Goethe  takes  Thersites  from  the  Iliad,  and  unites  him  to
the  Thracian  barrator,  Zoilus,  who,  in  the  third  century  be-
fore Christ,  became  so  renowned  by  his  venomous  abuse  of
Plato,  Isocrates,  ■  and  especially  Homer,  that  his  name  was
applied  by  the  Greeks  to  all  vulgar,  malicious  scolds.  The
two  characters,  combined,  represent  the  class  of  political
slanderers,  defamers  of  all  good  works,  pessimists  in  the
most  offensive  sense.  The  characteristics  of  this  class  are
exhibited  in  still  stronger  and  more  repulsive  forms,  when
Zoilo-Thersites  is  changed  into  the  Adder  and  Bat  by  the
magic  wand  of  the  Herald.
NOTES.  33  g

The  "  Murmurs  of  the  Crowd  "  are  here  introduced,  as  in
Scene  II.,  to  supply  the  place  of  a  Chorus,  and  assist  in  de-
scribing the  action.
3 1 .    Black  lightning  of  the  eyes,  the  dark  locks  glowing.
The  costume  of  the  Boy  Charioteer,  as  described  by  the
Herald,  is  that  of  the  Apollo  Musagetes.     It  is  the  same
which  Schlegel  gives  to  Arion,  in  his  well-known  ballad  :  —

*'  He  hides  his  limbs  of  loveliest  mould
In  gold  and  purple  wondrous  fair ;
Even  to  his  feet  falls,  fold  on  fold,
A  robe  as  light  as  summer  air  :
His  arms  rich  goldei)  bracelets  deck.
And  round  his  brow,  and  cheeks,  and  neck.
In  fragrance  floats  the  leaf-crowned  hair."

D.  F.  Mac-Carthys  Translation.
The  appropriateness  of  this  costume  is  explained  in  the  fol-
lowing note.
