Oct. 16.-Stanzas from ß: The evening's grey tinge o'er the mountains is spread, Through the calm breathing air a soft beauty is shed, TRANSLATION. THYRSIS, when he left me, swore Why such unavailing haste? Gentle gales and skies serene Prove not always winter past. Cease, my doubts, my fears to move- GRAY. Θύρσις, ἐπεὶ δὴ πρῶτον ἀπήλυθεν, ὤμοσεν ὅρκον ἄνθεσι νοστήσειν εὐθὺς ἅμ ̓ εἰαρινοῖς ὤμοι ἐγὼ· τί θέλει κάλυκος στόμα δηθὰ πετασθὲν, καὶ θάμνη νεαρῷ πάντα βρύοντα θάλει ; τόνδ' ἔκλυον φανερῶς λιγύφωνον ἀηδόνος ὕμνον, τήν δ ̓ ἴδον Οὔλυμπον δ ̓ ἁλλομένην κόρυδον. φλαύρα μέλη, βλάστημα δ ̓ ἀώριον, οὐ κατὰ καῖρον L. P. Τὶ ἔρυθρά ἐστι τὰ ῥόδα; Λευκὸν ἔην τὸ ῥόδον· Χλώρις δ ̓ ἁπαλαῖσι χέρεσσι Η. F. C. SPLENDIDE MENDAX. ASSYRIUM Juditha ducem aggressura, foventis *Se populum liquisse suum mentitur, et inter "Vos fortuna manet; Fautrix, quo pergitis, adsum ; Quis malè mendacem probet Hanc? Tu, Summe, jubebas * Judith x. 12-18. ETON SCHOOL MAGAZINE. No. V. ON THE ORESTEIA OF ÆSCHYLUS, No. II. (Continued from p. 127). -- *Ατης θύελλαι ζῶσιν.—EscH. AG. THE piece that will come under our consideration in this article forms the second act of the great Orestean trilogy, the Choephora. Between this and the Agamemnon a long interval has elapsed, during which Orestes has grown up to manhood under the care of the Phocian Strophius. Ægisthus and Clytemnestra still occupy the throne of Argos, while Electra, through a stubborn opposition to the commands of her impious mother, is doomed to a long slavery in the royal palace. The scene opens: Orestes and Pylades enter, but after a short speech retire: on seeing Electra and her attendants, the Chorus approach to offer libations at Agamemnon's tomb. A choral ode succeeds, and early as this is in the action of the play, one can hardly help being struck with the dark intimations it contains of a vengeance to come, and a full repayment of the wickedness committed in the former generations. The diadyns ara, like the dormant fires of a volcano, has long smouldered under the ashes: the guilty long * * v. 62, Ed. Blomf. Incessit per ignes suppositos cineri doloso; to be fanned into a flame by the arrival of the destined aλáorwe, in the shape of Orestes. The gods beneath the earth have signified by threatening dreams their displeasure: they at last τοῖς θανοῦσιν ἐγκοτοῦσιν, and as a first movement in that direction, we see the recognition of Orestes by Electra through the lock of hair, which gives her hopes of long-deferred revenge for the various contumelies and insults which have been heaped upon her since the death of Agamemnon. Alternations of speeches between brother and sister succeed, in which Orestes explains how he has been commissioned by Apollo to appease the Manes of his father by the blood of Clytemnestra and her paramour, and relates the punishments which will descend on him and his race in case of neglect. The lines in which these intimations are contained will justify quotation: οὔτοι προδώσει Λοξίου μεγασθενὴς χρησμός, κελεύων τόνδε κίνδυνον περᾷν, ἀχρημάτοισι ζημίαις ταυρούμενον.-(ν. 263269). In the next scene Orestes and Electra are still on the stage, at Agamemnon's tomb, accompanied by the Chorus. Here, as we have before remarked in the Agamemnon, we see a stronger colouring or amplification of a picture already conceived. The expressions made use of by the Chorus assume a more decided tone; concerning the ultimate intent of which the spectators may be supposed to entertain deeper suspicion. Ate with out-spread wings seems to hover nearer; and it is through this kind of phantasmagorical bringing forward and elucidation of the piece, that Eschylus has so far surpassed his two rivals (in our opinion at least,) in the dramatizing of this story. Such lines as and ἀντὶ μὲν ἐχθρᾶς γλώσσης ἐχθρὰ will explain our meaning. The ἀτρίακτος 'Ατa was again to exert its malignant influence, and in accordance with this Electra relates that Clytemnestra has had a fearfully significant dream, that of giving birth to a dragon, which she suckled with her own blood. Orestes then declares that he will be this dragon, and explains how he will contrive to enter the house with Pylades, under the disguise of Phocians, and be the herald of his own death to Ægisthus and Clytemnestra. A splendid choral ode succeeds, on the unbounded wickedness of women, wherein are instanced the tragedies of Lemnos, Nisus and Scylla, and Althea the mother of Meleager. It ends with intimations fearfully fraught with meaning, all tending to exhibit the development of the curse entailed on the family of Tantalus, for now four generations. τέκνον ἐπεισφέρει δόμοισι, τῶν θ' αἱμάτων παλαιτέρων τίνει μύσος χρόνῳ κλύτὴ βυσσόφρων Ερινύς.—(637-40). |