Aeschylus

“ As stranger for a stranger, rears the germ,
Unless the god should blight it in the bud.
Sure warrant of my word I will adduce;—
Without a mother may a father be;
Witness this daughter of Olympian Zeus,
Not nurtured in the darkness of the womb,
Yet such a scion goddess never bare.
In will, in action, Pallas, be it mine
Thy city and thy people to exalt.
This man I sent, a suppliant to thy shrine,
That faithful he might be for evermore. ⁠640
That, goddess! thou for allies mightest win
Him and his after-race, and that these pacts
Might last eternal, blessed by men unborn.
Athena. ”

“ In timbered ships, blue-prowed, their rage to wreak,
Hither with many a follower, sable-hued,
⁠In prosperous wrath they sped.
Danaos.
Ay, but they here a numerous host will find,
With thews well hardened in the noon-tide heat.
Chorus. Strophe II.
Oh leave me not alone, father, I pray;
Woman abandoned to herself is nought.
In her no war-god dwells. Crafty are they ⁠730
In mind and counsel; dissolute in thought,
Neither, like crows, for altars care they aught.
Danaos.
Our interest, children, it would much avail
Wore they to gods as hateful as to thee. ”

“ Throned in the nether world, and mother Earth, ⁠120
Who all things bringeth forth, who fosters all,
And doth of all receive again the germ.
And I, libations pouring to the dead,
Thus pray, my Sire invoking;—"Pity me,
And dear Orestes pity;—how shall we
Rule in our palace-home? for sold, alas!
By her who bare us, we as outcasts stray;
While, for Ægisthos, 'complice in thy death,
Her lord she bartered;—slavish is my lot,
Orestes exiled from his wealth, the while
Revel the twain, exulting in thy toils. ⁠130
That home Orestes may at length return,
By glad success escorted, I implore. ”

“ And hopeless to unravel Fate's dark maze ⁠1000
⁠With fiery ardour glows.
[Enter Clytemnestra, stepping hastily out of the palace.]
Clytemnestra.
Come thou too in, Cassandra, thee I mean;
For not in wrath Zeus placed thee in our house
A sharer in our lustral rites to stand,
With many slaves beside his household altar.
Now from this car descend; be not too proud,
For e'en Alcmena's son,—so runs the tale,—
Sold as a slave, endured the forceful yoke;
But if such fate befal thee, great the boon
Heirs of ancestral wealth to own as lords ”

“ I try the issue with Ægyptos' sons,
Thy kinsmen;—bitter is the cost to stain ⁠470
With blood of men the soil, for women's sake.
Yet needs must I revere the wrath of Zeus,
The suppliants' god; for, among mortal men
No awe more dread. Do thou then, of these maids
The aged sire, these branches in thine arms
Taking, on other shrines of native gods
Lay them; that all the citizens may see
Tokens of this thy visit. Touching me
Let fall no random word; for ever prone
The people are to blame authority. ”

“ The Hellenic guile, or envy of the gods,
To all his captains issues this command;
When with his beams the sun to scorch the earth
Should cease, and darkness hold the expanse of sky,
Their squadrons they should marshal in three lines,
Guarding the outlets and the billowy straits,
And others station around Aias' isle:— ⁠370
For did the Hellenès 'scape a wretched fate,
Finding by stealth an outlet for their ships,
Stern was the warning,—every head should fall. [12]
Such words he spake from mind infatuate,
For what impended from the gods he knew not. ”

“ Chorus.
'Tis but the scent of victims at the hearth.
Cassandra.
Nay, but such breath as issues from a tomb.
Chorus.
No Syrian odour tell'st thou for the house.
Cassandra.
Well! I will go, within these palace halls
To wail mine own and Agamemnon's doom.
Enough of life! Strangers! Alas! Alas!
Yet quail I not, as birdé at the brake,
Idly; in death my vouchers be in this,
When, in my place, woman for woman dies,
And when for man ill-wedded, man shall fall. ⁠1290
Dying, this hospitable grace I crave.
Chorus.
Poor wretch; Thy fateful doom my pity moves.
Cassandra. ”

“ THE Faithful these, advisers old
⁠Of Persians, gone to Hellas' strand,
Guards of these halls and plenteous gold
Here treasured, whom, as elders' meed,
Lord Xerxes, King, Darius' seed,
⁠Chose wardens of the land.
But touching now the safe return
⁠Of King and gold-trickt host,
My heart within me, doleful seer
Of mischief, harrow'd is by fear,—⁠10
For all the martial strength is gone,
Nurtured in Asia,—and doth yearn
For our young hero; news is none ”

“ Orestes,—still, hope fawns upon my heart.
Alas!—
Oh had it, herald-like, a friendly voice,
So I by doubt no more should be distraught.
Then had it clearly counselled me this lock
To loathe, if severed from a foeman's head, ⁠190
Or else, akin to me, had shared my grief,
Gracing this tomb, an honour to my sire.
Chorus.
But let us call upon the gods, who know
In what dire storms, like sailors, we are whirled;
Since if by them our safety is ordained,
From tiny seed may spring a mighty stock.
[Electra, descending the steps of the tomb.] ”

“ From their cold though perfect beauty, the heart of suffering humanity turns to the thorn-crowned figure of the Son of Man, and recognizes in the man of sorrows its true type and representative.
By revealing God as a spirit immanent in the human soul, imparting authority to the oracles of conscience, and sanctity to the inner life, Christianity has dispersed the crowd of heathen divinities, and exalted to the throne of the universe a Heavenly Father whose glory is reflected in the Son of Man. ”

“ To soothe these stern refusers, passion-stung. ⁠930
But Zeus hath conquered, swayer of the tongue,
God of the Forum. Triumphs now for aye
In noble benefits our rivalry.
Chorus. Antistrophe II.
Within this city ne'er may civil strife,
Insatiate of ill, tumultuous roar;
Nor thirsty dust quaff deep the purple gore
Of citizens; nor rage, with murder rife,
⁠Snatch greedily the vengeful knife!
⁠But studious of the common weal
⁠May each to each in turn be kind, ⁠940
Hate may they ever with one common mind;
This among mortals many a woe can heal.
Athena. ”

“ The great Theban trilogy, as remarked by Bunsen, begins and ends with deeds of horror; but as the last and heaviest judgment is executed, gracious images of the future surround the bodies of the slain; the devoted heroism displayed by the Theban women "is a living pledge for the moral order of the world," and offers a spectacle commensurate in grandeur with the darker features of the drama. ”

“ Io.
Ah woe is me! Woe! Woe!
Prometheus.
Anew dost shriek and moan? What wilt thou do
When thou the remnant of thy woe hast heard?
Chorus.
How, hast thou aught of sorrow yet to tell?
Prometheus.
Ay, sea tempestuous of all-baleful grief.
Io.
What boots it then to live? Why not with speed
Hurl myself headlong from this rugged cliff,
That, dashed upon the ground, I from my woes
Respite may find? Better to die at once
Than all my days to linger out in pain. ⁠770
Prometheus. ”

“ Athena queen! matter of grave import
First will I from thy closing words remove.
Not blood-polluted am I, nor doth stain
Cleave to thine image from thy suppliant's hand.
Sure proof of this will I adduce;—'tis law
That voiceless lives the man defiled by blood,
Till purifier's hand hath him besprent
With victim's blood, slain in life's budding prime.
Long since in other homes have been performed,
With victims and with streams, these lustral rites. ”

“ Strophe II.
⁠Endure not to behold
Me from these statues, against right, impressed,
Thy suppliant, like steed in forceful hold,
Dragged by my tresses and embroidered vest.
Antistrophe II.
⁠Whatever thy decree,
Know well, thy sons, ay, all thy house must pay
Like reckoning, by war's stern arbitry. ⁠430
These just commands from Zeus, firm-thoughted weigh.
King.
Well have I weighed them. Hither drives my bark.
Escape is none, but mighty war to wage
Either with gods or men; [11] fixed is the hull,
As if by naval capstans hauled ashore. ”

“ It must not be forgotten, however, that imagination constitutes the vital principle of art; that the practised eye and well-trained hand are powerless except as instruments to embody the conceptions of the creative mind. Hence the study of poetry acquires new significance, not only as throwing light upon the master-works of classical antiquity, the recognized models of ideal form, but also as enriching the imagination, while at the same time it opens both eye and soul to discern the familiar beauty of common life. ”

“ Thus the drama of the Eumenides exhibits, under one of its grandest phases, the contest between the Titans and the Olympian gods, issuing in the triumph of free will and moral power over blind instinct and necessity, while the transmutation of the Erinyes into the Eumenides symbolizes the profound thought that even the instinctive tendencies in human nature are implanted there by its Divine Author, and consequently that man's highest well-being demands, not their suppression or annihilation, but their harmonious subordination to the higher faculties of the soul. ”

“ Chorus. Strophe V.
⁠Mighty the demon, dire his hate,
⁠Whom here thou boastest to preside;
⁠Woe! woe! ill-omened praise of Fate, ⁠1460
⁠Baneful and still unsatisfied!
⁠Alas! 'Tis Zeus, in will, in deed,
⁠Sole cause, sole fashioner; for say
⁠What comes to mortals undecreed
By Zeus, what here, that owneth not his sway?
Strophe VI.
⁠Woe! woe!
⁠King! King! how thee shall I bewail?
How voice my heartfelt grief? Thou liest there
Entangled in the spider's guileful snare;
In impious death thy life thou dost exhale. ”

“ Orestes.
My Father, in no kingly fashion slain, ⁠470
To me, thy suppliant, grant to sway thy house.
Electra.
I too, my Father, need thy gracious aid,
That scathless I may work Ægisthos' doom.
Orestes.
So mortal men to thee shall dedicate
The solemn banquet;—else, unhonoured thou,
When grateful reek rich off 'rings to the dead.
Electra.
Nuptial libations of my heritage
I too will bring from the paternal home,
And chief in honour will this tomb adorn.
Orestes.
O Earth, my sire upsend to watch the fray. ⁠480
Electra. ”

“ As in the fluctuating scenery of the diurnal drama the sun is obscured by clouds, which in their turn are scattered and anon collected again, so these deified impersonations of physical phenomena loom dimly before our mental vision, each supreme and absolute in turn; nor is it easy to determine whether behind these innumerable divinities, the conception of One infinite Spirit had yet dawned upon the Aryan mind. ”

“ Zeus, it is said, proposed to annihilate these puny ephemerals, and to plant upon the earth a new race in their stead. Prometheus represents himself as having frustrated this design, and as being consequently subjected, for the sake of mortals, to the most agonising pain, inflicted by the remorseless cruelty of Zeus. We have thus the Titan, the symbol of finite reason and free will, depicted as the sublime philanthropist, while Zeus, the supreme deity of Hellas, is portrayed as the cruel and obdurate despot, a character peculiarly revolting to Athenian sentiment. ”

“ Antigone.
Last of the gods is Strife to close dispute.
Yet him I will inter, spare then thy words.
Herald.
But know thou headstrong art, and I forbid.
Chorus.
Woe! Woe! Dire mischiefs, vaunting loud,
House-ruiners, ye Furies dread,
Who from its roots have quenched in doom ⁠1060
The race of Œdipus;—alas!
What must I do? What sorrows bear?
What plan devise? How may I dare
Neither for thee the tear to shed
Nor to escort thee to the tomb?
But from the terrors of the crowd
Trembling, I shrink. Thou wilt obtain
[Addressing the corpse of Eteocles.] ”

“ Chorus. Strophe VIII.
Thou'rt frenzied, by some god possest,
⁠And tuneless quirest forth thy doom, ⁠1110
⁠Like nightingale, with dusky plume
Sateless of song. From heart opprest,
⁠Ceaseless her Itys, Itys, flows, [8]
Her life bewailing, rich alone in woes.
Cassandra. Antistrophe VII.
Woe! woe! Clear-voicèd bird, arrayed
⁠In plumèd shape, by powers divine;
⁠Sweet life, unmarred by tears, is thine:
But me awaits the double-edgèd blade.
Chorus. ”

“ Exit into the palace.
Chorus.
⁠All are of boundless weal insatiate;—
⁠None warneth from his halls
⁠Him at whom Envy points, as rich or great,
⁠Saying, "Come here no more."—
⁠So to this man the Blessed Ones have given
⁠To capture Priam's walls;—
⁠Home he returns, beloved of Heaven;—
⁠But must he now the blood repay
⁠Of ancient murder; must he die,
⁠And dying expiate, ⁠1310
⁠With his own death, their deaths who died of yore;
⁠Who, being mortal, this can hear, nor pray,
⁠That he were born to scathless destiny?
Agamemnon. ”

“ His son Xerxes undertook to avenge the disaster which had befallen the Persian arms: after enormous preparations, he set forth on his expedition, at the head of an army composed of forty-six different nations, each with its distinct national costume and local leaders, while eight other nations furnished the fleet. Well might the contemporary world be overawed by the spectacle of so prodigious an armament, and regard the cause of Hellenic independence as desperate.
The victory of Salamis shattered the power of the barbarians, and changed the destiny of the world. ”

“ All mother-slayers from their homes we chase.
Apollo.
How if the wife her husband should have slain?
Chorus.
Not one in blood were she with him she slew.
Apollo.
Greatly thou dost misprise and set at nought
The nuptial bond of Hera and of Zeus;
Dishonoured too is Kypris by these words,
From whom to mortals come their dearest joys ”

“ Was girded straightway with my swathing-clothes,
And, gaping round the breast that nourished me,
Sucked with my nurture-milk the clotted blood,
While she in terror, at the portent shrieked;—
Clear is it, as she reared the ghastly pest,
So forceful must she die. I, dragon-like, ⁠540
Myself shall slay her, as this dream declares.—
As augur of these portents thee I choose.
Chorus.
So let it be! But now direct thy friends,
These how to act, or those aloof to bide.
Orestes. ”

“ If we turn now to the Athena of Æschylus, the grand impersonation of the wisdom, benignity, and might of her father, we recognise, as before, the emergence of the classic ideal from the symbolizing tendencies of the earlier nature-worship. Seldom has the imagination of poet been haunted by a more majestic image than the Athena of the Eumenides ”

“ To Inachos, and now this second lock,
Griefs token. Father, I devote to thee,—
For, absent from thy funeral obsequies,
I could not then as mourner wail thy death,
Nor speed with outstretched hand thy royal bier.
[The Chorus, arrayed in mourning costume, come forth from the palace. Electra closes the procession.]
What sight is this? What company of women ⁠10
Is wending hitherward, in sable weeds
Conspicuous? What disaster bringeth them?
Doth a new sorrow fall upon our house?
Or rightly may I deem that to my sire
They bear libations,—soothing to the dead? ”

“ Grand and beautiful as are the classic gods, they nevertheless fail to touch the deepest springs of human feeling. Though invested with the attributes of humanity, we feel that in their emancipation from the sorrows and sufferings incident to our mortal life they are not true exponents of human nature, while as symbols of Deity they are inadequate to shadow forth the one infinite and eternal mind. ”