P. 11, ll. 192 ff., The dark and wheeling coursers.--i.e. those
of Pelops. The cry of one betrayed: Myrtilus, when he was thrown
into the sea. (See on l. 1.) For the Golden Lamb and the Sun
turning in Heaven, see my translation of Electra, p. 47, l. 699
and note.
P. 12, l. 217, The Nereid's Son.--Achilles, son of Peleus and the
Nereid Thetis.
P. 13, l. 238, The Herdsman's entrance.--Observe how Iphigenia is
first merely disturbed in her obsequies: then comes the sickening
news that there are strangers to sacrifice: then lastly, her worst
fear is realised; the men are Greeks. This explains her
exasperated tone in l. 254, "The sea! What is the sea ..." and "Go
back!"--The Herdsman is merely jubilant and obtuse.
P. 15, l. 263.--The murex or purple-fish could only be collected
in very late autumn or early spring; consequently the fishers made
encampments for the winter and returned to Tyre and Sidon, or
wherever else they came from, after the spring fishing. See
Berard, Pheniciens et Odyssee, i. 415.
P. 15, 1. 270, Son of the White Sea Spirit, &c.--The man is, of
course, made to use the names of Greek not of Taurian gods. He
thinks first of Palaemon, a sea-god, son of Leucothea ("White-
Goddess"), then of the Dioskori, Castor and Polydeuces; then
vaguely of some spirits beloved of Nereus, the Ancient of the Sea.
P. 17, 1. 328 f., Of all those shots not one struck home.--The
object of this statement must be to explain why the two heroes do
not make their appearance bruised and dishevelled as the Second
Messenger does after his fight with the Greeks. Of course there is
no great harm in making the Taurians bad shots as well as cowards,
and possibly there is some value in the suggestion of a
supernatural protection which is only saving its object for a
crueller death. But very likely the two lines are interpolations.
Pp. 17, 18, 11. 342 ff.--A wonderful speech, illustrating the
gradual breaking-up of the ice in Iphigenia's nature.--The
Herdsman's story has, of course, been horrible to her; all the
more so because he expects her to enjoy it and recalls wild words
she has uttered in the past, when brooding on her wrongs. She
controls her feelings absolutely till the man is gone. Then she
feels like one turned to stone, pitiless; then, if only it were
Helen or Menelaus that she had to kill! Then vivid thoughts of the
misery and horror of Aulis and the poor foolish hopes and tremors
in which she had come there; then the thought that Orestes, the
one man whom she could love without resentment, is dead. Then a
rage of indignation against the bloody rites and the infamy of the
thing she has to do. She goes into the Temple broken in nerve and
almost ready for rebellion.
P. 19, 11. 385 ff.--Leto, beloved of Zeus, was the mother of
Artemis and Apollo, who were born in the holy island of Delos.--
One legend, already rejected by Pindar, said that the crime of
Tantalus was that he had given his child Pelops to the gods to
eat.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account