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f <^.r' ■ •?•■■
DISSERTATIONS
ON THE
EUMENIDES OF JISCHYLUS.
DISSERTATIONS
ON THE
EUMENIDES OF JISCHYLTJS
PROM THE
GERMAN OF C. O. MULLER.
SECOND E3ITI0N, REVISED,
LONDON : JOHN W. PARKER AND SON, WEST STRAND.
CAMBRIDGE: JOHN DEIGHTON.
HDCCCLIII.
^^J. /,JS,
LONDOW:
BAVILL Aim BDWAIM, ?&IirTBmi, GBAin>0»-fTBKrr,
Govnrr oa«dvh«
ADVERTISEMENT.
The Greek Text of the Eumenides which formed part
of the first edition of this work, is omitted from the
present, as it may now be had in a separate form.
The circumstances under which a re-publication of the
Dissertations was called for, were such as admitted of no
delay, and the present Editor found it impossible, with
the limited time allowed him, to do all that he wished
far the improvement of the translation : he has, how-
ever, revised it throughout, and, in many places, Juts
substitvied a fuller or more accurate rendering of the
Author's meaning, and inserted matter which was omitted
in the former edition.
ApHl, 1853.
v.,
^
VUl CONTENTS.
PAOB
catalectic orders to the fundamental beat of the metre. —
(§ 23) Trochaic rhythm. Lydian Mode.— (§ 24) Odes 6 and
7. Commatica.— (§ 25) Odes 8, 9, 10. Third Stasimon,
Anapaestic systems. Concluding Ode.
II. THEATEE 49
(§ 26) Stone Theatre at Athens.— (§ 27) The Stage repre-
sented the Pythian Temple with the Omphalos, and the Or-
chestra the Front Court, in which the Prologue is spoken. —
(§ 28) The sudden appearance of the Erinnyes not effected by
an Eccyclema, but (§ 29) by a curtain. — (§ 30) The scene
shifted to Athens by turning round the Periacti. — (§ 31)
Scene laid in and about the Temj^e of Athene Polias to the
end of the play.
III. COSTUME 63
(§ 32) General character of the stage-costume. — (§ 33)
Distribution of the parts in the Orestea among three players.
— (§ 34) Garb and personal appearance of the several actors.
Second Dissebtation. On the Purport and Com-
position OF THE Play 69
I. POLITICAL POINT OF VIEW.
A. INTERNAL AFFAIBS OF ATHENS 71
(§ 35) Abasement of the Areopagus by Ephialtes.---(§ 36)
Not effected at the time of the ccmiposition of the Eumeni-
des. — (§ 37) The trial for homicide withdrawn from the
Areopagus, ^schylus upholds that court in its ancient
jurisdiction. — (§ 38) The same aristocratic sentiments ex-
hibited by the Poet in the Persae and Septem c. Thebas.
Issue of the affiur.
B. PORBION RELATIONS OF ATHENS. , 81
(§ 39) League with Argos. Orestes the representative of
that State.— (§ 40) The same sentiments towards Argos in
the Supplices. — (§ 41) The Poet's views of domestic and
foreign affairs reconciled.— (§ 42) Bis warnings against civil
discord, and encouragement to foreign war.
CONTENTS. IX
PAQB
n. JUDICIAL POINT OF VIEW.
A. AVBNGHNO OP BLOOD, AND PURSUIT OP THE BL00DH3HBDDER.
a, BvZy of aA)€fiaging bloody cU Athena cmd in the ecvrUer
times 87
(§ 43) Exclusively incumbent on the relations of the
deceased, by Attic law. — (§ 44) Interference of the State in
wilful murder and manslaughter, and limitation of vengeance
in those cases. — (§ 45) Greater extent of vengeance and neces-
sity of flight in the heroic Age.
h. Duty of Orestes according to Ihe tevioroflhe mylhus,*, 97
(§ 46) Strict obligation of Orestes to avenge his &ther.— •
(§ 47) Instigation to vengeance by Apollo, exhibited in the
hero's companion Pylades.— {§ 48) .^Slschylus's views on the
duty of Orestes vindicated against Euripides.— (§ 49) Ven-
geance of the Erinnyes upon Orestes.
e. Poeition of the fugiMve Homicide 103
(§ 50) Dread of miasma from the shedder of blood. —
(§ 51) Eespect and compassion (mdof) for the blood-guilty
suppliant. Meaning of 7rpo<rrp67raios in .^^chylus.
B. ATONEMENT AND PURIFICATION POR BLOODOUILTINES8.
o. Ingeneral, 106
(§ 52) Sanction of the practice by Attic law, and greater
extent of the custom in heroic times according to Homer.-^
(§ 53) Expiation for blood founded upon the legends of
Ixion and Hercules.
b. Biffetenoe bet/ween the rites of Atonement cmd those of
Tv/rificaJtipn {HUasmos cmd Katharmos) 112
(§ 54) Atonement (Hilasmos) its constant reference to the
Chtiionian deities. — (§ 55) Demonstrated in the Cultus of
Zeus Meilichios and Laphystios as a chthonian God, and (§ 56)
in the festival of the Delphinian Apollo as having reference
to a dithonian divinity. Hence its connexion with the pro-
X . CONTENTS.
PAGB
pitiation of the dead in the Hydrophoria.— (§ 67) Method
of atonement, servitude for eight years, and (§ 58) sacrifice
of an animal, especially a ram, to the chthonian Zeus. Origin
of the Greek ransom (ttoii^).— (§ 69) Purification by the
blood of expiatory sacrifices, and by water. — (§ 60) Apollo
the proper Grod of purification. — (§ 61) Other Grods of puri-
fication, especially Dionysus.
c. Pmjficatian of Orestes 128
(§ 62) The several places where Orestes abode during his
exile and was cleansed from his guilt. — (§ 63) Orestes puri-
fied, but the Erinnyes still unpropitiated.
C. THE CJOURTS POK THE TRIAL OP BLOOD, AND THE JUDI-
CIAL PROCEEDINGS.
a. The Attic GovHa a/nd Trihmiala..^ 133
(§ 64) Historical relation between the Areopagus and the
Ephetse.— (§ 65) Separation of these Courts in the cases of
wilful murder and of undesigned and justifiable (i. e. re-
deemable) homicide, effected by Solon's legislation.—- (§ 66)
A Supreme Board, formerly administering justice in ^ve
Courts (Areopagus, Palladium, Delphinium, Prytaneum,
Phreatto).— (§ 67) The meaning of these localities in con-
nexion with the Courts held there.— (§ 68) Vindication of
the my thus which refers the trial of Orestes to the Areo-
pagus, and not to the Delphinium (§ 69).
6. On the Judicvail proceedmga in JEschyhis, 144
(§ 70) Athene, as President of the Court, holds the pre-
liminary enquiry. — (§ 71) On the challenge of Orestes by the
Erinnyes to take oath.— (§ 72) Proceedings in Court. — (§ 73)
Ballot.
D. THE EXEGESIS OP THE SACRED LAW 161
(§ 74) Its reference to the unwritten law.— (§ 76) Propaga-
tion by the Eupadridic families. — (§ 76) Emanation from the
Cultus of ApoUo, whom .^chylus introduces in the capacity
of Exegetes.
CONTENTS. XI
PAGB
III. EELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW.
A. THE SBINNTES.
o. Mecming of the term cmd mt/thiccU conception of the
Erinnyes 155
(§ 77) Definition of Erinnys, and connexion with jlra.—
(§ 78) Comprehension of Erinnys as a divinity withont strict
personality.— (§ 79) Mythical fixation of the idea of the
Erinnyes, and extension of their agency.
h, CvUua of the Erirvnyea and Eumemdes or Semnas 160
(§ 80) Origin of the Oultus of the Erinnyes in the religious
service of Demeter-Erinnii/s, or Black JDemeter,-^^ 81) De-
meter-Erinnys, the predominant principle in the Theban
legend: first in Oadmus's fight with the Dragon.— (§ 82)
(Edipus a victim of Demeter-Erinnys ; his grave in Boeotia. —
(§ 83) CEdipus's grave at Athens and Oolonus; system of
religious services at Colonus. — (§ 84) The CEdipus Ooloneus
of Sophocles. — (§ 85) Demeter-Erinnys the destroyer of
Thebes by means of Adrastus. — (§ 86) Dissemination of the
Cultus of Dem^r-Erinnys in other quarters, and transition
of it into that of the Erinnyes or Senmce. — (§ 87) Develope-
ment of the idea of the Eumenides upon this basis.^§ 88)
The Eumenides as beneficent beings in ^schylus.
e^ Eeligimis Service of the SemncB at Athena 177
(§ 89) Site of their Temple ; connexion of their Cultus
with that of Ares ; sacrifices and libations to them.
d, JEeckyhids Conception of the Erinnyes cmd their Figure 181
(§ 90) Opposition between the elder and younger race of
Gods.— (§ 91) The two systems reconciled by -^Eschylus ;
fiucoession of the Pythian deities.— (§ 92) .^Eschylus's selec-
tion among the mythi relative to the extraction of the Erin-
nyes. — (§ 93) His construction of the figure and appearance
of the Erinnyes.
XU CONTENTS-
TAQM
B. axm 80TER 190
(§ 94) The idea of Zeus Soter, as the third, carried all
through the trilogy. — (§ 95) Dissemination of this cultus,
and its bearing upon the opposition between the Olympian
and chthonian deities.
IV. POETICAL COMPOSITION 197
(§ 96) Tragedy as KaBap<ns r&v naBrfnaroup, developed out
of the Dionysian Cultus. — (§ 97) Train of emotions in the
Agamemnon, (§ 98) the Choephorce, (§ 99) the Eumenides. —
(§ 100) Trilogic Unity. Satyric drama.
Appendix. Caleultis Minervce 216
Index 220
EEKATA.
Page 13, line 9 from bottom, for liveliest read liveli/,
— 78, line 8, for 640 read 640.
— 87, line 2 from bottom, for ^gyjfi read Egypt,
— 98, line 6 from bottom, for rotoiroif, read rouArrois,
— 170, note 1, line 1, for 'Hpawi^, read 'H^y.
— 183, line 8, for trAo^, read which.
DISSERTATIONS
ON THE
EUMENIDES.
FIRST DISSERTATION.
ON THE EEEEESENTATION OF THE PLAY.
L THE CHORUS.
A. MANAGEMENT OF THE CHORUS.
a. Number of the Choreuta.
1. When ^schylus had determined to present him-
self as a candidate for the Tragic prize at the Dionysian
Festival at which he produced his play of the Eume-
NiDEs^ he was first of all obliged^ by the regulations of
the Athenian Festivals^ to apply to the Chief of the
Nine Archons for a Chorus. He obtained one/ and
we learn from the Didascalia that the Chorus assigned
to him was that which a wealthy individual^ Xenodes
of Aphidna^ had engaged^ in the capacity of Choregus
of his tribe^ to collect/ mamtain during their trainings
and equip for the stage. Our Poet then proceeded to
train^ this Chorus for his four plays^ that being the
number which by ei^blished custom the Tragic Poet
was required to produce on the stage at the same time;
these were the Agamemnon, the ChoephortB, the Eume-
nides, and the Proteus, a Satyric drama. As the judges^
in estimating the merits of each candidate^ could (mly
look to outward and visible results^ and the prize was
not for the best poem as such^ but for the play which
was most effectively brought out upon the stage^ this
training was in the eyes of the State the most essential
part of the Poet's whole performance; accordingly^ by
B 2
4 NUMBER OF THE CHORUS.
custom established from the firsts it was not to the
Poet as such, but invariably to the Teacher qf the
Chorus^ that the prize was awarded.
Now the question is, how many persons did Xenodes
— for according to the Didascalia he was the only Cho-
regus with whom iEschylus was concerned on this
occasion — assign to our Poet for the performance of the
Choral dances and Odes in this Tetralogy ?
It is well known that the ancient Grammarians
state the usual number of the Tragic Chorus, even with
iEschylus, to have been fifteen (for fourteen, the number
given in their statements, only means fifteen without
the Leader, or else is to be accounted a mere error of
transcription) : whereas in an ancient Life of Sophocles,
as also in Suidas, we are informed that Sophocles was
the first who changed the number of the Chorus fix>m
twelve to fifteen. It has indeed been su^ested that
these numbers ought to be transposed ; but that such a
transposition is inadmissible here, is sufficiently evident
even from the fact (which will appear in the sequel)
that the Grammarians, in all that they tell us of the
arrangement and distribution of the Tragic Chorus,
have constantly the number fifteen in view : for, of
course, in all their remarks on this subject, they must
have been thinking of the Drama as brought to its
perfection by Sophocles and Euripides, rather than of
the comparatively antiquated form in which it appears
m iEschylus.
Now, as far as I am aware, these accounts have been
universally understood to mean, that the said twelve or
fifteen individuals acted as Chorus in all four plays one
after another ; that is, in the present instance, as Chorus
of Old Men in the Agamemnon, of Female Mourners
^ X^P^^ dtdaaKoXoff.
NUMBEK OF THE CHORUS. 5
in the second play, of Furies in the third, and of Satyrs
in the last. — It is a point of considerable importance
that we should see clearly how entirely unfounded this
opinion is, and how necessary it is to adopt a different
hypothesis.
2. What ? are we expected to beUeve that the same
individuals, and those assuredly not accomplished artists
like the principal stage-actors, but men of the ordinary
class, and such as could not be supposed to have received
more than the usual education of Athenian citizens, —
were actually so well taught and so perfect in their
parts, as to execute successfully all the various figures^
of those numerous long dances — and we know that to
the most ancient Tragedians in particular
* The Dance imparted movements manifold.
As in the stormy mght the immeasurable sea
Seanes sequent wa/oe on wave^ —
all the complex systems — ^which, in the older Tragedy
come three and four together without intermission— of
the many odes which occur in the Agamemnon, the
Choephoroe, the Eumenides, and a Satyric drama to
boot ? And furthermore, that these self-same indivi-
duals were alike skilful in personating, both in song and
dance, the characters of old Men, of gentle Females, of
wrathful Furies, of wanton Satyrs ? Nay, even as a
question of physical possibility, whence were they to
get the enormous bodily power that should enable them
to sustain the choral movements (and we know that
these were often violent and impetuous, even in the
solenm tragic dance'), and at the same time to support
the exertion of voice accompanying the dance, through
all four plays ? And lastly, considering the number of
* a-xnfJurra, ' tufieXtui,
6 NUICBBB OF THE CHOBUS.
tetralogies that were crowded into the compass of a
short Festival^ where was the time to be found between
the several plays for transforming old men into mooming-
women^ women into furies^ and these last into satyrs ?
But supposing all this to have been possible^ and to
admit of some rational explanation^ still there are other
and more conclusive arguments against that opinion.
3. It is a sufficiently obvious remark^ that besides the
proper Chorus in the several tragedies^ ^schylus almost
invariably employs in his dramas a considerable number
of persons who are neither Actors nor Choreutse in the
proper sense of the term, and yet evidently bear a great
resemblance to the latter. To go no further than our
tetralogy, we have first in the Agamemnon the female-
attendants, who spread the purple carpets for the vic-
torious Prince to walk upon from his chariot to the
palace ; and then in the Eumenides the Areopagites and
the female-escort of the Furies. It cannot be doubted
that these characters made their entrance on the stage
in solemn and symmetrical order, conformably with the
spirit of ancient Art : the procession of the Areopagites
and females at the conclusion of the Eumenides more
particularly requires well-trained dancers; and in fact
the female-escort, by singing the closing ode, approves
itself at last to be a kind of Chorus. Moreover, there
is an evident congruity observable in point of general
character, first, between the Old Men in the Agamemnon
and the Areopagites ; next, between Clytaemnestra's
female-attendants, the female-mourners, and the female-
escort of the Eumenides. All this considered, it is
a very obvious conjecture that we have in these instances
the self-same Choreutse under a slight change of garb :
and consequently, that besides the proper Chorus of any
individual drama, that belonging to some other play of
the same tetralogy often does duty as accessory Chorus ;
NUMBEB OF THE CHOBUS. 7
whence it necessarily follows^ that the Chorus of one
play must have been quite distinct from that of another^
in respect of the persons of whom it was composed.
. But there is a still stronger fact by which we are even
compelled to adopt this supposition; the fact that in
the second play of this very tetralogy^ besides its own
proper Chorus^ the one belonging to the third play
actually comes on the stage ; and that too^ not as in
the above-mentioned instances under a different cha-
racter and costume^ but to all intents as a Chorus of
Furies. This appears from a passage towards the end
of the play (v. 1044), where Orestes exclaims :
^fjKMfoi yvvaiKEc, aiBe Topyovufv ^iicriy
*j>aioic\lTtoveQ jcai ireifKeKravriixivai
irvKVOiQ ^paxovffiv* ohx er' &y fjielvaifji* iyw.
It is true, the Choephorse do not see the Erinnyes,
of whom Orestes speaks here ; and hence it has been
inferred that in fact they exist only in the fancy of
Orestes ; — a conception which, in my opinion, most peri-
lously assails and indeed goes near to destroy the entire
poetic and religious consistency of the trilogy. For,
assuredly, according to ^schylus's idea, the Erinnyes
are as really present here, where Orestes first beholds
them, as they are where they are pursuing him to Delphi
and Athens : and it would have been nothing less than
wilfully annihilating all truth of the poetic picture, had
the Poet begun by treating the very beings, whom he
meant to produce in the sequel as corporeal and actually
present, — nay, on whose real presence the whole plot of
the following play depends, — ^in the light of a mere
fancy, the phantom of a diseased brain. Euripides,
indeed, has done so, but iEschylus was of all poets the
least capable of committing such a blunder. We con-
fidently assert that the spectator whose eyes did not
8 NUMBER OF THE CHORUS.
actually behold the Erinnyes on this their first appear-
ance^ must needs have remained blind to their presence
in the sequel. True^ the Chorus of Choephoroe does
not perceive them^ but that is because these daemonic
beings are visible only to such as have their eyes
opened to behold the realities of the supernatural worlds
into which the Poet conducts us. Accordingly, in the
third play, where the Erinnyes compose the Chorus,
^schylus has carefully avoided bringing characters of
an ordinary stamp into communication with them.
There, except Apollo and Athena, who sustain the
principal part in the action, none see them but Orestes,
who bears their tortures in his heart, the inspired
Pythoness, and the Shade of Clytsemnestra. The
Areopagites and the female-escort cannot be taken into
account as an exception to the truth of this remark,
inasmuch as these do not properly bear a part, as acting
characters, in this Drama of Deities. The spectator on
the contrary does and must behold the Erinnyes from
their very first appearance : it is for him that the Poet
draws asunder the veil from the invisible world, which
Ues revealed to the deeper intuitions of his inspired
mind ; and if its denizens be visible at all, they must
be present to his view from the very commencement of
their supernatural operations.
But fortunately for such as credit only what they
have external evidence of, it is on record that such is
the fact. At least we are informed by Pollux* that the
Erinnyes of Tragedy (and what tragedy more obviously
occurs to us than this very trilogy of -^schylus ?) were
raised as it were out of the infernal world through trap-
doors^ near the fiight of steps^ leading from the Orchestra
to the Amphitheatre. Now the only occasion on which
rV. 132. cf. 121. ' dvoTriea'fiaTa, ' dva^Bfwi.
NUMBER OP THE CHORUS.
9
the Eriimyes can and must be conceived to be so repre-
sented as rising out of the infernal world is at the
conclusion of the Choephoroe. At the commencement
of the succeeding play they have long been in this upper
world : they have already chased Orestes from the home
of his fathers to Delphi. Consequently the statement
of PoUux affords an indirect confirmation of the assertion
I have advanced^ that the Chorus of Erinnyes really
did appear on the stage^ besides the Chorus of Choe-
phoroe. At the same time his statement serves in some
sort to explain how it was that the Chorus did not see
them^ namely^ because the Chorus, as it faced the stage^
had its back turned upon the doors in question. Though
it is also likely enough that there were particular con-
trivances by means of which the spot on which the
Erinnyes first appeared was concealed from the view
of persons on the level of the Orchestra^ and visible
only from the elevated stations of the stage and Amphi-
theatre.
4. After these explanations the relation between the
accessory and the principal Chorus in each of the three
tragedies may be thus arranged :
Principal Chor.
Accessory Chor,
I.
Old Men.
Women from II.
II.
Women.
Erinnyes from III.
III.
Erinnyes.
Old Men from I.
and Womenfrom II.
At the dose of the Eumenides^ in order to afford the
people a splendid spectacle^ which also &om the contrast
of the characters would be very impressive and signi-
ficant^ all three Choruses move off from the Orchestra
in the same order as they entered ; the old men at the
head of the procession (v. 965); then the escort of
maidens^ women^ and aged matrons with torches and
B 8
10
NUMBER OF THE CHORUS.
votive offerings of purple garments;^ and lastly the awful
figures of the Erinnyes. The proper Chorus of the play
leaves the Orchestra last of all.
From the preceding exposition we obtain this un-
questionable result : the Choregus appoints the Poet a
much larger Chorus than one of twelve or fifteen^ and
it is the Poet's business to distribute this large Chorus
into Choruses for the individual Tragedies and Satyric
Drama composing the tetralogy. Perhaps the con-
sideration of this collective Chorus may help us to
ascertain the original number of tragic Choreutae with
greater precision than has hitherto been done.^
5. The Tragic Chorus^ as we learn &om Aristotle and
others^ was derived &om the Dithyrambic, which we
know from various sources' consisted of fifty persons.
This being the case^ it is quite natural to suppose that
the Choregus furnished the same number of dancers
for the Tragic Chorus, as he had previously been
accustomed to provide for the Dithyrambic, and that the
distribution of these fifty persons into the component
choruses of the tetralogy was left to the discretion of
the Poet. On this view, the well-known statement of
Pollux, that the chorus of Eumenides consisted of fifty.
^ V. 982. From this passage we |
may infer that the ChoephorsB were
not all elderly women, although their
Leader was aged, Choeph. 169.
' Accomits from later times, when
the andent importance and signifi-
cance of the Choms had been quite
overborne by the domineering pre-
tensions of insolent Actors, of course
do not count for much in this ques-
tion. Still it is worth mentioning,
that in an anecdote of Alexander's
times, preserved by Plutarch in his
Phocion, c 19, a tragic actor who
desired to act, claimed the part of a
queen, and demanded for this pur-
pose a number of splendidly dressed
female-attendants — which the Cho-
regus refused. It appears that it
still rested with the Choregus to ap-
point such persons: only this had
become optionaL Cf. Boeckh Civ.
Econ. t. i. p. 487, n. 646.
» Simonid.Epigr. 68,Br.— Scholl.
In ^schin. c. Tim. p. 721, R.—
Tzetzes Prolegom. in Lycophron, p.
1, Pott.
NUMBBB OF THE CHORUS.
11
may still be defended^ if we suppose Pollux to have
misconceived something that he had learnt relative to
the number of choreutse for the whole tetralogy, of
which number, as we have seen, at least three-fourths
were on the stage at the end of the Eumenides.
Still however the number fifty requires some modifi-
cation. The Dithyrambic Chorus was cyclic, and sang
the dithyramb in a circle about the altar, passing
round it first in one direction, then in the other. But
the Tragic, as well as the Comic and Satyric Chorus
was quadrangulary rerpaytovog* which latter expression
is clearly and pointedly opposed to the former. Now
a quadrangular chorus is one that is divided into rank
itvya) and file [arlyoi^ aToiyoi), so as to form a quad-
rangle. Its number therefore must always be the
product of a multiplication, such as 3x4=12; 3x5
= 15. But as it appears that the component numbers
are never so fiir apart that the one is double of the
other (3x4 or 3x5 is the tragic, 4x6 the comic
chorus), a quadrangular chorus of 5 x 10 is not at all
probable. If the tragic chorus of earUer times came on
the stage as an undivided whole, it is much more credible
that its number was forty-eight, 6x8. And here by
the way I may be allowed to express my conjecture that
the singular term, aTr\<iiyopoq or Master of the Chorus,*
given by the Greeks to the number eight in the game
of dice, may refer to the ancient custom of arranging
the chorus in eight ranks.
6. Now an equal division of this chorus of forty-
eight gives twelve choreutse for each of the four plays.
Twelve therefore, recommends itself, even in this point
* See Tzetzes, u. s.; Etyin.M.8.v.
Tpoy^dia. Schol.Diony8.Thr.p.746,
Bekker; and Villoison's Anecdota,
II. p. 178.
« See Stesich. Fragm. Ed. Eleine,
p. 27.
12 NUMBER OF THE CHORUS.
of view, as the probable number originally employed by
^schylus. Moreover, twelve is just half the number
of the comic chorus, which consisted, in all, of twenty-
four persons — as it should seem that Comedy, a form
of the Drama which received much less encouragement
from the state than Tragedy, was obUged to content
itself with half the number of persons required for the
collective chorus of a tragic tetralogy. The original
number of choreutse in each tragedy cannot have been
fifteen, because in that case either the collective chorus
must have extended beyond fifty, whereas its intimate
connexion with the dithyrambic chorus forbids us to
suppose this ; or there would be only five left for the
Satyric Drama, which would be too small a number for
a festive chorus, and far too meagre and scanty a
representation of the merry crew of Bacchus, a spectacle
so deUghtfid to an audience in that early age especially.
But, it will be asked, did not iEschylus unquestion-
ably employ a chorus of fifteen, as the old SchoUasts^
have remarked with reference to the Agamemnon and
Eumenides, and Hermann^ has proved to the general
satisfaction in respect of the former tragedy ? The fact
is, we have here a remarkable instance of the force of
a confident assertion ; which may for a time obtain such
authority, even with the most clear-sighted inquirers,
that it scarcely ever occurs to any of them to doubt its
truth, though all the while it may be radically false.
The very passage produced in proof of fifteen choreutae
furnishes conclusive evidence in favour of twelve, as we
shall now proceed to show.
7. The Chorus in the Agamemnon represents a Su-
preme Council,' left by the Prince in administration of
* SchoL Aristoph. Equit. 686.
Eumen. 575.
^ De Choro Eumen. DIbh. I.
' yepovo'La.
NUMBEK OF THE CHORUS.
13
the realm during his absence/ Suspicious of Clytsem-
nestra^s evil disposition and deeply affected by Cassan*
dra^s predictions, this company of elders is filled with
an anxious presentiment of the horrible event so nearly
impending. On a sudden the death-cry of Agamenmou
is heard from the interior of the palace (v. 1343 Well.):
first, one of the elders draws the attention of the others
to it j a second declares it is the very perpetration of
the deed they dreaded ; a third proposes that they should
hold a consultation upon it.* Young men would in-
stantly have hastened to the spot and forced their way
in j but these old men, who with all their integrity of
sentiment betray throughout the tragedy a degree of
weakness and irresolution, proceed to debate on the
course they ought to pursue, and the question with them
is, whether they should summon the citizens to their
assistance, or should endeavour to prevent the crime by
forcing their way into the palace : or, lastly, as they
would most probably arrive too late to prevent the deed,
whether they should not rather bring the murderer to
trial. The suffrages are given in iambic distichs (the
three preceding hasty utterances of the Chorus on the
first alarm are in the liveliest trochaic metre), and of
these distichs there are just twelve. The first proposal
is carried by a considerable majority,^ and is confirmed
by the last voter, probably the same person who moved
the debate, for the offices of iTrixpritpitnv and aTriKvpovv
usually fell to the same individual. The next moment
the Gerontes are inside the palace ; that is, the interior
of the palace, — the apartment containing the silver
laver, the corpse of Agamemnon enveloped in the fatal
* See V. 856, 884.
* Koufova-Bcu fiavkevimra, ▼.
1347.
" [Klaoaen, in I, makes the pro-
posals only two, of which the second
has the minority of voices.]
14 NUMBER OF THE CHORUS.
garment^ and Clytsemnestra still standing, with the
bloody weapon in her hand, on the spot where she
struck the blow,^ — is wheeled upon the stage by means
of the machine called sKKvKXrifia,^ The expression,
arrijica 8' ivO' iwaKra^ shows that Clytaemnestra, although
wheeled out by means of this machinery, is still to be
imagined within the apartment : of course, therefore,
the Poet would have us conceive the Chorus to have
forced its way in, although in fact it was still outside.
Hence it is evident that the debate was over, and had
been closed in due form ; and hence again it follows
that all the elders have given their votes. For, indeed,
so well acquainted were the Athenians with the mode
of proceeding in the debates of a BouX^, that they
would not have been very well satisfied, had ^schylus
suffered three of the Gerontes to remain quite silent,
nor have been put off with the lame explanation that
the other three had called the attention of the rest to
what was going on, (1344, 6, 7,) since this could not
prejudice their right and duty to give their opinion.
8. Thus in the above transaction there are evidently
twelve choreutse; and the same number also appears
in other parts of the tragedy. For instance, the Chorus
in their colloquy with Cassandra preceding that trans-
action speak twelve times in iambics, and this in such
manner, that the speeches are related to each other three
and three, so as to form a whole.' Thereupon, as the
* €<TTrjKa b* €V0* €iraia'a, v. 1379.
Cf. V. 1472, 1549.
3 Of. § 28, for an account of this
machine.
' The ChoreutfiB, by whom these
Iambics are spoken, 1047 (= 971
Kl.) to 1113, probably rangeid thus:
6 12 9 3
5 11 8 2
4 10 7 1
It will be seen, namely, that on each
occasion the third speaker, 3, 6,9, 12,
does not address Cassandra, but only
speaks of her ; these, therefore, seem
to form the hindmost rank, i. e.,
farthest from the stage. Also 1 and
4 speak three iambic verses each :
the rest only two. [But 7 also only
speaks ofC, v. 1083, Kl. 1007.]
NUMBBR OF THE CHORUS. 15
(jerontes^ possessed by dire forebodings of evil^ are borne
away from their calm Belf-possession just in proportion
as the Prophetess recovers hers^ they break out into
song^ and perform (perhaps in pairs) six odes replete
with emotion of a lyrical character, in continuation of
those sung by Cassandra, at first with and afterwards
without iambics (beginning at y. 1119, Ell. 1044). And
then again (1198, Kl. 1119) of three principal choreut®
each holds a dialogue with Cassandra on her gift of
prophecy and on the purport of her predictions, each
dialogue regularly commencing (1198, 1243, 1298,) with
four iambic verses, and then proceeding in single verses,
[6 (or 5, with distich at 1204), 5, and 8.] And again,
after the murder, the Chorus in dispute with Clytsem-
nestra (1448, Ell. 1370) sings siv Strophes and the same
number of Antistrophes, which apparently belong to
the individual members of it.
9. Lastly, with this exactly tallies the fact we have
asserted above, viz., that the G^routes in the Agamem-
non reappear in the Eumenides in the character of
Areopagites. Twelve^ we know, was of old the favourite
number for a Council, and there arises a probability
that ^schylus would assume this number for the
Areopagus from the heroic age, — which was also con-
sidered to have been the original number, by those who
referred the first institution of the Areopagus to the
contention of the Twelve Gods. This conclusion, how-
ever, results more directly from the whole course of the
proceedings in the balloting for Orestes, beginning at
V. 700. Athena there charges the Areopagites to rise
from their seats, take each of them a ballot from the
Altar, and cast It into the Urn provided for the purpose.
Of course it is not to be imagined that the old men
would perform this act in a confused, irregular fashion ;
we may be quite sure that the entire proceeding took
place in a manner strictly conformable to the law of
16 NUMBER OF THE CHORUS.
measured rhythm and symmetry which pervades all
ancient Art. Now, during this proceeding, from the
point where Athena has bidden the judges to rise, to
that where the Goddess herself takes up the last ballot
from the Altar, we shall find that Apollo and the
Eumenides speak eleven times, an iambic distich each
time except the first and last. This makes twelve nearly .
equi-distant intervals or pauses, and there can be no
doubt that at each pause, one of the Areopagites cast
his ballot into the urn, and as the ^f/d»oc Sdcaorcic^
struck against the vessel, the sound Koy^, so familiar
to the Athenian ear, was distinctly audible through the
Theatre. For, that we are to reckon by the intervals
between the speeches, and not by the speeches them-
selves, is evident even from the fact that the number of
the speeches is uneven, whereas the number of ballots
was even ; it is not till Athena gives the casting vote
that the whole number becomes odd, and Orestes is
acquitted by a majority of one vote/
10. There is no other play which exhibits the chorus
of twelve so plainly as the Agamemnon ; for it does not
by any means follow as a matter of course, that because
the chorus of twelve was certainly employed in this one
instance, the same must have been the case in all the
other dramas of ^schylus. It is very possible that
after Sophocles had extended the number to fifteen,
jEschylus may now and then have adopted the enlarged
number. Nevertheless I think I can shew some pro-
babihty of the chorus of twelve having been employed
in the Persians, the Suppliants, and the Seven against
Thebes ; and among the lost tragedies of iEschylus that
was beyond doubt the number of the Chorus of Titans
^ The same oondosion is drawn from this passage by Boeckh, Carp,
Inscript. II. p. 311.
NUMBER OF THE CHORUS.
17
in the Prometheus Unbound? In the play of the Per-
sians, the Chorus represents a Council of Elders, or
Senate, for which twelve might be the regular number,
as established in the Agamemnon; and the same appears
admissible also in the Antiffone of Sophocles.* More-
over, in the evocation of Darius from his grave (v. 625
— 658), six voices are distinguishable, and the like
number join in singing the concluding Ode. In the
Suppliants, we must bear in mind that each of the
Danaids has a female attendant with her (v. 956) :
therefore the Chorus composed of both must contain an
even number ; and as the chorus of fourteen appears
to have been a special peciiliarity in the Suppliants of
Euripides (in which play there is good reason for
assuming that number^), we must in this instance also
abide by the chorus of twelve, among which number
the closing ode readily admits of being distributed.
In the Seven against Thebes the demonstration is less
concise than in the other instances : I will therefore
merely state it here as my opinion, that this play ranks
with those above-mentioned with respect to the amount
of its chorus. But in the Choephorce and the Eumenides
the number of the chorus is not to be inferred, as a
matter of course, from that in the Agamemnon. Out
of fifty choreutae ^Eschylus might allot twelve to the
first play and allow fifteen for each of the two foUow-
3 See Welcker Mgchylean Tri-
logy, p. 39 (German). Supplement,
p. 67. Against this now, at least,
the objection no longer holds :
SaUus erit, opinor, quod ususpostu-
labai, qwindecim. In the Seven, Pas-
sow (IVooBm. Lect. Univ.) assumes
the number fourteen, which in my
opinion was a rare exception.
^ On the character of the Chorus
in the Antigone, cf. v. 159. 835 of
that play, and Boeckh on the Anti-
gone, Essay I. p. 45. (Gterman).
* Reisig(Enarr.(Ed.Col.v.l308,)
failed to perceive this circiunstance,
owing to his not viewing the chorus
as a whole, without regard to the
particular circumstances andfeelings
of the individuals coipposing it.
Elmsley speaks most to the point on
this subject in the Class. Joumal,
Vol> IX. 4, xvii. p. 56.
18 NUBfBEB OF THE CHOBUS.
ing ones^ thus leaving eight for the Satyric Drama,
which are not too few to form a Chorus.* Nay, in the
Eumenides, independently of the testimony cited above
(§ 6), which there is no decided reason for rejecting in
this case, every thing speaks is favour of the chorus of
fifteen. For in such of the choral odes as are com^
matic (i. e. sung by single individuals), seven distinct
voices are frequently apparent ; which number is to be
accounted for by the withdrawal of the Leader, so that
seven pairs remained, among whom the several odes
had to be divided. This must be made to appear by
analysis of the several odes : I wish however to draw
attention here to one passage in the dialogue, in which
this number seven very clearly presents itself, though
in a way that, to our modem conceptions, may appear
trivial. The Chorus of Erinnyes is awakened from deep
sleep by the agitating presentiment that Orestes has
fled from them. Half dreamingly they howl upon each
other to look to and seize upon the prey. In the MSS.
the verse, with the scenical annotation, runs thus :
\al3e, Xa/3e, Xdfie^ XdjSe, ^pa^ov.
But according to the Scholiast in v. 1, the metre of the
verse was,
for he describes it as a dimeter brachycatalectic with an
hepthemimer of tribrachs. He must therefore have read
it (and the inference is confirmed by the comparison of
his other statements concerning the metre) thus :
/iv fiv' fiv fiv' ^pdi^ov — \ajie, Xafie, \a(ie, Xdfie, \a/3c.
* Pausan. v. 16. 2.
NX7MBER OF THE CHORUS. 19
And I do not hesitate with him to depart from the
MSS. in placing <ppatov {give heed!) before Xa/3c {seize
him I) : the natund sense also of the following lines^ in
which the Erinnyes are represented as hounds giving
tongue in the chase^ Aongly recommends the trans-
position. But there is no reason that appears why the
ordinary course of the iambic metre should be suspended
in this verse. The tragic usage is to allow inarticulate
sounds^ as the fiv /kv, /uv fw here^ and only such^ to
stand extra metrum; the hcence by no means extends
to words of the common sort^ as those which follow.
We are therefore not without warrant for repeating the
word Xa/3c seven times. Thus the Iambic verse becomes
complete^ and the following arrangement is obtained :
Leader, ^pa^ov.
Voices 2, 3. Xafli
^> ^- Xa/3e
^> '^^ - Xa/3€
8, 9. Xa/36'
10, 11. Xa/Je
12, 13. xdfi.
Of course this arrangement of the Poet's is not to be
viewed, as we modems may be apt to view it, in the
light of a petty and overstudied conceit, but as the sub-
stratum of a vigorous and spirited dramatic effect.
Imagine a wild, fierce howl, as of coupled hounds
giving tongue, pair by pair, in unison, and this harmo-
nized yell running through the whole line of Erinnyes
with the utmost rapidity and without interrupting the
beat of the verse.
20 NUMBER OF THE CHORUS.
b. Arrangement of the Chorus.
11. In place of a lengthened disquisition I shall here
give^ from the statements of the Grammarians on the
subject^ the arrangement of tft chorus of fifteen, the
number of which it usually consisted in the subsequent
period of dramatic art. The annexed figure exhibits
the chorus in two positions; the first, at its entrance
by the side-passages of the Orchestra; the other, in its
place in the centre of the Orchestra, about the Thymele.
As the Thymele was derived from the Dionysian Altar
around which the CycUan Chorus executed its move-
ments, it is natural to suppose its place to have been
the centre of the Orchestra, as represented in the figure.
But usually the Chorus stood nearer to the stage than
to the amphitheatre;* therefore, between the Thymele
and the Proscenium; and the lines have been drawn
accordingly.^ The cardinal points of the heavens are
assigned from the position of the Athenian Theatre on
the south side of the Acropolis. They are taken into
account in Soph. Ag. 874, 877, Eur. Orest. 1258.
12. The entire management of the Chorus is pervaded
in a remarkable manner by its analogy to a Aoj^oc of
soldiers drawn up in order of battle. Hence lochos is
a favourite expression of -^schylus for the chorus; in
the Agamemnon he even makes the Gerontes advance
against Aegisthus with hand on sword exactly like
lochitse. The same thing appears in the divisions of
the chorus and the various terms used to designate
them. The chorus of fifteen, in the annexed plan,
enters in ranks i^vyd) three abreast. The files of five
^ Schol. Aristoph. Pax. 736. Orchestra for the several ranks of
^ In the old Theatre these lines
were traced upon the floor of the
the Chorus, v. Hesych. s. v. ypo/x-
.^
•»v
\
\
\
ba
NUMBER OF THE CHORUS. 21
deep are called ffrij^oi or ffroij^oi.' Besides the entry
in file we find mention made of the entry Kara 2vya,
i. e. in ranks of five abreast;^ but this, from the import
of the terms ^vyoi' and arij^oc, cannot have been the
original arrangement. The choreutae ABODE, fronting
the audience, are called apitrrspotTTaTai ;* whence it
follows that the Chorus usually entered the Orchestra
by a western door. The place of these left-hand men,
as being most in view of the spectators, was deemed the
most honourable. Among these the third, rpiVoc or
/uecroc apidrepovy is the principal; it is the place occu-
pied by the Hegemon of the whole Chorus, who in the
earliest times was the same individual with the Choregus
who ftirnished and equipped it.* When the Chorus
takes its station on the lines in the Orchestra, his place
comes to be on the Thymele itself. In fact he must
needs be elevated above the other choreutse to be
enabled to converse over the heads of the other two
ranks with the acting persons of the drama. LMNOP
are the Sc^ioararai, right-hand men : FGHIK are the
XavpofTTUTai, so called from their standing in the alley
formed by the other two files. Being the least exposed
to view, inasmuch as in aU the evolutions of the chorus
they were covered by the other two files, they were
naturally those on whom least attention and care were
expended. Hesychius denotes nearly the same situation,
perhaps GHI in particular, by the term vTrojcoXTrcoi/ rov
)^opov. The expressions Tr/owroorariyCj ScvTcpoorariyCj
&c., according to strict usage, are not to be understood
' PoUux iv. 108. Phot. s. v.
ToiTos dpuTT€pov, whcre read rpi&v
ovrav <rr. Koi Trcvre f .
* PoUnx iv. 109.
• Phot. Pollux, and Schol. on
Aristid. Miltiades, p. 202, 7. Fr. or
535, 20. Dmd. where for EIIEIXON
read 2T0IX0N.
^ Phot, and Bekk. Aneod. p. 444.
22 NUMBER OF THE CHORUS.
of the members of the first, second, &c. arl-^^o^, but
must be taken to mean the first, second, &c., in each
(TTi-j^og; namely, AFL the wpwrodTarai^ BGM the
SevTepoaraTai, &c. Hence Hesychius explains the
TTpwroGTarai to be the first on the wing in battle-array
(irapa to Kepag rrig wapara^ewg). The term Coryphaei
seems not always to be taken in the same sense, for in
Plutarch* we find the Coryphaei as the foremost opposed
to the Kpa<nreSiTai as the hindmost and most remote
from them, which can scarcely denote any other than
the rank AFL who were foremost in entering. Whereas
when Fosidonius in Athenaeus^ compares him who sits
in the middle place of a ring with the coryphaeus of a
chorus, he must plainly mean the Hegemon; and this
agrees with Demosthenes^s* expression of a Hegemon-
Coryphaeus. Accordingly all five apiarepodTaTai ABC
DEy as being the foremost towards the audience in the
stationary position of the chorus, may perhaps be called
coryphaei. The term coryphaeus is always connected
with the notion of one who stands at the head or front/
Hence to the coryphaei Aristotle* opposes the Trapaararai,
which term seems to denote any of the rear ranks rela-
tively to the front rank.
13. Such was the proper and stated arrangement or
placing of the chorus (<rraaic). In this order the
chorus might make its first entrance, and very often
did so. But it is by no means true that it always took
up its position according to this plan from the beginning
of the play. On the contrary, we know that the Chorus
of the Eumenides does not form in rank and file until it
is about to sing the Binding Hymn (v/ii/oc Sca/icoc) to
^ Sympos. V. 6, 1. j ^ Aristoph. Hut. 954.
2 IV. 162. I * PoUtic. iiL 2.
» c. Mid. 633.
NUMBER OF THE CHORUS. 23
Mother Night. There is no mistaking the express
testimony afforded by the words of the Chorus itself
(aye Sri Kai xo(>oi' axl/to/iev^ Y. 297)^ especially when taken
in connexion with the discrepancy observable in the
structure of the preceding and subsequent odes. And
with this coincides the ancient account given in the Life
of ^schylus^ that the Chorus of the Eumenides entered
ffTTppaSiyi/, dispersedly.
But the manner in which the Chorus of the Eume-
nides made its first entrance and executed its evolutions^
until it took up a regular position^ can be learned only
from the construction of its odes, which we now pro-
ceed to examine in detail.
B. THE CHORAL ODES.
First Ode. V. 138.
14. There is this difference between the Eumenides
and all the other Greek Tragedies we are acquainted
with, that the Chorus does not enter the Theatre at the
beginning of the play, but is there from the very com-
mencement. We see the Erinnyes at first sunk in sleep
on the stage, reclined on benches, until one after another
they wake, start up, and range themselves in their
places on the stage. All this time the Chorus is
not in its proper place, the Orchestra, but on the stage
itself, the Proscenium: this is evident; for they are
conceived to be within the Delphic Temple (v. 170), but
the Orchestra represents the area in front of the build-
ing, as we shall endeavour to shew in the following
section, when we treat of the local and scenic arrange-
ments. In taking this their first position on the stage,
the Hegemon probably is in the middle, the rest right
24 THE CHORAL ODES.
and lefb^ so that the one portion of them is nearer to
the station occupied by Apollo^ the others to the place
where the Shade of Clytaemnestra appeared^ which,
doubtless, was as remote as possible from the eyes of
the God Phoebus Apollo, whose nature is abhorrent of
such spectral apparitions. This is, perhaps, the expla-
nation to be given of the circumstance that in this Ode
the first and second antistrophes are addressed to
Apollo, while the preceding strophes rather depict the
impression and feehngs called forth by the apparition
from the infernal world. Perhaps the choreutse, who
sang the antistrophes, stood fronting Apollo, the others
nearer to the Eidolon of Clytaemnestra, on its approach
towards them. At last, however, they all unite in a
common sentiment of hatred and revenge against Apollo,
and the object of his protecting care.
In reference to its interior structure we desig-
nate this ode Ko/i/uariica. In general, namely, it
should be remarked that the odes of ancient Tragedy
divide themselves into two classes, marked by a distinc-
tion which seems more ioiportant than any other : that
is to say. Odes of the entire Chorus, the chief of which
are the Stasima; and Odes sung by individtials. The
latter are either such as are sung by one or other
of the Dramatis Personae alone {ra otto aKrivrig^ or
fjiovffiSiai) ; or Odes divided between the acting persons
and the Chorus, which are called ko/a/ioi, because in the
earlier form of Tragedy lamentations for the dead formed
their principal subject ; or, thirdly, portions sung by the
chorus, but in single voices, or in smaller divisions of
their whole body. For these latter Aristotle* has no
technical name^ probably because these portions of song
belong to the older form of Tragedy, as the monodies
1 Poet. 12.
THE CHORAL ODES. 25
became more predominant in the later age of Dramatic
Art. But that the Chorus in ^schylus frequently per-
formed its part in this way has often been remarked,
and the play of the Eumenides exhibits two leading
eixamples of the kind. The epithet Commatic, derived
from KOfXfioQy is by the ancients themselves applied to
such Odes.' The affinity between these Commatica and
the Commi and Stage-odes, as also their radical dif-
ference from the Stasimon, is evident from the very fact
of their insertion into the main course of the action.
The Stasima divide the Tragedies into acts ; they form
pauses in the action; allow opportunity for the entry
of new characters, and indicate perceptible lapse of time.
In respect of their intrinsic purport, they serve to im-
part to the mind that collectedness and lofty self-pos-
session which the ancient Tragedy labours to maintain
even in the midst of the strongest excitement of the
passions.^ On the contrary, the Commatica, and the
species allied to them, are component parts of the indi-
vidual act or section, (so that they might often be
replaced by dialogue, of which, indeed, they do but
form a kind of lyrical climax) and as such contribute
essentially to the conduct of the action by their lively
expression of will and purpose, passionate desire, con-
flicting or accordant incUnations and endeavours.
Now, as to this first Ode of the Eumenides, it is
evident at a glance, and without our needing to be in-
formed of the fact by the Scholiasts (ico/u/iiarciccjc tKaarov
Kar iSiai/ Trpoci/c/CTcov) that it was not sung by the whole
Chorus simultaneously, but by individual members of
it : and the number fourteen being assumed or known
beforehand, the whole may readily be divided into por-
tions corresponding to that number of voices. In the
3 Schol. Eumen. v. 139. " Comp. § 100
C
26 THE CHORAL ODES.
first strophe it is plain that the words of the first
speaker are interrupted by a second voice faUing in^ and
are then resumed and continued. The same must be
assumed^ for symmetry's sake^ in the antistrophe^ and
may very well be so ; for, since Apollo's reception of
the fugitive parricide exhibits more of the swindling
character (cTriicXoTroc) which the Erinnyes ascribe to
him, than of his trampling upon the elder Deities, the
first and third lines of the antistrophe cohere more
closely than the second and third. The second and
third strophe and antistrophe do not seem to admit of
being apportioned in a symmetrical and pleasing manner
to single voices ; therefore, if we adhere to the number
fourteen, we must assign each strophe and antistrophe
to two voices conjointly.*
Second Ode. V. 244.
15. The Erinnyes in obedience to the injunction of
Apollo rid his temple of their hated presence and disap-
^ Observable in this Ode, the nepi Kapa* Perhaps the same may
metre of which is dochmiac,arhythm be stud of the syllables ircpifiapv, v.
expressive of violent passion [denoted 155, and dp6fi€pov, v. 161, on the
by the vehement tf^om^Ttw^ character removal of which the verse forms a
of the rhythmical beat, j dochmius. In the former passage
^ _' _' >^ _/] even,theParacataloge,strictlytaken,
; is reducible to the four syllables viri
is the UapoKaToKoyrj. As far as (fype'vas. What foUows is a Cretic.
anything has hitherto been made [it does not appenr why the whole
out on this obscure subject, the Pa- verse, in each mstance, should be
racataloge consists m a number of accounted other than a dochmius,
short syllables inserted in the midst with the first syllable long, and the
of iambic and dochmiac rhythms, antispastic long syllables resolved :
and uttered almost like prose (fcora- / / 't mv h:^ v
Xtyy^v) in a uniform suspensive ^^1^ C^ CH^ w— J Th« ^schy-
tone of vcnce, thus forming a sort of lean Paracatalogc, seemingly formed
climax to the seeming irregularity on the model of the old lambists, ap-
of those metres. Instances of such pears to have been very temperately
a Paracataloge are v. 153, vtt^ <^pe- used by our poet, compared with
vas, vnh \o^v, and 159, irtpX iroda, that of the later age of Tragedy.
THE CHORAL ODES. 27
pear from the stage. The first Act concludes^ with-
out the possibility of a stasimon ; for the Chorus, far
from being able to assume a stationary position in the
Orchestra, is engaged in the pursuit of the fugitive
Orestes. Presently, however, the Chorus re-appears,
and this time it is in its proper place, the Orchestra, as the
sequel plainly implies. To no other entry than this
can we refer the above cited expression <TiropaSnv cia-
ayeiv top \op6v : from which however we are not to
conclude at once that the Erinnyes entered singly {icaB^
tva, Pollux) by the door of the Orchestra, for the word
aTTopaS}}!/ will still retain its proper signification, if we
suppose the Chorus brought upon the stage in any other
way but that of rank and file. Indeed, there is one
word in our Tragedy, which, while it is very difficult to
be explained upon any other view of the matter, affords
a proof that our Chorus made its entry in two long
lines, and then parted right and left ; than which, in
&ct, nothing could better accord with the conceptions
we are required to form of them as engaged in a search,
tracking their prey like bloodhounds. The word I refer
to is the dual Xaxxra^rov. It is well known that in the
old poetical language the dual may be appUed not only
to two individuals, but e. g. to the oarsmen seated on
the two benches of a bireme, or to four horses har-
nessed abreast right and left to the pole of a chariot,^
and therefore cannot here be alleged in support of the
strange hypothesis that the Chorus of Erinnyes consisted
only of three individuals, the leader and two others.
In the ensuing Ode the abrupt, commatic character
plainly appears. Even the metre, being dochmiac, is
little adapted to a song for many voices. The thread
of the discourse also is carried on for the most part in
2 Dissen on Pindar, voL ii. 87.
c 2
28 THE CHORAL ODES.
the form of reply and rejoinder, quite in the manner of
dialogue, A further aid in the adjustment of the parts
to the several voices is afforded by the interspersed
iambics ; namely, by observing that in this Ode each
speech begins with a common iambic verse, from which,
as the passion mounts, it passes into the dochmiac
rhythm ; occasionally, however, subsiding into iambics.
But as little can I doubt the antistrophic composition of
the whole Ode, with the exception of the prelude (Trpo-
^Soc) : the antistrophic opposition is quite perceptible
in the first pair of strophes (247 — 253), and we have
at least a gUmpse of it in the subsequent pair (254 —
265). It is true we have, according to our arrange-
ment of the text, a redundant dochmius in each division
of the last antistrophe (n roKeag (jtiXovg v. 261, and
evepOe yOovog v. 264) ; which seems to disturb the
antistrophic equilibrium. But when I consider not
only the general correspondency of parts which pervades
the whole, but in particular the energetic thought which
precisely in these few redundant syllables is flashed
upon Orestes, I find no supposition more probable than
that the pair of voices which sang the correspondent
portion of the strophe fell in with the antistrophic pair
at these supernumerary words, rj roKsag ^iXovc, ^^^ so
again at ivepOe yOovog. I know indeed that no instance
has hitherto been alleged of such a blending of voices,
but this is no more than may be said of many other
technical details of Greek dramatic art.
On these several assumptions the Ode may without
any violence be portioned out to fourteen voices ; at the
same time I do not mean to deny that other views may
have something to recommend them.^
^ This Ode bears some resem-
blance to the first section of the first
CommoB in Soph. (Ed. Col. v. 116.
It is plain that the old men engaged
in the search after (Edipns enter
awopddrjv, and ezi>anding them*
THE CHORAL ODES. 29
Third Ode. V. 296.
16. The moment for the Chorus to arrange itself in
stated order arrives in v. 296^ with thQ Anapaestic
March.
Anapasts are a metre^ from their nature^ adapted
to accompany a firm vigorous step. The equality in
respect of quantity between the arsis and thesis in the
metre^ between the stronger and the weaker portion of
the rhythmical beat^ imparts to it a staid and measured
character. The reason why the arsis follows the thesis
is because^ by the natural law of the human pace^ in
advancing a step the stronger foot remains stationary in
order to propel the body: when the impulse is given the
foot follows after it^ and does this with the more weight
and force the more the body is accustomed to depend
for its motion on that foot principally. For this reason
the march-songs of the Greeks were in general ana-
pffistici and agreeably with tHs arrangement it is found
that wherever anapaests occur in Greek Tragedy, they
accompany a steady pacing or march. This may be
proved to be the case almost without exception.^ It is
in anapaests that the Chorus sings at its entrance, at its
exit, and when it moves towards a person or accom-
panies him. Everywhere they remind us of those
marches or battle-songs of the old Dorians {efitarripioi
vaiaveg), the very acclamation in which (eXeXev cXcXcu')
selves in two Unes sing in strophe evanroVf ^v€, rasde x^P^^^ '^* ^^*
and antistrophe, but evidently in se-
parate divisions. The first strophe
and antistrophe may perhaps best be
apportioned between 2x3, and the
second pair between 3X4 voices, not
reckoning the Anapaests and the
portions sung by (Edipns and An-
tigone. In the Odes of the (Ed.
CoL all is oommatic till the Parodos
Compare § 16.
^ See Bockh on the Antigone,
p. 46.
8 Hence i\e\i(€iv is to strike up
the War-Psean. The iXcXev, it is
plain, belongs strictly speaking to
the PsBan. It is, as Plutarch
Thes. 22, says, the accompanying
oKokvynos, Compare ^2sch. Sept.,
80
THE CHORAL ODES.
accorded with the anapaestic rhythm in which they were
composed. In those long series of anapaestic systems
which we find at the beginning of the Persians, Sup-
pliants, tLJii* Agamemnon of ^schylus^ we may perhaps
see the original form of the Parodos, strictly so called ;
that is to say^ of the entrance of the Chorus into the
Orchestra drawn up in regular form, by rank and file.
Subsequently, the grand simplicity of these long marches
(which in ^schylus moreover are often very full of
matter), fell into distaste. In consequence, either anti-
strophic odes were mixed up with the anapaests, as in
the Antigone, or superseded them entirely: and from
this deviation from the old procedure have arisen the
difficulty and obscurity which now beset our conceptions
of the Parados.' At times, however, there was a recur-
250. Hence Apollo derives his
name 'EXcXcv; Macr. Sat. i. 17.
The oXoXa^ctv r^ 'Ein;aXt^ comes
after the eXcXt^cti/. Xenoph. Anab.
Y. 2, 14. Comp. Hellen. ii. 4, 17.
But Anab. i. 8, 18, Xenophon puts
rXcXi^etv for oXaXa^civ. Comp.
Demetr. de EIoc. 98. Schol. Aris-
toph. Ay. 364, and Stiid. s. v.
cXcXcO.
^ Not, however, to soch a degree
as to justify Hermann in calling
that a Hdpodos which is in reality
the first stasimon. The passage of
Aristot. Poet. 12, 7, Tldpodog fiiv ^
Trp<Syrri Xt^is t\ov xppov, ardo'tfiov
dc ficXor yopov t6 av€V Svairalarov
icolrpoxatov, which Tyrwhitton the
whole understood rightly, makes it
very clear that the Parodos was es-
pecially distinguished from the sta-
simon by anapsBsts and trochees,
that is, systems or longer verses of
those metres. HephsBst. ir. iroiTjfi,
c 10, p. 128. IT. OTjfifimv c. 15, 3,
p. 135. Qaisf. assign to the Hapodoi
the unequally measured anapaestic
systems. As instances of Hapodot
I find the following adduced. Soph.
(Ed. Col. 668. (vtmrov f «v. El.
121. J TTOi iral. Eur. EL 167.
*Ayafi(fivovos. Orest. 140. trlya,
(Ttya XcTrrAv txvos dpfivkijs (which
is remarkable). Phoemss. 210.
Tvpiov oldfia. See Flntarch an
Senl. 8 ; Lysand. 15 ; SchoL Soph.
El. ad 1. Metr. SchoL Phoeniss.
210; Hypoth. .^Isch. Pers. In the
Prometheus the Parodos lies before
the Ode artva) trc far, which is the
first stasimon, Schol. Vesp. 270. To
add examples from the Comedians,
Aristoph. Nub. v. 826, aivaoi Nc-
<f>€\ai, and Vesp. 230, x^P^* npo-
$aiv* (ppafifpms are described as
napodoi. Although these exam-
ples by no means all agree with
each other, still the greater part of
them serve to confirm the definition
given by the SchoL Phcen. 210.
Udpoiog dc €<mp <jfd^ x^pov fiadi-
(ovros, ^dofifvrj &jia rfj ccrdd^. —
THE CHORAL ODES.
31
rence to the simpler form of the elder Tragedy in this
matter^ as in the Hecuba of Euripides. The time and
rate of motion observed by the Chorus in singing off
these anapaestic systems may perhaps be gathered from
the circumstance that the Gerontes in the Agamemnon
sing 118 and in the Persians 123 double anapaests in
traversing the interval born, the door of the Orchestra
to the Thymele, which in the Athenian Theatre must
be taken at from 150 to 200 feet. The Danaids mea-
sure out the same space in 76 double anapaests : it is
dear these young Aigitives move at a swifter pace. As
to the oral deUvery of these anapaests, we may gain some
conception of it by recurring to the analogy of those
same Embaterian Paeans. In these the General strikes
up the singing, and in some sort may be said to take
the lead {k^ia^yjti is the expression of Xenophon and
Plutarch^), but of course the whole army took part in it.
In the same manner the Cretans sing the Paean^ in the
Homeric Hymn^ as they move in measured time from
Crisa to Pytho ; ApoUo himself is the leader^ ^PX^'*
Indeed in the Paean we regularly meet with an k^dpyjujv.
If in connexion with this it be observed that in these
anapaestic Choruses we generally find three systems
standing in a more intimate relation to each other than
to the rest; and, further, that in the three Tragedies
now mentioned {Persians^ Suppliants, Agamemnon), the
strange, that Hermann, while com-
plaining of the dearth of ancient au-
thorities on this point, should have
made so little use of those we do
possess. Aristot. Poet. 12, 7; El.
Doct. Metr. p. 724. As to Hermann's
assertion that these anapeests were
only spoken, not sung, I look in vain
for any proof of it. The probability
is that the anapeests of the Parodos
were chaunted in the manner of re-
citative. Such a mode of delivery
might with equal propriety be called
by the above cited Scholiast ^'di;,
and by Aristotle Xc^tr. In like
manner the dancing paces of the
Parodos as ififiarripioi are to be dis-
tinguished from those which are
strictly x^pevriKoL Comp. Athe-
nseus, i. p. 22. a.
2 Xen. Hellen. ii. 4, 17; Plut.
Lye. 22.
82 THE CHOBAL ODES.
entire mass of anapaests in each Parodos resolves itself
into 3x3 systems^ as also that this number three per-
vades all the anapaestic systems in the same tragedies^
it will appear highly probable that the three protostatae
of the three files (aroiyoi) were the \^dpyovTtQ, each
of whom was accompanied by the other voices of his
own <noiyoQ, and each performed one system, so that at
the end of every three systems the order commenced
afresh. There is no diflSculty in reconciling this view
with Aristotle's definition of the Parodos ('the first
speech of the entire Chorus') by which I understand
him to mean, in the first place, that the Parodos was
sung by the Chorus as a united whole regularly drawn
up in rank and file ; and, secondly, that all the Cho-
reutae bore a part in it, not indeed simultaneously, but
in an order of succession.
17. Now between these regular marches which ac-
company the ordinary entrance of the Chorus, and the
anapaests now imder review, there is this difference.
These latter are sung by the Chorus when already in
the Orchestra, and now for the first time falling into
rank and file. In accordance with this object the
anapaests themselves exhibit a peculiar structure. They
resolve themselves into shorter verses, not indeed in all
cases marked as such by a catalexis, but nevertheless
clearly defined by other indications of a close to the
verse, as well as by the order and dependence of the
several portions of the sense. The separation effected
upon these principles yields of its own accord seven verses
of the following dimensions :
I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII.
pentam. tetram. dim. tetram. dim. tetram. hexam.
cataL cat. cat. acat. cat. cat. cat.
Here, in the first place, we have visibly the antithetic
arrangement so frequently found in anapaestic systems
THE GHOKAL ODES.
33
on the larger scale ; VI. answers to II., and V. to III.,
and the equipoise between VII. and I. is only disturbed
by the addition of a double anapaest. At the same time
the number seven which appears in these verses, and the
strongly marked interpunction between them all make
it not only conceivable but very probable that here as
before we have the fourteen Choreutse, omitting the
Hegemon, singing in pairs. And if further it be con-
sidered that in fedling into their places on the three lines
of the Orchestra, the Choreutae of one (rroi'^og must
needs have to move through a greater space than those
of the next, and these again than those of the third, and
that the Ode here sung by them in the act of falling in
presents us with verses of three different dimensions
(2, 4, 6 metres), the following view of the evolution
offers itself with some degree of evidence in its favour.
Conceive the persons of the Chorus to have previously
formed into one line, nearly straight, in front of the
thymele and facing the audience, the hegemon in the
centre. After uttering the words vfxvov 8* aKoviry rovSt
Sea/xiov (reOev, the Hegemon ascends the thymele.
Hereupon the Choreutae, first those of the one side, then
those of the other, fall into their places in pairs, in an
order the symmetry of which may be better exhibited by
a few lines.
This leaves only one circumstance unexplained, namely,
why the Vllth pair sings a double anapaest more than
c 3
84 THE CHORAL ODES.
the Ist ; unless the reason is to be sought in the desire
of obtaining a full and impressive close.
Fourth Ode. V. 311. •
We are now arrived at the first Stasimon^ or Ode sung
by the Chorus as a whole, and regularly drawn up in
rank and file. This sublime and majestic composition
beginning, Marcp a jx iriKTtg^ !) /xartp NvS, is a Hymn
addressed by the Children of Night to that Primal
Mother-Goddess, and in it they proclaim now with
passionate vehemence, now with more of a haughty
confidence, their indefeasible right to the person of the
shedder of maternal blood. By this proclamation they
would deter every child of earth, and Orestes in parti-
cular, from the vain attempt of evading the power of the
Erinnyes ; by it Orestes is to be fettered as with indis-
soluble bonds : a purpose undoubtedly symboUzed to
the view of the spectators by pecuUar evolutions accom-
panying the dance. On that account the Ode is called,
'a magically binding >hymn,^ {vfxvog Sccr/icoc). It
therefore bears a certain analogy to the KaTaBeang of
the ancients addressed to infernal Hermes, Earth, and
similar divinities, with the object of devoting a person
to destruction. This character is confirmed by the burden
of the first strophe and antistrophe, eirl Se rt^ rcOv/icv^,
&c. Such iteration of the particular passage which
marks the proper object of the whole procedure was
usual in incantations and in songs of destiny : thus in
the love-charm of Theocritus we have the perpetually
recurring burden ''luyS cXicc tv rrivov ifiov ttoti Siofxa
TOP avBpa^ and in the song of the Fates in Catullus's
Epithalamium of Thetis, ^ Currite ducentes subtemina,
currite fiisi.^ No doubt the accompanying evolutions of
the Chorus were directed towards the stage with a
motion expressive of encompassing, confining, narrowing
THE CHORAL ODES. 35
in : men's own eyes beheld how the victim was arrested
and spell-bound with mysterious fetters.
The nvuncal character of this Ode we must concave
to have been such as would impress the mind with a
feeling of gloomy solemnity. The Cithara^ which, as it
was handled by the Greeks, operated upon the Grecian
temperament in a way that always tended to composure,
cheerfulness, or equanimity, is silent here ; the aitXoi
alone are heard, the tones of which produce sometimes
ecstacy, sometimes bewildering delirium, always (such
is the uniform judgment of antiquity) a mood opposed
to the cahn equipoise of thought and feeling. For
assuredly that expression iXvpoq vfxvog is not a mere
form of speech, any more than the aXvpoc iXeyoi of
Euripides, Iph. T. 147. Indeed we are certain we have
here a purely aulodic and not a citharodic performance
(see Aiistoph. Ban. 1263). Upon the same grounds
as here, the aiXog is the sole accompaniment in a ter-
rific scene of the Hercules Furens of Euripides, where
Frenzy (personified) is instigating the hero to the murder
of his children. ' Hercules,' says the Chorus, ^ shall
dance to the maddening flutes of Lyssa,' fxaviaaiv Xvaaag
yoptvBivT iv avXoiQ^ v. 874. And again says the
Chorus, V. 891, ^vyp, tIkv , H^opfiari' Saiov toSb^ Saiov
fiiXog BiravXeiTai. An Ode in the Trachinise of Sophocles,
sung in the highest emotions of joy, is likewise aulodic :
aupofi ovS* airiidofxai top avXoVf to rvpavve Tag €/uac
^pei'oc (v. 216).
19. And nothing could better accord with this aulodic
character than the musical mode in which this Stasimon
was composed. I am persuaded it was the Phrygian
mode, and am not to be disturbed in my confidence by
an obscure passage of Aristoxenus, who in his Life of
Sophocles speaks of that Poet as having been the first
to introduce the Phrygian mode in the Tragic Odes —
86 THE GHOBAL ODES.
a notice which relates only to the tSia iaixara, that is to
say. Monodies (comp. Aristot. Poet. 12). For it is quite
inconceivable that the Phrygian fnode^ admirably adapted
as it was to Tragedy by its enthusiastic and yet solemn
character^ should not have passed over from the Dithy-
rambic Odes, to which it peculiarly belonged/ to their
offspring the Tragic Odes, The following appear to me
to be the principd data upon which we are to proceed in
order to ascertain what kind of rhythms were usually
connected with the Phrygian harmony,
(1) A Monody in the Orestes of Euripides, v. 1381
sqq. It is sung by a performer whom Euripides, to
gratify the effeminate taste of that already degenerate
age, brings upon the stage in the character of a Phrygian
Eunuch, trembling for fear. The Poet, evidently
wishing to shew off this piece of musical art and let all
the world know what it is meant for, makes the Phrygian
himself announce that he is singing a ap^druov fniXog
^ap(iap(f) (ioa. Now it can hardly be doubted but that
the *Aj>/iar€coc vofiog (which was aulodic, and belonged
to the enharmonic order) was composed in the Phrygian
mode: for the most competent authorities^ derive it
from the Phrygiaa musician Olympus ; and though
others differ as to the person of the inventor, all are
agreed as to its Phrygian origin.^ That it is here simg
by a Phrygian, that the singer himself describes it as
barbaric and ungrecian, and compares it to ^ a mournful
song or dirge (aiXivog) which the barbarians with Asiatic
voice utter at the death of their kings' (v. 1392), all
these circumstances indicate the Phrygian kind of music.
(2) We may claim as Phrygian the extant fragment
of a Dithyramb of Pindar's. The length of the stro-
1 Aristot. Polit. viii. 7; Hut.
Mils. 19; Prod. Chrestom. p. 345.
' Cited in Plutarch Mus. 7.
' £tyinoL M. s. v.
THE CHOBAL ODES.
87
fhea, — a symptom of the approximation^ even then^ to
that dissolution of the antistrophic form which befel the
Dithyramb at a later period^ when it was altogether
withdrawn from the Choruses^ and given up to be per-
formed by individual professors^ — and also the multipli-
city and peculiar character of the rhythms^ indicate a
different mode of music to any which Pindar has used
in his Epinicia^ in which it is well known only the Doric^
iBohan^ and Lydian^ are to be traced.
(3) A passage in the first Chorus of the Bacchse^ v.
159^ plainly shews it to have been an Ode sung to the
flute^ in the Phrygian mode.
To go no further than these examples; out of the
great variety of metres which present themselves to one's
notice in the Odes which have been mentioned^ what
strikes us as particularly characteristic are the cretica,
especially the resolved cretics or paeons.* Let it be
remembered, too, that these very rhythms are said to
have found their way into the compositions of the Cretan
Thaletas from the flute-music of Olympus the Phrygian;*
and that a notion of magnificence, fxeyaXoTrpsTri^,^ was
attached to these, above all other rhythms. Another
rhythm of frequent occurrence in the above-mentioned
Odes is the galliamb (a rhythm known to have origi-
nated in the hymns addressed to the Phrygian mother
of the Gods^; this metre however is of a softer and less
noble character than would in all places be suitable to
the Phrygian mode, one of the characteristics of which
is sublimity. The impetuous rhythm of the trochees is
* Comp. e. g. in the Bacch. Xcarbs
&rav tvK€kadot Up6s it pa Traiyfiara
Pp€fiu avvo\a ^Ltcutiv (Is 6pos
et seqq. In the most splendid pas-
sages we meet also with resolved
Choriamb!, as in the Pindaric Dythy-
ramb T6v Bpofuop t6v 'Epi/3oay rr
KaK(opi€vy6vov vfrdrav flip Trarcpiop
fU\7r€fl€V.
^ Hoeck Creta, iiL p. 855.
* Demetr. de Elocut. 88.
7 Telestes in Athenseus, xiv. 626.
38
THE CHORAL ODES.
also not foreign to the Phrygian style^ as these examples
and other authorities^ shew. It is also very observable
that those single feet serving to introduce or close a
metrical period^ which we are accustomed to call (iatreig
or €/c/3a(r€iC9 are particularly frequent in the Phrygian
style, and in the Odes which we are now considering,
often occur at such passages and fall upon such weighty
words, that one cannot help feeling that these feet must
have been deUvered in a particularly solemn and slow
style, and have been made to count as equal in respect
of time to entire periods.'
It seems to me impossible not to recognise here the
No/iioc opOiog (which was sometimes joyftd, sometimes
mournful,^ but always power^ and grand), which
Herodotus and Plutarch mention in close connection
with the Dithyramb, and which is known to have been
used by -^schylus.* From a passage of Plutarch,^ at-
tended with some obscurities, thus much at least can
be gathered: that the two feet called the Orthios
and the TVochaus Semantus were pecuUarly apposite in
the Nofioc opOioc; the former is an iambus (— — )
the latter a trochee {± — ) of twelve times, therefore
reckoning as four feet.'' Certainly these solemn long-
^ Plutarch. Erotic, c. 16.
^ Ckmipare, for example, in Pin-
dar's fragment aXti — tcu t ofi—
(f)at /xcXccov avv avKoig, and the
lollowing verse. In the Orestes
6 de (;w€pyos aXX' eirpcurtr tav
KOKOs I <l)<oK€V£, <l>ap€a nop — <fivp€a
X
dm — pa kXvtcu — funjarpa.
' Comp. Agam. 1124.
* Schol. Aristoph. Ran. 1308.
* Mus. 28.
' I perceive an indication of these
feet in the passage of Pindar, 01.
ix. 109. The whole ode — a lofty
eulogy on godlike physical power —
is very peculiar in its metrical com-
position, and seems to have a touch
of Phrygian in it ; especially the
epode, in respect of the accumulated
bases and echasea. Now the poet
in the last epode — precisely in the
weightiest passage of the whole
poem, summons himself to sound in
ortMan the cry that his hero, by the
godlike power of hit) nature, is a
THE CHOBAL ODES.
39
drawn feet/ when combined with impetuous cretics
and fleet paeons^ were much better adapted to the en-
thusiastic Phrygian mode^ deUghting as it did in wild
starts and contrasts^ than to the purely symmetrical
flow of the Doric. It is also known that the Paeon
Epibatus/ a foot counting as ten times, was used by
Olympus for the Phrygian mode.' The circumstance
that the vofiog opOiog was connected^ not indeed
necessarily (for the cithara is sometimes found with it)^
but more commonly^ with flute-music^ and the fact that
the deep-toned bent avXog, the Phrygian hom^ was
particularly used with it/° well accords with the repre-
sentation here given.
20. These data and inferences respecting the Phry-
gian mode^ when applied to our Chorus^ leave scarcely a
doubt as to its musical character. The passages in the
first strophe^^' so plainly in the orthian style.
8 4
— w — » w
fiarep a jx ercicreC) ^ \ fiarep
and
Nv^, aXaoiai Kai SiSopKotriv
again in the last Strophe^
8 4
TTOivav
/xevei yap tv
Tc fULvrifxoveg
— w
lxr)yavoi
8 4 I
(Tefivai I
re Kai rcXcc I oi kokvjv
and
Xaj^iy Oetov Bi'^otrraTOvvT avrfXitf) Xa/iTTfi
mighty athlete ; and this is done in
rhythms, which we have every right
to call orthicm, "OpBiov &pv(rcu
3ap(r€(av Tovd* dv€pa dmfioviaf yc-
X
ya/i€v E{fx^ipa d€(t6yvu)v 6pS>vT
oXicoy. In the passage of the Aga-
memnon, 1124, in the places pre-
ceding the dochmii, lii, lo» rcikaipas
and lci>, ?fil> XiydaSi I seem to myself
to catch the orthian tone.
7 Arist. Quint, p. 38, 98.
8 Id. Ibid.
9 Pint. Mus. 33.
^^ Lucian Bacch. 4.
" Cf. Herm. Doctr. Metr. p. 661;
Opnsc. ii. p. 121.
40
THE CHOBAL ODES.
the cretic periods following the former^ and the turbu*-
lent paeons at the close of the first and second strophes
-—all this palpably evinces the Phrygian mode. It also
appears from Euripides* and the fragments of the later
Dithyrambs^ that repetitions of the same word and the
jingle of homoeoteleuta were particularly affected in
Odes set to the Phrygian mode (probably this was the
case in the native songs of Phrygia). Some touch of
this appears in the wapaKOTrUf Trapa^opa of our Ode.
In those passages where the tone of feehng in the
Erinnyes is of a more composed character, and which
rather express a proud consciousness of their rightful
power and dignity than a fear of its being disparaged^
the rhythms (long dactylic orders with spondaic termi-
nations and annexed trochaic closes) approximate to
those used with the Doric mode; indeed it would be a
probable conjecture that this harmony here takes place
of the Phrygian^ were it not that the latter in many
cases readily admits of very long dactyUc orders.^
21. With this first stasimon the Chorus has taken up
a fixed position in the middle of the orchestra^ and now
leaves this place no more until the end of the play.
The notion entertained by many/ that the Chorus, in
performing the strophe and antistrophe of an ode,
moved towards opposite ends of the orchestra, and ad-
vanced to the left and right by turns, is palpably erro-
neous, for in that case the Chorus would be no o-raacc
1 Comp. Aristophanes Banse. 1315.
* So at the close of the ode in
the BacchsB, f^dofifpa d* &pa iroXor
&irm dfta fuircpi (jyopfiadi kS>Kop
^€i raxvirovp aKip — rrificuri Box-
Xop, That the Phrygian mode ad-
mits of long verses, formed of dac-
tylic orders, is decidedly instanced
in a Fragment of the 'Opecrrcta of
Stesichorus preserved in the Schol.
on Aristoph. Pax. v. 727. rouide
XP^ XapiroDP da — pMoara <ca\Xt-
K6pMP vfi — peip <j>pvyiop pJXos
cf €1/ — p6pra 'Afip&s ^pos intpxo-
fupop. Its metrical scheme (see p.
48) U
X X
' Hermann on Aristot. Poet. 12, 8 ; and Doctr. Metr. p. 727.
TUB CHORAL ODES.
41
(at it is often termed in the Tragedies themselves^ and
its ode no stasimon/ There is no need to adduce a
whole host of Scholiasts' to prove the &ct that in a sta-
simon the Chorus did not leave its place. The very
name speaks for itself. Only, I think it does not war-
rant the inference that the Chorus in a stasimon was
motionless as well as stationary/ for that would be for
the Chorus, in the most and the longest of its odes to
fiunego, I might almost say, what is its very essence as
a chorus, the '^^opiveiv. But just as the old cydian
diorus, as described on the slneld of Achilles in the
niad^ circled in the dance now to the right, now to the
left^ like a potter's wheel f so the antistrophic move-
ment of a chorus is to be conceived as such that, while
the indwidual members change places, the whole occupies,
throughout, one and the same portion of space. For
this very reason it was that the old Masters of Tactics
gave the name of 'the choral evolution' {y^opuog
l^eXcyfioc) to that evolution of a lochos, by which the
foremost came to be hindmost, and vice versd, while the
lochos as a whole did not leave its place. Hence it
may be inferred with a considerable degree of certainty
that in the strophe of the choral dance (just as in the
lochos), the TrptoTotrTCLTai afl (see the following dia-
gram) passed in a curved line to the position e kp ; the
ievT€po(TTaTai b gm to dio ; and at the same time the
KpaoireSirat ekp to a f I, and the choreutse of the pen-
< .£Bch. Ag. 1115; Choeph. iii.
454.
' oracTif fuX&v, Aristoph. Ban.
1281.
^ SchoU. Eur. Hec. 647 ; Aris-
toph. Vesp. 270 ; Ran. 1307; Hy-
poth. lEocii, Pen. Phavorinus and
others.
7 Boeckh on the Antigone, 2nd
Dissertation, p. 51.
•8 n. xviii. 599. See Mar. Victo-
reus, p. 2501. Putsch. Euanth. de
trag. et com. 2. Etym. M. s. v.
irpo<r6biov* Schol. Pind. 01. p. 11.
Boeckh. Schol. Eur. Hec. 647. In
all these testimonies this same point
is continually remarked, viz. — ^that
the movement which in the strophe
was towards the right, in the anti-
strophe was repeated towards thelefb.
42 THE CHORAL ODES.
ultimate row d i o to b g m ; all tliis reversed in
the antistrophe. The choreutse, as from their first
occupation of the orchestra they stood face to face, av-
rnrpotTtoiroi aWtfXoig (jravrtQ,^ now advanced towards
each other with exact correspondency of movement and
gesture on either side/ each first continually approach-
ing the other^ then meeting and passings and ending at '
the point from which the other started. If therefore
we suppose a chorus to be arrested when it has per-
formed the first quarter of its evolution, it would pre-
sent some such aspect as is exhibited in the following
diagram ; though, of course, it should be borne in mind,
that the variety and expressiveness of the movement
would depend more or less, in each particular ode, on
the form of the curves described by the chorus in the
process of changing places : for example, in our Hymnos
Desmios. [The points where the curves start from the
straight lines are the original stations of the several
choreutse: those of the middle row, chn, describe no
curve but perhaps perform a stationary dance.]
^ Hephffist. It, TTotrjfi. 14. p. 131.
Comp. Scbol. Aristoph. Eq. 512.
^ This is the meaning of dtfri-
aroixftp in Xenoph. Anab. v. 4. 12,
comp. Sympos. 2, 20. Suvem on
Aristoph. Equit. p. 102. (German).
Eolster de Farabasi, p. 13.
THE CHORAL ODES. 43
Fifth Ode. V. 468.
22. The character of the second stasimon is very
simple, the rhythms consisting mostly of trochaic orders,
some short, some long, blended into larger metrical
periods. The shortest orders look like cretics, but from
to the general character of the ode and the manner of con-
nexion it is sufficiently clear that they are to be read
with a pause at the end as catalectic trochaic dipodise,
so that the trochaic rhythm runs uninterruptedly through
the whole verse, and consequently through the greater
part of the ode. Now when the catalexis of one of
these broken orders (— ^ — ) falls at the middle of a word,
which is therefore divided between two consecutive sub-
stantive portions of metre, as we can hardly imagine
that the word would be allowed to be split in two by the
sensible intervention of the proper pause, we must of
necessity suppose that the vacant interval of time be-
longing to the regular pause would be thrown into the
time of the syllable preceding, thereby lengthening it.
Words thus situated would hence acquire a very marked
and quite peculiar emphasis and weightiness in the deli-
very ; and accordingly it does in fact appear the words
which occur in these same places are often peculiarly
energetic. In the present Ode, rovSc firi'TpoKrovov.
Bvyepii'f <Tvvapfio(TH^ iraOea TrpotrfUBVu roKiv-mv fiBva
T aifOig iv j^poi'y, may serve as examples. I know not
whether this remark may not at least help somewhat
towards the solution of the question concerning the
ground of the difference observable in the manner of
connecting rhythmical orders into choral verses. I
mean the question, why trochaic and logaoedic orders,
which can scarcely be imagined to have been meant as
entire verses by themselves, often stand detached and
unconnected as if they were complete verses, and then
44 THE CHORAL ODES.
again in certain places are found closely attached to the
succeeding portion of rhythm by means of a word run-
ning over into this.* That the Poet^s aim in such
places was to gain a peculiar emphasis for a particular
passage^ I at least have often sensibly perceived : and
scarcely anywhere more forcibly than in the Chorus of
the Agamemnon at the words aai'vwv and a-ra^, v.
725, 735 ; the more so, as their exact coincidence at
the same place of the strophe and antistrophe gives them
the appearance of being, as it were, the two opposite
poles on which the whole idea revolves. What mind
would not be forcibly struck by the representation in
the strophe, of the young lion-whelp (Aegisthus) brought
up in the house like a dog, caressed by all and fawning
upon all —
iroXca 5' effK kv dyicaXaic veorpdipov tIkvov lUav,
^€uZpu)irQQ TTOrt X^*P® o'tti— viav tv yaarpoQ 6,vdyKaiQ.
And then the contrast in the antistrophe, of the grown-
up lion no longer concealing his native thirst of blood :
Afia^ov AXyoc oitciraie fiiya alvoQ woXvicrdvov,
e/c deov 5' iepeve rie a — rag ^dfwiQ irpoatdpitpBri,
28. The proper rhythmical theme of the ode now
under consideration, that with which it begins, and
which is distinctly heard throughout, is the catalectic
trochaic tetrapodia,— »^ — ^ — ^ — , called by the metrists
\r\KvBiov^ perhaps from the smoothness and lubricity
* [The reader who is not acquaint-
ed with the principles of lyrical
metre as they are now understood,
should be apprised, that a verse
never ends in the middle of a word:
and that the distribution of an ode
of Pindar (before Boeckh), and of
middle of a word, has nothing to be
said in its fiivour, but that it is
more sightU^, and (where this point
is attended to) convenient for per-
spicuity of the rhythmical orders
composing the verse."]
2 Hephffl8t.6,p.33— Possiblythe
the lyrical parts of tragedy into [ joke in Aristophanes, \rjKv0iov air&'
shorter Unes, often ending in the i \€<r€. Ban. 1208, sqq. alludes to
THE CHOBAL ODES. 46
with which it runs, like drops of oil from a flask. As for
the mtisical mode : these almost purely trochaic odes, in
which nothing appears of the elevation and pomp of
the Phrygian, were certainly almost invariably Lydian,
The Lydian mode was tender, graceful, but apt to
degenerate into an enervated character. This very
character it was that gave the trochaic metre the name
icopSa^, ' from a soft and voluptuous dance of Lydian
origin. * To counteract this enervating tendency -ZEs-
chylus in the third pair of strophes intermixes long dac-
tylic orders : the same rhythm which tranquillizes the
Phrygian here dignifies the Lydian ; and the Poet with
great art reserves for these dactylic passages moral sen-
tences or gnomes, to which the solemnity of this firm
and equable metre* is peculiarly well adapted. On the
other hand, the anacrusis of iambic dipodise, which in the
last strophe' of this as of the preceding ode, introduces
the trochaic orders, imparts to this portion a more rapid
and animated march, which again is most beautifully
this. With these words he makes
^schylus continually clip off from
Enripides's trimeters just this fatal
lecylMnm ( — w — w — w — ),
The joke indeed is principally aimed
at the contents of the Eoripidean
Prologaes, which hegin like a story
of common life ; still it may carry
an allusion to something in the an-
dent art of versification; a jeer,
• [Last verse of str. 3,
perhaps, at the monotonous unifor-
mity of the csesural pause in the
opening verses of Euripides's Plays.
^ Aristot. in Quintil. ix. 4. Cic
Orat 17.
^ Pausan. vi. 22. — P&usanias was
himself by extraction a Lydian.
^ uATpov araarifiaTaToy Ka\ oy-
KoodcoToroi/. Aristot. Poet.
v^ — \j — , -£-v^ — y -L \j \j — v^ — ,_.
Then in str. 4,
— jLv^— , -L«^ — v^ — v^ — , _Lv^ — v^ — —
\J J~ \J — 9~V^ — \J — v^
v^JL*^ y -L \j — \j — \j — .
After which, a complete iambic trimeter.
And then.
\j Ji \j — v^' — v^' — \j -^ \y — •
v^jL— , — v^ — v^' — ^
Xv^V^' — «^ — ^— > — W — Vi/ — — ]
46 THE CHORAL ODES.
soothed down by the graceftil flow of the interposed
logaoedic, an arrangement to which ^schylus in gene-
ral is very partial.
Sixth Ode. V. 748. Seventh Ode, V. 801.
24. In the two preceding odes the tone of feeling in
the Erinnyes was still suspensive and wavering. Now
that Orestes has gained his cause in the Areopagus, it
mounts once more into frantic rage : breaking off from
the regular rhythms, they burst into an ode evidently
commatic in its nature, and accompanied with very wild
movements, as one may see from the very metres em-
ployed. These are dochmii, a metre expressive, ac-
cording to circumstances, either of sorrow or of joy,
but fdmost invariably of violently excited feelings.
Here also we have plainly an occurrence of bacchii,* a
metre rarely used in Tragedy on accoimt of its un-
rhythmical character. In the first ode not only the
matter, but the form, in respect of the interspersed
iambic verses, indicates three voices, perhaps those of
the three protostatae. The second ode, which consists
almost entirely of short and unconnected ejaculations
of extreme fury, may be distributed among seven voices.
The iteration of the same ode indicates the dogged
pertinacity with which they persist in the feelings to
which they had already given vent, and their utter disre-
gard of Athena^s attempts to soothe them in her replies.
Eighth (V. 876), Ninth (V.916), Tenth (V. 950) Odes.
25. At last the Goddess has succeeded in appeasing
the frantic Erinnyes. Now comes the third stasimon
' [v. 698. aT€vdi<o ; &c., viz.
y^±± ^J,± yJ,JL yj±±,
a metre which in its stamping cha-
cUmeter dochm. hypercat.
Several instancea of the baochius
racter is akin to the dochmius : as occur in the Bacchffi of Euripides :
in ikct this verse might be read as e. g. 989, 1011. ]
THE CHORAL ODES. 47
(no tragedy of iEschylus has fewer than three) con-
sisting of three pairs of strophes^ insulated indeed in
respect of time by the intervening anapaests sung by
Athena^ but nevertheless retaining the independent
and composed character of a stasimou, there being no
reference in the ode to the matter expressed in those
anapaests^ and the strophes and antistrophes following
regularly in three pairs. The ode^ which is a v^vo^
fViCTiicoc, a song of blessing, is composed partly of light
trochees^ partly of solemn dactyls. The molossi^ yamc
€$ a/u/3/t>v(Tac, 7rXovro)^0o;i' 'Ep/aaiav, are to be measured
dactylically (—'--:>—. | — '-=1^-'— .), and thus in each in-
stance are equivalent in time to four dactyls^ or eight
light trochees (two lecythia) ; at least this seems to be
the only way in which they can be read so as to get the
right impression from them.
In the intervals between these six strophes Minerva
sings five anapaestic systems^ antithetically related one to
another^ (1, 2, 3, 2, 1). These anapaests are so printed
in the text as to give each system as a connected whole.
The minor sections are not intended to represent verses,
in the proper sense of the term^ but to divide into
members the matter expressed. The usual mode of divi-
sion by dimeters and monometers has the effect of frit-
tering away the majestic roll of such anapaestic periods.
' That is, the rhythm is dactylic,
-Lv^^ — . ~L \j\j — ; and
moreoyer, each molosmis, with iU
pause ^dicated hy the point) is
metrically equivalent to two dactyls,
the pause occupying the time of
the thesis of the second dactyl—
viz, jL«- ,=zj^s^y^ — ^^v^'.
The author's further statement, that
each of these double dactyls is equi-
valent to a trochfdc tetrapodia
J-v^ — ^ — v^ — »^, or rather
Iccythium-^ v^ — ^ — «^ —, which
is the rhythmical theme of the
whole strophe, rests upon the prin-
ciple enunciated by Boeckh, de
MetriSf Find. iii. 20, that in the
rhythms of the Doric mode (viz.,
dactylic orders curbed by the heavy
double-trochee jL^ , e« g** in
the ode xpviria <f)6pfuy$, J-\y
J-^ , — v^v>' — ^'^— I
±s^ , -L ^ ^ — , &c) the
time is regulated by the equivalence
of the dactyl to the double-trochee.
Cf. Anhang. p. 82.]
48 THE CHOKAL ODES.
That the Ooddess during these anapaests changes her
position is indicated also by their purport. At first she
addresses from the stage the Council of the Areopagites^
or rather the assembled people of Athens^ and^ in so
doings speaks of the Eumenides in the third person.
It is only towards the end that she personally addresses
the latter ; then she expresses her good wishes towards
them also^ and makes known to them that now she will
discharge the duty of escorting the Dread Goddesses
into their sacred Thalamos. We see plainly that
Athena has gradually descended from the stage into
the Orchestra^ and ends with placing herself at the head
of the Chorus^ to which the Areopagites also and the
escort of maidens now attach themselves. To these
maidens belongs the last Ode ; short indeed^ but pecu-
liarly solemn^ and (its sense rightly understood) winding
up the action with a strain of majestic simpUcity.^
[Note. — In the metrical notation used in this work, the rhyth-
mical orders of which the ver$e is composed are separated by
commas, the pauses are denoted by full stops. Also, when the
same rhythmical order is reneated, this is compendiously denoted
by the Arabic numeral prefixed. Thus the vene (for it is but
one) 362-365, consisting of fonr iambic dimeters, one monometer,
and an ecbasis, would give this scheme,
\J -^ \J — V^ — V^ — , ^ — V^ — , f
and the longest verse in Pindar, Isthm. vii. 5,
The distribution of an ode into verses, and of verses into their
component orders.is essentially dependent on rhythmical consider-
ations, but the determination of the close of a verse is aided by
observation of the occurrence of a syllaha anceps or hiatus. For
this reason, besides others, the principles of tne higher metrical
science are best learned from Pindar, since the continual recur-
rence of the same strophe throughout an ode furnishes a larger
induction of probabihties, and therefore more evident resuts
ilian can be obtained from the single strophe and antistrophe of
the Tragedians. For an introduction to tne study of the lyrical
metres and of their relation to the musical modes, the student
may be referred to Thiersch's Preliminary Dissertation prefixed
to nis edition and German version of Pmdar. For jEschylus,
comp. the Metro et Numeri of Xlausen.]
11. THEATRE.
26. The play of the Eumenides was acted in the large
stone Theatre near the Temple of Dionysus. The
erection of this Theatre was commenced after 01. 70. 1,
(B.C. 500)^ but the building was not completed till about
01. 110 (b.c. 340)^ during the financial administration
of Lycurgus. But a theatre mighty in the same
manner as an ancient temple, or a Gk)thic church, be
used for centuries without being quite completed ; and
we certainly have no authority for supposing that the pro-
ductions of the great tragedians still continued to be
exhibited in a wooden structure, whilst even the insig.
nificant Epidaurus had obtained {rota the hands of
Polycletus, a contemporary of Phidias, a magnificent
theatre of stone.
The Athenian Theatre, which was erected at the time
above mentioned — ^a structure, the perspective arrange-
ment of which had given occasion to scientific investi-
gations even by the most distinguished among the
physical philosophers of the Peridean age, Anaxagoras
and Democritus — ^was no doubt the original model of
the Greek Theatre described by Vitruvius ; and this can
be proved in detail. Accordingly, for information con-
cerning the general plan of the whole structure, the
divisions of the orchestra, stage and amphitheatre, etc.,
we may refer our readers to the works of Genelli and
other modem writers, who with much taste and erudition
have reduced the rules and statements of Vitruvius into
a connected form. The only peculiarity in the exhibition
50 THEATRE.
of the Eumenides was the arrangement of the stage —
called by the Greeks TrpoaKtiviov and Xoyeiov ; the
term wpoaKriviov being used to denote the space in
front of the (nctyin?, and the term Xoyeiov^ or more
anciently oKpi^ag^ being applied to the wooden plat-
form raised above the level of the orchestra.
But before we can determine the exact arrangement
of the stage on the occasion with which we are here
concerned^ we must first ascertain what scenes and
localities were intended to be represented by the stage^
in the several parts of the play^ and by what means the
Poet made his intention palpable to the spectators.
27. In the opening scene, we behold the Pythoness
in the open court in front of the Temple of Apollo at
Delphi. She is praying to the Gods of the Temple,
evidently at an altar (probably representing the ^ Great
Altar' of Delphi^). This altar is frequently mentioned
by Euripides in the Ion/ and we learn from him that
beside it were carved images of divinities (^oai^a),
which it was customary for suppliants to embrace. It
appears to me a very credible supposition that these
images represented the deities who had successively
held possession of this sacred oracle; namely, Gala,
Themis, Phoebe, and Phoebus. I ground my opinion
mainly on the expressions made use of by the Priestess
herself in the prologue. Her prayer to the four
above«mentioned deities is most pointedly distinguished
fix)m her reverential address to the others. She mani-
festly first of all addresses herself exclusively to the
divinities immediately present ; then directs her thoughts
to the more remote deities, commencing with Pallas,
who was worshipped under the title of Upovaia before
the precincts^ of the Pythian Temple, on the road to
* Pwwan. X. 14, 4 « Cf. w. 116. 1269, ff. 1418. » rcficwj.
THEATRE. 51
BcBotia and Athens ; then proceeding to the divinities
of the Corycian Dripping Grotto ;* next to the fountain-
nymphs of the river Pleistus^ and the fountain-god
Poseidon ; and lastly to the Lycorean Jove/ the god
who dwells supreme on the mountain-summit Lycorea.
Hereupon the Priestess retires into the Temple^ but
presently returns in horror^ and after describing the
impression of the sight she has there beheld^ quits the
stage.
Immediately on her departure^ the interior of the
sanctuary is exposed to view. The very Adyton, that
unapproachable abode of Prophecy/ is displayed before
the eyes of the spectators. The locality of this Adytum
is precisely defined by the term o/u^aXoc (EarthVnavel),
which so often occurs. The Pythoness beheld Orestes
sitting on the Omphalos {40): hence the Erinnyes call
it ' a seat dripping with the blood of murder &om head
to foot/ a seat which (by the reception of Orestes into
the Temple) has contracted ^ the abominable pollution of
blood' (158). In the time of ^schylus and Pindar
this Omphalos was situated in the Adytum of the
Temple ; and upon it were the golden images of the
two eagles^ which^ according to the legend^ being let fly
from east and west^ had met here : but it was afterwards
removed from the penetralia^ and in the time of Pausa*-
nias was in the front court of the Temple.^ We are
indebted to modem Archaeology for our present exact
knowledge of the shape of this TFhite Stone, as Pausanias
calls it ; for the semi-circular or semi-oval object^ which
* Pious dedicatory inscriptions to
Pan and the Nymphs may stUl he
read <m this grotto. Cf. fioeckh
Corp.Iiucr. N. 1728.
' AvK<»paiog, Steph. Byz. — In
the heautiful Believo of Homer's
Apotheosis Jupiter is represented
D 2
occupying the summit of Parnassus.
^ fitiyrucoi fJLvxoi, v. 171.
7 This point of the Delphic Anti-
quities has heen accurately investi-
gated and explained hy I>is86n(Phid.
Py th. iy. 4), and hy Bronsted in his
' Travels in Greece' (Qenn^).
52 THEATRE.
SO frequently occurs in relievos^ coins^ and vase-paintings^
and was till lately regarded^ though without any good
reason^ as a portion of the Tripod^ has recently been
discovered to be the Omphalos in question.' In con-
sequence of this discovery^ it is now found that nurne-
rous works of sculpture^ which could not be properly
understood before^ are intended to represent ' the God
sitting on the Omphalos at the centre of the Earth/
as the Pythian Apollo is designated by Plato.^ But
the clearest instances are to be seen in the vase-paint-
ings/ where Orestes is exhibited^ as a suppliant for pro-
tection and expiation^ sitting on the Omphalos in the
Temple of Apollo^ exactly as described by iBschylus.
On this semi-circle are to be seen stripes of various
kinds, sometimes horizontal, sometimes crossing, some-
times pendant. These I take to be bands {infuUe,
arifi/Aaraj or raiviai)^ with which the navel-stone was
decorated ; and this explanation accords with an expres-
sion of Strabo's, TBraiviwfiivog. These infulse, composed of
loose woollen threads, may, when knotted together cross-
wise, so as to form a sort of net-work, be termed yprivog
or aypripopj the name given to a net-like woollen cover-
ing, worn by the ancient soothsayers and bacchanals.^
28. To return to our subject : together with this Om-
phalos, behind which, perhaps, the Tripod was also
visible, as in the vase-paintings, we see in the Temple
the following assembly: Orestes, sitting on the Om-
phalos; around him the Erinnyes, reclined on seats
^ The anthor of this discovery is
Pasiow (Bottiger's 'Archaologie nnd
Kunst/ St. L p. 158).
* PoUt.iv.p.427.
^ See the Vase-painting, edited
with a learned explanation by Millin, ' 54.
and the collection in Baoul- '
Bochette's Orest^ide, particularly
PI. 36.
^ See Winckelmann, Mon, Ined,
p. 212, and Pr. G. Schoen, de Per-
sonarum in Eur. Bacch, hdbitu, p.
THEATRE.
53
and fast asleep ; beside him Apollo; in the back-ground
Hermes, This assembly cannot be reckoned at fewer
than eighteen persons. Now^ in what way^ we ask^ was
this large company exhibited at once to the view of the
spectators after the prologue of the Pythoness ? For,
unquestionably^ it was not brought into view till after
the prologue ; the whole description which the Priestess
gives of the hags who encompassed Orestes would be
tame and frigid, if the spectators had already had a view
of their figure and appearance, before the Priestess
caught sight of them. The description is surely prepa-
ratory to the spectacle, not explanatory of it.
There are two ways in which the interior of the
Temple, with its assemblage of persons, might be thus
suddenly disclosed to view. Orie of these methods has
been already proposed by a Schohast,* and among the
Modems by Bottiger" (an Antiquarian of high account
for his acquaintance with the ancient stage) : I mean the
kifixTTpa or siciciicXf|/4a.
'E^oKTrpa or eKKvKXrifia (the latter is much the more
usual term) denotes the platform or small wooden stage^
which, in passages of the Drama, where the interior of a
house was required to be exposed to the spectator's view,
was pushed or wheeled forward' through the great portal
in the stone screen {(jK-nvvi) &t the back of the stage,
and afterwards wheeled back^ when the interior had to
be again withdrawn from view. Of the employment of
the eccydema in the old Tragedians, the following are
decided instances, and these may serve to shew in what
cases this machinery was appUcable.
(1) In the Agamemrum (v. 1345) there is suddenly
* In Emnen. v. 64 ; cf. on v. 4»7.
' De Deo ex Machina, p. 9.
Forien-maske, p. 98.
^ CfCICVKXcil/.
^ €1(tkvkK€w, Pollux iv. 128.
Schol. Acham. 407. Enstath. on
IL p. 976, 16.
64
THEATBB.
displayed to view (evidently by means of the eccyclema)
the Foyal bathing-chamber^ with the silver laver, the
corpse enveloped in the fatal garment^ and Clytsemnestra^
besprinkled with bloody and holding in her hand the
reeking weapon, stiU standing with mien of haughty
triumph and defiance over her murdered victim.
(2) In the Choephoroe, the same bathing-chamber is
exhibited to view (v. 967). Here likewise it is drawn
out through the central door in the stage-screen ; and
on this occasion the SchoUasts notice the employment
of the eccyclema. Orestes is seen standing over the
corpses of Clytaemnestra and ^Egisthus, holding in his
hands the fatal garment.*
(3) In the Electra of Sophocles (v. 1450) ^Egisthus
orders the great gates of the palace to be thrown open,
that all the Mycenseans and Argives may convince them-
selves with their own eyes of the death of Orestes : a
covered corpse is wheeled upon the stage on an eccy-
clema ; iBgisthus uncovers it : it is Clytaemnestra.
(4) In the ArUigone (1 293) the corpse of Eurydice is
exhibited on the stage almost immediately after we have
been informed of her death by her own hands within
the palace. The Chorus adverts to the eccyclema in
the words ; opap irapiariv* ov yap ev /uvj^oic crc ; and
the Scholia also mention it.
(6) In the Ajaa^ (346), upon the earnest desire of the
men of Salamis to see their lord and prince, Tecmessa
throws open the tent : at the instant she draws aside
the awning, Ajax (by means of an eccyclema, which is
again remarked by the Scholia) is wheeled out to view :
he is seen holding a drawn sword in his hand and
^ Clyteemnestra comes out by the
doorway to the right, the yvvcuKelai
TTuKaif and is led off by Orestes into
the main building through the cen-
tral doorway. The door to the right
belongs to the second actor (deutera-
gonistes), who is evidently Clyteem-
nestra.
THEATRE.
55
sprinkled with blood ; surrounded by slaughtered cattle,
and sunk in deep anguish.
(6) In the (Edipus Tyrannus (1297)^ the unfortunate
son of Laius^ his eyes pierced through and dripping with
blood, his footsteps in need of a guide, becomes visible
through the open gateway of the palace. He is
evidently wheeled out on an eccyclema ; and Sophocles
has apparently overlooked that circumstance, when he
afterwards makes Creon prohibit the exhibition of so
horrible a spectacle to the open light of day, and order
(Edipus to be led back into the house (1429).
(7) In the Hercules Parens of Euripides (1030) the
bars of the palace-doors are drawn back ; by means of
an eccyclema, we behold the hero asleep, bound hand
and foot to a broken piUar, surrounded by the corpses
of his wife and children, and by the fragments of shat-
tered shafts and columns.
(8) In the Hippolyttis (818) Theseus bids throw open
the doors of the palace, in which Phaedra has hanged
herself: thereupon, no doubt by means of an eccyclema,
the corpse is seen stretched on a couch, with the fatal
letter attached to the hand.
(9) In the Medea, v. 1314, where Jason is about to
force open the doors of the palace, the Colchian Enchan-
tress appears aloft (probably on an elevated eccyclema)
standing in the chariot presented to her by HeUos. In
it are also the corpses of her children.^
29. All these instances of the eccyclema agree in
one particular, which is, that the scenes brought before
the eyes of the spectators are such as would naturally
2 With these instances of eccy-
clemas may be compared, for the
sake of greater deamess, those of
Comedy ; e. g. Aristoph. Nub. 223,
c. SchoU. Equit.1151,1249. Acham.
407, c. SchoU.
56 THEATRE.
take place within doors. Accordingly^ the eccyclema
is not employed in cases where it would be quite as
easy and proper for the persons who are the subjects of
such scenes to come out to view from the stage-doors.
Wherever we find it employed^ it invariably appears that
the nature of the case makes it unavoidable. It is only
when the persons or objects are unij)le of themselves
to come out^ that the spectator is^ after a fashion, con-
ducted in. In every one of the instances above given,
it is a scene of murder or bloody wounds which the
eocydema brings into view: most of them exhibit
groups of the living and dead, formed, no doubt, accord-
ing to the rules of Art; for it is certain that in no
other of its arrangements did the Drama approximate
so nearly to the province of Sculpture as in the eccy-
clema.
Hence it appears that in the scene under considera-
tion the eccyclema would, fix)m the very nature of the
case, have been a very unusual phenomenon ; but still
more so, when we consider the great number of persons
required to be wheeled forward at once — amoimting, as
we have seen, to no less than eighteen ; whereas in none
of the other instances are there more than four indi-
viduals at most; nor is the Chorus ever included.
Then, how spacious must have been this moveable stage,
to be capable of exhibiting at once, in a tasteful group,
Orestes on the Omphalos, the Gods, and the entire
Chorus ! How wide, too, the portal, to admit of their
being wheeled through I
But there are further considerations, which lead us
to conclude that the eccyclema was not employed on
this occasion. We first of all saw the Pythoness in the
open square in front of the Temple. We are now to
view the interior of the Temple ; and this (we will sup-
THEATRE. • 57
pose) is to be effected by means of an eccydema. The
floor of this moveable stage must therefore be that of
the Temple^ now disclosed to view. Then the Erinnyes
wake^ start up^ and^ during a choral dance^ give vent to
their annoyance and their rage against Apollo. All
this still in the Temple ; for it is not until afterwards
that the Grod commands them to quit his Sanctuary.
Now to suppose that the Chorus had room on this secon-
dary stage for those wild evolutions, is even more in*
credible than all the rest. Consequently, the eccydema
is not at all adequate or applicable to the case ; and we
must rather imagine the whole stage to represent the
area of the Temple.
Thus we are reduced to the second supposition,
which, although not borne out by any external evi-
dence, is nevertheless attended with greater internal
probability than the former hypothesis. It is namely
this — ^that, as long as the Pythoness was speaking the
prologue, the space representing the interior of the
Temple (i. e., the stage) was concealed by a curtain
extending the whole length and height of the stage, like
the common AuUeum or Parapetasma. The Priestess
stood in the orchestra, which represented the front-
court (the avXri) of the Pythian Temple : the altar of
the Prophetic Deities stood there. We must conceive
a few colunins in fix)nt of the stage, giving it the
character of a Temple. It will be seen that this
arrangement answers perfectly well for the whole
play.
All the preceding eluddations are founded on the
hypothesis, that, after the condusion of the prologue,
the interior of the Temple, together with the Erinnyes,
is rendered visible in some way or other. This suppo-
sition forces itself upon us as a necessary and natmral
d3
S8
THEATRE.
one^ and^ indeed, is generally received/ except by
Oenelli/ who has quite a different conception of the
whole scene. His idea is that the whole scene between
Clytsemnestra and the Erinnyes takes place at the back
of the screen. He supposes the Adytum of the Temple
to be there; and that, after the Ode beginning, iov,
cov, woira^, the Erinnyes rush one by one through
the centre door upon the stage. Now there can be no
doubt that the effect produced on the auditors by indi*
yidual sounds and broken exclamations from the con-
cealed interior of a tent or chamber is very impressive ;
but the dialogue between Clytsemnestra and the slum-
bering Chorus is not at all of that description ; and we
may be sure that ^schylus was but little disposed to
deprive the spectators of so striking a sight as that pre-
sented in the highly tragic figure of the royal Appa*
rition pointing to the bloody wound in her breast, and
the Erinnyes starting convulsively and fiercely in their
sleep.
30. Between v. 225 and v. 226 there is a long pause.
First Orestes, then the Chorus, and lastly Apollo, have
each left the stage. Then all at once we are trans-
ported frx)m Delphi to Athens, and must fancy a long
interval of time to have elapsed, during which Orestes
has passed over land and sea — ^a disregard of the exter-
nal Unities quite in the character of the ^schylean
Poetry. So in the first act of the Agamemnon (v. 270),
the beacon-fires announce the fall of Troy the very
day it was taken; and, by the commencement of the
following act, Agamemnon himself, after encountering
1 It 18 also A. W. V. Schlegel's
opinion. See his History of Dra-
matic Poetry. — OnlySchlegel thinks
the Erinnyes are seen first of all,
before they start np, merely through
the open doors of the Temple i but
this latter hypothesis cannot be sa-
tisfactorily reconciled with the ar-
rangement of the andent stage, nor
with the progress of the play.
3 Theater von Athen, p. 218.
THEATRE.
59
great perils at sea^ has landed on the coast of Argod.
In so doings i£schylus only availed himself of the
genuine license of art^ which^ among the Greeks^ in the
province of Poetry as well as of Sculpture^ while it was
strictly observant of the internal connexion and har-
mony^ treated space and time as very subordinate
matters. It was not until a subsequent period that
Tragedy stooped to do homage to a common-place ' illu-
sion' {aTrarri).
With regard to the shifting of scene required by the
change of place^ that could easily be effected without the
intervention of the curtain, since we merely step out of
one Temple into another; all that would be necessary
was a contrivance in the centre door, to make the
Omphalos disappear at the instant the statue of Pallas
was brought forward. Perhaps also the Ilfpiaicroc^ were
turned round at the same time.
The ancient sacred Image of Pallas* which Orestes
embraced in obedience to Apollo's command, can be no
other than the carved wooden image/ which, according
to the legend, fell from heaven, and was consecrated
and preserved by the Autochthones of Attica in the
Temple of the Goddess of the citadel (iroXiac). It
formed the central point of the Athenian Religion, and
was the only image that could be designated by so
general a title. Therefore, from v. 226 the stage repre-
sents the Temple, or at least, if not the actual edifice,
the sacred precincts of the Temple of Athena Polias on
^ These Periadi^ of the same
height as the stage-screen and situ-
ated at the angles between it and
the side walls, were prism-shaped,
having three faces, and were easily
moveable about a pivot : on the se-
veral three ho&A there were different
views and prospects painted, so that
by turning round the Periacti the
near and distant landscape {j6vros
and x&pcL) were changed with faci-
lity and expedition.
* TIclKcu6v Pfyeras.
* $6avo¥. Pans. i. 16, 7.
60 THEATRE.
the Athenian AcropoUs. The Chorus^ now in the
orchestra^ is coneeived to be in the front-oourt of this
Temple. It is also in the orchestra — certainly not on
the stage — ^that the Areopagites subsequently made their
appearance ; in fact^ they must have taken their seats
under the amphitheatre^ in the semi-circular curve of
the orchestra. For it is evidently the Poet's design to
comprise the Areopagus and the assembled Athenians
as a whole^ and as such they are addressed in common
by the Goddess in her inauguration-speech. At this^
the first trial for murder at Athens, a public assembly*
is conceived to be present, just as in the courts of the
Homeric Grerontes; and the Goddess, by voice of herald
and blast of trumpet, enjoins silence during the sitting
of the court (536). On this occasion, no doubt, actual
blasts of the trumpet pealed through the theatre, and
the well-known herald's cry, 'A^kovete Xcy, was heard,
as in court. The pubUc assembly could not possibly be
represented by a crowd of people on the stage, or in the
orchestra : the Athenians actually assembled and pre-
sent in the Theatre are the people addressed on this
occasion. And the finest way of exhibiting this con-
ception would be to make the Areopagites, as we have
supposed JSschylus to have made them, take their seats
on chairs in the orchestra, immediately below the tiers
of seats in the amphitheatre. In that case directly
above them sat the actual BovXfi, to whom the lowest
tier of seats^ was appropriated ; and above these the
densely crowded mass of the Athenian population, rising
tier above tier in ever widening semi-drcles. Oppo-
site to them, like an orator on the Pv/xa, is stationed
the majestic figure of Pallas Athena, who organises the
* The \aol or Xc^. ^ ^^ /3ovXevrMc<Jv.
THEATRE. 61
Court of Areopagus^ and impresses on the hearts of the
Athenians the sanctity of that institation.
In this way the Athenian People is irresistibly drawn
into the very Drama^ and in a manner compelled to
bear a part in the action. The Theatre is transformed^
as by a stroke of enchantment^ into the Pnyx^ the Poet
into a counselling and admonishing Orator^ the mythic
Past into the immediate Present^ dedsive for the weal
and woe of the Future.
31. From the circumstance of Athena's appointing
the Hill of Ares as the place of sitting for the newly-
instituted court (653)^ and her speaking of it as before
the eyes of the spectators/ one might perhaps be led to
infer that the scene has been again shifted. But this
inference cannot be supported without considerable dif-
ficulty ; and the circumstance in question is satisfactorily
accounted for^ if we suppose a distant prospect of the
hill opposite the citadel to have been delineated on a
Periactos^ and that the Goddess pointed to that picture.
Let it be observed^ that in the very same passage (668)
the Athenian citadel is pointed out as before the eyes of
the spectators.^
With respect to the style in which these views were
executed^ for instance, those of the Delphic Temple, the
ancient Temple of Pallas, the Hill of Ares and the sur-
rounding scenery^ we may suppose a certain degree of
optical illusion to have been attained, and the impression
of reahty to have been conveyed ; for Agatharchtis, the
first who attained a degree of perfection in the art of
' Uayov — T6vb€, v. 666.
* The only way in which I can
understand this passage is, that the
Amazons assail the new fortress
(i. e. the town and citadel hnilt hy
Theseus) hy means of a counter- i person.'
fortress on the Areopagus (like the
Persians in Herodot. viil. 62); and
in support of this sense of ayri-
wupyovv jr6Kiv, I instance the ex-
pression carnage w rivd, 'to assail a
62 THEATRE.
scene-paintings to which scientific study contributed as
much as a bold and skilful pencil^ was in all probability
put in requisition for this very trilogy of ^schylus. At
all events the painting needed to be the more accurate^
as the Athenians here beheld on the stage the identical
objects they were accustomed^ only under a less antique
aspect^ to se6 but a few steps distant. That there was
no danger of the solemn and exalted impression of tragic
poetry suffering from this cause^ we may be sure from
the enthusiasm^ heightened by Faith and Imagination^
with which the Greeks were wont to regard their native
land and all its sacred spots. With them Reality was
blended with Legend into a majestic Whole.
From this point to the end of the play the scene re-
mains in and about the Temple of Athena Polias. It
is from thence also that the procession afterwards sets
out^ to conduct the Erinnyes to their new Sanctuary
between the Acropolis and the Areopagus. The female
attendants of the Temple form part of this proces-
sion (978).
The altar in the orchestra^ required in the first por-
tion of the play^ is also necessary in this second larger
section^ since it is from the altar that the Areopagites
take the ballots. The images of the Delphic Deities
exhibited upon it in the first part of the play might
easily be removed, or withdrawn by a simple contrivance
from the view of the spectators.
TIL COSTUME.
32. If we desire to form a lively and true conception
of the procedure of an ancient Tragedy upon the stage^
we must first divest ourselves entirely of those ideas of
the characters in Grecian Mythology, which we derive
from ancient works of art, and which from natural
causes continually haunt our imagination. There is
not the least comparison to be drawn between the scenic
and the plastic costume of the ancient Gods and Heroes;
for, as the statements of the old Grammarians and
ancient works of art (especially the mosaics in the
Vatican) sufficiently prove, there was but one general
(ttoXtj, or costume for Tragedy. This was nothing more
than an improvement on the gay and brilliant^ apparel
worn in the processions at the Dionysian Festivals, and
but slight alterations were needed to adapt it to the
different dramatic characters. The following parts of.
dress are universally reckoned in the costume : long
')^^LT(oveg of various gay colours, falling in ample folds
down to the feet; very broad embroidered girdles
(/ia(T^aXi(Tr^/t>€c)/ sitting high on the breast; upper
robes, frequently of purple, with gold-embroidered
borders and other such-like decorations ; the cothurnus;
and the head-dress oyKog. As in the Dionysian ritual,
so likewise in Tragedy, there was but little distinction
* TToiKiKa or avBivd,
^ This ^brdle evidently fbrms part
of the tragic costume, as exhibited
in the Vatican mosaics and on the
statues of Melpomene, e. g. on the
colossal figure of that Muse in the
Louvre.
64 COSTUME.
between the male and female apparel. In speaking of
heroes the Tragedians very often call their dress
wiirXog, a garb never worn at that period by males in
common life. In the ancient mosaics one is con-
tinually in danger of confounding heroes with heroines,
unless where the old equestrian chlamydes are thrown
over the long, bright-coloured tunics, or weapons added,
or the masks characterised by some marked difference.
We must always bear this general costume in mind,
when we feel disposed to wonder why the Ancients, with
their singular reluctance to increasing the number of
actors, chose to have different and often very different
parts acted by one and the same individual : it must be
remembered that with them there was no need of such
a complete change of dress as modem principles and
taste require. We look for illusion from first to last :
the Ancients always remained, and wished to remain,
conscious that the whole was a Dionysian Entertain-
ment.
33. It is a well known fact that in his earlier plays
^schylus employed only two Actors; the one (called
the wpfjjraywvKTTrig^ performing the main characters,
(i. e. those which most abound in outward or inward
7ra0oc)> the other (the SevrepayovKTrrig)^ acting the
more quiet and subordinate parts. So we find it in the
Persians, the Seven against Thebes, the Suppliants, In
the Prometheus there is a third actor (an improvement
introduced by Sophocles), only however in the prologue.
But in the trilogy of the Agamemnon, ChoephoroB and
Eumenides, we find a third actor throughout ; a circum-
stance well known to the Ancients (Schol. Choeph. 892),
and not to be doubted by any attentive reader. The
distribution of the parts in our trilogy was nearly as
given in the following arrangement, which on the whole
is pretty certain : whatever is doubtful is marked with a
COSTUME.
66
note of interrogation. It is taken for granted that
where the same character recurs in the successiYe plays,
it was performed by the same actor.
I. AGAMEMNON.
1. Upforaymy.
2. Aevrepayoy.
3. Tpirayooy.
Watchman, Herald, Agamemnon.
Clytsamnestra.
Cassandra, MgistAixis,
II. CHOEPHOB(E.
1. Upmraymy,
2. Aevrepaya>y.
3. Tpiraymv.
Orestes.
Clytsemnestra, Nurse (?)
Mectra^ JBgisthns, Domestic, Pylades.^
!• npa>raya>y.
2. A€VT€pay»y,
3. Tpirayiov,
III. EUMENIDES.*
Orestes.
Pythoness, ClytsBmnestra, Athena.
Apollo.
34. I here subjoin a description of the costume worn
by the several characters in the Eumenides: the
account is drawn from general sources of information on
the subject, and from particular hints furnished by the
play itself.
(1) Orestes : — wears a long, gay*coloured tunic, and
over it a chlamys, fastened by a clasp on the right
shoulder : at the back of his head a Petasus suspended
by a thong, the badge of the wandering hero. In one
hand he holds, at least at the beginning of the play, a
drawn sword, in the other the cjcsriypca, i. e. a long
slender olive-bough with a few leaves at the end, and
^ The Domestic (v. 646) is not
visible, and there is no need of a
special actor for the part. As a
mute character (v. 642-707) Pylades
is represented by a fourth person ;
but where he afterwarda comes on
the stage as a speaking character,
the third actor personates him, — i»a
fi^ ^ Xryoxrty, as the Scholiast re-
marks.
' I think one reason why the
two last plays take their names from
the chorus is, that in both of them
the principal actor is Orestes. As
&r as we are able to ascertain, a
play never had its name from any
other of the DranutHs-persotus than
the principal one.
66 COSTUME.
locks of white wool, drawn out into threads, loosely sus-
pended about it. His hair hangs down dishevelled^ over
his face, and his pale emaciated countenance betokens
the miseries he has endured.
(2) Clytamnestra: probably in the same robe of state
which she wore in the preceding play, only more sombre
and spectre-like. No doubt her breast is bare, and the
bloody wound visible near the neck (v. 103. 562).*
(3) Pythoness ; in a long dress such as was worn by
priests or prophets, consisting chiefly in a tunic falling
in straight folds,' not interrupted by a girdle. Also a
laurel- wreath on her head (/uai^Teia (ttI^?;), and a sceptre
in her hand (Agam. 1238). The mask expresses age.
(4) Pallas Athena: in the long TreTrXoc, with the
JSgis and Helmet. The ^gis does not sit close on the
breast, as usually exhibited in works of art subsequent
to the age of Phidias, but is much larger and hangs
over the left shoulder down the arm, as may plainly be
seen on the statues of the Goddess in the earlier style.*
In her passage over the sea Athena spread her iEgis to
the breeze like a sail (v. 382). This -^gis-sail however,
in ^schylus's bold invention, answered in a manner the
purpose of wings to the steed-drawn chariot in which the
Goddess is described as driving on the stage (v. 383).
^schylus took especial delight in introducing striking
^ avxiunbris K6nrj, Eur. Orest.
217, 881.
' '0/)^o<rradios. — Perhaps she
also wore the Syprjvov mentioned
ahove, § 27.
Fragm. 51, M. and the Vatican
Believo explained hy Sieeren,)
* For instance, the ^ginetan and
Herculenean Statues (MiUingen
And. Uned. Motmments, Ser. ii.
' A trait in the legend, preserved | pL 7. Compare Raoul-Kochette
alike in Poetry and Art, represents ; Orest^ide, pL 35, p. 119), and the
Clytaemnestra extending her hreast . Athenian Terra Cotta in Brondsted,
to her son as he Ib ahont to kill ' Fo^. cUnu la Gr^ce, Liv. ii. pi. 42,
her. (Choeph. 883, cf. 524. Eur. p. 170.
Or. 520, 852. El. 1215. Euphor. ,
COSTUME.
67
figures upon the stage ; but in what way he managed
such matters it would be useless to inquire further.'
(5) ApoUo ; in a long gay-striped tunic with sleeves^
and a light mantle hanging from the shoulders down
the back. This dress formed part of the Pythian
costume worn by the citharoedi in the Delphic Games.
In the first scene he holds a bow in his left hand.
(6) Hermes: a mute character^ but certainly not
invisibley as many suppose. The Chlamys and Petasus^
like Orestes ; a herald*s staff in his hand.
The costume of the Chorus does not need to be
described here^ as we shall have occasion to speak of it
by and bye in our inquiry into the meaning of the
Chorus : and besides^ Bottiger has investigated the sub-
ject very fully in his learned Dissertation on the ' Mask
of the Furies.^
^ Nevertheless I will just remark
that the idea expressed in KaTrjp€<l)rj
ir6ba (v. 284), was no doabt visibly
manifested. In the ancient dpfia
the charioteer stood in a stooping
postore, as shown in numerous spe-
cimens of ancient sculpture: so
that with female charioteers the
dress fidls over the feet. (See, for
instance, Stuarf s AfUiquities of
Athens, vol. ii. ch. i. pi. 20.) On
the contrary, when combating
on foot, Pallas plants her left leg
straight in advance, riOrjo'iv 6pB6v
n-dda, as exhibited on the Panathe-
naic Yases.
SECOND DISSERTATION.
ON THE PURPORT AND COMPOSITION OF
THE PLAY.
I. POLITICAL RELATIONS.
A. STATE OF AFFAIRS AT ATHENS.
35. Of all the ancient Tragedies extant^ there is none
in which the Mythic and the PoUtical, the development
of an occurrence in the Heroic Age and the reference to
circumstances and events in contemporary public life^
are so intimately blended as in the Eumenides. Not
only is the mythological texture of the play pervaded by
political allusions^ as it were fine threads discernible only
by the more scrutinizing eye, but the whole treatment of
the mythus so turns upon poUtical institutions deemed
of paramount importance in those times, that by yield-
ing oneself up to the impression of the poem, one may
for a while fancy the audience assembled in the theatre
to be an Ecdesia convened for the purpose of deUberat-
ing on matters of state and law. The speech in which
Athena inaugurates the Court of Areopagus, is at the
same time a popular harangue, a Sri/nriyopia^ clearly
pervaded by a design of inculcating upon the people that
they should leave the Areopagus in possession of its
ancient well-founded privileges, and warning them against
innovations which must inevitably issue in unbridled
democracy.
The Areopagus, although no longer an exclusive cor-
poration of caste, now that every Athenian citizen had
become eligible to the office of Archon, and Archon to
that of Areopagite, was nevertheless of momentous im-
portance to the aristocracy at that sera of rampant
72
INTERNAL AFFAIBS.
democracy; and that on many accounts. The office was
for Ufe ; the members few in number ; the Council had
lost little of its vast influence; it maintained within
itself a high tone of sentiment^ which doubtless^ the elder
and aristocratic members instiUed into the new comers
elected^ indeed^ on the reformed constitution^ but onlyafter
full and unrestricted examination by the existing bench :
above all^ the great mass of the Demos had been trained
from their earliest years to stand in awe of this body^
and despite of their own propensities continued so to do.
Thus it acted as a check upon the schemes of a policy
tending in every direction to seduce the Athenians from
the course of hereditary customs into a temper till then
imknown to them^ a lust of power^ pomp^ and pre-
eminence ; the effect of which was to make the Orator,
who could sway and agitate an Ecclesia at will by the
force of his imagination, the only real power in the State,
before which all established authority sank into insig-
nificance. TTds was the spirit of the policy pursued by
Pericles and his partisans. One of these was Ephialtes,
a man who has been unfairly represented as a mere
vulgar tool of that great character, whereas we are
authorised to conceive of him as an eminent and (faction
apart) irreproachable statesman and military commander.^
This Ephialtes, son of Sophonides, it was, who at that
time moved in the Ecclesia a psephism by which (as
Aristotle observes^ the constitution of the Areopagus
was mutilated, the influence of the Council weakened (so
says Diodorus, xi. 77) and its famous hereditary usages
annihilated. According to Plutarch's more distinct
account,' by this psephism the Areopagus was deprived
' The character of Ephialtes is
yindicated hy Wachsniath in his
Orecian Antiqq. ii. p. 60 (German).
^ Polit.iL 9, and similarly Pansan.
i. 29. 6.
» Perid. 7, 9; Cim. 16; Cf.
Beip. ger. Pnec. 10, 16.
OF ATHENS. 73
of its power and of all its judicial cognisance^ some few
cases only excepted; and, to conclude with Cicero's*
representation of the aiSair, by the destruction of the
Areopagus^ all authority became vested solely in the
Ecdesia, and the State was bereft of that which adorned
and dignified it; a reflexion which Isocrates* dilates
upon with his wonted diffuseness.
86. Diodorus places this occurrence, as contemporary
with the j^gyptian war, under 01. 80, 1. But as that
historian, in his unfortunate style of narrative, which
follows neither the pragmatical nor the annalistic method,
but is a confused hash of both, comprises in the same year
the events of subsequent years as far down as 01. 81, 1,
we cannot be at all sure that the attack of Ephialtes on
the Areopagus occurred precisely in 01. 80, 1. Judging
from the impression conveyed by our tragedy, which we
know for certain was exhibited in the 7th or 8th month
of 01. 80, 2, (either at the Lensea, or at the great
Dionysia,) we are led to believe that the conflict was at
that time still undecided, and that hopes were still en-
tertained of the possibility of rescuing the Areopagus
from the degradation with which it was threatened. I
cannot conceive it possible that ^schylus would have
put into the mouth of the National Goddess herself the
declaration,
£(TTai ^e KOI TO \oiir6y 'Aiye/y trrparf
ael diKaoTUfV tovto flovkevriipioy (v. 653, 4.)
if the occurrences of the preceding months had belied
the assertion, if the Areopagus had at that very time
almost entirely ceased to be a high Court of Judicature.
Had that been the case, how could the Poet have made
the Goddess repeatedly declare that her Institution was
De Republ. i. 27. • Areopagit. § 50, sqq.
74
INTEBKAL AFFAIBS
founded /or all time ? (v. 462. 542.*) In the sequel
there is to be sure an indication of no slight anxiety^
but then it is attended with an expression of confident
rehance on the ultimate triumph of the righteous cause.
This is surely not the tone of a defeated man^ driven off
the fields too^ before ever he could battle for his political
aims with the weapons of poetry. As the action of the
tragedy advances^ the Poet's confidence appears to rise^
and Athena's noble expression^
•AXX* iKpOLTtlfft
Zevc ayopaioQ* ViKq. ^' hyadwv epic hf^tripa lid iravTOQj
though it more immediately applies to the suit between
the Eumenides aud Apollo then before her^ is evidently
pointed at the contentions existing in the Athenian
Ecclesia in the Foefs own times*
Ephialtes certainly did not attain his object in one
Ecclesia. The question may possibly have been ad-
journed : or^ if we suppose citizens to have come forward
previous to the votings aud boimd themselves over to
indict Ephialtes for an unconstitutional measure {irapa^
vofiwv ypa^eaOai^^ the motion may have been postponed
for a longer period ; nay^ strictly speakings it was not
allowable for such a change in the Constitution to be
brought into operation by a mere decree of the people
{\pfi<fii(TjAa); for that purpose a law (i^o/xoc) was requisite^
^ In the former passage I find
nothing amiss in 0€(rfi6v t6v: Oeo"-
fjL^p is predicate of the object t6v,
t6p by the Greek idiom being
attracted by the predicate ; so that
the meaning is *thig as a thesmoe.'
The sense of v. 542 is this : it be*
hoyes, first, the whole city to all
eternity (i. e., the citizens actually
present, in the play conceived as
future) to attend to my BtcfAoi, and
next, that these should be attended
to for the purpose of settling the
dispute between the present parties^
Orestes and the Erinnyes. The
irregular construction in the second
verse («col r&vlf Swas, k» t. X.) pre-
sents no difficulty. In the first
member the main idea lies in 'ir6\is,
in the second it is oonlained in
OF ATHENS. 75
which demanded much more extensive preliminaries. It
is not possible perhaps at the present day to come to
any accurate decision on this pointy since we do not know
to what extent the proceedings in these matters^ which
we learn from the Orators, -are applicable to the tune of
Pericles : but thus much, it appears, is certain, that the
motion had not come to a final issue at the date of the
acting of this tragedy. For in it the Poet speaks in
such a tone of triumphant confidence concerning the
Areopagus, as could not have been grounded on a forlorn
hope that the psephism might yet be thrown out, or
(even if it had passed) that the law might be repealed by
impeaching the mover of it.
This conjuncture must be regarded as the epoch in
which the opposite parties, after a long fostering of
mutual hatred, strained their powers on either side to
the utmost, and tried every possible means to turn the
scale of victory in their own favour ; as a crisis in which
the political ulcer came to a head and discharged the
morbid matter which had been so long gathering.
Scantily as we are acquainted with the internal history
of Athens at this period, the little we do know of it
directly implies such party-strifes running to the very
highest. The movements against the Areopagus are
beginning: Cimon returns from Laconia with the
Athenian army, which fancies itself contemptuously re-
jected and deeply aggrieved by the Spartans : under such
untoward circumstances, Cimon the aristocrat and friend
of the Spartans, has but little influence with the people ;
they even carry their resentment against Sparta so far
as to dissolve the long-established confederacy with that
State, and immediately form a league with her heredi-
tary enemies, the Aleves and the Thessalians; Cimon
himself is expelled by ostracism, probably at the very
time when the degradation of the Areopagus was resolved
£ 2
80 INTERNAL AFFAIRS
and resolutions, and whose wont is to utter what is right
or hold his peace (v. 601). But even this virtuous
man cannot escape ruin, inasmuch as he is leagued with
such a worthless set and has for his fellow-citizens a
race of men who hate the straqger and despise the
Gods.
^vfiTToXirrfQ
iyBpoih'OLQ rt koX Otwv a^i^fioai (v. 587).
Such, no doubt, in ^schyhis's view was the station
then occupied by Aristides in juxta-position with the
grasping and unconscientious party of Themistocles,
'vfhose projects obviously extended to the subjugation of
the rest of Greece. And in this same play the obser-
vation that the people on having escaped from great
troubles is difBicult to manage (v. 1035), is borrowed
from the history of those times, when the Athenian
populace, full of pride and insolence on the score of
their achievements against the Persians, clamorously
demanded new privileges and Uberties, a partial conces-
sion of which even Aristides considered to be rendered
expedient by the spirit of the age.
But if the political bent pursued by -^schylus through
life was such as we find it in his defence of the Areo-
pagus in the Eumenides, we may readily conceive how
fruitless his exertions must have appeared to him, and
how sorely his heart must have been filled with vexation
and sorrow, when, after all, the demolition of the authority
of the Areopagus was accomplished, and that unlimited
extension given to the democracy, which he had con-
templated with so much alarm. It is very probable
that (as hinted in an old Epigram') in order to escape
from the ill-will of his fellow-citizens as well as from his
Tls <I>06pos dar&v Qrjo'eidas dyaBS>v tyKoros aUv €\€i ;
OF ATHENS. 81
own mortified feelings^ he retired immediately after the
victory of the adverse party to Sicily, where he died at
Gela, in 01. 81, 1, three years after the exhibition of
the Orestea.
B. EXTERNAL RELATIONS.
39. The political part of this Tragedy, however, refers
not only to revolutionary attempts at home, but also to
foreign relations of the State.
A short time previous to the composition and exhi-
bition of this drama, Athens had dissolved the somewhat
unnatural league with Sparta, and had formed an inti-
mate confederacy with the Thessalians, their former
allies, whose cavalry served admirably to complete the
Athenian force, and with Argos, whose now democratised
constitution and rooted enmity to Sparta greatly recom-
mended it as an ally at such a conjuncture.^ The mari-
time cities of the Peloponnese, which lay opposite to
Athens, and were a main support to the Lacedaemonian
party, whose navy they supplied, were now as it were
hemmed in, and assailable on both sides ; and by cut-
ting off all aid from Sparta it was possible they might
even be brought under subjection to the confederates.
Thus was this alliance with Ai^os an event, which doubt-
less every Athenian, in the full anticipation of a new
rise of the Athenian power, regarded with feelings of
especial joy and hope.
Now j^schylus has connected this confederation with
the story of his play in a very simple as well as inge-
nious manner. Orestes, having been rescued by the
^ The alliance with Argos is gene-
rally placed earlier, but by that
means the time of the Athenian
auxiliary army's stay in Laconia is
too mudi contracted, and the disso-
E 3
lution of the Symmachia is too fkr
removed from the commencement of
the War with the Peloponnesian
naval powers, which is fixed at 01.
80, 3. (Corp. Inscr. n. 165).
82 FOREIGN RELATIONS
Athenian Goddess and the Athenian Areopagites from
all his troubles^ on his departure takes an oath^ not
only in his own person^ but in the name of all the Ar-
gives for ever^ to maintain a firm alliance and friendship
with the Athenians (v. 734, sqq.), and the same promise
had been before held out by Orestes (v. 279), and by
Apollo (v. 639), as a motive for Athene to receive the
fugitive and support him in. his trial. Hitherto that
engagement had ahnost constantly been so far observed,
that Ai^s had never been at war with Athens, which
indeed its geographical and political position forbad ; ^
now at last the two States had entered upon a new and
more intimate connexion of great political moment, and
it is to this that the above-cited passages refer.
It is true, a person conversant with history might
raise an objection to the Foetus putting this annoimce-
ment in the mouth of Orestes, from the fact that this
hero was not an Argive but a Mycenaean, and that Ar-
gos and Mycenae not only were distinct states in the
mythic age, but existed as such even in historical times,
until a very few years before the Orestea was exhibited,
when the Argives succeeded in taking the Cyclopean
walls of Mycenae, and reduced the real city of Orestes
to a heap of ruins. But then the very fact that
Mycenae no longer existed enabled Poets, who de-
lighted in connecting the reaUties of the Present with
the reminiscences of the Past, to substitute Argos in the
place of Mycenae. Indeed the Argives along with their
conquest of Mycenae had, so to speak, won the mythic
and heroic splendour and glory of that &mous city : and
moreover the indefinite use of the word Argos by the
earliest Poets, sometimes in the extended, and at other
times in a more limited sense, contributed its share to
^ See however Herodot. V. 86.
OF ATHENS.
88
the transfer. In fact ^dBschylus is in this particular the
most consistent of the Tragedians ; in his extant trage-
dies he never mentions the name of Mjceudd, but in the
spirit of mythic fiction concentrates upon Ai^os all the
dignity and splendour of the old legends ; whereas the
other two Tragedians are more lax in this respect^ making
Argos and Mycense sometimes distinct and sometimes
identical.^
40. In these sentiments towards Argos our Poet
shews himself very qonsistent^ inasmuch as on other
occasions also he appears to have been favourably dis-
posed towards that State^ and an advocate for an alliance
with it. In the Suppliants the Argives are highly com-
mended for having afforded refuge to the persecuted
Danaids ; and in long benedictory odes we find the wish
expressed that their dty might be stormed by no enemy^
devastated by no famine nor plague^ unsettled by no
internal broils. The reference to contemporary rela-
tions is expressed yet more plainly in the following
prayers (679^ sqq.) that the Demos^ in whose hands was
vested the chief authority over the dty^ might in con-
junction with a prudent^ right-spirited Magistracy^
uphold the honours of all who deserve to be had in
honour^ and render to all foreign States, without harm^
whatever was rights on the faith of international agree-
ments^ rather than have recourse to war.^ Although
this passage contains no definite reference to an Alliance
of War, still it is evident that the play was written at a
time when the Athenians were f&vourably disposed
' Of. "Pbbbow in Wachsmuth's
Athensenm, III, ii, p. 192. Dissen
on I^dar Nem. x, Introdnction.
' The above translation rests upon
some coijectoral emendations in the
4th . Strophe, which is rather per*
plezed:
^vXacrcroi rifdourt rifjtits
t6 drffuop, t6 irrSkip KpaTVV€t,
TTpOfxaOrvs r evOvfirfris ap^d'
cf owXtfFiv "Apiy, dUas artp
84 FOREIGN RELATIONS
towards the Argives, and regarded the Uberty of the
people in that state as a support of their own republican
constitution : true^ no league was as yet formed with
them^ but the compacts made for the mutual adjustment
of lawsuits shew that this was in contemplation. Such^
in all probability^ was the state of public feeling at
Athens as early as the end of 01. 79, when Cimon suc-
ceeded^ though not without considerable difficulty^ in
his desire to be sent with an army to the aid of the
Spartans.^ It was at this conjuncture (01. 79, 3), that
Athens first carried the war with the Persians into
Egypt, and those very conclusive arguments adduced to
shew how little Greeks need dread a contest with
Egyptians, (v. 742 and 931, ' papyrus-fiiiit and barley-
wine would never stand against wheat-bread and the
juice of the grape,^) must have told admirably upon the
war-loving Athenians, who were soon to come to blows
with that nation on the banks of the Nile. In this
way we arrive with others^ at the conclusion that the
Trilogy to which the Suppliants belonged was exhibited
only a few years previous to the Orestea ; and if there
is an apparent objection to this in the circumstance of
there being three Actors throughout in the Orestea,
whereas in the Suppliants there are only two (one acting
the characters of Danaus and the Herald, the other
personating the King), the only inference deducible
from that circumstance is, that ^schylus did not follow
the example of Sophocles in the constant adoption of a
third Actor till quite at the end of his career.
41. This friendly feeling towards Argos, which had
so much influence on the dramatic compositions of
iBschylus in the 79th and 80th Olympiads, may perhaps
* Plut. Cim. 16. I PWiwj. p. 54. Also Hanpt. Mach.
^ See particularly Boeckh 2Vd^. ' Sappl. c. 7.
OF ATHENS. 86
subject our Poet to another charge fix)m those who
expect to find in him a decided political bias^ the spirit
of a thorough-going partizan. For in fact the Alliance
then formed between Athens and Argos was neither
more nor less than a manoeuvre of the party whose aim
was to disengage Athens from the Peloponnese (to the
entire abandonment of the Confederacy which the inde-
pendent states of Greece had formed among themselves
for the purpose of repelling the aggressions of the
Persian power)^ and to constitute her as sovereign of
tiie seas, islands^ and maritime cities of Asia : and this
very same party it was which overthrew all the bulwarks
and defences of the Old Constitution, in order to allow
of their hurrying along the Demos, in the bold imagi-
native flights of their Orators and Leaders, to the
execution of those daring schemes. Now here is
^schylus, a man of aristocratic sentiments, labouring
upon Cimon's principles for the preservation of the
Areopagus, and yet running counter to Cimon's aims
by eulogising the league with Argos. If this procedure
be alleged against ^schylus as an inconsistency, it is
sufficient to reply that, correct as may be this repre-
sentation of the connexion between the domestic and
foreign policy of the Athenians of those times, it by no
means follows that ^schylus was bound to attach him-
self to a party exclusively, and thereby run into extremes
unworthy of an enlai^ed mind. As a moderate man
he might be of opinion that Athens was compelled by
the general aspect of her position to disengage herself
from Sparta and pursue her plans independently, and
yet hold that the real welfare of the State demanded the
strict maintenance of civil order, reverence for ancient
institutions and vested rights, and the upholding of the
aristocratic element embodied in the Areopagus ; and on
the whole this was perhaps the most rational view of
86
FOREIGN RELATIONS
things* Athens^ indeed^ reached by a shorter road the
qplendid destiny appointed for her, namely by demo-
lishing the safeguards of her internal constitution ; she
shone^ but it was with a brightness which rapidly con-
sumed that which was to feed the splendour; a lamp
blazing too fiercely to last long. He who endeavoured^
as ^schylus did^ to retard the eager impetuosity of the
times did his best to defer the day which was to see
that light extinguished.
42. But there is in our Tragedy an idea which forms
a point of imion to both of its political aims, and for
that very reason is everywhere prominent in the latter
part of the play. It is, the desire — ^very natural to a
patriotic spirit in such dangerous conjunctures — ^that
foreign war, that the thirst after conquest and glory
among the Greeks, might damp and stifle the incentives
to domestic broils. This train of ideas opens with the
wish expressed by Orestes for the Athenians, that they
might be ever victorious (v. 746) : next, it is followed up
by Athene's conjuring the wrathful Erinnyes not to incite
the minds of the citizens to factious strife, nor ' intoxi-
cate them with a fury which is not wine;' not to let
civil discord rage, but to kindle war abroad,^ wherein
the love of glory might have free scope. And when the
Erinnyes are propitiated, and under their new name and
character of Eumenides are about to pronounce their
benediction, Pallas invites them to promise the city such
blessings and gifts of nature from heaven and earth as
may conduce to the attainment of glorious and honour,
able conquest,^ that the city might never lack either
^ In V. 826, ov fiSkis nap&p
clearly does not suit. ^schyloB
certainly does not mean to repro-
bate the noble conflict with the
Persian Empire. I have adopted
the emendation lidfioif, though with
some hesitation.
' 'Oirota viiofs firj luucrjs itri-
tTKOTTcu Certamly no one who has
entered into the train of ideas will
entertun a thought (as Hermann
does) that the passage requires
OF ATHENS. 87
provisions or men^ as the means of defeating her
enemies : but the award of victory to her citizens in
the strife of war is a boon which she, the Warrior Grod-
dess, is resolved to retain in her own gift. The citizens
are told to turn all their feelings of enmity in one and
the same direction, on the ground that 'unammity even
in hatred^ relieves mortals from many miseries (v. 942).
And again, at the conclusion of the blessings it is inti-
mated in few but emphatic words, that every boon sent
up by the Eumenides is to aid the city in conquest*
Indeed, the idea of conquest forms the setting in which
the Ode is enclosed, and thus considered, it aptly intro-
duces a Triumphal Ode, such as could not fail to affect
every Athenian heart. Conquest then, be it over
Greek or Barbarian, Conquest both by sea and by land^
gained by the exertion of all their powers, great as ever
city has summoned up, this is the idea which ^schylus
dwells upon in his endeavours to divert the Athenian
citizens, engaged at that very time in the fiercest heats
of contention, from the obstinate schemes of their
several parties. And how strenuous the efforts of the
Athenians for conquest actually were at that period, is
evidenced by a record as unassuming as it is striking
and imposing, namely, in an obituary inscription of an
Attic tribe, belonging to the very next year, 01. 80, 8.
It runs thus : ^ Of the Erechthean tribe these fell in
battle, — in Cyprus, in ^gypt, in Phoenicia, in Halue
(the Argolic), in jEgina, at Megara, — the same year.'
At the dose of this Section we may notice a political allusion,
which does not so materially pervade the entire composition as
the preceding. In v. 375 sqq. Minerva says, ' she heard the
voice of Orestes from afar at the banks of the Scamander, where
she had forestalled foreign usurpation by taking possession of the
country assigned as a meed of honour to the Athenians and to
88 FOREIGN RELATIONS.
herself by the Allied Grreeks before Troy/ Thia is obviously
the meaning of KaraffiOaTovfiiVT) ; not simply = KaTcucrafifvrj, as
Hesychius explains it, bnt = (f>6dvova-a KarcLKTmfifvr}, It is well
known, that from the time of Phryno and Pittacns the Athenians
were engaged in a dispute with the Lesbians respecting the coast
of Troas round Sigeum. Both parties attested their claims to
it by mythic arguments ; the Lesbians asserting their ancient
right to the whole of that coast on the ground of their descent
from the Pelopid Achsans (cf. Scholl. a. 1. and Strabo, xiii.
p. 509), whilst the Athenians founded their claims to it on the
extensive worship of Athene in that district, especially the
Temple Glaucopeum at Sigeum. From this historical fact
^sohylus has drawn the very ingenious fiction of Athene be-
taking herself to that coast shortly after the Trojan War, for the
purpose of taking formal possession of the region assigned as a
yipas to the Theseids, and at the same time dedicated to her ;
thus establishing her claim to it, and preventing all foreign en-
croachment on her rights.
II. LEGAL AND JUDICIAL KELATIONS.
A. AVENGING OP BLOOD, AND PURSUIT OP THE
MURDERER.
a. Duty of avenging blood, at Athens and
in the earlier Times,
43. The sacred duty of avenging bloody recognised
by the earliest customs and national laws of the East as
well as the West^ formed at Athens the basis of a great
portion of the penal code. Even at the period when
personal afi&onts to an Athenian were in most cases
indictable by any of his fellow-citizens as outrages upon
the public peace and safety of the commonwealth^ the
prosecution for murder devolved exclusively upon the
relatives of the deceased; not as though homicide were
no violation of the peace nor dangerous to the security
of the State^ but because the avenging of it was deemed
a sacred office^ which could no more be taken out of
the hands of the relatives than that of burying the dead^
or the right of succession to his patrimony. The words
of the law^ are to the following effect :
' The kinsmen of the deceased^ within the degree of
first-cousins (inclusive)^ shall issue a proclamation in
the market-place^ charging the homicide to hold aloof
* Demosth. c. Macart. 1069.
There is clearly a distinction here
between dvcyjnwv iral8(s, consohri'
norwnJUii, and avr^iahoi, sobrini,
though these expressions may other-
wise from their nature be nsed in
either sense. See Bunsen, Platner,
and especially Klenze, Fam,Mecht d,
Cogn, u, Affin. p. 153.
90
DUTY OF AVENGING BLOOD.
from the altars and temples in the city^ as also from all
assemblies in the exercise of religious rites : and they
shall be supported in the prosecution by the sons of the
first-cousins of the deceased^ by the fathers-in-law and
sons-in-law^ by the second-cousins and the members of
the same Phratria/
The prosecution was not legal without an oath on the
part of the prosecutors attesting their afi&nity to the de-
ceased.^ Slaves were herein reckoned as members of
the family/ not because they were part of their master's
property, but by reason of their participation in the
flEUuily worship and in the sprinkling of sacrificial
water.*
When we read of instances where this regulation
does not appear to have been observed (as in Plato's
Euthyphron), we may be sure that in all such cases a
strict Interpreter of old Customs and Laws (£S*?7»?^nc
up!!i}v Ka\ oaiufv) would have pronounced the proceedings
to be illegal. Even on the murder of an inmate not
being a kinsman or slave of the family^ the master of
the house was not allowed to prosecute^ but merely to
plant a spear — ^the symbol of prosecution — upon the
grave at the time of the burial^ and there proclaim the
murder, that the rightful and bounden avenger might
come forward and pluck up the weapon. Thus in every
case the prosecution of the slayer proceeded from the
duty of avenging the slain; and the obligation was
equally binding, whether the latter had expressly charged
his relatives to prosecute (67ri<ric^7rr6iv eire^iipai) — ^a
chaise which might be directed even to the child yet
unborn,*— or whether the duty was presupposed on the
* Dem. c. Euerg. 1160. Cf. Pol-
lux, viii. 118. Hesych. 8. v. hy^ic-
rlviifjv ofAvvpoi,
' Bee also Eurip. Hec. 295.
' Koivcovo\xfpvlp(ov,Msch,Agam,
1007. Cf. Iseens, Ciron, § 16.
* Lysias, c. Agorat. § 42.
DUTY OF AVENGING BLOOD.
91
principle of ' Blood for blood.' It was only when the
dying man forgave his slayer that the prosecution did
not take place ; and in such cases it was prohibited/
44. Thus the idea of vengeance as a claim due to the
murdered kinsman was nothing strange to the Greeks
even in the time of iElschylus^ but was still entwined in
the most intimate union with all that was deemed sacred
and venerable. The only distinction between the earlier
and the later times was^ that the State had now assumed
the office of mediator^ and as such, upon the appUcation
of the relatives^ it either took the charge of inflicting
vengeance entirely off their hands, or else assigned cer.
tain means and limits for its execution. It is true, the
avenger,^ even in Athens, began with issuing in person
a public and solemn notice charging the homicide to
hold aloof from market-place and attars {wpoayopiVH
elpyeaOai riov i^ofic/icov), but then he was required in
the first place to lay a formal indictment before the
proper authorities for previous investigation, and then
before the Areopagus or the Ephetse, according to the
nature of the case : if the action was for wilful and
malicious murder, it was brought into the former court;
if for manslaughter or for excusable homicide, into the
courts of the Ephetse* In either case the defendant
was at Hberty to take to flight before sentence was
passed ; no one was allowed to hinder him. None but
the parricide was prohibited from flight, and such an
one was instantly arrested. It is on this law that
Euripides has founded his representation in the Orestes
(v. 438, 507). If the verdict returned was ioilful mwr*
der and the accused still remained in the country, he
* Dem. c. Pantaen. 983.
• 'Avdpi;XaTi;s,Eum.212. Agam.
1393, 1568, sqq. Sept. 619. Soph.
(Ed. T. 100. Hesych. s. v. dpSp€i'
QTrjs, which Euster has properly
corrected dpSpfjXcmjs,
92
DUTY OF AVENGING BLOOD.
fell nnder sentence of the law; his execution was the
business of the State, and the prosecutor might look to
it.^ Draco's Gca/uoc recognised nothing less than capital
punishment in such cases ; and on this point they were
still valid. If the criminal had evaded the sentence of
the Areopagus by flight, he was never allowed to return
home again (^cvyci aenpvyiav): even on occasions of
danger and emergency at Athens, when the return of
exiles and of such as had forfeited their civil rights and
dignity was sanctioned by extraordinary measures, an
exception was invariably made against the criminals
condemned by the Areopagus (oi «$ 'Apeiov wayov
(ftBvyovTeg) .
When a verdict of manslaughter was returned, it was
allowable for the prosecutor and the accused to enter
into a compromise on the spot, if they pleased ; but in
the regular mode of proceeding, the convict quitted his
country by a certain road at a certain time (e^riXOe), and
remained absent until one of the relatives of the deceased
took compassion on him (acSlaiyrac rcc ^^^ '^^ y^vu tov
mwovOoTog)^ and made reconciliation with and for him ;
whereupon he was permitted to return home under cer-
tain prescribed forms, and after the due performance of
sacrifices and rites of purification he was at liberty to
dwell once more in his native land. In particular cases,
however, the prosecution of vengeance still went on :
for instance, when a person convicted of wilful murder
or of manslaughter (this is the legal sense of ai/Spo^oi/oc)
remained in the country contrary to law. Maltreatment
of such an one, or extortion of money from him, was
prohibited as infamous and accompanied by a penalty of
double the sum exacted f but the avenger was at liberty
> Dem. c. Aristocr. 642. This
passage proves that in the disputed
passages, cPantaen. 983, c. Nausim.
991, the question is about <f)6vos
dKovaios,
2 c. Aristocr. 629.
DUTY OF AVENGING BLOOD.
93
to strike the ofifender dead upon the spot^ or to arrest
him and commit him to prison (aTrayeiv). Draco
thought fit to provide by a special enactment^ that any
person meeting a murderer where he had no right to be,
and informing against him^ or haling him before the
magistrates, thereby causing him to be executed, was in
no wise to be held chargeable with his death. But a
murderer who kept beyond the Attic frontiers, and held
aloof from Amphictyonic Games and from Sacrifices, as
also from the frontier-towns, and in short from all places
where he would be likely to meet with his countrymen,
was by law not liable to prosecution ; and if in such
case the avenger put him to death, the avenger himself
was deemed a murderer. So in the case of manslaughter^
the prosecution of vengeance ceased upon the compromise
between the parties. This took place between the slayer
and the father, brothers, and sons of the slain, upon
condition that none of them objected to it :® if there
were no such relatives living, the compromise was accepted
on the approbation of ten members of the Phratria,
elected by the Ephetse who had returned the verdict.
But how the case stood when the reconciliation was not
granted by the relatives or by the Phratores, — ^whether
the criminal was for ever debarred from his home, or
whether after a certain lapse of time the relatives were
compelled to accept of a compromise, are questions
which, for want of evidence, do not admit of a satis-
&ctorv answer. Plato, whose scheme of criminal law
is in the main based on the same principles as the
Attic code, and Uke that sets out from the duty of
avenging blood (the postponement or neglect of this
giving rise, in his opinion, to miasma or pollution^).
' V. Dem. c. Macart. 1069, and
Reiske's interpretation of the words
irdvTas(alb€a'aa'6ai)rj r6v ica>Xvon*a
fcpoTctv. * I^g* ix. p. 871.
94
DUTY OF AVENGING BLOOD.
fixes the term of exile in the case of manslaughter at
one year.*
45. There are some points in this disquisition which
unavoidably remain obscure and doubtful^ but the general
principles upon which the prosecution for homicide was
conducted at Athens are clear and characteristic. No
doubt these principles existed in the Greek nation from
the earliest times^ the rites and ordinances concerning
the shedding of blood being always extolled by the
Greeks themselves as the most ancient portion of their
whole system of laws." The practice of revenge for
bloodshed is found in the very infancy of political life^
nay^ is antecedent to real political life. Hence it main-
tains its existence more among isolated hordes of rude
mountaineers, than among the more numerous and inter-
mixed inhabitants of the plain ; more in the patriarchal
mode of Ufe^ than under institutions of caste.^ The
formation of the various clans into regular societies no-
wise served to heighten the force of the obligation^ but
only tended to restrict it in its operation.
In the Heroic Age, of which we have in Homer the
poetical and quite general portraiture, the condition of
the homicide was, on the whole, harder than in the Attic
Courts and under the Platonic scheme of laws. In the
first place, the pursuit of vengeance was carried beyond
the frontiers ; neither was it limited in its operation as
by Attic law, but was exercised in all its rigour ; even in
foreign countries the fugitive man-slayer was in constant
' lb. p. 865. In cases of man-
slaughter, exile for a limited term
was usual in the rest of Greece, if
not at Athens. This is proved by
the peculiarterma7r6V(avrto'fA($f and
d7r€viavTTi<ris frequently applied in
that sense by Plato (cf. Timseus Lex.
Flat. p. 39. K.) The expression was
certainly not invented by him. See
also Hesych. Said, and Etym. M. s.
V. and Eur. Hippol. 34i. c. ScholL
^ Antiph. Herod. § 14. Choreut.
§2.
^ Hence the custom of avenging
blood among the Corsicans, Monte-
negrians, Circassians, and Arabians.
DUTY OF AVENGING BLOOD.
95
apprehension of the avenger (Od. xv. 278). In the
next plaee^ manslaughter committed even in childhood
was visited with banishment for life (II. xxiii. 88) ; even
the slaying of an adulterer taken in the fiEtct^ which Draco's
law sanctioned^ was in the earlier times punished with
exile.* Nevertheless the method of atonement by fines
was also practised^ but without any dear distinction^ such
as was drawn in later times^ between the cases where
compromise was and those where it was not allowable ;
for indeed the body politic did not greatly concern itself
with the doings of the clans or fiunilies among them-
selves. There can hardly have existed at that early
period any marked line of distinction between wilful
murder and manslaughter^ when even in Plato's view
this is a difficult point to settle.' No doubt it was
left to the feelings of the relatives to determine the de-
gree of heinousness attaching to the act^ and whether
satisfaction should be accepted or not: and in the
investigation of this matter we may be sure the distinc-
tion (one of great moment in the popular morality of
the Greeks) between ''Any, a momentary bewilderment
which makes a man forget himself for the instant^ and
''Y/3/0CC, ^^ insolent disregard of another's rights, was
taken mainly into account. In some cases the penalty
of exile was remitted upon payment of a considerable
Bum of money to the relatives (II. ix. 632. cf. xxiv. 48),
as it was at Athens^ when the reconciliation of the parties
immediately followed the commission of the act. The
State took no part whatever in the business ; it inter-
fered only when a dispute arose respecting the payment
of the ransom after it had been agreed upon ; in which
case the question was decided by the Court of Princes
* 'Hotoi, ap. Paus. ix. 36, 4.
' And no law declared, like that
of Moses, Knxnb. xxxv. 31, ' Ye shall
take no aaiisf action for the life of a
mwrderer,* i. e. the wilM murderer.
96 DUTY OF AVENGING BLOOD.
and Elders (II. xviii. 499). From this one might be
led to suppose that in those heroic times^ under the rule
of avaKTig the homicide of high and powerful fiunily
would extort a compromise or resist expulsion from his
country by force of arms, and so bring on civil war.
But of such proceedings there is no trace to be found,
and hence we see that public opinion and private feelings
were quite as efficacious in instigating the criminal to
flight, as the menacing vengeance of the relatives (Od.
xxiii. 119). From mythological narratives we learn that
Princes also fled their country upon having committed
homicide on any of their subjects,* or even in the case
of manslaughter where pardon had been granted them
at the hands of the relatives.^ It was as though for a
time the very dead himself thrust the shedder of his
blood out of the familiar circle of life ; a notion which
Pkto^ calls a very old Mythtca, On that account it was
the practice at Athens for a blood-guilty person, who was
not or could not be pursued by an avenger, to abstain
from entering holy places and public assemblies, and to
regard himself, until his purification, in the light of a
polluted person.* It was more particularly the Phratria,
a family community on an enlarged scale and held to-
gether by religious rites, that was offended by the pre-
sence of a manslayer : they not only took vengeance
upon any member of another Phratria who had slain one
of their own body, but also never failed to expel from
among themselves any member who lay under the pol-
lution of blood. So the Erinnyes say of Orestes (v. 625) :
TTOiOKTi l^ut/idic ^pSffievoc toIq dri^loic',
TTola Be \ipvi\f/ ^parSptav wpoffhi^eTai ;
The antiquity of these rights is evinced by a passage
" Paiis. i. 22. 2.
' ApoUod. ii. 7, 6.
^ Legg. ix. p. 665.
* Autiph. Chor. 4,. Ct Herod. 87.
DUTY OF ORESTES. 97
in Homer (II. ix. 64), where Nestor in his admonitions
against civil war says,
a<l>pifrwp, itdifiKTToc, iiyiemSc ktrriv ekeIvoq,
^Q woXifjiov tparai k-Ki^rifilov, OKpvdtvroQ.
In fact, when we consider the matter, every wilful
murder is a breach of the peace, and the work of "A/oiyc
b. Duty of Orestes according to the Mythus.
46. Clytaemnestra has murdered her husband. Now
by the law, as it existed alike in the historical and in the
heroic age, she is expected at least to flee firom her home
and shun the altars of her country. And in fact that
is the sentence pronounced upon her by the Council of
Elders in the Agamemnon. But having the support of
jSlgisthus she fancies herself as superior to the laws of
the State as she is insensible to the reproaches of con-
science. The reason why the Erinnyes forbear to drive
her out of the land* is, whei^ we look to the principle of
the matter, no other than her having contrived to pacify
her conscience with a sophistry of the passions, which
we find exhibited with great psychological skill even
by -ffischylus.'
Agamemnon's natural Avenger is his son Orestes ; it
is his bounden duty to take vengeance ; the ghost of his
murdered father and the Delphic Gt)d demand it of him.
The strictness of the obligation and the infamy attending
the neglect of it are very emphatically dwelt upon by
^schylus in Apollo's admonitions and menaces to
» Bum. 674. • Agam. 1347.
98
DUTY OF ORESTES.
Orestes^ which the Poet makes the latter recount in the
foUowing passage (Choeph. v. 267—294) :'
ovTOi TTpodwffei Ao^ov fjieyaadevrjc
XpriajJioc, KeXevwy rdv^e Kiy^vvov irepaVf
K&iopdidZtjjy TToXXa, kol IvtrxeiixipovQ
&rac v<f Jjirap Oepfioy c{au5w/i£voc
ei fji^ fiirei^i tov Trarpoc rove alrlovc,
rpOTTOv rov avroy SLyrairoicreiyai Xiywy^
imoxpTifidroiffi ^rifiiaig ravpov^eyoy,
rltreiv /x* €')(oyTa iroXKa Bvcrep^fj KUKa.
ra fiey yap Ik yfjc IvQt^poytay /iccX/y/iara
(iporcfic vi(l>avaKufy elwf, rAc 5c yfy yoaovQ^
aapK&y kwafiparijpaQ iiypiaic yyadoiQ
Xi^^vac l^iaOoyTUC apxalay <l>v<ny'
XevKac 5c K6paaQ ryB' iwayTiXKeiy votr^
&XXac re i^ioyti wpocfioXac *Epiyyvb)yf
eK rwy warp^wy aifiaruty reXovfiiyac,
optHyra Xafivpoy ky OK&rif ywjjtQyr 6<l>pvy.
TO yap aKoreiyoy rwy evepTipuy fiiXog
€K irpOQTpoiralitty ky yiyei 7rc7rrw«C(5rwv,
Kai Xvtraaf Ka\ fi&ratoc Ik yvKrQy i^6fioQ
Kiyei, Tapa(T(T€i, i:al hwKtrai irSXeuc
')(aXKrjXaT(^ frXatmyyi Xv^ayOey Bifiac.
ICal TOIq TOIOITOIQ OVT€ KpaTfjpoc fiipoQ
el^ac fUTa(r)(e'iy, oh <l>iXoa'7r6yBov Xifioc,
fitafJLwy r* inrelpyeiy olr^ bpwfuyqy warpoc
fiijyiy Zi\€(rQaiy rov re (xvXXveiy riya,
irayruty 5' &rifioy ic^cXov Ovfiaiceiy "xpoytf,
Koxws rapi-xevdiyra 9ra/i^0<!if>r^ fji6p^.
' In V. 278 [which EL transposes
10 versef lower, after Sp&vra Xoft-
irp6v, &c] the xprnuiTa are opposed
to the person (avrhg r^ ^xv)' The
loss of the ;^p^/Mira follows from
Apollo's u\janction to the people to
offer the produce of the earth (rcli €k
yris) as iitikiyfWTa to hostile divini-
ties. Then in v. 292 I read rov re
instead of ofhe, and construe thus :
fi^vLv mrtipyfLv Ptofrnv, — namely
{&g) bex^aoal rtva avrovs tU /So-
pjovs, — rov T€ avKkv€iv riva airrols,
SvXXvctv rivl stands for avv nvi
fcaraXvetv, as in I^ndar Xvais for
KoraXvaig*
DUTY OF OEESTES. 99
47. It has already been observed elsewhere^ that
Apollo^ in the character of a punishing, avenging Grod,
ako presides over the avengers of blood : we will here
only notice a beautifiil trait of the old mjrthus in its
representation of Apollo as influencing Orestes by the
intervention of Pylades, a main character in the heroic
mythology, Pylades, son of Strophius the son of Crisus,
was a Crisaean. Now it was in the domain of the town
of Crisa (as we learn from the Homeric hymn to Apollo)
that the Pythian Temple was originally situated ; whence
Pindar calls the Pythian domain the rich land of
Pylades (Pyth. xi. 15). It is at Crisa that Orestes
dwells as an exile (Soph. El. 181); and it is thence also
that Pylades accompanies him in the character, as it
were, of a minister of the God, to admonish Orestes con-
tinually of the duty incumbent upon him. The very
name of Pylades is probably in reference to the UvXaia,
or a\mphictyonic Assembly held at Delphi, of which on
that account Pylades is said to have been the founder.'
This feature of the old mythus was perfectly clear to
iEschylus, however lost sight of by later poets ; nay, in
the Choephoroe he has managed to impress it on the
thoughtful spectator with great spirit and depth of
significance. Pylades is a mute character. Once and
once only does he break silence. It is at the very
moment when Orestes is almost overcome by his
mother^s agonizing entreaties, and hesitates to commit
the bloody act ; whereupon Pylades exclaims,
wov ^fjra \oiwa Ao^iov fJLqLVTevjjiaTa
TO, 7ru6(5;(pi;oTa, Treoro ^ tifopKWfiara ;
&iravTa£ lyQpovQ rStv dewy fiyov ir\eov.*
Choeph. 887 sqq.
2 Mailer's Dorians, and Prole- I ^ Agathon Schol. Trach. 639.
gomena to a Scientific Mythol. \ * Cf. sup. § 33.
F 2
100
DUTY OF ORESTES.
It is evident that Pylades is introduced here, not on
the score of his far-famed league of friendship with the
hero of the play/ but as a monitor from Apollo ; and
on that very account he does not appear in the Eumeni-
des, because Apollo there comes forward in person as
Orestes' conductor. This fine connexion Euripides,
though he also makes Pylades a Delphian (Orest. v. 1092),
destroys by banishing him from his country after the
bloody end of Clytaemnestra (v. 755). Sophocles on
the contrary has preserved in addition an unquestionable
feature of the old legend. He makes the bearer of the
feigned intelligence of Orestes' death profess to come
from Phanoteu8 the Phocian, a war-friend (Sopv^ci/oc) of
Clytaemnestra (El. 45, 670). Now this Phanoteus or
Panopeus is no other than a hostile brother of Crisus,'
and the hoary-headed sovereign of the city bearing the
same name which, according to the local traditions, was
the resort of all the giants and warriors who hated
Apollo; as Tityus, Autolycus, Phorbas, and the
Phlegyans. This Phanoteus therefore is the natural
ally of Clytaemnestra, while all who desire to see the
house of Agamemnon re-established by a righteous in-
fliction of vengeance on his murderers look for support,
as Electra does, to Strophius the Crisaean. For the rest,
it is pretty clear that Homer's silence about Orestes'
residence at Crisa' proves nothing against the antiquity
of the legend, for no one would think of taking Pylades
for a character of later invention.'*
48. But notwithstanding such motives to vengeance.
^ Westrick, de JEsch, Choeph.
p. 191, holds this opinion.
^ Pans. ii. 29, 4k, et al.
3 Od. iii. 807, vulsf.
* In Pacuvius it was Pylades who
conducted Orestes into the Delphic
Temple for harbour and protection
against the Erinnyes (Servius ad
Mil iv. 473). It is very remarkable
also that in the mythus of Aristode-
mus's death the sons of Pylades and
the God Apollo are placed on an
equality.
DUTY OF ORESTES. 101
it would, according to Grecian conceptions, have beea
impious in Orestes to have pursued his mother, had she
taken to flight ; whereas, daring as she did to sacrifice
at the public altars, it was justifiable in the eye of the
law, even of historical times, to put her to death on the
spot. Nay, this summary vengeance in her case was
absolutely necessary, seeing that recourse could be had
to no higher powers for her punishment, herself and
^gisthus being supreme. Euripides, indeed, who in
his criticism of the earlier Poets attacks even the my-
thus itself, and ventures to cast the imputation of impiety
on the accredited oracular behests of the Gpds, asserts
more than once'^ that Orestes ought to have brought his
mother to public trial, and expelled her from the palace :
to which suggestion ^schylus would probably have
replied, that on the strength of ^gisthus^ countenance
and support she had already set all law at defiance, and
had long since abandoned all thoughts of expiating her
crime by flight. ^Eschylus, therefore, retaining as he
did so much deeper an impression of the sacred duty of
^ blood for blood,' makes Orestes declare that, though
he cannot but admit having violated a mother's rights
(for otherwise his mother's Erinnyes could not have per-
secuted him), still he never repented of the deed : Kal
Seifpo y aei rriv rv^^rfp ov iiijxi^ojxai^ he exclaims before
the Areopagus (v. 566). Euripides, on the contrary,
exhibits Orestes as the remorseful sinner condemning
his own deed as needless and impious: in his soft-hearted-
ness he thinks that even his father, could he have been
asked, would have bid him spare the murderess (Or. 283);
nay, he apprehends in Apollo the voice of a spirit of
evil [akaariop) come to destroy mankind (v. 1685) : ex-
pressions of a weak and puling humanity derived not
' 5 Orest. 492.
102
DUTY OF ORESTES.
from depth bat from shallowness of feelings and calculated
to undermine the main pillars of Grecian religion and
civil order. And yet even Euripides admits the hereditary
duty of vengeance. His ^gisthus takes care not to
marry Electra to a man of rank and power^ lest the
fruit of such a marriage should yet rouse the dormant
spirit of vengeance.*
49. So much for the vengeance wreaked by Orestes.
Now, with respect to the vengeance directed against
Orestes, the mythus, or, it may be, the suppletory
hand of mythologists, invented all sorts of persons
who might lawfiilly undertake and execute that duty;
as, for instance, Clytaemnestra's father Tyndareus, or
her cousin Perilaus, or iEgisthus' daughter Erigone.^
iBschylus, however,' recognises only the Erinnyes as the
pursuers of Orestes ; and, imdoubtedly, the circumstance
that the murderer and his rights are contrasted, not
with human avengers, but with divine agents, personify-
ing the accursedness of the deed itself, adds considerably
to the effect and sublimity of the whole contest. More-
over, the expulsion of Orestes from his country was
peculiarly the o£Sce of the Erinnyes, and could not be
lawfully undertaken by the relatives of the deceased, in-
asmuch as Orestes was a constituted avenger of blood,
and, therefore, justified in the act he had committed.
We next proceed to take a somewhdt nearer view of
the picture of the fugitive homicide which JBschylus has
dehneated in its main features with so much clearness
and vigour of expression.
1 EL 28, 89, 269. Of. Soph. El.
* Eurip. Orest. Fragm. Accii Eri-
gon. Pans. viii. 34. Tzetz. in
Lycophr. 1374. Etym. M. p. 42.
Natal. Com. Myth, ix. 2. Creazer,
Meletem, i. p. 82.
^ And also Hellanicns, Frag. 98,
St.
POSITION OF THE FUGITIVE HOMICIDE. . 108
c. Position of the fugitive Homicide,
50. The feelings with which the Greeks from the
earliest times regarded the fugitive homicide were of
quite a peculiar kind.
On the one hand, the shedder of blood was avoided
with a feeling of dread, hke that with which in the East
a leper was shunned. At Athens the prosecution for
homicide began with debarring the criminal from all
sanctuaries and assemblies consecrated by religious ob-
servances ; nay, even in the judicial proceedings all the
arrangements were made in such a way that there was
iio need to be under the same roof with him. The
race of the Athamantidse in Thessalian Achaia lay
under the ban of a very ancient act of bloodshed, and
on that account all of that race were prohibited from
appearing in the Xti'Itop or Town-hall.'* The blood-
guilty individual himself, as though infected with a
miasma, shunned all contact and conversation with other
people, and avoided entering their dwellings. The pro-
hibition against his addressing a word to any man is
always a main characteristic in his treatment.^ A firag-
ment of one of Euripides' plays^ has the words; Tl
(Tiy^g ] fiiov ^ovoi/ tip upydato ] and in another play of
the same Poet, we find Orestes describing his reception
at Athens in the following terms :
k\Qu)v B* kKtiat, irpQra fiiy fi ohZtiQ ^iviav
eK(itv e^eiaO*u)g deoig arvyovfievoV
01 5* ttr^oy aida, ^ivta fioyoTpdire^a fioi
irapi(T\ov, oIkwv ovreg kv ravrf ariyei,
(Tiy^ 0* kreKTrivavr airdf^QtyKvov /x', Birutg
ZaiTOQ yevoifirjv iruffiaTdg t avTwv ^Ix^* '^' ^' ^
Iph. T. V. 947, sqq. (Bind.)
* Herodot. vii. 197.
< Eumen. 266, 426. Apollon.
Rh. iv. 693. Amphis in Athen. vi.
224 E. Alexis ib. x. 421 £.
* Schol. Eum. 272.
104 POSITION OF THE FUGITIVE HOMICIDE*
a legend which at Athens^ according to the testimony of
Euripides and others^ was brought into connexion with
the origin of the conyivial usages at the festival of the
Choes.*
51. On the other hand, however, the fugitive homicide
was the object of a certain peculiar respect and awe,
such as the principles of humanity among the ancient
Greeks, required to be shown to every needy and dis-
tressed person, without making inquiry about the cause
of his distress. The blood-guilty fugitive everywhere
appeared as an iiceriyc^ one that demands protection;
nay, it is probable that in the early times the term Jkctijc
was applied particularly to a person in that situation.
As such he was entitled to a hospitable reception, as far
as that was compatible with the feelings of dread above-
mentioned.^ He was to be treated with ai^ijQ) a term
of the earlier Greek ethics which cannot be fully
rendered in our modem languages ; the notions of awe
and compassion are combined in it. It was the duty of
every one aiOiaQai rov ^ivov^rov iKeTriv, The same
word, aiSaiffOai, was used to denote the feeling with
which the avenger pardons the object of his pursuit, and
in the language of Attic law, the term was retained in
the sense of making reconciliation after manslaughter.
This strangely-mingled state of feeling is very deeply
marked in a passage of the Iliad, where the feelings ex-
cited in Achilles by the sudden entrance of old Priam
are compared to it :
tjQ y orav &vdp* &Trj irvKivrl Xa/Bj;, oqt* evl iraTprj
<^Gyra KaraKrelyag &\\wv l£/fcero dfjfiov
aySpog cc ayyirtw, dafi^og^ S* cj^f i elaopoiorrag,
&g 'A\i\£vg QcLfi^riaiVy lliSiv Uplafxoy Oeoei^ia. xxiv. 480.
' Athen. x. p. 437. Schol. Acham. I ' It is quite clear that the read-
960. ing dp8p6s €s d<f>v€iov, given in our
^ II. xvi. 674. Hes. Scutum texts, is not the original one. The
Here. 85. old Scholiasts read dvbphs fs
POSITION OF THE FUGITIVE HOMICIDE. 105
This very instructive passage shews at once that the
very act of eolation or purification makes a most
material change in the situation and treatment of the
iKerrtg. The fugitive manslayer leaves the house of his
aypiTTig quite a different person from what he was
when he entered it. This change is also made a very
prominent feature in our play; and herein the term
TrpocrrpoTratoc occupies a very important place. Hpo^
(TTpoiraiog, in its proper signification, means, hke ticcriyc*
one that applies to another, one who begs for reception :*
irpoarpowr\i therefore, denotes, the act of humble
entreaty,^ But these terms are generally coupled with
the notion of a fugitive homicide not yet cleansed jfrom
his blood-guiltiness ; and hence TrpocrpowaioQ takes the
meaning of Juymo piacularis.^ In the Eumenides, how-
ever, TTpoffTpoiraiog is mostly used in the quite peculiar
sense of a suppliant for expiation, 'one laying claim to
purification.^' Such was Orestes at Delphi, where he
received expiation : at Athens, although, indeed, a sup-
pliant of the Goddess, an Jiccriyc (v. 452), he is no
longer a TrpocTpoiraioq] he is now at liberty to asso-
AFNITEQ, as plainly appears from
their interpretations ; direpxtrcu
7rp6g Tov dyviaopra, and, t6v dc
KoBcupovTa KOI dyvirrfv TKeyov,
That they do not merely draw this
conclosion from the homicide's en-
tering the house, is proved by their
noticing what they take to be an
anachronism in the passage, infer-
ring it from the clrcmnstance that
Homer nowhere else makes snch ex-
press mention of the dryvirqs. They
compare with it the passage lax!^
(rakiny^, on account of the ana-
chronistic mention of the trumpet.
Perhaps this may have been one
cause of the corruption of the text
by the Alexandrine Grammarians.
P
It seems, d<l>v€iov ia also the reading
of the Egyptian MS., on which see
JPhiloL Museum, i. p. 183. On
dyvirrfg see Hesych, s. v. Perhaps
it ought to be substituted for dyirrj^
in Bekker's Anecd. p. 338.
* Agam. 1569. Suppl. 357. Soph.
(Ed. Col. 1309, &c.
« Choeph. 21. 83. Pers. 216.
• Eum. 168. Choeph. 285.
Hence avrov TrpoorprfTratoy in
^schin. TT. TTOpoTrp. § 158 Bekk.
means, 'One who brings a curse
upon himself.'
7 Eum. 225. 228. 423. Sunilarly
irpoaTpdntaBai, 196; TrpoorpoTn},
688.
106 EXPIATION AND PUBIFICATION
ciate with his fellow-men without bringing a curse upon
them (v. 229^ 275) ; he is allowed to enter temples and
embrace the statues of Gk)ds without causing pollution
(jivffog) : he may freely open his lips and hold converse
with men and Gods.'
These considerations having led us to observe the im-
portance attached to the expiation of blood-guiltiness
in the composition we are considering^ we cannot do
otherwise than insert in these Essays a discussion on
this diflScult point in the moral history of the earlier
Greeks, which modem controversies have as yet by no
means entirely elucidated.
B. EXPIATION AND PURIFICATION FOR BLOOD.
a. In general.
52. As the avenging of blood has for its specific
object the expulsion of the manslayer from the society
of his fellow-men, so the religious rites of expiation and
purification, derived from the remotest times of Grecian
antiquity, were designed to reinstate him in the com-
munity which is held together by religious ordinances.
The Athenian Laws place these ceremonies in intimate
connexion with a man^s restoration to the society of his
country; they speak only of the cleansing, which, on
the return of the unintentional manslayer (for the
^ This is the meaning of v.* 451, I censure. But the Erinnyes also,
sqq. (as emended in the text). The | their office heing to pursue the
main idea is : < I, Pallas, am bound ; shedder of blood, may not lightly be
to receive both of you, both Orestes dismissed.' KanypruKebf , which
and the Erinnyes. rbic, Orestes, have Heysch. interprets reXet^o-af, de-
a claim to my protection in other
respects; but now in particular,
since you are come purified, d^KaPtl
(vvovaiif, to my sanctuary, I accept
yon as one to whom my dty by all
jus sacrum {6<rl<os) can attach no
notes ' a person who has duly per-
formed everything,* 'attended to all
observances;' and to this same
matter I would refer Spfteva napi-
X^iv, § biitr} tfaS' iKerjjah Hes. Scut.
Here. 85.
FOB BLOOD, m GENEBAL. 107
wilful murderer may not return) is administered to him
in his own country/ and which was submitted to even
by such as in a case of unintentional homicide were not
pursued by any avenger of blood.' Purification for
unintentional homicide {KaOaptria twi aKovtritf) <fi6v(^)
was the universal custom among the Greeks ;^ the dif-
ferent cases and the correspondent gradations of the
cleansing were particularly defined by laws which pro-
ceeded from the Delphian Oracle^ and by traditions
orally transmitted by the expounders of ancient rites.^
In like manner^ by the Law of Moses^ the cities of
refuge were available only for the manslayer ^^that
killeth any person unawares/^ whereas the murderer,
even if he fled thither, might be given up, and the
Goel, or avenger of blood, might put him to death with
his own hand. On the same principle, the old Roman
Law permits expiation to be made only when the
weapon could be said to have " flown fix>m the hand
rather than to have been thrust or hurled'^ (magis fugit
quam jecit) / indeed, the Pontifex Mucins Scsevola gave
it as his judgment that no wilful offence admitted of
expiation.^
The manners and usages of that age which is repre-
sented in the heroic mythology make, as we have before
observed, no such positive distinctions ; the feelings, it
is probable, appreciated the merits of the individual case
more safely and exactly. Moreover, the homicidal acts
of such times fall imder the category of acts committed
upon sudden excitement of mind— voluntarily, indeed,
but not, properly speakmg, of malice aforethought ; and
^ DemoBth. c. Aristocr. 644.
' Antipho. Chor. 4. comp. Herod.
87.
* Pausan. v. 27, 6. , i. 16.
^ Plato Legg. ix. 865.
• Cicero Top.' 17. Feetus, s. v.
subici,
' Varro L. L. vi. 4, Macrob. Sat.
108 EXPIATION AND PURIFICATION
these^ according to Flato^ are to be distinguished from
involuntary acts^ but yet border close upon them, and
are to be treated after the same analogy.^ These were
the very acts which the religious psychology of the
ancient Greeks ascribed to the Ate which bewilders the
mind and betrays the man into deeds which in his sober
senses he is heartily sorry for. Hence the Ate has in
its train the Lita — ^the humble prayers of repentance,
which must make good, before Gods and men, whatever
has been done amiss.^ For every evil-doer (so we find
it even in Homer) has to appease the Gods as well as
men ; and it is vei^ clear that, in an age in which even
'beggars come from Zeus,^^ the slaying of a ^ivog,
or a fellow-citizen within the peace, was not a matter
that the Gods would regard with indiflference. But
then the heroic mythology and epic poetry, from its
very nature, cannot be expected to deal so much in the
situation of the manslayer who stays at home or may
return thither, as in that of the man who is obhged to
flee his country, and to be a vagabond over the earth,
seeking in other lands some hereditary xenos or related
hero who shall receive him into his house, and restore
him, a cleansed man, to the society of his fellow-men.
Such cases imdoubtedly occurred, though more rarely,
even in historic times ; the well-known story of Croesus
and Adrastus in Herodotus is an instance ; but these
wanderings of exiled manslayers in quest of expiation
were of more frequent occurrence and of more impor-
tant aspect in a period when order and government
were as yet unsettled ; and the mythologists are rich in
tales of heroes who, driven from their home by reason
of some unfortunate act, were received by other heroes,
and obtained expiation at their hands. Homer in such
1 Plato Legg. ix. 867. » IL ix. 602. » Od. xiv. 67.
FOR BLOOD IN GENERAL. 109
cases (if we except only the new-discovered passage,
as it may be called, II. xxiv. 482) speaks only of the
reception of the suppliant manslayer, without any
express mention of expiation; whence ancient Gram-
marians, as weU as modem scholars/ have inferred that
in Homer the manslayer pays a fine or goes into exile,
but has no purification to undergo. To me, on the con-
trary, there is nothing surprising in the omission of
such mention ; the Foetus hearers would understand, as
a matter of course, that the fugitive manslayer seeking
admission into a strange house must propitiate the in-
censed Gods by certain ceremonies before he could
become a member of the family. I am persuaded that,
when Homer says, ^he came as hiketes to Peleus'
(II. xvi. 574), his contemporaries as immediately con-
nected with the term the idea of a request for purifica-
tion as the Athenians did with ^schylus^s word tt/qo-
(TTpoiraioQ, before explained. It were much to be
wished, indeed, that the grounds were once well ascer-
tained, — grounds subsisting, perhaps, only in the
feelings, but not the less sure on that account — upon
which those old Poets proceeded in their poetical crea-
tions, when out of innumerable features presented by
the old legends of the various Grecian tribes they
educed, by selection and elaboration of some in prefer-
ence to others, that well harmonised portraiture of one
uniform race of heroes in all the simple grandeur of its
life and doings. The wandering sons of chieftains, who
find admission into the houses of foreign chieftains, with
whose sons they become the playfellows and brothers-
in-arms, are a very important feature of epic poetry in
its delineation of that age ; that the act of their admis-
^ Schol. n. xi. 618.— Lobeck, Aglaophamus, p 300. 967. Hoeck Ereta,
iii. p. 268.
110 EXPIATION AND PURIFICATION
sion was connected with certain circumstances and
ceremonies was the less needful to be expressed, as none
of these acts are narrated in detail.
53. Legends preserved by the clans of northern
Greece, and stamped, as it seems to me, with evident
marks of high antiquity, represent Ixion, the Phlegyan
chieftain, leader of a clan as hostile to the Dorians as
it was to the Pythian sanctuary, as the first example of
tm expiation &om blood-guiltiness, but withal repaid by
him with ingratitude. Ixion in slaying the father of
his bride is the first among men that has shed kindred
blood.^ Then wild frenzy seizes him ; he wanders like
Cain, on whose forehead Jehovah has set a mark ; none
either of Gods or men will give him expiation,^ until
Zeus himself at last takes compassion upon him and
cleanses him. But unmindful of the sacred obligation
which binds the expiated to the expiator,^ he stretches
forth his audacious arms even towards Hera. That
Ixion^s request for expiation forms the nucleus of the
legend concerning him is indicated by the veiy name,
which probably is identical with hiketes.^ Even
^schylus takes this view of the legend ; he wrought it
out in a Trilogy of which the ' Perrhsebian Women^
and ' Ixion' were component parts ; with what views and
in what spirit, may be . gathered from the Eumenides,
in which Orestes is first addressed by Pallas as a orc/ui^oc
wpofTiKTwp ev TpoiroiQ 'l^iovoQ'y and then Apollo, to
prove that expiation does not contaminate the giver nor
deprive him of his prophetic endowments, alleges that
^ ifJLtjivkiov alfia Trp&Turrog C7re-
fuf € Bvaroii* Pindar. Pyih. ii. 82.
' Pherecydes, Fragm. 69.
' Comp. ApoUodor. iii. 13, 3.
^ 'l$imp from acta, formed as
'laaUop, Ueuriav, Ilpa(ici>Vt*A(la>v»
The disappearance of the spiritus
atiper may he explained; compare
ucrap. For this very satisfactory
explanation of the name we are in-
dehted to Welcker, Trilogie, p. 549.
FOR BLOOD IN GENERAL. Ill
the wisdom of Zeus was not in the least disparaged by
his receiving the first manslayer Ixion as a suppliant
for that benefit (v. 687). In short Ixion here appears'
as the representative of expiation ; which was first ap-
plied to him, and that upon an act of not unintentional
bloodshed.
Opposed in a manner to Ixion is Heracles, the Hero
to whom all the chieftains of the Dorians traced their
origin, among whose posterity also so many leaders o£
colonies and founders of cities reckoned themselves,
while in the cycle of his legends there is so much that
bears upon the first establishment of l^al and political
relations. Heracles several times has recourse to the
rites of expiation, and always submits to its require-
ments, even when unusually severe, with the greatest
readiness. He demands it with such vehemence, that
in Hesiod's poem, the KaraXoyoc, Heracles's war against
Pylos is derived from a refusal on the part of Neleus
and his family to impart to him the rites of absolution
from blood-guiltiness.*
We may promise ourselves a more exact insight into
the history of these ceremonies, if we more exactly dis-
tinguish the ceremonies themselves according to their
scope and nature. It is evident, namely, that the cere-
monies of absolution have a twofold aspect, being
designed on the one hand to appease the slain, and
remove his Erinnys ; and on the other, to purify the
slayer from his pollution, and thereby restore him to
intercourse with his fellows. The former we call Hilas*
moi, the latter, Katharmoi {piatio et lustratio).
* Scbol. n. ii. 336. p. 70. Bekker.
112
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
6, Difference between Hilasmoi and Katharmoi, viz.
Ceremonies of Atonement or Eivpiation^ and Cere-
monies of Lustration or Purification.
54. It is not possible to study attentively the religious
ceremonies of Grecian Antiquity without arriving again
and again at a persuasion that the worship of the dead,
from which that of the Heroes, a more elevated class of
the dead, takes its origin, is marked with an expiatory
character, and is designed to propitiate the gloomy
powers of the infernal world, conceived as standing in
hostile opposition to life in general. Libations of water^
mixtures with honey {fieXiKpara), which always express
a purpose of propitiating {fjiH\i<T(T£iv), victims cut in
pieces and burnt, either most part or entire, are alike
usual both in the worship of the dead and in rites of
expiation ; even the term applied to the sacrifices for the
dead and the heroes {ivayiteiv^) points very plainly to
atonement and purification.
On the other hand, it is in the highest degree pro-
bable that all expiatory ceremonies were originally de-
signed for the deities of the Earth and Infernal World,
the Chthonian and Elatachthonian Powers, and only this
world of Gods was deemed to require propitiation, at
least in stated solemiAies. It is true, hilastic cere-
monies also occur in connexion with the Gods who bear
rule in the bright upper world, the Gods of Olympus,
as Zeus and Apollo; but, upon closer inspection, it
seems to me beyond doubt that it was to deities and
* To the stem, *Ar, Lat. SAC,
SANC, belong Siyios, dyi^oD, €v—€<f)
"d(l}'-Ka0ayl(<o, dyirrfs, dyurrevti),
also dyo£ or Syos (fear, or that which
is to be feared), ivayrjs, tvayrjs,
irapoyrjs, also 5fa) (formed from AT
by this same process, as p€(a from
'PEr). As this d(€ip denotes reve-
rence of that which is holy as well
as dread of that which is wicked
and polluting, so this double refe-
rence pervades all these words.
Comp. Hanovii Exercit. Crit. p. 11.
HILASMOI AND EATHABMOI.
113
daemonic beings of the infernal world that the propiti-
atory cultus properly and immediately appertained.
55. In the first place^ as regards the often mentioned
Zevg MtiXi^iogj propitiatory Zeus : this Deity, in the
cultns of the Attic gens Phytalidse, stood in combination
with Demeter ; which circumstance of itself carries one
to a Zeus Chthonios or Hades.^ With this accords the
circumstance that in the Attic cultus of MeiUchian Zeus^
the victims sacrificed were swine, the animals devoted to
the Earth-Mother Demeter, and moreover as holocausts,
just as was the practice in the service of Infernal Zeus :*
in this way Xenophon on his return from Asia propiti-
ated the God according to the rites of his country.*
Moreover the sacrifices to Meilichian Zeus were held by
night ;^ and at Olympia a Zeus Chthonios stood near to
a Zeus Katharsios, which again closely coheres with
Zeus Meilichios.^ Near akin to the MeiUchios is un-
doubtedly the Zeus Laphystios of the old Minyse, to the
cultus of which God the mythi concerning the family of
Athamas and the Argonautic expedition are so closely
attached, that it is only from it they can be derived and
explained. Zeus Laphystios is a grasping and devour-
ing Power, a god of vengeance and death f his significant
victim, the ram, often meets us again in offerings to the
dead and in evocations of the Manes, 'even in the
Odyssee. But what is most remarkable is, that the
fleece of this propitiatory victim, which the terrified
Phrixos ('the Shudderer^) had suspended in the grove of
2 Paiwan. i. 37, 2. 3. Comp. Plut.
Thes. 12.
» See on Virg. ^n. v. 253.
* Anab. vii. 8, 4. 5. and Schneid.
adl.
' Pansan. x. 38, 4.
• Pausan. v. 14, 6.
7 The name Aa<t>v<mos is un-
doubtedly derived from the theme
AAB, AA^ (in dfi(^cXa(^^9, Xa*
(jyvpov), as is aJao \app6sf which in
signification is much related. Thus
both explanations of the andents
are admissible, ' the devourer* and
the ' putter to flight.'
114 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
Ares in a distant land^ must be fetched back as a holy
things while at the same time the soul of Phrixos must
be brought home by means of an Anaclesis/ a ceremony
derived from ancient times: for this procedure evidently
is most closely connected with the circumstance that in
the Attic ritual of propitiation for blood the fleece of
the ram sacrificed to Zeus Meilichios^ the Aiog kw^iov^
formed one of the principal means of atonement and
purification (§. 59). Of a kindred nature was un*
doubtedly the cultus of Zcvc Ov^ioc (Zeus of Flight)^
to whom Fausanias the Spartan sacrificed^ in order to
propitiate the soul of a girl whom he had killed.
56. In Zeus, the different, nay opposite sides of the
world meet together, as in a culminating point; al-
though, as to the predominant conception, a God of
Heaven and of the Upper World, he appears in many
of the more obscure and mystical kinds of worship as
an infernal Ood, and therefore requiring to be propiti-
ated. These opposite aspects recede further apart in
Apollo, who is altogether a bright and pure Ood,
manifesting himself in light and order. Yet even in
the ritual of this Ood (not to mention the Hyacinthia)
there is one festival of a clearly propitiatory character.
> Pindar. Pyth. iv. 169, and in-
terpp.
^ The same Dioekodion also oc-
curs in expiatory solemnities relative
to the seasons; for this was the
name ^ven to the skin of the victim
sacrificed to Zetts Meilichioa, with
which were performed the KaOapfiol
(called UofiTToia or Aumofiircua,
Eostath. Od. xxii. p. 1985, 8. B.) at
the end of Meemacterion (the Month
of Storms): these icaOapfiol plainly
refer to the approaching storms of
winter, which they were intended
to propitiate. That the Atoa-Kcadui
were also used at the Scirophoria (at
the time of the sanuner solstice),
tallies with the circumstance that
the worshippers who sacrificed to
Zeus Actseus on Mount Pelion at
the b^inning of the dog-days,
girded themselves with fresh fieeces
of rams (Dicsearch. Pelion). Here
again are the old expiatory usages,
by which Zeus as God of the hot
weather is to be propitiated. See
the rest concerning the Ai6g K&diov
(on which Polemo wrote) in Lobeck,
Aglaopham. p. 183 sq.
HILASMOI AND KATHARMOl.
115
the Delphinia, at which Theseus was said to have pre-
sented himself in the temple of Apollo Delphinios with
seven boys and seven girls^ in order to propitiate him ;
which ceremony was observed even in later times ;' so
in Sicyon seven boys and as many girls conducted the
propitiatory service of Apollo and Artemis.* But here
again various considerations intimate that the Dsemon
to be propitiated and appeased was not properly Apollo
but the Chthonian Dragon^ the guardian of the old
Earth-Oracle, with the slaying of which monster the
Sicyonian cultns also is connecfed. Delphinia is doubt-
less the Festival of the slajdng of the Python, whose
name, Delphin or Delphine,* preserved by the antiqua-
rian poets of Alexandria, can have been derived by them
only from old legends or religious poetry; although at
that time, and indeed down from the time of the
Homeric Hymnists, the notion connected with Apollo
Delphinios was that of the marine Delphine and sea-
voyages.^ But what decides for the assertion here
advanced is, first, the circumstance that the Delphinia
at Athens were held at the very time (6th and 7th
Munychion) at which Apollo slew the dragon at Delphi
(7th Munychion), on which ensues the Delphic Festival,
the Pythia :^ and secondly, that the Attic Court Delphi-
nion took cognizance only o{ justifiable homicide; plainly
an institution of very early times, when it was still
generally understood that the Delphinios is the God
3 See esp. Pint. Thes. 18.
■* Pansan. ii. 7. 7.
^ At\<t>Lvri, ApoUon. Rhod. ii.
708. A€X(^iV, Schol. Eur. Phoen.
232. Tzetz. on Lye. 208. Etym.
M. 8. V. 'Ektj^oKoS' But even from
A€X<^tvi7, A€X<^tWf is according to
analogy, as KvXkrivios from KvX-
Xrjvrj. The fem. £i€\<l>ivTj better
suits the notion of a BpaKcuva
(Horn. H. Pyth. ApoU. 122) than
* See also Artemidor. Oneirocr.
ii. 36.
7 fioeckh. Corp, Inscrip. p. 814.
The question whether the month
Bysios corresponds with Elaphebo-
lion, or not rather with Munychion,
I here leave without discusmon.
116
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
triumphing over the hostile serpent (§ 67). Now at
Delphi dirges were sung over the grave of the Delphine;
Apollo himself must do every thing to appease the
Dragon — ^must undergo exile and servitude; and thus
it is very probable that the Delphinia also had this
object. In Corinth too fourteen children were sent
into the temple of Hera, where with shorn heads and
black clothes they were to appease the children of
Medea by penitential offerings and mournful hymns :'
now these children of Medea are either themselves
infernal powers, which is indicated by the name of one
of them, Mermeros (the Dreadful^; or, to forbear at
present a deeper investigation of the origin of this
mythus, at least they are infernal spirits and objects of
alarm to the upper world. As the servitude of Apollo
begins with the slaying of the Python, as the service of
the fourteen Athenian children commences with the
Delphinia ; so the residence of the fourteen Corinthian
children in the temple is a periodic servitude, and there-
fore called awBviavTKT/ioQ.^ In jEgina the festival
Hydrophoria was held during the Delphinian month, as
it was at Athens in Anthesterion, the month appointed
in the Attic Calendar for the worship of the dead. It
may be more conveniently proved in detail upon some
other occasion, that these Hydrophoria in Greece were
^ Parmenisc. ap. Schol. Med. 273.
Pausan. ii. 8, 6. Philostrat. Her. 19,
14, Gsetulicus in the Palatine An-
thoL vii. 854.
^ In ApoUodor. and Pausan. ii. 3,
6. The hideous shape of a woman on
the grave of these children, called
Aci/ia or Afi/ia>,is prohahly the Mop-
lia yvvT] Kopivdia of the Schol. Ans-
tid. p. 18. Frommel. Those children
and this Mormo kill little children..
' Hence it seems very probahle
that Androgeos, Eorygyes, Minotan-
ros, who are propitiated by the four-
teen Attic boys, are obscured forms
of the monster hostile to Apollo.
The tithes of men were undoubtedly
sent as a peace-offering to the
Chthonlan Daemon overcome by
Apollo. The Thessalians dedicated
the like to Apollo KaraijSonjr,
which I take to be, as Adolph
Scholl (de Orig. Graeci Dramatis, p.
59) has with great penetration re-
marked, the God descending into
the infernal world.
HILASMOl AND KATHARMOI.
117
generally vernal solemnities^ at which water was poured
into chasms, especially such as^ according to the old
legends^ the earth-bom brood of dragons proceeded from;
the water was a mortuary and propitiatory offering for
the death-gods overpowered by the energy of spring.
On the one hand these water-pourings related^ as one
sees from the tenor of the legends^ to the running off
into these chasms of the unfertilising swamps left by the
wintry torrents {avrXog, TrXiyyu/uu/occ) : on the other
hand the pouring of water into trenches was conceived
as a bath for the dead {'j^Ooviov Xovrpovy airovifAfULa), and
was in Greece a widely diffiised ceremony of the worship
paid to the dead. Now if these Hydrophoria came to
be connected with the Delphinia^ it is plain they must
have belonged to the propitiatory ceremonies paid to
the earth-dragon^ which is said to have had its den in a
cave of the Temple of Earthy in the low bottom of
Delphi beside the source of the Styx.^
Thus^ then^ in the cultus of Apollo also it appears
that the hilastic ceremonies of the Grecian religion were
not originally addressed to the serene Olympian Gods
of the upper world, but to daemons belonging to a dark
world and state of nature, repressed indeed, but still ob-
jects of terror.
Now as regards the customary expiation for blood,
there can be no doubt that in this case the soul of the
slain, which itself is now a Chthonian Daemon, the
resentment (the Erinnys) of this soul, and in fine the
' It was this fountain (of which
also Plutarch speaks, de Fyth. Or.
17), and not, as is commonly sup-
posed, the Castalian, that the Py-
thian Dragon, guardian of the old
Earth* Oracle, kept watch over.
Here must have been the (ci^a
Svrpa ipoKovros, Eurip. Fhoen. 289.
The fountain probably bore the
name Delphusa (Steph. Byz. s. y.
AcX<^i,) with reference to the
guardian Delphine: from this also
the name Delphi seems to be de-
rived.
118
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
powers of the infernal world (Zeus Meilichios hunself
being one of them), are the beings to be propitiated.*
57. But if we inquire what, in the belief of the prim-
eval times of Greece, were the means of propitiation,
we shall find that the ceremonies of the various descrip-
tions of cultus of which we have been speaking, taken
in connexion with what we already know concerning the
specific propitiation for blood, aflFord very complete infor-
mation. Universally they are based upon the idea that
the manslayer, nay, in particular cases (as in the Theban
Mythus of Menoeceus) his whole race also must atone for
the guilt of blood with their own life. But the life is, so
to speak, redeemed or bought ofi^ by vicarial substitution
in various ways. And first by the servitude of the slayer.
The slayer gives up himself, his liberty and free agency,
as a satisfaction for the blood he has shed. Thus Cad-
mus serves Ares, as the father of the slain dragon^ for a
period of eight years : so ApoUo, the same period, for
the slaying of the Python. Apollo, as is now, I suppose,
generally understood, serves the Gods of the infernal
world, the unconquerables Hades CAS/iiyroc^ and He-
cate of Pherse : the original legend without doubt made
the bright God, to whom the gloom of the subterranean
world is an utter abomination, descend bodily into the
realm of shades. This legend is known to the Iliad,
but in a form already divested of much of its original
significance, and transmitted to the Homeric age through
the various re-modellings it underwent in the heroic my-
thology. The great Hesiodic Poem, a composition
' See especially Apollon. Argon.
iy. 709, 714.
' In addition to what is noticed
in my Prolegomena zu einer wis-
senschqftlichen Mythologie, p. 306,
compare the poetical designation
of Hecate, 'Adfiryrov ic6pTi, in
Hesych. s. v. Hermes (Chthonios)
as a God of Fherse, also occurs in
Callunach. Frag. 117. BentL The
legends of Apollo's descent into
Hades were nsed hy Euhemems
after his fashion. Minnc. Felix C.
21,2.
HILASMOI AND EATHARMOI.
119
formed out of very diversified materials^ the Eoiai^ gave
the legend at great length in the Katalogos of the Leu-
cippidse ^ connecting it with the mythi of Asdepios ; a
process in which the original coherency of the religious
legend was lost^ but still the servitude in atonement for
blood kept its place. As in so many other particulars^
so in this also, Heracles bears a marked resemblance to
Apollo ; he too must undergo servitude as a manslayer;^
and the circumstance that the (Echalian chieftain Eury-
tus, father of the slain Iphitus, receives the money paid
for the redemption of the slayer, is a plain indication
that the servitude represents a surrender of the life. The
period frequently occurring in these legends as the stated
term of atonement is the so-called Great Year, consist-
ing of eight years ; which became of such importance as
the period of the principal festivals of Apollo (the Pythia
and Daphnephoria), and enters so extensively into the
religious and civil life of the Greeks. Alluding to the
use of this eight-years^ term of servitude, Pindar, adopting
Orphic ideas, says, in one of his Threni,* ' Persephone
sends back to the upper world in the ninth year the
souls of those of whom she has received atonement for
their old sins ' (this is the meaning of olm iroivav Sl-
X^rai). Eight years therefore, according to the Poet,
was the term of servitude or bondage in the infernal
world. Hesiod^s view of the punishments inflicted on
' The following passages supply
the most convenient materials for
the construction of this portion of
the 'Hotai. Schol. Tzetz. on Theog.
142. oomp. witli Apollod. iii. 10, 8.
Pausan. ii. 26, 8. Schol. Eurip.
Aloest. 1. Athenagor> Leg. 25, 7.
p. 116. Oxf. comp. Servius on JSn.
vii. 763 . Perhaps also the verse in
Plutarch Amator. 17. 'Ad/x^ry
ndpa $rjT€vo'€U fi^yav eU €Viav'
t6p, of which Clem. Alex. Strom. 1.
p. 189. S. 888. P. belongs to this
poem. The Katalogos of the Leu-
cippids was at variance with that of
the Koronis concerning the extrac-
tion of .£sculapius. Hence the
doubts of the former's genuineness,
in Pausan. ii. 265, 5. Comp. SchoL
Pind. P^h. iiL 14.
* Comp. Agam. 1011.
' Threni. Frag. iv. Boeddi.
120 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
Oods was likewise based on the recollection of these
ancient usages (Theog. 795). If I understand the pas-
sage aright^ the God who has sworn falsely by the Styx
must pass one great year, i. e. eight years, without nee-
tar and ambrosia, in arid slumber, separated &om the
rest of the Gods, and then endure severe contests for
a yet further term : so that his punishment lasts alto-
gether nine years. Others preferred assigning a less defi-
nite extent to this period of the penance of a God ;
Empedocles says a God who has shed blood must wan-
der thirty thousand seasons {rpig /nvpiaQ wpag) ; the
Philosopher announced himself to be such an exiled
God.^ That eight-years^ period, however, or ivvaerriplg,
although it is sufficiently explained in another manner,
may originally have had reference to the worship of the
dead, since at Athens the ninth day after interment (ra
Bvara^ novendialia ^) was a solemn day of expiation ; and
as the same usage was observed at Rome, it was pro-
bably of very ancient origin. One of the expanded
forms of these Euata was the expiatory festival at Lem-
nos, at which offerings without fire were presented to
the dead, and the island was considered impure and
desecrated until on the ninth day a ship sent to Delos
brought back pure fire ; at that moment, as they ex-
pressed themselves, ' new life^ began in Lemnos.^
58. This is one of the ways in which the soul of the
alain, which properly demands life for life, may be ap-
^ EmpedocL Fragm, coU, Sturz,,
Gitatioii from Plutarch de exilio 17.
Plato's expression that the murderer
miist continue exiled rhs &pas rrd-
aas rov (vuLxrrov, L^^* ix. p. 865,
is midoubtedly derived from the an-
cient legal language.
' T^ tvara, often in the Oratt.
Bee Schomann on Issbus» p. 219.
Virg. Geo. iv. 544. Mn, v. 64,
762. Proclus on Timseus, p. 45.
Thrice nine days was the duration
of the Idsean foneral-feast of Jupi-
ter in Crete, Porphyr. Vit. Pythag.
§ 17. The'^Evara after death cor-
respond with the Amphidromia
after birth.
» Welcker, Prometh. 247.
HILASMOI AND EATHARMOI. 121
peased ; namely^ by servitude. In this the Greeks saw
an actual atonement; even Heracles (in Sophocles
Trach. 258) is ayvog^ set free by atonement^ by the
bondage he has submitted to : and the fearful malady^
which according to a very ancient fiction had fallen upon
him, departs from him in consequence/ The other
mode consists in the substitution of a victim, symboli-
cally denoting the surrender of the man's own life : a
significance which resides in the very first origin of sa-
crifice, and which manifests itself with the greatest
clearness in the sacrificial procedures used with oath-
takings or covenants ; in which the slaying and dis-
membering of the victim * has always been imderstood
as a symbol of the fate which shall overtake the per-
jured. But in expiations for blood we find among the
old Greeks the widely-diffused rite whereby the ram
represents the human being; as the goat among the
Jews, so the ram among the Greeks and the kindred
Italic races was the principal sin-offering. The very
ancient Minyan legends concerning the Athamantidse
turn entirely upon the human sacrifice demanded by
the wrathful Zeus Laphystios, and the ram substituted
in its place. A ram is the principal offering at all ora-
cles of the dead,* the ceremonies of which closely agree
with those of expiation for blood ; their object usually
was to pacify the souls beneath the earth. Black rams
and sheep were the customary sacrifices to the dead in
Greece.' Now it was a very ancient Roman usage, and
^ Apollodor. u. 6, 2.
^ FcBclus icere, Sqkui r^yLVtiv,
' Odyss. X. 627. Pansan. i. 84,
8; iz. 89, 4.
7 A black ram at the funeral sa-
crifice of Pelops, Pausan. v. 18, 2.
Black sheep, in Eurip. £1. 92, 516,
comp. 826. Black and white sheep
were the Areopagitic peace offerings
appointed by Epimenides, Diog.
Laert. L 110. In the Cretan Myste-
ries, which referred to Zeus Chtho-
nioB, black sheepskins were worn. A
black lamb in Canidia's evocations
of the dead, Horat. Sat i. 8.
122
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
as we are told upon the occasion^ an Athenian usage
also^ that in a case of unintentional homicide {si telum
fugit maffis quam jecit) a ram^ as a vicarial substitute
for the head of the skin, was given {aries subjiciebatur) '
to theAgnati or ay')^i<irkiQy upon whom the duty of aveng-
ing blood immediately devolved. This was one of the
peace-offerings on the return of the homicide, which
are denoted by the term o<rfov(r0ae, and are distin-
guished &om the KaOaipetrOai, the rites of purification.^
' For the head of the slain/ say our authorities ; for
which we would put, ' the head of the slayer.' For, as
is shown by the legends concerning the race of Atha-
mas, which was rescued from the sacrificial death by the
substitution of a ram, this animal as a sin-offering takes
the place of man even in cases where there was no
slain to be appeased. Besides, it would be very strange
if the slain, whose Erinnys is the chief thing to be pa-
cified, received a brute- victim as the vicarial representa-
tive of his own life. On the contrary, it is clear that
the ram was given for the man^s life, precisely as in the
usage before explained the sum paid over as ransom to
the family of the slain, as the price of the slayer, repre-
* See Cicero Top. 17. Cincius
and Antistius ap. Fest. s. v. subici,
p. 265 and 267. Lindem. Servius
ad Eel. 4, 43, with Hnschke's true
emendation, pro capite occisi agna-
tis ejus, and ad Georg. iii. 387.
Comp. Abegg de Aniiqmss. Mom,
jure crimin, p. 47.
' In Demosth. c. Aristocr. p. 644,
Ovtrat. is plainly equivalent to 6<ri.'
ov(r6cu and opposed to KaOaipea-Oai.
Compare with it d<f)ofriova'6ai, to
appease a person, to make atone-
ment to a person. Flat. Enthyphr.
p. 4. Phsed. p. 61. Issens, ApoUod.
§ 38. Demosth. c. Energ. p. 1161.
To the d<t>oa-iov(rBai of the dead
belongs the ancient ongolar prac-
tice of aKpaynjpidieiVf fuurxa^io"-
fiara or hirdpynara of the corpse
of the slain man, well enough known
from -Sschylus, Sophocles (El. 437.
and Hermann), ApoUonius, and the
Grammarians. The leading of aa
army betwixt the slaughtered limbs
of victims occurs as a Grecian cus-
tom, Apollod. iii. 13, 7, and Per-
sian, Herod, vii. 39. That oa-iova-'
Bm (Xen. Hell. iii. 3, 1. L. Dindorf.)
and h(l>o(riova6ai are also used of
frmeral solemnities, arises from the
drcumstanoe that there was in all
«uch solemnities an imderlying idea
of expiation.
HILASMOI AND KATHARMOI. 128
sented the slayer. In the oldest times both kinds of
expiation coincided not only in the idea but also in the
outward act ; for cattle represented money, and there-
fore the man who expiated an act of bloodshed by the
surrender and redemption of his own person would at
the same time bring together a certain number of rams
and other victims for propitiation of the slain.
Here, I think, we have clearly ascertained the origin
of the iroivvj price of blood (afterwards uTro^oj^ia), which
occurs even in Homer. Although this consisted, as
early as the Homeric age, in talents of gold, it is dis-
tinguished &om every other species of indemnification
and penalty (ri/iTj) by a peculiar term, woivfi. The
TToivYi of the slain man is his Were, his Werigelt, ac-
cording to the expression of our Gherman forefathers.
Now it seems to me but little in accordance with the
spirit of the most ancient times to suppose that the
blood-avenging family bartered with the slayer, and for
a money-payment, more or less as suited their rapacity,
allowed him to remain in the land. Undoubtedly the
desire of increased wealth may have early acted in this
direction also; in more ancient times, after a simple
and guileless manner, and without violence to the natu-
ral feelings ; in an age of more refined sentiments the
Attic laws utteiiy forbade the exaction of a price from
the manslayer, aTroivav. But the original proceeding
is unquestionably religious in its source — ^the propitia-
tion of the incensed Manes by victims. Even the
Wehrgeld of the German nations admits of being traced
back to this idea, — ^namely, the redemption of the slayer's
own life from the death with which he is menaced by
the blood-avenging family ; though it is not to be de-
• nied that in the old German poems and popular laws the
other idea, namely the price for the slain, the (Bstimatio
capitis, is brought forward sometimes in a very palpable
6 2
124 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
and lively manner ;^ and this again is not far removed
from the original notion of atonement and propitiation.
59. Such is the hilasHc aspect of the ancient usage we
are considering. It is not uninteresting to observe how
closely the other aspect^ that of katharsis, attaches itself
to this. The victims sacrificed as expiatory offerings to
the Infernal Powers serve withal for purification. Pia-
cular offerings of swine to the subterranean deities^
especially the Earth-Mother {Tellurem porco piare),
were of old an established ceremony among all branches
of the Grecian family ; and hence it is that swine^s
blood is a principal ingredient in all ceremonies of puri-
fication.^ In the lustrations coimected with the expiation
for bloody sucking-pigs were slaughtered in such a way
that the blood which spirted from the wound (cr^ayi^
oifxaToq) fell upon the hands of the slayer; thus the
human blood which still cleaved to his hands was con*
ceived to be washed away by the sacred swine^s blood.'
At Athens, women whom we otherwise find employed
at sacrifices to the dead, the Enchytristriae, are actively
engaged in this rite ; they received the swine's blood in
vessels and poured it over the cidprit.* In this pro-
cedure the person to be purified stood on the fleece of
the ram sacrificed to Zeus Meilichios/ that primeval
symbol of expiation and redemption from divine wrath
' See J. Grimm, Deutsche Becht'
salterfchiimer, p. 670. foil.
3 Bo likewiFe in the lustrations
of the Pnyx by the Peristiarchi be-
fore the opening of the Ecclesia,
and of the Council-Hall before the
admission of the new BouleutsB
(Srav flaUpai yJKkannv, flairri-
pid). Here, it seems, the swine
were previously caittrated ; as indeed
it was a common practice for the
Manes and Infernal Powers to re-
ceive hostias exsectas* We read
of a sort of worthless vagabonds,
called Triballi, who prowl^ about
the ccBfkBferales of Hecate, to make
a meal of them, that they scrambled
for these Spxfis when flung away,
and ate tl)^m ! Demosth. c. Conon.
p. 1269.
^ Eumenid. 273, 427, and more .
in detail in ApoUon. Rhod. iv. 704.
* Schol. Aristoph. Vesp. 801.
comp. Lobeck Aglaopham. p. 682.
» He8ysch.8.v.AiS£ic<j[»diovFbry-
nichus in Bekker Anecd. p. 7.
HILASMOI AND KATHARMOI. 125
(§ 55.) ; the washed-off blood was then collected in
the fleece and from that scattered out.' The funda-
mental idea on which all this rests is the endeavour to
bring the individual^ to whom the expiation is adminis-
tered^ into the closest possible contact and most intimate
connexion with the victim which is his vicarial repre-
sentative ; for the same reason^ the parties concerned
in oaths and covenants solemnized with sacrifice^ stood
on the limbs of the dismembered victim — the type of
what their fate should be if they violated their pledges
— dipped their hands into the bason of bloody and
perhaps^ when the oath was meant to be pecuUarly
awful^ even tasted a little of the blood.
Besides the bloody water was used^ which as a means
of lustration also entered into the ordinary sacrifices to
the dead (§ 56.) It is Achelous, the mighty river
(whose name in fact denotes water), that purifies Alc-
mseon &om the stain of his mother's blood ;^ in the
case of Orestes also the streams of water wherewith he
was purified are often mentioned f in particular^ the
oracle is said to have directed him to the seven rivers
of Rhegium. The water with which the oflFender had
been purified^ called the Aponimma, was poured out in
some appointed spot f &om the lustral water so poured
out {XvimaTa,) after Orestes's purification at Troezen^ a
laurel^ we are told^ sprung up : a miracle which is sup-
posed to be the subject of a picture on an ancient vase.^*'
60. Now that we have thus distinguished between
* This 18 evidently the meaning of irritrfis to the cnltns of Zevg Trpoo--
dvodumofATreio'Bai as a riteof jca^op- rp6nMos.
(r(£. See Timseos Lex. Flat. s. v.
and Buhnken ad I. Plirynich. s. v.
in Bekker, Anecd. p. 7. Of the pas-
sages from Plato, Legg. ix. 8Y7 re-
fers specially to the expiation for
blood ; and the Scholl. on the Cra-
tylus and on Legg. ix. p. 120, 14,
Bekk. appropriate the dirodioTrofi-
7 ApoUod. iii. 7, 5. comp. 15, 8.
^ Earn. 430. oomp. Pausan. ii.
31, 11.
' Athen. ix. p. 410. Eustath. on
Od.i.l87.p.l401. R.,oomp.Apollon.
Rh. iv. 710.
^^ Laborde, FoMt de Lamberg,
pi. 14.
126
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
the two ceremonies^ the belief on which they are
grounded presents itself clearly to view^ and in a con*
nexion which has its roots in the ftindamental ideas of
all Grecian reUgion.
In Hilasmos, the beings atoned and propitiated are
the powers of the infernal worlds the Chthonian diyi-
nities^ the Erinnyes^ the Manes of the slain.
Supreme over the whole presides Zetis—^st once a
celestial and a chthonian God. As MeiUchios he must
be atoned and propitiated. He becomes a purifying
Orod, Katharsios^ partly as he is an incensed Meilichios^
partly as God of the house and of such as approadi it
in the character of suppliants (Zeus Herkeios^ EphestioSi
Xenios^ Hikesios*). Even in Solon^s Laws Zeus^ as a
God of solemn oaths and covenants^ was named HikesioSy
ELatharsios^ and Exakesterios.^ As protector and re-
ceiver of prostropaei he is himself named Ilpocyrpo-
iratoc."
But after all^ the true and proper Purifier^ according
to the ancient institution of Themis^ is none other than
Phosbm- Apollo J the radiant Gt)d, who teaches to over-
come the terrors of the darksome world by heroic con-
flict or rites of avemmcation ; he^ whose festivals in all
parts of Greece are connected with purifications of men
and countries; who in the mythi belonging to his
worship himself submits to expiation and purification ;
* Comp. Herodot. i. 44.
^ Pollux viii. 142. Comp. Eur.
Here. F. 925.
■ As 7rpo(rrp67raiog, therefore,
denotes both him who TrpoarpiTrercu,
and him to whom a person npoa--
TpinfTcu, so the words formed from
(Ko have the same twofold significa-
tion. Not only the suppliants are
Ik4t<u, ticTopfg (hence lKTop€V€ip
SophocL ap. Hesych.) d(f){KTop€g,
but Zeus also is ucrt^p, or ticnfp,
d(f>lKTap, ^sch. Suppl. L 474.
Hence I explain Eumen. 118. Jify
enemies ha/oe found TrpoaiKTOpa £,
i.e.GodH who protect them as tt/mxt-
iKTopas. Moschion (ap. Arsen. p.
363. Walz.) calls the staff of the
hiketes borne by Orestes, irpoaucrrjv
BdXXov,
HILASMOI AND EATHARMOI.
127
whose ancient pseans^ or religious hymns^ were original! j
without doubt chaunts of expiation. He it is^ who
exterminates the monsters^ the swarming dragon-brood
sent up by the powers of the earth and the infernal
world in their wrath because of ancient guilt/ banishes
contagion and pestilence^ the hostile operations of the
same Gods^ and brings order^ light and welfare in their
stead. To him his priestess justly leaves it to purify
his own temple ; as latromantis and portent-seer he
can account for the presence of these terrific beings and
do away the curse which evoked them ; as Katharsios he
can remove the pollution they hav6 occasioned^ Wi 62,
63; a combination of ideas which, though in the
earUer poetry, it is not expressed in the same way, is as
old as the ApoUinary cultus itself.
61. We do not mean to deny that other divinities
also administer purification, of which probably Hermes
and Athena are instances in the old heroic poem, the
Danais :' but we maintain that in no other cultus does
purification form so important a feature, so int^ral a
portion of the reUgious service, as in that of Apollo.
Achilles makes a voyage from Troy to Lesbos, as Arc-
tinus (in Froclus) relates, in order to be purified, at a
distance from tl^ camp, in the temple of Apollo, Artemis,
and Leto, from the blood of a fellow-combatant. It is
a fine trait in the legend of Heracles, that the hero,
when seeking to be purified from the blood of Iphitus,
is refused by the PyUan Neleus, but is entertained by
Deiphobus of Amyclae,^ and by him actually purified :
* Comp. on Eamen. 62. the beau-
tiful passage Suppl. 265. conoeming
Apis. Apis (i. e. *H7rtr, "Httios) is
the SOD of Apollo ; he comes fix)m
northern Greece and purifies Pelo-
ponnese. As he, an tarpd/iovrir,
exterminates the KvcadaXa PpoTo(l>-
66pa, the bpoKiov SfuKog, so the
Pythoness will have Apollo, as latro-
mantis, destroy those KvoDbdka, the
Erinnyes.
* Apollod. ii. 1, 5.
• Apollod. ii. 6, 2.
128
PUBIFICATION OF OBESTES.
which is clearly meant to indicate Amyclse^ that spot
peculiarly sacred to Apollo as the place where &om the
time of the heroes a suppliant for purification always
found a peculiarly kind reception.
The cultus of Dionysos has also its ritual of expiation
and purification — ^the connecting link here being the idea
of the Chthonian God, Dionysos-Zagreus — a ritual which
was subsequently formed by the men of Orpheus into a
peculiar ascetic discipline. But although the Dionysian
Katharsis (through its common origin in the cultus of
the chthonian powers) may blend at its source with
that of Apollo, yet the religion of Dionysos forms, in
Greece, an independent system of itself, so detached
from pubUc life, that a momentous poUtical institution
like that of expiation for blood can by no means have
been derived &om such a quarter. In all orgiastic
religions Katharsis is, no doubt, an important feature :
the Dionysian Katharsis, in particular, releases from
the Dionysian mania, the &enzy of the Baccheia, as it
did the God Dionysos himself according to Eumelus,
and as it did the Proetidse according to ancient poems ;
but that it also frees from pollution of blood I can
find no evidence.' Concerning the Dionysian Katharsis
as a point of great importance for the history of tragic
poetry, I shall find occasion to say somewhat in a
subsequent part of these Essays.
c. Purification of Orestes,
62. The virtue of ApoUinary expiations is strikingly
exhibited in the mythic tale of Orestes. The story of
^ Compare Hoeckh, Ereta iii. p.
285 foU. 266 foil.— It is true Poly-
idos, the Melampodide, exercises
at oiioe the expation for blood and
the cultus of Dionysos, Pausan.
L 43> 5 ; but that does not prove a
systematic connexion between them.
PURIFICATION OP ORESTES. 129
his residence at Delphi, whence he sets out as avenger
of bloody and whither he returns in the character of
prostropaeus^ is undoubtedly of very ancient origin.
The representation of the Crissean Pylades as his faith-
ful companion^ and of Orestes himself as defender of the
Pythian temple against Pyrrhus^ indicates a close con-
nexion between the hero and the Grod^ such as I cannot
account for otherwise than by referring it to actual
historical relations and matters of fact. The glory,
however, of having cleansed Orestes from his guilt was
claimed by several other temples, especially by such as
were consecrated to Apollo; in the same way as the
tale of his persecution was repeated in different temples
of the Erinnyes. Thus (1) Orestes is said to have spent
the period of his exile among the Azan^s in Parrhasia,
a district of Arcadia, and the natives derived the term
Orestium from his name.^ In this district, which
abounded in very ancient temples of the Earth-goddesses,
there was shown, as late as the time of Pausanias, a
temple of the mad Goddesses (Manise), not far from the
site which MegalopoUs subsequently occupied: here it
was that Orestes was seized with madness, and in his
delirium bit off one of his fingers, to which also there
was a monument erected (SaKrvXov fivrifxa) : further
on was a spot called ''Aiciy {Healing), where the Goddesses
were said to have appeared to him, on that occasion,
whitey and where as Eumenides they had a temple. It
was farther related that to the black Erinnyes Orestes
offered evayiar/xaTa, and dvcriae to the white. In con-
junction with these deities there were sacrifices offered
to the Charites. (2) Upon the overthrow of Mycense
by the Argives in 01. 97, a portion of the Myceneans
fled to Cerynea in Achaia, and, as usual in such cases,
2 Eurip. Orest. 1663. Tzetz. Lye 1374.
o 3
180
PURIFICATION OF ORESTES.
carried with them their forms of worship and the mythi
connected with them. Hence arose the report that in
Cerynea there was a temple built and consecrated by
Orestes to the Eumenides, who made every offender
mad:^ Orestes was said to have converted them from
Erinnyes into Eumenides by holocausts of black sheep —
so ran the legend, transferred from Mycenae to Cerynea.'
(8) In Laconia, there was a rude stone on which (it
was said) Orestes happening to sit down, experienced an
alleviation of his madness : it was called ' the Stone of
Assuaging Zeus, Zcuc Kairirwra^),' (4) The purification,
however, was said to have been performed upon Orestes
at Troezen, otherwise celebrated as a place of expiation
for blood, by nine men in front of the temples of Apollo
and Artemis/ (5) But the inhabitants of Rhegiumj
who derived their origin partly from Chalcis and partly
from Messenia, and called themselves sacred colonists of
Apollo, also claimed for themselves and their seven rivers
the honour of having performed this ceremony.'
These, and perhaps also the traditions that Argos, in
the country of the Macedonian Orestae, was founded by
Orestes in the course of his wanderings,' were probably
the stories which ^schylus had before him. No doubt
the Greeks, in conveying their mythi with them in their
^ Paiu. vii. 25, 4.
^ For there is no doubt that in
the Schol. (Ed. C. 42, instead of
iv Kapvvii}, the reading of the Cod.
Laurent., which was changed into
€v Kapvia, iv Kapva (by the aro<f>o:>-
TOTos Triclin.) we ought to read
KMpVVtl^,
^ Pans. iii. 22. 1., and Siebelis
in I,
* Paufl. u. 31, 7, 10. Cf. i. 22,
2.
The Rhcgian legend is discussed
by Fr. W. Schneidewin in a learned
treatise, Diana PhaceliHs et Ores-
tes apud Rheginoa et Siculos, Gott.
1832. From the Messenian colony
the Rhegians derived the cultus of
the Orthian or Tauiic Artemis ; but
this must even then have been con-
nected in Laconia with the story
of Orestes in the form in which we
find it at a later period.
' The passages from Strabo and
otliers may be found in Raonl-Ro-
chette. Hist, de V Etahliaaement des
Col. Qr. V. ii. p. 451.
PURIFICATION OP ORBSTBS.
181
migrations to all parts of the ancient worlds and every-
where attaching them to localities of their new abodes,
added to the original story a number of fictitious
circumstances resting for the most part upon mere ety-
mology: for instance, the Cappadocian mountain Amanon
was marked as the place of liberation from madness ;
Comana^ as the spot where the hair was shorn, and so
on.^ iEschylus also goes upon the supposition of several
acts of purification having been performed upon Orestes,
the first and principal of them at Delphi, very shortly
after the commission of the deed;^ but there is an
evident allusion to several in the passage,
TToAat irpoc aXXoic ravr* a^tepui/xeda
oiKoiffi, Koi florolaiKal pvrois 7r6poic*
V. 429. Cf. 220. 275.
Befare other temples, he says, because an unhallowed
person was not admitted into the abodes of Gt)ds or
men. Hence the cabin in which Orestes sojourned at
Troezen stood in front of the temple of Apollo, and the
trials for blood at Athens were held not t9i, but near the
Delphinium, Prytaneum, &c. In the long interval of
time which must be imagined between v. 225 and 226,
Oredtes visits even remote countries beyond the seas
{jll. 241.) : probably the reference is to Bhegium,
although the Bhegian legend places the arrival of
Orestes after his Tauric wanderings. The Tauric voyage
of Orestes^ as also the return of Iphigenia with him, is
entirely omitted by iEschylus, as foreign to the develop-
ment of his plot : how Euripides and others connected
it with the legend of the Areopagus is a question which
' Raoul-Rocb. ib. iv. p. 899.
There was, however, in Cappadocia,
a femily of priests called OresHacUe,
as appears from an inscription found
in the Catacombs of Thebes. IVanS'
actions qfthe Royal Soc. qflAterai.
V. ii. 1.
B Choeph. 1081. Earn. 272.
182 PURIFICATION OF ORESTES,
does not fall within the compass of our present inquiry.
But that a considerable period of time had elapsed
between the sojourn at Delphi and the arrival at Athens^
our Poet himself intimates to his audience^ where he
says that besides the purifications and intercourse with
mankind the very lapse of time must have removed all
stain from Orestes (276).
63. A greater difficulty may appear to he in the dr*
cumstance that, although the purification of Orestes
restores him without spot or stain to the intercourse
with men and Gods, it does not rid him o{ the Erinnyes,
nor even mitigate the keenness of their resentment
against him. This difficulty cannot perhaps be satis-
factorily cleared up in any other way than by the
distinction we have above drawn between expiation and
purification for blood. Orestes is no longer a polluted
person, and therefore no longer an outcast from society :
he now appears internally also more tranquillized than
at the conclusion of the Choephoroe ; he has no stain of
blood upon his hands or upon his conscience. But the
resentment of his mother's Manes, of the infernal
powers, the Erinnyes, is not yet removed ; it is for the
Gods to rescue Orestes &om that by a formal trial.
Fundamentally, indeed, the two considerations, which
^schylus here separates, are one and identical; for the
curse of the infernal powers manifests itself in the dis-
tracted condition of the criminal, and their appeasement
brings with it his purification, which clears the gloom
£rom his countenance and restores him to human society.
But, in the process of the positive development, these
ideas, intimately as they were connected in the first
instance, had become separate ; therefore ^schylus was
at liberty to exhibit Orestes as purified, and yet under
the ban of those infernal powers; and the more so, as it
is probable that, although the rites of purification might
PURIFICATION OF ORESTES. 133
be administered in foreign states^ the soul of the
murdered person could in general be appeased only in
the country where the deed was done^ where the grave
of the slain was situated. Hence it is that ^schylus
never makes mention of that part of the rites which has
expiation for its object; namely, sacrifices to the
Erinnyes and to the dead, melicrata, and the ram of
Zeus Meilichios, but constantly confines himself to the
ceremonies of purification — ^though, where the whole
was complete, the latter were only a continuation of the
former. It must be confessed that, if the deep and
heartfelt truth which speaks in the primitive legend is
somewhat obscured even in this modification of it, stilly
^schylus has so managed the story, that, whether one
reads it as an ordinary narrative of facts, or even medi-
tates on its ethical and religious ideas, all is as consistent
and consequent as it well could be, compatibly with the
ultimate aim of his composition.
C. COURTS FOR THE TRIAL OF HOMICIDE, AND
THE JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS.
a. The Attic Courts and Tribunals.
64. We will begin this Section, as we did that on
the Avenging of blood and pursuit of the bloodshedder,
by giving a concise description of the institutions of
historical times, with which we are better acquainted;
and then go back to the more obscure regions of the
earlier ages.
By Solon's Code the jurisdiction in cases of blood
was committed to two several Colleges, the Areopagus
and the Ephetee, The Areopagus, or, more correctly
speaking, the Council on the Hill of Ares (17 iv 'Apdtf
vdyif PovXfi), consisted of such as had held the dignity
134
ATTIC COURTS AND TRIBUNALS
of Archon^ and whose conduct in that station had been
irreproachable. According to Solon's regulation, none
but the rich could fill the office of Archon, and those
only by election ; but after the time of Aristides every
Athenian was eligible to it by the falling of the lot.
The Areopagus was intended for the supreme court in
cases of homicide, as it took, cognisance of wilful murder
[i^ovoq kKoixTioq or cic irpovoiag), as also for malicious
attempt to kill, by maiming, poisoning, and arson.
The Ephetse were fifty-one men, above fifty years of
age, of noble family {apiarTivSrjv) and eligible only on
the ground of irreproachable character. They sat as a
collective body in one or other of the four several courts
of justice.* In cases of manslaughter they held their
sittings at the Palladium ; in cases of justifiable homi-
cide (such as killing another in self-defence, taking the
life of an adulterer in vindication of family honour,
killing a tyrant, a thief, or robber, and also man-
slaughter in the gymnastic games), they met at the
Delphinium. Sometimes their sittings were held at
the Prytaneum, where by a singular old custom judg-
ment was passed on the instruments of murder in cases
where the perpetrator of the act was either not forth-
coming or not detected. Lastly, when a person who
had gone into temporary exile for manslaughter was
indicted for murder, they held trial upon him at
Phreatto or Zea.' In this particular case the defendant
^ Thk is the meaning of nepi-
i6vT€s in Photius. In Suidas,
Zonaras and the Scholia on Dem. c.
Aristocr. p. 98 R, this expression,
from a misconception of the ahhre-
viation Tr.iSvrts (= 7r€pii6vT€s) has
been changed into tt (= oyborj-
Kovra) 8vTfg.
^ These are undoubtedly identi-
cal. Phreatto was the name given
to a spot of ground, t^mOtv rov
TLcipaiSii (Helladias in Phot. My-
riob. p. 535 Bek.) Zea was the most
inland and northern of the three
havens at the Piraeus, but so situated
that at one spot it was separated
from an outer bay only by a narrow
tongue of land : it was on this the
court of justice stood. See Stuart* s
or Kruse's plan, PI. iii. § 3. In
Wachsmuth's Antiqq. ill. p. 820, a
slight correction is needed.
FOB CASES OF HOMICIDE. 185
pleaded his cause on board ship^ being prohibited firom
landing by the vengeance awaiting blood: if con-
demned^ his aTT^viavTKTfiog became a banishment for
Ufe (§ 44).
65. Now if it be asked why Solon committed the
cognisaDce of wilful murder^ and that of the last specified
kinds of homicide, to two different courts, we may first
of all confidently answer thus much, that it was not
because such a severance had been customary in Greece
from the earliest times. For, to say nothing of the
very slight distinction made in the earlier times between
wilful murder and manslaughter (§ 52), there is not a
trace to be found in all Greece of such a severance of
jurisdictions, and it must be admitted that in practice
it would necessarily give rise to many inconveniences
and circuitous procedures. The nature of the case, as
well as all historical analogy, obliges us to assume that
in the first instance, even in Attica, the same authorities
(although perhaps at different tribunals) investigated the
degree of heinousness attaching to an act of homicide, and
determined whether it ought to be punished with death —
with which, in the view of the Greeks, perpetual banish-
ment stood pretty nearly on a par — or whether it might
be atoned for by a temporary avoidance of one's native
land, and consequently was capable of expiation at home.
In these last words we assign at the same time the
reason why the court of Ephetee was separated from the
Areopagus, and it needs but one step more to arrive at
the conclusion that this separation could only have been
brought about by Solon. Namely : The atonement for
blood and purification of the bloodshedder came under
the Sacred Law of Athens (the Upa kqI oaea), which
remained in the hands of the old nobility even after
they had lost their poUtical authority (the proofs of this
will be given in the following Section on the Exegetse) :
136
ATTIC COURTS AND TRIBUNALS
80 that the administration of the rites of expiation could
not be taken away from the old aristocracy of Athens^
even when the constitution underwent in other respects
a complete change. None but an aristocratic court
was competent to pronounce an act of homicide expiable,
and itself to preside over the rites of expiation and
cleansing. Accordingly^ the cases reserved for decision
of that court were those in which a person was accused
of unpremeditated manslaughter — for here expiation
came in after the flight : further^ where the plea put
in by the accused was that of jmtifiable homicide — ^in
this case there was no punishment^ nor was the indi-
vidual obliged to flee his country/ but still it was neces-
sary^ at least in certaui cases/ that he should undergo
puriflcation : Airther^ the case in which an unpremedi-
tated was followed by a premeditated act of homicide^ it
being then a question whether expiation were still
admissible or not : and lastly^ the formalities observed
in holding judgment on the weapon with which blood
had been shed^ since these formalities necessarily devolved
upon the managers of ancient rites of expiation. As
wilful murder^ on the contrary^ could not be expiated
but by the hand of the executioner — such no doubt was
the principle expressed in the stem 0fa/io/ of Draco —
there was no need in this case to refer to expositors of
ancient Sacred Law ; so that Solon was at liberty here
to vest the cognisance of such cases in a corporate body
which, in accordance with the spirit of his legislation.
^ He was siud to commit the act
vrimivel, Dem. c. Aristocr. p. 637,
639. Killing of a fioixis was
deemed no <l)6vos: Lys. de Era-
tosth. CsBd. § 30.
' This is seen quite clearly by
comparing the law in Demosthenes
with Plato, Legg. ix. p. 865 : e7 ri£
€v &yS)Pi Koi Sffkois Brjfioo'ioi.g 3jco>v
— aiT€ier€iv€ — KaBapBtXg Kara rbv
€K Aek^Sfv KOfiiadevra irtpl rov-
rap v6iiov taron KaOapds* This
applies to the cases in which ven-
geance was not allowed. On the
other cases Plato's expression ix.
p. 874) is not quite definite.
FOR CASES OF HOMICIDE.
187
he formed out of the most affluent of the Athenian
citizens who had filled the office of Archon^ and which,
as he himself expressed it^ he intended to make the
anchor of his Constitution.
66. If the matter be viewed in this light, it seems
impossible to doubt that the separation of the court of
Ephetse from the Areopagus took place at a period when
the domination of the Athenian nobility was brought to
an end, and stripped of whatever could be withdrawn
from it, consistently with the respect for religious tradi-
tions. And such a period, we know, was precisely the
age of Solon. Besides these reasons, there are others of
a subordinate kind which lead to the same result.'
Thus, in Pollux, we find it stated, probably upon
Aristotle's authority, that the Ephetse formerly ad-
ministered justice in five courts, not in four only:
and Draco, in his laws, never spoke of any but Ephetse,
although the antiquity of the jurisdiction held by the
Areopagus, in cases of bloodshed, is attested by so many
legends, and admitted also by Aristotle (Pol. ii. 9).
These circumstances also lead us to infer the early
existence of a Senate at Athens, invested, like the
Spartan Gerusia, with the jurisdiction in cases of homi-
cide, and encroaching upon the office of avenging blood,
as far as the views of the age, resting as they did upon
a rehgious basis, allowed such interference. This council,
which also watched over the preservation of morals
and good order, and, no doubt, had in the first instance
great administrative power, had, in reference to its
' See Luzac Exercitt, Acad.
Spec. iii. p. 181. Plainer Process
und Klagen, vol. i. p. 21. Scbo-
mann, however, takes a different
view of the matter {Attischer Pro-
cess, p. 15.) He is of opinion that
Draco took the oognisanoe of homi-
cide entirely out of the hands of the
Areopagus and transferred it to the
Ephetse. But would not this have
been a material change in the Con-
stitution, such as we are told, upon
the testimony of Aristotle, was no
part of Draco's design ?
138
ATTIC COURTS AND TRIBUNALS
cogmsance of actions for homicide the title of Ephetae
(EfjteTaiyY a term more correctly derivable from the
permission of blood-vengeance^ than from the appeal of
the accused against it, inasmuch bb the very point on
which all depends in this branch of the judicature is
how far the slayer should be given up to the vengeance
of the relatives, or rescued from it. This title occurred
so frequently in Dracoes laws, that it gave rise to the
opinion which we find in Pollux, that Draco instituted
the college of Ephetse.
While on these grounds we deem the separation into
different courts to be of later date, and to have arisen
out of the political views of after-times ; on the other
hand, we hold the distinction of different tribunals for
different degrees and kinds of crimes and guilt to be of
very ancient origin, inasmuch as the choice of these
tribunals has reference to religious ideas, which carry us
back to times in which the various Grecian worships
were in course of formation, whereas, in later times,
these ideas had become obscured and fallen into oblivion.
We may be permitted to pursue this subject somewhat
further.
67. The worst cases of murder were tried on the Hill
qf Ares, whose temple was at the top, and that of the
Erinnyes at the bottom of the hill (irrfr. §.88). Judg-
ment was there held on such as had broken the peace by
maliciously murdering a citizen.^ The special resent-
ment of the deceased, the Erinnys (§ 77), rested upon
^ 'E^rrot, 01 e^tao-i r^ avbpo-
<f>6vt^ rbv dvbprjkdTqv* The expla-
nation of i(f)€Tris as ' a person ap-
pealed to' is not authorised by the
instances of nouns in~ rris in a
passive sense ; as deiycverai dcoi in
Homer, yeverrjs and ycvereipa in
the sense of son and daughter, in the
Tragedians and Euphorion, Katra-O'
dcTog in Pindar, evbvr^p ircirXos in
Sophocles, &c.
^ Such acts were supposed to be
done at the instigation of "A.pus
€fi<f)v\u)g or '^Aprjs riBaa-ds, as
.Sschylus calls it, Eum. 335.
FOB CASES OF HOMICIDE.
189
such an one ; and to that Erinnys he was abandoned, if
his guilt was clearly proved. In the Areopagus, says
Euripides, the murderer must render their just rights to
the nameless Goddesses {Bucriv wapafiytiv toIq avwvv"
fioig Otaig, Iph. T. 951). The accused takes oath by
these Goddesses in particular.' K acquitted, he is with-
drawn from their power, and sacrifices to them in their
neighbouring temple, as appeased divinities;^ if con-
demned, he is abandoned to the Erinnys, which he has
provoked, and to the Gx)d of War whom he has roused.
This connexion of the cultus of the Erinnyes with the
court of Areopagus is also exhibited in the story of
Epimenides, in which it is related that this Cretan
priest, having to expiate the pollution brought upon the
country by former deeds of blood, let loose some black
and some white sheep from the Areopagus, and sacrificed
them on the spot whither they had run, to the divinities
who seemed to desire the sacrifice (ry irporrnKovri Oet^),
and at the same time built a tepple to the Dread God-
desses or Erinnyes. In reaUty, however, their temple
was founded unquestionably at an earher date/ But
how this connexion is based upon the earliest history of
the Grecian worships, I shall endeavour to show in the
next section.
Cases of unpremeditated homicide were tried at the
Palladium. The term Palladium in Grecian antiquity
is not applied to any or every statue of the Goddess
Pallas-Athena;^ it is only to a certain particular repre-
3 Dinarch. c. Demosth. § 47.
* Pans. i. 28, 6.
^ Lobon of Argos in Diogen.
Laert. i. 10, 112. To Epimenides
is also ascribed the erection of the
pillars to "YjSpir and 'AvoiSeta on
the Areopagus. Gemens Alex.
Protrept. p. 22 Potter.
^ The statue of Athena Polias in
the citadel was never called by the
Athenians themselves IlaXXddcoy,
but r6 apxaHov Syaikfia t6 ey ttAci,
r^ TTJs Ucikidbos, t6 yraXatdi/ ^perast
and in the Plynteria (the holy wash-
ing) rh ibos (to itpxcuov) rrjs *A^-
vas. Vid. Xen. Hell. i. 4, 12. Hut.,
140
ATTIC COURTS AND TRIBUNALS
sentation^ which at an early date had assumed a
typical character^ of Pallas BellatriXy that this name
attaches; the reason of which must be sought in the
meaning of the name Pallas itself. By Palladia we
must always understand figures of Pallas in a standing
posture, with the -ffigis, and with shield and spear
advanced. At one period the Greek legends placed all
such statues of Pallas in connexion with Troy: every
town that possessed an old wooden image of the above
description boasted of having had it from Troy: and
the same origin was claimed for the Attic one in legends
of various kinds, all of them, however, agreeing in this
one point.^ This Athenian Palladium was in the
southern quarter of the city,' and the care of it was
entrusted to the ancient Attic family of the Buzygi, as
appears from an old legend, and an inscription of lat^r
date,' coinciding with each other. Now this Trojan
Palladium is connected with a tradition, which though
known to us from no earlier author than ApoUodorus, is,
unquestionably, of ancient origin, that the Goddess
Athena having killed one of her playmates, Pallas, in
exercises of arms, made the Palladium in memory of
her. Moreover, this Trojan Palladium (which was pro-
bably quite distinct from the statue in the citadel of
Ilium, this latter being described by Homer as in a
sitting posture), is said to be placed on the hill of Ate,^
where the abode of Cassandra was situated;^ the reason
for this was, because the statue owed its origin to Ate,
or a temporary derangement of mind. Little as this
Aldb. 84. Hesych. s. v. TLpa^icp-
ytdcu. On the other hand the
image in Ilium was called r^ rris
*ABripas edosi o UclKXclBiov lutKovai,
Appian Mithrid. c. 53. (ebog means
hiOTe generally an IbpvyJvov, a con-
secrated image as in Corp. Inscr.
491.) The image of Pallas Alaloo-
mene Lb also called a Palladium.
^ Creuzer SymboL vol. ii. p. 600
sqq. (German.)
3 Pint. Thes. 27.
^ Corp. Inscrip, ii. 491.
* ApoUod. iii. 12, 3.
» Lyoophr. 29.
FOR CASES OF HOMICIDE.
141
part of the mythi about Pallas has hitherto been un-
riddled^ thus much at least is clear^ that the Palladia in
general were connected with the notion of homicide
committed without malice aforethought^ imder the mo-
mentary influence of Ate (§ 4J5, 52); and on that
account the court adjoining the Palladium was deemed
by the Athenians the fittest tribunal for such cases.'
Similarly the Delphinian Apollo, near whose temple
the third tribunal of the Ephetse was situated, was con-
nected with the notion of justifiable homicide. ApoUo
is called Delphinios, as slayer of the AeXfjtivri, the
hostile serpent Python (§. 56). This was a lawful act,
although the God fled in consequence, and underwent
purification (§. 65). Hence cases of justifiable homicide
were brought before the tribunal contiguous to the
temple of the Delphinian Apollo. But clear as this
connexion is, it must have been lost sight of by the
Athenians at an early period, since the notion of Apollo
Delphinios as a conducting God, sweeping over the seas
in the form of a dolphin, very soon prevailed. Thus,
on the one hand, the circumstance of the tribunal of the
Ephetse being at the Delphinium is an evident proof that
by Apollo Delphinios the slayer of the serpent was
originally meant; and on the other hand, the early
disappearance of this conception of the Delphinian Apollo
clearly attests the antiquity of the Ephetic Courts.
The Prytaneum was from time immemorial, as its
name impUes, the place of assembly for the Prytanes,
' This notion of nnintentional
homicide recurs also in the legraids
about the manner in which the
Palladium came to Athens. The
Argives deputed to convey this Pal-
ladium were killed upon their land-
ing in the Phalerian Harbour, un-
known who they were. Hence they
were worshipped under the title dT
dyvcarts. (Pollux viii. 118. 6€ol
dyvmaroi Koi rjpm^s in Phaleron,
Pans. i. 1, 4. Cf. Siebelis in I,) See
Phaiiodem. ap.Suid. inl noXXod/tt,
and others.
142
ATTIC COURTS AND TBIBUKALS
the presidents for the time being of the Supreme Council.
Consequently it had probably been at some time or
other the tribunal for political offences, obscure traces
of which are to be found in a law of Solon's and the
decree of Patroclides.^ The Ephetse, however, usualfy
held only those sham-trials there, especially that on tbe
axe of the Diipolia. The reason for this is pa*haps to
be sought in local circumstances.
The reason why the fourth, formeriy the fifth, tri-
bunal of the Ephetic Court was in Phreatto, at tiie
Peirseeus, is evident.
68. In the poetical treatment of an ancient leg^id
we do not require a literal agreement with a real his-
torical state of things; the main point is that the
fundamental idea be intrinsically true. In the present
instance, however, any representation of the Areopagus
differing from the existing state of that institution would
instantly have struck every well-informed spectator, and
so have materially counteracted the Poet's design of
influencing his own generation and supporting this Court
of Judicature against its adversaries. This would have
been the case for instance, had the Areopagus been
wholly an institution of Solon's, which it appears from
the preceding elucidations it was not. It is true the
Ephetse, as the Eupatridic Assize of Expiation, strike us
on the one hand rather as a remnant of the ancient
Gerusia, which formerly gave judgment in all cases of
homicide ; but then on the other hand the Areopagus
^ Plut. Solon 19. Andoc. de
Myster. § 77. Hence it appears
that before the time of Solon, and
perhaps even afterwards, on parti-
calar occasions, the authors of mas-
sacres (a-<l>ay€is) and insurrections
tending to the establishment of
tyranny were tried in the Pryta-
neam before the Paa-ikeU (the <^Xo-
Paa-ikeis, I suppose, who may have
been identical with the Prytanes in
the first instance, and subsequently
had to do with the sham-trials at the
Prytaneum.)
FOR CASES OF HOMICIDE. 148
had preserved the union of Council and Court of Justice^
which characterized it upon its first institution ; and^ as
it still maintained its credit, whilst the Ephetic Courts
sank more and more in the public estimation^ it was
natural that all those old legends and mythi should be
made to redound solely to the glory of the Areopagus.
Thus it appears that the legend of Orestes^s acquittal
by the Areopagus could not possibly be a matter of
surprise to any Athenian at all conversant with history.
That it was the invention of -^schylus himself, as a
modem scholar has supposed, is perfectly incredible :
besides, Hellanicus, a contemporary of ^schylus, relates
that this Court awarded sentence not only to Orestes,
but to many other heroes and even Gods before him.
These legends ^schylus lets quite alone ; the mythus
of Orestes was so famous that, quite in the manner of
legend, it was possible to refer the very institution of
the Court to this sentence, as the first pronounced by
it. To have assumed the Areopagus as already exist-
ing would scarcely have accorded with -^schylus^s plan ;
he was obliged to make his poem serve for a record of
the institution of this sacred and divine tribunal. Neither
did his views allow him to represent the twelve Gods as
the first Judges in this Court, as Demosthenes relates of
them f the citizens of Athens were to be the first in-
vested with that important office, and must receive it
from the hands of Athena. As usual, there were
numerous legends on this point at variance one with
another; the Argives also claimed for an ancient tri-
bimal in their city the fame of Orestes^s trial (Eur. Or.
862. c. Scholl). But the high consideration of the
Areopagus among the Greeks appears upon the whole
to have prevailed, and to have estabUshed the priority
of the Attic legend.
^ c. Aristocr. p. 641, 644.
144 THE JUDICIAL PR0CEBDING8
69. The only circumstance one might be apt to
wonder at is that^ though all the above mentioned
tribunals for the trial of homicide were of very early
origin, the legend of Orestes was attached to the Areo-
pagus and not to the Delphinium. The cases tried
before this latter tribunal were ^ when a pei'son pleaded
justifiable homicide/ and Demosthenes cites Orestes him-
self as an instance in point. Nevertheless, according to
the more ancient view, which concerns itself less with
set distinctions and definitions than with the considera-
tion of the internal aspect of the thing done and the
mental state of the doer, the Areopagus might appear
more competent to decide the matter than the Delphi-
nium. Or, to speak in the sense of earlier times, the
Hill of Ares would seem a fitter tribunal than the
temple of the Delphinian Apollo. The slayer who pre-
sents himself for judgment at this bar is no conscience-
stricken criminal; there is no Erinnys to harass him:
for how can an Erinnys be ascribed to the nocturnal
robber, or to the adulterer, seized in the very act of their
offence and slain upon the spot? But Clytaemnestra,
though lawfully put to death by the avenger of bloody
is a mother, and as such has her Erinnyes ; and this is
the significance of the Areopagus, that it decides between
these vengeful Goddesses and the object of their resent-
ment, to which, as we have above seen, the very locality
itself, and the solemnities observed in the proceedings
before the Areopagus distinctly point.
i. On the judicial proceedings in jEschyltis.
70. iEschylus makes his Areopagus as like as possible
to what it was in historical times; and whilst on the one
hand the entire spectacle is marvellous and superhuman,
the actors in the drama being Gods, on the other hand
the whole procedure is conducted so much in regular
IN JESCHYLUS. 146
form^ and according to the established laws and costoms
that the Foetus drift is at once evident^ and palpably
none other than that of exhibiting the existing consti-
tution in the light of a Divine Providence. It is
therefore worth while to take a closer view of these
proceedings and of the formalities observed in them.
At Athens^ and nearly everywhere in the ancient
world, every Court consisting of a large body of Judges
had its president {fiy^fxijv) whose duty it was to conduct
the previous inquiry upon the cases about to be
presented, and upon whose sanction they were brought
into court. In actions for homicide this office was held
at Athens by the second of the nine Archons, the "Kpywv
BaaiXEvc* Here however it is filled by the Lady Athena
(ai'a<r<r' 'Aflai^a), whom Orestes by the instruction of
Apollo invokes at the very outset to be his judge (cf.
V. 81. 215. 234. 250. 446). This indeed she decKnes,
since it is not for her, the immaculate Goddess, to sit
as judge upon a case of blood (v. 449); and she appoints
a jury instead, to whom she refers the matter. Pallas
therefore is the magistrate of preliminary inquiry, the
Pr<Btor who appoints judges for the parties [datjudicea.)
This preliminary examination (ai^aic/ocaic) is exhibited
by jiEschylus, in the scene where Athena questions
both parties about their name, office, and legal demands
and pretensions (see especially 386 — 467) ; whereupon
she sees good to decide that the cause shall be received,
and requires both parties to have their witnesses and
evidence in readiness to produce in court ; although it
is true these were usually brought forward at the
anacrisis.
71. In this scene occurs a passage which, from not
being rightly imderstood, has been variously altered by
the editors. A little attention to the course of the pro-
ceedings in court makes all dear. The passage in
146
THE JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS
question is at v. 407, where, when Athena, after ques-
tioning the Erinnyes, turns to Orestes, they exclaim,
' But he would hardly accept an oath, nor yet give one :'
aXX* 6pK0V oh ^i^aiT ay, oh ^ovvai OiXei,
One does not comprehend what they mean, unless, in
the first place, one bears in mind what is the original
sigi^ification of the word opKog, viz., the object whereby
one takes oath, and which binds the conscience of the
party taking it.* The party who challenges the other
to take his oath names to him the object by which he
shall swear ; for instance, the head of his child, or such
and such Gods. This is called giving an o^koq. Now
it should be further observed that an oath of this kind,
demanded of, or tendered to one party by the other,
forms part of the depositions, which required a chal-
lenge {ir^oKXriaiq) and the acceptance of it : both
parties must be agreed to rest the issue to be tried on
the oath of one or other of the parties, in order that
the oath might be admissible and stand as a substantive
deposition. The agreement to this effect and the oath
itself might take place either at the anacrisis or in court,
or quite independently of the trial ; only in the latter
case the transaction must be duly attested before it
could influence the verdict. The meaning, then, of
what the Erinnyes say is this : ' Orestes will scarcely
allow us to name the oath which he shall take for asse-
veration of his innocence, nor will he readily consent to
rest the issue upon our swearing to his guilt by what-
* See tbis proved by Battmann
in the Lexilogus ii. p. 52, whose
proofs m my opinion are not reftited
by more recent objections. That
the Attic usage accords with this
explanation is proved by passages in
Demosthenes, which may be found
in Reiske's Index. And although,
I grant, Euripides uses ^pKov dovvai
in the sense of taking oath, still, in
all probability, .^schylus would
keep to the stricter sense of the
term.
IN JESCHYLUS. 147
ever oath he shall please to propose to us 'y in which
they are perfectly right. But Athena very properly
refuses to admit such a mode of decision in this case^
as a mere semblance of justice : never, with her consent,
shall oaths gain the victory for the wrong cause. It is
evident, partly from these expressions and partly from
other circumstances, that the question here is not about
the oath regularly administered^ independently of any
proclesis, in the Court of Areopagus — viz., that in which
the prosecutor and the defendant, standing over the
dissected members (ctti ro/iiioic) of a wild boar, a ram,
and a bullock, solemnly deposed to the truth and
justice of their respective causes, and, in case of per-
jury, denoimced most awful curses upon themselves and
all that belonged to them (Sicu/ioaia Kar* i^iaXuaq)?
This oath was indispensable in all such prosecutions;
and if ^schylus makes no mention of it in the sequel,
it is because it had no specific significance in this
particular case; just as the oath of the Areopagites to
do strict justice is frequently referred to in the course
of the play,^ but is not actually administered in the
Theatre. On the other hand, the irpoicXriaiq, or
provocatio ad jusjurandum here in question, is charac-
terised as something opposed to the simple straight-
forward course of law, the cvOcia Scicii, 411 ; as indeed
the euthydicia, although usually opposed to .an exception
or counter-charge put in for the purpose of preventing
a charge or indictment from being sent into court
[frapaypaf^riy Siafiaprvpia^ avTiypa<^r\)y may very well
be used in a wider sense, as opposed to the diversion
of law from its direct course by a proclesis ; of which,
indeed, the very passage before us furnishes a proof.
72. Thereupon Athena calls together the Jury, ' the
* Cf. Luzac, Exerdtatt. Acad, Spec, iii. p. 176. ' Cf. w. 461. 660. 680.
H 2
148
JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS
worthiest of her people* {aaTwv ra jScXrara, v. 465)*
whom she intends in the sequel to invest in solemn
form with the new office of Areopagites. The number
of these men we have above fixed at twelve (§ 9) ; and
it is not improbable that the council of the Areopagus
really consisted^ in the first instance^ of that number of
members.'
Athena then introduces the suit {ei(Tayti, 550, 552) ;
as president of the court, she is also ciaaywyevc^ The
parties plead against each other in short and plain
sentences ; long speeches being against the usage of the
Areopagus, as well as contrary to the taste of our Poet.
The only one who speaks at all at length is Apollo, and
in his case it is very allowable, since he is not only
advocate for Orestes, but also Exegetes, of which office
I shall speak presently. As such he expounds the
nature of justifiable homicide, as well as the other
exculpatory circumstances, to the clear comprehension
of the Judges.
After the parties have done pleading, Athena fulfils
the promise she had made (v. 462), by announcing the
institution of the court of Areopagus (the Q^a^ioq, 46?,
651). If it be asked why this ceremony is deferred till
after the pleading, the answer is this. The Judges
had hitherto listened to the dispute, like the rest of the
assembled multitude, and had probably in their own
^ T^ jScXrara, in a political sense,
must be compared with Herodotus's
ra jTpayra, It is equivalent to the
^ekrioTOi of Xenophon.
* Perhaps the following conjec-
tures may be deserving of notice.
We assume that the earliest Bule,
elected from the first Fhyle, con-
sisted of twelve. Then, if aU four
Fhylse be represented, the number
becomes forty-eight, includingyb«r
Phylobasileis as Prytanes of this
Bule : the King himself being
reckoned in, the number becomes
forty-nine. The transfer of that
number to the new ten Phylse gave
rise to the fifty-one Ephetie, in the
same manner as fi% were formed
out of forty-eight NaucrarisB. At
the same time, for fowr Phylo-
basileis ten were introduced. Cf.
Photius s. V. pavKpapia,
IN JESCHYLUS. 149
minds come to a decision upon the case^ but not in a
judicial capacity ; they are now to give their votes, after
serious deliberation, with a strict observance of their
oath and a fall sense of the importance of their office.
The introduction, therefore, of the ceremony of inaugu-
ration is quite appropriate at this stage of the action.
It is the central point of the composition as a political
drama, in which aspect it has been above considered
{§ 35 flf).
73. We come next to the balloting which follows the
inaugural address. Unless we have a clear comprehen-
sion of the manner in which this ceremony is conducted,
and carefully distinguish between two points in the
action, there wiU be some danger of our getting a very
confused notion of the whole proceeding. For it is
assuredly a confiised and ridiculous notion which very
many entertain on this subject — ^viz., that after Athena
has thrown in her ballot for Orestes, and not till then,
the votes are counted and found equal, and that Orestes
is acquitted on the score of this equality. The very
idea of the Calculus Minerva, so often mentioned by
the ancients, is neither more nor less than this — TTie
votes are equal, a white \f^ri<l^og (for acquittal) is
imagined to be added,' and so the accused is supposed to
have the majority. Without doing violence to justice
(a thing not to be conceived of the righteous Goddess),
the calculus Minervae is mercy naturally prevailing over
strict justice in an equally balanced case. But the
' From the verdict returned for
Orestes by the Areopagus Euri-
pides deduces the principle, that in
la'o^<fiia the defendant gains the
cause (El. 1277. Iph. T. 1482,) and
in this sense the -^^r AOrjvas is
often mentioned by the later ora-
tors. See the passages cited in K. at the end of this volume.)
F. Hermann's Manual of Political
Antiquities, § 143, 4. In the Scholia
on Aristid. Panath. p. 108, 7. Dind.
it is stated that the twelve Grods sat
as Judges in the Areop^us; Athena,
however, gave the thirteenth vote.
(See appendix on Calculus JliGnerva
150
JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS.
difficulty, as we said before, is removed by distinguish-
ing between two points in the action, the taking up of
the ballot and the casting it into the urn (i/zt^^oi^ aipeiv
Kai Siayvdivai SUriv, v. 679). The Areopagites each in
turn rise from their seats, go to an altar on which are
lying an adequate number of ballots, and take one up.
The taking of the ballots from the altar was a usual
ceremony upon divisions of the court, and therefore
-^schylus would scarcely omit it. Then they step to a
table upon which probably two vessels^ — ^the brazen urn
of mercy and the wooden one of death — stand side by
side, and throw their ballot into one of them — ^unless, in-
deed, as was usual in the other Attic courts of justice, for
the sake of secrecy, they had also a second xprifjtog, which
was marked as not intended to count. This is done by
the twelve Areopagites in turn, at measured intervals.
This done, Athena likewise takes a ballot from the altar,
and holding it up, says that she intends to give this for
Orestes (705) — by virtue of this ballot Orestes shall
gain the cause, even should* the votes be equal (711) —
but without forthwith casting it into one of the urns.
To do so, in fact, would be quite in contradiction to
the very meaning of the calculus Minervae. The ballots
are now turned out of the urns, and being counted, are
found equal (v. 762) : thereupon the Goddess lays hers
along with those for the acquittal, and at the same
instant announces even now the final issue of the whole
trial.'
* Called nvxn v. 7X2. cf. Agam.
789, 790.
' This appears to me the most
satisfkctory conception of the af^^
though there may perhaps he room
for a different view on minor points.
In works of art, for instance on the
cup in the Corfini Collection, there
is only one vessel given, into which
Minerva is in the act of casting her
hallot ; hut who dreams of inferring
from such evidence what were the
arrangements in the Court of Areo-
pagus?
151
D. EXEGESIS OF THE JUS SACRUM.
74. We have still to define the nature of the office
discharged by Apollo in this suit.
The Exegesis at Athens applied wholly to the un-
written Law J the precedents and usages handed down
by oral tradition. Notwithstanding the great extension
given to the written law at Athens, by fresh additions
continually made to it, there was still a great deal left
to oral tradition with respect to religious rites and the.
duties owing to the dead, one of which was the avenging
of blood. Now such persons as were in possession of
superior information on these points, and could accu-
rately define the right and wrong in cases of that class,
were called e^ijyijrai twv warpiwv, twu lepfov Kal oaliov
(Exegetae of the customs of the land, the sacred and
sanctioned usages, interpret es religionis). Their office
was, ISij-yeio-Oa*, to expound this Law, de jure sacro
respondere.
For instance, the Exegetse are asked if a person were
bound to contribute to the interment of such and such
an one (Isseus de Ciron. Hsered. § 39) ; and so in all
cases where a person was apprehensive of omitting any
honour due to the dead (Harpocr. s. v. i^tiyriTfig). He
is consulted when it is not known in what way the
death of a slave ought to be avenged upon the author
of it (Plat. Euthyph. p. 4). In such cases the Exegetse
point out the lawful course and give suitable advice
{e^TiyovvTai ra vofxifxa, irapaivovaw ra (TVfXi^opay Dem.
c. Euerget. p. 1160). This office of the Exegetse
clearly shews how intimately the law relating to the
shedding of blood was connected at Athens with reli-
gious rites and ordinances. Even the Areopagus had
unwritten laws in its keeping (oy/oa^o vojuLifxa, Dem. c.
152
EXEGESIS OF THE SACRED LAW.
Aristocr. p. 646)^ though it was a fundamental principle
in the jurisdiction exercised by the popular tribunals of
Athens to allow no appeal to precedents, to admit none
but written or statute law^ and charge the right use of
it upon the conscience of the Judges.
75. The Exegesis presupposes oral precepts^ which in
the earlier times can scarcely have been anything else
than family traditions^ similar to those on which the
Etruscan discipline was conducted^ only that the latter
was a far more laborious and extensive study than the
jus sacrum of the Athenians. This custom of £Etmily
tradition existed everywhere among the ancients, espe-
dally in noble families ; and accordingly we find that at
Athens the Eupatridse were in the first instance the
Exegetae of the sacred law (Pint. Thes. 25) ; nay, even
in the Roman period there were Eupatridic Exegetse
(fc^ EvirarpiSfop e^tiytirai, Corp. Inscr. n. 765). The
Eupatridae were no association or body, and it is dif-*
ficult to say by whom they were nominated ; perhaps
by the Ephetse elected from the old families: at all
events the Ephetae were closely connected with that
ancient court. As the latter body had the power of
sanctioning the expiation of blood, so the superintendence
of its performance devolved upon the former (Tim.
Lex. s. V. e^tiytirai). Hence Dorotheus, in his work
on ^ The Hereditary Usages of the Eupatridae,' treated
of the purification of suppliants, that is, homicides who
had made atonement for blood.^ The principal points
upon which this Exegesis of the Eupatridic families
^ In giving this title to the work
I have assumed that the reading cV
TOi£ T&v EYHATPIAON (for eYTA-
TPIA12N) narpioig in Athenseus ix.
410, A, will be deemed more proba-
ble than the emendation ^YTAAI-
AQS proposed' by Lobeck. For
although the Fbytalidse, according
to the legend of Theseus, also had
the superintendence of purifications,
their narpia could scarcely have Air-
nished matter enough for a separate
work.
EXEGESIS OF THE SACRED LAW. 153
turned^ were the burial of the dead and the law of homi-
cide; whereas that of the sacerdotal families had to do
rather with the particular services over which they pre-
sided. Thus the Eleusinian Eumolpidae exercised an
Exegesis of unwritten customs/ which seems to have been
partly transferred by them to other hands/ and the prin-
ciples of which were no doubt contained in the work on
the ^ Traditional Customs of the Eumolpidse' published
in the time of Cicero.* The other sacerdotal families at
Eleusis also had the exegetic office in certain cases.*
76, If in this way every worship had its own peculiar
rites requiring for their performance a certain degree of
information, which might be handed down by exegesis,
the exegesis connected with the cultus of Apollo com-
prised more than this, and in particular it involved the
rites of atonement and purification. As Athens derived
the conditions of atonement for blood from the decrees
of the Pythian God, so also the three Exegetm, who pre-
sided at Athens over the purification of blood-guilty
persons, were elected, or at least their election was ratified,
by the Delphic Oracle (TrvOo^piyoroc, Timseus). The
office of Exegesis is quite as much ApoUo^s prerogative
as that of prophecy. Plato in his ideal Polity will have
no other Exegetes consulted respecting the erection of
temples and the founding of the cultus of Gods, of
heroes, and of the dead, than the national God, Apollo
of Delphi (Polit. iv. p. 427). But in his more practical
State he would have Exegetse elected by the individual
tribes, with the sanction and concurrence of the Delphian
God, to expound the sacred law derived from Delphi
(Legg. vi. p. 759), and to define the religious rites
* Lys. adv. Andoc. § 10.
' cfiyy?^^ *fi Ev/AoXTTtd©!' Plut.
X. Orat. 12, p. 256 sqq. Corp. Inscr.
n.892.
H 3
* Cf. Varro de L. L. V. § 98.
^ Andoc. de Myst. } 115 sq.
154 EXEGESIS OF THE SACRED LAW.
(Legg. vi. p. 775 ; viii. p. 828 ; xii. p. 958), but espe-
cially to preside over all ceremonies of atonement and
purification.^
These conceptions pervade the entire scene which has
given rise to this disquisition. Apollo, the paternal God
of the Athenians {irarpwog), who always announces the
truth to them, appears before the Areopagites to instruct
them, as Exegetes, on the important duty of avenging
blood incumbent on Orestes, and to convince them that
this duty to the father demanded the sacrifice of the
mother, as being, so to say, not so near of kin to Orestes.
Subtle as this plea may seem, especially in the form in
which -ZEschylus puts it, it was probably very much in
the spirit and character of the arguments in complex
cases. Apollo thus performs the service Orestes required
of him : he explains the circumstances which justified
the act (579) ; and so likewise on a former occasion, in
his injunctions to Orestes to commit the act, he assumed
the office of Exegetes by explaining to him the duty of
vengeance (565). It is a fine trait of the Poet's skilful
management, that Apollo's coming forward in this
capacity is brought about by Orestes's asking the Exegesis
of him only on his own account (579), with the intention
of afterwards laying before the Judges the information
obtained (583) ; for it should be observed that at
Athens it was only the parties themselves, not the
Judges, who consulted that source of information. Here,
however, this circuitous mode of proceeding is avoided
by Apollo's addressing himself at once to the court of
Areopagites and pointing out to them the right of the
case (584).
* Legg.viii.p.865,ix.p.87l,873. yfladai of the fmvreig, which has
xi. p.916. Cf.RuhnkenadTimseum, nothing at all to do with the mat-
p. Ill, where however, the whole
of the above is referred to the (fil-
ter in qaestion.
III. RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW.
A. THE ERINNYES.
a. Meaning of the Name, and Mythic conception of the
Erinnyes.
77. In the Arcadian dialect, wliich undoubtedly
retained many archaisms^ the word epivveip, we are
told, signified to be wroth? But the term was certainly
never used in so general a sense in the Greek language, —
a language in which, the further back we trace it, the
more we find of intuitive distinctness of expression for all
motions, as well mental as corporeal. It will be better
to give at once an accurate definition of the term
kpipvvq, or more correctly epipvgf it is the feeling
of deep offence, of bitter displeasure^ when sacred rights
belonging to us are impiously violated by persons who
ought most to have respected them. The earUest Greek
Poets, in whom we find the idea in its fullest develope-
ment, attribute Erinnyes more especially to the father,
mother, and elder brother ; these in particular entertain
such feelings of resentment upon the violation of pious
duties claimed by them as their natural right; for
instance, when they meet with ill-treatment, or even
' Paus. viii. 25. 4. Etym. M. p. I * Herm. ad Antigon. Ed. 3tia.
874. 1. I Prsef. p. xix. sqq.
156 THE ERINNYES.
when due respect is not paid them.* But the poor man,
the beggar as well as the suppliant, being from his situa-
tion entitled to a hospitable reception in more wealthy
families, if instead of that he meet with insolent treat-
ment, also has his Erinnyes ; a trait which exhibits the
humanity of the ancient Greeks in a most pleasing light.^
Afterwards, the term was used in a more restricted sig-
nification; parricide more especially calls forth an
Erinnys, and JSsch^lus also attributes one to the heinous
crime of a man^s neglecting his duty as avenger of blcod.^
The sensible manifestation of the Erinnys is 'Apa :* the
long-suppressed feeling of deep o£Pence bursts forth in
sudden imprecations, frequently on apparently slight
provocations. For instance, according to that fine old
heroic poem, the Cyclian Thebais, old (Edipus, after long
endurance of extreme impiety towards himself on the
part of his sons, at last curses them when he finds they
have forcibly possessed themselves of the family jewels,
and when they neglect to give him the honorary portion
of the sacrifice which was due to him. The Erinnys is
indeed conceivable without Ara, inasmuch as it admits
of being stifled in the heart ; but still the two notions
bear so close an aflBnity to each other, that JSschylus
seems perfectly justified in designating the Erinnyes by
the title of 'Apa/.*
78. One of the distinguishing features of that ancient
period, in which the Greek and other Popular Keligions
originated, together with the Poetry which sprung up
1 Vid- n. xi. 204. xxL 412. Od.
xi. 279.
3 Od. xvii. 476.
5 Choeph. 281. cf. 396. 641.
* hpfia-aa-BaiEpivvf. Od.ii.136.
Cf. II. ix. 454. 571.
« Eum. 395. Cf. Sept. 70. 707.
773. 962. Klauaen, Theologum,
^sch. p. 49, sq.
THE ERINNYES. 157
from them^ was that it contemplated all intellectual life^
nay, life in general, as the unintermitted working, not
of individual forces and causes, but of higher super-
natural agents, and viewed man for the most part merely
as the focus in which those active powers were concen-
trated and manifested. That feeling of painful mortifi-
cation and just resentment, originally termed epivvQ, is
not merely an instigation and arousing of certain deities
to avenge and to punish — rather, it is in itself of a
divine nature and of miraculous energy ; it is exhibited,
so to say, as an act proceeding from the life of divine
beings which are as eternal as the laws of nature out
of which that resentful feeling arose. In order to per-
ceive how perfectly the resentment of oflPended parents
is one and identical with the Goddess Erinnys, we need
only compare with one another the expressions: ri}c
fiifrpoQ 'FipivvaQ e^airoTivoiQ (II. xxi. 412), and, aXyaa
. . . o<T<Ta re firiTpog ^EipiuvsQ eKreXiovffiu (Od. xi. 280),
and also, ISpixrapro ek OeoirpoTriov '¥,pipvv(»)v rdiv
Aaiov TB Kal ^OiSiTToSeto ipov (Herodot. iv. 149) .•
The Erinnys atoned for and the Erinnys that brings
the mischief are undoubtedly one and the same in these
expressions, and both of them, by the same verbal
construction, are attributed to the individuals offended
and incensed; although we modem Grammarians, on
whom the capital letter at the beginning of proper names
imposes the hard task of deciding on the point, suppose
the existence of a Goddess only under the latter mode
of expression, and under the former merely conceive the
idea of a human passion. For us a chasm has disunited
what was originally one and inseparable ; and the dis-
tinction between the mythico-poetical, and the so-called
" Compare also iBsch. Choeph. 911. 1050. Soph. OSd. C. 1299. 1484.
Pans. viii. 34. 2. ix. 6. 8.
158 THE ERINNYES.
rational or philosophical view of the Universe,— a dif-
ference which at first did not exist at aU, and when it
had arisen was little felt and heeded by the old Epic
and Lyric Poets, — demands of ns that we should
mark it by a corresponding use of smaU letters and
capitals.
Such expressions as, ' the Erinnyes of the Mother, —
of Laius,' serve also to shew how Uttle the original use
of the word warrants the notion of a definite number
of Erinnyes, and how unfair it is to require of JSschylus
that he should bring but three on his stage. This
number can no more be established upon the authority
of any poet prior to Euripides, than the mention of the
well-known names, Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera, can
be found in any writers previous to the Alexandrines.
Had JSschylus, however, been induced by any motive
to restrict himself to that number, he would undoubtedly
somewhere or other have placed its significance in a
prominent point of view, as Euripides does in the Orestes
(v. 402. 1666), although he too, by the way, makes no
scruple of assuming elsewhere a greater number, (Iph.
T. 961, sqq.)
79. Now it is quite in the natural course of the deve-
lopment and formation of mythic conceptions, for the
mythus to be, on the sudden, externally arrested, to
harden into fixed shape, and therein to become invested
with a significance extended far beyond that which it in-
herently possessed. Thus the Erinnyes, who originally
have their life and essence only in that feeling of ^ront,
are conceived as existing independently by themselves, as
ever wakeful and active avenging Spirits, as Tloival ; and
by this name in fact ^schylus designates them. Never-
theless the account given of their origin in Hesiod's
Thec^ony adheres most strictly to the original significa-
tion of the word. The outrage committed by Cronus
on his father Uranus is the very first invasion on the
THE ERINNYES.
159
rights of consanguinity; the Erinnyes themselves owe
their origin to this outrage : they are in the first instance
Erinnyes of Uranus, and so in fact they are called in
another passage.* On the other hand the Erinnyes
make their appearance more as independent beings, as
early as Homer and Hesiod. According to these Poets
the violation of oaths^ originally perhaps as an insult to
the God by whose name the oath was taken, was
punished by these avengers. Even in the realms
below they chastise the perjured/ an ofl&ce which other-
wise belonged to Hades and Persephone/ as appears
from old forms of oaths. And by the way, these very
forms are of themselves sufl&cient to prove that the
Homeric conception of a spectral, sham-existence held
by departed heroes in the nether world, without feeling
and consciousness, was not the general popular belief.
Moreover, the darkness-haunting Erinnys appears
several times in Homer^ as bewildering the mind and
thereby driving persons into dire disasters, probably
because such a derangement of the mind was frequently
consequent upon the consciousness of having violated
the most sacred duties.** So too they are often repre-
sented by the Tragedians in the general character of
retributive and harmful beings, who inflict chastisement
on the criminal in all sorts of ways ; as, by expulsion
from human society, by the pangs of conscience, and
by torments in the lower world. Indeed the concept
tion of the Erinnyes as workers of mischief is extended
to such a generaUty, that even persons who seem to
have been saat into the world to work evil to mankind,
like Helen and Medea, and who are usually called oXclg'
* Tfieogon, 472.
^ H. xix. 260. Comp. Hes. Works
and Days, 803.
8 II. iii. 278.
* n. xix. 87. Od. XV. 284.
^ Of. the <l)p€v£>v 'Epivvs. Soph.
Antig. 608.
160
THE ERINNYES.
Topeg, are also denominated Erinnyes;^ and even by
^schylus presentiments of misfortune and miscliief-
boding strains are termed ' Dirges and Paeans of the
Erinnyes/'
These remarks arose out of the definition of the term
Erinnys in its original meanings and were intended to
draw attention to the fact^ how greatly this signification^
under the shape it has assumed in Mythology^ loses in
internal precision in proportion to its external expansion.
But this individual signification of the term does not
by any means lead to a train of conceptions connected
with the Erinnyes, such as are mainly required for the
understanding of our tragedy. For this purpose we must
trace back to its source the idea of the Erinnyes as
great and venerable Goddesses {'Eefivai deal, as they
were called at Athens)/ . an idea founded on a more
extensive system of views and thoughts^ and manifested
in legends and religious rites and ceremonies.
ft. Culttis of the Erinnyes and Eumenides or Semna.
80. The widely diffused and noted religious service
of the Erinnyes or Eumenides^ or the Venerable God-
desses, as they were usually designated at Athens^ can
hardly be understood^ so long as we comprise those
beings under the class of divinities attached to individual
circumstances of life or states of mind (as Ate^ Eris^
and many others). On the contrary there are a great
many traces in the worship of those deities which shew
that the Erinnyes^ in the system of religions that had
taken root in the different districts of Greece^ were
neither more nor less than a particular form of the great
> Agam. 729. Soph. El. 1080.
Eur. Orest. 1886. Med. 1266.
s Ag. 631. 964. cf. 1090. 1662.
** On Zcfivol, as proper name of
the Furies at Athens, of. Osann ad
Philemon, p. 162, and Meineke <id
Menandr, p. 846, with reference to
Creozer, SymboL iv. p. 827.
THE BRINNYES. 161
Goddesses who rule the Earth and the lower world and
send up the blessings of the year^ namely Demeier and
Cora. This must be understood to mean that these
deities^ so mild and benign on the one hand^ are withal
—either, in mythological connexion, by means of adverse
divinities, or, in more ethic conception, by reason of
human crimes and misdeeds which confound the very
ordinances of nature — ^perverted into resentful, destruc-
tive deities. In very ancient times there existed in
Greece a widely-extended cultus of the Thelpusian, or
Tilphossian Demeter-ErinnySy and in the time of Pausa-
nias it still maintained its station at Thelpusa in Arcadia,
where Demeter was worshipped as the Goddess of Earth
indignant against Poseidon, the God of Water (the God
who deluges the earth in winter with floods and tor-
rents). Under the same form she was designated at
another place in Arcadia, Phigaha, by the name of the
Black Goddess. There are evident traces of this idea of
the Demeter-Erinnys to be found in various localities,
but the point where it appears most prominently is in the
fundamental characteristics of the old legend concerning
the Cadmean Kings of Thebes, and its antiquity is
evinced by the very circumstance of its being contained in
those original outlines of the mythus. I will endeavour
to delineate the grand and simple features of this legend
in such a way as to render them clear to the attentive
reader. Recent investigations have paved the way, and
scarcely anything more is required than to combine the
results already obtained, in order to recover those pri-
meval conceptions from which a considerable portion of
tragic Poetry originally emanated.
81. Thebes, as the old legend goes, the fair city in
the green, irriguous, fruitful plain, was a favourite abode
162 CULTUS OF THE ERINNYES.
of the Goddess of Earth and her daughter^ but withal a
memorial of her inevitable resentment when injured.
Demeter and Cora^ mother and daughter^ founded
Thebes/ Jupiter having made a present of the land to
Cora on her marriage with Hades f and they had a
joint-founder in Cadmus (Harmonia's Consort), who is
now ascertained to have been regarded by the earliest
Greeks as a God of form and order, a Hermes who
brings harmony and consistency out of confusion. But
before he could found Thebes, Cadmus had to slay the
DragoUy begotten by Ares the God of War with Erinnys
Tilphossa,^ i, e, the resentful, offended Demeter wor-
shipped at Tilphossa: and from the sowing of this
dragon^s teeth springs the new Cadmean race of men.
This dragon, which is a main figure in the Theban
mythology, is obviously symboUcal of the rancour che-
rished by a gloomy power of nature. Demeter is
Erinnys even before she is irritated by mankind, and,
as is the case in all profound Theogonies, Evil is con-
ceived to have had a previous existence in a higher
world and a more universal course of nature before it
bore fruit in the human race. To the men of early
ages there seemed to reside in the eternal powers of
nature, from the very beginning of thmgs, an aspect
calculated to excite fear and horror : if in the genial and
fruitful season of the year all seems appeased and tran-
quillized, yet in the winter-storms and ever recurring
terrors of nature the suppressed malevolence bursts forth
anew. The gracious consort of the celestial God, the
mother whose womb teeming with blessings gives birth
to the gentle child Cora, is withal the hideous malevo-
lent bride of hostile powers.
' Eurip. Phoen. 694. Schol. ^ Euphorion in the SchoU.
3 SchoL Antigon. 126.
CULTUS OF THE ERINNYES. 163
The settlers in the thick forests about Dirce must
have been first acquainted with Demeter under her
character of Erinnys^ and could not have recognised in
her the gentle bountiful Goddess until after they had
succeeded in draining the marshes, clearing away the
forests, and converting them into productive fields.
This latter era is represented in the person of Cadmus^s
son Polydorus (the Rich in Blessing), with whom the
nocturnal Goddess of the Depth (Nycteis, daughter of
Nycteus son of Chthonius, identical perhaps with
Demeter-Europa), was united in marriage and shared
the blessings of her favour, as Demeter with lasion.
Similarly the daughters of Cadmus and their sons un-
fold to us a system of natural Gods, all of whom are
only di£Perent aspects of one and the same Dionysus.
But although the dragon is slain, still its wrathful spite*
continues to influence the whole course of the Theban
Mythic History. Cadmus himself, in order to appease
it, had to serve the dragon^s father (in conformity with
the law concerning bloodshed) for a term of eight
years/ and is said to have been himself metamorphosed
into a dragon and to have instigated barbarian nations
(the Encheleans) to ravage his native country. Con-
tinual vicissitudes of exalted fortune and de6p misfortune
are characteristic features in the legend of the Cadmean
kings, and are largely displayed by Pindar in his second
Olympian Ode, as the destiny of the race even down to
the history of his own times.
82. But with Lams the ruling agency of Demeter
Erinnys begins to manifest itself more as the peculiar
destiny of the Cadmean family. The original curse
attaching to the race begets parricide, incest, fratricide;
and the order of the physical world being turned upside
^ fA^vtfia hpcMovToS' ^ Cf. also Phot. Lex. "KaJbyxla viicrj.
164
CULTUS OF THE EBINNYES.
down along with that of the moral worlds barrenness^
famine and pestilence go side by side with them.
(Edipus is altogether a victim of Erinnys^ bom to ruin
his whole race by his curse. According to the common
legend^ he was fostered on the inhospitable mount
Cithaeron^ called by Hermesianax the abode of the
Erinnyes;^ in like manner as of Orestes it was told that
he was bom on the festival-day of Demeter-Erinnys.^
But the end of (Edipus's life was in perfect accordance
with the commencement of it^ the main idea in the old
legend beings that the grievously ai&icted (Edipus, after
the fulfilment of his allotted doom, was to find rest in
the sanctuary of Demeter-Erinnys, the deity who had
persecuted him through life, but was now at last recon-
ciled to him. According to the Theban legend it was
the Eteonic Temple of Demeter (unquestionably a
Demeter-Erinnys) that gave him shelter f which Tem-
ple was situated by mount Citlupron at the southern
boimdary of the Theban domain. And no doubt the
meaning of the oracle was, that (Edipus was to find a
burial-place on the frontiers of the country: as a parri-
cide it was not allowable for him to lie within the
confines of his home, and yet (the reason for which will
appear in the sequel) he was to be buried not &r from
his native land.^
83. After the calamity and overthrow of Thebes,
scattered bands of Cadmeans were the means of diffusing
their native traditions, as well as those of (Edipus's
burial-place, far and wide, and constantly in close con-
nexion with the cultus of the Erinnyes. To Attica they
* In Pa. Plutarch de FUm. 2, 8.
* Ptolem. Heph. in Phot. p. 247.
H.
* Schol. (Ed, CoL 91. The tale
related there is partly fictitious, in
order to account for (Edipus's tomh
coming into a Temple of Demeter.
* See Soph. (Ed. Ck>L 399. 785.
cf. (Ed. T. 422.
CULTUS OF THE EBINNYBS.
165
were carried perhaps by the Cadmean family of the
Gephyrseans^ who were received and naturaUzed there ;
and several traces of them existed in different parts.
In the first place^ there was shown in Athens itself a
tomb of CEdipus in the sanctuary of the Semnse between
the Areopagus and the citadel/ In the next place^ we
find in an Attic demus (the Colonus Hippitis), together
with another sepulchre of CEdipus^ the entire group of
that cultus from which the leading ideas in the Theban
mythi are derived. Here too^ as at the Arcadian Thel-
pusa, the God of the waters, Poseidon Hippius, is
worshipped in juxtaposition with the Semnae/ who,
beyond doubt, were originally identical with Demeter
and her daughter worshipped at that very same place.
For whereas the legend as handled by Sophocles assigns
to CEdipus a resting-place in the sanctuary of the
Semnse or Eumenides at Colonus,^ an Attic collector of
legends^ tells of his applying as a suppliant for protec-
tion to Demeter of Colonus. Euripides makes Poseidon
Hq^pius the sheltering deity.' Opposed to Demeter
Erinnys in the service of the Colonians was probably
the blooming verdant Demeter (Eu^Xooc), whose temple
mentioned by Sophocles (1600) must be conceived in
the vicinity, but on a different hill firom that of Colonus.
In other respects also everything on this spot implied
connexion and intercourse with the infernal world. It
was an ancient notion^^ that the entrance to the abyss of
Tartarus was enclosed with a brazen thrediold, and
• See Pans. i. 28. 7. Val. Max. v.
8. ext. 3, where the locality is
clearly defined.
' At Capua too there was an
cBdeg Neptwni cum Cerere Erinny,
Gruter p. 196, 16, if rightly ex-
plained by Rcinesius.
^ Also according to ApoUod. ilL
6,9.
^ Androtion in Schol. Od. xi.
271.
» Phsen. 1721.
»o Hesiod Theog. 811. D. viii.
15.
168 CULTU8 OF THE ERINNYES.
employed towards the end of his life> so that it was
first produced on the stage by his grandson^ the younger
Sophocles^ 01. 94. 3.^ (Edipus arrives^ blinded and
exiled^ an emblem of the deepest misery, at Attica :
there he finds himself unexpectedly in the grove of the
Semnse^ which the God foretold him was to be the goal
of all his sufierings. Although the horror that seizes on
all who hear his name is near causing his immediate
expulsion from the country, yet he presently meets
with compassion, and the hospitable reception prof-
fered him is an act all the more generous, as the
oracles, on the strength of which he promises the Athe-
nians increased blessings from their reception of him,
exhibit but dim predictions devoid of clear and definite
meaning. The action is now rapidly unfolded ; mighty
by virtue of the salvation he is to impart after death,
secure by virtue of Athens' hospitality, he repels all the
violent importunity and unworthy entreaties ¥rith which
he is assailed by Creon of Thebes and his own son Poly-
nices, in their efibrts to secure for themselves the sal-
vation expected from his grave. Exalted even in his life-
time above this throng of human passions, he triumphs
over those who with selfish eagerness are bent upon
winning him over to themselves, and with subUme com-
posure and enthusiasm welcomes death, thenceforth to
assume the character of a mysterious power, working
' It is remarkable that, as Ms- this his favourite oompo8ition,where-
chylus admitted three actors for the as the other plays of later date were
first time in his last trilogy, the ' composed more rapidly than the
Orestea, so again Sophocles did not ! earlier ones, since he is said to have
add B, fourth till the end of his ca
reer, in the (Edipns at Colonus.
The reason why the metre in this
written 32 dramas in 28 years, prior
to the Antigone, and 81 dramas in
84 years, q/!(6r the Antigone. Arga-
play is more carefully attended to ; ments drawn from the form are
than in other later ones of Sophocles | often employed in the present day
is sufficiently explained by the espe
cial pains bestowed by the Poet on
with too great confidence, as though
they rested on a physical necessity.
CULTUS OF THE ERINNYES. 169
mightily for never-failing weal to the country in which
he had obtained rest and reconciliation with the Erinnyes.
Thus is this tragedy the triumph of misery and suffering
over human strength and arrogance^ a transfiguration
by which that which in human estimation seems lament-
able and piteous is exalted into god-like sublimity^ and
death itself is invested with a mysterious glory ; a tra-
gedy wherein, moreover, every one who has any feeling
for the language of the heart, will recognise in many
legible characters, not haply a tale foreign to the Poet,
but his own feelings at a period of life when he had
experienced much that was painful from his own imme-
diate kindred, and was looking forward to death as a
longed-for time of rest. True it is, that in the compo-
sition of this tragedy there is much that deviates widely
from all the rest, the solution, so to speak, not being
at the conclusion, but pervading the whole, almost as in
the last piece of an iEschylean trilogy ; still, the (Edipus
at Colonus is, by virtue of the dramatic development
of morally-religious ideas, — ^not from the merely i^cces-
sory political and patriotic allusions, — a Tragedy in the
highest sense of the word.^
85. Thus the Demeter-Erinnys has again received
her victim QEdipus to her bosom: but more severe is the
doom of Thebes, the city once so beloved of Grods.
Against it the Goddess conducts ''AS/oacrroc, the Inevi-
table, a male personification of Adrastea-Nemesis, to
whom Adrastus is also said to have erected various
temples. He rides the terrible Thelpusaic steed Arion,'
in whose name Ares the fieither of the Dragon reappears.
* Cf. § 97. The mysticism occur-
ring in the (Edipus of ^schylus
(Eustratius on Arist. Eth. Nicom.
iii. 2.) would also probably refer to
Demeter-Erinnys, who perhaps was
there made more clearly prominent
than in the Eumenides.
' Antimachus in Pans. viii. 25,
8, 4. Cf. also Schol. in Aristoph.
Comoed. Ed. Dind. Vol. iii. p. 418.
170 CULTUS OF THE KRINNYES.
This Arion is altogether a symbolical creature connected
with the cultus of the Tilphossian or Thelpusai'c De-
meter.* The genuine popular legend of Demeter-Erinnys
herself^ how, as Poseidon^s indignant and wrathful bride,
she gave birth to it, was gleaned by Pausanias in the
Arcadian Thelpusa. The Iliad touches on this legend
with its wonted delicacy (xxiii. 846) ; the Thebaid,
which was composed not long after the Homeric age,
makes Poseidon and Erinnys, at the Boeotian fountain
Tilphossa, the parents of Arion. Later writers mostly
endeavour to soften down the harshness and singularity
of this legend, and ascribe the birth of Arion either
to Demeter under the assumed form of an Erinnys,'
or to Earth, occupying in mystic legends the place
of Demeter,' or to one of the Erinnyes/ Arion
is called, by the same epithet as Poseidon himself, a
black-maned horse ;* whence also Adrastus himself was
called Kyanippus, an appellation early converted by My-
thology, after its usual fashion, into a son of Adrastus.
He is the fleetest of all steeds, and therefore must natu-
rally be victorious in every race, as in the aywv cele-
brated by Adrastus and the Argives previous to the ex-
pedition in honour of the righteously-dispensing Jove
(the Nf/uEtoc Zcvc). Adrastus, the inevitable Avenger,
mounted on this black-maned and fleetest of steeds, and
heading the expedition of the Argive army against sinftil
Thebes in the name and by the mandate of the guardian
Goddess of Thebes, now appearing in the character of
an .Erinnys, is an imagination of a quite antique bold-
ness and grandeur, by the side of which the Iliad and
Adrastus, who had a 'Hpaov oracle iniroio Kokovds* (Schol. (Ed.
at Colonus, was said to have drawn C. 67. 712. Etyin. M. s. v. 'hmia.)
up his horses there on his flight
(Elfiara \vypa <j)€p(ov crvv 'Aptiovt
Kvavoxairj), Thebais in Paus. viii.
26, 6) ; and that is the reason, per-
haps, why Colonus is called in the old
^ Apollodorus, with Tzetzes.
' Antimachus.
* Hesych. s. v. 'Aptmv,
* *Ap€io>v KvavoxcuTTfs in Hcs.
Shield 120, and in the Thebaid.
CULTUS OF THE ERINNYES. 171
Odyssee must evidently appear as the far later^ and by
comparison, quite modem fruits of a spirit now become
much more gentle and subdued.
This time, however, vengeance does not overtake the
transgressors at Thebes ; possibly because, as ^schylus
represents it, the assailants themselves are heaven-storm-
ing boasters, and Nemesis, though sure to follow crime,
is usually late; or because, as Euripides relates — un-
questionably from a very ancient tradition — the youth
Menoeceus ^ gave himself up a voluntary sacrifice to the
Dragon, in whom the anger of Demeter-Erinnys was
revived. Here we learn, that by the walls of Thebes
there was a temple sacred to the Dragon, having in it a
deep cavern said to have been the dragon^s lair.' No
doubt at a later period expiatory sacrifices were o£Pered
there from time to time. — From that delay, the sons
were the first to su£Per for the sins of their fiathers.
Adrastus returns, Uke a IIofi'T?^ in the second genera-
tion, and this time under better auspices : the 'ETrtyoi^oe
fulfil the work allotted to their fathers, and Thersander
the son of Polynices comes forward as an avenger, a
TiaafAtvog, an appellation which in this case again, just
as in that of the son of Orestes, and of Alcmseon's
daughter Tisiphone, from beuig the epithet of the father
became the proper name of the son.
So intimate is the intellectual coherency which the
men of earUer generations perceived in this primeval
history of Thebes, — so powerful was the Idea in that
age, that it found no difQculty in appropriating and
assimilating to itself the external facts. For it is scarcely
^ MevoiKtvs is the self'Sacrificing
Home-stayer, who does not follow
the counsel ^>€vy* a>r raxurra rrjs
b*airaXXaxBols x6ov6i (Phoen. 986)»
in opposition to those who, in the
I 2
Laphystian cultus, avoid sacrifice hy
flight. Of. §65.
7 Phoen. 945, 1024, 1335. Phi-
lostr. Imagg. 1, 4.
172 CULTUS OF THE ERINNYE8.
possible for any one utterly to deny the Argive expedi-
tion^ however little we are warranted to regard Adrastus
and Amphiaraus as real persons. Thebes did really lie
desolate till it was raised anew by the Boeotians ; merely
a subm*b below the old town, called Hypothebes, existed
in the intervening period. At the same time there were
Cadmeans in the most widely remote parts of Greece,
and under the most various names.
86. This episodical exposition was designed to shew
how Demeter, as a punient power, as Erinnys, is the pre-
dominant principle in the Theban legends. At the
same time one sees quite clearly how it was, that subse-
quently, when the mention of Demeter, as a wrathftd god-
dess, was shunned with a feeling of dread, the once widely-
extended cultus of the Tilphossian or Delphusian Deme-
ter-Erinnys came to be obscured, and the Erinnyes, as
independent divinities, succeeded in their place. Hence
in later times there are only isolated traces to be found
of their original identity. For instance, at Phlya, an Attic
borough, along with ancient temples to the divinities of
Earth, we find that Demeter the beneficent, Zeus the
God of possession, Athena Tithrone, Cora the first-bom,
and the Semnse were worshipped in conjunction. More-
over, in the sanctuary of the Semnse at Athens the sta-
tues of these divinities were placed with those of Pluto,
Hermes, and Earth (a fact attested by Fausanias) ; so
that here, if we take the Semnse for Demeter and Cora,
the usual cycle of the chthonian deities is complete.
At PotnisB in the Theban territory, besides Demeter
and Cora, who are pre eminently called Ilori'tac (although
Erinnys is also addressed by that title, Eum. 911), the
Potniades were worshipped ;* but that is the designation
* Pans. ix. 8, 1. em. by PoreoD.
CULTUS OF THE EKINNYES.
173
given by Euripides to the Erinnyes.^ Moreover between
the sacrificial and religious rites of the Potniae — to give
that title to the Eleusinian deities — and those of the
SemnaB in Attica there are several very striking points of
coincidence; for instance^ the Narcissus^ the Amereal
flower consecrated to Demeter and Cora/ forms also the
garland of the Eumenides/ the grand-daughters of Phor-
cys ; and again^ at Athens the Erinnyes were clothed in
blood-red garments (Eum. 982)^ and so also at Syracuse
Demeter and Cora^ as Thesmophorian Goddesses, wore
purple robes, which were put on by persons about to
take some dreadful oath.* From the above combina-
tions I think there can be no doubt that — although
indeed of itself the Erinnys, that feeling of deep affi-ont,
is of a divine nature — ^the Erinnyes first acquired a
noted and extensive cultus, and altogether more reality
and personality, in consequence of both the great chtho-
nian and infernal deities, from whom come life and pros-
perity as well as ruin and death to mankind, being con*
ceived asoffended and angry beings, wherever mortal deeds
have violated those sacred and eternal laws of nature.
87. The circumstance also of the Erinnyes being re-
garded, after the appeasement of their wrath, as benevo-
lent, bountiful deities, cannot be perfectly understood
except in this view. The name of Eumenides, implying
this, was, strictly speaking, native at Sicyon,*^ not at
Athens, where, under the title of Semrue, was comprised
^ Orest. 812. Euripides however
calls the Erinnyes especially Pot-
niades, as mad and maddening God-
desses, and in that sense the expres-
sion is frequently used hy the tra-
gedians. This I explain from the
circumstance of their having posses-
nion of the Potnian Fountain, the
waters of which caused phrenzy. It
is mentioned hy Pausanias, and was
prohahly spoken of in the Glaucu^
Potnieus.
' Creuzer ad Plotin. de pulcr.
Prsepar. p. 48.
^ According to Euphorion ; supr.
§83.
* Plut.Dio.56. Ehert. SixcXiwy,
p. 32.
* Pans. ii. 11, 4. with Siehelis'
Note.
174
CULTUS OP THE ERINNYES.
the collective being of those Goddesses. Hence it is
that iEschylus, who emphatically calls them a^fivaiy never
mentions the name of Eumenides^ closely as it bears on
his subject^ but particularly delights in designating the
mild aspect of the Goddesses by the epithet A^^poviq^
whilst succeeding Tragedians prefer the title of Eumen-
ides^ which had in the meantime become more familiar/
and is applied by Sophocles as a customary one to the
Goddesses of Colonus.^ This title of Eumenides^ there-
fore, as well as that of ' the White Goddesses/ usual in
Arcadia (§ 62), is not, we may venture to assert, ade-
quately explained by the meaning of the Erinnyes only
as above developed; the curse of offended parents, or
its equivalent, being in no way convertible by the removal
of it into a benign, bountiful deity. For a satisfactory
explanation of the term we must go back to the funda-
mental ideas in the chthonian cultus, which represent
death and ruin, as well as life and welfare, as emanating
from one and the same source^
The transmutation of the Erinnyes into Eumenides
formed in Greece an essential appurtenance to the legend
of Orestes, The persecution of Orestes from country to
^ V. 361. especially 998.
» w. 946. 984.
' The Grammarians (Harpocra-
tion, Fhotius, Snidas, besides the
argument to the Eumenides) state
the purport of the \£schylean tra-
gedy to be the metamorphosis of
the Erinnyes into Eumenides. On
this account an hiatus has been sup-
posed after v. 982, and in this pas-
sage it is thought Minerva gave the
Erinnyes the appellation of Eu-
menides. Of such an hiatus, how-
ever, there is no trace, and the in-
sertion of the idea proposed would
destroy the whole sense of the pas-
sage. But still less is it credible
that iBschylus, who so frequently
made use of the name of Erinnyes,
should have shunned mentioning
that of the Eumenides out of reli-
gious awe (Beisig Enarr. (Ed. Col.
p. 35. de part, iv p. 124). After
what has been said above, ought it
not to be cansidered a matter of
doubt, whether iBschylus himself
gave the title of EVMENIAE2 to
this third play of the Orestea, espe-
cially as the Chorus, from which
the play bears its name, retains
the mask of the Erinnyes to the
very conclusion (944), and was not,
as has been supposed, metamor-
phosed externally into Eumenides ?
CULTUS OF THE ERINNYES.
175
country by his Mother's Erinnyes^ in the place of human
vengeancej was no invention of poet or priest, but a
Greek national tradition, which migrated betimes along
with the cultus of the Erinnyes (§ 62), and could scarcely
have been unknown even to Horner.^ Just in the same
way the metamorphosis of the Erinnyes into Eumenides
was attached in the national legend, the existence of
which among the Mycenseans themselves we have already
shown (§ 62), to the liberation of Orestes from blood-
guiltiness ; the deity who had persecuted Orestes now
becomes a boimteous being to him, and he himself is
made a saint, so to speak, like CEdipus (§ 83).
iEschylus has passed over in silence this reconciliation of
Orestes with the Erinnyes. He contents himself with
rescuing him from their power by the sentence of
acquittal passed by the Areopagus, although in reahty
it was customary for propitiatory sacrifices to follow
upon that acquittal (§ 67). iEschylus, however, does
not let the wrath of the Erinnyes reach its highest pitch
till after this sentence, and educes the mild nature of
those divinities by the charm of Minerva's eloquence,
and her promise of a cultus dedicated to them ; where-
upon their benedictory wishes, still without any mention
of Orestes, are bestowed wholly on the city of Athens.
The patriotic and poetical views, which gave this par-
* From Od. iii. 806, the incorrect
inference has heen drawn, that the
Poet was not acquainted with the
legend of the persecution of Orestes
hy the Erinnyes. In that passage
the tale, in compliance with the in-
quiry of Telemachus, is continued
by Nestor only down to the arrival
of Menelaus at the funeral feast of
JEgisthus and ClytaBumestra. Now
it was at this very funeral banquet.
at the nocturnal collection of the
bones from the ashes of the rogus,
that the Erinnyes fell on Orestes,
according to the relation of Euri-
pides (Or. 40. 398), which is appa-
rently derived from very ancient
sources. Owing to the loss of so
many old epic poems, Stesichorus
(Schol. Eur. Or. 268) is the earliest
authority for the persecution of
Orestes by the Erinnyes.
176
CULTU8 OF THE EBINNYES.
ticular direction to the procedure of the play^ are easily
explained (cf. § 99.)
88. This benedictory hymn of the propitiated Erinnyes
exhibits a marked allusion to the affinity of these God-
desses with the chthonian beneficent deities^ since it
would be a fruitless attempt to explain its meaning from
what may be called the allegorical notion of the Erinnyes.
True it is^ indeed^ that in the belief of the ancient
Greeks the parents' blessing begets prosperity, as their
curse brings niin;* but surely no one will educe the
notion of beneficent beings from that of divinities pre-
siding over the parental curse. It is evident rather that
with iEschylus the Semnse are higher powers, chthonian
divinities derived from the Titanian world and exercising
their influence in both directions, as Erinnyes for destruc-
tion, and as evfieveig for weal and blessing ; just as the
realm of death was also regarded as the source of life,
whence the funeral obsequies were termed yBviaia. In
the above-mentioned hymn of blessing, the Eumenides
dispense their bounties exactly in the same order as
Pallas had required of them.* They promise the country *
first of all a copious produce from the soil (884), and
what was of great importance to Attica, abounding as
it did in olive and fig-trees, the thriving of the fruit-
trees (898) ; then the prolific increase of cattle, with the
wish that the breeding of stock enriching the land
might do honour to the bounties of Hermes and other
Gods of herds (906). By virtue of their prayers and
blessings they remove premature death and celibacy —
for they were regarded also as Marriage-deities, and
^ Cf. Lobeck Aglaopbam. p. 635.
' Only in the vfiuos evKTr}pios
they naturally omit the object de-
aired by Pallas, v. 870. t&v dvo-o-e-
PoVVTCaV b* €ltf^p<OT€pa TTcXoify
' but the ungodly mayest thou ra-
ther bear away as corpses to the
burial' (by the €#e<^/)a, funerU
elatio).
CULTUS OF THE SEMNiB. 177
were invoked for the blessing of children." At the same
time they promise to prevent diminution and loss of
population by civil factions and riots. But in order that
all this may not be regarded as a mere flourish of words
and pious wishes^ Pallas herself repeatedly ascribes to
the Erinnyes an actual power over these matters
(855.912)/ and expresses it as her anticipation^ that on
their descent into their sacred cavern they will withhold
the harmful beneath the earth and send up the whole-
some and profitable (961).
As this latter part of the Poem has especial reference
to the Temple of the Semnae at Athens, it will be
requisite, for the understanding of it, to make a few
observations on the locality and religious rites of that
sanctuary.
c. The Religious Service of the SemntB at Athens.
89. Athens was regarded in Greece as the proper
seat of the service of the Venerable Goddesses ;* and, in
fact, it seems nowhere to have attained such publicity of
reputation, and to have been so intimately incorporated
with political institutions. One side of their Temple
rested on the base of the hill of Ares,' whose cultus
stood in close union with that of the Erinnyes (§ 67);
a union also manifested in the Theban legend of Ares,
as the husband of Demeter-Erinnys (§ 81), and no
' 799 and Schol. cf. Choeph. 480.
^ The expresHion einKpcuv€iu used
here of the Erinnyes (910, 927), im-
plies a persevering agency, like that
ascribed to Moipa, qniet in its ope-
ration but taking effect in due sea-
son : the same as Kpalv€iv, to resolve
upon and carry an object. See par- 1
I 3
ticularly Prom. 610. Agam. 360.
{€Trpa^€v as €Kpav€u), Eum. 729.
The oracles being withal decrees of
Fate, one may say irv66KpavTa
(Agam. 1228), for 7rv66xprjaTa.
^ Dio Cass. bdii. 14.
' Meursius, Areopag, c. ii.
178
CULTUS OF THE SEMN^
doubt founded on the earliest history of the Grecian
cultus. The other side lay towards the more accessible
quarter of the Acropolis, as is evident from the accounts
of the massacre of the Cylonian conspirators at the altars
of the Semnse in their descent from the citadel. Hence
^schylus is enabled to place the Temple of the Semnae
near the palace of Erechtheus (tt/ooc SofAoig 'l£,peydiu)gy
857), an expression by which he designates the whole
Acropolis tenanted by the earliest kings of Athens.
Besides the low hearths or fire-places {icFyapaig, 773.
cf. 108.) in this Temple, there was a chasm* like that
at Colonus, through which the Goddesses are said to
have returned, after the trial of Orestes, to their sub-
terranean abode. In all probability there were also
carved wooden images of the Erinnyes here. For these
images the purple robes were designed, which were con-
secrated to them upon the institution of their cultus by
Minerva (v. 982. cf. § 86). In after times there was
seen here^ a statue of an Erinnys by Calamis, the con-
temporary of Phidias, in conjunction with two others by
Scopas, an artist of the next generation. On this
ground Folemo asserted there were at Athens three
statues of the Semnse; Phylarchus, however, who only
took those by Scopas into account, spoke but of two.'
According to Fausanias there was nothing of the terrific
in these statues, but still they may have exhibited that
mixture of pleasure and horror so profoundly expressed
in the so-called Rondaninian head of Medusa.
The cultus of the Semnae was held by the State in
such high honour, that especial managers were appointed
to superintend the sacrifices ('If/ooTroioi,) nominated from
' X^fJM, K€vOfi<i>v, OaKaiMi, 772,
958, 961, 977, 989. Eur. El.
1280.
' See Osaim in the Annali deW
Inatit, di Corr, arch, 1830, p. 149.
» Schol. (Ed. Col. 39.
AT ATHENS.
179
the Athenian people by the Areopagas^ which presided
over that service/ At the processions and sacrifices
in honour of the Semnae the family of the HesychidtB
took the lead, their name, 'the quiet ones/ implying
the great solemnity and stillness (ev^ry/ica) necessary to
be observed throughout the service of the Dread God-
desses* — for the invention of a hero Hesychus for their
mythic progenitor, whose chapel was situated in the
vicinity of the Temple of the Semnae, near the Felasgian
wall of the Acropolis, does not detract from the real
meaning of the name.^ ^schylus makes no mention of
these Hesychidae : he puts the Areopagites at the head
of the procession (964). and they are joined by the
female attendants who have the care of the old image
of Pallas (978). It is remarkable that we find here, as
in the service at Phlya, the combination of the Dread
Goddesses with Minerva ; whether it be founded in old
systems of deities, or be attributable merely to the en-
deavours of the Athenians to make their tutelary Goddess
the protectress of other adventitious worships. This
numerous train of attendants is accompanied by other
women, as well as maidens and aged matrons (981).
The omission of males has been objected against, but
without good reason, for in this cultus females were
especially employed. Thus Callimachus, in a celebrated
epigram,^ designates the females in the family of the
Hesychidae as those who, in the capacity of public
Priestesses, offered to the Eumenides their wineless
libations and sacrifices.^ The sacrifices were, sometimes
♦• Ulpian on DemostU. c. Mid. p.
552, R.
• Eum. 988, (Ed. C. 129, 489,
Schol.
« Cf. C. L. Bossier, de gent, et
fanUL Att, sacerdot, p. 17.
7 Schol. (Ed. C. 489.
® Yet, according to Philo, qiiod
omn, prob, liber, § 20, both males
and females (but onlyj^ee persons)
were employed at this procession.
180 CULTUS OF THE SEMN^
at leasts performed in the night-time (108); the Erinnyes
themselves are children of night : on that account the
procession was by torch-light^ and the torches were
probably thrown together at the conclusion into the
caTem; and to this action the words of Pallas probably
allude :
(.Iq tovq evepOe Kal kcltw y(QovoQ tottovq* v. 977.
So likewise at Argos they threw burning torches into
a cavern in honour of Cora.*
On the arrival of the procession at the Temple, victims,
especially black sheep,' were slaughtered in the manner
usual in the sacrifices to infernal deities : the blood, it
seems, was suflfered to run into the chasm (cf. v. 960).
The flesh of the victims was probably cut in pieces, and,
as was the case in the cultus of the Erinnyes at Cerynea,'
entirely consumed by fire. This custom of dissecting
and burning the victims was still, with certain modifi-
cations and in diflferent degrees, generally practised
throughout Greece in sacrifices to the dead, to heroes,
to infernal and Meilichian powers (§ 55). The Olympian
Gods in their serene sublimity require only the sweet
odour and steam &om the bones and fat of the victims,
whereas the chthonian £eings covet a portion of the
flesh and blood, and demand the entire victim for them-
selves. At the same time, water was poured on the
ground, perhaps, as at Colonus, at three pourings &om
three different vessels.'* The water was not mixed with
wine (vri<l>a\ia), but with honey (/ucXcic/oara), and no
doubt also with soft assuaging oil. In the cultus of
the Black Demeter, also an Erinnys, at Fhigalia, they
' Paiw. ii. 22, 4.
2 Cf. § 68. and } 62.
3 §62.
* Soph. 469. sqq. cf. 167.
AT ATHENS.
181
poured oil upon greasy wool;* and, apparently for a
similar reason iEsehylus calls the hearths of the SemnsB
^a seat resplendent with fat' (Xi7ra/oo0povoc v. 778),
The thrice nine sprigs of oUve which were set up for the
Eumenides at Colonus^ are also to be explained in this
way. Similarly, in offerings to the dead, there were
libations of oil, besides honey and milk, as early as the
Homeric age — a practice which was still in use in the
times of the Roman Emperors/
d, JEschylus*8 Conception of the Erinnyes, and tJieir
external Appearance.
90. Such were the impressions, derived partly &om
the reading of the old Poets, and partly from the con«*
temptation of the religious ceremonies in the Temples
of the Erinnyes, which, with the modifications which his
own station, as thinker and beUever, necessarily brought
with it, determined iEschylus's view and representation
of those beings. With Demeter and Cora the Erinnyes
could no longer appear to the Poet identical, since the
former belong to the family of Zeus, whilst the latter
had been already appropriated by the earlier poetry to
the old Titanian world : this contrast between the old
Titanian Rule and the Olympian Gods had been long
established by poetry, and had quite passed over into the
intellectual life of the Greeks. At the same time, the
conception of Demeter and Cora had been moulded into
such a mild and humane form, that, except in the
mjTsteries, people shunned with extreme caution all
mention of a Demeter-Erinnys, whereas very numerous
titles extolled the graciousness and benignity of the
Mother-Goddess.
^ Lana sucidct. Pans. viii. 42, 6.
« Soph. 483.
7 II. xxiiL 170. iEsch. Pers. 609.
NorisiuB ad Cenot. Pisana, Dissert,
iii. c 5. p. 395.
182 ^SCHYLUS'S CONCEPTION OF THE ERINNYES,
The contrast between the elder and younger race of
Crods, which, though not deeply rooted in the Grecian
cultus, had at that time acquired the highest significance,
rests mainly, as expressed m the contemporaries of
iEschylus and in the Poet himself, on the connexion
between an absolute natural necessity sluA dkfree agency.
As heaven and earth and sun and moon, which also
belong to the old race of Gods, manifest their agency
in eternal and immutable duration, without intermission
and unswervingly, so are the Erinnyes also to be re-
garded as a natural law of the moral world: without
regard to the particular circumstances of the act, without
respect to person and situation, they fasten upon him
who has burst the sacred bonds of consanguinity by the
commission of an outrage like that of Orestes. This
mode of comprehending the Erinnyes, as, so to say, the
dark aspect of Themis, was quite in the spirit of that
speculative theology in which the genius of ^schylus
was nurtured. By the Erinnyes, said Pythagoras, the
impure souls, separated from the pure ones, were held
in indissoluble bonds;^ nay, were the sim himself to
leave his course, said Heraclitus, the Erinnyes, the
sworn confederates of Dike, would know where to find
him ;^ for Plato tells us it is in accordance with Themis
for the sun to pursue his allotted path. In answer to
the question of the Oceanides, Tic ovv avayKrig affrlv
oiaKO(Trp6<pogy Prometheus replies, Moc/oai rpiixop^oi
jivriixovaq r 'Epipveg (v. 514, sq.) Here, as also in the
Eumenides (361) and in Sophocles (Aj. 1390), it is
noticed as especially characteristic of the Erinnyes, that
they suffer neither the laws which they maintain, nor the
outrages by which those laws are violated, to vanish from
* Ding. I^iaert. viii. 32.
^ Plutarch de exit, 11. and de Itide, 4iS.
AND THEIR EXTERNAL APPEARANCE. 183
their memory, and accordingly they visit the sins of the
fathers even on the children and grand-children (Eum.
894 et al.) But if in human life the Erinnys manifests
itself particularly in the conscience, and consequently,
must needs assume an individual form, varying with the
temper of different individuals, still the ancients, in their
mode of contemplation, which had come down to them
from the earliest times, and of what they could not
divest themselves, conceive this evil conscience merely as
a symptom of the power of the Erinnys, and regard
the Erinnys herself as an external, actually existing,
daemonic power of universal agency. The Olympian
Grods, on the contrary, related from the very first to the
tribes of Greece, the protectors of divers cities and pos-
sessors of large temples, manifoldly interwoven with a
complicated history, have so many motives for favour
and disfavour, inclination and aversion, and in their
whole agency refer so much to specific individual cir-
cumstances that they are incapable of representing those
universal laws. These are manifested in them much
the same as in human life, united with the most multi-
farious aims, which are indeed dependent on, but not
produced by them. . At the same time, from the very
circumstance of their having a more individual, more
human character, they have a nearer insight into the
special circumstances of each case; they bend and modify
the stiff inflexible rule of the extrinsically right, which
else, inexorable as a physical law, would overtake and
smite the wrong-doer, and apply it with an humane
consideration, according to the intrinsic character of the
specific deed. Hence with iEschylus it is their office to
make ordinances and institutions, such as the ApoUinary
purifications and the court of Areopagus, which have the
effect in certain cases of averting the naturally inexorable
and irrespective Erinnys. Even argumenia ad hominem,
184 ^SCHYLUS'S CONCEPTION OF THE ERINNYES
many of which are addressed by Apollo to Athena^
(such as 'I will always fiirther the interests of thy city/
&c.) do not appear to j^schylas at all repugnant to the
nature of those Gk)ds. But the compromise which the
Erinnyes make of their resentment in consideration of
the institution of their cultus is quite another matter;
their cultus is a token, a pledge of the further exercise
of their rights upon earth. Thus in fact j^schylua
everywhere maintains this contrast, and he appUes it
with the consistency and right consequence which he
never fails to observe^ and not merely in this tragedy
but everywhere.
91. But with all this, it is j^schylus^s conviction
that the conflict between those ancient orders and the
powers that sway the present world is merely transient —
existing for a certain epoch, a crisis preparatory only to
a higher development. With him the world of Olym-
pian Gods is in perfect unison with the original powers,
and, as it were, nothing more than an improvement
upon them. If the Erinnyes in their anger charge the
Olympian Gods with having wronged the Moirae and
bereft them of their authority (165 cf. 694), this wrong
is but for a time and in appearance, ^schylus, like
Pindar, labours to do away with the legends about the
strife and conflict between the two orders of Gt)ds, and
to supply their place with legends of a milder character.
In the altercation between Apollo and the Erinnyes he
very evidently alludes to the dogma (probably especially
developed by the Orphici), how Zeus Uberated the
fettered Cronus, and propitiated him by various concili-
atory means (615). ^Zeus released the Titans/ saya
Pindar also. It was a very just observation of the
ancient annotators (cf. v. 47), that the tragedy com-
mences with repose and solemnity, with iv<l>rifiia, and
concludes also with the same, and that the elements of
AND THEIR EXTERNAL APPEARANCE.
185
the terrible^ the rage and conflict^ are more condensed
towards the middle. In the prayer of the Pythoness
at the commencement of the play, j^schylus obviously
pursues the design of clearing the traditions about the
institution of the Pythian Oracle and its several pos-
sessors from all strife and dispute, whilst Pindar, untrue
to his own maxim, 'far be all contest from the Immor-
tals,^ no doubt out of deference for old native traditions,^
depicted with such vehemence the conflict between Earth
and Apollo, that it was said the incensed Earth attempted
to thrust him down into Tartarus.^ With JSschylus,
on the other hand, the primeval Prophetess Earth was
succeeded in the possession of the sacred seat by her
daughter Themis, by a kind of hereditary right ;^ the
latter transferred it with good will (observe how expressly
j^schylus notices this) to her sister Phcebe ; but Phcebe
bestowed the oracular seat as a birth-day present (yci'l-
OXioi/ Soaii')* on her grandson Apollo, who in conse-
quence took the surname of Phoebus ; and Phoebus now
» Cf. § 57.
« Schol. Eran. 2.
^ ^schylus's design is also ex-
pressed here in the particle drj, v. 3,
which belongs to the whole sen-
tence, but in its closer connexion
more particularly to t6 firfTp6s, The
universal force of d^ is to render
prominent something that is known
and acknowledged, or the admission
of which is presupposed — something
to which one expects universal as-
sent. Fully developed, the meaning
of the whole expreusion is this:
Themis succeeded as rightftd heiress
to the Oracle, which of a truth be-
longed to her mother, and which,
as every one must see and allow,
she had the most perfect claim to
inherit. Arj attached to the sub-
ject gives its complexion to the
whole sentence. The force of this
particle in its various usages has as
yet (1834) been very inadequately
developed: that it := 'namely' is
perhaps a traction of the school
(Hermann's), which could get itself
to believe e. g. that n-ep == oirciter,
and re. sometimes = 'perhaps.'
Anhanff, p. 14.
* FevcdXio, dies ncUalis, lug-
tricus, was in general the eighth
day for girls, and the ninth for
boys. On tlds day they were car-
ried round the hearth {dfi<l>idp6-
fua), and so received a kind of
fire-baptism: the children were
shown on the occasion to the elder
relatives, and received presents
wrapped up, called oTm^pta, here
186 iBSCHTLUS'S CONCEPTION OF THE EBINNTES,
takes possession of it^ setting out firom his native Delian
lake (the \i/nvri rpoyotaaa), and, after voluntary
homage paid him by the inhabitants and ruler of the
country, is formally inducted into possession by an escort
of Athenians/ who gloried in having been the first to
pave the sacred way to Pytho by felling the forests and
hewing out the rocky paths.
92. Now in the same way as iEschylus deviates here
from the legends which supposed violent revolutions in
the succession of the Delphic deities, so likewise with
regard to the origin of the Erinnyes, he departs from
the profound old legend (§ 79), which makes them the
perpetual memento of the crime committed by Cronus
upon the primal father Uranus, because he would avoid
the necessity of setting down as an everlasting enmity
the conflict between the old and new Gods, of which he
otherwise makes such frequent mention. He contents
himself with calling the Erinnyes, without mentioning
their father. Daughters of Nighty a Goddess at once
terrible and mild,' as the Ermnyes become in this drama.'
This genealogy obviously answered iEschylus's views
and poetical aims better than any other of the existing
ones, which derived the Erinnyes from Scotos and Gaia
(Sophocles), from Cronus and Eurynome (in a work
which went under the name of Epimenides), from
Phorcys (Euphorion), from Gaia-Euonyme (Istrus), from
ytpt0kiog d6o'is; at the same time
the child was named, after the
grandfather in preference. Some-
times, however, the Amphidromia
appear distinct from the G^ethlia.
See the Interpp. ad L, ad Callim.
Hymn, in Dian. 74, ad Pers. ii. 82.
Fhoebtis's name was a fuififuo-
Wfutc6v» Schol. n. i. 43. Hesiod in
Etym. M. p. 796.
* 'll<l>al<rrcv ircudeg (18) denotes
the Athenians as descended from
Erichthonins. Cf. Hesych. s. v.
'H<f>aiaTtdfiai»
' w. 812. 894. 716. 760. 808.
987.
' <^iXia Agam. 846. Conse-
quently €if<f>p6vrj.
* €{}<l>pOVtf, § 87.
AND THEIR BXTERNAL APPEARANCE.
187
Acheron and Night (Eudemus), from Hades and Per-
sephone (Orphic Hymns), or Hades and Styx (Atheno-
dorus and Mnaseas)/ By the genealogy he has adopted,
our Poet brings the Erinnyes into near connexion with
the Moira, who, in his way of thinking, partake with
Jove of the highest dignity, the Moirse being represented
also in Hesiod's Theogony as Daughters of Night, and
consequently invoked by the Erinnyes as their sisters
by the mother's side.®
93. The external representation of the Goddesses is
founded entirely on the fearful aspect of their ideal
nature, so that even Pallas is constrained to notice the
contrast between their benedictions and their hideous
countenances (944). In the outward and visible form
of the Erinnyes ^Eschylus seems to have drawn a good
deal on his invention; for the earlier Poets had no
definite image of these Goddesses before their eyes ; and
though there were in the Temple at Athens old carved
wooden images of the Semnae, still their figures could
not be adapted for dramatic purposes. And hence it is
^ On these genealogies see parti-
cularly Schol. (Ed. C. 42. Tzetz.
Lycophr. 406. Schol. .£schin. in
Timarch, p. 747, R. Apnlei. de
Orihogr, § 11, p. 6, Osann. Orphic
Poems place Phorcys among the
Titans, and represent Enrynome as
mlingvdthOphionens hofore Cronus.
* This rests upon an explanation
of the passage, v. 919, sqq. which
assumes that it is the Moirse, and
not the Horse, who are there spoken
of. The latter do not suit the pas-
sage at all, and none but the former
can fitly be called iravrq, nfuayraTai
$€al. To take ixarpoKao'iyvrJTai in
the sense of Aunts would be ridi-
culous ; ^schylus puts it for Kam-
yvTjrai, Sfiofi^pioi, Still more ab-
suid would it be for the Erinnyes to
apply that term to other Goddesses,
as thus: 'Ye Goddesses, whose Aunts
the Moirse are.' On these consider-
ations is grounded the constitution
of the text above assumed; the words
Kvpi e^ovTcs rh Bvar&v {icvpta to
be taken substantively) are to be
understood as a general designation,
and Moipcu fiarpoKaaiyvriTai as a
special address to the Moirse. With
respect to this passage I cannot
agree with Elausen, Theologumena
MscK p. 45, although in other
points the exposition here given has
much in common with Klauscn's.
188 ^SCHYLUS'S CONCEPTION OF THE ERINNYE8,
tliat the Pythian Priestess^ after having beheld the
ErinnyeS; is only able to describe their forms^ without
being apprised thereby of the nature of the beings she
has seen, j^schylus drew the form he -gave to their
mask partly from the internal lineaments stamped on
the essential character of those deities^ and partly &om
external analogy. To the latter the Pythoness herself
draws our attention in the Prologue ; and her expres-
sions are obviously intended to prepare us for the
appearance of the Furies^ and to account in a manner
for their figures. She first of all compares them to
Gorgon-images, which were among the very earUest
works of Grecian^ especially of Athenian art^ which can
be traced as far back as the age of Cyclopian workman-
ship. From the Gorgons j^schylus borrowed the snaky
hair of the Erinnyes, before mentioned in the Choe-
phorce (1045)^ and frequently set down as the invention
of our Poet : but the Gorgons have it much earlier in
works of art. Moreover, ^schylus borrowed from the
Gorgons no doubt the pendent tongue and grinning
mouthy which regularly characterize the Gorgon-head in
ancient works of art. We shall see what significance he
gave these features in the case of the Erinnyes. But
even the comparison with the Gorgons does not fully
satisfy the Pythoness ; she adds, ' I once saw in a picture
the plunderers* of Phioeus* meal.' Here she again
bethinks ^herself of a work of art, and in mentally
recaUing the sight of it she does not immediately add
the name of the Harpies, which every one of the
audience could supply of himself. The supposition of a
mixed species, a sort of Gorgon-Harpies,^ a species totally
unknown to all antiquity, appears to me an utterly un»
founded idea. Without entering into the investigations
* Yoss, Mytholog. Briefe (Letters) uxi. p. 201.
AND THEIR EXTERNAL APPEARANCE.
189
of modem Archaeology on the figure of the Harpies, I
will merely remark here, that one of the vase-paintiugs
in Millingen^ exhibits the scene exactly as iEschylus saw
it ; the Harpies are there represented as old, hideous,
winged, female figures, dragging ofi^ the meal of Fhineus
in all directions. But the Erinnyes, the Pythoness adds,
have no wings, and are of a black and quite disgusting
aspect. The black garments which ^schylus invariably
assumes for the costume of the Erinnyes, subsequently
used not unfrequently on the stage at processions,' mark
them for the Children of Night ;* but the wings which
the Gorgons* as well as the Harpies have, and which Euri-
pides® has given to the Erinnyes also, do not suit JSschy-
lus^s idea, and for this reason — ^viz., because the images
constantly before his eyes are those of huntresses and
hounds chasing their game into every comer and covert.
This image is by far the most prominent in the features
marked by iEschylus, particularly in the first section of
the tragedy : like hoimds, the Erinnyes yelp in their
sleep, pursue the bloody track, nose the scent, lap blood
from carcases: Orestes is the fleet roebuck which they
hunt.' And in the Choephoroe (911. 1050), as also by
Sophocles and others,^ they are in plain terms designated
by the appellation of kvvbc^ used like a proper name.
To this image the long pendent tongue of the Gorgo-
' Ancient uned. Mon. p. 1, pi.
15.
^ Hence the black garb of the
Dannian women (Lycophr. 1187).
Cf. Strabo iii. p. 176. and Bottiger,
'Mask of the Furies/ p. 44, sqq.
In ^lian V. H. ix. 29, the Furies
are personated by youths with masks
and torches. The latter, JCschylus
could only give to the choral escort,
but later Poets regarded them as
an essential appendage to the equip-
ment of the Furies. Aristoph. Plut.
425. Cic. in JPisan. 20. Legg. i.
14.
* Choeph. 1045. Eum. 52. 332.
358. Cf. § 92.
» JEsch. Prom. 497.
« Orest. 817.
7 w. 106, 127. 175. 237. 296.
315.
^ Kvpa 'Epiwvv. Hesych.
192 ZEUS SOTER.
be aided in the accomplishment of his vengeance by the
infernal deities who are injured by Clytaemnestra, but
above all by the Manes of his father out of the tomb.
Subsequently, in the recognition-scene between Electra
and Orestes (242), the sister expresses her wish that
Power (Kparoc) and Justice (Aiici?), together with the
Third, the Highest Zeus, may aid their plans of revenge
upon Clytaemnestra (242). And after the accomplish-
ment of the deed the Chorus says, at the conclusion of
the play, that after the heinous crime of Atreus and the
murder of Agamemnon a Third is now come as Soter,
or, should it rather say, utter ruin (fiopov)? — the Chorus
itself being doubtful whether the series of calamities be
ended or not by this deed of vengeance. Lastly, in the
Eumenides, Orestes after his acquittal says (728 — 731),
that his paternal house and home are at length restored
to him by the gracious interference of Pallas and Apollo,
and of that Third, the All-ender, the Soter, who has
compassionately supported the father's rights against the
mother's advocates, the Erinnyes, and thereby rescued a
father's avenger and mother's slayer. With these allu-
sions must be compared the references to Zeus the Con-
summator, teXhoq, especially the invocation to him at
the conclusion of the prayer of the Pjrthoness in the
opening scene of the Eimienides.
95. The conception and the cultus of Zeus Soter, as the
Third, was widely diffused through Greece. Among
the convivial customs of the Greeks nothing is more
self give in the Frogs, 1144.
According to that interpretation
Hermes received the office of Chtho-
nios as a narpStov ytpas, an here-
ditary office. On the contrary, we
make this the connexion: 'Epfirj
xB6vttf Trarpm inonrtvap Kpanj hero still breathing in his tragedies.
atoTTip yepov poi, and thus obtain a
much more appropriate idea, and
withal one of great importance for
the whole of the Tragedy. We appeal
from the Aristophanic ghost of .£s-
chylus to the spirit of the ancient
ZEUS SOTER. 198
familiar than their *three solemn draughts after meals^
the first consecrated to Olympian Zeus^ or Zeus as the
husband of Hera, the second to the Earth and Heroes,
the third to Zeus Soter.^ In this ceremony the Olym-
pian Gods are placed in opposition to the chthonian
genii, the divinities of death and the dark side of nature,
in which class the heroes are also reckoned ; but Zeus
Soter is conceived as a third and lord over both worlds.
Precisely in the same way -^schylus makes the supphant
Danaids (24) pray to the Gods above, to the venerable
chthonian deities presiding over the grave, and to Zeus
Soter the Third, as guardian of the families of righteous
men. At the third draught Zeus was sometimes called
the ayadoc Saifitov,^ and the cup was termed the fmish-
ing one (reXeioc)- There is much significance in the
genealogy ^ which makes Zeus Soter beget Zeus Ktesios
by Praxidice, i. e. a Goddess of Destiny, governing and
punishing according to justice ; it accords with several
usages in which a Zeus Ktesios is distinguished from
another Zeus,'^ and obviously imphes the idea of the
revival of nature's blessings consequent upon the re-
moval of the causes of evil by the Goddess who holds
judgment (originally perhaps an Erinnys), and the God
who rescues. The combination of the Olympian Jupiter
with the Soter was particularly customary at Olympia,
where Zeus Chthonius was also worshipped and the
chthonian worship altogether formed the foundation of
the earUest local mythi. ' Twice already,' says Plato in
a passage full of thought and meaning,^ ^ have we exhi-
^ Passages are to be found in
Athen. i. p. 29 B. ii. p. 38 D. xv.
676 C. 692. sq. Schol. Find. Isthm.
5. 7. Spanheim on Aristoph. Plut.
1176.
' Diphilns in Athen. zi. p. 487.
* By Mnaseas in Said. s. v. TUpa-
* Gerhard * Antike Bildwerke/ i.
p. 9, 39 sqq. Cf. p. 97 sqq.'
« PoUt. ix. p. 683.
194 ZEUS SOTER.
bited the righteous victorious over the unrighteous : let
us DOW consecrate the third in Olympian fashion ('OXv/a-
TTtfcwc) to the Soter, as well as to the Olympian Zeus^
and clearly demonstrate that none but the wise man^s
pleasure is pure and real, and that of others nothing but
a mere shadow of it/ The Philosopher, who delights
quite as much as our Poet in allusions to the rpiroq
<Twrrj/o/ obviously intimates in this passage the reli-
gious notion of the removal of all troubles and the
restoration of pure joy by the interposition of Zeus
Soter as the Third/ At Athens also Zeus Soter, par-
tially identified with Eleutherius, the Liberator, had
several altars and statues; but it seems particularly
remarkable that the last day in the year was sacred to
him, and that the Disoteria were performed on that
day,^ when we consider that the three last days but one
of the month (the reTaprri, rpirr), and Seurepa) were
consecrated to the dead and the lower world, and on
that account assigned for the execution of criminals con-
demned for murder/ From this it is evident that in
the Attic Religion also, after the propitiation of adverse
powers and the atonement of the particular transgres-
sions, Zeus Soter interposes in the character of a con-
summating Saviour-God, in whom the opposition between
the serene Gods of the world above and the gloomy
powers of the realms below is harmonized and tempered
down into a satisfactory and calm conception of the uni-
verse/
1 Cf. Charmides, p. 167. Phi-
lebus, p. QQ. ^^^' iii. p. 692.
2 Pindar (Isthm. v. 7), precisely
like Plato, connects o-aynip '0\vfi-
TTtos as TpiroS' This passage, how-
ever, like many others on Zeos
Soter as the Third, is rather a free
allusion than a strict reference to
the idea.
^ Lysias c. Euandr. § 6. Corp.
Inscript. 157. T. i. p. 252.
* Etymol. M. p. 131. Gudian p.
70, and other Lexioogr. s. v. otto*
<l>pdd€S'
^ It was from the same associa-
tion of ideas that the Generals at
ArginussB, previous to the hazardous
engagement, made vows to the
ZEUS SOTER.
195
We have said sufficient in this place for the compre-
hension of iEschylus's intimations on this remarkable
worship. Over the conflicting powers of darkness and
of hght, the vindictive and the conciliatory, stands Zeus
Soter in the character of the God who conducts all
things to a good issue, and universally, as the Third and
Finisher, either adjusts the difference between two
others, or completes what two others have begun. On
no occasion does this Zeus exert his influence directly,
like Apollo, Athena, and the Erinnyes ; but, whereas
Apollo is Prophet and Exegetes by virtue of wisdom
derived &om him, and to him Athena is indebted for
her sway over States and AssembUes, — ^nay, the very
Erinnyes exercise their function in his name,® — ^this
Zeus stands always in the back-ground, and has in
reality only to settle a conflict existing within himself.
For with iEschylus, as with all deep-thinking men
among the Greeks from the earUest times, Zeus is the
only real God in the higher sense of the word. Al-
though he is in the spirit of ancient Theology a gene-
rated god, arisen out of an imperfect state of things and
hot produced till the third stage of the cosmogonic
development of nature,' still he is, at the time we are
speaking of, the Spirit that pervades and governs the
universe. But with that genuine child-like simplicity
which is not bewildered even by this conception of an
imiversal God, nor deterred from a cordial approach to
Semnse and Zens Soter as well as to
Apollo, the fulfilment of which was
recommended to the people by one
of them, Diomedon, previous to his
execution. Biodor. xiii. 102.
^ This is the sense of the pas-
sage V. 340. Cf. Klausen Theolo-
gum. jEsch, p. 166 sq. and pp. 39,
66. The effect of the obscurely-
intimating riff on the Ghreeks is par-
ticularly evident in Pindar 01. ii.
59.
7 This is the idea contained in the
passage in the Agam. 162 ff, where
for A£S;AI I would propose to read
APKE2AI. Uranus is now power-
less, and Cronus too has found in
Zeus his Tpuucrffp.
2
196 ZEUS 80TEB.
him — a cordiality which is the most beautiful character-
istic of the ancient religion — iEschylus conceives this
all-controllings all-present Deity withal quite in human
wise as a paternal God, and therefore pre-eminently the
guardian o{ paternal rights^ and discerns in that circum-
stance an hnportant and decisive motive for Jupiter's
determination to rescue Orestes^ as one that held the
father and master of the household of higher account
than the mother.
We will say no more here on this pointy and purposely
abstain from bringing forward this train of ideas from its
shadowy^ bodeful glimmering in the remotest distance
into a stronger and clearer lights which by sharply de-
fining every outline might easily give an air of distortion
and falsity to what, when felt in the right way, is
profound and true.
IV. POETICAL COMPOSITION.
96. F&oM the preceding discussions — judicial^ political^
and religious — ^it will be sufficiently evident that the
drama of ^schylus presupposes^ for its due understand-
ings that the reader should be well acquainted with these
phases of the life of the Greeks. But these expositions
tend but little to characterise the whole composition
regarded as poetry^ since all this might have been
exhibited in a form perfectly different from tragedy.
Accordingly, in the following Essay we shall endeavour
to characterise the tragedy more particularly by the trains
and combinations oi feelings and states of mind through
which the Poet leads us. And here we are far fit>m
disallowing the position that, as the form of Poetry is
words, and therefore conceptions and thoughts, so Poetry
itself, as a whole, is a development of thoughts. The
unity and harmony of feelings requires also unity of
thought. Even the Iliad is held together by an ethical
idea; only it is what we should expect from an age living
entirely by sight and sense, that this same idea is never
there expressed in an abstract form ; the poet, however,
is guided by it, as a rule, in his estimate of things, in
their effect upon his state of mind. In Pindar's age
the Grecian mind was already far more accustomed to
abstract reflexion ; without question Pindar has a way
of intellectualising the particular phenomena before him,
and drawing from them a satisfactory tone of feeling, and
that is, by discovering in them the expression of an
198 POETICAL COMPOSITION.
universal ethical rule or law of fate.* Exactly in the
same way the Tragedians for the most part directly ex-
press the main thought that regulates their composi-
tions. But as a branch of Art^ as sister to Music and
akin to Sculpture, Poetry has her prescript laws indis-
putably in the domain of feeling ; it is with the emo-
tions that she is concerned, and these, with their risings
and fallings, their transitions and contrasts, Ughts and
shadows, she calls forth in their due sequence and
measure, and brings to an harmonious close.
No one has more profoundly apprehended, or more
simply expressed the course and procedure of feeUngs
which is essentially the aim of Tragedy than Aristotle,
if indeed it be Aristotle, and not Sophocles in his prose
Essay on Tragedy, or perhaps some other earher author,
who (in the well-known definition which has been geni-
ally handled by Lessing and Herder, but still has not
hitherto received the complete development it requires)
describes Tragedy as an exhibition tending by the
operation of pity and fear to purify these and similar
passions.^
For this is precisely the most essential point in
Tragedy, considered in its origin and its progress to
perfection among the Greeks — the excitement of emo-
tions which by their nature and intensity draw the soul
out of its equable state, and hurl it into a tempest of
conflicting elements, but which at the same time in the
course of their progress and development are purified
and exalted, so as to leave it in calmness and composure,
apt for more elevated and ennobling impressions. In
the Epic Poem, on the contrary, the peaceful fiow of
* It w scarcely necessary to remark, that this is the principle on which
Dissen proceeds in his interpretation of Pindar.
^ KoBapats tS>v ira0rjfmTa)p.
POETICAL COMPOSITION, 199
equable emotions is never suspended: beautifully cliarae-
terised by the steady, unintermitted roll of the majestic
hexameter, the succession of wave on wave, stronger
and weaker without perceptible difference, strikes on the
heart and disports itself around the whole world alike
with impartial complacency. In this should seem to lie
the radical distinction between the two kinds of poetry,
not in the form of narration and representation, which,
however, necessarily grows out of it, and in tragedy must
be half lyrical and that of direct introduction to the
action.
Tragedy in Greece could only issue from a religious
service calculated by its nature to agitate the spirit with
tumultuous commotions of jubilant and painful feehngs,
and one which on that very accoimt stood almost isolated
among the Grecian forms of worship, — that of Bacchus,
The sufferings with which Dionysos^ was threatened from
adverse powers formed, as we learn from Herodotus^s
account of the Sicyonian choral tragedies (a notice replete
with inexhaustible interest and instruction), the subject
of the earliest tragic play, probably first produced at the
Bacchic winter-festival of the wine-presses, the Trieterica,
answering to the Attic Lensea. But as Dionysos emerges
from his sufferings with renovated glory, so he Ukewise
liberates the mind from its intoxication and bewilder-
ment, and by the side of the Bacchic or reveUing Dionysos
is worshipped a Lysios, or Uberating and tranquillising
God. In connexion with the Dionysian worship, there
also existed from an early period a Catharsis, the mean-
ing of which, as it was said to have been evinced in the
God himself (§ 61), is, the restoration of the mind from
a state of tumult and ecstasy to one of composure and
tranquillity. There were also, besides the musical modes
' Ta Aioin;(rov iraBrf.
200
POETICAL COMPOSITION.
which inspired Bacchic phrensy, others of a directly
opposite tendency^ supposed to possess a calming and
piuifying virtue.*
Even that earliest form of Tragedy, a choral ode, simg
at the commemoration of the sufferings of the God by
the Chorus, transformed by the nature of the festival
into the immediate train of Dionysos, was in this sense
a Catharsis, inasmuch as it Uberated the mind, harassed
by strong emotions of pity and terror, from the excess
of those passions, and restored its tranquil equipoise.
But Tragedy continued to be so, in an aesthetical sense^
then also when the same lively sympathy was claimed
for the sufferings of other heroes — ^for sufferings always
formed the central point, and the protagonist was the
principal sufferer. The vividness and energy of the
scenes presented before us call forth a multitude of
varied emotions — wishes and hopes, fear and hatred, pity
and grief; — and as these in well-managed sequence succeed
each other, the effect is, not that the one emotion sup-
presses the other, but that both, exalted into a loftier
and more generous character, are refined and purified,
and instead of disturbing, estabUsh and settle the soul in
its just equipoise. In the place of the eager wishes we
felt for the success of individuals, and distressing appre-
hension of the dangers which menaced this, there suc-
ceeds, mingled with wondering awe and sublime joy, the
contemplation of an imperturbable, eternal order, which
out of all the seeming timnoil and confusion emerges
only more resplendent. Such, briefly indicated, is the
state of mind which the Poet intends to produce as the
final result of his whole representation. We are speak-
* According to Plato (Legg. vii. p.
790) the €K<l>p6vcov fiaKXft&v tdo-cty
are effected by music and dancing ;
and Aristotle, who intended treating
more at large of the KoBapo'is in
his work on Poetry, ascribes to the
av\6s a purifying as weU as an or-
giastic virtue. Polit. viiL 6. cf. 7.
POETICAL COMPOSITION. 201
ing of the ^schylean Trilogies — ^for in these it was the
Poet^s aim, throughout, to extol the majesty of the
eternal ordinances which uphold the universe : whereas
Sophocles, in the new form which he gave to Tragedy,
had in view the moral sentiments, apprehended under a
more personal and certainly a more refined aspect ; and
to confirm and establish these upon a sure and firm
basis by means of the events which he brings before us
was the pervading aim of his representation.
97. No language can furnish terms completely ade-
quate to denote the multiplicity of the feelings on the
alternations of which, and their play into each other,
the enjoyment of a work of art depends : for the most
part all that we can do is to convey some indirect
announcement of them by the medium of expressions
appropriate to kindred conceptions. Still I will essay
to bring nearer to the consciousness, in some of the
principal points, the march of the various feelings and
states of mind which, like a strain of music, moves through
the ^schylean Trilogy.
The predominant feelings in the opening scenes of
the Agamemnon are rejoicings and triumph, serenely
bright, cheerful, magnificent. The poet of a trilogy
has this advantage over him of a single tragedy, that he
can commence his composition with feelings of a joyous
and tranquil nature, and is not obliged to hurry us
forthwith into the tempest of passion. The line of
beacon-fires darting their light over from Ilium to
Argos, the flames of the thank-oflferings on the altars of
the city, the grand announcement gradually brought
out, with ever increasing distinctness, of the fall of
Troy, and lastly the entrance of the great king himself
with his trophy-bearers — most of them occurrences
striking the mind through the eye and therefore doubly
impressive — all these tend to maintain a succession of
k3
202 POETICAL COMPOSITION.
joyful and proud feelings. Along with these, however,
there begins to creep over us a sense of dark mis-
giving, faint and obscure at first, but gradually becoming
more and more perceptible, which like an internal
ulcer under an outward show of blooming health, keeps
gnawing on, until at last it seizes on the whole frame.
This bodeful presentiment is especially intimated in the
reflexions of the Chorus of grave old men in the open-
ing odes, whilst Agamemnon, even to the last fatal
stroke, is free from all touch of misgiving. The sacri-
fice of Iphigenia throws a shadow over the whole expe-
dition against Troy ; even in the fall of Troy the Chorus
traces the marked agency of avenging Gods; but the
Prince too, who has purchased victory only by the death
of many of his subjects sacrificed to his ambition, lies
under the resentment of the Erinnyes. At the same
time these old men cannot conceal their distrust of
Clytaemnestra, and in an ominous Ode, the third, while
ostensibly speaking of Paris and Helen, they so express
themselves that our thoughts, already turned in this
direction, cannot but recur ever and anon to ^gisthus
and Clytaemnestra. The first series of impressions now
culminates in a splendid spectacle; Agamemnon is at
length prevailed on by Clytaemnestra to tread upon
costly purple carpets in his way from the chariot to the
palace, and thus, innocent as he is himself of this bar-
barian insolence (for such it would be esteemed in the
Grecian view), he is in this very act visibly exalted to
the crowning point of external grandeur and magnifi-
cence. But in the Chorus the presentiment of cakuuity
increases in the same proportion,
vfiviplti dprjvov *Epivvoc avro^idaKToc etrwdep OvfiSgy
(v. 963 sq.)
and in the awful scene — the most thrilling perhaps that
POETICAL COMPOSITION. 203
ever emanated from tragic art — ^where Cassandra awakens
to the consciousness where she is^ and what the fate
awaiting her, the foreboding starts at once into clear
contemplation of the fearful doom that broods over the
house, and distinct announcement of the impending
calamity. Now falls the stroke we have long dreaded,
and in a moment all those proud feelings are scattered
to the winds, and our whole soul is filled with horror.
It is true, the speecheiS of Clytaemnestra and ^gisthus
oflfer some palliation of the deed by exhibiting it as an
act of retribution, and by representing to us the guilt
of Agamemnon himself and the merited curse that
haunts the whole race : we are convinced it must be so,
yet neither Clytaemnestra^s dauntless avowal of the
murder, nor the sophistries with which she attempts to
justify the deed, least of all the dastardly exultation of
uEgisthus, avail to call forth in us any other feelings
than those of grief and abhorrence, moderated only by
a feeUng of the inevitable certainty of vengeance. We
entirely sympathise with the Chorus in their reprobation
of the deed, and our whole soul is wound up to the
highest pitch of tragic suspense and expectation.
98. The character of the Choephoroe is defined, with
the simplicity peculiar to works of ancient art, by making
Agamemnon's tomb the central point of the staffe ; to
this advances on the one side the avenger Orestes, com-
missioned on this errand by the Pythian Apollo : on the
other the Chorus of Choephoroe (Libation-bearers), con-
sisting of Trojan female attendants belpnging to the
palace. The chaise undertaken by the Chorus, of
pacifying for Clytaemnestra the Manes of Agamemnon,
is at variance with their own feehngs and the conviction
they entertain of the futility of such means : readily
influenced by the determined Electra, they offer the
Ubations in a contrary sense, and in a short impassioned
204
POETICAL COMPOSITION.
ode give utterance to their grief for the murder of Aga-
memnon^ and their dark presentiment of approaching retri-
bution. The continuation of this threnos is interrupted
by the recognition of Orestes, first by means of the lock
of hair and the footsteps, and then by the appearance of
Orestes himself : and now the brother and sister — ' the
old eaglets orphaned progeny ' — unite with the Chorus
around the tomb and invoke the aid of the departed.
' This long Kofifxoq^ bears at first the character of a Oprivog;
it opens with the feeling of helplessness, under which
the children flee for succour to their father's grave, and
thence expect protection and strength ; they mourn the
unworthy fate of Agamemnon, interred here, not as
conqueror in a foreign land, still less as victor over his
enemies at home. Hence that ardent thirst for ven-
geance in Orestes, which, as yet expressing no resolution
of his own, he expects from Zeus and the infernal
deities; harassed by conflicting feelings he even gives
a thought to the possibility of conciliating his mother
by submission, but immediately abandons this scheme
as utterly futile. Then the Chorus carries on the train
of thoughts with more of reflexion than of passion, and
Electra (antistrophically) replies to it* with narratives
* The concise view of the Com-
mos here ^ven is based upon the
instructive Essay by Ahrens de
causis qidbusdam ^schyli nondum
satis emendati.
2 The very unusual antistrophic
correspondency of dialogue between
the Chorus and one of the dra-
matis persons is easily accounted
fbr in this instance: the parties
meet in the same way as di-amatis
personae in the regular dialogue.
Electra and the Hegemon, or some
other central member of the Chorus,
must be imagined to urge Orestes
from either side. On the other
hand, the antistrophic corresponsion
of Choreutse with ChoreutsB always
rests upon the relation between the
right and left side of the Chonu»
analogous to that of the Hemichoria.
This may best be gathered from
Soph. Aj. 866 sqq. So in the second
Comraos of the (Edipus Coloneus,
first of all one person, in correspon-
sion to (Edipus, advances towards
him and then withdraws, next two
members of the Chorus on opposite
sides sing in corresponsion (in point
of matter as well as of form) to each
POETICAL COMPOSITION.
205
detached by their metre from the rest of the song and
calculated to complete the first tragedy of the trilogy,
the scope of which did not admit of their introduction
in that place. For instance, we are now informed for
the first time that at Agamemnon's burial no Argive
citizen, but only the train of Trojan female slaves was
allowed to follow : that on that occasion the funeral
mourning was conducted by them in the Asiatic style,
and in their presence the expiatory rite of cutting the
extremities from the corpse* was performed by Clytaem-
nestra, whilst Electra, the rightful conductress of the
funeral procession, was scandalously debarred and ex-
cluded from the privilege. These representations act
most powerfully on Orestes ; he instantly declares his
determination either to take vengeance or to die in the
attempt, and in conjunction with Electra and the Chorus
prays for aid from the grave towards the execution of
the deed, which the Chorus, concluding the whole in
conformity with the rules of art, views as a necessary
result of the old family destiny. Thus this commos is,
in lyrical form, the foundation of the Orestean ven-
geance ; the details, and the artifice by which it shall
be carried into execution are then considered in dialogue.
In the succeeding choral ode the reckless wickedness of
Clytaemnestra is again the theme, and the approaching
Erinnys is conceived as the inevitable result. The
design of -^schylus is to hold up to view in the strongest
colours possible every incentive that urges them to take
the life of Clytsemnestra. Then follows the execution
of the scheme, Orestes in disguise, with the pretended
othor. In the second portion of
the last Commos in the same play,
one of the principal memhers of the
Chorus responds to Antigone just
in the same way as Antigone hikd
before done to Ismene.
'^ a(^0(ri6)<rifj of. § 58 N
206
POBTICAL COMPOSITION.
ashes of his own corpse, Electra^s counterfeit grief,
Clytaemnestra^s suppressed joy. Now prevails, as the
Chorus observes, the agency of Hermes at once in the
character of Chthonius and of Nychius, as God of the
nocturnal realm of the dead, and of nocturnal fraud.*
In the midst of these sensations of dread some relief is
afforded by the artless lamentations of Orestes^s old
nurse, who believes in the death of her fosterling:
thereupon she fetches ^gisthus without his body-guard,
by the direction of the Chorus, which in a stasimon
summons all aiding Gods to the assistance of Orestes.
Now, whereas we only hear the death-groans of ^gisthus
from the interior of the palace, it is not until after a
violent scene and unavailing self-vindication, and, in a
manner, not till after sentence pronounced on her, that
Clytsemnestra is led away to execution by Orestes.
Poetical aims here obliged ^schylus once more to insist
upon the bounden duty of such an act, and on the
other hand to expose the atrocity of the act in itself,
and to exhibit in the strongest light that it is not from
any passion of his own, but from the obligation to avenge
his father and obey the behests of Apollo, that Orestes
slays his mother. Thus, as the choral ode expresses it,
justice has arrived, the house of the Atridae is once more
raised up, day once more dawns on it {wapa to (jitog eSeiv).
Then on a sudden we are transported into the interior
of the palace, and there we behold Orestes standing over
the two corpses, holding forth in his hand, in ocular
* This idea was probably deve-
loped in the parts of the prologue
which are lost. The passage v.
711 sqq. requires, in my opinion,
only this alteration: *Q n^rvia
xdcav vvv iirdpri^ov iyvv yhp
aKfidCfi ll€i3a bokia), ^vyKara-
firjpai Xd6pi6v 6' ^Epfirjv, koi rhv
"Sv^iov Tolsb* €<f)ob€Va'(U, K. T. X.
As A6KioSi Hermes is Ni;;(tof by
day also (805). I write v. 680 thus :
ot cyo), Kar cucpas tffinas (^fiiras
firom many analogous forms) a>s
7ropdoyu€da.
POETICAL COMPOSITION. 207
vindication of his deed^ the treacherous bathing garment
of Agamemnon. Yet his mind^ which as represented
by u^schylus is naturally tender (not indeed in the same
sense as that of Shakspeare^s Hamlet)^ and without any
desire of its own for revenge has only obeyed the
dictates of duty, is now reeling under the strong
revulsion of the feelings he has hitherto suppressed, and
it is impossible not to feel the deepest compassion for
the hero, when, conscious as he is of the righteousness
of his deed, he feels already that his mind is giving way,
and presently afterwards actually beholds the awful
forms of the Erinnyes, invisible only to the Chorus.
We feel that Orestes^s act of vengeance is too deep a
breach in the order of nature to admit of its forming
in itself a conclusion to the Tragedy.
99. After this harrowing scene of the Choephoroe, the
Eumenides opens with solemn unction, and by directing
our regards to the Pythian Apollo, the rightful lord of the
Delphic Oracle and ancient friend of Athens, and to Zeus
the all-consummating, affords our agitated feelings a
stay to rest upon, while at the same time we have in this
opening scene the germs of the action about to be deve-
loped. Then follows the terrific description of the
Erinnyes, and at the end of it, the actual sight of their
appalling forms — a masterwork in which our Poet, though
working under other conditions than the sculptor or the
painter, evinces the creative fancy and shaping hand of
the consummate artist. But, then, true to the spirit of
antique Art, which in its most forcible exhibitions of
power always seeks repose, ^schylus does not leave this
image without its counterpoise : Apollo, the Grod who
enjoined the deed of blood, stands there by the side of
Orestes, as his patron and protector, Hermes as his con-
ductor : to which we may add the prophetic intimation
in which Apollo from the first points to the Areopagus.
208
POETICAL COMPOSITION.
This done^ the Poet is wholly with the Erinnyes. Cly-
tsemuestra^s gloomy spectre hounds on the blood-thirsty
pack to a renewal of the chase ; their fury, their infernal
hideousness, are depicted by themselves with fierce com-
placency in their horrid prerogatives, and by Apollo in
the aspect under which they appear to the Olympian
Gods : the strife with the God closes with a direct
declaration of war by both parties. Next appears
Orestes, and close on his track, the Erinnyes, at Athens :
he, full of reliance on the God, they athirst for his
blood, and confident that he cannot escape them. And
now the drama, hitherto in shifting motion with the
Chorus over land and sea, obtains (by the Parodos)* its
fixed station, and the action is brought into its settled
channel; the Chorus unfolds its ranks, and encompass-
ing Orestes as already their captive, describes with
gloomy solemnity its terrible office. Athena appears,
* The late occurrence of the
Pa/rodo8 is as characteristic for this
tragedy as it is for the (Edipus at
Colonus (§ 16, Note). By this
means a separation is made between
the former portion of the tragedy in
which unsettled, fluctuating move-
ments predominate, and the latter,
in which the action falls into a re-
gular course and advances in a
settled order with certain fixed
resting-points (§ 14). In the A^/a-
memnon the case is reversed, almost
the entire second portion of the
tragedy, from 949 — 1658, having no
Stasimon, because in this instance
there is no opportunity for a resting-
point such as the Sl^ima ftimish.
In defining the main idea of the
Parodos to be 'an Ode during
which the Chorus gains its proper
station and arranges itself on the
lines in the Orchestra,' I admit that
the Ancients themselves appear to
have frequently confounded it with'
the first Ode sung by the Chorus in
its regular order. Moreover, the
Ode during which the Chorus takes
its station is frequently followed im-
mediately by another, after it is sta-
tionary. In such cases these Odes
are sep-i rated from each other partly
by the change of rhythm, partly by
the seeming insertion of an Epode,
as in Soph. Ajax, Euripides PhoenisssB,
and Iph. in AuL This Epode cannot
have been sung during the pacing
movement, i. e. during the Parodos
in the strict sense, for in Hndar the
odes which are known to accom-
pany marches and processions are
precisely those in which there is no
Epode. In the Agamemnon we
have for the Parodos, AuapsBsts
(the march) and a dactylic pair of
Strophes with an Epode (the sta-
POETICAL COMPOSITION.
209
and resolves on deciding the 'otherwise interminable
conflict by the institution of the first Court for the trial
of the manslayer. The choral ode following this trans-
action we might expect to find more impassioned and
furious, since the Erinnyes already even speak of the
annihilation of their power as a possible event ; but with
iEschylus, who always proceeds on the principle of
making the details subordinate to the main objects of
the tragedy, this Ode is above all others an admonition of
the Erinnyes to the Athenians to recognise their might,
and in general, the supremacy of strict laws and controlling
powers in the state. With this view it must necessarily
be solemn and composed. Then ensues the litigation
between Orestes, or rather Apollo, and the Erinnyes, in
which especially the higher dignity of paternal rights
and the personal motives to the act are set in opposition
to the unquaUfied demand of vengeance for the blood of
the mother. Then upon the inaugural address of Athena
follows the acquittal of Orestes, and, in token of his
gratitude for so great a benefit his promise of a league
with Argos : but the wrath of the Erinnyes, is raised by
all this to the highest pitch, and is only appeased^ by
Athena^s persuasive eloquence, in which mildness and
conscious power are beautifully blended, and by the
institution of the sacred worship to be paid to them, by
which these Dread Powers of the nether world — always
on the understanding of their authority remaining invio-
late — are converted, for the land of Athens, into bene-
ficent beings. ^This compact,^ such is the closing
thought, ^have Zeus and the Moirse made with Athens.'
There is no need of a more detailed and lengthened
tioning and arrangement), and then
follows forthwith the first Stasimon.
In the Persse, Anapaests (entry)^
Strophes consisting of Ionics with
Mesode (arrangement), then the
first Stasimon.
210 POETICAL COMPOSITION.
exposition to shew how satisfactorily throughout the
whole Trilogy the feelings are carried on from the tone
of triumphant exultation through dark misgivings and
lowering intimations to the full burst of the thunder-
peal in all its horror ; then how^ under the influence
of nocturnal powers, after many a wavering of undecided
impulses, we are led on into a state of mind strangely
blended with satisfaction and shuddering repugnance;
how these elements — in a way which is demanded at the
outset by the feehngs — are drawn off from each other and
stand out in all their energy and sharpness, until, by the
wisdom of the Gods in Athens, the reconciliation of the
conflicting Powers is effected, and therewith — ^a result
not limited to the individual history of Orestes — a sense
of entire satisfaction is won.
For that the Poet^s object is not merely to set our
minds at rest in reference to Orestes, is evident even
from the manner in which he is dismissed from the
stage without a choral ode in celebration of his destiny.
The poet seems almost to forget Orestes in the establish-
ment of the Areopagus and the religion of the Erinnyes
— ^two institutions which ^schylus deems closely con-
nected and alike momentous to the welfare of the
community, as in fact they were (Cf. § 67, 68). But
to deem that in so doing, the Poet has sacrificed his
proper subject to a patriotic political interest, would in my
opinion be utterly to misconceive ^schylus's principles.
The main idea of the Trilogy, — which consists in the
shewing how a curse, rooted in the human race and
generating one misdeed out of another — ^in a case where
only the family-destiny and no guilt of his own weighs
upon the curse-possessed person — is averted by the supe-
rior control of .the saving God — this idea, I say, is by no
means impeded and thwarted in its development by such
a turn given to the interest. On the contrary, the very
fact that it was, as iElschylus represents it, in Athenian in-
POETICAL COMPOSITION. 211
stitutions that this providence of the saviour Gods was
embodied^ and severity and mercy met together in right
sorty must have made the impression all the warmer and
more lively on the minds of his contemporaries. In short,
the poUtical aim of the trilogy, — the inculcation of
respect for the Areopagus, and generally for institutions
consecrated and estabUshed for the purpose of holding
unbridled licence in check, is intimately blended with
the ethically-rehgious idea of the whole.
Now as ^schylus generally, as in this particular in-
stance, makes the fable subordinate to the idea, so again
the delineation of character ranks with him below the
development of the fable, and, so to say, occupies only
the third place. No one will deny, indeed, that in the
Eumenides, not to mention the preceding plays, the
character of Orestes, in his entire devotion to duty and
his calm reliance on the Gods, and that of the tutelary
Goddess of Athens, in her perfect self-possession and
imperturbable moderation and forbearance, are in them-
selves very well sustained, in perfect keeping throughout,
and marked, moreover, by more than one fine touch of
individuality; still they are no more than what the whole
scope of the tragedy requires them to be. To shape and
mould particular characters into freer individuality, and
to descend into lower depths of the human heart, were re-
served for Sophocles, who, for this very reason, very often
found himself obliged to detach, so to say, the centre of
poetic interest from the centre of action ; as for instance
in this story where, instead of Orestes, with his unreserved
devotion to his call as Avenger, he was obliged to make
the more remote Electra his protagonistes.
100. In the Orestea of -^schylus we have the only
extant specimen of an entire work of the more ancient
212
POETICAL COMPOSITION.
form of tragic art^ and on that account it most naturally
form the ground-work, especially with respect to com-
position, of our whole study of ^schylus. From it we
learn that, although it is only in the trilogy, as a whole,
that we find the unity of idea, the satisfactory view of
the universe which it is ^schylus's constant aim to
educe, yet each individual tragedy carries out its own
substantive action, so that, looking only at the outward
appearance, one might at the end of each piece fancy
oneself already arrived at the end of the whole. The
trilogies of iEschylus may be compared to groups of
statues, each standing on its separate pedestal. More-
over, by taking the Orestea for our model, we may
without difficulty ascertain the position occupied by
other detached tragedies in their several trilogies. When
in the Agamemnon we have learned to discern the skill
of preparation with which ^schylus brings together
and heightens the interest, we shall readily satisfy our-
selves that the Prometheus Bound could be neither the
first, nor the last piece of an entire series. In the
Seven against Thebes there ought never to have been a
question but that its concluding portion, containing the
altercation between Antigone and the Herald, is a con-
necting link with a succeeding tragedy, in just the same
way as is the scene of the Erinnyes at the end of the
Choephoroe, and, to adduce a third instance, the alter-
cation between the semi-choruses at the end of the
Suppliants. The slow progressing action, and the
whirlwind of conflicting emotions are what the Choe-
phoroe has in common with the Prometheus Bound, the
Seven, the Suppliants: they are all middle tragedies.^
* Moreover in these pieces that
stand-still in the middle, first no-
ticed by Heeren, is particularly
observable. This cannot be folly ex-
plained otherwise than by the con-
nexion of the trilogy ; for instance,
the appearance of lo in the Prome-
theus.
POETICAL COMPOSITION.
213
On the other hand certainly no other extant play of
jSschylus can be compared^ as regards the process and
march of the thoughts and feelings^ with the Eumenides:
it is the only concluding tragedy we have. The reason
why, with the exception of the Orestea, none but second
pieces of ^schylus have been preserved, appears to be,
that the quiet progress and detailed exposition of the
first plays, and the tendency in the third or concluding
parts to concentrate the interest rather upon mythically
speculative ideas than upon the exhibition of human
passions, had less attractions for the later ages of Antiquity
than the, for the most part, equably sustained interest of
the middle pieces.
Likewise with respect to that most di£5cult problem,
what sort of connexion can we conceive between the
profound seriousness of a Tragic Trilogy and the wfld
humour of the Satyric Play, the Orestea furnishes, in
my opinion, the principal source of information, though
of its accompanying Satyr-piece, the Proteus, nothing
but the name remains to us. Our attention, however,
is with good reason directed^ to the circumstance that
it was this very sea-god Proteus who foretold to Aga-
memnon's brother Menelaus his return to Argos. But
along with this prophecy, the Odyssey' remarks that
Menelaus will arrive too late to avenge his brother, and
not before the burial of iEgisthus ; — a remark which is
expressed more plainly in another passage,^ and was
further developed in the Cydian poem, the Nostoi of
Augeas.* And in this very way the tale is taken up by
Euripides in the Orestes, that strange mixture of very
ancient fables and very modem views. Now in the first
piece of the Orestea, where Agamemnon is commending
> Boeckh. Trag. Prindp. p. 268.
• Od. iv. 547.
< lb. iii. 311.
* Acoording to ProduBChrestoiD.
214 POETICAL COMPOSITION.
Ulysses as his only faithful companion^ and representing
others^ who seemed the best-disposed^ as mere specious
friends/ it is evident that he complains of the conduct
of Menelaus in particular^ who is represented by Homer
also as having separated himself in the return from
Agamemnon. Thus Menelaus^ — who, while his brother
is murdered and the insolent paramour bears rule in the
palace of the Atridse, has, in company with the beautiful
Helen, the seductive author of all this woe, been en-
countering many an adventure, yet, withal, acquiring
fresh stores of wealth as he roams along the barbaric
shores, might admirably well be conceived as the con-
trast to the faithftd Orestes, and we can well imagine
how he might be handled by old Proteus with that
serene irony which the ancients especially delighted in
attributing to beings of his class, and at the same time
be a mark for the wayward humours and raillery of the
Chorus of Satyrs. Whether the acquittal of Orestes was
regarded as the satisfactory conclusion of the whole
composition, or whether in the ironical speeches of
Proteus the whole glory of the house of the Pelopidae
was made to appear in its perishableness, and all the
pride of man in its intrinsic nothingness, is more than
I can pretend to determine.
* V. 812. cf. V. 610 sqq.
APPENDIX.
FURTHER REMiLRKS ON THE CALCULUS
MINERVA.
It was a principle laid down in the Athenian Law, that the
defendant was acquitted if the votes for and against him were
equal, see this point clearly and accurately stated by Schomann,
in the Att. Process, p. 722. In another case, of the mythical
times, and occurring at Dodona^ Strabo remarks, ix. p. 40^, uroiv
ht rSiv ylnj<f)oi>v yevofievoDP ras airokvova'as viKriaai : and the same
principle held in the Roman Law-Courts.
The author of the Aristotelian Problems (29, 13) is at the
pains of looking up a number of grounds of reason to account
for this old and natural principle : Ata ri Trore, orav, r^ <f>€vyovTi
Ka\ r& Bia>K0VTi (paivoavrai ol yj/rj(j>oi laai, 6 <f>€vyaiv viKq., jN^ot SO the
popular Grecian mind, which in the earlier times took quite a
peculiar delight in endeavouring to refer all relations of actual
life to institutions of the Gods and events of the olden time.
In the case under consideration, where the Judges themselves
gave no positive decision, it imagined to itself a benevolent deity
as interposing and giving a casting vote in favour of the de-
fendant, and had a particular tale to relate, which was to account
for the whole matter. In other words, Minerva's ballot is neither
more nor less than the mythical expression of the principle, that
where Justice is undecided, Mercy prevails.
This must be evident to every one who has mastered the ele-
ments of Mythology, as understood now-a-days. It may, how-
ever, be rendered comprehensible even to one who has not
employed himself on this study, that the Calculus MinervsB is
only the imaginary addition of a white stone for acquittal in the
case of la'o^(l>ia. !Namely: suppose we assume the case to
have been, that in the trial of Orestes, Athena gives her vote
for the defendant, who had previously a majority of one against
him, and so makes the numbers equal ; still this would not acquit
216 CALCULUS MINERVA.
Orestes. For, as this transaction is regarded (at least by
^schylos) as the first trial for homicide, and the Erinnyes fa^cy
themselyes abeady in possession of their prey, there cannot pos-
sibly be any reference here to the practice of subsequent times,
or to a general principle of leniency ; but a new declaration is
needed, that the white stones are to prevail. This ex post facto
declaration, especially if it is to come from the very person whose
vote has made the numbers equal, would be downright arbitrary:
scarcely less so than if she had taken upon her to give two votes
in her person instead of one.
Our view of the subject agrees with the most authentic testi-
mony of the ancients. We will begin with Euripides, Iph,
Tarn'. 1483 :
iKOuxrand ere
Kal TTpiv y\ 'ApiioiQ iv irayoiQ ^rjipovc ^(fae
Kpivatr'y 'OpE(rra, xal vSfiiarfi* tic ravrd ye
vtKav larriptig 6(rTie SLv yj/rj^ovQ \afiy,
Athena plainly says here, that she rescued Orestes by deciding
on the equal votes in the Areopagus, and that on that very
account it continued to be a law, that when the votes were equal
the defendant should be acquitted. It could not possibly occur
to any Greek to take Kpiv€iv ^(f>ovs la-as in any other sense
than settling or deciding on an equality of votes. Should any
one wish, by a so-called prolepsis, to understand taag as the
result of Kplv€ip, the equality as the result of the balloting in the
first place, this would be contrary to the usage of the language,
since an equalizing of the votes cannot be denoted by Kpivttv ; and
still more would it contradict the logical connexion of the passage,
since this very yfnicfxnjs taas Kplveip is adduced as a cause of tiie
custom, viKdv loTipeis, &c. ; which custom would be left with no
foundation to stand upon, unless y^<lHjvs Xtras Kpiv€iv contained
the regulation respecting it.^
Compare with the above the passage in the same tragedy
(v. 961), where Orestes says :
terag di /loi
^rj<f>ovQ SirjpiOfirjffi IlaXXdc dtXivy
viKOLV d* &7rfjpa ^ovta vtiparrjpia.
Of. also the Schol. on Aristoph. Ran. v. 961.
CALCULUS MINEBV^. 217
In this passage the ^<f>ovs dtapiBfitlp evidently corresponds to
the yjrfftfHws laas Kp'ivtw in the former. Pallas counts and sorts
the ballots, and — as the necessary sequel to this act — declares
the result. Euripides, whose form of expression is plainer and
less m3rthological than ^schylus's, does not make Pallas first
give her own vote : she only decides what shall be done in the
case where the votes are equal. Had that equality been produced
by her in the capacity of Judge, this must of course have been
clearly expressed, as another benefit conferred by her on Orestes.
The third passage we shall cite is from the Electra of Euripides
V. 1274—78) :
lerat dk ff iKCt&l^ovfn fi^ Oaviiv iiicy
^rj^ot TtOtXvai' Ao^iae ydp alriav
tig avrbv otarfi^ fitirkpoc xpijcrac ^ovov
Kal Toifft XoiTToiQ *6dt vSfAOQ Tt9ri(rtr€u^
viK&v ifiaiQ }j/fi^oun rbv (ptvyovr* del.
This agrees perfectly with the two former passages, when we
consider that it is the Dioscuri who are speaking here. They do
not mention in direct terms Athena's decision on the equality
of votes, but only hint at it by saying that the equality of
votes saved the life of Orestes on that occasion, and that the
same therefore holds for all subsequent cases.
We come next to the testimony of later authorities on the
subject. In Aristides the Bhetorician we have the following
passage (Vol. i. p. 24 A. Cant.) : <f>€vyovTa fi* {*Op€<m)p) 'AB^vija-i
diKrjy vn* '"EvfituibcDV, mtodv t&p ^fni<l>mp ytvofjJvav, rrpoo'Btftevri Trfp
Trap* avnjs (rcbC'^i* Koi roiwp tri vvv crflb^ci rravras, lav taai yivtovrat.
And Julian says (Or. iii. p. 114 D. Spanheim) : ccttotc t&v
biKaidvTCDP al ylnj(l>oi kot* laov (jmivoiPTO rois <l>€vyova'i wp6s roifs
Si&Kovras, Trjv Tfji *Al6r)vas «r4Tf ^Cfwfviyv r^ t^p bixiip offAfiq-cip /xcX-
\opTi, mrokvtiv ofKJHo rrjs alrias. These passages clearly express
the same view of the subject that I have taken, namely, that
Athena's ballot was added in order to remove the (0-0^^7^10.
Lucian, indeed, does seem to have held that Athena's ballot
was added to the white when there were more of the black
ballots. (Cf. Piscator. c. 21. Harmonid. c. 3, fin.) But Lucian's
authority is of much less weight than that of Aristides on
a question of Attic Arch»ology. One point, however, in
which all these authors are agreed is the important position
that the Calculus Minervce did not exist merely for the history
of Orestes, but was applied in historical times also, in order
to produce the same result. Now it is perfectly incredible
L
218 CALCULUS MINERViE.
that such a cuBtom could have existed at Athens in historical
times, as that of gynng the superiority to the white ballots
by the imaginary addition of Minerra's ballot, when there was
one more of the black than of the white. This is in direct
contradiction of the unquestionable position from which we set
out : and moreover we have an instance of a person being oast
by a majority of one vote against him (Dem. c. Mid. p. 538). It
is nothing to the purpose to remind us that in historical times the
Athenian Courts consisted of one more than a round number ;
there were, for instance, 51 Ephets (Pollux, viii. 124) and 201
or 401 Dicasts in the ten principal Courts (Pollux, yiii. 48).
For this arrangement arose from the desire of avoiding equality
of votes : whereas, if the intention of Athena's ballot had been
to effect laoylnj€l>ia, just the contrary result would have been
produced. There would have been no advantage in having 51
Ephets, if, when 26 were for condemning and 25 for acquittal,
then came the calculus Minervee, and so the votes were equal, in
order that — ^with a second appeal to the Goddess — they might
now acquit the accused ! TkLs would have been carrying hu-
manity great lengths, and it would deserve to be noticed in all
manuals of Antiquities as a most remarkable circumstance, that,
if the accused had a majority of one vote against him he was
acquitted. Others indeed will rather be of opinion that for this
very reason we must conceive the Areopagus of the mythical
times to have consisted of an even number of Judges, viz., on
purpose to make an l<ro^fi<f>ia possible, and so give Athena an
opportunity of typifying that principle of humanity by her super-
numerary ballot.
This brings us back to the procedure in the Eumenides, which
may now be placed in the clearest point of view.
Athena had declared at the very outset (v. 424), when Orestes
petitioned her to act as Judge in his cause, that it was not Biiut
for her <^vov duup€iv o^firjpirov dUas. This of itself makes
it impossible that she should subsequently act as a Judge in the
proper sense, viz., by giving her vote along with the other judges
previous to the decision. During the trial she is present in the
character of eta-ay nay tis, but is never addressed as Judge. That
office she had decidedly declined. When the question comes
to the balloting, Minerva announces the new OeafiSs, impresses
on the Athenians the dignity and sanctity of the institution, and
concludes with reminding the Judges of the solemnity of their
office and of the oath they had taken. After the balloting she
declares her intention of giving a vote for Orestes (because she
CALCULUS MINEBVJE. 219
feels more sympatlij for the murdered man than for the woman);
and pronounces that Orestes is to gain the cause, even should the
votes be equal. Who could be imagined not to perceive that the
second idea is only a conclusion drawn from the first, and that
Athena (a Goddess not. unacquainted with the future) foresees
the result of the balloting, and provides a means of adjusting the
laoylrri<l>ia by taking a ballot on her own account? Had
her idea been this: 'In the first place, I give my vote for
Orestes, and, secondly, I ordain that, should this make the votes
equal, Orestes shall prevail ;' then in the first place this second
idea must necessarily have been denoted as a new addition by the
requisite particles (for instance koL fiffv), and in the next place
the establishment of this vdfiiafia, which Aristotle has given
himself so much trouble to account for, would surely have needed
a word or two in vindication. But why does not the Goddess
immediately put in this ballot P This question likewise is easily
answered. It is just because the 'AjOrjvas ylnf<f>og is no judicial
vote ; because that ballot was never thrown with the rest into
the urn, but when the black and white t>allot8 had been sorted
and found equal, then, and not tiU then, is this white stone to
be supposed added. Hence it necessarily follows that she
cannot add her ballot, the meaning of whidi she has previously
explained, until after those of the Judges have been coimted, and
it has appeared that the white are equal in number to the black.
'Ai^p 6d* e«c7r€<^€vycy aifiaros diiajv ttrov ydfy itrri rdpiBfjofffia t&v
irdkcDv expresses the self-same thing as present, that Athena had
announced as a future contingency, V^^oy d* 'Op€(nTj ""1^* ^
And now both Orestes can extol Athena as his preserver, since
without her decision on the laoi^^fj<l>la he would not have been
liberated from the Erinnyes ; and at the same time Athena can
console the Erinnyes (v. 762) with the reflection that they are
not defeated, but that in fact the trial has ended in an even
balance, and the Judges having really been equally divided, have
thereby acknowledged their high consideration for the claims of
the Erinnyes ; only Pallas, upon this Itro^^tf^fiia of the judges, has
by her vote in favour of Orestes decided the cause, and at the
same time has established the mode of {ffooeeding for the future
in similar cases.
■ It appears to me, that after this explanation, not o^e expression
of ^schylus at all bearing on the subject will be foimd to cast
a shadow of doubt, but all is as clear as the day.
INDEX.
PAGS
A.
Admbtub 118
Adrastus 169
MgiB 66
.Sscbylus Agamemnon 64. 201. sq.
emended 195
explained t. 270..... 58
631 160
707.717 44
729 160
964 160
1011 119
1047—1113.. 14
1847 97
1352 14
1860 191
1569 105
ChoephoroB 64. 208. sq.
emended t. 292 97 note.
680 206 note.
711 206 note.
. explained y. 1 191
21.83 106
169 10
242 192
272 97
281 156
285 105
818 sqq 204
626 66
646 66
888 66
887 99
911 157. 189
1031 131
1050 157.189
Conelusion ... 7
Enmenides, Title 174 note.
explained ▼. 1 sqq ...60 sqq.
... 185 sq.
8 186 note.
18 186 note.
28. 193
^sohylos £amenides,
explained t. 40 51
62 189
54 189 note.
62.68 127
64 sqq. ... 51 sq.
77 131
81 145
106 189
108 178.180
118 126
125 18 sq.
188— 169. .23 sqq.
168 61
165 184
171 51
196 105
212 91
215 146
225.226...58.106
228 105
229 105
234 146
241 131
244r-265..268qq.
250 146
268 103
272 181
278 124
276 105.131
276 182
279 82
284 67 note.
296— 8ll..29sqq.
812 84.186
812—874 ... 34
885 138 note.
340 196 note.
861 174.182
876 87
882—3 66
886—467 ... 146
896 166
£scbyluB Eumenides,
Bipldned t. lOT 116
411 147
4ie 110
4S3 10ft
426 103
437 134
439 131
430 135
430 TO
416.449 14S
4S1 100 noM.
4S2 lOS
461 117
lea 71.11B
465 118
46a— S3a . 43 aqq.
636 60
640 78
Ma...74uidDol>.
650. SS3 148
666 164
686 101
671 07
670.683,1... 161
B8T 80
601 80
010 181
6i5 06
630 83
600 117
661 116
863 61. 73. 78
B66 61
666 61
674.676 78
870 160
660 U7
687 Ill
688 106
TOOlqq 16
708.711,3... 160
738 iqq 1S9
730 lT7iiote.
734 82
748 86
748—780 ... 16
783 180
773.... 178
773 178.181
700 177
801—809 ... 46
870...
. 176 n.
t)Sl>qq....l76sq.
804 isa
010 177
911 178
013 177
010 167 Dote.
676— 0a6...46 sq.
038.031 101
033 T4
OH 174 nota.
018 174
B68 178
960 180
961 177
961 179
988
977 180
878 69
081 179
063... 10.178 DOM.
0S4 „. 1T4
988 178.0
083 174
1036 80
1044 7
^lohjIuB ferrhtEbidei ukd
liion 110
POTBB 17.70
PromMiwDB 818
Proteus 318
SappliMS 17.83.313
T. 870 SI
066Bqq IT
'Ayn'ruc 101
Aguhaniu 61
iyviiiTivllriv i/iviiiai 00
aIIbis, aWtaaadai IDA
AlMUundrina oritiaiuii 101 note.
'A^iip^io 186 DOtB.
AmycleB 198
Antpnta 30
'AvdpitXdntc 91
'k¥l0o^6yiit 99
Annus magDua 110 tf.
'Air.v.a«riopSe -- 01.110
Apia, lUramBDtia 18T
irotiDrouitiivBai 199
'Aircrav 123
ApoUo DelpbiniDs 116, Ul
KaQapTtii 136
7"
17a >q.
sof )S3
I BECrum ... 13S. 102
Hided 161
1B6
i ircatmeot of
101
■ites 86
,plice IT
BBomu 107
IBSiiDle.
176
188
oa. 66
luniiiiitT in lbs eiriji
' 108. 1S6
188
31
Ill
aoe
JSoler ". 191 sq.
■ Id ThESlre ""
■ KoriiXDroi
^Hoioi
I— LenclppidiB
— Simula 104
- Theogony, T. J73
— T. 79S
(14 i?xpluDed .,.
is. ifi2. reBlored 104
ii. ^i}l> eiplBindl
170 DOW.
Liii. l!fl 96
iraent of legend! 109
riiBl world 11,9
pydroplorii 117
65
ia6D0le.
101 Bq.
Aa^ivTioc
LemniRn IciiiTil of u
Leibiaiu 86
Airat !"!.'!!!!!!;'.!!;!'.!!;!'.! loe
L}duD mode 44
M.
MemaetnlR ]]4
MncrxdXiff/ta ISS note.
MnffX"^"^? 83
Medea'B BhildTCD 116
MfUBlius ai8 Bq.
MeniBceu 171
Mermeros 116
UiiTpAc 'Epivutc 138
MinoMar 116 nole,
HornKi 116 nou.
Mj^eoDffi 62
MjlhiOTie* 158
N.
KsrcissuB 173
Nigbt 186
Noima in rqc pus 138 nole.
NjeleiB 169
O,
OUh. Areopt^lio 147
under proleBlion of Erin.
njes IDS
CEdipoa 164 sqq.
Olympia, Cnltus *t 193
Olympian a ode 180. 183
Oljmpua, Hasioian 39
'Ofi^oX^C 91
'Orr^pin 180 noM.
Orestea, oiylhui of 97 sqq.
Oresti«d» 31 nolo.
"Optov iix"Oai, tovvat 146
uviounflai 132
Orpbie Poeu 1S4. 187
'Opftoc vopot 38 gq.
P.
TBllaiUDni,130,Counof... 134.136
PenuRCalogfl 26
Parodo 30. S06
Pirrbtau, mldrnoe of Oreilea 120
224
INDEX.
UdOw 191
Phanoteus 100 sq.
Phlya 17-2. 179
Phratria 96
Phreatio 134. 142
Phrygian mode 35 sqq.
♦wXojSoflriXfic 142
Pindar 184 sq.
Plato, Polit. and Legg. ... 158 eq.
UoivT} 123
PolydoruB 163
PotnisB 172
Potniades 172
IXpofrrpoTraioc 106
UpurotrrdTfie 21
Prytaneum, Court of 134. 142
Pylades 99
Pylaea 99
Pythagoras 182
Pythia 115
Pythian Oracle... 99. 185
R.
Rhegiam, Orestes at 130
S.
Sacrifice, of animals 121
— — of swine 124
of rams to Zeus 114
of rams and sheep to
the dead 121 sq.
to the Erinnyes 129
Satyric Drama 213
Scene-painting 61
"Sxfifiara in the dance 5
Scholia to Aristides em 21
— — — Demosth. c. Aristocr.
em 134
Soph. (Ed. C. V. 42.
em 130
FAGt
Scirophoria 114
2ff«vac 160. 177
Service of the dead 112. 180
Sigeum 88
Slaves 90
Solon 133 sqq.
Sophocles, 200. 209. (Ed. Col.
164 sqq., 180 sq., 204. 206
oiropdStiv 23. 27
Stasimoo 40. 208 note.
Stesichorus,ll, Orest. Frag. 40 note.
Srixoc 21
Suidas emend 134
S0ay}) alfuiTog 124
T.
Theban Mythology 161 sqq.
Themistocles 79 sq.
Theseus and Peirithous, Eleroon
of 166 note.
Thymele 61
Tilphosgian Cultus, 161 sq. 170. 173
Titanian deities '. 181 sq.
TrcBzen, Orestes at 125. 130
U.
V/3pic 95
Unities, dramatic 59
Unwritten law 154 sqq.
Z.
Zca 134. 142
Zeus KavirkfTag 130
KTriffioc 172. 193
Laphystios 113. 121
Meilichins 113
Nemeus 170
7 ^V^lOQ 114
Soter, the Third ... 190 sqq.
Zwyd 21
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