y8 Ernest Heinrich Klotsche 



Menelaus under a solemn oath by his and Agamemnon's an- 

 cestors declares that he no longer desires to possess a bad wife at 

 the cost of a good brother's happiness : 



I. A. 473 ff. : 



IleXoTra Karoixwii , 6s irarrjp rovfxov irarpos 

 Tov aov T IkXtj^^t], tov TeKovra r 'Arpea, 



K. T. X. 



" I swear by Pelops, of my sire and thine 

 Named father, and by Atreus our own sire, 

 That from mine heart's core I will speak to thee. 

 To serve no end, but all mine inmost thought, etc." 



Likewise Achilles, when swearing, invokes his ancestor : 



I. A. 948-50 : 



p.a TOV 51 vypcov Kv/j-arcov red^panp.kvov 

 Nrjpka, 4>VTovpy6v Qeribos r) p.' kyeivaTO, 

 ovx H^eTaL aijs d^vyarpos ' Ayapepvuv ava^. 



" No, by the foster-son of Ocean's waves, 

 Nereus, the sire of Thetis who bare me, 

 King Agamemnon shall not touch thy child." 



The poet's dislike for seers also finds expression in our play : 

 I. A. 520-21 : 



TO p,avTLK6v Trav (nrepfxa (fnXoTLpov kukov. 

 KovSev y apecTTov ovde xPV'^'-IJ-ov Trapov. 



Agam. " The whole seer-tribe is an ambitious curse." 

 Menel. " Abominable and useless, — while alive." 



Cf. also El. 400; Hel. 755 ; I. T. 574. 

 Achilles bitterly asks : 



LA. 956: 



tLs dt ixavTL^ 'i(TT' avrjp; 

 " What is a seer? " 



and answers his own question : 



I. A. 957-58: 



OS oKLy a\r]d^ij, ttoXXo, 5e \pevbri \kytL 

 Tvxoiv OTav bk /j-rj tvxti, dcoixeTac. 



" A man who speaks few truths, but many lies, 

 When his shafts hit, who is ruined if he miss." 



(I.e., he loses all credit when he fails.) 



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