Four Tragedies and Octavia (31 page)

1
. Phoroneus, son of Inachus, the first king of Argos; and so used for the name of the river which was also called Inachus.

1
. When Pelops raced his chariot against Oenomaus, King of Elis, for the prize of the king's daughter Hippodamia, he bribed Myrtilus, the king's charioteer, to tamper with the axle and cause an accident. Instead of rewarding Myrtilus, Pelops threw him into the sea (cf. 1. 660).

2
. This was Pelops, and this was Tantalus's archetypal crime; but Pelops was restored to life by Jupiter, to continue the series of atrocities.

1
. Blinded, and tormented by harpies.

1
.
Scelera non ulcisceris, nisi vincis
. The Latin is quoted in Marston's
Antonio and Mellida
(1599).

1
. See on 1. 56.

2
. Procne and Philomela. The atrocity occurred in Daulis, or Phocis, being under the rule of the Odrysian (Thracian) king Tereus.

1
. Atreus has not yet explained that he proposes to trap his brother by an offer of reconciliation; but the Minister obligingly makes that inference.

1
. That the Chorus, here and again at 546, appear to be ignorant of Atreus's treacherous intentions, is a considerable strain on the dramatic convention. Some suppose that the Chorus is absent from the stage between the acts. But no realistic solution need be looked for; the Chorus may participate as much, or as little, in the action as is convenient; here they are assumed to be aware only of the ‘overt' situation – the apparent reconciliation of the brothers.

1
.
Qui notus nimis omnibus
/
ignotus moritur sibi
. The Latin is quoted in Marston's
The Fawn
(1605).

1
. Cf.
Appendix II
, 7.

2
. A passage in Seneca's
Letters
,
CXXII
, inveighing against luxury, mentions consecutively ‘rooftop gardens' and ‘turning night into day'. The speech of Thyestes is, of course, singularly anachronistic!

1
.
Venit in nostras manus / tandem Thyestes; venit et totus quidem
. The Latin is quoted, with variations, in Marston's
Antonio and Mellida
(1599).

1
.
Quem dies vidit veniens superbum
, /
hunc dies vidit fugiens iacentem
. The Latin is quoted in Marlowe's
Edward II
.

1
. Castor and Pollux.

1
. See note on 1.140.

1
. The region of Phlegra in Macedonia was associated with the revolt of the Giants against Olympus.

1
. See note on
The Trojan Women
, 1034.

2
. Chiron the Centaur, in several myths a guardian and tutor of young demigods (cf.
The Trojan Women
, 830), is identified with
Sagittarius
.

3
. In the Latin ‘will break your urn, whoever you are'. There appears to be no myth explaining the origin of
Aquarius
.

1
. Or
Ursa Minor
.

2
. ‘Keeper of the Bear', alias
Boötes
.

1
.
Dimitto superos; summa votorum attigi
. The Latin is quoted in Marston's
Antonio and Mellida
(1599).

1
.
Magis unde cadas quam quo refert
. The Latin is quoted in Marston's
Antonio and Mellida
.

1
. Meaning his own sons.

2
. Meaning
his
, Agamemnon and Menelaus, suspected of being begotten by Thyestes (cf. 1. 327).

1
. i.e. ‘mine'; but it is difficult to be sure whether this ambiguity was the author's intention or only the result of the compression of the Latin, particularly in Thyestes' exclamation
gnatos parenti –
sons to their father! An alternative interpretation is:
THY
. How were (my) children at fault?
AT
. In being yours.
THY
. (You could give) sons to their father (to eat)!
AT
. Yes, and I am happy to know that they were really yours. – Still the difficulty remains, why does Atreus now feel assured of his own sons' legitimacy?

1
. Phaedra's mother Pasiphae was a daugher of the Sun.

1
. Cf.
Appendix II
, 5.

2
. The prison, now empty, which contained the Minotaur.

1
. When he served as herdsman to King Admetus (cf. Euripides,
Alcestis
).

2
. The disguises of Jupiter: the swan which loved Leda – the bull which carried Europa into the sea (Neptune's province).

3
. The Moon, descending to earth for love of Endymion.

1
. Hercules, sentenced to serve at women's tasks for Omphale, queen of Lydia (cf. Ovid,
Heroides
,
IX
).

1
. If this is the meaning of
Lucae boves
, animals used by Pyrrhus in Lucania in his war against the Romans.

1
. Chinese.

2
. Moon.

1
. As Endymion; cf. above, 309.

1
. Compare this speech with similar thoughts in
Thyestes
, 446 ff. It may remind us also of Shakespeare's
3 Henry
VI
, ii. 5.

1
. The legend of the ages of man, a commonplace of Latin poetry, appears again in
Octavia
, 397 ff.

1
. The Amazons were said to destroy all their male children.

1
.
Curat leves loquuntur, ingentes stupent
. The Latin is quoted in
The Return from Parnassus
(anon.
c
. 1600), in
Sir Thomas More
(anon. 1590–1600), and (with a variation) in Tourneur's
The Revenger's
Tragedy
(1607).

1
. Referring to Theseus as the abettor of Peirithous in the rape of Proserpine.

1
. Minos of Crete, who allowed him to court his daughter Ariadne.

2
. Ariadne.

1
.
Magne regnator deum, / tam lentus audis scelera, tam lentus vides?
The Latin is quoted, with a variation, in
Titus Andronicus
,
IV
. 1. See also Appendix 1, 28 and 30.

1
. Medea.

1
. This concept (repeated in
Hercules Furens
, 1323) has fathered a long line of imitations, of which Macbeth's ‘Will all great Neptune's ocean…' is a sufficiently familiar example. Nor can it be credited to Seneca's invention; cf. Sophocles,
O.T
., 1227.

1
. Ariadne, only when deserted by Theseus, unwillingly accepted Dionysus (Bacchus).

1
. As Hylas.

2
. As she did for love of Endymion (cf. above, 309 and 422); but a different explanation is suggested here!

1
. The horse, or centaur, ridden by Castor.

1
. The ward and pupil of Demeter, taught men the art of agriculture and was worshipped at Eleusis.

1
. The Amazons – but the indictment here is hardly justified or logical.

1
.
Raros patitur fulminis ictus umida vallis
. The Latin is quoted in
Sir Thomas More
(anon. 1590–1600).

1
. Aegeus, who died, deceived by the false signal of the black sails, on Theseus' return from Crete.

1
.
Per Styga, per amnes igneos aniens sequor
. (Was the anagram intended?)
Titus Andronicus
,
II
. I quotes
‘per Styga per manes vehor'
, but there is no MS authority for this variant.

1
. Sinis, the deviser of the pine-tree death, and Sciron, who hurled victims over the cliffs, were two marauders of the Megarid coast, both overthrown by Theseus in his younger days. They are alluded to above, 1169 and 1023.

2
. Ixion.

1
. The Amazons.

2
. Great-grandfather of Aeneas; one of the founders of Troy, with his brother Dos (hence
Ilium
) and father Tros.

1
. Hector.

2
. Cassandra.

3
. Ulysses.

4
. Diomede, his nocturnal exploit described in
Iliad
,
X
.

5
. The Greek pretended deserter who persuaded the Trojans to admit the Wooden Horse (
Aeneid,
11).

1
. This fancy probably has reference to the legend that Hecuba in her pregnancy dreamed that she brought forth fiery torches.

1
. The place of the Judgement of Paris.

2
. Paris, coming to abduct Helen.

1
. First, when Hercules attacked Troy, in the reign of Laomedon; second, when Hercules' arrows were used by Philoctetes.

1
. Cycnus, slain by Achilles on the island of Tenedos.

1
. When his mother, Thetis, hid him in the disguise of a girl at the court of Lycomedes, king of Scyros.

1
. Aurora, the Dawn, was the mother of Memnon.

1
. As told in
Iliad
,
IX
.

2
. When he came to ransom Hector's body, and was kindly treated by Achilles (
Iliad
,
XXIV
).

1
. That of Achilles.

2
. Patroclus, fighting in Achilles' armour (
Iliad
,
XVI
).

1
.
Fata si miseros iuvant
/
habes salutem
;
fata si vitam negant
, /
habes
sepulcrum
. The Latin is quoted in
The Spanish Tragedy
,
III
. 13 (
c
. 1589).

2
. Ulysses, from the island adjacent to Ithaca.

1
. Agamemnon's sacrifice of Iphigenia.

1
. An equestrian exercise, attributed to Trojan tradition, was practised in Rome, and is recalled in
Aeneid
,
V
. 545 ff.

1
. The centaur who taught the boy Achilles.

2
. Distinguished from the Salamis in Cyprus, reputed to have been founded by Teucer.

1
. By Venus, as a reward to Paris.

1
. Phrixus and Helle, children of King Athamas of Thebes; persecuted by their stepmother Ino, they were rescued by the Golden Ram (cf.
Thyestes
, 225) which carried them, not quite successfully, over the Hellespont.

1
. The author has forgotten, or never envisaged, the stage setting; Hector's tomb was presumed visible and accessible in the earlier part of the play.

1
. Two ogres destroyed by Hercules. Busiris, an Egyptian king, sacrificed immigrants to avert drought. Diomede (not the warrior of the
Iliad
), a Thracian, fed his horses on human flesh.

1
.
Quisquamne regno gaudet? O fallax bonum
. The Latin line is quoted, inaccurately, in
The True Tragedy of Richard III
(
anon
. 1594).

1
. As the son of Jupiter and Semele, daughter of King Cadmus, was claimed as a patron god of Thebes. His extensive travels (symbolic of the spread of vine-culture) form the subject of the next choral ode, following Act II.

2
. The celebrated tactic of the Parthian archers, shooting as they retreated.

1
. In some texts, Oedipus speaks this and following lines.

1
. i.e. of Delphi. Cirrha is a village on the coast below Delphi.

1
. North-west.

2
. South-west across the Isthmus and along the northern coast.

3
. South of Athens, joining the Cephisus to flow into the Bay of Phalerum.

1
. A variant name for Thebes: mythical king Ogyges? (Not the Homeric Ogygia, home of Calypso.)

1
. Sister of Semele, became a sea-goddess.

2
. Ino's son Melicertes, drowned and deified as Palaemon.

1
. Thracian king, opposed Bacchus, and in madness killed his own son Dryas with an axe, in the belief that he was cutting down a vine.

2
. Like the women of Thebes, the women of Argos, led by their king's daughters, followed Bacchus, in defiance of Juno.

1
.
Ubi turpis est medicina, sanari piget
. The Latin line is quoted in the play
Sir
Thomas More
(anon. 1590–1600).

1
. Cadmus, son of Agenor.

2
. Europa, daughter of Agenor.

3
. ‘Boeotians', after
.