[275]. This inscription, which is very distinct, does not appear in Conze’s publication. All the inscriptions occurring on the palace are painted in white. All others are incised.
[276]. This moment is shown on another vase (vid. fig. 24), and so, too, on the sarcophagi Kreusa is always represented in the moment of falling or springing from the κλίνη.
[277]. In spite of this, Vogel, p. 149, asks, Warum zeigt uns der Vasenmaler den Kreon nicht in dem Augenblicke, wo er seine Tochter von den unheilvollen Brautgeschenken der Medeia befreien will, sondern in dem, wo er überwältigt von dem Unglücke das Scepter seinen Händen entfallen lässt und starr und seiner selbst nicht mehr mächtig seine Blicke auf die herbeieilende Merope lenkt? i. e. why did the vase painter not paint another scene instead of the one he did?
[278]. Cf. note 7, p. [145]. On fragment no. 197, Robert, op. cit., the arms of Kreon are incorrectly restored, and his hands are represented as clasped. On all the reliefs Kreon is turned towards Kreusa and not away, as on the vase. I refuse, however, to believe with Jahn and others that Kreon is staring at Merope. He sees nothing and nobody.
[279]. Apollod. I. 9. 3.
[280]. Soph. Oed. Rex, v. 775, the wife of Πόλυβος Κορίνθιος.
[281]. Supposing the word to be a pure invention of the painter, there are still in Euripides suggestions of the name if one were seeking such for the figure. In v. 404, Medeia declares she ‘will not be a laughing-stock to the race of Sisyphos and Jason’s new alliances’; and in v. 1381, γη δε τηδε Σισύφου, the former queens would be suggested with the name Merope. It is but natural that the vase painter took the name thus suggested by Euripides.
[283]. Suidas refers to a Medeia by Neophron. Ennius’ Medea was, according to Cicero, De Fin. 1. 2. 4, a literal translation from Euripides. The Medea exul by the same poet has generally been held to be a version of Euripides’ Aigeus.
[284]. Hermes, vol. 31, p. 567 note.