νίκην προφρονέως ὀπάσαι καὶ κῦδος ὀρέξαι· 436. καὶ τοῖσι παραγίνεται Ald. 435 440 438. ῥεῖα φέρει χαίρων, τε 443. ἀφείλετο ἄγραν φ. Μ. τοκεῦσι δὲ Μ. χαίρων τε τοκεῦσί τε Ald. 439. παριστάμεν Μ. 442. ῥηιδίως δ' MSS. κυδνὴ Μ, Ald. 444. ληΐδα αὔξειν Μ. 434. It seems more natural to read ἐν δὲ δίκῃ, and to transpose 430 to follow this verse. 436. This is a weak and useless verse. Gaisford encloses it in brackets, after Heyne and Ruhnken. Even Van Lennep, the champion of questioned verses, would omit this, which repeats the prosaic παραγίγνεται for the third time. Perhaps, as the Aldine τοῖσι suggests, we should read παρίσταται. 438. φέρει ἄεθλον, carries the weighty prize easily, viz. on account of his great strength, supernaturally imparted by Hecate. The addition of peia, and τοκεῦσιν ὀπάζει, is in favour of this sense of φέρει, which might otherwise mean φέρεται, ‘wins. Photius, φέρειν, λαμβάνειν. See Oed. Col. v. 6 and v. 651.The varieties of reading in this verse suggest a doubt whether the passage 4358 can be considered genuine. Van Lennep gives ῥεῖα φέρει χαίρων τε· τοκεῦσι δὲ κῦδος ὀπάζει, and so Schoe mann. 440. γλαυκὴν, the sea: not so much by an ellipse of eáλaσoa as by a Hesiodic idiom of expressing things by descriptive epithets, e. g. φερέοικος for Ga snail. Euripides similarly has ἄξενος ὑγρὰ for the Pontus, Electr. 793, per 6 haps after the Homeric πουλὺν ἐφ' ὑγρὴν, Od. iv. 709. — δυσπέμφελον, stormy; see Opp. 618.—ἐργάζονται, α metaphor from tilling the ground and making profit from it. The absence of the digamma from this word is a strong ground for suspecting the antiquity of the passage. 440-1. Commonly, there is a comma after ἐργάζονται and a colon after Εννοσιγαίῳ. According to this, vv. 441 and 442 are distinct sentences coupled by dè, whereas according to the other way, or is the nominative also to εὔχονται. It seems clear that dè should be omitted in 442, so that the sense would be: And to those who plough the stormy main and pray to Hecate and Poseidon, the goddess easily gives great gain (or success). The word ἄγρη is variously interpreted of catching fish, of piratical enterprise, and of hunting, without respect to the preceding verse. Probably it means generally, any profit from mercantile speculations. 443. This verse can hardly be regarded as genuine, the termination being so similar to v. 446. 444. σὺν Ἑρμῇ, with the aid of Hermes. He was the god of herds, not only as generally presiding over profit βουκολίας τ ̓ ἀγέλας τε καὶ αἰπόλια πλατέ ̓ αἰγῶν, 445 θῆκε δέ μιν Κρονίδης κουροτρόφον, οἳ μετ ̓ ἐκείνην 450 ὀφθαλμοῖσιν ἴδοντο φάος πολυδερκέος Ἠους. οὕτως ἐξ ἀρχῆς κουροτρόφος· αἱ δέ τε τιμαί. Ρεῖα δ ̓ ὑποδμηθεῖσα Κρόνῳ τέκε φαίδιμα τέκνα, 446. ὀρίων 451. Είδοντο φάρος ἀδους 446. γ' δΐων Ald. θυμῷ δέκ' ἐθέλουσα Μ. Ald. and gain, but because his earliest exploit in infancy was the successful abduction of a herd from its owner. Hence Eur. Οrest. 998, λόχευμα ποιμνίοισι Μαιάδος τοκοῦ.—ληΐδα, here for cattle generally, as oxen, goats, and sheep are specifically mentioned in the next verses. The notion of booty, and of driving off the stock from an enemy's land, seems early to have ceased. Compare ληΐζεται γυναῖκα, gets a wife, in Opp. 700. 447. βριάει, makes strong, prolific and healthy. See Opp. v. 5, from which this verse was perhaps made up, ῥέα μὲν γὰρ βριάει, ῥέα δὲ βριάοντα χαλέπτει. 449. μετ ̓ ἀθανάτοισι. She is honoured (by men) among all the immortals, viz. not less than they. That this is the sense is clear from ourw in the preceding verse. This verse therefore is not to be compared with v. 414. 450. μετ ̓ ἐκείνην, viz. to those who should be born after her, or at least, after her possession of these attributes. Perhaps we should read ίδοιντο φάος, qui post eam lumen vidissent. The genuineness of these three verses is again questionable, yet hardly more so than the whole of this episode in praise of Hecate (416-452). It is doubtful if the ancient poets attributed to Hecate the office of κουροτρόφος, which was 447. κἀκ Μ. καὶ ἐκ rather assigned to the elemental powers, as Earth and Rivers. But this, like much of the preceding, seems referable to physical notions about lunar influences, which can hardly be as old as Hesiod, with whom Hecate was not more the moon than Φοῖβοs was the sun. -Anyhow, v. 452 seems to have been added, as Wolf perceived, to conclude the subject. 453. Here follows what may be called the second part of the Theogony, viz. the treating of the Jovian dynasty and the νεώτεροι θεοὶ (Aesch. Eum. 156), as opposed to the old Titanic powers. Goettling's note here is deserving of attention : Omnino animadvertendum est, hanc Theogoniae partem, cujus principium est v. 453, prorsus sensu differre ab altera. Pars prior Cosmogoniam continet, haec vero Theogoniam ; illa vere physica est, haec, ut est uberior poetica dictione, ita etiam, si pauca demas, cum illa doctrina physica universali nihil commune habet." Some have supposed that a part of the original poem has been lost, in which the sovereignty of Cronus was described, (see Apollodor. i. 1, 4,) as preliminary to his expulsion from the throne by Zeus, who was said above, v. 73, κάρτει νικῆσαι πατέρα Κρόνον. Ιστίην, Δήμητρα, καὶ Ηρην χρυσοπέδιλον, 455. ̓Αξίδην 459. f. εὖτε έκαστος 461. ἀγαθῶν 454. εἱστίην δήμητραν Μ. ἵρην Ald. πολεμίζεται Μ. 457. Ζῆνα. Flach omits this and the next verse. That Zeus, though king of the gods, was not the eldest son of Cronus, is the constant tradition of ancient mythology. When the Homeric Hera says (Il. iv. 59), καί με πρεσβυτάτην τέκετο Κρόνος ἀγκυλομήτης, and adds specially γενεῇ, in point of birth, the poet only so far differs from Hesiod, that the latter makes Vesta and Demeter older than Hera. Ovid, Fast. vi. 285, gives the inverse order; Ex Ope Junonem memorant Cereremque creatas Semine Saturni; tertia Vesta fuit.' Of the three brothers who severally reigned over Hades, the Sea, and the Heavens, -Pluto, Poseidon, Zeus,-the last is here the youngest. His superiority from the first, in intellect and contrivance, over the older children of Cronus, could only be shown by representing him as capable of doing something which others before him could not do. His empire avowedly depended on might rather than on right. See Hom. Il. viii. 17-26. Hence, to make him become the greatest, it was necessary to represent him also as the youngest. It is to be observed however that in the Iliad (xv. 182) Zeus is described as senior to Poseidon. Ibid. v. 187, τρεῖς γάρ τ' ἐκ Κρόνου εἰμὲν ἀδελφεοὶ, οὓς τέκετο Ῥέα, 455 460 456. εὐρύκτυπον Μ. 458. Ζεὺς καὶ ἐγὼ [Ποσειδῶν], τρίτατος δ ̓ 'Αΐδης ἐνέροισιν ανάσσων. Also xiii. 354, where the poet says of Poseidon, ἢ μὲν ἀμφοτέροισιν ὁμὸν γένος ἠδ ̓ ἴα πάτρη, ἀλλὰ Ζεὺς πρότερος γεγόνει καὶ πλείονα ᾔδη. 459. ὅστις. Wolf conjectured ὥς τις, which seems better. But ἕκαστος elsewhere takes the digamma.— Perhaps εὖτε οι ὥς τε (ὥστε Flach). πρὸς γούνατα, viz. in the course of birth. Hom. Il. xix. 110, ὅς κεν ἐπ ̓ ἤματι τῷδε πέσῃ μετὰ ποσσὶ γυναικός. 462. ἔχοι Goettling. ἔχῃ Gaisford and Van Lennep. xe the early editions. . 463. Γαίης, from Gaea in her capacity of πρωτόμαντις, Aesch. Εum. 2. To this oracle, in reference to the dynasty of Zeus, Prometheus alludes, Aesch. Prom. v. 218, and to the dethroning of Cronus by his stronger son, ib. v. 787. Ovid, Fast. iv. 197, Reddita Saturno sors haec erat; Optime Regum, A nato sceptris excutiere tuis. Ille suam metuens, ut quaeque erat edita, prolem Devorat, immersam visceribusque tenet.' Van Lennep suggests a not improbable origin of this wild and extravagant legend, viz. that time (for Κρόνος is the same impersonation of χρόνος as ‘Father Time is with us), in the οὖνεκά οἱ πέπρωτο ἑῷ ὑπὸ παιδὶ δαμῆναι, [καὶ κρατερῷ περ ἐόντι, Διὸς μεγάλου διὰ βουλάς·] 465 τῷ ὅγε οὐκ ἀλαοσκοπιὴν ἔχεν, ἀλλὰ δοκεύων παῖδας ἑοὺς κατέπινε· Ρέην δ' ἔχε πένθος ἄλαστον. 464. For Fe 465. Διὸς 467. ῥέαν δ' Μ. course of the revolving seasons, destroys and again restores the various products of the year. Even Euripides spoke of Αἰὼν Κρόνου παῖς, Heracl. 899. See Cic. De Nat. Deor. ii. 25. 465. Gaisford and Flach enclose this verse in brackets, after Heyne and Wolf; and they are probably right, though Goettling dissents. It is wanting in one MS. (Par. B, Van Lennep.) Besides, καὶ κρατερῷ περ ἐόντι rather awkwardly refers to of instead of to παιδί, and Διὸς διὰ βουλὰς seems wrongly to define the person, which the oracle must have left indefinite; for otherwise Cronus would not have eaten up one child after another. Goettling thinks this latter clause is the poet's own interpretation of the oracle's meaning, and connects it with δαμῆναι, not with πέπρωτο.—There is a variant πατρὸς for Διός, mentioned also by the Scholiast. 466. The hiatus in ὅγε οὐκ is unusual; but examples are not wanting in Hesiod. See sup. v. 399. 470. One may reasonably suspect that this unnecessary verse was added by some rhapsodist as a comment on τοκλας. If so, the correction of Reize, τοὺς αὐτῆς for τοὺς αὑτῆς, as being more truly epic, is perhaps superduous, though Van Lennep finds it in two MSS. 471. λελάθοιτο, the reduplicated aorist middle, for λάθοι, scil. Κρόνον. 470 472. Hesych. Εριννῦς· ἁμαρτίας. This gloss is by some referred to this passage, which is certainly a difficult one. Goettling compares Il. xxi. 412, οὕτω κεν τῆς μητρὸς ἐρινύας ἐξαποτίνοις, said by Pallas to the wounded Ares; you may atone for the anger of your mother.' But the middle TíσαιTо ought here to mean, and might avenge the curse of her father Uranus;' whereas the context requires, might exact vengeance for the crying sin of his father Cronus.' Perhaps therefore it is best to assume that there is a change of the subject, i. e. that παῖς φίλος, i. e. Ζεύς, is the nominative to τίσαιτο, that she might bring him forth in secret, and he (in after times) might avenge the accursed deed of his father. Guietus proposed ἀνδρὸς for πατρός. The next verse, if genuine, means, account of the children which crafty Cronus had severally swallowed.' Gaisford however and Goettling enclose it in brackets, after Wolf and Heyne, but Flach and Schoemann retain it, reading παίδων θ'. In one MS. it is omitted in the text, but added in the margin. Perhaps, after all, the verse is original, and ἐρινῦς πατρὸς παίδων may mean, ‘a father's sinful treatment of his child on [παίδων οὓς κατέπινε μέγας Κρόνος ἀγκυλομήτης.] οἱ δὲ θυγατρὶ φίλῃ μάλα μὲν κλύον ἠδ ̓ ἐπίθοντο, καί οἱ πεφραδέτην ὅσαπερ πέπρωτο γενέσθαι ἀμφὶ Κρόνῳ βασιλῆϊ καὶ υἱέϊ καρτεροθύμῳ. πέμψαν δ ̓ ἐς Λύκτον, Κρήτης ἐς πίονα δῆμον, ὁππότ ̓ ἄρ ̓ ὁπλότατον παίδων ἤμελλε τεκέσθαι, Ζῆνα μέγαν· τὸν μέν οἱ ἐδέξατο Γαία πελώρη Κρήτῃ ἐν εὐρείῃ τραφέμεν * τ ̓ ἀτιταλλέμεναί τε. ἔνθα μιν ἱκτο φέρουσα θοὴν διὰ νύκτα μέλαιναν πρώτην ἐς †Λύκτον· κρύψεν δέ ἑ χερσὶ λαβοῦσα 475 480 ren.' In this case the consequence of a crime, which is the vengeance it incurs, is put for the crime itself. 475. πέφραδον, the reduplicated aorist of φράζω, or the imperfect of πεφράδω, occurs Opp. 766. See on Scut. H. 228. This declaration on the part of Taîa was made in her capacity of μάντις. See v. 463. The sense is, they consented to assist her in concealing the birth of Zeus, and not only so, but they told her what great fortunes awaited him if she could deceive Cronus. 47784. Goettling regards these verses as the work of a recent rhapsodist, who was desirous to eulogise Crete. See Il. ii. 6459. Gaisford, who commonly follows Wolf and Heyne, and rarely gives an original or independent opinion, encloses only 479, 480. But this couplet seems at least as genuine as the rest of the suspected paragraph, if rightly explained; him indeed mighty Gaea received from her (Rhea) in wide Crete, for to nurse and fondle (viz. in the capacity of μαλα, Aesch. Cho. 39, and κουροτρόφος). There she (Earth) came bearing him through the dark night, to Lyctus first; and she hid him, having taken him in her hands, in a cavern under a precipice.' It seems necessary to accept Hermann's obvious correction, ἔνθα μιν for ἔνθα μέν. Goettling explains φέρ ρουσα by ἐν γαστρὶ ἔχουσα, in which case the nominative to Έκτο is Ῥεία. But this is a forced interpretation. Rhea had come to Crete, had there given birth to a son, and consigned it to Earth to carry off and hide. Van Lennep also makes Rhea the subject to ίκτο, but takes φέρουσα to mean carrying off.' It is not improbable that v. 483 is interpolated.-For δέξατο compare Aesch. Cho. 737 and Ar. Ach. 478, μητρόθεν δεδεγμένος. Theocr. xvii. 59, δεξαμένα παρὰ ματρός. The dative of is well known from the Homeric δέξατό οἱ σκήπτρον, &c. As usual, it here has the digamma. 480. Probably τραφέμεν τ' ἀτιταλ λέμεναί τε, οι τρεφέμεν τ', the present being found in many copies. The first Te is wanting in the editions. 482. Λύκτον. There seems an allusion to the root λuk, light, not only on account of the antithesis with νύκτα, but because a new-born child was said to come forth to light, φόωσδε, but to be reared in the darkness of the womb, ἐν σκότοισι νηδύος, Aesch. Eum. 635. Flach however, with Schoemann reads Δίκτην, whence the epithet Dictaeus Rex &c., and this is probably right. |