Chapter 5

Zeus, Zeus, look down on what is passing here, Take pity on the eagle's brood, whose sire, Trapped in the coils of a most deadly snake, Was stung to death and left his orphan brood A prey to hunger. For no strength have they To bring the quarry home, as did their sire. In me and my Electra here thou seest Two eaglets of their sire alike bereft, And outcasts both from what was once their home.

ELECTRA.

High honour did our father pay to thee, Rich gifts he gave thy shrine; his offspring gone, Who will be left to heap thy altars more? Thy race of eagles lost, thou wilt have none To be the herald of thy will to man. This royal stock blasted, thou wilt have none To tend thy shrine on days of sacrifice. Watch o'er us, and the house that now seems fallen Past hope, may to its ancient greatness rise.

CHORUS.

My children, of your line sole trust and stay, Be silent lest your words be overheard, And borne by some loose babbler to the ear Of those in power, whom soon I hope to see Laid smouldering on the pitchy funeral pile.

ORESTES.

My trust is in Apollo's oracle That bade me set forth on this enterprise, With high command and threats of dire disease To gripe my vitals if I failed to wreak Vengeance upon my father's murderers, Enjoining me to slay as they had slain, Taking no fine as quittance for his blood. For this was I to answer with my life. And as I would escape the penalties [Footnote: This passage is corrupt or dislocated, and perplexes the commentators. I have tried to give the general sense.] That injured and neglected ghosts demand; As fell diseases that with cankering maw Eat the distempered flesh from off the bones, Madness and panic fears that haunt by night; Then banishment from human intercourse; From the libation, from the loving cup, And from the altar, whence a father's wrath Unseen should drive the recreant; at the last Death without honour and without a friend.-- Think ye that I such oracles could slight? And if I did, the deed must still be done; For many motives join to set me on: The gods command, my murdered father calls For vengeance, and my desperate need impels; All bid me save our famous citizens, Troy's glorious conquerors, from the base yoke Of yonder pair of women; for his heart Is womanish, if not, we soon will know.

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_CLYTAEMNESTRA PLEADS TO HER SON ORESTES FOR HER LIFE IN VAIN._

LINES 860-916.

SERVANT.

Alas! my lord is slain, my lord is slain, My lord is slain; Aegisthus is no more. Haste and unbar the woman's chamber, haste; Be stirring, or your aid will come too late. What, ho! what, ho! I shout unto the sleeping or the deaf. Whither has Clytaemnestra gone? What does she? Now is the queen on peril's sharpest edge, And like to fall by the avenger's sword.

CLYTAEMNESTRA.

How now? What means this shouting in the house?

SERVANT.

It means that dead men kill and live men die.

CLYTAEMNESTRA.

Ah me! Too well I can thy riddle guess; By treason as we slew, we shall be slain. Fetch me the axe, which well this hand can wield, And we will strike for death or victory, For to this mortal issue have we come.

ORESTES.

'Tis thee I seek; thy leman has enough.

CLYTAEMNESTRA.

Ah me! Aegisthus, then, my love, is slain.

ORESTES.

Thy love is he? Then shalt thou share his tomb, And be his faithful consort to the end.

CLYTAEMNESTRA.

Oh, stay thy hand, my child, and spare this breast, On which so often thou didst slumbering lie And suck with baby lips the milk of life.

ORESTES.

Say, Pylades, shall nature's plea be heard?

PYLADES.

Half of Apollo's best has been fulfilled; Think on the other half and on thine oath. Better defy the world than brave the gods.

ORESTES.

Thou hast well spoken, and I do assent.

(_To_ CLYTAEMNESTRA.)

Come in; I'll lay thee at thy leman's side. He to my father living was preferred, And now in death his partner thou shalt be, The guerdon due to thy adulterous love.

CLYTAEMNESTRA.

I nursed thee; let me at thy side grow old.

ORESTES.

What, dwell with thee, my father's murderess?

CLYTAEMNESTRA.

Blame destiny, my son, for what I did.

ORESTES.

Blame destiny for what I now must do.

CLYTAEMNESTRA.

Hast thou no reverence for a mother's prayer?

ORESTES.

That mother ruthlessly cast off her child.

CLYTAEMNESTRA.

Not cast thee off; but sent thee to a friend.

ORESTES.

Twice was I sold, although a freeman born.

CLYTAEMNESTRA.

What was the price that I received for thee?

ORESTES.

To tell thee in plain words I am ashamed.

CLYTAEMNESTRA.

Tell it, but tell thy sire's transgression too.

ORESTES.

Home-keeping wives should not the toilers chide.

CLYTAEMNESTRA.

'Tis sad for wives to lie without their mates.

ORESTES.

Yet wives are fed by those that sweat abroad.

CLYTAEMNESTRA.

It seems, my child, thou wilt thy mother slay.

ORESTES.

Not on my head but thine thy blood will be.

CLYTAEMNESTRA.

Strike, and a mother's Furies follow thee.

ORESTES.

A father's will, if I withhold the blow.

CLYTAEMNESTRA.

Deaf as the grave is he to whom I wail.

ORESTES.

As died my father thou art doomed to die.

CLYTAEMNESTRA.

My womb too truly has a serpent borne.

ORESTES.

No lying prophet was thy dream of fear. Unnatural was thy deed, so be thy doom.

THE EUMENIDES

The ancient Council of the Areopagus, like other primeval councils, was at once political and judicial. It was the venerable stronghold of the old Athenian and conservative party to which Aeschylus belonged, and was at this time being attacked by the radical party under Pericles and Ephialtes. To save it from its enemies by awakening national sentiment on its behalf, Aeschylus presents it as the high court of justice selected on account of its supreme moral authority totry the grand mythical case of Orestes arraigned by the Furies for matricide. There is also a good word for the diplomatic connection between Argos, represented by Orestes, and Athens. Orestes by Apollo's advice has appealed to the Areopagus. The court consists of Athenian citizens. Athene in person presides. The Furies appear as the accusers. They form the Chorus, which in this case plays a part in the drama. Apollo appears as a witness for his accused votary, and as responsible for the act which he had commanded. The result is the acquittal of Orestes by the presiding goddess. The proceedings are opened by Athene.

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LINES 536-747.

ATHENE.

Herald, proclaim good order through the host, Then let the loud Tyrrhenian trumpet's blast Thrill forth its warning to the multitude. 'Tis meet that while the judges take their seats All citizens keep silence and give ear To that which now and for all time to come I have ordained, that justice may be done.

CHORUS OF FURIES.

(_Seeing_ APOLLO _approach_.)

Rule, Lord Apollo, o'er thy own domain. What portion hast thou in this cause of ours?

APOLLO.

First, as a witness in this cause I come, To say this man with me took sanctuary, And that I cleansed him of the stain of blood. Next, as a party to this cause I come, Since I was the prime mover of the deed. Call on the cause, then, and let right be done.

ATHENE.

The cause is called, and the word rests with you.

(_To the_ FURIES.)

Let the accuser first be heard and lay The cause before the court, for so is best.

CHORUS.

Many we are, yet brief our speech shall be; Do thou to questions plain, plain answer give; And tell us first, didst thou thy mother slay?

ORESTES.

I slew my mother, and deny it not.

CHORUS.

One bout, then, of our wrestling match is won.

ORESTES.

Too soon thou boastest; not yet am I thrown.

CHORUS.

Now must thou tell us how the deed was done.

ORESTES.

I drew my sword and smote her that she died.

CHORUS.

Who was it counselled thee, and set thee on?

ORESTES.

His oracle that is my witness here.

CHORUS.

Sayest thou the prophet counselled matricide?

ORESTES.

He did, and so far I repent me not.

CHORUS.

Thou wilt when in the judgment thou art cast.

ORESTES.

No fear have I; aid from the dead will come.

CHORUS.

Aid from the dead to thee, a matricide?

ORESTES.

My mother bore a double taint of crime.

CHORUS.

How doubly? let the judges understand.

ORESTES.

She slew her consort and my sire in one.

CHORUS.

Her death has made her peace, but thou still liv'st.

ORESTES.

Why did ye not pursue her while she lived?

CHORUS.

Because she was not kin to him she slew.

ORESTES.

Am I of kin, then, to my mother's blood?

CHORUS.

Wretch, wast thou not beneath her girdle borne, And dar'st thou to forswear thy mother's blood?

ORESTES.

Apollo, now stand forth and testify. Say, was my mother rightly slain or not? The deed itself is not by us denied; Whether't was rightly done or not, judge thou, That I may plead thy sentence to this court.

APOLLO.

I will before this high Athenian court Bear witness true: the prophet cannot lie; For never in my seat of prophecy Spoke I of man, of woman, or of state, Aught else than the Olympian father bade. I pray you, mark the force of this my plea, And yield obedience to the will of Zeus, For Zeus is mightier than a judge's oath.

CHORUS.

Zeus, as thou sayest, inspired this oracle Which bade Orestes, for his father's death Take vengeance, reckless of a mother's claim.

APOLLO.

'Twas different when a noble warrior fell, One that the heaven-entrusted sceptre swayed, Slain by a woman's hand, not with the bow, As slays the fierce far-darting Amazon, But in such wise as Pallas and the court Impanelled to decide this cause shall hear.-- As from the war he happily returned She met him with perfidious flatteries. Then in his bath, as to the laver's edge He came, she, like a canopy, outspread A robe and smote him tangled in its folds. By such foul practice died a man of all Worshipped, the puissant leader of our host. Such was his murderess; well the tale may touch The hearts of those who shall pass judgment here.

CHORUS.

Zeus, then, it seems, is on the father's side, Yet Zeus his aged father put in bonds. How squares that story with thy present plea? I pray the court to hark to his reply.

APOLLO.

O hateful brood, abhorred of all the gods, He who is bound may be unbound again. There's many a way to set a captive free; But when the dust has drunk the blood of man, Death knows no cure or resurrection. For death my father hath no remedy, All else he with his will omnipotent Sorts as him lists, exhaustless in his power.

CHORUS.

Suppose yon wretch acquitted on thy plea, Can he, polluted with a mother's blood, At Argos dwell and in his father's home? What public altar can he use, what guild Of kinsmen will admit him to their rite?

APOLLO.

With this, too, will I deal, and mark me well, The mother is not parent to the child, But only fosters that she hath conceived. The male is the true parent, and his mate But holds the germ, so it 'scape blight, in trust. This can I prove by puissant argument. A father sans a mother there may be. There stands the daughter of Olympian Zeus, She ne'er was nurtured in the darkling womb, Yet could no god in heaven beget her peer. Pallas, as always my endeavour is Thy city and thy people to exalt, So I have sent this suppliant to thy hearth, That he might be thy ever faithful friend, And thou might'st count him as a sure ally, Him and his race hereafter, and this bond Unbroken through all ages might endure.

ATHENE.

The pleadings now are ended, and I call Upon the panel for a righteous vote.

CHORUS.

On our side the last arrow has been shot; We wait but for the verdict of the court.

ATHENE.

What order can I take that will content ye?

CHORUS.

Ye all have heard the pleadings in this cause; Now in your hearts let justice rule the vote.

ATHENE.

Ye men of Athens, hear what is ordained For this first trial of a homicide. So long as Aegeus' nation shall endure Upon this hill shall Justice hold her seat. Here Theseus' foes, the Amazons, did camp In days of old; here they a fortress built In rivalry to this new-founded town; Here sacrificed to Ares, whence the name Of Ares' Hill; and here, by day and night, Indwelling reverence and the fear of wrong Shall keep my people from unrighteousness, So they abstain from innovation rash. Foul the clear fountain with impurities, And of its waters thou canst drink no more. Hold fast the golden mean, from anarchy And from a despot's rule alike removed; Nor cast all awe out of the commonwealth, For who is righteous that is void of awe? What now is founded if ye will revere, Your land and state shall such a bulwark have As hath no nation in the universe From Pelops' realm to Scythia's utmost wild. This counsel I establish incorrupt, August, high-souled, and ever vigilant To guard the public weal while others sleep. Such is my counsel to my citizens For times to come. Now let the judges rise. Their ballots take, and a true verdict give According to their oath; no more I say.

CHORUS.

(_One_ FURY _speaking for the rest_.)

I warn ye to respect this company, Whom else your land may find sore visitants.

APOLLO.

I warn ye to respect the oracles Of Zeus and mine, nor dare to make them void.

CHORUS.

Bloodshedding falls not within thy domain; Thy holy shrine will holy be no more.

APOLLO.

Was then my sire misled in that from blood He cleansed Ixion, first of homicides?

CHORUS.

Say what thou wilt of justice, if we miss, We shall return in wrath to haunt the land.

APOLLO.

Both by the new and by the ancient gods Thou art despised: the victory will be mine.

CHORUS.

'Twas thou that didst in Pheres' house cajole The fates to grant a mortal endless life.

APOLLO.

Was it not well to do good unto him That honoured me, and at his utmost need?

CHORUS.

Thou didst, subverting all the rule of eld, Beguile with wine those ancient deities.

APOLLO.

And thou wilt soon, barred of thy cruel will, Spit forth thy venom, yet not harm thy foe.

CHORUS.

Since thy pert youth doth spurn my reverend age. I wait the issue of this cause in doubt Whether to lay my curse upon this land.

ATHENE.

To me it falls at last to give my vote, And I my vote will for Orestes give; No mother bore me, to the male I cleave In all things saving that I wedlock shun With my whole heart, and am my father's child. Therefore, a woman's fate that slew her lord, The guardian of her home, concerns me not. Now, if there be a tie, Orestes wins. Judges, to whom that office is assigned, Be quick, turn out the ballots from the urns.

ORESTES.

Phoebus, kind god, what will the verdict be?

CHORUS.

O Night, my sable mother, now look down.

ORESTES.

For me salvation or despair is nigh.

CHORUS.

For us, fresh veneration or disgrace.

APOLLO.

Ye men of Athens, truly count the votes, Strictly observing justice in the tale, For want of caution here will work much woe, While a great house may by one vote be saved.

ATHENE.

(_To_ ORESTES.)

Thou art acquitted of blood-guiltiness, For equal are the numbers of the votes.

ORESTES.

O Pallas, thou hast saved a royal house! I was an exile; thou hast brought me home. And now shall every son of Hellas say, He is once more an Argive, once more holds. His father's state, for which my gratitude Is due to Pallas and to Loxias, And, lastly, to the all-preserving Zeus, Who, taking pity on my father's fate, Saved me from these my mother's advocates. Now to my home I go; but first I swear To thee and thine an everlasting oath, That never from my land shall chieftain come To lift against this land his martial spear. Ourselves, though then we in our graves shall be, Will on the breakers of our covenant Send such disaster, such perplexity, Such faintness, and such evil auguries, That they shall surely rue their enterprise; But if my people keep the covenant, And ever true allies to thine remain, My spirit shall fight with them from the tomb. Now fare ye well, thou and thy citizens; Still in war's wrestle may your foemen fall, And ever on your spears sit victory.

SOPHOCLES

OEDIPUS THE KING.

Oedipus is the son of Laius, King of Thebes, and Queen Jocasta. It had been prophesied of him, before his birth, that he would kill his father and lie with his mother. To avert this, when born, he is devoted by his mother to death by exposure on a mountain. But he is saved and taken to Polybus, King of Corinth, who adopts him, and whose son he believes himself to be. Having heard of the prophecy concerning himself, he leaves Corinth to avoid its fulfilment; but on his road falls in with Laius, has a quarrel with his attendants, and kills him. He then goes to Thebes, delivers the Thebans from the Sphinx, by guessing her riddle, is rewarded with the kingdom, and marries the widowed Queen Jocasta, his own mother, who bears children to him. The gods, offended by the presence of murder and incest, send a plague on Thebes. Oedipus sends his brother-in-law, Creon, to consult the oracle at Delphi respecting the visitation. The oracle bids the Thebans expel the murderer of Laius. This leads to an inquiry after the murderer, and through successive disclosures, in the management of which the poet exerts his art, to the revelation of the dreadful secret. It is a story of overmastering fate.

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_THE PLAGUE_.

The plague sent by the angry gods is raging at Thebes. The people are gathered in supplication round the altars before the palace of Oedipus, who comes forth to them.

LINES 1-77.

OEDIPUS.

My children, progeny of Cadmus old, Why in this posture do I find you here, With wool-wreathed branches in your suppliant hands? The city is with breath of incense filled, Filled with sad chant, and voices of lament, Whereof the truth to learn from other lips Deeming not right, myself am present here, That Oedipus, the world-renowned, am hight. Say, reverend sir, since thee it well beseems To speak for all, what moves this company, Fear or desire? Know that I fain would aid With all my power. Hard-hearted I must be If pity for such suppliants touched me not.

THE PRIEST.

Oedipus, puissant ruler of our land, Behold us prostrate at thy altars here, And mark our ages; some are callow boys, Others are priests laden with years, as I Am priest of Zeus; others are chosen youths. The rest, with suppliant emblems in their hands, Sit in the mart, or at the temples twain Of Pallas' or Ismenus' prescient hearth. The city, as thou dost perceive, is tossed On the o'er-mastering billows, and no more Can lift her head above the murderous surge. Her foodful fruits all withering in the germ, Her flocks and herds expiring on the lea, Her births abortive, while the fiery fiend Of deadly pestilence has swooped on her, Making the homes of Cadmus desolate, And gluts dark Hades with the wail of death. An equal of the gods, I and these youths That here sit on this earth, account thee not; But we account thee first of men to deal With visitation or cross accident. A stranger thou didst bring to us release From tribute to that cruel songstress paid. Advantage from our guidance thou hadst none, 'Twas by the inspiration of a god As we believe that thou didst redeem our State. Now, Oedipus, thou whom we all revere, We bow before thee, and implore thy grace To find some succour for us if thou canst By heavenly teaching or through human aid. In men, who by experience have been tried, We find the happiest fruits of policy. Come, best of men, lift up our city's head! Look to thy own renown; thy zeal once shown Has earned for thee a patriot saviour's name. Let us not think of thee as of a prince That raised us up to let us fall again; But make our restoration firm and sure. 'Twas under happy omens that thou then Didst succour us; what then thou wast, be now. Our king thou art; if king thou wilt remain, Reign o'er a peopled realm, not o'er a waste. Naught is the bravest ship without her crew, The strongest fort without its garrison.

OEDIPUS.

Poor children, little needs to tell me that For which ye come to pray; too well I know Ye all are sick. And, sick as ye may be, There is not one whose sickness equals mine. The grief of each of you touches himself, And touches none beside: your sovereign's heart Bears your griefs, and the city's and his own. Not from a slumber have ye wakened me, Trust me, I many an anxious tear have shed, And many a path have tried in wandering thought. Such remedy as, scanning all, I find I have applied. Creon, Menoeceus' son And my Queen's brother, to the Pythian shrine Of Phoebus I have sent to ask what act Or word of mine this city will redeem. And now, as anxiously I mete the time, My soul is troubled, for, to my surprise, He has been absent longer than he ought. But when he comes, a caitiff I shall be If I do not all that the god ordains.

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_THE DAWN OF DISCOVERY_.

Oedipus, having learned from the oracle that the cause of the wrath of the gods and of the plague is the presence of the murderer of Laius in the land, sends for the blind prophet, Tiresias, to tell him who is the murderer. Tiresias, knowing the secret, is reluctant to reveal it, and an altercation ensues, Oedipus suspecting that Tiresias has been set on by Creon, the Queen's brother, who he thinks is intriguing to supplant him in the monarchy.

LINES 300-462.

OEDIPUS.

Tiresias, thou whose thought embraces all, Revealed or unrevealed, in heaven or earth, In how sad plight our city is, thy mind, If not thy eye, discerns. Prophet, in thee Resides our sole hope of deliverance. Phoebus, if thou hast not the tidings heard, Has to our envoys answered, that the plague Will never leave this city till we find The murderers of the late King Laius, And slay them or expel them from the land. Then, if a way thou know'st, by augury Or divination, put forth all thy power, Save this our commonwealth, thyself and me; Put from us the pollution of this blood. To thee alone we look; what gifts one has To use for good is of all toil the best.

TIRESIAS.

Ah! what an ill possession knowledge is When ignorance were gain. This well I know, And yet forgot, else had I not come here.

OEDIPUS.

What ails thee that thou bring'st this face of gloom?

TIRESIAS.

Let me go home, for each of us will bear His burden easiest if so thou dost.

OEDIPUS.

Whatever thou dost know, the voice of right And call of patriot duty bids thee speak.

TIRESIAS.

Speech is not always opportune; in thee It is not; thy mistake I would not share.

OEDIPUS.

Oh, by the gods, I pray thee stand not mute! We all as suppliants kneel in heart to thee.

TIRESIAS.

Then are ye all misguided. As for me, I tell not that which told would hurt us both.

OEDIPUS.

How! dost thou know and yet refuse to tell? Wilt thou prove traitor and undo the State?

TIRESIAS.

I will not bring down woe on thee and me. Press me no more; thy questioning is vain.

OEDIPUS.

O vilest of mankind, for thou would'st move A stone to righteous wrath, wilt thou not speak But still stand there unmoved and obdurate?

TIRESIAS.

Thou dost reprove my heart, yet near thine own Is something that the censor wots not of.

OEDIPUS.

Whose wrath would not be kindled when he heard Language so hateful to a patriot's ear?

TIRESIAS.

Even if I keep silence, it must come.

OEDIPUS.

That which must come why not disclose to me?

TIRESIAS.

I will speak no word more; then, if thou wilt, Freely give vent to thy most savage wrath.

OEDIPUS.

Freely my anger shall give utterance To what I think: I think that in thy mind This murder was engendered, was thy act Save the mere blow, and hadst thou not been blind, I should have deemed thee the sole murderer.

TIRESIAS.

Ha! Then I call upon thee to be true To thy own proclamation, and henceforth Abstain from intercourse with these or me, As he that brings on us the curse of blood.

OEDIPUS.

Hast thou the impudence such calumny To vent, and dream'st thou of impunity?

TIRESIAS.

I fear thee not; truth's power is on my side.

OEDIPUS.

Whence did it come to thee? not from thy art.

TIRESIAS.

From thee that made me speak against my will.

OEDIPUS.