Classic Greek Drama_ 10 Plays by Euripides in a Single File [NOOK Book] - Euripides [127]
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NOTES ON ALCESTIS
[1] Lactant. i. 10. "Quid Apollo? Nonne ... turpissime gregem pavit alienum?" B.
[2] Hygin. Fab. li. "Apollo ab eo in servitutem liberaliter acceptus." B.
[3] Cf. Hippol. 1437. B.
[4] No one will, I believe, object to this translation of [Greek: THANATOS]; it seems rather a matter of surprise that Potter has kept the Latin ORCUS, a name clearly substituted as the nearest to [Greek: THANATOS] of the masculine gender.
[5] Cf. AEsch. Eum. 723 sqq. B.
[6] It was customary to bury those, who died advanced in years, with greater magnificence than young persons.
[7] The horses of Diomed, king of Thrace. The construction is, [Greek: Eurystheos pempsantos [auton] meta hippeion ochema [axonta] ek topon dyschei meron Threikes]. MONK.
[8] On this custom, see Monk, and Lomeier de Lustrationibus Sec. xxviii. B.
[9] Perhaps, "as though all were over," B.
[10] Casaubon on Theophr. Sec. 16, observes that it was customary to place a large vessel filled with lustral water before the doors of a house during the time the corpse was lying out, with which every one who came out sprinkled himself. See also Monk's note, Kirchmann de Funeribus, iii. 9. The same custom was observed on returning from the funeral. See Pollux, viii. 7. p. 391, ed. Seber. B.
[11] See Dindorf. B.
[12] Potterus, Arch. Gr. _mortuos_ a _Graecis_ [Greek: pronopeis] vocari tradit, quod solebant ex penitiore aedium parte produci, ac in _vestibulo_, i.e. [Greek: pronopioi] collocari: atque hunc locum adducit, sed frustra, ut opinor. Non enim _mortua_ jam erat, nec _producta_, sed, ut recte hanc vocem interpretatur schol. [Greek: eis thanaton proneneukyia], i.e. _morti propinqua_. Proprie [Greek: pronopes] is dicitur, qui _corpore prono ad terram fertur_, ut AEschyl. Agam. 242. Inde, quia moribundi virium defectu terram petere solent, ad hos designandos translatum est. KUINOEL.
[13] The old word "dizening" is perhaps the most literal translation of [Greek: kosmos], which, however, here means the whole preparations for the funeral. Something like it is implied in Hamlet, v. 1.
... her virgin rites, Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home Of bell and burial. B.
[14] Aristophanes is almost too bad in his burlesque, Equit. 1251. [Greek: se d' allos tis labon kektesetai, kleptes men ouk an mallon, eutyches d' hisos]. B.
[15] Some would translate [Greek: pronopes] in the same manner as in verse 144.
[16] Conf. Ter.: Phorm. iv. 4, 5. Opera tua ad _restim_ mihi quidem res rediit planissume.
[17] Perhaps it is unnecessary to remark, that [Greek: abioton] agrees with [Greek: bion] implied in [Greek: bioteusei].
[18] [Greek: horai] scilicet [Greek: helios]. MONK.
[19] Cf. Hippol. 1372. B.
[20] It must be remembered that to survive one's children was considered the greatest of misfortunes. Cf. Plaut. Mil. Glor. l. 1. "Ita ut tuum vis unicum gnatum tuae Superesse vitae, sospitem et superstitem." B.
[21] Kuinoel carries on the interrogation to [Greek: gamous], and Buchanan has translated it according to this punctuation. Monk compares Iliad, p. 95; [Greek: mepos me peristelos' hena polloi].
[22] Compare my note on AEsch. Ag. 414 sqq. B.
[23] _These_, my children.
[24] Reiske proposes to read [Greek: tethrippa de zeuge te kai]--_And both from your chariot teams, and from your single horses cut the manes_.
[25] This festival was celebrated in honor of Apollo at Sparta, from the seventh to the sixteenth day of the month Carneus. See Monk. B.
[26] On [Greek: liparais Athanais], see Monk. B.
[27] Literally, _the duplicate_ of such a wife.
[28] [Greek: anax peltes], so [Greek: anax kopes] in AEsch. Pers. 384, _of a rower_. Wakefield compares Ovid's _Clypei dominus septemplicis Ajax_. MONK.
[29] Heath and