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is more than probable. Had Euripides designed an etymological quibble, he would probably have made some allusion to Merus, a mountain of India, where Bacchus is said to have been brought up. See Curtius, viii. 10. "Sita est sub radicibus montis, quem Meron incolae appellant. Inde Graeci mentiendi traxere licentiam, Jovis femine liberum patrem esse celatum." Cf. Eustath. on Dionys. Perieg. 1159. Lucian. Dial. Deor. ix. and Hermann on Orph. Hymn. lii. 3.

[20] The gift of [Greek: mantike] was supposed to follow initiation, and is often joined with the rites of this deity. Philostratus, Heroic. p. 22, ed. Boiss. [Greek: hote de kai mantikes sophias emphorountai, kai to chresmodes autais prosbakcheuei.]

[21] Cf. Hippol. 443. [Greek: Kypris gar ou phoreton en polle rhyei].

[22] I have followed Matthiae's interpretation of this passage.

[23] See Hermann's note.

[24] The fate of Actaeon is often joined with that of Pentheus.

[25] i.e. over-cunning in regard to religious matters. Cf. 200. [Greek: ouden sophizomestha toisi daimosin].

[26] Probably a mere hyperbole to denote great fruitfulness. See Elmsley.

[27] Cf. Hor. Od. iii. 21, 20.

[28] I follow Dindorf in reading [Greek: sopha d'], but am scarcely satisfied.

[29] Hence his epithet of Bacchus [Greek: Nyktelios]. See Herm. on Orph. Hymn. xlix. 3.

[30] See my note on AEsch. Choeph. 7.

[31] Cf Person Advers. p. 265. Hor. Ep. i. 16. 73 "Vir bonus et sapiens audebit dicere Pentheu, Rector Thebarum, quid me perferre patique Indignum coges? Adima bona, nempe pecus, rem, Lectos, argentum: tollas licet. In manicis et Compedibus saevo te sub custode tenebo. Ipse deus, simul atque volam, me solvet. Opinor, Hoc sentit: moriar. Mors ultima linea rerum est."

[32] Punning on [Greek: penthos], _grief_. Cf. Arist. Rhet. ii. 23, 29.

[33] i.e. of Parnassus. Elmsley (after Stanl. on AEsch. Eum. 22.) remarks that [Greek: Korykis petra] means the Corycian cave in Parnassus, [Greek: Korykiai koryphai], the heights of Parnassus.

[34] Hermann and Dindorf correct [Greek: Loidian] from Herodot. vii. 127.

[35] The earth and buildings were supposed to shake at the presence of a deity. Cf. Callimach. Hymn. Apol. sub init. Virg. AEn. iii. 90; vi. 255. For the present instance Nonnus, 45. p. 751.

[Greek: ede d' autoeliktos eseieto Pentheos aule,] [Greek: aklineon sphairedon anaissousa themethlon,] [Greek: kai poleon dedoneto thoron enosichthoni palmoi] [Greek: pematos essomenoio proangelos.]

[36] The madness of Ajax led to a similar delusion. Cf. Soph. Aj. 56 sqq.

[37] Compare a fragment of Didymus apud Macrob. Sat. v. 18, who states [Greek: Acheloon pan hydor Euripides phesin en Hypsipylei]. See also comm. on Virg. Georg. i. 9.

[38] The reader of Scott will call to mind the fine description of Ireton lunging at the air, in a paroxysm of fanatic raving. See "Woodstock." So also Orestes in Iph. Taur. 296 sqq.

[39] [Greek: aneisan], _solvuntur, liquescunt._ BRODEUS.

[40] Cf. Soph Ant. 243 sqq.

[41] These two cities were in ruins in the time of Pausanias. See ix. 3. p. 714, ed. Kuhn.

[42] Cf. Athenaeus, p. 40. B. Terent. Eun. iv. 5. "Sine Cerere et Libero friget Venus." Apul Met. ii. p. 119, ed. Elm. "Ecce, inquam, Veneris hortator et armiger Liber advenit ultro," where see Pricaeus.

[43] More literally, perhaps, "keep it and be thankful."

[44] Theocrit. i. 40. [Greek: mega diktyon es bolon helkei].

[45] But [Greek: ek ton apeilon] conveys a notion of change = _instead of_.

[46] Elmsley remarks that [Greek: anthropoisi] belongs to both members of the sentence. I have therefore supplied. The sense may be illustrated from Hippol. 5 sq.

[47] See Matthiae.

[48] i.e. step. This is ridiculed by Aristoph. Ran. 100, where the Scholiast quotes a similar example from our author's Alexandra.

[49] Compare Havercamp on Lucret. ii. sub init.

[50] Compare Virgil, AEn. iv. 469. "Et solem geminum, et duplices se ostendere Thebas." In the second passage of Clemens Alexandrinus quoted by Elmsley, [Greek: geron] is probably a mistaken