NOTES ON MEDEA
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Euripides and Buckley, Theodore Alois
[24] The construction is πολις ‛ιερων ποταμων; thus Thebes, Phœnis. l. 831, is called πυργος διδυμων ποταμων. A like expression occurs in 2 Sam. xii. 27. I have fought against Rabbah, and have taken the city of waters, πολιν των ‛υδατων in the Septuagint version.
[25] Elmsley reads παντες, "we all entreat thee." So Dindorf.
[26] Elmsley reads ‛η δυνασει with the note of interrogation after θυμωι; "or how wilt thou be able," etc.
[27] An allusion to that well-known saying in Plato, de Repub. 1. 3. Δωρα θεους πειθει, δωρ' αιδοιους βασιληας. Ovid. de Arte Am. iii. 635.
Munera, crede mini, capiunt hominesque deosque.
[28] Vertit Portus, O infelix quantam calamitatem ignoras. Mihi sensus videtur esse, quantum a pristina fortuna excidisti. ELMSLEY.
[29] Medea here makes use of the ambiguous word καταξω, which may be understood by the Tutor in the sense of "bringing back to their country," but implies also the horrid purpose of destroying her children: τοδε 'καταξω' αντι του πεμψω εις τον Αιδην, as the Scholiast explains it.
[30] It was the custom for mothers to bear lighted torches at their children's nuptials. See Iphig. Aul. l. 372.
[31]‛οτωι δε φησιν ουκ ευσεβες φαινεται παρειναι τωι φονωι, και δεχεσθαι τοιαυτας θυσιας, ‛ουτος αποτω.—τωι δε αυτωι μελησει συναπτεον το μη παρειναι. SCHOL.
[32]But there; that is, in the regions below.
[33] Ovid. Metamorph. vii. 20.
Video meliora proboque,
Deteriora sequor.
[34] Elmsley reads
παυρον δε γενος (μιαν εν πολλαις
‛ευροις αν ισως)
ουκ, κ.τ.λ.
"But a small number of the race of women (you may perchance find one among many) not ungifted with the muse."
[35] A similar expression is found in Iphig. Taur, v. 410. ναϊον οχημα. A ship is frequently called ‛Ερμα θαλασσης: so Virgil, Æn. vi. Classique immittit habenas.
[36] Elmsley is of opinion that the instep and not the neck is meant by τενων.
[37] The ancients attributed all sudden terrors, and sudden sicknesses, such as epilepsies, for which no cause appeared, to Pan, or to some other Deity. The anger of the God they endeavored to avert by a hymn, which had the nature of a charm.
[38] Elmsley has ανθηπτετο, which is the old reading: this makes no difference in the construing or the construction, as, in the line before, he reads αν ‛ελκων, where Porson has ανελκων.
[39] The space of time elapsed is meant to be marked by this circumstance. MUSGRAVE. PORSON. Thus we find in Μ of the Odyssey, l. 439, the time of day expressed by the rising of the judges; in Δ of the Iliad, l. 86, by the dining of the woodman. When we recollect that the ancients had not the inventions that we have whereby to measure their time, we shall cease to consider the circumlocution as absurd or out of place.
[40] The same expression occurs in the Heraclidæ, l. 168. The Scholiast explains it thus; τυμβογεροντα, τον πλησιον θανατου ‛οντα: τυμβους δε καλουσι τους γεροντας, παροσον πλησιον εισι του θανατου και του ταφου.
[41]αυτοφονταις may be taken as an adjective to agree with δομοις, or the construction may be αχη πιτνοντα αυτοφονταις επι δομοις, in the same manner as λιθος επεσε μοι επι κεφαληι. ELMSLEY.
[42]μη με τι δρασωσι' had been "lest they do me any injury." Elmsley conceives that νιν is the true reading, which might easily have been corrupted into μοι.
[43] Here Medea appears above in a chariot drawn by dragons, bearing with her the bodies of her slaughtered sons. SCHOL. See Horace, Epod. 3.
Hoc delibutis ulta donis pellicem,
Serpente fugit alite.
[44]λυει may also be interpreted, with the Scholiast, in the sense of λυσιτελει, "the grief delights me." The translation given in the text is proposed by Porson, and approved of by Elmsley.
[45] Elmsley has
μενε και γηρας.
"Stay yet for old age." So also Dindorf.