( LIBRARY UWvessiTt -if /f y /r>.t . JESCHYLOS TRAGEDIES AND FRAGMENTS Translated by the late E. H. PLUMPTRE D.D. Dean of Wells WITH NOTES AND RHYMED CHORAL ODES IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. I BOSTON U.S.A. D. C. HEATH & CO. PUBLISHERS 1909 PUBLISHER'S NOTE The reception accorded to the pocket edition of 'Dean P lump t re's " 'Dante " has encouraged the pub Us hers to issue in the same format the Dean's masterly translation of the Tragedies of jEschylos. In preparing the present issue they have followed the carefully revised text of the second edition, and have included the scholarly and suggestive annotations with which the Dean invariably delighted to enrich his work as a translator. The seven "Plays, which are all that remain of the seventy or eighty with which JEschylos is credited, are presented in their chronological order. Passages in which the reading or the rendering is more or less conjectural, and in which, accordingly, the aid of the commentator is advisable, are marked by an asterisk ; and passages which are regarded as spurious by editors of authority have been placed in brackets. In translating the Choral Odes the 'Dean used such unrhymed metres observing the strophic and antistrophic 1 PUBLISHER'S NOTE arrangement at seemed to him most analogous in their general rhythmical effect to those of the original. He added in an appendix ', however, for the sake of those who preferred the rhymed form with which they were familiar y a rhymed version of the chief Odes of the Oresteian trilogy. Those in the other dramas did not appear to him to be of equal interest, or to lend themselves with equal facility to a like attempt. The ^reek^ text on which the translation is based is, for the most part, that of M.r. Pa ley's edition of 1 86 1. A translation was also given of the Fragments which have survived the wreck of the lost plays, so that the work contains all that has been left to us associated with the name of jEschylos. In the present edition a chronological outline has been substituted for the biographical sketch of the poet, who from his daring enlargement of the scope of the drama, the magnificence of his spectacular effects and the splendour of his genius, was rightly honoured as " the Father of Tragedy." CONTENTS Frontispiece ^ESCHYLOS : From the bust in the Museum of the Capitol, Rome Page CHRONOLOGICAL OUTLINE or THE LIFE or /ESCHYLOS . . . . . . 'I THE PERSIANS ...... 17 THE SEVEN WHO FOUGHT AGAINST THEBES . 65 PROMETHEUS BOUND . . . . . 113 THE SUPPLIANTS . 161 CHRONOLOGICAL OUTLINE OF THE LIFE OF ^ESCHYLOS B.C. 527 Peisistratos died. 525 Birth at Eleusis, in Attica, of ^Eschylos, son ot Euphorion. 510 Expulsion of the Peisistratidae. Democratic constitution of Cleisthenes. Approximate date of incident in the legend that ^Eschylos was set to watch grapes as they were ripening for the vintage, and fell asleep ; and lo ! as he slept Dionysos appeared to him and bade him give himself to write tragedies for the great festival of the god. And when he awoke, he found himself invested with new powers of thought and utterance, and the work was as easy to him as if he had been trained to it for many years (Pausan, Att. i. 21, 3).* 500 Birth of Anaxagoras. 499 ^Eschylos exhibited his first tragedy, in un- successful competition with Pratinas and Chcerilos. Cf., the legend of Caedmon, "the Father of English Song." li CHRONOLOGICAL OUTLINE B.C. The wooden scaffolding broke beneath the crowd of spectators, and the accident led the Athenians to build their first stone theatre for the Dionysiac festivals. Partly out of annoyance at his defeat, it is said, and partly in a spirit of adventure, ^Eschylos sailed for Sicily. 497 Death of Pythagoras (?). 495 Birth of Sophocles at Colonos. 491 ^Eschylos at Athens. 490 The Battle of Marathon. ^Eschylos and his brothers, Kynaegeiros and Ameinias, so dis- tinguished themselves, that the Athenians ordered their heroic deeds to be commemorated in a picture. Death of Theognis (?). 488 Prize awarded to Simonides for an elegy on Marathon. ./Eschylos, piqued, it is said, at his failure in the competition, again departed to Sicily. 485 Xerxes succeeded Dareios. 484 .#schylos won, in a dramatic contest with Pratinas, Chrerilos, and Phrynichos, the first of a series of thirteen successes. Birth of Herodotos. 480 Athens burnt by Xerxes. ^Eschylos fought at Artemisium and Salamis, At Salamis his brother Ameinias lost his hand, and was awarded the prize of valour. Sophocles led the Chorus of Victory. Birth of Euripides. CHRONOLOGICAL OUTLINE B.C. 479 ^Eschylos at the Battle of Plataea. 477 Commencement of Athenian supremacy. 472 ^Eschylos carried off the first prize with The Persians (the first of the extant plays), which belonged to a tetralogy that included two tragedies, Phineus and Glaucos, and a satyric drama, Prometheus the Fire-stealer. The Persians has the interest of being a con- temporary record of the great sea-fight at Salamis by an eye-witness. 471 ^Eschylos appears to have produced this year his next tetralogy, of which The Seven against Thebes survives. The play was directed against the policy of aiming at the supremacy of Athens by attacking other Greek States, and, in brief, maintained the policy of Aristeides as against that of Themistocles. Birth of Thucydides. 468 Sophocles gained his first victory in tragedy with his Triptolemos ; ^Eschylos defeated. jEschylos charged with impiety, on the ground that he had profaned the Mysteries by introducing on the stage rites known only to the initiated ; tried and acquitted : departure for Syracuse. 467 jEschylos at the court of Hieron at Syracuse, where he is said to have composed dramas on local legends, such as The Women of Mtna. Death of Simonides. 461 Ostracism of Kimou ; ascendency of Pericles. 3 CHRONOLOGICAL OUTLINE B.C. 460-59 Probable date of The Suppliants, if the play be connected with the alliance between Argos and Athens (B.C. 461), and the war with the Persian forces in Egypt, upon which the Athenians had entered as allies of the Libyan Prince Inaros. (B.C. 460.) The date of Prometheus Bound has been re- ferred to B.C. 470 on the strength of a description of . THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES And Thou, Lykeian king, Lykeian be, 1 Foe of our hated foes, For this our wailing cry ; And Thou, O child of Leto, Artemis, Make ready now thy bow. STROPHE II Ah ! ah ! I hear a din of chariot wheels Around the city walls ; O Hera great and dread ! The heavy axles of the chariots groan, O Artemis beloved ! And the air maddens with the clash of spears ; What must our city bear ? What now shall come on us ? When will God give the end ? ANTISTROPHE II Ah ! ah ! a voice of stones is falling fast On battlements attacked ;* O Lord, Apollo loved, A din of bronze-bound shields is in the gates ; And oh ! that Zeus may give 1W A faultless issue of this war we wage ! And Thou, O blessed queen, As Guardian Onca known, 3 Save thy seven-gated seat. 1 Worthy of his name as the Wolf-destroyer, mighty to des- troy his foes. 2 Possibly "from battlements attacked." In the primitive sieges of Greek warfare stones were used as missiles alike by besieged and besiegers. 8 The name of Onca belonged especially to the Theban wor- ihip of Pallas, and was said to have been of Phaenikian origin, 73 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES STROPHE III And ye, all-working Gods, Of either sex divine, Protectors of our towers, Give not our city, captured by the spear, To host of alien speech. 1 Hear ye our maidens ; hear, As is most meet, our prayers with outstretched hands. ANTISTROPHE III O all ye loving Powers, Compass our State to save ; Show how that State ye love ; Think on our public votive offerings, And as ye think, oh, help : Be mindful ye, I pray, Of all our city's rites of sacrifice. Re-enter ETEOCLES Eteoc. (to the Chorus) I ask you, O ye brood intoler- able, Is this course best and safest for our city ? Will it give heart to our beleaguered host, That ye before the forms of guardian Gods Should wail and howl, ye loathed of the wise ;* introduced by Cadmos. There seems, however, to have been a town Onkse in Breotia, with which the name was doubtless connected. 1 "Alien," on account of the difference of dialect between the speech of Argos and that of Bceotia, though both were Hellenic. a The vehemence with which Eteocles reproves the wild frenzied wailing of the Chorus may be taken as an element of the higher culture showing itself in Athenian life, which led 71 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES Ne'er be it mine, in ill estate or good, To dwell together with the race of women ; For when they rule, their daring bars approach, And when they fear, alike to house and State Comes greater ill : and now with these your rushing? Hither and thither, ye have troubled sore Our subjects with a coward want of heart ; And do your best for those our foes without ; And we are harassed by ourselves within. This comes to one who dwells with womankind. And if there be that will not own my sway, Or man or woman in their prime, or those Who can be classed with neither, they shall take Their trial for their life, nor shall they 'scape The fate of stoning. Things outdoors are still The man's to look to : let not woman counsel. Stay thou within, and do no mischief more. Hear'st thou, or no ? or speak I to the deaf i STROPHE I Cher. Dear son of CEdipus, *** I shuddered as I heard the din, the din Of many a chariot's noise, When on the axles creaked the whirling wheels, *And when I heard the sound *Of fire-wrought curbs within the horses' mouths. Eteoc. What then ? Did ever yet the sailor flee From stern to stem, and find deliverance so, While his ship laboured in the ocean's wave ?' Solon to restrain such lamentations by special laws (Plutarch. Solon, c. 20). Here, too, we note in ^Eschylos an echo of the teaching of Epimenides. 1 As now the sailor of the Mediterranean turns to the image of his patron saint, so of old he ran in his distress to the figure 75 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES ANTISTKOPHE I Chor. Nay, to the ancient forms Of mighty Powers I rushed, as trusting Gods ; And when behind the gates Was heard the crash of fierce and pelting storm, J0 Then was it, in my fear, I prayed the Blessed Ones to guard our city. Eteoc. Pray that our towns hold out 'gainst spear of foes. 1 Chor. Do not the Gods grant these things ? Eteoc. Nay the Gods, So say they, leave the captured city's walls. 8 STROPHE II Chor. Ah ! never in my life May all this goodly company of Gods Depart ; nor may I see This city scene of rushings to and fro, *And hostile army burning it with fire ! Eteoc. Nay, call not on the Gods with counsel base ; Obedience is the mother of success, Child strong to save. 'Tis thus the saying runs. of his God upon the p/ow of his ship (often, as in Acts xxviii. ii, that of the Dioscuri), and called to it for deliverance (comp. Jonah i. 8). 1 Eteocles seems to wish for a short, plain prayer for deliver- ance, instead of the cries and supplications and vain repetitions of the Chorus. 8 The thought thus expressed was, that the Gods, yielding to the mightier law of destiny, or in their wrath at the guilt of men, left the city before its capture. The feeling was all but universal. Its two representative instances are found in Virgil, sEn. 351 " Excessere omnes adyiis arisque relictis Di quibus imperium hoc steterat ; " and the narrative given alike by Tacitus (Hist. v. 13), and Josephus (Bell.Jud. vi. 5, 3), that the cry " Let us depart hence," was heard at midnight through the courts of the Temple, before the destruction of Jerusalem. 7* THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES ANTISTROPHE II Chor. True is it ; but the Gods Have yet a mightier power, and oftentimes, In pressure of sore ill, It raises one perplexed from direst woe, When dark clouds gather thickly o'er his eyes. Eteoc . 'Tis work of men to offer sacrifice And victims to the Gods, when foes press hard ; B0 Thine to be dumb and keep within the house. STROPHE III Ckor. 'Tis through the Gods we live In city unsubdued, and that our towers Ward off the multitude of jealous foes. What Power will grudge us this ? Eteoc. I grudge not your devotion to the Gods ; But lest you make my citizens faint-hearted Be tranquil, nor to fear's excess give way. ANTISTROPHE III Chor. Hearing but now a din Strange, wildly mingled, I with shrinking fear Here to our city's high Acropolis, . Time-hallowed spot, have come. Eteoc. Nay, if ye hear of wounded men or dying, Bear them not swiftly off with wailing loud ; *For blood of men is Ares' chosen food. 1 Chor. Hark ! now I hear the panting of the steeds Eteoc. Clear though thou hear, yet hear not over- much. Chor. Lo ! from its depths the fortress groans, beleaguered. 1 Sc. , Blood must be shed in war. Ares would not be Ares without it. It is better to take it as it comes. 77 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES Eteoc. It is enough that I provide for this. Chor. I fear : the din increases at the gates. Eteoc. Be still, say nought of these things in the city. Chor. O holy Band ! J desert ye not our towers. 24 * Eteoc. A curse fall on thee ! wilt thou not be still 1 Chor. Gods of my city, from the slave's lot save me ! Eteoc. 'Tis thou enslav'st thyself and all thy city. Ckor. Oh, turn thy darts, great Zeus, against our foes! Eteoc. Oh, Zeus, what race of women thou hast given us ! Chor. A sorry race, like men whose city falls. Eteoc. What ? Cling to these statues, yet speak words of ill ? Chor. Fear hurries on my tongue in want of courage. Eteoc. Could'st thou but grant one small boon at my prayer ! 2SO Chor. Speak it out quickly, and I soon shall know. Eteoc. Be still, poor fool, and frighten not thy friends. Chor. Still am I, and with others bear our fate. Eteoc. These words of thine I much prefer to those : And further, though no longer at the shrines, Pray thou for victory, that the Gods fight with us. And when my prayers thou hearest, then do thou Raise a loud, welcome, holy paean-shout, The Hellenes' wonted cry at sacrifice ; So cheer thy friends, and check their fear of foes ; And I unto our country's guardian Gods, Who hold the plain or watch the agora, The springs of Dirke, and Ismenos' stream ; If things go well, and this our city's saved, I vow that staining with the blood of sheep 1 Sc., the company of Gods, Pallas, Hera and the others whom the Chorus had invoked. 71 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES The altar-hearths of Gods, or slaying bulls, We'll fix our trophies, and our foemen's robes On the spear's point on consecrated walls, Before the shrines I'll hang. 1 Pray thou this prayer, Not weakly wailing, nor with vain wild sobs, For no whit more thou'lt 'scape thy destined lot : ro And I six warriors, with myself as seventh, Against our foes in full state like their own, Will station at the seven gates' entrances, Ere hurrying heralds and swift-rushing words Come and inflame them in the stress of need. [Exit STROPHE I Chor. My heart is full of care and knows not sleep, By panic fear o'ercome ; And troubles throng my soul, And set a-glow my dread Of the great host encamped around our walls, As when a trembling dove Fears, for her callow brood, J8 The snakes that come, ill mates for her soft nest ; For some upon our towers March in full strength of mingled multitude ; And what will me befall ? And others on our men on either hand Hurl rugged blocks of stone. In every way, ye Zeus-born Gods, defend The city and the host That Cadmos claim as sire. 1 Reference to this custom, which has passed from Pagan temples into Christian churches, is found in the Agamemnon, v. 563. It was connected, of course, with the general practice of offering as ex votos any personal ornaments or clothing as a token of thanksgiving for special mercies. 79 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES ANTISTROPHE I What better land will ye receive for this, If ye to foes resign This rich and fertile clime, And that Dirkaean stream, Goodliest of founts by great Poseidon sent, Who circleth earth, or those Who Tethys parent call J 1 ** And therefore, O ye Gods that guard our city, Sending on those without Our towers a woe that robs men of their life, And makes them lose their shield, Gain glory for these countrymen of mine ; And take your standing-ground, As saviours of the city, firm and true, In answer to our cry Of wailing and of prayer. STROPHE II For sad it were to hurl to Hades dark A city of old fame, * 10 The spoil and prey of war, With foulest shame in dust and ashes laid, By an Achaean foe at God's decree ; And that our women, old and young alike, Be dragged away, ah me ! Like horses, by their hair Their robes torn off from them. And lo, the city wails, made desolate, While with confused cry The wretched prisoners meet doom worse than death. Ah, at this grievous fate I shudder ere it comes. Rivers and streams as the children of Tethys and Okeanos. 80 ANTISTROPHE II And piteous 'tis for those whose youth is fresh Before the rites that cull ' Their fair and first-ripe fruit, To take a hateful journey from their homes. Nay, but I say the dead far better fare Than these, for when a city is subdued It bears full many an ill. This man takes prisoner that, Or slays, or burns with fire ; And all the city is defiled with smoke, And Ares fans the flame In wildest rage, and laying many low, Tramples with foot unclean On all men sacred hold. STROPHE III And hollow din is heard throughout the town, Hemmed in by net of towers ; And man by man is slaughtered with the spear, And cries of bleeding babes, Of children at the breast, Are heard in piteous wail, And rapine, sister of the plunderer's rush, Spoiler with spoiler meets, And empty-handed empty-handed calls, Wishing for share of gain, Both eager for a portion no whit less, For more than equal lot With what they deem the others' hands have found. ANTISTROPHE III And all earth's fruits cast wildly on the ground, * Meeting the cheerless eye i 81 r THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES Of frugal housewives, give them pain of heart ; And many a gift of earth In formless heaps is whirled In waves of nothingness ; And the young maidens know a sorow new ; For now the foe prevails, And gains rich prize of wretched captive's bed; And now their only hope Is that the night of death will come at last, Their truest, best ally, To rescue them from sorrow fraught with tears. Enter ETEOCLES, followed by his Chief Captains, and by the Scout Semi-Chor. A. The army scout, so deem I, brings to us, Dear friends, some tidings new, with quickest speed Plying the nimble axles of his feet. Semi-Chor. B. Yea, the king's self, the son of CEdipus, Is nigh to hear the scout's exact report ; And haste denies him too an even step. Mess. I knowing well, will our foes' state report, S7 How each his lot hath stationed at the gates. At those of Proetos, Tydeus thunders loud, And him the prophet suffers not to cross Ismenos' fords, the victims boding ill. 1 And Tydeus, raging eager for the fight, Shouts like a serpent in its noon-tide scream, 1 Here, as in v. 571, Tydeus appears as the real leader of the expedition, who had persuaded Adrastos and the other chiefs to join in it, and Amp iaraos, the prophet, the son of CEcleus, as having all along foreseen its disastrous issue. The account of the expedition in the CEdipus at Colonos (1300-1330) may be com- pared with this. 81 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES And on the prophet, CEcleus' son, heaps shame, That he, in coward fear, doth crouch and fawn Before the doom and peril of the fight. And with such speech he shakes his triple crest, O'ershadowing all his helm, and 'neath his shield S8 Bells wrought in bronze ring out their chimes of fear ; And on his shield he bears this proud device, A firmament enchased, all bright with stars; 1 And in the midst the full moon's glittering orb, Sovran of stars and eye of Night, shines forth. And thus exulting in o'er boastful arms, By the stream's bank he shouts in lust of war, [E'en as a war-horse panting in his strength Against the curb that galls him, who at sound Of trumpet's clang chafes hotly.] Whom wilt thou Set against him ? Who is there strong enough When the bolts yield, to guard the Prcetan gates ? s>0 Eteoc. No fear have I of any man's array ; Devices have no power to pierce or wound, And crest and bells bite not without a spear ; And for this picture of the heavens at night, Of which thou tellest, glittering on his shield, *Perchance his madness may a prophet prove ; For if night fall upon his dying eyes, Then for the man who bears that boastful sign It may right well be all too truly named, And his own pride shall prophet be of ill. And against Tydeus, to defend the gates, I'll set this valiant son of Astacos ; 1 The legend of the Medusa's head on the shield of Athena shows the practice of thus decorating shields to have been of remote date. In Homer it does not appear as common, and the account given of the shield of Achilles lays stress upon the work of the artist (Hephaestos) who wrought the shield in relief, not, as here upon painted insignia. They were obviously common in the time of ^Eschylos. 83 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES Noble is he, and honouring well the throne Of Reverence, and hating vaunting speech, Slow to all baseness, unattuned to ill : And of the dragon-race that Ares spared 1 He as a scion grows, a native true, E'en Melanippos ; Ares soon will test His valour in the hazard of the die : And kindred Justice sends him forth to war, For her that bore him foeman's spear to check.