[343] In allusion to the cave of the bandit Orestes; the poet terms him a hero only because of his heroic name Orestes.

[344] Prometheus wants night to come and so reduce the risk of being seen from Olympus.

[345] The clouds would prevent Zeus seeing what was happening below him.

[346] The third day of the festival of Demeter was a fast.

[347] A semi-savage people, addicted to violence and brigandage.

[348] Who, being reputed a stranger despite his pretension to the title of a citizen, could only have a strange god for his patron or tutelary deity.

[349] The Triballi were a Thracian people; it was a term commonly used in Athens to describe coarse men, obscene debauchees and greedy parasites.

[350] There is a similar pun in the Greek.

[351] i.e. the supremacy of Greece, the real object of the war.

[352] Prometheus had stolen the fire from the gods to gratify mankind.