34 Ernest Heinrich Klotsche 



short prologue from ^^thra is really an indirect prayer to Demeter 

 at Eleusis : 



Suppl. 1-7 : 



ArjfxriTep earLovx' 'EXeucrlj'os x^ovos 

 TTJcrd K. T. X. 



" Demeter, warder of Eleusis-land 

 And ye which keep and- serve the Goddess' fanes, 

 Grant me and my son Theseus prosperous days, 

 Grant them to Athens and to Pittheus' land. 

 Where in a happy home my sire nursed me, 

 yEthra, and gave me to Pandion's son 

 yEgeus, to wife, by Loxias' oracle." 



Theseus, who denies the old saying " that evil more abounds 

 with men than good" (vv. 196-97), expresses his gratitude 

 toward divine Providence : 



" Praise to the God who shaped in order's mould 

 Our Hves redeemed from chaos and the brute, 

 First, by implanting reason, giving then 

 The tongue, world-herald, to interpret speech ; 

 Earth's fruit for food, for nurturing thereof 

 Raindrops from heaven, to feed earth's fosterlings. 

 And water her green bosom ; therewithal 

 Shelter from storms, and shadow from the heat, 

 Sea-tracking ships, that traiSc might be ours 

 With fellow-men of that which each land lacks " 



(vv. 201-10) ; 



and his firm belief in divination: 

 Suppl. 211-13 : 



a 5' ear' aarijj.a kov (7a4>yj, yt-JvucTKOfxev 



els TTvp pXeiTOVTes, Kal Kara airXayx^^^ irxuxots 



[xai'Ttis irpoarip.alvov(Tiv oloivibv t' airo. 



" And for invisible things or dimly seen, 

 Soothsayers watch the flame, the Hver's folds. 

 Or from the birds divine the things to be." 



Cf. also vv. 155 ff-, where Theseus asks Adrastus : 



Suppl. 155: 



" Didst seek to seers, and gaze on altar flames ? " 



