COMMENTARY NOTES

Dedication Lancelot Andrewes [1555 - 1626] was one of the great churchmen and preachers of the age. He was translated to the bishopric of Winchester in 1619, which sets a sets a terminus ante quem for the play. Presumably he is called literarum praesul in honor of his Tortura Torti (1609), a rebuttal of a treatise by Cardinal Bellarmine. He was appointed to the Privy Council in 1609 and made Dean of the Chapel royal in 1619. There is a life in the Dictionary of National Biography. Mease presumably dedicated the play to him in the hope of advancing his literary career.
foelix quicunque dolore An adapted quotation of Tibullus III.vi.43f.:

The idea that we watch a tragedy for moral instruction, learning to avoid the mistakes made by the characters is probably inherited from Sir Philip Sidney’s Defense of Poesie.
1ff. It was virtually obligatory to begin an academic tragedy with the apparition of a ghost or of some supernatural being. This portentious and attention-getting first line is written after the model of Seneca, Agamemnon 1, Opaca linquens Ditis inferni loca. (Unless otherwise noted, passages are written in iambic senarii, the standard dialogue meter of Roman tragedy.)
2 Aetheria plaga is a Vergilian phrase (Aeneid I.394, IX.638), imitated by Statius, Achilleis I.254.
3 Possibly Mease was thinking of Aeneid VIII.65, celsis caput urbibus exit.
5 The Pactolus was noted for the gold that could be mined from its bed. As such, it was regarded as the basis for Lydia’s fabulous wealth. Cf., for example, Vergil, Aeneid X.142f.:

And also Seneca, Phoenissae 604f.:

8 Cf. Seneca, Agamemnon 10, quibus superba sceptra gestantur manu.
9 - 35 As Coldewey and Copenhaver noted (p. 17), this tale of Gyges’ invisibility-conferring ring, that allowed him to commit crimes with impunity, does not come from Herodotus, but rather from Plato, Republic pp. 359D - 360B.
11 Cf. the description of the operation of a storm at Vergil, Aeneid I.133f., iam caelum terramque meo sine numine, venti, / miscere.
12 Cf. Seneca, Agamemnon 495, et nube dirum fulmen elisa micat.
15 Cf., perhaps, Ps. - Seneca, Octavia 726, patuit ingenti mihi / tellus hiatu.
27 Cf. Horace, Ars Poetica 31, in vitium ducit culpae fuga.
28 Cf. Lucan, Bellum Civile VI.147, pronus ad omne nefas.
33 Lynceus was the particularly keen-sighted Argonaut, and, as such, became proverbial (Horace, Epistulae I.i.28, Sermones I.ii.90).
36 - 40 Mease passes rapidly over the story told by Herodotus (I.8 - 12). King Candaules, enamored of is wife and wishing to display her beauty, smuggled his courtier Gyges into the royal bedchamber so that he could behold her naked. The consort found out about this and was so incensed that she informed Gyges he must either kill Candaules and usurp his throne, or suffer death for having seen her nakedness. Faced with the choice, Gyges, with the help of the queen, murdered Candaules in his sleep. The omission of this tale allows Mease to shift most of the burden of guilt onto Gyges himself, and to minimize the queen’s responsibility for the crime.
40 - 55 This account of Gyges’ guilt-pangs has no foundation in Herodotus. At I.14 the historians enumerates the lavish gifts sent to Delphi by the king, but attributes to him no such motive.
48f. Cf. Vergil, Aeneid VI.274, Luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae.
51 Phobetor (“The Frightener”) is the name by which mortals call Morpheus according to Ovid, Metamorphoses XI.640.
53 The “old saying” is Ovid, Ars Amatoria III.656f.:

54 Cf. Ovid, Medicamina Faciei Feminaea 83: Quamvis tura deos irataque numina placent.
59f. For the Delphic oracle, cf. Herodotus I.13.
63 Surely there is deliberate irony here: Gyges’ is eternally pent up in an underworldy cave because his sin had its origin in a cave, where he discovered the magic ring. Now he has become the corpse in the cave.
64 - 6 The punishment is suggested bythat of Tityon as described by Vergil, Aeneid VI.595 - 600:

78 Cf. Catullus xix.1, Quis hoc potest videre, quis potest pati (?)
82 - 135 Although the Wheel of Fortune motif was a common cliche, it would seem that Mease was writing this passage with an eye on Ovid, Tristia V.viii. Cf. such lines as 7f.:

and 15 - 21:

Meter: anapaestic dimeters with occasional monometers (136f. are iambic senarii).
104 - 6 I. e., he manages to hold steady a mind that would otherwise vary in accordance with Fortune’s whims.
112 Cf. Ovid, Heroides i.34, hic steterat Priami regia celsa senis.
114 Candaules, not named in the Prologue, was Gyges’ victim (Gyges is of course the iuvenis).
115 Jupiter Herceus is “A title of Zeus as a household god” (Oxford Classical Dictionary). The Latin is susceptible to two interpretations: is ad aram Jovis Herceii to be be construed with caesus or with procubuit ? If the former, Mease signifies that Candaules was murdered in the inmost sanctum of his household; if the latter, with no little irony he specifies the site of his burial. In his account of Candaules’ death Herodotus provides no information that would resolve this ambiguity. Cf. Seneca, Agamemnon 448, sparsum cruore regis Herceum Iovem.
136f. In a proper Senecan manner, Mease (who employs no stage directions) regularly incorporates identification cues into his text. In the translation I have added stage directions to clarify the action. Such descriptions of weeping women are familiar in the Senecan corpus: cf. Agamemnon 923, Phaedra 382, 886, and Ps. - Seneca, Hercules Oetaeus 1265. Cf. also Hercules Furens 329, Sed ecce saevus ac minas vultu gerens.
138 Aeglaea and the Nurse (a stock character in Greek and Senecan tragedy) are characters invented by Mease; Herodotus (I.34 - 45) tells the story from a purely masculine standpoint, and in his version the only three characters are Croesus, Atys, and Adrastus. Likewise, Herodotus describes Croesus’ prophetic dream (I.34), but Aeglaea’s dream about the two lions, and Croesus’ overly optimistic comparison of the two dreams, are Mease’s own contribution. For humanis bonis cf. Ovid, Amores III.x.6 and Juvenal, Satire x.137.
139f. Compare the anxious Nurse’s question at Ps. - Seneca, Octavia 690 - 2:

Cf. also Seneca, Oedipus 798, Effare mersus quis premat mentem timor.
142 Cf. Seneca, Hercules Furens 411, Et viva tergo spolia gestantem ferae.
152 See the commentary note on 76.
167 - 178 Meter: anapaestic dimeters
168f. Cf. Vergil, Aeneid III.515, sidera cuncta notat tacito labentia caelo.
170 Although dubii casus is used elsewhere in classical poetry, cf. particularly Statius, Silvae II.i.221, et dubios casus et caecae lubrica vitae.
204 Cf., perhaps, Seneca, Medea 152, patiente et aequo mutus animo pertulit.
208 Cf. Ovid, Metamorphoses VIII.634, nec iniqua mente ferendo.
210 Cf. Seneca, Oedipus 868f.:

217 Cf. Seneca, Phaedra 850, Quis fremitus aures flebilis pepulit meas? (cf. also Hercules Furens 415 and Medea 116).
218 Cf. Ps. - Seneca, Hercules Oetaeus 1265, Unde iste fletus? unde in has lacrimae genas?
233 At Ps. - Seneca, Octavia 168, the rightful heir Britannicus is called columen augustae domus, and at Troades 462 the heir Astyanas is called spes unica.
240 Mysia was a region of north-western Asia Minor, between Lydia and Bithynia. A mountain called Mt. Olympus, not to be confused with the Greek one, was located there (Pliny, Natural History XXVI.60).
249 - 52 The Mysian embassy is described by Herodotus I.36.
252 - 58 These lines summarize the protracted dialogue between Croesus and Atys at Herodotus I.37 - 40.
266 - 272 Herodotus tells the story at I.35: Adrastus was the son of Gordias and grandson of Midas, king of Phrygia, exiled by his father for killing his brother.
271 It is unclear whether the word foedus is meant to designate a personal relation with Adrastus or a political alliance with the Phrygians (since Adrastus was presumably the heir apparent - at 924 he is called spes una Phygum, but see the commentary note on that line). Herodotus says nothing about Croesus’ motivation for receiving Adrastus into his household. Cf. Catullus cix.6, aeternum hoc sanctae foedus amicitiae.
274 - 79 The interview at which Croesus entrusted Atys to Adrastus’ care is described by Herodotus I.41 - 42.
296 - 350 Meter: hendecasyllabi with occasional adonics (296 - 311 are regular Sapphic stanzas). The beginning invocation is inspired by Horace, Carmen Saeculare 9 - 11:

In this case, the sun is equated with Phoebus (as is seen by the fact that this invocation is balanced by one to his sister Diana at 304 - 7). For some reason, Adrastus Parentans is replete with mentions of, and prayers to, Phoebus (compare the double invocation at the start of the Carmen Saeculare). Partially, one presumes, this is because Phoebus was the author of the oracle predictingeventual doom for Gyges’ dynasty, but these are so frequent that one wonders if Mease had some notion that the Lydians were sun-worshippers.
298 Lucidum coeli decus is appears also at Seneca, Oedipus 405, but in view of the above it is likelier to be taken from Horace Carmen Saeculare 2.
308f. We are given a catalogue of famous boars in mythology. The first allusion is to Hercules’ fourth labor, the killiing of the boar which inhabited Mt. Erymanthus in Arcadia. Cf. Martial XI.lxix.9f.

310 - 318 Now the allusion is to the disastrous hunt for the Calydonian boar. When Meleager’s maternal uncles took offense that Meleager presented the slain boar’s hide to Atalanta, a fight broke out and he killed them. His mother Althaea retaliated: there was a prophecy that if a certain brand she kept preserved in a chest were completely burned, Meleager would die. So she threw it in the fire to gain revenge. Perhaps Mease devoted so much space to this tale because it had been dramatized by William Gager of Oxford, as described in the Introduction.
320f. To hunt these boars, Meleager was taken away from Atalanta, Hercules from the company of the centaurs, and Atys from the comforts of the Lydian court.
327 - 33 Venus’ beloved Adonis was gored by Mars, wearing the guise of a boar, while hunting on Mt. Lebanon.
334 - 40 This passage is written under the influence of the first two stanzas of Horace, Odes IV.v:

lucem redde tuae, dux bone, patriae.
instar veris enim voltus ubi tuus
adfulsit populo, gratior it dies
et soles melius nitent.

340 Note the deliberate echo of line 296.
347f. These lines = Horace, Odes IV.9.49f
350 - 403 Having complied with Croesus’ request to sing a victory paean to celebrate Atys’ presumptive victory (294f.), the chorus now obeys the second half of his injunction by singing a wedding-hymn for Atys and Aglaea. This passage is carefully structured: the full chorus sings fourteen lines praising the couple, then divides into halves, each of which sings a twelve-line stanza praising Aglaea and Atys respectively, then the full chorus sings another fifteen lines praising the couple. Meters: choriambics; the lines of the full chorus are glyconics, those of the semichoruses are lesser asclepiadeans. The first part of this passage is an elaboration on Horace, Odes I.xiii.17 - 20:

365 - 8 For idea of standing out like moon among stars cf. Horace, Odes I.xii.45 - 7 and Epodes xv.2. This became something of a cliche in Anglo-Latin of the period. Cf., for example, William Alabaster’s Roxana (ca. 1590) 1037f.:

and Wiliam Gager’s praise of Elizabeth in his poem XXIV.38 - 40 (from In Catilinarias Proditiones, ac Proditores Domesticos Odae 9, Oxford, 1586):

371 Cf. Statius Silvae II.vii.84 (decoram) qualem blanda Venus daretque Iuno .
374 - 6 Cf. Seneca, Medea 75 - 9:

The allusion is to the fact that Spartan girls participated in sports, as described by Plutarch, Life of Lycurgus 13. Mt. Taygetus was the most conspicuous landmark in Sparta.
376 - 85 This praise of Atys’ beauty is suggested by the similar passage about Hippolytus at Seneca, Phaedra 743 -57 :

389 - 91 Cf. Seneca, Oedipus 409f:

401 - 3 Cf. Horace, Odes IV.v.37f.:

403 Maeonia was the ancient name for the eastern portion of Lydia; Mease uses it as an equivalent for the entire nation.
404 - 49 This scene is based on Solon’s admonitions to Croesus at Herodotus I.30 - 32. For the edification of an academic audience, Mease recasts the interview as a disputatio.
405f. Mease makes it seem as if the Athenians had thrown Solon into exile. According to Herodotus I.29, Solon had voluntarily left the city because, after having recast the Athenian constitution, he thought this would prevent his fellow citizens from changing what he had done, and also because he wished to enjoy the broadening experience of travel.
418 In his cleverness and his curiousity, Solon is being compared with Ulysses.
424f. According to Herodotus I.30, Tellus had died a glorious death, distinguishing himself in a battle between Athens and neighboring Eleusis.
436 Mease may have been thinking of Ovid, Amores III.xiii.3, casta sacerdotes Iunoni festa parabant.
438 In Herodotus (I.31) the missing animals were oxen. Mease presumably substituted horses on the theory they sounded more dignified.
444 There appears to be a verbal echo of Cicero’s account of this tale at Tusculan Disputations I.cxiii.10, precata a dea dicitur, ut id illis praemii daret pro pietate.
447f. Cf. Vergil, Georgics I.447 = Aeneid IV.585 = IX.460, Tithoni croceum linquens Aurora cubile.
456 Cf. Ps. - Seneca, Octavia 378 (spoken by the philosopher Seneca), sorte contentum mea.
459ff. Croesus’ interrogation of Solon has the dialectic quality one associates with an academic disputatio.
466 Astyages was king of the Medes (Herodotus I.107). He was destined to be displaced by his maternal grandson, the Persian Cyrus, who would also conquer the Lydians and make Croesus his prisoner, although Mease gives no hint of Croesus eventual fate.
472f. The peacock was sacred to Juno (Ovid, Amores II.vi.55, Ars Amatoria I.627, Martial XIV.lxxxv.2, etc.).
474 Doves are mentioned alongside peacocks because of the display of their irridescent necks.
478 - 81 An adaptation of Horace, Odes IV.ix.45 - 9:

495 - 501 This story would appear to be a variant of the anecdote told by Horace, Epistulae II.ii.128 - 40:

505 - 8 Cf. Horace, Odes III.ii.17 - 20:

511- 19 The philosophy expressed in these lines has already been expounded at great length in the first chorus. Oddly, the only line in classical Latin poetry that calls Fortune blind is Ovid, Epistulae ex Ponto IV.viii.16, praeter Fortunam, quae mihi caeca fuit. Fortune is called levis at Seneca, Medea 218, Ps. - Seneca, Octavia 452, and Statius, Silvae V.i.143.
516 Evidently the image implied by utramque facit paginam refers to bookkeeping: in her ledger Fortune employs two columns for recording credits and debits.
520 Cogitanti mihi was a favorite phrase of Cicero (used, for example, at the very beginning of de Oratore).
525f. In Herodotus (I.32) Solon also reckons the life of a man as seventy years, but the five-year lustrum was of course a Roman means of reckoning time, not a Greek one.
527 - 9 The sons are of course the months, half light and half dark according to the phases of the moon.
530 Cf. Horace, Carmen Saeculare 9f:

533f. Romans used white stones to mark lucky days on their calendars, and black stones to mark unlucky ones. Cf., for example, Perseus, Satire ii.1f.:
Hunc, Macrine, diem numera meliore lapillo,
qui tibi labentis apponet candidus annos.
538 Cf., possibly, Ovid, Ibis 122, Fortunae facies invidiosa tuae.
544 For sors aspera cf. Seneca, Medea 431 and Statius, Thebais I.196.
552 For molliter ossa cubent (a stock formula from funerary inscriptions) cf. Ovid, Amores I.viii.108, Heroides vii.162, and Tristia III.iii.76.
553 In valeas there is just the same ambiguity as in English “fare well”: this is a scarcely disguised command to depart, and Solon’s reply makes it clear that he understands this.
555 - 76 This speech is suggesed by Herodotus’ description of Croesus’ disappointed rejection of Solon’s philosophy (I.33).
575f. Cf. the entrance cue at Ps. - Seneca, Hercules Oetaeus 740f.:

The last words imitate the Chorus’ question to the Messenger, Quid portas noui?, at Thyestes 626.
576 Evidently he is a Phygian friend or attendant of Adrastus, but see the commentary note on 591.
582 Evidently Croesus is confident that the Messenger is about to report the successful conclusion of the hunt. But the Messenger’s previous speech ought to have warned him that something is amiss. Should we read ignarus ?
591 I have translated the line as if there were a comma after civis (there is none in the ms.), on the theory that the messenger is a Phyrgian follower of Adrastus, hence not a Lydian. Without the comma one would more naturally construe non with ignotus (“I am a citizen of Lydia, not unknown to you”). The grounds for my repunctuation seem self-evident enough, but are complicated by the problematic line 924; see the commentary note on that line.
594 Cf. Seneca, Hercules Furens 647, pande virtutum ordinem.
595 Cf. Ovid, Metamorphoses VII.703, mane videt pulsis Aurora tenebris.
608 “Mt. Gargarus” is actually a range of mountains in the vicinity of Mt. Ida, in Phyrgia (the Oxford Latin Dictionary s. v. Gargara quotes some classical references - it also appears in the singular at Germanicus,Aratea 585).
610 Dindymene = the goddess of Mt. Dindymon in Phrygia, i. e. Cybele.
626 - 723 Meter: anapaestic dimeters (724f. are iambic senarii).
631 Cf. Vergil, Aeneid III.599f.:

(cf. also Aeneid IX.429, Martial IX.xxii.15, and Statius, Silvae I.iv.116).
633f. These lines appear meant to call to mind the beginning of Juvenal’s fifteenth satire:

638 For columen patriae cf. Seneca, Troades 124, and for spesque parentis cf. Phoenissae 517.
643f. Cf. Statius, Silvae V.i.22f.:

647f. For aetherea…vescitur aura cf. Vergil, Aeneid I.546f.
660 Cf. Ovid, Metamorphoses I.366, sic visum superis.
674 Cf. Vergil, Aeneid IV.328f., si quis mihi parvulus aula / luderet Aeneas.
684 My translation (“because you are experiencing them, inexperienced before in your life”) presumes that Mease has mistakenly transposed the meanings of expers and expertus, although he has just used expers correctly at 649.
695f. Cf. Horace, Odes I.xxiv.19f.:

697 - 716 Croesus’ recognition of the truth of this dream, while standard enough fare for a tragedy, may also be suggested by his equally belated realization of the truth of Solon’s philosophy at Herodotus I.86.
702 Mease may have been thinking of Vergil Aeneid VI.517f.:

704 For populator aper cf. Martial VII.xxvii.1.
718 Cf. Cicero, de Divinatione II.xxv.3, si enim nihil fit extra fatum, nihil levari re divina potest. Hoc sentit Homerus, cum querentem Iovem inducit, quod Sarpedonem filium a morte contra fatum eripere non posset (the allusion is to Iliad XVI.433 -8).
722f. Cf. Ps. - Seneca, Hercules Oetaeus 231f.:

726 - 37 Meter: trochaic septenarii.
726 Cf. Vergil, Aeneid I.731, Iuppiter, hospitibus nam te dare iura loquuntur.
730 Evidently Mease was thinking of Ovid, Metamorphoses IV.502, erroresque vagos caecaeque oblivia mentis.
734 For arentem sitim cf. Seneca, Thyestes 4f. (also of Tantalus’ thirst).
736 The Belides were the daughters of Danaus, consigned to the Underworld for murdering their husbands on their wedding night.
737 For sceleris ultrices deae cf. Seneca, Medea 13 (imitated by Ps. - Seneca, Octavia 965).
743 Cf. Seneca, Hercules Furens 918f.:

752 Cf. Horace, Epodes v.1, At o deorum quidquid in caelo regit.
753 Cf. Ovid, Tristia I.iv.25, parcite caerulei vos saltem numina ponti.
784 This line = Martial II.lxv.3.
785 Cf. ib. 6, Nollem accidisset hoc tibi, Saleiane.
789f. Compare the following two Senecan entrance cues. First, Phaedra 989f.:

Second, Agamemnon 922 - 4:

Cf. also Medea 863, ut tigris orba natis.
796f. Cf. Seneca, Agamemnon 787f.:

808 - 19 Meter: elegiac couplets (the second line of each couplet is not indented in the ms.).
809 Cf. Ovid, Tristia I.viii.7f.:

814 The messenger is not physically deformed: the adjective deformis describes his dishevelled appearance after his hasty journey.
818 For a somewhat similar thought cf. Seneca, Thyestes 596f.:

819 Abire is epexegetic.
820 - 46 Meter: iambic dimeters.
844f. Tenebrarum…umbra may look redundant, but cf. Ovid, Metamorphoses XV.652, umbraque telluris tenebras induxerat orbi.
847 - 927 This duet between Aglaea and the Chorus is a cast in the form of a Greek kommos, a highly ritualized lamentation featuring loosening of the hair and breast-beating. The kommos is a stock scene-type in Attic tragedy.
847 Cf. Ps. - Seneca, Hercules Oetaeus 1128f.:

859 - 927 Meter: anapaestic dimeters.
865 For this kind of lamentation cf.Seneca, Hercules Furens 1000 - 4 :

and Vergil, Aeneid IV.666f.:

875f. Cf. Vergil VI.438f. (also Georgics IV.480):

888 Possibly Mease was thinking of Seneca, Medea 551f.:

890f. Cf. Horace, Odes II.xiii.13f.:

892 Cf. Seneca, Phaedra 1263, fletusque largos sistite.
896 - 900 There are a number of accounts of the Orpheus legend in classical poetry. One such is Seneca, Hercules Furens 569 - 76:

902f. Cf. Vergil, Eclogue iii.93, frigidus, o pueri (fugite hinc!), latet anguis in herba.
906 - 8 Cf. Seneca, Hercules Furens 114 - 6:

912f. Mease may have haid in mind Seneca, Medea 971f., victima manes tuos / placamus ista.
917 Cf. Lucan, Bellum Civile IX.168, sonuit percussus planctibus aether.
924 So far, the distinction between Phyrgia and Lydia has been correctly maintained: Adrastus has come to Lydia from the kingdom next door. It is plausible enough that Croesus has some Phyrgian tapestries in his palace (470), a foreign luxury commodity; the messenger who informed Croesus of Atys’ death can be understood as a Phygian follower of Croesus (see the commentary note on 591); and the chorus has spoken of Adrastus leading bands of young men in or at least from his homeland (702). If this distinction is maintained, then in the present line the Chorus is to be interpreted as lamenting the deaths both of Adrastus (spes Phrygum) and Atys (spes Maeoniae), but of course the Chorus is not yet aware of Adrastus’ suicide. It would therefore appear that when writing this single line Mease forgot himself, and described the Lydians as both “Phrygians” and “Maeonians.” But I would not care to employ this line to cast doubt on the proposition that the two nationalities are properly distinguished in the play as a whole. Cf. Seneca, Troades 462, spes una Phrygibus, unica afflictae domus.
927 For nos flendo ducimus horas cf. Vergil, Aeneid VI.539.
928 Compare the exclamation at Seneca, Phaedra 1271, o dira fata, numinum o saevus favor!
930 She is asking if he a guest in the Underworld.
937 This line is possibly inspired by Horace, Epodes iii.5, quid hoc veneni saevit in praecordiis? as if her grief were a kind of poison.
949 Cf. Vergil, Aeneid VI.214f.:

951 This passage is based on the description of a cremation at Vergil, Aeneid VI.224 - 8.

956 As Aeneas bade farewell to Pallas at Aeneid XI.97f.:

961 Mease may have been thinking of Martial’s well-known maxim (I.xxxiii.4), Ille dolet vere, qui sine teste dolet.
962 - 73 Adrastus’ suicide is described by Herodotus I.45 ad fin.
963 Cf. Statius, Thebais IX.349, ultimus ille sonus moribundo emersit ab ore.
974 - 1009 Meter: anapaestic dimeters.
984 Possibly a pathetic echo of Vergil, Aeneid VII.53, iam matura uiro, iam plenis nubilis annis.
994 Cf., perhaps, Ovid, Tristia V.vi.41, tam me circumstat densorum turba malorum.
998 For timidi est optare necem cf. Ovid, Metamorphoses IV.115.
1001f. Cf. Ps. - Seneca, Hercules Oetaeus 1983f.:

1006 Cf. the commentary note on 956.