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Goethe's Hermann and Doro- thea.^ Lessing's Minna von Barn- helm. Lessing's Nathan the "Wise. CEDIPUS TYRANNUS, ELECTRA, AND ANTIGONE OP SOPHOCLES. THE OXFORD TRANSLATION. REVISED EDITION, WITH NOTES. WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY EDWARD BROOKS, Jr. PHILADELPHIA : DAVID McKAY, Publisher, 1022 Market Street. Copyriglit, 1897, by David McKay. INTRODUCTION. Of the three most eminent Greek dramatic writers iEschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, the palm should be awarded to Sophocles. To ^schylus is due the credit of the greatest development of the drama, but Sophocles, so perfected and finished the development which his prede- cessor began, that his successor, Euripides, was unable to add anj^thing in the way of improvement, and indeed to the latter has been frequently attributed the downfall of Greek tragedy. Sophocles was born at Colonos, a small village near Athens, in the j^ear 495 B.C. His father, Sophilus, was a man of good family and possessed of a considerable for- tune. He spared no expense in giving his son a liberal education. Among the early instructors of the poet was Lamprus, the famous musician, under whose teaching Sophocles became so proficient in the art of music that when but fifteen he was chosen to play an accompaniment on the lyre to the paean sung in celebration of the vic- tory at Salamis. It is thought by some that he also com- posed the words of the p^an. At the age of twenty-seven he made his first appear- ance as a dramatic writer, competing in the tragic contests 2056201 *'^ vi INTRODUCTION. held at the festival of Dionysia. On this occasion he won the prize over ^schylus, who had been the undoubted master of the Athenian stage for over thirty years, and gained a supremacy which he maintained until Euripides, in his turn, was successful over him twenty-seven years later. Sophocles lived to the age of ninety, dying in 405 B.C. During his lifetime he held various offices of honor and distinction. So pleased were his countrymen upon the occasion of his exhibiting the "Antigone " that they se- lected him to act as the colleague of Pericles and Thucy- dides in the war against Samos. Later on he was made priest of Halon and was also one of the committee of public safety. He is said to have written one hundred and thirteen dramas, of which, however, only seven have come down to us complete. His later j^ears were made unhappy by an attempt on the part of his son to have him declared feeble-minded. His only defence was to read to his judges portions of a drama which he had just composed, upon hearing which the case was dismissed and his son rebuked for his unfilial conduct. In the following pages will be found translations of three of the greatest of the poet's works, the " (Edipus Tyrannus," the "Electra" and the "Antigone." The first of these tragedies is based upon the legendary story of (Edipus, the son of Laius, King of Thebes, and his wife, Jocasta, at whose birth it was predicted that one day he would murder his father and marry his own mother. In order to render impossible the fulfilment of this prophesy, the young child was exposed in the mouo- INTRODUCTION. vii tains, that he might die, but was discovered by some shepherds and taken to Corinth, where he was educated. Being taunted with being the supposititious child of the king of that country, he journeyed to Thebes, and meet-" ing with Laius, whom he did not know, and a quarrel en- suing, Q^dipus unwittingly slew him. On arriving at Thebes he found the city under the bane of the Sphinx, who was harrassing the Thebans by killing all those who tried but failed to solve the riddle she propounded. (Edi- pus solved the riddle, and as a reward was made ruler over Thebes in place of Laius, and married the widowed Jocasta, thus fulfilling the fatal prediction. The play opens at a time when the Thebans are suffer- ing from a terrible plague which has afflicted them for a long time. Creon, brother of Jocasta, has been sent to consult the oracle of Apollo by what deed the city may be delivered from the pestilence. Creon, returning, an- nounces that the deliverance can only be brought about by the detection and punishment of the assassins of King Laius. In order to learn by whose hand Laius had died, it is suggested that Tiresias, the blind soothsayer, be con- sulted. Tiresias refuses absolutely to disclose who the assassin is, which so greatly angers Oedipus that, in his rage, he accuses Tiresias himself with having done the deed. Stung by this accusation, Tiresias charges (Edi- pus with being the perpetrator of the crime. This the more enrages (Edipus, who now accuses Creon with con- spiring with the soothsayer to overthrow him in order that he might succeed him as ruler of Thebes. The quarrel of the two princes is interrupted by the arrival of Jocasta, who, endeavoring to pacify the strife, inadvertently re- viii INTRODUCTION. lates the story of tlie birth of CEdipus and the fatal pre- diction and describes the place where Laius is alleged to have been killed by foreign robbers. The first inkling of the truth then begins to dawn upon the mind of (Edipus. He questions Jocasta as to the appearance of Laius, and her answers are by no means reassuring. At this mo- ment a messenger arrives bringing the intelligence of the death of Polj'bus, King of Corinth, and inviting (Edipus to return and rule over that countr3^ (Edipus refusing, out of fear that the fatal prediction may be fulfilled, the messenger declares that he is not the son of Polybus, but that he is a foundling from the bushy dells of Cith?era3 whither he had been placed by a servant of Laius. The frightful truth then forces itself upon the mind of Jo- casta, and she rushes from the scene in wild despair. The servant is summoned and confesses that the child he placed upon the mountain was the son of Laius and Jo- casta. A messenger then appears, announcing that Jo- casta has hung herself (Edipus rushes to her, and tear- ing from her dress the golden clasps, gouges out his own eyes. The tragedy ends by (Edipus going into voluntary banishment, after persuading Creon to look after and care for his children. The principal characters represented in the " Electra" are Orestes, son of Agamemnon, his sister Electra, CI3'- temnestra, the faithless wife of Agamemnon and her para- mour aEgisthus. During the absence of the Greeks on their expedition against Troy, Clytemnestra, the wife of Agamemnon, proves false to him, and on his return she with her paramour, ^Egisthus, murders him at a ban- quet given to celebrate his home-coming. It was the in- INTRODUCTION. ix tent of the guilty pair to slay Orestes also, who, although not yet of an age to excite apprehension, was a person who might prove dangerous in after years. His life is, however, saved by his sister sending him secretly to his uncle Strophius, King of Phocis, in whose palace he was reared with his cousin Pylades. Being reminded fre- quently by his sister of his duty to avenge his father's death, Orestes disguises himself as a messenger from Strophius, and repairs to the court of Clytemnestra, an- nouncing the death of Orestes and bringing with him his own funeral ashes. Having thus allayed the fears of the murderers, he discloses himself to Electra, and subse- quently kills Clytemnestra and ^Egisthus. Perhaps the most exquisite part of this play is the scene between Orestes and Electra, when the former, mistaking his sister for a domestic and desirous of keeping his arrival a secret, shows her the urn in which his own ashes are supposed to rest, and causes Electra to pour forth her grief in language full of tenderness and despair. In the " Antigone " the principal persons represented are x\ntigone and Ismene, daughters of Glldipus and Jo- casta, their uncle, Creon, brother of Jocasta, and H^emon, his son, who is in love with Antigone. After the banish- ment of (Edipus from Thebes, his two sons, Eteocles and Polynices, agreed to share the kingdom between them and reign alternately year by year. The choice of reigning the first year fell by lot to Eteocles who, on the expiration of his term, refused to surrender the kingdom to his brother. Polynices, thereupon, fled to Adrastus, King of Argos. Having married his daughter, he persuaded him to lend him an army to make an attack upon Thebes, and thus I* X INTRODUCTION. enforce his claim to the kingdom. This gave rise to the famous expedition known as the ' ' Seven againstThebes, ' ' which is made the subject of a tragedy by Euripides. The siege which ensued was long drawn out with successes on each side. At length it was agreed that the two brothers should decide the issue by single combat. In the duel which resulted both combatants were killed, and there- upon the contending armies again took up the fight, but the invaders were finally repulsed with great loss. Creon then assumed control over Thebes and decided that the body of Eteocles should be buried with distinguished honor, but that Polynices should lie where he fell, and forbade any one to accord him funeral rites, on pain of death. Antigone rebelled at the decree which consigned her brother's body to the dogs and vultures, and though dissuaded by her afi'ectionate but timorous sister, Ismene, and unable to procure assistance, resolved to bury her brother with her own hands. Being detected in the act, despite the intervention of her lover H^emon, she was or- dered to be buried alive. Hasmon, unable to bear the misery of surviving his loved Antigone, took his own life. His mother, Eurydice, also destroys herself, calling down maledictions upon the murderer of Antigone and Haemon, and not until then does Creon repent his cruelty. (EDIPUS TYRANNUS. ARGUMENT. CEdipus was reproached with being the supposititious child of Polybus, the king of Corinth, and in disgust exiled him- self, and went to Thebes. Here he solved the riddle of the Sphinx, and as a reward received the kingdom, and the hand of the queen Jocasta in marriage. A long plague ravaged Thebes, and, on Creon being sent to Delphi, the murderer of Laius, the former king of Thebes, was denounced as the cause of the evil. In his anxiety to discover the murderer, and through the statements of Tiresias, corroborated by those of certain old servants, G^dipus made the fearful dis- covery that he had been exposed in childhood, to avert an awful prophecy, which he had unwittingly fulfilled in the murder of his father La'ius on his way from Corinth to Thebes, and in his subsequent cohabitation with his mother Jocasta. Jocasta hung herself, and CEdipus, in despair, tore out his eyes. — B. DKAMATIS PERSON.E. CEdipus.i Priest. Creon. Chorus of Aged Thebans. Tiresias. Jocasta. Messenger. Servant of Laius. Messenger extraordinary. CEdipus. My children, youthful generation of Cadmus of old, what can be [the meaning of] these sittings ye are 1 ArriaU; ap. Stob. S. 97. 28, hints that both the (Edipi were personated by Polus, a distinguished actor, of whom Gellius makes mention, 7. 5. 12 CEDIPUS TVR ANNUS. [3-15. thronging^ hither before me, decorated with suppliant branches? while the cit}^ is at the same time fraught with incense-offerings, and at the same time with both pa?an- liymns and wailings. Which things, I thinking it my duty not to hear from others, and those messengers,^ my children, have myself come hither ; I, Oedipus, styled by alP the Illus- trious. But, O aged man, say, since it naturally becomes thee to speak on behalf of these, in what mood ye stand af- fected, fearing,* or earnestly seeking ; since I would willingly give you every succor ; for I were unfeeling not to compas- sionate a meeting such as this. Priest. But, O Oedipus, thou who rulest over my country, us indeed thou beholdest, of Avhat ages are we who sit as 1 The word "thronsiug" takes in both the ideas usually ap- plied to this word. Wuuder takes it merely to mean "sitting, occupying," and so Buttmann, Lexil. sub voc. Cf. yEsch. Suppl. 595. Others render it " hurrying." The word is probably akin to do6-. See Erfurdt, and Liddel's Lexicon. B. '^ So Wander, quoting Eur. Orest. 5.31, ri [laprvpwv aWoiv uko- v£iv hi fi' a y' iiaopdv irapa. This corresponds to the Latin exe- getical use of adeo. But perhaps aWwv is merely redundant in opposition to airo-. B. ^ From the position of -am it might not be improper to translate "the all-illustrious." with a construction like that of V. 40. See also (Ed. Col. 1446. Te. — This verse might more poetically be rendered, "I, CEdipus, by all illustrious height." It is condemned by Wuuder as spurious. B. * I have preserved the participles, to make the translation of this awkward passage more clear. After the remarks of Wuuder, it seems evident that hiaavre' denotes /mr wliich led these suppliants, artpyeiv, to seek for assistance. As a-ipyeiv is used to denote a passive content or satisfaction (see Blomf. on ^Esch. Prom, ii.), so it may pass to another signification, by which we are said to sceli those things which we should be pleased to have. In OEd. C. 518, we find orcpfoi/ explained by -eidov immediately following, which is just the reverse of the present sense. Otherwise, we mio^ht render the passa.se; "are ye fearing an impending, or enduring a present evil?" (So St. Gregory, Horn. i. in Ev. ^ 1, "Ex quibus profecto omnibus alia jam facta ceruimus, alia e proximis venturaformidamus.") Some may regard this as a frigid antithesis, but CEdipus. like Puff's hero in "The Critic," does not ask for information for himself, but for the benefit of the audience. B. 16-37.] CEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 13 suppliants before thine altars here ;^ some of us not yet of strength to wing our flight afar ; other priests Aveighed down with old age, I myself the priest of Jupiter ; and these other chosen of the youths : but the rest of the populace decked with branches, is seated in the market-places, and near both the shrines of Pallas, and at Ismenus' ashes of divination, ^ For the city, as thou thyself behold, is now over-roughly tossing, and from the depths of the bloody surge can no longer lift her head ; withering in the ripening husks^ of the soil, withering in the pasturing herds of kine, and in the yet unborn labors of women : and the fire-bearing god, most hated pestilence, having darted down, ravages the city ; by Avhom the house of Cadmus is made empty, but dark Hades grows rich with wailings and groans. Now I and these youths here are seated petitioners by the house, deeming thee not equal to the gods, but of men the first, whether for the casualties of life, or the interventions of the gods. Who, indeed, when thou wast come to Cadmus' capital, didst put an end to the tribute of the stern chantress, which we were furnishing : and this too neither knowing nor taught by us, any strange knowledge ;* but by the prompting of god thou ^ The altars alluded to were of various deities, placed by in- dividuals before their houses, as patriotism or private gratitude might dictate. See the Curculio of Plautus, I. i. 7; Arist. Wasps, 875. 2 " Both the shrines." Minerva had a temple at Thebes in virtue of her name Oncfea, and another as Ismenia, which lat- ter name Apollo also bore, and presided over an altar of burnt sacrifices. ^ I have here followed Wunder. iyKdinroi?- raust mean the corn just ripened, but blighted at the very moment of burst- ing, TTEpi (TITO' EK^oXfji'^ {u Thucyd. iv. 1. Soon after the epithet dyihoisr does not mean, "abortive," but "unborn," owing to the strength of the mothers failing. Wunder appositely compares Herodot. vi. 139. Compare also Seneca, CEdip. Act. i, sc. 2, v. 33, nay, the whole description. B. 4 nXsov can not mean "any thing further," i.e., than the bare fact of the riddle proposed, as the translators have supposed; but n\£r]p Eioevai is a form peculiarly applied to the possession of occult knowledge. So in Nicolaus Damascenus, from a MS. in the Escurial, fob 3 A, 6 Ba^v'Xojvio^, el J*? n -kXeXov to. QcXa elScog, av/x^aWei rhv rov ovtipov (l>vinr]v. And of Joseph's skill in dreams, 14 CEDIPUS TYRANNUS. [38-74. art reputed and believed to have righted our condition. Now too, O head of ffidipus, owned most potent by all, we implore thee, all prostrate here before thee, to tind some help for us, whether thou, by hearing the voice of any god, or from any human source, knowest such : since to the ex- perienced I observe even the issues of their counsels to be the most flourishing. Go, best of mortals, re-establish the state, go, take good counsel ; since at present indeed this our land celebrates thee as its preserver for thy former zeal — and may we in no wise remember thy reign for our having botk regained our footing and afterward fallen ; but raise up this our city in safety. For as with propitious augury thou didst render to us the former lucky service, so in the present instance be equal [to thyself]. Since if in sooth thou wilt govern this our land, as thou dost sway it, it is a fairer thing to rule it with its men, than desolate. For neither tower nor ship is aught, if destitute of men dwell- ing therein. OEd. My children, objects of my pity, you have come wishing for things known, and not unknown to me ; for well am I aware that ye are all sickening,^ and sickening though ye be, there is not one of you who sicken equally with me. For your affliction falls on one alone, in his own person and on none other ; while my soul sighs at once both for the city and for myself and for you. So that ye awake me not in- deed slumbering in repose, but know that I already have shed many tears, have traversed many paths in the wander- ings of thought ; and that only mode of cure which I had discovered by careful scrutiny, that have I put in execution. For Creon, the son of Menoeceus, my kinsman by marriage, I dispatched to the Pythian shrine of Apollo, to inquire by what deed or word I might deliver this city. And the day being already commensurate with the time [for his return], pains me for his fate, since beyond reasonable expectation Clemens Alexandr. Strom. V. p. 245, 38, vhv tovtov s'^Xwcair^s oi d(^£X0oi, rrXeTov ri Trpoopojxcvov Kara rrjv yvidcriv. B. 1 "Diseased" is certainly literal, but an equivocal term is required to express the bodily disease of the people, and the " hearts' aching " of CEdipns in his despair. I think " sicken " better expresses this double sense of voaelv than "disease." Others render it by "being distressed." B. 75-96. J CEDIPUS TYR ANNUS. 15 he is away longer than the due period. But whenever he shall have arrived, that instant I were a villain not to per- form to the full all that the god may reveal. Pr. Nay, thou hast both well said, and these too just now signify to me that Creon is approaching. CEi). Hear, king Apollo, for O that he may have come with some saviour fortune at least, even as he is sparkling of eye. Pr. If one may guess, however, he is welcome ; else would he not be coming hithex, his head thus amply wreathed Avith all-fruitful laurel.^ QLt>. Quickly shall we know, for he is within reach of hearing us. Prince, my relation, son of Menoeceus, what report from the god comest thou bringing to us ? Creon. Good : for I assert that even our grievances, should they chance to have their issues aright, might be al- together fortunate.^ Q^D. But of what purport is the oracle?^ Fori am neither emboldened, nor yet prematurely alarmed, at least by thy present speech. Cr. If thou choosest to hear while these are by, I am ready to tell thee, or else to retire within doors. OEd. Speak out to all, for I endure more suffering for these my people than even for my own life. Cr. I will say what I have heard from the god. King Phoebus openly enjoins us to expel from the country a* pol- ^ The laurel crowu, say the commentators, was the privilege of those " quibus Isetse sortes obtlgerant." Chremylus in the Phitus, however, will hardly allow the " laetse sortes" to be his lot, though his slave wears the chaplet. '^ A purposely dark auswer, breathing the true Loxian spirit. ^ Gr. scTiu OS Tzolov TovTtOi'^ Quid hoc sermonis est? Br. "What mean thy words?" Dale. "ETrof is emphatically an oracle, and moreover the expression rw ys vvv \oyw would be a mere repetition, if Brunck's translation were correct. In the same passage the opposition of Opaavg to npoSclaos gives con- firmation to the distinction made between dpda-og and edpaog, audacia and fiducia. Tr. — I prefer " emboldened " to " rashly sanguine." B. * This is much more correct than "the pollution." It was as yet unknown what the pollution was. as is evident from the i6 CEDIPUS TYRAXXUS. [97-117. lution, as having been bred in this our land, nor to foster what is incurable. CEd. By what kind of purification ? What is the manner of the evil ? Cr. By banishing, or requiting death with death, since the following bloodshed troubles the state. ^ (Ed. AVhv, of what manner of man does he indicate this fate ? Cr. We had once, O king, Laius as the sovereign of this land, ere thou didst regulate this state. CEb. I knew him by hearsay, for I never as yet saw him at least. Cr. This man having perished, Apollo now clearly gives one orders to punish his assassins. - CEd. But where on eartli are these same? "Where shall be discovered this track of an ancient crime, hard to conjecture? Cr. He said, in this land. But what is searclied for, is to be got at, while that which is unregarded escapes. (Ed. But is it in the house, or in the field, or in another land, that Laius encounters this bloody death? Cr. Quitting home, as he told us, to consult the oracle, he never returned home, as lie had departed. (Ed. And was no messenger, nor partaker of his journey, a witness to this, from whom gaining intelligence one might have used it? inquiry of CEdipus: rts 6 rp6-os rn^ ^"n/opas, wliicli has been wrongiy taken to mean, "what is the method of averting the calamity?" B. 1 ToS' alua \f(//roi/ Tr6\t:'. Although the translator lias not ventured to reudtr this otlierwise than Erfurdt, Hermann, and Elmsley have given it, i.e., as an accusative absolute, and with the word rocs referring to something subsequent, he has still a doubt whether ^o-ri might not be understood, and the passage construed thus: "Since this is a case of bloodshed troubling the city." The answer of CEdipus will then run thus: "How so? for of what manner of man," etc.; but it hardly seems natural that CEdipus should interrupt one who indicated (as is done by roh, according to the critics) his pur- pose of immediately proceeding to specify the murder. Tr. — Another translation has " since this blood is as pernicious as winter to the city." B. 2 But see my note on v. 140. B. 1 1 8-143] a':DIPUS TVR ANNUS. 17 Cr. No ; for tliey are dead, except one individual, who, having fled in terror, could tell for certain nothing he saw, but one fact. CEd. Of wliat nature that fact? for one thing might find means to learn many, could we lay hold of hut a slender foundation of hope. Cr. He said that robbers, having encountered him, slew him, not by the valor of one arm, but with a number of hands. (Ed. How then would the bandit, had there been no tam- perings by bribes from hence, have reached such a pitch of audacity as this? Cr. This was suspected ; but amid disasters there came forward no one as the avenger of Lai'us now no more CEd. But what kind of distress interfering, when the mon- arch^ had thus fallen, checked you from sifting out this matter ? Cr. The Sphinx, mysterious songstress, compelled us to look to that which was before our feet, having abandoned what was obscure. CEd. But from its first cause will I bring it to light again. For right worthily has Phoebus, and worthily luist thou set on foot this present examination in the cause of the deceased : so that deservedly ye will see me also your abettor, avengmg at once my land here, and the god. For in behalf, not of my more distant friends, but myself of myself, shall I dis- perse this pollution. Since whoever it was that murdered him, he might perhaps wish to^ take vengeance on me too with like hand. In supporting his cause, therefore, I advan- tage mtfself. But with what speed ye may, my children, do ^ I prefer taking rvpawiSog as abstract for coucrete, with the old translation. B. 2 This is certainly the usual sense of rijXMpeXv. But Wunder thinks the sense of "slaying" or " killing " more suitable, and thinks that in v. 105, >C£'pt TijxMpeiv conveys the like idea. Granting, as I do, that this sense is more suitable (and I think defensible) in the present passage, I am even more certain of v. 140. w'here, in rovg aiiToiurag X£'P' TintopeXv we have "death for death" implied in an almost proverbial manner. So ^sch. Choeph. 312, avrl 6e Tr\riyf)i 'i>oi'iag 'i>oviai' ]J\riyf]v rti/ircj. ipaaavTi TradetvTpiyepMv jivdos rade (piovei. Cf. Eum. 264. B. iS CEDIPUS TYRAXNUS. [144-166. yon on your part arise from oS your seats, ^ taking up tiiese brandies of supplication ; but let some one else assemble hither the people of Cadmus, since I purpose to take every step. For we will prove ourselves either with heaven's aid prosperous or undone. Pr. My children, let us rise; since even for the sake of those things^ this man promises, came we hither. But may Phtebus, who has sent us these divinations, come with them both as a deliverer and as a healer to our sickness. Chorus. O sweetly-speaking oracle of Jove, mIiv canst thou have come from Pytho stored with gold, to illustrious Thebes? I am on the rack in my timorous spirit, quivering with dis- may, O healer, Delian, Pfean, awfully anxious about thee, as to what matter thou wilt bring to pass for me, either at once, or hereafter in the revolving seasons. Tell me, thou child of golden hope,"* immortal Voice. First I invoke thee, daughter of Jove, immortal Minerva, and thy sister, protectress of our soil, Artemis, who* sits enthroned on her glorious circling chair in the market-place, and far-darting Apollo : oh, be ye timely present to me, three several averters of destruction, if ever, in the case of a previous calamity also hovering over my country, ye thoroughly exterminated the flame of mischief, now too come ; ye gods, for I suffer incalculable miseries ; nay, ^ When the request was granted, the suppliants took up the boughs, which they had previously laid ou the altar, aud de- parted, See Wunder's 1st Excursus ou v. 3. B. 2 For E^aYytWe-ai, "promises," cf. Eurip. Heracl. 531. Kdfay- ytWcTuai OvfiaKEiv dcs^pioi/ noice KdfiavrrJs v-ep. B. ^ Dr. Spillan has rightly seen that Fame has nothing to do with the matter. <^diia is the voice of the oracle here invoked. The construction of AccvXo^sri'o? soon after (for which the transla- tor read Ac-fAcAo^EJw ) is well defended by Wunder. B. * There is much diificulty about the epithet evK'XEa, which, if considered as the Epic accusative for ei'K\£a, violates the meter. Eespecting the epithet of Artemis, BoKkeia (whence Brunck and Elmsley read Y.vK'Xia), see Wunder, and Pausauias, i. 14. and ix. 17. On the many meanings assigned to K'K}. Nay, even if there be a third, see thou omit not to give it utterance. Ch. I know that king^ Tiresias most especially has insight into the same things with king Apollo, from whom one in- quiring of these matters, O king, might derive the clearest knowledge of them. CEd. But not even this have I managed as a slothful work, for I have dispatched, at Creon's word, two to fetch him ; and long since he moves my wonder by his non-attendance. Ch. Well, certainly the other stories are absurd, and stale. Qi^D. To what purpose these same ? for I scrutinize every report. Ch. He was said to have fallen by some wayfarers. (Ed. I, too, have heard so ; but the witness of this no one knows. Ch. But surely, if he possess one particle of fear, at least he will not endure hearing such curses as these of thine. CEd. Him wlio can have no horror of the deed, neither will a word overawe. Ch. Yet is there one who shall expose him, for those yonder are slow conducting hither the heavenly seer ; in whom alone of men is the truth innate. OEd. Tiresias, thou who dost contemplate all things, both those which may be taught, and those which are unspeak- able, and those which are of heaven, and those that tread our earth ; vmder what a disease our city labors, even though thou seest not, thou must still be sensible : wherein we dis- cover thee, O king, our only protector and deliverer. For Phoebus, should thou not be informed of it by the messen- gers, has sent word in return to us who sent to ask that re- lease from this our present sickly state alone could come, if, having rightly discovered, we should put to death those who 1 The expression ava^ refers here to the functions of the king, priest, and prophet, which were united from the earliest times, and which neither the Athenians nor Eomans, when they abolished the regal power, dared nominally to separate, but still retained their titular ^aaiXevr and rex. 24 OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. [309-333. killed Laius, or send them into banishment from the land. Do thou, therefore, on thv part, grudging us neither response from augury, nor if thou hast other way of divination what- ever, redeem thyself and the state, redeem me, redeem the whole pollution of the dead.^ For in thy hands we are ; but for a man to do benefit from such means as he may have and can use, is of labors the most glorious. TiRESiAS. Woe, woe, how dreadful to be wise, where it can not pay its profits to the wise. Alas ! for though I knew this Avell, I altogether forgot it, else had I not come hither. Q^D. Xav, what is this? how dispirited art thou come to us! \ TiR. Dismiss me to my home, for most easily Avilt thou endure thy doom and I mine, if thou wilt be prevailed on by me. CEd. Thou hast said what is neither lawful nor friendly to this thy country which nursed thee, in depriving her of this divulgement. Tie,, Why, I observe that neither does thy speech pro- ceed from thee seasonably ; I do it, therefore, that I may not suffer the same evil on my part. Ch. Do not, in the name of the gods, if aware of this, be averse [to speak], since we all here, prostrate as suppliants, kneel to thee. TiR. Because ye are all infatuated : but I ,^ no, never; be it that I may not, by telling my own, unfold thy miseries. CEt>. What sayest thou ? though knowing it, Avilt thou not give it utterance, but thinkest thou to betray us, and destroy the state. TiR. I will grieve neither myself nor thee. * Wherefore dost thou vainly probe these matters ? for never shalt thou learn them from me. 1 That is. " all that the death of Laius has polluted." 2 " But I ." This is translated after the punctuation of Hermann's edition. In his addenda, however, Ehusley con- siders Erf urdt to have correctly interpreted the passage, the second //»? to redound, and the order to be, £yw 6c oi nii-ors eKipiivio (id est, ovTTOrE CKipavio) to. aa koko., io~ au cUttm ra e^a fxavTCvuara. "Never imagine that I will bring to light thy misfortuues, in order that I may utter my prophecies." Te. — Dindorf s text seems unintelligible. B. 334-356.] CEDIPUS TYR ANNUS. 25 Q^D. "What, worst of villains ! for thou on thy part wouldst enrage the temper even of a stone ; wilt thou never declare it at all, and show thyself unsoftened and unsatisfying ? TiR. Thou hast complained of my ill humor, but thine own that dwells with thee hast thou not discerned ;^ yet blamest thou me. GLd. I do ; for who would not be incensed at hearing such words as those, in which thou now settest at naught this city ? Tie,. Why, they will come to pass, even though I suppress them in silence. (Ed. Oughtest not thou, then, to inform me of at least that which will come to pass? Tie.. I can tell thee no further ; whereupon, if thou wilt, be exasperate with whatever rage is most ferocious. (Ed. Ay, on my soul, and I will at least pass over noth- ing, so enraged am I, of what I am apprised of. For, know, thou art suspected by me both to have helped engender the deed, and to have done it, in all but killing him with thine hands ; nay, hadst thou possessed sight, even this deed its very self had I asserted to be thine alone. Tie. Is it even so? 1 charge thee to abide by the proc- lamation, even that which thou hast promulged, and from this day forth to accost neither these present, nor me ; for that thou art the unhallowed defiler of this land. OEd. Hast thou thus shamelessly given vent to these words of thine, and canst thou possibly expect that thou shalt ac- quit thyself of this? TiR. I stand acquitted, for I cherish truth in its strength. 1 Hermann considers that Eustatliius is right in attributing to these words an allusion to Jocasta, and says, that the expres- sion ojiou vatovo-ai/ is otherwise useless ; which, however, it would not be, since it contains the very reason which gives Tiresias's remonstrance so much force. The ambiguity, if any ought to be, is well preserved in these lines ; "Thou hast reproved my warmth, yet little know'st What dwells in thine own bosom, though on me Thou heap'st reproach." Dale's Trans, vol. i. 32. Tr. See V. 414, and cf. Nonnus Dionys. xxv. 20. — ni^ ^omw Xlarpo. Was, then, this same diviner at that time in the practice of his calling ? Cr. At least he was as sage and as much respected. CEd. Well, made he any mention of me then at that time? 1 See Keen on Gregorius de Dial. Attic. ^ 2. B. 565-5S2.] CEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 23 Cr. Certainly not, never, at least, where I was a bystander. (Ed. But held ye no inquisition for the deceased ? Cr. We commissioned one ; nay, how should we not ? and heard nothing, OEd. How was it, then, that at that time this sage revealed not these things ? Cr. I know not ; for in matters on which I have no un- derstanding I prefer being silent. (F^D. Yet this much at least thou knowest, and Avould state if honest of purpose. Cr. Of what sort is this thing? for if I do know it, I will not deny it. (Ed. It is, that unless he has conspired with thee,^ he never could have said that the destruction of Laius was my doing. Cr. Whether he says so, thou thyself knowest ; but I claim the right of ascertaining from thee just the same things which thou hast now from nie also. (Et>. Ascertain them ; for certainly I shall not be detected a murderer. Cr. What sayest thou, then? art thou married to my own sister? OEd. There is no denial of that thou questionest. Cr.'^ And hast thou the same sovereignty with her, swaying in equal share of territory? CEd. W^hatever be her pleasure, she obtains every thing from me. Cr. Am not I then the third on a par with you too ? (Kb. Why, 'tis even in this in fact thou showest thee a false friend. 1 "09' ovvEKa.] Thus in the old English, the ballad of the field-mouse : " Who for because her livelihood was thin, Would needs go seek her townish sister's house." 2 Doederlin remarks that y>is ought rather to be made to depend upon apY^'f tlian upon 'iao", and he prefers interpreting caov vtixMv, '■'■ parein dignitatem fribuens, scil. Jocasta?, ut Phil. 1020: ovSev rjSv yap 0£ol vkjxomi jxoi, coll. V. 1062, Ant. 1373, nam de liberalitate (Edipi sermo est, quse in dando posita est, non de potentia ejusdem, quae in obtinendo ceruitur." B. 34 GEDIPUS TYRANNUS. [583-619. Cr. Xot so, if at least thou wouldst reason with thyself, as I do. But reflect on this first, if thou think that any would choose for himself, to rule in a state of apprehension, ratlier than to sleep fearless, if at least he shall still have the same powers. Neither, then, am I myself of a nature to covet the being a monarch rather than the acting as a monarch, nor any other who has a sense of prudence ; for now indeed I receive every thing from thee without fear, but were I king myself I should do many things even against my wishes. How then is monarchy naturally more pleasing to me to possess, than rule and puissance without pain ? I do not yet happen to be so nuich deceived as to wish for aught else than what is with profit honorable. Now I am friends with all, now every one salutes me, now they avIio have a suit to thee^ summon me out ; for their success is centered altogether in me. How then should I, having abandoned this place, grasp at that other? A well-intentioned spirit could not be- come wicked. But I am neither by nature a warm admirer of this same sentiment, nor should I ever venture on it with another to effect it : and as a test of this, in the first place, go to Delphi, and inquire if I have fairly reported to thee, what was prophesied ; thus much more ; if thou detect me to have complotted aught in common with the soothsayer, take and put me to death, not by a single suffrage, but by a double one, both mine and thine ; but hold me not guilty without a hearing, on an uncertain opinion. For it is not just lightly to deem the wicked good, or the good wicked. For to cast away a virtuous friend, I call as bad as to cast away one's own life, which one loves best. But in time thou shalt discern all this, without fail, since time alone develops the honest man; but a traitor thou mightest discover even in one day. Ch. Comraendably hath he spoken to one who is cautious of falling, O prince ; for they who are hasty to judge are insecure. CEi>. When any one takes quick steps in covert plots, it needs me to counteract him in counsel quickly ; but if, keep- 1 Wunder reads aiKciWovai, "court me," from the conjecture of Diud. Perhaps the common reading may be defended by Trach. 1206, oia //' CKKaXel, -Karep. 620-643.] CEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 35 ing quiet, I wait for him, his plans will be accomplished, but mind marred. Cr. Well then, what is thine aim ? To eject me from the land ? QEd. By no means : I wish thee to die, not to be exiled. Cr. When thou shalt first have shown the nature of thy grudge to me. CEd. Speakest thou as one who will obey neither command nor agreement ?^ Cr. Yes ; for I see thou art not in thy right mind. CEd. For my own interest at least. Cr. But thou oughtest as much for mine too. OEd, But thou art a born traitor. Cr. But what an thou understandest nothing? CEd. Yet still one must be ruled. Cr. Surely not by a bad ruler at least. OEd. O city, city'! Cr. I too have a part in the city, and not thou only. Ch. Princes, desist ; but opportunely for you both, I see Jocasta advancing from the palace, in concert with whom you are bound amicably to settle your quarrel now pending. Jocasta. Why, infatuated, have ye raised this unadvised strife of tongue, nor blush ye, when our land is thus dis- eased, at stirring up private mischiefs? Wilt not both thou get thee home, and thou, Creon, to thy dwelling, and not raise a nothing of an offense to magnitude ? Cr. Sister, CEdipus, thy husband, thinks proper to do me foul wrong, having limited choice to two evils, either to banish me from my father's land, or to take and slay me. (Ed. I confess it ; for I have detected him, lady, in mal- practices against my person with wicked craft. ^ Dr. Spillan's version has, "Say you that you will not yield and submit?" The Cambridge, " Do you speak as not about to depart nor to obey me?" The old Oxford, "Sayest thou that thou wilt neither yield, nor obey?" None of these interpreta- tions appear satisfactory. I think there is some error in -mre- vacov, and perhaps no interrogation is needed. One would al- most expect such a sense as this, " You speak as one that can neither yield nor convince." Tap is similarly used in a passage very like the present one, Trach. 1232, cir ipyaceicov oiSev Stv Xeyu epouT. YAAOS, tiT ydp tzod . B. 36 CEDIPUS TYR ANNUS. [644-679. Cr. Xow marl never prosper, but perish accursed, if I have done aught to thee of what thou accusest me of doing. Jo. Oh ! in the gods' name, Oedipus be persuaded to this : most especially, indeed, in respect to this adjuration of the gods ; secondly, to both me and these Avho are here present. Ch. Be prevailed on, willingly and sensibly, O king, I implore thee. (Ed. What wilt thou, then, I shall concede to thee ? Ch. To respect him who neither ere now was imprudent, and now is mighty in virtue of his oath. (Ed. Dost know then what thou wishest? Ch. I do know. (Ed. Explain, then, what thou hast to say. Ch. That thou bring not into impeachment and disgrace thy friend, who has thus made oath,^ at least upon an uncer- tain charge. (Ed. Know now full well, that when thou seekest this, thou art seeking death or banishment from this land for me. Ch. No, by the god, chieftain of all the gods, the sun, since I wish I may die godless, friendless, the direst of all deaths, whatever it be, if I have this design ; but the with- ering land wears out the spirits of hapless me, especially if these troubles, I mean those which arise from you two, shall attach to the previous afflictions. CEd. Then let him begone ; ay, if it be my destiny utterly to fall a victim, or be thrust out by violence, dishonored from this country ; for 'tis thy piteous appeal, not his, that I compassionate ; but he, wherever he shall be, shall be loathed. Cr. Full of loathing, indeed, thou plainly showest thyself in yielding ; but sad [wilt thou be], when thou shalt have exceeded in thy passion. Such tempers, however, are justly the most painful to themselves to bear with. CEd. Wilt thou not leave me alone, and get thee forth? Cr. I will be gone, having met with you indeed who know me not ; but in the eyes of these men just. Ch. Lady, why delay est thou to convey this man Avithin the house? 1 This is Erfurdt's interpretation of evayn. Liddell well renders it, "who has pledged himself under a curse.'' See Lexicon, sub v. B. 68o-7o6.] GEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 37 Jo. I M'ill, when I have learned at least what may have happened. Ch. An uncertain suspicion came of certain words : even the unjust taunt is cutting. Jo. From both of them ? Ch. Even so. Jo. And what was the saying? Ch. Enough, enough to me at least it seems, when the land is previouslv distressed, that it rest there where it left off. (Et>. Seest thou to what thou, a man of upright intention, art come,^ giving up my side, and hardening your heart against me ? Ch. O prince, I have said not once alone, but know that I should show myself beside my senses, incapacitated from regaining those senses, were I to secede from thee, who hast piloted right steadily down the stream mine own dear land, when rocking about in troubles ; and now too,'-^ be safe con- voy to it, if thou mayest. Jo. In the gods' name inform me also, O king, from what circumstances on earth thou hast conceived so great wrath as this. . OEd. I will tell thee ; for I hold thee, lady, in more re- spect than these : it is from Creon ; that he has plotted such devices against me. Jo. Speak, if thou wilt plainly state the cause of quarrel, charging it on him. (Et>. He says that I am the murderer of Lai'us. Jo. Of his own privity, or having learned it from other? QLj). Why, by having sent me a knavish soothsayer, how- ever ; for as to himself, at least, he exculpates his speech entirely. "^ 1 So F. Jacobs : Trapisis" is, to the best of my knowledge, al- ways used of what one does of or to one's self, not of what one causes another to do. (See Ellendt.) The same remark applies to v. What distraction of soul and perturbation of feelings at this moment possess me, having heard thee, lady. Jo. By what manner of solicitude altered in mind sayest thou this? OEd. I thought I heard this from thee, that Laius was slaughtered near three highways. Jo. Yes; for these things were rumored, nor have they yet ceased to be. (Ed. And where is this said spot where this catastrophe occurred ? Jo. Pliocis the land is called : but a separate road leads to the same point from Delphi and from Daulia. QEd. And what is the time that has elapsed to these events ? -passage so strongly marked by the particles nsv ovv, and the ye m the next clause. CEdipus is positive {ovi/) of Tlresias being merely Creon's mouth-piece, though Creou himself had vindi- cated his own language. See Hermann's and Erfurdt's notes. Tr. — More simply, "he keeps his speech free from such asser- tion." In Liddell's Lexicon it is rendered, "every man's tongue is ready to acquit himself.'' B. 736-755-] CEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 39 Jo. Some short time previous to thy coming forward as ruler of this land, were these rumors published to the city. (Ed. O Jupiter, what hast thou purposed to do by me? Jo. But what, O (Edipus, is this monster of thy thought? (Ed. Question me not yet.^ But of Laius tell me what personal appearance he had, and that^ at what era of his prime. Jo. Of lofty port, just now whitening to down the hoary honors of his head : but he was not very unlike thy own form.^ QLt>. Woe me unhappy ! It seems I have, without know- ing it, even now forced myself prematurely into horrid curses. Jo. How sayest thou? verily I shudder as I glance at thee, O king. CEd. Fearfully am I despondent, lest the prophet see too well : but thou wilt the surer demonstrate it if thou wilt be explicit on one more point. Jo. Indeed, indeed I shrink from it ; yet what thou shalt ask, if aware, I will tell. (Ed. Was he journeying thinly attended, or with a train of many armed retainers, as one of a chieftain's rank should? Jo. They were five altogether ; and among them was a herald ; but a single chariot conveyed Laius. QEd. Alas ! all this is now full clear. Who on earth was he who told this same narrative to you, lady ? 1 " Not yet." Porsou says, ad Hec. 1260 (ed. Pors.), that nv-u is used for hvttotc. which Erfurdt quotes ou this place, although totally iuapplicable, and quotes moreover without the most essential part, the " Xtrdrrys" qusedam " of //"ttco for fifinorE ; which omission might lead one to suppose that Porson thought the two words equivalent, and the particle ttw to have two senses. 2 "And that." Erfurdt's note on this place is truly admira- ble, when contrasted with the opinions of those learned men who, by dubbing those words noirs faineants which they can not express, would conceal their own laziness or the poverty of modern languages. "Participia excop, XajSwi^, et alia nunquam sic ponuntur, ut nihil plane signilicent, semperque imaginibus rerum ad summam illam, cui Grsecorum nobilissima gens per omnia studebat, perfectiouem exprimendis inserviunt." » See Schiegel's Vllth Lecture, p. 102. B. 40 CEDIPUS TYRANNUS. [756-782. Jo. A certain domestic, who in fact Avas the only one who returned safely escaped. (J^T>. And does he happen to be now at hand in the palace ? Jo. O no ! for from the time when he returned thence and saw both thee holding the government, and Laius dead, he petitioned me, grasping my hand, to send him into the country and to the pastures of the flocks, that he might be most completely removed from sight of this city. And I sent him : for he was worthy, considering he was a slave, to obtain even a higher favor than this. (Ed. Would then that he might return to us speedily ! Jo. It is possible : but Avherefore seekest thou this ? CEd. For myself I fear, lady, lest overmuch have been said by me, for which cause I wish to see him. Jo. Nay, he shall come. But surely I also am worthy to learn, at least what circumstances are irksome to thee, O king. CEd. And thou surely must by no means be disappointed of this, when I have now arrived at such a pitch of expect- ancy.^ For to Avhom could I speak w^ho would be of more account even than thou, when implicated in such a fate as this ? I had for my father Polybus of Corinth, for my mother, Merope of Doris ; and I was esteemed chiefest in rank of the citizens of Corinth, before an accident befell me such as I shall tell, worthy indeed of wonder, but unworthy never- theless of the interest I took in it. For at a banquet a man overcharged with wine, brands me over his cups with being a supposititious son of my father. And I, deeply displeased, with much ado restrained me for that day ; but on the next I visited my mother and my father, and strictly questioned them ; but they were highly offended for the affront with him who gave vent to the assertion. And 1 was pleased in- deed with them : but yet this [innuendo] was always galling ' me, for it had sunk deep in my mind. So unknown to my mother and father I go on a journey to Delphi. And Phoebus, as to the matters for which I came, sent me away without 1 Erfurdt, referring to v, 829, thinks i:\-i~ correctly trans- lated by hope here. The other seems the most natural sequel to Oedipus' words immediately preceding. 783-Soo.] CEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 41 the honor of an answer ; but other fortunes, wretched, and horrible, and deplorable, he was but too ready to telP that it was my doom to commit incest with my mother, and that I should bring to light a progeny mankind should not endure to beliold, and that I should be the murderer of the father who begot me. And I on hearing this, from that time forth mea'^uring^ out the site of the land of Corinth by the stars, began my flight from it to where I might never witness the scandals of those evil prophecies about me accomplished. But in my travel I reach those very spots on which thou sayest that this same monarch met his death. And to thee, lady, will I divulge the truth : Avhen I wending on my way* 1 Upov(l)ai>ri XiXcov. Aperie prxdixii, Brunck. But both the sense of the passage and the force of ■!rpo(pavr}Te in the first chorus are in favor of the other rendering. Tr. — Wunder reads ~po\)ii>r}vcv, \kyMv. See his note, B. 2 But see Heath. B. 3 This is the first of four passages which Hermann in his preface to Erfurdt's edition has specially noticed. Elmsley in his preface has these words; " 'H pro rw, eram, quater reposui. 'Hv aliquoties ante vocalem legitur apud Euripidem, ut in Hip- pol. 1012; Ale. 658; Iph. Aul. 944; Ion. 280. Qnamquam hffic omnia corrupta esse suspicor. Sic etiam ter Aristophanes, sed in Pluto, novissima omnium fabula, v. 29, 695, 823. Nihil tale apud Sophoclem reperitur. Vid. (Ed. Tvr. 801, 112.3, 1.389, 1393; CEd. Col. 768, 97.3, 1366; Trach. 87, 414; Aj. 1377; Phil. 1219; El. 1023." From this remark of our critic, Hermann has taken occasion to dilate at some length on the propriety of limiting the alteration proposed, and brings forward the follow- ing points for consideration: 1st. That if the tragic writers never, and Aristophanes only in his latest written play, used rjv, it is strange that Plato, many of whose writings are subse- quent to the Plutus, should have adhered to the obsolete form. That to the above lines of Euripides no other suspicion of a corrupt text can attach than the identical v in question; and that therefore it were safer to have determined that tragic and comic writers used vv, in order to avoid the hiatus before a vowel. 2d. That if ea or va and i'ov be found in Homer as im- perfects of elfit, the old grammarians considered rjriv no less so (II. 0, 80) : that the ea of Herodotus, the imperfect, seems dif- ferent from Homer's ta, which in one instance (Od. ^ 351 ), must be taken as an aorist, and may in all he has cited. 3d. That 42 CEDIPUS TYRANNUS. [801-835. was close upon this triple road, there did both a herald, and a man mounted on a chariot with young steeds, even as thou describest, meet me ; and both the guide and the old man himself were for driving me by force off the road. So I in passion strike him who was turning me off, the charioteer. And the old man M'hen he sees this, having watched my passing by, struck me from the car with a doubled goad a descending blow on the middle of the head. Ay, and he paid a penalty not equivalent, I trow, but hastily struck by a staff from this hand, he is instantly rolled out of the chariot prostrate, and I slay the whole of them. But if Laius and this same stranger have any near connection,^ who is a more pitiable object than I, even I? What man could there be more abhorred of the gods ? to whom it is permitted that none of the strangers or natives should admit him within their dwellings ; that none should even accost him, but tlirust him from their dwellings : and this it was no other than I, that fastened on myself even these curses. Xay the couch of him who is deceased do I pollute by my hands, those hands by which he fell. Am I not by nature a villain? am I not totally impure? if I must needs flee the country, and having fled am to be permitted neither to behold my own, nor to set foot on my native soil ; or I am doomed to be yoked in wedlock with my mother,^ and to kill outright my father Polybus, who reared, who begot me. And would not any one, pronouncing all this to be the work of a ruthless djemon upon me, be right in his words? Then O may I never, may I never, thou spotless majesty of heaven, see this day, but may I be gone from among mankind into darkness ere that I view such a taint of misery come upon me. Ch. To us, O king, these tidings are alarming : until how- evef thou hast ascertained fully from the eyewitness, have hope. the Attics may, as in other cases of a double imperfect, have taken »1, though formed from the undoubted imperfect ea, as an aorist. For the examples adduced in support of this opin- ion, see Hermann's preface. In this passage he retains >>, ad- mitting either to be correct. 1 This verse is condemned by L. Dindorf and Wuudcr. B. 2 Wunder's objections to this verse seem reasonable. B. 836-870.] CEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 43 CEd. Yes, certainly, so much hope at least I have, as merely to abide the coming of the man, the herdsman. Jo. But when he has made his appearance, what reas- surance canst thou have? QLd. I will inform thee. For should he be found to be in the same story with thee, I for my part may have escaped the woe. Jo. But what word heardst thou from me, so particularly remarkable? OEi). Thou toldst that he spake of certain robbers, that they slew the king : if therefore he shall report the same number still, I was not his slayer, for one at least could not be the same with many. But if he shall mention one man journeying alone, this very deed thereupon plainly falls upon me. Jo. Nay, be assured that the tale was so published at least, and he can not again nullify this at any rate ; for the whole city, and not I only, heard Ihese tidings. But if, after all, he should in any point deviate from his former account, never, O prince, shall he show that Lai'us' murder at least was duly consistent, whom I ween Loxias declared must perish by a son of mine.^ And yet he, the ill-starred babe, never slew him, but himself perished long before. So that I never again for the sake of divination at least would turn mine eyes either this way or that. CEd. Well dost thou determine ; but yet send one to con- vey hither the hind, nor neglect this. Jo. I will hasten to dispatch one ; but let us go in doors ; for I would do naught which might be displeasing to thee. Chorus. O may it be my lot to support the all-sainted purity of every word and action, regarding which are pro- pounded laws of state sublime, engendered within the firma- ment of heaven, whose only father is Olympus ; nor did the perishable nature of man give them being, no, nor shall oblivion even drown them in sleep. Great is the divinity in these, nor groweth old. Insolence engenders the tyrant, Insolence, if idly she have been over-glutted with much that 1 This passage is not clear. Bothe and Wunder read, cov ys for rov y£, " nondum tameu a te Laium interfectum esse omnino probat." B. 44 CEDIPUS TYR ANNUS. [871-892. is neither seasonable nor serviceable, having surmounted the^ topmost precipice, dashes onward into ruin, where she useth her feet in vain But the rival energy that profits the state I implore the deitv never to unnerve ; whom never will I cease to take for my patron. But if any walk pre- sumptuously in deed or word, unawed of justice nor rever- encing the seats of the powers above, may evil doom over- take him in reward of his fatal wantonness ; until he shall gain his gains honestly, and refrain himself from all un- hallowed things, or if he, vain fool, shall grasp at what is sacred from the touch. ^ In this state of things, what man will ever gain glory^ in repulsing from his soul the darts of ^ But aKporarov and aToro/zoi' can uot be joined, and there is equal difficulty in the metrical disagreement between this and the strophic verse. Dindorf supposes some substantive lost, which Wuuder thinks may have given place to one of the adjectives. I do not, however, see why he should object to joining d-oroiiov with avayKav, for d-::6Toi.ioi may be taken both in its ordinary sense of "abruptus" (Cf. Herodot. 1, 84), and for '"harsh, rough,'' as we find in Eurip, Alcest. 931, ovck ns d-zoro^ov \)ij.iar5g iariv ai^ 's. B. 2 The difficulty in this passage arises from the separation of the two clauses, ft' n^ . . -opiverai and n tuiv eB . £^ . jwa-a^coi/, by the intermediate words. With 'iplerai we must understand /t??, and connect it closely with the preceding words. B. ^ This translation follows Hermann's correction, evlerai . . B'pov .. duvvirv; but Hermann has himself changed his mind, and would throw out tpUrai altogether, in which he is followed by Wunder in his third edition, ep^erai can not be construed. Hermann's third opinion is that we should read rig en -or tv roiac' ai'hp, Oecov 0e\ij rvxag duvpEiv. Brunck reads e^et, Elmsley e'cij^Ercii. As this variation of opinions will sufficiently puzzle the reader, I will merely observe that Brunck's reading ap- pears easiest, and that Hermann's last opinion, as m many other instances, is his worst. Dindorf leaves the text unin- telligible. 0rt/. Great, I admit ; but I have dread of the surviving woman. Mes. But on what woman's account it is even that ye are afraid ? G^^D. Of Merope, old man, with whom Polybus used to live. Mes. But what is there of her which makes to your ap- prehension ? (Ed. a dreadful heaven-sent prediction, stranger. Mes. Is it to be spoken, or is it not lawful that another know it ? (Et>. Most certainly it is. For Apollo foretold once that it was my destiny to be my own mother's paramour, and with mine own hands to shed my father's blood. For which cause has Corinth, this long while, been dwelt far away from 1 These reflections on the part of the king and queen are the more ungrateful, in that Apollo had just sent them, without demur, instructions for the removal of the plague. The whole demeanor of these impious personages, who " Lifted up so high, Disdained subjection, and thought one step higher AVould set them highest;" and their encouragement of each other in irreligion, reminds one forcibly of Vathek and Xourouihar, when "with haughty and determined gait" they descended the staircase of Istak- har to the Hall of Eblis. In both princes curiosity is the prime agent; and in both "TiSptr, aKpdrarov Eiaava^aa a-rroronov. 998--1018.] CEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 49 by me, prosperously indeed ; but still it is most sweet to be- hold the faces of one's parents. Mes. Why, was it in dread of this thou becamest an exile from thence? (Ed. And from desire also to avoid being my father's murderer, old man. Mes. Why then have I not released thee from this thy fear, O king, since in fact I came thy well-wisher? CEd. And if you do so, thou shalt have a right worthy recompense of me. Mes. Ay, and I swear I came especially for this, that, on thy restoration to thy home, I might in some way be ad- vantaged. CEd. But never will I come into the presence of my parents, at least. Mes. My son, thou^ fairly showest that thou knowest not what thou art doing. G^D. How, old man ? In the name of the gods, instruct me. Mes. If for these causes thou shunnest to return home. (Ed. It is at least from alarm lest Phoebus prove in the issue true toward me. Mes. Is it lest thou shouldst contract contamination from thy parents ? CEd. This very thing, old man, even this forever affrights me. Mes. Knowest thou not, then, that thou tremblest with no just cause ? Mb. Nay, how should I not, at least if I was the child of these progenitors ? Mes. Even because Polybus was in no wise of kin to thee. CEd. How hast thou said? Why, was not Polybus my father ? Mes. Not a whit more than he thou seest before thee, about as much. 1 This is the most literal construing of Ka\co~ eJ SnXoT. On KrtXws- lu the sense of "valde," "prorsus," see Wakefield and Schsefer. Compare the Latin phrases "pulchre scire, intelli- gere." B. 50 (EDIPUS TYRANNUS. [1019-1037. (Ed. And how comes one's father to be on a par with no one?i Mes. But neither he begat thee, nor I. (Ed. But in consideration of what, then, did he allow me a son's title? Mes. Know, it was from having received thee formerly a present from my hands. CEd. And then did he, though from another's hand, thus dearly love me ? Mes. Yes, for his former childless state induced him. CEd. But wert thou my purchaser or parent,^ and gavest me to him ? Mes. Having found thee in the bushy dells of Cithaeron. CEd. But for what purpose wert thou a wayfarer in those said regions? Mes. I used to be superintendent there of the mountain flocks. CEd. How ! wert thou a shepherd and a wanderer on a menial drudgery ? Mes. Ay, but thy savior at the same time, my son ! CEd. But what pain dost thou find me suffering in that wretchedness ? Mes. The joints of thy feet might attest that. CEd. Woe is me ! why mention this ancient curse ? Mes. I unbind thee having the soles of thy feet bored through. CEd. Dire indignity, indeed, did I sustain from these tokens.^ 1 This, according to Erfurdt, is not to be understood of the meanness or nothingness of the herdsman, but, as he para- phrases it, "Qui dici possunt genuisse aliquem, quorum nemo geuuit?" See v. 838, and the note following, 2 " Or parent." Hermann remarks that it might seem won- derful for CEdipus to ask this, when the messenger had just told him that he was not his father any more than Polybus; but that he must consider CEdipus as attending to the inten- tion of the old man, and not his words. Hence, too, when CEdipus says rws" 6 eiaa^ £| 'iaov tc3 jxridEvi, he does not allude slightingly to the old man, but merely to himself having no father. ^ Bruuck translates a~{xpyava by crepundia, child's baubles or 1038-1053.] O^.DIPUS TYRANNUS. 51 Mes. Insomuch that thou wert named this misfortune as thou art. (Ed. Say, in heaven's name, by my father's or my mother's deed ? Mes. I know not ; but he who gave thee understands this better than I. CEd. Why didst thou receive me of another, nor find me thyself? Mes. I found thee not, but 'tis another shepherd who transferred thee to me. CEd. Who was this ? knowest thou to designate him in words ? Mes. He was named, I am sure, one of the servants of La'ius. CEd. Of him who was monarch of this land long ago ? Mes. Certainly. Of that very man was this a herdsman. CEd. And is he yet alive, that I may see him? Mes. You, the natives of this country surely should best know. Qi^D. Is there any of you bystanders who knows this herdsman to Avhom he alludes, having seen him in short either in the country or here ? inform me, since it is the moment for this to be investigated., Ch. I, indeed, deem him none other than the servant from the country, whom even before this thou soughtest diligently to see. But, however, Jocasta here could certify this the best. badges, not supplying ck, which dv£i\6jxr)v however seems to re- quire. Perhaps there might have been in a-ndpyat'ov a sense not given by lexicographers, from the verb oTrapyaa), tumeo. Tr., who rendered it, "Ah, dire indignity, indeed, did I bring off with me from my swaddling clothes." But it is far more elegant to suppose an allusion to the crepundia, which were hung about the necks of children when exposed, (See Wunder's note.) To these CEd i pus compares the wounds in his feet. Nicolaus Damascenus, in the same MS. extract quoted above, uses the phrase (oSst yap tovt ■n-dSas' vnd anapyavwv. Seneca, who imitates this whole scene closely, understood it as I do, act. 4, sc. 2, 39: CEdipus. "Nunc adjice eertas corporis nostri notas. Senex. Forato ferro gesseras vestigia, Tumore uactus uomeu ac vitio pedum." B. 52 CEDIPUS TYR ANNUS. [1054-10S5. (Ed. Lady, knowest thou him whom but now we were earnest should come, and of whom this person speaks? Jo. {u'ildly.) B\itwho, Avho is he of whom he spake? Heed it not : nay, what has been uttered, do not wish so much as to remember for no good. QEd. This can not be, that I having obtained such a clew as this, shall not elucidate my descent. Jo. By the gods I beg thee, do not, if at least thou care for thine own life, investigate this : 'tis enough that I be ill at ease. (Ed. Courage ; for never, not even were I proved by three descents a trebly servile slave, Avilt thou be exposed as base. Jo. Yet obey me, I conjure thee : do not this. (Ed. I could not obey thee in not clearly sifting this out. Jo. And yet with kind intentions at least I advise thee for the best. (Ed. Why now it is this very best that long since ag- grieves me. Jo. Miserable man, I would thou mightest never know who thou art ! (Ed. Will some one go and bring hither to me the herds- man ? But for her, leave her to enjoy her noble lineage. Jo. Woe, woe, unhappy man ! for this only have I to say to thee, but other word hereafter — none. Ch. For what possible cause can the queen be gone, O (Edipus, having rushed away under the impulse of a Avild anguish ? I dread lest from this very silence there burst forth mischief. (Ed. Burst forth whatever will : but I shall choose to dis- cover my origin, even if it be humble. But she perhaps, since for a Avoman she has a high spirit, is scandalized at this my meanness of extraction. But I, ranking myself the child of that Chance which gives me her blessing, shall not feel dishonored. For of her, as of a mother, was I born,^ and the congenial months ordained me humble and exalted. But being born such, I could never turn out to be another, that I should not search out my pedigree. 1 Hermann understands by avyyevsls- jxilvss-, menses qui mecum fnerunt, i.e., viiae mese. The translation above given is suscepti- ble of the same meaning. io86-rii4.] CEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 53 Chorus.^ If I am indeed a prophet, and knowing in my mind, thou, O Cithieron, I swear by Olympus, shalt not, by to-morrow's full moon, be without experience of our extol- ling thee at least as both of one country with OEdipus, and as his nurse, and as his mother, nor of being visited by us in choric dances, as performing acceptable service to my princes. But O that this, O Healer Apollo, might be agreeable to thee. Who, O son, what daughter'^ of the immortals, I won- der, was thy mother, visited haply as a paramour by moun- tain-ranging Pan, or, since 'tis thou, by Apollo ? for to him the champaign downs are all endeared : or did the reigning prince of Cyllene, or the Bacchanalian god, whose home is on the topmost hills, receive thee a foundling from some one of the Heliconian nymphs, with whom he is oftenest frolick- ing. CEd. If I too have any right to conjecture, old man, who have never yet had converse with him, methinks I see that very herdsman, whom all this while we are seeking. For in his extreme old age he corresponds as the contemporary of this man here ; and besides, I recognize his conductors as my own domestics. But in acquaintance with him thou very 1 The chorus here changes its tone from that of the preced- ing ode very suddenly, and more for the advantage of the reader (who thereby gains a beautiful snatch of a Greek alle- gro) than of its own character for consistency. Still these fond ancestral reveries in honor of a patriot king awaken in us the sense of contrast by touches almost Miltonic: themselves a fairy dream, they shape us out a fearful reality, "which sub- stance may be called, yet shadow seems," and, like the funeral oration of Pericles, and ever linked and haunted with an op- posing spirit, a mysterious double of what meets the ear. 2 Hermann's alteration of the punctuation here has restored evyar-rrp to her rightful inheritance, by omitting the note of in- terrogation after naKpauovwv. If his note leave any thing un- explained in full, it is the force of ae ye, which probably infers Apollo, father of CEdipus, because the latter was so apt in solv- ing hard sayings. Tr. — The passage is still unsatisfactory; and Wunder condemns both rts" evyarnp and o-e yk as corrupt. Perhaps we might read Mavds- dpeacn^aTa yrou (or ^ardo with Wun- der). Upocnrs'XaaeETa' eirz ae TtT Ovyarrip Ao^iov, i.e., Uai'dr eXtc Aofio'K On the omission of the first sits, cf. ^sch. Ag. 1403, and above 517, XoyoKriv dr epyoiaiv. B. 54 CEDIPUS TYRANNUS. [1115-1141. possibly mayest have the advantage of uie, from having seen the herdsman before. Ch, Why yes, be sure I do ; for I have known liim since he belonged to Laius, trusty in his degree of grazier, if ever another were. (Ed. Thee first I interrogate, the Corinthian stranger, is this the man thou meanest ? Mes. This very man whom thou seest. CEb. Ho, thou old man, look hither tOAvard me, and answer to all that I shall ask thee. Wert thou ever in Laius' service? Servant. I was ;^ a slave, not purchased, but reared in his house. (Ed. Concerned in what avocation, or manner of life ? Ser. For the best part of my life I was in attendance on flocks. CEb. In what places principally a resident? Ser. It would be Citha?ron, and it would be the adjacent districts. CEd. Well, then, knowest thou this man, having made acquaintance with him any Avliere in these parts? Ser. As doing what thing? of what manner of man even art thou speaking ? CEd. This man, who is before thee : hast thou ever before now had dealings with him? Ser. Not at least that I could readily affirm it from recol- lection. Mes. And no wonder either, my lord : but I will distinctly remind him of forgotten times ; for I am sure he knows when in the region of Cithteron, he being with two flocks, I with one, I was the neighbor of this very man from spring to early autumn, three entire periods of six months each. And when now it was winter, I used on my part to drive my charge into sheepcotes, and he to the pens of Laius. Say I any of these things or say I it was not as was done ? Ser. Thou speakest the truth, though in sooth from a distant time. ^ Hermann reading T] here, says, " et hie quidem aperta est aoristi siguificatio neque id eram quisquam, sed/wi vertit. See note on v. 793. 1142-1155.] CEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 55 Mes. Come, now tell me ; rememberest thou to have given me any child at that time, that I might rear it as a nursling to myself? Ser. But what means this ? wherefore inquirest thou in these words ? jMes. This, my comrade, is that very one who was then an infant. See. Will not perdition seize thee? wilt not hold thy peace ? (Ed. Hold, old man ! chastise not this man, since thine own words have more need of a chastiser than his. Ser. But in what, my most gracious liege, am I in fault ? CEd. In not declaring the child of whom this man asks thee. Ser. Because he speaks knowing nothing, but labors in vain. QLd. Thou indeed Avilt not speak as a favor, but to thy cost thou shalt speak. ^ Ser. Do not, I pray, for the love of the gods, ill use me, an old man. Q^D. Will not some one with all speed tie this fellow's hands behind him ? Ser. Wretched man, for what purpose ? what wouldst thou know more ? 1 The altercation with Creon, and this scene with the shep- herds, from the snarling repartee which runs through them, are supposed by Twining to be among the parts of our poet which gave occasion to the ridiculous idea of a comic writer in Diogenes Laertius (4. 20.) that Sophocles had a dog to help him write tragedies; kvmv ng e^vkzi cvunoieXv M-oXomKog. That eminent translator seems to forget that anger levels most men, and that of kings especially "the wrath is great;" he forgets that every passage, he has produced /ro?9t Sopliodes to this point, is the expi-ession of angry feeling ; he forgets the simplicity of the times of which he is writing. But when he quotes Longinus, to prove that in these places the spirit of Sophocles ajSivvvrai a\6YM<;^ kuI ninTeL drvx^arara' putting aside that aS to Longinus's meaning he begs the question, let him show that Louginus ever wrote naturally for ten lines together, ere he takes that really great critic's dictum on the expression of. heated feelings. 56 CEDIPUS TYRANNUS. [1156-1177. (Ed. Gavest tliou to this man the boy of whom he ques- tions thee ? Ser. I did ; but O that I liad died on that day. Q^D. Nay, to this thou wilt come, at least if thou speak not the truth. Ser. Much more certain is my destruction, if I shall speak. (Ed. This fellow, it seems, is driving at delay. Ser. Not I, truly ; but I said long ago that I had given the boy. (Ed. Whence having got him ? of thine own house or of any other? Ser. Surely I gave not my own away, but I received him from some one. OEd. From whom among these citizens, and from a house of what degree ? Ser. Do not for the gods' sake, do not, my sovereign, in- quire further. OEd. Thou diest, if I shall ask thee this again. Ser. It was then one of Lams' offspring. CEd. a slave, or one by birth of kin to him ? Ser. Woe is me ! I am surely on the verge of speaking the very horror. (Ed. And I surely of hearing : yet it must be heard. Ser. Why then, it was said to be actually his own child ; but the lady within could best inform thee how this stands. CEd. AVhy, is she the donor of this child to thee ? Ser. Even so, sire. OEd. For what purpose ? Ser. That I might make away with him. (Ed. The own mother, hard-hearted?^ Ser. In horror, however, of evil prophecies. (Ed. Of what import ? Ser. There was a story, that he should be his parents' murderer. Q^D. How earnest thou then to resign him to this elder ? 1 Erfurdt has a note here from Eubnkeu's Preface to Schel- ler's Lexicon, which seems uncalled for. Thlixi means ''to have the heart " to do any thing: and rXfj/iwi' here takes this signifi- cation much better, surely, than that of perdita or miser. II78-I22I.] CEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 57 See. Pitying it, my liege, as supposing that lie would carry him away to another land, whence he himself was : but he reserved him for the direst miseries : for if thou art he whom this man declares thee to be, know thou art born to a cursed destiny. CEt>. Alas ! alas ! All the predictions turn out true.^ O light, may I look on thee now for the last time : I, that have been shown the son of those of whom I shoidd not have been, holding commerce with those with whom it became me not, and having killed whom it was my duty never. Chorus. O generations of mortals, how as nothing do I reckon you in this life ! For where, where is the man that achieves more of happiness,^ than barely so much as to fancy he has it, and so fancying to fall away from it ? Even'' thine example having before me, tliy destiny, even thine, O hap- less (Edipus, I term,* nothing of mortal fortunes happy : thou who with excess of fortune aimed at and achieved the prize of all-blissful prosperity, O Jove ! having done to death the maiden prophetess with forked talons, nay, a bulwark against slaughters didst thou stand up to my country, whence also thou art titled my sovereign, and hast been supremely digni- fied with honor, lording it in Thebes the mighty. But now as I hear, who is more miserable? who in reverse of state is more familiar with cruel griefs and troubles ? Alas ! Oh glorious majesty of Oedipus, to whom one and the same ample haven was enough for son and father as a bridegroom to run into: how ever, how ever were thy father's furrows enabled to endure thee in silence so long, unfortunate? Time the all seeing detected thee reluctant; justice long since sentences the marriageless marriage, begetting and begotten. Oh ! son of Laius, would, would that I had never seen thee. For I mourn with passing sorrow from loudly-plaintive lips. Yet to tell the truth, by the bounty have I drawn my breath again, and closed mine eyes in repose. 1 See Wunder on v. 922. B. 2 Grotius elegantly translates : " Hsec est sola beatitas Humano generi data Quam quis dum putat accipit, Aramittitque putando." B. 3 Wander more rightly reads with Camerarius rdv aov rot, " holding thy fortunes, yea thine, as an example." B. 4 oUiva is against the meter, and altered by Hermann. B. Sa CEDIPUS TYRANNUS. [1222-1262. MESSENGER Extraordinary. O ve, ever respected the most highly of this land, what deeds shall ye hear, what deeds shall ye witness, how heavy a grief shall ye have to bear, if from a feeling of kindred ye are yet concerned for the house of Labdacus? For, I believe, neither Ister nor Phasis, could lave with water of purification this roof before you of all which it conceals : while other ills will forthwith show themselves to the light, ills voluntary, and not unin- tended. But of mischiefs, those are the most afilicting which show themselves self-incurred. Ch. Xay, even what we knew before lacks naught of being deeply deplorable : but Avhat hast thou to tell in addition to those? M. E. The speediest of tales both to tell and to hear : the most noble Jocasta is no more. Ch. Most unhappy woman ! By what earthly means ? M. E. Herself by her own hand. But of the action the most painful part is spared us, since the eye-witness is not ours ; but yet, as far at least as the memory of them resides in me, thou shalt hear the sufferings of that lost princess. For Avhen, instinct with fury, she passed by within the por- tal, she M'ent straight to her bridal bed, tearing her hair with both her hands ; and having, as soon as she was within, violently closed the doors on the inside, she cries on Laius, now long since dead, bearing in memory that ancient issue by whose hands he was himself to die, and leave the mother to his own, a procreatress of wretched children. But she mourned over the couch where she had become, unfortunate, the mother of a double progeny, husbands by husband, children by children. And how after this she perished I have no further knowledge ; for Q^dipus with outcries broke in, for whom it was impossible for us to witness her fate to its end ; but we turned our eyes on him roving round. For he begins wildly rushing, beseeching us to furnish him Avith a weapon, and tell him where to reach "the wife yet no wife, his motber with her common womb for himself and his children." To him in his frenzy some unearthly poAver dis- covers this, for it was no one of us men who were standing by : but shouting fearfully, as with, some guide to lead him, he sprung in against the double doors, and from their very deepest fastening he wrenched the hollow staples, and falls 1263-1287.] CEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 59 in upon the apartment ; where we then looked in upon his wife suspended, entangled in twisted nooses. But he, when he sees her, with horrible bellowings, poor wretch ! loosens the hanging knot ; but when the hapless was laid on the ground, the sequel was awful to behold : for having torn oft" from her the golden-embossed clasps^ of her vestments, where- with she used to adorn herself, he lifted them and smote the balls of his own eyes, uttering words of this sort, ^'that 'twas because they had discerned for him neither what mischiefs he was suffering, nor what he was doing ; but darkly should they see, for the time to come, those whom he ought never to have seen, nor should they recognize those whom he so longed to recognize." Venting curses such as these full often, and not once only^ did he Avound them, forcing up his eyelids. And at once the bloody pupils be- dewed his cheeks, nor emitted mere humid drops of gore, but all at once, a shower of sable blood-clot hail was shed.^ These are miseries that broke forth of two, not of him alone, but the consorted miseries of a husband and a Avife. For their happiness of a long date before, 'twas hitherto de- serving of the name ; but now, on this very day, lamenta- tion, ruin, death, dishonor of whatsoever ill whatever name there be, not one is wanting. Ch. But in what respite from ill is the sufferer now ? M. E. He is shouting for some one to open the barriers, ^ Perhaps this was an attempt of the poet to reconcile his fair-armed country-woman to long sleeves, they having lost the privilege of the irepovm by their inhuman conduct toward the sole survivor of the disastrous iEginetan expedition. See Herod, v. 87 ; on which place Larcher quotes an old scholiast, to prove that the Laceda3monians adopted this dress with clasps in order to make their women masculine, and the Athenians the Ionian with a view to the opposite effect. Asthe Argive ladies wore large clasps on this same event taking place, 'tis to be hoped they did not worship Juno in vain. 2 Hermann joins the words TvoWaKis- re kovk aTra^ with jwv/uj'wi', and says of Elmsley's punctuation that it gives a meaning "justo credelius." The imperfect 'ipao-o-e, howeved, favors the old way of rendering. Potter translates as Hermann. ^ The two following verses are bracketed by Dindorf, and considered corrupt by Wunder. B. 6o CEDIPUS TYRAXNUS. [1288-1330. and expose to all the race of Cadmus the slayer of his father, his mother's — uttering unlioly things, things not for me to speak ; purposing seemingly to make himself an outcast from the land, nor any longer to tarry in his home accursed, as he cursed himself. Yet still he wants strength at least, and some one for his guide ; since his disease is greater than he can bear. Nay, he Avill show thee so himself. For these fastenings of the gates are being opened, and speedily shalt thou behold a spectacle of such a sort as even an enemy must pity- Ch. Oh, disaster fearful to mankind to behold ! Oh most fearful of all that I have ever yet encountered ! What frenzy, sad sufferer, beset thee ? \Vhat demon is it that, with mightier than the mightiest bound, hath sprung on thine unblest fate ? Woe, woe, unfortunate I But I can not so much as look on thee, anxious as I am to question much, much to learn, and much to see, such shuddering dost thou cause me. CEd. Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, alas, alas, wretch that I am ! whither on earth am I, miserable, carried ? Where is flitting this voice which I hear thus hurriedly? Oh, fate, whither hast thou leaped ? Ch. To horror, not fit for hearing, nor for sight. GEd. O cloud of my darkness, abominable, falling upon me unspeakable, in that thou art alike unconquerable, and all-prosperous to my bane. Ah me ! Ah me ! again and again. Ah me ! How hath sunk deep within me hand in hand at once the maddening sting of these goads, and the memory of my woes ! Ch, And surely it is no Avonder, in afflictions great as these, that thou hast a double sorrow, and bearest double ills. (Ed. O my friend, thou as my adherent art still constant, for still dost thou submit to care for me the blind. Alas ! alas ! for thou escapest me not, but well do I know thee, darkened though I be, at least thy voice. Ch. O thou of dreadful deeds, how hadst thou the heart thus to mangle thine eyes ? What higher power prompted thee to it ? CEd. Apollo was he, Apollo, O my friends, that brought to pass these my, my wretched sufferings. But no one wil- 1331-1377.] CEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 6r fully pierced them, but hapless I. For what need had I of sight, I, to whom when seeing there was naught sweet to look on ? Ch. This was so, even as thou sayest, (FjT>. What then, I pray, have I, object of sight, of love, of accost, that I could hear any longer with pleasure, my friends? Bear me away from the place with all speed, bear me away, my friends, the monstrous destruction, the most accursed, and most god-detested of human kind. Ch. O lamentable alike in thy feeling and thy fate, how have I wished that I at least had never known thee ! GLb. Perish he, whosoever he be, that took me from the barbarous chain that pastured on my feet, and rescued and preserved me from a violent death earning a thankless re- turn ; for had I died then, I had not been so great a sorrow to my friends nor self. Ch. This would have been to my wish also. CEd. Ay, then I had not come the slayer of my father at least, nor been titled by mankind the bridegroom of those of whom I sprung. But now am I a godless being, child of unholy parents, allied to those from whom I wretched drew my birth. But if there be in kind one evil among evils paramount, this to his share hath OEdipus. Ch. I know not how to say that thou hast well advised ; for thou wert better to live no longer than live in blindness. (Ed. That this hath not been best done thus, tutor me not, nor counsel me longer. For I know not with what manner of eyes beholding, I could have looked my father in the face when I went down to Hades, ^ no, nor my hapless mother, to both of whom deeds have been done by me that hanging is too good for. But forsooth the sight of my chil- dren was to be coveted by me to see, springing forth as they sprung. No, to my eyes never : nor citadel, nor tower, nor sacred images of gods, whereof I the all-unhappy, noblest by 1 The ancients believed that whatever defects or injuries men suffered during life, they carried with them to the shades below. Thus, in Virgil, Mn. vi. 450, ^Eneas meets Dido "re- cens a vulnere," and 495, " Deiphobum vidit, laceruni crude- liter era." So Clytgemuestra says in Jilsch. Eum. 103, opa St 7r\r]ydT rdaSe. B. 62 CEDIPUS TYRANNUS. [137S-1406. birth of any one at least in Thebes, have bereaved my own self, myself enjoining all to thrust oiit the impious one, the man branded of heaven as polluted^ [and proved to be] of the race of Laius, could I, who had exposed such a blot in mine own person, ever look on these with steadfast eyes? No, never, surely ! Nay, had there been yet means of stop- page of the fountain of hearing through my ears, 1 would not have refrained from blocking up my miserable body, that I might have been both sightless and devoid of hearing:^ for to have one's feelings abiding beyond reach of one's misfor- tunes were sweet. Alas, Cithferon, wherefore harboredst thou me? wherefore having taken me in didst thou not forthwith kill me, that I had never shown mankind in the lineage whence I sprang?^ OPolybus and Corinth, and ancient halls, reputed my ancestors', what a goodly outside skin of scars beneath have ye reared me ! For now am I discovered vile, and of the vile. O ye three roads, and thou concealed dell, and oaken copse, and narrow outlet of three ways, Avhich drank mine own blood from my father, shed by mine own hands, do ye remember me how that I — what deeds having done to you, then came hither, and again what deeds I perpetrated? O bridals, bridals, ye have begotten us, and having begotten, again ye brought to light the selfsame seed, and display ^ Hermann's punctuation has been followed here in joining Kai ytvovs- Tov Aaiov to the next Hue. Tk. — I have preferred following Dindorf and Wunder. B. 2 " Hie etsi iraperfeetum recte se habet, nf essem cxais et sur- dns, tamen etiam aoristo locus est, ut f actus essem cfrcus et surdus, verbo 77 idem quod eyEv6f).j)v significaute." Herm. Pref. see note on V. 793. ^ Hermann, reading >>, observes that here, if any where, an aorist might be thought needful, to express the sense ar Hei^a liii-OT£ ivOev iy£vv)]driv. But though n without the participle would staud for iyewfienv, with it >? will not, because ysyojr implies time present, and thus »7 yey-'^'r would be inide natus fnissem, a proper expression of one once, but no longer alive: dul yeytJr then standing for the present, vf yey.o- becomes from a pluper- fect an imperfect; and if by the laws of the lauo^nage c6r Set^o) evQev eijxl yeywT, when changed by a person speaking of a past event, would have required wr ecei^aivetv nv yzyw~, then is the latter form correct here. See note on v. 793. I407-I443-] CEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 63 fathers, brothers, sons, blood all of one tribe, brides, wives, and mothers, and all the deeds that are most infamous among mankind. But, for it is not fitting to utter what neither is it fitting to do, with all speed, in heaven's name, hide me somewhere far away, or slay me, or set me adrift on the sea, where never again ye shall behold me. Come, deign to touch a wretch forlorn. Be prevailed on, fear not ; for evils such as mine no mortal but I is liable to bear. Ch. But for what thou requestest at an apt moment comes Creon here, to act or to advise, since he is left sole protector of the realm in thy room. (Eb. Woe is me ! In what words then shall we address him? AVhat trust shall there in reason be shown to me by him ? For in the former transactions have I been discovered altogether base toward him. Creon. Kot as a scoffer, Gj^dipus, have I come, nor to reproach thee with any of the former wrongs. But do ye, if ye no longer blush before the race of man, at all events respect more the fire of the royal sun that feeds all things, than to exhibit a pollution such as this thus uncovered, which neither earth, nor heaven-sent^ rain, nor light will pin up with. But as speedily as possible convey him to his home ; for that those of the family alone should see and hear the miseries of a relative, is what piety requires. QEd. For the gods' sake, since thou hast forced me from my expectation by coming the noblest of men as thou art, to me the vilest, concede one thing to me, for I will speak for thy interest and not mine. Cr. And to obtain what demand art thou thus urgent with me ? (Et>. Cast me out from this land with what haste thou may est, where I shall be found by no earthly being to be spoken with. Cr. I had done it, of this be satisfied, had I not first of all been anxious to learn from the divinity what was to be done. CEd. But surely his whole prophetic answer openly ordered to put to death the parricide, the impious, myself. Cr. So this was said ; but still in the emergency wherein we are placed, 'twere better to learn what is to be done. 1 ofi^pos tpof. So oiag xpaKaSog, Eurip. Helen. 2. — B. 64 CEDIPUS TYRANXUS. [1444-1477. CEt). Will ye then thus inquire on behalf of a creature Utterly fallen ? Cr. Yes : for even thou surely^ mighest now give credit to the god. CEd. To thee then do I solemnly give charge, and will exhort thee too ; of her within the house make such sepul- ture as thou choosest, for duly wilt thou perform this on be- half of thine own at least. ^ But me, never let this, the city of my fathers, deign to admit a living inhabitant ; no, suffer me to abide in the mountains, where is that very Cithteron sur- named mine, which both my father and mother allotted to me yet living as my proper tomb, that I may die by their counsel, who were indeed my destroyers. And yet this much at least I know, that neither disease nor any other chance shall be my downfall ; for never had I been saved in the hour of death, unless for some dreadful evil. But for my fate, let it go which way soever it will : but for my children, on the males I would not, Creon, thou shouldest concern thyself more ; they are men, so that they never can feel a scarcity of sustenance wherever they shall chance to be ; but on my hapless and pitiable girls, before whom was never my table laid without food wanting my own presence, but of all that I touched were they two ever the partakers : for whom do thou interest thee for my sake ; and above all, suffer me to feel them with mine hands, and pour a last lament over their misfortunes. Do it, O prince, do it, O thou thyself of pure lineage and noble. Surely if I touched them with these hands, I sliould fancy I held them, even as when I had my sight. What shall I say? Tell me, in the name of the gods, do I not surely hear my darlings crying ? And has Creon in compassion sent me the best beloved of my children ? Am I right ? Cr. Thou art right ; for I am he that supplied thee with these babes, having known the yet lively delight which from old time possessed thee in them. ^ rav^ scil. Toi at'. See V. 1446 (ed. Herm.) and Eurip, Med. V. 1011. Porson. 2 Jocasta being his sister. The confidence reposed by CEdipus in one who was afterward to appear as the infringer of these most sacred rights, and that toward QCdipus's son and liis own nephew, is introduced with the poet's usual refinement of art. 147^1512.] CEDIPUS TYR ANNUS. 65 CEd. Then all happiness to thee, and for this their coming may thy tutelary power protect thee better than me. My children, Avhere can ye be ? draw near hither, come to these my fraternal hands, which have thus served the once bright eyes of the author of your being for you to see ; of me, my children, who without sight, without question of it, was proved your father by that source from Avhence myself had been raised. And for you I weep, for I have no power to behold you, in imagining the rest of your bitter life, with what treatment at men's hands ye are doomed to live it out. For to Avhat social meetings of the citizens will ye come ? nay, to what festivals, whence ye will not betake yourselves home all in tears in place of enjoyment from the scene. ^ But when at length ye shall have come to marriageable years, who will be he ? who will rashly risk, my children, to incur such scandals as will be destruction to those at once my parents and yours ? For what horror is wanting ? your father murdered his father ; committed incest with that mother who.'^e seed he was himself, and from the self-same source whence he was born, begat himself you. In such sort will ye be reviled ; and then who will espouse you. There is not a man, my children ; but too plainly is it your destiny to pine to death barren and unwedded. But since, O son of Menoeceus, thou art left sole father to these twain, for we their natural parents are both fallen victims to destruction, do not thou look on and see them, thy kindred, beggars, husbandless, wanderers, nor make them sharers in my woes ; but pity them, seeing them as thou dost at their tender years destitute of every thing, except as far as thy part goes. Accord this, noble sir, pledging me with thine hand. But to you, my children, if ye had already understanding, I would have given much advice ; but now^ pray this on my behalf, that I ^ If Muso^rave's references to ^schylus's Choephorse, vv. 450 and 719 (ed. Blom.) be correct, and they are approved by Abre- schius and Blomfield, tJie passage can not stand as the former edition, followiuEc Brunck, has it, viz., "from whence ye will not return lamented rather than the spectacle exhibited ;" be- cause K£K\a^^nkvai in neither of those passages has a passive sense, and is by Blomfield translated lachrymis perfusus. 2 £i\£o-0£ can not, I think, be taken passively, and I have 66 CEDIPUS TYRAXXUS. [15 13-1528. may ever live where it is for me to .live, and may ye meet with a better life than that of the father who begot you. Cr. Enough of tears hast thou shed, go now within doors. CEd. I must needs obey, though it be no pleasing thing. Cr. Why, all things are becoming in their season. (Ed. Know you then on what conditions I will go ? Cr. Thou shalt tell me, and hearing I shall then know. (Ed. That thou wilt send me into exile from this land. Cr. Thou askest me what is the gods' to give. (Ed. But to the gods at least I come most odious. Cr. "Wherefore, be sure thou shalt be quickly grati- fied. (Ed. Sayest thou so, then ? Cr. Yes, for what I mean not I am not wont idly to say. (Ed. Away Avith me then from this spot now. ('R. Proceed then, and let go thy children. (Ed. By no means take these at least from me. Cr. Seek not to have thy way in every thing, for that wherein thou hadst thv will conduced not to thy welfare in life. Chorus. O inhabitants of Thebes my country, behold, this (Edipus, who solved the famous enigma, and was the most exalted of mankind, wlio, looking with no envious eye^ upon the enviable fortunes of the citizens, into how vast a stormy sea of tremendous misery he hath come ! Then mortal as thou art, looking out for a sight of that day, the therefore followed Dindorf, whose emendation is also adopted by Wunder. lu Kaipd- there is, I think, a double meaning, both of the fated spot where OEdipus should dwell or die, and a ref- erence to its ordinary meaning, as less shocking to the hearers. — B. ^ Erfurdt has a long and excellent note on the word i-m^'Xeirw:'^ •which he shows to answer exactly the Latin " iuvidens." Her- mann's reading has been followed for the rest.— Te. I have given the best sense to this passage in my power, but I still think ^>?Xw Kal rvxais- a harsh eudyadis for C»?Awrarr rx^xats-, and that s''?Xm would be mure naturally joined with e-i^Xe-jojv. Should we read — ttoXitcov rar TVXa~ tm/SXiTrwi' ? — B. 1529-1530-] GEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 67 last,^ call no man happy, ere lie shall have crossed the boun- dary of life, the sufferer of nought painful. 1 "The first dark day of nothingness, The last day of danger and distress," says Lord Byron, and so said (in part, at least) Solon before him. But Aristotle, who was not a man to adopt hypothesis for fact, whether supported by poet or philosopher, disputing the first axiom in toto, brings the second into considerable doubt.— Eth. 1. Shelf. mCTRA.' Orestes, in company with his tutor and Pylades. comes to Ar- gos, and, liaving deceived ^Egisthus and Clytemnestra with the report that he had been killed by fiilling from his chariot in the Olympic games, he reveals his being yet alive to his sister, who had bewailed him as dead, and slays the two murderers, while vainly exulting in his own supposed end.— B. DEAMATIS PEESOX^. Attendant. Okestes. Electka. Chorus. Chrysothemis. Clytemxestra. ^gisthus. Attendant. O son of Agamemnon, who once commanded the army at Troy,- now may est thou here present behold those things for which thou wert ever eagerly longing ; for this is the ancient Argos,^ which thou didst desire, the grove 1 This play was translated into Latin by Attilius. Cic. de Fin. I. c. ii. | 5. ".4 quibns tantum dissenth, nt, qiium Sophocles vel opi'nne scripserit Electrnm, tamen male conversam Attilii legen- dam pntem : de quo Licinius, ferreiim scriptorem ; verum, opinor, scriptorem tamen, ut legendus dt." See Beutley on Tus. Quiest. p. 56. Hermann. 2 Euripides twitted Sophocles with this line as superfluous, who retorted with the same objection on the two first lines of the Phcenissffi.— Sch. ad Phceu. Hermann thinks either exor- dium would be the worse for the omission. ^ Argos is here applied to the country by Brunck; but ac- cording to the Museum Criticum, No. I., " The cities of Argos \ 68 ) 5-23] ELECTRA. 69 of the frenzy-stricken daughter of Inachus,^ and this, Ores- tes, the Lycsean forum of the wolf-slaying god ; but this on the left, the renowned temple of Juno ; and for the place whither we are arrived, assure thyself thou seest the all-opulent Myce- nae : and this the habitation of Pelopidae teeming with mur- ders, whence I formerly, having received thee from thine own sister, bore and rescued thee from thy father's bloody fate, and nourished thee thus far onward in thy youth, as an avenger of his murder to thy sire. Now therefore, Orestes, and thou, Py lades, ^ dearest of foreign friends, what it is needful to do we must quickly consider, since already the brilliant light of the sun wakes clear the morning carols of the birds, and the dark night has gone from heaven.^ Ere, therefore, any of the inhabitants walk forth from his dwelling, we must confer in counsel, since we are come to that point where there is no longer any season for delay, but the crisis for ac- tion. Orestes. O most beloved of serving-men, what evident and Mycenae, being almost contiguous, went by the general name of Argos, as the cities of Loudon and Westminster are known by the common denomination of London." If the an- cient reading, rd ydp, be revived, and the colon after ovTzoesis- removed, take aXao?- in apposition with Argos. Brunck's read- ing injures the metre. Hermann quotes Euripides to defend Sophocles' boldness; Ivaxov poai: he considered Ar^os used loosely to denominate the whole country and its divisions alike. 1 lo, whose story is told in the Prometheus of ^Eschylus, from which i>lay the word oiVrpoTrA??^ is borrowed. The temple of Juno was, according to Strabo, fifteen stades to the left of the town: she was the patroness of Argos. 2 Pylades was the son of Strophius, a Phocian prince, by a sister of Agamemnon, and bein.s educated with his cousin Ores- tes, formed with him a friendship that has become proverbial. •^ Commentators disagree on the interpretation of this place. The scholiast sufigeststwo constructions, an antiptosis, iieS.aivrjr vvKTos- rii aarpa ckXcXoittci^, Vfhlch has been followed by Brunck, and cKXcMnre rf.Ti' aarpuiv f) neXawa cv'ppovr]. Musgrave translates iK\k\onTEv excessit, understanding aorpa to mean the whole heavens, as Virp;il, ^11. III. 567: '*Ter spumarn elisam et rorantia vidimus astra." And this last is approved of by Monk in the Museum Criticum. 70 ELECTRA. [24-56. proofs sliowest thou that thou art good toward us ; for even as a generous horse, although he be aged, in danger has not lost his spirit, but pricks his ears upright, even so thou both urgest us forward and art among tiie first to follow us. Wherefore my determination will I unfold ; and do thou, lending an alert attention to my words, if in aught I miss of what is fitting, set me right. For when I came a suppliant to the Pythian oracle, that I might learn in what way I should exact justice for my father from his murderers, Phoebus gave me an answer, such as thoii presently shalt hear: "That in person, alike unfurnished with armor and with martial host, by craft I should steal the lawful slaughter of mine hand." Since, then, we have heard such an oracle as this, do thou entering, when opportunity shall introduce thee, into this house, learn all that there is doing, that being informed thou mayest tell us sure tidings. For fear not that with both thine own age and the long lapse of time they shall recognize thee, or even suspect thee thus tricked out. ^ But make use of some such tale as this, that thou art a Phocian,'^ stranger, coming from Phanoteus, since he is the chiefest of the foreign allies they have. But announce, adding an oatli,^ that Orestes is dead by a violent death, having been tumbled from a wheeled chariot-car at the f*ythian games. So let thy story stand. But we having, as he enjoined, fii*st crowned my father's sep- ulchre with libations and locks cropjjed from my head, will then come back again, bearing in our hands a brazen-sided vessel, which thou also knowest is somewhere hidden among the brushwood, that cheating them with words we may bring 1 Musgrave objects to this meaning of the word iiveiarnkvov, and also to the scholiast's idea: he proposes himself to render it "canis capillis ror/ff/a/HHi." ui'^or is certainly applied to the hair. Suidas and Moschopulus are against him. 2 cf>ct)K£a)r -a[j ai'^poi' avoT£(x}S' is Blomfield's reading. Mus. Crit. ^KK£v~. — H. ^ The objection of Camerarius, that Orestes should not be made to advise perjurv, has given Musgrave great trouble ; and proposes for opKw to read oyxM. But it is too true that Orestes, by his own admissions just after, could make, like Ulysses, his own principles and those of others equally subservient to his Interest without much remorse. For the suppressed word ayyeXiav, see Brunck's note. 57-81.] ELECTRA. 71 them pleasant tidings, how that my body is perished, already consumed by fire and reduced to ashes. For what does this pain me, when, dead in words, in deeds I shall be safe, and bear away renown ? I indeed think no expression ill-omened which gain attends :^ for already have I frequently seen the wise also in story falsely dying i'^ then afterward, when they shall again have returned home, they have been the more honored. As I presume that I also, coming to life subse- quently to this report, shall yet blaze forth, as a star, to my foes. But O land of my forefathers, and ye its gods indig- enous, welcome me as prosperous in this my journey ; and thou too, O abode of my ancestors, for, urged by an impulse from heaven, I come to purge thee by my just revenge : then dismiss me not in dishonor from this my country, but [make me] master of my wealth and the restorer of my house. "^ This now I have said, but, old man, be it at once thy care, having gone, to execute with caution thy duty, but we will go forth, for it is the season ; which indeed is to mankind the greatest arbiter of every act.* Electra. Alas ! ah me unhappy ! At. In sooth methought I heard from the door some fe- male servant inside heaving a suppressed sigli, my son. Or. Can it be the hapless Electra ? wilt thou tarry here and listen to her cries ? 1 Thus Menelaus in Euripides: KUKOS" fxiv opviS" £1 Ss KspSavco \iyu)v STai/jidS' eifxL [xf] 0avCjv, Adyw OavETv. 2 This alludes to Pythagoi^as, who feigned himself dead to ac- quire the reputation of prophetic skill. Zamolxis and Aristeus of Proconnesus, author of the Arimaspians, have similar stories told of them by Herodotus, B. IV. Hermann wonders at the commentators for their illustrations here, undertanding the poet to allude to such distinguished men generally as, being at one time in disgrace with and banishment from their country, were afterward held in greater repute than ever. ^ This may be given better thus, perhaps ; " And make me not a dishonored outcast from my country, but a master," etc. * Thus in Philoctetes, v. 837 :' KUipoT TOL TTiivroyv yvMixav jVywi' Tro\v rrapa rroSa KparoT apvvrai. 72 ELECTRA. [82-112. At. By no means. Let us attempt to execute nothing prior to the commands of Loxias,^ and from these to com- mence our course, pouring out the libations to thy father, for this brings us both victory and strength in action. El. O holy light, and air that sharest ecj[ual space Avith earth, how many a strain of mournful dirges, how many a blow against my bleeding breast hast thou witnessed for me, when murky night shall have retired !^ But for my live- long nights — the hateful couches of this house of woes are conscious : how oft I mourn mine unhappy sire, Avhom in a foreign country gory Mars entertained not,^ but my mother, and ^Egisthus the partner of her bed, lop off his head with murderous axe, as wood-cutters an oak. And for all this no pity is felt by any other save me, when thou, my father, hast perished so disgracefully and piteously. But never then Avill I desist from laments and bitter cries, as long as I look on the all -glowing beams of the stars, as I look on this daylight ; so as not, like some nightingale that has lost her young,^ to pour forth to all mine echo inviting to shrill la- ment before these gates of my native home. O abode of Pluto and of Proserpine, O nether Mercury^ and awful Curse, 1 "The epithet 'Lctsrian,' so constantly used by the Greek poets, is interpreted by the scholia in two w^ays, either as re- ferring to the oblique direction of his voice (/. toward thorn. Bitt now in miseries I thiitk tit to voy- age with lowered >ail. and wox faney indeed 1 elTeot sonie- thinii-. y«. t work them no n)i>ehief. Thtts moreover would I have thee also aei : any yet the riuht is. not wherein 1 speak, but wlierein liuni jndgest. But it I nui>t need> live free. 1 must wholly obey my nuister. Ki.. Shameful at least is it.'' that thou being from th? father who>e bo^rn child thou art. forgettest him, hut art regardfid of thy mother. For all these admonitions to me are taught thee by her, and nought thou speakest of tliyself. Else choose at least one of the two. either to be senseless, or in thy senses to liave no remembrance of thy friends, since thou just now snyest, couldst thou bin get strength to it, thou wouldst demonstrate tliy abliorrence of these ; but Avith me. who am in all things bent on vengeance for my father, thou not otily dost not co-operate, but also dissuadest me in action, llaili not this cowardice to add to misery? For instruct me, or learn of me, what advantage could accrue to me having desisted from these wailings. Do not I live? but ill. 1 know, yet well enough for me. And I annoy them, so as to attach lionor to the dead, if in the other world there be any pleasure : while thou, our hater, hatest them in word, but in deed consort est with thy father's murderers. I then would never, not even if any one were purposing to bring me these thy gifts, wherein thou now wantonest, submit my- self to these : no, to thee be the wealthy board set out, and plenty flow around thee : to me the only nourishment be not to pain myself ;- thine honor I covet not to obtain : nor ^ This -whole scene between the two sisters closely resembles the first between Antigone and Ismeue; as well in the dispo- sitions of the parties concerned, as in the subject of their dis- cussion, the necessary respect to be paid to the dead. And when we see some of the finest productions of the Greek lan- guage depending for their catastrophe on this point, we shall perhaps the less wonder that an idea so constantly implanted in the multitude as the connection of the dead with the Itv- iutr. should have taken root, even in so vigorous a mind as Aristotle's. - See Brunck's note, ^Musgrave. who retains the common reading, thus remarks: "Scholiastes et hoe iu MSS. invenisse videtur. et pra?terea Ai-fTi.quod hunc sensum etiiceret : Mihi 365-384.] ELECTRA. 81 woulfJ.-t tliou, at least wert thou wise : hut now when thou hast in thy power to be called the cliild of a sire the noblest of all, be called thy mother's : for thus to most men wilt tliou show thyself base, deserting thy murdered father and thy friends. Ch, Xouj^ht v.-rathfully, I pray you by the gods : since there is profit in the words of both, wouldst thou but learn to make use of hers, and she in turn of thine. ChPw. I, ladies, am in some sort accustomed to her words : nor had I ever recalled it to her mind, had I not heard of a most grievous affliction coming upon her, which will with- hold her from these protracted lamentations. Kl. Come, tell me then the hardship : for shouldst thou tell me aught greater than these present. I would no longer contradict thee. Chr. Nay, I will tell thee all, as much as I know. For they purpose, if thou wilt not desist from these wailings, to send thee thither, where never shalt thou V>ehold the light of the sun ; but living in a confined vault, without this country, shalt thou chant thy wc^es. Wherefore bethink thee, and never hereafter when thou hast suffered blame me. For now it is thine to be wise in good time.^ satis non deficere alimentn. Sed omnino retinendum Xv-rrcTv. Mihi instar puhula sit, non me dnntaxat, sed alios angered — Confer, v. 357. Hertijann retains the common readinj; rov^^t jin 'KvTrelv, which he rendere mihi non dolorem creare {mihi hoc tantum esto pabulum) and understands Electra to allude to the remorse she iijust experience, if she paid an impious respect to iEgisthus and her mother. — Tk. I have adopted Hermann's interpreta- tion, as being best suited to the sense, although I am per- suaded all is not right in the text. — B. 1 It has been before remarked that this scene resembled one in Antigone: the coincidence of the two plays is here made still more striking by the punishment with which Electra is threatened. " If mournful cries and wailings before death Availed, there is not one, be well assured, That ere would cease them. In.stant take her hence. Inclose her in the rock's sepulchral cave, As I commanded ; leave her there alone, Either to die, or there to live entombed." —Potter, Ant. p. 168. 82 ELECTRA. [385-406. El. "What, then, and have they resolved thus to treat me? Chr. Most surely; when, in fact, -^Egisthus shall come home. El. Nay, then, may he quickly arrive for this at least. Chr. What words are these thou cursest thyself withal, unhappy? El. That he may come, if he purposes to do aught of this. Chr. That thou mayest feel what suffering? Where can thy senses be ? El. That I may escape as far as possible from you. Chr. But hast thou no regard to thy present life? El. Ay, a line life is mine, Avorth admiring ! Chr. xsay, it might be, and thou knewest how to be wise. El. Teach me not to be a traitress to my friends. Chr. I teach thee not so, but to give way to those in power. El. Do thou thus flatter ; thou speakest not my wont. Chr. Yet surely it is honorable at least not to have fallen from imprudence. El. I will fall, if needs I must, in avenging my father. Chr. Our father, I am sure, grants indulgence in this.^ El. These words it is the coward's part to praise. Chr. But wilt not thou be persuaded and consent to me ? El. Ko, trulv. Mav I not vet be so void of understand- ing?"^ Chr. Then will I too begone on my way, whither I Avas sent. El. But AA-hither art thou Avending? to whom carriest thou these offerings ? Chr. My mother sends me to make libations at my father's tomb. 1 Thus Ismene to her sister: " I then (of those beneath the earth reA^ered Imploring pardon, since by force constrained) Will yield obedience to one potent lord. Attempts bevond our strength no prudence show." Potter, Ant. v. 69. 2 Mfj-co, per y^irorrira for /i '/-ore, since -w, as Buttmann has ob- served in his Greek Grammar, includes always a reference to past time. On this \ir6rris- see Porson ad hec. 1260. 407-427-] ELECTRA. 83 El. How sayest thou ? to the deadliest of her human ene- mies? Chr. Whom herself slew :^ for this wouldst thou say. El. At the persuasion of whom of her friends? Whose 'pleasure is this? Chr. From some nocturnal fright, to my thinking. • El. O gods of my fathers ! aid me even now. Chr. Hast thou any cheering hope respecting this terror ? El. Wouldst thou relate to me the vision, I then could tell thee. Chr. I know not, save a little, to tell thee. El. Nay, tell me that. Many a trifling word, believe me, hath ere now both overtlirown and established mortals. Chr. There was a report that she witnessed a second time the presence of my and thy father having returned to life, and then that he, having taken the staff which once he bore, but now ^gisthus, fixed it in the earth, and from it sprouted up a vigorous scion, wherewith the whole land of Mycense was overshadowed.^ This I heard from one who related it, who was present while she reveals her dream to the sun."* But more than this I know not, save that she sends me in 1 Homer's account is different : vid. Od. IV. 529 : AvriKU 6' AlyiodoS" SoXiTjv c^pdcaaro teX^^^ KpivdfiEvoT Kara Snp.ov ieiKOai Oo'traT dpicrrov^^ Yiics Xoxov, eripcoOr} 6' avcoyei Saira TvtvecOai. Avrdp h j8>7 koXcmv, \\yajicnvova, Troijxtva \awv, ''jTrnoKjiv Koi ox£(r'pit', neiKea pepfxrfpi'^cov. Tdv 6' ovK ciSor oXeOpov dvfjYays kul KaTeire. " In return for what, in favor to whom." Thus in the Nubes, dfrl before tov is omitted, t. 22. 3 This, says the scholiast, thouj^ch it militates against Homer's account, is in union with Hesiod's : "H teksO' 'Vjpfjiiorjv Sox'ptK'KsiTM M^J'sXaw, ' Otr'XoTOrov 6' ctekc l^iKOarparoi', opov "Apr]0~. ^ I.e., thy father. S8 ELECTRA. [563-5S7. companiest, allured thee to it. Xay, ask the huntress Diana, in revenge for Avhat those many wind's detained them at Au- lis ; or I will tell thee, for from her it is not allowed thee to learn. My father once, as I hear, sporting in the groves of the goddess, roused on foot a dappled, antlered stag, in whose slaughter exulting, he chanced to utter some [haughty] word.^ And, thenceforth angered, the maiden daughter of Latona detained the Greeks, that my father, as satisfaction for the beast, should offer up his daughter. Thus was her sac- rifice ; since no other release was there to the host, homeward or to Troy. On whose behalf, having been forcefully con- strained, and having resisted much, he reluctantly sacrificed her, not for Menelaus's sake. If, however, for I Avill state even thy plea, wishing to profit him, he acted thus, ought he for this to have died by thy hands ? By what right ? Beware, lest in ordaining to mankind this rule, thou ordain thyself woe and repentance. For if we shall slay one for another, thou, mark me, shouldst die the first, at least hadst thou thy due. But look to it, lest thou set up a plea that does not exist. For tell me, an thou wilt, in requital of what thou happenest at present to be committing deeds the most infamous possible ; thou that couchest with the assassin, with whom thou erst 1 The business of the ancient poets, and, till very lately, of our own, has constantly been to inculcate submission to the will of Heaven, and respect for all things move immediately connected with it. In conformity to this proposed object, in- solence to Minerva is stated by Calcbas to be the cause of Ajax's madness; and the wound inflicted on Venus by Diomed leads to bis expulsion from bis home by an unfaithful wife; while the still more audacious, because the more personal, in- sults to the deities offered by Laomedon, lay the towers of Il- ium, the work of more than human hands, in the dust. 'Not was the prince of lyric poets less religious than the tragedians: vid. 01. 9, 56. Xoi^opfjaai BeovS'j £X9pa (rotpia' Kal TO KavXaaOai -apa Kaipov Mai'iaJCd' V~OKp£K£l, Hence we see that it wanted but little supernatural iufluence to drive Ajax to the frenzy with which be was afterward pos- 588-611.] ELECTRA. 89 didst destroy my father, and hast children by him ;^ while thy former lawful progeny, from lawful lineage sprung, thou castest out. How could I approve of this? What, wilt thou say that this too is vengeance thou takest for thy daughter?"^ Basely, even shouldst thou say so ; for it is not honorable to marry with enemies for the sake of a daughter. But it is not allowed even to advise thee, thee, that ventest thy whole talk of how I slander my mother. Nay, I at least account tliee a mistress rather than a mother to us, I that live a wearisome life, ever treated with evil from thee and thy paramour ; while the other far away, having hardly escaped thy hand, hapless Orestes, wears out a melancholy existence, wdiom thou hast often accused me of bringing up as an aven- ger of thy pollution ; and this, had I had power, I had done, of this be well assured. For this at least proclaim me to all, whether thou wilt as wicked, or abusive, or full of impu- dence ; for if I am naturally an adept in these practices, I am almost no disgrace whatever to thy nature. Ch. I see her breathing rage ; but whether or no it exist with justice,'^ of this I see no farther thought. ^ Pausanias mentions Eri^one. a daughter of iEgisthus, of whom Tzetzes ad Lycoph. 1374, plainly calls Clytemnestra the m oth er . — Her m . 2 Euripides strengthens this plea by the addition of another, which the ladies will think more forcible, viz., that Agamem- non kept another woman, and even brought her into the house with his wife. This fact is thus alluded to by Ovid ; " Dura fuit Atrides una coutentus, et ilia Casta fuit: vitio est improba facta viri." — Franklin. iEschylus also mentions the arrival of Cassandra at Argos, and her prophecies of her own and Agamemnon's fate. Indeed, the Grecian chiefs in general appear to have so little observed conjugal fidelity, that their wives' treachery hardly need be referred to the wrath of Venus, or any other deity. Ulysses alone (his loves with the goddesses must be excused on the score of influence beyond human power to counteract) appears to have had a just sense (vid, Od. I. 433) of decorum in this particular, and accordingly his wife continues faithful to him throughout. , ^ Hermann corrects the scholiast's interpretation thus: "but whether Electra justly harbors anger," ivvean, scil. rcf fihei. 90 ELECTRA. [612-633. Cly. "SVhy, what thought should I have about her at least, who in such terms hath insulted her mother, and that too at such an age ?^ What, does she not seem to thee likely to proceed to any crime without shame ? El. Be now well assured that I feel shame at all this, even though I seem not to thee so to do ; and I am conscious that I act as disbecomes both my age and myself — but alas ! for thy enmity and thy crimes compel me to act thus per- force, since by the base are base deeds taught, Cly. O shameless creature ! doubtless I, and my words, and my deeds cause thee to speak a great deal too much. El. Thou speakest them, not I ; for thou doest the deed, and deeds find themselves words. Cly. But never, no, by Queen Diana, ^ shalt thou go un- punished for this insolence, when ^Egisthus shall return.^ El. Seest thou? thou art hurried off into rage, though having given me leave to say whatever I might wish ; nor knowest how to listen. Cly. Wilt thou not then suffer me even to sacrifice amid sounds of good omen,* now that I have allowed thee at least to say thy all ? El. I suffer, I bid thee, sacrifice ; nor blame my lips, since I will speak no farther. ^ It is hard to say whether this is meant as a reproach to Electra's youth or maturer age. The context seems to inti- mate the former, but the probable age of Orestes the latter. ■^ Electra having in a former passage declared that her mother, as a murderess and adulteress, was unfit to inquire aught of the goddess of chastity, by this oath Clytemnestra means to contradict her. ^ Take ovk aXv^ets here as equivalent to ovk li^eig a\v^tv, and understand uArftj, not in a passive but an active sense; not "etfugium ejus qui efi'ugitur," but "eflugium ejus qui eftugit." — Herm. * Tliis is well known to have been a point of great impor- tance among the Greeks. Ulysses, relating the cause of Philoc- tetes' expulsion from the army, says, or' ovTS Xo(j8>7s ^Atf^", ovrs 6vndTCi)i> Traprji' SKTJXoig irpoaQiysiv, dXX' dypiaig , Kareix dei rd^' arparonsSop 6va Monk translates this, "Now Orestes drove the last to be sure, but keeping his horses back, as he placed his confidence in the end of the race." 738-766.] ELECTRA. 95 alone, ^ having cracked in the ears of his swift mares the shrill sound of his whip, pursues him ; and having brought their poles in line, they were driving, now one, and then the other, pushing forward the heads of their chariot horses. And all the other courses in safety the hapless youth drove erect in his car upright ; but then, slacken- ing tlie left rein of his wlieeling horse, he unawares strikes the pillar's edge,^ and breaks the middle axle-nave, is tumbled from his chariot, and entangled in his reins, while on his falling to the ground his steeds were dispersed over the middle of the course. But the assembly, when it perceives him thrown out of his seat, shrieked aloud over the youth, that, after having done such deeds, he meets with such a disaster, Avhirled along on the ground, and then again tossing up his limbs to heaven : until the charioteers having with difficulty stopped the horses' speed, released him, all bloody, so that none of his friends by looking on him could have recognized his hapless person. And having forthwith burned him on the pyre, in a little brazen urn a huge body of melancholy ashes^ are appointed men of Phocis bringing, that he may inherit a tomb in his father's land. Such, look you, are these tidings, as in story told,^ piteous, but to us eye-witnesses that saw it, the greatest of all misfortunes that I ever beheld. Ch. Alas ! alas ! It seems then the whole race of our for- mer lords from its very roots has perished. Cly. O Jove, whether shall I call these news fortunate? ^ ''The scholiasts do not state whom they understand to be meant by 6' dk and viv respectively. Later interpreters refer the former to Orestes, the latter to the Athenian ; but in that case one would have expected eksTvov rather than viv, which last must apply to the principal subject of discourse; and that sub- ject is Orestes." — Herni. - As his other instructions agree with the plan pursued by Orestes, so this is the accident against which Nestor particu- larly warns Autilochus, II. xxiii. v. 334. ^ Thus Hermann, rejecting both Brunck's idea of antiptosis and Schaefer's construction of va>fw otzoSov. * Similarly the messenger in CEdipus Tyranuus, v. 1237: TMV 6i TrpaxOsvTCJv ra [jlev aXyicyT aireaTiv' ff yap oxpi^ ov irapa. 96 ELECTRA. [767-796. or terrible, yet gainful ? yet 'tis a painful case, if by mine own ills I save my life. Att. But "Nvliy, lady, art thou so dispirited at my present words ? Cly. 'Tis a dreadful thing to be a mother ; for not even to the ill-treated does hatred to those she has born attach. Att. It seems then we are come in vain. Cly. Xo, believe me, not in vain at least ; for how couldst thou tell me in vain? if thou camest possessing sure proofs of his death, who born of my life, an alien from my breast and nurture, estranged himself in exile, and since he quitted this land never beheld me, but laying to my charge his father's murder, Avas ever threatening to perform dreadful deeds, so that neither by night nor by day did sweet sleep overshadow me ; but progressing time ever led me on as doomed to die. Xow, however (for on this day am I re- leased from alarm at her hands and his, since she the greater pest was living with me, ever drinking up my pure life's blood), now haply shall we pass our days in quiet, as far as relates to her threats.^ El. Ah me, unhappy ! for now 'tis mine to Avail, Orestes, thy misfortune, that thus conditioned thou art insulted by this thy mother : is this well ? Cly. Not with thee, be sure ; but he, as he is, is well. El. Hear, avenging spirit of the lately dead.^ Cly. It hath heard Avhom it ought, and well fulfilled the prayer. El. Be insolent ; for now thy lot is prosperity. Cly. So shall not Orestes and thou repress it. El. We have been put down ourselves, on fear that we shall put thee down. 1 "Male Bruckius (^' post vdv delevit, quod repeti post paren- thesiu notavi ad Vigerum, p. 847. Compare ^Esch. Choeph. 621-629."— Herm. - Nemesis, daughter of Nox, and by some supposed to be the same with Leda, was intrusted with the care of avenging all manner of impieties, but especially those committed against the dead. It was in this latter character that Adrastus, in his second expedition to Thebes, to avenge the refu^^al of burial to his son-in-law Polynices, erected a temple to her. The Greeks also celebrated a feast in her honor, called Xemesia. 797-826.] ELECTRA. 97 Cly. Thoii wonldst become deserving of many things, stranger, liadst thou checked her babbling clamor.^' Att. I would be gone then, if this be well. Ci.Y. By no means ; since thou wouldst be about to act in a manner worthy neither me nor the friend that sent thee. But go ye within, and leave her to lament from without both her own and her friend's calamities. El. And does the wretched woman seem to you, as griev- ing and in pain, bitterly to weep and wail over her son thus perished? No, in derision is she gone. O unhappy me ! Dearest Orestes, how by thy death hast thou undone me ! for thou art gone, and hast torn from my heart the only hopes that yet remained to me, that thou wouldst one day come a living avenger of my father and of me ill-fated. But now whither must I go? for I am lonely, bereft of both thee and my father. Now must I again be a slave to those among men most hateful to me, the murderers of my sire. And is this well with me ? But no, never again hereafter will I be their co-mate,^ but at this gate having thrown myself along, friendless will I wither away life. Wherefore, let any of those within slay me, if he be offended, since 'tis j)leasure if I die, pain if I live, and for life I have no wish. Ch. Where can be the thunderbolts of Jove,"^ or where the beaming sun, if looking on these things they silently hide ?* ^ Hermann refers to Matth. Gr Gr. § 524, for the construc- tion of this passage, defending the common reading against Monk's remarks in Mus. Grit. '^ Brunck's reading IWo/^' is an elision unknown to the tragic dialogue IvfoiKos- eaofxai may be read, according to Hermann, with a hiatus : he himself reads el'ffei^i' ; Monk and others, eaofiai ^vpoikos-. " Sed transponendi ratio, hodie est instar acidi cultri in manibus j^iceronim." — Herm. — Tk. But Dindorf retains iaaoi.C. — B. 3 " These four lines must be restored to the Chorus, whose claim to theiu is irrefragable. They insinuate a ground of hope for Electra, to which she alludes in v. 833. The exclamations in V. 827 are Electra's."— Mus. Grit. i. 204. * This word is with peculiar fitness applied to the sun ; Aeivov yap dsov a'lSs /3o£r Kal lipia /*»7Aa, 'HeXtou, 5r TTOLVT E(popd Kal iravr inaKovEi. Od. xii. 322. 98 ELECTRA. [827-852. El. O ! O ! alas ! alas ! Ch. My child, why weepest tlioii ? El,. Alas ! Ch. Sob not thus violently. El. Thou wilt kill me. Ch. How? El. If thou shalt suggest a hope for those who have man:-«, festly sunk into the grave, thou wilt the rather trample oi\> me wasting away. Ch. I did it, for that I know that royal Amphiaraus was ensnared by stealth in the golden-wreathed fetters of a wo- man,^ and now beneath the earth — El. O ! alas ! alas !^ Ch. Immortal he reigns. El. Alas ! Ch, Alas, indeed ! for she deathful — El. Was over-mastered ? Ch. Yes. El. I know it ; I know it ; for a careful friend arose to him in sorrow ; but to me there is no longer any, for he who yet existed is torn away and gone. Ch. Wretched, thou hast a wretched fate. El. I too am conscious, too conscious of this by a life which every month sweeps in a mass of many things griev- ous and detestable.^ 1 The story of Amphiaraus bears a resemblance to that of Agamemnon. He was the son of Oiclens, and the greatest soothsayer of his time. Foreseeing the fatal issue of the The- bau war, he would have declined assisting Polynices, and hid himself for some time, but was betrayed by his wife Eripliyle, whom Polynices had bribed with a golden necklace, and who, like Clytemuestra, fell by her sou's hand. Although Homer has assigned the chief place among deceased prophets to Tire- sias, it is certain that high honors were paid to Amphiaraus after death, at Oropus in Attica, where he had a temple. — Tr. So 'iiaf is applied to Tiresias in (Ed. Tyr. 304. On Ampliiaraus cf. Pindar 01. VI. 21. Apollodor. III. 6,2. His oracle is men- " tioued by Cicero de Div. I. 40. Minutius Felix, Oct. i^ 26. Athenagoras, legat. p. 139. — B. ■^ If Hermann's reading, aicjiu, be here adopted for axhou (as rzannnvto -avavprw can uot well stand for substantives, if without the article), the reader may compare Hermann's explanation, S53-887.] ELECTRA. 99 Ch. We know all that thou bewailest. El. Jso more, no more now mislead me, where no more^ — Ch. What sayest thou ? El. Are present the aids of hopes of kindred blood and high ancestry.''^ Ch. Death is natural to all mankind. El. What, and in the rivalry of swift steeds thus to be en- tangled in the reins, like him wretched ? Ch. The misfortune is inconceivable. ^ El. How should it not ? if in a foreign land without my hands — Ch. O heavens ! El. He was inured, having met with neither sepulture nor dirge from us. Chr. With joy, my best beloved, I speed me hither,^ dis- missing decorum, to hasten witli alacrity ; for I bring both joys and respite from the ills which before now thou didst cherish and sigh over. El. But hence couldst thou discover a consolation of my troubles, a remedy whereof it is impossible to find ? Che,. Our Orestes is at hand, be sure of this, hearing it of me, as certainly as thou lookest on me. El. What ! art thou frantic, wretch, and mockest thine own woes and mine ? Chr. No, by my father's hearth, I speak not this in insult, but that he is at hand to us. El. Ah me ! unhappy ! and from whom of men hearing this tale, believest thou this fondly ? Chr. From myself and none else, having seen sure proofs, I believe this tale. El. What proof having beheld, unhappy girl ! looking on Trdpai'pTO~ TTiwi nrjai, with Thucyd. 2, 44, €v£v6aii.iovfj(Tai re Kal ivre- Xevrfja-aL tov fiiov. 1 Johnson, and after him Brunck, unaccountably translates the word irapaYdyijr by soleris, to which Mnsgrave with reason objects, and renders it demulceas verbis, decipias. 2 dpcoyai, Hermann, from the scholiast. 3 Much of the beauty of this scene is lost to us in the closet; on the stage its effect must have been wonderful. loo ELECTRA. [888-906, what, say, art thou heated with this fever of the soul past cure ?^ Chr. Now, by the gods, listen, that, having learned of me, thou mayest call me henceforth either sensible or senseless. El. Nay, then, do thou say on, if thou in speaking hast any pleasure. Chr. Well then, I tell thee all that I behold. For when I came to my father's ancient tomb, I see from the top of the mound fresh-running streams of milk, and my sire's grave garlanded all around Avith every flower that grows. But having seen this I began to feel wonder, and gaze around, lest haply any mortal be stealing close upon me. But when I saw the whole spot tranquil, I crept nearer the tomb, and at the edge of the pile I discern a fresh-cropped lock of hair.^ And the instant I hapless discovered it, an accus- tomed fancy strikes upon my soul, that I was looking on this a memorial of Orestes, the dearest of mankind, and raising it in my hands, I speak not words of ill omen, but for joy have mine eyes filled instantly with tears. ^ And now, too, equally as then, I am sure that this ornament could come 1 The same epithet is applied to the madness of Ajax: " 'Eyoj (T(p 'd~sipyco, ^vatpopovg ctt o^iiaaL Tviojiag ^aXovaa, rrig avriKEarov X^P^sJ^ — V. 51. 2 Scbaefer conjectured ~^^pa. Retain the genitive and join it with op'o, a snmmo tuinulo conspicio cincinnum, according to the Greek fashion of measurement, not from the spectator to the object seen, but the reverse. See also v. 8S2. — Herm. ^ Briiuck translates this, rocem quidem compressi, evidently considering oo ^vapnp'-^ as equivalent to £1"/>??a«w in its second sense. Bat Potter, with greater reason gives it thus : " And from mine eyes gushed tears ; account not these Omens of ill, for they were tears of joy.*' Chrysothemis, with the natural anxiety of a Greek bringing good tidings, explains away a circumstance which might change their nature, even before she states what that circumstance was. But that it was considered in general of ill omen, we learn from Homer. Od. B. XX.— Tr. Apuleius Met. p. 107, ed. Elm.: " ut lacrymse ssepicnle de gaudio prodeunt, ita et in illo nimio pavore risum nequivi continere." — B. 907-94I-] ELECTRA. loi from none but him. For to whom is this a natural duty, save at least to thee and me ? And I did it not, this I well know, nor again didst thou. For liow shouldst thou, to whom at least it is not permitted with impunity to quit this roof even to [worship] the gods? But of my mother, too, neither is the spirit wont to act thus, nor had she done it unobserved : no, these marks of respect are from Orestes. Come, my dear sister, take courage. To the same persons the selfsame genius is not always present. But ours was ere now detest- able, yet haply the present day will be the confirmation of many good things. El. Alas ! how do I long since pity thee for thy infatua- tion ! Chr. But what is it? do I not speak this to thy delight? El. Thou knowest neither whither on earth nor whither in thought thou art hurried. Chr. But how know I not that at least which I saw plainly ? El.' He is dead, miserable woman ; and all protection to thee from him is vanished ; look not to him at least. Chr. Unhappy me ! from whom of men hast thou heard this? El. From one who was near at hand when he perished. Chr. And where is this man? amazement comes over me. El. Within, acceptable, and not displeasing to my mother. Chr. Unhappy me ! and from whom among men could have been the many funeral offerings at my father's tomb? El. I am most led to believe that some one placed them there as memorials of the deceased Orestes. Chr. Ah ill-fortuned ! while with joy I bringing such a tale was hastening, not knowing, I am sure, in what woe we were plunged !^ But now, when I have come, I find the previously-existing evils, and fresh ones also. El. Thus it is with thee ; but if thou wilt be persuaded by me, thou slialt lighten the weight of thy present affliction. Chr. What, shall I ever raise the dead ? El. That at least is not what I said, for I was not born so senseless. 1 Aprt est ergo, quod hie in media oratione cum dolore addi- tum. — Herm. ad Aj. 1005. 102 ELECTRA. [942-969. Chr. "What then dost thou require, to which I can pledge myself ? El. That thou take heart to execute what I shall advise. Chr. Nay, if there be any profit in it at least, I will not reject it from me. El. Observe, without trouble, be sure, nothing is success- ful. Chr. I do observe. I will lend aid in all whereunto I have strength. El. Hear then now, in what way I have planned to efPect it. Thou too art surely aware that present countenance of friends there is none to us, but Hades has taken and deprived us of them, and we are left alone. ^ I at least, while I heard that my brother was flourishing in life, maintained hopes that he would one day come as avenger of my father's murder;''' but now, since he is no more, I therefore turn to thee, that with me thy sister thou wilt not be reluctant to slay the per- petrator of our father's murder, ^gisthus. Fori must con- ceal nought from thee any longer. Since how long wilt thou continue slothful? with a view to what farther rational hope? who hast cause to sigh being deprived of the possessing of thy sire's wealth, and cause to sorrow, so long a time growing old unwedded and unbetrothed. And do not any longer hope that you will ever obtain these things. For ^Egisthus is not so imprudent a man as ever to suffer thy progeny or mine to spring up, an evident annoyance to himself.'^ But if thou be induced by my counsels, first thou wilt reap the praise of piety from thy father in the grave, and also from 1 Hermann here defends the first person dual against Elms- ley and Monk ; it is found once only in Homer, II. "*. 485, where Elmsley proposed to read -a-epiS'^ixsae', once besides this place in Sophocles, at Phil. 1079, where also Hermann has retained the dual; " Observa, ^Egistho, non etiam matri, necem parare Elec- tram." — H. ^ np«f~wp is properly the exacterof retribution. ^ ThuC. III. 40. MdXiffra St ol jxf] ^vv Tzpo(pd(j£i riva KaKa~ -oiovv- TC~ e-£^LpxovTai Kal SioWvvrai, roi/ k'ivSvvov vtpopto^ei'Oi tov v-oXEiTrope- 10' exdpov, "Non putem respexisse Sophoclem versum par«- miacum vn-io~ or Trarkpa ktclvu- -alcas" KaraXei-oi, ut Schaefero videbatur in Melet. Crit. p. 123." — Herm. 970-IOOO.] ELECTRA. 103 thy brother, and then as thou wast born, thou wilt be called hereafter free, and wilt gain thyself a worthy marriage. For every one is wont to have regard to what is virtuous. But in the report at least seest thou not what high renown thou wilt attach to thyself and to me by being persuaded by me? For who of townsmen or strangers beholding us will not welcome us with applauses such as these ? "Behold, friends, these two sisters, that saved their father's house, that of their lives unsparing, took the lead in slaying their foes who once were high in station ; these ought we to love, these ought all to venerate, these all to honor, both at the festivals and in the states' popular assemblies, in reward of their courage."^ Thus, be sure, will every man proclaim of us, that glory shall fail us not, alive or dead. But, my beloved, be persuaded, join in toiling for thy father's sake, in laboring for thy brother's, respite me from misery, respite thyself, being assured of this, that "basely to live is base for the nobly born. ' ' Ch. In words like these precaution is a help both to the speaker and hearer. Che,. Yet before she spake, ladies, had she chanced to be other than perverse of thought, she had preserved that cau- tion, even as she doth not preserve it. For whither possibly turning thine eyes, art thou at once arming thyself with such daring, and callest on me to support thee? Seest thou not? thou wert born a woman, and no man, and art in power less strong than thine opponents. But to them is destiny daily propitious, while to us it is retrograde, and comes to nought.'^ 1 " Notwithstanding the decent reserveduess of female man- ners in ancient Greece, the virgins were not only allowed to be present at certain religious solemnities, but their attendance was necessary; they formed a distinguished part in the sacred pro- cessions, and were led ])y some virgin of the highest rank." — Potter. In Spain, where the strictness of female confinement outdoes even that of ancient Greece, the same license is al- lowed on the festivals of particular saints. '^ The dsemou, which in Socrates supplied the office of com- mon sense, was considered by the ancients as a beiuii of an in- termediate order between God and man; being synonymous with the genii (perhaps originally with the giants), and there- fore sprung from earth (y>)) previously to the creation of man; 104 ELECTRA. [1001-1028. Who then, plotting to ensnare such a man, shall be let off nnpained by calamity ? Beware lest faring badly we work ourselves weightier evils, if any one shall hear these words. For it neither profits nor assists us aught, having gained an honorable fame, to perish with infamy ; for 'tis not death that is most hateful, but when one longing to die then have not power to obtain it. But I conjure thee, ere we perish utterly in complete destruction, and desolate our race, re- press thy passion. And what has been said I Avill preserve for thee, undivulged as ineffectual ; but do thou thyself at least after so long a time take thought, since thou hast no power to submit to thy superiors.^ Ch. Be persuaded. There exists not to man a profit more desirable to gain than forethought and wisdom of mind. El. Thou hast said nothing unlooked for ; nay, I well knew thou wouldst reject what I proposed. But by me alone and single-handed must this deed be done ; for positively I will not leave it unassayed at least. Chr. Alas ! would thou had been such in spirit when our father fell ; for thou wouldst have accomplished all. El. Nay, I was naturally at least such, but at that time of weaker judgment. Chr. Practice to continue such in mind throughout life. El. As not purposing to co-operate with me thou advisest thus. Chr. Yes, for it is likely that one who takes in hand to work ill will fare ill. El. I envy thee thy prudence, but abhor thy cowardice. Chr. I fain must hear you, even when thou shalt com- mend me.^ they were supposed to control by their influence the fortunes of the human race, each of which had his particular guardian power, who knew {^.a)inMv) all his actions, and furthered or pre- vented his purposes. From this probably was modified the Eosicrucian system. — Tr. These remarks are misapplied. Xo allusion to guardian genii is intended, and Sai^uov, as almost every where in the Tragedians, means fortune. — B. 1 'AAX' evvoeXv XP^ tovto fitv, yvvalx on ^''E(Pvi_iei>, cor Trpdr livSpaS' ov ftaxovfiiva' 'Fj-rretTa (5' ovvek' apxoiiCaO' Ik KpeiaaovMv. — Ant. V. 61. 2 Schol. '^(Trai. Kaipds- ore /t£ eviprinnaeiT. Potter makes the sen- 1029-1045.] ELECTRA, 105 El. But think not from me at least tlion shalt ever meet with this. Chr. Nay, future time is long enough to decide on this. El. Away, for there is in thee no help. Chr. There is, but thou hast not docility to learn it. El. Go and disclose all this to thy mother. Chr. Nay, I hate thee not with so great hatred. El. Well, then, think at least to what infamy thou art leading me.^ Chr. Not infamy, but forethought for thyself. El. What ! must I then follow thine idea of justice ? Chr. Yes ; for when thou art in thy right mind, then shalt thou lead me. El. Truly 'tis hard, that one who speaks so well should err. Chr. Thou hast rightly stated the evil in which thou art implicated. El. But how? do I not seem to thee to say this with jus- tice? Chr. Yet there are cases where justice causes injury. El. By these rules I choose not to live. Chr. Yet if thou shalt so act, thou wilt commend me.^ El. Yet will I do it at all events, no ways frightened by thee. tence break off abruptly, which seems contrary to the practice of the Greek poets, the conuection being nowhere afterward resumed. Hermann translates it thus: "Oportebit me audire te etiam laudantem mores meos." Monk, " Sustinebote audire, etiamsi mutas ovationem et probas mores meos." > But Hermann, "Eeferuntur bsec ad prsecedentia ut plena oratio sit, «AX' ovv ETrt'oro) y' kxOaipovaa oi jx' dTiixia~ ayeiT ; at sane te scias me ocUsse pro eo gradn contemtxis, ad quern usque usque me despicis.''^ Brunck's explanation be terms all but unin- telligible. — Tr. Bruuck seems right. Electra complains that her sister, by not aiding in her plans of revenging her father's death, exposed her to tbe disgrace of seeming back- ward in such a cause. — B. '^ That is, ''Having made the attempt you intend, in the hour of punishment (or failure) you will too late commend my prudence in declining to aid you." That this meaning must be given to tbe sentence is evident from Electra's answer. — See also V. 1056. 5* lo6 ELECTRA. [1046-1076. Chr. And is this certain, and wilt thou not re-deliberate ? El, Xo, for nothing is more detestable than base delib- eration. Chr. Methinks thou givest not a thought to aught I say. El. Long since, and not lately, hath this been resolved on by me. Chr. Then I will be gone, for neither canst thou endure to approve of my words, nor I of thy conduct. El. But go in ; for think not I shall ever follow thee, not even if thou chancedst to be very desirous, since even the pursuit of shadows is the part of great folly. Chr. But if haply thou seemest to thyself to possess any sense, show your sense thus ; for when now thou shalt have set thy foot into troubles, thou wilt approve of my words. Ch. Why, beholding the birds of air, most feeling, busied in providing support for both those from whom they have sprung, and those from Avhom they have derived benefit, do we not equally practice this?^ But no, by Jove's lightning and iieavenly Themis, long will they not be unpunished.'^ O rumor of mankind that piercest earth, echo for me downward a lamentable cry to the A tridje beneath, fraught with joyless disgrace : that now their domestic affairs are distempered, and that as concerns their children, a discordant strife no longer suffers them to meet in affectionate intercourse ; but abandoned, alone, sad Electra is agitated, ever sighing for a 1 Alluding to the filial affection of the stork, and that bird only, as is evident from the Birds of Aristophanes; AAX £(TTiv r^iiip roiaiv opviaiv v6^o~ TraAatd", iv rolsr ruiv TzeXapycov Kvp(ii-/»os enim dolore conflictari non video." Franklin, " the dead are free from sorrows." Potter, '' The dead are free From all the various woes of mortal life." The two latter did not, it appears, consider it as any thing more than a general sentiment. The translator is rather iucliued to suppose it a reproach, though "clerkly couched," to the shade of Agamemnon, the ebullition of despair at the neglect of all her prayers and the frustration of all her hopes.— Tk. With the preceding -words compare Autig. S97, sqq. — B. '^ " 'Ajxrixai'wv. Malim sic, ut sit participium, vulgo d/.trixaviov ab dfifixavos-.'^ — Musgrave. Which Brunck confirms (see his note) on authority. "Bene, mea senteutia, modo ue pravam In- terpunctionem adjecisset. Xam, ut recte mouet Monkius, 7T01 yoycov jun.oenda sunt, qui tamen addere debebatad eumdeni geuitivum etiam participium a/^/?xa»'wj/ referendum esse." — Herm. 1 184-1205.] ELECTRA. Ill El. For what possible reason, stranger, canst thou thus gazing on me be mourning ? Or. How truly nothing had I known of my miseries ! El. In what that has been spoken hast thou discerned this? Or. Beholding thee conspicuous for thy many griefs. El. And yet thou seest at least but few of mine ills. Or. And how could there ever exist more hateful than these to look on ? El. For that I am an inmate with the assassins. Or. With whose? Whence this evil thou didst mention? El. My father's. Nay, more, to them perforce I slave. Or. Why, who of mankind impels thee forward to this necessity ?^ El. My mother she is called ; but with a mother hath nought in common. Or. Perpetrating what ? with violence, or with penury of living? El. With violence, with penury, with every ill. Or. And is there none at hand who will aid thee, and prevent her ? El. None indeed ; for him I had, hast thou brought hither in ashes. Or. Ah hapless ! how long since beholding do I pity thee ! El. Know that of mankind thou alone hast compassion- ated me now at last. Or. Yes, for I alone come in pain for thy woes. El. Thou surelv art not come from some quarter akin to me? Or. I would tell thee, if the presence of these be friendly. El. It is friendly, so that thou wilt speak before the trusty. Or. Give up this urn now, that thou mayest learn the whole. 1 Hermann somewhat differently: " dvdyKT] rijh non est dati- vus, idem significans quod eiiavayKriv rfivSe, sed ablativus: Quis te mortalium hac serviendi necessitate cogit ? Quod exquisitus dic- tum pro, quis tibi hanc necessitatem imponitf 'AvdyKri TrpOTptirei idem est quod dvayKd^ei: et quum ravra dicere deberet, pro- nomen ad nomen dvayKrj accommodavit, ut solent.'' — Tr. Her- mann is right. Translate ; " what man rules thee under this slave's lot ?"—B. 112 ELECTRA. [1206-1223. El. Nay truly, by the gods, deal not thus with me, stranger. Or. Be persuaded as I say, and then never wilt thou err. El. Not, by thy beard^ I pray thee, bereave me not of what I hold most dear. Or. I can not consent to let thee. El. Ah me unhappy for thee, Orestes, if I am to be de- prived of thy tomb ! Or. Speak auspiciously, for not with reason dost thou mourn. El. How mourn I not with reason my dead brother ? Or. It suits thee not with these words to accost him.'^ El. Am 1 thus unworthy of the dead? Or. Unworthy of no one. But this is not thy part. El. At least, if this that I bear is the body of Orestes. Or. It is not Orestes', except in tale at least worked up. El. But where is the tomb of him unliappy ? Or. It is not ; for the living has no tomb. El. How hast thou said, young man? Or. Nought that I say is falsehood. El. What, lives the man ? Or. If at least I am alive. El. How, art thou he ? Or. Having inspected this my father's seal,^ ascertain if I speak truth. ^ " By thy beard." This was a frequent adjuration among the ancients, as the beard was an object of great care, and the loss of it esteemed a great disgrace, as in the case of David's messengers to Hanun. In the Arabian Nights there is a procla- mation in which the loss of the beard is a threatened penalty for failing to expound certain difficulties. 2 Potter translates this, "Thy state it suits not thus to speak." Brunck, '^ Non te decet ista loqui.'' But the word npoa'pcovE v seems to require that its preposition be more fully marked, besides that it makes the discovery more gradual, which is clearly Orestes' aim. 3 " What this mark was, has greatly puzzled the commenta- tors. The scholiasts, whose conjectures are generally whimsi- cal, will needs have it to be some remains of the ivory shoulder (vid. Bind, Olymp. I.) of Pelops which was visible in all his descendants, as those of Cadmus were marked with a lance, and the Seleucidse with an anchor. Camerarius, and after him I224-I254.] ELECTRA. 113 El. O day most welcome ! Or. Most welcome, I join to witness. El. O voice, art thou come ? Or. No more inquire elsewhere. El. Hold I thee in my hands? Or. So mayest thou ever henceforth hold me. ^ El. O dearest women, O my countrywomen, you see Orestes here, in artifice deceased, but now by artifice preserved. Ch. We see, my child, and at thy fortune the tear of glad- ness steals from mine eyes. El. O offspring, offspring of persons to me most dear, at length art thou come ! thou hast found, thou hast come, thou hast looked on those thou didst desire. Or. We are here; but tarry, keeping silence. El. But wherefore this ? Or. Better be silent, lest one from within hear us. El. But no, by the ever virgin Diana, this will I never deign, to dread the useless load of women that ever abides within.^ Or. Yet see now at least how even in women warlike dar- ing exists : thou surelv having experienced this, knowest it full well. El. Alas ! alas ! thou hast introduced unclouded a calamity never to be remedied, never to be forgotten, such as was ours.^ Or. I know this also ; but when occasion shall prompt, then must we call to mind these deeds. El. All times,* all times were to me fitting as they passed Brumoy, call it a ring or seal, which indeed is the most natural interpretation of the Greek word aippayig: though it may be said, in support of the other opinion, that the natural or bodily mark was more certain, and therefore a better proof of identity in regai'd to the person of Orestes." — Franklin. 1 Hermann, however, for w? reads wj. — Tr. And so Dind. — B. 2 "Sensus est, hanc quidem non dignam habebo quam metiiam Clytemnestree nimiam semper severitatem." — Herm. Let the reader choose. 3 dvicps'Xoi' int^aXes are to be construed together ; 'Xtjctojxevov pas- sively. 4 Thus in Philoctetes, when Neoptolemus says he will sail on the first favorable breeze, but that the wind is then adverse to them, Philoctetes replies, act KaAdf rrXoiij eaB^ orav (pcvyris KUKa. 114 ELECTRA. [1255-12S5. to denounce with justice this ; for scarcely now have I free- dom of speecli. Or, I too agree with thee, wherefore keep this in mind. El. By doing what ? Or. Where it is unseasonable, wish not to speak at length. El. Who, then, when thou hast appeared, would thus change their words for silence, at least of any worth? since now I have beheld thee, unpromised, as unhoped for. Or. Then didst thou behold me, when the gods urged me to return.^ El. Tliou hast told me a joy yet higher than my former, if heaven hath impelled thee to our abodes : I count this a thing of heaven's sending. Or. In part, I am reluctant to repress thy joy ; in part, I fear thy being too much overcome by rapture. El. O thou that thus hast deigned in length of time to show thyself with welcome approach to me, do not, I pray, having seen me thus deep in misery — Or. What must I not do? El. Eob me not of my joy at thy countenance, that I give it up.^ Or. Nay, I Avere enraged to see it even in others.'^ El. Dost thou consent? Or. How should I not ? El. My friends, I have heard the voice I never could have hoped to hear. I was cherishing a voiceless passion, wretched as I was, not even hearing the news with a shriek,* 1 Hermann supposes some such verse as the following to have been lost from this place: aVToi Y^y^'^'^'^S rfJsSe rfj; o^ov /3pa/3»7f. 2 Construe ri^ovdv with a-oo-repricrTig. "GrsBcl, cum verba duo, diversos casus regentia, ad idem nomen seque referantur, ne nomen proprium aut pronoraen minus suaviter repetatur, in utrovis regimiue semel ponuut. altero omisso." — Pors. ad Med, 734. Hermann justly, therefore, wonders that Porson should have altered the accusative here into acovSv, Of d-oa-epeZv with a double accus. see Matt. Gr, Gr. ^ 412. ■^ That is, ''Were I to see any other attempting to rob thee of that joy." ^ This beautifully expresses the depth of Electra's misery at 1286-1305.] ELECTRA. 115 But now I have thee ; and thou hast dawned upon me with most dear aspect, which I never could have forgotten even in misery. Or. This overflow of words dismiss, and tell me neither how wicked is my mother, nor how ^Egisthus drains the riches of my father's house,^ and part he wastes, and part he idly squanders ; for this thy tale would obstruct the timely occasion ; but what will suit me best at the present season, instruct, wliere showing, or concealing ourselves, we may by this our journey quell our insulting foes. But so [beware] that thy mother shall not find thee out by thy cheerful countenance, as we enter the palace, but, as for the calamity falsely announced, lament ; for when we shall have succeeded, then will be our time to rejoice, and freely laugh. ■'^ El. But, O my brother, since thus it pleases thee, so shall my pleasure also be ; since the joys I have received, I have so, deriving them from thee, and not mine own. And not by paining thee even a little would I choose myself to obtain a great advantage ; for thus I were not duly obedient to our present good genius. But thou knowest all from hence ; the tidings of her brother's death ; for as Malcolm observes to Macduff; " The grief that does not speak, Whispers the o'erfraught heart, and bids it break." Hence Sophocles with the same idea makes Jocasta in Oedipus, and the queen in Antigone, quit the stage in silence ; upon which latter occasion the Chorus says, on being asked by the messenger what Eurydice's sorrow may mean, " I know not, but a silence so reserved Imports some dread event : such are my thoughts; A clamorous sorrow wastes itself in sound." Hermann understands the passage very differently : " Neque dubitari potest, quin avaviiov ovSi ovv pod KXvovaa ad vocem banc referendum sit, quam obticuisse mortuo Oreste acceperat Elec- tra Facile conjicias a~ eVxoi/ dpya2', vel lU' Id non cum opydv sed cum avSdp conjungi deberet, hac constructione Sv OLfavSov ov6s ovv ^oa KXvovaa caxov avidv.''^ ' Homer mentions the seduction of Clytemnestra, and luxu- rious indolence of yEgisthus, at large in his Odyssey, B. III. ^ Exactly the old saw : " Let them laugh that win." — B. Ii6 ELECTRA. [1306-1338. how shouldst thou not ? hearing that .^gisthus is not within, but my mother is at home, whom never dread thou, that she shall see my countenance glowing with a smile ; for both mine ancient hatred hath sunk deep into me,^ and since I have looked on thee I shall never cease shedding tears of joy. For how should I cease, who in a single journey have beheld thee both dead and alive? Yes, thou hast dealt un- expectedly with me ; so that Avere my father to come to me alive, no longer should I account it a prodigy, but believe I saw him. When then in such a -way thou comest to me, lead thou, as thou art minded ; since I alone had not failed of two things, for either I had nobly delivered myself, or nobly perished. Or. I recommend thee to be silent, since I hear some one of those within proceeding as on his way out. El. Enter ye, strangers, especially as bringing what none might reject from his house, nor be glad to receive with- in it. 2 Att. O utterly senseless and blasted in understanding ! "What, have ye not longer any care for your life ? or have ye no inborn prudence in you, that, although no longer on the verge, but in the very midst of the greatest dangers, ye know it not ? But had not I chanced long since to be watching at this portal, your schemes had been within the house before your persons ; but now I have exerted precaution against this. And now having bid adieu to protracted converse, and this insatiate clamor of delight, get ye privately within, since to delay is in such cases harm, but the crisis requires one to have done with it.^ 1 Literally, " hatli melted like wax into me." 2 This speech of Electra, as several of those she afterward addresses to ^gisthus, is craftily ambiguous, in obedience to Orestes' instructions at v. 129*i. ^ Brunck translates this, ^^urgetautem occasio rei gerendx;" and Johnson " tempus autem ipsum jam instat exseqiiendi ;" but as the verb a-a\\aa(Toiiai occurs just above, there seems no reason to alter its sense immediately afterward. Of course the expres- sion may be considered as relating either to their '"ridding themselves of the business by executing it," or to their bid- ding a temporary adieu to each other: on these the reader must decide for himself. — Tr. I think the phrase I have 1339-1361.] ELECTRA. 117 Or. How then are matters from thence with me if I enter ? Att. Well ; for it chances that no one knows thee. Or. Thou hast reported, I suppose, that I am dead ? Att. Know now, that, here a man, thou art one of those in Hades. ^ Or. Are they then glad at this ? or what are their senti- ments? Att. When all these things are finished, I would tell thee ; but as things now go all is well with them, even what is not well. 2 El. Who is this, my brother ? tell me, by the gods. Or. Knowest thou not? El. At least I bring him not to mind. Or. Knowest thou not into whose hands thou once didst deliver me ? El. To whom ? How sayest thou ? Or. By whose hands I Avas privately conveyed to the Pho- cian's land, by thy forethought. El. What? is this he, whom once alone of many I found faithful at the time of my father's murder ?-' Or. This is he ; question me with no more words. El. O dearest light ! O sole preserver of Agamemnon's house, how hast thou come? what, art thou he who saved him and me from many a woe? O dearest hands ! O thou that hast the most welcome service of the feet !^ How thus long present to me didst thou elude, nor disclose thyself to me, but didst destroy me in words, bearing deeds most pleasant to me? Hail, my father, for a father I seem to behold ; O adopted the most literal, and also the most correct to the sense. The same thing is expressed in v. 21 : wr ivrave'' "iva Ovk ear er OKvsiv KaipoT, dXA' Epywv aKfxrt. — B. 1 I have some doubts whether greater stress should not be laid upon tvoUe, and the words construed thus: jxavQav elr wv fivrip TMv £v"AiSov evOaSe, "know, that thou art an inhabitant of Hades, as far as those here are a whit the wiser,'' i.e., you're dead, for all they know. B. 2 I.e. the conduct of Clytemnestra and ^gisthus. 3 "Faithful found, Among the faithless, faithful only he." * See note on v. 1104. ii8 ELECTRA. [1362-1395, hail I But know that thee of all men. I most abhorred, most loved, in a single day. Att. Methinks it is enough ; since for the tale^ that in- tervenes, many a night and day as long revolves, which shall explain all this clearly to thee, Electra. But I advise you at least that stand here, that now is the season for action ; now Clytemnestra is alone ; now there is not a man within ; but if ye shall delay, bethink you that ye Avill have to battle with both these and other foes, more crafty and more numer- ous than these. Or. No more of lengthened discourse to us, O Pylades, doth this work admit of, but with all speed to haste within, having saluted the paternal abodes of the deities, as many as dwell in his vestibule.^ El. O King Apollo, favorably hear them, and with them me, who many a time indeed with suppliant hand, and such store as I possessed, have stood before thee. But now, Ly- ca^an Apollo, with such as I have, I beg, I fall before thee, I implore thee ; be thou a willing abettor to us in these de- signs, and show mankind what reward, the price of impiety, the gods bestow. Ch. Behold where Mars spreads forth, breathing the blood of sad strife. Even now are entering beneath the palace roof the hounds that follow after evil villanies, from whom is no escape f wherefore not much longer will the presage of my soul continue in suspense. For the stealthy-footed avenger of the dead is brought within the house, to the dwelling of his father teeming with ancient wealth, having upon his hands blood newly shed ;* and the son of Maia^ Mercury 1 Cf. " Two Gentlemen of Verona, ' Act 2, sc. 4: " Please you I'll tell you as we pass aloug, That you will wonder what hath fortuned." — B. 2 Thus Philoctetes, by the desire of Neoptolemus, salutes the tutelary guardians of his dreary abode when on the point of^ quitting Lemnos. ^ Hermann understands this of Orestes and Pylades. * Hermann has dissipated the clouds of the grammarians re- specting aljxa in the sense of sword, by showing that the metre requires veoKovnrov, from KCfcj. Cf. Eu. El. 1172. The verse is a double dochmaic. ^ " Mercury was the god of fraud and treachery, and called 1396-1410.] ELECTRA. 119 conducts liim, in darkness burying his guile, to the very- boundary, nor longer tarries. El. O ladies, most beloved, the men will forthwith ac- complish the deed ; but wait it in silence. Ch. How then? What do they now? El. She is preparing a cauldron for the burial, but they are standing close by her. Ch. And wherefore hast thou hurried out? El. To watch that ^Egisthus may not escape us on re- turning within. [Clytemnestra from within.l Oh! oh! alas i alas ! Oh dwell- ings, destitute of friends, but full of the destroyers ! El. Some one shrieks within. Hear ye not, my friends?^ Ch. I unhappy heard what was not fit to be heard, so that I shuddered. Cly. Unhappy me ! ^Egisthus, where canst thou be ? El. Hark ! again some one cries aloud. Cly. My son, my son, pity her that bore thee. SoXioT, or the deceiver; to him therefore were attributed all secret schemes and expeditious, good or bad. The propriety of Mercury's peculiar assistance in this place may likewise be ac- counted for from his relation to Myrtilus, who was slain by Pe- lops." — Franklin. To which he might have added the personal slight that Mercury had received from ^gisthus. See Homer, Od. 1: " Hermes I sent, while yet his soul remaiu'd Sincere from royal blood, aud faith profaned ; To warn the wretch that youug Oi*estes, grown To manly years, should reassert the throne: Yet impotent of mind, aud uncontroll'd, He plunged into the gulf which heaven foretold." Pope's Trans. 1. 49. 1 " Dacier puts these w^ords into the mouth of one of the wo- men that compose the Chorus; because (says he) Electra would never have said 'some one cries out,' as she knew it must be Clytemnestra. The reader may take his choice in regard to this alteration. I have left it as it stands in the original, being a matter of no great consequence." Tlius Franklin ; neither he nor the French critic seeming aware that nr in this passage no more implies ignorance of the person, than it does in many passages of Aristophanes ; for instance, in Eanse, vv. 552, 601, 628, or than in St. Luke, c. viii. v. 46. I20 ELECTRA. [1411-1433. El,. But not by thee was he pitied, nor the father that be- gat him. Ch. O city, O race ill-fated I now destiny day after day wastes thee, wastes thee ! CiiY. Ah me, I am stricken ! El. Strike, if thou hast strength, a double stroke. Cly. Woe is me again and again ! El. Would it were likewise woe to ^Egisthus. Cn. The curses are fulfilled ; they that lie beneath the earth are alive ; for the long since dead are secretly shed- ding the copious-streaming: blood of those that slew them. And now indeed they are here, and their gory hand is drip- ping with tlie first sacrifice to Mars ; yet can I not speak !^ El. Orestes, how is it ? Or. For what is within the palace, Avell, if well Apollo hath predicted. El. Is the wretched woman dead ? Or. No longer fear that thy mother's spirit will ever in- sult tliee. Ch. Have done, for I plainly perceive ^Egisthus. El. Youths, will ye not retire hastily ? Or. Perhaps ye discern the man [coming] toward us?-^ El. He from the suburb a^dvances rejoicing. Ch. Go through the opposite doorway with all possible speed :'^ now, having well-disposed of all before, so [do] this again in turn.* 1 Hermann reads 'djiyciv, putting these lines into the mouth of the Chorus, and the following half verse, which he gives to Electra thus: 'Opkara, tw- KvpeX ^e; but to understand these words, o()J' I'yw xpeyeiv, of the murder of Clytemuestra, would suit neither the character of the Chorus nor the time. Her- mann lias therefore referred them to "Apeor, after which he puts a comma, and compares II. A. 539. — Tk. I have followed Diu- dorf.— B. 2 Orestes, elaopSrs reov rdv livcp' ; and then Electra, £h)v may refer to the ^ovffrpocprjSdv movement in plowing, I still have strong suspicion that we should read dpOTcop, or, as others accent it, dpoTuip, " as seed-times return year by year." So Hesiod. spy. 448. Gaisf. !i t aporold re aiiixa ^ipei, Kal X£('/i(zroS" o)pr]v AeiKvvEi 6jx^pr]pov, Soph. Trach. 69, tov irapi^dovr apoTov, and 825, ^to^tKaro- apoTos-. See also Comm. on Virgil, Eel, I, 70, "Post aliquot .... aristas." That the verb may be rightly thus used is easily seen from the interpretations given by some of the ancients to tlie celebrated passage of Plato's Timseus, p. 530, E. Lfem. cf. Euhnk. on Tim. Lex., p. 69 sqq., and more particularly Simplicius on Arist. de Coel. F. 125. — B. The sense will thus correspond to the Homeric nepiTsWonivwv tviavTCOv, II. II. 551, VIII. 404.— B. 2 I can not resist giving my readers this sentence from the translation of Adams : " He traverses the hoary main in stormy winds, by the rattling tumors of swollen sails, and pierces the supreme incorruptible laud of the immortal gods, year after year returning to plow it with horsekiud." — P. 189. 3 KO" o Krjpv^aS' race," ovce yiovaai, Kal ' A-oWcjv 451-487-] ANTIGONE. 141 nor Justice, that dwells with the gods below the earth, who established these laws among men ; nor did I think your proc- lamations had so much power so as being a mortal to trans- gress the unwritten and immovable laws of the gods.^ For not now, at least, or of yesterday, but eternally they live, and no one knows from what time they had their being. I was not going through fear of the spirit of any man to pay the penalty of their violation to the gods. For I knew I must die (and why not?), even though you had not proclaimed it, and if I die before my day I account it gain ; for whosoever lives like me in many sorrows, how does not he by death obtain advantage?"^ Thus to me, at least, to meet with this fate, the sorrow is nothing ; but if I had suffered him who was born of my mother to lie in death an unburied corpse, in that case I would have sorrowed : in this I sorrow not. But if I seem to you now to happen to do what is foolish, I merely incur the imputation of folly from a fool. Ch. The spirit of the daughter shows itself stern from a stern father, and she knows not to yield to misfortune. Cr. But know in truth that too stern spirits bend the most ; and you will most frequently see the hardest steel, forged in the fire till brittle, shivered and broken ; and I have known high-mettled horses disciplined by a small bit ; for it is not right for him to have proud thoughts whosoever is the slave of others. She indeed then first learned to be guilty of insolence, transgressing the ordained laws ; and this, wlien she had done it, is the second insult, to glory in such deeds, and to laugh having done them. In sooth, then, I am no man, but she a man, if this victory shall ac- crue to her without hurt. But whether she be sprung from my sister, or one more near of blood than all beneath the XiSyior. On laws as sprung from the gods, cf. (Ed. Tyr. 867; Plato Legg. I. 1. ; and Minos, p. 46. Dion Chrys. Or. i. p. 56. Cicero Tusc. Q. 11. 13, on the aypacpoi vo^oi^ cf. Aristot. Ehet. I. 10 and 13.— B. 1 This may either refer, as I have taken it, to Creon, or to Antigone herself: "so as being a mortal I should venture to transgress these laws." There is this objection, however, to the latter mode, that vTzEprpix^iv does not so properly mean violare, as superare, vincere. Vide Benedict. Obs. 117, 2 Toy ^7/£ 0£ XuTrpaJr Kpslaaov earl KarBaveXv. Eurip. Troad. V. 632. 142 ANTIGONE. [488-510. protection of our household god,^ she and her sister shall not escape the most wretched fate ; for I charge her equally with having planned the measures respecting this burial. And summon her ; for Just now I saw her within raving, not possessed of her senses ; and the mind of those who unjustly devise anything in the dark, is wont to be prematurely detected in its fraud. ^ I indeed at least hate when any one, discovered in guilt, may then wish to gloss it over. Ant. Do you wish any thing more than taking me to put me to death ? Cr. I indeed wish nothing more. Having this I have all. Ant. 'Why in truth do you delay? since to me none of your words are pleasing, nor may they ever be pleasing ; and in like manner also, to you mine are naturally dis- pleasing. And yet whence could I have gained a glory of higher renown than by laying my own brother in the tomb? It would be said that this was approve 3 of by all these, did not fear seal their tongues. But regal power is fortunate in many other things, and in this, that it is allowed to say and to do what it pleases. Cr. You alone of these Cadmeans view it in this light. Ant. These also view it in the same light, but for you they close the lips. Cr. And are you not ashamed if you have sentiments different from theirs ? ^ The meaning of the phrase rov Travrd- Zrivdr 'F.pKclov can only be expressed, as the reader will easily perceive, by a peri- phrasis. Tlie altar of Heresean Jove stood in the court of every house; and he was worshiped, as his name imports, in the light of its guardian and defender. — Tr. But surely Zrivos £fjK€iov means nothing more than " our whole house," as *'pe- uates" would be used in Latin. — B. '^ K^oTrevs. Coujungocum npoaeev ijpr]aeai, ut constructiosit : ce 6"fidg Toiv ev ckotm ur)6iv opOcog T£Xv(>iptvMv^ (piXsT -pocBsv K\oTrevg TJpiiaOai. "Mens autem eorum, qui in tenebris pravi aliquid nioliuntiir, solet prius malefica convinci, ^'.e , maleficii conviuci." — Mus- grave. "Mens eorum, qui aliquid sceleris clam moliuntur, quum alioqui sit illius occultatrix, solet tameu prius deprehen- di." H. Stephauus. This latter explauatioii is obscurum per obscurius with a vengeance. 5II-530.] ANTIGONE. 143 Ant, No, for it is nothing shameful to revere those who sprung from the same womb. Cr. Was not he also your brother who fell on the oppo- site side ? Ant. He was my brother from one mother and the same father. ^ Cr. How then do vou award an honor that is impious to him? Ant. The dead below the earth will not testify this. Cr. He will, if you honor him equally with the impious. Ant. For not in aught a slave, but my brother he fell. Cr. Laying waste at least this land, but the other resist- ing in its defense. Ant. Still the grave at least desires equal laws. Cr. But not the good to obtain an equal share with the bad. Ant. Who knows if these things are held holy below? Cr. Never at all is the enemy, not even in death, a friend.^ Ant. I have been formed by nature not to join in hatred, but to join in love. Cr. Going now below, if you must love, love them ; but while I live, a woman shall not rule. Ch. And in truth before the gates here comes Ismene, letting fall the tears of a sister's love, and the cloud on her brow bedewing her beauteous face, mars the glow of her cheek. ^ "He was. The original is, 'He was my brother by the same father, and by the same mother.' The Greek writers, though generally concise, are sometimes very prolix, as in the passage before us, where the sentiment takes up a whole line in the original, and is better expressed in these two words of the translation." — Franklin. This notable person, since he had not the taste to perceive the elegance of the original, may make himself as happy as he pleases with his two mono- syllables. After having the presumption to think himself qualified to improve upon Sophocles, we can not help sug- gesting that he might have devised something much more sublime than the subject of his self-congratulatory comment, the boasted he ivas. 2 Euripides, following a much more natural and amiable sen- timent than this expressed by Creon, makes Polynices with his last breath speak kindly of his brother : 4>iXof yap exOpds iyher^ dW '6jxi>)g (piXo^. — Phoenissse, 1445. 144 ANTIGONE. [531-561. Cr. But YOU, who in my house, like a. viper, stealing on without mv notice, sucked my blood, and I was not aware that I nursed two fiends and traitors to subvert my throne, come, tell me, do you too confess that you shared in this burial, or do you deny the knowledge of it ? IsMEXE. I did the deed, if she also says so, and I partici- pate in and bear the blame. ^ AxT. But justice will not permit you to do this, since you neither were willing, nor did I make you my partner. Ism, But in your evils I am not ashamed to make myself a fellow-voyager of your sufferings. Ant. Whose deed it is. Hades and those below the earth are conscious ; but I do not love a friend that loves with words. Is^r. Do not, sister, deprive me of the honor of dying with you, and of paying the rites to the dead. Ant. Do not you die along with me, nor make yours what you did not touch. I will suffice to die. Ism. And what life is dear to me bereft of you ? Ant. Ask Creon ; for you court him. Ism. Why do you pain me with this, being yourself noth- ing benefited by it ? Ant. Yet I am grieved, in truth, though I deride you. Ism. In what else could I now benefit you ? Ant. Preserve yourself : I do not grudge your escape. Ism. Woe is me unhappv ! And do I fail to share vour fate? Ant. For you indeed choose to live, but I to die. Ism. But not at least without my warning being addressed. Ant. You seemed wise indeed to some, but I to others.^ Ism. And, in truth, the guilt is equal to us. Ant. Be confident ; you indeed live, but my soul has long since died, so as to aid the dead. Cr. I say, as to these two virgins, that the one has just ^ Ismene, whose conduct and sentiments we have always hitherto found disgusting, continues to appear here in a still more unfavorable light. She would fain take the seeming credit of generosity, and yet at the very first moment she in- sinuates her innocence, or at least extorts from Antigone, by her saving clause, an acknowledgment to this effect. - I prefer taking roT; ^h', rpTj c£ of persons, not things, not with Aoyo(f understood. — B. 562-584.] ANTIGONE. 145 appeared mad, and the other from the time she was first born. Ism. For never, O king, does the mind which may have originally sprung remain the same to those in misfortune, but is changed. Cr. To you, at any rate, it did, when you chose to work evil with the evil. Ism. For how is life to be endured by me alone without her? Cr. But do not say her, for she is no longer. Ism. But will you kill the bride of your own son ? Cr. For the furrows of other women may be plowed. Ism. Not so, at least, as troth was plighted 'twixt him and her. Cr. I hate bad wives for my sons. Ism. O dearest Haemon, how your father disallows thee !^ Cr. You at least give me too much trouble, both you and the marriage you talk of. Ism. What ! Avill you deprive your own son of her? Cr. The grave was destined to put a stop to this marriage. Ism. 'Tis destined, as it seems, that she shall die. Cr. E'en as thou thinkest, so I.^ Make no more delay,^ but conduct her, ye slaves, within ; and from this time it is fitting that these women should not be left at liberty, for even the bold fly, when they already see the close of life near. Ch.* Blessed are they to whom ther6 is a life that tastes not of misfortune ; for to w' homsoever their house shall have 1 This verse is by Boeck, Wunder, and others, rightly assigned to Antigoue. But Schlegel, p. 105, and Bulwer, Athens, V. 4, 7, prefer giving it to Ismene. — B. '^ So Wuuder; "Ut tibi quidem videtur a me decretum esse, ita mihi videtur.'' — B. 3 Tp(/3as is governed by -ouXte or aysre, or some such word un- derstood. Musgrave very well remarks that there is no more fitting occasion for an ellipsis than when the haste of an angry man is to be painted. * This Chorus is enriched with some of the most sublime imagery and conception to be met with iu any poet. The lines, in particular, which celebrate the power of Jupiter are grand beyond expression, 7 146 ANTIGONE. [585-634. been shaken by heaven, nought of mischief is wanting, lurking through the fulness of their race ; like as when beneath the sea-traversing malignant Thracian blasts a billow runs over the marine darkness, it stirs up from the deep the black and storm-tossed shingle, and the wave-lashed shores moan with the roar. I see the ancient sufferings of the house of Labdacus following on the sufferings of the dead ; nor does one genera- tion quit the race,^ but some one of the gods keeps felling it, nor has it a moment's release. For now what light was spread above the last root in the house of (Edipus, again the death- ful dust^ of the infernal powers sweeps it away, and frenzy of words, and the mad fury of the mind. O Jove ! what dar- ing pride of mortals can control thy power, which neither the sleep which leads the universe to old ftge^ ever sei.zes, nor the unwearied months of the gods? Through unwasting time, enthroned in might, thou dwellest in the glittering blaze of heaven ! For the future, and the instant, and the past, this law will suffice : nothini? comes to the life of mortals far re- moved at least from calamity."^ For much deceitful hope is a gratification to many, and to many tlie beguilements of light-minded love ; but ruin advances on man, all-ignorant, before that he touch his foot with the warm fire. In wisdom hath an illustrious saying been by some one set forth : That evil on a time appears good to him whose mind the god hur- ries on to judgment, and that lie lives for a brief space apart from its visitation. But here is Ha?mon, the youngest by birth of your chil- dren. Does he come, lamenting the fate of his betrothed bride Antigone, grieving at being defrauded of the nuptials ? Cr. We shall soon know better than prophets. O my son ! having then heard the ratified decree against your bride, do you come, raging against your father ? or are we, in what- ever way acting, dear to you ? 1 " Atone for, or pay the reckoning of the race." 2 See Donaldson.— B. 3 In Liddell's Lexicon, the conjecture of Eeimer, TravTayrjpw;, " never growing old," is approved. It certainly seems simpler than the riayKparhg of Donaldson. — B. * This is very corrupt. Donaldson would read, vof.iog SS' avSpdr alaav. " QvarCiv ^loroi -rrafiTroXiT eJaiv nra ; " In all the life of mor- tals mischief in every state her franchise claims." — B. 635-671] ANTIGONE. 147 HiEMON. Father, I am thine ; and you, having good counsels for me, which I will follow, direct me aright. For no marriage will justly be considered greater with me than you, while guiding me well. Cr. For thus, O my son, it is fitting to feel in your breast that every thing takes its place behind the judgment of a father; for on account of this men pray that begetting chil- dren, they may have them obedient in their house, in order that they may both repay an enemy with evil,^ and honor a friend equally with their father. But whosoever begets useless children, what would you say that he did else than engender toils to himself, and much laughter to his enemies? Do not you now, my son, for the sake of a woman, ever drive away your senses by pleasure, knowing that this is a chilling embrace, a bad wife, the partner of your bed at home. For what worse ulcer could there be than a false friend? But, spurning her as an enemy, suffer this virgin to marry some one in the shades. For since I have clearly discovered her alone of all the city acting with disobedience, I will not prove myself false to my country, but will put her to death. Let her, therefore, invoke Jove, the god of kindred ; for if I rear those who are my natural kin disorderly, much more shall I thus rear those who are not connected with me : for whosoever is a good man in his own family, will also be shown to be just in the state; but whosoever acts with vio- lence in transgressing the laws, or thinks to command those in power, it is impossible that he should meet with praise from me. But whom the city may appoint, him it is proper to obey in small things or in great, just or unjust ;^ and this man I am confident would rule well, and would be willing to be well ruled, and in the tempest of the spear would re- 1 There is a strong resemblance in this to the sentiments, not to say the language of the Psalmist: " Like as arrows in the hand of the giant, even so are young children ; happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them ; they shall not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gate." — Ps. cxxvii. 5, 6. 2 On this modest idea of sovereignty cf. ^sch. Choeph. 78, SiKaia Kal fii) SiKaia, ixh irpknovr'' npxaig fSiov, jSuz (pepojitvwy aivea-at, ttik- pov cppsvnv arvyog Kparovar). — Seneca Med. 195. " ^(luum atque iniquum regis imperium feras." — Plant. Amphit. I. 1, 19. — B. 148 ANTIGONE. [672-708. main at his post a just and brave companion in arms. There is no greater bane than anarchy : it destroys cities, lays houses low, and in the combat with the spear scatters to the rout ;^ but discipline preserves the most of those who are under rule. There must thus be aid given to those that govern, and we must by no means yield to a woman ; for it were better, if necessary, to be vanquished by a man, and we would not be called inferior to women. Ch. To us indeed, if we are not misled by old age, you seem to speak wisely concerning what you speak. H^. Father, the gods implant wisdom in man, the highest of all possessions as many as exist. But I should neither be able nor know to express that you do not say these things aright. For another indeed it might be proper.^ For your interest, then, I have been accustomed to consider every thing that any one says or does, or has to blame ; for your eye terrifies a common citizen from using those Avords which you would not be pleased to hear; but I, in the shade, can hear them, in what way the city mourns for this virgin ; how she, the most undeservedly of all women, perishes by the most wretched death, after most glorious deeds ; she who did not suffer lier own brother, having fallen in the slaughter unburied, to be destroyed by ravening dogs, nor by any bird. Is not she worthy of gaining golden honor? Such a liidden report makes its way on in silence. To me, father, there is no possession more honorable than your pros- perity ; for what is a greater ornament of glory to children than a father flourishing? or what to a father than his chil- dren? Do not now bear this one disposition of mind only in yourself, that what you say, and nothing else, is right ; for whosoever thinks that he himself alone has wisdom, or a tongue, or a soul, such as no other, these men, when laid open, have been seen to be empty. But it is no disgrace to 1 Karaf'p. rpoTza^j i.e., Kar. ioare rpo-ag eTvai. See Wunder. — B. 2 Such is the interpretation of Heath : '* Fieri quidem id possit ab alio (qui filius non sit tuus) et quidem nou iudecore." Hsemon delicately insinuates that the conduct of his father is objectionable, but will not allow himself, from filial respect, to Kive vent to unbecoming censure. Brunck's translation bears about as much relation to the original as it does to sense and intelligibility : " Est tameu ut alius etiam vera dicere queat." 709-736.] ANTIGONE. 149 a man, even though he be wise, to learn many things, and not to strive too much against others. You see by the chan- nels of winter streams how as many trees as yield preserve their boughs, but those that resist perish with the very root. And in like manner, whoever managing a ship, having drawn firm the sail-rope, gives no way ; he upsetting her, navigates for the future with benches turned upside down. But yield from your anger, ^ and grant a change. For if there is any judgment with me too, thougli a younger man, I say that it is far the best for a man to be by nature full of knowledge ; but if not, for it is not wont to incline in this way, it is also honorable to learn from those that advise well.^ Ch. O king ! it is meet, if he speak to the purpose, that you should learn from him ; and you, Hsemon, again from your father ; for it has been well spoken on both sides. Cr. Shall we, of such an age, be taught wisdom by one of his time of life? H^. Nothing which is not just ; but if I am a young man, it is not fitting to retard years more than works. Cr. For it is a good work to pay regard to those who are guilty of disobedience ? Hje. No, nor would I desire you to observe reverence toward the bad. Cr. For has not she been seized with such a disease? H.E. The people that dwell together in this city of Thebe deny it. Cr. Shall the city dictate to me what it is proper for me to ordain ? H^. Do you see how you have spoken this like a very young man ? Cr. For does it become any other one than me to rule this land ? 1 Dindorf strangely retains 6' ix(o. — B. '^ There is a passage very similar to this in Hesiod, whicli the readers of Aristotle will remember quoted in the first book of the Ethics : Keivog jxlv -rravapia-TOi, Sg avrdg navra vorjcrci ^patrcromevog ra k eneira kuI eg ri^og riaiv afjieivoj' ^Ea-Oxdg ^' ai) KUKeTvog, Sg ev eindvTi friOrjrai, "Of (5i K£ jxriT 'avTOg vokr)^ jjLr)r] aXyov olkovwv 'Ej/ dvjXM pa\\riTai, 06' avr' d^^pfi'iog dvrip. Hesiod, 'Epy. 290. 7* 150 ANTIGONE. [737-757- Hje. Nay, that is not the state which is dependent on one man. Cr. Is not the state deemed the possession of its ruler ? H^. No douht ; in an uninhabited land at least you might rule alone. Cr. He, as it appears, fights in alliance with a woman. ILe. If you are a woman ; for my care is for you. Cr. Oh, utterly basest of wretches ! quarreling with your father. H^, For I see you committing the sin of injustice. Cr. Do I sin in paying reverence to my own dominion ? H.E. You do not pay reverence when trampling under foot at least the honors of the gods. Cr. Oh, accursed disposition, and enslaved to a woman ! II.E. You will not, at all events, ever find me the slave of what is base. Cr. All your speech at least is for her. H^. And for you too, and for me, and for the gods below the earth. Cr. It may not be that vou should ever now marrv her in life. HiE. She then will die, and, dying, will destroy some one.^ Cr. Do you also, threatening, thus advance in audacity? H.E. And what threat is it to argue against foolish opin- ions Cr. To your cost you shall school me, being yourself void of understanding. JIje. If you were not my father, I would have said that you were simple. Cr. Being the slave of a woman, do not revile me.^ H.E. Do you wish to speak, and speaking, to hear nothing in return ? 1 Creon evidently supposes that Hsemon threatens his life, mistaking what is au ambiguous intimation of his purpose of destroying himself. — Tr. The Covent Garden adapter well rendered it, " She'll die — perchance not only she.'" — B. 2 KwriXxw generally means ndulor, but here it is necessarily taken in an opposite sense. This mode of using the same word in a directly contrary signification is not uncommon. "QveiSo- is a marked instance of it : Qfi^ai?- kclWigtov vveiSos. Eur. Phoen. 821. 758-782.] ANTIGONE. 151 Cr. Can this be true? but know, by Olympus, that you shall not with impunity insult me with your upbraidings. Bring the hateful thing, that she may immediately die in the presence of her bridegroom, near him, and in his sight. H^, Never, near me at least, think it not, shall she per- ish ; and you shall no longer, beholding it with your eyes, see my face, wherefore thou mayest be mad in company with such friends as are willing [to abide it]. Ch. The man, O king! has departed abruptly in anger; and the mind, when pained at his years, is dreadful. Ch. Let him do what he pleases ; let him, going, feel prouder thoughts than become a mortal ; but he shall not release these virgins from their fate. Ch. For do you intend to kill both of them? Cr. Not her at least who did not touch the body, for you certainly suggest this well. Ch. And by what sort of death do vou meditate to destroy her? Cr. Conducting her where the way is untrodden by mor- tals, I will bury her alive in the cavern of the rock,i only set- ting forth so much food as will suffice for expiation,^ in order that all the city may avoid the pollution. There, imploring Pluto, whom alone of gods she reveres, she will obtain a respite from death, or will know at least then that it is lost trouble to pay reverence to those 'in the shades. Chorus. O Love ! unconquerable in the fight. Love ! who lightest on wealth,^ who makest thy couch in the soft ^ " In arcam inclusos tradnnt non dissimili genere pcBnse Danaen: Cycni liberos (Lycophr. 239), Comatam (Theocrit. vii. 78), denique Sotadem poetam (Athen. xiv. cap. 4)." — Musgrave. ^ It is singular that in all cases of this live-burial, either an- cient or modern, we find the custom prevail of leaving a cer- tain quantity of food with the victim. In Greece it was held impious to suffer any one to die of famine, and this was a kind of juggling way of satisfying the conscience that the pollution was avoided. In modern times the practice seems to have been continued with the cruel object of prolonging the torments of such a horrible existence. — Tr. For Oriental illustrations, see Lane, Arabian Nights, vol. iii. p. 102, note 35. — B. ^ Donaldson, partly after Reisig, would take KTnuaai, accord- ing to Plato's dictum, that men are the KTrinara of the gods, and 152 ANTIGONE. [7S3-814. cheeks^ of the youthful damsel, and roamest beyond the sea, and mid the rural cots, thee shall neither any of the immor- tals escape, nor of men the creatures of a day ;- but he that feels thee is that instant maddened. Thou for their ruin seducest the minds of the just to injustice ; thou hast stirred up this strife of kindred men, and desire revealed from the eyes^ of the beauteous bride wins the victory, desire that holds its seat* beside the mighty laws in rule ; for the god- dess Venus wantons unconquerable among all. But now already I too am borne without the pale of laws, beholding this spectacle ; and I am no longer able to restrain the foun- tains of tears, when I here see Antigone passing on her way to the chamber where all repose. Ant. Behold me, ye citizens of my father-land, advanc- ing on this last journey, and beholding the light of the sun for the last time and never again ; but Hades, whose cham- ber receives all, conducts me, living, to the shore of Ache- ron, neither blessed with the lot of wedlock,^ nor hath the that the poet means that Love, by his attacks, enslaves men at once, rendering them K-fmara. — B 1 Chife Pulchris excubat in genis. — Horace. ^ We may safely put in contrast with this Chorus, though highly beautiful, the following lines on the same subject from one of the first of modern poets: In peace. Love tunes the shepherd's reed; In war he mounts the warrior's steed ; In halls, in gay attire is seen ; In hamlets, dances on the green. Love rules the court, the camp, the grove, And men below, and saints above; For love is heaven, and heaven is love. Lay of the Last Minstrel, Canto iii. 2. ^ 1 Cf. Eurip. Hipp. 525. '"Epojj '"Epwj, 6 kut' dmxa-coi' 'Era^eig noOov. Achilles Tatius vi. p. 375. s-ciSri elg ra omiara -u>v Kakwv TO KtiXAof Kadrjrat^ psov SKeiQev l-\ rov; 6 bQaXixov; tmv opovTMv. — B. * But see Donaldson. Whence the translator got " in heaven's rule," I can not tell. — B. 5 Antigone, in these beautiful and swan-like dirges, more than once expresses her regret for never having experienced the marriage joys. There is nothing indelicate, except to the eye of false refinement, in this candid declaration of natural 8i 5-857-] ANTIGONE. 153 bridal lay yet hymned me, but I shall be the bride of Ache- ron. Ch. Nay, but renowned and enjoying praise you descend to this recess of the dead, neither struck by wasting disease, nor having received the award of the sword ; but in freedom and in life you alone of mortals shall descend to Hades. Ant. I have heard that, by a most mournful fate, perished, on tlie promontory of Sipylus, the Phrygian stranger,^ daughter of Tantalus. Her, like the clinging ivy, did the shoots of rock subdue ; and lier, dissolving away in showers, as the legends of mortals tell, the snow never leaves ; and from her eyes, that ever flow with tears, she bedews the cliffs. Most like her, the god lulls me to sleep. Ch. But she was a goddess, and of heavenly birth ; and we are mortals, and of mortals born. And yet to you a per- ishable creature, it is high fame to meet with a fate like the peers of the gods. Ant. Woe is me ! I am derided. Why, by the gods of my fathers, do you insult me, not yet dead, but still beheld in sight? O my country ! O my countrymen, of rich es- tate ! O ye fountains of Dirce, and grove of Thebe, the re- nowned for the car ! I take you withal jointly to witness, how anlamented by my friends, and by what laws I go to the sepulchral dungeon of my untimely tomb. O, woe is me ! who am neither a dweller among men nor shades, the living nor the dead. Ch. Having advanced to the extreme of audacity, thou hast violently dashed, my child, against the lofty throne of justice. Thou payest some penalty of thy father. Ant. Thou hast touched on a thought most painful to me, feeling. We find an equally pure illustration of the same sen- timent in the case of Jephtha's daughter, who went "and be- wailed her virginity upon the mountains." Her example was even admired; for "it was a custom in Israel, that the daugh- ters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephtha the Gileadite four days in a year." — Judges xi. ^ Niobe, who was changed into stone for having bragged La- tona with her children. Agathias, an old quaint fool, has the following lines on this hnrd punishment: '() rvfjilio^ OVTOT e.ii6ov ovk exct v^kvv^ 'O VCKpoS" OVTOT £KrO~ OVK I'YEf TO-ipOV. 154 ANTIGONE. [858-907. the thrice-renowned griefs of my father, and the fate of all our race, the illustrious children of Labdacus. Woe ! for the curses that attended my mother's bed, the incestuous connection of my wretched mother with my father, from which I, unhappy, formerly sprung ! and now accurst, un- blessed by nuptials, I go to sojourn with my parents. O my brother! having met with an ill fated marriage,^ dying, thou hast destroyed me, yet in life. Ch. To act reverently is an act of piety ; but power, to whomsoever power is intrusted, must not in any way be transgressed. Thy self-willed temper has destroyed thee. Ant. Unwept, and friendless, and uuwedded, I, wretched, am conducted on this destined way. It is no longer allowed me, unhappy, to look on this luminary's sacred eye ; and no friend mourns mine unwept doom. Cr. Know ye not that no one would cease from dirges and wailings before death, if it were of avail to utter them? Will ye not lead her as quickly as possible, having inclosed her, as I directed, in the caverned tomb, leave her by herself alone, whether it is fated she shall die or lead a life entombed in such a dwelling. For we are free from pollution as respects this virgin, but, at all events, she shall be deprived of abode above. AxT. O tomb! O bridal chamber! O excavated, ever- guarded dwelling ! where I go to mine own, of whom now perished Proserpine has received the greatest number among the dead, and of whom I descend the last, and by a fate far the most wretched, before having fnltilled my term of life ! Departing, however, I strongly cherish in my hope that I shall come dear to my father, and dear to thee, my mother, and dear to thee, O brother dear; since I, with my own hand, washed you when dead, and decked you out, and poured the libations over your tomb : and now, Polynices, having buried your body, I gain such a reward. And yet, in the opinion of those who have just sentiments, I honored you aright. For nei- ther, though I had been the mother of children, nor though ^ Polynices wedded the daughter of Adrastus, king of Argos: and being, from this powerful alliance, induced to undertake the expedition against Thebes, he met with his own death, and entailed a still more wretched fate on his sister. 908-936.] ANTIGONE. 155 my liusband dying, had mouldered away, would I have un- dertaken this toil against the will of the citizens. On account of what law do I say this? There would have been another husband for me if the first died, and if I lost my child there would have been another from another man ! but my father and my mother being laid in the grave, it is impos- sible a brother should ever be born to me. ^ On the princi- ple of such a law, having preferred you, my brother, to all other considerations, I seemed to Creon to conmiit a sin, and to dare what was dreadful. And now, seizing me by force, he thus leads me away, having never enjoyed the nuptial bed, nor heard the nuptial lay, nor having gained the lot of marriage, nor of rearing my children ; but thus I, an un- happy woman, deserted by my friends, go, while alive, to the cavern of the dead. Having transgressed — what justice of the gods ? what need is there for me, a miserable wretch, to look any longer to the gods? What ally can I invoke, since at least by observing piety I have obtained the reward of impiety? But if these things are good among the gods, suffering, we may be made conscious of our error ; but if my enemies be guilty, may they not suffer more evils than they unjustly inflict on me. Ch. The same blasts of the same storms of the soul still possess her. Cr. Tears, therefore, shall arise upon those who conduct her, for their slowness. Ant. Woe is me ! this command has come close upon death. Cr. I give you no hope to console you that these things shall not be consummated in this way. 1 There is a story in Herodotus, of this very principle hav- ing been acted upon. The whole family of Intaphernes being coudemned to death, his wife prevailed on Darius, by her la- mentations, to grant her the life of one of her kindred. She chose to save her brother, and gave the same reasons as Antig- one for neglecting her husband and children. The two ladies may reason very subtilely on the point, but the principle they go upon is evidently false. The original institution that ''a man should leave his father and his mother, and should cleave unto his wife," is no less agreeable to nature than to reason and revelation. The example of Alcestis will always be more ad- mired than that of the wife of Intaphernes. 156 ANTIGONE. [937-982. Ant. O native city of the land of Thebe, and gods of my father's race, I am hurried along, and have no more respite. Behold, ye rulers of Thebes, the last remaining of the royal race, Avhat deeds I suJGfer at the hands of what men for hav- ing revered religion. Ch. The form of Danae,^ too, endured to change the light of heaven ; in dungeons secured with brass, and concealed in a sepulchral chamber, she was bound. And yet she was hon- ored in her race, my child, my child, and cherished the seed of Jove, that flowed in golden shower. But the power of fate is a marvellous one. jSTeither tempest, nor war, nor tower, nor black sea-beaten ships, escape its control. To that yoke, too, was bowed the keen-wratlied son of Dryas,'^ king of the Edonians, being prisoned by Bacchus for his virulent temper in the bonds of rock ; and thus he distils the dreadful venom of madness, ever bursting up afresh. He knew, when too late, that^ it was a god he had glanced at in his frenzy with reviling words. For he would have put a stop to the inspired maids and the Bacchic flame ; and he chafed the Muses, the lovers of song. By the Cyanean deeps of the double sea, the shores of the Bosphorus, and the Thracian Salmydessus (wliere Mars dwells near their cities), saw the accursed wound, inflicted with blindness, on the two sons of Pliineus, by a fell stepmother,* a darkening wound, imprinted on the wretched balls of their eyes, with bloody hands, by the spear, and the points of the shuttle; and pining away in misery, they wept the wretched suffer- ings of their mother, who bore the children of an ill- fated marriage. But she owned the seed of the sons of 1 The Chorus, in this wild and beautiful strain, console An- tigone with the enumeration of other fates as wretched as her own. It has been well enough observed that the examples they quote of Danae and Lycurgus are not compared to her in their crimes, but their suiierings. 2 The son of Dryas was Lycurgus, who. having routed the Bacchanalians from his territory, was punished by their god with some severe doom, here described as imprisonment, but variously related by various authors. •^ Donaldson reads Keii'o~ ETzeyvw ct cvai~. — B. * Idaia, who barbarously put out the eyes of Plexippus and Pandion, the sons of Phineus, by his first wife Cleopatra. 983-1013.] ANTIGONE. 157 Erecthens,^ of ancient lineage ; and in far distant caves was nursed, amid the storms of her father, a daughter of Boreas,"^ rivaling the steed in swiftness, as she bounded over the lofty mountains, child of heaven ; but even over her, my daughter, the eternal Fates prevailed. TiRESiAS. Ye princes of Thebes, we come on this common way, two seeing by one, for the journey of the blind is made by a guide. Cr. But what new event, O aged Tiresias, lia^; happened ? TiR. I will teach you, and do you obey the prophet. Cr. I was not formerly wont to depart from your advice. TiR. Wherefore you direct aright the helm of this state. Cr. I testify the advantages I have experienced. TiR. Consider that you now again stand on the very edge of fate. Cr. What is it? How I shudder at your words ! TiR. You shall know, hearing the signs of my art. For, sitting down on my ancient augural seat, where was my station for all augury, I hear an unknown sound of birds, beating the air with ill-omened and unwonted fury, and I perceived that they were tearing each other with bloody talons ; for the clashing of their wings gave clear indication. Being alarmed, I straiglitway essayed the divination by fire on the blazing altars ; and from the sacrifice the flame burst not forth, but on the ashes a clammy vapor kept oozing from the thighs, and burned up, and sputtered, and the entrails were scattered in air, and the thighs,^ melting away, fell out from the involving caul. Such expiring* omens of mysterious 1 Her mother Orithyia was tlie daughter of Erectheus, and wife of Boreas. It was on this claim of kindred that the Athe- nians, in obedience to the oracle, asked the aid of their sou-in- law Boreas during tlie Persian invasion. 2 Bopeag, dSog^ a patronymic appellation for a nymph descended from Boreas. 3 The thighs were the part of the sacrifice appropriated to the gods, because, says Eustathius, they are useful to men for walking and generation. It is clear enough that the thighs are considerably useful in these important functions, but why for this reason they should be peculiarly acceptable to the gods is by no means so obvious. * eivovT\ evanescentia. Mali ominis erat in ignispiciis quic- quid debile et evanidum erat. — Musgrave. 158 ANTIGONE. [1014-1057. rites I learned from this boy ; for he is a guide to me, and I to others. And the city is atflicted with this from your deter- mination ; for our altars, and all our hearths, are full of birds and dogs, feeding on the body of the wretched son of CEdipus; and the gods no longer accept from us tlie sacri- ficial prayer, nor the flame of the thighs ; nor does bird send forth the notes of propitious omen, being gorged with the fat of human gore. These things, therefore, my son, consider; for it is common to all men to err, but when one may err, he is no longer an unwise nor an infatuated man, who, hav- ing fallen into evil, is cured, nor remains immovable. Ob- stinacy incurs the imputation of folly. War not with the fallen, nor wound the dead. What prowess is it to slay the slain? Being well-disposed toward you, I advise you well ; and it is most pleasing to learn from a good adviser, if his advice bring advantage. Cr. Old man, ye all, like archers at a mark, discharge your shafts at me ; and I am not unacquainted with the arts of prophets, by the race of whom I have long since been made the subject of barter and traffic. Pursue your gain, make your purchase, if you choose, of the amber of Sardis and the gold of India ; but him ye shall never inclose in the tomb; not even though the eagles of Jove, seizing him as their prey, should bear him to the throne of the god ; not even thus, dreading the pollution, would I permit his burial. For I well know that no mortal is able to pollute the gods. But, O aged Tiresias, even those men who are clever in many things meet with disgraceful falls, when, for the sake of gain, they plead speciously a base argument. TiR. Ha ! does any man know, does he consider — Cr. What is the matter? What trite saying is this? TiR. By how much wisdom is the best of possessions? Cr. By so much, methinks, as folly is the greatest bane. TiR. You, however, are by nature full of this malady. Cr. I do not wish to bandy reproach with a prophet. TiR. And yet you do, saying that I prophesy what is false. Cr. For all the race of prophets are lovers of gain. TiR. But that of kings loves base gain. Cr. Do you know that you address what you say to your rulers ? 1058-1091.] ANTIGONE. 159 _ TiR. I know it ; for, having preserved by my means this city, you sway it. Cr. You are a skilful prophet, but given to injustice. TiR. You will force me to utter the secrets that lie un- moved in my breast. Cr. Move them, only do not speak for gain. TiR. For thus do I already seem to have spoken, as far as regards your part ? Cr. Know that you shall not sell my resolution. TiR. But do you too know well that you shall not any longer see to their end many courses of the sun in rival speed, before that yourself repay one sprung from your own bowels, dead, a recompense fortlie dead, in return for having sent one who was in upper air below the earth, and dishon- orably made a living being to dwell in the tomb, and for having, on the other hand, detained here one debarred from intercourse with the infernal deities, and deprived of funeral obsequies an unhallowed corpse ; in which things neither any concern appertains to you, nor to the gods above. But these things are done with violent injustice by you ; for this, the Furies of Hades, and of the gods, avenging with penal con- sequence, lie in ambush for you, that you may be enthralled by the same misfortunes. See if, induced by money, I proph- esy this; for the lapse of no long time shall exhibit the mourning of men and women in your palace ; and all the states shall be stirred up together in enmity, Hhe mangled bodies of whose citizens or dogs have polluted, or wild beasts, or some winged bird, bearing an unhallowed stench to the altars of the city. Such unerring arrows, since you pain me, I have discharged, like an archer, in anger from my soul, and their warm smart you shall not eacape. But do you, boy, conduct me home, that he may vent his passion upon younger men, and may know to nurse a more temperate tongue, and feelings better than the mind he now bears. Ch. The man, O king, has departed, having predicted 1 Those states that had joined in the expedition, and whose dead were all left unburied. Their being stirred up in enmity is a prophetic allusion to the expedition of the Epigoni, who conquered Thebes to revenge the misfortunes of their fathers before its walls. i6o ANTIGONE. [1092-1129. dreadful events ; and I know, from the time that I changed this hair into white from black, that he never once declared to the city what was false. Cr. I also have known it, and I am disturbed in my thoughts ; but to yield were cowardly ; and there is danger that, by resisting, I afflict my mind witli calamity. Ch. There is need, O Creon, son of Menoeceus, of prudent counsel. Cr. AVhat, in truth, is it requisite to do ? Tell me, and I will obey. Ch. Going, release tlie virgin from her subterraneous abode, and j)repare a tomb for the body that lies exposed. Cr. And do vou approve of this, and think I ought to yield ? Ch. Ay, and as quickly too, O king, as possible, for the swift -footed vengeance of Heaven cuts short those who are of wicked minds. Cr. Ah me ! it is with difficulty indeed, but still I am changed from my purpose to do it. We must not maintain an unequal combat with necessity. Ch. Going, now, do these things ; do not intrust them to others. Cr. Thus, as I am, I will go. But ye attendants, both present and absent, taking axes in your hands, rush to the conspicuous spot ; and since my opinion has been converted in this way, as I myself bound her, so, being present, I will set her at liberty ; for I fear lest it be not best, preserving the established laws, to close life. CnoRrs. O thou, who art hailed by many a name,^ glory of the Theban nymph, and son of deeply-thundering Jove, who swayest renowned Italia, and president o'er the rites of Ceres, in the vales of Eleusis, open to all ! O Bacchus, who dwellest in Thebe, the mother city of Bacchanals, by the flowing streams of Ismenus, and the fields where the teeth of the fell dragon were sown ; thee, the smoke beheld as it burst into flame above the double-crested rock,-^ where roam ^ Bacchus was rich in names, chiefly derived from his attri- butes. They were Lyseus, Leufeus, Bassareus, Bromius, Euius, Eleleus, Dithyrambus, and fifty others. '^ aripoT^ — Xiyvvs-, lucldus, vel candens, fulgidus vapor. — Mus- 1130-1158.] ANTIGONE. i6r the Corvcian nymphs/ the votaries of Bacchus, and the fount of Castalia flows ; and thee the ivy-crowned steeps of the Nysian mourftains,^ and the green shore, with its many clus- ters, triumphant send along, -^ amid the immortal words, that hymn thy " Evoe !" to reign the guardian of the streets of Thebe, whom you honor highest of all cities, along with your mother that perished by the thunder. And now, since the city with all its people is enthralled by a violent disease, come Avith healing steps, over the slopes of Parnassus, or the resounding gulf of the sea.* O leader of the choir of flame- breathing stars,^ director of the voices that sound by night, youthful god, son of Jove, reveal thyself along with thy ministering Moenads, the Naxian maids, who maddening through this livelong night, celebrate thee with the dance, thee their lord lacchus, Messengee, Ye inhabitants of the abodes of Cadmus and Amphion, it is impossible that I should ever praise or blame the life of man in whatever condition it may be ; for For- tune always raises, and Fortune casts down the prosperous grave. This smoke or flame, or both, which denoted the pres- ence or approach of the god on the summits of Parnassus, is frequently celebrated by the poets : to) X.a[jinov(ra nerpa Trupor 6iK6pv(pov (Texas', virip oLKpwv BaKX£iMv. Eurip. Phcenissse, 237. Cfffa TTvp Trrjod 6eov BaKxelcov. Eurip. Ion. 1125 — Tr. On the light which was supposed to shine at the approach of a god, see Virg. iEn. I. 406 ; II. 590. Ovid. Fast. I. 94.— B. ^ So called from the Cyprian grotto, their consecrated abode at the foot of Mount Parnassus. ^ There were various mountains of this name. Nysa, in Eu- bwa, is supposed to be the one alluded to here. ■^ ''Triumphant lead." Such is the force of Tri^nreiv, when speaking of a god led in procession. ^Esch. Eum. 12, niinrovcri 6' avrou Kal (re/JUovaii' jxiya. Sedulius Paschal. 18, uses a semi- barbarous word, "pompare:" " Grandisonis compare niodis.'^ With the whole description compare Aristoph. Thesmoph. 988, sqq. ; Ean. 325, sqq. — B. * Crossing from Eubcea to Boeotia. ^ Some take these words literally, others regard them as fig- urative of the torches borne by the Bacchanals. 8* l62 ANTIGONE. [1159-1183. and the unprosperous, and no one is prescient of what is de- creed for mortals. For Creon once, as appeared to me, was enviable, having preserved this land of CadnTns from the enemy, and receiving the complete dominion of the country, he directed it, happily flourishing with a noble race of chil- dren ; and now all is gone. For when a person loses the pleasures of life, I do not consider him to live, but look upon him as the living dead. Let him have great wealth, if you choose, in his house, and live with the outward splendor of a king ; but if joy be wanting to these, I Avould not jiurchase the rest with the shadow of smoke compared with the real pleasures. Ch. What burden of sorrow on our princes is this again, that you come to tell ? Mess. They ai-e dead ; and the living are guilty of their death. Ch. And who was the slayer? and who is the slain? Speak. Mess. Hfemon has perished, and by a suicidal hand he is dyed with blood. Ch. Whetber by his fathers hand, or his own?^ Mess. Himself, by his own hand, being angry with his father on account of the murder. Ch. O prophet ! how correctly have you declared this prediction ! Mess. As these things being so, you may deliberate on the rest. Ch. And in truth I see near at hand the wretched Eu- rydice, M'ife of Creon ; and having neither heard of her son, or by chance, she is passing from the palace. EuRYDiCE. O all ye citizens, I heard the rumor, at least, 1 The ignorance of fat-brained commentators has led them to make a row about this question being put by the Chorus, after the Messenger had announced the death of Htemon by his own hand. The scholiast, simple soul, will have it that the Chorus, in their agitation, heard no more than the words, " Hfemon has perished." Musgrave and Heath blunder in an equally pitiahle manner. Any one who had read ten lines of Greek poetry ought to have known that the dying by a kindred hand was considered and spoken of as suicide. — Tr. Cf. Lid- dell, s. v.— B. II84-I222.] ANTIGONE. 163 as I Avas going out in order that I might repair to the temple of the goddess Pallas, lier suppliant in prayer ; and I chance to be undoing the bars of the fastened gate, and the voice of domestic affliction strikes my ears. Moved by terror, I fall prostrate in the arms of my attendants and faint away. But Avhatever was the tale, repeat it ; for not untried by misfor- tune, I shall hear it. Mess. I, my dear mistress, being present, will tell it, and I will not omit a word of the truth. For why should 1 alle- viate that to you in which I should afterward be detected of falsehood? The truth is always right. I followed your husband an attendant on foot to the extremity of the plain, where still lay the unpitied body of Polynices, mangled by dogs ; and him, indeed, having implored the goddess that is placed in the highways,^ and Pluto to have a gracious will, we bathed with holy lavations, and having consumed what remained of the body, with fresh-plucked boughs, and piled up a lofty barrow of his native soil, we again repair to the rocky cavern, the bridal chamber of the grave's betrothed. And some one hears at a distance the voice of loud lament beside that unconsecrated chamber, and hastening he tells it to our master, Creon ; but round him, as he approached nearer, there float the indistinct notes of wretched wailing, and shrieking, he utters these mournful words: "O un- happy me ! am I then a true prophet? Do I now advance on the most ill fated Avay of all that I have gone before ? The voice of my son greets^ me. Go with speed, ye attend- ants, nearer, and standing by the tomb, ascertain, having penetrated the cleft made by drawing away the stone close to the mouth, whether I hear the voice of H<3emon, or am deceived by the gods." On the command of our despond- ing master we examined the place, and we see in the extrem- ity of the tomb the virgin, hanging by the neck, suspended in the woven noose of her linen robe, and the youth lying beside her, with his arms around her waist, deploring the 1 Trivia, Hecate, or Proserpine. 2 (raivei. There is some difficulty in this word. Perhaps if we consider the provincialism by which "greeting" is used for " weeping," the word will appear less inapposite than other- wise. — B. l64 ANTIGONE. [i 223-1 248. destruction of his bride below the earth, and the deeds of his father, and his ill-starred nuptials. But Creon, when he sees him, having uttered a dismal groan, goes in toward him, and in the loud tone of grief calls on him: "O Avretched man, what sort of deed have you done? What mind had you? In what circumstances of calamity are you ruined ? Come forth, my son, suppliant I beseech you." But his son, ghiring on him with savage eyes, spit- ting on liis face,^ and replying nothing, draws his double- edged sword ;- but his father rushing aAvay in flight, he missed him ; then the ill-fated man, enraged with himself, immediately stretching out"* the sword, drove it to the mid- dle in his side, and still in possession of his senses, with his enfeebled arm he embraces the virgin,* and gasping, he casts a swift gush of gory drops on her pallid cheek. And dead by the dead the hapless youth lies, having obtained his nup- tial rites in the mansions of Pluto, a proof to the world of rashness, how it attaclies to man the greatest of his ills. Ch. What can you conjecture this to mean? The woman has some time since disappeared before uttering word, good or bad.^ Mess. I myself am also astonished ; but I live in the hope that, hearing the calamities of her son, she does not deign to make her lamentations public, but within, beneath the 1 I prefer " spurning him with his glance."' Bulwer adheres to the other interpretation. — B. ■^ Aristotle very justly finds fault with this incident. There is something horrible and unnatural in the attempt of a son to slay his own father; and since he fails to execute his pur- pose, there is no tragical effect produced. The spectator ought not to be shocked unnecessarily. 3 c-EVTaOsts- pro tTreireivdf^iei'or. Sic, ut erat, eusem intentans. — Musojrave. ■* This description of the two ill-fated lovers, the dying and the dead, contains the very essence of poetry and tragic beauty. A finer subject for a picture cannot well be imagined. ^ There is something very striking and fearful in the moody silence of deep passion and despair. SeSotx^ OTTwr fi!) \ rfjsr (Tiwn-fiT rfjao' dvapprjiei KaKti. — CEdip. Tvran. 1074. A few lines below, the Chorus also expresses this same feeling of apprehension from the same cause. I249-I280.] ANTIGONE. 165 roof of the palace, will appoint her maids to mourn a domes- tic sorrow ; for she is not devoid of judgment, so as to com- mit what is im]3roper. Ch. I know not ; for to me, at least, a deep silence seems to portend something grievous, and an excess of clamorous grief to be without consequence. Mess. But going within the palace, we will inform our- selves whether she secretly conceals in her enraged heart any unlawful purpose; for your suggestion is good, and there is something grievous in too deep silence. Ch. And in truth here comes the king himself, having a memorable token in his hand,^ if we may lawfully so say — no calamity from a foreign source, but he himself its guilty author. \_Enter Creon, leaning upon the body of his son, borne on a litter. ] Cr. Alas ! the irreparable and deadly errors of a per- verted mind ! O ye, who look on the kindred slayers and the slain ! Oh me ! for the infatuation of my counsels ! O my son ! my son ! in your youth by an untimely fate [woe, woe, woe, woe !], thou hast died, thou hast departed by mine, not thy rashness ! Ch. Ah me ! how you seem too late to perceive justice ! Cr. Ah me ! I wretched gain it by experience ; and on my head the god then dashed with heavy impulse, and drove me on to furious ways ; having, alas ! overturned to be trampled beneath foot my former joy. Alas ! alas ! O the toils of mortals ! hapless toils ! Messenger. O master, how, both having the possessing, you bear these evils in your hands, and you seem coming soon about to behold other evils in your palace. 1 Creou, it would appear from this, comes in, carrying the dead body of Hsemou. Shakespeare, in a similar way, intro- duces Lear with Cordelia iu his arms. This iucideut is well calculated for stage effect; but the Goths who have mangled Lear for representation, have now left out the scene of "that fair dead daughter." — Tr. Macready, however, has shown his wonted judgment by its restoration. In the present scene, Vaudenhoff's action and declamation merited the highest com- mendation. — B. i66 ANTIGONE. [1281-1325. Cr. And what, after these calamities, is there still more calamitous ? Mess. Your wife is dead, the fall mother of this corpse, in an mihappy fate by wounds just fresh inflicted. Cr. O port of the grave, that no expiation may soothe, why, why do you destroy me ? O thou that hast conveyed to me the evil tidings of sorrow, what a tale dost thou tell? Alas ! alas ! thou hast a second time dispatched a dead man. What, O man, dost thou say? What new intelligence dost thou deliver? Woe, woe, woe, Avoe ! that the death of my wife by murder is added to the destruction of my son ? Mess. You may behold it ; for the body is no longer in the inner recesses. [By a movement of the eKKVK'Xru.ia the scene opens and discovers' the body of Eurydice, surrounded by her cdtendants.'\ Cr. Woe is me ! this other succeeding evil I wretched behold. What then, what fate yet awaits me? I, an un- happy wretch, am already bearing in my arms my son, and I see opposite that other dead body. Alas I alas, O wretched mother ! alas, my son I Mess. She, in keen anger, falling down beside the altar, closes her darkening eyes, having lirst, indeed, bewailed the illustrious bed of Megareus, who formerly died, and again of him before us ; and last, having imprecated a baneful fortune on you, the murderer of your children. Cr. Woe, woe, woe, woe ! I am fluttered with fear. Why does not some one wound me through Avith a two-edged sword? A wretched man am I, alas ! alas ! and in a wretched fate am I involved. Mess. As being guilty at least of both the one fate and the other, you were denounced by her as she died. Cr. But in what way did she depart from life in the slaughter ? Mess. Having with her own hand pierced herself below the liver, when she heard the deeply-mournful sufferings of her son. Cr. Woe is me ; this guilt will never apply to any other but me ; for I, a miserable wretch, I have slain thee ; I say the truth. O ye attendants, conduct me, with all speed con- duct me without ; me, who am no more than nothingness. 1326-1353-] ANTIGONE. 167 Ch. You bid what profits, if there be any aught that profits in misfortunes; for present evils, when shortest are best. Cr. I^et it come, let it come, let the last of my fates appear, bringing most happily to me the close of my days : let it come, let it come, so that I may never behold another day. Mess. Those things are future ; of these things present command what we ought to do; for otliers are a care to those whom it behooves to have this care. Cr. But I prayed for those things I desire. Mess. Pray now for nothing ; since there is no escape to mortals from predestined calamity. [Creon is led off. ] Cr. Lead away now without this shadow of a man, who, O my son, unwillingly slew thee, and thee, too, my wife. O wretched man that I am ! I neither know whither nor to whom I should look ; for every thing misguided, both in my hands and over my head, has an intolerable fate made to burst upon me. Ch. To be wise is the first part of happiness ; and it be- hooves us not to be guilty of irreverence in those things at least that concern the gods ; for the haughty words of the vaunting, paying the penalty of severe aflliction, have taught wisdom to old age. The Hamilton, Locke i^^ Clark SERIES OF Interlinear Translations Have long been the Standard and are now the Best Translated and Most Complete Series of Interlinears published. i2mo., well bound in Half Leather. Price reduced to $1.50 each. Postpaid to any address. Latin Interlinear Translations : VIRGIL— By Hart and Osborne. C^SAR — By Hamilton and Clark. HORACE— By Stirling, Nuttall and Clark. CICERO — By Hamilton and Clark. SALLUST — By Hamilton and Clark. OVID— By George W. Heilig. JUVENAL — By Hamilton and Clark. LIVY — By Hamilton and Clark. CORNELIUS NEPOS— By Hamilton and Underwood. Greek Interlinear Translatio7is : HOMER'S ILIAD— By Thomas Clark. XENOPHON'S ANABASIS— By Hamilton and Clark. GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN— By George W. Heilig. S. Austin Allibone, the distinguished author, writes : " There is a growing disapprobation, both in Great Britain and America, of the disproportionate length of time devoted by the youthful student to the acquisition of the dead languages : and therefore nothing will tend so effectually to the preservation of the Greek and Latin grammars as their judicious union (the fruit of an intelligent compromise) with the Interlinear Classics." DAVID McKAY, Publisher, Philadelphia. 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