IPH. I will say that it is not lawful to sacrifice thee to the Goddess.
OR. Having what pretext? For I partly suspect.

IPH. As not being pure, but I will [say that I will][139] give what is holy
to sacrifice.

OR. How then the more will the image of the Goddess be obtained?

IPH. I [will say that I] will purify thee in the fountains of the sea.

OR. The statue, in quest of which, we have sailed, is still in the temple.

IPH. And I will say that I must wash that too, as if you had laid hands on
it.

OR. Where then is the damp breaker of the sea of which you speak?

IPH. Where thy ship rides at anchor with rope-bound chains.

OR. But wilt thou, or some one else, bear the image in their hands?

IPH. I, for it is lawful for me alone to touch it.

OR. But in what part of this contrivance will our friend Pylades[140] be
placed?

IPH. He will be said to bear the same pollution of hands as thyself.

OR. And wilt thou do this unknown to, or with the knowledge of the king?

IPH. Having persuaded him by words, for I could not escape notice.

OR. And truly the well-rowed ship is ready for sailing.[141]

IPH. You must take care of the rest, that it be well.

OR. There lacks but one thing, namely, that these women who are present
preserve our secret. But do thou beseech them, and find words that will
persuade. A woman in truth has power to move pity. But all the rest will
perchance fall out well.

IPH. O dearest women, I look to you, and my affairs rest in you, as to
whether they turn out well, or be of naught, and I be deprived of my
country, my dear brother, and dearest sister. And let this first be the
commencement of my words. We are women, a race well inclined to one
another, and most safe in keeping secret matters of common interest. Do ye
keep silence for us, and labor out our escape. Honorable is it for the man
who possesses a faithful tongue. But behold how one fortune holds the three
most dear, either a return to our father-land, or to die. But, being
preserved, that thou also mayest share my fortune, I will restore thee safe
to Greece. But, by thy right hand, thee, and thee [_addressing the women of
the chorus in succession_] I beseech, and thee by thy beloved cheek, and
thy knees, and those most dear at home, mother, and father, and children,
to whom there are such.[142] What say ye? Who of you will, or will not
[speak!] these things.[143] For if ye assent not to my words, I am undone,
and my wretched sister.

CHOR. Be of good cheer, dear mistress, and think only of being saved, since
on my part all shall be kept secret, the mighty Jove be witness! in the
things thou enjoinest.

IPH. May your words profit ye, and may ye be blest. 'Tis thy part now, and
thine [to the different women] to enter the house, as the ruler of this
land will straightway come, inquiring concerning the sacrifice of the
strangers, whether it is over. O revered Goddess, who in the recesses of
Aulis didst save me from the dire hand of a slaying father, now also save
me and these, or the voice of Loxias will through thee be no longer
truthful among mortals. But do thou with good will quit the barbarian land
for Athens, for it becomes thee not to dwell here, when you can possess a
blest city.

CHORUS. Thou bird, that by the rocky cliffs of the sea, halcyon,[144] dost
chant thy mournful elegy, a sound well understood by the skilled, namely,
that thou art ever bemoaning thine husband in song, I, a wingless bird,
compare my dirge with thine, longing for the assemblies[145] of the Greeks,
longing for Lucina, who dwells along the Cynthian height, and near the
palm[146] with its luxuriant foliage, and the rich-springing laurel, and
the holy shoot of the deep blue olive, the dear place of Latona's
throes,[147] and the lake that rolls its waters in a circle,[148] where the
melodious swan honors the muses. O ye many tricklings of tears which fell
upon my cheeks, when, our towers being destroyed, I traveled in ships
beneath the oars and the spears of the foes.[149] And through a bartering
of great price I came a journey to a barbarian land,[150] where I serve the
daughter of Agamemnon, the priestess of the Goddess, and the
sheep-slaughtering[151] altars, envying her who has all her life been
unfortunate;[152] for she bends not under necessity, who is familiar with
it. Unhappiness is wont to change,[153] but to fare ill after prosperity is
a heavy life for mortals. And thee indeed, O mistress, an Argive ship of
fifty oars will conduct home, and the wax-bound reed of mountain Pan with
Syrinx tune cheer on the oarsmen, and prophet Phœbus, plying the tones of
his seven-stringed lyre, with song will lead thee prosperously to the rich
land of Athens. But leaving me here thou wilt travel by the dashing oars.
And the halyards by the prow,[154] will stretch forth the sails to the air,
above the beak, the sheet lines of the swift-journeying ship. Would that I
might pass through the glittering course, where the fair light of the sun
wends its way, and over my own chamber might rest from rapidly moving the
pinions on my shoulders.[155] And would that I might stand in the dance,
where also [I was wont to stand,] a virgin sprung from honorable
nuptials,[156] wreathing the dances of my companions at the foot of my dear
mother,[157] bounding to the rivalry of the graces, to the wealthy strife
respecting [beauteous] hair, pouring my variously-painted garb and tresses
around, I shadowed my cheeks.[158]

[_Enter_ THOAS.]

THOAS. Where is the Grecian woman who keeps the gate of this temple? Has
she yet begun the sacrifice of the strangers, and are the bodies burning in
the flame within the pure recesses?

CHOR. Here she is, O king, who will tell thee clearly all.

TH. Ah! Why art thou removing in your arms this image of the Goddess from
its seat that may not be disturbed, O daughter of Agamemnon?

IPH. O king, rest there thy foot in the portico.

TH. But what new matter is in the house, Iphigenia?

IPH. I avert the ill--for holy[159] do I utter this word.

TH. What new thing art thou prefacing? speak clearly.

IPH. O king, no pure offerings hast thou hunted out for me.

TH. What hath taught you this? or dost thou speak it as matter of opinion?

IPH. The image of the Goddess hath again turned away from her seat.[160]

TH. Of its own accord, or did an earthquake turn it?

IPH. Of its own accord, and it closed its eyes.

TH. But what is the cause? is it pollution from the strangers?

IPH. That very thing, naught else, for they have done dreadful things.

TH. What, did they slay any of the barbarians upon the shore?

IPH. They came possessing the stain of domestic murder.

TH. What? for I am fallen into a longing to learn this.

IPH. They put an end to a mother's life by conspiring sword.

TH. Apollo! not even among barbarians would any one have dared this.

IPH. By persecutions they were driven out of all Greece.

TH. Is it then on their account that thou bearest the image without?

IPH. Ay, under the holy sky, that I may remove it from blood stains.

TH. But how didst thou discover the pollution of the strangers?

IPH. I examined them, when the image of the Goddess turned away.

TH. Greece hath trained thee up wise, in that thou well didst perceive
this.

IPH. And now they have cast out a delightful bait for my mind.

TH. By telling thee any charming news of those at Argos?

IPH. That my only brother Orestes fares well.

TH. So that, forsooth, thou mightest preserve them because of their
pleasant news!

IPH. And that my father lives and fares well.

TH. But thou hast with reason attended to the interest of the Goddess.

IPH. Ay, because hating all Greece that destroyed me.

TH. What then shall we do, say, concerning the two strangers?

IPH. We needs must respect the established law.

TH. Are not the lustral waters and thy sword already engaged?[161]

IPH. First I would fain lave them in pure cleansings.

TH. In the fountains of waters, or in the dew of the sea?

IPH. The sea washes out all the ills of men.

TH. They would certainly fall in a more holy manner before the Goddess.

IPH. And my matters would be in a more fitting state.[162]

TH. Does not the wave dash against the very temple?

IPH. There is need of solitude, for we have other things to do.

TH. Lead them whither thou wilt, I crave not to see things that may not be
told.

IPH. The image of the Goddess also must be purified by me.

TH. If indeed the stain of the matricide hath fallen on it.

IPH. For otherwise I should not have removed it from its pedestal.

TH. Just piety and foresight! How reasonably doth all the city marvel at
thee!

IPH. Knowest thou then what must be done for me?

TH. 'Tis thine to explain this.

IPH. Cast fetters upon the strangers.

TH. Whither could they escape from thee?

IPH. Greece knows nothing faithful.

TH. Go for the fetters, attendants.

IPH. Ay, and let them bring the strangers hither.

TH. This shall be.

IPH. Having enveloped their heads in robes.

TH. Against the scorching of the sun?

IPH. And send thou with me of thy followers--

TH. These shall accompany thee.

IPH. And send some one to signify to the city--

TH. What hap?

IPH. That all remain in their homes.

TH. Lest they encounter homicide?

IPH. For such things are unclean.

TH. Go thou, and order this.

IPH. That no one come into sight.

TH. Thou carest well for the city.

IPH. Ay, and more particularly friends must not be present.[163]

TH. This you say in reference to me.

IPH. But do thou, abiding here before the temple of the Goddess--

TH. Do what?

IPH. Purify the house with a torch.

TH. That it may be pure when thou comest back to it?

IPH. But when the strangers come out,

TH. What must I do?

IPH. Place your garment before your eyes.

TH. Lest I contract contagion?

IPH. But if I seem to tarry very long,

TH. What limit of this shall I have?

IPH. Wonder at nothing.

TH. Do thou rightly the business of the Goddess at thy leisure.

IPH. And may this purification turn out as I wish!

TH. I join in your prayer.

IPH. I now see these strangers coming out of the house, and the adornments
of the Goddess, and the young lambs, in order that I may wash out foul
slaughter by slaughter, and the shining light of lamps, and the other
things, as many as I ordered as purifications for the strangers and the
Goddess. But I proclaim to the strangers to get out of the way of this
pollution, if any gate-keeper of the temples keeps pure hands for the Gods,
or is about to join in nuptial alliance, or is pregnant, flee, get out of
the way, lest this pollution fall on any. O thou queen, virgin daughter of
Jove and Latona, if I wash away the blood-pollution from these men, and
sacrifice where 'tis fitting, thou wilt occupy a pure house, and we shall
be prosperous. But although I do not speak of the rest, I nevertheless
signify my meaning to the Gods who know most things,[164] and to thee, O
Goddess.

CHORUS.[165] Of noble birth is the offspring of Latona, whom once on a time
in the fruitful valleys of Delos, Phœbus with his golden locks, skilled on
the lyre, (and she who rejoices in skill of the bow,) his mother bore while
yet an infant[166] from the sea-side rock, leaving the renowned place of
her delivery, destitute of waters,[167] the Parnassian height haunted by
Bacchus, where the ruddy-visaged serpent, with spotted back, † brazen †
beneath the shady laurel with its rich foliage, an enormous prodigy of the
earth, guarded the subterranean oracle. Him thou, O Phœbus, while yet an
infant, while yet leaping in thy dear mother's arms, didst slay, and
entered upon thy divine oracles, and thou sittest on the golden tripod, on
the throne that is ever true, distributing to mortals prophecies from the
divine adyts beneath the Castalian streams, dwelling hard by, occupying a
dwelling in the middle of the earth.[168] But when, having gone against
Themis, daughter of earth, he expelled her from the divine oracles, earth
begot dark phantoms of dreams, which to many mortals explain what first,
what afterward, what in future will happen, during their sleep in the
couches of the dusky earth.[169] But † the earth † deprived Phœbus of the
honor of prophecies, through anger on her daughter's account, and the
swift-footed king, hastening to Olympus, stretched forth his little hand to
the throne of Jove.[170] [beseeching him] to take away the earth-born[171]
wrath of the Goddess, † and the nightly responses. † But he laughed,
because his son had come quickly to him, wishing to obtain the wealthy
office, and he shook his hair, and put an end to the nightly dreams,[172]
and took away nightly divination from mortals, and again conferred the
honor on Loxias, and confidence to mortals from the songs of oracles
[proclaimed] on this throne, thronged to by many strangers.[173]

[_Enter_ A MESSENGER.]

MESS. O ye guardians of the temple and presidents of the altars, where in
this land has king Thoas gone? Do ye, opening the well-fastened gates, call
the ruler of this land outside the house.

CHOR. But what is it, if I may speak when I am not bidden?

MESS. The two youths have escaped, and are gone by the contrivances of
Agamemnon's daughter, endeavoring to fly from this land, and taking the
sacred image in the bosom of a Grecian ship.

CHOR. Thou tellest an incredible story, but the king of this country, whom
you wish to see, is gone, having quitted the temple.

MESS. Whither? For he needs must know what has been done.

CHOR. We know not. But go thou and pursue him to wheresoever, having met
with him, thou mayest recount this news.

MESS. See, how faithless is the female race! and ye are partners in what
has been done.

CHOR. Art thou mad? What have we to do with the flight of the strangers?
Will you not go as quickly as possible to the gates of the rulers?

MESS. Not at least before some distinct informer[174] tell me this, whether
the ruler of the land is within or not within. Ho there! Open the
fastenings, I speak to those within, and tell the master that I am at the
gates, bearing a weight of evil news.

THOAS. (_coming out_) Who makes this noise near the temple of the Goddess,
hammering at the door, and sending fear within?

MESS. These women told me falsely, (and tried to drive me from the house,)
that you were away, while you really were in the house.

TH. Expecting or hunting after what gain?

MESS. I will afterward tell of what concerns them, but hear the present,
immediate matter. The virgin, she that presided over the altars here,
Iphigenia, has gone out of the land with the strangers, having the sacred
image of the Goddess; but the expiations were pretended.

TH. How sayest thou? possessed by what breath of calamity?[175]

MESS. In order to preserve Orestes, for at this thou wilt marvel.

TH. What [Orestes]? Him, whom the daughter of Tyndarus bore?

MESS. Him whom she consecrated to the Goddess at these altars.

TH. Oh marvel! How can I rightly[176] call thee by a greater name?

MESS. Do not turn thine attention to this, but listen to me; and having
perceived and heard, clearly consider what pursuit will catch the
strangers.

TH. Speak, for thou sayest well, for they do not flee by the way of the
neighboring sea, so as to be able to escape my fleet.

MESS. When we came to the sea-shore, where the vessel of Orestes was
anchored in secret, to us indeed, whom thou didst send with her, bearing
fetters for the strangers, the daughter of Agamemnon made signs that we
should get far out of the way, as she was about to offer the secret[177]
flame and expiation, for which she had come. But she, holding the fetters
of the strangers in her hands, followed behind them. And these matters were
suspicious, but they satisfied your attendants, O king. But at length, in
order forsooth that she might seem to us to be doing something, she
screamed aloud, and chanted barbarian songs like a sorceress, as if washing
out the stain of murder. But after we had remained sitting a long time, it
occurred to us whether the strangers set at liberty might not slay her, and
take to flight. And through fear lest we might behold what was not fitting,
we sat in silence, but at length the same words were in every body's mouth,
that we should go to where they were, although not permitted. And upon this
we behold the hull of the Grecian ship, [the rowing winged with well-fitted
oars,[178]] and fifty sailors holding their oars in the tholes, and the
youths, freed from their fetters, standing [on the shore] astern of the
ship.[179] But some held in the prow with their oars, and others from the
epotides let down the anchor, and others hastily applying the ladders, drew
the stern-cables through their hands, and giving them to the sea, let them
down to the strangers.[180] But we unsparing [of the toil,] when we beheld
the crafty stratagem, laid hold of the female stranger and of the cables,
and tried to drag the rudders from the fair-prowed ship from the
steerage-place. But words ensued: "On what plea do ye take to the sea,
stealing from this land the images and priestess? Whose son art thou, who
thyself, who art carrying this woman from the land?" But he replied,
"Orestes, her brother, that you may know, the son of Agamemnon, I, having
taken this my sister, whom I had lost from my house, am bearing her off."
But naught the less we clung to the female stranger, and compelled them by
force to follow us to thee, upon which arose sad smitings of the cheeks.
For they had not arms in their hands, nor had we; but fists were sounding
against fists, and the arms of both the youths at once were aimed against
our sides and to the liver, so that we at once were exhausted[181] and worn
out in our limbs. But stamped with horrid marks we fled to a precipice,
some having bloody wounds on the head, others in the eyes, and standing on
the heights, we waged a safer warfare, and pelted stones. But archers,
standing on the poop, hindered us with their darts, so that we returned
back. And meanwhile--for a tremendous wave drove the ship against the land,
and there was alarm [on board] lest she might dip her
sheet-line[182]--Orestes, taking his sister on his left shoulder, walked
into the sea, and leaping upon the ladder, placed her within the
well-banked ship, and also the image of the daughter of Jove, that fell
from heaven. And from the middle of the ship a voice spake thus, "O
mariners of the Grecian ship, seize[183] on your oars, and make white the
surge, for we have obtained the things on account of which we sailed o'er
the Euxine within the Symplegades." But they shouting forth a pleasant cry,
smote the brine. The ship, as long indeed as it was within the port, went
on; but, passing the outlet, meeting with a strong tide, it was driven
back. For a terrible gale coming suddenly, drives [the bark winged with
well-fitted oars] poop-wise,[184] but they persevered, kicking against the
wave, but an ebbing tide brought them again aground. But the daughter of
Agamemnon stood up and prayed, "O daughter of Latona, bring me, thy
priestess, safe into Greece from a barbarian land, and pardon the stealing
away of me. Thou also, O Goddess, lovest thy brother, and think thou that I
also love my kindred." But the sailors shouted a pæan in assent to the
prayers of the girl, applying on a given signal the point of the
shoulders,[185] bared from their hands, to the oars. But more and more the
vessel kept nearing the rocks, and one indeed leaped into the sea with his
feet, and another fastened woven nooses.[186] And I was immediately sent
hither to thee, to tell thee, O king, what had happened there. But go,
taking fetters and halters in your hands, for, unless the wave shall become
tranquil, there is no hope of safety for the strangers. For the ruler of
the sea, the revered Neptune, both favorably regards Troy, and is at enmity
with the Pelopidæ. And he will now, as it seems, deliver up to thee and the
citizens the son of Agamemnon, to take him into your hands, and his sister,
who is detected ungratefully forgetting the Goddess in respect to the
sacrifice at Aulis.[187]

CHOR. O hapless Iphigenia, with thy brother wilt thou die, again coming
into the hands of thy masters.

TH. O all ye citizens of this barbarian land, will ye not, casting bridles
on your horses, run to the shore, and receive the casting on of the Grecian
ship? But hastening, by the favor of the Goddess, will ye not hunt down the
impious men, and some of you haul the swift barks down to the sea, that by
sea, and by horse-coursings on the land seizing them, we may either hurl
them down the broken rock, or impale their bodies upon stakes. But you
women, the accomplices in these plots, I will punish hereafter, when I have
leisure, but now, having such a present duty, we will not remain idle.

[MINERVA _appears_.]

MIN. Whither, whither sendest thou this troop to follow [the fugitives,]
king Thoas? List to the words of me, Minerva. Cease pursuing, and stirring
on the onset of your host. For by the destined oracles of Loxias Orestes
came hither, fleeing the wrath of the Erinnyes, and in order to conduct his
sister's person to Argos, and to bear the sacred image into my land, by way
of respite from his present troubles. Thus are our words for thee, but as
to him, Orestes, whom you wish to slay, having caught him in a tempest at
sea, Neptune has already, for my sake, rendered the surface of the sea
waveless, piloting him along in the ship. But do thou, Orestes, learning my
commands, (for thou hearest the voice of a Goddess, although not present,)
go, taking the image and thy sister. And when thou art come to heaven-built
Athens, there is a certain sacred district in the farthest bounds of
Atthis, near the Carystian rock, which my people call Alœ--here, having
built a temple, do thou enshrine the image named after the Tauric land and
thy toils, which thou hast labored through, wandering over Greece, under
the goad of the Erinnyes. But mortals hereafter shall celebrate her as the
Tauric Goddess Diana. And do thou ordain this law, that, when the people
celebrate a feast in grateful commemoration of thy release from
slaughter,[188] let them apply the sword to the neck of a man, and let
blood flow on account of the holy Goddess, that she may have honor. But, O
Iphigenia, thou must needs be guardian of the temple of this Goddess at the
hallowed ascent of Brauron;[189] where also thou shalt be buried at thy
death, and they shall offer to you the honor of rich woven vestments, which
women, dying in childbed, may leave in their houses. But I command thee to
let these Grecian women depart from the land on account of their
disinterested disposition,[190] I, having saved thee also on a former
occasion, by determining the equal votes in the Field of Mars, Orestes, and
that, according to the same law, he should conquer, whoever receive equal
suffrages. But, O son of Agamemnon, do thou remove thy sister from this
land, nor be thou angered, Thoas.

TH. Queen Minerva, whosoever, on hearing the words of the Gods, is
disobedient, thinks not wisely. But I will not be angry with Orestes, if he
has carried away the image of the Goddess with him, nor with his sister.
For what credit is there in contending with the potent Gods? Let them
depart to thy land with the image of the Goddess, and let them prosperously
enshrine the effigy. But I will also send these women to blest Greece, as
thy mandate bids. And I will stop the spear which I raised against the
strangers, and the oars of the ships, as this seems fit to thee, O Goddess.

MIN. I commend your words, for fate commands both thee and the Gods
[themselves.] Go, ye breezes, conduct the vessel of Agamemnon's son to
Athens. And I will journey with you, to guard the hallowed image of my
sister.

CHOR. Go ye, happy because of your preserved fortune. But, O Athenian
Pallas, hallowed among both immortals and mortals, we will do even as thou
biddest. For I have received a very delightful and unhoped-for voice in my
hearing. O thou all hallowed Victory, mayest thou possess my life, and
cease not to crown it.[191]

*       *       *       *       *

NOTES ON IPHIGENIA IN TAURIS

*       *       *       *

[1] This verse and part of the following are set down among the "oil cruet"
verses by Aristophanes, Ran. 1232. Aristotle, Poet. § xvii. gives a sketch
of the plot of the whole play, by way of illustrating the general form of
tragedy. Hyginus, who constantly has Euripides in view, also gives a brief
analysis of the plot, fab. cxx. For a description of the quadrigæ of
Pelops, see Philostratus Imagg. i. 19. It must be observed, that Antoninus
Liberalis, § 27, makes Iphigenia only the supposititious daughter of
Agamemnon, but really the daughter of Theseus and Helen. See Meurs. on
Lycophron, p. 145.

[2] I must confess that I can not find what should have so much displeased
the critics in this word. Iphigenia, in using such an epithet, evidently
refers to her own intended sacrifice, which had rendered the recesses of
Aulis a place of no small fame.

[3] But Lenting prefers Αχαιους, with the approbation of the Cambridge
editor.

[4] See Reiske apud Dindorf. Compare my note on Æsch. Ag. 188, p. 101, ed.
Bohn. So also Callimachus, Hymn. iii. μειλιον απλοϊης, ‛οτε ‛οι κατεδησας
αητας.

[5] Sinon made the same complaint. Cf. Virg. Æn. ii. 90.

[6] Cf. Æsch. Ag. 235.

[7] This whole passage has been imitated by Ovid, de Ponto, iii. 2, 60.
"Sceptra tenente illo, liquidas fecisse per auras, Nescio quam dicunt
Iphigenian iter. Quam levibus ventis sub nube per aera vectam Creditur his
Phœbe deposuisse locis." Cf. Lycophron, p. 16, vs. 3 sqq. Nonnus xiii. p.
332, 14 sqq.

[8] Observe the double construction of ανασσει. Orest. 1690. ναυταις
μεδεουσα θαλασσης.

[9] The Cambridge editor would expunge this line, which certainly seems
languid and awkward. Boissonade on Aristænet. Ep. xiii. p. 421, would
simply read τα δ' αλλα ς. τ. θ. φοβουμενη: θυω γαρ. He also retains
‛ιερειαν, referring to Gaisford on Hephæst. p. 216.

[10] The Cambridge editor would throw out vs. 41.

[11] The Cambridge editor refers to Med. 56, Androm. 91, Soph. El. 425. Add
Plaut. Merc. i. 1, 3. "Non ego idem facio, ut alios in comœdiis vidi facere
amatores, qui aut nocti, aut die, Aut Soli, aut Lunæ miserias narrant
suas." Theognetus apud Athen. xv. p. 671. Casaub. πεφιλοσοφηκας γηι και
ουρανωι λαλων. Cf. Davis, on Cicero, Tusc. Q. iii. 26, and Lomeier de
Lustrat. § xxxvii.

[12] Θριγκον is properly the uppermost part of the walls of any building
(Pollux, vii. 27) surrounding the roof, στεγος is the roof itself.

[13] Cf. Meurs. ad Lycophron, p. 148.

[14] I read ειμ' εισω with Hermann and the Cambridge editor.

[15] This line is condemned by the Cambridge editor. Burges has transposed
it.

[16] But διαδρομαις, the correction of the Cambridge editor, seems
preferable.

[17] An interpolation universally condemned.

[18] See Barnes, and Wetstein on Acts xix. 35.

[19] On the wanderings of Orestes see my note on Æsch. Eum. 238 sqq. p.
187, ed. Bohn.

[20] See the note of the Cambridge editor, with whom we must read
εισβησομεσθα.

[21] ‛ων ουδεν ισμεν ad interiora templi spectat. HERM.

[22] We must read γεισα τριγλυφων ‛οποι, with Blomfield and the Cambridge
editor. See Philander on Vitruv. ii. p. 35, and Pollux, vii. 27.

[23] The sense is ουτοι, μακραν ελθοντες, εκ τερματων (sc. a meta)
νοστησομεν. ED. CAMB.

[24] The Cambridge editor appositely compares a fragment of our author's
Cresphontes, iii. 2, αισχρον τε μοχθειν μη θελειν νεανιαν.

[25] On the whole of this chorus, which is corrupt in several places, the
notes of the Cambridge editor should be consulted.

[26] This last lumbering line must be corrupt.

[27] Compare the similar scene in Soph. El. 86 sqq.

[28] Cf. Elect. 90. νυκτος δε τησδε προς ταφον μολων πατρος. Hecub. 76.
Æsch. Pers. 179. Aristoph. Ran. 1331.

[29] Compare my note on Æsch. Pers. 610 sqq.

[30] See on Æsch. Choeph. 6.

[31] Markland's emendation has been unanimously adopted by the later
editors.

[32] Schema Colophonium. The Cambridge editor compares vs. 244. Αργει
σκηπτουχον. Phœn. 17. Θηβαισιν αναξ. Heracl. 361. Αργει τυραννος.

[33] I have marked lacunæ, as some mythological particulars have evidently
been lost.

[34] An imperfect allusion to the Thyestean banquet. Cf. Seneca Thyest.
774. "O Phœbe patiens, fugeris retro licet, medioque ruptum merseris cœlo
diem, sero occidisti--" vs. 787 sqq.