and translates
Was fehlet ihm noch wahnwitzig zo seyn,
Wenn also er pocht? Wie zahmt er die Wuth?
Prow. from a different reading, has
To thee, if this resolve seems good,
Why shouldst thou check thy frenzied mood?
NOTES TO THE SUPPLIANTS
“Jove the suppliant’s high protector.”
Ζεὺς ἀφίκτωρ, literally suppliant Jove, the epithet which properly belongs to the worshipper being transferred to the object of worship. The reader will note here another instance of the monotheistic element in Polytheism, so often alluded to in these Notes. Jove, as the supreme moral governor of the universe, has a general supervision of the whole social system of gods and men; and specially where there is no inferior protector, as in the case of fugitives and suppliants—there he presses with all the weight of his high authority. In such cases, religion presents a generous and truly humanizing aspect, and the “primus in orbe Deos fecit timor” of the philosophers loses its sting.