Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1896) v2.djvu/468

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412

EURIPIDES.

Who shall pray now?—who, for a woman's sake
Jealous of Zeus, from Hellas hath cut off
Her benefactors, guiltless though they were! 1310

Chorus.

This is the assault of none of deities
Save Zeus's Queen: this thou divinest well.

Theseus.

[Think not that I would bid thee flee to death],
Rather than bid thee suffer and be strong.^[1]
No mortal hath escaped misfortune's taint,
Nor God—if minstrel-legends be not false. 1315
Have they not linked them in unlawful bonds
Of wedlock, and with chains, to win them thrones,
Outraged their fathers? In Olympus still
They dwell, by their transgressions unabashed.
What wilt thou plead, if, mortal as thou art, 1320
Thou chafe against thy fate, and Gods do not?

↑ So Paley: but, besides assuming a lacuna after 1312 (which he supplies as above), he thus transfers 1311—12 from Theseus, to whom the MSS. assign them, to the chorus, his chief reason, apparently, being that such a seemingly obvious, wise-after-the-event remark could be fathered on a chorus only. It is of this nature, certainly, if it be taken as an independent pronouncement, not logically linked with the argument which follows. But if it be regarded as a concessive preface, an acknowledgment of a fact in spite of which Theseus does not agree with Herakles, it would not inappropriately commence his speech. I therefore propose, for εὖ τόδ’ αἰσθάνει, to read οὐδὲ σοὶ θανεῖν, the sense then being
"This is the assault of none of deities
Save Zeus's Queen: yet thee I counsel not
Rather to die than suffer and be strong."
This seems to make a somewhat closer logical sequence than Nauck's εἰ τόδ’ αἰσθάνει . . . . . ἀντίσχειν κακοῖς.

[1] So Paley: but, besides assuming a lacuna after 1312 (which he supplies as above), he thus transfers 1311—12 from Theseus, to whom the MSS. assign them, to the chorus, his chief reason, apparently, being that such a seemingly obvious, wise-after-the-event remark could be fathered on a chorus only. It is of this nature, certainly, if it be taken as an independent pronouncement, not logically linked with the argument which follows. But if it be regarded as a concessive preface, an acknowledgment of a fact in spite of which Theseus does not agree with Herakles, it would not inappropriately commence his speech. I therefore propose, for εὖ τόδ’ αἰσθάνει, to read οὐδὲ σοὶ θανεῖν, the sense then being
"This is the assault of none of deities
Save Zeus's Queen: yet thee I counsel not
Rather to die than suffer and be strong."
This seems to make a somewhat closer logical sequence than Nauck's εἰ τόδ’ αἰσθάνει . . . . . ἀντίσχειν κακοῖς.

[1]