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Chapter 52
Why Don't you Have an 'It' for Yourself?

Gold to eat had gold been good for eating
This allusion occurs when Trollope is talking about Mrs. Thorne as a wealthy and generous woman.  In Book 11 of Ovid's Metamorphoses, King Midas, after he puts a young Bacchus under the care of Silenus, is granted his choice of reward:  being able to turn whatever he touches to gold.  However, Midas begins to regret this choice when he is unable to eat without everything he touches turning to gold.  This allusion refers to Mrs. Thorne and her generosity with money.  Trollope states that "she would have given gold to eat had gold been good for eating."  [KD]

All the world was speaking well of John Eames
Lily writes to her mother that the whole world was speaking well of John Eames.  This statement refers to Terence's Andria lines 96-97.  When asking about his son, Simo hears that omnes omnia bona dicere or "all people say all good things."  See commentary for Framley Parsonage Chapter 1 for more on Terence' s Andria.  [KD]

Chapter 53
Rotten Row

Onesiphorus Dunn
Onesiphorus in Greek literally means "benefit bearer."  This use of Greek is apt because Onesiphorus in the novel is a great help to Lily Dale when she sees Crosbie for the first time after he slighted her in the Small House at Allington.  Onesiphorus also does many favors for Mrs. Thorne.  [KD]

Statue of Achilles
A statue of the Duke of Wellington as the Greek hero Achilles was erected in Hyde Park in 1822.
See Sophie Gilmartin's note in the 2002 Penguin edition, p. 882.  [RR]

Looked and be looked at
When Siph Dunn meets Crosbie in Rotten Row he remarks that he rarely sees Crosbie about these days.  Crosbie responds that he has "something to do besides going to look or be looked at."  Crosbie's response reformulates a phrase from Ovid's Ars Amatoria in which Ovid remarks that women go to the public spectacles in order to see and be seen (1.99).  Crosbie's allusion implicitly casts men who do go about to see and be seen in a feminine light.  Siph, who does not seem to appreciate the biting implication of Crosbie's classical allusion, does not mind asserting that he, as a man of leisure, can afford the time "to see and be seen."  [RR]

Quarrels of lovers as a bad basis for the renewal of love
Fowler Pratt, Adolphus Crosbie's friend, gives this advice to Crosbie in regard to his desire to reconnect with Lily Dale.  The phrase comes from Terence's Andria when Simo and his friend are discussing his son's fight with his lover.  Simo's friend, Chremes, states that "the quarrels of lovers are the renewals of love" and that Simo should break the two up before they reconcile.  This is an interesting allusion because Pratt is changing the usual meaning of this phrase to tell Crosbie that his slighting of Lily Dale is irreversible.  [KD]

He had been as it were a god to her
Lily Dale sees Crosbie while riding with Emily and Bernard.  She realizes that time has punished Crosbie and that "he had lost the look of an Apollo."  In The Small House at Allington, we see Lily call Crosbie an "Apollo" because of his good looks and charming nature.  Trollope tells us that Crosbie now is viewed in an "altered light"--which is a pun on Trollope's use of Apollo imagery for Crosbie.  Crosbie is in an "altered light" because he is literally altered from his appearance as the god of light, Apollo.  [KD]

The fates
The Fates are the three goddess who spin, measure, and cut the thread of life.  The Fates are often associated with ones predetermined destiny.  The Fates are mentioned in relation to Lily Dale, who has decided that it is her fate to remain an old maid.
Cassell's Dictionary of Classical Mythology  [KD]

Chapter 54
The Clerical Commission

Paean
Trollope states that Dr. Tempest is a prudent man and that archdeacon Grantly would have told the whole world of his quarrel with the bishop and Mrs. Proudie by singing a paean in the neighboring parishes.  A paean is a victory hymn usually sung in honor of Apollo.  However, as Trollope states, Dr. Tempest keeps the matter to himself rather than making it widespread. OCD  [KD]

His patrons, the Luftons
Trollope here mentions that the Luftons are Mark Robarts' patrons; he is their client.  [KD]

Support his friends and oppose his enemies
Trollope states that Mark Robarts is appointed to be on the clerical commission and that he "would be sure to support his friends and oppose his enemies."  This phrase recalls the conception of justice--helping friends and harming enemies--articulated by Polemarchus in Plato's Republic, book 1 section 332d.  [KD & RR]

Prima facie
Literally meaning "at first appearance," this phrase means basically a first impression that is believed to be true.
OLD
http://www.bartleby.com/81/13633.html  [KD]

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