ck. For it is a good work to pay regard to those who are 
 guihy of disobedience % 
 
 H.*:. No, nor would I desire you to observe reverence to- 
 ward the bad. 
 
 Ck, For has not she been seized with such a disease ? 
 
 HuE. The people that dwell together in tliis city of Thebe 
 deny it. 
 
 Cii. Shall the city dictate to me what it is proper for me to 
 ordain ? 
 
 H.E. Do you see how you have spoken this like a very 
 young man ? 
 
 Ck. For does it become any other one than me to rule this 
 land ? 
 
 PLe. Nay, that is not the state which is dependent on one 
 man. 
 
 Ck. Is not the state deemed the possession of its ruler? 
 
 H^. No doubt : in an uninhabited land at least you might 
 rule alone. 
 
 Ck. He, as it appears, fights in alliance with a woman. 
 
 H.E. If you are a woman ; for my care is for you. 
 
 Ck. Oh, utterly basest of Avretches ! quarreling with your 
 father ! 
 
 HvE. For I see you committing the sin of injustice. 
 
 Civ. Do I sin in paying reverence to my own dominion ? 
 
 IlyE. You do not pay reverence when trampling under foot 
 at least the honors of the gods. 
 
 Ck. Oh, accursed disposition, and enslaved to a vroman ! 
 
 H^. You will not, at all events, ever find me the slave of 
 what is base. 
 
 Ck. All vour s]:)cech at least is for her. 
 
 */ J. 
 
 H^. And for you too, and for me, and for the gods below 
 the earth. 
 
 Ck. It may not be that you should ever now marry her in 
 life. 
 
 ILe. She then will die, and, dying, will destroy some one.^ 
 
 ^ Crcon evidently suv)pose.s that Hacmon threatens his life, mistaking 
 ■what is an ambiguous intimation of his purpose of destroying himself — 
 T.'i. The Covent Garden adapter well rendered it, "She'll die — per* 
 chance not only she.'' — 13. 
 
752— 775J ANTIGONE. 187 
 
 Cr. Do jou also, threatening, thus advance in audacity 1 
 
 HjE. And what threat is it to argue against foolish opin- 
 ions? 
 
 Cr. To your cost you shall school me, being yourself void 
 of understanding. 
 
 ILi::. If you were not my father, I would have said that you 
 were simple. 
 
 Cr. Being the slave of a woman, do not revile me.^ 
 
 HyE. Do you wish to speak, and speaking, to liear nothing 
 in return ? 
 
 Cr. Can this be true? but know, by Olympus, that you 
 shall not with impunity insult me with your upbraidings. 
 Bring the hateful thing, that she may immediately die in the 
 presence of her bridegroom, near him, and in his sight. 
 
 ILe. Kever, near me at least, think it not, shall she perish ; 
 and you shall no longer, beholding it with }'our eyes, see my 
 face, wherefore thou mayest be mad in company with such 
 friends as are Vv'iliing [to abide it]. 
 
 Cii. The man, O king ! has departed abruptly in anger ; 
 and the mind, when pained at his years, is dreadful. 
 
 Cr. Let him do what he pleases ; let him, going, feel proud- 
 er thoughts than become a mortal ; but he shall not release 
 these virgins from their fate. 
 
 Cii. For do you intend to kill both of them ? 
 
 Cr. Not her at least who did not touch the body, for you 
 certainly sunQest this well. 
 
 Cii. And by what sort of death do you meditate to destroy 
 her ? 
 
 Cr. Conducting her where the way is untrodden by mor- 
 tals, I will bury her alive in the cavern of the rock,^ only set- 
 ting forth so much food as will suffice for expiation,^ in order 
 
 ^ lvG)r[/.?.o generally means adidor, but here it is necessarily taken in 
 an opposite sense. This mode of using the same word in a directly con- 
 trary signification is not uncommon. "OveiSog is a marked instance of it : 
 OjjjSai^ Ku?i?uaTov 6v£i6og. Eur. Phcen. 821. 
 
 2 " In arcam inclusos tradunt non dissimili gcnerc pa?ns Danaen : 
 Cycni liberos (Lycophr. 239), Comatam (Theocrit. vii. 78), denique So- 
 tadem poetam (Athen. xiv. cap. 4)." — Musgrave. 
 
 ^ It is singular that in all cases of this live-burial, either ancient or 
 modern, we find the custom prevail of leaving a certain quantity of food 
 with the victim. In Greece it was held impious to suffer any one to die 
 of famine, and this was a kind of juggling way of satisfying the con- 
 
188 ANTIGONE. [77G- -805 
 
 that all the city may avoid the pollutioTi. There, imploring 
 Pluto, whom alone of gods she reveres, she will obtain a res- 
 pite from death, or will know at least then that it is lost trou- 
 ble to pay reverence to those in the shades. 
 
 CiiOKL'S. O Love ! unconquerable in the fight. Love ! who 
 lightest on wealth,^ who makcst thy couch in the soft cheeks'^ 
 of the youthful damsel, and roamest be3'ond the sea, and mid 
 the rural cots, thee shall neither any of the immortals escape, 
 nor of men the creatures of a day ;-^ but he that feels thee is 
 that instant maddened. Thou for their ruin seducest the minds 
 of the just to injustice ; thou hrist stirred up this strife of kin- 
 dred men, and desire revealed from the eyes^ of the beauteous 
 bride wins the victory, desire that holds its seat^ beside the 
 mighty law^s in rule ; for the goddess Venus v/antons uncon- 
 querable among all. But now already I too am borne with- 
 out the pale of laws, beholding this spectacle ; and I am no 
 longer able to restrain the fountr.ins of tears, when I here see 
 Antigone passing on her way to the chamber where all repose. 
 
 Gcicncc that the pollution was avoided. In modern times the practice 
 seems to have been continued with the cruel object of prolonging the tor- 
 ments of such a horrible existence. — Tr. For Oriental illustrations, see 
 Lane, Arabian Nights, vol. iii. p. 102, note 35. — B. 
 
 ^ Donaldson, partly after Ivci.sig, would take KrrifiaGL, according to 
 Plato's dictum, that men are the KrijiiaTa of the gods, and that the poet 
 means that Love, by his attacks, enslaves men at once, rendering them 
 KTTJfcara. — C 
 
 2 Chia3 
 
 Pulchris excubat in genis. — Horace. 
 
 ^ We may safely put in contrast with this Chorus, though highly beau- 
 tiful, the following lines on the same subject from one of the lirst of 
 modern poets : 
 
 In peace. Love tunes the shepherd's reed ; 
 
 In war he mounts the warriors steed ; 
 
 In halls, in gay attire is seen ; 
 
 In hamlets, dances on the green. 
 
 Love rules the court, the camp, the grove, 
 
 And men below, and saints above ; 
 
 For love is heaven, and heaven is love. 
 
 Lay of the Last Minstrel, Canto iii. 2. 
 
 * 1 Cf Eurip. Hipp. 525. "Epwj" "Epw^ , 6 icar' v/i/ndruv Uru^eig ttCBov. 
 Achilles Tatius vi. p. 375, i:~euh) elg ru ofifiaTa ruv KalcJv to kuaIoc, 
 KilO]]TaL, peov iKEiOev ettc tov^ opda/./Jovg ruv opuvTuv. — B. 
 
 ^ But see Donaldson. Whence the translator got *• in hcavc7i''s rule,"' 
 I can not tell. — B. 
 
ROG— 852.] ANTIGONE. - ISO 
 
 iVxT. Behold mc, yc citizens of mj fiitiicr-land, advancing 
 on this last jojrney, and beholding tlie light of the sun for the 
 last time and never again ; but Hades, Avhose chamber receives 
 all, conducts me, living, to the shore of Acheron, neither bless- 
 ed with the lot of wedlock, ^ nor hath the bridal lay yet hymn- 
 ed VAQ, but I shall be the bride of Acheron. 
 
 Cii. Nay, but renowned and enjoying praise you descend to 
 this recess of the dead, neither struck by wasting disease, nor 
 having received the award of the sword ; but in freedom and 
 in life you alone of mortals shall descend to Hades. 
 
 AxT. I have heard that, by a most mournful fate, perished, 
 on the promontory of Sipylus, the Phrygian stranger,^ daugh- 
 ter of Tantalus. Pier, like the clinging ivy, did the shoots of 
 rock subdue ; and hei', dissolving away in showers, as the le- 
 gends of mortals tell, the snow never leaves; and from her 
 eyes, that ever flow Avith tears, she bedews the cliffs. Most 
 like her, the god lulls me to sleep. 
 
 Cii. But she was a goddess, and of heavenly birth ; and we 
 arc mortals, and of mortals born. And jct to you a perisha- 
 ble creature, it is high fame to meet with a fate like the peers 
 of the gods. 
 
 A^rr. Woe is nie ! I am derided. Why, by the gods of my 
 fathers, do you insult me, not yet dead, but still beheld in 
 sight? O my country ! O my countrymen, of rich estate ! O 
 yc fountains of Dirce, and grove of Thebe, the renowned for 
 the car ! I take you withal jointly to witness, how unlamcnted 
 by my friends, and by what laws I go to the sepulchral dun- 
 geon of my untimely tomb. O, v/oe is me ! who am neither a 
 dweller among men nor shades, the living nor the dead. 
 
 ^ Antigone, in these beautiful and swan-like dirges, more than once 
 expresses her regret for never having experienced the marriage jo^'s. 
 There is nothing indelicate, except to the eye of false refinement, in this 
 candid declaration of natural feeling. "VVe tind an equally pure illustra- 
 tion of the same sentiment in the case of Jephtha s daughter, v.'ho went 
 "and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains." Her example was 
 even admired ; for " it was a custom in Israel, that the daughters of Is- 
 rael went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephtha the Gileadite four days 
 in a year." — Judges xi. 
 
 ^ Niobe, who was chano-ed into stone for having brasrgcd Latona with 
 her children. Agathias, an old quaint fool, has the following Imes on thi3 
 hard punishment : 
 
 'O TVfJiSnr ovrnr ii'(hv ol'K ';(ei v'kvi', 
 'O veupuQ ovTor ucrog vvk cycl rd^ov. 
 
190 ANTIGONE. [853—903. 
 
 CiT. Having r.dvaRCcd to Ihc extreme of audacity, tlioii liast 
 violently dashed, my child, acrainst the lofty throne of justice. 
 Thou payest some penalty of thy father. 
 
 Ant. Thou hast touched on a thought niost painful to me, 
 the thrice-renowned griefs of my father, and the fate of all our 
 race, the illustrious children of Lahdacus. AVoe ! for the 
 curses that attended my mother s bed, the incestuous connec- 
 tion of my wretched mother with my father, from Avliich I, un- 
 happy, formerly sprung ! and now accurst, unblessed by nup- 
 tials, I go to sojourn vrith my parents. O my brother ! hav- 
 ins: met with an ill-fated marriage, ^ dying, thou hast destroyed 
 me, yet in life. 
 
 Cii. To act reverently is an act of piety ; but power, to 
 whomsoever poAv'er is intrusted, must not in any way be trans- 
 gressed. Thy self-willed temper has destroyed thee. 
 
 Ant. Unwept, and friendless, and unwedded, I, wretched, 
 am conducted on this destined ■Nva}^ It is no longer allowed 
 me, unhappy, to look on this luminary's sacred eye ; and no 
 friend mourns mine unwept doom. 
 
 Cr. Know ye not that no one would cease from dirges and 
 wailinfrs before death, if it were of avail to utter them '? Will 
 ye not lead her as quickly as possible, having inclosed her, as 
 I directed, in the caverned tomb, leave her by herself alone, 
 whether it is fated she shall die or lead a life entombed in 
 such a dwelling. For we are free from pollution as respects 
 this virgin, but, at all events, she shall be deprived of abodt. 
 above. 
 
 Ant. O tomb ! O bridal chamber ! O c?vcayated, ever> 
 guarded dwelling ! where I go to mine o\vn, of whom now 
 perished Proserpine has received the gTeatest number among 
 the dead, and of whom I descend the last, and by a fate far the 
 most wretched, before having fuliilled my term of life ! De- 
 parting, however, I strongly cherish in my hope that I shall 
 come dear to my father, and dear to thee, my mother, and dear 
 to thee, O brother dear; since T, with my own hand, washed 
 you when dead, and decked you out, and poured the libations 
 over your tomb : and now, Pohniccs, having buried your 
 
 ^ Polyniccs wedded the daughter of Adrastus, king of Argos; and be- 
 ing, from this powerful alliance, induced to undertake tlic expedition 
 against Thebes, lie met v.ith his own death, and entailed a still more 
 wretched fate on his sister. 
 
934-933 ] ANTIGONE. 191 
 
 body, I gain such a reward. And yet, in the opinion of those 
 who have just sentiments, I honored you aright. For nei- 
 ther, though I had been the mother of children, nor though 
 my husband dying, had mouldered away, would I have under- 
 taken this toil against the will of the citizens. On account of 
 what L\w do I say this '? There would have been another hus- 
 band for me if the first died, and if I lost my child there would 
 have been another from another man ! but my father and my 
 mother being laid in the grave, it is impossible a brother should 
 ever be born to me.^ On the principle of such a law, having 
 preferred you, my brother, to all other considerations, I seemed 
 to Creon to commit a sin, and to dare what was dreadful. 
 And now, seizing me by force, he thus leads me away, having 
 never enjoyed the nuptial bed, nor heard the nuptial lay, nor 
 having gained the lot of marriage, nor of rearing my children ; 
 but thus I, an unhappy woman, deserted by my friends, go, 
 while alive, to the cavern of the dead. Having transgressed 
 — what justice of the gods ? what need is there for m.e, a mis- 
 erable wretch, to look any longer to the gods ? What ally can 
 I invoke, since at least by observing piety I have obtained t!.;5 
 reward of impiety ? But if these things are good amoiv:^ th^ 
 gods, suffering, we may be made conscious of our err; r ; but 
 if my enemies be guilty, may they not suffer more evils than 
 they unjustly infiict on me. 
 
 Cn. The same blasts of the same storms of the soul still 
 possess her. 
 
 Ck. Tears, therefore, shall arise upon those who conduct 
 her, for their slov>mess. 
 
 Ant. Woe is me ! this command has come close upon 
 death. 
 
 Cr. I give you no hope to console you that these things 
 shall not be consummated in this way. 
 
 ^ There is a story in Herodotus, of this very principle having been acted 
 upon. The whole family of Intapheriie3 being condemned to death, his 
 Wife prevailed on Darius, by her lamentations, to grant her the life of one 
 of her kindred. She chose to save her brother, and gave the same reasons 
 as AntifTone for neirlectinsf her husband and children. The two ladies may 
 
 C? O G ••11 • 
 
 reason very subtilely on the jioint, but the prmciplc they go upon is ev- 
 idently false. The original institution that " a man should leave his fa- 
 tbei* and his mother, and should cleave unto his wife," is no less agrcc- 
 ab!o to nature than to reason and revelation. The example cf Alcestis 
 will always be more admired than that of the v.ife of Intapherne.3. 
 
102 ANTIGO.NE. [937—983. 
 
 A>;t. O ni\ti\'C city of the land of Thobe, and gods of my 
 fiithcr's race, I am liurried along, and have no more rc&:p!te. 
 Behold, yc rulers of Thebes, Ihc last remaining of the royal 
 race, v/hat deeds I sufier at the hands of what men for having 
 revered religion. 
 
 Cn. The form of Danae,^ too, endured to change the light 
 cf heaven ; in dungeons secured with brass, and concealed in 
 a sepulchral chamber, she Avas bound. And yet she was hon- 
 ored in her race, my child, my child, and cherished the seed 
 cf Jove, that flowed in golden shower. lUit the power of fate 
 is a marvelous one. Keither tempest, nor v\'ar, nor tower, 
 nor black sea-beaten ships, escape its control. To that yoke, 
 too, w^as bowed the keen-wrathed son of Drvas,^ kino; of the 
 Edonians, being prisoned by Bacchus for his virulent temper 
 in the bonds of rock; and thus he distills the dreadful venom 
 of madness, ever bursting up afresh. He knew, when too late, 
 that^ it was a god he had glanced at in his phrcnsy with revil- 
 ing words. For he would have put a stop to the inspired maids 
 and the Bacchic flame ; and he chafed the Muses, the lovers of 
 song. B}' tlie Cyanean deeps of the double sea, the shores of 
 the Bosphorus, and the Thracian Saimydessus (where Mars 
 dv.-clls near their cities), sav/ the accursed v/ound, inflicted 
 v/ith blindness, on the two sons of Phineus, by a fell step- 
 mother,^ a darkening Avound, imprinted on the Avretched balls 
 of their eyes, with bloody hands, by the spear, and the points 
 of the shuttle ; and pining tiwnj in miseiy, they wept the 
 wrctclied sufierings of their mother, wlio bore tlie children cf 
 an ill-fated marriage. But she owned the seed of the sons cf 
 Ercctheus,^ of ancient lineage ; and in far distant caves w£is 
 
 ^ The Chorus, in this wild and beautiful strain, console Antigone with 
 tho enumeration of other fates as wretched as her own. It lias been v/cU 
 enough observed that the examples they quote of Danae and Lycurgus 
 arc not compared to her in their crimes, but their sulleritigs. 
 
 - The son of Dryas was Lycurgus, who, having routed the Bacchana- 
 lians from his territory, was punished by their gcd witli some severe doom, 
 here described as imprisonment, but variously related by various authors. 
 
 ^ Donaldson reads nelvog kirtyvu 6^ diaig. — B. 
 
 "* Idaia, who barbarously put out the eyes of Plexippus and Pandion, 
 the .'^ono of Phineus, by his lirst wife Cleopatra. 
 
 ^ Her mother Oritbyia was the daughter cf Ercctheus, and wife of 
 Boreas. It was on this claim of kindred thut the Athenians, in obedience 
 to the oracle, asked the aid of their son-in-la-.v Boreas during the Persian 
 invasion. 
 
034—1019.] ANTIGONE. 193 
 
 nursed, amid the storms of Iicr father, n, daughter of Boreas,^ 
 rivaling the steed in swiftness, as she bonnded over the lofty 
 mountains, child of heaven ; but even over her, my daughter, 
 the eternal Fates prevailed. 
 
 TiKEsiAS. Ye princes of Thebes, we come on this common 
 way, two seeing by one, for the journey of the blind is made 
 by a guide. 
 
 Ck- But what new event, O aged Tiresias, has happen- 
 ed ? 
 
 TiR. I will teach you, and do you obey the prophet. 
 
 Ce. I Avas not formerly wont to depart from your advice. 
 
 TiK. Wherefore you direct aright the helm of this state. 
 
 Cr. I testily the advantages I have experienced. 
 
 TiR. Consider that you now again stand on the very edge 
 of fate. 
 
 Cr- What is it ? How I shudder at your word^ ! 
 
 TiR. You shall know, hearing the signs of my art. For, 
 sitting down on my ancient augural seat, where was my 
 station for all augury, I hear an unknovv-n sound of bird^, 
 beating the air with ill-omened and unwonted fury, and I 
 perceived that they were tearing each other Vv'ith bloody 
 talons ; for tlie clashing' of their Aviniis cave clexu' indication. 
 Being alarmed, I straightway essayed the divination by fire 
 on the bla2;inn; altars ; and from the sacrifice the flame burst 
 not forth, but on the ashes a clammy vapor kept oozing 
 from the thighs, and burned up, and sputtered, and the entrails 
 were scattered in air, and the thighs,^ melting away, fell 
 out from the involving caul. Such expiring^ omens of mys- 
 terious rites I learned from this boy ; for he is a guide to me, 
 and I to others. And the city is afflicted wath this from your 
 determination ; for our altars, and ail our liearths, are full of 
 birds and dogs, feeding on the body of the wretched son of 
 G^^dipus; and the god^ no longer accept from us the sacri- 
 
 ^ Bopecif, u6og, a patronymic appellation for a n3-mph descended from 
 Boreas. 
 
 ^ The thighs were the part of the sacrifice appropriated to the gods, 
 because, says Eustathius, they are useful to men for walking and gener- 
 ation. It is clear enough that the thighs are considerably useful in these 
 important functions, but v.hy for this reason they should be peculiarly 
 acceptable to the gods is by no means so obvious. 
 
 3 ^Oti-ovr', cvancsccntia. Mali ominis crat in ignispiciis quicquid 
 debilj ct cvanidum crat. — Musgrave. 
 
 I 
 
194 ANTIGONE. [1020—1061. 
 
 ficial prayer, nor the flame of the thighs ; nor docs bird send 
 forth the notes of propitious omen, being gorged Avith the 
 fat of human gore. These things, therefore, my son, consider ; 
 for it is common to all men to err; but when one may err, 
 he is no longer an unwise nor an infatuated man, who, having 
 fallen into evil, is cured, nor remains immovable. Obstinacy 
 incurs the imputation of folly. AVar not with the fallen, nor 
 wound the dead. What prowess is it to slay the slain ? 
 Being well-disposed toward you, I advise you well ; and it is 
 most pleasing to learn from a good adviser, if his advice bring 
 advantage. 
 
 Cr. Old man, ye all, like archers at a mark, discharge your 
 shafts at me ; and I am not unacquainted with the arts of 
 prophets, by the race of whom I have long since been made 
 the subject of barter and traffic. Pursue your gain, make your 
 purchase, if you choose, of the amber of Sardis and the gold 
 of India ; but him ye shall never inclose in the tomb ; not even 
 though the eagles of Jove, seizing him as their prey, should 
 bear him to the throne of the god ; not even thus, dreading 
 the pollution, would I permit his burial. For I Avell know 
 that no mortal is able to pollute the gods. But, O aged Tire- 
 sias, even those men who are clever in many things meet with 
 disgraceful falls, when, for the sake of gain, they plead spe- 
 ciously a base argument. 
 
 TiR. Ha ! does any man know, docs he consider — 
 
 Ck. What is the matter? What trite saying is this? 
 
 TiR. By how much wisdom is the best of possessions ? 
 
 Cr. By so much, methinks, as folly is the greatest bane. 
 
 TiR. You, however, are by nature full of this malady. 
 
 Cr. I do not wish to bandy reproach with a prophet. 
 
 TiR. And yet you do, saying that I prophesy what is false. 
 
 Cr. For all the race of prophets are lovers of gain. 
 
 TiR. But that of kings loves base gain. 
 
 Cr. Do you know that you address what you say to your 
 rulers ? 
 
 TiR. I know it ; for, liaving preser\'ed by my means this 
 city, you sway it. 
 
 Cr. You are a skillful prophet, but given to injustice. 
 
 TiR. You will force me to utter the secrets that lie unmoved 
 in my breast. 
 
 (JR. Move them, only do not speak for gain. , 
 
10G3— 1098.] ANTIGONE. 195 
 
 TiR. For thus do I already seem to have spoken, as far as 
 regards your part ? 
 
 Ck. Know that you shall not sell my resolution. 
 
 TiR. But do you too know well that you shall not any 
 longer see to their end many courses of the sun in rival speed, 
 beibre that yourself repay one sprung from your own bowels, 
 dead, a recompense for the dead, in return for having sent 
 one who Avas in upper air below the earth, and dishonorably 
 made a living being to dwell in the tomb, and for having, on 
 the other hand, detained here one debarred from intercourse 
 with the infernal deities, arid deprived of funeral obsequies 
 an unhalloAved corpse ; in Avhich things neither any conceiii 
 appertains to you, nor to the gods above. But these things 
 are done with violent injustice by you ; for this, the Furies 
 of Hades, and of the gods, avenging Avith penal consequence, 
 lie in ambush for you, that you may be enthralled by the same 
 misfortunes. See if, induced by money, I prophesy this ; 
 for the lapse of no long time shall exhibit the mourning of 
 men and Avomen in your palace ; and all the states shall be 
 stirred up together in enmitA'J the mangled bodies of AAdiose 
 citizens or dogs haA'e polluted, or Avild beasts, or some winged 
 bird, bearing an unhalloAA^ed stench to the altars of the city. 
 Such unerring arroAvs, since you pain me, I have discharged, 
 like an archer, in anger from my soul, and their Avarm smart 
 you shall not escape. But do you, boy, conduct me home, 
 that he may vent his passion upon younger men, and may 
 knovi^ to nurse a more temperate tongue, and feelings better 
 than the mind he noAv bears. 
 
 Cii. The man, O king, has departed, having predicted dread- 
 ful events ; and I knoAv, from the time that I changed this 
 hair into Avhite from black, that he never once declared to the 
 city Avhat A\'as false. 
 
 Cr. I also liave known it, and I am disturbed in my 
 tlioughts ; but to yield Avere coAvardly ; and there is danger 
 that, by resisting, I afflict my mind AA'ith calamity. 
 
 Cii. There is need, O Creon, son of Menoeccus, of prudent 
 counsel. 
 
 ^ Those states that had joined in the expedition, and whose dead v»-ere 
 r.il !cfc unburieJ. Their being stirred up in enmity is a prophetic allusion 
 to the expedition of the Epiijoni, \<\\o conquered Thebes to revenge tao 
 iiii:L;fjrtunes of their fathers before its walls. 
 
19G ANTIGONE. [1093—1129. 
 
 Ck. "What, in truth, is it requisite to do? Tell mc, and I 
 will obey. 
 
 Cii. Going, release the virgin from her subterraneous abode, 
 and prepare a tomb for the body that lies exposed. 
 
 Ck. And do you approve of this, and think I ought to 
 yield ? 
 
 Cii. Ay, and as quickly too, O king, as possible, for the 
 swift-footed vengeance of Heaven cuts short those who are of 
 wicked minds. 
 
 Ce. Ah me ! it is with difficulty indeed, but still I am 
 chan'ged from my purpose to do it. We must not maintain an 
 unequal combat with necessity. 
 
 Cii. Goinn, now, do these thiniis ; do not intrust them to 
 others. 
 
 Ck. Thus, as I am, I will go. But ye attendants, both pres- 
 ent and absent, taking axes in your hands, rush to tlie conspic- 
 uous spot ; and since my opinion has been converted in this 
 way, as I myself bound her, so, being present, I \nS\. set her at 
 liberty ; for I fear lest it be not best, preserving the established 
 laws, to close life. 
 
 CiiOKrs. O thou, who art hailed by many a name,^ g^ory 
 of the Theban nymph, and son of deeply-thundering Jove, 
 who swayest renowned Italia, and president o'er tlie rites of 
 Ceres, in the vales of Eleusis, open to all ! O Bacchus, who 
 dwellest in Thebe, the mother city of the Bacchanals, by the 
 flowing streams of Ismenus, and the fields wliere the teeth 
 of the fell dragon were sown ; thee, the smoke beheld as it 
 burst into flame above the double-crested rock,^ where roam 
 
 ^ Bacchus was rich in names, chiefly dcriveil from his attributes. They 
 were Lyaeus, Lenasus, Bassareus, Bromius, Euius, Eieleus, Diihyrambus, 
 and fifty others. 
 
 ^ artpoil' — Atrvvg, lucidus, vcl candens, fuifjidus vapor. — Musgravc. 
 This smoke or flame, or both, Avhich denoted the presence or approach 
 of the god on the summits of Parnassus, is frequently celebrated by the 
 poets ; 
 
 lu ?.au~ovaa irtrpa Trrpof 
 
 SlKUpV(l)OV Gt/.ag, Vntp UKpUV 
 
 Baicxduv. Eurip. Phcenissse, 237. 
 
 ivOa nvp 7r7](^d Oeov 
 
 BaKxduv. Eurip. Ion. 1125. — Tr. 
 
 On the light which was supposed to shine at the approacli of a god, 
 see Virg. .En. I. 400 ; IT. 590. Ovid. Faet. I. 91— B. 
 
1]30— 1171.] ANTIGONE. 197 
 
 tlic Corycian nymplis,^ the votaries of Bacclius, and the fount 
 of Castalia flows ; and thee the ivy-crowned steeps of the xsys- 
 ian mountains,^ and the green shore, with its many clusters, 
 triumphant send along,^ amid the immortal v\'ords, that hymn 
 thy " Evoe !" to reign the guardian of the streets of Thebe, 
 whom you honor liighcst of all cities, along with your 
 mother that perished by the thunder. And now, since the 
 city with all its people is enthralled by a violent disease, 
 come with healing steps, over the slopes of Parnassus, or the 
 resoundino: aulf of the sea.^ O leader of the choir of flame- 
 breathing stars,^ director of the voices that sound by night, 
 youthful god, son of Jove, reveal th}'self along with thy min- 
 istering Moenads, the Tsaxian maids, who maddening through 
 this livelong night, celebrate thee with the dance, thee their 
 lord lacchus. 
 
 Messexgek. Ye inhabitants of the abodes of Cadmus and 
 Amphion, it is impossible that I should ever praise or blame 
 the life of man in Avhatever condition it may be ; for Fortune 
 always raises, and Fortune casts down the prosperous and the 
 unprosperous, and no one is prescient of v/hat is decreed for 
 mortals. For Creon once, as appeared to me, was enviable, 
 having preserved this land of Cadmus from the enemy, and re- 
 ceiving the complete dominion of the country, he directed it, 
 Ikippiiy flourishing with a noble race of children ; and now all 
 is gone. For when a person loses the pleasures of life, T do 
 not consider him to live, but look upon him as the living dead. 
 Let h'iPA have great wealth, if you choose, in his house, and 
 live with the outward splendor of a, king; but if joy be want- 
 ing to these, I would not purchase the rest with the shadow 
 of smoke compared with the real pleasures. 
 
 ^ So called from the Cyprian grotto, their consecrated abode at the 
 foot of Mount Parnassus. 
 
 - There were various mountains of this narae. Nysa, in Euboea, is sup- 
 posed to be the one alluded to here. 
 
 ^ "triumphant lead." Such is the force of 7re/j.-sn', when speaking of 
 a god led in procession, ^sch. Eum. 12, Tre/i-ovai 6' avTuv kol gejU- 
 (^rjGtv [itya. Sedulius Paschal. 18, uses a semi-barbarous word, " pcm- 
 pLirc :" " Grandisonis pomparc modis.'' "With tho whole descripdon 
 compare Aristoph. Thesmoph. 988, sqq. ; Ivan. 325, sqq. — B. 
 
 ^ Crossing from Eubcca to Boeotia. 
 
 ^ Some take these v»^ords literaliy, others regard thou; as ^gurative of 
 \>ic torches borne by the Bacchanals. 
 
198 ANTIGONE. [1172— 119'J 
 
 Cii. What burden of sorrow on our princes is this again, 
 that you come to tell 1 
 
 Mess. They are dead ; and the living are guilty of their 
 
 death. 
 
 Cii. And who was the slayer? and who is the slain? 
 
 Speak. 
 
 Mi:ss. Ilasraon has perished, and by a suicidal hand he is 
 dyed with blood. 
 
 Cii. Whether by his fathers hand, or his own?^ 
 
 Mess. Himself, by his own hand, being angry with his fa- 
 ther on account of the murder. 
 
 Ch. O prophet ! how correctly have you declared this pre- 
 diction ! 
 
 Mess. As these things being so, you may deliberate on the 
 rest. 
 
 Ch. And in truth I see near at hand the wretched Eur^-d- 
 ice, wife of Creon ; and having neither heard of her son, or by 
 chance, she is passing from the palace. 
 
 EcRVDiCE. O all ye citizens, I heard the rumor, at least, 
 as I v/as going out in order that I might repair to the tem- 
 ple of the goddess Pallas, her suppliant in prayer; and I 
 chance to be undoing the bars of the fastened gate, and the 
 voice of domestic affliction strikes my ears. Moved by terror, 
 I fall prostrate in the arms of my attendants and faint away. 
 But whatever was the tale, repeat it ; for not untried by mis- 
 fortune, I shall hear it. 
 
 Mess. I, my dear mistress, being present, will tell it, and 
 I will not omit a word of the truth. For why should I alle- 
 viate that to you in which I should afterward be detected 
 of falsehood ? The truth is always right. I followed your 
 husband an attendant on foot to the extremity of the plain, 
 where still lay the unpitied body of Polyniccs, mangled by 
 dogs ; and him, indeed, having implored the goddess that is 
 
 ^ The ignorance of fat-brained commentators has led them to make a 
 row about this question being put by the Chorus, after the Messenger liad 
 announced the death of Hacmon by his own hand. The schoHast, simple 
 soul, will have it that the Chorus, in their agitation, heard no more than 
 the words, " Haemon has perished." Musgravc and Heath blunder in an 
 equally pitiable manner. Any one who had read ten lines of Greek po- 
 etry ought to have known that the dying by a kindred hand was consid- 
 ered and spoken of as suicide. — Tu. Cf. Liddell, s. v. — B. 
 
1200—1234.] ANTIGONE. 199 
 
 placed in the highways,^ and Pluto to liave a gracious will, 
 we bathed with holy iavations, and having consumed what 
 remained of the body, Avith fresh-plucked boughs, and piled 
 up a lofty barrow of his native soil, v/e again repair to the 
 rocky cavern, the bridril chamber of the grave's betrothed. 
 And some one hears at a distance the voice of loud lament 
 beside that unconsecrated chamber, and hastening he tells it to 
 our master, Creon ; but round him, as he approached nearer, 
 there float the indistinct notes of wretched wailins:, and shriek- 
 ing, he utters these mournful words : " O unhappy me ! am I 
 tiien a true prophet ? Do I now advance on the most ill-fated 
 way of all that I have gone before? The voice of my son 
 greets'^ me. Go with speed, ye attendants, nearer, and stand- 
 ing by the tomb, ascertain, having penetrated the cleft made by 
 drawing away the stone close to the mouth, whether I hear 
 the voice of Harmon, or am deceived by the gods." On the 
 command of our desponding master we examined the place, 
 and we see in the extremity of the tomb the virgin, han^ino: 
 by the neck, suspended in the woven noose of her linen robe, 
 and the youth lying beside her, with his arms around her 
 waist, deploring the destruction of his bride below the earth, 
 and the deeds of his ftither, and his ill-starred nuptials. But 
 Creon, when he sees him, having uttered a dismal groan, goes 
 in toward him, and in the loud tone of grief calls on him : 
 " O wretched man, what sort of deed have you done ? What 
 mind had you '? In what circumstance of calamity are you ru- 
 ined ? Come forth, my son, suppliant I beseech you." But 
 his son, glaring on him with savage eyes, spitting on his face,^ 
 and replying nothing, drav/s his double-edged sword ;^ but 
 his fiither rushing away in flight, he missed him ; then the 
 ill-fated man, enraged with himself, immediately stretching 
 
 ^ Trivia, Hecate, or Proserpine. 
 
 - aaivei. There is some difficulty in this word. Perhaps if we con- 
 sider the provincialism by v>'hich " greeting" is used for " weeping," the 
 word will appear less inapposite than otherwise. — B. 
 
 ^ I prefer '• spurning him with his glance." Bulwcr adheres to the 
 other interpretation. — B. 
 
 * Aristotle very justly fmds fault with this incident. There is some- 
 thing horrible and unnatural in the attempt of a son to slay his own fa- 
 ther ; and since he fails to execute his purpose, there is no tragical effect 
 produced. The spectator ought not to be shocked unnecessarily. 
 
200 ANTIGONE. [1235—1258. 
 
 out^ the sword, drove it to the middle in his side, and still in 
 possession of his senses, with his enfeebled arm he embraces 
 the vii*gin,2 and gasping, he casts a swift gush of gory drops 
 on lier pallid cheek. And dead by the dead the hapless youth 
 lies, having obtained his nuptial rites in the mansions of Pluto, 
 a proof to the world of rashness, how it attaches to man the 
 greatest of his ills. 
 
 Cii. What can you conjecture this to mean? The woman 
 has some time since disappeared before uttering word, good or 
 bad.3 
 
 Mess. I myself am also astonished ; but I live in the hope 
 that, hearing the calamities of her son, she does not deign to 
 make her lamentations public, but within, beneath the roof of 
 the palace, will appoint her maids to mourn a domestic sorrow ; 
 for she is not devoid of judgment, so as to commit what is im- 
 proper. 
 
 Cii. I know not ; for to me, at least, a deep silence seemis to 
 portend something grievous, and an excess of clamorous grief 
 to be without consequence. 
 
 Mess. But going within the palace, we will inform ourselves 
 whether she secretly conceals in her enraged heart any unlaw- 
 ful purpose ; for your suggestion is good, and there is some- 
 thing grievous in too deep silence. 
 
 Cii. And in truth here comes the kin"; himself, havinji a 
 memorable token in his hand,* if we may lawfully so say — no 
 
 ^ tnevraQdc, pro en£VTeivu/j.cvog. Sic, ut crat, ensem intcntans. — 
 Musgrave. 
 
 ^ This description of the two iil-fated lovers, the dying and the dead, 
 contains the very essence of poetry and tragic beauty. A finer subject 
 for a picture can not well be imagined. 
 
 ^ There is something very striking and fearful in the moody silence of 
 deep passion and despair. 
 
 jii'j 'k t7iq aioTT//^ Tycd' dvafjpr/^ei KaKcl. — Qi^dip. Tyran. 1074. 
 
 A few lines below, the Chorus also expresses this same feeling of appre- 
 hension from the same cause. 
 
 * Creon, it would appear from this, comes in, carrying the dead body 
 of Haemon. Shnksepearc, in a similar way, introduces Lear with Cordelia 
 in his arms. This incident is well calculated for stage efiect ; but the 
 Goths who have mangled Lear for representation, have now left out the 
 scene of" tliat fair dead daughter.'' — Tk. Macready, liowcvcr, lins shown 
 his wonted judgment by its restoration. In the present scene, Vanden- 
 holTs action and declamation merited the hiirhest commendation. — 11. 
 
1259—1302 ] ANTIGONE. 201 
 
 calamity from a foreign source, but he himself its guilty au- 
 thor. 
 
 lEnlcr Creon, leaning upon the body of his son, borne on a 
 litter.] 
 
 Cr. Alas ! the irreparable and deadly errors of a perverted 
 mind ! O ye, who look on the kindred slayers and the slain ! 
 Oh me ! for the infixtuation of my counsels ! O my son ! my 
 son ! in your youth by an untimely fate [woe, woe, woe, 
 woe !], thou hast died, thou hast departed by mine, not thy 
 rashness ! 
 
 Cii. Ah me! how you seem too late to perceive justice ! 
 
 Ce. Ah me ! I AVTctched gain it by experience ; and on my 
 head the god then dashed with heavy impulse, and drove me 
 on to furious ways ; having, alas ! overturned to be trampled 
 beneath foot my former joy. Alas ! alas ! O the toils of mor- 
 tals ! hapless toils ! 
 
 Messenger. O master, how, both having the possessing, 
 you bear these evils in your hands, and you seem coming soon 
 about to behold other evils in your palace. 
 
 Ce. And what, after these calamities, is there still more ca- 
 lamitous ? 
 
 Mess. Your wife is dead, the full mother of this corpse, in 
 an unhappy fate by wounds just fresh inflicted. 
 
 Ce. O port of the grave, that no expiation may soothe, why, 
 why do you destroy me ? O thou that hast conveyed to me 
 the evil tidinjjs of sorrow, what a tale dost thou tell ? Alas 1 
 alas ! thou hast a second time dispatched a dead man. "What, 
 O man, dost thou say? What new intelligence dost thou de- 
 liver ? Woe, woe, woe, woe ! that the death of my wife by 
 murder is added to the destruction of my son 1 
 
 Mess. You may behold it ; for the body is no longer in the 
 
 inner recesses. 
 
 [By a movement of the iKKvK?iT]fj,a the scene opens and discovers the 
 body o/EuRYDiCE, surrounded by her attendants.] 
 
 Ce. "Woe is me ! this other succeeding evil I "w-retched be- 
 hold. What then, what fate yet awaits me '? I, an unhappy 
 wretch, am already bearing in my arms my son, and I see op- 
 posite that other dead body. Alas ! alas, O wretched mother ! 
 \]as, mv son ! 
 
 Mess. She, in keen anger, falling down beside the altar, 
 closes her darkening eyes, having first, indeed, bewailed the; 
 
 12 
 
202 ANTIGONE. [1303—1353 
 
 illustrious bed of Megareus, wlio formerly died, and again of 
 him before us ; and last, having imprecated a baneful fortune 
 on you, the murderer of your children. 
 
 Cii. Woe, woe, woe, woe ! I am lluttcred v/ith fear. Why 
 does not some one wound me through with a two-edged sword ? 
 A wretched man am I, alas I alas ! and in a wretched fate am 
 I involved. 
 
 Mess. As being guilty at least of both the one fate and the 
 other, you were denounced by her as she died. 
 
 Ce. But in what way did she depart from life in the 
 slaughter ? 
 
 Mess. Having with her own hand pierced herself below 
 the liver, when she heard the deei^ly-mournful suflerings of 
 her son. 
 
 Cr. Woe is me ; this guilt will never apply to any other 
 but me ; for I, a miserable wretch, I have slain thee ; I say 
 the truth. O ye attendants, conduct me, with all speed con- 
 duct me v.'ithout ; me, who am no more than nothingness. 
 
 Cii. You bid what profits, if there be any aught that profits 
 in misfortunes ; for present evils, when shortest are best. 
 
 Ck. Let it come, let it come, let the last of my fates appear, 
 bringing most happily to me the close of my days : let it come, 
 let it come, so that I may never behold another day. 
 
 Mess. Those things are future ; of these things present com- 
 mand what we ought to do ; for others are a care to those 
 whom it behooves to have this care. 
 
 Cr. But I prayed for those things I desire. 
 
 Mess. Pray now for nothing ; since there is no escape to 
 mortals from predestined calamity. 
 
 [Creon is led off.'\ 
 
 Cr. Lead away now without this shadow of a man, who, 
 O my son, unwillingly slew thee, and thee, too, my wife. O 
 wretched man that I am ! I neither know whither nor to 
 whom I should look ; for every thing misguided, both in my 
 hands and over my head, has an intolerable fate made to burst 
 upon me. 
 
 Cii. To be wise is the first part of happiness ; and it be- 
 hooves us not to be guilty of irreverence in those things at 
 least that concern the gods ; for the haughty words of the 
 vaunting, paying the penalty of severe aflliction, have taught 
 wisdom to old age. 
 
■13.1 
 
 TRACHINI^. 
 
 Hercules having excited the jealous fears of Deianira by bringing 
 home the captive lole as a new partner of his bed, she sent him as a 
 love-charm a garment dipped in the blood which fell from the death- 
 wound with w hich the Centaur Nessus had been stricken by Hercules. 
 The poison took a fatal effect, and Hercules, perishing in agony, was 
 placed on a funeral pile on Mount CEta, where he was to receive his 
 immortality, and rest from suffering. Deianira, in despair, slew her- 
 self— B. 
 
 DRAMATIS PERSOX.E. 
 
 Deianira. 
 
 Attendant. 
 
 Hyllus. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Messenger. 
 
 LiCHAS. 
 
 Nurse. 
 Old Man. 
 Hercules. 
 
 Deianira. There is an ancient saying, renowned among 
 men, that you can not fully judge of the life of mortals, wheth- 
 er it has been good or bad to an individual before his death.^ 
 But T, even before I come to the realms of Pluto, know that I 
 have led my life in misfortune and calamity; I, who indeed, 
 while dwelling in the palace of my father (Eneus, in Pleuron,^ 
 felt the greatest horror of nuptials of all the ^tolian maids. 
 For my suitor was a river, I mean the Acheloiis, who, in three 
 forms, sought me of my father : now coming in full shape a 
 bull :^ at another time, a speckled wreathed snake ; and at a 
 
 ^ This sentiment is common enough ; but the way in which it is here 
 talked of, as famous and proverbial, shows us that Sophocles had in viev/ 
 the speech of Solon to Croesus. If he meant to make Deianira quote So- 
 lon, he is guilty of a very gross anachronism. — Tr. See Hermann. — B. 
 
 ^ Pleuron was tbe capital of ^Etolia, and is reported to have been a city 
 of great splendor in the early ages of Greece. 
 
 ^ This seems to have been the common way, in ancient times, of repre- 
 senting rivers. Homer has frequent allusions to it ; and Horace applies 
 the epithet " taariformis" to the Aufidus, at a time when such supersti- 
 
204 TRACHINLT:. [13—44. 
 
 tliird, in the body of a, man witli the head of a bull ; and from 
 bis thick, shaggy beard, Iho streams of liquid founts kept flow- 
 ing. I, ■\\Tetehed, having received such a suitor, always j^rayed 
 to die before I should ever approach his bed. And in late time 
 indeed, but to my joy, came the illustrious son of Jove and 
 Alcmena, who engaging with this monster in the strife of bat- 
 tie, delivers me. The manner of their fray I am not able to de- 
 scribe ; for I know it not ; but whosoever sat undismayed dur- 
 ing the spectacle, he could tell it.^ For I sat confounded v»'ith 
 terror, lest my beauty might, on a time, work my bane. But 
 Jove, the arbiter of conflicts, disposed the issue well, if in truth 
 it be well ; for being united his awarded bride to Hercules, I 
 ever sustain fear succeedino; fear in bodin^; cares for him, since 
 night brings, and night in turn removes some toil. And I 
 indeed have borne him children, whom, like a husbandman 
 that hath a field far distant, he hath once only looked on in 
 the seed-time, and once again in the harvest. Such a life 
 sends from home and to home the hero, always paying service 
 to some one ;'^ and now, when he has reached the goal of these 
 labors, here in truth I feel most alarmed. For since the time 
 that he slew the mighty Iphitus,^ we indeed, changing our 
 abode, dwell here in Trachis, with a stranger host ;^ but 
 where he has gone, no one knows ; but he has departed, leav- 
 ing bitter pangs to me on his account ; and I am almost sure 
 that he has met with some mishap. For he remains for no 
 small space of time, but already for ten months, in addition to 
 
 tions had rather gone by. There are various accounts given of the ori- 
 gin and meaning of this fanciful custom ; but that which supposes it to 
 have some reference to the overflowing of the Nile, when the sun enters 
 the Bull, though far-fetched, is perhaps the least absurd. 
 
 ^ A spirited description of the combat is given by the Chorus in this 
 play, V. 500-530. 
 
 " Eurystheus, king of Mycenae, was the great task-master of Hercules. 
 The Fates had decreed that the one of them who was born first should 
 have the other for his slave. Juno, the implacable step-mother of Her- 
 cules, took advantage of her power as the goddess of childbirth to give 
 Eurystheus the important start, Virgil aliuJcs to this circumstance, 
 ^n. viii. V. 291. 
 
 ut duros mille labores 
 
 Rege sub Eurystheo, fatis Junonis iniquK, 
 Pertulerit. 
 
 ^ The murder of Iphitus is related in this i)lay, v. 270-275. 
 
 * Ceyx, the king of Trachis 
 
45—75.] TRACHINLE. 205 
 
 other five, without sending any tidings ; and tliere must be 
 some dreadful niislbrtuiie. Of this purport he left me, at his 
 departure, a Avriting, which I often pray to the gods to have 
 received unaccompanied by calamity. 
 
 Attendant. My mistress, Deianira, I have already seen 
 you bewailing the departure of Hercules with many weeping 
 laments ; and now if it be right to admonish the free-born with 
 the opinions of a slave, it behooves even me this much to sug- 
 gest. How, indeed, do you abound with so many children, 
 yet do not send some one in search of your husband, and espe- 
 cially Hyllus, whom it becomes to show if he bears any regard 
 for his father's prosperity? But here he himself, near at 
 hand, is bounding toward the house with vigorous step ; so 
 that, if I seem to you to give seasonable advice, it is in your 
 power to avail yourself of the presence of the youth and of my 
 v/ords. 
 
 Dei. O child, O my son, even from the ignobly-born noble 
 words proceed ; for this woman, indeed, is a slave, but she has 
 spoken no slavish speech. 
 
 Hyllus. Of what import? Tell me, mother, if it may be 
 told. 
 
 Dei. That it brings reproach on you, your father having 
 been so long abroad, not to make inquiry where he is. 
 
 Hyl. But I know, if at least one may believe reports. 
 
 Dei. And v/here on earth do you heai", my child, that he is 
 situated ? 
 
 Hyl. They say that for the by-past year he has labored 
 through its long period in bondage to a Lydian woman. ^ 
 
 Dei. One may therefore hear every thing if he submitted to 
 this.2 
 
 Hyl. But he is released from this at least, as I learn. 
 
 Dei. Where now, then, living or dead, is he reported to be ? 
 
 Hyl. They say that he leads, or is still on the point of lead- 
 ing, an expedition against the land of Eubosa and the city of 
 Eurytus. 
 
 ^ Omphale. 
 
 ^ Qussri potest, cur tantopere Deianira indignstur Omphalae Herculem 
 servire qui antea per tot annos Eurystheo servilera operam prsestiterat. 
 Mihi videntur duse hujus inditrnationis causae fuisse, priraa. quod foemmas, 
 altera vero quod Lydss, i. c, barbarae, in eervitutem addictus fuerat. — • 
 Musgrave. 
 
20G TRACHINL^. [7G— 1C6 
 
 Dei. Ivnovv' you, then, my son, liow lie left to me unerring 
 predictions concerning this land ? 
 
 Hyl. Of what kind, mother? for I am ignorant of the 
 tale. 
 
 Di:i. That he is either about to bring his life to its close, or 
 having accomphshed this labor, for the future to spend the re- 
 mainder of his days in a tranquil existence. AVill you not, 
 then, my son, go to aid him, depending on this crisis, since we 
 arc either preserved, if he preserve his life, or at the same time 
 depart and fall if your fiither perish?^ 
 
 Hyl. But I go, oh mother ! and if I had known the annun- 
 ciation of these oracles, even formerly I would have been pres- 
 ent. But the usual fortune of my father does not permit us to 
 feel foreboding fear, nor to be overmuch dismayed.^ But now, 
 since I do know them, I will in no respect fail to learn the 
 whole truth concerning these matters. 
 
 Dei. Go now, my son ; for even he that is late in doing 
 well, yet, when he learns his duty, procures gain. 
 
 Ciioiius. Whom spangled^ I'igkfj 'is she dies away, brings 
 forth, and again lulls to sleep, the sun,* the blazing sun, I 
 implore to tell me of Alcmena's son, v/here, where at all he 
 dwells, oh thou that beamest with refulgent splendors, wheth- 
 er on some ocean isthmus, or resting on either continent ;^ 
 tell me, oh thou, who in sight surpassest ! For I learn that 
 Deianira, for whom rivals strove, ever with longing thoughts, 
 like some Avretched bird, refuses to lull to rest the regret of 
 
 ^ See Hermann and Wunder. — B. 
 
 ^ The clauses vvv 6' 6 ^vvtiOt]^ and vvv 6% of ^vvitj/j.' have been trans- 
 posed by Brunck, who reads d/.?.' 6 ^vvtjOtjc, the corruption arising from 
 the sijiiilarity in the line just above. Wunder agrees in transposing the 
 passage, but Hermann would throw out the second clause altogelher. 
 Brunck appears to be nearest the truth. — B. 
 
 ^ Cf. ^Esch. Prom. 24, ;) TroiiciAeifiuv vv^. Apul. de Deo Socr., p. 44, 
 ed. Elm. "pictis noctibus.'' — B. 
 
 * 'A/.Tlo, cv yap d?/ Tiucrnv Irrl ;j'^c)ra ical Kara ttovtov 
 
 alOcpo^ tK dirjg Kara6tpKeai uktIv£ggl, 
 
 VTj/LtEprt(JC fJ-Oi tVLGnC, (plloV Tt'KOr ti TTOV UTTOTTa^. 
 
 Homer. Hymn, in Cer. v. G9. 
 ^ It is rather absurd to suppose that Hercules could be on the two 
 continents at the same moment. Musgrave, after rejjrehending the inac- 
 curacy of the expression, makes a very good-natured excuse for it in these 
 words : " Sod nimis severi sumus, ncc tanta loquendi subtilitas a poiita 
 sxijTPnda." 
 
107—150.] trachiali:. 207 
 
 her tearless^ eyes ; but clierisbiiig n, terror ever present to her 
 mind, on account of tlie journey of lier lord, pines away on her 
 widowed couch of care,^ in expectation of an evil and wretched 
 tloom. For as one may behold manv 1 allows urged by the 
 blasts of the unwearied north or south advancing, and speed- 
 ing in succession over the wide ocean — thus life's many cai'es 
 nurse the infancy and rear the manhood of the Theban hero, 
 like waves on the Cretan main ; but some god ever preserves 
 him in safety from the mansions of Pluto. On account of 
 Avhich reprehending you, I v>-ill suggest what is pleasing in- 
 deed, but opposite to your thoughts. For I say that you 
 ouaht not to cast awav good hones, since he that reigns su- 
 preme, the son of Saturn, hath not allotted all things to mor- 
 tals devoid of calamity ; but sorrow and joy return in course 
 to all, like the devolving paths of the Bear. For neither does 
 spangled night remain to mortals, nor the fates, nor wealth ; 
 but in a moment they are gone ; and to the same mortal suc- 
 ceed joy and the loss of joy. Yvlierefore I bid you, my queen, 
 in hope ever to retain these reflections ; since who hath seen 
 Jove thus devoid of care for his children ? 
 
 Dei. Plaving learned, as may be conjectured, my sufferings, 
 you are present ; but hov\^ I pine in spirit, may you never 
 learn by experience. Xow you are ignorant of its woe ; for 
 youth is pastured in such vales of its own ;^ and neither does 
 the heat of heaven, nor showers, nor any gale disturb it ; but 
 it builds up with pleasures a life of ease, until one be called a 
 wife instead of a virgin, and receive her sliare of anxiety in 
 the hours of nioht, either fearing for her husband or her chil- 
 dron. Then might any woman perceive, considering her 
 ovrn condition, by what evils I am weighed down. Many 
 8ufferinfi\s indeed then have I lamented; but one such cs I 
 have never before [lamented] will I immediately disclose. 
 For when the royal Hercules departed on his last journey from 
 
 ^ Sdg Kermann, eivd^eiv tov rroBov tQv 8?.e6up(jv, ucre yiyvecGat 
 
 J \ > V - T, I.I t / 
 
 av: i (lOaKpvra. — 15. 
 
 ^ Ovid, Epist. i. 7, " Non ego deserto jacuisscm frigida lecto : Nee quc- 
 rerer tardos ire reiicta dies. Quando ego non tiniui graviora pericula 
 vcris ] Res est soUiciti plena timoris amor." ix. 35, " Ipsa domo vidua 
 votis opcrata pudicis Torqueor, infesto ne vir ab hoste cadat." — B. 
 
 ^ X<^poi<jLv avTov. Hermann would read x^^potg Iv' uvtov ; Wunder, 
 ycjpoLQ iv' (Ivah-ovToc ov Od/.TOQ dcov, a bold and masterly coniectur*?. well 
 (lescrvinp- to be adopted. — B 
 
208 TRACHINLE. [157—190 
 
 home; then he leaves in the palace an ancient tablet, iiiscribe() 
 with mandates, which before, though going forth to many 
 combats, he never had the heart to disclose to me ; but he 
 went, as about to achieve some feat, and not to fall. Ikit now, 
 as though he were no more, he told me that it was fitting I 
 should take my marriage portion, and told me what share of 
 paternal proj)erty he awarded to be divided to his children ; 
 having appointed that, when he should be gone a year and 
 three months from the country, it Avas either fated he should 
 die in this time, or, escaping the close of its period, should 
 live for the future in a life free from pain. Such things, he 
 said, were decreed for consummation by the gods concerning 
 the labors of Hercules, as the ancient beech-tree at Dodona 
 had formerly announced by the lips of the tAvin doves. ^ And 
 the certainty of these predictions coincides with the present 
 time, so that it is necessary they should be accompHshed. 
 Thus, my friends, while sweetly slumbering, I start from re- 
 pose, agitated with terror, lest it be fated that I should remain 
 bereft of the best of all men. 
 
 Cii. Speak now words of good omen, since I see some mes' 
 senger advancing, crowned with garlands on account of hi." 
 tidings. 2 
 
 Messenger. Deianira, my queen, I, first of messengers, will 
 release you from your apprehensions ; for, knoAv that the son 
 of Alcmena is living, and is victorious, and, the battle over, is 
 brinjyin"; its first-fruits to the jrods of his countrv. 
 
 Dei. What Avords are these, old man, that you have spoken 
 to me *? 
 
 Mess. That quickly to thy palace shall come thy much-de- 
 sired lord, returning Avith his triumj^hant poAA'ers. 
 
 Dei. And from Avhat citizen or stranger did you learn the 
 tidings you tell ? 
 
 Mess. The herald Lichas, his attendant, is proclaiming 
 these things to numl)crs in the ox-grazing field. Hearing 
 them from him, I rushed aAvay, in order tliat, having first 
 
 ^ Those who wish for an account of tlic miraculous doves of Dodona 
 may consult Herodotus, lib. ii. 55, wlierc they will find an explanation 
 scarcely less absurd than the orifrinal fable. Eustathius and the scholiast 
 both offer their conjectures on the point, without considering it at all re- 
 quisite to be within the verrre of probability. 
 
 2 Cf (Ed. Tyr. 82 sq.— 13. 
 
191—224.] TRACHINLE 209 
 
 related them to you, I might gain something at your hands, 
 and acquire favor. ^ 
 
 Dei. Ijut how, if well he speed, is he himself absent 1 
 
 Mess. Because, O lady, he encounters some difficulty ; for 
 all the Mclian people, standing round him in a circle, is ques- 
 tioning him ; nor is it in his power to advance farther. Each 
 wishing to learn fully the welcome news, will not let him go 
 till ho have heard to his satisfaction. Thus he, unwiUing, 
 '■is present with the willing ; but you will soon see him ap- 
 pear, 
 
 Dei. O Jove ! who presidest over the uncultured^ mead of 
 ^ta, thou hast bestowed on us, though late, the joy. Raise 
 your acclaim, ye maids, both ye within the house, and ye with- 
 out the court, since we now enjoy the eye of happy rumor 
 beaming unexpectedly upon me. 
 
 Cii. Burst forth through the palaces, with the shouts of joy 
 around your hearths, whoever of you is a bridegroom, ^ and 
 let the mingled shouts of the youths ascend to Apollo, our 
 champion, the Lord of the graceful quiver ; and at the same 
 time celebrate, ye virgins, Fjean, l^a^an ; and loudly cele- 
 brate his sister Diana Ortygia, the huntress of the stag, the 
 goddess with her double torch,^ and her attendant nymphs. I 
 am transported ; nor will I disclaim the flute, oh sovereign of 
 my soul ! Lo ! the thyrsus rouses me up ; lo ! it inspires me, 
 now hurrying my steps into the rivalry of the Bacchic vota- 
 ries.'' lo ! lo ! Pa^an ! Behold, behold, dear mistress, you 
 may nov/ see these things clearly before your face. 
 
 ^ The messenger is at all events abundantly candid in confessing his 
 scurvy motive. 
 
 - Uncultured, in consequence of its being set apart and consecrated to 
 the god. The epithet uTOfiov may also be translated " undevastated," 
 which bears in a similar way a reference to its sanctity, as being spared, 
 on that account, by the enemy, in their hostile incursions. — Tr. Cf. 
 Eurip. Hipp. 73, l^ uKTjpuTov /.etfiiovog. — B. 
 
 ^ I am little satisfied with Dindorf s readings or punctuation, but have 
 followed them closely, for the convenience of the scholar, who can alter 
 accordincT to taste. — B. 
 
 * Diana was represented in the ancient mysteries as bearmg a torch m 
 each hand. The epithet dfKpt-vpov is generally supposed to have a refer- 
 ence to these insignia ; but it may also be taken as descriptive of the 
 splendor and brightness of the goddess, in her character of Luna. 
 
 ^ BaKx'iav uiiilTiav noto usu accusativi additum est, convcrtens me ad 
 (zmulundmn Bacchus. — Herm. 
 
210 TRACHINL^ [225—255. 
 
 Dei. I see, dear women ; nor has the watchfulness of my 
 eyes deceived me so as not to see this band : and I bid the 
 herald hail, though late aj^pearing, if the tidings he brings be 
 of joy. 
 
 LiciiAS. But well indeed have we come, and well, oh 
 lady, are we hailed according to the merit of our actions, ^ 
 for it needs must that a man who prospers should gain good 
 words. 
 
 Dei. O dearest of men, tell me first, what I most desire, if I 
 shall embrace Hercules alive ? 
 
 Li. I left him both in strength and life, blooming in health, 
 and not oppressed with disease. 
 
 Dei. Where ? in a native or a foreign soil ? Speak. 
 
 Li. There is a certain promontory of Euboca, where he is 
 marking out altars, and sacrificing the fruits of his victories to 
 Cena;an- Jove. 
 
 Dei. In performance of a vow? or on the injunction of 
 some oracle? 
 
 Li. a vow — when he took the country of these women you 
 see before you, the devastated prey of his spear. 
 
 Dei. But who, by the gods, are these ? and whose are they ? 
 for they arc the objects of pity, if their misfortunes do not de- 
 ceive me. 3 
 
 Li. These, when he destroyed the city of Eurytus, he se- 
 lected a chosen possession for himself and the gods. 
 
 Dei. Was it against this city that he was gone this vast and 
 countless number of days. 
 
 Li. Ko ; but for the principal part of the time he was 
 detained in Lydia, as he himself says, not free, but sold. 
 But there ought not, oh lady, to be any displeasure at a cir- 
 cumstance of Avhich Jove mnj appear to have been the cause. 
 For he, as he owns himself, being sold to Omphale, a bar- 
 barian, completed a year in her service ; and he was thus 
 stung by having this disgrace attached to him, that, laying 
 
 ' Verba kqt' (pyov icr/jaiv ambijriia sunt. Nam aut significant Kara 
 To tpyov, o KUiTeoai., pro 7uincio acccplo, aut Kara to tpyov, b ic£KT7J/j.eOa 
 quae est cxpugnatio .^i^chalicc. — Herm. 
 
 ^ The name is derived from Cenacum, a promontory of Euboca, wliich 
 wan consecrated to this god. 
 
 ^ DignoD enim sunt miserationc, si do calaniitatibus caruni rcctc judico. 
 — Scliacfcr. 
 
5 
 
 25G— 293.] TRACHINLf]. 211 
 
 an oath on liimsGlf, he swore that he v>'oiild yet cnshive, along 
 with his wife and children, the man wlio brought this suf- 
 fering home to him. ISTor did he belie his word ; but when 
 lie vv'as puritied/ taking a foreign host, he goes to the city of 
 Eurytus ; for he accused him alone of mortals of being the 
 author of this evil ; who, when he came a guest to his house 
 being of old his friend, had much reviled him with word 
 and much with the malignity of his mind, saying that though 
 he bore in his hands the inevitable arrows, he was inferior 
 to his children in the trial of archerv ; and he savs that he, 
 a slave, ought to be treated with blows by a freeman ; and 
 wh.en he was heated with wine at the banquet, he drove him 
 out. l>eing enraged at this treatment, when Iphitus' after- 
 ward came to the Tyrinthian hill, following the traces of some 
 mares that had left his pastures, then, while he had his eye 
 turned in one way, and liis mind in another, he hurled him 
 down from the summit of the towering steep.-^ But Jove, the 
 Oivmnian kinir, father of all, bciuG; enrao-ed on account of this 
 deed, sent him thence in slavery, nor brooked that he should 
 slay Iphitus, alone of men, by guile. For had he openly as- 
 sailed him, Jove would have forgiven him for justly vanquish- 
 ing his opponent ; for the gods do not love injustice. But 
 they vvdio wantonly boasted with reviling tongue, are all the 
 inhabitants of the shades, and their city is caj)iive. But these 
 virgins, whom you behold, having met with an unenviable life, 
 from an high estate, come to you ; for thus at least your hus- 
 band enjoined, and I, being faithful to him, execute his com- 
 mand. And when he shall have offered the holy sacrifices to 
 his father Jove for the capture of the city, expect him to come 
 himself; for this, of all a long tale of happy tidings, is the 
 sweetest word to hear. 
 
 Cii. Now, O queen, manifest joy accrues to you, both from 
 what is present, and from what you have learned by this 
 speech. 
 
 Dei. And how should I not, when I hear of these pros- 
 
 ^ When he had made expiation for the murder of Iphitus, by coirsplet- 
 incT hif> year of bondao-e. 
 
 ^ One of the four sons of Eurytus. 
 
 ^ This was a very blackguard piece of business on the part of Hercules. 
 It argues bad taste in the poet to introduce a story which tends so much 
 to destroy our favorable impressions of his hero. 
 
212 TRACHINLE. 1291—323 
 
 pcrous fortunes of my liusband, rejoice 'svith all the just joy of 
 my soul ? There is strong necessity tliat my joy should keep 
 pace with his success. Yet still fear dwells in those Avho con- 
 sider things aright/ lest he, Avho is in prosperity, should at 
 some moment stumble in his course, I'or a powerful senti- 
 ment of compassion, my friends, has entered my bosom as I 
 look on these ill-starred virsins, wanderino; in the land of 
 strangers, afar from their homes, and bereft of their fathers, 
 Vv'ho in former days, perchance, were the offspring of high> 
 born chiefs, but who now lead the life of slaves. O Jo\e, 
 averter of my ills, may I never at any time see thee thus ad- 
 vancing against my children, nor, if thou wilt do auglit, while 
 I at least am yet alive ! Thus am I moved by fear, beholding 
 these captives. O unhappy in thy lot, who of youthful virgins 
 art thou ? unmarried or a mother ? Yet, by your appearance, 
 you arc unacquainted wdth all this, but art one of noble birth. 
 Lichas, of Vv-hom of mortals is tlris stranger the daughter? 
 Yv'ho was the mother that bore her ? ^Vho was the father that 
 begot her? Declare it. For I on beholding her, have pitied 
 her the most of these, inasmuch as she alone knows to feel for 
 her situation. 2 
 
 Li. What do I know^? Why should you ask me? Per- 
 haps the offspring of parents who there are not among the 
 meanest. 
 
 Dei. Is she of the royal family ? Some offspring of Eu- 
 rytus. 
 
 Li. I know not ; for I did not make any great inquiries. 
 
 Dei. Nor have you learned her name from some one of the 
 companions of her way ? 
 
 Li. By no means. I performed my task in silence. 
 
 Dei. But do you, unhappy maid, speak to me yourself; 
 since it is a sort of misfortune not to know you, at least wdio 
 you are. 
 
 Li. She Avill not now utter a word more than formerly, 
 
 ^ Tolaiv ev cKoirovfievotc recte vertit Brunckius : " Tanicn incst his 
 aliquis metus, si rem rite expcndas." Quippc intclligitur prospcra Her- 
 cuiis fortuna, ncquc, ut Ha?pfnerus ct Billerbckius sibi pcrsuascrant, ad 
 pucllas adstantcs pcrtinet. — Erfurdt. 
 
 - Quod prudentia3 specimen ediderit lolc, ex contcxtu non patet ; 
 Hheraquc adco conjectura lectori rclinquitur, utrum lachrymis prjEscntis 
 mail sensum tcstata sit, an vultu scrcno ct placido aninii nia^iiitudinem 
 ostenderit. — Musgravc. 
 
323—318. J TRACHINLE. 213 
 
 she M'ho has not yet spoken much or little,^ but, ever de- 
 ploring the weight of her calamity, the wretched maid keeps 
 sliodding tears from tlie time that she left her wind-swept^ 
 country. This circumstance is unfortunate indeed, for her- 
 self at least, but it deserves pardon. 
 
 Dei. Let her therefore be indulged, and let her go within 
 thus as is most agreeable to her, nor, in addition to lier pres- 
 ent evils, let her receive from me at least a double pain; for 
 that which she already feels is enough. And now let us all 
 go home, that you at least may hasten where you please, and 
 I may put things within in proper order. ' 
 
 Mess. Here, at any rate, lirst wait for a little while, in order 
 that you may learn apart from these, whom at least you con- 
 duct within ; and of what you have heard nothing may be fully 
 made acquainted, too, w'ith all that is j^roper to know ; for I 
 have the full inteliioence of these things. 
 
 Dei. What is it '? Why do you stay my steps 1^ 
 
 Mess. Standing still, listen : for neither did you formerly* 
 hear my words in vain, nor do I think you shall now. 
 
 Dei. Whether, in truth, shall I call those persons back 
 again, or do you wish to speak to these virgins and to 
 me ? 
 
 Mess. To you and these there is no restrictions, but suffer 
 the others to remain away. 
 
 Dei. And in fact they arc gone, and let your news be 
 signitled. 
 
 Mess. This man utters nothing of what he has just spoken 
 according to the strictness of truth ; but either now he is false, 
 or formerly was present no true messenger. 
 
 ^ Exspcctabat Deianira, responsurani esse lolen. At ilia tacet. Id 
 videns Lichas dicit : ovr' upa ovdev dtoicreL y?MCGav l^ laov rC) ye 7zp6c~ 
 Ocv ;rp6iv • fii^^il' ergo differ ct ah sc ipsa loqiccndo {i. c, semper eadera 
 erit, constanter servando silcnti(>)^c:^?ic tit antca fecit. — licnn. 
 
 ^ " Aajveixov, vcrdis perjiatam, i. c., desertam ut bene interpretatur 
 Sclioliastes." — Muscravc. From this v."c must venture to dissent. The 
 native city of lole is mentioned, in another place, as " the loKy" ^T^chalia, 
 which v/iil sufliciently account for its being exposed to a little rough 
 weather, without having recourse to the " interprctatio" of the scholiast, 
 or Musgrave, his aj;proving ally. 
 
 ^ But sec liiermann and Vv'under. — 13. 
 
 * This messenger is the same ofiiciotis person who came before to an- 
 nounce the'arrival of Lichas. 
 
214 TRACHINL^. [349— 3S4. 
 
 Dei. AVhat say you ? Clearly deliver me all that you have 
 in your iniiici ; for, as to what you have spoken, ignorance 
 possesses me. 
 
 Mess. I heard this man saying, while m.any Avitnesse?> were 
 present, that, for the sake of this virgin, Hercules both de- 
 stroyed Eurytus and lofty-towered ^chalia ; and that Love 
 alone of the gods had moved him to raise his spear in this 
 war ; not his adventures in Lydia, nor his service of toil with 
 Omphale, nor the headlong death of Iphitus ; [but love] 
 which^ he now setting aside, contradicts his former statement. 
 But when he did not persuade the father to give up his 
 daughter that he might enjoy her secret embraces, having 
 devised some slight ground of complaint and cjuarrcl, lie leads 
 an expedition against the country of this damsel, in which he 
 said that Eurytus was lord of the throne ; and he slays the 
 king her father, and lias sacked the city. And now he comes, 
 O lady, as you see, sending her to this palace, not without 
 design, nor as a slave ; expect not this : nor is it likely, since 
 he hath been inflamed wdth desire. It seemed therefore good 
 to me, O cjueen, to disclose to you every thing wdiich I have 
 chanced to learn from the herald: and many in the middle 
 of the Trachinian forum heard tliis at tlie same time equally 
 with myself, so as to bring it home to him. But if I do not 
 say what is agreeable, I am sorry ; yet still I have spoken the 
 truth. 
 
 Dei. All unhappy me ! in v.diat circumstances am I placed ? 
 AYhat secret bane have I received under my roof? O Avretch- 
 ed woman that I am ! Is she then of an obscure name, as ho. 
 that conducted her swore ? 
 
 Mess. Surely is she most glorious both in appearance and 
 birth,- being by birth the daughter of Eurytus, she was for- 
 merly called lole, vrhose parents he could not tell, liaving, for- 
 sooth, made no inquiry. 
 
 Cii. Let not all the wicked perish, but him whoever prac- 
 tices base fraud unworthy of his character.^ 
 
 ^ vv, sell. tIv Ipura. Still, I can not help thinking that this verse 
 .should be placed immediately after v. 355. Peiliaps something is want- 
 ing. — B. 
 
 ^ This verse is assigned by all modern editors to the Mcsi?cngcr, a'.id 
 not connected with Dcianira's words. — 13. 
 
 '•' The Chorus evidently utter this malediction to show their indignation 
 
3S5— 414.] TRACHINLE. 215 
 
 Dei. VVlial, yc women, ought to be clone ? for I am driyeu 
 out of my mind by this present intcUigencc. 
 
 Ch. Go and interrogate the man, since he will quickly 
 tell the truth, if you appear inclined to question him by 
 force. 
 
 Dei. Yrcil, I go; for you do not advise Avitliout judg- 
 ment. 
 
 Cii. Init shall we remain ? or what is it proper to do ? 
 
 Dei. Remain ; since this man, not summoned by my mes- 
 sengers, but of his own accord, is passing out of the liouse. 
 
 Li, AVhat is it fitting, O lady, that I, returning, should 
 say to Hercules? Inform me, since, as you see, I am go- 
 
 Dei. Do you, thus coming after so long a time, so quickly 
 depart before we renew our conversation ? 
 
 Li. If you wish to make any inquiry, I am present. 
 
 Dei. Do you deal in the honesty of truth ? 
 
 Li. Great Jove be my witness, at least in whatever I 
 know. 
 
 Dei. "Who, in truth, is the woman whom you come con- 
 ducting ? 
 
 Li. a Avoman of Euboea ; but from whom she is sprung I 
 can not tell. 
 
 Mess. Ho you, look this way : to whom do you think you 
 speak ? 
 
 Li. And you, for what purpose do you ask m.e this ques- 
 tion '? 
 
 Mess. Dare to ansv/er, if you are wise, what I ask you. 
 
 Li. To Deianira the queen, daughter of Q^neus, and wife 
 of Hercules [if my sight deceive me not], and my mistress. 
 
 jMess. This v/as the very thing I sought to learn from you. 
 Do you acknowledge that this is your mistress? 
 
 Li. Yes ; for she is so with just right. 
 
 Mess. What then? What punishment do you consider 
 yourself worthy to suffer if you be found untrue to her ? 
 
 Li. How untrue? What wiles are you attempting? 
 
 Mess. None : you, however, are doing this in a very great 
 degree. 
 
 Li. I go ; and I was a fool to listen so long to you. 
 
 at the duplicity of Lichas, though they justly take the opportunity cf 
 having a slap at the master while they abuse the man. 
 
21G TRACHINLE. [415- 
 
 r,» 
 
 Mess. Not at least before being shortly examiiied you shall 
 
 make answer, 
 
 Li. Speak, if you wish, any thing ; for you are not much in- 
 clined to silence. 
 ^ Mess. Do you know the captive whom you have brought to 
 this place? 
 
 Li. I say I do, but why do you inquire 1 
 
 Mess. Did you not say that you v/ere conducting lole, the 
 daughter of Eurytus, her whom you now look upon as un- 
 known ? 
 
 Li. Among what sort of men? who, and whence coming, 
 will bear witness to you that present he heard these words 
 from me? 
 
 Mess. Among many of the citizens. A great crowd in the 
 middle of the Trachinian forum heard, full sure, these w^ords 
 from thy mouth. 
 
 Li. Very true : I said that I heard this at least ; but it is 
 not the same thing to state one's notion and to maintain an as- 
 sertion positively. 
 
 Mess. What notion ? Did not you, speaking under an oath, 
 declare that you brought this damsel as a wife for Hercu- 
 les ? 
 
 Li. I talk of a wife ! Tell me, my dear mistress, by the 
 gods, who in the world is this stranger ? 
 
 Mess. One who present heard you assert that all the city 
 was subdued througrh love of this woman, and that the Lydian 
 dame was not the cause of its destruction, but the love of lole 
 burstino; forth. ^ 
 
 Li. Let this man, O queen, begone ; for to babble with a 
 madman is not the part of the wise. 
 
 Dei. Do not, by Jove, who rolls his thunders along ^ta's 
 lofty forest, falsify thy tale ; for thou wilt not tell it to a v.om- 
 an of a base spirit, nor one who does not know the disposition 
 of men, that it is not by nature formed to t*ake pleasure al- 
 ways in the same things. Yv^hoever indeed resists love, like 
 a pugilist, hand to hand, is unwise. For love rules even the 
 gods as he pleases, and myself indeed ; and why not another, 
 such, at any rate, as me ? So tliat if I blame my husband, 
 
 ' Musgrave proposes, in place of (^avcig, to read (T(paAeir, frustratus, 
 vvliich would be a decided improvement, were there any good authority 
 for its adoption. 
 
410—185.] trachi>;le. 217 
 
 possessed by tliis disease, or this maiden, tlic cause of no dis- 
 Loiior nor evil to me, I am mad in the extreme. It is not so. 
 Hut, if learning it from him, you feign this tale, you leani no 
 good instruction ; and if you thus teach yourself, when you 
 wish to be good, you shall be proved to be bad. But speak 
 the whole truth ; since for a freeman to be called a liar is a 
 disgraceful stain attaching to his character. Nor is it possible 
 that you should escape detection ; for there are many to whom 
 you have spoken who will repeat your words to me. And if 
 you fear indeed, you fear foolishly ; since not to know it might 
 give me pain ; but as to know it, where is the harm ? lias not 
 Hercules, one husband, already married several other wives ?^ 
 and no one of them has yet heard from me, at least, evil word 
 or reproach ; nor shall she, even though he be deeply imbued 
 v.'ith her love, since I pitied her most of all when I looked on 
 her, because her beauty has been the ruin of her life, and she, 
 in her unhappy fate, has unwillingly brought to destruction 
 and slavery her native land. But let these things speed on 
 with a propitious gale ; and I desire you to be deceitful to 
 others, but never be guilty of falsehood to me.^ 
 
 Cii. Obey this lady, recommending what is good ; and you 
 shall afterward not blame your compliance, and shall acquire 
 my gratitude. 
 
 Li. But, O my dear mistress, since I perceive 3'ou, a mor- 
 tal, have thoughts becoming a mortal, and are not void of 
 judgment, I ^^-ill tell you the whole truth, nor conceal aught. 
 For the fact is so as he asserts. A vehement passion for this 
 damsel once on a time thrilled through Hercules, and on her 
 account was her native -^chalia, in wide destruction, laid low 
 by the spear. And these circumstances, for it is proper to 
 tell that which is in his favor, he neither bade ma keep close, 
 nor ever denied ; but I myself, O queen, fearing lest I should 
 pain your breast by these tidings, was guilty of this eiTor, if 
 in ausht vou deem it an error. And nov.', since you know 
 all the story, both for his sake and your own equally, bear this 
 
 ^ Sucli were Megara, Auge, and Astydameia ; not to mention the fifty 
 virgins, whom, to crown his labors, he took to wife in one night. 
 
 ^ This curious sentiment may be compared with the sentiment of an 
 Irish priest to his refractory son. "O Stephan, Stephan, how often have 
 I told ve that telling a lie to me was quite diiTcrcnt from tellino- a lie to 
 anv one else !" From a tale by Mrs. S. C. Hall in the "Amulet.'" — B. 
 
 K 
 
218 TRACHLXLE. [4SG— 518 
 
 woman with patience, and resolve to confirm the words which 
 you have spoken concerning her. For he who bore the palm 
 in every thing else by his valor, is altogether worsted by his 
 love for this maid. 
 
 Dei. Ikit thus both do I incline so as to do these tilings, 
 and I Avill not bring on myself a voluntary malady, maintain- 
 ing an unequal contest with the gods. But let us go ^^ ithin 
 t'le palace, that you may both hear the answers whicii I charge 
 you to bear, and take the gifts whicli it behooves us to prepare, 
 ia suitable return to his sifts ; for it were not riuht that vou, 
 Avho came with such a, great train, should return empty- 
 handed. 
 
 Chorl'S. Venus ever bears off a certain mighty pcAvcr of 
 victory ; and the loves of the gods indeed I j^ass over ; nor do 
 I sing how she beguiled the son of Saturn ; nor Pluto, tlie king 
 of night; nor Keptune the shaker of the earth. But to gain 
 Deianira as a bride, certain Vv'cil-practiced^ suitors entered the 
 lists respecting her hand,'^ and went through the strife of a 
 battle, rife with blows and wrestlins:.'^ The one indeed was a 
 mighty river, in the quadruped form of a bull Avith towering 
 horns, Achelous from the CKniadas ; and the other came from 
 Bacchic Thebes, liohtlv wielding his bending^ bow, and shafts, 
 juid club, the son of Jove ; who then, burning for her embrace, 
 rushed-5 to the strugole. And the beauteous Yenus,^ alone 
 present in the midst, sits umpire o'er the fray. Then Avas 
 there the din of blows, and of the bow, and of the horns, of 
 
 ^ (lfi<j)[yvot = du(pcd£^ioi, Tvcptdt^cGi. Liddell, s. v. after Ellendt. — B. 
 
 ^ " Upo -}u;iu)v. Frigidissimum forct ante nnptias, nee ttou pro 7:epl 
 nccipi sinit aut versus superior, aut Grtecorum usus." — Musgrave. " I\pb 
 ydfiuv est pro pctiundis nupliis.'^ — Erfurdt. — Tk. I have followed Er- 
 furdt.— B. 
 
 ^ V.'under has well seen that vra-^ Kurira refers to the '* lucta." — B. 
 
 * I have rendered TcaAlvrova " bendinfr," as denolinjr it in its bent or 
 unbent state indifferently. Sec a most satisfactory explanation of the 
 double meaning of the v.ord in liddell and Scott's Lexicon. — B. 
 
 * tlo7.7.£l(;, usually of several persons, here KaTaxp?jaTci:i2g i~l ih'o'iv, 
 Schol.— B. 
 
 ^ " Non intelligendum de Doa Paphia, que nequc evAeicrpoc dici solet, 
 r.eaue coram certamini interfuisse a mvtholo.oris traditur. Est if^itur 
 iljrrpir nihil aliud quani civ!j, connuliiim sive conJKx. Totum locum sic 
 intcrpretor : sola autcr.i paella formosa in medio asside?is certamini prcE- 
 crat : i. c, nulliu.s iSpapevrov jussu, sed puells3 dunta?:at amore incitati, in 
 arenam dctxcndebant *' — Musurave. 
 
519—554] TRACHINLE. 219 
 
 the bull mingled ; then were there the locked intcrtwiiiings 
 ladder-wise,^ and deadly blows of the forehead, and groans"-^ 
 from both. And the soft and beauteous nymph eat on a con- 
 spicuous mound, awaiting him who shoidd be her spouse 
 [with all a mother's feelings I tell the tale'^], and her eye that 
 iired the contest, sorrowfully expected its issue ; and away 
 from her mother ehe straightway departed, like some young 
 deserted heifer. 
 
 Dei. While, my friends, the stranger in-doors is conversing 
 with the captive virgins, as about to depart, I have, in the 
 mean time, privily come without the gates to you, partly to 
 bewail, along with you, the sufferings I endure ; for I am 
 of opinion that I have received this captive no longer a 
 maiden, but a, wife, as a mariner his freight, so I this mer- 
 chandise to the ruin of my peace ; and now v/e two, beneath 
 one coverlet, avv^ait his embrace. Such a reward has Hercules, 
 that v/as called my faithful and good husband, sent me for my 
 housekeeping: for so Ion": a time. But I indeed do not know 
 liow to be angry with him, so oft afflicted with this disease ; 
 and yet again to dwell in the house along with her, sharing 
 the same marriage, v*diat woman could endure ?■= For I sec 
 lier youth indeed advancing to ripeness, and mine decaying ; 
 from tlie former of which the eve is wont to cull flowers, but 
 from the latter to turn avray the steps. This therefore I dread, 
 lest Hercules should be called indeed my spouse,^ but be the 
 husband of the younger wife. I^ut enough ; for it is not prop- 
 er, as I said, for a woman possessed of prudence to give way 
 to anger ; but in what way I gain a release from my troubles^ 
 
 ^ Hermann cleverly explains this species of wrcstii::-^, in v/hich one 
 turned his adversary from him, and mounted on his back, referring to 
 Ovid. Met. ix. 51 sqq. — B. 
 
 ^ " Utovoc. Cicero hanc vocem in Qussst. Tusc. II. 23, illustrat : pu- 
 giles vero, ait, quum feriunt adversarium, in jactandis cffistibus ing^cmis^ 
 cunt, non quod doleant animovc succumbant, sed quod profundenda voce 
 omne corpus intcnditur venitque plaga vehementior. Idem faciunt athlc- 
 ta?."" — Billerbeck. 
 
 ^ Or, " I tell the tale as her mother told it to me."' — Tn. Wundcr con- 
 demns this and the following three lines. — B. 
 
 * quam cruentus feminas stimulat dolor, 
 
 Cum patuit una pellici ct nupta) domus. — Scncc. Here. ..Et. 233. 
 
 ^ " TToai^ conjux est connubio junctus, uv7}j) is quo uxor fruitur.'" — i 
 Herm.-— -B. 
 
220 TRACHINLE. [555—597. 
 
 that 1 will explain to you. I bad a gift once on a time of old 
 bestowed by an ancient Centaur, concealed in a brazen nrn, 
 which, while }'et a girl, I took from the death-v/ound of the 
 shaggy-bosomed Nessus, who, for hire, bore mortals in his 
 arms over the deep flow of the river Evcnus, neither plying 
 v.'ith tlie speeding oar, nor with the sails of a bark, lie, bear- 
 inii; me also on his shoulders, when first at mv father's biddinn; 
 I Ibllowed Hercules as a bride, as he reached the middle of 
 the stream, touched me with lewd hands ; but I screamed out ; 
 and the son of Jove immediately turning, sent from his hands 
 a v/iuiied arrow ; and throuizh his chest, even into the lun^s, 
 it whizzed. And these were the words that the dying Centaur 
 spoke : " Daughter of aged Q{^ncus, such profit shall you de- 
 rive, if you obey me, from this passage, because you are the 
 last I bear across tlie river ; for if you take with your hands 
 the curdled gore from my wound, wdierc tlie monstrous Hydra 
 of Lerna has steeped the arrow with his black venom, this w^ill 
 prove to you a soothing charm over tlic mind of Hercules, so 
 that ho shall not, looking on any woman, feel more affection 
 for her than for you." Kevolving, my friends, this counsel in 
 my mind (for in the house, after his death, it remained care- 
 fully shut up), I have steeped this garment, applying wdiatevcr 
 he, while alive, commanded ; and the task is comj>lcted. But 
 may I neither know nor learn the deeds of evil daring — and 
 those women wdio attempt them I hate ; yet if we can anyhow 
 get the better of this damsel by philtres and soothing charms 
 essayed on Hercules, this plan has been well contrived, unless 
 I appear to you to make a vain attempt ; but if I do, it shall 
 be desisted from. 
 
 Cii. But if there be any faith in the trial, you seem to us not 
 to have determined amiss. 
 
 Di:i. Thus at least my faith rests, so that it is accomjianied, 
 indeed, by my opinion of success ; but I have never yet made 
 acquaintance with tlic experiment. 
 
 Cii. But it is necessary to obtain tlic knowledge by doing 
 the action ; since, though you seem to have, you can not have 
 the knowledije, without making; the trial. 
 
 Dki. But we shall soon know, for I sec tlic herald already 
 wiLhout the gates, and lie will quickly go. Only let our secret 
 be faithfully preserved by you, for if you do even what is base 
 in the dark, }'ou shall never fall into shame. 
 
598— G47.] TRACHINLE. 221 
 
 Li. Wliat is to be done ? tell me, O daugliter of Q{neus, 
 since we are already tardj by long delay. 
 
 Dei. But I Lave been preparing for this very tiling, -vvliile 
 you have been talking to tlicse strangers ■\vithin, that ycu bear 
 for me this well-vroven robe, a gift to that hero from my hand. 
 And, presenting it, direct him that no one of mortals before 
 liim put it on his person, nor that ray cf the sun behold it, 
 nor sacred shrine, nor flame from the hearth, before that, 
 standing conspicuous, he display it bright to tlie gods, on some 
 day marked by the sacrifice of bulls. For thus I voAvcd, if I 
 ever should see him safe at home, or hear of his return, that 
 v>itli full ritual observance I would deck him in this vest, and 
 exhibit him to the gods, a new sacrificer in a nev\^ garment. 
 And of this you shall bear to him a token, which he will easily 
 recognize, when he casts his eye on this seal. But go ; and 
 first observe this rule, not to desire, being a messenger, to do 
 more than you are required ; and in the next place, act so that 
 his fiivor toward you, uniting with mine, instead of single, may 
 become double. 
 
 Li. But, if I faithfully exercise this art cf Hermes, I will 
 not be guilty of any failure in your trust, so as not bearing this 
 vessel, to show it him in its present state, and to add faithfully 
 the words which you have spoken. 
 
 Dei. You may now, if you choose, depart ; for you also 
 know of the affairs in the house, in what state they are. 
 
 Li. I both know, and I will report, that they are well. 
 
 Lei. And you know too, having seen my reception of the 
 stranger, that I welcomed her in a friendly manner. 
 
 Li. So that my heart was amazed wdth joy. 
 
 Lei. What else indeed should you relate '? for I fear lest you 
 first tell my longing desire for him, before you know if the af- 
 fection be mutual. 
 
 CiiOKUS. O ye vrlio dv\Tli by the warm baths bordering on 
 the station of the ships and the rocks ; and ye by the cliiil's of 
 JEta, and the middle of the Melian lake, and the shore of the 
 virgin with golden shaft, where the Pylian assemblies of the 
 Greeks convene, the fiute, with its beauteous notes, ere long re- 
 turns to you, breathing forth no unpleasing melody, but such 
 as may challenge the lyre cf the divine muse. For the son of 
 Jove and Alcmena, bearing the spoils of every virtue, hies him 
 liomc ; whom, absent from his country and afar over the sea. 
 
222 TRACHIXLE. [648— G35. 
 
 we waited for all ignorant of his fate, tlirougii the full space 
 of twelve long months. And his beloved spouse in misery, in 
 saddest misery at heart, ever drenched with tears, kept pining 
 away ; but now hath Mars, being maddened by desire, brouglit 
 to a close our day of sorrow. Let him come ! let him come ! 
 let not the bark that bears him on with m.any an oar stop in 
 its course, before that he effect his way to this city, having 
 left the altar of the island where he is said to be sacrilicing ; 
 whence let him hasten through the whole day, being ^\Tapped 
 in the robe deeply anointed with persuasion, according as the 
 Centaur directed. 
 
 Dei. How I fear, O virgins, lest all that I have just done, 
 be done by me be3'ond what is right. 
 
 Cii. O Deianira, daughter of (Eneus, what has happened ? 
 
 Dei. I know not ; but I fear lest I shall quickly appear to 
 have wrought a great evil from the persuasion of good hope. 
 
 Cii. Surely it can not be any thing about your gifts to Her- 
 cules ? 
 
 Dei. Yes, most particularly ; so that I would never advise 
 any one to act with promptness in an uncertain event. 
 
 Cii. Tell us, if it may be told, from what circumstance your 
 fears arise. 
 
 Dei. a circumstance has occurred, of such a nature that I 
 shall describe an unexpected marvel, ye damsels, for you to 
 hear.i For that, with which I was just anointing the sump- 
 tuous garment,^ the white avooI from the snowy Heece of the 
 sheep, that has disappeared, consumed by none of those within, 
 but corroded by itself, it wastes awav and smoulders down the 
 surface of the slab.^ But that you may knov/ the Avliole way 
 in which this v\^as done, I shall extend my narration to greater 
 length. For of those charges Avith which the wild Centaur, 
 while suffering in his side by the bitter barb, had tutored me, 
 I let slip not one, but preserved them like an indelible writing 
 on a brazen tablet. And thus it was commanded me, and I 
 obeyed it, that I should preserve this drug unexposed to tlic 
 
 ^ On the construction sec 'Wunder's clever note. — B. 
 
 ^ " 'YivdvTiipa TTcrr/oj^ i. c. ;j;fra}z'a, tunicam, vcslcm intcriorcm. Kr3 
 enim ivedvovro, superiorcs {x'/.alvaL sc. ;\;Aa//i(5rf, ct hiijusniodi ahc:) 
 Ttepiefid/.yovTO.'" — Musgravc. — Tr. But sec Hermann. — B. 
 
 ^ Or "smooth stone," where she had laid out the wool to dry. — Tu. 
 Hermann eays *' grave!," but what becomes of a/cpafi — B. 
 
686—726.] TRACHINL^. 22o 
 
 fire, and untoiiclied by the warm sunbeam in those close 
 recesses, until I should somehow apply it in fresh unction. 
 And this I did : and now, when the operation was to be tried, 
 I secretly, in-doors within tiie house, spread it on the garment 
 with a lock of wool, having drawn it from the fleece of one of 
 my own sheep ; and folding up the gift, I placed it secure 
 from the sun in a hollow chest, as you saw. But, going with- 
 in, I see a sight that can not be described, and impossible 
 for mortal to conceive. For I chance to throw the wool 
 torn from the sheep, with which I was smearing the robe, 
 into the blaze of mid-day, the rays of the sun ; and as it be- 
 came warm, it ail melts into nothing, and wastes to dust on 
 tlie ground, chiefly resembling, in appearance, the dust from 
 the saw, should you chance to see it, in the cutting of wood. 
 In this way it lay fallen ; and from the ground where it was 
 spread out, there boil up clots of foam, like as when the rich 
 juice of mellow autumn is poured on the earth from the vine 
 of Bacchus. So that I, wretched, do not know to what 
 thoufrhts to turn : and I see that I have wrought a dreadful 
 deed. For whence at all, and in return for what, should the 
 dying Centaur do an act of kindness to me, for whom he 
 perished '? It can not be so : but wishing to destroy him who 
 shot him, he beguiled me ; of which I too late acquire the 
 knowledge, when it is no longer of avail. For I alone, if I 
 am not deceived in my mind, I, wretched woman, shall be the 
 cause of his death. For I know that the arrow that gave the 
 wound Avas fatal even to the divine Chiron, ^ and destroys ev- 
 ery thing it touches ; and how shall not the black venom of 
 the gore, issuing from the wound of the Centaur, slay also 
 Hercules ? In my opinion, too sure it will. And yet I am 
 determined, if he fall, that at the same moment^ I too shall 
 die along with him ; for to live in evil report is not to be en- 
 dured by a woman who prefers to every thing else a nature 
 abhorrent of baseness. 
 
 Cii. It follows, of course, that there should be horror at 
 dreadful deeds ; but it is not right to judge of our expectations 
 before the event. 
 
 Dei. In dishonorable designs there is no hope which may 
 conciliate any confidence. 
 
 ^ This story is to be found in OviJ'a Fasti, Book V. 379. 
 ^ V,'ur.dcr"s coiijocturc l\k[x'j for op[iy seems probable. — B. 
 
224 TRACHINL-E. [727—756. 
 
 Cii. 15ut for tliosG -vvlio fall into involuntary error, there is 
 a softening of anger, which it is lilting you should meet. 
 
 Dei. Such comfort may he suggest, who does not share in 
 the evil, but to whom there is at home no grief. ^ 
 
 Cii, It v^^ere as well for you to suppress in silence the rest 
 of your words, except you are going to disclose something to 
 your son ; for he is present who formerly went away in search 
 of his father. 
 
 Hyl.2 O mother ! how of three things I would choose one, 
 either that you vrere dead, or that if you lived you were called 
 the mother of some other son, or from som.e whence you might 
 acquire better feelings than those you now possess. 
 
 Dei. What deed of mine, my son, excites this abhorrence ? 
 
 Hyl. Know that you have this day slain your husband, I 
 mean my father. 
 
 Dei. Woe is me ! what tale, my son, do you bear ? 
 
 Hyl. The tale of that which it is impossible can be 
 undone ; for who is able to uncreate that which has once ap- 
 peared ? 
 
 Dei. IIow say you, my son? From what mortal having 
 gained this information, do you assert that I have C.cne such 
 a hateful deed ? 
 
 PIyl. I myself witnessed, with my eyes, the grievous suffer- 
 ings of my father, and I did not hear it by report. 
 
 Dei. And where did you meet with him, and v/here present 
 by his side ? 
 
 Hyl. If it is requisite you should know, it behooves me to 
 tell you all. AVhen he departed,^ after having destroyed the 
 renowned city of Eurytus, bearing with him the trophies and 
 fh'st-fruits of victory ; there is a certain sea-washed shore of 
 Eubcra, [called] the Cencean promontory, where he conse- 
 crates to his father Jove altars and the foliage of a sacred 
 grove : there I, with longing joy, first beheld him. And when 
 he vras about to offer up the sacrifice of many victims, there 
 
 ^ " Facile omncs, cum valemus, recta consilia regrotis domus : 
 Tu, ti hie sis, alitcr scntias." — Tcrcnt. Ar.dr. 11. i. 9. 
 
 ^ Hyllus has been away at Ccna>urn, ami back again, during an hour's 
 conversation between his mother and the Chorus. This is a violation of 
 Ihc unity of time v.ith a vengeance. 
 
 ^ llccte hie 60' pro ure, non pro {',6i, accipltur : qmim -profcctus est cx- 
 fugnata GSrhalza, Ccn(2iim est, uhi sacra fecit : pro his: qiaua ]>rofccta 
 est, sacra fee U in Ccnco. — Hermann. 
 
757—802.] TRACHINL'E. 225 
 
 cume a herald from Iiomc, his servant Lichas, bearing your 
 gift, the deadly garment, which he putting on as you directed, 
 slays twelv-e bulls, of perfect shape, the first-fruits of his spoils ; 
 but he brought in all to the altar a mingled herd of a hundred 
 cattle. And at first indeed the wretched man, rejoicing in his 
 robe and ornaments, addressed his vows with a cheerful mind ; 
 but when the bloody flame blazed forth from the sacred offer- 
 ings and oily wood, sweat burst out on his skin, and the tunic 
 clung to his body, closely glued, as if by some artificer's hand, 
 to every limb ; and convulsive wrenching of the bones suc- 
 ceeded. Then, as the envenomed gore of the accursed Jlydra 
 fed upon him, he called on the unfortunate Lichas, him who 
 liad no share in your guilt, by what treachery he had brought 
 the garment ; and he, ill-starred wretch, all-ignorant, said it 
 was the gift of you alone, as it had been sent. And he, as he 
 heard these words, and a piercing spasm assailed his lungs, 
 seizing him by tlie foot, v/here the ancle bends, dashes him on 
 a rock, washed all around by the sea ; and the white brains 
 gush out from the middle of the head, the blood being scatter- 
 ed around, and the hair with it.^ And all the people shout- 
 ed aloud with lamentation, the hero being afflicted with this 
 pest, and the herald being slain ; but no one dared to approach 
 llercules. For he was writhing in the pain, both lying on 
 the ground and standing up, shouting and shrieking ; and the 
 rocks around resounded, the mountain headlands of the Lo- 
 crians, and the promontories of Euboea. But when he grew 
 faint, oft dashing liimself, tlie wretched man, on the ground, 
 and howling v/itli loud clamor reviling the evil nuptials of 
 your unhappy couch, and the alliance of Qilneus, how he had 
 contracted it to the ruin of his life, then raising his distorted 
 eyes from the mist settling over them, he saw me shedding 
 tears amid the numerous crowd, and looking on me, he calls 
 me : " O my son come hither ; do not shun my miseries, not 
 even though it be necessary for you to die along v/ith me, your 
 dying father ; but bear me away, and by ail means if possible, 
 place me there, where no one of mortals shall behold me ; and 
 if you feel pity, transport me, at least, from this land^ with 
 ail speed, nor let me die here." When he had urged this 
 
 ^ I have, with the translator, followed Brunck's emendation, uparug 6i 
 Aevic^,v fi. iKp. fiiaov, dcacrr. a'ifj,aTog liGjirjc 0' 6/wv. — B. 
 
 ^ " Maxims omnium cupicbat Hercules, v.t solus, neminc mortalium 
 
 K2 
 
226 TRACHINL^. [803—834. 
 
 request, v*'e placed him in tlie middle of a ship, and brought 
 him, bellowing in agony, with difficulty to these shores ; and 
 you shall preeently see him, either alive or newly dead. In 
 such devices and deeds against my father, O mother, have you 
 been detected, for which may penal Justice and the avenging 
 Fury repay you : tliis, if it be lawful at least, I imjirecate : 
 but it is lawful, since you toward me have cast away all law, 
 having slain a hero the noblest of all on earth, such another 
 as you shall never behold. 
 
 Ch. Why do you depart in silence? Do you not know 
 that by preserving silence you confirm the charge of your 
 accuser ? 
 
 Hyl. Suffer her to go ; may there be a fair wind to her de- 
 parting to a distance from my sight. For why is it necessary 
 to cherish the empty sound of a mother's name, since she in 
 nothing acts like a mother ? But let her go where she chooses ; 
 and the deliglit that she has afforded my father, that same may 
 she herself enjoy. 
 
 CiiOKUS. Behold, ye virgins, how cpickiy liath advanced to 
 its completion the heaven-sent decree of ancient oracular 
 prescience, which announced, that when the twelfth year 
 should arrive at its close, in the fullness of m.onths, there 
 should ensue a respite from his toils to Jove's genuine son ; 
 and, without swerving, it is speeding on this doom in its 
 course. For how can he who beholds not the light, endure 
 any longer the servitude of toil, when dead?^ For if him, in 
 the bloody death-cloud^ of the Centaur, fate, brought to pass 
 by crafty means, envenom ; in his side the poison rankling, 
 which death and the spotted serpent gave birth to ; how shall 
 
 prsesente, mortem obiret : proximum ab eo crat, ut ex Euboea saltern ante 
 mortem aveheretur, nc .Echalicnsibus gaudii materiem prcebcrct, ut bene 
 judicat Schoiiastcs. Hoc igitur impensius quam altcrum rogat : At si 
 miscricordia tangcris, sallcvi tu inc ex hac rcgionc dcportari cura.'' — 
 Musgravc. 
 
 ^ But Wunder's emendation ^cT'f tVL tcot' Itl ttuvuv Ixoi ?MTpEici\ is 
 very ingenious and plausible. — B. 
 
 ^ (^oLvia vec^i/M appears to mean the darkness that death would soon 
 l)ring upon the eyes of Hercules (cf. 794, tot' ck Trpooedpov 7.LyvvoQ 
 6iucTpo(jov '0(^fla/.fj.uv upar), and if Vv^e take uvuyua in its ordinary sense 
 of " fate, necessity," and render f5o7o-oiof " v.'orking by stcaltby means," 
 or in a similar wav, I think tlie difliculty of this passage will be removed. 
 — B. 
 
835—873] TRACHINLE. 227 
 
 lie behold another clay than the present, being racked by the 
 horrible spectre^ of the Hydra? and, at the same time, the 
 deadly pangs produced by the guileful words of the dark 
 and shaggy Nessus, torture him with their burning throbs. 
 AVhcrefore she, wretched woman, seeing the great and sudden 
 bane of new nuptials hastening to the house, did not perceive^ 
 that the counsel proceeded from a deceitful purpose, with a 
 destructive issue. -^ Sure, somewhere in misery, she is groan- 
 ing ; sure, somewhere she is shedding the fresh dev/ of fast- 
 falling tears. But his approaching death points the way to a 
 secret and deep calamity.^^ The fount of tears hath burst forth. 
 The disease envelops him : oh, ye gods, such a suffering, for 
 one to pity, as never befell the illustrious Hercules^ from his 
 enemies. Oh, woe for the black point of his champion spear, 
 which then didst bring his new-won bride from lofty JbLchalia ! 
 But Venus, executing her ministry in silence, liath clearly 
 appeared the cause of all. 
 
 SE3II-CIT. Whether am I deceived, or do I hear some lam- 
 entation newly bursting forth in the house? "What shall I 
 
 say? 
 
 SE3n-cn. Some one utters within no doubtful wail, but 
 one of deep sorrow ; and something new happens to the 
 house. 
 
 Semi-cii. But do you perceive the old woman, how, in an 
 unusual way, and with contracted brow, she comes to us, about 
 to signify some intelligence? 
 
 NuKSE. O virgins, how has that gift which was sent to Her- 
 <jules been the beginning to us of no small evils ! 
 
 Cii. What new event, old woman, do you tell ? 
 
 ' I am very doubtful about Wunder's conjecture vufiart for (^uG[iarL. 
 — B. 
 
 ^ Schol. oi) cvvf/Ksv, cf v. 580, TrpoaiSaAovg' oca ^(Zv ksIvoc el~e, and 
 Lobeck on Phrynich. p. 282. Wunder has altered the text to TrpooD.aliev, 
 Vv'hicli he supports v*'ith some ingenuity. — B. 
 
 ^ See Liddell, s. v. cwa/J.ayrj. — B. 
 
 * Implying, that in case of the death of Hercules, Deianira would not 
 survive him. 
 
 ^ The translators read 'Hpa/cZt'a, which is in a few MSS. In Liddell's 
 Lexicon, uyaK/yLTov is joined with ttcIOoc, which would mean, " such a 
 too-memorable suffering cf Hercules, worthy for men to pity, hath be- 
 fallen," according to Dindorfa text. — B. 
 
228 TRACHINLE. [874—906. 
 
 NuE. Deianira lias gone the last way of all without moving 
 the foot. 
 
 Cii. Surely not as dead ? 
 
 NuR. You have heard all. 
 
 Cii. Is the Avretched woman dead 1 
 
 NuR. You hear it a second time. 
 
 Cii. "Wretched, ruined woman ! in what way do you say 
 that she died? 
 
 NuR. In a most miserable way, as regards at least the 
 deed. 
 
 Cii. Tell, oh woman, what death she met. 
 
 NuR. She destroyed herself. 
 
 Cii. What rage or what madness urged her to take up tliis 
 point of a cruel weapon ? How did she contrive alone to effect 
 death in addition to death ?^ 
 
 NuR. By the wound of the mournful steel. 
 
 Cii. Did you look, oh wretched woman, on this outrage ? 
 
 NuK. I looked on, as being in truth near her side. 
 
 Cii. What was it '? how — quick declare. 
 
 NuR. She herself by her own hand does the deed, 
 
 Ch. What do you say ? 
 
 NuR. That which is certain. 
 
 Cii. This new bride has produced a mighty fury to this 
 house. 
 
 NuR. Too sure, indeed ; but still more, if, present and 
 near, you had beheld what she did, would you have pitied 
 her. 
 
 Cii. And did any woman's hand dare to do these deeds ? 
 
 NuR. Yes — and terribly : but you shall learn the circum- 
 stances, so as to agree with me. When she entered by her- 
 self within the palace, and saw her son in the court, spreading 
 garments over the hollow litter, in order that he might return 
 to meet his father, concealing herself where none should see 
 her, she shrieked out, as she fell before the altars, that she 
 had become desolate, and wept when she touched any of the 
 instruments which, wretched woman ! she Avas wont to use : | 
 and roaming here and there through the palace, if she chanced 
 
 ' I have followed Dindorf accordincT to the proposed plan, but tlic 
 reader must look to Hermann and AVunder for other arrangements of the 
 text, I will not say satisfactory ones. — B. 
 
907—952] TRACHINLE. 229 
 
 to see tlie person of some loved domestic,^ {lie unhappy woman 
 wept at the sight, herself arraigning her own fortune, and her 
 sterile existence for the future. But when she desisted from 
 these complaints, I see her suddenly rushing to the chamber of 
 Hercules ; and, concealed in the shade, I watched her with se- 
 cret eye.; and I behold her casting the outspread garments on 
 the couch of Hercules. But when she had finished this task, 
 leaping up, she sat down in the middle of the bed, and giving 
 vent to the v/arm fountains of tears, spoke : " O bed, and scene 
 of my nuptial joys, for the future now farewell, since you shall 
 never again receive me to repose on this couch." Having 
 spoken these words, with quick hand she unfastens her robe 
 where the clasp, wrought in gold, was fastened in front of 
 the breast, and she laid bare all her side and her left shoul- 
 der. And I, running as fast as I was able, tell to her son the 
 deeds she devised ; and while we hasten thither, and hither we 
 see her wounded by the double-edged sword, in the side, be- 
 neath the liver and the heart. But her son, when he beheld 
 her, shrieked ; for the wretched youth perceived that she had 
 put her hand to this deed in passion, being too late informed 
 of what had taken place at home — how she unwilHngly had 
 done this at the instigation of the Centaur. Hereupon, her 
 unhappy son Vv^ailing for her, neither omitted aught of lamenta- 
 tion, nor ceased to bestow kisses on her lips, but stretching 
 himself out by her side by side, he lay deeply mourning that he 
 had rashly Vv^ounded her with a false accusation, and weeping, 
 because that he should be at once deprived of two, his father 
 and his mother. Such is tlie state of circumstances here, so 
 that if any one count on two days or more, he is foolish ; for 
 there is no morrow, before he pass without misfortune the pres- 
 ent day. 
 
 Chorus. Over which shall I first raise my lamentation? 
 It is ditiicult for me, a wretched being, to decide which has 
 been consummated in most utter ruin.^ The one, indeed, we 
 at present behold in the palace, and the other we are on the 
 eve of expectation of beholding :'^ and it is the same thing to 
 
 ^ Compare the exquisite description of the death of Alcestis, in Eur. 
 Ale. 178, sqq.— B. 
 
 = See Wunder.— B. 
 
 ^ Hermann reads ^e/6/^ei^', v/hichDindorf receives. Erfurdt and Wun- 
 der /xivofiev, which seems preferable. — B. 
 
230 TRACHINL'E. [953—1000 
 
 have and to be about to have. Oh that some gale of wind, 
 blowingr in ftxvorable direction from the heart of the house, 
 would bear me away from this spot, that I may not die in 
 dismay as soon as I once behold the valiant son of Jove : 
 since in incurable pain they say he is advancing^ before the 
 palace — an unspeakable marvel. In near, therefore, and no 
 distant anticipation, have I mourned like the nightingale of 
 plaintive note ; for here comes the attendant procession of 
 strangers. Where are they bearing him ? As if taking care 
 of a friend, each lifts his slow noiseless steps. Alas! he, 
 speecliless, is borne along. AVhether must we deem him dead 
 or asleep? 
 
 Hyl. Woe is me for thee, oh father ! woe is me unhappy for 
 thee! AVhat shall I do? AVhat counsel shall I take? Woe 
 is me ! 
 
 Old Man. Peace, my son ; do not awaken the fell pangs of 
 your maddened father [for though thus sunk down, he lives] ; 
 but compress with your teeth your lips. 
 
 IIyl. Plow say you, old man ? does he live ? 
 
 O. M. Beware, my son, lest you awake him, now enthralled 
 by sleep, and rouse him up, and again kindle the fuiy of his 
 dire disease. 
 
 Hyl. But my mind has become phrensied to a degree intol- 
 erable to me, a wretched mortal. 
 
 Hekcules. O Jove I to what region have I come ? Among 
 what mortals do I lie tortured by these never-ceasing pains? 
 AVoe is me wretched I The accursed pest again devours me ! 
 Alas! 
 
 O. M. Do you not perceive how much better it would have 
 been to bury your words in silence, and not dispel sleep from 
 his temples and eyelids ? 
 
 IIyl. But I am not able to be silent, beholding this calam- 
 
 Her. Cena^'i, foundation of altars, what a return for what 
 splendid sacrifices have ye made to wretched me ! O Jove, 
 what a disgrace tliou hast brought on me ! a disgrace 
 such as I would tliat I, in my misery, had never beheld 
 with my eyes — this innppeasable fury of madness they must 
 
 ^ TTpd dofxup. This is evident nonsense. The editors oscillate between 
 trpdc dufxuv, TtpoQ 66/.10V, Trpbr dufia. Wunder reads du/novde. — B. 
 
lOOi-^1050.] TRACKIXLI]. 231 
 
 look on !^ Vriiat charmer is there, or "vvh.at practitioner of the 
 healing art, who, "svitliout the aid of Jove, shall lull to peace 
 this pest ?' Oh that, though far oij', I might behold this mira- 
 cle ! Alas ! alas ! suffer me, suffer me miserable to sleep, suf- 
 fer me to sleep my last sleep. Where do you touch me ? Where 
 do you lay me '? You will kill me ! you Avill kill me ! You have 
 awakened the pangs that slumbered. It has touched me : it 
 again comes on. AVhere are ye, oh ye most unjust men of all 
 the Greeks ! for whom I oft, destroying monsters in the sea 
 and in all the forests exposed my life ? and now against me is 
 this maladv, no one will turn either fire or a friendly sword ! 
 alas ! alas ! nor hastening, is willing to cut oil' my head from 
 wretched life I^ alas ! alas ! 
 
 O. M. O son of the hero ! this task has become too great 
 for my strength ; but do you assist, for you have a clearer eye 
 than me to discern what will aid liim.^ 
 
 Hyl. I indeed lend my hand ; but it is impossible for me,, 
 either from my own or from foreign resources, to allay the tor- 
 tures of this life. Jove alone possesses the remedy. 
 
 Her. O my son! vrhere ever art thou? Here, here, taking 
 hold of me, raise me up. Alas ! alas ! oh my sad fortune ! It 
 bursts on me again, it bursts on me, the wretched ruin of my 
 life, the immedicable fell disease. O Pallas, again it tortures 
 me. Take compassion, O my son, on your father, and, draw- 
 ing an innocent sword, strike me beneath the throat. heal 
 the agonies with Avhich your impious mother has maddened 
 me : whom may I behold perishing thus, even thus as she has 
 destroyed me. O brother of Jove, dear Pluto, lull me, O lull 
 me to sleep, ending, by a speedy fate, my wretched existence. 
 
 Cii. I have shuddered, my friends, hearing by what suffer- 
 ings our king, mighty as he is, is persecuted. 
 
 Her. Oh, I that have toiled with my hands and with my 
 shoulders in many a diiring and unutterable deed ; and never 
 yet has the spouse of Jove presented to me such an evil, nor 
 Eurystheus, my hated enemy, as this net, woven by the furies, 
 bv which I die, Avhich the treacherous dausrhter of Qi^neus has 
 
 ^ Wunder has entirely omitted vs. 098-1000, a comfortable way of 
 getting rid of the dilFicuity. Perhaps we sliould read iiaradTj^Q^jvaL. — B. 
 ^ ^^'under again gets rid of ;r6jp?r TLrivCt;. — B. 
 ' This seems corrupt. — B. 
 * This io bad enough, but "Wunder's emendation is worse still. 
 
7< 
 
 232 T11ACHL\LE. [1051—1102. 
 
 afTixed to my shoulders. For, glued to my sides, it lias gnaw- 
 ed away my outward flesh, and clinging within it drains the 
 arteries of my lungs : and it has already drunk up my vig- 
 orous blood, and I am consumed through my r/hole frame, 
 bound in these inexplicable fetters. This neither the martial 
 array on the plains, nor the earth-born hosts of the gianti^, nor 
 the might of monsters, nor Greek, nor barbarian, nor all the 
 countries which, clearing from their pests, I penetrated, ever 
 effected ; but a vv'oman, being a feminine, not a masculine 
 nature, by herself, and without the aid of a sword, has de- 
 stroyed mo. O my son, prove that you have been born my 
 genuine son, and do not pay too much reverence to the name 
 of a mother : taking your mother by force from the hous'e, 
 give her into my hands, that I may clearly know whether you 
 Avill more pity her fate than mine, when you see her mangled 
 body punished with justice. Come, my son, dare this deed, 
 and pity me, the object of pity to many, v/ho, like a girl, have 
 howled and wept; and this no mortal can say that he ever 
 saw me do before ; but without a groan I met my misfortunes. 
 Now, in place of such a stern character, I am found to be a 
 v/eak woman. Approaching now, stand near your father, and 
 see by what a calamity I endure these sufferings ; for I will 
 show them uncovered. Lo ! here behold ye all this wretched 
 body ; look on me, ill-fated wretch, in Avhat a pitiable condi- 
 tion I am ! Ah ! ah ! Avoe is me ! alas ! alas ! Tlie convul- 
 sion of my agony is again burning ; again it thrills through 
 my sides, nor do the gnawings of the wretched disease appear 
 likely to leave me at rest. O king Pluto, receive me! O 
 lightning of Jove, strike me ! Brandish, O monarch of the 
 sky ; hurl, O father, the bolt of thy thunder ! For it revels 
 on me again ; it has burst out, it has rushed forth upon me. 
 O shoulders and breast ! O my dear arms ! are ye the same 
 tliat once slew by your might the lion tliat dwelt in Nemea, 
 scourge of the shepherds, an unapproachable and terrific mon- 
 ster ; and the Lerna'an hydra ; and the unconquerable host 
 of Centaurs, of twin nature, insolent, lawless, and surpass- 
 incf in mi^ht ; and tlie Ervmanthiau boar ; and below the 
 earth, the triple-headed dog of Orcus, a monster unvanquished 
 in fight, offspring of the liorrid Echidna ; and the dragon that 
 guarded the golden apples in the world's remotest regions? 
 And a thousand other toils I essayed, imd no one ever erec+ed 
 
1103—1131.] TRACHINLE. 233 
 
 a tropliy in triumph over my might. But now, thus disjointed 
 and torn lo pieces, I, wretched, am the prey of this bUnd pesti- 
 lence ; I, Avho was said to have sprung from a mother the no- 
 blest of all ; I, who was pronounced the son of Jove who dwells 
 amid the stars. But be well assured of this at least, that even 
 though I am nothinir, and unable to move, I shall even from 
 such feeble strength punish her who did this deed. Vrouid 
 that she might only come, tliat by what she experienced, she 
 might be able to announce to all, that both in my life and death, 
 1 took vengeance on the Vv^icked.^ 
 
 Cii. O wretched Greece ! wdiat a sorrow I foresee will be 
 yours, if at least you be deprived of this hero. 
 
 Hyl. Since, father, you give me leave to reply to you, al- 
 though in pain, listen to me in silence ; for I shall ask of you 
 what is right to obtain. Give yourself up to me, but not with 
 feeliniis smarting; under the vehemence of anirer ; for you can 
 not thus be able to perceive how in some things you vainly 
 desire to feel pleasure, and how in others you are as vainly 
 pained. 
 
 Her. Speak what you wish, and have done ; since I, in my 
 malady, understand none of those things which you already 
 have been refinino; on. 
 
 Hyl. I come to tell of my mother, in ivhat circumstances 
 she now is placed, and in what she sinned against her will. 
 
 Hek. O basest wretch! have you made mention of the 
 mother that slew your father, in the expectation that I should 
 listen ? 
 
 Hyl. For the case is such that it is not proper for me to be 
 silent. 
 
 Her. No, in truth, not that the guilt was first committed 
 by her. 
 
 Hyl. But you ^vill not say so of the things she has this day 
 done. 
 
 Her. Speak ; but beware, lest you appear to have been born 
 of a base spirit. 
 
 Hyl. I speak ; she has just died by recent slaughter. 
 
 Her. By whose hand? thou hast announced an evil por- 
 tent. 
 
 1 With this sublime speech compare Cicero's translation, Tusc. Qusest. 
 II. 8, and to compare a very difiercnt treatment of the same subject, see 
 a blustcrinrr scene in the fourth act of Seneca's Hercules' GEtcEUs. — B. 
 
2ai TRACHINL^. [1132—1167. 
 
 Hyl. By her own, no stranger's hand. 
 
 Her. Alas! before, as was fitting, she perished hy my 
 hand. 
 
 Hyl. Even your wrath would be turned away if you knew 
 the whole. 
 
 IIek. You have begun a dreadful tale; but declare why 
 you thus think. 
 
 Hyl. She erred in the whole business, desiring what is 
 good. 
 
 Hek. Did she do what is good, O wretch, in murdering your 
 father ? 
 
 Hyl. For, thinking to apply a love charm to yon, when she 
 saw the new marriage within, she failed in her purpose. 
 
 Her. Who, of the Trachinians, is so skilled in charms ? 
 
 Hyl. Nessus, the Centaur of old, persuaded her to inflame 
 your desire by this philtre. 
 
 Her. Woe, woe is me unhappy ! I, wretched, am gone. I 
 am destroyed, I am destroyed ; there exists no longer to me the 
 light of day. "Woe is me ! I perceive to wiiat point of calam- 
 ity I am reduced. G-o, my son ; for to you there is no longer 
 a father ; summon to me all the offspring of your brothers, and 
 summon the wretched Alcmena, in vain the spouse of Jove, 
 that ye may hear, from my lips, the final prediction of oracles, 
 as far as I know. 
 
 Hyl. But your mother is not here ; for she is gone to 
 Tiryns, by the sea-shore, to fix her dwelling there ; and of 
 your children, taking some wdth her, she herself rears them, 
 and others of them, you are to be informed, arc dwelling in the 
 city of Thebe. But we, O father, as many as are present, if 
 it be necessary to do any thing, when we hear it, will render 
 the service. 
 
 Her. Do you then hear what is to be done ; and you have 
 arrived at that point wliere you shall show, being Avliat sort of 
 man, you are called my son. For it was predicted to me of 
 old, by my father, that I should not die by any living enemy, 
 but by one who, departed from life, should be a dvrellcr in 
 Hades. This savage Centaur, therefore, according to the di- 
 vine annunciation, though in death, destroys my life. And 
 I will show you nevv' oracles, harmonizing with those of ancient 
 date, and having a corresponding issue ; whicli, entering tlic 
 grove of the Selli, whose home is the mountain, and wliose 
 
1168—1197.] TRACHINLE. 235 
 
 coucli the ground, I Avrote dovm as they were delivered from 
 the vocal oak, inspired by my lather. Its voice announced to 
 me, that at this time now actually present, there should be 
 consummated to me a release from the toils imposed on me ; 
 and I deemed that I should live in prosperity ; but this sig- 
 nified nothing else but that I should die. For to the dead no V 
 toil arises. Since then, my son, the issue of these prophecies 
 is clear, it behooves you again to prove an ally to me, and not 
 to wait for my mouth to urge jou, but yielding, of your ovv^n 
 accord, to assist me, having discovered the best of laws, obedi- 
 ence to a father. 
 
 Hyl. I am alarmed, O my father, at hearing an address of 
 such a nature ; but I will obey you in what seems good to 
 vou. 
 
 Hek. First oive me your ri£>ht hand. 
 
 Hyl. For what pledge do you make this eager request ? 
 
 PIer. Will you not quickly extend your hand, and not prove 
 disobedient to me ? 
 
 Hyl. Lo, I extend it, and no objection shall be made by me. 
 
 Her. Swear now by the head of Jove, my father. 
 
 Hyl. That I Avill do what? — and this oath shall be pro- 
 nounced. 
 
 Her. That you will perform the deed enjoined by me. 
 
 PIyl. I swear ; calling Jove to ^\dtness. 
 
 Her. If you transgress your oath, pray that you may receive 
 punishment. 
 
 Hyl. I shall not receive it ; for I Avill do what you com- 
 mand ; yet still I imprecate the curse. 
 
 Her. Knowest thou, then, the highest cliff of G^ta, sacred 
 to Jove ? 
 
 Hyl. I know it, having often, as a sacrificer, at least, stood 
 on its summit. 
 
 PIer. Thither it is now fitting that you bear my body, with 
 your own hands, and with the aid of such friends as you 
 choose ; and having cut down many a bough of the deep- 
 rooted oak, and many a trunk of the male^ wild olive, cast my 
 
 ^ " Oleastri mares, non feminED intelliguntur, defendandumque potivis 
 ^st Ovidii urc mares oleas. Fast. iv. 741, quam probandum quod ab cniea- 
 datoribus profectura codices niulti habent, mans rorcm.'' — Herm. A\'un- 
 der has bracketed vss. 1195-8, which is his usual method v,'ith v/hatcver 
 he can not understand. — B. 
 
23G TRACI-IINLE. [11S8— I23l 
 
 body on the pile ; and having taken the blazing pitchy torch, 
 set it on fire.^ But let neither groan nor tear have vent; but 
 v/itliout lamentation or weeping, if you are the son of this 
 man, fultiU your ta.sk. But if you do not, I await you, and 
 even though I be below the earth, you shall ever be loaded 
 with my curses. 
 
 Hyl. Oh me ! my father, Avhat words hast thou uttered ? to 
 what deeds dost thou compel me ? 
 
 Her. What must be done : if not, be the son of some other, 
 nor be called my son any longer. 
 
 Hyl. Woe is me ! still more again. To what a deed, oh fa- 
 ther, do you excite m.e, to become your murderer and execu- 
 tioner ! 
 
 Hek. Ko, in truth, I do not ; but to bo the healer and only 
 physician of the evils I suffer. 
 
 Hyl. But how shall I heal your body by consuming it in 
 the flames ? 
 
 PIek. If you shrink from this, perform at least the rest. 
 
 Hyl. There shall be no unwillingness at least to bear you. 
 
 PIer. Will there also be a sufhcient heaping-up of the pyi-e 
 I have described ? 
 
 Hyl. In so far at least as I am able, so that I do not touch 
 [the fire] with my own hands. But I will do the other things, 
 and my part shall not be behind. 
 
 Her. Well, this will do. But, in addition to these great 
 requests, grant me a small favor. 
 
 PIyl. Even though it be very great, it shall be rendered. 
 
 Her. Knowest thou, in sooth, the daughter of Eurytus'? 
 
 PIyl. You mean lole, if I conjecture aright. 
 
 Her. You are right. This charge, my son, I lay on you ; if 
 you wish, in remembrance of the oaths pledged to your father, 
 to act the part of a pious son after my death, take lole to your 
 wife, nor be disobedient to my commands. Let no other man 
 but you obtain possession of her v/ho once lay by my side ; but 
 do you yourself, my son, make the alliance of these nuptials. 
 Obey me ; for having been obedient to me in great matters, to 
 disobey me m small does away v.itli the former favor. 
 
 Hyl. Ah me ! it is wrona; to cive way to an2;er airainst one 
 in this distress; but yet who could endure to see him have 
 sentiments like these ? 
 
 ^ "Nemo mc lacrymis dccorct, aut funcra faxit Fiendo."' — Ennius. — B 
 
1232— 1231. j TRACKIi\LE. 237 
 
 IIek. Do you murmur, as about to refuse to do any of the 
 filings I request? 
 
 IIyi.. But who Avouid ever, since she alone was the cause of 
 my mother's death, and to you also of the state to wdiich you 
 are reduced ; who, I say, that is not persecuted to madness by 
 the furies, would choose her for a wife? It is better for me, 
 oh father, to die than to dwell with those who are most hate- 
 lui to my soul. 
 
 Her. It seems that this man is not going to pay duty to me 
 in death ; but the curses of heaven await you if you prove dis- 
 obedient to my commands. 
 
 Hyl. Alas ! you will soon, methinks, perceive how you are 
 affected by disease. 
 
 PIek. For you again rouse me from the evils which slum- 
 bered. 
 
 PIy'L. Wretched man that I am ! how I am, in many points, 
 at a loss ! 
 
 Her. For you disdain to obey a father. 
 
 Hyl. But shall I teach myself, O father, to act an impious 
 part ? 
 
 Her. There is no impiety, if you give pleasure to my heart. 
 
 Hye. Bo you com.mand me, then, justly to perform these 
 thin2;s? 
 
 Her. I do ; I call the gods to witness. 
 
 Hye. I will therefore obey, and no longer refuse, having 
 made it manifest to the gods that this is your deed. For I 
 shall never appear base, O father, acting at least in obedience 
 to your commands. 
 
 Her. You conclude well ; and, in addition to this, make, 
 O my son, your favor speedy, so that, before any torture, or 
 pang assail you, jou may place me on the pyre. Come, exert 
 yourselves, raise me up : my respite from evils is the final close 
 of my life. 
 
 Hye. But tliere is no obstacle for these things to be ac- 
 complisiicd for you, since, father, you command and compel 
 me. 
 
 Her. Come now, my stern spirit, before this disease be 
 awakened; sl^ow^ng a <?tone set bit of steel, ^ and restrain 1am- 
 
 ^ Sec Hcmiaim «5 tjQ'C in his last ed. and Liddcil's Lex. s. v. ?uOo- 
 
238 TRACHINLE. [1262—1278. 
 
 entation, as accomplishing^ this deed, thougli involuntary, as a 
 deed of joy. 
 
 IIyl. KiiisG him up, ye attendants, greatly forgiving me for 
 these deeds, and being sensible of the great injustice of the 
 gods, v/ho, though they gave him being, and are called his fa- 
 thers, can endure to look on these suiierings. The future, in- 
 deed, no one foresees; but the events now present arc lament- 
 able to us, and disgraceful to them, .and most bitter to him, of 
 a;l men, who endures this visitation, xsor do thou, O damsel, 
 remain at home, having seen these recent deaths of tl^.e michtv, 
 and these many sufferings o-f imv/onted affliction ; and nought 
 is there of these which the hand of Jove liatli not wroujiht. 
 
 ^ Sec Hermann. — B. 
 
1-8.2 
 
 A J A X. 
 
 Ajax, having been deprived of the arms of Achilles, which were award- 
 ed to Ulysses by the Grecian Assembly, in a fit of madness slaughtered 
 the herds of the Greeks, mistaking them for the persons of the Atridse. 
 On discovering his mistake, he in despair determines to slay himself, 
 and the play concludes with his burial, which Ulysses advocates, con- 
 trary to the wishes of Agamemnon. — B. 
 
 DRAMATIS PERSON.^. 
 
 ^MlXERVA. 
 
 Ulysses. 
 
 Ajax. 
 
 Chorus of Sala:\iin'ians. 
 
 Tecmessa. 
 
 Messenger. 
 
 Teucer. 
 
 Menelaus. 
 
 Agamemnon'. 
 
 Minerva. Ever, son of Laertes, have I observed thee Liint- 
 ing after some attempt on thy foes to snatch at it,^ and now I 
 sec thee at the marine pavilion of Ajax, %Yhere he holds his 
 post the last,- long since tracking him as thy prey, and meas- 
 urins his frcshlv ^rraven foot-pnnts, that thou mavest discover 
 whether he be within, or not witliin. "Well does thy track, of 
 scent sagacious as the Spartan brach's,^ lead thee forth, for the 
 
 ^ 'Aprvdaai. This expression is considered by Musgrave as synony- 
 mous v.ith the vipapTzaaai and ^vvapTTdcai of Aristophanes, Nub. V. v. 490, 
 773. Lobcck, however, quotes Piutarch in support of his opinion, that 
 it bears here the same meaning with the " auras captare" of the Latins. 
 
 ^ E'en Ajax and Achilles heard the sound, 
 
 Whose ships, remote, the guarded navy bound. 
 
 Pope's Iliad, 13 . XI. v. II. 
 
 See also Eurip. Iph. x\ul. 292. The lonely situation of Ajax on the beach, 
 chosen by hi;n v.hen he was j/voptri Tziavvor nal luiprei ;\;eipcJv, is beauti- 
 fully alluded to here, where it forms so appropriate a stage for the exhi- 
 bition of his unfriended solitude and desolation of heart. 
 
 ^ The dogs of Sparta arc noticed by Virsil for tlseir swiftness. G. iii. 
 405 ; whicli nualitv Shakesncare has remarked in his Midsummer Nioht's 
 Dream, and elsewhere speaks of them in a passage perhaps yet more ap- 
 plicable to Ulysses : 
 
210 A J AX. [9—39. 
 
 man chances just now to be within, his liead and murderous 
 h.ands dripping with sweat. And tliere is no need for thee 
 any longer to peer within this his gate, but to declare for what 
 cause thou hast bestowed this anxious toil, that thou mayest 
 learn of me that know.^ 
 
 Ulysses. O voice of Minerva, mj best-beloved of deities, 
 hov»^ v/ell known do I hear, and grasp with my mind, even 
 thougli thou be unseen, thy voice, like that of the brazen- 
 throated Tuscan trump I'^ And now thou art rightly advised, 
 that I walk about, looking after mine enemy, Ajax the shield- 
 bearer, for him, and none other, I all tliis Avhile am tracking. 
 For on this very night hath he worked us a v>Tong unlooked 
 for,"^ if indeed 'tis he hath done this;^ for we know nothing 
 certain, but are at fault ; and I have yoked me voluntarily to 
 this trouble. We found but nov,^ our captive herds all de- 
 stroyed, and butchered out of hand, they, and the guardians 
 of the flocks themselves ; so each one lays the charge at Ajax' 
 door. And to me a watchman, tliat espied him bounding 
 over the plains alone, with freshly-reeking sword, tells it, antl 
 hath made it known ; so forthwith I hurry close on his steps, 
 and of part I have proof, but in part I am tlirovrn out, and 
 can not learn whose they are.^ But in season art thou come ; 
 for in all things, both past (thou knowest) and to come, am, I 
 piloted by thy hand. 
 
 Mix. I know it, Ulysses ; and long since came I forth upon 
 thy path, a zealous guardian to thee in thy hunt. 
 
 Ul. And do I, dear mistress, toil to j)urpose ? 
 
 Mix- Yes, since these deeds are his, be sure. 
 
 Spartan dog, 
 
 More fell than hunger, anguish, or the sea ! 
 Look on the tragic loading' of this bed : 
 This is thy work. — Othello, act 5, scene the last. 
 *■ This rr^7 be rendered, " that what I know, and thou wouldst learn, 
 thoa mayest." 
 
 " KwA.)!', strictly speaking, is the bcU or broad part of the trumpet. 
 That called the Tuscan (by Athenffius, KeK/.ac/itvov), from its many wind- 
 ings, produced a louder tone. 
 
 ' As in the monstrous grasp of their conception 
 
 Defy all codes to image or to name them. — Doge of Venice. 
 * llipya/yTai, in Sophocles, is always used actively. CEd. Tyr. 279 ; 
 Am. 747. 
 
 8 ''Otcv, tlm subaud. Sec Antigone, v. 318 ; Ajax, 103. 
 
40— Gi).j AJAX. 241 
 
 IJl. And to what inconceivable purpose Lath he thus in 
 fuiy set his hand ? ^ 
 
 Mix. O'ercharfrcd Avith indi-znation about Achilles' arms. 
 
 Ul. Why then hurries he this inroad on the ilocks ? 
 
 ]MiN. Fancying that in you he stains his hand with murder. 
 
 Ul. What ! "was this plot of his devised as against the Ar- 
 gives ? 
 J Mix. Ay, and he had accomplished it had I been careless. 
 
 Ul. AVitli what such bold attempts, and rashness of soul ? 
 
 Mix. At night ; alone, he traitorously sallies forth against 
 you. 
 
 Ul. How ? was he close upon us, and reached he the goal ? 
 
 Mix. Yes, he was even at the gates of the two generals. 
 
 Ul. And how checked he his hand, ravenous of murder? 
 
 IMix. I bar him of his cureless joy, haA^ing cast before his 
 eyes intolerable fancies,^ and tarn him aside on the flocks, 
 and mingled multitude of prey, the herdsmen's yet unparted 
 care. There, falling on, he mowed down many a horned 
 slaughter, hewino; dovv^n all around him, and deemed at one 
 time he held and slev/ with his own hand the two Atridie, 
 and then, one here, another there, of the chieftains, assaulting 
 them : while I was urging on, and entrammeling in evil 
 snares, the man, phrensied with mad distemperature. And 
 afterward again, when he rested from this butchery,^ having 
 bound together with chains those of the oxen that survived, 
 and all the flocks, he conveys them to his dvv'elling, as having 
 men and not a horned spoil, and is now scourging them fet- 
 tered at home. Nay, I will also show thee this his sickness 
 most manifest, that having witnessed thou mayest noise it 
 abroad to all the Greeks. But tany vath firmness, nor look 
 for harm from the man;*^ for I will obstruct the averted 
 
 ^ This US3 of ths verb alaoo) is objected to by Ruhnken, who has 
 altered it in two places of Euripides, where it occurs in an active sense. 
 Lobeck, however, defends it by a sunilar idiom in the words TraZ/^fv, 
 dtvelv, dod^Eiv, etc. 
 
 ^ TviJjuat sunt hoc loco ludibria oculorum, specie terribilia, ad deflec- 
 tendum ab proposito itinera Ajacem. — Lobeck. Who also, on the au- 
 thority of Suidas, objects to Musgrave's propo.sed reading, y/iVfiag. 
 
 ^ Lobeck reads TTO'jav, and observes that the eypression, as it stands in 
 Brunck, is never u.sed but as applied to those '* aui a ctede et certamine 
 diuturno quietem habent." 
 
 * Literally, "nor receive the man as a calamity." Hermann very 
 positively asserta that fiifive can not be taken with tov uvdpaS'' 
 
 1^ 
 
242 AJAX. [70—90. 
 
 glances of his eyes from looking on thy presence.^ IIo! 
 tiiou. Thcc, that art fitting in chastisement thy captives' 
 hands with bonds, I bid come to me. Ajax, I say, come out 
 before thine abode. 
 
 Ul. What didst thou, Minerva? by no means call him out 
 
 JNIiN. Wilt thou not keep silence, nor cherish cowardice? 
 
 Ul. Nay, by heaven, content thee that he stay within. 
 1 Mix. Lest what should happen? Was he not a man fo:- 
 rierly ?- 
 
 Ul. Mine enemy, I grant, and even now. 
 
 Mix. And is not that the most grateful laugh which we in* 
 dulse on our foes? 
 
 Ul. For my part, I am satisfied that he stay within 
 doors. 
 
 Mix. Dreadest thou to look on a man most evidently 
 frantic ?^ 
 
 Ul. I ne'er had avoided him, through dread, while in his 
 senses.'^ 
 
 Mix. Nor fear that he shall now behold thee, thoua:li close 
 by him. 
 
 Ul. How not, if, at least, he looks with the same eyes? 
 
 Mix. I will darken his eyes, although they see. 
 
 Ul. Any thing may be, when a god is the framer. 
 
 Mix. Stand, now, in silence, and continue as thou art. 
 
 Ul. I will continue, but I had rather have been elsewhere. 
 
 Mix. Ho ! ho ! Ajax ! A second time I call thee to me. 
 Why hast thou so little respect for thine ally ? 
 
 * This is supposed ])y Lobeck to have been all copied by Sophocles 
 from the Iliad of Lesches, a Lesbian poet, whose work is mentioned by 
 Pausanias. 
 
 ^ Musgrave considers uvT^p, as used in this passage, Kar' t^oxyv. Lo- 
 beck, with more reason, understands it, " Was he more than man before 
 now 1" 
 
 ^ Ulysses is here somewhat lowered in the eyes of the audience ; but 
 this is in accordance with the spirit which made the sons in the group of 
 Laocoon disproportionately small, to increase the eifect of the principal 
 figure. What are we to ima<nne that madness, which could render thq 
 assured protection of a mighty goddess insufficient to encourage a war> 
 rior to look on it 1 
 
 * Ulysses speaks the sense of Aristotle here, who in his seventh boot 
 observes, that though a bad man be far worse than a wild beast, the lat; 
 ter is more terrible, being irrational. 
 
91—115] AJAX. 243 
 
 Ajax. Minerva, liail, hail, thou child of Jove. How for* 
 tunatc thy presence here ! I will crown thee, too, with trophies 
 all-goldeD, in requital of this my spoil. 
 
 Mix. Well hast thou said ; but tell me this, hast thou well 
 Lathed thy sword in the Argives' host ? 
 
 Aj. 'Tis mine to boast, and I will not deny [and say] I did 
 not the deed.i 
 
 Mix. And hast thou armed thine hand against the Atri- 
 
 Aj. Ay, so as that they shall never more dishonor Ajax. 
 
 Mix. The men arc dead, as I understand thy speech. 
 
 Aj. Being dead, now let them rob me of my arms. 
 
 Mix. "Well, and what then of Laertes' son? How stands 
 he to thee in fortune ? has he escaped thee ? 
 
 Aj. Question you me of that rascal fox, Avhere he is'?^ 
 
 Mix. I do : Ulysses, thy rival, I mean. 
 
 Aj. O queen, he sits my most v^-eicome prisoner within. 
 For I would in no wise have him die yet. 
 
 Mix. Ere thou shalt do what, or reap vdiat farther 
 gain ? 
 
 Aj. Ere, bound to the column of my halFs dome — ^ 
 
 jSIix. ^Miat ill, I pray, wilt tliou work the miserable 
 man ? 
 
 Aj. His back first purpled with the scourge,* he shall 
 die. 
 
 Mix. Nay, do not thus, at least, torture the wretch. 
 
 Aj. Minerva, in the rest I concede that thou be pleased, 
 but he shall pay this my penalty and no other. 
 
 Mix. Do thou then, since this it is thy pleasure to do, uso 
 thine hand, spare to do nought of that thou purposest. 
 
 ^ This form is constantly used by Thucydides ; see L. I. c. 73. 
 
 ^ Although Minerva was hostile to Ajax, yet to have revenged herself 
 by these means would have been undignified, she therefore tells us that 
 it v.as to save the Greek army she deluded his eyes with these phantoms. 
 Thus, by her natural interference, the two great enemies are brought on 
 the stage together, x\jax not recognizing his foe, and our pity for Ajax 
 raised to its highest pitch by the contrast. — Hermann. 
 
 ^ This was a common custom ; and is described by Homer in the Odys- 
 sey, 13. 22, as the punishment of Melanthius, who fares much the same 
 with Sir Topaz, in Parnell's Fairy Tale. 
 
 For a description of the chieftains' tents at Troy, see the last book of 
 the Iliad. 
 
 - Hence the title of this tragedy. 
 
244 AJAX. tn'>— i55 
 
 A J. I go to my work ; but tliis I charge tliee -with, that 
 thou be ever on my side an assistant such as now. 
 
 Mix. Thou seest, Ulysses, the might of gods, how great it is. 
 AVhom found you ever, either more provident to counsel, oi' 
 more brave to act in time of need than this man ? 
 
 Ul. I know of none ; and thougii he be mine enemy, I yet 
 compassionate him, thus wretched, for that he hath been yoked 
 to grapple v/itli a dreadful calamity,^ considering no more his 
 fortune than mine own ; for I see that all we who are alive, 
 ai'e nothing else but phantoms or unreal shadows. 
 
 MiN. Since then thou seest it is so, look that thyself never 
 utter a prideful word against tlie gods, nor assume aught of 
 vanity, if thou outweigliest any one, either in valor or depth 
 of plenteous wealth ; sinoe a day sinks and restores again [to 
 light] all human things. But the modest the gods love, and 
 abhor the wicked.- 
 
 Chokus. Son of Telamon, that swayest the eminence of 
 «ca-girt Salamis, that neighbors the main land, over thee 
 when faiing well I joy ; but when a stroke from Jupiter, or 
 malignant evil rumor from the Greeks assails thee, I have 
 great alarm, and shudder, like the glance of a fluttering dove. 
 Even as on the night that now hath waned, great clamors, 
 tending to infamy, beset us ; that thou, having rushed forth 
 to the meadow, the courser's joy,^ hast destroyed the herds 
 and booty of the Greeks, all that yet was left their lances* 
 prize, slaughtering them with flashing steel. Such whispered 
 words as these Ulysses forging* cames to the ear of all, and 
 flrmly convinces them ; since now he tells a tale of thee, most 
 plausible, and every one that hears is yet more delighted than 
 the toller, at insolently triumphing in thy sorrows. For 
 wdioso launches his bolt at noble persons,^ could not miss: 
 
 ' This is precisely Aristotle's idea: " For it evidently is necessary that 
 a person likely to feel pity should be actually such as to deem that either 
 in his own person, or of sonic one connected with him, he may suffer 
 some evil."— Ilhet. B. 11. c. 8. 
 
 ^ For similar sentiments compare the second strophe of the fourth 
 Chorus in ffidipus Tyrannus. 
 
 ^ Hermann translates iTrrrojiiavT,', cquis luximans, i. e. ahnndans. 
 
 * Virgil has not forjrottcn this characteristic of Ulysses. See the 
 Eneid, B- II. v. 97, 1G4. 
 
 * Omne animi vitium tanto conspcctius in se 
 Crimen habct, quanto major, qui peccat, habetur. 
 
156—190.] AJAX. 245 
 
 but were any one to bring this charge against mc, he would 
 not be believed; since envy cravv^ls on toward the master. 
 And yet the mean, v\dthout tlie great, are but a slippery de- 
 fense to a tower; for the low united to the oreat, and the 
 great by means of his inferiors, might best be supported. 
 But 'tis impossible to foreteach the senseless opinions on this. 
 By such men art thou clamored against, and we have not 
 strength to make head against all this, O prince, without thy 
 aid. No, for when now they have escaped thine eye, they 
 clatter like flocks of birds ; but shrinking in terror from the 
 mighty vulture, voiceless, perhaps they would all on a sudden 
 cower in silence, wert thou to appear. Full surely did the 
 bull-hunting Diana, ^ daughter of Jove [oh wide report ! oh 
 mother of my shame !], incite thee ap-ainst the public droves 
 of oxen ; either haply as sx, requital of some victory to her 
 fruitless, or cheated of her present of illustrious spoils, for 
 some stricken deer for which she received no dft. Or it 
 might be the- brazen breast-plated Enyalius, having some 
 complaint in behalf of his aiding spear," that by nightly de- 
 vices avenged for himself the wrong. For, surely, thou 
 couidst never, son of Telamon, intentionally have assayed a 
 purpose so sinister, assaulting the flocks; ye^. a disease from 
 heaven might ^dsit thee : but may Jove and Anollo avert the 
 evil slander of the Greeks. If, however, the mighty princa^ 
 are by stealth suborning these fables,^ or any of Sispvh'W 
 
 See also Aristotle's Rhet. B. II. c. 10. 
 
 If I am traduced by tongues, which neither know 
 
 My faculties nor person, yet will be 
 
 The chronicles of my doing — let me say 
 
 'Tis but the fate of place. — Keniy VIII. Act 1, sc. 2. 
 
 ^ Thus Lobeck gives it. Brunck trrns'ates it '-'• tauris vccta.''^ Mus- 
 grave's idea would make Sophocles guilty of an anachronism. " Concur 
 susque matronarum in templum Dians, quam Tauropolon vocant, ad spew 
 exposcendum fieret." — Liv. xliv. c. 44. 
 
 ^ Musgrave translates this, " ultus est contumdiam hastes auxiliatrici 
 sua illatam.'''' Hermann, reading el riv', observes that as Mars was a 
 friend to the opposite party, this expression is well adapted to a person 
 very much in doubt if the spear of Mars could ever have consorted with 
 that of Ajax. 
 
 ^ The Scholia mention that Anticlea, mother of Ulysses, was violated 
 by Sisyphus, on her v/ay to her betrothed husband Laertes ; and add, that 
 it was with the connivance of her father Autolycus, who had been detected 
 in stealing some property from Sisyphus. 
 
24(j AJAX^ [191—221 
 
 abandoned^ race, do not, do not my king, any longer thus, keep- 
 ing tiiine eye fixed Avithin thy tent on the shore, receive the 
 ill repoi't. But rise from the seat, where long since thou art 
 rooted in long rest from warlike action, inflaming thine heav- 
 en-sent plague : while the insolence of thine enemies thus 
 fearless in speeding amid the breezy glens ; and all are griev- 
 ously scoffing with their tongues, but on me sorrow hath set- 
 tled. 
 
 Tecmessa. Defenders of the ship of Ajax, of lineage from 
 the earth-born Erectheida?,- we have cause to mourn with 
 groans, who from afar are w^ell-wishcrs to the house of Tela- 
 mon ; for now the terrible, the mighty, stout-shouldered Ajax 
 is lying diseased with tempestuous fury. 
 
 Ch. How has this night changed the burden of the day-time? 
 Child of Teleutas the Phrygian, speak, since the ardent Ajax, 
 dearly loving thee, honors thy captive bed,-^ and thus thou 
 wouldst not ignorantly hint at aught. 
 
 Tec. How, then, shall I speak a tale unspeakable ? for thou 
 wilt hear a calamity terrible as death, since our illustrious Ajax, 
 seized with phrensy, hath this night been degraded. Such 
 butchery, Aveltering in gore, the slaughter of his hand, mayest 
 thou now see within, the victims* of that man. 
 
 Ch. What tidings hast thou disclosed, insupportable, yet 
 unavoidable, of the fiery warrior — tidings spread abroad 
 
 ^ For the use and abuse of the word uccjrog, see Aristotle's Eth. B. 4. 
 
 ^ A political stroke to please the Athenians, derived probably from the 
 tradition of the -'Eacida? passing over to Salamis from ^Egina, which be- 
 longed to Attica. Aristotle, Rhet. 1, 15, alludes to a dispute between 
 Athens and Megara respecting their title to Salamis, which the Atheni- 
 ans proved by citing these verses from Homer's Catalogue : 
 
 Ala^ 6' Ik 'Za?Mfih'og uyev dvoKaldeica vijag, 
 'Eryae 6' uyuv, Iv' 'Adijvacuv iaravTO (^dXayyeg. 
 
 Which second line Quintiiian asserts not to have been found in every 
 edition, and Laertius (in Solone) mentions a report of Solon's having in- 
 terpolated Homer in this place. It is certain, however, that when Ciis- 
 Ihenes the Alcma^onid changed the names of the Athenian tribes into ap- 
 pellations derived from indigenous heroes, Ajax alone of foreign extrac- 
 tion was admitted to this honor, and the tribe Aiantis was called after 
 him. Herod. 5, 67. 
 
 ' Movit Ajacem Telamonc natum 
 
 Forma captivs dominum Tecmessa). — Hor. Lib. II. Od. iv. 1, 5. 
 
 * ;i-p77crr7/pm, ra 6Le<^0apui:va TcoLixvia' Trapd, to diaxprjaaaOat aira. 
 ^Schol.— 13. 
 
225—258.] A J AX. 247 
 
 among tliG Greek chieftains already, wliicli wide report exag= 
 ge rates! Ah me, I fear the approaching ilL^ Too phiinly 
 will the hero fall by his phrensy-stricken hand, having slaugh- 
 tered with dark sword at once the cattle and the herds- 
 men. ^ 
 
 Tec. Ah me ! 'twas thence, then, thence he came bringing 
 U3 tlie fettered flock ; of wdiich some he was butchering on the 
 ground within, and others he was rending asunder, hewing 
 open their sides. But having chosen out two white-footed 
 rams, he lops ofi and throws away the head and tip of the 
 tongue of one,^ and having tied the other upright to pillar, and 
 taken a large horse-binding halter, he lashes it with a whistling 
 double scourge, reviling it in shameful terms, which some god,* 
 and none of men, had taught him. 
 
 Cii. Time is it now for one, having shrouded one's head in 
 a veil, to adopt a stealthy flight on foot, or seating him on the 
 speeding bench of rowing to commit himself to the ocean- 
 bounding bark.^ Such threats do the Atridse of twin sway in 
 concert ply against us. I fear lest, stricken, I share the pain 
 of a violent death by stoning with Ajax,^ whom an unapproach- 
 able calamity possesses. 
 
 Tec. No longer. For as without the blazing lightning the 
 impetuous south wind rushes forth, he is calm.'^ And now, 
 
 1 a 
 
 Qaem Deus vult perdere, prius dementat." Musgrave thinks tjie 
 word iTepi(l)avTog should be translated " undecunque maiiifestus, multis in- 
 iiciis convictics." 
 
 ^ According to Musgrave, the Greek here alludes to some spot in the 
 plain of Troy called Hippus. Hermann reads l-rcovufiovg. 
 
 ^ The conduct of Fulvia, wife of Antony, exhibits a similar instance 
 Df revenge, when with a bodkin she pierced the tongue of the murdered 
 Cicero. 
 
 * Lobeck rightly remarks that no guardian genius is meant, but some 
 inimical deity. The latest translator, Mr. G. Burges, well renders : 
 " sDoke bitter words and abusive, That a fury, not mortal, had taught 
 him."— B. 
 
 ^ " Dicere volebat Elpeaiav vat fieOelvat, solvere, i. e. liherum faeerc re- 
 rionim usum. Sed quoniam addere volebat £L,6iJ.evov, conjunxit hsec ita, 
 ut diceret dohv elpeGtag L,vyhv e^ouevov. Tantumdem est ergo, ac si dix- 
 isset ev rtj Oou i^vyCJ e^ojievov, ElpEaiav fiEOslvai rij V7]i. — Herm. 
 
 ^ The Greek has' /j.65?.svaTov upn Probably death in war, being the 
 most noble (Ar. Eth. 3), is put for its whole class, just as the Hoplites 
 of a Greek army stood for the whole infantry. 
 
 ^ '• In summer, when there are thunders and lightnings, thenceforth 
 
248 AJAX. [259—287. 
 
 being sensible, he feels a fresh sorrow. For to look on suf- 
 ferings all one's own, none other faring alike, suggests deep 
 pangs. 
 
 Cii. Yet if he be at rest, I deem myself most fortunate, for 
 of the evil now vanished there is less thoug-ht. 
 
 Tec. Whether now, did any one assign you the choice, 
 T/ould you choose, afflicting your friends, yourself to be pos- 
 sessed of pleasures, or a, sharer amid sharers, to sympathize in 
 pain. 
 
 Ch. The misery doubled, believe m.c, lady, is the greater. 
 
 Tec. Thus we, thoush not diseased, are now afflicted. 
 
 Cii. Hov/ hast thou said this ? I know not how thou mean- 
 est. 
 
 Tec. That man, while he was diseased, was himself de- 
 lighted vrith the woes in which he was involved, but by his 
 presence tortured us who were in our senses. But now that 
 he has ceased, and respired from his malady, both he is all 
 racked with dreadful anguish, and Vy-e similarly no less than 
 before. And are not these, then, double ills from sin- 
 gle? 
 
 Ch. I agree with you, and am in fear least some plague 
 from heaven be upon him. How should it not, if when at 
 rest he is not a v/hit more gladdened than when distem- 
 pered ? 
 
 Tec. It needs thou be assured that these things are 
 thus. 
 
 Ch. For what might be the beginning of this evil that flew 
 upon him? Disclose to us, who sympathize in his misfor- 
 tunes. 
 
 Tec. Thou shalt know the whole matter, as beinir a sharer 
 in it. For he, in the dead of night, v/hen the evening lamps 
 were no longer burning,^ having taken his two-edged sword, 
 was eagerly seeking to prowl through the deserted passes. 
 
 ariso violent winds ; and if the liprhtnings be frequent and vivid, Ihcy blow 
 Vv-illi greater fui_v ; but if it be slight and seldom, then they are gentler ; 
 the contrary cf v,-hich is the case in autumn and winter.'' — Theophrast. 
 de Sign. Vent. p. 421. The same fact is said to take place in the West 
 Indies. 
 
 ^ This ha.g by some been understood to mean the stars ; but from the 
 common mode of designating the approach and close of the night by sim- 
 ilar c?:pressions {-tpl Xvxvov ucpdc^, Dionjs. Hal. xi. ; fJ.vxpi' /-vxvuv u<pQv, 
 Athen. xii ; " ad cxtrcnias luccrnas," Propert. L. 3, EL F), the tranclation 
 
288—318.] AJAX. 249 
 
 So I cliicle Iiim, and say, "What dost tlioii, Ajax ? Why 
 unbidden, nor summoned by messengers, hurriest thou to 
 this attempt, nor hearing any trumpet '? Isow at least the 
 whole army is asleep." He answered me with words brief, 
 but of trite usage. " Woman, to Avomen silence brings hon- 
 or."'^ And I, thus schooled, desisted, Avhile he rushed forth 
 alone. And of his sufferings v/ithout I can not speak ; but 
 he came in, bringing with him bulls tied together ; herdsman's 
 dogs, and noble horned booty. And of some he began to 
 break the necks ; others, turning them on tlieir backs, to 
 stab and cut through their spine ; while others, enchained, 
 would he scource, fallino; on the flocks as on men. But at 
 last, bursting away through the doors, he began to rant out 
 words to some shadow,- part against the Atridse, and part 
 about Ulysses ; blendino; Avith them abundance of lausfhter, 
 with how much of insult he had ayenged himself on them in 
 this sally. And then, haying hurried back to his abode 
 again, hardly is he at length restored to his senses, I know 
 not how. And when he looks throughout the house, full of 
 destruction, he smote his head and shrieked aloud ; and amid 
 the Avrecks of the carcasses of slaughtered sheep, he sat stretch- 
 ed on the ground, rending mth clenched grasp of hand and 
 nail his hair. This time had he sat the longest without speak- 
 ing ; then in dreadful terms he threatened me, unless I showed 
 him the whole calamity that had befallen ; and asked me in 
 v/hat case he could possibly be. So I, my friends, being 
 afraid, told him all that had been perpetrated, exactly as much 
 as I knew. But he forthwith broke out into doleful shrieks, 
 which neyer before had I heard from him ; for such laments 
 
 as it stands appears most probable. It may be questioned, however, 
 whether uKpaq vvKzoq means the dead of night, or its close. Pindar 
 (Isthm. 4) asserts that it was in the night that Ajax fell on his sword. 
 
 ^ "This is from Callistratus : 'As leaves are an ornament to trees, 
 their fleeces to sheep, their manes to horses, the beard to men, so silence 
 is an ornament to women.' " — Potter (from the Scholia). A similar sen- 
 timent is put into the mouth of Hector, II. ^^i. 490. See also Euripides : 
 YvvaiKL yap GLyij rs Kai to cu(ppovelv 
 
 Kd?AlGTOV. 
 
 2 Thus Aristophanes : 
 
 TTCVaKTjSbv (iTTOOnUV 
 
 yrjyevel (^vcTjiiavL. — Ranae, v. 825. 
 
 And Virgil 
 
 — imoque trahens a pectore vocem. — ^n. 1, v. 375. 
 L2 
 
250 AJAX. [319—356 
 
 he all along was wont to pronounce were suited to a man of 
 cov/ardly and little-minded sj^irit. But he, noiseless of shrill 
 outcries, would groan inwardly, moaning as a bull. And 
 now lying in such miserable plight, the man, without food or 
 drink, has fallen, and sits quietly amid the cattle, victims of 
 his steel ; and he evidently is about to work some ill, such are, 
 I know not how, his words and lamentations. But, oh my 
 friends, for to this intent was I sent, come ye in and aid him, 
 if at all ye can. For such as he are vanquished by the advice 
 of friends. 
 
 Cii. Tecmessa, daughter of Teleutas, dire is thy tale to us, 
 that the hero has by his woes been driven to utter madness.^ 
 
 Aj. Ah me, me ! 
 
 Tec. Soon, it seems, will he be more so. Hush ! heard ye 
 not, Ajax, what a cry this is that he utters aloud 1 
 
 Aj. Alas! alas! 
 
 Ch. He is, it seems, either still distempered, or at present 
 pained with the sickness that erst possessed him. 
 
 Aj. Oh son ! son ! 
 
 Tec. Unhappy me ! Eurysaces,^ for thee he clamors. 
 "What can he be thus eager for ? Where art thou ? Woe is 
 me ! 
 
 A J. Teucer I call : where's Teucer ? will he everlastingly 
 be following the foray,^ while I am perishing ? 
 
 Ch. The man, it seems, is sensible ; but open. Haply he 
 may feel somewhat of respect at looking even on me. 
 
 Tec. Behold, I open ;^ and thou mayest see his deeds, and 
 how he himself is conditioned. 
 
 Aj. O mariners beloved, my only friends, who only are 
 abiding in upright faith, see what a tide from a bloody and 
 tempestuous ocean, just now careering round, encircles me. 
 
 Cii. Alas! how you seem to report but too truly! The 
 deed declares how insane he is. 
 
 ^ A metaphor from the inspiration supposed to be derived from the sun. 
 
 ^ Eurysaces was son of Ajax by Tecmessa, so named from the cele- 
 brated shield which in this play his sire bequeaths him. 
 
 ^ This confirms the remark of Thucydides respecting the nature of the 
 Greek expedition against Trov, and the cause of its so long duration. — 
 Thuc. I. 
 
 * Here takes place the l:KKvKAr}fia, as it was called in the Greek thea- 
 tres ; the centre of the scene opens, and discovers Ajax sitting among 
 the slaughtered cattle. 
 
S56— 391.] AJAX. 251 
 
 Aj. O race, that helped me in the seaman's art, thou that 
 didst embark to ply the briny oar — thee only, thee I say of all 
 my guardians, have I seen bent to relieve me. No more ; but 
 do thou slay me. 
 
 Cii. Speak v/ords of good import : do not by ministering to 
 ills a remedy as ill, augment the pain of thy calamity. 
 
 Aj. Seest thou me, the bold, the stout-hearted, the fearless 
 in conflict with the foe — now terrible of misht amid harmless 
 brutes ? AVoe is me for the derision with which I have been 
 insulted ! 
 
 Tec. Do not, lord Ajax, I implore thee, speak thus. 
 
 Aj. Wilt thou not away ? wilt not move hence thy foot in 
 quick retire ? Alas ! alas ! 
 
 Cii. Oh, by the gods I pray thee, yield, and be of thy right 
 mind. 
 
 Aj. O luckless wretch, I that let slip from my hands the 
 villains ; and falling on beeves with crankled horns, and on 
 bleating^ flocks, shed their black blood ! 
 
 Cii. Why, in sooth, shouldst thou grieve over the past and 
 done ? for it is impossible that these things should not be so. 
 
 Aj. O thou that pryest into every thing ;2 continually the 
 tool of all mischief — son of Laertes — thou filthiest vagabond 
 of our host, full surely thou exultest with many a laugh for 
 
 joy- 
 
 Cii. By God's will every one both laughs and mourns. 
 
 Aj. Could I now but see him, though afflicted as I am! 
 Alas! alas! 
 
 Cii. Speak nothing haughty: seest thou not in what mis- 
 ery thou art? 
 
 Aj. O Jove, sire of my forefathers, how might I, having de- 
 stroyed that most crafty hated outcast, and the two sovereign 
 princes, at last myself too fall. 
 
 ^ K?.vrdc seems applied to the sheep on account of the noise of their 
 bleating, 6lu rug ev avrolc Tapax^£ nai (jxjvug, as the schoiiast says. See 
 Liddell, s. v. No. 2.— B. 
 
 ^ The description of Ulysses here given much resembles Thersites' pic- 
 ture of himself in Troilus and Cressida : " No, no, I am a rascal, a scurvy 
 railing knave, a very filthy rogue." And the mercy which he thereupon 
 obtains from Hector may v/elT bear Philoctetes out in his sentiments on 
 the good and bad among mankind. See Phil. 44G. Herman; i, in oppo- 
 sition to Musgrave, considers this a reproach leveled by Ajax at the dis- 
 fruisc assumed by Ulysses to penetrate Troy : see Od. 4, 244 
 
252 AJAX. [392—425. 
 
 Tec. When such is thy prayer, at the same time beg death 
 for me also ; since what need have I to hve, when thou art no 
 more ? 
 
 Aj. O darkness, that art my light, O Erebus, to me most 
 radiant, take me, oh take me, as j^our inmate, take me ; for no 
 longer am I worthy to look on the race of gods or mortals for 
 any j^roiit to mankind. ^ No, the Avarrior goddess, daughter of 
 Jove, disgracefully persecutes me to destruction. AV'hither, 
 then, can one fly ? "NVhither shall I go, and there abide ? since 
 one part is gone,^ my friends, e'en with the work before you ; 
 and I have set myself upon a silly chace : but for the army — 
 they all would slay me with hand doubly armed.^ 
 
 Tec. Ah hapless me! that a man of worth should utter 
 words like these, which he ne'er before could have had the 
 heart [to speak] ! 
 
 Aj. O ! paths of dashing sea-surge, and caverns that skirt 
 the main — and thou, cliff-crowning grove, much, much and 
 long time have ye detained me around Troy ; but no more, no 
 more shall ye [keep] me drawing the breath of life ; know 
 this, Vv'hoever is possessed of reason. Oli neighboring streams 
 of Scamander, kindly of spirit to the Greeks,* think not ye 
 shall any longer look on me, a man (I will speak out the 
 haughty boast) such as Troy hath not seen in all the host 
 
 - There's nothing in this world can make me joy : 
 
 Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale 
 Vexing the dull car of a drowsy man ; 
 And bitter shame hath spoil'd the world's sweet taste, 
 That it yields nought but shame and bitterness. 
 
 King John, Act 3, sc. 4. 
 ^ Perhaps meaning *' my hope of vengeance is lost by the slaughter 
 just committed." AV'under gives up the passage as hopeless. — B. 
 
 ^ ScTTa/^Toi; here, as dopiTra/.To^ in the Agamemnon of ^Eschylus, is 
 used transitively. Eustathius on this passage says the Tra/iTov was a 
 particular weapon. — Tr. Kather render " the well-armed army would 
 slay me." — B. 
 
 ^ Lobeck understands this passage as a mark of Ajax' deep resentment 
 and passion, in thinking the very streams of Troy had conspired against 
 him with his present enemies, the Greeks. There does not, liowevcr, 
 seem any reason why we should adopt this certainly far-fetclied idea, un- 
 less it be the rise of the Scamander to overwhelm Achilles, as told in the 
 Iliad. Musgrave, on this account, proposes to read Ji'cr^poi'ff . Hermann 
 removes the comma after 'Apyeioi^, and renders the passage " never again 
 will ye in your favor to the Argive host look upon this man," vcstro fa- 
 vore victorcm. 
 
42G— 456] ^ AJAX. 253 
 
 who came from the land of Greece. And now, thus dishon- 
 ored, am I lying prostrate. 
 
 Cri. Believe me, I knov/ not how either to prevent thee or 
 suffer thee to speak, ail fallen as thou art into miseries such as 
 these. 
 
 Aj. Ah ! ah ! AVho could have ever thought that my 
 name,^ thus accordant, would harmonize Avith my misfortunes ! 
 For nov/ twice, nay, thrice, have I cause to utter Ah ! in such 
 evils am I involved ; I, whose father from this land of Ida, 
 having best deserved of all the army the choicest prize of 
 honor, returned home possessed of all renown ; while I, his 
 son, having come to this very realm of Troy, with not inferior 
 might, nor having by my hand helped with deeds less glo- 
 rious, perish thus unhonored by the Greeks. And yet of 
 thus much at least m.ethinks I am assured, that were Achilles 
 yet alive, purposing to award the prize of excellence to some 
 one in the matter of his own arm, none else but I had. 
 grasped them. But now, on the contrary, the Atridfe have 
 worked his will for a crafty villain, having rejected the might 
 of Ajax. And had not this mine eye and distorted mind 
 ■vvildly strayed from my purpose, never again should they by 
 vote have given judgment against man.^ But now the stern- 
 eyed, dauntless goddess, daughter of Jove, baffled me, already 
 putting forth my hand upon them, having cast on me a dis- 
 tempered phrensy, that I stained my hands with blood on brutes 
 like these, while they are deriding me, having escaped, not 
 by my will indeed. But if a god foil him, even the coward 
 may elude the braver man. And now what can I do? I 
 
 ^ The ancients attributed much importance to the signification of names ; 
 and their idea was probably founded on tradition, derived from the patri- 
 archal ages, as they also held the inspiration of a death-bed, taken from 
 the same source. '' God shall enlarge Japhet," and Japhet signifies en- 
 largement. Abram and Sarai changed their names by divine command, 
 for such as better suited the ancestors of nations and of the Prince of na- 
 tions. The Romans carried their superstition so far as to change the 
 name of Epidamnus to Dyrrachium. In fact, of such serious consequence 
 were names considered in Greece, that Aristotle in his Rhetoric classes 
 them amonfj his heads of argument. — Tr. " Ai ! Ai ! who would have 
 thought my name of Aias would suit so well, as namesake to my woes'?" 
 — Burges' translation. — B. 
 
 ^ " Eustathius has noted the anachronism in the word iip7](f>i.aav in this 
 passage." — Herm. 
 
254 AJAX. [157—485 
 
 that am manifestly abhorred of gods, and the Greek host 
 detests me ; while all Troy, and these here plains, are my 
 foes? AVhether shall I, having abandoned our naval station, 
 and the sons of Atreus, to themselves, cross the ^gean sea 
 for home ? And what face shall I show my father Telamon, 
 appearing before him ? How will he ever bear to look on me 
 forlorn before him, destitute of the meed of valor, ^ whereof 
 himself acquired the illustrious crown of glory ? The deed is 
 not to be borne ; but shall I then, advancing to the Trojan 
 ramparts, alone with them alone engaging, and achieving 
 some honorable deed, so fall at last? Nay, thus I must at 
 all events pleasure the Atrid^e.^ This may not be ; some 
 attempt must be sought of such a nature, as that by it I may 
 prove to my aged father, that being his son, I am not natural- 
 ly at least a spiritless coward. For it is base for a man 
 who meets no -change in evils, to wish a length of life.^ 
 Since Avhat pleasure hath one day by another, adding to, 
 or takino; from the necessity of dvins?'' I would not 
 buy, at any price, that man who v/arms himself with 
 empty hopes. No ; or nobly to live, or to die nobly, 
 becomes the generous man.^ Thou hast heard all I have 
 to say. 
 
 Ch. None will ever say, Ajax, that thou hast spoken senti- 
 ments of supposititious growth, but of thy own spirit. Yet 
 desist, and grant thy friends to prevail o'er thy purpose, dis- 
 missing these anxious thoughts. 
 
 Tec. Ajar, my lord^ there is not a greater evil to man- 
 
 ^ " Ka?JAC>TeLa proprie est prcEmhim pitlchritudiuis, lit apud Lucia- 
 iium in Dcarum judicio. Hie simpliciter prctmium valet, quod decent 
 Lexica. Ka7J.Lar£V£i,v esse foriissime se gerere, ex male intellecto Hcr- 
 odoti loco 7, 180, natuni est." — Musgrave. 
 
 ^ That is, by his noble action ; since on death he was at all events re- 
 solved. 
 
 ^ Such is the wish of Parolles, in All's V\'e\\ that Ends Well. 
 
 * If Hermann's reading dvaOelca be adopted, we must take y/tttpa Trap' 
 rjfiap by itself Hermann gives the passage thus : " "SMiat pleasure can 
 day alternating with day present, when it docs nothing but cither add or 
 take away from the necessity of dying !" — Tr. I have adopted this view : 
 see Wunder, who quotes Trach. 943, sqq. — 13. 
 
 ' GuAKi). What work is here! Charmian, is this well done? 
 Char. It is well done, and litting for a princess, 
 Descended of so many royal kings. 
 
 Ant. and Cleo. Act 5, sc. 1. 
 
433—518.] AJAX. 255 
 
 kind, tlian slavery's forced lot.^ Piut I ^vas begotten of a 
 free father, a man powerful by his Avealth among Phrygians, 
 if any were. Yet now I am a slave ; for so, I ween, it seemed 
 fit to the o-ods, and above all to thv liand. Wherefore, since 
 that I have shared thy bed, I am a vrell-wisher to thee and 
 thine, and conjure thee by Jove Guardian of tlie Hearth,^ and 
 thy couch whereby thou v/ert united to me, do not think me 
 deservino- to set offensive lansfuaire from thine enemies, leav- 
 ing me a spoil for the hand of any. Since, shouldst thou die, 
 and, beino: deceased, abandon me, bethink thee that on that 
 very day I too, violently seized on by the Greeks, shall eat the 
 bread of slavery with thy son. And some one among my 
 tyrants shall say with bitter taunt, harrowing me by his 
 words, " Behold the consort of Ajax, who w\as of might pre- 
 eminent amid our host — what servitude, in exchange for how 
 envied a lot, does she support !" Thus some one \A\\ say. 
 And me fortune will drive to this ; 'tis to thee and thy family 
 words like these are a disgrace. But respect thy father, 
 wdiom thou abandonest in forlorn old age : respect thy mother, 
 allotted to the heritage of many years, who often implores the 
 gods that thou mayest return home alive. And, O prince! 
 compassionate thy son, in that, bereft of childhood's nurture, 
 abandoned by thee, he will be thrust about by no friendly 
 guardians : how mucli of ill this is, that thou at thv death 
 v.'ilt bequeath to him and me.^^ For to me there remains no 
 longer any one to whom I can look, save thee, for thou hast 
 annihilated my country with thy spear ; and my mother and 
 my father another fate took oif to be in their deaths inhabit- 
 ants of Hades. ^ What then could be to me a country in thy 
 
 ^ Lobeck would exclude the idea of slavery from the Greek expression 
 here, as unsuitable to Tecmessa's purpose. — Tr. But cf. .Esch. Choeph. 
 75: (IvdyKai^ ajLccpiTZToALv. Soph. El. 1193. See also Eustath. p. 10S9, 
 38 : Tzapu 'Lo(^ok7.£1 uvayKaia rvxi ^ 6ov7.lkt;. — B. 
 
 - A mosL sclemn adjuration, and used by Themistocles to Admetus, in 
 his greatest need. — Thuc. I. 
 
 ^ These sentiments find a parallel in those of the Sabine women in 
 Livy ; and the lamentation of Andromache throughout is very similar : 
 An only child, once comfort of my pains. 
 Sad product now of hopeless love, remains ! 
 No more to sm.ile upon his sire, no friend 
 To helo him now, no father to defend ! 
 
 Pope's II. B. XXII. 1. G20. 
 * Hermann remarks on the gratuitous barbarity of making Ajax kill 
 
25G A J AX ir>[9—rA2. 
 
 stead'? what prosperity could I have? in tli^c is centred all 
 my hope of safety. Nay, preserve tlie remembraiice of me 
 too. Believe me, it is fitting that memory should abide by a 
 man, if any where he have received aught pleasurable ;^ for 
 it is kindness that aye engenders kindness, but from whom- 
 soever the recollection of a benefit received melts away, that 
 man could never be of generous birth.'- 
 
 Cii. Ajax, I could wish that thou didst feel pity in thy 
 heart, even as I do, for then wouldst thou assent to her 
 words. 
 
 A J. Nay, largely shall she meet with approbation from me 
 at least, if she but dare aright to execute the task enjoined. 
 
 Tec. Nay, my dear Ajax, for my part I will obey thee in 
 every thing. 
 
 Aj. Go fetch me now my son, that I may see him. 
 
 Tec. Nay, but in alarm I rescued him from thee. 
 
 Aj. In these my woes ? or what meanest thou ? 
 
 Tec. Lest he, ill fated, having haply fallen in thy Avay, 
 should die. 
 
 Aj. This were, indeed, well suited to my fate. 
 
 Tec. Nay, therefore I guarded him, to prevent this. 
 
 Aj. I approve of the action and the forethought you prac- 
 ticed. 
 
 Tec. By doing what then, in this case, can I profit you ? 
 
 Aj. Give me to speak to him, and see him before me. 
 
 Tec. "Well, but he is at hand, in keeping of the attendants. 
 
 Aj. Why then delays he to vouchsafe his presence ? 
 
 Tec. My boy, thy father calls thee. Bring him hither, 
 whoever of the servants have him in charge, in thy hands. 
 
 the mother of Tecmessa, and adopts Person's reading, supposing, how. 
 ever, that there is a fine omitted. According to him, the fines stand thus; 
 
 . ov yap juoL Trarpid' ycruaag dope, 
 ******** 
 
 Kai //T/Tt'p' u/./Tj /wlpa Tuv (jwaavTit re 
 KaOel/.Ev "Al6ov Oavaat/iovr oluijTopa^. 
 * Si bene quid de nicrui, fuit aut tibi quicquam 
 
 Dulcc raeum, miserere domus labantis, et istara, 
 Oro, si quis adhuc precibus locus, cxue mentem. 
 
 .En. IV. V. 317. 
 ^ Brunck has paid no attention to Person's remarks on the metre in 
 this passage ; but Lobeck has adopted the professor's emendation of Sui- 
 (la.s. For just reasons against the other readings proposed by Porson, 
 viJ. Scale's Metres, p. 11. 
 
543—569.] AJAX. 257 
 
 A.T. Dost tiiou speak to one drawing near, or one who lieeds 
 not thy words '? 
 
 Tec. Even now this attendant is conveying him from no 
 creat distance. 
 
 Aj. Bring, bring him hither, for he will not shudder at be- 
 holding this fresh-slaughtered butchery, if he be truly in his 
 fathers ways, my son. Nay, forthwith it is needful to break 
 him in, as a colt to the stern lore of his sire, and that he be 
 rendered like him in nature. My child, be thou more fortu- 
 nate than thy father, but in all else his counterpart, and thou 
 canst not be a coward. Yet even now thus much I have to 
 en\-y thee, for that thou art sensible of none of these present 
 evils; for in feehng nought^ is centred the sweetest life,^ 
 until thou learn to know what it is to rejoice, wdiat to feel 
 pain. But when thou art arrived at this, it is thy duty to 
 prove on thy father's foes, thyself how gi-eat, from how great 
 a father thou art sprung. Till then be fostered by light gales,, 
 cherishing thy early life, the joy of this thy mother. There 
 is no fear, I know, that any of the Greeks should insult thee 
 wnth hateful contumely; no, though thou art far from me, 
 such a watchful protector in Teucer shall I leave for thee, an 
 unwearied guardian of thy nurture,^ although at present he is 
 gone far out of sight, busied in the chase of foemen. But, 
 O ye shielded warriors, seafaring people, to you also I enjoin 
 this common favor, and announce ye to him my mandate, 
 that he bring this my son to my home, and present him to 
 Telamon and my mother, I mean Eriboea,^ that he may ever 
 
 Ah I how regardless of their doom 
 
 I 
 
 The little victims play 
 No sense have they of ills to come, 
 No care beyond to-day. — Gray. 
 
 ^ Hermann here inserts a line which Brunck, on the authority of Sto- 
 bsBUS, had omitted : it is this : 
 
 TO fiTi (ppovelv yup, Kupr' uv66vvgv kukov. 
 
 Ajax admits ignorance to be an evil, but still asserts that *' where igno- 
 rance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise." 
 
 ^ Lobeck praises, in his note on this passage, Reiske's emendation, who 
 reads tfi-a, keI ravvv ; and the scholiast on v. 122 says the lonians use 
 ifj-TZTj^, the Attics cfiTzag and tfiTza. 
 
 * Eriboea, sometimes called Periboea, was daughter of Alcathous, king 
 of Megara, and son of Pelops, and is said to have been sold by her father 
 on suspicion of an intrigue with Telamon, and carried to Cyprus, whither 
 Telamon f jllowed and married her. 
 
253 AJAX. [570—504. 
 
 be the support of their old age, until they shall reach the 
 dark chambers of the nether god. And mine arms let no 
 masters of the games, nor he my bane, set as a prize to the 
 Greeks ; but do thou, my son Eurysaces, take and keep thy 
 namesake, my shield of seven bulls' hides, that none can break ; 
 wielding it through the thickly-twisted handle r^ my other 
 arms in common shall anon be buried with me.^ But take 
 now with all speed this my son, and make fast the house, nor 
 raise lamentations within my tent. A very piteous object, 
 truly, is a woman. Close the door speedily: 'tis not the skill- 
 ful leech's part to liowl an incantation over a sore that asks 
 the knife. 
 
 Cii. I tremble at hearing this eagerness, for thy sharpened 
 tongue likes me not. 
 
 Tec. Ajax, my lord, what canst thou purpose in thy mind 
 to do? 
 
 Aj. Ask not, question not ; best be resigned. 
 
 Tec. Ah me, how I despair! I conjure thee by thy child, 
 and by the gods, abandon us not. 
 
 A J. Too much thou vexcst me ; knowest thou not that I no 
 longer am the god's debtor^ to be of service to any? 
 
 Tec. Grood words. 
 
 Aj. Speak to those that hear. 
 
 Tec. And wilt thou not be persuaded ? 
 
 Aj. Thou pratest overmuch abeady. 
 
 Tec. Ay, for I fear me, prince. 
 
 Aj. Will ye not stay her quickly? 
 
 Tec. In heaven's name, be softened. 
 
 ' For a description of such a shield, sec Wundcr's extracts from Wcs- 
 seliiiCT and Lobeck. — B. 
 
 - This was a common custom in ancient times, as maybe gathered from 
 Thucydides, L. I. c. viii. — Tr. Such was also the custom of the Danes. 
 See Olaus Magnus, quoted by Stevens on Hamlet, Act I. : " That tliou, 
 dead corse, again in complete steel." Seward, Earl of Northumberland, 
 was, by his own desire, buried armed cap a pic. — 13. 
 
 ^ A similar expression is found in A irgil : 
 
 Nos juvenem exanimum ct nil jam coelcstibus ullis 
 Debentem vano mccsti comitamur honore. 
 
 Yet it would perhaps be going too far to say that Ajax meant not'hino- 
 contemptuous to the gods. Since writing the above note, Hermann's 
 edition has appeared, and the translation is altered to suit that edition in 
 this passage. 
 
594— G32.] AJAX. 259 
 
 Aj. Metliiuks tlioa liast but a fool's wisdom, if thou pur- 
 poscst but now to school my tem.pcr. 
 
 Clio Illustrious Salamis, thou somcAvherc, rocked hj occan,i 
 r^rt situate in happiness," ever conspicuous to all ; while I, un- 
 happy from time of old, tarry for the Idrean meadowy pastures 
 as a rev/ard, through countless months,^ continually worn away 
 by regular and unvaried time ; having a sorry hope that still 
 I shall one day reach the abhorred destructive,-^ Pluto. And 
 now the cureless Ajax is upon m,c, a fresh assailant,^ alas! 
 alas ! co-mate of a heaven-sent phrensy ; whom once, in for- 
 mer time, thou sentest forth as a concpaeror in furious war ; 
 but now, on the contrary, his senses all astray, '^ he has proved 
 a deep affliction to his friends. But the former deeds, of his 
 hands, deeds of the noblest valor, fell, ay, fell, thankless to the 
 thankless, the unwise Atrido3. Surely, somewhere a mother,"^ 
 nursed in the lap of ancient days and hoar old age, when she 
 shall have heard that he is diseased as with the sickness of 
 the soul, hapless shall utter not ali ! Linus, ah ! Linus,^ nor 
 plaint of the nightingrAe, that piteous bird, but shrill-toned 
 shrieks will she wail forth ; while blows, struck by her ov\'n 
 hand, shall fall on her breasts, and rcndings of her hoary hair. 
 
 ^ This epithet, though perfo^tly suitable to Delos, appears rather mis- 
 placed here ; and Lobeck sugtrnets, that as /Eschylus had applied the 
 term Oa/,acc6-/j]icroc to Salami.^., it is probable that Sophocles v/rote d?u- 
 <^7.aKTog. This reading is adopted by Hermann. 
 
 ^ Cf. Homer II. /3. 626, vtjgcov, ni valovat 7:Epr,v dXoq. — B. 
 
 ^ Hermann proposes to read Ih'? passage thus : 'I6ala [il[ivu ?,eiu(l)vc' 
 aTTocva, fiTjvCjv dvy^pidfioc, Idcua pratensia frccmia cxpccto, mcnsium innu- 
 vicrabiHs. These prczmia pratcnsia arc the overthrow and sack of Troy. 
 — Tu. I have followed Hermann, wUh Dindorf, although I am doubtful 
 of any attempt to restore this difilcuit passage successfully. — 13. 
 
 * See Buttra. Lexil. s. v. The w^ord may he also taken for " dark," 
 "gloomy."— B. 
 
 ^ 'EcljcSpog is, in the Frogs cf Aristophanes, applied to Sophocles him- 
 self, and the Oxford translator has this pote : "The tQeSpog (tertianuc) 
 was a combatant, "who waited the decision of some trial of prowess in 
 the games, with intent to offer himself as opponent to the conqueror," 
 p. 16^0. 
 
 •^ Liwcraily "feeding apart from his senses." 
 
 ' There is great beauty in the suppression of <^^he name throughout this 
 passage ; it may in some measure be thought to rrs'^mblc the y"A cf 
 Timanthes. 
 
 8 Cf .Esch. Ag. 121, 139, and for the origin of the ditty, Pausan- iz. 
 29, with Kuhn's note. — B. 
 
2G0 " AJAX. [083— GG9. 
 
 For better "wcrc lie hiding in the grave, limn liopclcsslj dis- 
 tempered ; Avlio coming of his father's race the bravest of the 
 hard-toiling Greeks, is no longer constant to his natural tem- 
 per, but is wandering Avithout it. Ah, wretched sire, what an 
 insupportable calamity of th j child aAvaits thee to learn ! such 
 as no age of the iEacidce hath ever yet fostered, at least save 
 this man ! 
 
 Aj. Time, the lonir, the countless, brinj^s to light all that 
 is unseen, and when disclosed, conceals, nor is aught liope- 
 less ; no, both the terrible oath and the hardened spirit {ire 
 his prize. For I, too, that lately was so firm in my dread 
 purpose, like steel, when dipped,^ by this my wife here, have 
 been womaned in my speech ; and I feel pity at leaving her 
 a widow, and my child fatherless, amid foes. Eut I will go to 
 the baths and meadows alona; the shore, that havin"; cleansed 
 off my pollutions I may escape the weighty anger of the 
 goddess. And as I go, wherever I shall light upon an un- 
 trodden spot, there will I hide this my sv.'ord, of weapons the 
 most hateful, burying it in earth, there where none shall ever 
 see it ; but O may night and Hades guard it below. For 
 from the hour wherein I took to my hand this, a present from 
 Plector my deadliest foe, never to this day have I got auglit 
 acceptable from the Greeks. No, true is the popular adage,, 
 " The gifts of enemies are no gifts,^ nor profitable." Hence . 
 forth, therefore, will we know how to submit to the gods, and 
 learn to respect the sons of Atreus. They are our rulers, 
 therefore we must give vray. ^Vhy not? for all that is ter- 
 rible and all that is mightiest gives way to ofiice.^ First 
 
 ' fta^ll oid7]pog ug. " Tcnuiora fcrramenta oleo restingui nios est, nc 
 aqua in fratrilitatem durentur." The scholiast has a note to the same 
 purpose. A\ c see then that the allusiou "vviil apply to what follows as 
 well as to what precedes it in the text. 
 
 - " By what argument it may from this verse be gathered that the Me- 
 dea of Kuripidcs is older than the Ajax of Sophocles, Elmslcy has stated 
 at the six hundred and fifili line of the former." — Hermann. 
 
 ^ There is a passage very similar to this, which it may not be useless 
 to quote, whether as an argument to support Shakespeare's claim to tlic 
 play whence it comes, by the evident marks of his style which it l)ears, 
 or to prove an old assertion, that in him is contained the fmcst study of 
 the English language : 
 
 The heavens themselves, the planets, and this centre* 
 Observe degree, priority, and place, 
 
070— 70-i] AJAX. 2G1 
 
 snow-paced Y»inters give place to fruitful summer, and the 
 orb of murky iiieht retires for the day vritii his white steeds 
 to kindle his light, ^ and the blast of the dreadful v.'inds hath 
 lulled the roaring main, nay, all-o'erpowering sleep looses 
 vrlicre he hath bound, nor always holds us captive. And now 
 shall we not know moderation ? Since, for my part, I am 
 even now aware that our enemy is so flir to be hated by us, 
 as tiiougli he may yet again be our friend ; and to my friend 
 i will be Avilling thus far by aiding to be of service, as if he 
 were not ahvavs to remain so."^ For to the many amons: 
 men the haven of fellowship is foithless ; but in all this it 
 will be well. Do th.ou, woman, having retired Avitliin, pray 
 to the gods continually to accomplish what my heart desires ; 
 and do ye, my clansmen, do me this honor alike with her. 
 And signify to Teucer, should he return, to look well to me, 
 and at the same time be a friend to you. For I go thither, 
 whither go I must ; but do ye what 1 tell you, and soon, per- 
 haps, you may learn that I, though now unfortunate, have 
 found deliverance. 
 
 C'A. Vv'ith love I thrill, and overjoyed I soar aloft. O Pan, 
 O Pan, O Pan, Pan, thou ocean-wanderer, shov/ thyself from 
 the craggy ridge of snow-beaten Cyllene,^ thou princely 
 founder of heaven's choir, that companying with me thou 
 might essay the self-taught Gnossian and Kysa?an dances; 
 tor now it is my care to lead the chorus. And mayest thou, 
 Apollo, Delian king, coming over the Icarian sea,- accord me 
 
 Lisisture, course, proportion, season, form, 
 Oliice, and custom, in all line of order. 
 
 Troilus and Cressida. 
 
 ^ See Milton, Book VII., and Thomson's Ode to the Seasons. 
 
 ' This is the sentiment to which Cicero alludes, de Amicitia, c. 16 : 
 " Xegabat ullam vocem inimiciorem amicitiss potuisse reperiri, quam ejus, 
 qui dixisset, ita amare oportere, ut si aliquando esset osurus : nee vero 
 se adduci posse, ut hoc, quemadmodum putaretur, a Biante esse dictum 
 erederet, qiii sapiens habitus esset unus e septcm ; sed impuri cujusdam, 
 aut ambitiosi, aut omnia ad suam potentiam revocantis, esse sentcntiam." 
 
 ^ Cyllene is a mountain in Arcadia, the birth-place of Mercury, who 
 shared with Pan the rin-ht of patronatre there. Gnossus Vvas a town cf 
 Crete, celebrated for its beinir the birth-place of Ariadne. There were 
 several cities of the name of Ny.sa. of which the most renowned was in 
 India, caid to be the place where Bacchus was educated, and whence ha 
 derived his name Diony.sius. 
 
 * The name " Icarian'' was given to that part of the A^ge^n Sea which 
 encircle-s Myconc and Gyaros, the supposed scene of Icarus's fail. 
 
2G2 '' AJAX. [705-743. 
 
 thj distinguislietl presence, forever kind. For IMars hath dis- 
 pelled the heavy affliction from his eyes. lo ! lo ! novv-, now 
 again, O Jove, is the white propitious light of day with us, 
 that we may approach the swift vessels that speed on the 
 brine ; since Ajax is again forgetful of his troubles, and has 
 again performed the most sacred ordinances of the gods, with 
 strictest observance worshiping. Time, the mighty, withers 
 ail away. Nor would I pronounce aught impossible, at least 
 when unexpectedly Ajax has repented'of hisNvrath and dire 
 feuds with the Atridte. 
 
 Messenger. My friends, I would first tell you ;i Teucer is 
 just arri%'ed from the Mysian rocks ;2 but as he advances into 
 the middle of the camp, he is reviled by all the Greeks at 
 once; for, having discovered him coming slowly from a dis- 
 tance, they encircled him all round ; and then began to assail 
 him with reproaches from this side and that; and there v\'a3 
 not one who did not, calling him the brother of the madman 
 and traitor to the army; that he should not save himself from 
 death by being thoroughly m.anglcd with stones. So that 
 i\\^j came to such a pitch, that their sv/ords, seized by their 
 hands, were dra^m from out the scabbards. But their strife, 
 having run to its greatest length, ceases by words of recon- 
 cilement from the elders. But where's Ajax, that I may tell 
 him all this? for to our lords it is our duty to disclose all our 
 tale. 
 
 Cii. He is not within, but has just disappeared, having 
 coupled new plans with new deportment. 
 
 Mes. Woe ! woe ! woe ! Then he who sent me on this er- 
 rand, sent me too tardily, or I was slo\v in coming. 
 
 Cn. But what is there too tardily managed in this matter? 
 
 Mess. Teucer forbade to let the man go forth from within 
 his abode, before he himself should be present. 
 
 Cii. Nay, but look you, he is gone, having betaken himself 
 to the best of purposes, that he may by reconcilement with the 
 gods be freed from their wrath. 
 
 ^ Musgravc conjectures, that in allusion to the well-known custom of 
 heralds among the ancients, we should read (^D.ov rh Trpu-ov: Lobcck 
 removes the period at the end of the line, and joins the two last of the 
 above three words, retaining (pi?.oi. Hermann foilov^-s iMusgravc. 
 
 ^ For mention of Mysia, see Herodotus, L. I. Of this country, v.hich 
 was in alliance Vvith Troy, Tclcphus v.'as monarch at the time cf'^tho T.'o- 
 jan w^r. 
 
744—774.] AJAX. 263 
 
 Mess. These thy words are fraught with abundant follj, if 
 indeed Calchas prophesy aught Avith right judgment.^ 
 
 Ch. AVliat is its nature"? and what knoAving of this matter 
 [pro[)hesies he"?] 
 
 Mess. Thus much I know, and chanced to be present. For 
 from the council and tlie kingly circle Calchas having retired 
 by himself, apart from the Atridas, and placed his right hand 
 in Teucer's in friendly guise, bade and enjoined him by all 
 manner of means to confine Ajax throughout the day now 
 shining, to-day, this very day, Vvithin his tent ; nor let him 
 go and suffer him to pass, if ever he Avould see him again 
 alive ; for on this day only the Avratli of celestial Minerva 
 persecutes him : so spake he and said. For the seer declared 
 that overgroAvn and unv.'ieldy^ bodies are wont to fall under 
 severe misfortunes by divine agency, v/hen one that springs 
 from a mortal stock is not of consequence minded as a mortal 
 should. But he, at the very moment that he saUied forth 
 from home, was found of his father, advising him well, too 
 inconsiderate ;^ for he strictly charges him, " Son, be thy wish 
 to conquer with the spear, but be it ever to conquer throurh 
 the gods." But he, with haught and senseless vaunt replied, 
 " Father, in concert with the gods even one that was nothing 
 might obtain the victory ; but I, even without them, am 
 assured I shall snatch to me this glory." So proud a boast 
 did he utter. Then, a second time, to immortal Pallas, when 
 urging liim she bade him turn his gory hand against the foe : 
 then answered he a speech dire and unutterable, " Queen, be 
 thou at the side of the other Greeks ; where I am, the battle 
 
 ^ This distinguished seer possessed his inspiration by birthright, being 
 the grandson ol' Idmon, the soothsayer that attended the Argonautic ex- 
 pedition. 
 
 2 I prefer reading Kuvonra with "Wunder, and rendering " vain and im- 
 pious." See his note. — B. 
 
 ^ The reason which is here given for the misfortune of Ajax is pre- 
 cisely that of which Aristotle approves, who, after having rejected the 
 two extremes of virtue and vice, proceeds to state his idea of a character 
 adapted to tragedy : " And such a man is he, who neither in virtue and 
 uprightness is transcendent, nor yet changes his lot to misfortune through 
 vice°and depravity, but one that does it through some error, and that a 
 man of high renown and prosperity, such as were CEdipus and Thyestes." 
 ^-Poetics, sect. 25. 
 
264 AJAX. [773—709. 
 
 never shall break Ihroiigli."^ By words such as these he 
 earned tlie ruthless anger of the goddess, being of a spirit un- 
 suitable to man. But if indeed he live to-day, we haply may 
 be, with Heaven's aid, his preservers. Thus much the prophet 
 said, but Teucer instantly sends me from the conclave, bear- 
 ing these his mandates to thee to observe ; but if v*'e are 
 foiled of our purpose, then is the hero no more, if Calchas be 
 wise. 
 
 Cii. O wretched Tecmessa, of hapless race, come forth and 
 look on this man, what manner of words he utters. For this 
 cuts to the quick, that none may joy therein. 
 
 Tec. Why rouse ye me, miserable that I am, from my scat, 
 when but now respited from exhaustless ills ? 
 
 Cii. Listen to this man, since he comes bringing us matter 
 concerning Ajax, whereat I grieve. 
 
 Tec. Ah me ! what sayest thou, man ? Are we then un- 
 done ? 
 
 Mess. I knov>^ not thy circumstances, but I have no hopes 
 of Ajax, if he be from home. 
 
 Tec. Weil then, he is from home, and therefore I am in 
 agonies at what thou hast to say.^ 
 
 Mess. Teucer sends charge to confine him under close cov- 
 er of his tent, nor let him go out alone. 
 
 Tec. But where is Teucer, and wherefore says he this? 
 
 Mess. Pie is just arrived ; and apprehends^ that this depart- 
 ure of Ajax, that he tells, is fatal. 
 
 ^ fTo.Tier represents Ajax of a temper in some degree resembling this, 
 though not so haughty, in a prayer which Longinus has quoted and com- 
 mended : 
 
 Zei) TTurep, u7>.?.u av pvaac v~' 7/epog vlcg 'Axdiuv, 
 TLoiTjaov 6' aWrjv dug (5' G(pdu?i/j.oiciv IdecOai, 
 'FaV 6h (pdec Kal bXeaaov. 
 
 ^ TiObeck places a note of interrogation after (IxVtveiv. 
 
 ^ " Bothc has ingeniously conjectured t/iTrl^eu- (^fpei. But no correction 
 is needed, if the passage be but rightly taken, and one report not to such 
 silliness (inepta) as to make t'kixiL.etv mean even metucrc ; for not in all 
 cases, bat where it suits the sense, is this verb iiitroducod in sucli a maimer 
 as to be seemingly used to denote fear, though in reality it i.s to bo taken 
 as expressing hope. In the present instance, v. hen the messenger says, 
 Sperat Teucer se hunc Ajacis czituni funcediim mu^ciaturum esse, lie 
 means that Teucer has a hope that, hv r(^;iorting the fatal issue about to 
 f:>llow Ajax on going abroad, he shall clic'ct hi.-j detention ut home for that 
 
800— 822. j AJAX. 2Go 
 
 Tec. Unhappy me ! liaving learned it from what possible 
 person I 
 
 Mess. From Thcstor's prophet-son, on this present day, that 
 it Ijrinas him life or death. 
 
 Tec. All me ! friends, assist mc airainst this emerecncv of 
 fortune,^ and hasten — some that Teucer may come quickly, and 
 some to the west<?rn bends of the mountains, some to the east- 
 ern go and search out the hero's ill-omened sally. For I know 
 that I was deceived by the man, and made outcast from my 
 former favor with him. Ah me! my child, what shall I do? 
 not sit here — no ; I will be gone thither whithersoever I shall 
 have strength to. Let us away, let us hasten hence ; 'tis not 
 the moment for sitting still, for those at least who wish to save 
 a man that hurries to death. 
 
 Cii. I am ready to be gone, nor will I show it merely in 
 words, for speed of action and of feet at once shall follow 
 them." 
 
 Aj. The slayer is set upright, where it best may pierce (if 
 one have leisure even for consideration), the gift of Plector, a 
 man of foreigners most detested by me, and most hateful to 
 behold. But it has fixed itself in the hostile soil of Troy, 
 fresh sharpened on the steel-consuming wdietstone. And I 
 myself, having well prepared, have fixed it, the kindest friend 
 to Ajax in furtherance of his speedy death. Thus well am I 
 
 day.'' Does the learned professor (Hermann) mean that lAnt^eiv can not 
 be applied to our expectation of an evil ? To say nothing of Polybius, 
 who so uses it, B. 9, c. G, ses. 9, sec Thucydidcs, 1. i. and 7, Gl — 
 k'kiilg Tov (p6j3ov. See also Arist. Aves, v. 958, ed. Brunck. Hermann's 
 own interpretation is surely far-fetched. — Tn. But the construction is 
 hardly satisfactory. I should prefer following Bothc, as Wunder has 
 done. — B. 
 
 ^ This passage supports an opinion of Lobeck alread^f stated, since here 
 we find no allusion to slavery, although the same expression is used at 
 V. 485. Sec the note on that line. 
 
 ' The departure of the Chorus here in order to give room for the exhi- 
 bition of Ajax' death is censured by Brunck, but defended by Lobeck on 
 the example of ..Eschylus in the Eumenidcs, and Euripides in Helen and 
 Alcestis. And he also remarks, that the difiiculty which induced ^Eschy- 
 lus to relate the death of Ajax, namely, the open nature of the stage, 
 was evaded by Sophocles, who carries his hero as far as possible back 
 from the eyes of the spectators to the inner scene. As Potter justly ob- 
 serves, this single speech of Ajax is worth ail the unities, an attempt to 
 maintain which has been so lately made, and ably refuted. 
 
 M 
 
26G AJAX. [S23— 3.50. 
 
 furnished. But after all tlii?, do thou nrst, O Jupiter, assist 
 me, for it is but reason. Xor will I ask of thee to obtain an 
 ample boon. Send for mc some messenger, carrying the evil 
 tidings to Teucer, that he may be the first to take mc up 
 when fallen on this fresh-sprinkled sword; and that I may 
 not, having been ere that discovered by any of my foes, be 
 hurled a cast-away to dogs and birds a prey. This mucli I 
 beg of thee, O Jove ; and with thee I call on the nether Mer- 
 cury, conductor of ghosts, to lull mc softlj'- to repose, when I, 
 have burst through my side wdth this my sword, by a bound 
 quick and without a struggle. I call too, the ever-virgins to 
 my aid ; them, ever beholding all the sufferings of mortality, 
 the awful Furies, with gigantic stride, to learn of me how I, 
 unhappy, perish thoroughly by Atreus' sons ; and may they 
 grasp them all together, villains as they are, by a death most 
 vile, and doomed to utter destruction ; even as they look on 
 me falling self-murdered, so self-murdered may they perish by 
 their dearest ofispring.^ Go, ye swift and avenging Furies, 
 banquet on them, spare not the whole armed host. And thou, 
 that makest the high heaven thy chariot course, O sun l-^ when 
 thou shalt look on the land of my fathers, checking thy 
 golden-backed rein, announce my woes and my fate to my 
 aged sire, and the w^retched mother that nursed me. Full 
 surely she, unhapp}', when she shall hear this report, will send 
 
 ' !MusjTrave considers this passage to refer to the death of Ulysses by 
 his sou Telegonus. Certainly Agamemnon did not fall by the contrivanco 
 of any of his children ; and as for iMenelaus, he, if Vv-e may credit Homer, 
 was carried to the islands of the blessed without havino- tasted death ; how 
 deservedly, we may gather from Herodotus' account of his conduct in 
 Egypt. The curse of Ajax is remarkably grand and awful, but will hardly 
 bear comparison v^'ith the celebrated imprecation in Lord Byron's Giaour. 
 — Tr. Wunder has amused himself by casting cut vss. 839—42 ! — B. 
 ^ This most sublime idea has been v/ell imitated by Seneca : 
 
 O decus mundi, radiate Titan, 
 
 Die sub Aurora positis Sabfeis, 
 
 Die sub Occasu positis Ibcris, 
 
 Die ad seternos properare manes 
 
 Herculem et regnum canis inquieti. 
 
 Here. .£t. v. 151G.— Tr. 
 Cf. Eurip. Phoen. 1, u t/}v Iv uarpoLg ovpavov refxvuv ddoi> kqi xP^ 
 G0KO?u?i.r/TotaLV l/ii[3£j3C>g dlchpoig, "HAic, Ooalg tmroLGLv elXiaauv <p7ibya, 
 Claudian. de Prob. et Olyb. 1. " Sol, qui flammigeiis mundum complcx- 
 us habenis, volvis inexhausto rcdeuntia saecula motu. Sparge diem meii- 
 ore coma, crinemque repexi Blandius clato surgant temone jugales." — B. 
 
851— 8SS 3 AJAX. 2G7 
 
 forth a dreadful Avail .nroiighout the Vvdiolc city. But it avails 
 not to lament thus vainly : no, the deed must be done, and 
 v.ith all speed. O death, death, come now and look upon me ; 
 although thee, indeed, there also shall I meet and accost. 
 But theo^ O present brilliance of the lustrous day, and the car- 
 borne sun, I salute now for the last time, and never again 
 hereafter. O lisht ! O sacred soil of mine own countrv, 
 Salamis ! O floor of my father's hearth, and thou, illustrious 
 Athens ! and race that shared my nurture ! and ye fountains, 
 and rivers here, and the Trojan plains I address ; farewell, my 
 fosterers : this his last v.'ord does Ajax speak to you : all else 
 will I tell to the dead in Hades.' 
 
 SE:>n-Cii. Double double toil and trouble !^ for whither, 
 whither, ay, v.'hither v»'ent I not ? and yet no place knows to 
 learn [of thee]. Hist ! hist ! again I hear some noise. 
 
 Semi-Cii. 'Tis but ours, the ship's company, partners in 
 your voyage. 
 
 SE:.n-Cii. "NVeil, and what then ? 
 
 Se3ii-Cii. Ail the western side of the lleet has been trav- 
 ersed. 
 
 SE3n-Cii. And hast thou then G;ot — 
 
 Se.mi-Cii. Trouble in abundance, and nouo;ht more to bo 
 seen. 
 
 SE?,n-Cii. Xay, nor to me then, on the measured track on 
 the east, does tlie hero any where present himself to ^-iev^. 
 
 Ch. Who, I pray, who of the industrious fishermen, plying 
 liis sleepless quest for prey, or who of the Olympian god- 
 desses,-^ or of the torrent rivers of the Bosphorus, if haply any 
 vrherc he descries the chief of savage spirit roaming, Avill tell 
 me ; for grievous it is that I, a wanderer, should approach r.o 
 
 ^ It may be thought that the play should have ended Vv'ith a speech so 
 sublime as the preceding ; but Hermann observes that the spirit of the 
 ancient tragedy v/ould by no means permit the omission of the funeral 
 Ij.mentations, and that in the cruelty of the Spartan Menelaus there must 
 have been something very acceptable to Athenian ears. 
 
 - Literally, "trouble brings trouble to trouble." 
 
 ^ The feminine adjective is used with deuv here by a similar fonn to 
 Tl/J.ag uvTJp, and others of the same sort, o:i which see Porson on Orest. 
 2G4, Phoeniss. 1033, and Lobeck on Aj. 323.— Herm.— Tn. We must 
 observe that Idpig has been cast out b}^ Erfurdt, Dindorf, and Wunder, and 
 that the Orcades and Drj-adcs of Mount Olympus arc meant. — B. 
 
208 AJAX. [889—910. 
 
 course of m j lengtlicncd toils ; nay, nor discover wiicrc an en- 
 feebled^ man like him is. 
 
 Tec. Alas ! ah me ! 
 
 Cii. AVhosc cry issued from the neighboring grove? 
 
 Tec. Alas, unhapi)y me ! 
 
 Cii. I see the hapless captive bride Tecmessa overwhelmed 
 amid this grief. 
 
 Tec. I am lost, undone ; 1 am utterly ruined, my friends. 
 
 Cii. What is it ? 
 
 Tec. Here is our Ajax lying just now newly slain, folded 
 over his hidden- sword. 
 
 Cii. Alas, and woe is me ! for my return ! Ah me ! prince, 
 thou hast killed th}' fellow-seaman here. Lnhapj)y me ! O 
 lady, sad at heart ! 
 
 Tec. 'Tis time to say, Ai ! Ai ! since such is his fate. 
 
 Cii. By whose hand then could he, ill-fated, have ever ef- 
 fected this? 
 
 Tec. Himself, Ly his own hand ; 'tis plain, for this his 
 sword stuck in the ground, whereon he fell, convicts him. 
 
 Cii. Ah me ! for this my misery ! 'twas then alone, by 
 friends unfcnced, thou didst shed thy blood ; v\'hile I, the all- 
 senseless, the all-ignorant, neglected thee. Y>'here, where lies 
 the intractable Ajax^ of ill-omened name ? 
 
 Tec. Mark me, he is not to be gazed on. No, I Avill shroud 
 him entirely in this enfolding robe, since none that Avas his 
 friend could bear to look on him exhaling upward at the 
 nostrils,"^ and out of the red gash, the gore now blackened from 
 
 ^ So Hermann, observing " tanto magis indignari Chorum, quod Aja- 
 cem vix morbo liberatum ipse valens assequi non potuerit." — B. 
 
 ^ For Kpvpalcj Musgrave proposes here to read KaOat/io), and adds, " dc- 
 sidcratur certc cpithetum, quod prajscntem cnsis conditioncm dcclarct."' 
 — Tr. But see Wunder on v. 809. Ajax had buried his sword deep in 
 the ground, lest the weight of his body, when falling, might turn the 
 blade aside. — B. 
 
 ^ These allusions would be better coiivcj-ed by using " Aias" through- 
 out the play, as Mr. Burges has done. " Vv'hcre, where lies Aias the 
 stubborn and lucklessly named T' — B. 
 
 ^ Wakefield (Sylv. Crit. p. 104) proposes to read Trpb^ pivoc, and quotes 
 Statius ; 
 
 Corruit, cxtremisque animsD singultibus errans 
 Alterutris, nunc ore venit, nunc vulncrc sanguis. 
 
 Theb. in. 90. 
 
CJ 
 
 919—955.] AJAX. 260 
 
 his self-inflicted deatll-^YOuncl. Ah mc, Avliat shall I do? 
 AVhat friend will bear thee off? Where is Teucer? I trust 
 that he may come, if come he should, in time to help lay out 
 for burial this his fallen brother ! Ah luckless Ajax ! what 
 thou wert ! what thou art ! deserving to meet with mourning, 
 ay, even from thy foes.^ 
 
 Cii. Wretched man! thou wert then obstinately bent, at 
 some time, to accomplish thine evil lot of endless woes : such 
 words wouidst thou sigh out all night and day, stern heart, of 
 evil sound to the Atridoe, with deadly passion. Surely that 
 time was a chief source of troubles,^ when the contest of supe- 
 rior valor was proposed about Achilles' arms. 
 
 Tec. Ah me, mc ! 
 
 Cii. The i>ang of genuine grief pierces to thine heart, I 
 know. 
 
 Tec. Ah me, me ! 
 
 Cii. I doubt not thou sighest thus doubly, lady, but now de- 
 spoiled of such a friend as this. 
 
 Tec. 'Tis thine to fancy all this, but mine too truly to feel. 
 
 Ch. I confess it. 
 
 Tec. Ah me, my child, to what a yoke of slavery pass we ! 
 w^hat taskmasters are over us ! 
 
 Cn. Alas ! in this thy sorrow thou hast made mention of 
 the unutterable^ deed of the two unfeeling Atrid^e : but may 
 heaven avert it. 
 
 Tec. Nay, all this liad never stood as it does, but with 
 heaven's will. 
 
 Cii. But far too heavy is this burden they have brought 
 upon us. 
 
 Tec. And yet such affliction as this does the dread goddess 
 Pallas, child of Jove, gender, to gratify Ulysses. 
 
 Cii. Ay, verily, the chief of many toils in his darkling soul 
 mocks us with scorn, and laughs Avith abundant laughter at the 
 
 ' And if thou tell'st the heavy story right, 
 
 Upon my soul, the hearers will shed tears ; 
 Yea, e'en my foes will shed fast-falling tears. 
 And say, Alas ! it was a piteous deed. 
 
 3d Part of Hen. VI. Act 1. 
 ' " Ille dies primus leti, primusque malorum 
 
 Causa fuit."— .^n. II.— B. 
 
 ^ Musgrave proposes dvaiScov, rejecting the interpretation of uvai^dov 
 by infandum. 
 
270 ^ AJAX. [9.0G— 982 
 
 madman's sorrows, alas! alas! and with liim Atreus' two royal 
 cons hearino; them. 
 
 Tec. Then let them laugh and joy over the woes of Ajax. 
 Perhaps, marlv me ! though when alive they desired him not, 
 tliey will monrn him dead, in the needful time of battle;^ for 
 the weak-minded, while they hold in their hands aught good, 
 knew it not, ere some one have cast it from him. More bitter 
 has his death been to me than sweet to them,^ but delightful to 
 himself; for all that he longed to possess he gained for'himself, 
 the very death he wished. How then could they laugh out 
 against him '? By the gods he died, not by them^ — no. ^ Then 
 let Ulysses be vainly insolent : for they have Ajax no longer ; 
 no, but having bequeathed to me sorrows and lamentations', he 
 is departed. 
 
 Teucer. Ah me ! me I 
 
 Cm. Be silent, for methinks I hear the voice of Teucer, cry- 
 ing out in a tone that intently dwells on this calamity. 
 
 Teu. O dearest Ajax ! O person of my brother ! hast thou 
 then dealt with thyself even as report prevails ? 
 
 Cii. Teucer, the man is no more ! of this be assured. 
 
 Teu. Then woe is me, for my hea\y affliction I 
 
 Cn. Since it is so — 
 
 Teu. Unhapi^y me ! unhappy ! 
 
 Cn. 'Tis time to groan. ' ^ 
 
 Teu. O too dire calamity! 
 
 ^ See Brunck's note. 
 
 -For it so falls out, 
 
 That what we have we prize not to the worth, 
 ■\Vhilcs w^e enjoy it ; but being lacked and loct, 
 "Why then we rack the value, then we find 
 The virtue that possession would not show us 
 "Whiles it was ours. 
 
 Much Ado about Nothing, Act 4, sc. 1. 
 - Mu/Jmv is understood. Thus Homer : 
 
 BorZo//' iycj }muV coov Ifi/iEvai, y a.-o?.ecOac. 
 
 B. I. v. 117. 
 ' To fall by the hands of an enemy worthy of them, was often a con- 
 Kolation to the dying heroes of antiquity, and is so used by Philoctctes 
 to Neoptolcmus, on his hearing of Achilles' death. Thus Turnus in 
 Virgil : 
 
 — ; Non mc tua fervida terrent 
 
 Dicta, ferox : Di me terrent, ct Jupiter hostis. 
 
 iEn, XII. 894. 
 
983—1014.] AJAX. 271 
 
 Cii. Too much so, Teucer. 
 
 Teu. Ah, hapless ! But what of his child ? Where in this 
 Trojan hind is he ? 
 
 Cii. Alone at the tents. 
 
 Teu. Wilt not thou with ail speed bring him hither, lest 
 any of his foes lay hold of him, as the whelp of a widowed li- 
 oness? Go, bestir thyself, bear aid. All, mark me ! are wont 
 to deride the fallen dead.^ 
 
 Cii. Nay, moreover, while yet alive, O Teucer, the hero 
 left a charge that thou shouldst care for Eurysaces, even as 
 now thou art carinsr. 
 
 Teu. Oh thou, of all spectacles to me the most painful that 
 I have ever with mine eyes beheld ; thou too, a journey that 
 of all journeys has surely most anguished my heart, even that 
 which I have now come, O dearest Ajax, when I heard thy 
 fate, following up and tracing it step by step ; for the report 
 concerning thee, swift as if of some god, pervaded all the 
 Greek host, how that thou wert dead and gone* Which I 
 miserable hearing, while I was absent from it, was inwardly 
 groaning, but now that I see it, am utterly undone. Ah me ! 
 Come, uncover, that I may see the whole evil. O sight dread- 
 ful to look on, and of bitter daring, of how many pangs having 
 deeply sown the seeds for me, dost thou wither ! For whith- 
 er can I betake myself, to what manner of people, I that no- 
 v.'here aided thee in thy troubles ? Doubtless will Telamon, 
 thy father as he is mine, receive me with kind aspect,^ and, 
 haply, with mild air, returning without thee. For how should 
 he not, whose wont it is not, even when fortunate, to wear a 
 smile of more than common pleasure ? What will he suppress ? 
 What reproach will lie not utter? That I, the spuriolis off- 
 rpring of his captive in war ;^ that I have by cowardice and 
 
 ^ Of this savage custom among the ancients, Homer has left us many 
 examples, and none more strikmg than in the case of the fallen Hector, 
 which passage Pope has in his translation explained away. II. B. XXH. 
 
 ^ Ironically. 
 
 ^ Teucer, as he himself afterward states, was the son of Telamon by 
 Hesione, daughter of Laomedon, who had been selected by Hercules as a 
 reward to the King of Salamis for his services in that hero's expedition to 
 Troy. The event justified these apprehensions of Teucer ; and to avoid 
 his father's indignation, he fled to Cyprus, where he founded Salamis. — 
 Tr. 66pv TTo/.e/LiLov signifies a captive taken in war, as Tecmessa in v. 
 ?21 is styled /.exog Sopul/.DTov. — 13. 
 
272 AJAX. [1015—1046. 
 
 unmaiilincss betrayed tliee, dearest Ajax, or in treason, that I 
 might possess thy sc\creignty and patrimony when dead. 
 Such Avords will ne, a man of passionate temper, morose with 
 age, who is angered to strife by a mere nothing,^ utter. And 
 in the end shall I, repulsed, be cast out from my countiy, by 
 his words declared a slave, and no freeman. 'Jiius nmch at 
 home ; but here, at Troy, many are my foes, and little is there 
 to profit me. And all this have I incurred by thy death. Ah 
 me ! what shall I do ? how shall I tear thee off from this bit- 
 ter shining- sword, the destroyer whereby thou didst expire? 
 Ivnewest thou how in time Hector, even though dead, was 
 doomed to be thy destruction? Observe ye, by the gods I 
 ask, the fate of these two men. Hector, having been fast 
 bound with the very girdle wherewith he was presented from 
 Ajax,3 by the steed-drawn car was ever racked and mangled 
 until he breathed out his life ; while Ajax, possessing this, the 
 gift of Hector, perished by its means through a fatal fall. 
 And was it not a Furv that forcred this cimeter, and Hades 
 the other, that fierce artificer? I then vs'ould say, liiat the 
 gods devised both this and every thing else forever to mankind. 
 But to Vv'homsoever in opinion this is not pleasiu£, let him 
 fondly cling to other, and me to this. 
 
 Ch. Extend no length of speech, but bethink thee how 
 thou wilt commit to the tomb thy brother, and what thou 
 presently wilt parley. For I descry a foeman, and haply he 
 may, as would a villain, come forth to laugh at our misfor- 
 tunes. 
 
 Teu. But what man of the army is it that thou seest ? 
 
 Cii. Menelaus, for v/liom, in fact, we undertook this voyage. 
 
 Teu. I see him, for, near as he is, he is not hard to recog- 
 nize.^ 
 
 ^ The translators failed to perceive that the words rrpbg ovdhv eic tpiv 
 Ovizoificvor refer to the general character of Telamon, and not to the pres- 
 cr.t instance ; for surely anfjor for the death of Ajax would not be rrpbg 
 ovdiV ! Brunck rightly rendered it " levissimani quanique ob causam ad 
 jurgia irritabilis." — B. 
 
 ^ alo/MC probably refers to the flashing streaks of light and shade seen 
 on a wcll-polishcd blade. See Vv'under on v. 147. — B- 
 
 ^ This is not found in Homer's account. 
 
 * Probably by his haughty air and step. 
 
 'Tis he, I ken the manner oi his gi.it, 
 
10-17—1075.] AJAX. 273 
 
 INIexelaus. Ho thou ! to thee I speak. See tliou aid not 
 in burying with thine hands this corpse, but leave it as it is. 
 
 Teu. For what purpose hast thou spent thus much in 
 words ? 
 
 Mex. As my pleasure, and his who sways the host. 
 
 Teu. Wilt thou not then say Avhat cause alleging '^ 
 
 Men. Because that,^ having hoped we should bring him 
 from home both friend and ally to Greeks, we have, on inquiiy, 
 found him out to be more hostile than the Phrygians ; wdio, 
 having plotted destruction to the whole army at once, went 
 forth armed by night against it to subdue it with his spear. 
 And had not some god baffled this his attempt, we had lain 
 victims to the very fate himself hath obtained, murdered by a 
 death most ignominious, while he w'ould have lived. But god 
 now hath wrought the chano;e, that his violence should fall on 
 the slieep and Hocks. Wherefore there lives not the man of 
 so much power as to entomb his body in the grave ; but cast 
 out on the pale sand, he shall become food for the birds that 
 coast along; the brine. And therefore assume thou no fierce 
 indignation ; for although we could not master him alive, at 
 all events we will rule him dead, although thou be unwilling, 
 perforce chastening him with our hands. For there is no 
 instance in Avhich, while he lived, he was ever willing to attend 
 to my words ; and yet it is the proof of a bad man, that he, a 
 private citizen, should in nothing deign to listen to those who 
 are set over him. For never,- neither in a state could laws 
 be rightly carried on, where fear has not been established, nor 
 surely could an army endure a commander w^ith submission 
 
 He rises on the toe ; that spirit of his 
 In aspiration lifts him from the earth. 
 
 Troilus and Cressida, Act 4, sc. 5. 
 
 ' This is in accordance with Aristotle's rule, who, in his enumeration 
 of those toward whom ano-er is felt, mentions friends before eneraios, as 
 the injury, being unexpected, is the greater. — Rhet. B. II. c. ii. 
 
 ^ In Troilus and Cressida the speech of Ulysses in council enlarges this 
 sentiment beautifully ; the whole is too long for insertion, but parts of it 
 seem almost paraphrased : 
 
 Take but degree away, untune that string, 
 And, hark, what discord follows ! * * 
 
 Force should be right, or, rather, right and wrong 
 (Between whose endless jar justice resides) 
 Should lose their names, and so should justice too. 
 
 M 2 
 
274 AJAX. [1076—1108. 
 
 any longer, having no barrier of respect and shame. But an 
 individual, though he be larg6 of person, it behooves to think 
 that he may hereafter fall, though by a puny ill.i For to 
 whom both fear and the sense of honor attach, that man, be 
 sure, carries with him his safety; but where it is allowed liim 
 to be insolent and do whatever he pleases, think that at some 
 future time this state, though it sped before a fiivoring gale, 
 will sink to the bottom. But let me ever be fixed in a whole- 
 some awe,2 and let me not think that after doing what I please, 
 I shall not pay back in turn Avhat pains me. Alternately this 
 comes upon us. Before now, this man was a fiery insolent ; 
 now I in turn am high-minded, and command thee not to 
 bury him, lest that by burying him thyself sink into the 
 tomb. 
 
 Ch. Menelaus, do not, having set forth vrise sentiments, be- 
 come in consequence thyself an insulter of the dead. 
 
 Teu. Never again, my friends, could I wonder at a man, 
 wdio, being nothing by birth, consequently errs, when they 
 who fancy they are born of a noble family, err in their speech 
 with words such as these. Come, teU me again from the 
 beginning, canst thou say thou didst take and bring this man 
 hither as an ally to the Greeks? Did not he himself sail out 
 as his own master? AVherein art thou his commander? and 
 wherein is it allowed thee to sway the people that he led forth 
 from home. Thou earnest as prince of Sparta, and not as 
 commanding us ; nor is there w^here the law of rule was laid 
 dow^n for thee to order him, any more than he thee. Thou 
 camast hither under the command of others, not general 
 of the whole army, that thou shouldst ever lord it over Ajax. 
 No, rule those whom thou dost rule, and in haughty terms 
 chastise them ; but my brother here, whether thou forbid, or 
 
 ^ "Nihil est tam firinum, cui v.on pcriculum sit ctiam ab invalido." 
 This is somewhat provcrbiai. Theocritus, iv. 55, ocGiXov Icri to rvufxa 
 nal uAlkov (Ivdpu SajuuaSei. — U. 
 
 ^ "This is said by Menclaus in perfect conformity with the Spartan in- 
 stitutions ; which nation built a small temple to Fear close by the throne 
 of the Ephori " — Lobeck. Yet Pericles, in his funeral oration, has 
 claimed it pre-eminently for his countrymen. V. Thuc. 11. 37. — Tn. 
 Compare Lucan's character of Cscsar, Phars. III. 80. " Non ilium Icctis 
 vadcntem cactibus urbes, Sed tacitse videre metu, non constitit usquam 
 Oovia turba duci : gaudct tamen csso timori Tam magno populis, ct se 
 non mallet amari." — B. 
 
1100— ll-:7.] AJAX. 275 
 
 the other chieftain, Vvill I duly commit to the tomb, fearless of 
 thy mouthing. Since in no wise for thy wife's sake did he 
 campaign, like adventurers ever busy, but for his oath's,^ where- 
 by he was bound, and not for tlice, since he valued not the 
 worthlesfs. Wherefore come and bring Avith thee hither more 
 heralds, and the general : but for thy rant I would not turn 
 me, so long as thou shalt be such as thou art. 
 
 Cn. Nay, on the other hand, I like not such speeches in mis- 
 fortune ; for harsh reproofs, mark me, though they be but too 
 just, arc biting. 
 
 Men. Methinks our archer thinks not little of himself.- 
 
 Teu. No, for 'twas no sordid art I acquired. 
 
 ]Mex. Thou wouldst be likely to boast somewhat largely 
 couldst thou bear a shield. 
 
 Teu. Even unarmed I were a match for thee at any rate, 
 though mailed.-^ 
 
 Mex. How bold a spirit this that thy tongue nurtures ! 
 
 Teu. Yes, in a just cause it is allowable to be high-spir- 
 ited. 
 
 Men. What, is it just that he should prosper, having slain 
 me? 
 
 Teu. Having slain thee ! Thou hast spoken a Avonder in- 
 deed, if thou thounh dead livest. 
 
 '^ The story is that Tyndarus, father of Helen, bound all her suitors by 
 strict oaths to maintain the cause of him whom she should choose as her 
 husband, and resist or revenge any attempt to carry her off. Thucydi«. 
 des, however, gives a different opinion in his first book, and considers 
 Agamemnon to have exercised a feudal authority over the other chiefs 
 that composed the Grecian force. — Tr. The Schol. interprets ol tt. tt. 
 7r2ccj, ol (pi?i.oKiv6vvoL, OL 7z7.T]peig ruv lavSivuv /.iycL di: rovg fiLodo^o- 
 povg. — B. 
 
 ^ The archers were reckoned among the ipi'koL or light-armed troops of 
 the Greeks, and accounted inferior to the Hoplites. Homer (II. 8) men- 
 tions the manner of Teucer's fighting, and his retiring behind his broth- 
 er's shield for protection afcer the discharge of his arrows. For an ex- 
 ample of the contempt in which bowmen were held, Musgrave refers to a 
 dispute of Lycus in Euripides, Here. Fur. 158. The Lysistrata and 
 Acharnians of Ariptophanes likewise show their low estimation of arch- 
 ers and archery at Athens. 
 
 ' Thrice is te a'^m'd that hath his quarrel just ; 
 
 And he but naked, though lock'd up :n steel, 
 Whose conscience vrith injustice is corrupted. 
 
 Second Pan of Hein-> VI. Acx 3, «c- 2. 
 
27G AJAX. [1123— 11 M. 
 
 INIen. I do, for heaven rescues me, but as far as lie is con- 
 cerned I am no more. 
 
 Teu. Having by the gods been saved, do not now dishonor 
 the gods. 
 
 Men. What, should I impugn the divine laws ? 
 
 Teu. Yes, if thou art here to forbid the burial of the 
 dead. 
 
 Men. Mine own enemies at least for myself I do ; for it is 
 not fitting. 
 
 Teu. What, did Ajax ever confront thee as a foe ? 
 
 Men. I hated him who hated me ; thou knewest this thy- 
 self. 
 
 Teu. Ay, for thou wast found of him a fraudulent voter. 
 
 Men. That slip was made by the judges, not me. 
 
 Teu. Many a crime mightest thou Avickedly and fraudfully 
 commit in secret. 
 
 Men. These words are coming on to annoyance for some 
 one. 
 
 Teu. No more so methinks than Ave shall annoy. 
 
 Men. One thing; I will tell thee. This felloAV must not be 
 entombed. 
 
 Teu. And do thou in return hear j^ this man shall presently 
 be buried. 
 
 Men. Once ere now saw I a man daring in tongue, urging 
 on his crew to sail in stormy Aveather, in Avhom thou mightest 
 not have found the poAver of speech Avhen by the peril of the 
 storm he Avas encompassed ; no, hidden under his cloak he gaAe 
 himself up for any one of the seamen that Avould to trample 
 on. And so also thee and thy unbridled tongue a mighty 
 storm, bursting forth from a little cloud, might haply put down 
 in thy tedious clamor. 
 
 Teu. And I too have beheld a man filled Avith folly, Avho 
 AA'^as insulting the calamities of his neighbors. And then one 
 like to me in person, and in temper similar, having looked 
 upon him, spake Avords such as these : " Man, treat not the 
 
 ^ Here Brunck defends the future middle as used in an active sense ; 
 but Lobeck has produced instances from Sophocles himself (CEd. Tyr. 
 544), and other approved Attic writers (Xen. Anab. II. 5), which seems 
 to favor the substitution of av uvtukovoov tv ro(5'. — Tr. The future per- 
 fect is often used to imply great determination or earnestness on the part 
 of the speaker. — B. 
 
1154—1190] AJAX 277 
 
 dead with injury, for if thou wilt do so, know thou shalt be 
 punished." Thus, being by, did he admonish that luckless 
 wight. But mark, I see him ; and he can be, to my thinking, 
 none else than thou. Have I spoken riddles? 
 
 Men. I will be gone. For base were it, if any one were 
 to hear such a thing, for one who can use force to punish by 
 words. 
 
 Teu. Crawl hence now, for in me too is it most base to 
 listen to a vain fellow prating paltry words. 
 
 Cii. The conflict of a mighty quarrel will ensue. But 
 speeding, Teucer, as best thou canst, be quick to look out a 
 lioUow grave for Ajax,^ where he shall possess his mouldering 
 sepulchre by mortals ne'er forgotten. 
 
 Teu. And in truth, at the very nick of time, here at hand 
 come the wife and child of this my brother, to deck out the 
 tomb of the unfortunate dead. Come hither, my boy, and 
 standing near, as a suppliant, touch thy father that begot 
 thee. And sit thou his petitioner, holding in thy hands my 
 hair,2 and hers here, and thine own the third, a suppliant's 
 store. ]3ut if any one from the army would pluck thee forci- 
 bly from this corpse, be the villain, as a villain should, an un- 
 buried outcast from his country, mowed down root and branch 
 with all his race, even thus as I cut this lock of hair. Take 
 it, my child, and keep it, and see that none move thee, but 
 having fallen on the body, cling fast. And do not ye stand 
 close by him as women instead of men, but protect him until 
 I come, having provided for the burial of this man though 
 none permit. 
 
 Cii. What number of much-wandering years being the last 
 will ever cease, [a number] ever bringing upon me a ceaseless 
 distress of spear-ravening toils through wide^ Ti'oy, the dire 
 
 ^ Sophocles has .said nothing of the body of Aiax being burned, that 
 being a privilege denied to him on the authority of Calchas, who declared 
 the holy element of fire to be polluted by consuming therein the remains 
 of suicides. Philostratus in Heroicis. 
 
 ' The custom of consecrating their hair was very common among the 
 ancients ; and in Euripides, we find Electra condemning Helen for spar- 
 ing her locks. Orestes, 1. 128. So also Achilles, at the funeral of Pa- 
 troclus, cuts off the hair he had vowed to his native river Spercheius ; and 
 his example was followed, out of respect to the dead, by the other Greeks. 
 II. XXIII. 135. 
 
 ^ There is some doubt about evpudr/g Some take it as equivalent to 
 
278 AJAX. [1191—1233. 
 
 reproacli of Greeks? Would that that man had first entered 
 the boundless aether, or Hades, the dwelling of all, who show- 
 ed the Greeks the common use in war of hateful arms. Ah, 
 toils, of toils the parent ! For he was man's ruin.^ Pie hath 
 appointed to company with me neither the joy of chaplets, 
 nor of deep goblets, nor the dulcet harm.ony of flutes, the 
 wretch, nor to linger o'er nightly delights ; no, from love, from 
 love, alas ! he has debarred me. And thus uncared-for I am 
 lying, my hair continually drenched with fast-falling dews," 
 memorials of doleful Troy. And truly up to this time the 
 valiant Ajax was my buhvark from nightly terror, and from 
 the arrow ; but now he is undone by a hateful doom ; what 
 delight, then, what pleasure will ever again attend me? O 
 could I be where the woody foreland, washed by the wave, 
 beetles o'er the main, 'neath Sunium's lofty plain, that I might 
 accost the sacred Athens.^ 
 
 Teu. Truly I hurried back, having seen the commander 
 Agamemnon hastening hither to us ; and he evidently is about 
 to let loose his evil tongue on me. 
 
 Agamemnon. They tell me thou darest vaunt against us 
 thy fierce invectives thus with impunity ; thee, to thee, son of 
 the captured slave, I speak. Truly hadst thou been born of 
 a noble m.other, thou wouldst have boasted loftily, and walked 
 on tiptoe, Avhen, thyself a nothing,^ for one that is nothing 
 thou hast stood up against us. On oath too hast thou affirmed 
 
 evp6eir, "dank" (cf. Horn. Od. X., 512 ; Hesiod. Theog. 731), but oth- 
 ers like ei'pvc, as Homer's Tpoirjv evpelav or evpvdjvLap. As I can not 
 see how the former sense could well be applied to Troy, I have adopted 
 the otlier. — B. 
 
 ^ Still finer are the reflections of Henry the Sixth upon the evils of 
 war, as the causes which produce them are more dreadful, and truly war- 
 rant his exclaiming, "Woe upon v/oe, grief more than common grief!" 
 
 - Similar to this is the complaint of the herald in the Agamemnoo of 
 -^schylus. 
 
 ^ It was probably from these lines that Lord Byron took the hint for 
 the last stanza of his ode to the Greek isles : 
 
 Place me on Sunium's marbled steep, 
 "Where nothing, save the waves and I, 
 
 May hear our mutual murmurs weep — 
 There, swan-like, let me sing and die. 
 
 * Shamest thou not, knowing whence thou art extraught, 
 
 To let thy tongue detect tliy base-born heart ? 
 
 Third Part of llcury VI. Act 2, so. 2. 
 
1233— 12G3.J AJAX. 270 
 
 that we have come neither jrenerals nor admirals of the Greeks 
 or of thee ; no, as thou sayest, Ajax eailed his own com- 
 mander. Are not these iireat insuhs to hear from shaves? 
 In behalf of what manner of man liast thou clamored thus 
 hau^htilv ! whither havinrr marched, where made his stand, 
 where I did not ? Have then the Greeks no men save him ? 
 Of bitter consequence methinks was the contest we proclaimed 
 of late to the Greeks for Achilles' arms, if every where we arc 
 to be declared villains by Teucer ; and if it will never content 
 you, not even when worsted, to acquiesce in what seemed fit 
 to the majority of your judges, but ye will constantly either 
 assail us somehow with reproaches, or harass us with covert 
 treason, you the vanquished party. Yet out of ways like 
 these tliere never could arise the establishment of any law, if 
 we are to thrust out those who prevail justly, and bring the 
 hindmost to the foremost rank ; no, all this must we check. 
 For 'tis not the stout, nor the broad-backed men that arc 
 most safe ;* no, the men of good counsel every where prevail. 
 And the large-sided ox goes straight along the road guided by 
 a whip, though small. And on thee I behold this medicine 
 quickly stealing, unless thou get thee some understanding, 
 thou who for a man now no more, but already a shadow, art 
 confident in insolence and in tongue unbridled. Wilt thou 
 never be humble ? wilt thou not, having learned what bv birth 
 thou art,- bring hither some one else of gentle blood, v^dio in 
 thy stead shall speak to us thy words 1 for I can no longer un- 
 derstand while thou speakest, since I am not acquainted with 
 the barbarians' tongue.^ 
 
 ^ Ulysses, in Shakespeare, thus remarks on the false pride of Ajax and 
 Achilles : 
 
 So that the ram, that batters down the wall, 
 For the great swing and rudeness of his poise. 
 They place before the hand that made the engine, 
 Or those that with the fineness of their souls, 
 By reason guide his execution. 
 
 Troilus and Cressida, Act 1, so. 3. 
 ' Satis contumeliose hsec ab Agamemnone proferuntur. Ser\i enim, 
 qualem Teucrum traducit, non poterant Athenis in concione causam di- 
 cere. Conf. Ter. Phorm. 2. 1. G2. — ^^'esseling. 
 
 •* Ao-amemnon sneers at Teucer for his descent from a foreign mother ; 
 f/herein Sophocles appears rather to have consulted the manners and prej- 
 udices of his own age than that which he is describing. Not unlike this 
 IftMnt is liotspur's observation to Glendower; 
 
280 AJAX. [12G4— 1290. 
 
 Cii. Oh that ye had both of you the sense to be temperate, 
 for than this I liave nothing better to advise you. 
 
 Teu. Ahis ! how speedily does all grateful memory of the 
 dead fade away among mankind, and is found to have de- 
 serted him ; if at least this man no longer, not even in tri- 
 lling matters, Ajax, remembers thee, for whom thou many a 
 time didst toil with the spear, exposing thy lil'c ! But all this 
 is now past and gone, thrown by in scorn. O thou that hast 
 just uttered words many and profitless, rememberest thou no 
 longer aught, when Ajax here once came and alone delivered 
 you, pent up within your barriers,^ already as nothing in the 
 rout of battle ; when fire was blazing around the ships, even 
 then on the topmost benches of the seamen ; and Hector, past 
 the trenches, Avas leaping high upon the naval hulks ! Who 
 repelled all this? AYas it not he that did it? he who, thou 
 sayest, nowhere even set foot to foot ? What ! "were not these 
 justly his deeds in your behalf? And when again he singly, 
 against Plector single-handed, by lot and not by command 
 selected, went forth to cope with him ; having deposited in 
 the midst no clod of clammy earth, ^ his skulking lot, but one 
 that was sure the first to bound with light spring from the 
 crested helmet ! He it was performed these deeds ; and with 
 him at his side, I, the slave, the offspring of a barbarous moth- 
 er. Wretch ! whither looking, canst thou prate of this ? 
 Knowest thou not that the father that begot thy father, Pelops 
 of old, was a Phrygian barbarian ; and Atreus, who in turn 
 begat thee, was the most impious of men, who set before his 
 brother a repast of his own children 1 And thou thyself wert 
 born of a Cretan mother,^ with whom the father that begot 
 
 Who shall say mc nay ^ 
 Gi.EN. Why, that will I. 
 Hot. Let mc not understand you then : 
 
 Speak it in ^\cIsh. 
 
 First Part of Henry IV. Act 3, sc. 1. 
 
 ^ See Homer, II. 12, for tlic account of Ajax' repulse of Hector ; and 
 in the 14th book we find a disgraceful llight by night proposed by Aga- 
 memnon, but objected to by Ulysses. 
 
 ^ This is an anachronism, and alludes to the deceit practiced by Cres- 
 phontes in furtherance of his gaining Mcsscnia to his share in the divis- 
 ion of Peloponnesus by the HeraclidtB. A|)ollod. Q. 8, Pausan. IV. 3. 
 
 ^ The term " Cretan," from the days of P ito (vid. Schol. ad Aristoph. 
 Aw. Toi' (xaivofievov, Tor Kp~/Ta, Tap fjo] i(," 'Arr/A-or) to those of St. 
 
1297—1325] AJAX. 281 
 
 her liaving taken a strange seducer, cast her aAvay a prey to 
 dumb fishes. And dost thou, being such, reproach ^vith their 
 family such as I am ? I that am by birth the son of Telamon, 
 wlio having gained the first prize of valor in the host, takes 
 as the partner of his bed my mother, a princess by birtli, 
 cliild of Laoraedon. Pier, a selected present, the son of Alc- 
 mona cave liim. And can I, thus the most excellent off- 
 spring of two of the most excelling, disgrace my kindred by 
 blood, whom, j^rostrate in woes like these, thou spurnest forth 
 iinburied, nor blushed for thy words % Be well assured then 
 of this, that if ye shall cast forth any where this body, ye 
 shall with it cast out us three^ b'i'^S ^^ l^^s ^^^^ 5 since it is for 
 my honor, laboring in Ajax' behalf, to die gloriously, rather 
 than for thy wife's sake, or, I tell thee, thy brother's. Then 
 look not to my situation only, but to thine own ; since if thou 
 shalt do me aught of harm, thou wilt one day wish thou hadst 
 been a coward rather than bold against me. 
 
 Cii. Prince Ulysses, know thou hast come in season, if 
 thou art here not to embroil, but to join in loosing^ [the quar- 
 rel]. 
 
 Ul. What is it, friends? for from afar I heard the clamor 
 of the Atrida) over this valiant corpse. 
 
 Ag. Yes ; for are we not hearing the most opprobrious 
 v/ ords, king Ulysses, from this fellow here, even now ? 
 
 Ul. Of what sort ? for I can grant indulgence to the man 
 who hears bad words, with ill words to match them. 
 
 Ag. He hath heard his shame, for shamefully he treated me. 
 
 Ul. Why, what hath he done to thee that thou hast in^ 
 
 jury ^ 
 
 Paul, appears to have been a term of more than common reproach. Ly- 
 cophron calls Menelaus a half-Cretan, from his mother Aerope, whom her 
 father having detected in an intrigue with a domestic, gave to Nauplius, 
 with injunctions to throv/ her overboard out at sea ; but he disobeyed the 
 mandate, and betrothed her to Plisthenes, son of Atreus. For Agamem- 
 non and Menelaus are said to have been the grandchildren of Atreus, and 
 not, as commonly supposed, his sons, although considered and treated as 
 such by him. — Tr. On this contempt of the Cretans, see the Comm. on 
 Callimach. in Jov. 8. — B. 
 
 ^ Himself, Tecmessa, and Eurysaces ; for what the scholiast says of 
 the words being a threat, and having reference to the Atrida;, is too far- 
 fetched ; nor were the latter fallen down by Ajax' side, which he had in- 
 structed Eurysaces to do. 
 
 ^ ///) belongs to ^vvdij-cji' only. See Wunder. — B. 
 
282 AJAX. [1326—1353 
 
 Ag. lie denies that lie will leave this dead body destitute 
 of burial, but will inter it in spite of me. 
 
 Ul. Is it then allowed a friend, having spoken the truth, to 
 be no less thy friend than before?^ 
 
 Ag. Say on ; else were I not in my right mind ; since I ac- 
 count thee the greatest friend of the Greeks. 
 
 Ul. Listen now. By the gods I implore, have not the 
 heart thus pitilessly to cast out unburied this Ajax, and let 
 not violence by any means prevail on thee so far to hate him 
 as to trample on justice. For to mc also he once was of all 
 the army the bitterest foe, from the time I became master of 
 Achilles' arms ; and yet, though such he Avas to me, I would 
 not so far dishonor him as not to say that he, and no other, 
 was the bravest of all the Greeks I have looked on, as many 
 of us as came to Troy, except Achilles ; and therefore he 
 may not, in justice at least, be disgraced by thee. For thou 
 wouldst not injure him at all, but the laws of the gods : nor is 
 it just to wrong the brave man, if he be dead, although thou 
 chance to hate him. 
 
 Ag. Dost thou, Ulysses, thus in behalf of this man contend 
 with me? 
 
 Ul. I do. I hated him, while to hate was honorable. 
 
 Ag. What, and oughtest thou not also to insult him 
 dead? 
 
 Ul. Joy not, son of Atreus, over vantages not honor- 
 able. 
 
 Ag. Look thou, for a despot to be religious is no easy mat- 
 ter.2 
 
 Ul. But it is to pay respect to friends, who advise well. 
 
 Ag. The virtuous man should obey those in oflice. 
 
 Ul. Have done.^ Thou conquerest, believe me, in yielding 
 to thy friends. 
 
 ^ Literally, " to pull together with thee." 
 
 ' " The poet seems to have inserted this sentiment willi a view rather to 
 the gratification of his audience than to the consistency of the character."' 
 — Hermann, who takes evaejSelu apparently as transitive, against the opin- 
 ion of Valckenacr and others. There seems no reason to suppose that 
 Soj)hocles aUuded to Cleon here. With better reason, a})parcntly, Her- 
 mann thinks tliat demagogue glanced at in lines 1338 and 1340, for liis 
 conduct toward tlic Lesbians, etc. 
 
 ^ The word rravcjai here oflends some of tlic commentators as indicative 
 
1:551—1370.] AJAX. 283 
 
 Ag. Remember to what kind of man tliou grantest this 
 favor. 
 
 Ul. This man was mine enemy, yet sometime noble. 
 
 Ag. "Wiiat canst thou possibly mean to do ? Dost thou 
 thus respect the corpse of a foe ? 
 
 Ul. Yes ; for his valor far transcends my hatred. 
 
 Ag. Yet men like these are in the world's eye dotards. 
 
 Ul. !Nay, surely there are many now friends, but afterward 
 enemies. 
 
 Ag. Dost thou then approve of making such as these thy 
 friends ? 
 
 Ul. I am not wont to approve of an obdurate spirit. 
 
 Ag. This dav wilt thou demonstrate us to be cowards. 
 
 Ul. Nay, rather to all the Greeks as men of justice. 
 
 Ag. Dost thou then desire me to suffer them bury the 
 corpse ? 
 
 Ul. I do ; for I myself also shall come to this. 
 
 Ag. Hov,' every man labors all things suitably to him- 
 self I^ 
 
 Ul. Yes ; for whom is it more reasonable I should labor 
 than for myself? 
 
 Ag. Shall not this then be called thy act, not mine ? 
 
 Ul. As thou shalt do it, shalt thou every where be esteem- 
 ed meritorious. 
 
 Ag. Nay then, be well assured of this at least, that I would 
 bestow on thee a greater boon than this ; but that man, wheth- 
 er here or there, will still be by me most hated ; but it is al- 
 lowed thee to act as is requisite. 
 
 Ch. Whoever, Ulysses, denies that thou art naturally wise 
 of counsel, being such as thou art, is a fool. 
 I Ul. However to Teucer I declare that from this time forth 
 
 of too little respect on the part of Ulysses to his commander. Her.co 
 Markland would read Yldcaig, Omnibus suffragns, and Musgrave JIaevcel 
 KpclTiarov, optime navigabis ; but these emendations are by no means rec- 
 uisitc. V. CEd. Tyr. 630; Eur. And. G92. This sentiment is explain- 
 ed by Thucydides, L. 4, c. 20. " For to those who are easily induced 
 to make concessions, men are naturally inclined to yield in their turii, 
 and that v^'ilh pleasure."' 
 
 ^ Lobeck considers this as ironical in Agamemnon, who would insinu- 
 ate that the present magnanimity of Ulysses was inconsistent with his 
 character. 
 
284 AJAX. [1377—1407. 
 
 I am as much his friend as ere new I was his foe ;- and I wish 
 to help bniy this dead body here, to share the labor, and omit 
 nothing of all that is man's duty to care for in honor of the 
 noblest of mankind. 
 
 Teu. Most excellent Ulysses! 'tis mine to give thee all 
 manner of commendation in words, and thou hast much belied 
 my expectation ; for being of Greeks the man most hostile to 
 this my brother, thou alone hast stood by him with thy exer- 
 tions, nor hast had the heart here alive greatly to insult him 
 dead, as that our mad-stricken general, coming himself and 
 his brother also, Avere desirous to have cast him cut insulted 
 without sepulture. Wherefore may the sire that rules this 
 Olympus, and mindful Erinnys, and Justice accomjilishing 
 her end, bring the Avretches to a wretched doom, even as they 
 were desirous unworthily and in contemptuous sort to cast out 
 Ajax. But, O seed of Laertes, thine aged sire, I dread to 
 allow of thy having a hand in this funeral, lest this I do dis- 
 pleasing to the dead,2 but in all else act w^ith me ; and if thou 
 wilt that any one of the army attend him forth, I shall not 
 feel hurt at it. But for all the rest myself will take order ; 
 and be thou assured that in my esteem thou art a worthy 
 man. 
 
 Ul. Nay, I could indeed have wished it ; but if it be not 
 pleasing to thee that I should do this, 1 will be gone, acquies- 
 cing in thy views. 
 
 Teu. Enough ; for already has much time elapsed ; but 
 do some of you speed with your hands the hollow grave, and 
 others set on the fire the high-standing tripod, of use for the 
 haly ablutions ; and let one troop of men bring forth from the 
 
 ' Thus Aufidius over the dead body of Coriolanus, whom he had slain : 
 
 My rage is gone, 
 And I am struck with sorrow. Take him up : 
 Help, three o' the chiefest soldiers : I'll be one. 
 
 Coriol. Act 5, so. 5. 
 ' The ancients were very scrupulous in their respect to the manes of 
 the dead. Hence Philostratus, speaking of these very events, has the fol- 
 lowing passage : " He (Ulysses) having brought the armor of Achilles to 
 Ajax when laid out for interment, and having burst into tears, ' There, be 
 thou buried,' said he, 'in the arms thou didst love so well ; and be thine 
 the victory in them, nor let thy spirit feel aught of resentment.' ^\'llere- 
 iipon, the Greeks applauding Ulysses, Tcucer joined in their praises of 
 b.ini, but declined the gift of the armor on the plea that what caused his 
 death v/as unfit to grace his burial. Heroicc. C. II. 3. 
 
1403— 1419.J AJA.X. 285 
 
 tent liis mailed garniture. But do thou, cliild, with aifection 
 grasping thy lather as well as thou hast strength to, ease this 
 his side with me ; for yet do the Avarm gaslics exhale a black 
 gore. But come every one that says he is here a friend, let 
 liim hurry, let him go, toiling for this hero, in all things good, 
 and for none among mankind more excellent than Ajax,^ 
 
 Cii. How many things is it man's by seeing to know! but 
 ere he have seen, there is no prophet of the future as to what 
 it will bring to pass. 
 
 ^ The \vord5? "XtavTog, '"it'' yv, rore (jxjvcj, arc thrown out by Dindorf 
 and Wunder. — B. 
 
fl-i4 
 
 P II I L C T E T E S. 
 
 The sufferings of Philoctetcs on the island of Lcmnos, whither he had 
 been brought by Ulysses, in obedience to the oracular advice of Hele- 
 nus, and his being led away from thence by Ulysses in company with 
 Neoptoleinus.^ — 13. 
 
 DRAMATIS PERSON.^. 
 
 Ulysses. 
 
 Neoftolemui 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Philoctetes. 
 
 Spy as a Merchant. 
 
 Kercules. 
 
 Ulysses. This is the shore of the Avave-encircled land of 
 Lemnos, untrodden by man, and nninhiibited, where, O thou 
 reared from a sire the mightiest of Greeks, Neoptolemus, thou 
 son of Achilles, I once set on shore, having been appointed 
 to do this by the princes, the son of Poias the Melian,- run- 
 ning at the foot with a corroding disease, Avhen it was not 
 possible for us to set ouy h.and either to libation'^ or sacrifice 
 unmolested, but continually did he fill tlie Avhole camp with 
 wild and ill-omened cries, shriekiu"; and irroanincr. Yet what 
 need is there to speak of this? For 'tis no season for length 
 of vrords to us, lest he learn that I am come, and I waste 
 our whole artifice, \yy which I expect I presently shall ensnare 
 
 ^ I must observe tliat this play, from the evidently disturbed arrarige- 
 ment of the dialogue, and the many verbal corruptions with winch it is 
 replete, is one of the most diflicult to deal with. This will perhaps serve 
 as an apology for the greater attention to critical details, than in the pre- 
 vious plays. — B. 
 
 ' Philoctetes is said by some to have accompanied the Argonautic ex- 
 pedition, and was certainly the armor-bearer and particular friend of Her- 
 cules ; which must either bring the dates of the Argonautic voyage and 
 Trojan war nearer each other than they arc generally placed, or present 
 liim a very aged candidate for the hand of Helen. 
 
 ^ Distinctly mentioned, because libations v.ere made on all the petty 
 .-affairs of life, at the reception of a stranger, or on going to bed ; Facri' 
 fices, on account of tl:eir crcpcnsc, only on great occasions. 
 
i5— 3G.] PHILOCTETES. - 287 
 
 hiiii. But now it is thv business tw serve me in the rest, and 
 to spy out where hereabouts is the cavern of double mouth, of 
 such a nature as that there in cold weather is at hand a double 
 place to sit in the sun, and in the summer the breeze wafts 
 slumber throuoh the vault hollowed throughout. ^ But a little 
 way below, on the left, thou mightest haply see a pure fount- 
 ain, if it yet be preserved. Which approaching silently, sig- 
 ni iy to me whether yet he keeps to this very same spot, or 
 whether he happens to be elsev.diere, that thou mayest hear, 
 and I instruct thee in, the residue of my counsels, and the bu- 
 siness in common may proceed by means of both. 
 
 Neoptole.mi-s. O king Ulysses, thou speakest of no distant 
 labor, since 1 fancy I perceive a cavern, such as thou hast 
 mentioned. 
 
 Ul. Above or below ? for I do not discern it. 
 
 Ne. Here above us, and there is at least no noise- of a 
 footstep. 
 
 Ul. See whether he chance to be laid down to sleep. 
 
 Ne. I see a dwelling-place empty and void of men. 
 
 Ul. Is there not some home-made^ sustenance within ? 
 
 Ne. At anv rate there are trodden leaves, as if for romo 
 one Vr'ho sleeps there. 
 
 Ul. But is all else deserted, and nothing beneaih the 
 roof ? 
 
 Ne. There is a drinking-vessel all of wood, the workman- 
 ship of some sorry craftsman,^ and together with it these ma- 
 terials for lifihtino; a fire.^ 
 
 ^ The difficulty here lies in the looseness of the expression, which would 
 more simply have been, iva 6l~/J/ TzupeoTtv eiOuicTjcig, [fi'f] fziv rj/.tou 
 £-j il'vx^t, [f/f St: (/] mofj 7Tt:u-ct, k. r. /., i. c, '• ubi duplex sit sessio, una 
 quidem, hyemis tempore, solem versus, una vero, ubi sestate soporem in- 
 dacat aura;" rj/lov is the genitive of place or reference. — B. 
 
 ^ i. £., Neoptolemus hears no one stirring within. — B. 
 
 ^ QiKOnOLor must here be taken passively, cihus domi paratus, as 60/.6- 
 TTOtog avayK-jj in the Trachmise, dolur fraudc comparatus . — Tr. Wunder 
 takes it passively, but prefers the conjecture of Welcker (and Burgcs), 
 ~pv6)j. — B. 
 
 * It appears, then, that Ulysses had at least one point of superiority over 
 the unfortunate man over v/hom he had exercised such rigor, that of be- 
 ing a better carpenter. See Odyss. XXIII. 
 
 ^ '"The materials in question were two flints (see v. 296). and some 
 tinder, made of burned rags, as appears from the words following : ical 
 racTu y' Cu.Aa — ^u.ki]."' — Burges. — B. 
 
288 PHILOCTETES. [37— G5. 
 
 Ul. Tins store that llioii tcllcst mc of is his. 
 
 Ki:. Ahis, lilas ! Here are besides these ra^rs clryinii, full of 
 some ofiensivc matter from a sore. 
 
 Ul. The man evidently is an inhabitant of these parts, and 
 is somewhere not far oil". For how should a lame man, dis- 
 eased with a fatal malady, of old standing, go out to any dis- 
 tance? No, but either for food hath he gone forth on his 
 wa}',^ or if he knows of some pain-assuaging plant any wdicre. 
 Send, therefore, the man who is here to spy out,'- that he may 
 not light on me unobserved, since he had rather lay hands on 
 me than all the otlier Greeks. 
 
 Ke. Nay, he is both on his way thither, and the path shall 
 be watched ; but do thou, if thou desircst aught, instruct me 
 by thy next words. 
 
 Ul. Son of Achilles, it becomes thee to act a brave part in 
 the work for which thou hast come, not merely in thy person, 
 but if thou shouldst hear aught new, whereof thou hast not 
 heard before, to lend aid therein, since thou art here an as- 
 sistant. 
 
 Ne. What then dost thou bid me do ? 
 
 Ul. It needs thou [consider] how speaking thou shalt by 
 i\'rj v.ords cajole the mind of Philoctetes. When he asks thee 
 w^ho and v.dience thou art, say, " the son of Achilles" (this 
 must not be concealed), " and that thou art sailing home- 
 "ward, having abandoned the naval armament of the Greeks, 
 liating tliem with great hatred, for thsit having with suppli- 
 cations fetched tliee to come from tliy home, possessing tiiese 
 only means of taking Troy, they tliought thee not worthy of 
 Aciiiiles' arms, \o give them thee when arrived and of right 
 demanding them ; but on the contrary transferred them to 
 Ulysses"-^ — venting whatever abuse, the lowest of the lov.^,*^ 
 
 ' Suidas, quoted by Wunder, vboToq .... uaraxpi^GTLKCJg ?/ dcpi^tg 
 clrro TuTTov elg tuttov. See Hcrinarin. — B. 
 
 - A mute personage, who had accompanied llicni — 13. 
 
 •' The contest concerning the arms ot" Aclulles was solely between Ajax 
 and l/lysscs ; \vc have no account that Neoptolemus laid claim to them. 
 As Phih)Ctetes, however, had been absent during tlic whole ali'air, 1 lysscs 
 wa.s at liberty to substitute Neoptolemus in tiic room of Ajax, especially 
 as his being the son of Achilles r.atuniiiy j-Kstificd his pretensions to the 
 arms of his father. The fiction v.as therefore probable. — Franklin. 
 
 * (Hoster, in his instructions to Burkii;;;t;;an to pave the v,aY for liis 
 assumption of the crown, goes even farther than this, and cominisisionj 
 
L 
 
 60— 03. J PHIL0CTETE3. 289 
 
 thou wilt against mc. For in nothing of all this wilt thou 
 pain nic ; but if tliou wilt not do this, thou wilt strike sorroAV 
 into all the Greeks. For if the bow and arrows of this man 
 be not procured, it is not for thee to sack the Dardan^ plain. 
 But that I have not, and thou hast sure and safe communion 
 with tliis man, learn of me. Thou hast sailed, bound by 
 oath to none, nor on compulsion,^ nor on the first expedition ; 
 but none of these can be denied by me. So that if, while 
 master of his weapons, he shall discover me, I am undone, 
 and shall involve thee in my ruin by being with thee. But 
 this veiy point must be cunningly devised, that thou mayest 
 be by stealth the possessor of the resistless arms. I am aware, 
 O youth, that thou art not naturally inclined to utter such 
 words, nor to contrive evil. But, for in sooth it is delightful 
 to gain the possession of victory, dare it,^ but afterward 
 again will we show ourselves upright. Now, however, for the 
 brief portion of a day resign thyself to me unto shamelessness, 
 and then for after time be called the most religious of all 
 men. 
 
 Ne. Son of Laertes, the words which I grieve to hear, 
 them also I abhor to practice. For my nature is to do noth- 
 ing Avith evil treachery, neither mine own, nor, as they say, 
 my father's that begot irie. But I am ready to carry off the 
 man by violence, and not by craft ; for he will not with but 
 one foot overpower so many as we are by force. Yet still, 
 having been sent as thy coadjutor, I dread being called thy be- 
 trayer ; but, O prince, I had rather fail acting nobly, than 
 basely prevail. 
 
 Ul. Son of a noble father, I too formerly in youth possessed 
 
 him to charge his (Gloster's) own mother with adultery. — Rich. III. Act 
 3, sc. 5. 
 
 ' Dardanus was son to Jupiter by Electra, and the founder of the Tro- 
 jan race. 
 
 = Such was Echepolus, Honi. II. XXIII. 293 : 
 
 Then Menelaus his Podargus brings, 
 And the famed courser of the king of kings, 
 Whom rich Echepolus (more rich than brave), 
 To 'scape the war, to Agamemnon gave. — Pope. 
 
 ^ It is not to be wondered at that Ulysses should recommend this con- 
 \luct to Neoptolemus, since at v. 1049 we find him glorying in it as his 
 own svstem of action. 
 
 N 
 
200 PKILOCTETES. [97—121 
 
 a slow tongue and active hand ;^ but nov/ having gone fortli to 
 the test, I see among mankind the tongue and not the deeds, 
 bearing rule in every tiling. 
 
 Ink. AVhat else tiien hast thou bid me but to utter false- 
 hood ] 
 
 Ul. I bid thee seize Pliiloctetes bv stratajiem. 
 
 Ne. But Avhat needs there take him bj stratagem rather 
 iian persuasion ? 
 . ) Ul. Think not he will be persuaded : but by force thou 
 couldst not take him. 
 
 Ne. Hath he then confidence in his strength so formida- 
 ble? 
 
 Ul. He hath unerring arrows that send death. 
 
 Ne. What then, dare not one even approach him? 
 
 Ul. No, at least if he entrap him not by craft, as I advise. 
 
 Ne. And dost thou not then hold it base to utter false- 
 hood ? 
 
 Ul. No, at least if the lie brings safety. 
 
 Ne. With what face then shall one dare to say all this? 
 
 Ul. When thou doest auQ;ht for advantai;e, it suits not to 
 recoil. 
 
 Ne. But what advantage to me is his going to Troy? 
 
 Ul. These weapons alone vril) take Troy. 
 
 Ne. What, am not I then the destined destroyer, as ye de- 
 clared ? 
 
 Ul. Neither couldst thou be ^vitllout them, nor they ■with- 
 out thee. 
 
 Ne. Then must they be our pri'-<:e. if indeed it be so. 
 
 Ul. Truly, if thou do this, thou wilt get thyself ivro re- 
 wards. 
 
 Ne. Of what sort ? for, having learned, I -would not refuse 
 the doing it. 
 
 Ul. Thou wouldst be called at once wise and good. 
 
 Ne. Be it so, I will do it, having laid aside all shame. 
 
 Ul. Dost thou then remember all that I liavc advised thee ? 
 
 * Such is Shakespeare's description of Troilus : 
 
 The youngest son of Priam, a true knight, 
 Not yet mature, yet matchless : linn of Avor'l ; 
 Speaking in deeds, but decdless in his tongue 
 
 Troilus and Crcssida, Act -1. cc. J>. 
 
^ 
 
 122— lir.] PHILOCTETES. 291 
 
 Xe. Bg assured I do, now tliat I have once consented^ 
 
 Ul. Do tlioii then abiding here receive him ; but I will be 
 gone, lest being present I be discovered, and I will send the 
 spy^ back again to the ship. And hither again, if ye seem to 
 me to loiter at all in time, I will send out this same man, hav- 
 ins: riirf2:ed him out in appearance after the manner of a sliip's 
 master, that he may not be recognized, from whom, my son, 
 speaking cunningly,^ gather thou of his words from time to 
 time whate'er may profit us. But I will go to the vessel, com- 
 mitting all this to thee ; and may attendant Mercury, patron 
 of deceit,^ be our guide, and Victory Minerva,^ patroness of 
 cities, vv'ho ever protects me. 
 
 Chorus. V^hat, Avhat, my prince, m.ust I, in a strange land 
 a stranger, hide, or what say to the suspicious man ? tell me. 
 For contrivance surpasses other contrivance,*^ as does judgment, 
 in him by whomsoever the divine sceptre of Jove is swayed. 
 And to thee, my son, this fidl power from olden time hath 
 come : Avherefore declare to me" in what it is needful for mc 
 to do thee service. 
 
 Nf:. Now, for hapiy thou dcsirest to look on the spot in a 
 region so remote, wherein he lies, look boldly ; but when the 
 dread wayfarer shall come, emerging from these his haunts,^ 
 
 ^ Hermann praises here the art of the poet in making Ncoptolemus 
 shrink in indignation with himself from again hearing advice of the base- 
 ness of v>hich he is conscious. 
 
 2 Not the person mentioned v. 45, but a servant whom Ulysses had 
 with him. — Herm. — Tr. Why not the samel See Wundcr. — B. 
 
 ^ Uoud/Mr, varie, vcrstUc. Thus Livy has " varie agerc ;" and in Sal- 
 lust the mind of Catiline is called "varius." — Cat. c. 5. 
 
 * Mercury had many appellations of this kind, which are humorously 
 mentioned toward the close of the Plutus of Aristophanes. 
 
 ^ Minerva is said to have been worshiped in her temple on the Acrop- 
 olis under this name. Her second title w"as derived from her being the 
 foundress of Athens, and appears therefore in the mouth of the speaker 
 somewhat misplaced. Her protection of Ulysses is well knovv^n : v. Ajax, 
 L. I. II. X. 279. 
 
 ^ co6i.a 6' dv co(plav 
 
 Trapa^uEtipciev dv?>p. — CEd. Tyr. v. 503. 
 
 ' To fxOL Evveire, pro dta tovto ellipticri. Vid. Horn. II. III. v. 17G ; 
 VII. V. 239 ; XVII. v. 404.— Barby. 
 
 ^ To the translation as now given, Hermann considers it no objection 
 that the Chorus subsequently asks whether Philoctetes be in or out of 
 doors, inasmuch as it was natural for them, in such a place, to suspect him 
 of lurking somewhere near. 
 
292 1-riILOCTETES. [14S— 190. 
 
 do tliou, ever at my bcek,^ endeavor to be of present serv- 
 ice. 
 
 Cii. Thou speakest, O prince, of a care by me long since 
 cared for, to -watch thine eye especially for thy occasion. But 
 now tell me in ^^•hat kind of dwelling he is the settled inhab- 
 itant, and what place he tenants ; for this it were not inoppor- 
 tune for me to learn, lest he having approached from any quar- 
 ter escape my notice. What spot, or what abode is his? AVhat 
 path takes he? within his dwelling, or without?-^ 
 
 Ne. This habitation with double entrance of the rocky lair 
 that thou seest, is his. 
 
 Cii. And where is the wretched man himself away from it? 
 
 l!s E. It is clear to me at least that in want of food he is fur- 
 rowing his tread-^ hither, somewhere near; for report sa}'S that 
 he exercises this mode of sustenance, sad sadly ^ shooting beasts 
 with winged arroAvs, nor docs he procure him any healer of 
 his woes. 
 
 Cii. I truly pity him, that, no mortal caring for him, nor 
 having any companion eye, he wretched, ever solitary, sickens 
 with a fierce disease, and helplessly languishes'' in excry want 
 that arises to him. How, how does the hapless man ever sup- 
 port it ? O toiling hands of mortals ! O luckless race of men, 
 to whom destiny is untoward! He perchance being inferior 
 to none, though of the noblest houses, destitute of all in life, 
 lies alone apart from others, "svith the dappled or the shaggy 
 beasts, pitiable both in pain and hunger, possessed of an incur- 
 able toil : while Echo with her babbling tonn-ue heard afar is 
 borne along by his bitter shrieks.^ 
 
 ^ Hermann thinks vrpug x^^P^ ^^ ^^ the same v/ith the Latin phrase ad 
 manum, i.e., lit statim uli tc possim ; and renders (pau^puTrdv rrorl x^'^P^ 
 from the Agamemnon, qui prcEsto est hlari vultu ad omiva officia, a ver- 
 sion few admirers of ^-Eschylus will be inclined to adopt. 
 
 ^ These reiterated questions well denote the dread of the Chorus, after 
 they have been already informed by their lord himself (v. 21) that Philoc- 
 tetes is not within. 
 
 ^ byfievELv aTLfSov est viam deinceps prosequi, similitudine a nietcnti- 
 bus repetita. — Herm. — Tr. Cf Xenoph. Cyr. II. 4, 40. — 13. 
 
 * cTvyepov OTvyepiJg. — Herm. — Tu. Wundcr adopts Brunck's afivye- 
 puv afivyepug, a word nowhere used in Tragedy. — B. 
 
 * 'AAvei, u6t}/uov£i, Schol., which latter word is used in the New Testa- 
 ment to express the vehemence of our Savior's agony. 
 
 ' The mockery of Echo is finely imagined here, and may almost bear a 
 
191.^218] PKILOCTETES. 29 
 
 9 
 
 Ne. None of these things is to me surprising, for they are 
 heaven-sent, if at least I have aught of judgment. And those 
 sufferings have descended on him from cruel-minded Chrjse ;^ 
 and all that he now labors under deprived of tending friends 
 can not but be by the province of the gods, that he should not 
 aim the deities' invincible weapons'^ against Troy ere the time 
 should elapse at which 'tis said by these she must be over- 
 come. 
 
 Cii. Bo silent, my son. 
 
 Xe. What's this? 
 
 Cir. A noise arose natural to man, as of some one in pain, 
 somewhere hereabouts, or there. The voice strikes, aye, strikes 
 upon me distinctly, of some one crawling on his path with 
 much ado, nor does the deep utterance of a worn-out spkit 
 from afar escape me, for ovcr-loudly it resounds. 
 
 Ch. Take, my son — 
 
 IsE. Tell me what. 
 
 Cii. — thought anew. The man is not out of his abode, 
 but in the place, not trolling the music of the reed-pipe, as a 
 rural shepherd, but either somewhere stumbling, for violent 
 pain-^ he shrieks his far-echoing cry, or destroying our vessel's 
 inhospitable station ; for dreadful is his outcry. 
 
 comparison with the suMimc passage from an Eastern tale which Lord 
 Byron has quoted in his notes to the Bride of Abydos, n. 42. The order 
 of the words according to Hermann, is, a 6' udvpocro/iog dxio v~d rriKpu^ 
 ol[.i(j)yug ox^Itci- Tj]7.e(^aviig, i. e., rrjAoae, Lkel (^aivoiievj]. — Tr. I have fol- 
 lowed Dindorf, who changes trcjv jSapel — a6' d 0. to tx(^v [Sup?}. uc5' ad 
 and v-oKELTat to v~' ox^l'di- V. under is uncertain. — B. 
 
 ^ There are two accounts of the manner in which Philoctetes became 
 thus diseased. The one which Sophocles appears to have followed states 
 that he landed on an island near Lemnos, called Chryse, whereon he had 
 been directed to sacrifice to ^linerva in behalf of the Greeks, and was 
 bitten by a serpent that guarded the spot. The other attributes his mis- 
 fortune to the vengeance of heaven, for his having disclosed, by stamping 
 with his foot, the place Vv'here Hercules' remains had been interred, which 
 was soon followed by the fall of one of his patron's arrov/s on the guilty 
 member. 
 
 They who have made mention of ?\Iinerva Chrysa in this matter have 
 not explained v/hy a goddess who was desirous of the taking of Troy 
 should throw an obstacle in the way of that catastrophe by the mischance 
 of Philoctetes. — Plerm. 
 
 ^ Hercules received his bow and arrows from Apollo. 
 
 ^ ^oa v~^ (Ivuyiccr, " praj dolore." Cf v. 206. Kar' uvdyKav eprzov-- 
 roq. — B. 
 
}i)4: PHILOCTETES. [210— 24G. 
 
 z'j 
 
 PiiiLOCTETKS. O strangers, v.ho can }-e bo that with mar- 
 iner's oar have put into this land, neither good of harborage 
 nor inhabited?' For what possible country or race should 
 I be riglit in saying you were? For the array of your dress 
 is tliat of Greece, my best-beloved : but I would hear your 
 voice; and do not recoiling v/ith horror be astounded at me 
 thus brutalized, but in pity to an unhappy man, lonely, thus 
 forlorn, friendless, and in pain, speak to me, if indeed ye come 
 as friends. But answer in your turn,^ for it is not just that 
 in this at least either you should be disappointed in me, or I 
 in vou. 
 
 Ne. But, stranger, know this first, that Vv'e arc Greeks, for 
 this thou vrouldst learn. 
 
 Til. O accents most dear ! Ah ! to think that I should hear 
 the voice of such a man after so long a time ! What need, 
 my son, put thee in, what brought thee hither? What im- 
 pulse ? AVhich of the winds, most friendly ? Tell me all this, 
 that I may know who thou art. 
 
 Ne. I am by birth from the v^'ave-girt Scyros,^ and I am 
 sailing homeward ; and am called the son of Achilles, Xeop- 
 tolemus. Now thou knowest the whole. 
 
 Fii. O son of a sire most dear, of a land beloved, thou nurs- 
 ling of the aged Lycomedes, w^ith what armament hast thou 
 touched at this land ? whence voyaging ? 
 
 Ne. From Ilion then now at least, m.ark me, I steer my 
 course. 
 
 Ph. IIovv^ sayest thou ? For surely thou w^crt not our fel- 
 low-sailor in the beoinnin"; of our vovacre to Trov. 
 
 ^ It must not be supposed, from these and similar expressions through- 
 out the pla}', that Lcuinos was entirely uninhabited, since the descend- 
 ants of the Argonauts dwelt there — and Homer (Od. VIII. 283) calls the 
 island tv/cTi/ievov Trro/utOpov — but only those parts of it which Philoc- 
 tetes inhabited, whose range must necessarily, from las lameness, have 
 been very confmed. 
 
 ^ The silence of Neoptolemus in this place is caused by his pity, and 
 the necessity of recovering himself, in order to play his part in the strat- 
 agem of Ulysses. — Hermann. 
 
 ^ Scyros is an island of the ^Egcan. about thirty miles north of Eubosa, 
 and belonged originally to the l^clasgians and Carians ; it was thither 
 that Thetis sent Achiiics, to prevent his joining the armament to Troy, 
 and there that liero became father of Neoptolemus by Deidamia, daughter 
 of Lycomedes, the king of the island. Neoptolemus consequently was 
 educated to consider Scyros as his home, although Phthiotis v>'as his fa- 
 ther's inheritance. 
 
247—280] PHILOCTETES. 295 
 
 Ne. Ho\\', didst thou also take part in that labor ? 
 
 Fn. My son, knowest tliou not mc, on whom thou lookesf? 
 
 1\E. AVliv how should 1 know thee, whom I have never 
 seen before ? 
 
 Fh. Vv^liat ? hast thou never heard my name even, nor any 
 rumor of my miseries, whereby I was ruined ? 
 
 Ne. Be assured I know nothincs; of the thimrs of wdiich thou 
 questionest me. 
 
 Fii. O greatly wretched that I am., and hateful to the gods, 
 of whom thus situated not even a report has reached my 
 home, nor any where else in the land of Greece ; but they 
 that cast me impiously away, laugh in silence, while my 
 disease is ever virulent, and increases more and more. O 
 child, thou son of Achilles thy father, I am he wdiom thou 
 perhaps hearest of as lord of the arms of Hercules, Fhiloc- 
 tetes the son of Foias ; whom the two generals and the Ce- 
 phalenians' king have thus basely cast out destitute, '^ wasting 
 away by a cruel disease, having been stricken by the savage 
 impressure of the deadly serpent, wherewith they, my son, 
 having put me on shore here abandoned, went off, at the time 
 when from Ocean Chryse they touched here 'with their naval 
 expedition. Then eagerly, wdien they saw me after much 
 tossing on the main sleeping upon the shore within an o'er- 
 arched rock, they left me and departed, having deposited a 
 few rags as for a WTetch like me, and also some scanty pit- 
 tance of food,2 such as O that they might have ! Thinkcst 
 thou then, my son, with what an awakement I rose from sleep 
 at that time, when they were gone, wliat tears I Avept, what 
 dreadful shrieks I uttered, beholding all the ships gone, com- 
 
 * Ulysses followed through the v/at'ry road, 
 
 A chief in wisdom equal to a god, 
 \\'ith those whom Cephalcnia's isle inclosed, 
 Or till their fields along the coast opposed. 
 
 Pope's II. C. II. 76G. 
 
 ^ This was also the case vvhen any one among the ancients was con- 
 demned to be buried alive, lest pollution should come upon the land, as 
 we find in Antigone. The Romans preserved the custom in their treat- 
 ment of the vestals convicted ofunchastity. Hermann translates it, " such 
 as they m.ight happen to have." — Tr. On these rags of Philoctetes, 
 which became almo.st proverbial, Tvlatthis appositely refers to Aristoph. 
 Acharn. 423, ttoIg^ ttoI" uin p /.aidoar aiTclrcL rrC-'/.uv ; uA/' t) ^L/.ourr]- 
 Tov 7.i ~()j r:-ru;(a\) '/.fyei'S. — B. 
 
29G PKILOCTETES. [281—310. 
 
 manding Avliicli I was sailing, and not a human being on the 
 spot, nor one to assist me, nor to unite in easing my disease 
 while I sufl'ered with it.^ But, regarding all things, I found 
 nought present but affliction, but of this, my son, large store. 
 80 in time my days passed on, and I was compelled alone to 
 minister every thing for myself under this humble roof. AVhat 
 was needful for my stomach this bow procured, striking down 
 the fluttering doves ; and then to whatsoever my nerve-strung 
 aiTOw would pierce, I hapless would roll myself,^ dragging 
 after me my foot tov.ard it. And if I wanted to procure me 
 aught to drink, and when the frost was scattered, as in winter, 
 any where to break up some wood, this would I wretched 
 creeping forth contrive. Then would there be at hand no lire, 
 but rubbing stone on stone hardly did 1 elicit the hidden light, 
 which ever preserves me. For this covered cave inhabited with 
 fire supplies me all but freedom from disease. Come, m.y son, 
 now shalt thou learn the state of the island. To this no mar- 
 iner willingly draws near, for there is no harbor, nor whither 
 voyaging he may traffic for gain, or be hospitably received. 
 Nor hither are the voyages of the prudent among n.en. Kow 
 haply some one hath against his Avill touched here, for many 
 such cases might occur in the protracted time of man. These 
 when they come, my son, compassionate me indeed, in words, 
 and sometimes in pity they have bestowed on me in addition 
 some portion of food, or some raiment : but that one thing, 
 when I shall mention it, wills none, to take me safe home, but 
 wretched I am perishing noAV this the tenth year, in hunger 
 and in misery feeding my ravenous malady. Thus have the 
 Atridai and Ulysses' might, my -son, treated me, to whom may 
 the gods of heaven one day give themselves to suffer a requital 
 of my wrongs.-^ 
 
 ^ For the construction cf. Eurip. I\Icd. 047, ^v/J.?/i};o/uaL dk tov6^ cot 
 Kilycj TTovGV. Aristoph. Vcsp. 733, col ... . ^v/./.a/njSuvei rov Trpay/ia- 
 Tor.—B. 
 
 - " El?.v6ij.T]v, ab el7.vo) vol cl/.i-fj.i,volco, vcrto : hinc tt7.vopiai, vcrto vie, 
 i. c, pro/LCiscor. Imprimis vero de dillicultcr ct Egrc inccdentibus dicilur, 
 quarc Hesychius interpretatur per re-panodti^Eiv, cf. v. 702, quern locura 
 Hesychius forsitan respexit." — Barby. 
 
 ^ Sophocles does not mention whether or no Philoctctes became recon- 
 ciled to the Atridffi and Ulysses ; but this his curse was ampiy ruHlllcd on 
 Agamemnon, who was murdered by his wife ; on Ment laus, who was car- 
 ried by a storm to Egypt, and was eight years in rcturniiig to Sparta ; and 
 on Ulysses, whose wandeiings ar;d distresses arc woil knov.iL 
 
317— 3-15.J PHILOCTETES. 297 
 
 Cii. Methinks I too, son of Poias, compassionate thee equal- 
 ly Avith the strangers that have arrived hither. 
 
 Ne. Nay, I too myself, a Avitness to thee in these thy words, 
 know they are true, having met with the Atridte and the 
 mighty Ulysses to be bad men. 
 
 Fir. What, hast thou also any charge against the all-ac- 
 cursed Atrida?, so as beiim" wronoed to feel rage at them *? 
 
 Ne. Be it mine with my hand to glut that rage one day, 
 that both Mycenae and Sparta may know that Scyros too is 
 the mother of puissant men. 
 
 Pii. Well done, my son ; and for what cause hast thou 
 come laying to their charge this thy fierce anger? 
 
 Ne. Son of Poias, I will declare, yet hardly can I speak, the 
 wrongs wherewith I was insulted by them on my arrival. For 
 when Fate prevailed that Achilles should die — 
 
 Pir. Ah me ! tell me no farther ere I shall have learned this 
 first, if the son of Peleus be dead. 
 
 Np:. He is, conquered by no man, but stricken down by the 
 arrows of a god, as they report, Apollo.^ 
 
 Pit. Nay then, noble was both the slayer and the slain.- 
 But I am at a loss, my son, whether I shall first inquire into 
 thy sufferings, or mourn him. 
 
 Ne. I indeed think thine own gi*ievances suffice thee at 
 least, unhappy man, so that thou shouidst not bewail thy 
 neighbors'. 
 
 Pii. Thou hast said rightly. Wherefore tell me again and 
 afresh thy matter wherein they have insulted thee. 
 
 Ne. There came after me in a richly-decked-^ vessel both 
 the noble Ul}'sses and my father's guardian,^ asserting, whether 
 
 ^ This is from Homer, who makes the dying Hector utter the following 
 prophecy : 
 
 Yet think a day w'iil come, when Fate's decree 
 And angry gods shall wreak this wrong on thee ; 
 Phcebus and Paris shall avenge my fate, 
 And stretch thee here, before this Scsean gate. 
 
 ^ See note on Ajax, v. 970. 
 
 ^ As GTu/.or is often used for the head of a ship [^Esch. Pers. 406, 
 ^a?.Kj]p7]^ arS/.oc, ct'. uKpoaroMov, Pindar Pyth. II. 114], I should take 
 TTOiKiAoaToXor vai'g in the sense above assigned, with Eustathius and 
 Wunder. One translator thinks it equivalent to rro/.VKArj'i^, which seems 
 forced. — 13. 
 
 * Phoenix. s.T.i <>( Anvvntor. king of Argos, having by his mother's per- 
 
 N2 
 
298 PHILOCTETES. [340—373. 
 
 true indeed, or false, that it cguld not come to pass, since my 
 father had fallen, tliat any other but I should take Troy. 
 This, O stranger, they stating thus, I delayed me no long 
 time, so as not to sail speedily, most particularly indeed out 
 of aiFection for the deceased,^ that I might see him unhuried, 
 for I had never beheld him. Kext, hov/ever, Fair Kenown pre- 
 sented herself, if by my going I might take the castle of Troy. 
 And now it was the second day of my voyage, and I vrith 
 'favoring oar vras gaining the hateful Sigajum, when instantly 
 on my landing, the whole army in a circle began to embrace 
 me, sv.-earing that they beheld alive again Achilles, then no 
 more.2 There then was he lying. But I, the miserable, not 
 long after that I had wept over him, having come to my 
 friends the Atrida3, as was reasonable, demanded of them 
 the arms of my father, and all else that was his. But they 
 spake, ah me ! most shameless words : " Son of Achilles, ail 
 else that was thy father's it is allowed thee to take ; but of 
 those arms another warrior now is master, the son of Laertes." 
 And I in tears forthwith rise up to go in deep resentment, 
 and indignant answer, " AYretch ! and have ye dared to give 
 my armor to any in my stead, ere you learned my pleasure ?" 
 But Ulysses said, for he happened to be close by: '-Yes, boy, 
 in justice have they given me these, for I was present to save 
 them and their master. 2" And I enraged instantly began to 
 
 suasion entered into an intrigue with a favorite mistress of his father, was 
 detected, and, as some say, blinded by that monarch. He then quitted 
 his country for the court of Peleus, who persuaded Chiron to restore him 
 to sight, and conferred on him the sovereignty of the Dolopians. In grati- 
 tude for these favors he undertook the tuition of Achilles, and accompa- 
 nied that hero to the Trojan war, at the close of which lie returned with 
 Pyrrhus, and died in Thrace.— Y. I. IX. 448. 
 
 ^ ^ Hermann here recommends us to avoid a strict inquiry into dates, 
 since, if Achilles left the court of Lycomedes for Troy, Neoptolemus could 
 be only ten years old. 
 
 2 Livy has a siniilar passage, B. XXI. c. 4 : '-Missus Annibal in Hi.<;- 
 paniam primo statim advent u omncm c.xercitum in sc convertit. Amil- 
 parcm viventein redditum sibi vetcrcs milites credere, cundem vigorcm in 
 vultu,vimque in oculis, habitum oris, lineamentaque tueri." — Tn° Com- 
 pare Ilerodian, I. 10. — B. 
 
 ^ In unison with this, Ovid makes l.'iysses thus express himself: 
 
 Me miseruin I quanto cogor meminisse dolore 
 Tempori-s iilius, quo Graium nuirus Achilles 
 Procubuit I nee me lachryma) luctusve tjmorve 
 
37-1—405.] PHILOCTETES. 299 
 
 assail them Vv'ltii every word of reproach, framing no ban im- 
 perfect, if he were to bereave me of my arms. But he thus 
 situated, even though he is not choleric, wounded at what he 
 heard from me, thus replied : "Thou wert not where we were, 
 but absent where thou ou^htest not to have been. And these 
 also, since thou speakest also thus bold in tongue, think not 
 thou slialt ever sail hence to Scyros possessing." Having heard 
 and been reviled with such taunts as these, I am sailing home- 
 ward, spoiled of mine ovrn, by that vilest of a vile race, Ulys- 
 ses. And I blame not him so much as those in power. For 
 a city is all its leaders', and so is a whole combined host ; but 
 they among mankind that are dishonorable, become iniquitous 
 by the precepts of their teachers. My tale has all been told ; 
 and may he that abhors the Atridoe be as much beloved by the 
 gods as he is by me. 
 
 Cii. O mountain Earth, nurse of all, mother of Jove him- 
 self, who liauntest the ample Pactolus rich in gold, even there, 
 O venerable parent, I prayed to thee, when on Xeoptolemus 
 the consummate insolence of Atreus' sons was venting itself, 
 Vvdien they gave from him his fother's arms, thou blessed god- 
 dess,^ on jjull-rending lions seated, as a mark of supreme re- 
 spect to the son of Laertes. 
 
 Ph. Ye have sailed hither, strangers, possessed, it seems, 
 of a token^ plain enough to me, and ye agree with me [in 
 your complaints] so as for me to recognize these for the 
 doings of the Atrida3 and Ulysses. For I am c|uite sure that 
 
 Tardarunt, quin corpus humo sublime referrem ; 
 
 His humeris, his, inquam, hunieris ego corpus Achillis 
 
 Et simul arma tu!i. 
 
 Metam. L. XIII. v. 280. 
 
 ^ The Chorus appealed to Rhea on that occasion as chief deity of the 
 country in which they then were, for that goddess Vv-as generally by the 
 ancients considered the same with Cybele, and worshiped chiefly in Lyd- 
 ia (of which Pactolus is the principal stream) and Phr\'gia. She is us- 
 ually represented as riding on a car drawn by the lions into which she 
 had changed Hippomenes and Atalanta ; but Barby suggests that the 
 present substitution of bulls may designate the change from savage tft 
 civilized life. 
 
 ^ On the cvfij3o/LOV, or sicrnet of introduction given by persons to their 
 friends on setting out on a journey, see Musgrave, who refers to Aristid. 
 t. i. p. 41 G, laavov tan '^pog avrhv, uarrep d'/./.o tc ci\u;3o/.ov, avru tu cxv- 
 (la T.vf drvxtac. Mutual misfortune was the cvfijSoAov between Philocte- 
 tes and Neoptoicmus. — 13. 
 
300 PHILOCTETES. [40G— 447. 
 
 he would attempt with his tongue cveiy evil word and villainy, 
 by v/liich he purposes in the end to work nothing honest. 
 l>ut this to me at least is not at all a wonder, but it were 
 so if Ajax the greater were there to witness all this, and en- 
 dured it. 
 
 Ne. He was no longer alive, my friend; for never while ho 
 lived at least had I thus been plundered. 
 
 Fii. How sayest thou ? And is he too dead and gone ? 
 i Ne. Be aware that he is no lonirer in life. 
 
 Ph. Ah me unhappy! But not the son of Tydeus,^ nor the 
 bargain of Sisyphus'^ to Laertes, they surely can not be dead? 
 For they should not live. 
 
 Ne. No indeed. Be sure of that at least. No, they are 
 flourishing finely at present in the Greek host. 
 
 Pii. But what of him who is aged and yet stout, the friend 
 of Philoctetes, Nestor the Pylian, is he yet ahve? For he 
 surely had checked their crimes, taking wise counsel. 
 
 Ne. He indeed is now faring badly, since Antilochus, the 
 only child he had,^ is dead and lost to him. 
 
 Ph. Ah me ! tidings equally dire hast thou brought me of 
 those two whose death I had least been Avilling to hear. 
 Alas ! alas ! to what then must one look, when they are dead, 
 and Ulysses yet remains even there, where in their room he 
 ought to be spoken of as dead ? 
 
 Ne. An artful combatant is he ; but even artful designs, O 
 Philoctetes, are often thwarted. 
 
 Pii. Come, by the gods I ask, tell me where in that season 
 was thy friend Patroclus, v/ho was thy father's best-be- 
 loved ? 
 
 Ne. Pie too had fallen. But in a few words I will instruct 
 thee in this. War purposely carries off no Avicked man, but 
 ever the virtuous. 
 
 * We do not find hitherto any mention of Diomed as having incurred 
 the wrath of Philoctetes, but his known intimacy with Ulysses, and in- 
 famous conduct to Dolon, afford strong suspicions of his having joined 
 •in the wrong done to the son of Poias. 
 
 " Anticlea, wife of Sisyphus, was pregnant when she married Laertes. 
 See Ovid. Met. xiii. 31, sqq. and Hermann. — B. 
 
 ^ Nestor had seven sons, two of w'hom accompanied him to the Trojan 
 war. The epithet fiovog, here applied to Antilochus, is usually supposed 
 to mean the survivor of these two. Antilochus was slain by Mcmnou 
 the Ethiopian. 
 
448—453.] PHILOCTETES. 301 
 
 Ph. I bear thee witness ; and by this very same rule I will 
 now question thee of a worthless being, yet shrewd of tongue 
 and cunning, Vv'hat is his condition now. 
 
 Ne. Of what man dost thou ask this, save Ulysses ? 
 
 Pii. I spake not of him ; but there was one Thersites,^ who 
 never would choose but once to speak what none could bear 
 to hear ; knowest thou if he chance to live ? 
 
 Ne. I saw him not, but heard he was yet in being.^ 
 
 Fii. He was likely ; since never yet did aught of evil 
 perish, but of such things^ the gods take especial care ; and 
 somehow the treacherous and the wily they delight in res- 
 piting from Plades,^ but the just and the upright they are 
 ever dismissing. Where must we place this to account, where- 
 in approve, when, lauding the acts of the gods, I find the gods 
 unjust'? 
 
 Ne. I, O son of an GtCtcean^ father, now henceforth from 
 
 ' Thersites only clamor'd in the throng, 
 
 Loquacious, loud, and turbulent of tongue : 
 Awed by no shame, by no respect controll'd, 
 In scandal busy, in reproaches bold, 
 With witty malice studious to defame ; 
 Scorn all his joy, and laughter all his aim. 
 
 Pope's II. II. 255.— Tk. 
 
 There is some awkwardness in the expression og ovk uv etXer' eiauTza^ 
 sliT£lv oTiOV Mrjdeig lu>j], which the scholiast interprets d ovk 7/6e?i£v Tig 
 urra^ unovaaL, ravra 7roX?MKt^ t?.£yev. We must render eiadTza^ ei-slv, 
 "to say, and have done with it," like the Latin use of " semel" = "once 
 for all.'" So^ii^sch. Prom. 750, Kpslaaov yup elauTra^ Qavelv. See Herra. 
 on CEJ. Col. 1420. After k6r] understand elrcelv. — B. 
 
 ^ All other authors say that he fell by the hand of Achilles. The scho- 
 liast attributes his death to his having struck out Penthesilea's eye after 
 that princess had fallen by the hand of Achilles. " Prudenter Sophocles 
 ea dicentem fecit Neoptolemum, qua3 et a patre ejus ignobile facinus de- 
 clinarent, et egregie declararent obscuritatem Thersitae." — Herm. 
 
 ^ Observe the enallage, avTu after ovStv kukov. See Jelf Gk. Gr. vol. 
 ii. *J 330, L— B. 
 
 * Not unreasonably then in Philoctetes' opinion might Nestor, as in 
 Shakespeare he does, say of Hector, 
 
 " Lo ! Jupiter is yonder, dealing life." 
 
 Since to this very Thersites, after he has given an account of himself per- 
 fectly accordant with what is said of him here, the Trojan warrior replies, 
 " I do believe thee ; live." There is, however, an allusion to Sisyphus. 
 
 * CEta, whereon Hercules burned himself, is a mountainous range on 
 the confines of Thessaly and Macedonia, extending from Pindus to Ther- 
 mopylae and the Malian territory, over which Poias reigned. 
 
302 PKILOCTETES. [451—494. 
 
 afar looking on both Ilium and the Atridag will bevv^are of 
 them, and where the worse is of greater power than the good, 
 and all that is good is on the wane, and the coward prevails, 
 these men never will I hold dear. No, the rocky Scjros' 
 hereafter shall content me to pleasure myself at home. And 
 now will I go to my vessel, and do thou, son of Poias, fare- 
 well, most well, and m.ay the gods emancipate thee from thy 
 disease, as thyself wishest. But let us be gone, that when- 
 soever the god shall grant us sailing, even then we may weigh 
 anchor. 
 
 Ph. Are ye now bound to sail, ray son ? 
 
 Ne. Yes, for occasion invites us to watch a time not to sail 
 out of sisht of the ship rather than near it. 
 
 Ph. jSTow by thy father and thy mother, my son, and by 
 aught that is dear to thee, if aught there be, at home, I a 
 suppliant implore thee, leave me not thus forlorn and lonely 
 in these afflictions, such as thou seest, and as many as thou 
 hast heard I live in ; but take me into the barirain.^ The 
 annoyance, I well know, of this freightage will be great, yet 
 still put up with it. To the generous, mark me, both base- 
 ness is hateful, and virtue glorious. But to thee, having 
 left this undone, the reproach is not creditable, and hav- 
 ing performed it, my son, the noblest meed of fair renown, 
 should I live to reach the CEta?an land. Come. The trouble, 
 look you, is not that of one Avhoie day. Determine on it ; 
 take and cast me in whither thou wilt, into the hold, the 
 prow, the stern, wherever I am least likely to olfcnd thy 
 mates. Assent, by Jove of suppliants himself, my son be 
 persuaded. I fall at thy knees before thee, though I Vv'retched 
 am infirm and lame. Nay, leave me not thus deserted, far 
 from any trace of man ; but either take and carry me sale to 
 thine home, or to the abodes of Chalcodon in Euboca ;^ and 
 tlience my voyage will not be a long one to Qi)ta, and the 
 rocky ridge of Trachis, and the fair-iiowing Spercheius, that 
 thou maye^t present me to my dear father, of whom it is long 
 that I have feared lest he be gone from me ; since often did 
 
 ^ '^.pXV ^i^'^'pla became a Greek |)roverl), farnisliiiig much tlie same 
 idea as a German tluchy or principality doed to us. 
 
 ^ See Brunck's note. — T r. i. c, '• do your best for me, without trouble 
 to yourself." Cf Liddell, s. v.— B. 
 
 '■' Ta GTudfia are properly the aueliorap;e for .siiip.«i. Chalcodon was an 
 ancient king cf Eubcea, father of Elephenor. V. II. IV. v. 464. 
 
4:;o— 5£7.] PHILOCTETi:S. 303 
 
 I son J for Lim by those who came hitlic-r, conveying to him 
 suppliant entreaties that he would liiniselt* embarking rescue 
 nic and carry me hence to my homo. But either he is dead, 
 or, I suppose, my emissaries, as is hiieiy, making my case of 
 shght account, hurried their voyage homeward. x>ow, how- 
 ever, since I am com.e to thee as at once my convoy and my 
 messenger, do thou save me, do thou pity me, beholding liow 
 everv thing is doomed to man in trouble and in hazard, to re- 
 ceive blessings, or the contrary.^ But it becomes one, while 
 exempt from woes, to look to the dangers, and when any one 
 shall live prosperously, at that time most narrowly to watch 
 his life, lest he be unvv-arilv brouglit to destruction. 
 
 Cii. Pity him, O king :"- he hath recounted the struggles of 
 many a trouble hard to bear, so many as m.ay no friend of 
 mine ever happen on. But if, O king, thou hatest the bitter 
 Atridce, I for my part, transposing their evil to advantage for 
 this man, would convey him thither v/hither he has mentioned, 
 to his home, on beard my well-efjuipped, sv/ift bark, avciding 
 the vengeful AATath from heaven. 
 
 !Xe. Beware thou, lest now thou be here a sort of easy per- 
 son, but when thou hast been sated v/itli the company of his 
 disease, then thou show thyself no longer the same as in these 
 words. ^ 
 
 Cii. By no means. This reproach it can not be that thou 
 wilt ever have in justice to rebuke me withal. 
 
 I>E. Nav, but it were base that I should shovv' mvself less 
 ready than thou art in taking seasonable trouble for the stran- 
 ger. But if it seems fit, let us sail, let him hasten with speed ; 
 for the ship shall carry him, and he shall not be refused. Only 
 
 1 Thus liorace, L. II Od. 10 : 
 
 Sperat infestis, metuit secundis 
 Alteram sorteni bene praBparatum 
 Pectus. 
 - The commentators question hero v/hecher the Chorus are acquainted 
 with the plans of Ulysses and dissimulation of Pyrrhus or not. Barby 
 considers them ignorant of it ail, and that the pity they wish to prove by 
 deeds is unfeigned ; w hich, though it accords well with Horace's rule for 
 the n'.anagcment of the tragic Chorus, is not so reconcilable with the in- 
 structions previously given on the stage to Neoptoiemus by Ulysses, un- 
 less we PUT'Oose the ancients to have had recourse to that disirrace of 
 most modern plays, the '• aside." 
 
 ^ 7. c.y cvTug Tu TC'jra /.cyui'Ti. Cf GUd. R. 557, kcl vvv 10' uvro^ 
 tluL tCj jSuv/.evjLLan. — B. 
 
304 PHILOCTETES. [528—553. 
 
 may the gods take us safe from this land at least, and to what- 
 soever place we wish to sail from hence. 
 
 Pii. O day most beloved, O man most pleasing, and ye, 
 dear sailors, how might I become manifest to you by deeds, 
 how much attached to you ye have made me ! Let us be 
 gone, my son, having bidden forewell with a kiss to my house- 
 less abode within, that ye may learn of me on what I con- 
 tinued to live, and how stout of heart I was by nature, for I 
 think that none else save me, having taken but a mere sight 
 of them Avith his eyes, had endured all this ; but I of necessity 
 was foretau2;ht to be resisniied to miseries.^ 
 
 Cii. Hold, let us learn the matter ; for two men, the one I 
 a mariner in thy vessel, the other a foreigner, are coming, 
 of whom having learned [their purpose] go ye afterward 
 within. 
 
 ]\Ierciiant. Son of Achilles, this, the comrade of thy 
 voyage, who was with two others the guardian of thy ship, I 
 desired to tell me w'here thou mightest chance to be, since I 
 have fallen upon thee, not indeed supposing I should, but in 
 a manner by chance having put into this land. For being 
 bound, as master of a vessel, with no large equipment, from 
 Troy homeward to Peparethus'^ rich in the clustering grape, 
 when I heard from the sailors that they were all the crews of 
 thy vessels,^ it seemed fit to me not silently to perform my 
 voyage, until I had made a disclosure to thee, having met with 
 a fair requital.^ Perhaps thou knowest nought of what con- 
 
 ^ 'Aya~av is used in the same sense. — Tr. Cf. Blomf. on^Esch. Prom. 
 II. and note on CEd. Tyr. 11.— B. 
 
 ^ Peparethus is a small island in the ^^gean Sea, off the coast of Mace- 
 donia, once celebrated for its vines and olives. — Tr. There is mucli ditfi- 
 culty and disturbance in the state of the following lines, which at present 
 are far from satisfactory. In the edition by Mr. G. Burges, a most in- 
 genious and probable transposition of them is proposed, involving but lit- 
 tle verbal alteration. See his notes on vss. 549-55G, i)agc 45 of ^'a!py■s 
 edition. — B. 
 
 ^ Dobree reads cvvvcvavGro'AijKore^, Avhich "Wundcr (who has since 
 changed his mind) and Burges (who has not) adopted. The article is 
 ridiculously out of place, as it ca)i only mean, '• tl-ey formed the whole of 
 your crcv^''," which is not the information v.anted. The stress ought to 
 be on TrdvTtg, and retaining Dobrce's reading, the sense will be, "that 
 they all belonged to your crevv',"' or, ''that tlicy all were fellow-sailors 
 v/ith you." — B. 
 
 * Commentators arc m;:cli divided on tliis 'lassa^e. Brunck condcrnns 
 
554—572.] PHILOCTETES. .'iOo 
 
 cerns thyself, what are the new resolves of the Greeks touch- 
 ing thj concerns,^ nor merely resolves, but deeds now doing, 
 and no longer loitered in. 
 
 Ne. Nay, a kindly gratitude^ for thy friendly care, O stran- 
 ger, unless I have been born a villain, shall remain ; but do 
 thou expound all that thou hast mentioned, that I may learn 
 what new plot of the Greeks against me thou bearest. 
 
 Mi:r. Both the aged Phoenix and Theseus' sons-^ are gone 
 in pursuit of thee v.-ith a naval squadron. 
 
 Ne. With intent to carry me back by force or by persuav 
 sion '? 
 
 Mer. I know not, but having heard am here to tell thee. 
 
 Ne. What, do then Phoenix and the partners of his voyage 
 do this thus hastily to pleasure the Atridaa? 
 
 Mee. Be sure that all this is now doinix, and no longer to 
 come. 
 
 Ne. Plow then was not Ulysses voluntarily ready to sail for 
 this purpose ? was it any fear that withlield him ? 
 
 Mer. He and Tydeus' son were setting out after another 
 w^arrior, when I weighed anchor. 
 
 Ne. Who might this be, for whom Ulysses himself was sail- 
 ing? 
 
 the scholiast for referring TrpoarvxovTL to /uoi, and alters it to Trpoarvx^Jv 
 Ti. Heath would read Tzpoarvx^'^ '^'■i '^'^^ laug .... that is, qu(zdam 
 qu(B mihi nota esse contigerunt, quorum tu forsan nihil nosti. Musgrave 
 corrects it, TrpoaTvxovTc, luv Icug . . . visum est mihi, quuvi semel in- 
 cidisscm, non silcntio prius abire, quam tihi dicer em, de quibus tu nihil for- 
 tasse nosti. There does not, however, seem to be any good reason why 
 TrpoGTvxovTi should not be referred to /uoi, though not in the sense in 
 which the schoUast understands it. — Tr. : " praemio afFectus propter ea 
 quEB nuntiassem." — Wunder. 
 
 ^ aju(pl GovvEKa is defended by Hermann as a similar phrase to rivog 6rj 
 Xu-pLv evEna in Plato, or diru (Soi'jg ivcKev, ufi(pl gov being construed as a 
 noun, which the pecuUar construction of djucpi. certainly countenances. 
 
 - Buttmann remarks that x^P'-^ TcpoGcpihjg is a pleonasm, as x^P'-^ itself 
 denotes friendlv gratitude. Cf. Horn. II. iv. 95 ; xvii. 147 ; below, 1370. 
 — B. 
 
 ^ These v^^ere Acamas and Demophoon, worthy of their father, since 
 the last is celebrated for his desertion of Phyllis, and the former going 
 with Diomed to demand Helen of the Trojans, seduced Laodice, the 
 daughter of Priam. This prince is said to have founded the city of Aca- 
 mantium in Phrygia, and on his return to Athens gave his name to one 
 of its tribes. 
 
30G PHILOCTETES. [573—604. 
 
 IVIer. There "vvas indeed a man — But first teil me of this 
 man here, wlio he is ; and what thou sayest, speak not aloud. 
 
 Ne. This before you is the illustrious Philoctetes, stranger. 
 
 IVIer. Now ask me no more, but with all speed sail hence, 
 and away with thyself from this land. 
 
 Pii. "\\^hat says he, my son ? AVhat can be the reason that 
 thus darkly the mariner traffics in me his words to thee ? 
 
 Ne. As yet I know not what he says, but it needs he speak 
 openly what he will speak, to thee, and me, and these here 
 
 Mek. O offspring of Achilles, impeach me not to the army, 
 as disclosing what I ought not. I, doing them many a service, 
 receive of them a fair requital, such as a poor man may. 
 
 Ne. I am a foe to the Atridce,^ and this is my dearest friend, 
 for that he detests the Atrida; : it is then thy duty, at least as 
 coming well-affected toward me, to conceal not a vrord of all 
 thou lia^st heard before us. 
 
 Mek. Look to what thou docst, my son. 
 
 Ne. And lone; since I do consider. 
 
 Mer. I will lay the blame of this on thee. 
 
 Ne. Do so, but speak. 
 
 Mer. I do. Against this man, these two, even as thou 
 hearest, Tydeus' son and the puissant Ulysses,^ are sailing, 
 under a solemn oath that positively they will either by words 
 persuade and bring him back, or by the power of force. And 
 this all the Greeks heard Ulysses openly declaring ; for he 
 had more confidence than the other that he should effect all 
 this. 
 
 Ne. But on what account are the Atrida? after so long a 
 time so very anxious for this man, Avliom they novv' for a long 
 season have driven and kept away? ^Vhat is the want that 
 has invaded them, or what force and indignation from heaven, 
 that aveno-cs wicked deeds ? 
 
 Mer. I Avill inform thee of all this throughout, for haply 
 thou hast not heard it. There was a hi^h-born seer, the son 
 
 ^ See Brunck's note on tlic metre here, and also GUd. Tvr. 332, CEJ. 
 Col. 931), Ant. 458. 
 
 " To make his tale more plausible, the pretended merchant joins Dio- 
 mcd with Ulysses in this enterprise, as they were both eminent in infamy, 
 both protected by Minerva, and usually partners to execute any scheme 
 of treachery, such as the murder of Dolon or of Rhesus, or the theft of 
 *he Palladium. 
 
G05— G34.] PKILOCTETES. 307 
 
 cf Priam, and he was called by name Heleniis,' whom he, the 
 crafty Ulysses, that hears of himself every base and insulting- 
 term, having gone out alone by night, took prisoner, and 
 bringing him bonnd into the midst of tlie Greeks, displayed 
 him, a, noble bcotv ; v.ho thereiinon foretold to them both 
 every other point, and that it could not be that they should 
 ever take the citadel of Troy, unless they brought, having per- 
 suaded him by their Avords, this warrior here from this island 
 whereon he is at present dwelling. And when the offspring 
 of Laertes heard the prophet uttering these words, he instant- 
 ly undertook to bring and present to the Greeks this man ; he 
 must suppose, having taken him in preference with his con- 
 sent ; but if he would not, against it ; and not succeeding in 
 this, he bid any one that Vv'ould to cut oiT his head. My son, 
 thou hast heard all ; but to be quick I exhort both thee thy- 
 self, and if thou hast a care for any other. 
 
 Pn. Ah me unhappy ! Has he then, that utter pest, sworn 
 that he v/iil persuade and convey me to the Greeks ? For as 
 well shall I be persuaded when dead to rise even from Hades 
 to light, as did his father." 
 
 Mer. Of this I know nothing ; but I will go to my vessel, 
 and may heaven aid you both as best it may. 
 
 Ph. And is not this shameful, my son, that Laertes' son 
 should ever hope by soothing Vv'ords to carry me on board ship 
 and show me in the midst of the Greeks ? No ; sooner would 
 I listen to the viper, my deadliest bane, that made me thus 
 lame of foot.^ But by him can every thing be said and every 
 thing be attempted ; and now I knoAV that he will come. But 
 
 ' Other authors differ in their chronology at this period, for they state 
 that Helenus, on the marrian-e of Deiphobus with Helen, retired in dis- 
 gust to Mount Ida, Vvhence Ulysses carried him to the Greek camp. But 
 Paris, as is foretold in this play to Phiioctetes, was slain by the arrows 
 of Hercules. 
 
 ^ This alludes to a well-known trick of Sisyphus, who, being on his 
 death-bed, charged his wife Merope to leave him unburied. She complied, 
 and on Sisyphus' arrival in Hades he complained to Pluto of her impiety, 
 which he requested leave to punish. This was granted, and he returned 
 to earth under promise of revisitincrhell as soon as he should have avenged 
 himself. No sooner had he regained life, however, than he violated his 
 oath, for which he was afterward punished. 
 
 ^ "•''k-ovv. -novq in casu quarto nunquam quidem habet 'nOvv, at in 
 compositis habet, ut ttoauttovv et TroAvTrodc.'" — Barby. 
 
I 
 
 308 PHILOCTETES. [G35— 057. 
 
 O my soil, let us go, that a, Avidc sea may part us^ from Ulys- 
 ses' vessel. Let us be gone ; timely exertion, look you, when 
 the labor is at an end, is wont to bring sleep and repose. 
 
 Ne. Well, then, when the wind in our bow shall subside, 
 then will we sail, for now it sets against us. 
 
 Pii. The season to sail is ever fair when thou art flying 
 from calamity. 
 
 Ne. Nay, but these same winds arc averse to them. 
 
 Pii. There is no wind contrary to pirates, when it is possi- 
 ble to thieve and rob by force. 
 
 Ne. Nay, if thou think fit, let us be gone, when thou hast 
 taken from within whatsoever thou most feelest need of or de- 
 sire for. 
 
 Pii. Yes, there is whereof I have need,- though from no 
 ample store. 
 
 Ne. Wliat is it, which at least is not on board my ship? 
 
 Pii. I have by me a certain plant, wherewith chiefly I am 
 continually deadening my sore, so as thoroughly to assuage it. 
 
 Ne. But bring it out. And what else art thou desirous to 
 take ? 
 
 Pii. If any one of these my arrows hath fallen beside me 
 unheeded, that I may not leave it for any one to take. 
 
 Ne. What, are these the celebrated bow and arrows, that 
 thou art now holding? 
 
 Pii. They are, for there are at least none else that I carry 
 in my hands. 
 
 Ne. Is it possible for me to take a close view of them also? 
 and to hold them, and salute them with a kiss^ as divine? 
 
 ^ We must read bpl'Cy with Wunder and Burges, from Brunck's emen- 
 dation. — B. 
 
 ^ " AeZ — U7Z0. Tmesis est pro uTvoSel. Sunt, quibus cgcam, ncc viultis 
 tameyi."" — Barby- — Tr. See Hermann. — B. 
 
 ^ Upoaicvcac has not ahvays the same sijinification : vid. v. 776, where 
 it means to mitigate by worship the anger of the gods, and to which there 
 is a parallel expression in the last verse of the second Psalm. A kiss has 
 in all ages, however, been considered as a mark of respect. Hence Cicero : 
 Ibi est ex arc simulacrum ipsius Hcrculis, quo non facile qiiiilquam dixc- 
 rim me vidisse pulchrius — usque eo, judiccs, vt rictum ejus ac mcntum 
 paulo sit attritius, quod in prccibus ct gratulationibus non solum id vcne 
 rari, vcrum etiam osculari solcnt. Cic. in Ver. L. IV. 33. Such is the 
 account given by travelers of the Kaaba or sacred stone at Mecca also. 
 Vid. Virg. JEn. 11. 490. Tibull. El. I. 44. Ovid. Trist. L. I. 44. 
 
053— G33.] PHILOCTETES. 309 
 
 Ph. To thee at least, my son, both this and aught else of 
 mine, tliat may advantage thee, shall be done. 
 
 Ke. Indeed I long to do it, and thus I feel my longing : if 
 it be allowable for me, I should wish it, but if not, let it 
 alone. 
 
 Pii. My son, thou both speakcst piously, and it is allowable 
 for thee at least, who alone hast iriven me to behold this lioht 
 of tlie sun, to look on the land of QCta, on my aged father, on 
 my friends, who hast raised me far above mine enemies when 
 sunk below them. Courage; it is given thee both to touch 
 these arrows, and to return them to the giver ; and that thou 
 shouldest hereafter make it thy boast that thou alone of man- 
 kind in guerdon of thy virtue hast handled them, seeing that 
 it was by a kind action I myself acquired them,^ displeased me 
 not, not that I have seen and gained thee for my friend : for 
 whoever knows liov/ to return a kindness he has received must 
 1)2 a friend above all price. 
 
 Ne. Thou shouldst go within. 
 
 Pii. Av, and I will brin;^ tlicc i:i too, fcr my disease lon<r3 
 to possess thee as my supporting aid. 
 
 Cii. I have heard fully in story, yet truly I never witnessed, 
 hov/ that the all-powerful son of Saturn caught Ixion,^ once 
 the invader of the couch of Jove, and thereupon chained him 
 to a whirling wheel ;'^ but of no other do I know by hearsay, 
 nor have I seen among mankind, doomed to a lot more hate- 
 ful than this man's, who having injured no one by force or 
 fraud, ^ but among the just a just man, hath been ruined thus 
 undeservedly. This wonder possesses me, how ever, how ever, 
 lie lonely listening to the breakers dashing around, how in 
 
 ' Philoctetes had received the r.irovis in reward for his services to licr- 
 cu!cs, and particularly the kindiin^ cf hio funeral pile on Gi]ta. Hermanu 
 supposes a line to be omitted in the Creek tc;;t here, and reads louv i:c2 
 /.aSiJi-, construing ce v,ith axOo/iat. If a colon he placed after docrai, the 
 passage seems capable of the version given above v^ithout a hiatus. — Tn. 
 See B urges' note, where he has ingeniously elicited a Ihic from the Scho- 
 Uast, which, could we be more certain, v.'ould restore good sense. — B. 
 
 ^ Ision's story is too v.ell known to need repetition. Hermann reads 
 E^aAev, construing 6pofiu6a with 'l^tova. 
 
 ^ The word ulihv^, v^hich is supported by the authority of Eustathius 
 (vid. Brunch's note), meant originally the hllct used by women to tie up 
 their hair, vid. Horn. II. XXII. v. 4G9, and after that came from its round 
 form to signify a wheel. Musgrave, hov.cvcr, suggests t2; n; a. 
 
 * tp^ag, so. Ti. — Herm. 
 
310 PHILOCTETES. [690— 71G. 
 
 truth he could have Ffupportcd an existence so thoroughly i 
 pitiable : where he' was liis only neighbor, having no power 
 to walk, nor any neighbor of his ilis, dwelling in the place, 
 
 to Avhom he might v/ail forth his echoed groan,- his 
 
 paiaifully gnawing, blood-stained ; nor any wlio might with 
 gentle herbs assuage liis most fevered blood bubbling from 
 the v.ounds of his^ empoisoned foot, should any come to hand,*- 
 and migiit gather it from the fostering earth. For then when 
 his 8oui-gnawing torture might relax, Vv'ould he crawl like a 
 babe Avitliout his kind nurse, nov/ to this store now to some 
 other, v»'hcnce he could have easy relief, not gathering the 
 sowed nutriment of holy earth, nor of other food wherewith wc 
 enterprising'"' men support ourselves: except if ever by the 
 winged arrows of his bov/ striking from afar he might procure 
 food for his stomach. Ah v/retched soul ! that*^ for ten long 
 years he v\as not gladdened v»'ith the bcveraixc cf the flowing 
 wine-cup, but gazing on the stagnant v.'atcrs'' v.'hcrcvcr he 
 
 ^ This appccirs better Guitcd to coir.cuy than tragedy, r.nJ to company 
 viiiii the proximus sum cgomct inihi, or the often quoted verse, '• None bat 
 himself can be his parallel." Hermann says rrpocovpog in Herodotus sig- 
 nifies neighboring ; but that Ionic form is, unless I am totally niistaken, 
 inadmissible in the tragedians. With them Trpooovpog, like trrcvpog, i.i 
 derived from ovpog, xcrdus sccundus ; Iv' avrbg ijv Tzpocovpog then Vv'ill 
 mean, in qucm locum ipse quasi sccundo vcnto vcncrat. — Tn. But since 
 uTTOvpog (CEd. Tyr. 189) and ^vvovpog (^Esch. Ag. 49.5) are used, why not 
 TTpocovpog also I Dindorf now reads with Eothe, rrpocovpov oi'K ix^^y 
 (Sua IV. — B. 
 
 ^ Lindemann would read -rorov trriTrovov for ctoiov uvrlrvTrov. I 
 fancy, with HeiTnann, that something has been lost, perhaps a participle, 
 or sub.stantivc agreeing with ai/uart^pcv. Nothing can be made of the 
 text as it now^ stands. — B. 
 
 ^ The scholiast interprets kvOt'/pov OrjpoSi/icrcv. Elermann translates it 
 with Buttmann cjfcraium, as h'Oijpov rplxci, Ag. 571, alluding to the foul 
 appearance cf the foot clotted with gore. 
 
 * Herm. d rig ijnTTcaoi, sc. alftdc. The passage that follows is altered 
 to suit Hermann's text. — Tu. ^^"c must understand dvrair' uv, or seme 
 such phrase, with t/uli-. — B. 
 
 ^ This epithet is particularly applied to seamen and traders. Cf Ho- 
 mer Od. XIIL 261 ; Hymn, in ApoU. 453.— B. 
 
 « ^vxa, Of. Sec Buttm. and J elf, Gk. Gr. T. H. <J 379, Obs. 6. This 
 exactly corresponds to Homer's tj^xtig .... cvrovg. II. I. 3, 4. — B. 
 
 ^ From these words of the Chorus Hermann infers that the running 
 stream mentioned in the beginning of the play v.'as not represented on the 
 scene, and that Ulysses from that very circumstarxc there subjoins ti-c^j 
 Icrl cQi'. 
 
I 
 
 717_743.j PKILOCTETES. 311 
 
 chrjiced to know it v/as, ever and anon would he add it to bis 
 food. Kow, however, he shall end his life in happiness, and 
 rise to greatness from those miseries, having met with the son 
 of brave heroes, who in bark that walks the main, in fullness 
 of many months, brings him to his paternal abode of the Me- 
 lian nymphs, and beside the banks of Spercheius, where the 
 brazen-shielded hero enters the assembly of all the gods,^ all 
 radiant in heavenly lire, above the mounds of Gita. 
 
 Ke. Crawl out, an thou v»'iit. What can be the matter, 
 that thus from no assinnablc reason thou art silent, and thus 
 struck dumb are kept so 1 
 
 Ph. Oh ! alas ! alas ! 
 
 Ke. What is it ? 
 
 Ph. No harm. But proceed, my son. 
 
 !Ne. Is it that thou feelest pain from thy existing ailment? 
 
 Ph. xsot I indeed ; no, I think I am just now lightened of 
 it. O ye gods ! 
 
 jSTe. Why thus with gi'oans dost thou invoke the gods? 
 
 Ph. That they may come as our deliverers, and placable. 
 Oh! Oh!2 
 
 Ne. What can be the matter Vv'ith thee? wilt thou rot tell, 
 but continue thus silent? Thou art clearly involved in como 
 affliction. 
 
 Ph. I am undone, my son, and shall not be able to conceal 
 my misery from }ou.^ Alas ! it pierces, pierces me through. 
 
 ■• This alludes to the apotheosis of Hercules. Hermann considers the 
 epithet merely to denote a vvarrior. Hesiod has described Hercules' 
 shield. 
 
 - There is a scene not 'onlikc this in the Frogs of Aristophanes, ■where 
 Bacchus and Xanthias contending which is the god, which the slave, and 
 ..'Eaciis proving them by stripes, they invent some curious excuses for 
 their cries. 
 
 ^ " Phiioctetes, feeling the symptoms of his distemper approaching, 
 endeavors as much as possible to coiiceal his anguish, being apprehensive 
 that his cries and groans might induce Neoptolemus, in spite of his prom- 
 ise, to leave him behind ; he makes slight of it, therefore, till, quite over- 
 powered by continual torture, he acknowledges himself at last unable to 
 stir. This circumstance, we may observe, is artfully thrown in by the 
 poet, to stop the efiect of Ulysses' stratagem, which was just on the point 
 of execution, and which, if it succeeded, must of course liave put an end to 
 the drama : this accident intervening gives a new turn to the whole, rervcs 
 to introduce the remorse and repentance of Neoptolemus, gives Ulysses 
 an opportunity of appearing, and brinjjs about the catastrophe." Thus far 
 
312 PHILOCTETES. [744—754. 
 
 Unhappy, wretched me ! I am undone, my son, I am gnaw- 
 ed,i my son. Oh ! alas! akis ! alas ! by the gods, if thou hast 
 ready by thee to thine hand any sword, my son, strike me on 
 the top of my foot, mow it ofi as quickly as possible, spare not 
 my life. Come, O my child ! 
 
 Ne. But what is this fresh thing thus suddenly risen, for 
 which thou utterest so much of wailing and of groans for thy- 
 self? 
 
 Fit. Knowcst thou, son ? 
 
 Ne. What is it ? 
 
 Ph. Knowest thou, son? Yfhat is this of thmeP 
 
 Ne. I know not. 
 
 Ph. How knowest thou not? Woe, woe, woe I^ 
 
 Frankfin, who does not appear to have remarked the subHme moral con- 
 tained in this part of the pla}', which shows us how often our estimate of 
 good or evil fortune is utterly false ; and is the more .striking, since it at 
 once baffles those very plans which Ulysses had endeavored to recom- 
 mend by the Jesuitical doctrine of doing evil that good might follow, and 
 asserts tliG right of Providence to produce good from the evil it has per- 
 mitted. 
 
 ^ BpvKEiv and jSpvx^cv, originally the same word, seem by custom to 
 have taken different senses, the first maiidcrc, the second frcndcre. — 
 Herm. 
 
 ^ I have arranged the dramatis personse according to Dindorf, but the 
 following is Wunder's, and the correct order, <±>1A, olod' u ttuI ; jS'EOn. 
 Tt GOi ; Oi'/i ol6a. 4>1A. Tzug .... ira'i. — B. 
 
 ^ Unless all the commentators be mistaken, these expressions and the 
 eAe'Ae/.e/J/.ev of ^Eschylus are positive nonsense, and such as our bar- 
 barian Shakespeare, with all his false taste and treason against the uni- 
 ties, would have thought unworthy of kings and heroes, and fit to rank 
 only with the " Do-de-do-de-do-de" of poor Tom. Indeed, it is not im- 
 probable that the comedian's satire was directed against them, since in his 
 Clouds, V. 390, he uses a word nearly the same for a most ludicrous pur- 
 pose. Let the critic, however, be heard : " Aptissime ilia crebra rcpc- 
 titio liters tt palpitationem oris et maxiilarum, qucs hujusmodi dolorum 
 propria est exprimit." — Hermann. "Though the spirit of the Greek 
 drama," says Schlegel, " required a general repose, favorable to the pre- 
 sentation of grand masses, to the embodying of those isolated moments 
 sculpture loves to seize, j et the Greeks were so far from neglecting the 
 impassioned movements of the soul, that they have dedicated whole lines 
 in their tragedies to the inarticulate expression of pain.'' — Tn. Sec 
 Blomfield's preface to the Persce of ^^schylus, in which play this unin- 
 telligible style of grief is carried to a great extent. Aristophanes has 
 burlesqued it in Ran. 1314. But one question never appears to have 
 suggested itself to commentators : Are these expressions mere stage 
 directions to the actor 1 I think that in the choruses, where strictness 
 
75'i— 785.] PHILOCTETES. 313 
 
 Ke. Grievous at least is the burden of thy distemper. 
 
 Pii. Ay, grievous indeed, and unspeakable ; but pity me. 
 
 Ne. Vrhat then shall I do ? 
 
 Pii. Abandon me not out of fear, for it comes on me but at 
 long and uncertain intervals, even as it rages its fill. 
 
 Ne. Alas ! alas ! Miserable that thou art ! Too plainly 
 miserable indeed from all manner of vroes. Dost thou then 
 wish I should hold and touch thee at all? 
 
 Pii. Nay, not this at least ; but having taken these my 
 weapons, even as just now thou askedst of me, until this pang 
 of the disease that is now upon me shall subside, do thou save 
 and guard them. For so sleep seizes me when this attack is 
 spent ; and before I can not rest ; but ye must let me slumber 
 quietly. And if during this time they shall come, I charge 
 thee by the gods neither voluntarily, nor involuntarily, nor by 
 any means whatever to give up these arms to them, lest thou 
 slay at once both thyself and me, that am thy suppliant. 
 
 Ne. Be assured at least of my forethought : they shall not 
 be given to any but to thee and mc ; and with good omen 
 reach them to me. 
 
 Pii. There, take them, son, and v/iili a kiss propitiate envy, 
 that they be not the source of many troubles to thee, nor as to 
 me, and him that before me had them.^ 
 
 Ne. Ye gods, be this my fortune, and be mine a favorable 
 and well-spent voyage, whithersoever heaven deems fit, and the 
 fleet is bound. 
 
 Pii. Nay, then, I fear lest thy prayer for me be ineffectual, ^ 
 my son ; for again from the bottom trickles this my purple 
 bubblino; blood, and I look for some fresh ill. Woe ! alas ! 
 
 of metre required consistency, these expressions were chanted in a half- 
 articulate wail, but that single actors, in the Iambic systems, used nat- 
 ural and spontaneous exclamations of grief — at least, for the credit of 
 Athenian acting, it is to be hoped so. — B. 
 
 ' There seems no reason to suppose that Philoctetes alludes to any 
 thing more here than the ill fortune generally of Hercules and himself. 
 Hercules slew his children with his arrows certainly ; but Sophocles 
 ascribes the disease of Philoctetes to the bite of a serpent. Hermann 
 seems to be mistaken, however, Vvith regard to the necessity for Philoc- 
 tetes' having exchanged his arrows ; the Indians use poisoned weapons 
 to procure food for themselves. 
 
 ^ There is great difficuity in this line, first from the metre, and secondly 
 from the elision of the diphthong in fio!. .See Markland on Eur. Suppi. 
 158 ; Porson on Phcen. t230. Vv'under's emendation appears too bold. — B. 
 
 o 
 
314 PHILOCTETES. [786^ ol4 
 
 alas airain ! O foot, -what evil wilt thou work ric ! this stealg 
 upon me, clraAvs near to me. Ah me ! ah mt : ye see the case ; 
 by no means fly from me. Oh ! oh ! stranger of Cephalenia, 
 I would this torture might fasten on thy breast, through and 
 through it. O heavens ! Agamemnon, Menelaus, would ye 
 might in my stead for an equal length of time harbor this my 
 malady 1 Ah me ! O death, death, ^ ^'^'liy? when thus ever day 
 after day invoked, canst thou never at any time cornel ^f y . 
 's)n, my noble son, having taken me up, burn me in this oft-( 
 invoked Lemnian^ lire, thou generous youth ! I too, mark me, 
 once thought proper to perform this for the son of Jove, in 
 return for these arms Avhich now thou preservest. AVhat 
 sayest thou, my son ? Avhat sayest thou ? Why art thou si- 
 lent 7 Where canst thou be, my child ? 
 
 Ne. Long since indeed I mourn, sighing over thy woes. 
 
 Pii. Nay, my son, but take courage, since this pain sud- 
 denly assails me, and is soon gone, but, I conjure thee, leave 
 me not alone. 
 
 Ne. Cheer up ; we will stay. 
 
 Ph. And wilt thou stay ? 
 
 Ke. Be well assured of it. 
 
 Ph. I Avill not, however, think I have a right to bind thee 
 by an oath, my son. 
 
 Ne. Since indeed it is not lawful for me to go without 
 thee. 
 
 Ph. Give me the pledge of thy hand. 
 
 Ne. I give it thee that I will stay.^ 
 
 Pn. Thither now, thither Avith me — 
 
 Ne. Whither sayest thou ? 
 
 ' Cf JEschyl, Philoct. apud Stob. cxx. 12, u Ouvare Uaiuv, /j.tJ fx' 
 iIti/j.ug?}^ fj.o/.£lv [j-ovog yup d cv ruv uvTjKioruv kukuv larpuc, u?.yog 
 6' ovcVtv uTzrerac VEKpov. — B. 
 
 ^ The island of Lemnos was said to be sacred to ^'ulcan, probably from 
 volcanic fires, which would be an additional reason for the desolate state 
 of that quarter of the island which Philoctetes inhabited. Hermann 
 restores uvaKa?.ovntv(o, "this often-invoked fire."' [Brunck read dia- 
 KVK/.ovfj.£va. — B.] " Mont cm Mosychlum, qui Galeni a?vo jam diu cx- 
 stinctus erat, circa Alexandri tempora flammas ejicere desiissc, non im- 
 }.robabiIibus arfjumentis dcmonstrarc studuit Buttniannus in Mus. Stud. 
 ■^Anliq. Germanico, vol. i. p. 2." — Hermann. See Homer's account of 
 Vulcan's fall, II. 2, and of the Loves of Mars and Venus, Od. 8. — Tpv. 
 The common reading need not be changed, cf vs. 9SG. — B. 
 
 Read with Reiske and Burges, fii^v ovv. — B. 
 
815—834] PPIILOCTETES. 315 
 
 Pii. Upward — 
 
 Ne. What ravest thou again, why gazest thou on the vault 
 of air above '?^ 
 
 Fii. Let me go, let me go ! 
 
 Ne. Whither shall I let thee go ? 
 
 Pii. Let me go at last. 
 
 Ne. I can not let thee go. 
 
 Pii. Thou wilt ruin me, if thou touch me.^ 
 
 Ne. Now then I do leave thee to thyself, if thou art indeed 
 any more thyself. 
 
 Pii. O earth, take me to thee, dying as I am, for this evil 
 suffers me no longer to stand upright. 
 
 Ne. Sleep will, it seems, in no long time possess the man. 
 For this his head is sunk down, see, sweat is trickling over all 
 his body, and one black vein burst with blood,^ hath forced 
 itself open by the extremity of his foot. But leave we him, 
 my friends, quiet, that he may fall asleep.* 
 
 Cii. O sleep, in pain — in grief, O sleep, untaught, mayest 
 thou come upon us gently-breathing, thou life-cheering, life- 
 cheering king ; and retain before his eyes even such a band as 
 now is spread around.^ Come, come to me a physician.^ My 
 son, look Avhere thou art about to pause, whither to move, and 
 
 ^ KvK?iOg here is by some commentators understood to me^tn the eye, 
 as at verse 1354. Struve understands Kara, and translates it thus : quid 
 oculus (vel alterulro oculo) sursum suspicis 1 Hemiann supposes Phi- 
 loctetcs to indicate a wish to return to his cave that he may sleep there, 
 which permission Neoptolemus grants when it is too late. — Tu. " Coeli 
 convexa tueri." — 13. 
 
 2 Neoptolemus, holding Philoctetes by the hand by which he has 
 pledged his faith, extends his other to prevent Philoctetes from withdraw- 
 ing his hand, whereupon Philoctetes shrinks from the apprehension of 
 the bow, which Neoptolemus holds, touching his foot. — Herm. 
 
 ^ AifiOj')(^d-yT]^, from the second aorist passive of the Ionic ^^ycj instead 
 of ^//yvv/u. 
 
 * Cf. Trach. 978 ; Seneca, Here. JEt. Act 4, sc. 3, 9.— B. 
 
 ^ Musgrave understands aly7.r] here to mean Icvamcn or solatium, a 
 forced interpretation arising from his reception ofdvTEXoic, which Brunck 
 has changed to uvtlgxoic, and thus improved both the metre and the 
 sense. The light of Philoctetes is now darkness. — Tr. Welcker, as 
 Buro-es informs us, rightly interprets ar/?iav from Hesychius, alyAag, 
 c'/iduUttr. Burges appositely quotes Ovid's " lumina vincta sopore," and 
 Moschus II. vTTvog — rredda ixaAavC) Kara (pclra deajuu). — B. 
 
 ^ Cf. Ovid, de Ponto I. 2, 33. "At puto, cum requies mcdicinaquQ 
 pubiica cures : Soranus adcst, solitis nox venit orba raalis." — B. 
 
31 G PHILOCTETES. [835—8(50, 
 
 how my fartlicr purpose may be cared for.^ Thou secst now ; 
 for what Avork tarry v/c ? 0[)portiinity, be sure, possessing 
 arbitration of every thing, acquires much power in its^ course.-^ 
 
 Xe. Nay, but he hears nothing ; I, however, perceive that 
 in vain we possess this plunder of his weapons, if without him 
 v/e sail ; for his is the crown, him heaven commanded us to 
 fetch. And to vaunt unfuliilled promises Avitli falsehood is a 
 vile reproacli.'^ 
 
 Cii. But this, my son, God will look to, but with whatever 
 thou shalt in turn reply to me, convey to me the accents of 
 thy words gently, my son, gently ; since the restless slumber 
 of all men is in disease sharp-eyed to discern. But as far as 
 thou canst, in secret search out for me that, even that, 
 which thou meanest to do. Thou knowcst whom I mean;"^ 
 now if thou hold the same opinion with him, 'tis eminently in 
 truth the privilege of the shrcAvd to see into perplexing 
 matters. See, my son, the v/ind is fair, the wind is fair, and 
 the man sightless, possessed of no defense, is lying in darkness 
 (but his vrarm sleep is propitious), master of neither hand, nor 
 
 ^ So Buitniann ; but see Wunder. — B. 
 
 ^ Or, ''having respect to every thinr^." Such is the sentiment which 
 the Corinthians, and after them the Alitylenians, wish to impress on the 
 minds of the Lacedsemonians. Vid. Thuc. L c. 69; III. c. 13. 
 
 ^ Struve seems to understand this as rcferrino- to the disrrrace which 
 would accrue to Neoptolemus if, after all his falsehood, he should vaunt of 
 an uncompleted victory : his words are qua viatica ct ivipcrfecta rcUqiic- 
 ris, de his me?idaciis etiam adhibitis, gloriari vclle, turpe est opprobrium ; 
 and this Barby commends ; but the translator is rather inclined to con- 
 sider the words as betokening remorse in Neoptolemus. As translated it 
 may mean either. The reader should observe the oracular and stately 
 flov/ of the original in this passage, which seems to stand in the middle of 
 the play as the pivot on which turns the whole catastrophe. 
 
 * Hermann proposes to read here, 
 
 oloOa yap uv avSu/iai, 
 
 el ravrav roijTo) yvtj/xav loxcir, fj.u?.a rot, k. t. A., 
 
 which may be thus rendered: "For to them (thou knowest of whom I 
 speak) wise men can discover irremediable mischiefs in thy purpose, if 
 this be thy purpose toward him v.ho lies before us ;" alluding to the mis- 
 ery Neoptolemus would occasion to the Atvida; and the whole Greek 
 army. The instance Barby adduces from Catullus '• nihili est," there 
 beinir an evident hiatus and loss of several verses in both that and tlie 
 following strophe. — Tr. But ov simply refers to I lysses, and the sense 
 is, el Tr/v avrijv ru '0(h'Gcel yv6fj.?^v tx^'-^- ^^^ ^^ under and Dindorf 
 v.'oiild omit ividelv. — B. 
 
8G0— 890 ] PHILOCTETES. 317 
 
 foot, nor any thing. Xo, but tliou scest his look is as of one 
 lying in Hades. Sec whether you are saying seasonable 
 words ; for the labor, my son, which does not alarm the game 
 to be caught, is, in my opinion, the most effectual.^ 
 
 Ne. I bid thee be silent, nor be wanting to thy thoughts, 
 for the man moves his eye, and raises his head. 
 
 Fii. O light that takest the place of sleep, and guardian- 
 ship of these strangers incredible to my hopes ! Kever, my 
 son, could I have felt confident that thou wouldst have the 
 lieart thus compassionately to abide my sufferings, present and 
 assisting me. Truly the Atrida^, those noble generals, did not 
 endure thus patiently to bear them. But, for thy nature, my 
 son, is noble, and of noble origin, thou hast accounted all this 
 easy, though oppressed witli my cries, and the noisome stench. 
 And novv^, since at length there seems to be an oblivion and 
 rest from this woe, my son, do thou thyself take me up, do 
 thou set me, my son, upright, that when at last my weariness 
 shall quit me, we may hasten to the ship, nor delay our 
 vovage. 
 
 Ne. Nay, I am pleased to see thee beyond my hope yet 
 enjoying breath and sight without pain. For in thy condi- 
 tion of misery just now thy s^-mptoms appeared as those of 
 one no more. But now raise thyself, or, if it please thee rath- 
 er, these men shall carry thee, for there is no unwillingness 
 to the trouble in them, if indeed it seems fit to thee and me so 
 to do. 
 
 Ph. I approve of this,- son, and take me up, as thou pur- 
 posest, but leave them alone, lest they be annoyed with the 
 
 ^ " He looks on thee as does one," etc. " See now if thy words be 
 seasonable, v.hen thou proposest to stay, having the best of opportunities 
 for departure." — Hermann, who reads ro J' a/MGLjiovj and places only a 
 comma after nol. This will be, " but what my judgment apprehends, my 
 son, is this ; that labor without fear is the most eligible." — Tr. The in- 
 terpretation given to the latter part of this passage is due. to Burges. 
 "Wander can make nothing of it. — B. 
 
 ^ KivQ Tu6e, i. c, TvapaLTov/uai. Gratia est. Idem enim valet alvelv 
 srepius in colloquendo, quod alias Grsece dicitur Ka/.uc; Ix^t-- Lat. Icnignc, 
 ut Hor. Epist. I. vii. 62. Utuntur nimirum hac formula, si quis benefi- 
 cium sibi oblatum recusat. Frequentatum hoc sensu Grsecis iTtaLvu, cf. 
 Schol. ad Aristoph. Ran. v. 511, et Vaiken. ad Euripid. Phoeniss. p. 150. 
 — Barby. The reader may choose between this and the translation as 
 it stands, but he must observe that Kal follows immediately. — Tr- Soo 
 Wunder. — B. 
 
318 PHILOCTETES. [891— 'J17. 
 
 bad smell ere there be need, for the trouble on board ship in 
 sailing in company with me is enough for them. 
 
 Ne. It shall be so ; but do thou both stand up and thyself 
 hold by me. 
 
 Vu. Courage, my -wonted custom, look you, will set me up- 
 right. 
 
 Ne. Heavens ! and what next am I to do 1 
 
 Ph. What is it, my son ? To what conclusion, I wonder, 
 hast thou come in thy thought ? 
 
 Ne. I know not whither I ought to turn my perplexed 
 words. 
 
 Ph. But for what art thou at a loss? say not thus, my son. 
 
 Ne. Nay, even now I am involved in this difficulty. 
 
 Pii. Surely inconvenience arising from my disease has not 
 dissuaded thee from any longer taking me on board ship ? 
 
 Ne. Every thing is inconvenient, when one havmg aban- 
 doned his own nature, does what befits him not.^ 
 
 Ph. Nay, but thou at least are neither doing nor saying 
 aught unworthy of thy sire, in aiding a brave man. 
 
 Ne. I shall show myself a villain ; 'tis at this I am all along 
 anro-rieved. 
 
 Ph. Nay, surely not, at least in what thou doest; but at 
 \vliat thou say est, I shudder. 
 
 Ne. O Jove, what shall I do ? shall I twice be detected a 
 villain, both in concealing what I ought not, and uttering 
 words the most scandalous? 
 
 Ph. This man, unless I am wrong in judgment, methinks 
 will make hence his voyage, having betrayed and abandoned 
 me. 
 
 Ne. Abandoned thee ? not I indeed ; but lest I rather 
 convey thee to thy grief, 'tis that all the while is torturing 
 me. 
 
 Pii. What canst thou mean, my son? for I comprehend 
 not. 
 
 Ne. T will hide nothins; from thee. Thou must sail to 
 Troy, to the Greeks and the Atrida3's host. 
 
 Ph. Alas ! what hast thou said ? 
 
 '■ This observation ofXcoptolemus is in unison with Achilles' celebrated 
 declaration : 
 
 Who dare think one thing, and another toll, 
 
 My heart detests him as the gates of hell. — Pope's II. IX. 142. 
 
917—941] PHILOCTETES. 310 
 
 Ke. Groan not, ere thou have learned all. 
 
 I'll. What must that lesson he "i what canst thou purpose 
 to do to mc ? 
 
 Ne. First to rescue thee from this misery, and then to go 
 snd with thee sack the Trojan plains. 
 
 Pii. And dost thou really think to do this? 
 
 Xe. Overwhelming necessity in this commands, and be not 
 Uiou angered to hear it. 
 
 Fir. Ah, wretched, I am undone, betrayed ! Vv^hat hast 
 thou done to me, stranger? Give me quickly back my bow 
 and arrows. 
 
 Ne. Nay, it can not be, for both justice and interest induce 
 me to obey those in power. 
 
 Pn. Thou fire!^ thou utter horror! thou most detestable 
 masterpiece of fearful villainy, lioAV hast thou used me, how 
 deceived me ! and dost thou not, wretch, blush to look on 
 me, thy gui^piiant, thy beggar 1 Thou hast bereft me of life, 
 having gotten my weapons. Give them back, I implore thee, 
 I conjure thee, give them back, my son ; by the gods of thy 
 forefathers rob mc not of my livelihood. Ah miserable me ! 
 Nay, no longer does h.c even speak to me,- but thus looks 
 beliind him, as though his restoring them were hopeless. Ye 
 harbors,^ ye promontories, ye haunts of the mountain beasts, 
 ye precipitous crags, to you I speak this, for I knov/ none else 
 to whom I might : I bewail to you, my wonted audience, the 
 deeds, how cruel, that the son of Achilles hath done to me ; 
 having sworn to carry me home from hence, he is taking mc 
 
 ^ The scholiast takes this for a vile pun on the name Pyrrhus ; and 
 Brumoy, following him, has paraphrased it, *' rage dignc clc ton nom:' 
 But independently of the absurdity attendant on this, it is not the name 
 which Neoptolemus himself gives to Philoctetes in his account of his 
 vovag-e, V. 241. 
 
 ^ Num flctu ingemuit nostro 1 num lumina flexit % 
 
 Num lachrymas victus dedit, aut miseratus amantem est 1 
 
 JEn. IV. 369. 
 
 ^ This is imitated from the sublime address of Prometheus in ^Eschy- 
 lus, '12 6log aWfjp — Lord Byron has taken his idea from one, perhaps 
 both of these, in his Doge of Venice : 
 
 I speak to time, and to eternity, 
 
 Whereof I grow a portion, not to man : 
 
 Ye elements, iji which to be resolved 
 
 I hasten, let my voice be as a spirit 
 
 Upon you. 
 
020 PHILOCTETES. 1942—973. 
 
 to Troy ; and having profiercd liis riglit hand,^ lie has taken 
 and detains my bo\y and arrows, arms sacred to Jove-born 
 Hercules, and wills to display them to the Greeks. As if he 
 had captured a strong man, he carries me off by force, and 
 knows not that he slayeth a corpse, and the shadow of a va- 
 por, an empty phantom. For never could he have taken me 
 at least while possessed of strength, since he had not even thus 
 conditioned, except by treachery. But now I wretched have 
 been deceived. Vv'hat can I do? But give them back, and 
 now, even yet, be thine own self.'^ Vriiat sayest thou ? Thou 
 art silent. Unhappy me ! I am no more. O form of the 
 rock with double front, again I return back into thee unarm- 
 ed, bereft of the m.eans of sustenance ; thus forlorn in this 
 cavern shall I wither aAvay, striking do^^^l nor winged bird 
 nor mountain-prowling beast Vv'ith these mine arrows ; but I 
 myself, unliappy man, being dead, shall furnish a banquet to 
 those whereon I fed,^ and vvdiat I m.adc my prey before will 
 make me theirs now, and I niiserable shall make atonement 
 with death a ransom for death, at the hand of one that seem- 
 eth to knovv^ no guile. Mayest thou not yet be accursed, ere 
 I have learned if yet again thou wilt transfer thy opii.ion ; but 
 if not, an evil death be thine. 
 
 CiT. AYhat shall we do ? On thee now rests both our sail- 
 in sr, O kinor, and our accedinor to these his Avords. 
 
 Ne. On me indeed a powerful pity for this man hath fallen, 
 not now first, but long ago. 
 
 Pii. My son, by the gods, pity me, and j)ermit not mortals' 
 reproach against thyself, having deceived me. 
 
 Ne. Ah me ! what shall I do ? O had I never left Scp'os ! 
 so grieved am I at this present matter. 
 
 Pii. Thou art not wicked, but thou seemest to come with 
 bad instructions from the wicked. But now, having given 
 them to others, to Avhom it is fair, sail hence, having given 
 me up my arms. 
 
 ^ " Struve hanc voccm cum Ix^i- jungendum censet, ut scnsus sit, ^joto 
 yalam nunc tenet, dcxtra extensa, arcum ct sagitlas mcas, sacras illas 
 HercuUs, Jr/cis fihi, qttcE. clim erant. Admoclum dure! 'npOTLdivai x^'i-pf^^ 
 id. q. supra v. 813, i/u;3uAAEiv x£i^p<^-^^ — Barhy. 
 
 ^ Vid. Aristoph. Vcsp. 642, (pvai' is understood. 
 
 ^ "This is a strange remark of Philoctctcs. So he really expected to 
 bo the food of thopo he had alread}' devoured I" — Burges. AVunder v> ouid 
 read iUp' (Jv, and fake {'^f^ic'/'?/;- in Ihc middle, not the passive sense- — B 
 
974—990.] PHILOCTETES. • 321 
 
 Ne. What Tire we to do, my mates ? 
 
 Ul. O most vile of men, ^ what doest thou? Wilt thou not 
 return, having left these Aveapons to me ? 
 
 Ph. Ah me ! what man is this ? Do T indeed then hear 
 Ulysses ? 
 
 Ul. Ulysses, be assured, in me at lea-st on whom thou 
 lookcst. 
 
 Pji. Alas ! I am bought and sold^ I am undone. It was 
 then of course he that ensnared me,, and despoiled me of my 
 arms. 
 
 Ul. 'Twas I,- be v/ell assured, and none other; I confess 
 all this. 
 
 Pi I. Restore, let go, my son, mine archer-arms. 
 
 Ul. This indeed he shall never do, even though he would ; 
 but thou too must go ^vith them, or these will convey thee by 
 force. 
 
 Pii. Me, thou vilest of the vile, and most audacious, shall 
 these take by force ? 
 
 Ul. Unless thou crawl hence voluntarily. 
 
 Ph. O Lemnian land, and thou blaze of all-swaying fire 
 Vulcan-framed, is this then to be borne, that he from thy 
 realms shall carry me off by force? 
 
 Ul. Jove it is,-^ that thou mayest know it, Jove, the ruler 
 of this land, Jove v/ho hath determined this; but I am his 
 minister. 
 
 ^ As Xeoptolemus is in the act of giving back the arms to Philoctetes, 
 Ulvsses rushes on the statje. 
 
 ^ Ulysses, knowing the enmity v/hicli Philoctetes bore to him, and re- 
 turning it with equal resentment, thinks his triumph incomplete unless 
 he tcllo him that he did it. See Arist. Rhet. B. II. c. 3, and the Oxford 
 translator's Note, p. 119. 
 
 ^ " Jovem in insula Lemno natum, ibi deum patrium fuisse satis notum 
 est.'' — Baiby. Man has never altered; and when the heathen crew of 
 Olympus could no longer protect craft or vice, the superstition of a suc- 
 ceeding age made itself gods of all the host of heaven. On this there are 
 some forcible remarks in Lear : " This is the excellent foppery of the 
 v/orld ! that, when Vv^e are sick in fortune (often the surfeit of our be- 
 havior), we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars : 
 as if we were villains by necessity ; fools by heavenly compulsion ; knaves, 
 thieves, and treachers by spherical predominance ; drunkards, liars, and 
 adulterers by an enforced obedience of planetary influence ; and all that 
 we ave evil in by a divine thrustinaf on." — x\ct 1, sc. 2. 
 
 02 
 
322 • PHILOCTETES. [991—1026. 
 
 Pii. Thou abhorrence, what lies dost thou coin to utter! 
 Thou alleging gods in pretense, makest those gods liars. 
 
 Ul. Not £0, but true. The journey, however, must be 
 taken. 
 
 Pii. I say it shall not. 
 
 Ul. I say it shall. Thou must obey in this. 
 
 Pii. Unhappy me ! my father then clearly begat me as a 
 slave, and not free. 
 
 Ul. Not so, but on a par with the mightiest, with whom 
 thou needs must capture Troy, and by violence raze it to the 
 ground. 
 
 Pii. No, never, not even were I doomed to suffer e\ery evil, 
 while I have this steep foundation of the island. 
 
 Ul. What then dost thou purpose to do ? 
 
 Ph. This mine head forthwith will I bathe in blood, having 
 leaped from a rock above on one below. 
 
 Ul. Lay hold on him, whatever ye do, nor be this in his 
 power. 
 
 Pii, O hands, what sufierings are yours in the lack of your 
 loved bowstring, entrammeled by this man! O thou that 
 thinkest nothing sound or liberal, how hast thou stolen upon 
 me, how hast thou hunted mc dovrn ! having used as thy 
 Btalking-horse this boy unknown to me, unworthy of thee, 
 but of me most worthy, who knev/ nothing but to execute 
 what had been enjoined him. Nay, even now he shows that 
 he bears sorrowfully the deeds whereby lie erred and whereby 
 I suffered. But 'twas thine evil spirit ever looking forth 
 from its lair, that well foretaught him, hoM-ever by nature 
 indisposed as by inclination, to be shrewd in wickedness. 
 And now, wretch, thou thinkest to bind and carry mc from 
 this shore, on which thou didst expose me, friendless, forlorn, 
 homeless, among the living a corpse. Ah ! mayest thou perish ; 
 and on thee have I often imprecated this, but in vain, for the 
 gods allot me nought of pleasure. Thou livest in exultation ; 
 while I, on the contrary, have this to grieve me, that I mis- 
 erable Hve consorted with many woes, scotFed at by thee and 
 the two generals the sons of Atreus, for whom thou trucklest 
 to this oliice. And yet thou bound by stratagem and com- 
 pulsion ^ sailedst with them ; while me, all-unhappy me, that 
 
 ' Although it was hy the advice of Uiysscs tiiat Tyndarus had imposed 
 the celebrated oath to defend Helen on her suitors, yet he liimselfwas so 
 
ICi7— 1051 ] PHILOCTETES. 323 
 
 witli my sevcn^ ships under my command was a willing voy- 
 ager, they cast away unhonored, as thou assertest, while they 
 charge thee.'^ And now why take ye me? Why carry me 
 away ? For what cause ? Me, that am as nothing, and long 
 since have been dead to you? How, O most hated of the 
 gods, am I not now lame and noisome to thee ? How is it 
 possible, with me on board, to burn sacrifices to the gods ? 
 How any longer to make libations? for this was thy pre- 
 tense to cast me out. Destruction on ye ! And destruction 
 shall, for that ye have injured me, if the gods care for just- 
 ice. And I am sure at least that they do care ; since ye had 
 never sailed on this expedition for such a wretch as I am, 
 had not a heaven-sent poignancy of need for me urged you 
 forward. But O my father-land, and ye gods that look upon 
 us, avenge, at least one day after a time, avenge me on all of 
 them, if ye have any pity for me ; since piteously do I live, 
 yet could I but see them destroyed, I should think I had es- 
 caped my disease. 
 
 Cn. Stern is the stranger, and stern is this his speech that 
 he hath uttered, Ulysses not at all yielding to his sorrows. ^^ 
 
 Ul. Much could I say in answer to this man's words, would 
 time permit ; but now I am strong in this one argument. 
 Where there is need of plans such as these, such am I ; and 
 where the decision is of just and upright characters, you could 
 rot meet with any one more pious than myself.^ 1 am natu- 
 
 unwilling to abide by that oath, that he pretended to be insane, and plow- 
 ed the sea-shore, sowing it with salt. This artifice was discovered by 
 Palamedes, who placed the infant Telemachus before the plow, and Ulys- 
 ses turned it immediately from the furrow. What requital the unfortu- 
 nate son of Belus got for this is told in the second book of Virgil. It is 
 to Ulysses' feigned madness, however, that Philoctetes here alludes. 
 
 ' Brunck and Erfurdt have improperly inserted a stop before Itttu, as 
 if Philoctetes boasted in the number of his vessels, which would have been 
 an absurdity in him on this occasion, his rival Ulysses having sailed with 
 twelve. — Herm. This is not quite convincing : Philoctetes might natu- 
 rally look for more consideration as commander of a squadron than as an 
 adventurer who went single-handed, without meaning to institute this 
 comparison between himself and Ulysses ; and the former might be indi- 
 cated by Brunck's punctuation as well as the latter. 
 
 ^ Burges would read ot, i. e., u^ de tfaaav kelvol, cv tiiaTieg. — B, 
 
 ^ Cf. Antig. 471, 6r]Aol ~b yivveft' C)[iui> i; uiicv Tzarpbg Tijg izacdSg, el- 
 KCLv 6' ovK ETziararai. Kauolg. — B. 
 
 * See note on v. 81. 
 
3->J. PHILOCTETES. [1052—1078. 
 
 «J'^"X 
 
 rally desirous to prevail at least, in every point, except against 
 thee ;i but row to thee at least I will willingly concede. Yes, 
 let him go, nor hold him any longer ; leave him to stay. We 
 have no additional need of thee, at least while we possess these 
 arms, since we have Tcuccr Avith us, acquainted with this sci- 
 ence, and me, who think that I could master these, and aim 
 them aright with mine hand in no wise worse than thou.^ 
 What want we then of thee^ Adieu, and pace Lemnos ;-^ but 
 let us be gone ; and haply thy prize may xAn thee that honor 
 Vrhich thou shouldst have had. 
 
 Pii. Ah me, Avhat shall I do, ill-fated ? Shalt thou, adorn- 
 ed with my arms, present thyself to the Greeks ? 
 
 IJl. Make me no reply, not a word, since I am nov/ 
 
 gomg. 
 
 Fii. Seed of Achilles, and shall I no longer be addressed by 
 thy voice^ either, but wilt thou thus be gone? 
 
 Ul. Go thou, nor look on him, though thou art generous, 
 that thou ruin not our fortune. 
 
 Pii. And shall I now, my guests, be thus forlorn abandoned 
 by you, and will ye not pity me ? 
 
 Cii. This youth is our vessel's commander ; whatsoever he 
 shall say to thee, that do we also speak to thee. 
 
 Ne. I shall indeed hear myself reproached by this man 
 with being by nature over-pitiful ;'' yet tarry, if he wish it, 
 thus much time, until the mariners shall have got ready that 
 which was brought asliore, and we shall have prayed to the 
 god£.*^ And he meanwhile may haply adopt sentiments more 
 
 ' Construendum potius, [(pvv vlkolv xpV"^^"^^ ^^^co ego vinccrc, ubi volo. 
 — Herm. 
 
 2 hi the Odyssey, however, Ulysses confesses his inferiority, though he 
 claims praise for this science : 
 
 Alone superior in the field of Troy 
 Great Philoctetes taught the shaft to fly. 
 
 B. Vm. V. 251. 
 
 Hermann points out the modesty with which Ulysses here speaks of him- 
 self after Teucer. The change of the negative he considers to mark a 
 doubt, and yet an affirmative : ncque hcrclc lis colhncaturus. 
 
 '■^ Or this may be rendered, " Stalk in Lemnos and welcome.'' 
 
 * 2o{) (l>uv},g "here is governed by utto understood. 
 
 ^ Il/Jcjg TT/t'wv, whence ir/.ncjv, Attic for 7r?.iog ■n?.€Log : in the same 
 dialect shortly after //m for AcJova a 'Aiolcjv, and no for vQc. 
 
 ^ Such was uniformly the Greek custom : 'E-eidi) de ai v7/e^ -nAripciq 
 f/cav, Kal iatKeiTo yit] baa t/ue/JiOV nvd^eoOai, Ty fitv ad?.Trtyyi ciuttj) 
 
1079—1110] PI-IILOCTETES. 325 
 
 to our advantage : let us two, however, hasten hence, and bo 
 ye quick in jour departure, when Ave shall summon you. 
 
 Pii. O cavity of the hollow rock, alike warm and icy-cold, 
 how am I then, wretch that I am, doomed never hereafter to 
 quit thee ! no, e'en in death thou wilt be my shelter. O nie, 
 woe is me ! O abode, wretched abode, most full of my sor- 
 rows, what again will ever be my daily sustenance? AYhat 
 liope administering to my hunger shall I hapless ever obtain ? 
 O that the fugitive birds^ with shrill-toned whizzings of their 
 vv'iniis would take me aloft in air! for I can endure no lon- 
 
 ger. 
 
 Cii. Thou, even thou, mark me, hast decreed it to thyself, 
 ill-fated man ; from no other and higher quarter art thou 
 
 o 
 
 visited v/ith this misfortune ;^ Avhen at least, being in thy 
 power to be wise, thou hast chosen to adopt the worse fate for 
 the better. 
 
 Ph. Ah hapless, hapless I, then, and marred by trouble, 
 who now henceforth, wretch that I am, dvv^elling in future 
 with no human being, here shall perish, alas! alas! no longer 
 bringing home food, nor possessing it by means of my winged 
 arrovv^s and with my pov/erful hands ; no, the unsuspected and 
 dissembled words of a crafty mind stole upon me guilefully : 
 but O could I but see him, the VvTetch that has devised all this, 
 for as long a time doomed to my afflictions ! 
 
 Cii. Destiny from heaven, and no treacheiy at my hands at 
 least, possessed thee thus ; keep back then thy curse, thine ab- 
 
 v:TEav,fJ,dvOi], evx^.^ c5c rag voui^o^ivac izpo r7jg clvayuyr/g, ov Kara vavv 
 kKuaT7]v, ^vfiTravreg 6e VTro Ki}pvKog, Ittolovvto, Kparv/puc; re Kepdaavreg 
 Trap' uTvav to orpdrevfia, koX eKTTu/uaoc xP''J(^oIg re Kal upyvpolg ol rt etzl- 
 [Sdrat KOI ol upxovreg (rrzevSovTcg. Thuc. VI. 32. 
 
 ^ Of this passage there are many various readings. Aldus has it tttoj- 
 Kudeg, Geaike TrAcjrdSeg. Brunck gives the other conjectures of the 
 schoiia. But Barby has adopted Vossius' correction, Myth. Buckfi. v. i. 
 p. 211, who alters it to rrruddeg from the old word uTcJctv, Trcrrretv. Vos- 
 sius, however, understands it to allude to the Harpies, and their pouncing 
 stoop. Hermann reads lOc for e'We, which mends both the metre and the 
 sense. With justice he remarks that the verb Trrucycu) could not be ap- 
 plied to ravenous birds of prey, but rather to cowering, timorous animals 
 of every description. — Tr. There seems no hope of this passage.- ^ 
 
 ^ Hermann reads, 
 
 Koi'K u?J.odev, 
 0,2,2.' kvEX^i Tvx,cL di6' u-ko /lei^ovog. so. dejv. 
 
32G PHILOCTirrES. [1120—1149. 
 
 liorred, ill-omened curse, for others. For I too am caring for 
 this, that thou spurn not my kindness. 
 
 Pii. Ah me ! me ! And somewhere, seated on the shore of 
 the hoary main, he laughs at me, ^yielding in his hand the 
 support of me unhappy, which none ever carried besides. O 
 my loved bow, O thou from friendly hands wrested by violence, 
 full surely, if thou hast any feelings, thou lookest Avitli pity on 
 me thus wretched, never asain hereafter to use thee, as the 
 prize-gift from Hercules.^ No, by change of masters art thou 
 handled by an artful man, witnessing his base deceits, and 
 tiie detestable and loathed villain causins; to dawn crimes on 
 crimes innumerable, all of evil that Ulysses hath plotted against 
 me. 
 
 Ch. Surely it is a man's part to call that which is useful, 
 just ; and not to vent out the envious displeasure of his tongue 
 at one who has so called it.-^ He, having been appointed one 
 out of maiiy, by the instructions of this Ulysses, accomplished 
 for liis friends a public service. 
 
 Pii. O winged prey, and tribes of fierce wild beasts,-^ 
 
 ^ QuEGCunque vox liunc locum obtinucrit, dcsignatur haud dubie Phi- 
 loctetes. 'AeO/.ov rctinendum esse non dixerim, licet colorem ci conciiict 
 
 Horatianum illud, accedes opera agro nona Sahiiio fuit quidem 
 
 cum legendum putarem rov 'Hpa/cAa Gvvae07.ov vel ofiueOXov. Priorem 
 vocem habet Oppianus, Cyneg. I. 195. Sed ea lectio hoc habet incom- 
 modi, quod Philoctetem liercuiis comitem etin laboribus adjutorcm faciat, 
 quod ncscio an Vetcrum quisquam tradiderit. Nihil cnim aliud memorant 
 Mythologi, nisi Herculis rogum funebrem, rehquis detrectantibus, ab 
 ipso accensum fuisse. Hyginus, fab. 36. AppoUodorus, Lib. II. 7. Diod. 
 Sic. IV. 38. — Musgrave. He says u6e ovk Itl ;\;p7/cr6//fx'02-', because he 
 has by so great treachery been deprived of its use. To which words he 
 subjoins the accusative 'llpuK/.eiov dO/Mv hy a usage very common to the 
 Greeks, meaning that the use of the bow had been given to him by Her- 
 cules as a reward, which may be briefly expressed : ita mc non ampUus 
 Ic -pro pramio ah Hercule acccpto usurum. Aiatthiae has given examples 
 of this construction in his Gr. Gr. ^ 432-3. — Hcrm. 
 
 - The translator had in the former edition adopted H. Stephens' opin- 
 ion ; but the sense which Hermann has given malies the passage so much 
 more applicable to the wrath of Philoctetcs, and the general tone of Greek 
 morality, that he could not hesitate to adopt it. Au:aia fx>v und Tl,q 'iGrjc 
 avdyKT]^ Koivcrai, dvvaru 6t ol Tcpovxcvrc^ TTpuaoovci, Kal cl acOcvclq 
 cvyxopovan'. — Thuc. 5, 89. See the whole conference. 
 
 ^ So the Lercica gave it, taking the idea from tlie exultation expressed 
 in the eves of wild beasts v/hcn about to seize on their prey. Vid. llum. 
 Od. II. 010.— Tr. Cf Liddell, s. v. xapo-6q.—B. 
 
1147—1190.] PHILOCTETES. 327 
 
 v/liich prowling o'er the hills this place nourishes ; no longer 
 do ye by your flight draw me toward you from my abode, for 
 I have not in my hands the former defense of my arrows any 
 longer, wretched that I am ! no, this spot freely tenanted by 
 you, no longer a source of fear. Approach, now is it fitting 
 that ye glut your mouths in mutual slaughter, with my livid 
 flesh to your pleasure, for life I instantly shall quit : since from 
 what source will come my livelihoods who is there thus fed 
 en air, no loni]i;er, no lonirer master of ausrht that the life-be- 
 stowingi earth supplies. 
 
 Cii. In the gods' name, if aught thou respect a guest that 
 is come to thee in all good will, come thou to him. Eut be 
 sure, most sure that it is for thine own sake,^ to evade this evil 
 fate ; for lamentable is it to support, and unschooled to bear 
 the countless pain wherewith it consorts. 
 
 Fii. Again, again hast thou hinted'^ at my old affliction, the 
 best of all that have hitherto set foot on this spot, why hast 
 thou destroyed me ? AVhat hast thou done to me '? 
 
 Cii. ^Vhy say est thou this? 
 
 Pii. In case thou expectest to carry me to the land of Troy 
 I detest. 
 
 Cii. I do, for this I conceive the best. 
 
 Pii. ISTow this moment quit me. 
 
 Cii. Friendly, ay friendly in this thy bidding to me, and I 
 am well inclined to perform it. Let us go, let us go to our 
 ship whereunto we have been bidden. 
 
 Ph. Go not, by Jove of curses, I implore. 
 
 Ch. Be moderate. 
 
 Ph. Strangers, tarry, in the gods' name. 
 
 Ch. AVhat clamorest thou? 
 
 Ph. Alas! alas! fate, fate! I miserable am undone. O 
 foot, foot, what shall I do with thee any longer in life hence- 
 forth, wretched that I am? Strangers, come ye back mj vis- 
 itors again. 
 
 * -^cchyl. apud Schol. Aristoph. Ivan. 1357, as restored by critics, 
 ^lydxov 'Apyciov Tzorauov ~atalv f3io6upoig. See Dindorf, fragm. ^"Esch. 
 153. ^cidtjpog is a more common word, especially in Hesiod, but Liddell 
 is against a cognate etymology from i^7)v. — B. 
 
 ^ This ii mo;c than col implies. An adjective or finite verb is want- 
 ing.— B. 
 
 - Ci: Antig. 857.— B 
 
328 PHILOCTETES. [1191—1218. 
 
 Cii. To do what with purpose differiDg from those before, 
 of which thou didst before show thvself. 
 
 Pii. It is not, look you, fair cause for indignation that a 
 man languishing under tempestuous pain should prate even of 
 his mind. 
 
 Cn. Go now, wretched man, as we desire thee. 
 
 Pii. Never, never, knoAv this for certain ; not even if the 
 fieiy lord of lightning come to blast me with the flashes of his 
 thunderbolts.^ Perish Trov, and all they beneath it, as many 
 as had the heart to spurn this my foot's limb. But, strangers, 
 one praj^er, at least one, accord me. 
 
 Cii. What is this thou wilt utter? 
 
 Pii. Convey to me a sword, if from any place ye can, or an 
 axe, or some one weapon. 
 
 Ch. To do what possible work ? 
 
 Pii. To lop oft with my hand mine whole head and my 
 limbs.2 On slaughter,^ slaughter, is now my mind. 
 
 Ch. Why should it be ? 
 
 Ph. To go search for my father. 
 
 Ch. Whither on earth ? 
 
 Ph. Into Hades, for in the lisfht at least he is no lono-er.^ 
 O city, native city, how might I look on thee, wretched man 
 as I am, I, that having quitted thy sacred v/aters,^ v/ent to as- 
 sist the hated Greeks, and now am nouolit ! 
 
 Ch. I indeed even now long since had been walkinsr near 
 
 ^ Tilusgrave admits into his text the old reading, jSpovralg ahralg, and 
 in his note rejects the emendation of Valckenaer (which Brunck has fol- 
 lowed), jSpovTug avpacg, which he defends on the authority of Euripides, 
 as quoted by Plutarch : Bpovrrj^ Trvevfi' uvaiuov u/.e(ye, of Virgil, ^^n. II. 
 649 : Fulminis afflavit vcnlis, and Statius Theb. V. 586 : Moti tamer, 
 aura cucurnt Fulminis. But he adds, " Sed videndum nc aura fulminis 
 sit innoxium fulminis genus, miniineque adeo huic loco conveniens ; 
 deinde ne (^povralg avralg sit vcro fulmine, ipsissimo fulmine." — Vol. ii. 
 p. 179. 
 
 ^ This reminds us of Virgil's Moriamur, et in media arma ruamus : it 
 is a figure well suited to express the eagerness of desperation. The fate 
 designed for himself b)^ Philoctctes was actually tliat of Cleomenes, to 
 whom, as in his latter cays a bitter enemy to Athens and her liberties, the 
 poet might possibly allude. 
 
 ^ <i>oi'a, Schol. davarta, Oavurov tTTLOVfiel. 
 
 * For the reasons of this opinion, see v. 493. 
 
 * Spercheius. 
 
1219—1241.] PHILOCTETES. 329 
 
 my vessel, for thee, had ^Ye not perceived Ulysses walking 
 close b^', and tlie son of Achilles comino; toward us. 
 
 Ul. Wilt thou not say [jfo Kcoptolemus] wherefore again 
 thou stcalest on this way, turning backward thus quickly and 
 with earnestness ? 
 
 Ne. To atone 1 for all the errors I have heretofore com- 
 mitted. 
 
 . Ul. Thou speakest wonders at least. But what was the 
 -error ? 
 
 Ne. That wherein having been persuaded by thee and the 
 Avhole united host — 
 
 Ul. What manner of deed hast thou done, of those that be- 
 came thee not ? 
 
 Ne. Having by base deceits and treachery entrapped a 
 man. 
 
 Ul. What man? Ah me! thou surely dost not purpose 
 aught anew'? 
 
 Ne. Nothing new ; but to the son of Poias — 
 
 Ul. Vv'hat wilt thou do 1 Hov/ does a fear creep upon me ! 
 
 Ne. From whom in fact I took these Vv^eapons, back again — 
 
 Ul. O Jove ! vv hat wilt thou say ? Thou surely hast no 
 thought to give them him ? 
 
 Ne. Yes, for I got and have them basely and not with 
 justice. 
 
 Ul. By the gods, whether now sayest thou all this in 
 mockery ] 
 
 1\ e. If it be mockery to speak the truth. 
 
 Ul. Yv'hat sayest thou, son of Achilles ^^ What word hast 
 thou uttered? 
 
 Ne. AVouldst thou that twice and thrice I reiterate the 
 same words? 
 
 Ul. Nay, not once even could I have wished to hear 
 them. 
 
 Ne. Be now v/ell assured of it : thou hast heard all I have 
 to say. 
 
 Ul. There is one, there is, that shall prevent thy executing 
 it. 
 
 ^ Cf Anti^. 1112.— B. 
 
 ^ This naturally expresses the unwillingness of Ulysses to believe what 
 would so completely frustrate his plans. A similar scene occurs in Othel- 
 lo, where ^Emilia receives the first account of her husband's villainy. 
 
330 PHILOCTETES. [1242—1260. 
 
 Ke. What say est thou? "Who is there shall hinder me in 
 this? 
 
 Ul. The combined people of the Greeks, and among them I. 
 
 Ne. a wise man born, thou utterest no wisdom. 
 
 Ul. And thou neither now speakest nor are about to act 
 wisely. 
 
 Xe. Nay, but if this be just, 'tis better than wisdom. 
 
 Ul. And how just, to restore again these arms which by my 
 counsels thou gottest ? 
 
 Ke. Having failed with a disgraceful fault, I will endeavor 
 to retrieve it. 
 
 Ul. And acting thus, fearest thou not the Greek army ? 
 
 Ke. With justice on my side I fear not thy terrors. 
 
 Ul. Nor am I persuaded by thine hand to act, mark me.^ 
 
 Ne. Then not with the Trojans, but with thee will we 
 battle. 
 
 Ul. Be what must be. 
 
 Ne. Seest thou my right hand grasping my sword's hilt ? 
 
 Ul. Nay, thou shalt see me too doing the same, and no 
 longer about to do it,^ however, I will leave thee alone, but 
 will go and tell this to the assembled host, which will chastise 
 thee. 
 
 Ne. Thou hast acted temperately,^ and if thus thou think- 
 est on all the rest, haply thou mayest keep thy foot out of 
 
 ^ Hermann gives the latter of these lines to Ulysses, and thenceforward 
 makes an exchange of persons to the passage, " Nay, thou shalt," etc., 
 which he joins with that beginning " However," etc. The line a/JJ oh6t:, 
 K. T. 7\,., he translates quod ad affcctioncm attinct, tucz vianui non ccdam ; 
 and observes that ov fCEldo/uai, for ovk ici admits an infinitive after it to 
 express the action not of the person forbidding, but of the person forbid- 
 den. — Tr. I have followed Hermann, with Dindorf — B. 
 
 " Hermann, giving the preceding line and half also to Ulysses, says 
 " Quod recte factum esse vel particula Kalroi, quse est sese a consilio cap- 
 to rcvocantis, ostendcre poterat." He adds that the propriety of the two 
 characters favors this arrangement. 
 
 ^ Something similar is the reproach of Brutus to An'^ony in Julius 
 Caesar : 
 
 For 3'ou have stolen their buzzing, Antony, 
 And very wisely threat before you sting. 
 
 And the observation of Antony just preceding it will bear comparison with 
 
 V. 1264 : 
 
 In 5'our bad strokes, Brutus, 3'ou give good words : 
 Witness the hole you made in (yffsar's heart, 
 Crying, Long live ! Hail, Cscsar ! 
 
CGI— 1287.] PHILOCTETES. Sol 
 
 iroublGS. But do thou, son of Poias, I mean PliilocteteSj come 
 forth, having quitted this thy rocky dwelling. 
 
 Pii. What clamorous disturbance is again raised by my cav- 
 ern? Why call ye me forth'? desirous of what matter, stran* 
 gers? Ah me,^ the matter ye desire is evil. Ye surely are 
 here to heap a heavier woe upon my woes? 
 
 Ne. Courage. But hear the words 1 come bringing with me. 
 
 Pii. I am alarmed ; for before also I fared but badly from 
 fair words, persuaded by thy advice. 
 
 Ne. Is there then no place left for repentance? 
 
 Pii. Such wert thou in words, even when thou didst steal 
 mine arrows, trusty, yet in private baneful, 
 
 Ne. But fear not that I am at all such now : I Vv^ould, how- 
 ever, hear from thee whether thy purpose be to persist in tar- 
 lying here, or to sail with us. 
 
 Pii. Have done, speak no farther, for in vain will all that 
 thou shalt say be uttered. 
 
 Ne. Art thou thus resolved? 
 
 Pii. Ay, and be sure yet more so than I express. 
 
 Ne. Nay, I indeed could have wished thou hadst been in- 
 duced by my words ; but if I chance to say nought to purpose, 
 I have done. 
 
 Ph. Good, for thou wilt say all in vain, since never wilt 
 thou gain my friendly thought ;'-^ thou at least that hast taken 
 by craft and reft me of my support, and then comest and ex- 
 hortest me, thou most infamous son of a father most famous. 
 Destruction be upon ye ; the Atridca especially, then Laertes' 
 son and thee. 
 
 Ne. Curse no farther, but accept from my hand these mis- 
 siles. 
 
 The whole scene is well accordant with Ulysses' spirit, and his guardian's 
 sentiments ; for Minerva appears to have allowed the utmost license of 
 tongue, but to have been very adverse to bloody consequences. \ id. II. I. 
 '■ This is said by Philoctetes on first seeing Neoptolemus ; the preced- 
 ing words are spoken within his cave. 
 
 ^ Came he riofht now to sin^ a raven's note, 
 
 AVhose dismal tunc bereft my vital powers, 
 And thinks he that the chirping of a wren, 
 By crying comfort from a lioHov/ breast, 
 Can chase away the first conceived sound 1 
 Hide not thy poison with such sugar'd words. 
 
 Second Part of Henry VI., Act 3, sc. 2. 
 
332 PHIL0CTETE5. [1289—1310. 
 
 Pii. Kow saj'Gst tliou? And am I not a second time de- 
 ceived ? 
 
 Ne. No. I swear by tiie highest reverence of holy Jupiter. 
 
 Pii. O thou that hast spoken words most dear, if Avith truth 
 thou speakest! 
 
 Ne. The fact shall be here manifest. But put forth thy 
 right hand, and possess thee of thine arms. 
 
 Ul. But I for my part protest against this, as^ the gods 
 witness for me, in behalf of both the Atridis and the army in 
 common. 
 
 Pii. My son, whose voice ? I surely heard not Ulysses ? 
 
 Ul. Be sure thou didst ; and at all events thou seest him at 
 hand, who will convey thee hence by force to the Trojan plains, 
 whether the son of Achilles will it, or will it not. 
 
 Pii. But by no means with impunity, if this arrow be sent 
 straifrht.-^ 
 
 Ne. Ah ! ah ! by no means. Do not, by the gods, let go 
 thy dart. 
 
 Pii. Let go, by the gods, my hand, my dearest son. 
 
 Ke. I can not let it go. 
 
 Pii. Alas, why hast thou debarred m.e from slaying with 
 mine arrows a foeman and detested wretch? ^ 
 
 Ke. This were honorable neither for me nor thee. 
 
 Pii. Well, but be assured of this much at least, that those 
 chieftains of the host, those mouth-pieces of lying to the Ar- 
 give army, are very cowards for the battle, but bold enough in 
 words. 
 
 Ne. Be it so. Thou art master of thy weapons, and thou 
 hast no cause for resentment or complaint against me. 
 
 Pii. I allow it; thou hast, my son, displayed the nature 
 
 ^ The oic could not here have been omitted, since then the appeal 
 would have respected the mere prohibition ; now it has respect to that 
 prohibition's being in behalf of the common cause. — Herm. 
 
 ^ Fcnelon, in his Telemachus (as Franklin remarks), has made a vari- 
 ation from this account, for an obvious reason, and indeed the same v.'hich 
 has made him elsewhere suppress some particulars of Ulysses' conduct, 
 and give a new coloring to others ; the wish to make that chief worthy 
 of Minerva's protection. He supposes that U!ys.ses made sijrns to l^r- 
 rhus to restore the v.-eapons, and that Philoctctes, in his first impulse of 
 revenge and unwillingness to owe any thing to so detested an enemy, 
 unfrratcfully prepared to turn his gift to his dcsiniclion. This however 
 is, from the character of the parties, most unnatural. 
 
i 
 
 1311—1335.] PHILOCTETES. 333 
 
 "vvlieRcc tliou didst spring ; not from Sisypliiis^ as father, but 
 from Acliiiles, who both among the living had the noblest 
 character, and now of the dead.- 
 
 Ne. I was gratified to hear thee lauding both my father 
 and myself; but what I Avish to obtain from thee listen. The 
 misfortunes that are sent by the gods it is necessary for men 
 to endure ; but as many as are involved in voluntary evils, -^ 
 as thou in fact art, on these it is not just for any one to bestow 
 eitlier pardon or pity. But thou art become savage, and both 
 refusest to take a partner in thy councils, and if any one 
 speaking out of good will advise thee, thou detestest him, ac- 
 countino' him an enemy, and that a bitter one. Yet still will 
 I speak, and I invoke Jove the lord of oaths ; know thou this 
 also, and grave it on thy mind within. For thou art distem- 
 pered with this pain by divine ordinance, having drawn near 
 unto the guardian of Chiyse, that hidden serpent, that there 
 protecting watches o'er the uncovered fane;"^ and know that 
 a release from this thy grievous malady may never come 
 about wdiile yonder sun shall in this quarter rise, and in that 
 in turn set again, until thou thyself come willingly to the 
 Trojan plains, and happening on thy cure from the sons of 
 .^seulapius that are with us,^ mayest be alleviated in this thy 
 disease ; and show thyself the destroyer of Pergamus Avith 
 these weapons, and in union with me. But how I know that 
 
 ^ A sneer at Ulysses. — B. 
 
 ^ Ulysses himself salutes Achilles as such in his interview with him 
 in Hades. — OJ. II. 4S4. It is curious to observe, however, how different 
 an effect these two compliments have on the young heir and his deceased 
 father, which latter, in his answer, perfectly agrees with the old proverb, 
 '• A hvins dofj is better than a dead lion." 
 
 ^ See Diodotus' oration in the third book of Thucvdides : and Aristotle 
 on voluntary and involuntary actions. 
 
 * From the mildness of the climate in Greece, many of the public 
 buildings were left uncovered ; and it is not vet fuUv agreed amono- the 
 learned that the Parthenon was not hypcethral. Serpents were placed 
 constantly by the ancients to guard treasures, as was most probably that 
 which had a public maintenance in the building behind the Parthenon, 
 which was the public treasury. Hence perhaps Aristophanes' idea of the 
 aidhig Piutus by ^Esculapius. 
 
 ^ Toup proposes to read 'Agk?.7]77ujv, mcdiconim, which Brunck re- 
 jects, without sufficient regard to what is afterward said by Hercules, v. 
 1432. Quintus Calabar states that Philoctetes was healed by Podalirius, 
 Machaon having fallen; which Propcrtius contradicts, L. II. E. i. v. 59: 
 
 Tarda Philoctcta; sanavit crura Machaon. 
 
334 PHILOCTETES. [i33G— 1365. 
 
 this mast be so, I will tell theo. For we have a man a pris- 
 oner from Troy, Helenas, the first of seers, who says plainly 
 that all tliis is doomed to take place ; and yet more in addi- 
 tion to this, that Troy must of necessity be utterly taken in 
 the present summer ; or he voluntarily surrenders himself to 
 us to slay, if in saying this he shall have falsified. Since then 
 thou knowest this, yield to us willingly. For noble is the 
 acquisition, that alone having been judged the bravest of 
 Greeks, thou in the first place fall under healing hands ; and 
 then having taken Troy, fertile in groans, thou gain the most 
 transcendent renown. 
 
 Pii. O hateful existence, why then detainest thou me any 
 longer possessed of sight above, and hast not suffered me to 
 descend to Pluto's home ? Ah me ! what shall I do ? How 
 shall I disobey the advice of this man, who being my well' 
 wisher lias admonished me! But must I then yield? Then 
 how shall I come forth into light, wretched I, having so 
 acted'? By whom accosted? How, O ye orbs^ tliat witness 
 all these injuries befalling me, how will ye endure through 
 this, that I join the sons of Atreus, who have destroyed me'? 
 How, with the all-accursed son of Laertes? For it is not 
 the sorrow of things past that gnaws me, but I fancy I fore- 
 see what I am doomed yet to suffer from them. For to 
 Avhomsoover the judgment shall have become mother of 
 evil, it trains up every thing else to become evil. And I 
 for my part am astonished at thee in this ! for thou 
 oughtest neither thyself ever again to return to Troy, and 
 to keep me too from it ; men at least that have insulted thee, 
 spoiling thee of thy father s prize.^ And^ then thou must go 
 
 ^ Here again, as at v. 815, Brunck dhTers from several of the commen- 
 tators. Gedike and Camerarius understand it of his eyes, as at v. 1270, 
 of QilJipus Tyrannus : 
 
 trraiaev dpGpa ruv avrcJv kvic/mv. 
 Hermann removes the comma and phices it after ravra, understanding 
 the word /cv/c/lof as Camerarius does. — Tr. So Dindorf and Wunder. — B. 
 
 ^ The passion of Philoctetes authorizes this abrupt anticipation of what 
 he meant to have said last. 
 
 ^ Musgrave, Avho admits two linos here which Brunck (sec his note) 
 rejects as spurious, is obliged to attribute them to an oversight of Sopho- 
 cles, a thoughtlessness with whicli, as Brunck observe.-, it ia unreasona- 
 ble to charge the most perfect of the ancient tragedians in tills hio most 
 finished play. As Hermann inserts them, excusing rather than dcfond- 
 inj Sophocles, it may be proper to fjivc them : 
 
13GG— 13S1.] PLILOCTETES. 335 
 
 to join them in battle, and forcest me to tins? Nay, now, my 
 son ; but, as thou hast sworn to me, convey me home, and do 
 thou thyself tarrying in Scyros leave them, villains as they are, 
 to perish by a death as vile. And thus Avilt i:;ou reap double 
 gratitude from me, and from thy father double ; nor by abet'x 
 ting the wicked, wilt thou appear by nature to resemble the 
 wicked. 
 
 Ne. Thou speakest reasonable indeed: yet still I would 
 have thee, putting faith in the gods and my words, to sail from 
 this land with me thy friend. 
 
 Pii. AVhat, to the Trojan plains, and Atreus' most hated 
 son, with this wretched foot'? 
 
 Ne. To those, however, tliat will cure thee and thy cor- 
 rupted foot of its pain, and deliver thee from thy malady. 
 
 Pii. O thou that urgest fearful advice,^ what canst thou 
 mean ? 
 
 Ne. Things'^ which I see accomplishing best for me and 
 thee. 
 
 ot rbv uOalov 
 
 klavd' 07r?Mv GOV Tzarpbg varepov diKij 
 
 'EKptvav. 
 Philoctctes had heard of the death of Ajax, and knowing that t! c arms 
 were given to Ulysses, might be indignant that they were not Ic.- towed 
 on Ajax. — Tr. Wunder, who has in this instance changed his mind for 
 the better, has rightly followed Brunck, and gives ample reasons for do- 
 inrr so. As to Hermann's defense, we say, with Burges, " Habeat secum, 
 ser\^etquG sepulcro." — B. 
 
 ^ AcLvov alvov alvsaac, dirum consilhun dans ; alvdv utique nonnun- 
 quam valet siiadere, hortari. .^Eschyl. Choeph. v. 533, aivC) 6h KpvTceiv 
 rdode Gvv0{jica(;. Idem. Supp. 187, vvv Tvpofnjdetav }.a(^eiv AlvoJ, ct in 
 eadem fabula, v. 1003, vfiug 6' iiraLvu jirj KaraLaxvveiv e/ie. Adde Hesiod. 
 Op. ct Di. V. 202. — ^ilusgrave. 
 
 ^ Brunck's assertion on this passage respecting the quantity of the 
 penultima in ica'/.og, as used by the Attic writers, is ably supported in his 
 note on the Ecclesiazusss of Aristophanes, v. 70, to which he refers : the 
 following passages are there enumerated. Iph. Aul. 21 (anapcESti) : 
 
 TovTO Si y ta7i.v TO Ka?.uv ccpaXepov. 
 Eurip. Archelaus. v. incert. : 
 
 ciiv fivploiGL -ij, Ka?A ylyverat Tzovotg. 
 Philoc. V. 1304 : 
 
 lAa' oit' luol ica?.uv t66' tcriv, ovre cot. 
 See also his remarks on the constant omission of prepositions by the trari' 
 scribers, Not. ad Lysistrat. v. 408. — Tr. I have translated according to 
 Dindorf's emendation, 7.CiG0' opci rcXovfieva, which, from Burges' note, 
 I ii'.id i^ [^avtiy confirmed by two MSS. reading i:a/.ur. This appears 
 
S3G PI-IILOCTETES. [1082—1408. 
 
 Pii. And at saying this, Last thou no Ghamc before tlie 
 gods? 
 
 Ke. Xo, for liow should one feel shame at doing service? 
 
 Ph. Meanest thou this as to the Atridas service, or to me? 
 
 ISTe. To thee surely as thy friend at least, and such my 
 lancruaixe proves me. 
 
 Fii. How so, who at least art desirous of giving me up to 
 mine enemies? 
 
 Ne. My friend, learn not to be fierce in misfortune. 
 
 Pi I. Thou wilt destroy me ; I know thee, by these words. 
 
 Ne, Kay, not I indeed ; but I say thou understandest not. 
 
 Pii. I for my part know that the Atrida3 have expelled 
 me. 
 
 Ke. But look, whether they will not, having cast thee out, 
 again rescue thee. 
 
 Ph. Never, with my will at least, to look on Troy. 
 
 Ke. Vrhat then am I to do, if I shall be able to persuade 
 thee on thy part by my words to do nothing that I say ? For 
 most easy v»^ere it for me to desist from my advice, and thee 
 to live, as now thou art living, without licalth. 
 
 Pit. Leave me to suffer all this which I needs must suffer ; 
 but v/hat thou hast accorded mc holding my right hand, to 
 convey me homevv-ard, this do for me, my son, and delay not, 
 nor think any more of Troy ; for enough with loud outcries 
 hath she been wailed by me.^ 
 
 Ne. If thou think j^roper, let us be gone. 
 
 Pii. O thou that hast uttered a generous speech ! 
 
 Ke. Set firmly now thy step. 
 
 Ph. Yes, at least as far as I liave strength. 
 
 Ke. But how shall I escape blame from the Greeks? 
 
 Pii. Give it not a thought. 
 
 Ne. And what if they should desolate my country ? 
 
 I^ii. I being by — 
 
 Ne. Wilt do what to aid me ? 
 
 Ph. With the arrows of Hercules — 
 
 Ne. How say est thou ? 
 
 both ingenious and probable. Cf. yEsch. Prom. 204, IvTaiO' h/u rcl "16- 
 era jiov'/.evuv TCiGelv. The defense of iiil7.u will not hold <Tood. — B. 
 
 ^ Hermann reads Aoyoiq for }ooif, which ho refers to Philoctetes' im- 
 patience of any farther talk on .so odious a :;ubject as Troy, and thinks it 
 better suited to the present indignation of lliat warrior. 
 
140S— 1431] PHILOCTETES. 337 
 
 Pii. Will prevent tlieni from approacliiiig thy country.^ 
 Ne. Having biddoii this kind farewell, proceed. 
 Hercules. Not yet at least,- ere, son of Poias, thou shalt 
 hear our words, and say that with thy hearing thou hearest 
 the voice of Hercules, and beholdest his aspect. But for thy 
 sake I come, having quitted my throne in heaven, both to 
 announce to thee the will of Jove, and to forbid thee the way 
 whereon thou art setting out. But listen thou to my words. 
 And first will I speak to thee of my fortunes,-^ how many toils 
 having labored and gone through with I gained undying hon- 
 or, as is before thee to see. To thee, too, be well assured, is 
 owing to suffer this, and from troubles like these to render thy 
 life glorious. But having come with this warrior to the town 
 of Troy, thou first shalt be cured of thy painful disease ; and 
 having been chosen out of the army as the first in valor, thou 
 shalt with inj arrows bereave of life Paris,* the guilty cause 
 of all these evils from his birth ; and shalt sack Troy, and send 
 its spoils to thy halls, having taken out the noblest prize of 
 merit from the host for thy father Poias by the vales of thy 
 country Q:^ta. But vdiatever spoils thou shalt have gotten 
 
 ^ Between TzeAd^sLV and crelx^ the following words are inserted : c7/g 
 TTurpag. NE. d/.A' el dpdg raid', ucrcep avSac, which Dindorf and Wun- 
 der omit. I can not sea the point of omitting whatever we can not un- 
 derstand, and refer the reader to a very learned, and somewhat satisfac' 
 tory note of Barges, which will clearly show that these verses are cor- 
 rupt, but not spurious. Meanwhile, the following was the translator's 
 version : " Nay, my friend, if thou doest this at least as thou sayest it, 
 come awav, havinfj bidden," etc. — B. 
 
 ^ Nee deus intersit, nisi dignus vindice nodus — 
 
 Incideret. Her. de Art. Po. v. 191. — Tr. 
 
 " The student should here remember that the person who performs the 
 part of Hercules is the same TpirayuvLGTrjg who acts the part of Ulysses 
 and the ^vveuaopog.''' — Burges. — B. 
 
 ^ Such is the address of liercules to Ulysses in Hades : Od. II. 6l7. 
 
 * Hermann has a learned note here to show why fiiv disjunctive is 
 twice answered by re conjunctive. The two chief points of the prediction 
 are, he says, the cure of Philoctctes and the sack of Troy ; these should 
 have been divided by /2ev and SL Thus the Avords connected with the 
 first T£ would be only interposed before the true apodosis. But because 
 aftert he participle there follows something in which Paris and Tro}' 
 agree, the original apodosis must be chauged for one between Paris and 
 Troy ; and hence a second /uev after Paris would require a 6i after Troy. 
 Thi.s Si is changed to re, because one and the same instrument, the bow 
 of Hercules, performs, and thus conioins, the two actions. 
 
 P 
 
3^)S PHILOOTETES. tM32— Mo'J. 
 
 fi'oni tills present armament, memorials of my bow and arrov,-?, 
 conve}^ to my funeral pyre. And this is what I advise thee, 
 son of Achilles: for neither v/ithout him art thou strons; 
 enough to take the plain of Troy, nor he witliout thee. But 
 like two lions, co-mates,^ guard ye, he tliee, thou liim; and I 
 will send ^sculapius" to Troy, to care thee of thy disease. 
 For the second time must it be captured 1)y my arrows.^ Kut 
 be ye aware of this, when j-e shall desolate the land, to be 
 pious in your conduct toward the gods,^ since Jove our sire 
 accounts eveiy thing second to that, for i>iety never dies with 
 man ;^ live they, or die they, it perishes not. 
 
 Pii. O thou that hast Avaftcd to me thy long-desired ac- 
 cents, and at length hast appeared, I will not disobey thine 
 orders. 
 
 Ke. I too side with this resolve.'^ 
 
 IlEi?. Nov/ delay not a long time to act, for opj)ortunity and 
 this sailing breeze astern impel you. 
 
 Fir. Come now, as I proceed vrill I call upon this land. 
 Farewell, O thou abode that didst help to shelter me, and ye 
 watery nj'mplis of tiie mcadovrs, and thou manly roar of Ocean 
 dashing cnvrard, Vv'here ol'tcn within my cavern have I been 
 wetted on my head in the stroke of the south wind, while 
 many a groan in echo to my voice hath the Ilermitan hilF 
 
 ^ Tliiij h also from Homer, I!. V. 
 
 - This docs not make Helenus a false prophet, because Ncoptolcmus 
 had not named the future healers of Philoctetes on Helenus' authority, 
 but when Helenus had predicted the cure, had of himself ascribed it to 
 the most famous physicians in the army. Buttmann, however, docs not 
 answer Jacob rightly in every particular ; for the aid of .-Esculapius could 
 not be required to expel the poison of the Lcrneau hydra from a foot 
 which Sophocles gives us no reason to suppose the hydra had ever touch- 
 ed, and which certainly the arrows so poisoned had not. 
 
 ^ Ailudino- to the overthrow of Laomedon. 
 
 * The scholiast says that this ins reference to the conduct of Neop- 
 tolemus, who slew Priam at the foot of the altar. In confirmation of 
 liercules' assertion that the gods respect piety toward tlicm, see the de- 
 bate of Jupiter with the other deities as to wliethcr he should control 
 the destinies and rescue Hector. — II. XXII. The retributive vengeance 
 which, according to Pindar, sicv/ IS'coptolcmus at the altar, is worthy of 
 icmark. 
 
 ^ Wunucr casts out this line as spurious, pro viorc. Hermann has 
 more judiciously supposed that there is a lacuna. — B. 
 
 ^ TicpcfiaL, int. ip^/Qov, by a common anaclironism. 
 
 '' The licrmrcan hili is mentioned by ^Eschylus, Agam. 291. 
 
HGO— M71.] PHILOCTETES. 339 
 
 sent onward to me tcnipcst-tost. But now, ye fountains, and 
 thou, pure Lycian^ stream, I quit you, even now I quit you, 
 having never before reached this hope. Farewell, thou sea- 
 girt ph^in of Lcmnos, and waft me safely with fair voyage 
 thither, whither mighty Fate conveys me, and the advice of 
 li'iends, and the all-subduing deity,- that hath brought this to 
 pass. 
 
 Cii. Go we now all in a body, having offered our -vows to 
 the ocean nymphs, that they come the protectors of our re- 
 turn. ^ 
 
 ^ Brunck, in his suppiemeritary notes, reads, on the authority of the 
 schoUast, AvKiOiK 'Eon de y ovru Ka?iOVfj,iv7] KpjjvT] kv Arj^vGi, Avklov 
 'krco/'Awvog, 7/, olov Iv ep7]ij.ia, v~b ?.v!icjv ircvo/usvov. Musgravc prefers 
 y/a'Kifiov. 
 
 ^ Aaificjv hie dictum, ut sffipissimc, de necessitate fati, qusc dci cujus- 
 piam vokmtate constituta est, caque re diifert a csca necessitate fatorum, 
 cujus praeses est Mo?pa. — Herm. 
 
 ^ Brunck's note on the use of ocorJ/par with 'Nvjucpaig is worthy of re- 
 mark. — Tr. For some entertaining matter rcferrincr to the fable of Phi- 
 loctetes, as handled by Grecian dramatists, see Burges' Preface, p. xii.- 
 xv. cd. Valpy. — B. 
 
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