Eumenides (Murray 1925)/Notes
NOTES
The Scene is conceived as different in different parts of the play, but probably no actual change was made. A stage with the usual "House" background, representing a Temple or Castle, with a round orchestra (dancing floor) on a lower level in front, will suit all the needs of the action. A statue of Athena in place of the Omphalos Altar will turn the "House" from the Temple of Apollo at Delphi to that of Athena in Athens. A semi-circle of seats, or something similar, will symbolize the Areopagus. Compare the change of scene in the Choëphoroe, where Agamemnon's Grave seems to be in the centre of the orchestra while the "House" represents the palace of Aigisthos, and the action of the play is now at one, now at the other.
P. 1, l. 1. The priestess first praises the Holders of the Throne of prophecy at Delphi—Earth, Themis, Phoebe, Apollo; then the other divine beings in the neighbourhood, including the River Pleistos, and ending suitably with Zeus the Perfector or Accomplisher (Teleios). The ordinary legend told of Apollo's battle with a dragon, born of Earth, and the anger of Earth thereafter; Aeschylus insists that there was never any strife among the gods at Delphi.
P. 1, l. 9. Apollo was at Delos, his rocky isle with the "orbèd mere" in it, when he heard of the gift made to him, and set off to take possession of Delphi.
P. 2, l. 19. Literally: "Loxias is the forth-shower (prophêtês) of Zeus the Father": Loxias is the special title of Phoebus Apollo as prophet: the line is important for the understanding of the play.
P. 2, l. 24. Bromios and Pentheus: the story is given in the Bacchae of Euripides.
P. 3, l. 40. "Blood on his hand, etc.": as if he had come straight from the murder. To inquire why the blood is still wet, and to explain that it is only the blood of swine killed in purification (ll. 284, 450), is to treat the matter too realistically.
P. 3, ll. 47 ff. This account prepares the audience for the appearance of the Erînyes, who had apparently not been represented on the stage before. They are not exactly like the Gorgons, nor yet like the winged Harpies who swept away Phineus' food.
P. 3, l. 64. Stage Direction. We do not know how the inner shrine was shown, whether by wide doors or by the drawing of a curtain.
P. 4, l. 71. "Born for wickedness and sorrow": i.e. they exist for the punishment of sin, and nothing else. But see Introduction, p. vi f.
P. 4, l. 79. The City of Pallas is Athens, her Rock the Acropolis.
P. 4, l. 90. Hermes: he is not present, but is invoked as the regular Guide of the Wanderer. "Zeus pitieth, etc.": this is the essential doctrine of the play.
P. 5, ll. 94 ff. The Ghost. The Ghost is a Dream, and vanishes as the Furies wake. This does not mean that to an ancient poet the Ghost was unreal, but that a Dream was real. In the Iliad (Book II, 6 ff.) the Dream behaves like any other messenger of Zeus.
P. 6, l. 140. Leader of Furies. Homer speaks indifferently of "the Erînys" (singular) and "the Erînyes" (plural). Greek theology felt the difference between singular and plural far less than we do.
The Furies argue that Apollo has (1) broken the Law by stealing his favourite away from justice, and (2) defiled his own altar by bringing thither a man polluted with. blood.
P. 8, l. 179. Apollo speaks here, not as "forth-shower of Zeus," but in his own person as a Hellenic God, hating this lust for punishment which the Furies show: if torture is what they want, let them go to Persia and the lands of the barbarians, where they can get it, but keep away from Hellas and Delphi.
P, 10, l. 206. "And revilest us who guide his feet?" A quibble, which Apollo answers by another.
P. 10, l. 212. "'Twas not one blood": It is the Furies who first raise this sophism about the "common blood." In reality such a plea on behalf of a wife who had murdered her husband would no more be admitted in ancient law than in modern. But the Erînyes are supposed by the poet to represent (1) the primitive "matriarchal" society which preceded the introduction of marriage and civic life, and (2) a blind law based on purely physical considerations: hence Apollo's answer: "Your insistence on the physical blood-tie destroys all moral values. It is love and trust, not mere blood, that matter." He has also a physiological argument with which to meet their quibble in the trial scene (p. 33, l. 660).
P. 11, l. 229. "Thou hast thy greatness by the Throne of God": i.e. You have a Portion of your own, which you value as we value ours.
P. 12, ll. 235 ff. Orestes has been hunted over the face of the world for years and has at last made his way, bleeding, to Athena's Image in in Athens. The Furies are only a short way behind, tracking him by the blood.
The question has been raised what Image of Athena this is, and whether the scene is on the Acropolis or the Areopagus, or elsewhere. To ask such a question is to press too hard the ideal geography of ancient poetry. The scene is Athens, though sometimes we may have to think of one part of Athens rather than another. Similarly, in the Helena the scene is Egypt, though we are sometimes on the banks of the Nile, sometimes on the sea-shore, sometimes at the Isle of Pharos; so in the Agamemnon the beacon from Troy to Argos starts from Mount Ida. The real Mount Ida was about thirty miles in the wrong direction, but the ideal Ida was simply the mountain of Troy.
P. 14, l. 270. "Parent or guest or god": These are the three classes of persons towards whom primitive man has duties: (1) the gods; (2) the kindred, in which the parents take the chief place; (3) those aliens to whom he had specially bound himself by the tie of hospitality.
P. 14, l. 276. Orestes calls Athena to come to his aid, and explains that his touch does not defile her Image, and that he is at liberty to speak.—The reasons are: first, it is so long ago and he has suffered so much. Even such a defilement as his does not last for ever. Secondly, he was fully purified at Delphi in the regular way, new blood (of swine) being poured upon him to cover the old blood, and then both washed off together. Thirdly, he has, as a matter of fact, spoken to many people with no bad results to them.—It looks as if there was some ceremonial difficulty which Aeschylus had to meet, in making the unacquitted murderer embrace the Image of Athena or the Altar at Delphi.
P. 15, ll. 293, 295. According to one legend, the epithet "Tritonia," traditionally applied to Athena, meant that she was born at Lake Tritonis in Libya. Phlegra was the scene of the Battle between the Gods and Giants; it is interesting that Aeschylus seems to conceive it as a continuous battle, not an incident in the past.
P. 15, l. 299. Orestes' prayer is followed by silence; a pause and no answer. Then the triumphant cry of the Fury, and the Binding Song to fix his despair. Then at l. 397, when hope had failed, Athena's entrance.
Pp. 16–19, ll. 321–396. This song falls into two parts: a solemn and even philosophical statement of the place of the Avengers in the Cosmos, and a magical chorus or "Binding Song," sinister and terrifying. "Binding charms" or Defixiones play a prominent part in ancient magic, and are sufficiently numerous to have a special volume of the Corpus Inscriptionum to themselves.
The Furies here explain that their business is to punish sin: they have no other function, and therefore are repugnant to the Gods—much as a hangman or a mediaeval torturer is, or was, repellent to ordinary society. Unjustly, since he was only doing his appointed duty.
P. 17, l. 356. The Foe within the Dwelling. A murderer is one who behaves like the enemy inside his own household.
P. 20, l. 400. Athena comes from Sigêum in the neighbourhood of Troy, which in the time of Aeschylus had long been part of the Athenian Empire. Tradition said that it had been given by the Greek army to the "Sons of Theseus" (the Athenians) for their services in the Trojan War.
P. 20, ll. 404 f. In the MS. two alternative lines are given, one to be used if Athena entered flying ex machina through the air, the other if it was more convenient for her to enter on a chariot. I have chosen the first. (The other may be translated:
Thence came I speeding, these young steeds of war
Impetuous yoked beneath my fiery car.)
Pp. 20–22, ll. 415–435. The dialogue between Athena and the Furies is significant. They state their position impressively: to ordinary gods and mortals they are abominable, but Night loves them and "the wronged ones in the darkness" see in them their prayers personified. On the other hand, Athena's question in l. 426, "What motive had he?" is just what they cannot answer or consider. "He has sinned; smite him," is the whole of their doctrine.
This explains the point about the oath. The Furies follow the old ordeal by oath: the only trial permitted to the accused man is that both parties can be made to swear. If the accused can swear that he did not commit the crime, well and good. If he cannot, he is guilty. This leaves out of account any inquiry into justification or extenuating circumstances or even intention. Hence Athena condemns it, and eventually substitutes a trial by free inquiry into the whole of the facts.
P. 23, ll. 470 ff. "A mystery graver to decide Than mortal dreameth." Because it involves the whole problem of forgiveness. To reject the suppliant who has tried his best to do right is an offence; yet to save a particular sinner from the due consequence of his sin is an offence too. If one guilty man is to go unpunished, what remains of the Law? Athena decides to found a tribunal to inquire into the whole case and decide as it may think just, and this is the origin of the famous Court of the Areopagus. The Furies, as soon as they hear of this new-fangled form of trial, are bewildered and begin to feel that they have been deceived. Their simple rule, that the doer shall suffer, is no longer holding good.
Pp. 24–27, ll. 490–565. The above leads on to the main argument of this fine lyric. "Spare the criminal, and the law is broken; and then there will be no protection for the helpless and innocent. Society cannot do without Fear, though of course it must be the Fear of Law. The righteous and law-fearing man may suffer, but is never utterly lost; the law-breaker may succeed for a time, but in the end he is destroyed."
Pp. 27 ff., ll. 566–777. The Trial Scene, though curious, is perhaps below the level of the rest of the play. For one thing, I think it is deliberately set, like the play scene in Hamlet, one remove further from reality. As the play in general is to real life, so is the Trial Scene to the play. Further, the acquittal of Orestes does not depend on the arguments used in the trial, but on the Will of Zeus, which is an ultimate fact not dependent on argument. The interest lies in the foundation of the Court of the Areopagus, as a tribunal superseding the blood-feud, the ordeal by oath, and all all the rigid and unreasoning practices of primitive justice, by a justice which can understand and therefore sympathize.
The arguments run roughly as follows:—
Prosecution.
Did the prisoner kill his mother? He admits it. He must die.
Defence.
Apollo ordered him to kill, because she had killed her husband.—Why did you not pursue her?
Prosecution.
A husband is not a blood relation. (A mere quibble, like Portia's pound of flesh without blood.)
Defence.
If it comes to that, neither is a mother. The best physiologists say that the human mother is in function exactly like Mother Earth. She provides the soil for the seed, she does not provide the seed itself.
Prosecution.
A monstrous doctrine, to deny a mother's sacred blood!
Defence.
No more monstrous than to deny the bond between husband and wife.
Apollo's Evidence.
When I commanded the prisoner to kill his mother I merely revealed the Will of Zeus. That is the highest of all laws.
Cross-Examined.
"If Zeus thinks so much of the sanctity of the father, does he think nothing of the mother ?"—"The two cases were not parallel." "Did not Zeus bind his own father?"—"You are trying to make mischief. Zeus knows how to repair any wrong he may have done in the past. He learns and heals."
"Are you not polluted by touching a murderer?" "No: Zeus himself touched and forgave the first murderer, Ixîon, when he came to him in supplication."
Athena (to the Judges).
Decide according to your consciences; for me, I belong utterly to Zeus and my will is his will. Therefore my vote is for acquittal.
P. 27, l. 570. Apparently seats are placed on the Stage or round the Orchestra for the Judges. They are accompanied by a crowd of Athenian citizens, women and children among them, who form the Chorus in the final scene. See pp. 49 f.
P. 28, ll. 576 ff. Apollo appears both as a witness and as a patron or sympathizer: quite an important character in ancient justice.
P. 29, l. 589. The three bouts: of an ordinary wrestling match.
P. 31, l. 610. "I can no more": Orestes is at the end of his forces. He can speak no more, and merely longs to have his fate settled somehow. Cf. his words to Athena, p. 23, l. 468.
P. 32, l. 632. A marble bed, etc. The text seems defective here. The same kind of marble vessel served both as a bath and as a sarcophagus.
P. 32, l. 641. Did he not bind his father and his king: There is often an awkward clash between the Zeus of Aeschylus' exalted conception and the Zeus of accepted mythology. Still, it is quite in consonance with Aeschylus' conception that Zeus should have done violence, and then learned better and made amends.
P. 33, l. 660. Cf. p. 30, l. 606 above. This theory of generation was largely held in antiquity, and has only been disproved in recent times. See Aristotle, De Gen Anim., Book 4. Eur., Orestes, 552 ff.
P. 34, l. 682. What none before hath given: i.e. hitherto they have only gone by mechanical tests and ordeals; now they have tried to find the full truth. The Council of the Areopagus was a Council of Elders, of the type usual in ancient Indo-European Societies, reinforced, like the Roman Senate, by the co-optation of all ex-magistrates ("Archontes"). It exercised a general supervision over the state, especially in matters of religious pollution. At the time of the Persian invasion it seems to have been the only organ of the constitution which held firm, and consequently for the next seventeen years it exercised a predominant influence over Athens. In the year 461–460, three years before this play, its political powers were severely cut down by the democratic party led by Ephialtes, but its jurisdiction in cases of blood-pollution was left. If we ask what the political bearing of the Eumenides was, in a time of fierce party feeling, the answer is not hard to find. Aeschylus preaches reconciliation (pp. 45, 48) and magnifies the original function of the Areopagus, which it still retains.
P. 38, l. 751. One thrown pebble: A proverb referring to the pebble or stone of the sea-shore used for voting. (Cf. p. 37, l. 741).
P. 38, l. 754. An Argive alliance was traditional in Athens. However, after this one passionate speech we almost forget Orestes. His case has raised an issue so much greater than itself.
Pp. 39 ff., ll. 792–890. Athena's speeches. It is difficult to say what particular plea of Athena's won the Erînyes over, and transformed them to "Eumenides (Kindly Ones)." The effect of her patience and persuasion was cumulative. But l. 885 gives the essential test: "Do they believe in Persuasion, which is the gift of Zeus and the office of Athena?" That is, "Do they admit that there is a place in the Law for reason and understanding?" If so, they will accept their new position, expressing a truer law than the old.
P. 39, l. 897. The Younger Gods are the Gods of the new dispensation, the followers of Zeus.
P. 41, l. 834. Why should marriage and childbirth fall under the special charge of the Erînyes? Because the Chthonian (or underworld) Powers punish transgression by barrenness and similar curses, while they reward normal conduct by sending up the fruits of the Earth, including the young of animals and men. Also the old female goddesses, dating from matriarchal times, were naturally concerned with women's affairs.
P. 45, l. 864. "War with the stranger, yes . . . but not the mad bird-rage that slays at home": The dates here are significant: B.C. 461 Kimon, the aristocratic leader, banished: 460 the Areopagus attacked and reduced in power: in return Ephialtes, the democratic leader, murdered. 458: An inscription of this year has been found, which records the names of Athenian citizens killed in war on five different fronts—amazing energy for a single city: 457 Battle of Tanagra: Kimon asks to be allowed to fight in the Athenian ranks; the request is refused, but his friends take his armour into battle with them and place it at their head. After the battle, which ended in defeat, Kimon is recalled—War, faction and reconciliation in abundance! Mr. R. W. Livingstone in J.H.S. xlv. pp. 120 ff. has emphasized the influence which this feud-torn atmosphere must have had in leading Aeschylus to his gospel of forgiveness.
P. 44, l. 910. The ungodly: The Erînyes carry on the same functions as before, but their "Moira" as punishers of the guilty falls into its due proportion.
P. 49, l. 997. To neighbour Jove's eternal eyes: The great Olympieum, or Temple of Zeus Olympios, was on the plain a little way from the Acropolis.
P. 49, l. 1002. Your secret chambers: Amid the limestone rocks of the Areopagus was a chasm through which rose a spring of dark water. It was held to be a way to the Underworld. It also led to the seat of these goddesses, called generally Semnai (Venerable) or Eumenides (Kindly Ones) because their real name, Erînyes, was rather too awful for common use.
P. 50, l. 1028. Robes of crimson dye: The late Walter Headlam pointed out that a crimson robe was the mark of a metoikos or "resident alien" received in Athens. That is what the Erinyes became when they accepted their cavern.