- In the "Temple Greek and Latin Classics" (j. M.
Dent and Co., 2s. 64. net) we have The Medea and Hippolytus of Euripides, with Introduction, Translations, and Notes by Sidney Waterlow, M.A. Mr. Waterlow translates with freedom, sometimes, we think, used beyond the limit of the permissible. But he is always idiomatic and quite unusually free from the stiffness of transla- tion. He has studied the Medea under the guidance of 'Dr. Verrall ; for the Hippolytus he makes no special acknowledgment. We observe in the first (lines 169-70) that the expression t's gpxon, &Trois Tapfas vevtfaurras, used of Zeus, is rendered by "who is set as guardian over men's oaths." But vo,uiCecrecu is used in the sense of "held to be," customary belief, not with the idea of ordination. In line 181 we have, after Medea's remark that Pitthens "is wise and an expert in such matters" (the interpreting of oracles) the line telii.Lorim wifxrcur sbaTaTos aopviWvo.w. This can hardly mean "and, what is more, an old and trusted friend of mine." This friendship could scarcely have been more than his skill in interpreting oracles. Generally, however, a English reader could not easily find a better rendering of the poet's meaning. Something, perhaps, of the dignity has disappeared.
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