THES. What sayest thou? dost thou remit me free from the guilt of blood? HIPP. I call to witness Dian that slays with the bow. THES. O most dear, how noble thou appearest to thy father! HIPP. O farewell thou too, take my best farewell, my father! THES. Oh me! for thy pious and brave soul! HIPP. Pray to have legitimate sons like me. THES. Do not, I prithee, leave me, my son, but be strong. HIPP. My time of strength is past; for I perish, my father: but cover my face as quickly as possible with robes. THES. O famous realms of Athens and of Pallas, of what a man will ye have been bereaved! Oh unhappy I! What abundant reason, Venus, shall I have to remember thy ills! CHOR. This common grief to all the citizens hath come unexpectedly. There will be a fast falling of many tears; for the mournful stories of great men rather obtain. * * * * * NOTES ON HIPPOLYTUS * * * * [1] The construction in the original furnishes a remarkable example of the "nominativus pendens." [2] Or, _that posterity might know it_. TR. Dindorf would omit these words. B. [3] Dindorf would omit these lines. I think the difficulty in the structure may be removed by reading ‛οστις instead of ‛οσοις. The enallage, ‛οστις ... τουτοις, is by no means unusual. B. [4] Cf. Soph. Œd. Col. 121, sqq. B. [5] Which at present you do not appear to have. [6] Monk would join ωκεανου with πετρα, as in the translation, but other commentators prefer, which is certainly more simple, to join it with ‛υδωρ. Then the difficulty occurs of sea-water being unfit for washing vests. This difficulty Beck obviates, by saying that ‛υδωρ ωκεανου may be applied to fresh water, Ocean being the parent of all streams, the word ωκεανου being here, in a manner, redundant. TR. Matthiæ is very wrath with the "all on a washing day" manner in which the Chorus learned Phædra's indisposition. The "Bothie of Toper na Fuosich" will furnish some similar simplicities, such as the meeting a lassie "digging potatoes." But we might as well object to the whole story of Nausicaa. It must be recollected that the duties of the laundry were considered more aristocratic by the ancients, than in modern times. B. [7] Cf. Æsch. Pr. 23. Χροιας αμειψεις ανθος. B. [8] Literally _a speech mounted on madness_. A similar expression occurs, Odyssey Α. 297. Νηπιαας οχεειν. [9] Plutarch in explanation of this line says, "καθαπερ ποδα νεως, επιδιδοντα και προσαγοντα ταις χρειαις την φιλιαν." [10] I have followed the elegant interpretation of L. Dindorf, who observes that ου δηθ ‛εκουσα refers to Phædra's assertion, ου γαρ ες σ' αμαρτανω, and that the meaning is, "non quidem consilio in me peccas, sed si tu peribis, ego quoque occidero." He compares Alcest. 389. B. [11] See Matthiæ's note. I prefer, however, ολεις, with Musgrave. B.