Hippolytus_. The presence of a dead
body would be a pollution to Apollo, though that of Thanatos (Death)
himself seems not to be so. It is rather Thanatos who is dazzled and
blinded by Apollo, like an owl or bat in the sunlight.

P. 5, l. 43, Rob me of my second prey.]--"You first cheated me of Admetus,
and now you cheat me of his substitute."

P. 6, l. 59, The rich would buy, etc.]--Here and throughout this difficult
little dialogue I follow the readings of my own text in the _Bibliotheca
Oxoniensis_.

P. 7, l. 74, To lay upon her hair my sword.]--As the sacrificing priest
cut off a lock of hair from the victim's head before the actual sacrifice.

P. 8, l. 77, Chorus.]--The Chorus consists of citizens, probably Elders,
of the city of Pherae. Dr. Verrall has rightly pointed out that there is
some general dissatisfaction in the town at Admetus's behaviour (l. 210
ff.). These citizens come to mourn with Admetus out of old friendship,
though they do not altogether defend him.

The Chorus is very drastically broken up into so many separate persons
conversing with one another; the treatment in the _Rhesus_ is similar
but even bolder. See _Rhesus_, pp. 28-31, 37-42. Cf. also the
entrance-choruses of the _Trojan Women_ (pp. 19-23) and the
_Medea_ (pp. 10-13); and ll. 872 ff., 889 ff., pp. 50, 51, below.

Instead of assigning the various lines definitely to First, Second, Third
Citizen, and so on, I have put a "paragraphus" (--), the ancient Greek
sign for indicating a new speaker.

P. 8, l. 82, Pelias' daughter.]--_i.e._ Alcestis.

P. 8, l. 92, Paian.]--The Healer. The word survives chiefly as a cry for
help and as an epithet or title of Apollo or Asclepios. "Paian," Latin
Paean, is also a cry of victory; but the relation of the two meanings is
not quite made out. (Pronounce rather like "Pah-yan.") Cf. l. 220.

P. 9, l. 112, To wander o'er leagues of land.]--You could sometimes save a
sick person by appealing to an oracle, such as that of Apollo in Lycia or
of Zeus Ammon in the Libyan desert; but now no sacrifice will help. Only
Asclepios, were he still on earth, might have helped us. (See on the
Prologue.)

P. 12, l. 150, 'Fore God she dies high-hearted.]--What impresses the Elder
is the calm and deliberate way in which Alcestis faces these preparations.

P. 12, l. 162, Before the Hearth-Fire.]--Hestia, the hearth-fire, was a
goddess, the Latin Vesta, and is addressed as "Mother." It is
characteristic in Alcestis