[1] The Cyaneæ Petræ, or Symplegades, were two rocks in the mouth of the Euxine Sea, said to meet together with prodigious violence, and crush the passing ships. See Pindar. Pyth. iv. 386. [2] ερετμωσαι signifies to make to row; ερετμησαι, to row. In the same sense the two verbs derived from πολεμος are used, πολεμοω signifying ad bellum excito; πολεμεω, bellum gero. [3] Elmsley reads φυγη in the nominative case, "_a flight indeed pleasing_," etc. [4] Literally, _Before we have drained this to the very dregs_. So Virgil, Æn. iv. 14. _Quæ bella exhausta canebat_! [5] Ter. And. Act. ii. Sc. 5. _Omnes sibi malle melius esse quam alteri_. Ac. iv. Sc. 1. _Proximus sum egomet mihi_. [6] Elmsley reads και for ει, "_And their father_," etc. [7] In Elms. Dind. το γαρ ειθισθαι, "_for the being accustomed_," etc. [8] δυναται here signifies ισχυει, σθενει; and in this sense it is repeatedly used: ουδενα καιρον, in this place, is not to be interpreted "intempestive", but "immoderate, supra modum." For this signification consult Stephen's Thesaurus, word καιρος. EMSLEY. [9] ‛οδε is used in this sense v. 49, 687, 901, of this Play. [10] μογερα is best taken with Reiske as the accusative plural, though the Scholiast considers it the nominative singular. ELMSLEY. [11] γεγωτας need not be translated as νομιζομενους, the sense is [Greek; ontas]: so αυθαδης γεγως, line 225. [12] That is, the character of man can not be discovered by the countenance: so Juvenal, Fronti nulla fides. ‛οστις, though in the singular number, refers to βροτων in the plural: a similar construction is met with in Homer, Il. Γ. 279. ανθρωπους τιννυσθον, ‛ο τις κ' επιορκον ‛ομοσσηι. [13] Grammarians teach us that γαμειν is applied to the husband, γαμεισθαι to the wife; and this rule will generally be found to hold good. We must either then read ‛η τ' εγηματο, which Porson does not object to, and Elmsley adopts; or understand εγηματο in an ironical sense, in the spirit of Martial's _Uxori nubere nolo meæ_: in the latter case ‛ηι τ' εγηματο should be read (not ‛ην τ'), as being the proper syntax. [14] The primary signification of πλημμελης is _absonus_, _out of tune_: hence is easily deduced the signification in which it is often found in Euripides. The word πλημμελησας occurs in the Phœnissæ, l. 1669. [15] Elmsley approves of the reading adopted by Porson, though he has given in his text πονουμεν ‛ημεις, κ' ον πονων κεχρημεθα. "_We are oppressed with cares, and want not other cares_," as being more likely to have come from Euripides. So also Dindorf. [16] ‛ως εοικας; is here used for the more common expression ‛ως εοικεν. So Herodotus, Clio, clv. ου παυσονται ‛οι Λυδοι, ‛ως οικασι, πραγματα παρεχοντες, και αυτοι εχοντες. See also Hecuba, 801.