128-192.
mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-99
128-192. Parodos. It is com- matic, that is, divided between actor and chorus. The chorus enter in a winged car
(ὄχῳ
πτερωτῷ 135,
κραι-
πνόσυτον
θᾶκον 279), moved by the- atrical machinery. The car, advancing from the right side, has gradually approached Prometheus. It is seen by the spectators while still invisible to Prometheus, who can only look straight before him. At 124 the chorus are already very near, and they hear the words of 127
(φοβερόν). - The
᾿Ωκεανίδες are daughters of Oceanus and Tethys; see Hesiod Theog. 362. Hesiod (ibid. 346) enum- erates
forty-one by name, and adds
πολλαί
γε
μέν
εἶσι
καὶ
ἄλλαι,
τρὶς
γὰρ
χίλιαί
εἰσι
τανύσφυροι
Ωκεανῖναι. Aes- chylus's chorus consisted of twelve persons. The first strophe gives the motive of the chorus for coming; this is what an unknown grammarian (in the hypothesis to the Persians) calls '
παροδικά,
ὅτε
λέγει (sc.
ὁ
χορός)
δι᾽
ἣν
αἰτίαν
πάρεστιν.' - The rhythms (
ῥυθμὸς
᾿Ανακρεόντειός
ἐστι
κεκλασμένος
πρὸς
τὸ
θρηνητικόν, Schol.) are in keeping with the sorrowful tone of the composition (see 144 ff.); they
are furthermore especially appropri- ate to a female chorus.
186-192.
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186-192. This fourth anapaestic system does not correspond in length to the third (167-177), as the sec- ond (152 ff.) does to the first (137 ff.). Perhaps this is because it forms the close. Cp. Soph. Ai. 257 ff. Possibly, however, some verses have been lost. Weil assumes a gap after
ῥαισθῇ.
186.
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186 f.
παρ'
ἑαυτῷ
τὸ
δίκαιον
ἔχων: cp. 403, 150; also Eur. Suppl. 429
οὐδὲν
τυράννου
δυσμενέστερον
πόλει,
ὅπου
τὸ
μὲν
πρώτιστον
οὐκ
εἰσὶν
νόμοι
κοινοί,
κρατεῖ
δ᾽
εἷς
τὸν
νόμον
κεκτημένος
195.
200
αὐτὸς
παρ᾽
αὑτῷ, Aesch. Suppl. 370
σύ
τοι
πόλις,
σὺ
δὲ
τὸ
δάμιον. For
δίκαιον see on 150.
187.
mvp-aeschylus-tlg0085-tlg003-wecklein-allen1893-com-eng1-141
187.
ὀίω : =
οἶμαι (758), opinor, I trow, I hope. Cp.
11. viii. 536
ἀλλ᾿
ἐν
πρώτοισιν,
οίω,
κείσεται
οὐτηθείς. Here with short
4, as in Homer in the middle of the hexameter, while at the end
ὀtw is used.
189.
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189.
ταύτῃ
ῥαισθῇ: said with ref- erence to 169 f. See on 170. Prome- theus speaks mysteriously and in a tone of secret exultation over some- thing not disclosed. With
ταύτῃ cp.
τῶνδε 247.
190.
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190.
ἀτέραμνον: cp. 1062.
ἀτέραμ- vos is an Homeric word. Cp. Od. xxiii. 167
κῆρ
ἀτέραμνον. Hesych. defines it,
τὸ
μὴ
ἐνδιδοῦν,
σκληρόν. Cp.
ὀργὰς
ἀτενεῖς
Αg. 71. -
στορέσας : meta- phorical; the figure is that of calm- ing the waves after a storm.
191.
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191.
εἰς
ἀρθμὸν
καὶ
φιλότητα: so Hom. Hymn iii. 524
κατένευσεν
ἐπ᾿
ἀρθμῷ
καὶ
φιλότητι.
Cp. Il.
vii.
302
ἐν
φιλότητι
διέτμαγεν
ἀρθμήσαντε.
193-396.
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193-396. First Episode. 193- 283. First Scene: Prometheus and the Coryphaeus. The scholiast says:
τὴν
ὑπόθεσιν (that is, the expo- sition of the events supposed to pre- cede the opening of the play)
βουλό-
μενος
διδάξαι,
τὸ
περίεργον (curiosity)
τοῦ
γυναικώδους
ήθους
προσέλαβεν (availed himself of, as a motive).
οὐκ
ἂν
γὰρ
ὁ
᾿Ὠκεανds (who enters later)
ἠξίωσεν
ἐρωτῆσαι
εἰδώς. The curiosity of the chorus is a natural conse- quence of their awakened sympathy. Still it is to be observed that Prome- theus on his part is moved to tell his story by the longing to unburden his heart to sympathizing friends (see 198). He needs only the request in order to comply at once. - The Pro- logue and this first scene of the first episode constitute the first act of the drama, which expounds the situation and prepares the way for the follow- ing dramatic development.
