line (691) [Greek: chaireis horon phos, patera d' ou chairein
dokeis]; ("Thou lovest the light, thinkest thou thy father loves it not?")
seems to me one of the most characteristic in Euripides. It has a peculiar
mordant beauty in its absolutely simple language, and one cannot measure
the intensity of feeling that may be behind it. Pheres shows great power
of fight, yet one feels his age and physical weakness. See Preface, p.
xvi.

P. 40, l. 713 ff. The quick thrust and parry are sometimes hard to follow
in reading, though in acting the sense would be plain enough. Admetus
cries angrily, "Oh, live a longer life than Zeus!" "Is that a curse?" says
Pheres; "are you cursing because nobody does you any harm?" (_i.e_.
since you clearly have nothing else to curse for). Admetus: "On the
contrary I blessed you; I knew you were greedy of life." Pheres: "_I_
greedy? It is _you_, I believe, that Alcestis is dying for."

P. 42, l. 732. Acastus was Alcestis's brother, son of Pelias.

P. 43, l. 747. It is rare in Greek tragedy for the Chorus to leave the
stage altogether in the middle of a play. But they do so, for example, in
the _Ajax_ of Sophocles. Ajax is lost, and the Sailors who form the
Chorus go out to look for him; when they are gone the scene is supposed to
shift and Ajax enters alone, arranging his own death. This very effective
scene of the revelling Heracles is to be explained, I think, by the
Satyr-play tradition. See Preface.

P. 45, ll. 782-785. There are four lines rhyming in the Greek here; an odd
and slightly drunken effect.

P. 46, l. 805 ff., A woman dead, of no one's kin: why grieve so much?]--
Heracles is somewhat "shameless," as a Greek would say; he had much more
delicacy when he was sober.

P. 48, l. 837 ff. A fine speech, leaving one in doubt whether it is the
outburst of a real hero or the vapouring of a half-drunken man. Just the
effect intended. Electryon was a chieftain of Tiryns. His daughter,
Alcmene, the Tirynthian _Kore_ or Earth-maiden, was beloved of Zeus,
or, as others put it, was chosen by Zeus to be the mother of the Deliverer
of mankind whom he was resolved to beget. She was married to Amphitryon of
Thebes.

P. 49, l. 860 ff. If Heracles set out straight to the grave and Admetus
with the procession was returning from the grave, how was it they did not
meet? The answer is that Attic drama seldom asked such questions.

Pp. 49-54, ll. 861-961. This Threnos, or lamentation scene, seems to o