[89] See commentators.
[90] Cf. Jelf. Gk. Gr. § 566, 2.
[91] See Linwood, s.v. στέφειν. Paley compares v. 267, Λάφυρα δᾴων δουρίπληχθ᾽ ἁγνοῖς δόμοις Στέψω πρὸ ναῶν. Adrastus alone had been promised a safe return home.
[92] Cf. Eum. 515, οἶκτον οἰκτίσαιτο, would utter cries of pity. Suppl. 59, οἶκτον οἰκτρὸν ἀΐων, hearing one mournful piteous cry. The old translations rendered it, "no regret was expressed on their countenance."
[93] Perhaps we might render φράξαι, dam, in order to keep up the metaphor of the ship. Cf. Hom. Od. V. 346, φράξε δέ μιν ῥίπεσσι διαμπερὲς οἰσυίνῃσι. The closing the ports of a vessel to keep out the water will best convey the meaning to modern readers.
[94] This seems the true meaning of ἐφέστιος, indigenous in Greece, as Blomfield interprets, quoting Hesych, ἐφέστίος, αὐτόχθων, ἔνοικος, II. B. 125, etc. An Athenian audience, with their political jealousy of Asiatic influence, and pride of indigenous origin, would have appreciated this prayer as heartily as the one below, v. 158, πόλιν δορίπονον μὴ προδῶθ᾽ Ἑτεροφώνῳ στρατῷ, which their minds would connect with more powerful associations than the mere provincial differences of Bœotia and Argos. How great a stress was laid upon the ridicule of foreign dialect, may be seen from the reception of Pseudartabas in the Acharnians.
[95] Cf. Arist. Rhet. II. 17, 6. The same sentiment, though expressed the contrary way, occurs in Eur. Troad. 26, Ἐρημία γὰρ πόλιν ὅταν λάβῃ κακὴ, Νοσεῖ τὰ τῶν θεῶν οὐδὲ τιμᾶσθαι θέλει.
[96] The chorus survey the surrounding plains from a high part of the Acropolis of Thebes, as Antigone from the top of the palace in the Phœnissæ of Euripides, v. 103, sqq.
[97] πρόδρομος=so as to be foremost. Cf. Soph. Antig. 108, φυγάδα πρόδρομον ὀξυτέρῳ κινήσασα χαλινῷ.
[98] This passage is undoubtedly corrupt, but Dindorf's conjecture ἕλε δ᾽ ἐμὰς φρένας δέος· ὅπλων κτύπος ποτιχρίμπτεται, διὰ πέδον βοὰ ποτᾶται, βρέμει δ᾽—, although ingenious, differs too much from the ductus literarum, to be considered safe. Paley from the interpretation of the Medicean MS. and the reading of Robortelli, εΔΙΔεμνας, has conjectured ΔΙΑ δὲ γᾶς ἐμᾶς πεδί᾽ ὁπλοκτύπου, which seems preferable. Perhaps we might read ἐπὶ δὲ γᾶς πεδιοπλοκτύπου ὠσὶν χρίμπι βοὰ, by tmesis, for ἐπιχρίμπτεται. Æschylus used the compound, ἐγχρίπτεσθαι, Suppl. 790, and nothing is more common than such a tmesis. I doubt whether πεδιοπλοκτύπον is not one of Æschylus' own "high-crested" compounds. Mr. Burges has kindly suggested a parallel passage of an anonymous author, quoted by Suidas, s. v. ὑπαραττομένης · ἵππων χρεμετιζόντων, τῆς γῆς τοῖς ποσὶν αὐτῶν ὑπαραττομένης, οὔλων συγκρουομένων.