Dr DONALDSON, ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ATHENIAN TRIREME. 93 



Homeric epithet v\l/i([iryos is derived from the high seat of the pilot in a ship (p. 131, 

 18): Kal TovTo 06 oLTTo KvfiepvrjTiKtj's fj.eT)jveKTai KaTaaTaa-ews. For the same reason JEschy- 

 lus speaks of the Gods as aeX/ua aefipov ^fievoov {Agam. 176). 



(c) Another difficult passage in the same play furnishes an illustration of the fact that 

 the middle part of the aeXjuara or ^vyd, in an old Greek vessel, belonged to the officers and 

 supernumeraries. In v. 1413 it is said of Cassandra, who came with Agamemnon from Troy, 

 that she was vavTiKwv areXfiarwu taTorpi/Sj/s, where some read iaoTpijirys. The allusion to 

 Chryseis a line or two before makes it probable that ^Eschylus had in his recollection the lines 

 in the Iliad, where Agamemnon says that old age shall find her : 'igtov eiroiyofxevr}v Kal emov 

 Xej^os di/Tiocoaav. Here it is implied that the atXnara were her only gynceceum, just as 

 Persius says (v. 146): "tun' mare transsilies .? tibi torta cannabe fulto, coena sit in transtroT'' 

 Or if IffTos has its nautical meaning, it will imply that the captain's quarters were amidships 

 near the mast. But to this it may be objected with reason that, at all events in later times, 

 the captain or admiral occupied a pavilion or round-house on the poop ; Jul. Poll. i. 87 : efcel 

 irov Kal aKrjVT) ovofxaXeTai to Trriyvvfievov aTparrjytp rj Toit^papyw. And ^Eschylus himself 

 describes the sovereign of a state as a pilot or captain who keeps sleepless watch at the helm 

 on the quarter-deck of the city {Sept c. Theb. 2, 3 : ootjs (pvXdaaei irpdyos ev Trpv/xvri iroXew; 

 oiaKa vwfLwv, fiXeipapa /xrj Koifxwv vTrvw)- 



(d) To the practice of moving fore and aft along these cross-planks with frequent 

 intervals, at least where the rowers sat, even if the selis was planked, I also refer the proverbial 

 expression of warning, that " we must take care not to step into the bilge-water, or put our 

 foot into the hold" (eh avrXov e/mfi^cTai rro^a, Eurip. Hercul. l68). It is clear, from this mode 

 of describing it, that the caution referred to some risk of common occurrence. Mr Haliburton 

 connects the corresponding American phrase of "putting your foot into it" with an incident in the 

 backwoods, where a bear grapples with a saw-mill, and is bisected accordingly. Some risk not 

 much less formidable is implied in the Greek expression. When ^schylus says {Choeph. 695) : 

 e^w KOfxii^oov dXeOpiov -rrtjXov tto^o, he refers to an escape from serious danger, and not to the 

 mere avoidance of dirt. So this phrase cannot apply to the fear of getting one's feet wet with 

 bilge-water, or with dirty water in general, but must mean that there was a constant risk of 

 tumbling between the ^vyd, to the very bottom of the ship, if those who walked across the 

 planks did not attend to their feet; and that this often happened with serious consequences to 

 the sailors, officers, and passengers in a trireme. 



I submit these observations in the hope that they will tend to clear up some obscurities in 

 Greek history and antiquities, and, at all events, reconcile the language of the best authorities 

 with a probable theory respecting the structure and management of the swift war-boat whicli 

 dashed through the water and wheeled round at the command of some sea-captain like 

 Phormio, or, as the Greek poet says, sped across the main, keeping pace with the hundred 

 feet of the Nereids (Soph. (Ed. Col. 720 sqq.). 



