"book both of the Iliad and Odyffey; and yet there is not "the leaft foundation for fuch an affertion: nay, Telemachus "himself, in the fecond book, returns thanks to Minerva "for appearing to him, and prays for a fecond vision. It "is not to be imagined, that Telemachus would have pre"ferred this prayer, if the presence of the Deity denoted "death, or fome great calamity; and all the heroes through

out the Iliad efteem fuch intercourfes as their glory, and "converfe with the Gods without any apprehenfions." In anfwer to this objection we may reply, that thefe Heathen Deities, when they honoured mortals with their vifits, generally divested themselves, as far as they were able, of their divine radiance, and of their formidable attributes: But I conceive there always was a religious awe, accompanied with a reverential fear, naturally attached to the fublime idea of the vision of a Superior Being: Thus Homer afferts, that the Gods, when they appear manifeft, are dreadful,

Χαλεποὶ δε θεοὶ φαίνεσθαι ἐναργεῖς.

411. 20. v. 131.

And Callimachus, in his hymn on the bath of Pallas, exprefsly fays, that "Whoever beholds an immortal God, con"trary to the inclination of that Deity, pays a fevere pe"nalty for the fatal view:"

Ὅς με τιν αθανάτων, ὅκα μὴ θεὸς αὐτὸς ἕλήξαι,

Αθρήσῃ, μισθῷ τέτον ἰδεῖν μεγάλῳ. (V. 102.)

4 See alfo Anthol. 1. 4. c. 19. ep. 33.

5 See the note of Spanheim on this line, to which Dr. Mufgrave refers us The learned Commentator there cites this paffage of Euripides, and illuftrates the fubject with his ufual erudition.

That

6

That this was the Oriental notion appears from a variety of other paffages, befides thofe already cited by Dacier: "The LORD faid unto Mofes, thou canst not fee my face, "for there fhall no man fee me and live. We shall surely "die, fays Manoah' unto his wife, becaufe we have seen "God: Á man of GOD came unto me, and his countenance "was like the Angel of God, very terrible. Thus Daniel "fell upon his face, when he faw the vision: And Saul" "alfo fell to the earth, when fuddenly there fhined round "about him a light from heaven." According to this noble conception of divine effulgence, when the Raphael of Milton defcends to Paradife, Adam exclaims to Eve,

What glorious fhape

Comes this way moving; seems another morn
Ris'n on midnoon. (B. 5. v. 311.)

This bears a great refemblance to the ανθήλιον πρόσωπον, οι the countenance luminous, as the Sun, in Euripides: But our English Poet has foftened the horror of Michael's appearance to Adam after his fall, for he paints the majefty of this heavenly Vifitant,

Yet not terrible,

But folemn and fublime. (Par. Loft. b. 11. v. 236.)

N° LXX.

1

Verfe 'Κείς θρόνες τυραννικές 1573. Ιδρυσον.

Let him mount

1626. The royal throne.

I

HERE Minerva exprefsly commands Creufa to carry Ion to Attica, and to place him on the royal throne; and she repeats this injunction in her laft fpeech of this play. The only authorities recorded, which literally correfpond with the mandate of this Goddefs, are as follows: Conon, as preserved in Photius, afferts, "that, after the death of his maternal Grandfather, Ion, elected on account of his virtue and dignity, reigned over the Athenians, who began to be called Ionians, as well as the whole region Ionia from him." Thus the Scholiaft of Efchylus obferves, "that the Athenians were denominated Ionians from a certain Ion, who reigned over them:" And the Scholiaft of our Poet on the Phoeniffæ* mentions "Ionia, a city of Euboea, as founded by Ion, fon of Xuthus, who reigned twenty feven years:" But according to the received fucceffion of the Kings of Attica from the

i V. 1628.

2 Ιων δε θανόντος το μητροπάτορος διά τε τὴν ἀρετὴν καὶ τὴν ἄλλην ἀξίωσιν αιρεθεὶς Βασιλεύει Αθηναίων, ἐξ & Ἴωνες οἱ τε Αθηναῖοι ἤρξαν ο καλεῖσθαι, καὶ τὸ ἄλλο πᾶν Ιωνικὸν Bibliot. p. 438. ed. Hoelch.

3 ςέον δε ότι Ιάονες δι Αθηνᾶιοι λέγονται ἐκ τινὸς Ιάονος βασιλεύσαντος αὐτῶν. Perfæ, v. 176.

4 Ἰωνίαν πόλιν Εὐβοίας, ἣν ἔκτισεν Ἴων ὁ Ξάθε βασιλεύσας ἔτη κζ. (On v. 210.)

most

6

most authentick records, as I have already fhewn in a preceding Note, Cecrops the Second fucceeded to the throne of Erechtheus; nor is Ion in the lift of their Kings; but he appears to have been invefted with confiderable power and authority According to Herodotus "the Athenians were called Ionians from Ion, son of Xuthus, the Leader of their armies:" And the Scholiaft' on the Birds of Ariftophanes afferts, "that the Athenians honour Apollo under the title of the Paternal Deity, because Ion Polemarch, or Military Commander of the Athenians, was the Son of Apollo and Creusa, Wife of Xuthus." According to Strabo, "Ion, having conquered the army of Eumolpus, acquired fo great a reputation, that the Athenians committed to him the management of the state:" And thus Vitruvius afferts, "that the Athenians affigned to Ion, fon of Xuthus and Creufa, the chief adminiftration of government: But Paufanias 1° relates," that under the reign of Ion at Ægialus, when the Eleufinians

5 On v. 192. p. 87.

9

6 Ιωνος δε τῷ πάθει τρατάρχου γενομένα ̓Αθηναιοῖσι ἐκλήθησαν ἀπὸ τότε Ιωνες, (1. 8. c. 44.)

7 Πατρώον δε τιμῶσιν ̓Απόλλωνα Αθηναῖοι, ἐπεὶ Ἴων, ὁ Πολέμαρχος ̓Αθηναίων, ἐξ ̓Απόλλωνος και Κρέυσης της Ξάθε ἐγένετο. (On V. 1526.) See allo the Scho liaft on the Clouds, (v. 1470.) where the fame reaton is affigned for this title of Halos, or Paternal, applied to Apollo at Athens: and Prato afferts, that it was on account of the birth of Ion, ̓Αλλὰ ̓Απόλλων πατρῷος διὰ τὴν τὸ Ἴωνος Yevo. (In Euthyd. vol. 1. ed. Serr. p. 302.)

8 Ἴων δὲ τὰς μετ ̓ Ευμόλπε νικήσας Θρᾷκας ὅντως ηὐδοκίμησεν ὡς ἐπέτρεψαν ἀυλῷ Tv moλileiav’Abnvãtor. (L. 8. ed. Janfon, p. 588.)

9 Athenienfes fummam Imperii partem Ioni Xuthi & Creufæ filio dederunt. (L. 4. c. I.)

το Τότε δὲ ἐπὶ τῆς Ἴωνος βασιλείας πολεμησάνων Αθηναίοις Ελευσινίων, και Αθη ναίων Ἴωνα ἐπαγομένων ἐπὶ ἡγεμονίᾳ τὸ πολέμε, τὸν μὲν ἐν τῇ Ατικὴ το χρεὼν ἐπι· λαμβάνει, καὶ "Ιωνος ἐν τῷ δημῳ μνῆμα Ποταμίων ἰσὶν. (L. 7. c. 1. p. 522. ed. Kuhn.)

II

waged war with the Athenians, and the Athenians having appointed Ion their General for the conduct of the war, he difcharged the debt of nature in Attica; and he adds, that his monument was exftant in the tribe of Potamios." He afterwards obferves, that when the Ionians, conquered by the Achæans, came into Attica, the Athenians and their Sovereign Melampus, fon of Andropompus, received them into their own ftate for the fake of Ion, and those exploits which, as military Commander, he had executed for the Athenians. Hence we may fairly conclude, in the words of the learned Meurfius ", that Ion never obtained the fovereignty, but acquired fo much authority in the state, as to seem to reign;". Euripides therefore has here taken the liberty with Minerva, Goddess of Wisdom, to make her utter this dramatick prophecy with a poetical licentioufnefs, furpaffing the actual line of history; and he elevates Ion to the throne of Attica, as he here reprefents in the play Xuthus and Creufa actually reigning at Athens.

τι "Ιωνας δὲ ἀφικομένως ἐς τὴν ̓Αττικήν, ̓Αθηναῖοι καὶ ὁ Βασιλεὺς ἀυλῶν Μέλανθος *Ανδροπόμπε συνοίκες ἐδέξαντο, Ἴωνος τε δὴ ἕνεκα καὶ ἔργων ἃ ἔπραξε πολεμαρχῶν ̓Αθη palois. (L. 7. c. 1. p. 523. ed. Kuhn.)

12 Verùm regnum minimè tenuit; fed auctoritatem tantam in republicâ eft adeptus, ut regnare videretur. (De Reg. Athen. 1. 2. c. 10)

N° LXXI.