[50] Compare Virgil, Æn. iv. 469. "Et solem geminum, et duplices se ostendere Thebas." In the second passage of Clemens Alexandrinus quoted by Elmsley, γερων is probably a mistaken reference to Tiresias.
[51] An obscure hint at the impending fate of Pentheus. Nonnus has led the way to the catastrophe by a graphic description of Agave's dream. Dionys. 45. p. 751.
[52] φερομενος may mean either "carried in a litter," or "carried to burial." There is a somewhat similar play in the epigram of Ausonius, xxiii. "Mater Lacæna clypeo obarmans filium, cum hoc, inquit, aut in hoc, redi."
[53] Burges more rightly reads ματρος τε Γας. See Elmsley's note.
[54] As one must make some translation, I have done my best with this passage, which is, however, utterly unintelligible in Dindorf's text. A reference to his selection of notes will furnish some new readings, but, as a whole, quite unsatisfactory.
[55] Compare the parallel account in Nonnus, 46. p. 784.
[56] Alluded to by Oppian, Cyn. iv. 300. απτε σελας φλογερον πατρωιον, αν δ' ελεληξον Δαιαν, αταρτηρον δ' οπασον τισιν ωκα τυραννου. He then relates that Pentheus was transformed into a bull, the Mænads into panthers, who tore him to pieces.
[57] στοχος is either the aim itself, or the mark aimed at, as in this passage, and Xenoph. Ages. 1. 25.
[58] I have done my best with this extraordinary expression, of which Elmsley quotes another example from Archilochus Fragm. 36. Perhaps the notion of excessive rapidity is intended to be expressed.
[59] θηρ seems metaphorically said, as in Æsch. Eum. 47. Nonnus, 45. p. 784, 23. above, 922.