Necessity (Ἀνάγκη), a favourite power to which reference is made by the Greek dramatists, is merely an impersonation of the fact patent to all, that the world is governed by a system of strict and inexorable law, from the operation of which no man can escape. That the gods themselves are subject to this Ἀνάγκη. is a method of expression not seldom used by Heathen writers; but that they had any distinct idea, or fixed theological notion of NECESSITY or FATE, as a power separate from and superior to the gods I see no reason to believe.--See my observations on the Homeric μοῖρα in _Clas. Mus._, No. XXVI., p. 437. And in the same way that Homer talks of the _fate from the gods_, so the tragedians talk of _necessity from or imposed by the gods_--τὰς γὰρ ἐκ θεῶν ἀνάγκας θνητον ὀντα δεῖ φέρειν. With regard to Æschylus, certainly one must beware of drawing any hasty inference with regard to his theological creed from this insulated passage. For here the poet adopts the notion of the strict subjection of Jove to an external FATE, {397} principally, one may suppose, from dramatic propriety; it suits the person and the occasion. Otherwise, the Æschylean theology is very favourable to the absolute supremacy of Jove; and, accordingly, in the Eumenides, those very Furies, who are here called his superiors, though they dispute with Apollo, are careful not to be provoked into a single expression which shall seem to throw a doubt on the infallibility of "the Father." For the rest, the Fates and Furies, both here and in the Eumenides, are aptly coupled, and, in signification, indeed, are identical; because a man's _fate_ in this world can never be separated from his _conduct_, nor his conduct from his _conscience_, of which the Furies are the impersonation. Note 35 (p. 196). "No more than others Jove can 'scape his doom." The idea that the Supreme Ruler of the Universe can ever be dethroned is foreign to every closely reasoned system of monotheism; but in polytheistic systems it is not unnatural (for gods who had a beginning may have an end); and in the Hindoo theology receives an especial prominence. Southey accordingly makes Indra, the Hindoo Jove, say-- "A stronger hand May wrest my sceptre, and unparadise The Swerga."--Curse of Kehama, VII. We must bear in mind, however, that it is not Æschylus in the present passage, but Prometheus who says this. Note 36 (p. 197) "Plant his high will against my weak opinion!" The original of these words, "μηδάμ θ(ε)ιτ᾽ εμᾀ γνώμᾶ κράτος ἀντίπαλον Ζεὺς," has been otherwise translated "_Minime Jupiter indat animo meo vim rebellem;_" but, apart altogether from theological considerations, I entirely agree with SCHOE. that this rendering puts a force upon the word κράτος, which is by no means called for, and which it will not easily bear. Note 37 (p. 197) "Won by rich gifts didst lead."