P. 83, 1. 1350, The prow was held by stay-poles.--The ship was
afloat, having been just dragged off the shore, bow forwards. The
men were raising the anchor, and holding the prow steady by long
punt-poles. The ladder seems to have been a rope-ladder; but the
Greek is difficult, and I do not know of any mention of a rope-
ladder elsewhere in Greek literature.
P. 84, 1. 1384, The Maid of Argos and the carven wood of Heaven--
Observe how closely Iphigenia and the image are united. She
appears with it in her arms; she must fly together with it, or
die; she and the image enter the ship together. There is religion
behind this. Perhaps there was some old statue of the goddess
carrying her own image, as Athena sometimes carries a Palladion;
when Iphigenia became the priestess and Artemis the goddess, this
was interpreted as the priestess carrying the goddess' image.
P. 85, 1. 1415, There is One who rules the sea.--Poseidon, the
sea god, was traditionally a friend of Troy. See the first scene
of The Trojan Women.
P. 86, 1. 1435, ATHENA.--Modern readers complain a good deal of
this appearance of the God from the Machine. Some day I hope to
discuss the Deus ex Machina at length, but in the meantime I would
point out the following facts: 1. A theophany or appearance of a
god seems to have been in the essence of the original conception
of Greek Drama; a study of the fragments of Aeschylus will
illustrate this. What Euripides did, apparently, was to invent, or
use when invented, an improved kind of stage machinery for
introducing the god in the air. 2. The theophany seems to have
been effective with the Greek audience, and I believe it would
usually be so with any audience that was not highly sophisticated
and accustomed to associate such appearances with pantomime
fairies. 3. In nearly all cases the god who appears not only
speaks lines of great beauty and serenity, but also comes with
counsel and comfort which have something of heaven about them. The
Dioscori of the Electra are most typical, healing the agony of
revenge by sheer forgiveness; the beautiful Artemis of the
Hippolytus is different, but divine also. But every case needs its
special treatment.
P. 87, 1. 1457, Artemis the Tauropole.--On the rite of Artemis
Tauropolos at Halae, see Preface, p. vi. There is a play on words
in "Tauropole"; it is interesting to see that Euripides has
prepared for it as early as Orestes' first speech, 11. 84 f.,
though I did not think it worth representing in English there.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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