[31] Cf Person Advers. p. 265. Hor. Ep. i. 16. 73 "Vir bonus et sapiens audebit dicere Pentheu, Rector Thebarum, quid me perferre patique Indignum coges? Adima bona, nempe pecus, rem, Lectos, argentum: tollas licet. In manicis et Compedibus sævo te sub custode tenebo. Ipse deus, simul atque volam, me solvet. Opinor, Hoc sentit: moriar. Mors ultima linea rerum est." [32] Punning on πενθος, _grief_. Cf. Arist. Rhet. ii. 23, 29. [33] i.e. of Parnassus. Elmsley (after Stanl. on Æsch. Eum. 22.) remarks that Κωρυκις πετρα means the Corycian cave in Parnassus, Κωρυκιαι κορυφαι, the heights of Parnassus. [34] Hermann and Dindorf correct Λοιδιαν from Herodot. vii. 127. [35] The earth and buildings were supposed to shake at the presence of a deity. Cf. Callimach. Hymn. Apol. sub init. Virg. Æn. iii. 90; vi. 255. For the present instance Nonnus, 45. p. 751. ηδη δ' αυτοελικτος εσειετο Πενθεος αυλη, ακλινεων σφαιρηδον αναϊσσουσα θεμεθλων, και πολεων δεδονητο θορων ενοσιχθονι παλμωι πηματος εσσομενοιο προαγγελος. [36] The madness of Ajax led to a similar delusion. Cf. Soph. Aj. 56 sqq. [37] Compare a fragment of Didymus apud Macrob. Sat. v. 18, who states Αχελωον παν ‛υδωρ Ευριπιδης φησιν εν ‛Υψιπυληι. See also comm. on Virg. Georg. i. 9. [38] The reader of Scott will call to mind the fine description of Ireton lunging at the air, in a paroxysm of fanatic raving. See "Woodstock." So also Orestes in Iph. Taur. 296 sqq. [39] ανεισαν, _solvuntur, liquescunt._ BRODEUS. [40] Cf. Soph Ant. 243 sqq. [41] These two cities were in ruins in the time of Pausanias. See ix. 3. p. 714, ed. Kuhn. [42] Cf. Athenæus, p. 40. B. Terent. Eun. iv. 5. "Sine Cerere et Libero friget Venus." Apul Met. ii. p. 119, ed. Elm. "Ecce, inquam, Veneris hortator et armiger Liber advenit ultro," where see Pricæus. [43] More literally, perhaps, "keep it and be thankful." [44] Theocrit. i. 40. μεγα δικτυον ες βολον ‛ελκει. [45] But εκ των απειλων conveys a notion of change = _instead of_. [46] Elmsley remarks that ανθρωποισι belongs to both members of the sentence. I have therefore supplied. The sense may be illustrated from Hippol. 5 sq. [47] See Matthiæ. [48] i.e. step. This is ridiculed by Aristoph. Ran. 100, where the Scholiast quotes a similar example from our author's Alexandra. [49] Compare Havercamp on Lucret. ii. sub init. [50] Compare Virgil, Æn. iv. 469. "Et solem geminum, et duplices se ostendere Thebas." In the second passage of Clemens Alexandrinus quoted by Elmsley, γερων is probably a mistaken reference to Tiresias. [51] An obscure hint at the impending fate of Pentheus. Nonnus has led the way to the catastrophe by a graphic description of Agave's dream. Dionys. 45. p. 751. [52] φερομενος may mean either "carried in a litter," or "carried to burial." There is a somewhat similar play in the epigram of Ausonius, xxiii. "Mater Lacæna clypeo obarmans filium, cum hoc, inquit, aut in hoc, redi."