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693
At 693 a condition is now set that evidently refers to Ephialtes' legislation enacted shortly before: through these new laws the Areopagus had been deprived of its supreme oversight over the entire life of the state. For the corrupt
πικαινόντων
defiling the best restoration (better than '
πικαινούντων
defiling and
πικραίνόντων
embittering) is
᾿πιχραινόντων
defiling upon, since although not this compound, yet
χραίνω
to stain, defile is familiar to Aeschylus in the meanings 'to moisten, to defile' (170,
Hik. 266
), and
ἐπι
upon- indeed occurs again in
ἐπιρροαῖσι
with streams (although for this Wieseler's
μή τι
lest anything is worth noting); to this then belongs the punctuation after
ἐπιρροαῖσι
with streams and the replacement of
ϑ
the' by
δ
the'.
693
Βορβόρωι
in mud etc. was a proverb; Diogenian. III, 55 etc. (according to which likewise one should punctuate before
βορβόρωι
in mud, G. Hermann, which has also been done in the manuscripts); one compares Eur.
Hik. 222
λαμπρὸν δὲ θολερῶι δῶμα συμμείξας τὸ σόν
but having mixed your bright house with muddy water
; Theogn. 961. The poet expresses himself sharply and decisively, yet at the same time cautiously; likewise in what follows, in which the admonitions from the last stasimon (517 ff.) are partly repeated verbatim, incidentally also one of the arguments that Dindorf makes against the authenticity of these verses, against which Weil recalls
Ag. 1219 ff.
= 1096f., 1275 f. = 1138 f., 1287 f. 1171f., and
Soph. El. 303f.
= 164 f. But also the Eumenides themselves are full of repetitions, to the advantage of exegesis and criticism, and if ever, then in these principles the saying held:
καὶ δὲς τὸ καλὸν καλόν ἐστιν ἐνισπεῖν
and twice to speak the good is good.Eumenides. Aeschylus. ed. Friedrich Blass. Berlin. 1907.