CHORUS. Great treasure halls hath Zeus in heaven, From whence to man strange dooms be given, Past hope or fear. And the end men looked for cometh not, And a path is there where no man thought: So hath it fallen here. NOTES TO MEDEA P. 3, l. 2, To Colchis through the blue Symplêgades.]--The Symplêgades ("Clashing") or Kuaneai ("Dark blue") were two rocks in the sea which used to clash together and crush anything that was between them. They stood above the north end of the Bosphorus and formed the Gate (l. 1264, p. 70) to the Axeinos Pontos, or "Stranger-less Sea," where all Greeks were murdered. At the farthest eastern end of that sea was the land of Colchis. P. 3, l. 3, Pêlion.]--The great mountain in Thessaly. Iôlcos, a little kingdom between Pêlion and the sea, ruled originally by Aeson, Jason's father, then by the usurping Pelias. P. 3, l. 9, Daughters of Pelias.]--See Introduction, p. vii. P. 4, l. 18, Wed.]--Medea was not legally married to Jason, and could not be, though in common parlance he is sometimes called her husband. Intermarriage between the subjects of two separate states was not possible in antiquity without a special treaty. And naturally there was no such treaty with Colchis. This is, I think, the view of the play, and corresponds to the normal Athenian conceptions of society. In the original legend it is likely enough that Medea belongs to "matriarchal" times before the institution of marriage. P. 4, l. 18, Head of Corinth.]--A peculiar word ([Greek: aisumnan]) afterwards used to translate the Roman _dictator_. Creon is, however, apparently descended from the ancient king Sisyphus. P. 4, l. 40, She hath a blade made keen, &c.]--These lines (40, 41) are repeated in a different context later on, p. 23, ll. 379, 380. The sword which to the Nurse suggested suicide was really meant for murder. There is a similar and equally dramatic repetition of the lines about the crown and wreath (786, 949, pp. 46, 54), and of those about the various characters popularly attributed to Medea (ll. 304, 808, pp. 18, 46). P. 5, l. 48, ATTENDANT.]--Greek _Paidagôgos_, or "pedagogue"; a confidential servant who escorted the boys to and from school, and in similar ways looked after them. Notice the rather light and cynical character of this man, compared with the tenderness of the Nurse. P. 5, l. 57, To this still earth and sky.]--Not a mere stage explanation. It was the ancient practice, if you had bad dreams or terrors of the night, to "show" them to the Sun in the morning, that he might clear them away. P. 8, l. 111, Have I not suffered?]--Medea is apparently answering some would-be comforter. Cf. p. 4. ("If friends will speak," &c.)