NOTES
Note 1.
From Æschylus, "Seven against Thebes," verse 588 (Paley's edition). Thoreau translated this whole tragedy, as well as the "Prometheus Bound."
Note 2.
This proves that the essay was written during the summer of 1840; for the allusion here is to the extraordinary sight of the gravest citizens of Concord, in that summer,—Squire Brooks and Major Barrett, and possibly even Squire Hoar among them,—turning out to roll a huge ball, emblematic of the popular movement against President Van Buren, from the battle-ground of Concord to that of Bunker Hill; singing as they rolled:
"It is the Ball a-rolling on
For Tippecanoe and Tyler too."
Note 3.
This passage occurs in the "Morals," and in those singular "Romaika" or Roman questions, which, to the number of 113, the Chæronean sage undertook to answer. This particular question is, "Why Omens that are called Sinister, in taking the Auspices are reckoned Favorable?" After giving various conjectures in answer to this grave query, Plutarch says, Ἤ τὰ ἐπίγεια καὶ Θνητὰ τοῖς οὐρανίοις καὶ Θείοις ἀντικεῖσθαι νομίζοντες, ᾤοντο τὰ πρòς ἡμᾶς ἀριστερὰ, τοὺς θεοὺς ἀπò τῶν δεξιων προπέμπειν;
That is, "Perhaps 't was because men think that earthly and mortal things lie opposite to heavenly and divine things;
[ 29 ]
