Classic Greek Drama_ 10 Plays by Euripides in a Single File [NOOK Book] - Euripides [90]
[7] In Elms. Dind. [Greek: to gar eithisthai], "_for the being accustomed_," etc.
[8] [Greek: dynatai] here signifies [Greek: ischyei, sthenei]; and in this sense it is repeatedly used: [Greek: oudena kairon], in this place, is not to be interpreted "intempestive", but "immoderate, supra modum." For this signification consult Stephen's Thesaurus, word [Greek: kairos]. EMSLEY.
[9] [Greek: hode] is used in this sense v. 49, 687, 901, of this Play.
[10] [Greek: mogera] is best taken with Reiske as the accusative plural, though the Scholiast considers it the nominative singular. ELMSLEY.
[11] [Greek: gegotas] need not be translated as [Greek: nomizomenous], the sense is [Greek; ontas]: so [Greek: authades gegos], line 225.
[12] That is, the character of man can not be discovered by the countenance: so Juvenal,
Fronti nulla fides.
[Greek: hostis], though in the singular number, refers to [Greek: broton] in the plural: a similar construction is met with in Homer, Il. [Greek: G]. 279.
[Greek: anthropous tinnysthon, ho tis k' epiorkon homossei].
[13] Grammarians teach us that [Greek: gamein] is applied to the husband, [Greek: gameisthai] to the wife; and this rule will generally be found to hold good. We must either then read [Greek: he t' egemato], which Porson does not object to, and Elmsley adopts; or understand [Greek: egemato] in an ironical sense, in the spirit of Martial's _Uxori nubere nolo meae_: in the latter case [Greek: hei t' egemato] should be read (not [Greek: hen t']), as being the proper syntax.
[14] The primary signification of [Greek: plemmeles] is _absonus_, _out of tune_: hence is easily deduced the signification in which it is often found in Euripides. The word [Greek: plemmelesas] occurs in the Phoenissae, l. 1669.
[15] Elmsley approves of the reading adopted by Porson, though he has given in his text
[Greek: ponoumen hemeis, k' on ponon kechremetha].
"_We are oppressed with cares, and want not other cares_," as being more likely to have come from Euripides. So also Dindorf.
[16] [Greek: hos eoikas]; is here used for the more common expression [Greek: hos eoiken]. So Herodotus, Clio, clv. [Greek: ou pausontai hoi Lydoi, hos oikasi, pragmata parechontes, kai autoi echontes]. See also Hecuba, 801.
[17] Beck interprets this passage, "Mea quidem vita ut non habeat laudem, fama obstat." Heath translates it, "Jam in contrariam partem tendens fama efficit, ut mea quoque vita laudem habeat." We are told by the Scholiast, that by [Greek: biotan] is to be understood [Greek: physin].
[18] Iolcos was a city of Thessaly, distant about seven stadii from the sea, where the parents of Jason lived: Pelion was both a mountain and city of Thessaly, close to Iolcos; whence Iolcos is called Peliotic.
[19] For the same sentiment more fully expressed, see Hippolytus, 616-625. See also Paradise Lost, x. 890.
Oh, why did God, Creator wise, that peopled highest heaven With spirits masculine, create at last This novelty on earth, this fair defect Of nature, and not fill the world at once With men, as angels, without feminine?
[20] Porson rightly reads [Greek: tach' an pithoio] with Wyttenbach.
[21] Elmsley has
[Greek: "hos kai dokei moi tauta, kai kalos echein] [Greek: gamous tyrannon, hous prodous hemas echei], [Greek: kai xymphor' einai, kai kalos egnosmena]."
"_that these things appear good to me, and that the alliance with the princes, which he, having forsaken me, has contracted, are both advantageous and well determined on_." So also Dind. but [Greek: kalos echei]. Porson omits the line.
[22] In Elmsley this line is omitted, and instead of it is inserted
"[Greek: nymphei pherontas, tende me pheugein chthona]."
"_offering them to the bride, that they may not be banished from this country_," which Dindorf retains, and brackets the other.
[23] Although the Scholiast reprobates this interpretation, it seems to be the best, nor is it any objection, that [Greek: Mnemosyne] is elsewhere represented as the Mother of the Muses;