“Let us fall down before her with humble prostration.”
This very humble way of expressing respect was quite oriental, and altogether abhorrent to the feelings of the erect Greek, boasting of his liberty. The reader of history may call to mind how this was one of the points of oriental court state, the mooting of which in his later years caused a breach between Alexander the Great and his captains. For references, see Stan.
“And dipped my hands in the fair-flowing fount.”
This purification, as Stan. has noted, was customary among the ancients, after an ill-omened dream. He quotes Aristophanes, Ran. 1338.
“But come, attendants, light a lamp
And take a pail, and from the stream
Water bring, and warm it well,
To wash away the god-sent dream”—