P. 108.—“Boreas.” The North Wind was fabled to live in Thrace. The allusion here is to the story that he carried away Orithyia, the daughter of the king of Attica, for his wife.
“Agra;” the demus south of Attica was called Agra. It contained two temples; one to Diana, the other to Ceres.
“Typhon.” A monster born of Tartarus and Gæa, who attempted to revenge the overthrow of the Titans. His head reached to heaven, his eyes poured forth flame, and serpents were twined about his body. Jupiter killed him with lightning.
P. 109.—“Agnus Castus,” or the “chaste tree,” the name given to a plant native to the Mediterranean countries, which became associated with the idea of chastity, it is said, from the similarity of the name agnus to the Greek word chaste. Grecian matrons strewed their couches with its leaves during the feast of Ceres, and in the convents of Southern Europe a syrup made of its fruit was used by the nuns.
“Achelous.” A river god—a son of Oceanus—from the earliest times worshiped generally throughout Greece. At one time he took the form of a bull in a fight with Hercules, who conquered him and took one of his horns. This horn the Naiads afterward changed into the horn of plenty.
P. 118.—“Sunium.” The promontory forming the southern extremity of Attica; a town of the same name stood upon it.
P. 121.—“Swan’s Utterance.” Referring to the fable told of the swan, that it sings its sweetest song at death—“the sweetest song is the last he sings.” Thus in “Othello,” “I will play the swan and die in music.”
P. 127.—The chapter on Æschylus may be supplemented by the following readings: “Theory of Greek Tragedy,” De Quincey; Müller, Mure, and Mahaffy on Æschylus, in their histories of Greek Literature; Talfourd’s “Tragic Poets of Greece,” from “History of Greek Literature;” Symond’s “Studies of the Greek Poets,” Christian Examiner, Vol. xliii, p. 140; Contemporary Magazine, Vol. iii, p. 351; Biblia Sacra, Vol. xvi, p. 354; North American Review, Vol. lxvii, p. 407.
P. 129.—“Cyprid.” A poem, author unknown, called Cyprid or Cypria, “either because the author came from Cyprus, or because it celebrated the Cyprian goddess, Aphrodite, and detailed from the commencement her action in the Trojan war.… The poem was an introduction to the ‘Iliad,’ telling a vast number of myths and leading the reader from the first cause of the war up to the tenth year of its duration. It is easy to see that such a vast subject, loosely connected, must have failed to afford the artistic unity which underlies the course of the ‘Iliad.’”
“Little Iliad.” A poem by Lesches, a Lesbian. It relates the complete story of the sack of Troy, from the contest of Achilles to the fall of Troy. The “Competition for the Arms,” we have had in the “Iliad.” “Philoctetes” was the chief archer of the Greeks, having been instructed by Hercules in the use of the bow. On the voyage to Troy he was bitten by a snake and left on the island of Lemnos. In the tenth year of the war the oracle declared the city could not be taken without the arrows of Hercules. Philoctetes was brought, and having slain Paris, the city was taken. “Neoptolemus,” a son of Achilles, was one of the warriors that the oracle declared necessary for the capture of Troy. He was one of the heroes concealed in the wooden horse. “Eurypylus” who came from Ormenion to Troy, played a prominent part in battle, slaying many Trojans; he was wounded by Paris. “Ulysses Mendicant,” the story of the wanderings of Ulysses. “Lacæna,” the Lacedæmonian woman, referring to Helen. “Illii-persis,” treats of the plundering of Troy after the capture, and “Apoplus,” of the sailing away of the ships. “Sinon.” After the wooden horse was finished, Sinon mutilated his body and allowed himself to be captured by the Trojans. He told them that he had been maltreated by his countrymen, and that if they (the Trojans) would drag the horse into the city they would conquer the Greeks. After the Trojans had followed his advice he let the Greeks out of the horse. “Troades,” the Trojans.