Chapter XII: The Lay Authors (3)

[46\12: _O._ ii celebrates the victory which Theron had won at Olympia in _Ol._ 76, but was probably written some time after that victory. Theron died _Ol._ 77, 1, or 76, 4.]

[47\12: Sicily was rich in cults of ~chtho/nioi~, in which Gelon, Hieron and their ancestors were hierophants, Hdt. vii, 153; Pi., _O._ vi, 95. So, too, Akragas the city of Theron (and the home of Empedoldes which also is not without its importance) was ~Phersepho/nas he/dos~, Pi., _P._ xii, 2, having been given by Zeus to Persephone on her marriage, Sch. Pi., _O._ ii, 16 (as also had, in addition to other cities, Pindar's native city Thebes, Euphorion, _fr._ 48; cf. Eur., _Phoen._ 684 ff. Theron's family traced its descent from Eteokles the son of Oedipus). It is very possible that the hopes of a blessed immortality of the soul such as were fostered in many ways in the cult of the ~chtho/nioi~ and particularly in that of Persephone, should have been familiar to Theron from such a cult and attractive to him.]

[48\12: The theological character of much of Pindar's work makes knowledge of mystic doctrine not surprising in him. In _fr._ 137 he speaks of the Eleusinia (to which he otherwise owes nothing). In _fr._ 131, though the words are unfortunately most corrupt and probably contain lacunae as they have been transmitted, he speaks of the "releasing Initiations", ~olbi/a d' ha/pantes ai=sa lusi/ponon _teleta/n_~--this is the form of the words required by the metre (dactylo-epitritic), and thus (not ~teleuta/n~) they appear in Plu., _Cons. Apoll._ 35, p. 120 D, and also in cod. Vatic. 139 (which I have collated).]

[49\12: _IG._ xiv = _IG. Sic. et It._, 641, 1-2-3. [Harrison-Murray, _Prolegom._ 661 ff.; _Vors._ 66 B, 18, 19.]--The inscription of the oldest of these poems belongs to the fourth century B.C. The verses can, however, be cited here because the original or rather the two originals upon which the poems are modelled were older than the oldest of the three surviving inscr. (which itself shows serious corruption of the primitive text); and nothing prevents us from supposing that the original forms of these verses go to the fifth century.--The common ancestor of versions 2 and 3 is not derived from version 1, even in the parts in which it agrees with that version, but from a still older original.--Acc. to Dieterich, _Nekyia_ 128 f., 135 f., the lines are taken from a poem of _Orpheus'_ descent to Hades; but of this they themselves offer not the slightest suggestion.]

[50\12: The feminine ~e/rchomai ek katharô=n kathara/~--and also ~nu=n d' hike/tis hêkô~ (though this indeed is metrically impossible) _IG._ xiv, 641, 2, l. 6--refers probably to the ~psuchê/~ and not to the sex of the dead person as though a woman were speaking in all three cases. Moreover, in {448} No. 1, 9, Persephone speaks as though to a man ~o/lbie kai\ makariste/, theo\s d' e/sê| anti\ brotoi=o~.]

[51\12: l. 1, ~e/rchomai ek katharô=n kathara/, chthoni/ôn basi/leia~. This is certainly the right punctuation (and is given by the editors), and not Hofmann's ~ek katharô=n, kathara\ chth. b.~ "Pure and born of the pure" (referring to the immediate parents of the dead: more distant ancestry would be expressed by ~apo/~); cf. ~ka/kistos kak kakô=n~, etc. (Nauck on Soph., _OT._ 1397; _Ph._ 874); ~agathoi\ ex agathô=n o/ntes~, Andoc., _M._ 109.]

[52\12: The parents are ~katharoi/~, the soul of the dead ~kathara/~, simply as being "purified", "sanctified", in ~teletai/~ of the ~chtho/nioi~. In the same way, elsewhere, the Mystai are ~ho/sioi~ "the pure": see above, chap. vi, n. 18.]

[53\12: ~kai\ ga\r egô\n humô=n ge/nos o/lbion eu/chomai ei=men~--so in all three versions.]

[54\12: ~alla/ me moi=r' eda/masse kai\ asteropê=ta keraunô=n~ (particip.): so in the original to which the readings of three versions point, as restored by O. Hofmann in _GDI._ 1654. ~asteroblê=ta~ is in No. 1--this might simply = ~asteropoblê=ta~, but it may only have been substituted by mistake for ~asteropê=ta ( = asteropêtê/s~ of Homer). The line in this form occurs in No. 1, 4. Versions 2 and 3 have ~_ei/te_ me moi=r' eda/mass' _ei/t'_ astropê=ta keraunô=n~. But the dead had no _choice_ between natural death (for this is what ~moi=ra~ must mean as contrasted with death by the thunderbolt) and death by being struck by lightning; one or other of the two (or more) forms of death must in actual fact have occurred. In this embarrassment--for death by lightning is not a very frequent occurrence--the ancient verse was altered in such a way that it might refer also to one who had died a natural death. The attempt was indeed not a great success. Originally death by lightning can alone have been mentioned (as in No. 1) and the original form of the lines must have referred to someone who had actually perished in this way. The dead person was then immediately regarded as sanctified simply on account of the method of his death; he became a ~_hiero\s_ nekro/s~ translated to a higher and continued life: see above, chap. ix, n. 127, and Appendix i. This is the only interpretation of the lines which gives any point to the introduction here of this peculiar manner of death--one who has been thus translated out of life will certainly now be ~theo\s anti\ brotoi=o~.]

[55\12: ~ku/klos tê=s gene/seôs~, rota fati, etc. Lob., _Agl._ 798 ff.]

[56\12: ~himertou= d' epe/ban stepha/nou posi\ karpali/moisi, Despoi/nas d' hupo\ ko/lpon e/dun chthoni/as basilei/as~, No. 1, 6-7. The ~ste/phanos~ will probably be the sacred precinct, the enclosure that surrounds the realm of Persephone, as Dieterich, _De hymn. Orph._ 35, very plausibly suggests.]

[57\12: See Appendix xi.]

[58\12: ~hô/s me pro/phrôn pe/mpsê| he/dras es euage/ôn~. The ~he/drai euage/ôn~ correspond to the ~chô=ros eusebô=n~ of other poets and mythologists. But the strange phrase does also contain an allusion to the fact that this paradise of the "pure" is specially reserved for the initiates of the mysteries. The ~euagê/s~, the man untouched by any ~a/gos~, is ~ho/sios (ho/sios e/stô kai\ euagê/s~ law ap. And., _M._ 96): ~euagei=n = hosiou=n~ in an ins. from Ialysos in Rhodes, _IGM. Aeg._ i, 677. Ordinary non-religious language also preserves the original meaning of the word: it frequently means (in contrast to ~skotô/dês~ and the like) "bright, pure, clean" (and in places, too, where it is customary to insert without good reason ~euaugê/s~, following the ex. of Hemsterh. on Eur., _Suppl._ 662).]

[59\12: The similarity with the stages of the reward given to the good in Pindar is obvious: ~chô=ros eusebô=n~ in Hades; then and not till then {449} escape from the underworld and from human life as well. The only difference is that in Pi. the soul's final end is to become a ~hê/rôs~ while here it becomes ~theo/s~.]

[60\12: _IG._ xiv, 642.]

[61\12: id. 641, 1, v, 10, ~e/riphos es ga/l' e/peton~. 642, 4, ~theo\s ege/nou ex anthrô/pou. e/riphos es ga/la e/petes~. The conjunction of the two phrases in 642 shows that "As a kid I fell into the milk" is a condition of "I became a God". We may certainly recognize in the phrase a ~su/nthêma~ or ~su/mbolon~ of the Mystai like those usual in other secret initiatory rites--~ek tumpa/nou ephagon ktl.~, Lob. 23 ff.--which refer to performance of symbolical actions in the initiation ceremonies. The precise sense of _this_ ~su/nthêma~ cannot be made out (Dieterich's efforts, _H. Orph._, p. 35, have not succeeded in clearing up the matter).]

[62\12: Worth remarking is the instruction ~all' hopo/tam' psuchê\ proli/pê| pha/os aeli/oio, _dexio\n_ eisie/nai pephulagme/nos eu= ma/la pa/nta~ (this or something like it may have been the original form of the lines which have been thrown into confusion by the intrusion of the explanatory words ~dei= tina~). Then at the conclusion ~(ô=) chai=re chai=re, dexia\n hodoiporô=n leimô=na/s te hierou\s kai\ a/lsea Phersephonei/as.~ (~kai/~: this and nothing else is probably concealed by the KAT of the inscription--~kai/~ long before a vowel in 3rd thesis is even in Homer not unheard of.) Here at a comparatively early date we meet with the legend of the Two Ways at the entrance to the underworld, of which that to the right leads to the ~chô=ros eusebô=n~, the left to the place of punishment of the ~a/dikoi~. It may derive from the fancies of South Italian mystic sects. ~dexio/n~ and ~aristero/n~ in the Pythagorean table of Opposites--and in _oionistike_ for a long time before that--mean the same as ~agatho/n~ and ~kako/n~ (Arist., _Metaph._ 1, 5, p. 986a, 24; cf. Iamb., _VP._ 156).--The ~U~ Pythagoreum denoted the parting of the ways of life to the right (to virtue) and to the left (vice): Serv., _A._ vi, 136; cf. O. Jahn, _Pers._, p. 155 f. Plato transferred the Two Ways to the underworld probably following Pythagorean example, _Rp._ 614 C; cf. ~tô\ hodô/~, _Gorg._ 524 A; _divorso itinere_, Cato ap. Sall., _C._ 52, 13, in a Platonist passage. To the right the fountain of Mnemosyne, to the left that of Lethe--grave-tablet from Petelia: _Epigr. Gr._ 1037 = _IG._ xiv. 638. The Two Ways in the underworld (of which that to the right hand regularly leads to salvation) are also spoken of by the ~poêtê/s~ whose lines are quoted by Hippol., _RH._ 5, 8, p. 164, 80 D.-S. (perhaps "Orpheus" as Dieterich, _Nek._ 193 thinks); cf. also Verg., _A._ vi, 540 ff., Hegesipp., _AP._ vii, 545, and the Jewish forgery under the name of Philem., Mein. 4, 67, 6 f. (ii, p. 539 K.).--_Three_ Ways in the world of the spirits, which he takes as being in the sky, are seen by the Empedotimos of Herakld. Pont. (see above, chap. ix, n. 111): Serv., _G._ i, 34. Plutarch also alludes to _three_ Ways in the underworld, _Lat. Viv._ vii, p. 1130, for in giving his quotation from Pindar's ~thrê=nos~ _fr._ 129-30 he suddenly, without having previously said anything about the other two Ways, speaks of the ~_tri/tê_ tô=n anosi/ôs bebiôko/tôn kai\ para/nomôn _hodo/s_~ which leads into Erebos. We should suppose that he found these three Ways in Pindar whom he is making use of throughout the passage. Three Ways would seem natural to one who knew of three classes of souls; the ~eusebei=s~ and the ~asebei=s~ having in between them those who have not strayed seriously from either side of the middle way of ordinary morality and deserve neither reward nor severe punishment. To these then was probably allotted, instead of the bliss or sorrow of the two other classes, the indifferent state of the Homeric ~ei/dôla kamo/ntôn~. So at least it appears from Lucian, _Luct._ 7-9. A similar triple {450} division occurs in a popular form ap. D.H. viii, 52 ad fin.: (1) a place of punishment, a kind of Tartaros: (2) ~to\ lê/thês pedi/on~ (which is here the indifferent state); (3) the ~aithê/r~ which is the dwelling-place of the Blessed. Verg., too, has three classes, but he places the middling characters in the _limbus infantium_, beyond which the road first divides towards Elysium and Tartarus. Did Pindar then anticipate these and incidentally--he need not have been logically consistent about it--introduce such a triple division of the souls?]

[63\12: Plato's violent attacks on poets and poetry--in which nevertheless acc. to his own account ~oude\n spoudê=s chari/n, alla\ paidia=s he/neka pa/nta dra=tai~--show once more clearly enough that in his time the old Greek view of the poets as the true _teachers_ of their age was by no means a thing of the past. It was precisely as teachers, whether rightly or wrongly so regarded, that they seemed to him dangerous and worth opposing.]

[64\12: Aristophanes is only formulating popular opinion--and in unusually naive language--when he says _Ran._ 1030 ~tau=ta ga\r a/ndras chrê\ poiêta\s askei=n; ske/psai ga\r ap' archê=s hôs _ôphe/limoi_ tô=n poiêtô=n hoi gennai=oi gege/nêntai ktl.~ And again 1053 ff. where he is referring particularly to tragic dramatists, ~apokru/ptein chrê\ to\ ponêro\n to/n ge poiêtê/n, kai\ mê\ para/gein mêde\ dida/skein. toi=s me\n ga\r paidari/oisin e/sti dida/skalos ho/stis phra/zei, toi=s hêbô=sin de\ poiêtai/~.]

[65\12: This idea is alluded to as early as ~D~ 160 ff. Then Hes., _Op._ 282 ff. It is established for Hdt.; cf. i, 91, vi, 86. Further examples collected by Nägelsbach, _Nachhom. Theol._ 34 f. Thgn. 205 ff., 731 ff., is particularly definite. Among Attic authors; cf. Sol., _fr._ 13, 29 (~_anai/tioi_ e/rga ti/nousin~); E., _Hipp._ 831 ff., 1378 ff. (where note ~to\n oude\n o/nt' epai/tion~), _fr._ 980; [Lys.] 6, 20; Lycurg. 79. It is briefly alluded to as a commonly held opinion by Isoc. 11, 25; cf. Lys., _fr._ 53 Th. The case of Diagoras of Melos the ~a/theos~ may also be remembered; cf. above, chap. vii, n. 16.--This idea of the punishment of the son for the deeds of the father receives its justification acc. to Plu., _Ser. Nu. Vi._ 16, 559 D (quite in accordance with primitive ideas) in the unity that belongs to all the members of the same ~ge/nos~--so that in the person of the son it is the father himself, though he may be dead, who is also punished. The idea arises from the deeply ingrained feeling of the unity, solidarity, and continuity of the ancient family cult-circle pre-supposed by the cult of souls. (This is primitive and meets us, e.g. in India as well: "release us from the wrongs that our fathers have done; take away the sins of that we ourselves have committed" is the prayer to Varuna in the Rigveda, 7, 86, 5. ~ta\ ek prote/rôn aplakê/mata~ are transferred also to the next generation "like a pestilence-breeding substance", Oldenberg, _Rel. d. V._ 289. Elsewhere the conception emerges that the guilty ancestor lives again in the descendant and is punished in his person: Robinsohn, _Psychol. d. Naturv._ 47.)]

[66\12: It is precisely on this point, namely, that evil does not befall men without their own fault, that the Chorus, i.e. the poet, of the _Agamemnon_ (757), acknowledges ~di/cha d' a/llôn mono/phrôn eimi/~.]

[67\12: In this way, too, the Stoics saved the responsibility of men for their own deeds in spite of the unavoidable ~eimarme/nê~. The deeds would not have come to fruition if the personal ~sugkata/thesis~ of the man had not been added to the original necessary cause conditioning the acts. The ~sugk.~, though not itself "free", yet always remains ~eph' hêmi=n~ and makes us responsible: Cic., _Fat._ 18; Nemes. _Nat. Hom._, p. 291 Matth.] {451}

[68\12: Clearly so from l. 689 onwards.]

[69\12: ~ta\ ga\r ek prote/rôn aplakê/mata/ nin pro\s ta/sd' (ta\s Erinu/as) apa/gei~, _Eum._ 934.]

[70\12: Only when Eteokles and Polyneikes have fallen in single combat ~e/lêxe dai/môn~, _Sept._ 956.]

[71\12: This idea is quite common in Homer (Nägelsbach, _Hom. Theol._ 70 f., 320 f.), and in later times reappears frequently in the case of such authors as always, or on occasion, express popular ideas: Thgn. Hdt. esp. Eur. (cf. _Fr. Trag. Adesp._ 4, 55 N.), and the orators: see Nägelsbach, _Nachhom. Th._ 54 ff., 332 f., 378.]

[72\12: ~apa/tês _dikai/as_ ouk apostatei= theo/s~, _fr._ 301 S. This, too, must be the meaning of other expressions in which the poet refers less plainly to the righteous purpose of divine deception: _Pers._ 93 ff., 742; _frr._ 156, 302 (cf. also _Suppl._ 403 f.).--Aristoph. makes his Clouds speak quite in accordance with the Aeschylean ideas, _Nub._ 1458 ff. This grim idea must, in fact, have had considerable success and spread beyond the stage. Falsehood and deception for a good end presented no difficulty to the mind of the Greeks (even as applied to their gods). Hence Sokrates (in Xen.), Plato, and certain Stoics could quite openly approve of and recommend such falsehoods (and the author of the ~Diale/xeis~, c. 3 in defending the same theory also appeals to the lines of Aesch.).]

[73\12: _Ag._ 1497-1508. Here there is a clear opposition between the popular view which attributed all guilt to an ~ala/stôr~ tempting to crime (a reminiscence of which appears in Soph., _El._ 197 ff.), and the more elevated conception of the poet who holds fast to the view that though the ~ala/stôr~ may contribute to the result the agent of the evil deed is not ~anai/tios~.]

[74\12: The dead man stands in need of the cult paid by his surviving kinsfolk, _Cho._ 484 (his grave a ~bômo/s~, _Cho._ 106; ~choai\ gamê/lioi~ for him, 486 f.). As an appeasement of his easily aroused wrath ~choai\ nerte/rôn meili/gmata~, _Cho._ 15. The dead man is still conscious of events both past and present upon earth: ~phro/nêma tou= thano/ntos ou dama/zei puro\s malera\ gna/thos~, _Cho._ 324 f. In the song of awakening addressed to the departed and the invocations sung by Electra and the Chorus in _Cho._ the soul of Agamem. is similarly regarded as fully alive and accessible to the callers (though, indeed, ~ex amaura=s phreno/s~ 157) and addressed accordingly (cf. 139, 147 f., 156 f., 479 ff.; _Pers._ 636). It is even expected that his soul, invisibly present in the upper world, will take an active share in the work of vengeance: ~a/kouson es pha/os molô/n, xu\n de\ genou= pro\s echthrou/s~, _Cho._ 459; cf. 489. So, too, Orestes, _Eum._ 598, hopes in his extremity of need that ~arôga\s ek ta/phou pe/mpsei patê/r~. More especially the murdered man has a right to be avenged by his ~agchistei=s (oud' ap' a/llôn~, _Cho._ 472) and Apollo himself has commanded Orestes to take such vengeance, _Cho._ 269 ff., etc. Dread results of neglecting this duty, _Cho._ 278-96 (possibly an interpolated passage, but still an extension of the words of A. himself 271 ff. in a sense thoroughly in consonance with popular belief).]

[75\12: The Erinyes only avenge the murder of a blood-relation and not therefore when one of a married pair is murdered by the other, _Eum._ 210-12, 604 ff. But the opinion emerges that they are particularly charged with the vengeance of a _mother_ who has been murdered by her son (rather than a father who has suffered the same fate), 658 ff., 736 ff. (Reminiscences of such a view in S., _El._ 341 ff., 352 ff.; E., _Orest._ 552 ff., _fr._ 1064.) This may possibly be an old popular belief (not fully understood by A. himself) which need not, however (as is often {452} supposed), depend upon an ancient system of "matriarchy" for which there is no other evidence in Greece. It is simply explained by the fact that the father has plenty of men still living among his kinsfolk who will avenge him (even against his own son), whereas the mother who is separated from her _own_ family can expect no avenger from that side, while in the family of her husband there will be nobody yet old enough to take vengeance on her own son. For this reason it is for her most particularly and necessarily that the daimonic avengers of murder must intervene, and they are the Erinyes, who are always thought of as only active where no earthly avenger is available.--Of course, it could never be denied that there exists also ~_patro\s_ euktai/an Erinu/n~, _Sep._ 783.]

[76\12: ~dai/môn, theo/s, di=os ana/ktôr, isodai/môn basileu/s~ are titles given only to the dead Persian king, _Pers._ 620, 633, 644, 651. They are, however, probably intended to characterize Persian and not Greek beliefs (the Greek king, too, is still a king in Hades, but not a ~dai/môn~, _Cho._ 355-62).]

[77\12: ~kakei= dika/zei tamplakê/math', hôs _lo/gos_, Zeu\s a/llos~ (cf. ~Zê=na tô=n kekmêko/tôn~ 158) ~en kamou=sin husta/tas di/kas~, _Suppl._ 230 f.; cf. 414 ff.--~me/gas ga\r Ha/idês esti\n eu/thunos brotô=n e/nerthe chtho/nos, deltogra/phô| de\ pa/nt' epôpa=| phreni/~, _Eum._ 273 ff. Not even in Hades do the Erinyes let the murderer go, _Eum._ 340. The punishment in Hades seems to be regarded as merely supplementary to the (perhaps delayed) punishment of crime on earth ~rhopê\ d' episkopei= di/kas tachei=a _tou\s me\n_ en pha/ei, ta\ d' en metaichmi/ô| sko/tou me/nei chroni/zontas a/chê, tou\s d' a/kratos e/chei nu/x~, _Cho._ 61 ff.]

[78\12: ~tou\s thano/ntas ei the/leis euergetei=n ei/t' ou=n kakourgei=n, amphidexi/ôs e/chei tô=| mê/te chai/rein mê/te lupei=sthai nekrou/s~, _fr_ 266. This does, not, however, agree with _Cho._ 324 f., or with the frequently occurring expressions which presuppose consciousness and feeling (and so also ~chai/rein~ and ~lupei=sthai~) in the dead. Consistency in such matters must not, in fact, be looked for in a non-theological poet. The ~psuchê/~ of the dead man a shadow without the sap of life, _fr._ 229. Death a refuge from earthly suffering, _fr._ 255. The speedy death which the Chorus wish for themselves, _Ag._ 1449 ff., brings with it ~to\n aei\ ate/leuton hu/pnon~ and therefore a condition of unconsciousness if not of complete nothingness.--The shadow of Dareios takes his leave of the Persian nobles in the foll. words: ~humei=s de/, pre/sbeis, chai/ret', en kakoi=s ho/môs psuchê\n dido/ntes hêdonê=| kath' hême/ran, hôs toi=s thanou=si plou=tos oude\n ôphelei=~, _Pers._ 840 ff. This view of life is perhaps intended to have an Oriental colouring (like the epitaph of Sardanapalus which is rightly quoted in illustration of this passage); the reason given ~hôs toi=s thanou=si ktl.~ is perhaps to be similarly explained.]

[79\12: ~_e/ndikoi_ sphagai/~, 37. Orestes is to his father's house ~_di/kê|_ kathartê\s pro\s theô=n hôrmême/nos~ 70.]

[80\12: One reason why no Erinys pursues Orestes after he has murdered his mother is, indeed, the fact that Sophokles is treating the "Elektra" in isolation as an independent drama and could not therefore introduce a fresh thread of interest at the end, if he was to bring it to a satisfactory conclusion. But the mere fact that he could so arrange matters shows that for him, in contrast with Aeschylus, the belief in the veritable reality of the Erinys and the necessary perpetuation of the idea of vengeance in the family was already obscured and almost obsolete. The ancient family blood-feud is less important to him than the rights of the separate and independent individual.]

[81\12: Casual allusions, _El._ 504 ff.; _OC._ 965; _Ant._ 856; and cf. 584 ff., 594 ff.] {453}

[82\12: ~ou ga\r i/dois a\n athrô=n broto\n ho/stis a\n, ei theo\s a/goi, ekphugei=n du/naito~, _O.C._ 252. ~ho/tan de/ tis theô=n bla/ptê|, du/nait' a\n oud' a\n ho sthe/nôn phugei=n~, _El._ 696 f. ~ai/schê me/n, ô= gunai=kes, oud' a\n hei=s phu/goi brotô=n poth' hô=| kai\ Zeu\s~ (as the one who rules and ordains everything, cf. _El._ 175; _O.C._ 1085) ~ephormê/sê| kaka/; no/sous d' ana/gkê ta\s theêla/tous phe/rein~, _fr._ 619 N.]

[83\12: _Phil._ 191-200.]

[84\12: It is fixed long before by an oracle: 821 ff.; 1159 ff. It is not exactly overpowering violence or heaven-sent madness that drives Deianeira to carry out the prophecy; it is rather an obscure force that transforms her purest intentions to an evil result. She herself is completely innocent: ~hê/marte chrêsta\ môme/nê~.]

[85\12: The reason for this will of the gods is not revealed to us, either in _OT._ or in the subsequent treatment given in _OC._ The only thing that is made quite clear there is the complete innocence of Oedipus; as to the meaning of the divine purpose that has plunged him into such deeds of horror the sufferer can only say ~theoi=s ga\r ê=n hou/tô phi/lon, ta/ch' a/n ti _mêni/ousin_ eis ge/nos pa/lai~ (964 f.). This is a passage in which modern interpretation of the ancients finds the "upholding of the moral order in the world" clearly expressed as a motive of divine will.]

[86\12: ~kai\ ga\r ê=n tô=n theosebesta/tôn~, Sch., _El._ 831.]

[87\12: _fr._ 226 N., ~sopho\s ga\r oudei\s plê\n ho\n a\n tima=| theo/s. all' eis theo/n s' horô=ta, ka\n _e/xô di/kês chôrei=n keleu/ê|_, kei=s' hodoiporei=n chreô/n. aischro\n ga\r oude\n hô=n huphêgou=ntai theoi/~.]

[88\12: Aias has angered the goddess because he has boasted that he could do without her help. Thus he has drawn upon himself ~_astergê=_ thea=s orgê/n~, 776. The goddess makes him insane that he may recognize ~tê\n theô=n ischu\n **ho/sê~, 118. Thus, her superior power is shown and the folly of men who despise that power. But as for showing that the revengeful act of the goddess has any sort of moral purpose or meaning behind it, the pious poet makes no such attempt.--The interpolation of ideas more familiar in modern times does not make it any easier to understand the peculiar character of such antique ~euse/beia~ and ~deisidaimoni/a~. The same kind of fearful awe of the gods which we find here, runs through the whole of Herodotos' historical writing (Hdt. was not without reason a friend of Sophokles) and meets us again in the character of Nikias and to a large extent in Xenophon, too. Thuc. and, on the whole, Eurip. (for he varies) calmly ignore it or else violently reject it. Its nature is shown (better than in the more usual ~euse/beia~) by the phrase ~hê pro\s tou\s theou\s _eula/beia_~ which also occurs: [D.] 59 (_Neaer._) 74.]

[89\12: _Trach._ 1266 f.; 1272 (where, however, there remains a suspicion that the traditional text may be unsound); _fr._ 103 N. Parallels occur also in _Phil._]

[90\12: There exists a region of divine mystery that is not to be fathomed: ~ou ga\r a\n ta\ thei=a krupto/ntôn theô=n ma/thois a/n, oud' ei pa/nt' epexe/lthois skopô=n~, _fr._ 833; cf. _OT._ 280 f. and ~polla\ kai\ lathei=n kalo/n~, _fr._ 80 N.]

[91\12: The behaviour of Athene in the prologue of the _Aias_ is an exception.]

[92\12: Odysseus beholding the insane Aias: ~epoikti/rô de/ nin du/stênon o/nta kai/per o/nta dusmenê=, hothou/nek' a/tê| sugkate/zeuktai kakê=|, oude\n to\ tou/tou ma=llon ê\ toumo\n skopô=n; horô= ga\r hêma=s oude\n o/ntas a/llo plê\n ei/dôl' ho/soiper zô=men, ê\ kou/phên skia/n~, _Ai._ 121 ff.]

[93\12: ~iô\ geneai\ brotô=n ktl.~ _OT._ 1186 ff.; ~ho/stis tou= ple/onos me/rous chrê/|zei . . .~ _OC._ 1211-38; cf. _frr._ 12, 535, 536, 588, 859, 860.]

[94\12: Nor is Antigone affected by such motives as might appear from a casual or isolated study of such lines as _Ant._ 73 ff. The whole play {454} shows that Antig. throughout follows the ~a/grapta kasphalê= theô=n no/mima~ and the instincts of her own nature, without paying any attention to what may happen to her on earth and without a side glance at what may be the result in the world below of her "pious crime".]

[95\12: We often have ~en Ha/idou kekeutho/tôn~ (_Ant._ 911) ~muchou\s kichei=n tou= ka/tô theou=~ (_Ai._ 571) and other phrases = "be dead" (cf. to be an ~oikê/tôr~ of Erebos, _Ai._ 395 ff. Hades seems to be called ~pando/kos xeno/stasis~ _fr._ 252). The confusion of the idea of a kingdom of Hades with that of the grave is shown in the not infrequent expression ~en Ha/idou, par' Ha/idê| _kei=sthai_~, _El._ 463; _OT._ 972; _Ph._ 861; ~phi/lê met' autou= _kei/somai_ phi/lou me/ta~, _Ant._ 73; cf. _fr._ 518.]

[96\12: ~to\n apo/tropon Ha/idan~, _Ai._ 608; _fr._ 518.]

[97\12: The dead man is a ~skia/~, _Ai._ 1231. ~spodo\s kai\ skia\ anôphelê/s~, _El._ 1159a. ~mêde/n~, _El._ 1166; _Ai._ 1231.--In spite of this, in the Homeric manner, a definite shape and a measure of semi-conscious existence is presumed in the shades in Hades: _OT._ 1371 ff.--Doubt: ~_ei/_ tis e/st' ekei= cha/ris~, _El._ 356.]

[98\12: ~thano/ntôn oude\n a/lgos a/ptetai~, _OC._ 955. ~toi=s ga\r thanou=si mo/chthos ou prosgi/gnetai~, _Tr._ 1173. ~tou\s ga\r thano/ntas ouch horô= lupoume/nous~, _El._ 1170. (All three lines are denied to Soph. by the latest criticism.)]

[99\12: _Ph._ 797 f.; _Ai._ 854; _OC._ 1220 ff.; _fr._ 631 (cf. A., _fr._ 255; _Fr. Tr. Adesp._ 360. ~limê\n kakô=n ho tha/natos~, a commonplace of later moralists: see Wyttenb. Plu., _Mor._ vi, p. 720, was taken over from tragedy).--The converse _fr._ 64, 275.]

[100\12: Collectively ~hoi ne/rteroi, hoi ne/rteroi theoi/~, _OC._ 1661; _Ant._ 602. Hades in particular is often mentioned, and also ~Plou/tôn~: ~Ha/idês stenagmoi=s kai\ go/ois plouti/zetai~, _OT._ 30; _fr._ 251. ~ho para\ to\n Ache/ronta (ta\n Ache/rontos akta/n~, _Ant._ 812. ~akta\n hespe/rou theou=~, _OT._ 177) ~theo\s ana/ssôn~, _El._ 184. Persephone and Aidoneus, _OC._ 1556 ff. Erinyes, Thanatos, Kerberos: _OC._ 1568 ff. ~pompai=os Hermê=s chtho/nios~, _Ai._ 832; and see _El._ 110 B., etc.--~Ha/idês~ (here as often = ~Tha/natos~) desires to devour men: ~dai/sasthai~, _El._ 542, f.--a popular conception or at least popular language: see above, chap. vii, n. 25.]

[101\12: Hades ~ho\s ou/te tou\pieike\s ou/te tê\n cha/rin oi=den, monê\n d' e/sterxe tê\n haplôs di/kên~, _fr._ 703, i.e. the justice of absolute equality (for all earthly distinctions have passed away): ~ho/ g' Ha/idês tou\s no/mous i/sous pothei=~, _Ant._ 519.]

[102\12: ~hê ga\r euse/beia sunthnê/|skei brotoi=s~ (it dies when the man dies to whom it belonged: i.e. it follows him, or his ~psuchê/~, into the lower-world. No textual corruption need be assumed here, ~ka\n zô=si ka\n tha/nôsin ouk apo/llutai~, _Ph._ 1443 f.]

[103\12: Without ritual burial the dead man is ~tô=n ka/tôthe theô=n a/moiros akte/ristos ano/sios ne/kus~, _Ant._ 1070 f.]

[104\12: ~enta/phia hoi=a toi=s ka/tô nomi/zetai~, _El._ 326. ~kteri/smata~, 434, 931. ~loutra/~, 84, 434 (cf. above, chap. v, nn. 106, 107), ~e/mpura~, 405. ~choai/~, 440.--_El._ 452, prayer is made to the dead that he "shall help us and Orestes" ~ho/pôs to\ loipo\n auto\n aphneôte/rais chersi\n ste/phômen ê\ ta\ nu=n dôrou/metha~ (at present only a lock of hair and a girdle, 448 ff.).--Offerings to the dead made by foes and even the approach of such persons to the neighbourhood of the grave is displeasing and hateful to the departed who lies therein: _El._ 431 ff., 442 ff.; _Ai._ 1394 f. (cf. above, chap. v, n. 109). In this case as in the cult of the soul generally the presence of the dead man in the grave, or else in its immediate neighbourhood, is presupposed--not his departure into an inaccessible land of the dead. The latter view, retained from Homeric {455} poetry, is generally allowed to remain incongruously side by side with the former.]

[105\12: _El._ 1066 ff.]

[106\12: The god of the underworld is ~ouk aperi/tropos~ of the murdered man: _El._ 182 f. Hence all the gods and spirits of the lower world are summoned to take vengeance for the murder of Agamemnon: _El._ 110-16. We hear of ~Di/kê hê xu/noikos tô=n ka/tô theô=n~ as the patron of the dead in their claim to justice: _Ant._ 451.]

[107\12: Herakles in giving his last commands to Hyllos finally threatens the latter: ~ei de\ mê/, menô= s' egô\ kai\ ne/rthen ô/n, arai=os eis aei\ baru/s~, _Tr._ 1201 f.; cf. _fr._ 367; see above, chap. v, n. 148.]

[108\12: Elektra thinks that Agamemnon himself may have sent the ~duspro/sopt' onei/rata~ to Klytaimnestra: _El._ 459 f. (There is no reason for altering the traditional text here--with Nauck--to make the gods the senders of the dreams instead of the dead man. ~hê/rôes~, too, can send nocturnal visions of terror: see above, chap. ix, n. 102.) Here Elektra supposes that by sending such harbingers of his wrath the unavenged victim of murder has signified his readiness to assist in the taking of vengeance. This makes perfectly good sense and is the only interpretation that suits the context of Elektra's admonitions to her sister.]

[109\12: ~arôgo/s~, _El._ 454. ~zô=sin hoi ga=s ka/tô kei/menoi. pali/rruton ga\r hai=ma hupexairou=si tô=n ktano/ntôn hoi pa/lai thano/ntes~, _El._ 1419 f. "The dead man brings death to the living," Nauck on _Tr._ 1163.]

[110\12: _frr._ 753, 805.]

[111\12: _OC._ 1049 ff., 680; _fr._ 736.]

[112\12: Oedipus does not die but vanishes (is seen no more, 1649); the depths of the earth open and receive him: 1661 f., 1681. What is meant is _translation_ without death as in the case of Amphiaraos, etc. The poet only hints at the miracle in intentionally vague words--but they cannot refer to anything but translation. ~ô/leto~ 1656, and ~e/thane~ are therefore only inaccurate expressions to describe his departure (see also above, chap. iii, n. 2). The Messenger of 1583 f. refuses, however, to give a distinct answer to the question of the Chorus ~o/lôle ga\r du/stênos~; he will only hint that Oedipus has indeed ~o/lôle~ (1580), but has not simply died--he has instead been translated out of earthly life. The corrupt ~hôs leloipo/ta kei=non to\n aei\~ (this was already what the Alexandrians read) ~bi/oton exepi/staso~ may not therefore be altered simply into ~to\n aino/n, to\n a/bion bi/oton~. It may perhaps have originally been something like ~to\n e/ntha, to\n en gê=|, to\n andrô=n bi/oton~ (cf. Medea to her children ~es a/llo schê=m' aposta/ntes bi/ou~, E., _Med._ 1039. A dead woman ~hupokechô/rêke aiphni/dion tou= _kath' hêma=s_ bi/ou~. Ins. from Amorgos, _BCH._ 1891, p. 576, ll. 9-10).]

[113\12: A distinct act of precaution against disbelief in such a miracle: _OC._ 1665 f. (cf. ~e/rrei de\ ta\ thei=a~, _OT._ 906 ff.; which refers esp. to the belief in the Oracle of Loxias, a matter of great importance to Soph.).]

[114\12: The innocence of Oedipus and the fact that the awful crimes committed by him have been done in ignorance and against his will ~theô=n ago/ntôn~, is stressed in order that his elevation to the position of _Heros_ may not seem to be an honour done to a guilt-stained criminal. But the poet does not attribute positive virtues to him even in _OC._--far less in fact than in _OT._]

[115\12: One has only to read the play without preconceived ideas to see that this passionate and savage old man, pitilessly heaping dreadful curses on his sons, gloating vindictively over the coming misfortunes {456} of his own country, is quite ignorant of the "deep peace from the gods" or the "illumination of the pious sufferer" which conventional literary interpretation has been anxious to ascribe to him. The poet is not one to gloss over the harsh realities of life with trite phrases of vapid consolation, and he has clearly perceived that the usual effect of unhappiness and misery upon men is not to "illuminate" but to enfeeble and vulgarize them. His Oedipus is pious (he was that from the beginning in _OT._ as well), but he is made savage, ~êgri/ôtai~, exactly like Philoktetes in his misery (_Ph._ 1321).]

[116\12: Humanitarianism of Athens and her king: 562 ff., 1125 ff.]

[117\12: It is emphasized over and over again that the settlement of Oedipus on Attic soil is meant to bring about the salvation of the Athenians and the discomfiture of the Thebans (Apollo's oracle has thus decreed it): 92 f., 287 f., 402, 409 ff., 576 ff., 621 ff. The whereabouts of the valuable possession must therefore be kept secret (as frequently with the graves of Heroes: see above, chap. iv, n. 38); 1520 ff. This elevation of Oedipus to be the ~sôtê/r~ of Attica (459 f.) is evidently what makes the interest and importance for the poet of the whole mystery which he relates.]

[118\12: ~nu=n ga\r theoi/ s' orthou=si, pro/sthe d' ô/llusan~, 394. The gods now feel ~ô/ran tina/~ for Oedipus, 386. After many ~pê/mata pa/lin sphe dai/môn di/kaios au/xoi (a/n)~, 1565 f. It is, in fact, an act of kindness after a long period of ill-usage; there is a reversal of fortune, but there is no reward or indemnification given in recognition of a just claim. It is all _grace_.]

[119\12: In this, too, ~hôs a/n tis hei=s tô=n chrêstô=n Athênai/ôn~ (Ion ap. Ath. 13, 604 D).]

[120\12: Prodikos is, acc. to Welcker, _Kl. Schr._ ii, 497 ff., responsible for most of the theories propounded in the Ps.-Platonic _Axiochus_ on the subject of the ~athanasi/a tê=s psuchê=s~, _Ax._ 370 B ff., the tendency of the soul to the heavenly ~aithê/r~ (366 A, and even of the Platonizing fantasy at the end about the fate of the departed (371-2). Prodikos, if we adopted this attribution, would become less the "forerunner of Sokrates" (as Welcker calls him) than the forerunner of Plato. There is, however, no real reason to attribute to him any more share in that document than is asserted distinctly in it. The brief and carelessly composed pamphlet consists of a medley of the conventional ingredients of the usual ~lo/goi paramuthêtikoi/~ loosely strung together. To Prod. is assigned: the disquisition on the troubles of life in all its stages 336 D-367 E; and the saying ~ho/ti ho tha/natos ou/te peri\ tou\s zô=nta/s estin ou/te peri\ tou\s metêllacho/tas ktl.~, 369 B (cf. Buresch, _Leip. Stud._ ix, 8-9). These two passages put together would establish as the opinion of Prodikos just the opposite of what Welcker wishes to ascribe to him. He would show himself as a true ~peisitha/natos (--ex ekei/nou thanata=| mou hê psuchê/~, 366 C), who would make death a mere exit into a state of unconsciousness after the troubles of life, and thus seem an absolute nonentity. But the piece is in reality quite without authority: it apparently puts forward the name of Prodikos, who is so often stated in Plato to have been the "teacher" of Sokrates, merely in order to have a definite authority (like the fabulous Gobryes later on) for what the author does not wish to represent Sokrates as saying on his own account. One of the sayings attributed to the imaginary Prodikos, ~ho/ti ho tha/natos . . .~ is, however, only too clearly a simple appropriation of Epicurus' aphorism, ~ho tha/natos oude\n pro\s hêma=s ktl.~ (p. 61, 6 Usen.; cf. p. 227, 30; 391. Heinze also points this out, _Ber. sächs. Ges. d. Wiss._ 1884, p. 332). The other passage (366 D ff.) agrees suspiciously {457} with what Teles (p. 38 Hens.) has to say on the same subject apparently in entire dependence on Krates the Cynic. It seems extremely probable that the author of the _Axiochus_ also had Krates before him or even Teles (as Wyttenbach already suggested, Plu., _Mor._ vi, p. 41); and that he attributes what he has thus borrowed from extraneous sources to "Prodikos" by a fiction that never came amiss to the composers of such dialogues.--It follows then that what Prodikos really said about the soul and its destiny is unknown to us; cf. on this recently much-discussed subject: Brinkmann, _Rh. Mus._ 51, 444 ff.]

[121\12: In the Prologue Thanatos at once describes his claims and his office. He has to receive the departed and cut off the lock of hair from the forehead (75 f. probably as a sign that the dead enter into the possession of the underworld deities: in Verg., _A._ iv, 698 f. Proserpina in the same way dedicates the dead to Orcus). He then leads them to Hades, 871. He comes in person to the grave and enjoys the offerings laid there, 844 ff., 851 f. (like the dead man himself on other occasions, see above, chap. v, n. 108). Properly speaking he is only the servant of Hades; but just as the word ~ha/|dês~ was already common as = ~tha/natos~, so Thanatos himself is also actually called ~Ha/idês~ (268, see above, n. 4); only as identical with Hades can he be called ~a/nax nekrô=n~, 843; cf. ~daimo/nôn koi/ranos~, 1140.--In the underworld are Charon ~ho psuchopompo/s~, 361, 254 ff., 458 f., and Kerberos, 360. Hades and Hermes ~chtho/nios~ receive the dead. ~ei de/ ti kakei= ple/on e/st' agathoi=s~ Alkestis will have the seat of honour next to Persephone: 744 ff. By the living who survive she is regarded on account of her incomparable virtue as ~ma/kaira dai/môn~ and her grave is not the abode of a dead woman but a place of worship, 995-1005. Such facile elevation to the rank of "Heroine" was supposed to be characteristic of Thessaly and Eurip. may in this also have intended to give his poem a touch of Thessalian local colour. (~dai/môn~ as an intermediate stage between ~theoi/~ and ~a/nthrôpoi~; so frequently in Eur., e.g. _Tro._ 55-6; _Med._ 1391; is this the meaning of the ~me/son~ in _Hel._ 1137?)--Thoroughly in keeping with popular belief is ~chai=re kan Ha/idou do/mois eu= soi ge/noito~, 626 f. (such a ~chai=re~ is the last word with which ~hôs nomi/zetai~ one addresses the dead ~exiou=san husta/tên ho/don~, 609 f.). Similar also (but really implying the conception of the dead as resting in the grave and not in Hades) is: ~kou=pha/ soi chthô\n epa/nôthe pe/soi~, 463.]

[122\12: The funeral dirge, 86 ff.; ~ko/smos~ buried with the dead, 618 ff.; mourning ceremonies: the manes of the horses are cut short; no sound of flute or lyre is to be heard in the town for twelve months, 428 ff. (~pe/nthos etê/sion~ is usual, 336). These extreme observances are probably taken from the mourning customs of the Thessalian dynastic families.]

[123\12: Burial of the dead in accordance with ~no/mos palaio\s daimo/nôn~, _Suppl._ 563; ~no/mima theô=n~, 19; a general Hellenic custom, 526 f.--Burial of Polyneikes in spite of Kreon's prohibition: _Phoen._ and probably ~Antigo/nê~.]

[124\12: ~toi=s ga\r thanou=si chrê\ to\n ou tethnêko/ta tima\s dido/nta chtho/nion eusebei=n theo/n~, _Ph._ 1320 f. ~en eusebei= gou=n no/mima mê\ kle/ptein nekrô=n~, _Hel._ 1277. The honour of the grave more important even than good fortune upon earth, _Hec._ 317 f. Lament over the dishonouring of the grave of Agamem., _El._ 323 ff. Request for the burial of Astyanax, _Tro._ 1133 ff., of Orestes, _IT._ 702 ff., of Makaria, _Hcld._ 588 ff. The shade of the murdered Polydoros prays especially for burial, _Hec._ 47 ff. (31 f., 796 f.). He is an example of the wandering of the ~a/taphoi~ upon the upper earth; he ~a/thaptos alai/nei~, _Tro._ 1084 (see above, p. 163, and Append. vii).--Funeral ceremony for those who have {458} been drowned at sea, _Hel._ 1057 ff., 1253 ff.; though there the idea is only used as an excuse for the intrigue.]

[125\12: ~choai/~ for the dead, e.g. _Or._ 112 ff., _El._ 511 ff.; _IT._ 159 ff.]

[126\12: ~choai/~ make the dead ~eumenê=~ towards the givers of the offering, _Or._ 119. The children call upon the soul of the murdered father to help them, _El._ 676 ff., in the belief that ~pa/nt' akou/ei ta/de patê/r~, 684. The soul of the dead man hovers above the living observing everything, _Or._ 674 ff. Invocation of the dead (striking both hands on the ground: see above, chap. iii, n. 10), _Tro._ 1305 f. Expectation that the dead thus called on will ~sô=sai~ his friends, _Or._ 797, or help them, _El._ 679. Calling upon the departed in Hades ~a/rêxon, elthe\ kai\ _skia\_ pha/nêthi/ moi~, _HF._ 494 (though with the qualification ~_ei/_ tis phtho/ggos eisakou/setai thnêtô=n par' Ha/idê|~, 490).]

[127\12: Translation miracles are touched upon by the poet with obvious pleasure; cf. transl. of Kadmos and Harmonia, _Bac._ 1330 ff., 1338 ff.: of Peleus, _Andr._ 1257 ff.; of Helen, _Or._ 1629 ff.: of Herakles, _Hcld._ 910; of Menelaos (in unmistakable sarcasm), _Hel._ 1676 ff. So, too, in the spurious conclusion to the _IA._ there is a translation of Iphigeneia, 1583 ff. (~pro\s theou\s aphi/ptato~, 1608).]

[128\12: Eurystheus buried in the temple of Athene Pallenis will bring safety to Athens and evil to her enemies: _Hcld._ 1026 ff. Eurysth. says ~soi\ me\n eu/nous kai\ po/lei _sôtê/rios_ me/toikos aei\ kei/somai kata\ chthono/s~, 1032 f.; i.e. he will become a ~hê/rôs _sôtê/r_~ of the land (just as Oedip. was to become ~sôtê/r~ for Attica. S., _OC._ 460, and Brasidas Heros ~sôtê/r~ of the Amphipolitans, Thuc. 5, 11, 1). Heroic cult of Hippolytos, _Hip._ 1423 ff., _fr._ 446.]

[129\12: The Erinyes are spoken of (apparently with real belief) in _IT._ 79 ff. and elsewhere.]

[130\12: _Or._ 258 f., not very different, _IT._ 288-94.]

[131\12: ~to\ thêriô=des tou=to kai\ miaipho/non~, _Or._ 524. Orestes instead of committing murder himself should have brought his father to justice, _Or._ 500 f. Agamemnon himself if he could have been asked would not have desired this bloody vengeance, _Or._ 288 ff. It is only Apollo's unwise counsel that has led Orestes to the murder of his mother, _El._ 971 ff., 1296 f.; _Or._ 276 ff., 416, 591. After the deed Orestes does indeed feel remorse but no religious terrors, _El._ 1177 (in spite of which there is much about the pursuing Erinyes of his mother). How completely this whole series of ideas, the duty of vengeance, etc., has lost its meaning for the poet, is to be felt more especially in the sophistical frigidity with which the subject is treated in an ~agô/n~ between Tyndareos and Orestes, _Or._ 491-604, and in the hair-splitting of the speech of Orestes himself, 932 ff.]

[132\12: ~dokô= de\ toi=s thanou=si diaphe/rein brachu/, ei plousi/ôn tis teu/xetai kterisma/tôn; keno\n de\ gau/rôm' esti\ tô=n zô/ntôn to/de~, _Tro._ 1248 ff.]

[133\12: _fr._ 176.]

[134\12: ~oude\n e/sth' ho katthanô/n~, _Alc._ 381. The dead are ~hoi ouke/t' o/ntes~ 322. ~toi=s~ (the dead) ~me\n ga\r oude\n a/lgos a/psetai/ pote, pollô=n de\ mo/chthôn _eukleê\s_ epau/sato~, 937 f. But even fame is nothing to the dead. Admetos says to his father in the scurrilous dialogue ~thanei= ge me/ntoi duskleê/s, ho/tan tha/nê|s~. To which the old man unconcernedly replies ~kakô=s akou/ein ou me/lei thano/nti moi~ (725 f.).]

[135\12: It might seem simpler to regard all the utterances of persons in the plays which correspond to conventional beliefs as being merely dramatic expressions of the character's own (orthodox) view, and in no sense put forward by the poet as his own opinion. And certainly the separate and independently acting persons of the drama can only {459} speak and act in accordance with their own proper conceptions and springs of action--not in accordance with the poet's. But in the antique drama this complete detachment of the creatures of the dramatic imagination from their creator, the poet of the drama, only holds good in a limited sense. The ancient dramatists exercised their office of judge much more vigorously than the greatest of the moderns. The course of his play showed clearly what acts and characters the poet disapproved of, but also which opinions he sanctioned and which he did not. We have only to remember the attacks of Oedipus and Iokaste upon the judgments of the gods in _OT._ (or the story of Sen., _Ep._ 115, 14: Eur. _fr._ 324). Accordingly we may take it that such utterances of dramatic characters as are not supplied with practical or spoken corrective are among those of which the poet did not disapprove. Euripides so very frequently puts words into the mouth of his characters which can only express his own moods or opinions that we may also assume that when their language harmonizes with traditional belief then, too, the most subjective of the tragedians is for the moment expressing his own view. Thus, for example, we cannot doubt that the strain of piety running through the whole of the _Hiketides_ (subjection of ~phro/nêsis~ to God's wisdom, 216 ff., submission to the guidance of the gods, 592 ff., and to Zeus' government of the world, 734 ff.), and especially the whole-hearted elaboration of the picture of Theseus as a model of ~euse/beia~ represent the actual opinion of the poet at that particular period (he clearly speaks of himself, 180-3). At other times, too (apart from the _Bacchae_), though generally for a short time only, he shows vague aspirations towards orthodoxy.]

[136\12: _Alc._ 968 ff.; _Hipp._ 952 ff.--Asceticism of the _mystai_ of Zeus and Zagreus of the Mountain Mother and the Kouretes: ~Krê=tes~, _fr._ 472.]

[137\12: _Polyid. fr._ 638; _Phrixos_, _fr._ 833. It is usual (cf. Bergk, _Gr. Litt._ 3, 475, 33) to see here a reminiscence of Herakleitos. But the latter's ~atha/natoi thnêtoi/, thnêtoi\ atha/natoi, zô=ntes to\n ekei/nôn tha/naton, to\n de\ ekei/nôn bi/on tethneô=tes~ (_fr._ 67 Byw. 62 D.) is clearly intended to express the view that "death" and "life" are purely relative concepts; that death (of the one, i.e. Fire) and life (of the other, i.e, Water or Earth) are simultaneously present in the same object (see also _frr._ 68, 78 = 36, 88). According to this view it would be strictly true that life on earth is not more life than it is death; but that is certainly not what Eurip. means to say. Philo and Sext. Emp. are mistaken in attributing to Herakl. the Orphic doctrine of the "death" of the soul which takes place when it is enclosed in the ~sô=ma~, as its ~sê=ma~ (see above, chap. xi, n. 19). But it is precisely this Orphic doctrine that is present to the mind of Eurip. (and Plato, _Gorg._ 492 E, 493 A, brings it into immediate connexion with the verses of E.). He is speaking of the true "death" of the soul in the life of the body and of its release to a real (and not a merely relative) life after death; and thinks that "life" has no claim to the distinguishing name (cf. ~ho\ dê\ bi/oton kale/ousi~ Emped. 117 Mull. = _fr._ 15 D.).]

[138\12: _Palingenesia_ is alluded to once only and in jest as a desirable reward for the virtuous, _HF._ 655-68; cf. M. Ant. xii, 5.]

[139\12: ~ho nou=s ga\r hêmô=n estin en heka/stô| theo/s~, _fr._ 1018.]

[140\12: _fr._ 839 (_Chrysipp._) fully physical in _fr._ 898, 7 ff.--_fr._ 1023 ~Aithe/ra kai\ Gai=an pa/ntôn gene/teiran aei/dô~. Cf. _fr._ 1004.]

[141\12: _fr._ 484 ~(Melan. hê sophê/)--hôs ourano/s te gai=a/ t' ê=n morphê\ mi/a ktl.~ Here, too, the poet is speaking of a mere initial association of the elements afterwards to be parted, but thought of as always from the {460} beginning independent--there is no derivation of both from a single common original element, or of one out of the other. Eurip. may really have been thinking here of the ~ho/mou pa/nta chrê/mata ê=n~ of Anaxagoras (as the ancient authorities supposed), esp. as, with Anax. also, out of the general conglomeration _two_ masses, ~aê/r~ and ~aithê/r~, first emerge (though in this case ~nou=s~ is not included in the ~aithê/r~ as it is with Eurip.). Here, too, then the usual dualism of the Euripidean cosmogony is preserved. For the rest this _fr._ 484 allows us to perceive that in spite of all his physiological tendencies Eurip. can never quite get rid of the _mythical_ element in his cosmogonical events. The reason why Ouranos and Gaia in particular recommend themselves to him as elemental forces (and ~koinoi\ hapa/ntôn gonei=s~, _fr._ 1004) was that these figures had long been set at the beginning of the world and of the gods by cosmogonical poetry (~aithê/r~ is simply the more physiological term for what is half-personified as ~Ourano/s~). This probably explains why matter (or at least the more solid forms of matter as distinguished from the ~aithê/r~ the ~lepto/taton pa/ntôn chrêma/tôn~) is for him included in the description "earth". In this he is not following the old physiologists, none of whom had called "earth" the original matter--at least not earth alone (see Ilberg, _Quaest. Pseudohippocrat._, p. 16 ff., 1883). "Earth" as describing the merely material, matter deserted by spirit, may have come to him from popular usage. As early as ~Ô~ 54 the body deserted by soul and life is called ~kôphê\ gai=a~ (cf. Eur. _frr._ 532; 757, 5). Thus for the poet the contrast between ~gê=~ and ~aithê/r~ almost amounts to that between "matter" and "mind", except that he either could not or would not think of a "mind" without any material substratum and that for this reason his ~aithê/r~ still preserves a remnant of matter.]

[142\12: This is esp. clear in _fr._ 839, 8 ff. In the disruption of the elements out of which ~pa/nta~ are composed each of the two, ~gê=~ and ~aithê/r~, preserves itself undiminished and unmixed. ~thnê/|skei d' oude\n tô=n gignome/nôn _diakrino/menon_ d' a/llo pro\s a/llou morphê\n idi/an ape/deixen~ (restores itself in its independent being). Whereupon we feel ourselves irresistibly reminded of the saying of Anaxagoras--~oude\n ga\r chrê=ma gi/netai oude\ apo/llutai, all' ap' eo/ntôn chrêma/tôn summi/sgetai/ te kai\ diakri/netai, kai\ hou/tôs a\n orthô=s kaloi=en to/ te gi/nesthai summi/sgesthai kai\ to\ apo/llusthai diakri/nesthai~, _fr._ 17 Mull. [and D.].]

[143\12: That it was not Anaxagoras, or at least not he alone, who gave the decided direction to the philosophic ideas of Eurip. has rightly come to be held of late. We do not find a trace in Eurip. of the separation of ~nou=s~ from matter, at least not in the form in which Anaxagoras understood it. For E. the mind is bound to one of the two primal elements and quite foreign to the other, the earth. Thus he arrives at a dualism indeed, but in quite a different sense from that of Anaxag. Dümmler, _Proleg. zu Platons Staat_ (Progr. Basel, 1891), p. 48, points out reminiscences in Eurip. of Diogenes of Apollonia--but it is not true to say that the poet's views show the "closest kinship" with the monistic system of Diog., or with any Monism.]

[144\12: _Tro._ 884 ff. The air, called by the name of Zeus, and identical with the ~nou=s brotô=n~, can only be taken from the doctrine of Diog.: Diels, _Rh. Mus._ 42, 12.]

[145\12: Diog. Apoll., _frr._ 3, 4, 5 Mull. (= 8, 3, 4 D.). The soul is ~aê\r thermo/teros tou= e/xô, en hô=| esmen~, though it is colder than the air which is ~para\ tô=| hêli/ô|~, _fr._ 6 [5]. The soul is therefore more akin to the ~aithê/r~ than to the ~aê/r~ (~aithê/r~ and ~aê/r~ were at that time often confused: e.g. in E., _fr._ 944, ~aithê/r~ instead of ~aê/r~).] {461}

[146\12: _Suppl._ 1140 ~aithê\r e/chei nin ê/dê ktl.~ Elektra expects to find her dead father in the Aither, _El._ 59. Of a dying man, ~pneu=m' aphei\s eis aithe/ra~, _fr_ 971 (differently, _Or._ 1086 f.); cf. also _Suppl._ 531-6 (imitated from Epicharm.), where again the ~aithê/r~ is only spoken of as the abode, and not as the original and consubstantial element of the soul.]

[147\12: ~aithê\r oi/kêsis Dio/s~, Eur., _fr._ 487 (_Melanip._).]

[148\12: Epich., _fr._ 7, p. 257 Lor. [= _fr._ 265 Kaibel].]

[149\12: _CIA._ i, 442, ~aithê\r me\n psucha\s hupede/xato, sô/[mata de\ chthô\n~ tô=nde. . . .~]