Chapter XIII: Part II: Page (11)

_Athena._ Nay, list to me, and be not over-grieved; Ye have not been defeated, but the cause Came fairly to a tie, no shame to thee. But the clear evidence of Zeus was given, And he who spake it bare his witness too That, doing this, Orestes should not suffer. Hurl ye not then fierce rage on this my land; Nor be ye wroth, nor work ye barrenness, *By letting fall the drops of evil Powers,[536] The baleful influence that consumes all seed. 770 For lo! I promise, promise faithfully, That, seated on your hearths with shining thrones, Ye shall find cavern homes in righteous land, Honoured and worshipped by these citizens.

ANTISTROPHE

_Chor._ Ah ah! ye younger Gods! Ye have ridden down the laws of ancient days, And robbed me of my prey. And I, dishonoured, wretched, full of wrath, Upon this land, ha! ha! Will venom, venom from my heart let fall, In vengeance for my grief, A dropping which shall smite 780 The earth with barrenness! And thence shall come, (O Vengeance!) on the plain Down-swooping, blight of leaves and murrain dire That o'er the land flings taint of pestilence. Shall I then wail and groan? Or what else shall I do? Shall I become a woe intolerable Unto these men for wrongs I have endured? Great, very great are they, Ye virgin daughters of dim Night, ill-doomed, Born both to shame and woe!

_Athena._ Ye are not left unhonoured; be not hot In wrath, ye Goddesses, to mar man's land, I too, yes I, trust Zeus. Need I say more? 790 I only of the high Gods know the keys Of chambers where the sealed-up thunder lies; But that I have no need of. List to me, Nor cast upon the earth thy rash tongue's fruit, That brings to all things failure and distress; Lull thou the bitter storm of that dark surge, As dwelling with me, honoured and revered; And thou with first-fruits of this wide champaign, Offerings for children's birth and wedlock-rites, Shall praise these words of mine for evermore. 800

_Chor._ That I should suffer this, fie on it! fie!
That I, with thoughts of hoar antiquity,[537]
Should now in this land dwell,
Dishonoured, deemed a plague!
I breathe out rage, and every form of wrath.
Oh, Earth! fie on it! fie!
What pang is this that thrills through all my breast?
Hear thou, O mother Night,
Hear thou my vehement wrath!
For lo! deceits that none can wrestle with
Have thrust me out from honours old of Gods,
And made a thing of nought.

_Athena._ Thy wrath I'll bear, for thou the elder art, 810 [And wiser too in that respect than I;] Yet to me too Zeus gave no wisdom poor; And ye, if ye an alien country seek, Shall yearn in love for this land. This I tell you; For to this people Time, as it runs on, Shall come with fuller honours, and if thou Hast honoured seat hard by Erechtheus' home, Thou shalt from men and women reap such gifts As thou would'st never gain from other mortals; But in these fields of mine be slow to cast 820 Whetstones of murder's knife, to young hearts bale, Frenzied with maddened passion, not of wine; Nor, as transplanting hearts of fighting-cocks,[538] Make Ares inmate with my citizens, In evil discord, and intestine broils; Let them have war without, not scantily, For him who feels the passionate thirst of fame: Battle of home-bred birds ... I name it not; This it is thine to choose as gift from me; Well-doing, well-entreated, and well-honoured, 830 To share the land best loved of all the Gods.

_Chor._ That I should suffer this, fie on it! fie! That I, with thoughts of hoar antiquity, Should now in this land dwell, Dishonoured, deemed a plague, I breathe out rage, and every form of wrath; Ah, Earth! fie on it! fie! What pang is this that thrills through all my breast? Hear thou, O mother Night, Hear thou my vehement wrath! For lo! deceits that none can wrestle with Have thrust me out from honours old of Gods, And made a thing of nought. 840

_Athena._ I will not weary, telling thee of good, That thou may'st never say that thou, being old, Wert at the hands of me, a younger Goddess, And those of men who in my city dwell, Driven in dishonour, exiled from this plain. But if the might of Suasion thou count holy, And my tongue's blandishments have power to soothe, Then thou wilt stay; but if thou wilt not stay, Not justly would'st thou bring upon this city, Or wrath, or grudge, or mischief for its host. It rests with thee, as dweller in this spot,[539] 850 To meet with all due honour evermore.

_Chor._ Athena, Queen, what seat assign'st thou me?

_Athena._ One void of touch of evil; take thou it.

_Chor._ Say I accept. What honour then is mine?

_Athena._ That no one house apart from thee shall prosper.

_Chor._ And wilt thou work that I such might may have?

_Athena._ His lot who worships thee we'll guide aright.

_Chor._ And wilt thou give thy warrant for all time?

_Athena._ What I work not I might refrain from speaking.

_Chor._ It seems thou sooth'st me: I relax my wrath. 860

_Athena._ In this land dwelling thou new friends shalt gain.

_Chor._ What hymn then for this land dost bid me raise?

_Athena._ Such as is meet for no ill-victory.[540] · · · · · And pray that blessings upon men be sent. And that, too, both from earth, and ocean's spray, And out of heaven; and that the breezy winds, In sunshine blowing, sweep upon the land, And that o'erflowing fruit of field and flock May never fail my citizens to bless, Nor safe deliverance for the seed of men. But for the godless, rather root them out: 870 For I, like gardener shepherding his plants, This race of just men freed from sorrow love. So much for thee: and I will never fail To give this city honour among men, Victorious in the noble games of war.

STROPHE I

_Chor._ I will accept this offered home with Pallas,
Nor will the city scorn,
Which e'en All-ruling Zeus
And Ares give as fortress of the Gods,
The altar-guarding pride of Gods of Hellas; 880
And I upon her call,
With kindly auguries,
That so the glorious splendour of the sun
May cause life's fairest portion in thick growth
*To burgeon from the earth.

_Athena._ Yea, I work with kindliest feeling
For these my townsmen, having settled
Powers great, and hard to soothe among them:
Unto them the lot is given,
All things human still to order; 890
He who hath not felt their pressure
Knows not whence life's scourges smite him:
For the sin of generations
Past and gone;—a dumb destroyer,—
Leads him on into their presence,
And with mood of foe low bringeth
Him whose lips are speaking proudly.

ANTISTROPHE I

_Chor._ Let no tree-blighting canker breathe on them,
(I tell of boon I give,)
Nor blaze of scorching heat,
That mars the budding eyes of nursling plants, 900
And checks their spreading o'er their narrow bounds;
And may no dark, drear plague
Smite it with barrenness.
But may Earth feed fair flock in season due,
Blest with twin births, and earth's rich produce pay
To the high heavenly Powers,
Its gift for treasure found.[541]

_Athena._ Hear ye then, ye city's guardians,
What she offers? Dread and mighty 910
With the Undying is Erinnys;
And with Those beneath the earth too,
And full clearly and completely
Work they all things out for mortals,
Giving these the songs of gladness,
Those a life bedimmed with weeping.

STROPHE II

_Chor._ Avaunt, all evil chance
That brings men low in death before their time!
And for the maidens lovely and beloved,
Give, ye whose work it is,
Life with a husband true,
And ye, O Powers of self-same mother born, 920
Ye Fates who rule aright,
Partners in every house,
Awe-striking through all time,
With presence full of righteousness and truth,
Through all the universe
Most honoured of the Gods!

_Athena._ Much I joy that thus ye promise
These boons to my land in kindness;
And I love the glance of Suasion,
That she guides my speech and accent
Unto these who gainsaid stoutly. 930
But the victory is won by
Zeus, the agora's protector;
And our rivalry in blessings
Is the conqueror evermore.

ANTISTROPHE II

_Chor._ For this too I will pray,
That Discord, never satiate with ill,
May never ravine in this commonwealth,
Nor dust that drinks dark blood
From veins of citizens,
Through eager thirst for vengeance, from the State
Snatch woes as penalty
For deeds of murderous guilt.
But may they give instead
With friendly purpose acts of kind intent, 940
And if need be, may hate
With minds of one accord;
For this is healing found to mortal men
Of many a grievous woe.

_Athena._ Are they not then waxing wiser,
And at last the path discerning
Of a speech more good and gentle?
Now from these strange forms and fearful,
See I to my townsmen coming,
E'en to these, great meed of profit;
For if ye, with kindly welcome,
Honour these as kind protectors,
Then shall ye be famed as keeping,
Just and upright in all dealings,
Land and city evermore.

STROPHE III

_Chor._ Rejoice, rejoice ye in abounding wealth,
Rejoice, ye citizens,
Dwelling near Zeus himself,[542] 950
Loved of the virgin Goddess whom ye loved,
In due time wise of heart,
You, 'neath the wings of Pallas ever staying,[543]
The Father honoureth.

_Athena._ Rejoice ye also, but before you
I must march to show your chambers,
By your escorts' torches holy;
Go, and with these dread oblations 960
Passing to the crypt cavernous,
Keep all harm from this our country,
Send all gain upon our city,
Cause it o'er its foes to triumph.
Lead ye on, ye sons of Cranaos,[544]
Lead, ye dwellers in the city,
Those who come to sojourn with you,
And may good gifts work good purpose
In my townsmen evermore!

ANTISTROPHE III

_Chor._ Rejoice, rejoice once more, ye habitants! 970
I say it yet again,
Ye Gods, and mortals too,
Who dwell in Pallas' city. Should ye treat
With reverence us who dwell
As sojourners among you, ye shall find
No cause to blame your lot.

_Athena._ I praise these words of yours, the prayers ye offer, And with the light of torches flashing fire, Will I escort you to your dark abode,[545] Low down beneath the earth, with my attendants, Who with due honour guard my statue here, For now shall issue forth the goodly eye Of all the land of Theseus; fair-famed troop 980 Of girls and women, band of matrons too, In upper vestments purple-dyed arrayed: *Now then advance ye; and the blaze of fire, Let it go forth, that so this company Stand forth propitious, henceforth and for aye, In rearing race of noblest citizens,

_Enter an array of women, young and old, in procession, leading the
Erinnyes—now, as propitiated, the Eumenides or Gentle Ones—to
their shrines_

_Chorus of Athenian women_

STROPHE I

Go to your home, ye great and jealous Ones,
Children of Night, and yet no children ye;[546]
With escort of good-will,
Shout, shout, ye townsmen, shout.

ANTISTROPHE I

There in the dark and gloomy caves of earth,
With worthy gifts and many a sacrifice 990
Consumèd in the fire—
Shout, shout ye, one and all.

STROPHE II

Come, come, with thought benign
Propitious to our land,
Ye dreaded Ones, yea, come,
While on your progress onward ye rejoice,
In the bright light of fire-devourèd torch;
Shout, shout ye to our songs.

ANTISTROPHE II

Let the drink-offerings come,
In order meet behind,
While torches fling their light;
*Zeus the All-seeing thus hath joined in league
*With Destiny for Pallas' citizens;
Shout, shout ye to our songs.

[_The procession winds its way_, ATHENA _at its head, then
the Eumenides, then the women, round the Areopagos
towards the ravine in which the dread Goddesses were
to find their sanctuary._

-----

Footnote 466:

The succession is, in part, accordant with that in the _Theogonia_ of
Hesiod (vv. 116-136), but the special characteristic of the Æschylean
form of the legend is that each change is a step in a due, rightful
succession, as by free gift, not accomplished (as in other narratives
of the same transition) by violence and wrong.

Footnote 467:

Phœbe, in the _Theogonia_, marries Coios, and becomes the mother of
Leto, or Latona, and so the grandmother of Apollo. The “birthday gift”
was commonly presented on the eighth day after birth, when the child
was named. The oracle is spoken of as such a gift to Apollo, as
bearing the name of Phœbos.

Footnote 468:

The sacred circular pool of Delos is the crater of an extinct volcano.
There Apollo was born, and thence he passed through Attica to
Parnassos, to take possession of the oracle, according to one form of
the myth, depriving Themis of it and slaying the dragon Python that
kept guard over it.

Footnote 469:

The people of Attica are thus named either as being mythically
descended from Erichthonios the son of Hephæstos, or as artificers,
who own him as their father. The words refer to the supposed origin of
the Sacred Road from Athens to Delphi, passing through Bœotia and
Phokis. When the Athenians sent envoys to consult the oracle they were
preceded by men bearing axes, in remembrance of the original
pioneering work which had been done for Apollo. The first work of
active civilisation was thus connected with the worship of the giver
of Light and Wisdom.

Footnote 470:

Delphos, the hero _Eponymos_ (name-giving) of Delphi, was honoured as
the son of Poseidon. Hence the Priestess invokes the latter as one of
the guardian deities of the shrine.

Footnote 471:

Pronaia, as having her shrine or statue in front of the temple of
Apollo.

Footnote 472:

The Korykian rock in Parnassos, as in Soph., _Antig._, v. 1128; known
also as the “Nymphs' cavern.”

Footnote 473:

Bromios, a name of Dionysos, embodying the special attributes of loud,
half-frenzied revelry.

Footnote 474:

In the legend which Euripides follows, Kithæron, not Parnassos, is the
scene of the death of Pentheus. He, it was said, opposed the wild or
frantic worship of the Pelasgic Bacchos, concealed himself that he
might behold the mysteries of the Mœnads, and was torn to pieces by
his mother and two others, on whose eyes the God had cast such glamour
that they took him for a wild beast. English readers may be referred
to Dean Milman's translation of the _Bacchanals_ of Euripides.

Footnote 475:

Pleistos, topographically, a river flowing through the vale of Delphi,
mythically the father of the nymphs of Korykos.

Footnote 476:

At one time the Oracle had been open to questioners once in the year
only, afterwards once a month. The pilgrims, after they had made their
offerings, cast lots, and the doors were opened to him to whom the lot
had fallen. Plutarch, _Qu. Græc._, p. 292.

Footnote 477:

The altar of the adytum, on the very centre, as men deemed, of the
whole earth. Zeus, it was said, had sent forth two eagles at the same
moment; one from the East and the other from the West, and here it was
that they had met. The stone was of white marble, and the two eagles
were sculptured on it. Strabo, ix. 3.

Footnote 478:

The priestess dwells upon the outward tokens, which showed that the
suppliant came as one whose need was specially urgent. On the ritual
of supplication generally comp. _Suppl._, vv. 22, 348, 641, Soph.,
_Œd. King_, v. 3; _Œd. Col._, vv. 469-489.

Footnote 479:

Æschylos apparently follows the _Theogonia_ of Hesiod, (l. 278), who
describes the Gorgons as three in number, daughters of Phorkys and
Keto, and bearing the names of Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa. The last
enters into the Perseus cycle of myths, as one of the monsters whom he
conquered, with a face once beautiful, but with her hair turned to
serpents by the wrath of Athena, and so dreadful to look upon that
those who gazed on her were turned to stone. When Perseus had slain
her, Athena placed her head in her ægis, and thus became the terror of
all who were foes to herself or her people. A wild legendary account
of them meets us in the _Prom. Bound_, v. 812. As works of art, the
Gorgon images are traceable to the earliest or Kyclopian period.

Footnote 480:

Here also we have a reference to a familiar subject of early Greek
art, probably to some painting familiar to an Athenian audience. The
name of Phineus indicates that the monstrous forms spoken of are those
of the Harpies, birds with women's faces, or women with birds' wings,
who were sent to vex the blind seer for his cruelty to the children of
his first marriage. Comp. Soph. _Antig._, v. 973. In the _Æneid_ they
appear (iii. 225) as dwelling in the Strophades, and harassing Æneas
and his companions.

Footnote 481:

The old image of Pallas, carved in olive-wood, as distinguished from
later sculpture.

Footnote 482:

The early code of hospitality bound the host, who as such had once
received a guest under the shelter of his roof, not to desert him,
even though he might discover afterwards that he had been guilty of
great crimes, but to escort him safely to the boundary of his
territory. Thus Apollo, as the host with whom Orestes had taken
refuge, sends Hermes, the escort God, to guide and defend him on his
way to Athens.

Footnote 483:

The thought that the highest wisdom came to men rather in “visions of
the night, when deep sleep falleth on men,” than through the waking
senses, which we have already met with in _Agam._, v. 173, is
traceable to the mysticism of Pythagoras, more distinctly perhaps to
that of Epimenides.

Footnote 484:

Wine, as in Soph. _Œd. Col._, vv. 100, 481, was rigidly excluded from
the _cultus_ of the Eumenides, and to them only as daughters of Night
were midnight sacrifices offered. We must not lose sight of the
thought thus implied, that Clytæmnestra had herself lived, after her
deed of guilt, in perpetual terror of the Erinnyes, seeking to soothe
them by her sacrifices.

Footnote 485:

The common rendering “in a dream” gives a sufficient meaning, and is,
of course, tenable enough. But there is a force in the repetition of
the same word, as in v. 116, which is thus lost, and which I have
endeavoured to preserve. The Erinnyes, thus impotent in their rage,
are as much mere dreamlike spectres as is the ghost of Clytæmnestra.

Footnote 486:

Here, as throughout Æschylos, the Olympian divinities are thought of
as new comers, thrusting from their thrones the whole Chthonian and
Titanic dynasty, Gods of the conquering Hellenes superseding those of
the Pelasgi.

Footnote 487:

The accumulation of horrid forms of cruelty had, probably, a special
significance for the Athenians. These punishments belonged to their
enemies, the Persians, not to the Hellenic race, and the poet's
purpose was to rekindle patriotic feeling by dwelling on their
barbarity, as in _Agam._, v. 894, he points in like manner to their
haughtiness and luxury.

Footnote 488:

The argument of the Erinnyes is, to some extent, like that of the
Antigone of Sophocles (_Antig._, 909-913), and the wife of Intaphernes
(Herod. iii. 119). The tie which binds the husband to the wife is less
sacred than that between the mother and the son. This, therefore,
brings on the slayer the guilt of blood of kin, while murder in the
other case is reduced to simple homicide. Orestes therefore was not
justified in perpetrating the greater crime as a retribution for the
less. Apollo, in meeting this plea, asserts the sacredness of the
marriage bond as standing on the same level as that of consanguinity.

Footnote 489:

The ideal interval of time between the two parts of the drama is left
undefined, but it would seem from vv. 230, 274-6, and 429, to have
been long enough to have allowed of many wanderings to sacred places,
Orestes does not go straight from Delphi to Athens. He appears now,
not as before dripping and besmeared with blood, but with hands and
garments purified.

Footnote 490:

The story of Adrastos and Crœsos in Herod. i. 35, illustrates the
gradual purification of which Orestes speaks. The penitent who has the
stain of blood-guiltiness upon him comes to the king, and the king, as
his host, performs the lustral rites for him. Here Orestes urges that
he has been received at many homes, and gone through many such
lustrations. He has been cleansed from the pollution of sin: what he
now seeks, to use the terminology of a later system, is a forensic
justification.

Footnote 491:

_Sc._, the scent of blood, which, though no longer visible to the eyes
of men, still lingers round him and is perceptible to his pursuers.

Footnote 492:

Here, too, we trace the political bearing of the play. In the year
when it was produced (B.C. 458) an alliance with Argos was the
favourite measure of the more conservative party at Athens.

Footnote 493:

The names Triton and Tritonis, wherever found in classical geography
(Libya, Crete, Thessaly, Bœotia), are always connected with the legend
that Athena was born there. Probably both name and legend were carried
from Greece to Libya, and then amalgamated with the indigenous local
worship of a warlike goddess. Hesiod (iv. 180, 188) connects the
Libyan lake with the legend of Jason and Argonauts.

Footnote 494:

In the war with the giants fought in the Phlegræan plains (the
volcanic district of Campania) Athena had helped her father Zeus by
her wise counsel, and was honoured there as keeping in check the
destructive Titanic forces which had been so subdued, burying
Enkelados, _e.g._, in Sicily. The “friends” are her Libyan
worshippers. The passage is interesting, as showing the extent of
Æschylos's acquaintance with the African and Italian coasts of the
Mediterranean.

Footnote 495:

The Choral ode here is brought in as an incantation. This weapon is to
succeed where others have failed, and this too, the frenzy which
seizes the soul in the remembrance of its past transgression, is
soothed and banished by Athena.

Footnote 496:

White, as the special colour of festal joy, was not used in the
worship of the Erinnyes.

Footnote 497:

Another rendering gives—

“To dim the bright hue of the fresh-shed blood.”

Footnote 498:

The thought which underlies the obscurity of a corrupt passage seems
to be that, as they relieve the Gods from the task of being avengers
of blood, all that the Gods on their side can legitimately do against
them is to render powerless the prayers for vengeance offered by the
kindred of the slain. Their very isolation, as Chthonian deities, from
the Gods of Olympos should protect them from open conflict. But an
alternative rendering of the second line gives, perhaps, a better
meaning—

“And by the prayers men offer unto me
Work freedom for the Gods;”

_i.e._, by being the appointed receivers of such prayers for
vengeance, they leave the Gods free for a higher and serener life.

Footnote 499:

Perhaps, “With torch of sunless gloom.”

Footnote 500:

The words contain an allusion to the dispute between Athens and
Mitylene in the time of Peisistratos, as to the possession of Sigeion.
Athena asserts that it had been given to her by the whole body of
Achæans at the time when they had taken Troïa. Comp. Herod. vv. 94,
95. It probably entered into the political purposes of the play to
excite the Athenians to a war in this direction, so as to draw them
off from the constitutional changes proposed by Pericles and
Ephialtes.

Footnote 501:

Here, and throughout the trial, we have to bear in mind the
technicalities of Athenian judicial procedure. The prosecutor, in the
first instance, tendered to the accused an oath that he was not
guilty. This he might accept or refuse. In the latter case, the course
of the trial was at least stopped, and judgment might be recorded
against him. If he could bring himself to accept it, he was acquitted
of the special charge of which he was accused, but he was liable to a
prosecution afterwards for that perjury. If, on the other hand, he
tendered an oath affirming his guilt to the prosecutor, he placed
himself in his hands. Orestes, not being able to deny the fact, will
not declare on oath that he is “not guilty,” but neither will he place
himself in the power of his accusers. The peculiarities of this use of
oaths were: (1) That they were taken by the parties to the suit, not
by the witnesses. (2) That if both parties agreed to that mode of
decision, the oath was either way decisive. An allusion to the latter
practice is found in Heb. vi. 16, and traces of it are found in the
law-proceedings of Scotland. If either party refused, the cause had to
be tried in the usual way, and witnesses were called.

Footnote 502:

Æschylos seems here to attach himself to the principles of those who
were seeking to reform the practice described in the previous note as
being at once cumbrous and unjust, throwing its weight into the scale
of the least scrupulous conscience, and to urge a simpler, more
straightforward trial. The same objection is noticed by Aristotle in
his discussion of the subject. (_Rhet._ i. 15.)

Footnote 503:

Athena offers herself, not as arbitrator or sovereign judge, but as
presiding over the court of jurors whom she proceeds to appoint.

Footnote 504:

Ixion appeared in the mythical history of Greece as the prototype of
all suppliants for purification. When he had murdered Deioneus, Zeus
had had compassion to him, received him as a guest, cleansed him from
his guilt. His ingratitude for this service was the special guilt of
his attempted outrage upon Hera. The case is mentioned again in v.
687.

Footnote 505:

In heathen, as in Jewish sacrifices, the blood was the very instrument
of purification. It was sprinkled or poured upon men, and they became
clean. But this could not be done by the criminal himself, nor by any
chance person. The service had to be rendered by a friend, who of very
love gave himself to this mediatorial work.

Footnote 506:

In the legend related by Pausanias (_Corinth._, c. 3), Trœzen was the
first place where Orestes was thus received, and in his time the
descendants of those who had thus helped held periodical feasts in
commemoration of it.

Footnote 507:

The course which Athena takes is: (1) to receive Orestes as a settler
with the rights which attached to such persons on Athenian soil, not a
criminal fugitive to be simply surrendered; (2) to offer to the
Erinnyes, as being too important to be put out of court, a fair and
open trial; (3) to acknowledge that he and they are equally
“blameless,” as far as she is concerned. She has no complaint to make
of them.

Footnote 508:

The red blight of vines and wheat was looked on as caused by drops of
blood which the Erinnyes had let fall.

Footnote 509:

Stress is laid on the fact that the judges of the Areopagos, in
contrast with those of the inferior tribunes of Athens, discharged
their duty under the sanction of an oath.

Footnote 510:

Perhaps

“And each from each shall learn, as he predicts
His neighbour's ills, that he
Shares in the same and harbours them, and speaks,
Poor wretch, of cures that fail.”

Footnote 511:

At a more advanced period of human thought, Cicero (_Orat. pro
Roscio_, c. 24) could point to the “thoughts that accuse each other,”
the horror and remorse of the criminal, as the true Erinnyes, the
“assiduæ domesticæque Furiæ.” Æschylos clings to the mythical
symbolism as indispensable for the preservation of the truth which it
shadowed forth.

Footnote 512:

Once again we have the poet of constitutional conservatism keeping the
_via media_ between Peisistratos and Pericles.

Footnote 513:

The Tyrrhenian trumpet, with its bent and twisted tube, retained its
proverbial pre-eminence from the days of Æschylos and Sophocles
(_Aias_, 17) to those of Virgil (_Æn._, viii. 526).

Footnote 514:

The fondness of the Athenians for litigation, and the large share
which every citizen took in the administration of justice, would
probably make the scene which follows, with all its technicalities,
the part of the play into which they would most enter.

Footnote 515:

It was necessary that some one, sitting as President of the Court,
should formally open the pleadings, by calling on this side or that to
begin. Here Athena takes that office on herself, and calls on the
Erinnyes.

Footnote 516:

The technicalities of the Areopagos are still kept up. The three
points on which the Erinnyes, as prosecutors, lay stress are: (1) the
fact of the murder; (2) the mode; (3) the motive. “Three bouts,” as
referring to the rule of the arena, that three struggles for the
mastery should be decisive.

Footnote 517:

The pleas put in by the Erinnyes as prosecutors are: (1) That
Clytæmnestra had been adequately punished by her death, while Orestes
was still alive; and (2) when asked why they had not intervened to
bring about that punishment, that the relationship between husband and
wife was less close than that between mother and son. They drew, in
other words, a distinction between consanguinity and affinity, and
upon this the rest of the discussion turns. Orestes, and Apollo as his
counsel, on the other hand, meet this with the rejoinder, that there
is no blood-relationship between the mother and her offspring.

Footnote 518:

_Sc._ Their oath to give a verdict according to the evidence must
yield to the higher obligation of following the Divine will rather
than the letter of the law.

Footnote 519:

To have died in health by the arrows of a woman-warrior might have
been borne. To be slain by a wife treacherously in his bath was to
endure a far worse outrage.

Footnote 520:

In this new argument, and the answer to it, we may trace, as in the
_Prometheus_ and the _Agamemnon_, the struggles of the questioning
intellect against the more startling elements of the popular religious
belief. Zeus is worshipped as the supreme Lord, yet His dominion seems
founded on might as opposed to goodness, on the unrighteous expulsion
of another. Here, in Apollo's answer, there is a glimmer of a possible
reconciliation. The old and the new, the sovereignty of Cronos and
that of Zeus may be reconciled, and one supreme God be “all in all.”

Footnote 521:

Comp. the thought and language of the _Suppliants_, v. 93.

Footnote 522:

The last argument is, that the acquittal can be, at the best, partial
only, not complete; formal, not real. There would remain for ever the
pollution which would exclude Orestes from the _Phratria_, the
clan-brotherhood, by which, as by a sacramental bond, all the members
were held together.

Footnote 523:

The question seems to have been one of those which occupied men's
minds in their first gropings towards the mysteries of man's physical
life, and both popular metaphors and primary impressions were in
favour of the hypothesis here maintained. Euripides (_Orest._, v. 534)
puts the same argument into the mouth of Orestes.

Footnote 524:

The story of Athena's birth, full-grown, from the head of Zeus, is
next referred to as the leading case bearing on the point at issue.

Footnote 525:

Here, of course, the political interest of the whole drama reached its
highest point. What seems comparatively flat to us must, to the
thousands who sat as spectators, have been fraught with the most
intense excitement, showing itself in shouts of applause, or audible
tokens of clamorous dissent. The rivalry of Whigs and Tories over
Addison's _Cato_, the sensation produced in times of Papal aggression
by the king's answer to Pandulph in _King John_, presents analogies
which are worth remembering.

Footnote 526:

The story ran that the tribe of women warriors from the Caucasos, or
the Thermodon, known by this name, had invaded Attica under Oreithyia,
when Theseus was king, to revenge the wrongs he had done them, and to
recover her sister Hippolyta. Ares, the God of Thrakians, Skythians,
and nearly all the wilder barbaric tribes, was their special deity;
and when they occupied the hill which rose over against the Acropolis,
they sacrificed to him, and so it gained the name of the _Areopagos_,
or “hill of Ares.”

Footnote 527:

As in the _Agamemnon_ (v. 1010), so here we find the aristocratic
conservative poet showing his colours, protesting against the
admission to the Archonship, and therefore to the Areopagos, of men of
low birth or in undignified employments.

Footnote 528:

The words, like all political clap-trap, are somewhat vague; but, as
understood at the time, the “lawless” policy alluded to was that of
Pericles and Ephialtes, who sought to deface and to diminish the
jurisdiction of the Areopagos, and the “tyrannical,” that which had
crushed the independence of Athens under Peisistratos. Between the two
was the conservative party, of which Kimon had been the leader.

Footnote 529:

The Skythians may be named simply as representing all barbarous,
non-Hellenic races; but they appear, about this time, wild and nomadic
as their life was, to have impressed the minds of the Greeks somewhat
in the same way as the Germans did the minds of the Romans in the time
of Tacitus. Tales floated from travellers' lips of their wisdom and
their happiness—of sages like Zamolxis and Aristarchos, who rivalled
those of Hellas—of the Hyperborei, in the far north, who enjoyed a
perpetual and unequalled blessedness.—Comp. _Libation-Pourers_, v.
366.

Footnote 530:

Two topics of praise are briefly touched on: (1) the lower, popular
courts of justice at Athens might be open to the suspicion of
corruption, but no breath of slander had ever tainted the fame of the
Areopagos; (2) it met by night, keeping its watch, that the citizens
might sleep in peace.

Footnote 531:

The first of the twelve jurymen rises and drops his voting-ballot into
one of the urns, and is followed by another at the end of each of the
short two-line speeches in the dialogue that follows. The two urns of
acquittal and condemnation stand in front of them. The plan of voting
with different coloured balls (black and white) in the same urn, was a
later usage.

Footnote 532:

Compare note on v. 419.

Footnote 533:

In the legend of Admetos son of Pheres, and king of Pheræ in
Thessalia, Apollo is represented as having first given wine to the
Destinies, and then persuaded them to allow Admetos, whenever the hour
of death should come, to be redeemed from Hades, if father, or mother,
or wife were willing to die for him. The self-surrender of his wife,
Alkestis, for this purpose, forms the subject of the noblest of the
tragedies of Euripides.

Footnote 534:

Partly as setting at nought the power of Erinnyes and the Destinies,
partly as giving wine to those whose libations were wineless.—Comp.
Sophocles, _Œd. Col._ v. 100.

Footnote 535:

The practice of the Areopagos is accurately reproduced. When the votes
of the judges were equal a casting vote was given in favour of the
accused, and was known as that of Athena.

Footnote 536:

Another reading gives—

“By spurting from your throats those venom drops.”

Footnote 537:

The conservative poet enters his protest through the Erinnyes against
the innovating spirit that looked with contempt upon the principles of
a past age.

Footnote 538:

Cock-fighting took its place among the recognised sports of the
Athenians. Once a year there was a public performance in the theatre.

Footnote 539:

The Temple of the Eumenides or Semnæ (“venerable ones”) stood near the
Areopagos.

Footnote 540:

Some two or three lines have probably been lost here.

Footnote 541:

Probably an allusion to the silver-mine at Laureion, which about the
time formed a large element of the revenues of Athens, and of which a
tithe was consecrated to Athena.

Footnote 542:

Reference is made to another local sanctuary, the temple on the
Areopagos dedicated to the Olympian Zeus.

Footnote 543:

The figure of Athena, as identical with Victory, and so the tutelary
Goddess of Athens, was sculptured with out-spread wings.

Footnote 544:

Cranaos, the son of Kecrops, the mythical founder of Athens.

Footnote 545:

The sanctuaries of the Eumenides were crypt-like chapels, where they
were worshipped by the light of lamps or torches.

Footnote 546:

Perhaps, “Children of Night, yourselves all childless left.”

FRAGMENTS

38
APHRODITE _loquitur_

The pure, bright heaven still yearns to blend with earth, And earth is filled with love for marriage-rites, And from the kindly sky the rain-shower falls And fertilises earth, and earth for men Yields grass for sheep, and corn, Demêter's gift; And from its wedlock with the South the fruit Is ripened in its season; and of this, All this, I am the cause accessory.

123

So, in the Libyan fables, it is told That once an eagle, stricken with a dart, Said, when he saw the fashion of the shaft, “With our own feathers, not by others' hands, Are we now smitten.”

147

Of all the Gods, Death only craves not gifts: Nor sacrifice, nor yet drink-offering poured Avails; no altars hath he, nor is soothed By hymns of praise. From him alone of all The powers of Heaven Persuasion holds aloof.

151

When 'tis God's will to bring an utter doom Upon a house, He first in mortal men Implants what works it out.

162

The words of Truth are ever simplest found.

163

What good is found in life that still brings pain?

174

To many mortals silence great gain brings.

229

O Death the Healer, scorn thou not, I pray, To come to me: of cureless ills thou art The one physician. Pain lays not its touch Upon a corpse.

230

When the wind Nor suffers us to leave the port, nor stay.

243

And if thou wish to benefit the dead, 'Tis all as one as if thou injured'st them, And they nor sorrow nor delight can feel: Yet higher than we are is Nemesis, And Justice taketh vengeance for the dead.

266

THETIS _on the death of Achilles_

Life free from sickness, and of many years, And in a word a fortune like to theirs Whom the Gods love, all this He spake to me As pæan-hymn, and made my heart full glad: And I full fondly trusted Phœbos' lips As holy and from falsehood free, of art Oracular an ever-flowing spring, And He who sang this, He who at the feast Being present, spake these things,—yea, He it is That slew my son.

267

The man who does ill, ill must suffer too.

268

Evil on mortals comes full swift of foot, And guilt on him who doth the right transgress.

269

Thou see'st a vengeance voiceless and unseen For one who sleeps or walks or sits at ease: It takes its course obliquely, here to-day, And there to-morrow. Nor does night conceal Men's deeds of ill, but whatsoe'er thou dost, Think that some God beholds it.

270

“All have their chance:” good proverb for the rich.

271

Wise is the man who knows what profiteth, Not he who knoweth much.

272

Full grievous burden is a prosperous fool.

272A

From a just fraud God turneth not away.

273

There is a time when God doth falsehood prize.

274

The polished brass is mirror of the form, Wine of the soul.

275

Words are the parents of a causeless wrath.

276

Men credit gain for oaths, not oaths for them.

277

God ever works with those that work with will.

278

Wisdom to learn is e'en for old men good.

281

The base who prosper are intolerable.

282

The seed of mortals broods o'er passing things, And hath nought surer than the smoke-cloud's shadow.

283

Old age hath stronger sense of right than youth.

286

Yet though a man gets many wounds in breast, He dieth not, unless the appointed time, The limit of his life's span, coincide; Nor does the man who by the hearth at home Sits still, escape the doom that Fate decrees.

287

How far from just the hate men bear to death, Which comes as safeguard against many ills.

288

_To_ FORTUNE

Thou did'st beget me; thou too, as it seems, Wilt now destroy me.

289

The fire-moth's silly death is that I fear.

290

I by experience know the race full well That dwells in Æthiop land, where seven-mouthed Nile Rolls o'er the land with winds that bring the rain, What time the fiery sun upon the earth Pours its hot rays, and melts the snow till then Hard as the rocks; and all the fertile soil Of Egypt, filled with that pure-flowing stream, Brings forth Demêter's ears that feed our life.

291

This hoopoo, witness of its own dire ills, He hath in varied garb set forth, and shows In full array that bold bird of the rocks Which, when the spring first comes, unfurls a wing Like that of white-plumed kite; for on one breast It shows two forms, its own and eke its child's, And when the corn grows gold, in autumn's prime, A dappled plumage all its form will clothe; And ever in its hate of these 'twill go Far off to lonely thickets or bare rocks.

292

Still to the sufferer comes, as due from God, A glory that to suffering owes its birth.

293

The air is Zeus, Zeus earth, and Zeus the heaven, Zeus all that is, and what transcends them all.

294

Take courage; pain's extremity soon ends.

298

When Strength and Justice are true yoke-fellows, Where can be found a mightier pair than they?

RHYMED CHORUSES

AGAMEMNON

VERSES 40-248

Nine weary years are gone and spent
Since Menelaos' armament
Sped forth, on work of vengeance bent,
For Priam's guilty land;
And with him Agamemnon there
Throne, sceptre, army all did share;
And so from Zeus the Atreidæ bear,
Their twofold high command.
They a fleet of thousand sail,
Strong in battle to prevail,
Led from out our Argive coast,
Shouting war-cries to the host;
E'en as vultures do that utter
Shrillest screams as round they flutter,
Grieving for their nestlings lost,
Plying still their oary wings
In many lonely wanderings,
Robbed of all the sweet unrest
That bound them to their young ones' nest.
And One on high of solemn state,
Apollo, Pan, or Zeus the great,
When he hears that shrill wild cry
Of his clients in the sky,
On them, the godless who offend,
Erinnys slow and sure doth send.
So 'gainst Alexandros then
The sons of Atreus, chiefs of men,
Zeus sent to work his high behest,
True guardian of the host and guest.
He, for bride of many a groom,
On Danai, Troïans sendeth doom,
Many wrestlings, sinew-trying
Of the knee in dust down-lying,
Many a spear-shaft snapt asunder
In the prelude of war's thunder.
What shall be, shall, and still we see
Fulfilled is destiny's decree.
Nor by tears in secret shed,
Nor by offerings o'er the dead,
Will he soothe God's vengeful ire
For altar hearths despoiled of fire.

And we with age outworn and spent
Are left behind that armament,
With head upon our staff low bent.
Weak our strength like that of boy;
Youth's life-blood, in its bounding joy,
For deeds of might is like to age,
And knows not yet war's heritage:
And the man whom many a year
Hath bowed in withered age and sere,
As with three feet creepeth on,
Like phantom form of day-dream gone
Not stronger than his infant son.

And now, O Queen, who tak'st thy name
From Tyndareus of ancient fame,
Our Clytæmnestra whom we own
As rightly sharing Argos' throne!
What tidings joyous hast thou heard,
Token true or flattering word,
That thou send'st to every shrine
Solemn pomp in stately line,—
Shrines of Gods who reign in light,
Or those who dwell in central night,
Who in Heaven for aye abide,
Or o'er the Agora preside.
Lo, thy gifts on altars blaze,
And here and there through heaven's wide ways
The torches fling their fiery rays,
Fed by soft and suasive spell
Of the clear oil, flowing well
From the royal treasure-cell.
Telling what of this thou may,
All that's meet to us to say,
Do thou our haunting cares allay,
Cares which now bring sore distress,
While now bright hope, with power to bless,
From out the sacrifice appears,
And wardeth off our restless fears,
The boding sense of coming fate,
That makes the spirit desolate.

STROPHE I

Yes, it is mine to tell
What omens to our leaders then befell,
Giving new strength for war,
(For still though travelled far
In life, by God's great gift to us belong
The suasive powers of song,)
To tell how those who bear
O'er all Achæans sway in equal share,
Ruling in one accord
The youth of Hellas that own each as lord,
Were sent with mighty host
By mighty birds against the Troïan coast,
Kings of the air to kings of men appearing
Near to the palace, on the right hand veering;
On spot seen far and near,
They with their talons tear
A pregnant hare with all her unborn young,
All her life's course in death's deep darkness flung.
Oh raise the bitter cry, the bitter wail;
Yet pray that good prevail!

ANTISTROPHE I

And then the host's wise seer
Stood gazing on the Atreidæ standing near,
Of diverse mood, and knew
Those who the poor hare slew,
And those who led the host with shield and spear,
And spake his omens clear:
“One day this host shall go,
And Priam's city in the dust lay low,
And all the kine and sheep
Countless, which they before their high towers keep,
Fate shall with might destroy:
Only take heed that no curse mar your joy,
Nor blunt the edge of curb that Troïa waiteth,
Smitten too soon, for Artemis still hateth
The wingèd hounds that own
Her father on his throne,
Who slay the mother with the young unborn,
And looks upon the eagle's feast with scorn.
Ah! raise the bitter cry, the bitter wail;
Yet pray that good prevail.

EPODE

For she, the Fair One, though her mercy shields The lion's whelps, like dew-drops newly shed, And yeanling young of beasts that roam the fields, Yet prays her sire fulfil these omens dread, The good, the evil too. And now I call on him, our Healer true, Lest she upon the Danai send delays That keep our ships through many weary days, Urging a new strange rite, Unblest alike by man and God's high law, Evil close clinging, working sore despite, Marring a wife's true awe. For still there lies in wait, Fearful and ever new, Watching the hour its eager thirst to sate, Vengeance on those who helpless infants slew.” Such things, ill mixed with good, great Calchas spake, As destined by the birds' strange auguries; And we too now our echoing answer make In loud and woeful cries: Oh raise the bitter cry, the bitter wail; Yet pray that good prevail.

STROPHE II

O Zeus, whoe'er Thou be,
If that name please thee well,
By that I call on Thee;
For weighing all things else I fail to tell
Of any name but Zeus;
If once for all I seek
Of all my haunting, troubled thoughts a truce,
That name I still must speak.

ANTISTROPHE II

For He who once was great,
Full of the might to war,
Hath lost his high estate;
And He who followed now is driven afar,
Meeting his Master too:
But if one humbly pay
With 'bated breath to Zeus his honour due,
He walks in wisdom's way,—

STROPHE III

To Zeus, who men in wisdom's path doth train, Who to our mortal race Hath given the fixèd law that pain is gain; For still through his high grace True counsel falleth on the heart like dew, In deep sleep of the night, The boding thoughts that out of ill deeds grew; This too They work who sit enthronèd in their might.

ANTISTROPHE III

And then the elder leader of great fame Who ruled the Achæans' ships, Not bold enough a holy seer to blame With words from reckless lips, But tempered to the fate that on him fell;— And when the host was vexed With tarryings long, scant stores, and surging swell, Chalkis still far off seen, and baffled hopes perplexed;

STROPHE IV

And stormy blasts that down from Strymon sweep, And breed sore famine with the long delay, Hurl forth our men upon the homeless deep On many a wandering way, Sparing nor ships, nor ropes, nor sailing gear, Doubling the weary months, and vexing still The Argive host with fear. Then when as mightier charm for that dread ill, Hard for our ships to bear, From the seer's lips did “Artemis” resound, The Atreidæ smote their staves upon the ground, And with no power to check, shed many a bitter tear.

ANTISTROPHE IV

And then the elder of the chiefs thus cried: “Great woe it is the Gods to disobey; Great woe if I my child, my home's fond pride, With my own hands must slay, Polluting with the streams of maiden's blood A father's hands, the holy altar near. Which course hath least of good? How can I loss of ships and comrades bear? Right well may men desire, With craving strong, the blood of maiden pure As charm to lull the winds and calm ensure; Ah, may there come the good to which our hopes aspire!”

STROPHE V

Then, when he his spirit proud
To the yoke of doom had bowed,
While the blasts of altered mood
O'er his soul swept like a flood,
Reckless, godless and unblest;
Thence new thoughts upon him pressed,
Thoughts of evil, frenzied daring,
(Still doth passion, base guile sharing,
Mother of all evil, hold
The power to make men bad and bold,)
And he brought himself to slay
His daughter, as on solemn day,
Victim slain the ship to save,
When for false wife fought the brave.

ANTISTROPHE V

All her cries and loud acclaim,
Calling on her father's name,—
All her beauty fresh and fair,
They heeded not in their despair,
Their eager lust for conflict there.
And her sire the attendants bade
To lift her, when the prayer was said,
Above the altar like a kid,
Her face and form in thick veil hid;
Yea, with ruthless heart and bold,
O'er her gracious lips to hold
Their watch, and with the gag's dumb pain
From evil-boding words restrain.

STROPHE VI

And then upon the ground
Pouring the golden streams of saffron veil,
She cast a glance around
That told its piteous tale,
At each of those who stood prepared to slay,
Fair as the form by skilful artist drawn,
And wishing, all in vain, her thoughts to say;
For oft of old in maiden youth's first dawn,
Within her father's hall,
Her voice to song did call,
To chant the praises of her sire's high state,
His fame, thrice blest of Heaven, to celebrate.
What then ensued mine eyes
Saw not, nor may I tell, but not in vain
The arts of Calchas wise;
For justice sends again,
The lesson “pain is gain” for them to learn:
But for our piteous fate since help is none,
With voice that bids “Good-bye,” we from it turn
Ere yet it come, and this is all as one
With weeping ere the hour,
For soon will come in power
To-morrow's dawn, and good luck with it come!
So speaks the guardian of this Apian home.

VERSES 346-471

O great and sovran Zeus, O Night,
Great in glory, great in might,
Who round Troïa's towers hast set,
Enclosing all, thy close-meshed net,
So that neither small nor great
Can o'erleap the bondslave's fate,
Or woe that maketh desolate;
Zeus, the God of host and guest,
Worker of all this confessed,
He by me shall still be blest.
Long since, 'gainst Alexandros He
Took aim with bow that none may flee,
That so his arrows onward driven,
Nor miss their mark, nor pierce the heaven.

STROPHE I

Yes, they lie smitten low, If so one dare to speak, by stroke of Zeus; Well one may trace the blow; The doom that He decreed their soul subdues. And though there be that say The Gods for mortal men care not at all, Though they with reckless feet tread holiest way, These none will godly call. Now is it to the children's children clear Of those who, overbold, More than was meet, breathed Discord's spirit drear; While yet their houses all rich store did hold Beyond the perfect mean. Ah! may my lot be free from all that harms, My soul may nothing wean From calm contentment with her tranquil charms; For nought is there in wealth That serves as bulwark 'gainst the subtle stealth Of Destiny and Doom, For one who, in the pride of wanton mood, Spurns the great altar of the Right and Good.

ANTISTROPHE I