The Lyrical Dramas of Aeschylus Translated into English VerseAeschylus
General
The Lyrical Dramas of Aeschylus Translated into English Verse
Aeschylus
Aeschylus -- Translations into English; Mythology, Greek -- Drama
Ζεῦ τέλειε. I see no reason in the connection of this passage to give
the epithet of τέλειος a special allusion to Jove, as along with Juno,
the patron of marriage. BLOM., PEILE, and among the translators,
MED. and KEN. take this view. But POT., SYM., CON., FR.,
VOSS., and DROYS. content themselves with the more obvious and
general meaning. It is not contended, I presume, by any one that the
epithet τέλειος, when applied to Jove, _necessarily_ refers to marriage,
independently of the context, as for instance in Eumen. 28. The origin
of the epithet may be seen in Homer, Il. IV. 160-168, etc.
Note 67 (p. 69).
". . . unbidden and unhired."
"Poor Louis! With them it is a hollow phantasmagoria, where, like mimes,
they mope and mow, and _utter false sounds for hire_, but with thee it
is frightful earnest."--CARLYLE's French Revolution; the ancient and
the modern, with equal felicity, alluding to the custom prevalent in
ancient times of hiring women to mourn for the dead. We must also note,
however, that there is an example here of that spontaneous prophecy of
the heart by god-given presentiment, which is so often mentioned in
Homer. The ancients, indeed, were the furthest possible removed from
that narrow conception of a certain modern theology, which confines the
higher influences of inspiration to a privileged sacerdotal order. In
St. Paul's writings, the whole Church prophesies; and so in Homer the
fair Helen, {351} who had no pretensions to the character of a
professional soothsayer, prefaces her interpretation of an omen by
saying,
"Hear my word; as in my heart the immortal gods suggest the thought,
I will read the omen rightly, as the sure event shall show."
ODYS. XV. 172.
The words used by Homer to express this action of the divine on the
human mind are βάλλειν ὑποτίθεσθαι, and such like, to _throw into_, and
to _put under_, or _suggest_.
Note 68 (p. 70).
"Unloosed their cables from the shore."
I have not been curious in rendering this passage, as the word παρήβησεν
is hopelessly corrupt; but the general notion of my translation is taken
from SYM.'s note.
Note 69 (p. 71).
". . . Were link with link
In the chain of things not bound together."
ἐι δὲ μὴ τεταγμένα μοῖρα κ. τ. λ. In my opinion, SYM., CON., and
PEILE, are wrong in giving a different meaning to μοῖραν from that
which they assign to μοῖρα immediately preceding. In such phrases as
"_truditur dies die_" (Horace) and "_Day uttereth speech unto day_,"
the reader naturally attaches the same idea to the same word immediately
repeated. The literal translation of this passage, "if by the ordinance
of the gods ordered Fate did not hinder Fate," seems merely to express
the concatenation of things by divine decree as given in my version.
SYM.'s version is--
"I pause. Some Fate from Heaven forbids
The Fate within to utter more,
Else had my heart outrun my tongue,
And poured the torrent o'er."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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