Chapter V: Preface (3)

And the assembled foe cried, "Reverence Elektra! Let stand Athenai!" and so, as Euripides had saved the Athenian exiles in Syracuse harbour, now he saved Athens herself. But her brave long walls were destroyed, destroyed to sound of flute and lyre, wrecked to the kordax step, and laid in the dust to the mocking laughter of a Comedy-chorus. And so no longer would Balaustion remain to see the shame of the beloved city. "Back to Rhodes!" she cried. "There are no gods, no gods! Glory to God--who saves Euripides!" [The long walls of Athens consisted of the wall to Phalerum on the east, about four miles long, and of the wall to the harbour of Piraeus on the west, about four and a half miles long; between these two, at a short distance from the latter and parallel to it, another wall was erected, thus making two walls leading to the Piraeus, with a narrow passage between them. The entire circuit of the walls was nearly twenty-two miles, of which about five and a half miles belonged to the city, nine and a half to the long walls, and seven miles to Piraeus, Munychia, and Phalerum.]

Plutarch, in his life of Lysander, tells how Euripides saved Athens from destruction and the Athenians from slavery:--"After Lysander had taken from the Athenians all their ships except twelve, and their fortifications were delivered up to him, he entered their city on the sixteenth of the month Munychon (April), the very day they had overthrown the barbarians in the naval fight at Salamis. He presently set himself to change their form of government; and finding that the people resented his proposal, he told them 'that they had violated the terms of their capitulation, for their walls were still standing after the time fixed for the demolishing of them was passed; and that, since they had broken the first articles, they must expect new ones from the council.' Some say he really did propose, in the council of the allies, to reduce the Athenians to slavery; and that Erianthis, a Theban officer, gave it as his opinion that the city should be levelled with the ground, and the spot on which it stood turned to pasturage. Afterwards, however, when the general officers met at an entertainment, a musician of Phocis happened to begin a chorus in the _Electra_ of Euripides, the first lines of which are these--

'Unhappy daughter of the great Atrides,
Thy straw-crowned palace I approach.'

The whole company were greatly moved at this incident, and could not help reflecting how barbarous a thing it would be to raze that noble city, which had produced so many great and illustrious men. Lysander, however, finding the Athenians entirely in his power, collected the musicians of the city, and having joined to them the band belonging to the camp, pulled down the walls, and burned the ships, to the sound of their instruments."

NOTES. [The pages are those of the complete edition, in 16 vols.]--P. 3, _Euthukles_, the husband of Balaustion, whom she met first at Syracuse. p. 4, _Koré_, the daughter of Ceres, the same as Proserpine. p. 6, _Peiraios_, the principal harbour of Athens, with which it was connected by the long walls; "_walls, long double-range Themistoklean_": after Themistocles, the Athenian general, who planned the fortifications of Athens; _Dikast_ and _heliast_: the Dikast was the judge (_dike_, a suit, was the term for a civil process); the heliasts were jurors, and in the flourishing period of the democracy numbered six thousand. p. 7, _Kordax-step_, a lascivious comic dance: to perform it off the stage was regarded as a sign of intoxication or profligacy; _Propulaia_, a court or vestibule of the Acropolis at Athens; _Pnux_, a place at Athens set apart for holding assemblies: it was built on a rock; _Bema_, the elevated position occupied by those who addressed the assembly. p. 8, _Dionusia_, the great festivals of Bacchus, held three times a year, when alone dramatic representations at Athens took place; "_Hermippos to pelt Perikles_": Hermippos was a poet who accused Aspasia, the mistress of Pericles, of impiety; "_Kratinos to swear Pheidias robbed a shrine_": Kratinos was a comic poet of Athens, a contemporary of Aristophanes; _Eruxis_, the name of a small satirist. (Compare "_The Frogs_" ll. 933-934.) _Momos_, the god of pleasantry: he satirised the gods; _Makaria_, one of the characters in the _Heraclidæ_ of Euripides: she devoted herself to death to enable the Athenians to win a victory. p. 9, "_Furies in the Oresteian song_"--Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megæra: they haunted Orestes after he murdered his mother Clytemnestra: "_As the Three_," etc., the three tragic poets, Æschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. _Klutaimnestra_, wife of Agamemnon and mother of Orestes, Iphigenia, and Electra: she murdered her husband on his return from Troy; _Iocasté_, Iocasta, wife of Laius and mother of Oedipus; _Medeia_, daughter of Aetes: when Jason repudiated her she killed their children; _Choros_: the function of the chorus, represented by its leader, was to act as an ideal public: it might consist of old men and women or maidens; dances and gestures were introduced, to illustrate the drama. p. 10, _peplosed and kothorned_, robed and buskined. _Phrunicos_, a tragic poet of Athens: he was heavily fined by the government for exhibiting the sufferings of a kindred people in a drama. (Herod., vi., 21.) "_Milesian smart-place_," the Persian conquest of Miletus. p. 11, _Lenaia_, a festival of Bacchus, with poetical contentions, etc.; _Baccheion_, a temple of Bacchus; _Andromedé_, rescued from a sea-monster by Perseus; _Kresphontes_, one of the tragedies of Euripides; _Phokis_, a country of northern Greece, whence came the husband of Balaustion, who saved Athens by a song from Euripides; _Bacchai_, a play by Euripides, not acted till after his death. p. 12, _Amphitheos_, a priest of Ceres at Athens, ridiculed by Aristophanes to annoy Euripides. p. 14, _stade_, a single course for foot-races at Olympia--about a furlong; _diaulos_, the double track of the racecourse for the return. p. 15, _Hupsipule_, queen of Lemnos, who entertained Jason in his voyage to Colchis: "_Phoinissai_" (_The Phoenician Women_), title of one of the plays of Euripides; "_Zethos against Amphion_": Zethos was a son of Jupiter by Antiope, and brother to Amphion; _Macedonian Archelaos_, a king of Macedonia who patronised Euripides. p. 16, _Phorminx_, a harp or guitar; "_Alkaion_," a play of Euripides; _Pentheus_, king of Thebes, who refused to acknowledge Bacchus as a god; "_Iphigenia in Aulis_," a play by Euripides; _Mounuchia_, a port of Attica between the Piræus and the promontory of Sunium; "_City of Gapers_," Athens--so called on account of the curiosity of the people; _Kopaic eel_: the eels of Lake Copais, in Boeotia, were very celebrated, and to this day maintain their reputation. p. 17, _Arginousai_, three islands near the shores of Asia Minor; _Lais_, a celebrated courtesan, the mistress of Alcibiades; _Leogoras_, an Athenian debauchee; _Koppa-marked_, branded as high bred; _choinix_, a liquid measure; _Mendesian wine_: Wine from Mende, a city of Thrace, famous for its wines; _Thesmophoria_, a women's festival in honour of Ceres, made sport of by Aristophanes. p. 18, _Krateros_, probably an imaginary character. _Arridaios_ and _Krateues_, local poets in royal favour; _Protagoras_, a Greek atheistic philosopher, banished from Athens, died about 400 B.C.; "_Comic Platon_," Greek poet, called "the prince of the middle comedy," flourished 445 B.C.; _Archelaos_, king of Macedonia. p. 19, "_Lusistraté_" a play by Aristophanes, in which the women demand a peace; _Kleon_: Cleon was an Athenian tanner and a great popular demagogue, 411 B.C., distinguished afterwards as a general; he was a great enemy of Aristophanes. p. 20, _Phuromachos_, a military leader; _Phaidra_, fell in love with Hippolytus, her son-in-law, who refused her love, which proved fatal to him. p. 21, _Salabaccho_, a performer in Aristophanes' play, _The Lysistrata_, acting the part of "Peace"; _Aristeides_, an Athenian general, surnamed the Just, banished 484 B.C.; _Miltiades_, the Athenian general who routed the armies of Darius, died 489 B.C.; "_A golden tettix in his hair_" (a grasshopper), an Athenian badge of honour worn as indicative that the bearer had "sprung from the soil"; _Kleophon_, a demagogue of Athens. p. 22, _Thesmophoriazousai_, a play by Aristophanes satirising women and Euripides, B.C. 411. p. 23, _Peiraios_, the seaport of Athens; _Alkamenes_, a statuary who lived 448 B.C., distinguished for his beautiful statues of Venus and Vulcan; _Thoukudides_ (Thucydides), the Greek historian, died at Athens 391 B.C. p. 24, _Herakles_ (Hercules), who had brought Alcestis back to life: the subject of a play by Euripides. p. 25, _Eurustheus_, king of Argos, who enjoined Hercules the most hazardous undertakings, hoping he would perish in one of them; _King Lukos_, the son of an elder Lukos said to have been the husband of Dirke; _Megara_, daughter of Creon, king of Thebes, and wife of Hercules; _Thebai_--_i.e._, of Creon of Thebes; _Heracleian House_, the house of Hercules. p. 26, _Amphitruon_, a Theban prince, foster-father of Herakles, _i.e._, the husband of Alkmene the mother of Herakles by Zeus; _Komoscry_, a "Komos" was a revel; _Dionusos_, _Bacchos_, _Phales_, _Iacchos_ (all names of Bacchus): the goat was sacrificed to Bacchus on account of the propensity that animal has to destroy the vine. p. 27, _Mnesilochos_, the father-in-law of Euripides, a character in the _Thesmophoriazousai_; _Toxotes_, an archer in the same play; _Elaphion_, leader of the chorus of females or flute-players. p. 30, _Helios_, the God of the Sun; _Pindaros_, the greatest lyric poet of Greece, born 552 B.C.; "_Idle cheek band_" refers to a support for the cheeks worn by trumpeters; _Cuckoo-apple_, the highly poisonous tongue-burning Cuckoo-pint (_Arum maculatum_); _Thasian_, Thasus, an island in the Ægean Sea famous for its wine; _threttanelo_ and _neblaretai_, imitative noises; _Chrusomelolonthion-Phaps_, a dancing girl's name. p. 31, _Artamouxia_, a character in the _Thesmophoriazousai_ of Aristophanes; _Hermes_ == Mercury; _Goats-breakfast_, improper allusions, connected with Bacchus; _Archon_, a chief magistrate of Athens; "_Three days' salt fish slice_": each soldier was required to take with him on the march three days' rations. p. 32, _Archinos_, a rhetorician of Athens (Schol. in Aristoph. Ran.); _Agurrhios_, an Athenian general in B.C. 389: he was a demagogue; "_Bald-head Bard_": this describes Aristophanes, and the two following words indicate his native place; _Kudathenaian_, native of the Deme Cydathenê; _Pandionid_, of the tribe of Pandionis; "_son of Philippos_": Aristophanes here gives the names of his father and of his birthplace; _anapæsts_, feet in verse, whereof the first syllables are short and the last long; _Phrunichos_ (see on p. 10); _Choirilos_, a tragic poet of Athens, who wrote a hundred and fifty tragedies. p. 33, _Kratinos_, a severe and drunken satirist of Athens, 431 B.C.; "_Willow-wicker-flask_," _i.e._, "Flagon," the name of a comedy by Kratinos which took the first prize, 423 B.C.; _Mendesian_, from Mende in Thrace. p. 36, "_Lyric shell or tragic barbiton_," instruments of music: the barbiton was a lyre; shells were used as the bodies of lyres; _Tuphon_, a famous giant chained under Mount Etna. p. 38, _Sousarion_, a Greek poet of Megara, said to have been the inventor of comedy; _Chionides_, an Athenian poet, by some alleged to have been the inventor of comedy. p. 39, "_Grasshoppers_," a play of Aristophanes; "_Little-in-the-Fields_," suburban or village feasts of Bacchus. p. 40, _Ameipsias_, a comic poet ridiculed by Aristophanes for his insipidity; _Salaminian_, of Salamis, an island on the coast of Attica. p. 41, _Archelaos_, king of Macedonia, patron of Euripides. p. 42, _Iostephanos_ (violet-crowned), a title applied to Athens; _Dekeleia_, a village of Attica north of Athens; _Kleonumos_, an Athenian often ridiculed by Aristophanes; _Melanthios_, a tragic poet, a son of Philocles; _Parabasis_, an address in the old comedy, where the author speaks through the mouth of the chorus; "_The Wasps_," one of the famous plays of Aristophanes. p. 43, _Telekleides_, an Athenian comic poet of the age of Pericles; _Murtilos_, a comic poet; _Hermippos_, a poet, an elder contemporary of Aristophanes; _Eupolis_: is coupled with Aristophanes as a chief representative of the old comedy (born 446 B.C.); _Kratinos_, a contemporary comic poet, who died a few years after Aristophanes began to write for the stage; _Mullos_ and _Euetes_, comic poets of Athens; _Megara_, a small country of Greece, p. 44, _Morucheides_, an archon of Athens, in whose time it was ordered that no one should be ridiculed on the stage by name; _Sourakosios_, an Athenian lawyer ridiculed by the poets for his garrulity; _Tragic Trilogy_, a series of three dramas, which, though complete each in itself, bear a certain relation to each other, and form one historical and poetical picture--_e.g._, the three plays of the _Oresteia_, the _Agamemnon_, the _Choëphoræ_, and the _Eumenides_ by Æschylus. p. 45, "_The Birds_," the title of one of Aristophanes' plays. p. 46, _Triphales_, a three-plumed helmet-wearer; _Trilophos_, a three-crested helmet-wearer; _Tettix_ (the grasshopper), a sign of honour worn as a golden ornament; "_Autochthon-brood_": the Athenians so called themselves, boasting that they were as old as the country they inhabited; _Taügetan_, a mountain near Sparta. p. 47, _Ruppapai_, a sailor's cry; _Mitulené_, the capital of Lesbos, a famous seat of learning, and the birthplace of many great men; _Oidipous_, son of Laius, king of Thebes, and Jocasta: he murdered his own father; _Phaidra_, who fell in love with her son Hippolytus; _Augé_, the mother of Telephus by Hercules; _Kanaké_, a daughter of Æolus, who bore a child to her brother Macareus; _antistrophé_, a part of the Greek choral ode. p. 48, _Aigina_, an island opposite Athens. p. 49, _Prutaneion_, the large hall at Athens where the magistrates feasted with those who had rendered great services to the country; _Ariphrades_, a person ridiculed by Aristophanes for his filthiness; _Karkinos_ and his sons were Athenian dancers: supposed here to have been performing in a play of Ameipsias. p. 50, _Parachoregema_, the subordinate chorus; _Aristullos_, an infamous poet; "_Bald Bard's hetairai_," Aristophanes' female companions. p. 51, _Murrhiné_ and _Akalanthis_, chorus girls representing "good-humour" and "indulgence"; _Kailligenia_, a name of Ceres: here it means her festival celebrated by the woman chorus of the _Thesmophoriaxousai_; _Lusandros_ == Lysander, a celebrated Spartan general; _Euboia_, a large island in the Ægean Sea; "_The Great King's Eye_," the nickname of the Persian ambassador in the play of _The Acharnians_; _Kompolakuthes_, a puffed-up braggadocio. p. 52, _Strattis_, a comic poet; _klepsudra_, a water clock; _Sphettian vinegar_ == vinegar from the village of Sphettus; _silphion_, a herb by some called masterwort, by some benzoin, by others pellitory; _Kleonclapper_, _i.e._, a scourge of Cleon; _Agathon_, an Athenian poet, very lady-like in appearance, a character in _The Women's Festival_ of Aristophanes; "_Babaiax!_" interjection of admiration. p. 54, "_Told him in a dream_" (see Cicero, _Divinatione_, xxv); _Euphorion_, a son of Æschylus, who published four of his father's plays after his death, and defeated Euripides with one of them; _Trugaios_, a character in the comedy of _Peace_: he is a distressed Athenian who soars to the sky on a beetle's back; _Philonides_, a Greek comic poet of Athens; _Simonides_, a celebrated poet of Cos, 529 B.C.: he was the first poet who wrote for money: he bore the character of an avaricious man; _Kallistratos_, a comic poet, rival of Aristophanes; _Asklepios_ == Æsculapius; _Iophon_, a son of Sophocles, who tried to make out that his father was an imbecile. p. 58, _Maketis_, capital of Macedonia; _Pentelikos_, a mountain of Attica, celebrated for its marble. p. 60, _Lamachos_: the "Great Captain" of the day was the brave son of Xenophanes, killed before Syracuse B.C. 414: satirised by Aristophanes in _The Acharnians_; _Pisthetairos_, a character in Aristophanes' _Birds_; _Strepsiades_, a character in _The Clouds_ of Aristophanes; _Ariphrades_ (see under p. 49). p. 63, "_Nikias, ninny-like_," the Athenian general who ruined Athens at Syracuse--was very superstitious. p. 64, _Hermai_, statues of Mercury in the streets of Athens: we have one in the British Museum. p. 67, _Sophroniskos_, was the father of Socrates. p. 75, _Kephisophon_, a friend of Euripides, said to have afforded him literary assistance. p. 79, _Palaistra_, the boy's school for physical culture. p. 82, _San_, the letter S, used as a horse-brand. p. 81, _Aias_ == Ajax. p. 82, _Pisthetairos_, an enterprising Athenian in the comedy of the _Birds_. p. 83, "_Rocky-ones_" == Athenians; _Peparethian_, famous wine of Peparethus, on the coast of Macedonia. p. 85, _Promachos_, a defender or champion, name of a statue: the bronze statue of _Athene Promachos_ is here referred to, which was erected from the spoils taken at Marathon, and stood between the Propylæa and the Erechtheum: the proportions of this statue were so gigantic that the gleaming point of the lance and the crest of the helmet were visible to seamen on approaching the Piræus from Sunium (Seyffert, _Dict. Class. Ant._); _Oresteia_, the trilogy or three tragedies of Æschylus--the _Agamemnon_, the _Choëphoræ_, and the _Eumenides_. p. 86, _Kimon_, son of Miltiades: he was a famous Athenian general, and was banished by the _Boulé_, or council of state; _Prodikos_, a Sophist put to death by the Athenians about 396 B.C., satirised by Aristophanes. p. 87, _Kottabos_, a kind of game in which liquid is thrown up so as to make a loud noise in falling: it was variously played (_see_ Seyffert's _Dict. Class. Ant._, p. 165); _Choes_, an Athenian festival; _Theoros_, a comic poet of infamous character. p. 88, _Brilesian_, Brilessus, a mountain of Attica. p. 89, "_Plataian help_," prompt assistance: the Platæans furnished a thousand soldiers to help the Athenians at Marathon; _Saperdion_, a term of endearment; _Empousa_, a hobgoblin or horrible sceptre: "Apollonius of Tyana saw in a desert near the Indus an empousa or ghûl taking many forms" (_Philostratus_, ii., 4); _Kimberic_, name of a species of vestment. p. 93, "_Kuthereia's self_," a surname of Venus. p. 94, _plethron square_, 100 square feet; _chiton_, the chief and indispensible article of female dress, or an undergarment worn by both sexes. p. 95, _Ion_, a tragic poet of Chios; _Iophon_, son of Sophocles, a poor poet; _Aristullos_, an infamous poet. p. 98, _Cloudcuckooburg_, in Aristophanes' play _The Birds_ these animals are persuaded to build a city in the air, so as to cut off the gods from men; _Tereus_, a king of Thrace, who offered violence to his sister-in-law Philomela; _Hoopoe triple-crest_: Tereus was said to have been changed into a hoopoe (_The Birds_); _Palaistra tool_, _i.e._, one highly developed; _Amphiktuon_, a council of the wisest and best men of Greece; _Phrixos_, son of Athamas, king of Thebes, persecuted by his stepmother was fabled to have taken flight to Colchis on a ram. p. 99, _Priapos_, the god of orchards, gardens, and licentiousness; _Phales Iacchos_, indecent figure of Bacchus. p. 102, _Kallikratidas_, a Spartan who routed the Athenian fleet about 400 B.C.; _Theramenes_, an Athenian philosopher and general of the time of Alcibiades. p. 103, _chaunoprockt_, a catamite. p. 113, _Aristonumos_, a comic poet, contemporary with Aristophanes; _Ameipsias_, a comic poet satirised by Aristophanes; _Sannurion_, a comic poet of Athens: _Neblaretai! Rattei!_ exclamations of joy. p. 117, _Sousarion_, a Greek poet of Megara, who introduced comedy at Athens on a movable stage, 562 B.C.: he was unfriendly to the ladies. p. 118, _Lemnians_, _The Hours_, _Female Playhouse_, etc., these are all lost plays of Aristophanes. p. 119, _Kassiterides_, "the tin islands": the Scilly Islands, Land's End, and Lizard Point. p. 121, "_Your games_": _Olympian_, in honour of Zeus at Olympia; _Pythian_, held near Delphi; _Isthmian_, held in the Isthmus of Corinth; _Nemeian_, celebrated in the valley of Nemea. p. 126, _Phoibos_, name of Apollo or the sun; _Kunthia_ == Cynthia, a surname of Diana, from Mount Cynthus, where she was born. p. 128, _skiadeion_, the umbel or umbrella-like head of plants like fennel or anise--hence a parasol or umbrella; _Huperbolos_, an Athenian demagogue. p. 129, _Theoria_, festival at Athens in honour of Apollo--character in _The Peace_; _Opôra_, a character in _The Peace_. p. 133, "_Philokleon turns Bdelukleon_," an admirer of Cleon, turned detester of Cleon: character in Aristophanes' comedy _The Wasps_. p. 135, _Logeion_, the stage where the actors perform--properly "the speaking place." p. 137, _Lamia-shape_, as of the monsters with face of a woman and body of a serpent; _Kukloboros_, roaring--a noise as of the torrent of the river in Attica of that name; _Platon_ == Plato. p. 140, _Konnos_, the play of Ameipsias which beat the _Clouds_ of Aristophanes in the award of the judges; _Moruchides_, a magistrate of Athens, in whose time it was decided that no one should be ridiculed on the stage by name; _Euthumenes_, _Argurrhios_, _Surakosios_, _Kinesias_, Athenian rulers who endeavoured to restrain the gross attacks of the comic poets. p. 141, _Acharnes_, Aristophanes' play _The Acharnians_: it is the most ancient specimen of comedy which has reached us. p. 143, _Poseidon_, the Sea == Neptune. p. 144, _Triballos_, a vulgar deity. p. 145, _Kolonos_, an eminence near Athens; _stulos_, a style or pen to write with on wax tablets; _psalterion_, a musical instrument like a harp, a psaltery. p. 146, _Pentheus_, king of Thebes, who resisted the worship of Bacchus, and was driven mad by the god and torn to pieces by his own mother and her two sisters in their Bacchic frenzy. p. 147, _Herakles_ == Hercules; _Argive Amphitruon_, son of Alkaios and husband of Alcmene; _Alkaios_, father of Amphitruon and grandfather of Hercules; _Perseus_, son of Jupiter and Danae; _Thebai_, capital of Boeotia, founded by Cadmus; _Sown-ones_, the armed men who rose from the dragons' teeth sown by Cadmus; _Ares_, Greek name of Mars; _Kadmos_, founder of Boeotian Thebes; _Kreon_, king of Thebes, father of Megara slain by Lukos; _Menoikeus_, father of the Kreon above referred to. p. 148, _Kuklopian city_: Argos, according to Euripides, was built by the seven Cyclopes: "These were architects who attended Proetus when he returned out of Asia; among other works with which they adorned Greece were the walls of Mycenæ and Tiryns, which were built of unhewn stones, so large that two mules yoked could not move the smallest of them" (Potter); _Argos_, an ancient city, capital of Argolis in Peloponnesus; _Elektruon_, a son of Perseus; _Heré_ == Juno; _Tainaros_, a promontory of Laconia, where was the cavern whence Hercules dragged Cerberus; _Dirké_, wife of the Theban prince Lukos; _Amphion_: "His skill in music was so great that the very stones were said to have been wrought upon by his lyre, and of themselves to have built the walls of Thebes"--_Carey_ (_see_ ABT VOGLER); _Zethos_, brother of Amphion; _Euboia_, the largest island in the Ægean Sea, now Negroponte. p. 149, _Minuai_, the Argonauts, companions of Jason. p. 150, _Taphian town_, Taphiæ, islands in the Ionian Sea. p. 153, _peplos_, a robe. p. 154, _Hellas_ == Greece; _Nemeian monster_, the lion slain by Hercules. p. 156, _Kentaur race_, a people of Thessaly represented as half men and half horses; _Pholoé_, a mountain in Arcadia; _Dirphus_, a mountain of Euboea which Hercules laid waste; _Abantid_: Abantis was an ancient name of Euboea. p. 158, _Parnasos_, a mountain of Phocis. p. 165, _Peneios_, a river of Thessaly; _Mount Pelion_, a celebrated mountain of Thessaly; _Homole_, a mountain of Thessaly; _Oinoé_ == Oene, a small town of Argolis; _Diomede_, a king of Thrace who fed his horses on human flesh, and was himself destroyed by Hercules. p. 166, _Hebros_, the principal river of Thrace; _Mukenaian tyrant_, Eurystheus, king of Mycenæ; _Amauros_, Amaurus, a river of Thessaly near the foot of Pelion; _Kuknos_, a son of Mars by Pelopea, killed by Hercules; _Amphanaia_, a Dorian city; _Hesperian_, west, towards Spain; _Maiotis_, Lake Mæotis, _i.e._, the Sea of Azof. p. 167, _Lernaian snake_, the hydra slain by Hercules, who then drained the marsh of Lerna; _Erutheia_, an island near Cadiz, where Hercules drove the oxen of Geryon. p. 169, _Pelasgia_ == Greece; _Daidalos_, mythical personage, father of Icarus; _Oichalia_, a town of Laconia, destroyed by Hercules. p. 177, _Ismenos_, a river of Boeotia flowing through Thebes. p. 180, _Orgies_, festivals of Bacchus; _Chthonia_, a surname of Ceres; _Hermion_, a town of Argolis where Ceres had a famous temple; _Theseus_, king of Athens, conqueror of the Minotaur. p. 182, _Aitna_ == Etna. p. 183, _Mnemosuné_, the mother of the Muses; _Bromios_, a surname of Bacchus; _Delian girls_, of Delos, one of the Cyclades islands; _Latona_, mother of Apollo and Diana. p. 188, _Acherontian harbour_: Acheron was one of the rivers of hell. p. 189, _Asopiad sisters_, daughters of the god of the river Asopus; _Puthios_, surname of the Delphian Apollo; _Helikonian muses_: Mount Helicon, in Boeotia, was sacred to Apollo and the Muses. p. 190, _Plouton_ == Pluto, god of hell; _Paian_, name of Apollo, the healer; _Iris_, the swift-footed messenger of the gods. p. 193, _Keres_, the daughters of Night and personified necessity of Death. p. 194, _Otototoi_, woe! alas! p. 195, _Tariaros_ == Hades; _Pallas_, _i.e._, Minerva. p. 198, _Niso's city_, port town of Megara; _Isthmos_, the isthmus of Corinth. p. 201, _Argolis_, a country of Peloponnesus, now Romania; _Danaos_, son of Belus, king of Egypt: he had fifty daughters, who murdered the fifty sons of Egyptus; _Prokné_, daughter of Pandion, king of Athens, wife of Tereus, king of Thrace. p. 202, _Itus_, son of Prokné. p. 206, _Taphioi_, the Taphians, who made war against Electryon, and killed all his sons; _Erinues_ == the Furies. p. 213, _Erechtheidai's town_ == Athens. p. 215, _Hundredheaded Hydra_, a dreadful monster slain by Hercules. p. 216, _Phlegruia_, a place of Macedonia, where Hercules defeated the giants. p. 234, _Iostephanos_, violet-crowned, a name of Athens. p. 235, _Thamuris_, an ancient Thracian bard; _Poikilé_, a celebrated portico of Athens, adorned with pictures of gods and benefactors; _Rhesus_ was king of Thrace and ally of the Trojans; _Blind Bard_ == Thamuris. p. 236, _Eurutos_, a king of Oechalia, who offered his daughter to a better shot than himself: Hercules won, but was denied the prize; _Dorion_, a town of Messenia, where Thamyris challenged the Muses to a trial of skill; _Balura_, a river of Peloponnesus. p. 241, _Dekeleia_, a village of Attica north of Athens, celebrated in the Peloponnesian war; _spinks_, chaffinches. p. 242, _Amphion_, son of Jupiter and inventor of Music: he built the walls of Thebes to the sound of his lyre. p. 245, _Castalian dew_, the fountain of Castalia, near Phocis, at the foot of Parnassus. p. 247, _Pheidippides_, the celebrated runner, a character also in _The Clouds_. p. 248, _Aigispoiamoi_, Ægospotamos was the river where the Athenians were defeated by Lysander, B.C. 405; _Elaphebolion month_, stag-hunting time, when the poetical contests took place; _Lusandros_, the celebrated Spartan general Lysander; _triremes_, galleys with three banks of oars one above another. p. 249, _Bakis-prophecy_, Bacis was a famous soothsayer of Boeotia. p. 253, _Elektra_, daughter of Agamemnon, king of Argos; _Orestes_, brother of Elektra, who saved his life. p. 254, _Klutaimnestra_, murdered her husband Agamemnon. p. 255, _Kommos_, a great wailing; _eleleleleu_, a loud crying; _Lakonians_, the Lacedæmonians == the Spartans. p. 258, _Young Philemon_, a Greek comic poet; there was an old Philemon, contemporary with Menander.--Mr. Fotheringham, in his "Studies in the Poetry of Robert Browning," says: "Browning's _preference for Euripides_ among Greek dramatists, and his defence of that poet in the person of Balaustion against Aristophanes, shows how distinctly he has considered the principles raised by the later drama of Greece, and how deliberately he prefers Euripidean art and aims to Aristophanic naturalism. He likes the human and ethical standpoint, the serious and truth-loving spirit of the tragic rather than the pure Hellenism of the comic poet; while the _Apology_ suggests a broader spirit and a larger view, an art that unites the realism of the one with the higher interests of the other--delight in and free study of the world with ideal aims and spiritual truth" (p. 356).

=Arezzo.= A city of Tuscany, the residence of Count Guido Franceschini, the husband of Pompilia and her murderer. It is now a clean, well-built, well-paved, and flourishing town of ten thousand inhabitants. It is celebrated in connection with many remarkable men, as Mæcenas, Guido the musician, Guittone the poet, Cesalpini the botanist, Vasari, the author of the "Lives of the Painters," and many others. (_The Ring and the Book._)

=Art Poems.= The great poems dealing with painting are "Fra Lippo Lippi," "Andrea del Sarto," "Old Pictures in Florence," "Pictor Ignotus," and "The Guardian Angel."

=Artemis Prologizes.= (_Dramatic Lyrics_, in _Bells and Pomegranates_, No. III. 1842.) Theseus became enamoured of Hippolyta when he attended Hercules in his expedition against the Amazons. Before she accepted him as her lover, he had to vanquish her in single combat, which difficult and dangerous task he accomplished. She accompanied him to Athens, and bore him a son, Hippolytus. The young prince excelled in every manly virtue, but he was averse to the female sex, and grievously offended Venus by neglecting her and devoting himself entirely to the worship of Diana, called by the Greeks Artemis. Venus was enraged, and determined to ruin him. Hippolyta in process of time died, and Theseus married Phædra, the daughter of Minos, the king of Crete. Unhappily, as soon as Phædra saw the young and accomplished Hippolytus, she conceived for him a guilty passion--which, however, she did her utmost to conceal. It was Venus who inspired her with this insane love, out of revenge to Hippolytus, whom she intended to ruin by this means. Phædra's nurse discovered the secret, and told it to the youth, notwithstanding the commands of her mistress to conceal it. The chaste young man was horrified at the declaration, and indignantly resented it. The disgraced and betrayed Phædra determined to take her own life; but dying with a letter in her hand which accused Hippolytus of attempts upon her virtue, the angry father, without asking his son for explanations, banished him from the kingdom, having first claimed the performance from Neptune of his promise to grant three of his requests. As Hippolytus fled from Athens, his horses were terrified by a sea monster sent on shore by Neptune. The frightened horses upset the chariot, and the young man was dragged over rocks and precipices and mangled by the wheels of his chariot. In the tragedy, as left by Euripides, Diana appears by the young man's dying bed and comforts him, telling him also that to perish thus was his fate:--

"But now
Farewell: to see the dying or the dead
Is not permitted me: it would pollute
Mine eyes; and thou art near this fatal ill."

The tragedy ends with the dying words of Hippolytus:--

"No longer I retain my strength: I die;
But veil my face, now veil it with my vests."

So far Euripides. Mr. Browning, however, carries the idea further, and makes Diana try to save the life of her worshipper, by handing him over to the care of Æsculapius, to restore to life and health by the wisest pharmacies of the god of healing. Mr. Browning's poem closes with the chaste goddess watching and waiting for the result of the attempt to save his life. The poet has adopted the Greek spelling in place of that to which we are more accustomed. The Greek names require their Latin equivalents for non-classical scholars. _Artemis_ is the Greek name for _Diana_; _Asclepios_ is _Æsculapius_; _Aphrodite_, the Greek name of _Venus_; _Poseidon_ is _Neptune_; and _Phoibus_ or _Phoebus_ is _Apollo_, the Sun. _Heré_ == Hera or Juno, Queen of Heaven. _Athenai_ == Minerva. _Phaidra_, daughter of Minos and Pasiphae, who married Theseus. _Theseus_, king of Athens. _Hippolutos_, son of Theseus and Hippolyte. _Henetian horses_, or _Enetian_, of a district near Paphlagonia.

=Artemisia Genteleschi= (Beatrice Signorini, _Asolando_), "the consummate Artemisia" of the poem, was a celebrated artist (1590-1642). _See_ BEATRICE SIGNORINI.

="Ask not the least word of praise,"= the first line of the lyric at the end of "A Pillar at Sebzevah," No. 11 of _Ferishtah's Fancies_.

=Asolando: Fancies and Facts.= Published in London, December 12th, 1889, on the day on which Mr. Browning died in Venice. _Contents_: Prologue; Rosny; Dubiety; Now; Humility; Poetics; Summum Bonum; A Pearl, A Girl; Speculative; White Witchcraft; Bad Dreams, I., II., III., IV.; Inapprehensiveness; Which? The Cardinal and the Dog; The Pope and the Net; The Bean-Feast; Muckle-mouth Meg; Arcades Ambo; The Lady and the Painter; Ponte dell' Angelo, Venice; Beatrice Signorini; Flute Music, with an Accompaniment; "Imperante Augusto, Natus est ----"; Development; Rephan; Reverie; Epilogue. The volume is dedicated to the poet's friend, Mrs. Arthur Bronson. In the dedication the poet explains the title Asolando: it was a "_title-name popularly ascribed to the inventiveness of the ancient secretary of Queen Cornaro, whose palace-tower still overlooks us_." Asolare--"to disport in the open air, amuse oneself at random." "The objection that such a word nowhere occurs in the works of the Cardinal is hardly important. Bembo was too thorough a purist to conserve in print a term which in talk he might possibly toy with; but the word is more likely derived from a Spanish source. I use it for love of the place, and in requital of your pleasant assurance that an early poem of mine first attracted you thither; where and elsewhere, at La Mura as Cà Alvisi, may all happiness attend you!--Gratefully and affectionately yours, R. B."--Asolo, _Oct. 5th, 1889_.

=Asolo= (_Pippa Passes--Sordello--Asolando_), the ancient Acelum: a very picturesque mediæval fortified town, in the province of Treviso, in Venetia, Italy, 5500 inhabitants, at the foot of a hill surmounted by the ruins of a castle, from which one of the most extensive panoramas of the great plain of the Brenta and the Piave, with the encircling Alps, and the distant insulated group of the Euganean hills, opens before the traveller. On a fine summer evening the two silver lines of the Piave and the Brenta may be followed from their Alpine valleys to the sea, in the midst of the green alluvial plain in which Treviso, Vicenza and Padua are easily recognised. Venice, with its cupolas and steeples, is seen near the extreme east horizon, which is terminated by the blue line of the Adriatic; whilst behind, to the north, the snow-capped peaks of the Alps rise in majestic grandeur. The village of Asolo is surrounded by a wall with mediæval turrets, and several of its houses present curiously sculptured façades.--The castle, a quadrangular building with a high tower, is an interesting monument of the thirteenth century. It was the residence of the beautiful Caterina Cornaro, the last queen of Cyprus, after the forced resignation of her kingdom to the Venetians in 1489. Here this lady of elegant tastes and refined education closed her days in comparative obscurity, in the enjoyment of an empty title and a splendid income, and surrounded by a small court and several literary characters. Of these, one of the most celebrated was Pietro Bembo, the historian of Venice, afterwards Cardinal, whose celebrated philosophical dialogues on the nature of love, the _Asolani_, have derived their name from this locality. Mr. Browning visited Asolo first when a young man; it was here that he gathered ideas for _Pippa Passes_ and _Sordello_, and in the last year of his life his loving footsteps found their way to the little hill-town of that Italy whose name was graven on his heart. Here, as Mr. Sharp reminds us in his _Life of Browning_, the poet heard again the echo of Pippa's song--

"God's in His heaven, All's right with the world!"

He heard it as a young man, he hears it as he nears the dark river, the conviction had never left his soul for a moment in all the length of intervening years. Asolo will be a pilgrim spot for Browning lovers. The Catherine Cornaro referred to was the wife of King James II., of Cyprus; his marriage with this Venetian lady of rank was designed to secure the support of the Republic of Venice. After his death, and that of his son James III., Queen Catherine felt she was unable to withstand the attacks of the Turks, and was induced to abdicate in favour of the Republic of Venice, which in 1487 took possession of the island. Catherine was assigned a palace and court at Asolo, as already mentioned. Her palace was the resort of the learned and accomplished men and women of Venice, famous amongst whom was her secretary, Cardinal Pietro Bembo, the celebrated author of the _History of Venice_, from 1487 to 1513, and a number of essays, dialogues, and poems. His dialogue on Platonic love is entitled _Gli Asolani_. He died in 1547. When Queen Catherine settled in her beautiful castle of Asolo, she could have found little cause to regret the circumstances which led her from her troubled kingdom of Cyprus to the idyllic sweetness of her later life. Surrounded by her twelve maids of honour and her eighty serving-men, her favourite negress, her parrots, apes, peacocks, and hounds, her peaceful life passed in ideal pleasantness. But the wealth and luxury of her surroundings did not make her selfish, or unconcerned for the welfare of her little kingdom. In all that concerned the happiness and well-being of her people she was as deeply interested as the monarchs of more important states. She opened a pawnbroking bank for the poor, imported corn from Cyprus and distributed it, and appointed competent officials to settle the complaints and difficulties of her subjects. She lived for her people's welfare, and won their affections by her goodness and grace. For twenty years she lived at Asolo, leaving it on only three occasions: to visit her brother in Brescia; to walk to Venice across the frozen lagoon; and once when troops occupied her little town. She died then, at Venice, on July 10th, 1510, and was buried by the republic of the city in the sea, with its utmost magnificence. The fate could scarcely have been called cruel which gave a royal residence amid scenery such as Asolo can boast, under such conditions as blessed the later years of good Queen Catherine.

=At the Mermaid.= The Mermaid Tavern, in Cheapside, was the favourite resort of the great Elizabethan dramatists and poets. Raleigh's Club at the Mermaid was the meeting-place of Shakespeare's contemporaries, where he feasted with Raleigh, Ben Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher, Ford, Massinger, Donne, Drayton, Camden, Selden, and the rest. "At this meeting-place of the gods," says Heywood, in his _Hierarchy of Angels_:--

"Mellifluous Shakespeare, whose enchanting quill
Commanded mirth or passion, was but _Will_,
And famous Jonson, tho' his learned pen
Be dipt in Castaly, is still but _Ben_."

Mr. Browning introduces us to Shakespeare protesting that he makes no claim and has no desire to be the leader of a new school of poetry. In the person of Shakespeare Mr. Browning tells the world that if they want to know anything about him they must take his ideas as they are expressed in his works, not seek to pry into his life and opinions behind them. His works are the world's, his rest is his own. He protests, too, that when he utters opinions and expresses ideas dramatically they are not to be snatched at by leaders of sects and parties, and bottled as specimens for their museums, or used to give authority to their own pet principles. He does not set open the door of his bard's breast: on the contrary, he bars his portal, and leaves his work and his inquisitive visitors alike "outside." Notwithstanding this emphatic declaration, it is probable that few great poets have opened their hearts to the world more completely than Mr. Browning: it is as easy to construct his personality from his works as it is to reconstruct an old Greek temple from the sculptured stones which are scattered on its site. All Mr. Browning's characters talk the Browning tongue, and are as little given to barring their portals as he to closing the door of his breast. This fact must not, of course, be unduly pressed. The utterances of Caliban are not to be put on the same level as the thoughts, expressed a hundred times, which justify the ways of God to man. Having declared himself as determined to let the public have no glimpse inside his breast, in Stanza 10 be proceeds to admit us to his innermost soul, in its joy of life and golden optimism. It is as perfect a picture of the poet's healthy mind as he could possibly have given us, and is an earnest deprecation of the idea that a poet must necessarily be more or less insane. NOTES.--_Oreichalch_ (7), a mixed metal resembling brass--bronze. "_Threw Venus_" (15): in dice the best cast (three sixes) was called "Venus." Ben Jonson tells us that his own wife was "a shrew, yet honest."

=Austin Tresham.= Gwendolen Tresham's betrothed, in _A Blot in the 'Scutcheon_. He is next heir to the earldom.

=Azoth= (_Paracelsus_). The universal remedy of Paracelsus, in alchemy. The term was applied to mercury, which was supposed to exist in every metallic body, and constitute its basis. The Azoth of Paracelsus, according to Mr. Browning, was simply the laudanum which he had discovered. The alchemists by Azoth sometimes meant to express the creative principle of nature. As "he was commonly believed to possess the double tincture, the power of curing diseases and transmuting metals," as Mr. Browning explains in a note to the poem, the expression is often difficult to define precisely, as indeed are many of the terms used by alchemists.

=Azzo.= Lords of Este (_Sordello_): Guelf leaders. The poem is concerned with Azzo VI. (1170-1212), who became the head of the Guelf party. During the whole lifetime of Azzo VI. a civil war raged almost without interruption in the streets of Ferrara, each party, it is said, being ten times driven from the city. Azzo VII. (1205-64) was constantly at war with Eccelino III. da Romano, who leagued himself with Salinguerra. Azzo married Adelaide, niece of Eccelino, and died 1264. (_Encyc. Brit._)

=Bad Dreams.= (_Asolando._) I. In the first dream the lover sees that the face of the loved one has changed: love has died out of the eyes, and the charm of the look has gone. Love is estranged, for faith has gone. With a breaking heart the lover can say love is still the same for him. II. A weird dream of a strange ball, a dance of death and hell, where, notwithstanding harmony of feet and hands, "man's sneer met woman's curse." The dreamer creeps to the wall side, avoiding the dance of haters, and steps into a chapel where is performed a strange worship by a priest unknown. The dreamer sees a worshipper--his wife--enter, to palliate or expurgate her soul of some ugly stain. How contracted? "A mere dream" is an insufficient excuse. The soul in sleep, free from the disguises of the day, wanders at will. Perhaps it may indeed be that our suppressed evil thoughts--thoughts that, kept down by custom, conventionality, and respect for public opinion, never become incarnate in act--walk at night and revel in unfettered freedom, as foul gases rise from vaults and basements when the house is closed at night, and the purifying influences of the light and air are excluded. III. Is a dream of a primeval forest: giant trees, impenetrable tangle of enormous undergrowths, where lurks some brute-type. A lucid city of bright marbles, domes and spires, pure streets too fine for smirch of human foot, its solitary traverser the soul of the dreamer; and all at once appears a hideous sight: the beautiful city is devoured by the forest, the trees by the pavements turned to teeth. Nature is represented by the forest, Art by the city and its palaces. Each in its place is seen to be good and worthy, but when each devours the other both are accurst. The man seems to think that his wife conceals some part of her life from him; her nature is good and true, but he fears her art (or perhaps arts, we should say) destroys it. IV. A dream of infinite pathos. The wife's tomb, its slab weather-stained, its inscription overgrown with herbage, its name all but obliterated. Her husband comes to visit the grave. Was he her lover?--rather the cold critic of her life. She had felt her poverty in all that he demanded, and she had resigned him and life too; and as she moulders under the herbage, she sees in spirit her husband's strength and sternness gone, and he broken and praying that she were his again, with all her foibles, her faults: aye, crowned as queen of folly, he would be happy if her foot made a stepping-stone of his forehead. What had worked the miracle? Was the date on the stone the record of the day when his chance stab of scorn had killed her? There are cruel deeds and still more cruel words that no veiling herbage of balm and mint shall keep from haunting us in the time when repentance has come too late.

=Badman, Mr.= _The Life and Death of Mr. Badman_, as told by John Bunyan, contains the story of "Old Tod," which suggested to Mr. Browning the poem of _Ned Bratts_ (_q.v._).

=Balaustion.= The name of the Greek girl of Rhodes, who, when the Athenians were defeated at Syracuse and her countrymen had determined to side with the enemies of Athens, refused to forsake Athens, the light and life of the world. She saved her companions in the ship by which she fled from Rhodes by reciting to the people of Syracuse the _Alcestis_ of Euripides. Her story is told in _Balaustion's Adventure_, and _Aristophanes' Apology_, which is its sequel. Her name means "wild pomegranate flower."

=Balaustion's Adventure=, including a transcript from Euripides. London, 1871.--The adventure of Balaustion in the harbour of Syracuse came about as follows. Nicias (or Nikias as he is called in the poem), the Athenian general, was appointed, much against his inclination, to conduct the expedition against Sicily. After a long series of ill-successes he was completely surrounded by the enemy and was compelled to surrender with all his army. He was put to death, and all his troops were sent to the great stone quarries, there to perish of disease, hard labour and privation. At Syracuse Athens was shamed, and lost her ships and men, gaining a "death without a grave." After the disgraceful news had reached Greece the people of Rhodes rose in tumult, and, casting off their allegiance to Athens, they determined to side with Sparta. Balaustion, though only a girl, was so patriotic that she cried to all who would hear, begging them not to throw Athens off for Sparta's sake, nor be disloyal to all that was worth calling the world at all. She begged that all who agreed with her would take ship for Athens at once; a few heard and accompanied her. They were by adverse winds driven out of their course, and, being pursued by pirates, made for the island of Crete. Balaustion, to encourage the rowers, sprang upon the altar by the mast, crying to the sons of Greeks to free their wives, their children, and the temples of the gods; so the oars "churned the black waters white," and soon they saw to their dismay Sicily and the city of Syracuse,--they had run upon the lion from the wolf. A galley came out, demanding "if they were friends or foes?" "Kaunians," replied the captain. "We heard all Athens in one ode just now. Back you must go, though ten pirates blocked the bay." It was explained to the exiles that they wanted no Athenians there to spirit up the captives in the quarries. The captain prayed them by the gods they should not thrust suppliants back, but save the innocent who were not bent on traffic. In vain! And as they were about to turn and face the foe, one cried, "Wait! that was a song of Æschylus: how about Euripides? Might you know any of his verses too?" The captain shouted, "Praise the god. Here she stands--Balaustion. Strangers, greet the lyric girl!" And Balaustion said, "Save us, and I will recite that strangest, saddest, sweetest song of his--ALKESTIS. Take me to Herakles' temple you have here. I come a suppliant to him; put me upon his temple steps, to tell you his achievement as I may!" And so they rowed them in to Syracuse, crying, "We bring more of Euripides!" The whole city came out to hear, came rushing to the superb temple, on the topmost step of which they placed the girl; and plainly she told the play, just as she had seen it acted in Rhodes. A wealthy Syracusan brought a whole talent, and bade her take it for herself; she offered it to the god--

"For had not Herakles a second time
Wrestled with death and saved devoted ones?"