ΒΑΚΧΑΙ. ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ. "Ηκω Διὸς παῖς τήνδε Θηβαίων χθόνα, Διόνυσος, ὅν τίκτει ποθ ̓ ἡ Κάδμου κόρη, Σεμέλη, λοχευθεῖσ ̓ ἀστραπηφόρῳ πυρί· μορφὴν δ ̓ ἀμείψας ἐκ θεοῦ βροτησίαν 1. Θηβαίων, Ρ. C. Θηβαίαν, Schol. Hephaest., p. 183. Dionysus appears in his own character in the prologue, and recites the causes of his visit to Thebes. During the rest of the play, from v. 55 until he appears as Deus ex machina (v. 1331), he assumes the part of servant of Dionysus and fellow-reveller with the chorus of Bacchae. He is called ὁ βάκχευς in v. 145, and θιασώταν in v. 548; but Mr. Paley is mistaken in making ὁ βάκχος, ν. 623, refer to the same person (see his note on v. 576). In v. 623 Dionysus, still sustaining the character of the Bacchant who led the Bacchae from Asia, relates how Bacchus (ὁ Βάκχος) shook the house of Pentheus, and lit a fire on the tomb of Semele. In v. 629, feeling that his sudden mention of Bacchus might excite the suspicions of the chorus, he ascribes the phantom which appeared in the house of Pentheus to the agency of Bacchus, but only as a probable conjecture, καθ ̓ ὁ Βρόμιος, ὡς ἔμοιγε φαίνεται, δόξαν λέγω. Again, v. 630, the same god is called Βάκχιος. The scene is in front of the royal palace on the Kadmeia, situated to the north-east of the city, so that in going to Kithae Β ron Pentheus has to pass right through the town. Close to the palace is the tomb of Semele-so close that, when Bacchus kindles a flame on it, Pentheus thinks that the palace is on fire. 2. τίκτει. The aorist λοχευθεῖσα and Tor indicate the past to which τίκτει points as the moment of the event described; cf. below, 705, and Suppl. 639, Καπανέως γὰρ ἦν λάτρις ὃν Ζεὺς κεραυνῳ πυρπόλῳ κατά αιθαλοῖ, also Thuk. vii. 83, where the present and the aorist alternate with each other several times, καὶ ἀναλαμβάνουσί τε τὰ ὅπλα καὶ οἱ Συρ. αἰσθάνονται καὶ ἐπαιώνισαν· γνόντες δὲ οἱ ̓Αθηναῖοι ὅτι οὐ λαι θάνουσι κατέθεντο πάλιν, and Soph. Trach. 359-365, ἔπειθε . ἐπιστρατεύει κτείνει τε καὶ ἔπερσε. ... 3. The dative is often used for the instrument or cause (see below, v. 119): when the idea of cause is to be excluded, did with the genitive is used : σκόπει γὰρ, ἀπόκρισις ποτέρα ὀρθοτέρα, ᾧ ὁρῶμεν τοῦτ ̓ εἶναι ὀφε θαλμοὺς, ἢ δι ̓ οὗ ὁρῶμεν, Plat. Theaetet. 184 C. 4. ἀμείβειν, to change, especially πάρειμι Δίρκης νάματ ̓ Ἰσμηνοῦ θ ̓ ὕδωρ. τυφόμεν ̓ ἁδροῦ τε πυρὸς ἔτι ζῶσαν φλόγα, κεῖται μιγάσιν Ελλησι βαρβάροις θ' ὁμοῦ 5 10 15 8. Δίου τε, Ρ. C. ἁδροῦ πυρὸς ἔτι, Plutarch. Vit. Sol. cap. i. τεφρούμεν ἤδη πυρὸς ἄσβεστον φλόγα, Pseudogreg. 1583. 13. τὰς πολ. γυίας, Ρ. τὰς πολ. γύας, C. cum Lydo et Strabone. Corr. Elms. 14. Om. C. place, so ἀμείβειν θύρας means generally to leave the house, but sometimes to enter it (Aesch. Cho. 571). 8. Δίου τε, Ρ. C. Verse 9 must be taken in apposition to the whole sentence, according to a common usage in Eurip. (e. g. v. 30, 250, 1100); but it would be very awkward to take two consecutive sentences in apposition, and Matthiae rightly condemns τυφόμενα φλόγα = fumantia flammam. I have, therefore, received the reading given by Plutarch. It was probably changed by some grammarian who had no objection to an anapaest, or who perhaps did not know that the a in ἁδρός could be short. Δίου may well have been a gloss. Cf. νυμφιδίου σπινθῆρος ἔτι πνείοντα κεραυνοῦ, Nonn. Dion. xliv. 128. = 9. ἀθάνατον ἀθανάτου ὕβριν εἰς θνητὴν, cf. v. 524, πυρὸς ἐξ ἀθα νάτου; or, undying, cf. v. 1002 and note. 10. ἄβατον = “ hallowed.” Places struck by lightning were sacred to Ζεὺς καταιβάτης, and were called ἐνηλύσια. 14. “ Having left Lydia and Phrygia, and invaded Persia," &c. Bacchus, Musgrave well remarks, was reared in Lydia and Phrygia, and when he reached man's estate invaded Persia, &c. The Flor. Cod. omits v. 14. The writer of it was probably aware of the mythical point just mentioned, but did not see how the required meaning could be got from the lines by a slight change of punctuation. The writers of both the codd. of this play are very awkward in the handling of language and metres, but are both (esp. Flor.) quite ready to correct, and both, probably, like most grammarians of the 14th century, well versed in mythology. 19. The dative after πλήρης and its cognate words is rare. Elmsley ἐς τήνδε πρῶτον ἦλθον Ἑλλήνων πόλιν, τελετὰς, ἵν ̓ εἴην ἐμφανὴς δαίμων βροτοῖς, 54 μορφὴν [το] ἐμὴν μετέβαλον εἰς ἀνδρὸς φύσιν. θύρσον τε δοὺς ἐς χεῖρα, Κίσσινον μέλος, Σεμέλην δὲ νυμφευθεῖσαν ἐκ θνητού τινος 20 54 25 20. In ordine vulg. legit Pseudogregorius. Frustra transponitur; vid. ad v. 23. 21-23. Locum sic optime constitutum Alleno meo acceptum refero. Vid. Comm. Bernhardius, avo кár omnia. Piersonus, sequente Elmsleio, v. 20 post v. 22 transponit, ineptam tautologiam Euripidi obtrudens. Kirch. pro ἵν ̓ εἴην, ν. 22, temere coniecit ἐδείχθην. 25. μέλoç, P. C. Ald. Sollicitant Editores, foedis Stephani mendaciis illusi, qui in MSS. Italicis quibusdam Bλog se invenisse finxit. At nunc constat hos MSS. nullos fuisse, et Stephanum suis coniecturis codd. commenticiorum fide turpiter subsidium petiisse. Tenebras offundit rursus ad v. 1060, infra. κίσσινον, vulg. Κίσσινον = Κίσσιον ego. Duo habet accusativos ἀνωλό 21-23. This transposition of v. 54, as suggested to me by my friend Mr. S. Allen, seems to me a certain correction. A line containing a principal verb is wanting here, as Paley saw, and this line is exactly the one required. It gives significance to the (otherwise otiose) concluding words of the previous line, ἵν ̓ εἴην ἐμφανὴς δαίμων βροτοῖς, and is itself quite otiose after v. 53. Moreover, it puts in due prominence the essential fact that Dionysus is promoting his cultus in Thebes not in his own, but in his assumed character. The Palatine codex (and therefore, perhaps, its archetype) was written in parallel columns. Verse 23 (μορφὴν ἐμὴν, κ. τ. λ.) and ν. 53 (ὧν οἵνεκ', κ. τ. λ.) were probably the last lines respectively of the two columns on the first page, and the former of these may have fallen out, and been inserted at the end of the wrong column-a mistake which would easily have arisen from the fact that the two lines closely resemble each other in meaning. The 'would have been added by a copyist to avoid the asyndeton.—¿ket, sc. in Asia. 24. ἀνωλόλυξα. ολολυγὴ is generally a cry of triumph and worship, as in Med. 1173; but in Tro. 1000 it means a cry of distress, with the idea, however, of appealing for aid, as in Med. χροὺς sc. αὐτῶν. 25. μέλος is the reading of all the MSS. and ancient editions. Stephens has thrown the whole passage into confusion, by saying that he found in certain Italian MSS. the variant Béλog for uέlog. It is now tolerably certain that no such MSS. ever existed, and that Stephens supported his own conjectures by the authority of pretended MSS. seen only by himself. I regard μέλος as sound: ἀνωλόλυξα governs both Θήβας and μέλος. The allusion to the Kissians in speaking of rites introduced from Asia is most apt. The Kissians (called Kiooivot by Aesch., Pers. 17, who wrongly supposed there ἐς Ζῆν ἀναφέρειν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν λέχους, Κάδμου σοφίσμαθ', ὧν νιν οἵνεκα κτανεῖν Ζῆν ἐξεκαυχῶνθ ̓, ὅτι γάμους ἐψεύσατο. τοιγάρ νιν αὐτὰς ἐκ δόμων ᾤστρησ ̓ ἐγὼ μανίαις· ὄρος δ' οἰκοῦσι παράκοποι φρενῶν· σκευήν τ ̓ ἔχειν ἠνάγκασ ̓ ὀργίων ἐμῶν, καὶ πᾶν τὸ θῆλυ σπέρμα Καδμείων, ὅσαι γυναῖκες ἦσαν, ἐξέμηνα δωμάτων· 31. ἐξεκαυχώμεθ', P. C. Corr. Η. Steph. was a city Kissa distinct from Susa, and was, no doubt, followed by Eur.) were a nation of professional mourners: see Aesch. Pers. 17, 123, and Cho. 415. Though generally spoken of as mourners, no doubt they sang all kinds of orgiastic strains, and Dionysus says that he taught the Thebans to sing the wild Kissian songs in his honour. I should, rather than read βέλος, interpret κ. μέλος as the ivysong, like ἁρμάτειον μέλος, καστόρειον μ., &c., meaning the song of the ivyclad thyrsus. I cannot believe that the copyists of P. and C. found the easy κίσσινον βέλος, and wrote the difficult κ. μέλος. Moreover, βέλος is never applied to the thyrsus by Eur.; but, on the contrary, is distinctly opposed to it in vv. 761, 762, below. Paley endeavours to distinguish between the thyrsus and the narthex, by making the former a warlike, the latter an unwarlike weapon. The thyrsus, he says, was tipped with a point like a dart, for which it was capable of being used: of course it was capable of being used as a missile; but it is expressly distinguished from a dart in v. 761, 2; and in v. 733, though having their thyrsi in their hands, the Bacchae are said to attack the cattle χειρὸς ἀσιδήρου μέτα. Whatever difference there may have been, Eur. neglects it, for he speaks οἱ νάρθηκα εὔθυρσον, ν. 1158, and Kadmus is said in v. 251 to have a narthex in his hand, and in v. 254 a thyrsus. 29. τὴν ἁμαρτίαν λέχους. The usual construction is ἁμ. λέχους, οι τὴν τοῦ λέχους ἁμ. But the rule 30 35 does not apply in the case of a compound phrase standing for a single conception, and therefore capable of being treated as a single word. Paley's τήνδ' for τὴν is therefore needless. This word is a vox propria in Eur. for infidelity in marriage; so σφάλλομαι = to make a faux pas, cf. the following fragment from the Melanippe :ἄλγιστόν ἐστι θῆλυ μισηθὲν γένος, αἱ γὰρ σφαλεῖσαι ταῖσιν οὐκ ἐσφαλμέναις αἶσχος γυναιξὶ καὶ κεκοίνωνται ψόγον ταῖς οὐ κακαῖσιν αἱ κακαί· τὰ δ ̓ εἰς γάμους οὐδὲν δοκοῦσιν ὑγιὲς ἀνδράσιν φρονεῖν. In the frst line of the above, for the very weak μισηθὲν I would suggest μίσηθρον, α charm for producing hatred, formed on the anal. of φίλτρον. μίσητον, lewd, would be better than μισηθέν, but the whole purport of the passage is the tendency which the bad fame of false women has to communicate itself even to the virtuous, and so produce odium against the whole sex. 32. νιν αὐτὰς sc. ἀδελφὰς μητρὸς, mentioned in v. 26, and contrasted with πᾶν τὸ θῆλυ σπέρμα in v. 35. 33. μανίαις, fits of madness, cf. Theokr, Id. xi. 10. ἤρατο δ' οὐ μάλοις οὐδὲ ῥόδῳ οὐδὲ κικίννοις ἀλλ' ὀλοαῖς μανίαις. Το θάνατοι, violent death; αἵματα, deeds of blood; νύκτες, watches of the night. 36. γυναῖκες. This is explained by Paley "all who were adult, not mere παρθένοι, though the term cannot be intended to exclude unmarried women; cf. v. 694, νέαι, παλαιαὶ, παρθένοι τ' ἔτ ̓ ἄζυγες.” But I know of no instance in which yvvý means adult woman, whether married or not, as ὁμοῦ δὲ Κάδμου παισὶν ἀναμεμιγμέναι ὃς θεομαχεῖ τὰ κατ ̓ ἐμὲ καὶ σπονδῶν ἄπο 40 45 50 53 60 46. τ ̓ οὐδαμοῦ, Ρ. τ' οὐδαμοῦ, Ald. τ' οὐδαμοῦ, Pseudogreg., 1571. τ' οὐδαμῶς, Ο. 54. Vid. ad vv. 21-23. 62. πτυχὰς, Ρ. πτύχας C. Ald. ; neque aliter ad v. 943. toleranda haec forma. contrasted with παρθένος in the sense of young woman, whether maiden or matron. γυνή, as wife, is used in strong contrast to παρθένος, maiden, e. g. Theokr. xxvii. 65, 66; but this is not the antithesis here required. I take the words as pleonastic-all the female Thebans, every woman of them; cf. Sed nequaquam |