Electra is excusing herself for the irrepressible outbreak of joy with which she welcomes her long-lost brother: she was silent, she says, when the false message of his death reached her, but she cannot contain herself now. The true reading and arrangement of the passage (Soph. Electr. 1281 sqq.) appear to us to be the following: ὦ φίλαι [ἁνίκ' ] ἔκλυον ἂν ἐγὼ οὐδ ̓ ἂν ἤλπισ ̓ αὐδάν, οὐδὲ σὺν βοᾷ κλύουσ', & τάλαινα· νῦν δ' ἔχω σε· κ. τ. λ. We think that άvix has been absorbed by its similarity to the contiguous syllables qıλ[αiɛx]λvov, and with this insertion, there is no further difficulty in the passage. The sense of "anger," which Hesychius assigns to oorý when he renders it uavía, is quite a secondary one; the transition is the same as in vuós. The third meaning, Toóños, is a very old application of this word (Hesiod, Op. 306). Whether it is derived from the connexion of will and character, which we have before pointed out, or by some transition to the meaning of boyάgw, similar to that which produced the words "humour" and "temperament," we cannot pretend to say. There is a singular passage of Thucydides (vm. 83) in which the word occurs in the plural number: πάντων τε Αστύοχον εἶναι αἴτιον, ἐπιφέροντα ὀργὰς Τισσαφέρνει διὰ ἴδια κέρδη. Dr. Arnold's translation of this phrase ("humouring," "supplying or ministering tempers such as a man likes") seems to show that he approved of the interpretation of the Scholiast, who says: τὸ ἐπιφέρειν ὀργὴν ἐπὶ τῷ χαρίζεσθαι καὶ συγχωρεῖν ἔταττον οἱ ἀρχαῖοι. μάρτυς Κρατῖνος ἐν Χείρωσι λέγων τὴν μουσικὴν ἀκορέστους ἐπιφέρειν ὀργὰς Booτois 609006. This passage of Cratinus, compared with the βροτοῖς σώφροσι. words of Thucydides, assures us that the interpretation of the Scholiast is incorrect. Besides, the change of number from ỏgyás to boyýv entirely alters the meaning of the phrase; at least, St. Paul's expression (Rom. I. 5), ὁ Θεὸς ὁ ἐπιφέρων τὴν ὀργήν, must, like that which is quoted from Polybius (Leg. 28), τὴν ὀργὴν φέρει ἐπὶ τοὺς Αἰτωloús, refer to the effects of anger (it is ʼn ỏový in both passages); and with regard to the terms χαρίζεσθαι and συγχωρεῖν, it seems clear that the transitive phrase iniqέoav ogyás could not signify to bring one's own disposition to suit that of another. It must mean, rather, to suggest some humours, dispositions or habits of mind to another, like έлıçέav dóğaç (Plato, Respublica, x. p. 612 в). &c. Compare also the common phrases ἐπιφέρειν αἰτίαν, ψόγον, τιμωρίαν, &c., all of which imply an importation of something from without. From these considerations, we conceive that Hanovius (Exercit. in Com. Gr. Hal. 1830, I. p. 60) and Meineke (Fragm. Com. Gr. II. p. 157) have given to the phrase лiçέqɛiv ỏgyás a meaning which could only have been extracted from the middle voice. The former, who renders the phrase in much the same way as Dr. Arnold-voluntatem accommodare, i. e. obsequi,― remarks, "quoniam ooyý vel ỏoyaí in cujusque animo cernuntur, moveri et excitari possunt ab alio vel alia quadam re, afferri non possunt; quod si esset, extrinsecus ooyai petenda forent"-which seems to us to imply a misconception respecting the meaning of the term boy; and Meineke, who makes the fragment mean musicam impense favere hominibus moderatis, appears to have overlooked the obvious force of the passage, in which άxópɛotos, “restless," "changeable" (above, p. 554), is opposed to ooooov, "sober," "contented." Cratinus says, that music puts restless whims into the heads of soberminded people: and Thucydides, that Astyochus was charged with suggesting caprices, or putting crotchets into the head of Tissaphernes: that he induced those whims which prevented the satrap from discharging his duty to the confederacy. That boyaí may be used in the plural after such a verb as iniqέoav, appears from Lysias (de Cade Eratosth. p. 94): ὀργὰς τοῖς ἀκούουσι παρασκευάζουσι: and that it implies, when thus used, "habits of thought" or "a turn of mind," may be seen from Soph. Antig. 354: dorvvóuovs ógyás, and from Thucyd. II. 82 : ὁ πόλεμος πρὸς τὰ παρόντα τὰς ὀργὰς τῶν πολλῶν buotoĩ. In the same way, vuoi is used in the plural when the temper of one man only is spoken of; Sophocl. Aj. 716: εὖτέ γ' ἐξ ἀέλπτων Αἴας μετανεγνώσθη θυμῶν Ατρείδαις μεγάλων τε νεικέων. Heracleides, Allegor. Homer. 19: ἐπισκοτουμένου τοῦ κατὰ τὴν κε φαλὴν λογισμοῦ τοῖς περὶ τὰ στέρνα θυμοῖς. Id. 59: αἱ πρῶται τῆς ἱκεσίας φωναὶ τοὺς ἄρσενας αὐτοῦ θυμοὺς ἐξεθήλυναν. These two passages are quoted by Lobeck (ad Soph. Aj. 1. c. p. 488). |