yalas Károx'—"kept down by earth", as opposed to the blessings which are allowed to ascend to the light.

224. Ovμópavтis-One who prophesies by the light of his reason, opposite to Bebμarris. So evμóσopos in Ar. Clouds 877. 66 a necromancer". See on 1. 18 Compare also ψυχόμαντις

above.

wpeupevŵs-See above on 1. 220.

225. The general summing up of the interpretation.
Telev-intransitive as in Theb. 659, Cho. 1021.

226-248. Atossa hopes that this reading of the portents may only be as true as it is well-intentioned. She asks, apparently in ignorance, some questions as to Athens; where it is, what led her son to make it the aim of his expedition, who is its lord. Being answered that Athens knows no lord, she asks how such a nation can face enemies in the field. The Chorus remind her of Marathon. While she is shuddering at that memory, a messenger is seen approaching at speed, and soon enters.

226. did μrv"Well, at any rate." So in Agam. 1653. Cp. its use in 1. 233 of this play.

ye-gives an emphasis, which is here almost scornful, to εύνους. "Of the goodwill, if that were enough, of the first reader of my dream, there can be no doubt."

227. παιδὶ καὶ δόμοις ἐμοῖσι Loyalty to her son and to the royal house, not patriotism, is what Atossa gives credit to the old men for feeling.

τήνδ' ἐκύρωσας φάτιν " dost thou give this sure answer Cp. 1. 823, and observe how the construction of the phrase is varied there.

228. "Yes! may the good indeed be accomplished!" i.e. as you (see 1. 225) pronounce that it will. a's èpleσa—i.e. in ll. 216–223.

τοῖς τ ̓ ἔνερθε γῆς φίλοις-To those called φθιτοῖς in 1. 220, specially to Darius.

230. Observe the dignity of Atossa's address. "In good time I will act upon your advice: for the present I would ask you a certain question."

Keîva-i. e. the points on which she questions them in the next line.

231. A similar question is recorded by Herodotus (v. 105), where it is put into the mouth of Darius. Here it is asked in all good faith: to an Athenian audience it would sound a mere impertinence. In 1. 473 Atossa's tone is changed. Cp. also 11. 285-6.

TOû xlovós-"in what corner of the world". So woû yûs; in Soph. O. T. 108, and often.

252. πpòs dvopaîs—“near the setting sun". This use of πρὸς with the dative is supported by Prom. 808, οἱ πρὸς ἡλίου valovoi #nyaîs, so sometimes in Homer. The redundancy of the expression δυσμαῖς ἡλίου φθινασμάτων is not unsuited to the metre (see on 1. 155), and to the emphasis intended to be given to the answer that the Athenians lived in the "far, far west": For similar redundancy cp. ll. 436, 543. The Scholiast remarks that the sun is called "king" as being worshipped by the Persians.

233. dλλd μηv-see on 1. 226. Here each word keeps its natural force-"But do you really mean to say so, &c.?” 235.

'Have they any army so numerous as that (wde)?" i.e. so numerous as to make Athens the sole hope of Greek liberty.

236. Kal OTPATOS TOLOÛTOS—“Yes, so numerous as that". TOLOÛTOS in the answer refers to wde in the question. For xal in rejoinder cp. Eum. 576, also the phrases κal xáρra, xal μáλa, &c. Epfas-i.e. at Marathon.

237. In this and the preceding question (1. 235) Atossa has in mind her old difficulty (1. 165), "Have these Athenians men? But have they, besides men, money?" Cp. the question of Mardonius (Herod. VII. 9), Έλληνας δὲ ὑπάρξαντας ἀδικίης οὐ τιμωρησόμεθα ; τί δείσαντες; κοίην πλήθεος συστροφήν; κοίην δὲ χρημάτων δύναμιν; καὶ introducing a question shows that some exception is taken to the words of the last speaker.

238. The silver mines of Laurium and Thoricus are meant. "There was at the time when Themistocles made his proposition to enlarge the naval force a great sum arising out of the Laurian

made among the citizens ten drachms to each man" (Grote from Herod. vi. 144). In this sense the "competent wealth"

of the state might be said to belong to the homes (dóμos) of individual citizens, by whose abstinence it was made available for state needs, just as the wealth of France is found to lie in the thrifty habits of all her households.

239. Point by point the questioner has drawn out all the distinctive points of pride of her son's enemies; their men, their resources, and now their national weapon. As to the last see on 1. 147.

TOĝovλKòs alxμñ—"The shaft which stretches the bow", i.e. an arrow. The word alxun, meaning any pointed weapon, and thus applicable to either a spear or an arrow, throws stress upon the defining adjective, and prepares the way for the emphatic rejoinder of the next line. For the adjective cp. 1. 55.

Sid xepŵv—i. e. "in the two hands of each". The MSS. have dià xepòs: Brunck introduced the plural, which can, however, hardly be accepted as certain. Cp. Theb. 435:

φλέγει δὲ λαμπὰς διὰ χερῶν ὡπλισμένη.

But cp. also 1. 513 of that play, διὰ χερὸς βέλος φλέγων. It seems probable that the Scholiast found xepwr in the text.

240. The equipment of an Athenian òrNorŋs is described. 241. woιμávwp—(see on 1. 75) suggests an Homeric king. Kάwideσóla-the stinging word, which is proudly rejected in the next line. To a Persian it sounded only natural. Cp. 1. 666.

243. This question, how free institutions were compatible with efficiency in war, was asked not only by Persians but by Spartan neighbours; an answer to it may be found in the speeches of Pericles (Thuc. Bk. II.). Here the answer, and to Persian a sufficient one, is "They did abide a foe at Marathon". 245. To has a gnomic force, that is, it shows that the speaker quotes, or has in mind, some familiar yvwuŋ or saying. "A heavy thought (that of Marathon), as they say, for parents whose sons go to the wars." A variety of such a γνώμη perhaps underlies Diomede's boast (Il. vi. 127),

δυστήνων δέ τε παῖδες ἐμῷ μένει ἀντιόωσιν.

Hence the present low and the absence of the article. For the gnomic ros cp. ll. 506, 706, 827.

246. ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν—more fully ὡς ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν. Cp. ὡς εἰπεῖν Eros in 1. 714.

Táx' doa-For this formula used before the arrival of messenger op. Agam. 489, Soph. O. T. 84.

247. Spáμnua-The_messenger is known to the Athenians who saw the play for a Persian by his dress and gait, perhaps

their service of couriers. It is naively assumed that the Persian old men might recognise him by the same signs.

μαθεῖν and κλύειν are epexegetical infinitives, μαθεῖν following and explaining the verb πρέπει (1.0. πρέπει ὥστε μαθεῖν τινα), κλύειν the adjectives ἐσθλὸν ἢ κακόν. Το φροντίσαι in 1 245 after δεινά.

249-289. The messenger, after a first passionate outburst, proceeds more calmly to acquaint the old men with the disaster of Salamis, out of which he has himself escaped with life. The Chorus utter short lyrical wails as the terrible details come out: their anguish culminates when Athens is named, Athens to which so many Persian women already owed their widowhood. Atossa remains silent.

Compare the opening of the herald's speech in Agam. 503, &c. There, as here, the Chorus alone interrogate the messenger at first: but here the queen is on the stage during the whole conversation, in which she presently takes part.

249. 'Aolados-So the MSS. For the form op. 11. 270, 549. 250. καὶ πολὺς πλούτου λιμήν—i.e. the city of Susa, where the treasure-house of the kingdom was. Cp. 1. 8. The metaphor is copied by Euripides (Orestes, 1077).

251. The absence of caesura is not unfrequent in the speeches of this messenger, and indeed is characteristic of the earlier plays of Aeschylus. Sometimes, as in this line, and in 1. 465, the rugged effect thus produced seems well to suit the

sense.

254. ἀναπτύξαι-Cp. 1. 294.

255. Πέρσαι Cp. 1. 140.

Bapßápwv-See on 1. 187.

256. dvɩa—i.e. åvinpá. Cp. 11. 1055, 1061.

́VEÓKOTA—i, e. véa, the termination making the form more