_ "the plain of
wandering," was situated between the rivers Pyramus and Pinarus, in
Cilicia.
wandering," was situated between the rivers Pyramus and Pinarus, in
Cilicia.
Iliad - Pope
298: "The poet's method
of introducing his episode, also, illustrates in a curious manner
his tact in the dramatic department of his art. Where, for example,
one or more heroes are despatched on some commission, to be executed
at a certain distance of time or place, the fulfilment of this task
is not, as a general rule, immediately described. A certain interval
is allowed them for reaching the appointed scene of action, which
interval is dramatised, as it were, either by a temporary
continuation of the previous narrative, or by fixing attention for a
while on some new transaction, at the close of which the further
account of the mission is resumed. "
168 --_With tablets sealed. _ These probably were only devices of a
hieroglyphical character. Whether writing was known in the Homeric
times is utterly uncertain. See Grote, vol ii. p. 192, sqq.
169 --_Solymaean crew,_ a people of Lycia.
170 From this "melancholy madness" of Bellerophon, hypochondria received
the name of "Morbus Bellerophonteus. " See my notes in my prose
translation, p. 112. The "Aleian field," _i. e.
_ "the plain of
wandering," was situated between the rivers Pyramus and Pinarus, in
Cilicia.
171 --_His own, of gold. _ This bad bargain has passed into a common
proverb. See Aulus Gellius, ii, 23.
172 --_Scaean, i e. _ left hand.
173 --_In fifty chambers. _
"The fifty nuptial beds, (such hopes had he,
So large a promise of a progeny,)
The ports of plated gold, and hung with spoils. "
Dryden's Virgil, ii. 658
174 --_O would kind earth,_ &c. "It is apparently a sudden, irregular
burst of popular indignation to which Hector alludes, when he
regrets that the Trojans had not spirit enough to cover Paris with a
mantle of stones. This, however, was also one of the ordinary formal
modes of punishment for great public offences. It may have been
originally connected with the same feeling--the desire of avoiding
the pollution of bloodshed--which seems to have suggested the
practice of burying prisoners alive, with a scantling of food by
their side. Though Homer makes no mention of this horrible usage,
the example of the Roman Vestals affords reasons for believing that,
in ascribing it to the heroic ages, Sophocles followed an authentic
tradition. "--Thirlwall's Greece, vol. i.
of introducing his episode, also, illustrates in a curious manner
his tact in the dramatic department of his art. Where, for example,
one or more heroes are despatched on some commission, to be executed
at a certain distance of time or place, the fulfilment of this task
is not, as a general rule, immediately described. A certain interval
is allowed them for reaching the appointed scene of action, which
interval is dramatised, as it were, either by a temporary
continuation of the previous narrative, or by fixing attention for a
while on some new transaction, at the close of which the further
account of the mission is resumed. "
168 --_With tablets sealed. _ These probably were only devices of a
hieroglyphical character. Whether writing was known in the Homeric
times is utterly uncertain. See Grote, vol ii. p. 192, sqq.
169 --_Solymaean crew,_ a people of Lycia.
170 From this "melancholy madness" of Bellerophon, hypochondria received
the name of "Morbus Bellerophonteus. " See my notes in my prose
translation, p. 112. The "Aleian field," _i. e.
_ "the plain of
wandering," was situated between the rivers Pyramus and Pinarus, in
Cilicia.
171 --_His own, of gold. _ This bad bargain has passed into a common
proverb. See Aulus Gellius, ii, 23.
172 --_Scaean, i e. _ left hand.
173 --_In fifty chambers. _
"The fifty nuptial beds, (such hopes had he,
So large a promise of a progeny,)
The ports of plated gold, and hung with spoils. "
Dryden's Virgil, ii. 658
174 --_O would kind earth,_ &c. "It is apparently a sudden, irregular
burst of popular indignation to which Hector alludes, when he
regrets that the Trojans had not spirit enough to cover Paris with a
mantle of stones. This, however, was also one of the ordinary formal
modes of punishment for great public offences. It may have been
originally connected with the same feeling--the desire of avoiding
the pollution of bloodshed--which seems to have suggested the
practice of burying prisoners alive, with a scantling of food by
their side. Though Homer makes no mention of this horrible usage,
the example of the Roman Vestals affords reasons for believing that,
in ascribing it to the heroic ages, Sophocles followed an authentic
tradition. "--Thirlwall's Greece, vol. i.
