Huddilston, John H.: The attitude of the Greek tragedians toward art (London, 1898)

102 The Attitude of the Greek

represented this scene in the front gable of the
large temple of Athena Alea at Tegea1.

2. Hippomedon.

ariKTols liavotiTrjV oiJ.fj.aaiv bibopKora.

Where Aischylos has the abstraction of Night,
Moon, and Stars (Sepiem, v. 388), Euripides pre-
fers to introduce this idea in another form and
selects Argos with his hundred eyes, part of
which served by night and part by day. The
Argos-Io episode is of very frequent occurrence
on vases. The very words used here, <ttlktoTs
■navb-ttt-qv oliucktlv, are as fully picturesque as
the picture on the vases2, where the full-
length figure of Argos, attacked by Hermes, is
literally covered with eyes from head to foot.
It would be difficult to illustrate the poet's
words more forcibly than the vases do. As
a matter of fact there was no reason why, on
any visit to the Potters' quarter, Euripides could
not have seen just such paintings.

1 Paus. 8. 45. 5 and 6.

- (a) Published in Mon. d. Inst. ii. pi. 59, $ = fclite Ce'ram. iii.
pi. 100. On actual count there are 134 eyes on the figure.

(4) No. 338 a, Sammlung antiker Vascn und Terracotten im
K. K. Oestcrreich. Mus.; published in Wiener Vorlcgcblcitier,
1890-91, pi. 11, 1. Vid. also s. v. Io in Roscher's Lcxikon.