1404, suggest that there were 24 lines in a page of the mutilated copy.

Weil also leaves the lines in their order, and thinks all difficulties are met by the change of πρόθυμον in v. 989 to ποθεινόν. It is strange that, though Weil finds it impossible to accept the natural and idiomatic present ἔχω with πρίν σε δεῦρ ̓ ἐλθεῖν in the sense of "I had and have still," he finds no difficulty in translating τὸ ποθεινὸν πρίν σε δεῦρ ̓ ἐλθεῖν “ ce que je souhaitais avant ta renue"; nor in making Iphigeneia say of being at Argos “éxw.”

While, then, I do not think Weil's alteration makes the passage clear, and do not feel confident that any alteration will do that, I would suggest that there is no need for drawing so largely on the imagination as to the history of the mss. as is done by Köchly and (in a less degree) by Wecklein. These commentators seem to me, moreover, unreasonable in exacting a logical and perfectly consistent exposé of the situation and statement of plans. The agitation displayed by Iphigeneia in vv. 828-899 revives as the need for sudden and bold action is brought before her, and she expresses her thoughts, as they crowd tumultuously on her mind, disjointedly. Nor does Köchly's transposition seem to me to do away with this want of logical connexion. Though the beginning of the transposed passage (vv. 999-1003) seems more in place after v. 993, and though, as the verses stand in the mss. 994 would not do at all after v. 993, still the end of the passage does not at all fit in with v. 994. There seems no reason why the goddess's wrath, or that of the king, should lead to Iphigeneia's retention any more than to that of Orestes, and yet that is what would be implied by the yáp in v. 994 followed by the dé in v. 995. The transposition makes her say, “I must fall, but you will get the statue and reach home in safety, for I shall manage to avoid slaughtering you and shall be the salvation of our house" (by sending the image home and so put

ting an end to your madness), "but I am afraid the goddess will find me out and the king will punish me by death." As the words stand there is, as Wecklein has pointed out, a meaningless tautology in σώσαιμί τ' οἴκους following close upon νοσοῦντα τ ̓ οἶκον ὀρθῶσαι θέλω. Again, the words ἀπαλλάξαιμεν av, &c., cannot mean "I would fain not be your murderess,' and a simple statement "I shall not" (or I should not) be your murderess," is quite out of place after the expression of the wish in the previous lines. Again, there is a difficulty, though no one seems to have felt it, in the differing numbers of the two verbs, especially when they are so closely connected by having the av in common. I therefore propose ἀπαλλάξαι

θέλω and σῶσαί τ ̓ ἐς οἴκους. Ι imagine that it was the θέλω from the end of v. 994 that got, by a not unnatural mistake, into v. 993 (from which place Markland rightly rejected it), and that a subsequent transcriber or corrector filled up v. 994 out of his head and accommodated v. 995 to it as far as possible. Again, δέδοικα τὴν θεὸν ὅπως λάθω seems to ine an impossible construction, and to be very awkwardly coupled with dédoɩka Tòv τύραννον. Hence I propose δὲ πῶς for δ ̓ ὅπως. (For explanation see Explanatory Notes.)

120

EXPLANATORY NOTES.

G. means Goodwin's Elementary Greek Grammar. references are to the sections.

The

PROLOGOS.—Vv. 1-122.

REAL PROLOGUE.-Vv. 1-66.

It is Euripides's custom to begin his plays with a short narrative prologue, in which he tells the audience so much of the previous history and of the present position and intentions of his characters as may enable them to understand the action when it begins. The prologue, therefore, must be regarded as standing, along with the choric odes, outside the action proper, which is developed in dialogue or in narrative addressed, not to the audience, but to a person or persons on the stage. Just as the choric odes in Euripides have less connexion with the action than those in the plays of Aeschylus and Sophocles, and approach more nearly to expressions of the author's feelings given directly to the public, so the same differentiation and detachment of a part from the whole is visible in his treatment of his prologues. The two other tragedians either began their plays with dialogue, or invented some special reason in connexion with the action for an explanatory monologue. The only extant plays of Euripides which do not begin with a prologue are the Rhesus, which either was written by him when very young or is not from his hand at all, and the Iphigeneia at Aulis, to which he would no doubt have prefixed a prologue if he had lived to

complete the play; the prologue introduced in our texts after v. 48 is, no doubt, spurious. In the play before us this detachment is not complete. Vv. 1-39 (41) are spoken directly to the audience, but at v. 42 Iphigeneia becomes as it were her real self, and the rest of the prologue, though still serving to explain the situation, may be said to form part of the action of the piece.

Probably Iphigeneia entered, not from the central or protagonist's door (cf. Herm. üb. Müller's Eumen., p. 174), but from the side buildings in part of which she lived. Introduction, § II.)

(Cf.

1. Ταντάλειος, like Τυνδαρείας in v. 5, and δεσποσύνοις in v. 439 is precisely equivalent to a possessive gen.

2. Ooαío πTOS. The dative, which must be taken with μov, is that denoting effective accompaniment, often used of troops with verbs of motion (G. 188, 5, cf. also Iph. Aul. 238). For the gender see L. and S., s. v. iππOS.

For the story of Pelops's victory, see Dict. Biog., s. v. Pelops. yauet. The historic present is common in words denoting relationship: cf. TíкTEL, V. 1319.

5. Τυνδαρείας παιδός (see Critical Notes). Aristophanes (Frogs 946) ridicules Euripides for the circumstantial genealogies of his prologues.

6. ἀμφὶ δίναις. The dative with ἀμφί is not found in Attic prose; in Homer and the tragedians it is not uncommon, though in the latter the acc. (in much the same sense-"dativo contiguitatem, accusativo longinquiorem paulo habitum, significat,' Ellendt, Lex. Soph.) is commoner. For the dative cf. Soph. Aj. 1276, Eur. Hel. 1008.

6 and 7, as Оáμ' K. T. λ. Livy (xxviii. 6) says sudden stormy gusts sweep down the steep sides of the Euripus, and the current, which is as swift as a mountain torrent, changes, not seven times a day regularly, as was commonly reported, but "temere in modum venti nunc huc, nunc illuc verso mari." Euripides's σrpépei corresponds to Livy's verso, though the former is alone in attributing the eddies accompanying the changes of current to gusts of wind. In the wider parts of the channel, which at one place is only 40 yards wide, there are no doubt back eddies.

H

Kvavav. This word means dark blue, the notion of darkness being prominent. It is applied to the sea surface when darkened by a ruffling wind.

8. ús Soket has been variously interpreted either (1) “as he thinks" (historic present): (2) "as he thinks to this day": or (3) impersonally, “as is commonly believed." The impersonal use does not suit the passage, as it would imply that the speaker herself shared the general ignorance of her fate. It is best to take it as a historic present, giving A.'s abiding state of mind, whereas the aorist page denotes a single completed action. Cf. v. 7Si ἦν ἔθυσ' ἐμὸς πατήρ, δοκῶν ἐς ἡμᾶς ὀξὺ φάσγανον βαλεῖν.

9. Kλavaîs. The adjective is properly applied to the two bays (~7ʊxaí) which lie, the smaller to the north, the larger to the south of the promontory on which Aulis was built, because it was chiefly as the haven at which Agamemnon's fleet assembled that the place was known. This epithet is justified by the évтalta yàp ôý in the next line.

10. Xiλíov va@v. The same number is used of Agamemnon's fleet at v. 141 and in the following passages: Iph. Aul. 174 and 355, Orest. 352, Androm. 106, Rhes. 261, Aesch. Ag. 45, Verg. Aen. ii. 198. It is evidently used with poetical vagueness for a great number. Homer gives 1186 as the number of the ships, and Thucydides in round numbers calls it 1200.

12. καλλ. στέφ. Ιλίου. When a Greek noun is joined with a verbal, adverbial or adjectival element often used to make a compound, the noun remains the prominent notion and can even have other words qualifying it, in spite of grammatical connexion: so here the gen. 'INíov in sense depends, as an objective gen., on the viký which has gone to form part of the compound adj. kaXXívikov, and the whole phrase is equivalent to the wreath conferred by a glorious victory over Ilium. Similarly in English there is not felt to be a contradiction in the phrase "English and Foreign Bookseller," because, in spite of grammar, the adjectives are thought of as belonging to the books and not to the seller.

wv seems used emphatically in the sense of determined. 13. τοὺς ὑβρισθέντας γάμους is equivalent to “ the outrage