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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/8115-8.txt b/8115-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bbf6a2c --- /dev/null +++ b/8115-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8024 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Authors of Greece, by T. W. Lumb + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Authors of Greece + +Author: T. W. Lumb + +Commentator: Cyril Alington + + +Release Date: May, 2005 [EBook #8115] +This file was first posted on June 15, 2003 +Last Updated: May 17, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUTHORS OF GREECE *** + + + + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Marc D'Hooghe, Charles Franks, and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + + + +AUTHORS OF GREECE + +By the Reverend T. W. LUMB, M.A. + +With an Introduction by + +The Reverend CYRIL ALINGTON, D.D. + + + + +AUTHOR'S PREFACE + + +Greek literature is more modern in its tone than Latin or Medieval or +Elizabethan. It is the expression of a society living in an environment +singularly like our own, mainly democratic, filled with a spirit of free +inquiry, troubled by obstinate feuds and still more obstinate problems. +Militarism, nationalism, socialism and communism were well known, the +preachers of some of these doctrines being loud, ignorant and popular. +The defence of a maritime empire against a military oligarchy was twice +attempted by the most quick-witted people in history, who failed to save +themselves on both occasions. Antecedently then we might expect to find +some lessons of value in the record of a people whose experiences were +like our own. + +Further, human thought as expressed in literature is not an unconnected +series of phases; it is one and indivisible. Neglect of either ancient +or modern culture cannot but be a maiming of that great body of +knowledge to which every human being has free access. No man can be +anything but ridiculous who claims to judge European literature while +he knows nothing of the foundations on which it is built. Neither is it +true to say that the ancient world was different from ours. Human nature +at any rate was the same then as it is now, and human character ought to +be the primary object of study. The strange belief that we have somehow +changed for the better has been strong enough to survive the most +devilish war in history, but few hold it who are familiar with the +classics. + +Yet in spite of its obvious value Greek literature has been damned and +banned in our enlightened age by some whose sole qualification for the +office of critic often turns out to be a mental darkness about it so +deep that, like that of Egypt, it can be felt. Only those who know Greek +literature have any right to talk about its powers of survival. The +following pages try to show that it is not dead yet, for it has a +distinct message to deliver. The skill with which these neglected +liberators of the human mind united depth of thought with perfection of +form entitles them at least to be heard with patience. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +AUTHOR'S PREFACE. + +HOMER + +AESCHYLUS + +SOPHOCLES + +EURIPIDES + +ARISTOPHANES + +HERODOTUS + +THUCYDIDES + +PLATO + +DEMOSTHENES + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +I count it an honour to have been asked to write a short introduction to +this book. My only claim to do so is a profound belief in the doctrine +which it advocates, that Greek literature can never die and that it has +a clear and obvious message for us to-day. Those who sat, as I did, on +the recent Committee appointed by Mr. Lloyd George when Prime Minister +to report on the position of the classics in this country, saw good +reason to hope that the prejudice against Greek to which the author +alludes in his preface was passing away: it is a strange piece of irony +that it should ever have been encouraged in the name of Science which +owes to the Greeks so incalculable a debt. We found that, though there +are many parts of the country in which it is almost impossible for a +boy, however great his literary promise, to be taught Greek, there is a +growing readiness to recognise this state of affairs as a scandal, and +wherever Greek was taught, whether to girls or boys, we found a growing +recognition of its supreme literary value. There were some at least of +us who saw with pleasure that where only one classical language can be +studied there is an increasing readiness to regard Greek as a possible +alternative to Latin. + +On this last point, no doubt, classical scholars will continue to +differ, but as to the supreme excellence of the Greek contribution to +literature there can be no difference of opinion. Those to whom the +names of this volume recall some of the happiest hours they have spent +in literary study will be grateful to Mr. Lumb for helping others to +share the pleasures which they have so richly enjoyed; he writes with +an enthusiasm which is infectious, and those to whom his book comes as +a first introduction to the great writers of Greece will be moved to +try to learn more of men whose works after so many centuries inspire so +genuine an affection and teach lessons so modern. They need have no +fear that they will be disappointed, for Mr. Lumb's zeal is based on +knowledge. I hope that this book will be the means of leading many to +appreciate what has been done for the world by the most amazing of all +its cities, and some at least to determine that they will investigate +its treasures for themselves. They will find like the Queen of Sheba +that, though much has been told them, the half remains untold. + +C. A. ALINGTON. + + + + + +HOMER + + +Greek literature opens with a problem of the first magnitude. Two +splendid Epics have been preserved which are ascribed to "Homer", yet +few would agree that Homer wrote them both. Many authorities have denied +altogether that such a person ever existed; it seems certain that he +could not have been the author of both the _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_, +for the latter describes a far more advanced state of society; it is +still an undecided question whether the _Iliad_ was written in Europe +or in Asia, but the probability is that the _Odyssey_ is of European +origin; the date of the poems it is very difficult to gauge, though +the best authorities place it somewhere in the eighth century B.C. +Fortunately these difficulties do not interfere with our enjoyment of +the two poems; if there were two Homers, we may be grateful to Nature +for bestowing her favours so liberally upon us; if Homer never existed +at all, but is a mere nickname for a class of singer, the literary +fraud that has been perpetrated is no more serious than that which has +assigned Apocalyptic visions of different ages to Daniel. Perhaps the +Homeric poems are the growth of many generations, like the English +parish churches; they resemble them as being examples of the exquisite +effects which may be produced when the loving care and the reverence of +a whole people blend together in different ages pieces of artistic work +whose authors have been content to remain unnamed. + +It is of some importance to remember that the Iliad is not the story of +the whole Trojan war, but only of a very small episode which was worked +out in four days. The real theme is the Wrath of Achilles. In the tenth +year of the siege the Greeks had captured a town called Chryse. Among +the captives were two maidens, one Chryseis, the daughter of Chryses, a +priest of Apollo, the other Briseis; the former had fallen to the lot +of Agamemnon, the King of the Greek host, the latter to Achilles his +bravest follower. Chryses, father of Chryseis, went to Agamemnon to +ransom his daughter, but was treated with contumely; accordingly he +prayed to the god to avenge him and was answered, for Apollo sent a +pestilence upon the Greeks which raged for nine days, destroying man and +beast. On the tenth day the chieftains held a counsel to discover the +cause of the malady. At it Chalcas the seer before revealing the truth +obtained the promise of Achilles' protection; when Agamemnon learned +that he was to ransom his captive, his anger burst out against the seer +and he demanded another prize in return. Achilles upbraided his greed, +begging him to wait till Troy was taken, when he would be rewarded +fourfold. Agamemnon in reply threatened to take Achilles' captive +Briseis, at the same time describing his follower's character. "Thou +art the most hateful to me of all Kings sprung of Zeus, for thou lovest +alway strife and wars and battles. Mighty though thou art, thy might is +the gift of some god. Briseis I will take, that thou mayest know how +far stronger I am than thou, and that another may shrink from deeming +himself my equal, rivalling me to my face." At this insult Achilles half +drew his sword to slay the King, but was checked by Pallas Athena, who +bade him confine his resentment to taunts, for the time would come when +Agamemnon would offer him splendid gifts to atone for the wrong. Obeying +the goddess Achilles reviled his foe, swearing a solemn oath that he +would not help the Greeks when Hector swept them away. In vain did +Nestor, the wise old counsellor who had seen two generations of heroes, +try to make up the quarrel, beseeching Agamemnon not to outrage his best +warrior and Achilles not to contend with his leader. The meeting broke +up; Achilles departed to his huts, whence the heralds in obedience to +Agamemnon speedily carried away Briseis. + +Going down to the sea-shore Achilles called upon Thetis his mother to +whom he told the story of his ill-treatment. In deep pity for his fate +(for he was born to a life of a short span), she promised that she +would appeal to Zeus to help him to his revenge; she had saved Zeus from +destruction by summoning the hundred-armed Briareus to check a revolt +among the gods against Zeus' authority. For the moment the king of the +gods was absent in Aethiopia; when he returned to Olympus on the twelfth +day she would win him over. Ascending to heaven, she obtained the +promise of Zeus' assistance, not without raising the suspicions of Zeus' +jealous consort Hera; a quarrel between them was averted by their son +Hephaestus, whose ungainly performance of the duties of cupbearer to the +Immortals made them forget all resentments in laughter unquenchable. + +True to his promise Zeus sent a dream to Agamemnon to assure him that he +would at last take Troy. The latter determined to summon an Assembly of +the host. In it the changeable temper of the Greeks is vividly pictured. +First Agamemnon told how he had the promise of immediate triumph; when +the army eagerly called for battle, he spoke yet again describing their +long years of toil and advising them to break up the siege and fly home, +for Troy was not to be taken. This speech was welcomed with even greater +enthusiasm than the other, the warriors rushing down to the shore to +launch away. Aghast at the coming failure of the enterprise Athena +stirred up Odysseus to check the mad impulse. Taking from Agamemnon his +royal sceptre as the sign of authority, he pleaded with chieftains +and their warriors, telling them that it was not for them to know the +counsel in the hearts of Kings. + + "We are not all Kings to bear rule here. 'Tis not good to have many + Lords; let there be one Lord, one King, to whom the crooked-counselling + son of Cronos hath given the rule." + +Thus did Odysseus stop the flight, bringing to reason all save +Thersites, "whose heart was full of much unseemly wit, who talked rashly +and unruly, striving with Kings, saying what he deemed would make the +Achaeans smile". + +He continued his chatter, bidding the Greeks persist in their homeward +flight. Knowing that argument with such an one was vain, Odysseus laid +his sceptre across his back with such heartiness that a fiery weal +started up beneath the stroke. The host praised the act, the best of the +many good deeds that Odysseus had done before Troy. + +When the Assembly was stilled, Odysseus and Nestor and Agamemnon told +the plan of action; the dream bade them arm for a mighty conflict, +for the end could not be far off, the ten years' siege that had been +prophesied being all but completed. The names of the various chieftains +and the numbers of their ships are found in the famous catalogue, a +document which the Greeks treasured as evidence of united action against +a common foe. With equal eagerness the Trojans poured from their town +commanded by Hector; their host too has received from Homer the glory of +an everlasting memory in a detailed catalogue. + +Literary skill of a high order has brought upon the scene as quickly as +possible the chief figures of the poem. When the armies were about +to meet, Paris, seeing Menelaus whom he had wronged, shrank from the +combat. On being upbraided by Hector who called him "a joy to his +foes and a disgrace to himself", Paris was stung to an act of courage. +Hector's heart was as unwearied as an axe, his spirit knew not fear; yet +beauty too was a gift of the gods, not to be cast away. Let him be set +to fight Menelaus in single combat for Helen and her wealth; let an oath +be made between the two armies to abide by the result of the fight, +that both peoples might end the war and live in peace. Overjoyed, +Hector called to the Greeks telling them of Paris' offer, which Menelaus +accepted. The armies sat down to witness the fight, while Hector sent to +Troy to fetch Priam to ratify the treaty. + +In Troy the elders were seated on the wall to watch the conflict, Priam +among them. Warned by Iris, Helen came forth to witness the single +combat. As she moved among them the elders bore their testimony to her +beauty; its nature is suggested but not described, for the poet felt he +was unable to paint her as she was. + + "Little wonder," they exclaimed, "that the Trojans and Achaeans + should suffer woe for many a year for such a woman. She is marvellous + like the goddesses to behold; yet albeit she is so fair let her depart + in the ships, leaving us and our little ones no trouble to come." + +Seeing her, Priam bade her sit by him and tell the names of the Greek +leaders as they passed before his eyes. Agamemnon she knew by his royal +bearing, Odysseus who moved along the ranks like a ram she marked out +as the master of craft and deep counsel. Hearing her words, Antenor bore +his witness to their truth, for once Odysseus had come with Menelaus to +Troy on an embassy. + + "When they stood up Menelaus was taller, when they sat down Odysseus + was more stately. But when they spake, Menelaus' words were fluent, + clear but few; Odysseus when he spoke, fixed his eyes on the ground, + turning his sceptre neither backwards nor forward, standing still + like a man devoid of wit; one would have deemed him a churl and a very + fool; yet when he sent forth his mighty voice from his breast in words + as many as the snowflakes, no other man could compare with him." + +Helen pointed out Ajax and Idomeneus and others, yet could not see her +two brothers, Castor and Pollux; either they had not come from her home +in Sparta, or they had refused to fight, fearing the shame and reproach +of her name. "So she spake, yet the life-giving earth covered them +there, even in Sparta, their native land." + +When the news came to Priam of the combat arranged between Paris and +Menelaus, the old King shuddered for his son, yet he went out to confirm +the compact. Feeling he could not look upon the fight, he returned to +the city. Meanwhile Hector had cast lots to decide which of the two +should first hurl his spear. Paris failed to wound his enemy, but +Menelaus' dart pierced Paris' armour; he followed it up with a blow of +his sword which shivered to pieces in his hand. He then caught Paris' +helmet and dragged him off towards the Greek army; but Aphrodite saved +her favourite, for she loosed the chin-strap and bore Paris back to +Helen in Troy. Menelaus in vain looked for him among the Trojans who +were fain to see an end of him, "and would not have hidden him if +they had seen him". Agamemnon then declared his brother the victor and +demanded the fulfilment of the treaty. + +Such an end to the siege did not content Hera, whose anger against the +Trojans was such that she could have "devoured raw Priam and his sons". +With Zeus' consent she sent down Pallas Athena to confound the treaty. +Descending like some brilliant and baleful star the goddess assumed the +shape of Laodocus and sought out the archer Pandarus. Him she tempted +to shoot privily at Menelaus to gain the favour of Paris. While his +companions held their shields in front of him the archer launched a +shaft at his victim, but Athena turned it aside so that it merely grazed +his body, drawing blood. Seeing his brother wounded Agamemnon ran to +him, to prophesy the certain doom of the treaty breakers. + + "Not in vain did we shed the blood of compact and offer the pledges + of a treaty. Though Zeus hath not fulfilled it now, yet he will at + last and they will pay dear with their lives, they, their wives and + children. Well I know in my heart that the day will come when sacred + Troy will perish and Priam and his folk; Zeus himself throned on high + dwelling in the clear sky will shake against them all his dark aegis + in anger for this deceit." + +While the leeches drew out the arrow from the wound, Agamemnon went +round the host with words of encouragement or chiding to stir them up +to the righteous conflict. They rushed on to battle to be met by the +Trojans whose host + + "knew not one voice or one speech; their language was mixed, for they + were men called from many lands." + +In the fight Diomedes, though at first wounded by Pandarus, speedily +returned refreshed and strengthened by Athena. His great deeds drew upon +him Pandarus and Aeneas, the son of Aphrodite and the future founder +of Rome's greatness. Diomedes quickly slew Pandarus and when Aeneas +bestrode his friend's body, hurled at him a mighty stone which laid him +low. Afraid of her son Aphrodite cast her arms about him and shrouded +him in her robe. Knowing that she was but a weak goddess Diomedes +attacked her, wounding her in the hand. Dropping her son, she fled +to Ares who was watching the battle and besought him to lend her his +chariot, wherein she fled back to Olympus. There her mother Dione +comforted her with the story of the woes which other gods had suffered +from mortals. + + "But this man hath been set upon thee by Athena. Foolish one, he + knoweth not in his heart that no man liveth long who fighteth with + the gods; no children lisp 'father' at his knees when he returneth + from war and dread conflict. Therefore, albeit he is so mighty, let + him take heed lest a better than thou meet him, for one day his + prudent wife shall wail in her sleep awaking all her house, bereft + of her lord, the best man of the Achaeans." + +But Athena in irony deemed that Aphrodite had been scratched by some +Greek woman whom she caressed to tempt her to forsake her husband and +follow one of the Trojans she loved. + +Aeneas when dropped by his mother had been picked up by Apollo; when +Diomedes attacked the god, he was warned that battle with an immortal +was not like man's warfare. Stirred by Apollo, Ares himself came to +the aid of the Trojans, inspiring Sarpedon the Lycian to hearten his +comrades, who were shortly gladdened by the return of Aeneas whom Apollo +had healed. At the sight of Ares and Apollo fighting for Troy Hera and +Athena came down to battle for the Greeks; they found Diomedes on the +skirts of the host, cooling the wound Pandarus had inflicted. Entering +his chariot by his side, Athena fired him to meet Ares and drive him +wounded back to Olympus, where he found but little compassion from Zeus. +The two goddesses then left the mortals to fight it out. + +At this moment Helenus, the prophetic brother of Hector, bade him go to +Troy to try to appease the anger of Athena by an offering, in the hope +that Diomedes' progress might be stayed. In his absence Diomedes met in +the battle Glaucus, a Lycian prince. + + "Who art thou?" he asked. "I have never seen thee before in battle, + yet now thou hast gone far beyond all others in hardihood, for thou + hast awaited my onset, and they are hapless whose sons meet my + strength. If thou art a god, I will not fight with thee; but if thou + art one of those who eat the fruit of the earth, come near, that + thou mayest the quicker get thee to the gates of death." + +In answer, Glaucus said: + + "Why askest thou my lineage? As is the life of leaves, so is that of + men. The leaves are scattered some of them to the earth by the wind, + others the wood putteth forth when it is in bloom, and they come on + in the season of spring. Even so of men one generation groweth, + another ceaseth." + +He then told how he was a family friend of Diomedes and made with him +a compact that if they met in battle they should avoid each the other; +this they sealed by the exchange of armour, wherein the Greek had the +better, getting gold weapons for bronze, the worth of a hundred oxen for +the value of nine. + +Coming to Troy Hector bade his mother offer Athena the finest robe she +had; yet all in vain, for the goddess rejected it. Passing to the house +of Paris, he found him polishing his armour, Helen at his side. Again +rebuking him, he had from him a promise that he would be ready to +re-enter the fight when Hector had been to his own house to see his wife +Andromache. Hector's heart foreboded that it was the last time he would +speak with her. She had with her their little son Astyanax. Weeping she +besought him to spare himself for her sake. + + "For me there will be no other comfort if thou meetest thy doom, but + sorrow. Father and mother have I none, for Achilles hath slain them + and my seven brothers. Hector, thou art my father and my lady mother + and my brother and thou art my wedded husband. Nay, come, pity me and + abide on the wall, lest thou make thy son an orphan and thy wife a + widow." + +He answered, his heart heavy with a sense of coming death: + + "The day will come when Troy shall fall, yet I grieve not for father + or mother or brethren so much as for thee, when some Achaean leads + thee captive, robbing thee of thy day of freedom. Thou shalt weave at + the loom in Argos or perchance fetch water, for heavy necessity shall + be laid upon thee. Then shall many a one say when he sees thee shedding + tears: 'Lo, this is the wife of Hector who was the best warrior of the + Trojans when they fought for their town.' Thus will they speak and thou + shalt have new sorrow for lack of such a man to drive away the day of + slavery." + +He stretched out his arms to his little son who was affrighted at the +sight of the helmet as it nodded its plumes dreadfully from its tall +top. Hector and Andromache laughed when they saw the child's terror; +then Hector took off his helmet and prayed that the boy might grow to a +royal manhood and gladden his mother's heart. Smiling through her tears, +Andromache took the child from Hector, while he comforted her with brave +words. + + "Lady, grieve not overmuch, I beseech thee, for no man shall thrust me + to death beyond my fate. Methinks none can avoid his destiny, be he + brave or a coward, when once he hath been born. Nay, go to the house, + ply thy tasks and bid the maids be busy, but war is the business of + the men who are born in Troy and mine most of all." + +Thus she parted from him, looking back many a time, shedding plenteous +tears. So did they mourn for Hector even before his doom, for they said +he would never escape his foes and come back in safety. + +Finding Paris waiting for him, Hector passed out to the battlefield. +Aided by Glaucus he wrought great havoc, so much that Athena and Apollo +stirred him to challenge the bravest of the Greeks. The victor was to +take the spoils of the vanquished but to return the body for burial. At +first the Greeks were silent when they heard his challenge, ashamed to +decline it and afraid to take it up. At last eight of their bravest cast +lots, the choice falling upon Ajax. A great combat ended in the somewhat +doubtful victory of Ajax, the two parting in friendship after an +exchange of presents. The result of the fighting had discouraged both +sides; the Greeks accordingly decided to throw up a mound in front +of their ships, protected by a deep trench. This tacit confession of +weakness in the absence of Achilles leads up to the heavy defeat which +was to follow. On the other side the Trojans held a council to deliver +up Helen. When Paris refused to surrender her but offered to restore her +treasures, a deputation was sent to inform the Greeks of his decision. +The latter refused to accept either Helen or the treasure, feeling that +the end was not far off. That night Zeus sent mighty thunderings to +terrify the besiegers. + +So far the main plot of the _Iliad_ has been undeveloped; now that the +chief characters on both sides have played a part in the war, the poem +begins to show how the wrath of Achilles works itself out under Zeus' +direction. First the king of the gods warned the deities that he would +allow none to intervene on either side and would punish any offender +with his thunders. Holding up the scales of doom, he placed in them +the lot of Trojans and of Greeks; as the latter sank down, he hurled +at their host his lightnings, driving all the warriors in flight to the +great mound they had built. For a time Teucer the archer brother of +Ajax held them back, but when he was smitten by a mighty stone hurled +of Hector all resistance was broken. A vain attempt was made by Hera +and Athena to help the Greeks, but the goddesses quailed before the +punishment wherewith Zeus threatened them. When night came the Trojans +encamped on the open plain, their camp-fires gleaming like the stars +which appear on some night of stillness. + +Disheartened at his defeat, Agamemnon freely acknowledged his fault and +suggested flight homewards. Nestor advised him to call an Assembly and +depute some of the leading men to make up the quarrel with Achilles. +The King listened to him, offering to give Achilles his own daughter in +wedlock, together with cities and much spoil of war. Three ambassadors +were chosen, Phoenix, Ajax and Odysseus. Reaching Achilles' tent, they +found him singing lays of heroes, Patroclus his friend by his side. When +he saw the ambassadors, he gave them a courtly welcome. Odysseus +laid the King's proposals before him, to which Achilles answered with +dignity. + + "I hate as sore as the gates of Death a man who hideth one thing in + his heart and sayeth its opposite. Do the sons of Atreus alone of + men love their wives? Methinks all the wealth which Troy contained + before the Greeks came upon it, yea all the wealth which Apollo holds + in rocky Pytho, is not the worth of life itself. Cattle and horses + and brazen ware can be got by plunder, but a man's life cannot be + taken by spoil nor recovered when once it passeth the barrier of his + teeth. Nay, go back to the elders and bid them find a better plan + than this. Let Phoenix abide by me here that he may return with me + to-morrow in my ships if he will, for I will not constrain him by + force." + +Phoenix had been Achilles' tutor. In terror for the safety of the Greek +fleet, he appealed to his friend to relent. + + "How can I be left alone here without thee, dear child? Thy father + sent me to teach thee to be a speaker of words and a doer of deeds. + In thy childhood I tended thee, for I knew that I should never have a + son and I looked to thee to save me from ruin. Tame thy great spirit. + Even the gods know how to change, whose honour is greater, and their + power. Men in prayer turn them by sacrifice when any hath sinned and + transgressed. For Prayers are the daughters of great Zeus; they are + halt and wrinkled and their eyes look askance. Their task it is to go + after Ruin; for Ruin is strong and sound of foot, wherefore she far + outrunneth them all and getteth before them in harming men over all the + world. But they come after; whosoever honoureth the daughters of Zeus + when they come nigh, him they greatly benefit and hear his entreaties, + but whoso denieth them and stubbornly refuseth, they go to Zeus and ask + that Ruin may dog him, that he may be requited with mischief. Therefore, + Achilles, bring it to pass that honour follow the daughters of Zeus, + even that honour which bendeth the heart of others as noble as thou." + +When this appeal also failed, Ajax, a man of deeds rather than words, +deemed it best to return at once, begging Achilles to bear them no +ill-will and to remember the rights of hospitality which protected them +from his resentment. When Achilles assured them of his regard for them +and maintained his quarrel with Agamemnon alone, they departed and +brought the heavy news to their anxious friends. On hearing it Diomedes +briefly bade them get ready for the battle and fight without Achilles' +help. + +When the Trojan host had taken up its quarters on the plain, Nestor +suggested that the Greeks should send one of their number to find out +what Hector intended to do on the morrow. Diomedes offered to undertake +the office of a spy, selecting Odysseus as his comrade. After a prayer +to Athena to aid them, they went silently towards the bivouac. It +chanced that Hector too had thought of a similar plan and that Dolon +had offered to reconnoitre the Greek position. He was a wealthy man, +ill-favoured to look upon, but swift of foot, and had asked that his +reward should be the horses and the chariot of Achilles. + +Hearing the sound of Dolon's feet as he ran, Diomedes and Odysseus +parted to let him pass between them; then cutting off his retreat they +closed on him and captured him. They learned how the Trojan host was +quartered; at the extremity of it was Rhesus, the newly arrived Thracian +King, whose white horses were a marvel of beauty and swiftness. In +return for his information Dolon begged them to spare his life, but +Diomedes deemed it safer to slay him. The two Greeks penetrated the +Thracian encampment, where they slew many warriors and escaped with the +horses back to the Greek armament. + +When the fighting opened on the next day, Agamemnon distinguished +himself by deeds of great bravery, but retired at length wounded in the +hand. Zeus had warned Hector to wait for that very moment before pushing +home his attack. One after another the Greek leaders were wounded, +Diomedes, Odysseus, Machaon; Ajax alone held up the Trojan onset, +retiring slowly and stubbornly towards the sea. Achilles, seeing the +return of the wounded warrior Machaon, sent his friend Patroclus to find +out who he was. Nestor meeting Patroclus, told him of the rout of the +army, and advised him to beg Achilles at least to allow the Myrmidons +to sally forth under Patroclus' leadership, if he would not fight in +person. The importance of this episode is emphasised in the poem. The +dispatch of Patroclus is called "the beginning of his undoing", it +foreshadows the intervention which was later to bring Achilles himself +back into the conflict. + +The Trojan host after an attempt to drive their horses over the trench +stormed it in five bodies. As they streamed towards the wall, an omen of +a doubtful nature filled Polydamas with some misgivings about the wisdom +of bursting through to the sea. It was possible that they might be +routed and that they would accordingly be caught in a trap, leaving many +of their dead behind them. His advice to remain content with the success +they had won roused the anger of Hector, whose headstrong character is +well portrayed in his speech. + + "Thou biddest me consider long-winged birds, whereof I reck not nor + care for them whether they speed to right or left. Let us obey the + counsel of Zeus. One omen is the best, to fight for our country. Why + dost thou dread war and tumult? Even if all we others were slain at + the ships, there is no fear that thou wilt perish, for thy heart + cannot withstand the foe and is not warlike. But if thou holdest from + the fight or turnest another from war, straightway shalt thou lose + thy life under the blow of my spear." + +Thus encouraged the army pressed forward, the walls being pierced by the +Lycian King Sarpedon, a son of Zeus. Taking up a mighty stone, Hector +broke open the gate and led his men forward to the final onslaught on +the ships. + +For a brief space Zeus turned his eyes away from the conflict and +Poseidon used the opportunity to help the Greeks. Idomeneus the Cretan +and his henchman Meriones greatly distinguished themselves, the former +drawing a very vivid picture of the brave man. + + "I know what courage is. Would that all the bravest of us were being + chosen for an ambush, wherein a man's bravery is most manifest. In + it the coward and the courageous man chiefliest appear. The colour of + the one changeth and his spirit cannot be schooled to remain stedfast, + but he shifteth his body, settling now on this foot now on that; his + heart beateth mightily, knocking against his breast as he bodeth death, + and his teeth chatter. But the good man's colour changeth not, nor is + he overmuch afraid when once he sitteth in his place of ambush; rather + he prayeth to join speedily in the dolorous battle." + +Yet soon Idomeneus' strength left him; Hector hurried to the centre of +the attack, where he confronted Ajax. + +At this point Hera determined to prolong the intervention of Poseidon in +favour of the Greeks. She persuaded Aphrodite to lend her all her spells +of beauty on the pretence that she wished to reconcile Ocean to his wife +Tethys. Armed with the goddess' girdle, she lulled Zeus to sleep +and then sent a message to Poseidon to give the Greeks his heartiest +assistance. Inspired by him the fugitives turned on their pursuers; when +Ajax smote down Hector with a stone the Trojans were hurled in flight +back through the gate and across the ramparts. + +When Zeus awakened out of slumber and saw the rout of the Trojans, his +first impulse was to punish Hera for her deceit. He then restored the +situation, bidding Poseidon retire and sending Apollo to recover Hector +of his wound. The tide speedily turned again; the Trojans rushed through +the rampart and down to the outer line of the Greek ships, where they +found nobody to resist them except the giant Ajax and his brother +Teucer. After a desperate fight in which Ajax single-handed saved the +fleet, Hector succeeded in grasping the ship of Protesilaus and called +loud for fire. This was the greatest measure of success vouchsafed +him; from this point onwards the balance was redressed in favour of the +Greeks. + +Achilles had been watching the anguish of Patroclus' spirit when this +disaster came upon their friends. + + "Why weepest thou, Patroclus, like some prattling little child who + runneth to her mother and biddeth her take her up, catching at her + garment and checking her movement and gazing at her tearfully till + she lifteth her? Even so thou lettest fall the big tears." + +Patroclus begged his friend to allow him to wear his armour and lead the +Myrmidons out to battle, not knowing that he was entreating for his own +ruin and death. After some reluctance Achilles gave him leave, yet with +the strictest orders not to pursue too far. Fresh and eager for the +battle the Myrmidons drove the Trojans back into the plain. Patroclus' +course was challenged by the Lycians, whose King Sarpedon faced him in +single combat. In great sorrow Zeus watched his son Sarpedon go to his +doom; in his agony he shed tear-drops of blood and ordered Death and +Sleep to carry the body back to Lycia for burial. + +The great glory Patroclus had won tempted him to forget his promise to +Achilles. He pursued the Trojans back to the walls of the town, slaying +Cebriones the charioteer of Hector. In the fight which took place +over the body Patroclus was assailed by Hector and Euphorbus under the +guidance of Apollo. Hector administered the death-blow; before he died +Patroclus foretold a speedy vengeance to come from Achilles. + +A mighty struggle arose over his body. Menelaus slew Euphorbus, but +retreated at the approach of Hector, who seized the armour of Achilles +and put it on. A thick cloud settled over the combatants, heightening +the dread of battle. The gods came down to encourage their respective +warriors; the Greeks were thrust back over the plain, but the bravery of +Ajax and Menelaus enabled the latter to save Patroclus' body and carry +it from the dust of battle towards the ships. + +When the news of his friend's death came to Achilles his grief was so +mighty that it seemed likely that he would have slain himself. He burst +into a lamentation so bitter that his mother heard him in her sea-cave +and came forth to learn what new sorrow had taken him. Too late he +learned the hard lesson that revenge may be sweet but is always bought +at the cost of some far greater thing. + + "I could not bring salvation to Patroclus or my men, but sit at the + ships a useless burden upon the land, albeit I am such a man as no + other in war, though others excel me in speech. Perish strife from + among men and gods, and anger which inciteth even a prudent man to + take offence; far sweeter than dropping honey it groweth in a man's + heart like smoke, even now as Agamemnon hath roused me to a fury." + +Being robbed of his armour he could not sally out to convey his +companion's body into the camp. Hera therefore sent Iris to him bidding +him merely show himself at the trenches and cry aloud. At the sound of +his thrice-repeated cry the Trojans shrank back in terror, leaving the +Greeks to carry in Patroclus' body unmolested; then Hera bade the sun +set at once into the ocean to end the great day of battle. + +Polydamas knew well what the appearance of Achilles portended to the +Trojans, for he was the one man among them who could look both before +and after; his advice was that they should retire into the town and +there shut themselves up. It was received with scorn by Hector. In the +Greek camp Achilles burst into a wild lament over Patroclus, swearing +that he would not bury him before he had brought in Hector dead and +twelve living captives to sacrifice before the pyre. That night his +mother went to Hephaestus and persuaded him to make divine armour for +her son, which the poet describes in detail. + +On receiving the armour from his mother Achilles made haste to reconcile +himself with Agamemnon. His impatience for revenge and the oath he had +taken made it impossible for him to take any food. His strength was +maintained by Athena who supplied him with nectar. On issuing forth to +the fight he addressed his two horses: + + "Xanthus and Balius, bethink you how ye may save your charioteer + when he hath done with the battle, and desert him not in death as + ye did Patroclus." + +In reply they prophesied his coming end. + + "For this we are not to blame, but the mighty god--and violent Fate. + We can run quick as the breath of the North wind, who men say is + the swiftest of all, but thy fate it is to die by the might of a + god and a man." + +The Avenging Spirits forbade them to reveal more. The awe of the climax +of the poem is heightened by supernatural interventions. At last the +gods themselves received permission from Zeus to enter the fray. They +took sides, the shock of their meeting causing the nether deity to +start from his throne in fear that his realm should collapse about him. +Achilles met Aeneas and would have slain him had not Poseidon saved him. +Hector withdrew before him, warned by Apollo not to meet him face to +face. Disregarding the god's advice he attacked Achilles, but for the +moment was spirited away. Disappointed of his prey Achilles sowed havoc +among the lesser Trojans. + +Choked by the numerous corpses the River-God Scamander begged him cease +his work of destruction. When the Hero disregarded him, he assembled all +his waters and would have overwhelmed him but for Athena who gave him +power to resist; the river was checked by the Fire-God who dried up his +streams. The gods then plunged into strife, the sight whereof made Zeus +laugh in joy. Athena quickly routed Aphrodite and Hera Artemis. Apollo +deemed it worthless to fight Poseidon. + + "Thou wouldst not call me prudent were I to strive with thee for + cowering mortals, who like leaves sometimes are full of fire, then + again waste away spiritless. Let us make an end of our quarrel; + let men fight it out themselves." + +Deserted by their protectors the Trojans broke before Achilles, who +nearly took the town. + +Baulked a second time of his vengeance by Apollo, Achilles vowed he +would have punished the god had he the power. Hector had at last decided +to face his foe at the Scaean Gate. His father and his mother pleaded +with him in a frenzy of grief to enter the town, but the dread of +Polydamas' reproaches fixed his resolve. When Achilles came rushing +towards him, his heart failed; he ran three times round the walls of the +city. Meanwhile the gods held up the scales of doom; when his life sank +down to death Apollo left him for ever. + +Athena then took the shape of Deiphobus, encouraging him to face +Achilles. Seeing unexpectedly a friend, he turned and stood his ground, +for she had already warned Achilles of her plot. Hector launched his +spear which sped true, but failed to penetrate the divine armour. When +he found no Deiphobus at his side to give him another weapon, he knew +his end had come. Drawing himself up for a final effort, he darted at +Achilles; the latter spied a gap in the armour he had once worn, through +which he smote Hector mortally. Lying in approaching death, the Trojan +begged that his body might be honoured with a burial, but Achilles swore +he should never have it, rather the dogs and carrion birds should devour +his flesh. Seeing their great foe dead the Greeks flocked around him, +not one passing by him without stabbing his body. Achilles bored through +his ankles and attached him to his car; then whipping up his horses, +he drove full speed to the camp, dragging Hector in disgrace over the +plain. This scene of pure savagery is succeeded by the laments of Priam, +Hecuba and Andromache over him whom Zeus allowed to be outraged in his +own land. + +That night the shade of Patroclus visited Achilles, bidding him bury him +speedily that he might cross the gates of death; the dust of his ashes +was to be stored up in an urn and mixed with Achilles' own when his turn +came to die. After the funeral Achilles held games of great splendour in +which the leading athletes contended for the prizes he offered. + +Yet nothing could make up for the loss of his friend. Every day he +dragged Hector's body round Patroclus' tomb, but Apollo in pity for the +dead man kept away corruption, maintaining the body in all its beauty of +manhood. At last on the twelfth day Apollo appealed to the gods to end +the barbarous outrage. + + "Hath not Hector offered to you many a sacrifice of bulls and + goats? Yet ye countenance the deeds of Achilles, who hath forsaken + all pity which doth harm to men and bringeth a blessing too. Many + another is like to lose a friend, but he will weep and let his + foe's body go, for the Fates have given men an heart to endure. + Good man though he be, let Achilles take heed lest he move us to + indignation by outraging in fury senseless clay." + +Zeus sent to fetch Thetis whom he bade persuade her son to ransom the +body; meanwhile Iris went to Troy to tell Priam to take a ransom and +go to the ships without fear, for the convoy who should guide him would +save him from harm. + +On hearing of Priam's resolve Hecuba tried to dissuade him, but the old +King would not be turned. That night he went forth alone; he was met in +the plain by Hermes, disguised as a servant of Achilles, who conducted +him to the hut where Hector lay. Slipping in unseen, Priam caught +Achilles' knees and kissed the dread hands that had slain his son. +In pity for the aged King Achilles remembered his own father, left as +defenceless as Priam. Calling out his servants he bade them wash the +corpse outside, lest Priam at the sight of it should upbraid him and +thus provoke him to slay him and offend against the commands of Zeus. As +they supped, Priam marvelled at the stature and beauty of Achilles and +Achilles wondered at Priam's reverend form and his words. While Achilles +slept, Hermes came to Priam to warn him of his danger if he were found +in the Greek host. Hastily harnessing the chariot, he led him back +safely to Troy, where the body was laid upon a bed in Hector's palace. + +The laments which follow are of great beauty. Andromache bewailed her +widowhood, Hecuba her dearest son; Helen's lament is a masterpiece. + + "Hector, far the dearest to me of all my brethren, of a truth Paris + is my lord, who brought me hither--would I had died first. This is + the tenth year since I left my native land, yet have I never heard + from thee a word cruel or despiteful; rather, if any other chode me, + thy sister or a brother's wife or thy mother--though thy father is + gentle to me always as he were my own sire--thou didst restrain such + with words of persuasion and kindness and gentleness all thine own. + Wherefore I grieve for thee and for myself in anguish, for there is + no other friend in broad Troy kind and tender, but all shudder at me." + +Then with many a tear they laid to his rest mighty Hector. + +Such is the _Iliad_. To modern readers it very often seems a little +dull. Horace long ago pointed out that it is inevitable that a long +poem should flag; even Homer nods sometimes. Some of the episodes are +distinctly wearisome, for they are invented to give a place in this +national Epic to lesser heroes who could hardly be mentioned if Achilles +were always in the foreground. Achilles himself is not a pleasing +person; his character is wayward and violent; he is sometimes childish, +always liable to be carried away by a fit of pettishness and unable to +retain our real respect; further, a hero who is practically invulnerable +and yet dons divine armour to attack those who are no match for him when +he is without it falls below the ordinary "sportsman's" level. Nor can +we feel much reverence for many of the gods; Hera is odious, Athena +guilty of flat treachery, Zeus, liable to allow his good nature to +overcome his judgment--Apollo alone seems consistently noble. More, we +shall look in vain in the _Iliad_ for any sign of the pure battle-joy +which is so characteristic of northern Epic poetry; the Greek ideal +of bravery had nothing of the Berserker in it. Perhaps these are the +reasons why the sympathy of nearly all readers is with the Trojans, who +are numerically inferior, are aided by fewer and weaker gods and have +less mighty champions to defend them. + +What then is left to admire in the _Iliad_? It is well to remember +that the poem is not the first but the last of a long series; its very +perfection of form and language makes it certain that it is the result +of a long literary tradition. As such, it has one or two remarkable +features. We shall not find in many other Epics that sense of wistful +sorrow for man's brief and uncertain life which is the finest breath +of all poetry that seeks to touch the human heart. The marks of rude or +crude workmanship which disfigure much Epic have nearly all disappeared +from the _Iliad_. The characterisation of many of the figures of the +poem is masterly, their very natures being hit off in a few lines--and +it is important to remember that it is not really the business of Epic +to attempt analysis of character at all except very briefly; the story +cannot be kept waiting. But the real Homeric power is displayed in +the famous scenes of pure and worthy pathos such as the parting of +Andromache from Hector and the laments over his body. Those who would +learn how to touch great depths of sorrow and remain dignified must see +how it has been treated in the _Iliad_. + +A few vigorous lines hit off the plan of the _Odyssey_. + + "Sing, Muse, of the man of much wandering who travelled right far + after sacking sacred Troy, and saw the cities of many men and knew + their ways. Many a sorrow he suffered on the sea, trying to win a + return home for himself and his comrades; yet he could not for all + his longing, for they died like fools through their own blindness." + +Odysseus, when the poem opens, was in Calypso's isle pitied of all +the gods save Poseidon. In a council Zeus gave his consent that Hermes +should go to Calypso, while Athena should descend to Ithaca to encourage +Odysseus' son Telemachus to seek out news of his father. + +Taking the form of Mentes, Athena met Telemachus and informed him that +his father was not yet dead. Seeing the suitors who were wooing his +mother Penelope and eating up the house in riot, she advised him to +dismiss them and visit Nestor in Pylos. A lay sung by Phemius brought +Penelope from her chamber, who was astonished at the immediate change +which her son's speech showed had come upon him, transforming him to +manhood. + +Next day Telemachus called an Assembly of the Ithacans; his appeal to +the suitors to leave him in peace provoked an insulting speech from +their ringleader Antinous who held Penelope to blame for their presence; +she had constantly eluded them, on one occasion promising to marry when +she had woven a shroud for Laertes her father-in-law; the work she did +by day she undid at night, till she was betrayed by a serving-woman. +Telemachus then asked the suitors for a ship to get news of his father. +When the assembly broke up, Athena appeared in answer to Telemachus' +prayer in the form of Mentor and pledged herself to go with him on his +travels. She prepared a ship and got together a crew, while Telemachus +bade his old nurse Eurycleia conceal from his mother his departure. + +In Pylos Nestor told him all he knew of Odysseus, describing the sorrows +which came upon the Greek leaders on their return and especially the +evil end of Agamemnon. He added that Menelaus had just returned to +Sparta and was far more likely to know the truth than any other, for +he had wandered widely over the seas on his home-coming. Bidding Nestor +look after Telemachus, Athena vanished from his sight, but not before +she was recognised by the old hero. On the morrow Telemachus set out for +Sparta, accompanied by Pisistratus, one of Nestor's sons. + +Menelaus gave them a kindly welcome and a casual mention of his father's +name stirred Telemachus to tears. At that moment Helen entered; her +quicker perception at once traced the resemblance between the young +stranger and Odysseus. When Telemachus admitted his identity, Helen told +some of his father's deeds. Once he entered Troy disguised as a beggar, +unrecognised of all save Helen herself. "After he made her swear an oath +that she would not betray him, he revealed all the plans of the Greeks. +Then, after slaying many Trojans, he departed with much knowledge, +while Helen's heart rejoiced, for she was already bent on a return home, +repenting of the blindness which Aphrodite had sent her in persuading +her to abandon home and daughter and a husband who lacked naught, +neither wit not manhood." Menelaus then recounted how Odysseus saved +him when they were in the wooden horse, when one false sound would have +betrayed them. On the next morning Telemachus told the story of the ruin +of his home; Menelaus prophesied the end of the suitors, then preceded +to recount how in Egypt he waylaid and captured Proteus, the changing +god of the sea, whom he compelled to relate the fate of the Greek +leaders and to prophesy his own return; from him he heard that Odysseus +was with Calypso who kept him by force. On learning this important piece +of news Telemachus was eager to return to Ithaca with all speed. + +Meanwhile the suitors had learned of the departure of Telemachus and +plotted to intercept him on his return. Their treachery was told to +Penelope, who was utterly undone on hearing it; feeling herself left +without a human protector she prayed to Athena, who appeared to her in +a dream in the likeness of her own sister to assure her that Athena was +watching over her, but refusing to say definitely whether Odysseus was +alive. + +The poem at this point takes up the story of Odysseus himself. Going +to the isle where he was held captive, Hermes after admiring its great +beauty delivered Zeus' message to Calypso to let the captive go. She +reproached the gods for their jealousy and reluctantly promised to obey. +She found Odysseus on the shore, eating out his heart in the desire +for his home. When she informed him that she intended to let him go, he +first with commendable prudence made her swear that she did not design +some greater evil for him. Smiling at his cunning, she swore the most +solemn of all oaths to help him, then supplied tools and materials for +the building of his boat. When he was out on the deep, Poseidon wrecked +his craft, but a sea goddess Leucothea, once a mortal, gave him a scarf +to wrap round him, bidding him cast it from him with his back turned +away when he got to land. After two nights and two days on the deep he +at length saw land. Finding the mouth of a small stream, he swam up it, +then utterly weary flung himself down on a heap of leaves under a bush, +guarded by Athena. + +The next episode introduces one of the most charming figures in ancient +literature. Nausicaa was the daughter of Alcinous, King of Phaeacia, +on whose island Odysseus had landed. To her Athena appeared in a dream, +bidding her obtain from her father leave to go down to the sea to wash +his soiled garments. The young girl obeyed, telling her father that it +was but seemly that he, the first man in the kingdom, should appear at +council in raiment white as snow. He gave her the leave she desired. +After their work was done, she and her handmaids began a game of ball; +their merry cries woke up Odysseus, who started up on hearing human +voices. Coming forward, he frightened by his appearance the handmaids, +but Nausicaa, emboldened by Athena, stood still and listened to his +story. She supplied him with clean garments after she had given him food +and drink. On the homeward journey Nausicaa bade Odysseus bethink him of +the inconvenient talk which his presence would occasion if he were seen +with her near the city. She therefore judged it best that she should +enter first, at the same time she gave him full information of the road +to the palace; when he entered it he was to proceed straight to the +Queen Arete, whose favour was indispensable if he desired a return home. + +Just outside the city Athena met him in the guise of a girl to tell him +his way; she further cast about him a thick cloud to protect him from +curious eyes. Passing through the King's gardens, which were a marvel of +beauty and fruitfulness, Odysseus entered the palace and threw his arms +in supplication about Arete's knees. She listened kindly to him and +begged Alcinous give him welcome. When all the courtiers had retired to +rest, Arete, noticing that the garments Odysseus wore had been woven by +her own hands, asked him whence he had them and how he had come to the +island. On hearing the story of his shipwreck Alcinous promised him a +safe convoy to his home on the morrow. + +At an assembly Alcinous consulted with his counsellors about Odysseus; +all agreed to help in providing him with a ship and rowers. At a trial +of skill Odysseus, after being taunted by some of the Phaeacians, hurled +the quoit beyond them all. Later, a song of the wooden horse of Troy +moved him to tears; though unnoticed by the others, he did not escape +the eye of Alcinous who bade him tell them plainly who he was. Then he +revealed himself and told the marvellous story of his wanderings. + +First he and his companions reached the land of the Lotus-eaters. +Finding out that the lotus made all who ate it lose their desire for +home, Odysseus sailed away with all speed, forcing away some who had +tasted the plant. Thence they reached the island of the Cyclopes, a +wild race who knew no ordinances; each living in his cave was a law +to himself, caring nothing for the others. Leaving his twelve ships, +Odysseus proceeded with some of his men to the cave of one of the +Cyclopes, a son of Poseidon, taking with him a skin of wine. When the +one-eyed monster returned with his flock of sheep, he shut the mouth of +the cave with a mighty stone which no mortal could move; then lighting +a fire he caught sight of his visitors and asked who they were. Odysseus +answered craftily, whereupon the monster devoured six of his company. +Odysseus opened his wine-skin and offered some of the wine; when the +Cyclops asked his name, Odysseus told him he was called Noman; in return +for his kindness in offering him the strangely sweet drink the Cyclops +promised to eat him last of all. But the wine soon plunged the monster +into a slumber, from which he was awakened by the burning end of a great +stake which Odysseus thrust into his eye. On hearing his cries of agony +the other Cyclopes came to him, but went away when they heard that Noman +was killing him. As it was impossible for anyone but the Cyclops to open +the cave, Odysseus tied his men beneath the cattle, putting the beast +which carried a man between two which were unburdened; he himself hung +on to the ram. As the animals passed out, the Cyclops was a little +surprised that the ram went last, but thought he did so out of grief +for his master. When they were all safely outside, Odysseus freed his +friends and made haste to get to the ship. Thrusting out, when he was +at what seemed a safe distance he shouted to the Cyclops, who then +remembered an old prophecy and hurled a huge rock which nearly washed +them back; a second rock which he hurled on learning Odysseus' real name +narrowly missed the ship. Then the Cyclops prayed to Poseidon to punish +Odysseus; the god heard him, persecuting him from that time onward. +Reassembling his ships, Odysseus proceeded on his voyage. + +He next called at the isle of Aeolus, king of the winds, who gave him in +a bag all the winds but one, a favouring breeze which was to waft him +to his own island. For nine days Odysseus guarded his bag, but at last, +when Ithaca was in sight, he sank into a sleep of exhaustion. Thinking +that the bag concealed some treasure, his men opened it, only to be +blown back to Aeolus who bid him begone as an evil man when he begged +aid a second time. + +After visiting the Laestrygones, a man-eating people, who devoured all +the fleet except one ship's company, the remainder reached Aeaea, +the island where lived the dread goddess Circe. Odysseus sent forward +Eurylochus with some twenty companions who found Circe weaving at a +loom. Seeing them she invited them within; then after giving them a +charmed potion she smote them with her rod, turning them into swine. +Eurylochus who had suspected some trickery hurried back to Odysseus with +the news. The latter determined to go alone to save his friends. On the +way he was met by Hermes, who showed him the herb moly, an antidote to +Circe's draught. Finding that her magic failed, she at once knew that +her visitor was Odysseus whose visit had been prophesied to her by +Hermes. He bound her down by a solemn oath to refrain from further +mischief and persuaded her to restore to his men their humanity. When +Odysseus desired to depart home, she told him of the wanderings that +awaited him. First he must go to the land of the dead to consult the +shade of Teiresias, the blind old prophet, who would help him. + +Following the goddess' instructions, they sailed to the land of the +Cimmerians on the confines of the earth. There Odysseus dug a trench +into which he poured the blood of slain victims which he did not allow +the dead spirits to touch till Teiresias appeared. The seer told him of +the sorrows that awaited him and vaguely indicated that his death should +come upon him from the sea; he added that any spirit he allowed to touch +the blood would tell him truly all whereof he was as yet ignorant, and +that those ghosts he drove away would return to the darkness. + +First arose the spirit of his dead mother Anticleia who told him that +his wife and son were yet alive and his father was living away from the +town in wretchedness. + + "For me, it was not the visitation of Apollo that took me, nor any + sickness whose corruption drove the life from my frame; rather it + was longing for thee and thy counsels and thy gentleness which + spoiled me of my spirit." + +Thrice he tried to embrace her, and thrice the ghost eluded him, for it +was "as a dream that had fled away from the white frame of the body". A +procession of famous women followed, then came the wraith of Agamemnon +who told how he had been foully slain by his own wife, as faithless as +Penelope was prudent. Achilles next approached; when Odysseus tried to +console him for his early death by reminding him of the honour he had +when he was alive, he answered: + + "Speak not comfortingly of death; I would rather be a clown and a + thrall on earth to another man than rule among the departed." + +On hearing that his son Neoptolemus had won great glory in the capture +of Troy, the spirit left him, exulting with joy that his son was worthy +of him. Ajax turned from Odysseus in anger at the loss of Achilles' +armour for the possession of which they had striven. The last figure +that came was the ghost of Heracles, though the hero himself was with +the gods in Olympus. + + "Round him was the whirr of the dead as of birds fleeing in panic. + Like to black night, with his bow ready and an arrow on the string, + he glared about him terribly, as ever intending to shoot. Over his + breast was flung a fearful belt, whereon were graven bears and lions + and fights, battles, murders and man-slayings." + +He recognised Odysseus before he passed back to death; when a crowd of +terrifying apparitions came thronging to the trench, Odysseus fled to +his ship lest the Gorgon might be sent from the awful Queen of the dead. + +Returning to Circe, he learned from her of the remaining dangers. The +first of these was the island of the Sirens, who by the marvellous +sweetness of their song charmed to their ruin all who passed. Odysseus +filled the ears of his crews with wax, bidding them to tie him to the +mast of his ship and to row hard past the temptresses in spite of his +strugglings. They then entered the dangerous strait, on one side of +which was Scylla, a dreadful monster who lived in a cave near by, on the +other was the deadly whirlpool of Charybdis. Scylla carried off six +of his men who called in vain to Odysseus to save them, stretching out +their hands to him in their last agony. From the strait they passed to +the island of Trinacria, where they found grazing the cattle of the Sun. +Odysseus had learned from both Teiresias and Circe that an evil doom +would come upon them if they touched the animals; he therefore made his +companions swear a great oath not to touch them if they landed. For +a whole month they were wind-bound in the island and ate all the +provisions which Circe had given them. At a time when Odysseus had gone +to explore the island Eurylochus persuaded his men to kill and eat; as +he returned Odysseus smelled the savour of their feast and knew that +destruction was at hand. For nine days the feasting continued. When +the ship put out to sea Zeus, in answer to the prayer of the offended +Sun-God, sent a storm which drowned all the crew and drove Odysseus back +to the dreaded strait. Escaping through it with difficulty, he drifted +helplessly over the deep and on the tenth day landed on the island of +"the dread goddess who used human speech", Calypso, who tended him and +kept him in captivity. + +On the next day the Phaeacians loaded Odysseus with presents and landed +him on his own island while he slept. Poseidon in anger at the arrival +of the hero changed the returning Phaeacian ship into stone when it was +almost within the harbour of the city. When Odysseus awoke he failed to +recognise his own land. Athena appeared to him disguised as a shepherd, +telling him he was indeed in Ithaca: + + "Thou art witless or art come from afar, if thou enquirest about + this land. It is not utterly unknown; many know it who dwell in the + East and in the West. It is rough and unfitted for steeds, yet it is + not a sorry isle, though narrow. It hath plenteous store of corn and + the vine groweth herein. It hath alway rain and glistening dew. It + nourisheth goats and cattle and all kinds of woods and its streams + are everlasting." + +Such is the description of the land for which Odysseus forsook Calypso's +offer of immortality. After smiling at Odysseus' pretence that he was +a Cretan Athena counselled him how to slay the suitors and hurried to +fetch Telemachus from Sparta. The poet tells why Athena loved Odysseus +more than all others. + + "Crafty would he be and a cunning trickster who surpassed thee in + wiles, though it were a god who challenged thee. We know craft + enough, both of us, for thou art by far the best of mortals in speech + and counsel and I among the gods am famed for devices and cunning." + +Transformed by her into an old beggar, Odysseus went to the hut of +his faithful old swineherd Eumaeus; the dogs set upon him, but Eumaeus +scared them away and welcomed him to his dwelling. In spite of Odysseus' +assurance that the master would return Eumaeus, who had been often +deceived by similar words, refused to believe. Feigning himself to be +a Cretan, Odysseus saw for himself that the old servant's loyalty was +steadfast; a deft touch brings out his care for his master's substance: + + "laying a bed for Odysseus before the fire, he went out and slept + among the dogs in a cave beneath the breath of the winds." + +By the intervention of Athena the two leading characters are brought +together. She stood beside the sleeping Telemachus in Sparta, warning +him of the ambush set for him in Ithaca and bidding him to land on a +lonely part of the coast whence he was to proceed to the hut of Eumaeus. +On his departure from Sparta an omen was interpreted by Helen to mean +that Odysseus was not far from home. As he was on the point of leaving +Pylos on the morrow a bard named Theoclymenus appealed to him for +protection, for he had slain a man and was a fugitive from justice. +Taking him on board Telemachus frustrated the ambush, landing in safety; +he proceeded to Eumaeus' hut, where Odysseus had with some difficulty +been persuaded to remain. + +The dogs were the first to announce the arrival of a friend, gambolling +about him. After speaking a word of cheer to Eumaeus Telemachus enquired +who the stranger was; hearing that he was a Cretan he lamented his +inability to give him a welcome in his home owing to the insolence of +his enemies. Remembering the anxiety of his mother during his absence he +sent Eumaeus to the town to acquaint her with his arrival. Athena seized +the opportunity to reveal Odysseus to his son, transforming him to +his own shape. After a moment of utter amazement at the marvel of the +change, Telemachus ran to his father and fell upon his neck, his joy +finding expression in tears. The two then laid their plans for the +destruction of the suitors. By the time Eumaeus had returned Odysseus +had resumed his sorry and tattered appearance. + +Telemachus went to the town alone, bidding Eumaeus bring the stranger +with him. They were met by one Melanthius a goatherd, who covered them +with insults. "In truth one churl is leading another, for the god ever +bringeth like to like. Whither art thou taking this glutton, this evil +pauper, a kill-joy of the feast? He hath learned many a knavish trick +and is like to refuse to labour; creeping among the people he would +rather ask alms to fill his insatiate maw." Leaping on Odysseus, he +kicked at him, yet failed to stir him from the pathway. Swallowing the +insult Odysseus walked towards his house. A superb stroke of art has +created the next incident. In the courtyard lay Argus, a hound whom +Odysseus had once fed. Neglected in the absence of his master he had +crept to a dung-heap, full of lice. When he marked Odysseus coming +towards him he wagged his tail and dropped his ears, but could not come +near his lord. Seeing him from a little distance Odysseus wiped away his +tears unnoticed of Eumaeus and asked whose the hound was. Eumaeus told +the story of his neglect: "but the doom of death took Argus straightway +after seeing Odysseus in the twentieth year". In the palace Telemachus +sent his father food, bidding him ask a charity of the wooers. Antinous +answered by hurling a stool which struck his shoulder. The noise of the +high words which followed brought down Penelope who protested against +the godless behaviour of the suitors and asked to interview the stranger +in hope of learning some tidings of her husband, but Odysseus put her +off till nightfall when they would be less likely to suffer from the +insolence of the suitors. + +In Ithaca was a beggar named Irus, gluttonous and big-boned but a +coward. Encouraged by the winkings and noddings of the suitors he bade +Odysseus begone. A quiet answer made him imagine he had to deal with +a poltroon and he challenged him to a fight. The proposal was welcomed +with glee by the suitors, who promised on oath to see fair play for +the old man in his quarrel with a younger. But when they saw the mighty +limbs and stout frame of Odysseus, they deemed that Irus had brought +trouble on his own head. Chattering with fear Irus had to be forced +to the combat. One blow was enough to lay him low; the ease with which +Odysseus had disposed of his foe made him for a time popular with the +suitors. + +Under an inspiration of Athena, Penelope came down once more to chide +the wooers for their insolence; she also upbraided them for their +stinginess. + + "Yours is not the custom of wooers in former days who were wont to + sue for wedlock with the daughter of a rich man and contend among + themselves. Such men offer oxen and stout cattle and glorious gifts; + they will never consume another's substance without payment." + +Stung by the taunt, they gave her the accustomed presents, while +Odysseus rejoiced that she flattered their heart in soft words with a +different intent in her spirit. The insolence of the suitors was matched +by the pertness of the serving maids, of whom Melantho was the most +impudent. A threat from Odysseus drew down upon him the wrath of the +suitors who were with difficulty persuaded by Telemachus to depart home +to their beds. + +That night Odysseus and his son removed the arms from the walls, the +latter being told to urge as a pretext for his action the necessity of +cleaning from them the rust and of removing a temptation to violence +when the suitors were heated with wine. At the promised interview with +his wife Odysseus again pretended he was a Cretan; describing the very +dress which Odysseus had worn, he assured her that he would soon return +with the many treasures which he had collected. Half persuaded by the +exact description of a garment she had herself made, she bade her maids +look to him, but he would not suffer any of them to approach him save +his old nurse Eurycleia. As she was washing him in the dim light of the +fireside her fingers touched the old scar above his knee, the result of +an accident in a boar-hunt during his youth. + + "Dropping the basin she fell backwards; joy and grief took her + heart at once, her eyes filled with tears and her utterance was + checked. Catching him by his beard, she said: 'In very sooth thou + art Odysseus, my dear boy; and I knew thee not before I had touched + the body of my lord.' So speaking she looked at Penelope, fain to + tell her that her lord was within. But Odysseus laid his hand upon + the nurse's mouth, with the other he drew her to him and whispered: + 'Nurse, wouldst thou ruin me? Thou didst nourish me at thy breast, + and now I am come back after mighty sufferings. Be silent, lest + another learn the news, or I tell thee that when I have punished + the suitors I will not even refrain from thee when I destroy the + other women in my halls.'" + +Concealing the scar carefully under his rags by the fireside he put a +good interpretation on a strange dream which had visited his wife. + +That night Odysseus with his own eyes witnessed the intrigues between +his women and the suitors. He heard his wife weeping in her chamber for +him and prayed to Zeus for aid in the coming trial. On the morrow he +was again outraged; the suitors were moved to laughter by a prophecy of +Theoclymenus: + + "Yet they were laughing with alien lips, the meat they ate was + dabbled with blood, their eyes were filled with tears and their + hearts boded lamentation. Among them spake Theoclymenus; 'Wretched + men, what is this evil that is come upon you? Your heads and faces + and the knees beneath you are shrouded in night, mourning is kindled + among you, your cheeks are bedewed with tears, the walls and the + fair pillars are sprinkled with blood, the forecourt and the yard is + full of spectres hastening to the gloom of Erebus; the sun hath + perished from the heaven and a mist of ruin hath swept upon you.'" + +In answer Eurymachus bade him begone if all within was night; taking him +at his word, the seer withdrew before the coming ruin. + +Then Athena put it into the heart of Penelope to set the suitors a final +test. She brought forth the bow of Odysseus together with twelve axes. +It had been an exercise of her lord to set up the axes in a line, string +the bow and shoot through the heads of the axes which had been hollowed +for that purpose. She promised to follow at once the suitor who could +string the bow and shoot through the axes. First Telemachus set up the +axes and tried to string the weapon; failing three times he would have +succeeded at the next effort but for a glance from his father. Leiodes +vainly tried his strength, to be rebuked by Antinous who suggested that +the bow should be made more pliant by being heated at the fire. + +Noticing that Eumaeus and Philoetius had gone out together Odysseus went +after them and revealed himself to them; the three then returned to the +hall. After all the suitors had failed except Antinous, who did not deem +that he should waste a feast-day in stringing bows, Odysseus begged that +he might try, Penelope insisting on his right to attempt the feat. When +she retired Eumaeus brought the bow to Odysseus, then told Eurycleia to +keep the woman in their chambers while Philoetius bolted the hall door. + + "But already Odysseus was turning the bow this way and that testing + it lest the worms had devoured it in his absence. Then when he had + balanced it and looked it all over, even as when a man skilled in + the lyre and song easily putteth a new string about a peg, even so + without an effort Odysseus strung his mighty bow. Taking it in his + right hand he tried the string which sang sweetly beneath his touch + like to the voice of a swallow. Then he took an arrow and shot it + with a straight aim through the axes, missing not one. Then he spake + to Telemachus: 'Thy guest bringeth thee no shame as he sitteth in + thy halls, for I missed not the mark nor spent much time in the + stringing. My strength is yet whole within me. But now it is time to + make a banquet for the Achaeans in the light of day and then season + it with song and dance, which are the crown of revelry.' So speaking + he nodded, and his son took a sword and a spear and stood by him + clad in gleaming bronze." + +The first victim was Antinous, whom Odysseus shot through the neck as he +was in the act of drinking, never dreaming that one man would attack +a multitude of suitors. Eurymachus fell after vainly attempting a +compromise. Melanthius was caught in the act of supplying arms to the +rest and was left bound to be dealt with when the main work was +done. Athena herself encouraged Odysseus in his labour of vengeance, +deflecting from him any weapons that were hurled at him. At length all +was over, the serving women were made to cleanse the hall of all traces +of bloodshed; the guiltiest of them were hanged, while Melanthius died +a horrible death by mutilation. Odysseus then summoned his wife to his +presence. + +Eurycleia carried the message to her, laughing with joy so much that +Penelope deemed her mad. The story of the vengeance which Odysseus had +exacted was so incredible that it must have been the act of a god, not +a man. When she entered the hall Telemachus upbraided her for her +unbelief, but Odysseus smiled on hearing that she intended to test him +by certain proofs which they two alone were aware of. He withdrew for +a time to cleanse him of his stains and to put on his royal garments, +after ordering the servants to maintain a revelry to blind the people to +the death of their chief men. + +When he reappeared, endued with grace which Athena gave him, he +marvelled at the untoward heart which the gods had given his wife and +bade his nurse lay him his bed. Penelope caught up his words quickly; +the bed was to be laid outside the chamber which he himself had made. +The words filled Odysseus with dismay: + + "Who hath put my bed elsewhere? It would be a hard task for any man + however cunning, except a god set it in some other place. Of men + none could easily shift it, for there is a wonder in that cunningly + made bed whereat I laboured and none else. Within the courtyard was + growing the trunk of an olive; round it I built my bed-chamber with + thick stones and roofed it well, placing in it doors that shut tight. + Then I cut away the olive branches, smoothed the trunk, made a + bedpost, and bored all with a gimlet. From that foundation I smoothed + my bed, tricking it out with gold and silver and ivory and stretching + from its frame thongs of cow-hide dyed red. Such is the wonder I tell + of, yet I know not, Lady, whether the bed is yet fixed there, or + whether another hath moved it, cutting the foundation of olive from + underneath." + +On hearing the details of their secret Penelope ran to him casting +her arms about him and begging him to forgive her unbelief, for many +a pretender had come, making her ever more and more suspicious. Thus +reunited the two spent the night in recounting the agonies of their +separation; Odysseus mentioned the strange prophecy of Teiresias, +deciding to seek out his father on the morrow. + +A vivid description tells how the souls of the suitors were conducted +to the realm of the dead, the old comrades of Odysseus before Troy +recognising in the vengeance all the marks of his handiwork. Odysseus +found his father in a wretched old age hoeing his garden, clad in +soiled garments with a goat-skin hat on his head which but increased his +sorrow. At the sight Odysseus was moved to tears of compassion. Yet even +then he could not refrain from his wiles, for he told how he had indeed +seen Odysseus though five years before. In despair the old man took the +dust in his hands and cast it about his head in mighty grief. + + "Then Odysseus' spirit was moved and the stinging throb smote his + nostrils. Clinging to his father he kissed him and told him he was + indeed his son, returned after twenty years." + +For a moment the old man doubted, but believed when Odysseus showed the +scar and told him the number and names of the trees they had planted +together in their orchard. + +Meanwhile news of the death of the wooers had run through the city. The +father of Antinous raised a tumult and led a body of armed men to demand +satisfaction. The threatening uproar was stopped by the intervention of +Athena who thus completed the restoration of her favourite as she had +begun it. + + * * * * * + +It is strange that this poem, which is such a favourite with modern +readers, should have made a less deep impression on the Greeks. To +them, Homer is nearly always the _Iliad_, possibly because Achilles was +semi-divine, whereas Odysseus was a mere mortal. But the latter is for +that very reason of more importance to us, we feel him to be more akin +to our own life. Further, the type of character which Odysseus stands +for is really far nobler than the fervid and somewhat incalculable +nature of the son of Thetis. Odysseus is patient endurance, common +sense, self-restraint, coolness, resource and strength; he is indeed +a manifold personality, far more complex than anything attempted +previously in Greek literature and therefore far more modern in +his appeal. It is only after reading the _Odyssey_ that we begin to +understand why Diomedes chose Odysseus as his companion in the famous +Dolon adventure in Noman's land. Achilles would have been the wrong man +for this or any other situation which demanded first and last a cool +head. + +The romantic elements which are so necessary a part of all Epic are much +more convincing in the _Odyssey_; the actions and adventures are indeed +beyond experience, but they are treated in such a masterly style that +they are made inevitable; it would be difficult to improve on any of the +little details which force us to believe the whole story. Added to them +is another genuine romantic feature, the sense of wandering in strange +new lands untrodden before of man's foot; the beings who move in these +lands are gracious, barbarous, magical, monstrous, superhuman, dreamy, +or prophetic by turns; they are all different and all fascinating. The +reader is further introduced to the life of the dead as well as of the +living and the memory of his visit is one which he will retain for ever. +Not many stories of adventure can impress themselves indelibly as does +the _Odyssey_. + +To English readers the poem has a special value, for it deals with the +sea and its wonders. The native land of its hero is not very unlike our +own, "full of mist and rain", yet able to make us love it far more than +a Calypso's isle with an offer of immortality to any who will exchange +his real love of home for an unnatural haven of peace. A splendid hero, +a good love-story, admirable narrative, romance and excitement, together +with a breath of the sea which gives plenty of space and pure air have +made the _Odyssey_ the companion of many a veteran reader in whom the +Greek spirit cannot die. + + * * * * * + +Of the impression which Homer has made upon the mind of Europe it would +be difficult to give an estimate. The Greeks themselves early came to +regard his text with a sort of veneration; it was learned by heart and +quoted to spellbound audiences in the cities and at the great national +meetings at Olympia. Every Greek boy was expected to know some portion +at least by heart; Plato evidently loved Homer and when he was obliged +to point out that the system of morality which he stood for was +antiquated and needed revision, apologised for the criticism he could +not avoid. It is sometimes said that Homer was the Bible of the Greeks; +while this statement is probably inaccurate--for no theological system +was built on him nor did he claim any divine revelation--yet it is +certain that authors of all ages searched the text for all kinds of +purposes, antiquarian, ethical, social, as well as religious. This +careful study of Homer culminated in the learned and accurate work of +the great Alexandrian school of Zenodotus and Aristarchus. + +In Roman times Homer never failed to inspire lesser writers; Ennius +is said to have translated the _Odyssey_, while Virgil's _Aeneid_ is +clearly a child of the Greek Homeric tradition. In the Middle Ages the +Trojan legend was one of the four great cycles which were treated over +and over again in the Chansons. Even drama was glad to borrow the great +characters of the _Iliad_, as Shakespeare did in _Troilus and Cressida_. +In England a number of famous translations has witnessed to the undying +appeal of the first of the Greek masters. Chapman published his _Iliad_ +in 1611, his _Odyssey_ in 1616; Pope's version appeared between 1715 +and 1726; Cowper issued his translation in 1791. In the next century the +Earl Derby retranslated the _Iliad_, while an excellent prose version of +the _Odyssey_ by Butcher and Lang was followed by a prose version of the +_Iliad_ by Lang Myers and Leaf. At a time when Europe had succeeded in +persuading itself that the whole story of a siege of Troy was an obvious +myth, a series of startling discoveries on the site of Troy and on +the mainland of Greece proved how lamentably shallow is some of the +cleverest and most destructive Higher Criticism. + +The marvellous rapidity and vigour of these two poems will save them +from death; the splendid qualities of direct narration, constructive +skill, dignity and poetical power will always make Homer a name to love. +Those who know no Greek and therefore fear that they may lose some of +the directness of the Homeric appeal might recall the famous sonnet +written by Keats who had had no opportunity to learn the great +language. His words are no doubt familiar enough; that they have become +inseparable from Homer must be our apology for inserting them here. + + Much have I travelled in the realms of gold, + And many goodly states and Kingdoms seen; + Round many western islands have I been + Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold. + + Oft of one wide expanse had I been told + That deep-browed Homer ruled as his demesne: + Yet never did I breathe its pure serene + Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold. + + Then felt I like some watcher of the skies + When a new planet swims into his ken, + Or like stout Cortes, when with eagle eyes + He stared at the Pacific--and all his men + Look'd at each other with a wild surmise-- + Silent, upon a peak in Darien. + + +TRANSLATIONS. As INDICATED IN THE TEXT OF THE ESSAY. + +The whole of the Homeric tradition is affected by the recent discoveries +made in Crete. The civilisation there unearthed raises questions of +great interest; the problems it suggests are certain to modify current +ideas of Homeric study. + +See _Discoveries in Crete_, by R. Burrows (Murray, 1907). + +A very good account of the early age of European literature is in _The +Heroic Age_, by Chadwick (Cambridge, 1912). + +The best interpretation of Greek poetry is Symonds' _Greek Poets_, 2 +vols. (Smith Elder). + +Jebb's _Homer_ is the best introduction to the many difficulties +presented by the poems. + +Flaxman's engravings for the _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_ are of the highest +order. + + + + +AESCHYLUS + + +Towards the end of the sixth century before Christ, one of the most +momentous advances in literature was made by the genius of Aeschylus. +European drama was created and a means of utterance was given to the +rapidly growing democratic spirit of Greece. Before Aeschylus wrote, +rude public exhibitions had been given of the life and adventures of +Dionysus, the god of wine. Choruses had sung odes to the deity and +variety was obtained by a series of short dialogues between one of the +Chorus and the remainder. Aeschylus added a second actor to converse +with the first; he thus started a movement which eventually ousted +the Chorus from its place of importance, for the interest now began to +concentrate on the two actors; it was their performance which gave drama +its name. In time more characters were added; the Chorus became less +necessary and in the long run was felt to be a hindrance to the movement +of the story. This process is plainly visible in the extant works of the +Attic tragedians. + +Aeschylus was born at Eleusis in 525; before the end of the century he +was writing tragedies. In 490 he fought in the great battle of Marathon +and took part in the victory of Salamis in 480. This experience of the +struggle for freedom against Persian despotism added a vigour and +a self-reliance to his writing which is characteristic of a growing +national spirit. He is said to have visited Sicily in 468 and again in +458, various motives being given for his leaving Athens. His death +at Gela in 456 is said to have been due to an eagle, which dropped a +tortoise upon his head which he mistook for a stone. He has left to +the world seven plays in which the rapid development of drama is +conspicuous. + +One of the earliest of his plays is the _Suppliants_, little read +owing to the uncertainty of the text and the meagreness of the dramatic +interest. The plot is simple enough. Danaus, sprung from Io of Argos, +flees from Egypt with his fifty daughters who avoid wedlock with the +fifty sons of Aegyptus. He sails to Argos and lays suppliant boughs on +the altars of the gods, imploring protection. The King of Argos after +consultation with his people decides to admit the fugitives and to +secure them from Aegyptus' violence. A herald from the latter threatens +to take the Danaids back with him, but the King intervenes and saves +them. There is little in this play but long choral odes; yet one or two +Aeschylean features are evident. The King dreads offending the god of +suppliants + + "lest he should make him to haunt his house, a dread visitor who + quits not sinners even in the world to come." + +The Egyptian herald reverences no gods of Greece "who reared him not +nor brought him to old age". The Chorus declare that "what is fated will +come to pass, for Zeus' mighty boundless will cannot be thwarted". Here +we have the three leading ideas in the system of Aeschylus--the doctrine +of the inherited curse, of human pride and impiety, and the might of +Destiny. + +The _Persians_ is unique as being the only surviving historical play in +Greek literature. It is a poem rather than a drama, as there is little +truly dramatic action. The piece is a succession of very vivid sketches +of the incidents in the great struggle which freed Europe from the +threat of Eastern despotism. A Chorus of Persian elders is waiting for +news of the advance of the great array which Xerxes led against Greece +in 480. They tell how Persia extended her sway over Asia. Yet they are +uneasy, for + + "what mortal can avoid the crafty deception of Heaven? In seeming + kindness it entices men into a trap whence they cannot escape." + +The Queen-mother Atossa enters, resplendent with jewels; she too is +anxious, for in a dream she had seen Xerxes yoke two women together who +were at feud, one clad in Persian garb, the other in Greek. The former +was obedient to the yoke, but the latter tore the car to pieces and +broke the curb. The Chorus advises her to propitiate the gods with +sacrifice, and to pray to Darius her dead husband to send his son +prosperity. At that moment a herald enters with the news of the Greek +victory at Salamis. Xerxes, beguiled by some fiend or evil spirit, drew +up his fleet at night to intercept the Greeks, supposed to be preparing +for flight. But at early dawn they sailed out to attack, singing +mightily + + "Ye sons of Greece, onward! Free your country, your children and + wives, the shrines of your fathers' gods, and your ancestral tombs. + Now must ye fight for all." + +Winning a glorious victory, they landed on the little island +(Psyttaleia) where the choicest Persian troops had been placed to cut +off the retreat of the Greek navy, and slew them all. Later, they drove +back the Persians by land; through Boeotia, Thessaly and Macedonia the +broken host retreated, finally recrossing to Asia over the Hellespont. + +On hearing the news Atossa disappears and the Persian Chorus sing a +dirge. The Queen returns without her finery, attired as a suppliant; she +bids the Chorus call up Darius, while she offers libations to the +dead. The ghost of the great Empire-builder rises before the astonished +spectators, enquiring what trouble has overtaken his land. His release +from Death is not easy, "for the gods of the lower world are readier to +take men's spirits than to let them go". On learning that his son has +been totally defeated, he delivers his judgment. The oracles had long +ago prophesied this disaster; it was hurried on by Xerxes' rashness, +for when a man is himself hurrying on to ruin Heaven abets him. He had +listened to evil counsellors, who bade him rival his father's glory by +making wider conquests. The ruin of Persia is not yet complete, for when +insolence is fully ripe it bears a crop of ruin and reaps a harvest of +tears. This evil came upon Xerxes through the sacrilegious demolition of +altars and temples. Zeus punishes overweening pride, and his correcting +hand is heavy. Darius counsels Atossa to comfort their son and to +prevent him from attacking Greece again; he further advises the Chorus +to take life's pleasures while they can, for after death there is +no profit in wealth. A distinctly grotesque touch is added by the +appearance of Xerxes himself, broken and defeated, filling the scene +with lamentations for lost friends and departed glory, unable to answer +the Chorus when they demand the whereabouts of some of the most famous +Persian warriors. + +The play is valuable as the result of a personal experience of the poet. +As a piece of literature it is important, for it is a poetic description +of the first armed conflict between East and West. It directly inspired +Shelley when he wrote his _Hellas_ at a time when Greece was rousing +herself from many centuries of Eastern oppression. As a historical +drama it is of great value, for it is substantially accurate in its main +facts, though Aeschylus has been compelled to take some liberties +with time and human motives in order to satisfy dramatic needs. From +Herodotus it seems probable that Darius himself hankered after the +subjugation of Greece, while Xerxes at the outset was inclined to leave +her in peace. + +One or two characteristic features are worth note. The genius of +Aeschylus was very bold; it was a daring thing to bring up a ghost from +the dead, for the supernatural appeal does not succeed except when it +is treated with proper insight; yet even Aeschylus' genius has not quite +succeeded in filling his canvas, the last scenes being distinctly poor +in comparison with the splendour of the main theme. On the other hand +a notable advance in dramatic power has been made. The main actors are +becoming human; their wills are beginning to operate. Tragedy is based +on a conflict of some sort; here the wilful spirit of youth is portrayed +as defying the forces of justice and righteousness; it is insolence +which brings Xerxes to ruin. The substantial creed of Aeschylus is +contained in Darius' speech; as the poet progresses in dramatic cunning +we shall find that he constantly finds his sources of tragic inspiration +in the acts of the sinners who defy the will of the gods. + +_The Seven against Thebes_ was performed in 472. It was one of a +trilogy, a series of three plays dealing with the misfortunes of +Oedipus' race. After the death of Oedipus his sons Polyneices and +Eteocles quarrelled for the sovereignty of Thebes. Polyneices, expelled +and banished by his younger brother, assembled an army of chosen +warriors to attack his native land. Eteocles opens the play with a +speech which encourages the citizens to defend their town. A messenger +hurries in telling how he left the besiegers casting lots to decide +which of the seven gates of Thebes each should attack. Eteocles prays +that the curse of his father may not destroy the town and leaves to +arrange the defences. In his absence the Chorus of virgins sing a wild +prayer to the gods to save them. Hearing this, the King returns +to administer a vigorous reproof; he declares that their frenzied +supplications fill the city with terrors, discouraging the fighting men. +He demands from them obedience, the mother of salvation; if at last they +are to perish, they cannot escape the inevitable. His masterful spirit +at last cows them into a better frame of mind; this scene presents to us +one of the most manly characters in Aeschylus' work. + +After a choral ode a piece of intense tragic horror follows. The +messenger tells the names of the champions who are to assault the gates. +As he names them and the boastful or impious mottoes on their shields, +the King names the Theban champions who are to quell their pride in the +fear of the gods. Five of the insolent attackers are mentioned, then the +only righteous one of the invading force, Amphiaraus the seer; he it was +who rebuked the violence of Tydeus, the evil genius among the besiegers, +and openly reviled Polyneices for attacking his own native land. He had +prophesied his own death before the city, yet resolved to meet his fate +nobly; on his shield alone was no device, for he wished to be, not to +seem, a good man. The pathos of the impending ruin of a great character +through evil associations is heightened by the terror of what follows. +Only one gate remains without an assailant, the gate Eteocles is to +defend; it is to be attacked by the King's own brother, Polyneices. +Filled with horror, the Chorus begs him send another to that gate, +for "there can be no old age to the pollution of kindred bloodshed". +Recognising that his father's curse is working itself out, he departs to +kill and be killed by his own brother, for "when the gods send evil none +can avoid it". + +In an interval the Chorus reflect on their King's impending doom. His +father's curse strikes them with dread; Oedipus himself was born of a +father Laius who, though warned thrice by Apollo that if he died without +issue he would save his land, listened to the counsels of friends and +in imprudence begat his own destroyer. Their song is interrupted by a +messenger who announces that they have prospered at six gates, but at +the seventh the two brothers have slain each other. This news inspires +another song in which the joy of deliverance gradually yields to pity +for an unhappy house, cursed and blighted, the glory of Oedipus serving +but to make more acute the shame of his latter end and the triumph of +the ruin he invoked on his sons. The agony of this scene is intensified +by the entry of Ismene and Antigone, Oedipus' daughters, the latter +mourning for Polyneices, the former for Eteocles. The climax is +reached when a herald announces a decree made by the senate and people. +Eteocles, their King who defended the land, was to be buried with all +honours, but Polyneices was to lie unburied. Calmly and with great +dignity Antigone informs the herald that if nobody else buries her +brother, she will. A warning threat fails to move her. The play closes +with a double note of terror at the doom of Polyneices and pity for the +death of a brave King. + +Further progress in dramatic art has been made in this play. One of the +main sources of the pathos of human life is the operation of what +seems to us to be mere blind chance. Just as the casual dropping of +Desdemona's handkerchief gave Iago his opportunity, so the casual +allotting of the seven gates brings the two brothers into conflict. +But behind it was the working of an inherited curse; yet Aeschylus is +careful to point out that the curse need never have existed at all but +for the wilfulness of Laius; he was the origin of all the mischief, +obstinately refusing to listen to a warning thrice given him by Apollo. +Another secret of dramatic excellence has been discovered by the poet, +that of contrast. Two brothers and two sisters are balanced in pairs +against one another. The weaker sister Ismene laments the stronger +brother, while the more unfortunate Polyneices is championed by the +more firmly drawn sister. Equally admirable is the contrast between the +righteous Amphiaraus and his godless companions. The character of +each of these is a masterpiece. War, horror, kindred bloodshed, with +a promise of further agonies to arise from Antigone's resolve are the +elements which Aeschylus has fused together in this vivid play. + +"There was war in Heaven" between the new gods and the old. The +_Prometheus Bound_ contains the story of the proud tyranny of Zeus, +the latest ruler of the gods. Hephaestus, the god of fire, opens a +conversation with Force and Violence who are pinning Prometheus with +chains of adamant to the rocks of Caucasus. Hephaestus performs his task +with reluctance and in pity for the victim, the deep-counselling son +of right-minded Law. Yet the command of Zeus his master is urgent, +overriding the claims of kindred blood. Force and Violence, full of +hatred, hold down the god who has stolen fire, Hephaestus' right, and +given it to men. They bid the Fire-God make the chains fast and drive +the wedge through Prometheus' body. When the work is done they leave him +with the taunt: + + "Now steal the rights of the gods and give them to the creatures + of the day; what can mortals do to relieve thy agonies? The gods + wrongly call thee a far-seeing counsellor, who thyself lackest a + counsellor to save thee from thy present lot." + +Abandoned of all, Prometheus breaks out into a wild appeal to earth, +air, the myriad laughter of the sea, the founts and streams to witness +his humiliation; but soon he reflects that he had foreseen his agony +and must bear it as best he can, for the might of Necessity is not to +be fought against. A sound of lightly moving pinions strikes his ears; +sympathisers have come to visit him; they are the Chorus, the daughters +of Ocean, who have heard the sound of the riveted chains and hurried +forth in their winged car Awestruck, they come to see how Zeus is +smiting down the mighty gods of old. It would be difficult to imagine a +more natural and touching motive for the entry of a Chorus. + +In the dialogue that follows the tragic appeal to pity is quickly +blended with a different interest. By a superb stroke of art Aeschylus +excites the audience to an intense curiosity. Though apparently subdued, +Prometheus has the certainty of ultimate triumph over his foe; he alone +has secret knowledge of something which will one day hurl Zeus from his +throne; the time will come when the new president of Heaven will hurry +to him in anxious desire for reconciliation; when ruin threatens him he +will forsake his pride and beg Prometheus to save him. But no words will +prevail on the sufferer till he is released from his bonds and receives +ample satisfaction for his maltreatment. The Chorus bids him tell the +whole history of the quarrel. To them he unfolds the story of Zeus' +ingratitude. There was a discord among the older gods, some wishing to +depose Cronos and make Zeus their King. Warned by his mother, Prometheus +knew that only counsel could avail in the struggle, not violence. When +he failed to persuade the Titans to use cunning, he joined Zeus who with +his aid hurled his foes down to Tartarus. Securing the sovereignty, Zeus +distributed honours to his supporters, but was anxious to wipe out +the human race and create a new stock. Prometheus resisted him, giving +mortals fire the creator of many arts and ridding them of the dread +of death. This act brought him into conflict with Zeus. He invites the +Chorus to step down from their car and hear the rest of his story. At +this point Ocean enters, one of the older gods. He offers to act as +a mediator with Zeus, but Prometheus warns him to keep out of the +conflict; he has witnessed the sorrows of Atlas, his own brother, and +of Typhos, pinned down under Etna, and desires to bring trouble upon no +other god; he must bear his agonies alone till the time of deliverance +is ripe. Ocean departing, Prometheus continues his story. He gave men +writing and knowledge of astronomy, taught them to tame the wild beasts, +invented the ship, created medicine, divination and metallurgy. Yet for +all this, his art is weaker far than Necessity, whereof the controllers +are Fate and the unforgetting Furies. Terror-struck at his sufferings, +the Chorus point out how utterly his goodness has been wasted in helping +the race of mortals who cannot save him. He warns them that a time +would come when Zeus should be no longer King; when they ask for more +knowledge, he turns them to other thoughts, bidding them hide the secret +as much as possible. Their interest is drawn away to another of Zeus' +victims, who at this moment rushes on the scene; it is lo, cajoled and +abandoned by Zeus, plagued and tormented by the dread unsleeping gadfly +sent by Zeus' consort Hera. She relates her story to the wondering +Chorus, and then Prometheus tells her the long tale of misery and +wandering that await her as she passes from the Caucasus to Egypt, where +she is promised deliverance from her tormentor. + +The play now moves to its awful climax. The sight of Io stirs Prometheus +to prophesy more clearly the end in store for Zeus. There would be born +one to discover a terror far greater than the thunderbolt, and smite +Zeus and his brother Poseidon into utter slavery. On hearing this Zeus +sends from heaven his messenger Hermes to demand fuller knowledge of +this new monarch. Disdaining his threats, Prometheus mocks the new +gods and defies their ruler to do his worst. Hermes then delivers his +warning. Prometheus would be overwhelmed with the terrors of thunder and +lightning, while the red eagle would tear out his heart unceasingly till +one should arise to inherit his agonies, descending to the depths of +Tartarus. He advises the Chorus to depart from the rebel, lest they too +should share in the vengeance. They remain faithful to Prometheus, ready +to suffer with him; then descend the thunderings and lightnings, the +mountains rock, the winds roar, and the sky is confounded with sea; the +dread agony has begun. + +Once more the bold originality of Aeschylus displays itself. Here is a +theme unique in Greek literature. The strife between the two races of +gods opens out a vista of the world ages before man was created. It will +provide a solution to a very difficult problem which will confront us in +a later play. The conflict between two stubborn wills is the source of a +sublime tragedy in which our sympathies are with the sufferer; Zeus, who +punishes Prometheus for "unjustly" helping mortals, himself falls +below the level of human morality; he is tyrannous, ungrateful and +revengeful--in short, he displays all the wrong-headedness of a new +ruler. No doubt in the sequel these defects would have disappeared; +experience would have induced a kindlier temper and the sense of an +impending doom would have made it essential for him to relent in order +to learn the great secret about his successor. + +Pathos is repeatedly appealed to in the play. Hephaestus is one of the +kindliest figures in Greek tragedy; the noble-hearted young goddesses +cannot fail to hold our affection. They are the most human Chorus in all +drama; their entry is admirable; in the sequel we should have found +them still near Prometheus after his cycle of tortures. But the +subject-matter is calculated to win the admiration of all humanity; it +is the persecution of him to whom on Greek principles mankind owes all +that it is of value in its civilisation. We cannot help thinking of +another God, racked and tormented and nailed to a cross of shame to save +the race He loved. The very power and majesty of Aeschylus' work has +made it difficult for successors to imitate him; few can hope to equal +his sublime grandeur; Shelley attempted it in his _Prometheus Unbound_, +but his Prometheus becomes abstract Humanity, ceasing to be a character, +while his play is really a mere poem celebrating the inevitable victory +of man over the evils of his environment and picturing the return of an +age of happiness. + +Nearly all the characters in Greek tragedy were the heroes of well-known +popular legends. In abandoning the well-trodden circle Aeschylus has +here ensured an undying freshness for his work--it is novel, free and +unconventional; more than that, it is dignified. + +The slightest error of taste would have degraded if to the level of +a comedy; throughout it maintains a uniform tone of loftiness and +sincerity. The language is easy but powerful, the art with which the +story is told is consummate. Finally, it is one of the few pieces in the +literature of the world which are truly sublime; it ranks with Job +and Dante. The great purpose of creation, the struggles of beings of +terrific power, the majesty of gods, the whole universe sighing and +lamenting for the agonies of a deity of wondrous foresight, saving +others but not himself--such is the theme of this mighty and affecting +play. + +In 458 Aeschylus wrote the one trilogy which is extant. It describes the +murder of Agamemnon, the revenge of Orestes and his purification +from blood-guiltiness. It will be necessary to trace the history +of Agamemnon's family before we can understand these plays. His +great-grandfather was Tantalus, who betrayed the secrets of the gods and +was subjected to unending torture in Hades. Pelops, his son, begat two +sons, Atreus and Thyestes. The former killed Thyestes' son, invited the +father to a banquet and served up his own son's body for him to eat. +The sons of Atreus were Agamemnon and Menelaus, who married respectively +Clytemnestra and Helen, daughters of Zeus and Leda, both evil women; +the son of Thyestes was Aegisthus, a deadly foe of his cousins who had +banished him. The "inherited curse" then had developed itself in this +unhappy stock and it did not fail to ruin it. + +When Helen abandoned Menelaus and went to Troy with Paris, Agamemnon led +a great armament to recover the adulteress. The fleet was wind-bound +at Aulis, because the Greeks had offended Artemis. Chalcas the seer +informed Agamemnon that it would be impossible for him to reach Troy +unless he offered his eldest daughter Iphigeneia to Artemis. Torn by +patriotism and fatherly affection, Agamemnon resorted to a strategem to +bring his daughter to the sacrifice. He sent a messenger to Clytemnestra +saying he wished to marry their child to Achilles. When the mother and +daughter arrived at Aulis they learned the bitter truth. Iphigeneia +was indeed sacrificed, but Artemis spirited her away to the country +now called Crimea, there to serve as her priestess. Believing that her +daughter was dead, Clytemnestra returned to Argos to plot destruction +for her husband, forming an illicit union with his foe Aegisthus, +nursing her revenge during the ten years of the siege. + +The _Agamemnon_, the first play of the trilogy, opens in a romantic +setting. It is night. A watchman is on the wall of Argos, stationed +there by the Queen. For ten years he had waited for the signal of the +beacon-fire to be lit at Nauplia, the port of Argos, to announce the +fall of Troy. At last the expected signal is given. He hurries to tell +the news to the Queen, a woman with the resolution of a man; in his +absence the Chorus of Argive Elders enter the stage, singing one of the +finest odes to be found in any language. It likens Agamemnon and his +brother to two avenging spirits sent to punish the sinner. The Chorus +are past military age, and are come to learn from Clytemnestra why +there is sacrifice throughout all Argos. They remember the woes at the +beginning of the campaign, how Chalcas prophesied that in time Troy +would be taken, yet hinted darkly of some blinding curse of Heaven +hanging over the Greeks, his burden being + + "Sing woe, sing woe, but let the good prevail." + + "Yea, the law of Zeus is, wisdom by suffering, for thus soberness of + thought comes to those who wish not for it. First men are emboldened + by ill-counselling foolish frenzy which begins their troubles; even + as Agamemnon, through sin against Artemis, was compelled to slay his + daughter to save his armament. Her cries for a father's mercy, her + unuttered appeals to her slayers--these he disregarded. What is to + come of it, no man knows; yet it is useless to lament the issue before + it comes, as come it will, clear as the light of day." + +Clytemnestra enters, the sternest woman figure in all literature. She +reminds the Chorus that she is no child and is not known to have a +slumbering wit. When they enquire how she has learned so quickly of the +capture of Troy, she describes with great brilliance the long chain of +beacon fires she has caused to be made, stretching from Ida in Troyland +to Argos. She imagines the wretched fate of the conquered and the joy +of the victors, rid for ever of their watchings beneath the open sky. +Striking the same ominous note as Chalcas did, she continues: + + "If they reverence the Gods of Troy and their shrines, they shall not + be caught even as they have taken the city. May no lust of plundering + fall upon the army, for it needs a safe return home. Yet even if the + army sins not against the gods, the anger of the slain may awake, + though no new ills arise. But let the right prevail, for all to see + it clearly." + +This speech inspires the Chorus to sing another solemn ode. Too much +prosperity leads to godlessness; Paris carried away Helen in pride and +infatuation, stealing the light of Menelaus' eyes, leaving him only the +torturing memories of her beauty which visited him in his dreams. But +there is a spirit of discontent in every city of Greece; all had sent +their young men to Troy in the glory of life, and in return they had a +handful of ashes, asking why their sons should fall in murderous strife +for another man's wife. At night the dark dread haunts Argos that the +gods care not for men who shed much blood, who succeed by injustice, who +are well spoken of overmuch. Often these are smitten full in the face by +the thunderbolt; and perhaps this beacon message is mere imagining or a +lie sent from heaven. + +Hearing this the Queen comes forth to prove the truth of her story. A +herald at that moment advances to confirm it, for Troy has been sacked. + + "Altars and shrines have been demolished and all the seed of land + destroyed. Thus is Agamemnon the happiest man of mortals, most + worthy of honour, for Paris and his city cannot say that their + crime was greater than its punishment." + +Immediately after learning this story, Clytemnestra makes the first of a +number of speeches charged with a dreadful double meaning. + + "When the first news came, I shouted for joy, but now I shall hear + the story from the King himself. And I will use all diligence to + give my lord the best of all possible welcomes. Bid him come with + speed. May he find in the house a wife as faithful as he left her! + I know of no wanton pleasure with another man more than I know how + to dye a sword." + +The Chorus understand well the hidden force of this sinister speech and +bid the messenger speak of Menelaus, the other beloved King of the land. +In reply he tells how a dreadful storm sent by the angry gods descended +upon the Greek fleet. In it fire and water, those ancient foes, forsook +their feud, conspiring to destroy the unhappy armament. Whether Menelaus +was alive or not was uncertain; if he lived, it was only by the will of +Zeus who desired to save the royal house. The Chorus who look at things +with a deeper glance than the herald, hear his story with a growing +uneasiness. + + "Helen, the cause of the war, at first was a spirit ofcalm to Troy, + but at the latter end she was their bane, the evil angel of ruin. + For one act of violence begets many others like it, until + righteousness can no longer dwell within the sinner." + +They touch a more joyous chord of welcome and loyalty when at last they +see the actual arrival of Agamemnon himself. + +The King enters the stage accompanied by Cassandra, the prophetic +daughter of Priam, thus giving visible proof of his contempt for Apollo, +the Trojan protector and inspirer of the prophetess. He has heard +the Chorus' welcome and promises to search out the false friends and +administer healing medicine to the city. Clytemnestra replies in a +second speech of double significance. + + "The Argive Elders well know how dearly she loves her lord and the + impatience of her life while he was at Troy. Often stories came of + his wounds; were they all true, he would have more scars than a net + has holes. Orestes their son has been sent away, lest he should be + the victim of some popular uprising in the King's absence. Her fount + of tears is dried up, not a drop being left." + +After some words of extravagant flattery, she bids her waiting women lay +down purple carpets on which Justice may bring him to a home which he +never hoped to see. Agamemnon coldly deprecates her long speech; the +honour she suggests is one for the gods alone; his fame will speak loud +enough without gaudy trappings, for a wise heart is Heaven's greatest +gift. But the Queen, not to be denied, overcomes his scruples. Giving +orders that Cassandra is to be well treated, he passes over the purple +carpets, led by Clytemnestra who avows that she would have given many +purple carpets to get him home alive. Thus arrogating to himself the +honours of a god, he proceeds within the palace, while she lingers +behind for one brief moment to pray openly to Zeus to fulfil her prayers +and to bring his will to its appointed end. Thoroughly alarmed, the +Chorus give free utterance to the vague forebodings which shake them, +the song of the avenging Furies which cries within their hearts. + + "Human prosperity often strikes a sunken rock; bloodshed calls to + Heaven for vengeance; yet there is comfort, for one destiny may + override another, and good may yet come to pass." + +These pious hopes are broken by the entry of the Queen who summons +Cassandra within: when the captive prophetess answers her not a word, +Clytemnestra declares she has no time to waste outside the palace: +already there stands at the altar the ox ready for sacrifice, a joy she +never looked to have; if Cassandra will not obey, she must be taught to +foam out her spirit in blood. + +In the marvellous scene which follows Aeschylus reaches the pinnacle +of tragic power. Cassandra advances to the palace, but starts back in +horror as a series of visions of growing vividness comes before her +eyes. These find utterance in language of blended sanity and madness, +creating a terror whose very vagueness increases its intensity. First +she sees Atreus' cruel murder of his brother's children; then follows +the sight of Clytemnestra's treacherous smile and of Agamemnon in the +bath, hand after hand reaching at him; quickly she sees the net cast +about him, the murderess' blow. In a flash she foresees her own end +and breaks out into a wild lament over the ruin of her native city. Her +words work up the Chorus into a state of confused dread and foreboding; +they can neither understand nor yet disbelieve. When their mental +confusion is at its height, relief comes in a prophecy of the greatest +clearness, no longer couched in riddling terms. The palace is peopled by +a band of kindred Furies, who have drunk their fill of human blood and +cannot be cast out; they sit there singing the story of the origin +of its ruin, loathing the murder of the innocent children. Agamemnon +himself would soon pay the penalty, but his son would come to avenge +him. Foretelling her own death, she hurls away the badges of her office, +the sceptre and oracular chaplets, things which have brought her nothing +but ridicule. She prays for a peaceful end without a struggle; comparing +human life to a shadow when it is fortunate and to a picture wiped out +by a sponge when it is hapless, she moves in calmly to her fate. + +There is a momentary interval of reflection, then Agamemnon's dying +voice is heard as he is stricken twice. Frantic with horror, the Chorus +prepare to rush within but are checked by the Queen, who throws open the +door and stands glorying in the triumph of self-confessed murder. Her +real character is revealed in her speech. + + "This feud was not unpremeditated; rather, it proceeds from an + ancient quarrel, matured by time. Here I stand where I smote him, + over my handiwork. So I contrived it, I freely confess, that he + could neither escape his fate nor defend himself. I cast over him + the endless net, and I smote him twice--in two groans he gave up + the ghost--adding a third in grateful thanksgiving to the King of + the dead in the nether world. As he fell he gasped out his spirit, + and breathing a swift stream of gore he smote me with a drop of + murderous dew, while I rejoiced even as does the cornfield under + the Heavensent shimmering moisture when it brings the ears to the + birth. Ye Argive Elders, rejoice if ye can, but I exult. If it were + fitting to pour thank-offerings for any death, 'twere just, nay, + more than just, to offer such for him, so mighty was the bowl of + curses he filled up in his home, then came and drank them up himself + to the dregs." + +To their solemn warning that she would herself be cut off, banished and +hated, she replies: + + "He slew my child, my dearest birth-pang, to charm the Thracian + winds. In the name of the perfect justice I have exacted for my + daughter, in the name of Ruin and Vengeance, to whom I have + sacrificed him, my hopes cannot tread the halls of fear so long + as Aegisthus is true to me. There he lies, seducer of this woman, + darling of many a Chryseis in Troyland. As for this captive + prophetess, this babbler of oracles, she sat on the ship's bench + by his side and both have fared as they deserved. He died as ye see; + but she sang her swan-song of death and lies beside him she loved, + bringing me a sweet relish for the luxury of my own love." + +A little later she denies her very humanity. + + "Call me not his spouse; rather the ancient dread haunting evil + genius of this house has taken a woman's shape and punished him, + a full-grown man in vengeance for little children." + +Burial he should have, but without any dirges from his people. + + "Let Iphigeneia, his daughter, as is most fitting, meet her father + at the swift-conveying passage of woe, throw her arms about him and + kiss him welcome." + +The last scene of this splendid drama brings forward the poltroon +Aegisthus who had skulked behind in the background till the deed was +done. He enters to air his ancient grievance, reminding the Chorus how +his father was outraged by Atreus, how he himself was a banished man, +yet found his arm long enough to smite the King from far away. In +contempt for the coward the Elders prepare to offer him battle; they +appeal to Orestes to avenge the murder. The quarrel was stopped by +Clytemnestra, who had had enough of bloodshed and was content to leave +things as they were, if the gods consented thereto. + +Before the sustained power of this masterpiece criticism is nearly dumb. +The conception of the inherited curse is by now familiar to us; familiar +too is the teaching that sacrilege brings its own punishment, that human +pride may be flattered into assuming the privilege of a deity. These +were enough to cause Agamemnon's undoing. But it is the part played by +Clytemnestra which fixes the dramatic interest. She is inspired by a +lust for vengeance, yet, had she known the truth that her daughter was +not dead but a priestess, she would have had no pretext for the murder. +This ignorance of essentials which originates some human action is +called Irony; it was put to dramatic uses for the first time in European +literature by Aeschylus. The horrible tragedy it may cause is clear +enough in the _Agamemnon_; its power is terrible and its value as a +dramatic source is inestimable. There is another and a far more subtle +form of Irony, in which a character uses riddling speech interpreted by +another actor in a sense different from the truth as it is known to the +spectators; this too can be used in such a manner as to charge human +speech with a sinister double meaning which bodes ruin under the mask +of words of innocence. Few dramatic personages have used this device so +effectively as Clytemnestra, certainly none with a more fiendish intent. +Again, in this play the Chorus is employed with amazing skill; their +vague uneasiness takes more and more definitely the shape of actual +terror in every ode; this terror is raised to its height in the +masterly Cassandra scene--it is then abated a little, perhaps it is just +beginning to disappear, for nobody believed Cassandra, when the blow +falls. This integral connection between the Chorus and the main action +is difficult to maintain; that it exists in the _Agamemnon_ is evidence +of a constructive genius of the highest order. + +The _Choephori_ (Libation-bearers), the second play of the trilogy, +opens with the entry of Orestes. He has just laid a lock of hair on +his father's tomb and sees a band of maidens approaching, among them +Electra, his sister. He retires with Pylades his faithful friend to +listen to their conversation. The Chorus tell how in consequence of +a dream of Clytemnestra they have been sent to offer libations to the +dead, to appease their anger and resentment against the murderers. +They give utterance to a wild hopeless song, full of a presentiment of +disaster coming on successful wickedness enthroned in power. They are +captives from Troy, obliged to look on the deeds of Aegisthus, whether +just or unjust, yet they weep for the purposeless agonies of Agamemnon's +house. When asked by Electra what prayers she should offer to her dead +father, they bid her pray for some avenging god or mortal to requite the +murderers. Returning to them from the tomb, she tells them of a strange +occurrence; a lock of hair has been laid on the grave, and there are two +sets of footprints on the ground, one of which corresponds with her +own. Orestes then comes forward to reveal himself; as a proof of his +identity, he bids her consider the garments which she wove with her own +hands; urging her to restrain her joy lest she betray his arrival, +he tells how Apollo has commanded him to avenge his father's death, +threatening him with sickness, frenzy, nightly terrors, excommunication +and a dishonoured death if he refuses. + +In a long choral dialogue the actors tell of Clytemnestra's insolent +treatment of the dead King; she had buried him without funeral rites or +mourning, with no subjects to follow the corpse; she even mangled his +body and thrust Electra out of the palace; thus she filled the cup of +her iniquity. The Chorus remind Orestes of his duty to act, but first he +inquires why oblations have been offered; on learning that they are the +result of Clytemnestra's dreaming that she suckled a serpent that stung +her, and that she hopes to appease the angry dead, he interprets the +dream of himself. He then unfolds his plot. He and Pylades will imitate +a Phocian dialect and will seek out and slay Aegisthus. An ode +which succeeds recounts the legends of evil women, closing with the +declaration that Justice is firmly seated in the world, that Fate +prepares a sword for a murderer and a Fury punishes him with it. + +Approaching the palace Orestes summons the Queen and tells her that a +stranger called Strophius bade him bring to Argos the news that Orestes +is dead. Clytemnestra commands her servants within the house to welcome +him and sends out her son's old nurse Cilissa to take the news to +Aegisthus. The nurse stops to speak to the Chorus in the very language +of grief for the boy she had reared, like Constance in _King John_. The +Chorus advise her to summon Aegisthus alone without his bodyguard, for +Orestes is not yet dead; when she departs they pray that the end may +be speedily accomplished and the royal house cleansed of its curse. +Aegisthus crosses the stage into the palace to meet a hasty end; seeing +the deed, a servant rushes out to call Clytemnestra, while Orestes +bursts out from the house and faces his mother. For a moment his +resolution wavers; Pylades reminds him of Apollo's anger if he fails. To +his mother's plea that Destiny abetted her deed he replies that Destiny +intends her death likewise; before he thrusts her into the palace she +warns him of the avenging Furies she will send to persecute him. She +then passes to her doom. + +After the Chorus have sung an ode of triumph Orestes shows the bodies of +the two who loved in sin while alive and were not separated in death. He +then displays the net which Clytemnestra threw around her husband's +body and the robe in which she caught his feet; he holds up the garment +through which Aegisthus' dagger ran. But in that very moment the cloud +of more agonies to come descends upon the hapless family. In obedience +to Apollo's command he takes the suppliant's branch and chaplet, and +prepares to hasten to Delphi, a wanderer cut off from his native land. +The dreadful shapes of the avenging Furies close in upon him: the +fancies of incipient madness thicken on his mind: he is hounded out, +his only hope of rest being Apollo's sacred shrine. The play ends with a +note of hopelessness, of calamity without end. + +After the _Agamemnon_ this play reads weak indeed. Yet it displays +two marked characteristics. It is full of vigorous action; the plot is +quickly conceived and quickly consummated; the business is soon over. +Further, Aeschylus has discovered yet another source of tragic power, +the conflict of duties. Orestes has to choose between obedience to +Apollo and reverence for his mother. That these duties are incompatible +is clear; whichever he performed, punishment was bound to follow. It +is in this enforced choice between two evils that the pathos of life is +often to be found; that Aeschylus should have so faithfully depicted it +is a great contribution to the growth of drama. + +The concluding play, the _Eumenides_, calls for a briefer description. +It opens with one of the most awe-inspiring scenes which the imagination +of man has conceived. The priestess of Delphi finds a man sitting as +a suppliant at the central point of the earth, his hands dripping with +blood, a sword and an olive branch in his hand. Round him is slumbering +a troop of dreadful forms, beings from darkness, the avengers. When the +scene is disclosed, Apollo himself is seen standing at Orestes' side. He +urges Hermes to convey the youth with all speed to Athens where he is to +clasp the ancient image of Athena. Immediately the ghost of Clytemnestra +arises; waking the sleeping forms, she bids them fly after their victim. +They arise and confront Apollo, a younger deity, whom they reproach for +protecting one who should be abandoned to them. Apollo replies with a +charge that they are prejudiced in favour of Clytemnestra, whom, though +a murderess, they had never tormented. + +The scene rapidly changes to Athens, where Orestes calls upon Athena; +confident in the privilege of their ancient office the Chorus awaits the +issue. The goddess appears and consents to try the case, the Council +of the Areopagus acting as a jury. Apollo first defends his action +in saving Orestes, asserting that he obeys the will of Zeus. The main +question is, which of the two parents is more to be had in honour? + +Athena herself had no mother; the female is merely the nurse of the +child, the father being the true generative source. The Chorus points +out that the sin of slaying a husband is not the same as that of +murdering a mother, for the one implies kinship, while the other does +not. Athena advises the Court to judge without fear or favour. When the +votes are counted, it is found that they are exactly even. The goddess +casts her vote for Orestes, who is thus saved and restored. + +The Chorus threaten that ruin and sterility shall visit Athena's city; +they are elder gods, daughters of night, and are overridden by younger +deities. But Athena by the power of her persuasion offers them a full +share in all the honours and wealth of Attica if they will consent +to take up their abode in it. They shall be revered by countless +generations and will gain new dignities such as they could not have +otherwise obtained. Little by little their resentment is overcome; they +are conducted to their new home to change their name and become the +kindly goddesses of the land. + +The boldness of Aeschylus is most evident in this play. Not content with +raising a ghost as he had done in the _Persae_, he actually shows upon +a public stage the two gods whom the Athenians regarded as the special +objects of their worship. More than this, he has brought to the light +the dark powers of the underworld in all their terrors; it is said that +at the sight of them some of the women in the audience were taken with +the pangs of premature birth. The introduction of these supernatural +figures was the most vivid means at Aeschylus' disposal for bringing +home to the minds of his contemporaries the seriousness of the dramatic +issue. It will be remembered that the _Prometheus_ was the last echo of +the contest between two races of gods. The same strain of thought has +made the poet represent the struggle in the mind of Orestes as a trial +between the primeval gods and the newer stock; the result was the +same, the older and perhaps more terrifying deities are beaten, being +compelled to change their names and their character to suit the gentler +spirit which a religion takes to itself as it develops. At any rate, +such is Aeschylus' solution of the eternal question, "What atonement can +be made for bloodshed and how can it be secured?" The problem is of the +greatest interest; it may be that there is no real answer for it, but it +is at least worth while to examine the attempts which have been made to +solve it. + +Before we begin to attempt an estimate of Aeschylus it is well to face +the reasons which make Greek drama seem a thing foreign to us. We are at +times aware that it is great, but we cannot help asking, "Is it +real?" Modern it certainly is not. In the first place, the Chorus was +all-important to the Greeks, but is non-existent with us. To them drama +was something more than action, it was music and dancing as well. Yet +as time went on, the Greeks themselves found the Chorus more and more +difficult to manage and it was discarded as a feature of the main plot. +Only in a very few instances could a play be constructed in such +a manner as to allow the Chorus any real influence on the story. +Aeschylus' skill in this branch of his art is really extraordinary; the +Chorus does take a part, and a vital part too, in the play. Again, +the number of Greek actors was limited, whereas in a modern play +their number is just as great as suits playwright's convenience or his +capacity. The impression then of a Greek play is that it is a somewhat +thin performance compared with the vivacity and complexity of the great +Elizabethans. The plot, where it exists, seems very narrow in Attic +drama; it could hardly be otherwise in a society which was content with +a repeated discussion of a rather close cycle of heroic legends. +Yet here, too, we might note how Aeschylus trod out of the narrow +circumscribed round, notably in the _Prometheus_ and the _Persoe_. +Lastly, the Greek play is short when compared with a full-bodied +five-act tragedy. It must be remembered, however, that very often +these plays are only a third part of the real subject dealt with by the +playwright. + +All Greek tragedy is liable to these criticisms; it is not fair to judge +a process just beginning by the standards of an art which thinks itself +full-blown after many centuries of history. Considering the meagre +resources available for Aeschylus--the masks used by Greek actors made +it impossible for any of them to win a reputation or to add to the fame +of a play--we ought to admire the marvellous success he achieved. His +defects are clear enough; his teaching is a little archaic, his +plots are sometimes weak or not fully worked out, his tendency is to +description instead of vigorous action, he has a superabundance of +choric matter. Sometimes it is said that the doctrine of an inherited +curse on which much of his work is written is false; let it be +remembered that week by week a commandment is read in our churches which +speaks of visiting the sins of the fathers upon the third and fourth +generation of them that hate God; all that is needed to make Aeschylus' +doctrine "real" in the sense of "modern" is to substitute the +nineteenth-century equivalent Heredity. That he has touched on a genuine +source of drama will be evident to readers of Ibsen's _Ghosts_. More +serious is the objection that his work is not dramatic at all; the +actors are not really human beings acting as such, for their wills and +their deeds are under the control of Destiny. What then shall we say of +this from Hamlet:-- + + "There's a divinity that shapes our ends, + Rough-hew them as we will?" + +In this matter we are on the threshold of one of our insoluble +problems--the freedom of the will. An answer to this real fault in +Aeschylus will be found in the subsequent history of the Attic drama +attempted in the next two chapters. Suffice it to say that, whether +the will is free or not, we act as if it were, and that is enough to +represent (as Aeschylus has done) human beings acting on a stage as we +ourselves would do in similar circumstances, for the discussions about +Destiny are very often to be found in the mouths not of the characters, +but of the Chorus, who are onlookers. + +The positive excellences of Aeschylus are numerous enough to make us +thankful that he has survived. His style is that of the great sublime +creators in art, Dante, Michaelangelo, Marlowe; it has many a "mighty +line". His subjects are the Earth, the Heavens, the things under the +Earth; more, he reveals a period of unsuspected antiquity, the present +order of gods being young and somewhat inexperienced. He carries us back +to Creation and shows us the primeval deities, Earth, Night, Necessity, +Fate, powers simply beyond the knowledge of ordinary thoughtless men. +His characters are cast in a mighty mould; he taps the deepest +tragic springs; he teaches that all is not well when we prosper. The +thoughtless, light-hearted, somewhat shallow mind which thinks it can +speak, think, and act without having to render an account needs the +somewhat stern tonic of these seven dramas; it may be chastened into +some sobriety and learn to be a little less flippant and irreverent. + +Aeschylus' influence is rather of the unseen kind. His genius is of +a lofty type which is not often imitated. Demanding righteousness, +justice, piety, and humility, he belongs to the class of Hebrew prophets +who saw God and did not die. + + +TRANSLATIONS:-- + +Miss Swanwick; E. D. A. Morshead; Campbell (all in verse). Paley +(prose). + +Versions also appear in Verrall's editions of separate plays +(Macmillan). + +An admirable volume called _Greek Tragedy_ by G. Norwood (Methuen) +contains a summary of the latest views on the art of the Athenian +dramatists. + +See Symonds' _Greek Poets_ as above. + + + + +SOPHOCLES + + +In Aeschylus' dramas the will of the gods tended to override human +responsibility. An improvement could be effected by making the +personages real captains of their souls; drama needed bringing down from +heaven to earth. This process was effected by Sophocles. He was born at +Colonus, near Athens, in 495, mixed with the best society in Periclean +times, was a member of the important board of administrators who +controlled the Delian League, the nucleus of the Athenian Empire, and +composed over one hundred tragedies. In 468 he defeated Aeschylus, +won the first prize twenty-two times and later had to face the more +formidable opposition of the new and restless spirit whose chief +spokesman was Euripides. For nearly forty years he was taken to be the +typical dramatist of Athens, being nicknamed "the Bee"; his dramatic +powers showed no abatement of vigour in old age, of which the _Oedipus +Coloneus_ was the triumphant issue. He died in 405, full of years and +honours. + +Providence has ordained it that his art, like his country's tutelary +goddess Athena, should step perfect and fully armed from the brain +of its creator. The _Antigone_, produced in 440, discusses one of the +deepest problems of civilised life. On the morning after the defeat +of the Seven who assaulted Thebes Polyneices' body lay dishonoured and +unburied, a prey to carrion birds before the gates of the city which had +been his home. His two sisters, Antigone and Ismene, discuss the edict +which forbids his burial. Ismene, the more timid of the two, intends to +obey it, but Antigone's stronger character rises in rebellion. + +Loss of burial was the most awful fate which could overtake a +Greek--before he died Sophocles was to see his country condemn ten +generals to death for neglect of burial rites, though they had been +brilliantly successful in a naval engagement. Rather than obey Antigone +would die. + + "Bury him I will; I will lie in death with the brother I love, + sinning in a righteous cause. Far longer is the time in which I + must please the dead than men on earth, for among the former I + shall dwell for ever. Do thou, if it please thee, hold in dishonour + what is honoured by Heaven." + +Here is the source of the tragedy, the will of the individual in +conflict with established authority. + +A chorus of Theban elders enters, singing an ode of deliverance and +joy; they have been summoned by Creon, the new King, uncle of Oedipus' +children. Full of the sense of his own importance Creon states the +official view. Polyneices is to remain unburied. + + "Any man who considers private friendship to be more important than + the State is a man of naught. In the name of all-seeing Zeus I would + not hold my tongue if I saw ruin coming to the citizens instead of + safety, nor would I make a friend of my country's enemy. Sure am I + that it is the State that saves us; she is the ship that carries us; + we make our friendships without overturning her." + +The elders promise obedience, but grave news is reported by a guard who +has been set to watch the corpse. Someone had scattered dust lightly +over the dead and departed without leaving any trace; neither he nor his +companions had done the deed. + +When the Chorus suggest that it is the work of some deity, Creon answers +in great impatience: + + "Cease, lest thou be proved a fool as well as old. Thy words are + intolerable when thou sayest that the gods can have a care of this + corpse. What, have they buried him in honour for his services to them? + Did he not come to burn their pillared temples and offerings and + precincts and shatter our laws?" + +He angrily thrusts the watchman forth, threatening to hang him and his +companions alive unless they find the culprit. + + "There are many marvels, but none greater than Man. He crosses the + wintry sea, he wears away the hard earth with his plough, ensnareth + the light-hearted race of birds, catcheth the wild beasts, trappeth + the things of the deep, yoketh the horse and the unwearying ox. He + hath taught himself speech and thought swift as the wind, hath learnt + the moods of a city life and can avoid the shafts of the frost; he + hath a device for every problem save Death--though disease he can + escape. Sometimes he moveth to ill, again to good; his cities rear + their heads when they reverence the laws and the gods; he wrecketh + his city when he boldly forsakes the good. May an evil-doer never + share my hearth or heart." + +Such is the ordinary man's view of the action of Polyneices, for in +Sophocles the Chorus certainly represents average public opinion. It +is quickly challenged by the entry of Antigone with the Watchman, whose +story Creon hastens out to hear. With no little self-satisfaction the +Watchman tells how they caught the girl in the very act of replacing +the dust they had removed and pouring libations over the dead. Antigone +admits the deed. When asked how she dare defy the official ordinance, +she replies-- + + "It came neither from Zeus nor from Justice, nor did I deem that thy + decrees had such power that a mortal could override the unwritten + and unshaken laws of Heaven. These have not their life from now or + yesterday, but from everlasting, and no man knows whence they have + appeared. It was not likely that, through fear of any man's will, + I would pay Heaven's penalty for their infringement. Die I must, even + hadst thou made no proclamation; if I die before my time, I count + it all gain. If my act seem folly to thee, maybe it is a foolish + judge who counts me mad." + +Creon replies that this is sheer insolence; it is an insult that he, a +man, should give way to a woman. He threatens to destroy both girls, but +Antigone is sure that public opinion is with her, though for the moment +it is muzzled through fear. Ismene is brought in and offers to die with +her sister; Antigone refuses her offer, insisting that she alone has +deserved chastisement. + +In a second ode the gradual extinction of Oedipus' race is described, +owing to foolish word and insensate thought, for "when Heaven leads a +man to ruin it makes him believe that evil is good". A new interest is +added by Creon's son Haemon, the affianced lover of Antigone, who comes +to interview his father. This is the first instance in European drama of +that without which much modern literature would have little reason for +existing at all--the love element, wisely kept in check by the Greeks. A +further conflict of wills adds to the dramatic effect of the play; Creon +insists on filial obedience, for he cannot claim to rule a city if +he fails to control his own family. Haemon answers with courtesy and +deference; he points out that the force of public opinion is behind +Antigone and suggests that the official view may perhaps be wrong +because it is the expression of an individual's judgment. When he is +himself charged thus directly with the very fault for which he claimed +to punish Antigone, Creon lets his temper get the mastery; after a +violent quarrel Haemon parts from him with a dark threat that the girl's +death will remove more than one person, and vows never to cross his +father's doorstep again. + +Antigone is soon carried away to her doom; she is to be shut up in a +cavern without food. In a dialogue of great beauty she confesses her +human weakness--death is near, and with it banishment from the joys of +life. Creon bids her make an end; her last speech concludes with a clear +statement of the problem. Who knows if she is right? She herself will +know after death. If she has erred, she will confess it; if the King is +wrong, she prays he may not suffer greater woes than her own. + +A reaction now occurs. Teiresias, the blind seer, seeks out Creon +because of the failure of his sacrificial rites; the birds of the air +are gorged with human blood, and fail to give the signs of augury. He +bids Creon return to his right senses and quit his stubbornness. When +the latter mockingly accuses the seer of being bribed, he learns the +dread punishment his obstinacy has brought him. + + "Know that thou shalt not see out many hurrying rounds of the sun + before thou shalt give one sprung from thine own loins in exchange + for the dead, one in return for two, for thou hast thrust below + one of the children of the light, penning up her spirit in a tomb + with dishonour, and thou keepest above ground a body that belongs + to the gods below, without its share of funerals, unrighteously; + wherefore the late-punishing ruinous gods of death and the + Furies lie in wait for thee, to catch thee in like agonies." + +Cowed by the terror, the King hurries to undo his work, calling for +pickaxes to open the tomb and himself going with all speed to set free +its victim. + +The sequel is told by a messenger who at the outset strikes a note of +woe. + + "Creon I once envied, for he was the saviour of his land, and was + the father of noble children. Now all is lost. When men lose + pleasure, I deem that they are not alive but moving corpses. Heap + up wealth and live in kingly state, but if there is no pleasure + withal, I would not pay the worth of a shadow for all the rest. + Haemon is dead." + +Hearing the news, Eurydice the Queen comes out, and bids him tell his +story in full. Creon found Haemon clasping the body of Antigone who had +hung herself. Seeing his father, he made a murderous attack on him; +when it failed, he drew his sword and fell on it--thus in death the +two lovers were not separated. In an ominous silence the Queen departs. +Creon enters with his son's body, to be utterly shattered by a second +and an unexpected blow, for his wife has slain herself. Broken and +helpless he admits his fault, while the Chorus sing in conclusion:-- + + "By far the greatest part of happiness is wisdom; men should + reverence the gods; mighty plagues repay the mighty words of the + over-proud, teaching wisdom to the aged." + +To Aeschylus the power that largely controlled men's acts was Destiny. A +notable contrast is visible in the system of Sophocles. Destiny does not +disappear, rather it retires into the background of his thought. To +him the leading cause of ruin is evil counsel. Over and over again +this teaching is driven home. All the leading characters mention +it, Antigone, Haemon, Teiresias, and when it is disregarded, it is +remorselessly brought home by disaster. The dramatic gain is enormous; +man's sorrows are ascribed primarily to his own lack of judgment, the +tragic character takes on a more human shape, for he is more nearly +related to the ordinary persons we meet in our own experience. Another +great advance is visible in the construction of the plot. It is more +varied, more flexible; it never ceases developing, the action continuing +to the end instead of stopping short at a climax. Further, the Chorus +begins to fall into a more humble position, it exercises but little +influence on the great figures of the plot, being content to mirror the +opinions of the interested outside spectator. Truly drama is beginning +to be master of itself--"the play's the thing". + +But far more important is the subject of this play. It raises one of the +most difficult problems which demand a solution, the harmonisation +of private judgment with state authority. The individual in a growing +civilisation sooner or later asks how far he ought to obey, who is the +lord over his convictions, whether disobedience is ever justifiable. If +a law is wrong how are we to make its immorality evident? In an age when +a central authority is questioned or loses its hold on men's allegiance, +this problem will imperiously demand an answer. When Europe was aroused +from the slumber of the Middle Ages and the spiritual authority +which had governed it for centuries was shattered, the same right of +resistance as that which Antigone claimed was insisted upon by various +reformers. It did not fail to bring with it tragic consequences, for the +"power beareth not the sword in vain". Its sequel was the Thirty Years' +War which barbarised central Germany, leaving in many places a race of +savage beings who had once been human. In our own days resistance +is preached almost as a sacred duty. We have passive resisters, +conscientious objectors, strikers and a host of young and imperfectly +educated persons, some armed with the very serious power of voting, who +claim to set their wills in flat opposition to recognised authority. One +or two contributions to the solution of this problem may be found in +the _Antigone_. The central authority must be prepared to prove that its +edicts are not below the moral standard of the age; on the other hand, +non-compliance must be backed by the force of public opinion; it must +show that the action it takes will ultimately bring good to the whole +community. It is of little use to appeal to the so-called conscience +unless we can produce some credentials of the proper training and +enlightenment of that rather vague and uncertain faculty, whose normal +province is to condemn wrong acts, not to justify law-breaking. Most +resisters talk the very language of Antigone, appealing to the will of +Heaven; would that they could prove as satisfactorily as she did that +the power behind them is that which governs the world in righteousness. + +A somewhat similar problem reappears in the _Ajax_. This play opens at +early dawn with a dialogue between Athena, who is unseen, and Odysseus; +the latter has traced Ajax to his tent after a night of madness in which +he has slain much cattle and many shepherds, imagining them to be his +foes, especially Odysseus himself who had worsted him in the contest for +the arms of Achilles. Athena calls out the beaten hero for a moment and +the sight of him moves Odysseus to say:-- + + "I pity him, though my foe; for I think of mine own self as much as + of him. We men are but shadows, all of us, or fleeting shades." + +To this Athena replies:-- + + "When thou seest such sights, utter no haughty word against the gods + and be not roused to pride, if thou art mightier than another in + strength or store of wealth. One day can bring down or exalt all + human state, but the gods love the prudent and hate the sinners." + +A band of mariners from Salamis enter as the chorus; they are Ajax' +followers who have come to learn the truth. They are confronted by +Tecmessa, Ajax' captive, who confirms the grievous rumour, describing +his mad acts. When the fit was over, she had left him in his tent +prostrate with grief and shame among the beasts he had slain, longing +for vengeance on his enemies before he died. + +The business of the play now begins. Coming forth, Ajax in a long +despairing speech laments his lot--persecuted by Athena, hated of Greeks +and Trojans alike, the secret laughter of his enemies. + +Where shall he go? Home to the father he has disgraced? Against Troy, +leading a forlorn hope? He had already reminded Tecmessa with some +sternness that silence is a woman's best grace; now she appeals to his +pity. Bereft of him, she would speedily be enslaved and mocked; their +son would be left defenceless; the many kindnesses she had done him cry +for some return from a man of chivalrous nature, Ajax bade her be of +good cheer; she must obey him in all things and first must bring his son +Eurysaces. Taking him in his arms, he says:-- + + "If he is my true son, he will not quail at the sight of blood. + But he must speedily be broken into his father's warrior habit + and imitate his ways. My son, I pray thou mayest be happier than + thy sire, but like him otherwise, then thou shalt be no churl. + Yet herein I envy thee that thou canst not feel my agonies. Life + is sweetest in its careless years before it learns joy and pain; + but when thou art come to that, show thy father's enemies thy + nature and birth. Till then feed on the spirit of gladness, + gambol in the life of boyhood and gladden thy mother's heart." + +He reflects that his son will be safe as long as Teucer lives, whom he +charges on his return to take the boy to his own father and mother to be +their joy. His arms shall not be a prize to be striven for; they should +be buried with him except his shield, which his son should take and +keep. This ominous speech dashes the hopes which he had raised in +Tecmessa's heart, even the Chorus sadly admitting that death is the best +for a brainsick man, born of the highest blood, no longer true to his +character. + +Ajax re-enters, a sword in his hands. He feels his heart touched by +Tecmessa's words and pities her helplessness. He resolves to go to the +shore and there bury the accursed sword he had of Hector, which had +robbed him of his peace. He will soon learn obedience to the gods and +his leaders; all the powers of Nature are subject to authority, the +seasons, the sea, night and sleep. He has but now learned that an enemy +is to be hated as one who will love us later, while friendship will not +always abide. Yet all will be well; he will go the journey he cannot +avoid; soon all will hear that his evil destiny has brought him +salvation. This splendid piece of tragic irony is interpreted at its +surface value by the Chorus, who burst into a song of jubilation. But +the words have a darker meaning; this transient joy is but the last +flicker of hope before it is quenched in everlasting night. + +A messenger brings the news that Teucer, Ajax' brother, on his return +to the camp from a raid was nearly stoned to death as the kinsman of the +army's foe. He inquires where Ajax is; hearing that he had gone out to +make atonement, he knows the terror that is to come. Chalcas the seer +adjured Teucer to use all means in his power to keep Ajax in his tent +that day, for in it alone Athena's wrath would persecute him. She had +punished him with madness for two proud utterances. On leaving his +father he had boasted he would win glory in spite of Heaven, and later +had bidden Athena assist the other Greeks, for the line would never +break where he stood. Such was his pride, and such its punishment. +Tecmessa hurries in and sends some to fetch Teucer, others to go east +and west to seek out her lord. The scene rapidly changes to the shore, +where Ajax cries to the gods, imprecates his foes, prays to Death, and +after a remembrance of his native land falls on his sword. + +The Chorus enter in two bands, but find nothing. Tecmessa discovers the +body in a brake, and hides it under her robe. Distracted and haunted by +the dread of slavery and ridicule, she gives way to grief. Teucer enters +to learn of the tragedy; after dispatching Tecmessa to save the child +while there is yet time, he reflects on his own state. Telamon his +father will cast him off for being absent in his brother's hour of +weakness whom he loved as his own life. Sadly he bears out the truth of +Ajax utterance, that a foe's gifts are fraught with ruin; the belt that +Ajax gave Hector served to tie his feet to Achilles' car--and Hector's +sword was in his brother's heart. + +The plot now appeals to fiercer passions. Menelaus entering commands +Teucer to leave the corpse where it is, for an enemy shall receive no +burial. He strikes the same note as Creon:-- + + "It is the mark of an ill-conditioned man that he, a commoner, + should see fit to disobey the powers that be. Law cannot prosper + in a city where there is no settled fear; where a man trembles and + is loyal, there is salvation; when he is insolent and does as he + will, his city soon or late will sink to ruin." + +Teucer answers that Ajax never was a subject, but was always an equal. +He fought, not for Helen, but for his oath's sake. The dispute waxes +hot; the calm dignity of Teucer easily discomfits the Spartan braggart, +who departs to bring aid. Meanwhile Tecmessa returns with the child whom +Teucer in a scene of consummate pathos bids kneel at his father's side, +holding in his hand a triple lock of hair--Teucer's, his mother's, his +own; this sacred symbol, if violated, would bring a curse on any who +dared outrage him. While the Chorus sing a song full of longings for +home, Agamemnon advances to the place, followed by Teucer. The King is +deliberately insolent, reviling Teucer for the stain on his birth. In +reply the latter in a great speech reminds him that there was a time +when the flames licked the Greek ships and there was none to save them +but Ajax, who had faced Hector single-handed. With kindling passion he +hurls the taunt of a stained birth back on Agamemnon and plainly tells +him that Ajax shall be buried and that the King will rue any attempt at +violence. Odysseus comes in to hear the quarrel. He admits that he +had once been the foe of the dead man, who yet had no equal in bravery +except Achilles. For all that, enmity in men should end where death +begins. Astonished at this defence of a foe, Agamemnon argues a little +with Odysseus, who gently reminds him that one day he too will need +burial. This human appeal obtains the necessary permission; Odysseus, +left alone with Teucer, offers him friendship. Too much overcome by +surprise and joy to say many words, Teucer accepts his friendship and +the play ends with a ray of sunlight after storm and gloom. + +Once more Sophocles has filled every inch of his canvas. The plot never +flags and has no diminuendo after the death of Ajax. The cause of the +tragedy is not plainly indicated at the outset; with a skill which is +masterly, Sophocles represents in the opening scene Athena and Odysseus +as beings purely odious, mocking a great man's fall. With the progress +of the action these two characters recover their dignity; Athena has +just cause for her anger, while Odysseus obtains for the dead his right +of burial. We should notice further how the pathos of this fine play is +heightened by the conception of the "one day" which brought ruin to a +noble warrior. Had he been kept within his tent that one day--had this +fatal day been known, the ruin need not have happened. "The pity of it", +the needless waste of human life, what a theme is there for a tragedy! + +The _Ajax_ has never exercised an acknowledged influence on literature. +It was a favourite with the Greeks, but modern writers have strangely +overlooked it. For us it has a good lesson. Here was a hero, born in an +island, who unaided saved a fleet when his allies were forced back +on their trenches and beyond them to the sea. His reward was such as +Wordsworth tells of:-- + + Alas! the gratitude of men + Has oftener left me mourning. + +We remember many a long month of agony during which another island kept +destruction from a fleet and saved her allies withal. In some quarters +this island has received the gratitude which Ajax had; her friends +asked, "What has England done in the war, anyhow?" If it befits anybody +to answer, it must be England's Teucer, who has built another Salamis +overseas, just as he did. Our kindred across the oceans will give us the +reward of praise; for us the chastisement of Ajax may serve to reinforce +the warning which is to be found on the lips of not the least of our own +poets:-- + + "For frantic boast and foolish word + Thy mercy on Thy people, Lord." + +The _Electra_ is Sophocles' version of the revenge of Orestes which +Aeschylus described in the _Choephori_ and is useful as affording a +comparison between the methods of the two masters. An aged tutor at +early dawn enters the scene with Orestes to whom he shows his father's +palace and then departs with him to offer libations at the dead king's +tomb. Electra with a Chorus of Argive girls comes forward, the former +describing the insolent conduct of Clytemnestra who holds high revelry +on the anniversary of her husband's death and curses Electra for saving +Orestes. Chrysothemis, another daughter, comes out to talk with Electra; +she is of a different mould, gentle and timid like Ismene, and warns +Electra that in consequence of her obstinacy in revering her father's +memory Aegisthus intends to shut her up in a rocky cavern as soon as he +returns. She advises her to use good counsel, then departs to pour on +Agamemnon's tomb some libations which Clytemnestra offers in consequence +of a dream. + +The Queen finds Electra ranging abroad as usual in the absence of +Aegisthus. She defends the murder of her husband, but is easily refuted +by Electra who points out that, if it is right to exact a life for a +life, she ought to suffer death herself. Clytemnestra prays to Apollo +to avert the omen of her dream, her prayer seemingly being answered +immediately by the entry of the old tutor who comes to inform her of +the death of Orestes, killed at Delphi in a chariot race which he +brilliantly describes. Torn by her emotions, Clytemnestra can be neither +glad nor sorry. + + "Shall I call this happy news, or dreadful but profitable? Hapless + am I, if I save my life at the cost of my own miseries. Strong is + the tie of motherhood; no parent hates a child even if outraged by + him. Yet, now that he is gone, I shall have rest and peace from his + threats." + +Hearing so circumstantial a proof of her brother's death, Electra is +plunged into the depths of misery. + +But soon Chrysothemis returns in a state of high excitement. She has +found a lock of Orestes' hair and some offerings at the tomb. Electra +quickly informs her that her elation is groundless, for their brother +is dead; she suggests that they two should strike the murderers, but +Chrysothemis recoils in horror from the plot. Then Orestes enters with +a casket in his hand; this he gives to Electra, saying it contains the +mortal remains of the dead prince. In utter hopelessness Electra takes +it and soliloquises over it. Seeing her misery, Orestes cannot refrain; +gently taking the casket from her he gradually reveals himself. The +tutor enters and recalls him to their immediate business. Electra asks +who the stranger is and learns that it is the very man to whom she +gave the infant boy her brother. The three advance to the palace which +Orestes enters to dispatch his mother, Electra bidding him smite with +double force, wishing only that Aegisthus were with her mother. + +The end of Aegisthus himself is contrived with Sophoclean art. He comes +in hurriedly to find the two strangers who have proof of Orestes' death. + +Electra tells him they are in the palace; they have not only told her of +the dead Orestes, but have shown him to her; Aegisthus himself can see +the unenviable sight; he can rejoice at it, if there is any joy in it. +Exulting, he sings a note of triumph at the removal of his fears and +threatens to chastise all who try henceforth to thwart his will. He +dashes open the door, and there sees the Queen lying dead. Orestes bids +him enter the palace, to be slain on the very spot where his father was +murdered. + +Fortune has been kind in preserving us this play. The great difference +between the art of Sophocles and that of Aeschylus is here apparent. +Only one man has ventured to paint for us Aeschylus' Clytemnestra; +Leighton has revealed her, stern as Nature herself, remorseless, armed +with a sword to smite first, then argue if she can find time to do so. +Sophocles' Clytemnestra is a woman, lost as soon as she begins to reason +out her misdeeds. She prays to Apollo in secret, for fear lest Electra +may overhear her prayer and make it void. But the crudity of Aeschylus' +resources did not satisfy Sophocles, whose taste demanded a contrast to +heighten the character of his heroine and found one in the Homeric story +that Agamemnon had a second daughter. Aeschylus' stern nature did not +shrink from the sight of a meeting between mother and son; Sophocles +closed the doors upon the act of vengeance, though he represents Electra +as encouraging her brother from outside the palace. The Aegisthus +incident maintains the interest to the end in the masterly Sophoclean +style of refined and searching irony. The tone of the play is singular; +from misery it at first sinks to hopelessness, then to despair, and +finally it soars to triumphant joy. Such a dangerous venture was +unattempted before. + +The most lovable woman in Greek literature is the heroine of the next +play, the _Trachiniae_, produced at an uncertain date. Deianeira had +been won and wed by Heracles; after a brief spell of happiness she found +herself left more and more alone as her husband's labours called him +away from her. For fifteen months she had heard no news of him. Her +nurse suggests that she should send her eldest son to Euboea to seek him +out, a rumour being abroad that he has reached that island. The mother +in her loneliness is comforted by a band of girls of Trachis, the +scene of the action. But her uneasiness is too great to be cheered; she +describes the strange curse of womanhood:-- + + "When it is young it groweth in a clime of its own, plagued by no + heat of the sun nor rain nor wind; in careless gaiety it builds up + its days till it is no longer maid, but wife; then in the night it + hath its meed of cares, terrified for lord or children. Only such a + one can know from the sight of her own sorrows what is my burden + of grief." + +But there is a deeper cause for anxiety; Heracles had said that if he +did not return in fifteen months he would either die or be rid for ever +of his labours; that very hour had come. + +News reached her that Heracles is alive and triumphant; Lichas was +coming to give fuller details. Very soon he enters with a band of +captive maidens, telling how his master had been kept in slavery in +Lydia; shaking off the yoke, he had sacked and destroyed the city of +Eurytus who had caused his captivity, the girls were Heracles' offering +of the spoils to Deianeira. Filled with pity at their lot, she looked +closely at them and was attracted by one of them, a silent girl of noble +countenance. Lichas when questioned denied all knowledge of her identity +and departed. When he had gone, the messenger desired private speech +with Deianeira. Lichas had lied; the girl was Iole, daughter of Eurytus; +it was for her sake that his master destroyed the city, for he loved +the maid and intended to keep her in his home to be a rival to his wife. +Lichas on coming out was confronted by the messenger, and attempted to +dissemble, but Deianeira appealed to him thus:-- + + "Nay, deceive me not. Thou shalt not speak to a woman of evil heart, + who knoweth not the ways of men, how that they by a law of their + own being delight not always in the same thing. 'Tis a fool who + standeth up to battle against Love who ruleth even gods as he will, + and me too; then why not another such as I? Therefore if I revile + my lord when taken with this plague, I am crazed indeed--or this + woman is, who hath brought me no shame or sorrow. If my lord + teacheth thee to lie, thy lesson is no good one; if thou art + schooling thyself to falsehood in a desire to be kind to me, thou + shalt prove unkind. Speak all the truth; it is an ignoble lot for a + man of honour to be called false." + +Completely won by this appeal, Lichas confesses the truth. + +During the singing of a choral ode Deianeira has had time to reflect. +The reward of her loyalty is to take a second place. The girl is young +and her beauty is fast ripening; she herself is losing her charm. But no +prudent woman should fly into a passion; happily she has a remedy, +for in the first days of her wedded life Heracles had shot Nessus, a +half-human monster, for insulting her. Before he died Nessus bade her +steep her robe in his blood and treasure it as a certain charm for +recovering his waning affection. Summoning Lichas, she gives him strict +orders to take the robe to Heracles who was to allow no light of the sun +or fire to fall upon it before wearing it. After a short interval, she +returns in the greatest agitation; a little tuft of wool which she had +anointed with the monster's blood had caught the sunlight and shrivelled +up to dust. If the robe proved a means of death, she determined to slay +herself rather than live in disgrace. At that moment Hyllus bursts in to +describe the horrible tortures which seized Heracles when he put on the +poisoned mantle; the hero commanded his son to ferry him across from +Euboea to witness the curse which his mother's evil deed would bring +with it. Hearing these tidings Deianeira leaves the scene without +uttering a word. + +The old nurse quickly rushes in from the palace to tell how Deianeira +had killed herself--while Hyllus was kissing her dead mother's lips +in vain self-reproach, bereft of both his parents. Heracles himself +is borne in on a litter, tormented with the slow consuming poison. In +agony, he prays for death; when he learns of the decease of his wife and +her beguilement by Nessus into an unintentional crime, his resentment +softens. In a flash of inspiration the double meaning of the oracle +comes over him, his labour is indeed over. Commanding Hyllus to wed Iole +he passes on his last journey to the lonely top of Oeta, to be consumed +on the funeral pyre. + +The Sophoclean marks are clear enough in this play--the tragic moment, +the life and movement, the splendid pathos, breadth of outlook and +fascination of language. Yet there is a serious fault as well, for +Sophocles, like the youngest of dramatists, can strangely enough make +mistakes. The entry of Heracles practically makes the play double, +marring its continuity. The necessary and remorseless sequence of events +which is looked for in dramatic writing is absent. This tendency to +disrupt a whole into parts brilliant but unrelated is a feature of +Euripides' work; it may perhaps find a readier pardon exactly because +Sophocles himself is not able to avoid it always. But the greatest +triumph is the character of Deianeira. It is such as one would rarely +find in warm-blooded Southern peoples. She dreads that loss of her power +over her husband which her waning beauty brings; she is grossly insulted +in being forced to countenance a rival living in the same house after +she has given her husband the best years of her life; yet she hopes on, +and perhaps she would have won him back by her very gentleness. This +creation of a type of almost perfect human nature is the justification +of a poet's existence; it was a saying of Sophocles that he painted men +as they ought to be, Euripides painted them as they are. + +The rivalry of the younger poet produced its effect on another play with +which Sophocles gained the first prize in 409. _Philoctetes_, the hero +after whom it is named, had lit the funeral pyre of Heracles on Oeta and +had received from him his unconquerable bow and arrows. When he went +to Troy he was bitten in the foot by a serpent in Tenedos. As the wound +festered and made him loathsome to the army he was left in Lemnos in the +first year of the war. An oracle declared that Troy could not be taken +without him and his arrows; at the end of the siege, as Achilles and +Ajax were dead, Philoctetes, outraged and abandoned, became necessary to +the Greeks. How could they win him over to rejoin them? + +Odysseus his bitterest foe takes with him Neoptolemus, the young son +of Achilles. Landing at Lemnos, they find the cave in which Philoctetes +lives, see his rude bed, rough-hewn cup and rags of clothing, and lay +their plot. Neoptolemus is to say that he is Achilles' son, homeward +bound in anger with the Greeks for the loss of his father's arms. As he +was not one of the original confederacy, Philoctetes will trust him. He +is then to obtain the bow and arrows by treachery, for violence will be +useless. The young man's soul rises against the idea of foul play +but Odysseus bids him surrender to shamelessness for one day, to reap +eternal glory. Left alone with the Chorus, composed of sailors from +his ship, Neoptolemus pities the hero's deserted existence, wretched, +famished and half-brutalised. He comes along towards them, creeping +and crying in agony. Seeing them he inquires who they are; Neoptolemus +answers as he had been bidden and wins the heart of Philoctetes who +describes the misery of his life, his desertion and the unquenchable +malady that feeds on him. In return Neoptolemus tells how he was +beguiled to Troy by the prophecy that he should capture it after his +father's death; arriving there he obtained possession of all Achilles' +property except the arms, which Odysseus had won. He pretends to return +to his ship, but Philoctetes implores him to set him once more in +Greece. The great pathos of his appeal wins the youth's consent; they +prepare to depart when a merchant enters with a sailor; from him they +learn that Odysseus with Diomedes are on the way to bring Philoctetes by +force or persuasion to Troy which cannot fall without his aid. The mere +mention of Odysseus' name fills Philoctetes with anger and he retires to +the cave, taking Neoptolemus with him. + +When they reappear, a violent attack of the malady prostrates +Philoctetes who gives his bow to Neoptolemus, praying him to burn him +and put an end to his agony. Noticing a strange silence in the youth, +suspicions seem to be aroused in him, but when he falls into a slumber +the Chorus takes a decided part in the action, advising the youth to fly +with the bow and to talk in a whisper for fear of waking the sleeper. +The latter unexpectedly starts out of slumber, again begging to be taken +on board. Again Neoptolemus' heart smites him at the villainy he is +about to commit; he reveals that his real objective is Troy. Betrayed +and defenceless, Philoctetes appeals to Heaven, to the wild things, to +Neoptolemus' better self to restore the bow which is his one means of +procuring him food. A profound pity overcomes Neoptolemus, who is in +the act of returning the weapon when Odysseus appears. Seeing him +Philoctetes knows he is undone. Odysseus invites him to come to Troy of +his own freewill, but is met with a curse; as he refuses to rejoin the +Greeks, Odysseus and Neoptolemus depart bearing with them the bow for +Teucer to use. + +Left without that which brought him his daily food Philoctetes bursts +out into a wild lyric dialogue with the Chorus. They advise him to make +terms with Odysseus, but he bids them begone. When they obey, he recalls +them to ask one little boon, a sword. At this moment Neoptolemus runs +in, Odysseus close behind him. He has come to restore the bow he got +by treachery. A violent quarrel ends in the temporary retirement of +Odysseus. Advancing to Philoctetes, Neoptolemus gives him his property; +Philoctetes takes it and is barely restrained from shooting at Odysseus +who appears for a moment, only to take refuge in flight. Neoptolemus +then tells him the whole truth about the prophecy, promising him great +glory if he will go back to Troy which can fall only through him. In +vain Neoptolemus assures him of a perfect cure; nothing will satisfy the +broken man but a full redemption of the promise he had to be landed once +more in Greece. When Neoptolemus tells him that such action will earn +him the hatred of the Greeks, Philoctetes promises him the succour of +his unerring shafts in a conflict. + +The action has thus reached a deadlock. The problem is solved by the +sudden appearance of the deified Heracles. He commands his old friend +to go to Troy which he is to sack, and return home in peace. His lot is +inseparably connected with that of Neoptolemus and a cure is promised +him at the hands of Asclepius. This assurance overcomes his obstinacy; +he leaves Lemnos in obedience to the will of Heaven. + +Such is the work of an old dramatist well over eighty years old. It is +exciting, vigorous, pathetic and everywhere dignified. The characters +of the old hero and the young warrior are masterly. The Chorus takes an +integral part in the action--its whisperings to Neoptolemus remind +the reader of the evil suggestions of which Satan breathed into Eve's +equally guileless ears in _Paradise Lost_. But the most remarkable +feature of the piece is its close resemblance to the new type of drama +which Euripides had popularised. The miserable life of Philoctetes, +his rags, destitution and sickness are a parallel to the Euripidean +Telephus; most of all, the appearance of a god at the end to untie +the knot is genuine Euripides. But there is a great difference; of the +disjointed actions which disfigure later tragedy and are not absent from +Sophocles' own earlier work there is not a trace. The odes are relevant, +the Chorus is indispensable; in short, Sophocles has shown Euripides +that he can beat him even on his own terms. Melodramatic the play may +be, but it wins for its author our affection by the sheer beauty of a +boyish nature as noble as Deianeira's; the return of Neoptolemus upon +his own baseness is one of the many compliments Sophocles has paid to +our human kind. + +Many years previously Sophocles had written his masterpiece, the +_Oedipus Tyrannus_. It cannot easily be treated separately from its +sequel. A mysterious plague had broken out in Thebes; Creon had been +sent to Delphi by Oedipus to learn the cause of the disaster. Apollo +bade the Thebans cast out the murderer of the last King Laius, who was +still lurking in Theban territory. Oedipus on inquiry learns that there +are several murderers, but only one of Laius' attendants escaped alive. +In discovering the culprit Oedipus promises the sternest vengeance on +his nearest friends, nay, on his own kin, if necessary. After a prayer +from the Chorus of elders he repeats his determination even more +emphatically, invoking a curse on the assassin in language of a terrible +double meaning, for in every word he utters he unconsciously pronounces +his own doom. With commendable foresight he had summoned the old seer +Teiresias, but the seer for some reason is unwilling to appear. When +at last he confronts the King, he craves permission to depart with his +secret unsaid. Oedipus at once flies into a towering passion, finally +accusing him without any justification of accepting bribes from Creon. +With equal heat Teiresias more and more clearly indicates in every +speech the real murderer, though his words are dark to him who could +read the Sphinx's riddle. + +The Chorus break out into an ode full of uneasy surmises as to the +identity of the culprit. When Creon enters, Oedipus flies at him in +headlong passion accusing him of bribery, disloyalty and eventually of +murder. With great dignity he clears himself, warning the King of the +pains which hasty temper brings upon itself. Their quarrel brings out +Jocasta, the Queen and sister of Creon, who succeeds in settling the +unseemly strife. She bids Oedipus take no notice of oracles; one such +had declared that Laius would be slain by his own son, who would marry +her, his mother. The oracle was false, for Laius had died at the hands +of robbers in a place where three roads met. Aghast at hearing this, +Oedipus inquires the exact scene of the murder, the time when it was +committed, the actual appearance of Laius. Jocasta supplies the details, +adding that the one survivor had implored her after Oedipus became King +to live as far away as possible from the city. Oedipus commands him to +be sent for and tells his life story. He was the reputed son of Polybus +and Merope, rulers of Corinth. One day at a wine-party a man insinuated +that he was not really the son of the royal pair. Stung by the taunt he +went to Delphi, where he was warned that he should kill his father and +marry his mother. He therefore fled away from Corinth towards Thebes. +On the road he was insulted by an old man in a chariot who thrust him +rudely from his path; in anger he smote the man at the place where +three ways met. If then this man was Laius, he had imprecated a curse +on himself; his one hope is the solitary survivor whom he had sent for; +perhaps more than one man had killed Laius after all. + +An ominous ode about destiny and its workings is followed by the entry +of the Queen who describes the mad terrors of Oedipus. She is come +to pray to Apollo to solve their troubles. At that moment a messenger +enters from Corinth with the tidings that Polybus is dead. In eager joy +Jocasta summons Oedipus, sneering at the truth of oracles. The King on +his appearance echoes her words after hearing the tidings-only to sink +back again into gloomy despondency. What of Merope, is she also dead? +The messenger assures him that his anxiety about her is groundless, for +there is no relationship between them. Little by little he tells Oedipus +his true history. The messenger himself found him on Cithaeron in his +infancy, his feet pierced through. He had him from a shepherd, a servant +of Laius, the very man whom Oedipus had summoned. Suddenly turning to +Jocasta, the King asks her if she knows the man. Appalled at the horror +of the truth which she knows cannot be concealed much longer she affects +indifference and beseeches him search no further. When he obstinately +refuses, bidding the man be brought at once, she leaves the stage with +the cry: + + "Alack, thou unhappy one; that is all I may call thee and never + address thee again." + +Oedipus by a masterstroke of art is made to imagine that she has +departed in shame, fearing he may be proved the son of a slave. + + "But I account myself the son of Fortune, who will never bring me + to dishonour; my brethren are the months, who marked me out for + lowliness and for power. Such being my birth, I shall never prove + false to it and faint in finding out who I am." + +The awful power of this astonishing scene is manifest. + +The bright joyousness of the King's impulsive speech prepares the way +for the coming horror. When the shepherd appears, the messenger faces +him claiming his acquaintance. The shepherd doggedly attempts to deny +all knowledge of him, cursing him for his mad talkativeness. Oedipus +threatens torture to open his lips. Line by line the truth is dragged +from him; the abandoned child came from another--from a creature of +Laius--was said to be his son--was given him by Jocasta--to be +destroyed because of an oracle--why then passed over to the Corinthian +messenger?--"through pity, and he saved the child alive, for a mighty +misery. If thou art that child, know that thou art born a hapless man". + +When the King rushes madly into the palace, the Chorus sings of his +departed glory. The horrors increase with the appearance of a messenger +from within, who tells how Oedipus dashed into Jocasta's apartment to +find her hanging in suicide; then he blinded himself on that day of +mourning, ruin, death and shame. He comes out a little later, an +object of utter compassion. How can he have rest on earth? How face his +murdered father in death? The memories of Polybus and Merope come upon +him, then the years of unnatural wedlock. Creon, whom he has wantonly +insulted, comes not to mock at him, but to take him into the palace +where neither land nor rain nor light may know him. Oedipus begs him +to let him live on Cithaeron, beseeching him to look after his two +daughters whose birth is so stained that no man can ever wed them. Creon +gently takes him within, to be kept there till the will of the gods is +known. The end is a sob of pity for the tragic downfall of the famous +man who solved the Sphinx' enigma. + +No man can ever do justice to this masterpiece. It is so constructed +that every detail leads up inevitably to the climax. Slowly, and playing +upon all the deepest human emotions, anxiety, hope, gloom, terror and +horror, Sophocles works on us as no man had ever done before. It is a +sin against him to be content with a mere outline of the play; the words +he has chosen are significant beyond description. Again and again they +fascinate the reader and always leave him with the feeling that there +are still depths of thought left unsounded. The casual mention of the +shepherd at the beginning of the play is the first stroke of perfect +art; Jocasta's disbelief in oracles is the next; then follows the +contrast between the Queen's real motive for leaving and the reason +assigned to it by her son; finally, the shepherd in torture is forced +to tell the secret which plunges the torturer to his ruin. Where is the +like of this in literature? To us it is heart-searching enough. What was +it to the Greeks who were familiar with the plot before they entered the +theatre? When they who knew the inevitable end watched the King trace +out his own ruin in utter ignorance, their feelings cannot have remained +silent; they must have found relief in sobbing or crying aloud. + +The fault in Oedipus is his ungovernable temper. It is firmly drawn in +the play; he is equally unrestrained in anger, despair and hope. He is +the typical instance of the lack of good counsel which we have seen was +to Sophocles the prime source of a tragedy. Indeed, only a headlong +man would hastily marry a widowed queen after he had committed a murder +which fulfilled one half of a terrible oracle. He should have first +inquired into the history of the Theban royal house. Imagining that the +further he was fleeing from Corinth the more certain he was to make his +doom impossible of fulfilment, he inevitably drew nearer to it. This is +our human lot; we cannot see and we misinterpret warnings; how shall not +weaker men tremble for themselves when Oedipus' wisdom could not save +him from evil counsel? + +In 405 Sophocles showed in his last play how Oedipus passed from earth +in the poet's own birthplace, Colonus. Oedipus enters with Antigone, +and on inquiry from a stranger finds that he is on the demesne of the +Eumenides. At once he sends to Theseus, King of Athens, and refuses to +move from the spot, for there he is fated to find his rest. A Chorus +from Colonus comes to find out who the suppliant is. When they hear the +name of Oedipus they are horror-struck and wish to thrust him out. After +much persuasion they consent to wait till Theseus arrives. Presently +Ismene comes with the news that Eteocles has dispossessed his elder +brother Polyneices; further, an oracle from Delphi declares that Oedipus +is all-important to Thebes in life and after death. His sons know this +oracle and Creon is coming to force him back. Declaring he will do +nothing for the sons who abandoned him, Oedipus obstinately refuses +his city any blessing. He sends Ismene to offer a sacrifice to the +Eumenides; in her absence Theseus enters, offers him protection and asks +why he has come. Oedipus replies that he has a secret to reveal which is +of great importance to Athens; at present there is peace between her and +Thebes: + + "but in the gods alone is no age or death; all else Time confounds, + mastering everything. Strength of the Earth and of the body wastes, + trust dies, disloyalty grows, the same spirit never stands firm + among friends or allies. To some men early, to others late, + pleasures become bitter and then again sweet." + +The secret Oedipus will impart at the proper time. The need for +protection soon comes. Creon attempts to persuade Oedipus to return to +Thebes but is met by a curse, whereupon the Theban guards lay hold of +Antigone--they had already seized Ismene--and menace Oedipus himself. +Theseus hearing the alarm rushes back, reproaches Creon for his +insolence and quickly returns with the two girls. He has strange news to +tell; another Theban is a suppliant at the altar of Poseidon close by, +craving speech with Oedipus. It is Polyneices, whom Antigone persuades +her father to interview. The youth enters, ashamed of his neglect of his +father, and begs a blessing on the army he has mustered against Thebes. +He is met by a terrible curse which Oedipus invokes on both his sons. In +despair Polyneices goes away to his doom. + + "For me, my path shall be one of care, disaster and sorrows sent me + by my sire and his guardian angels; but, my sisters, be yours a + happy road, and when I am dead fulfil my heart's desire, for while + I live you may never perform it." + +A thunderstorm is heard approaching; the Chorus are terrified at its +intensity, but Oedipus eagerly dispatches a messenger for Theseus. +When the King arrives he hears the secret; Oedipus' grave would be the +eternal protection of Attica, but no man must know its site save Theseus +who has to tell it to his heir alone, and he to his son, and so onwards +for ever. The proof of Oedipus' word would be a miracle which soon would +transform him back to his full strength. Presently he arises, endued +with a mysterious sight, beckoning the others to follow him. The play +concludes with a magnificent description of his translation. A voice +from Heaven called him, chiding him for tarrying; commending his +daughters to the care of Theseus, he greeted the earth and heaven in +prayer and then without pain or sorrow passed away. On reappearing +Theseus promised to convey the sisters back to Thebes and to stop the +threatened fratricidal strife. + +The _Oedipus Coloneus_, like the _Philoctetes_, the other play of +Sophocles' old age, closes in peace. The old fiery passions still burn +fiercely in Oedipus, as they did in Lear; yet both were "every inch a +king" and "more sinned against than sinning". Oedipus' miraculous +return to strength before he departs is curiously like the famous end +of Colonel Newcome. There are subtle but unmistakable marks of the +Euripidean influence on this drama; such are the belief that Theban +worthies would protect Athens, the Theseus tradition, and the recovery +of worn-out strength. These features will meet us in the next chapter. +But it is again noteworthy that Sophocles has added those touches which +distinguish his own firm and delicate handiwork. There is nothing +of melodrama, nothing inconsequent, nothing exaggerated. It is the +dramatist's preparation for his own end. Shakespeare put his valediction +into the mouth of Prospero; Sophocles entrusted his to his greatest +creation Oedipus. Like him, he was fain to depart, for the gods called. +Our last sight of him is of one beckoning us to follow him to the place +where calm is to be found; to find it we must use not the eyes of the +body, but the inward illumination vouchsafed by Heaven. + +To the Athenians of the Periclean age Sophocles was the incarnation +of their dramatic ideal. His language is a delight and a despair. It +tantalises; it suggests other meanings besides its plain and surface +significance. This riddling quality is the daemonic element which he +possessed in common with Plato; because of it these two are the masters +of a refined and subtle irony, a source of the keenest pleasure. His +plots reveal a vivid sense of the exact moment which will yield the +intensest tragic effects--only on one particular day could Ajax die or +Electra be saved. Accordingly, Sophocles very often begins his play +with early dawn, in order to fill the few all-important hours with the +greatest possible amount of action. He has put the maximum of movement +into his work, only the presence ofthe Chorus and the conventional +messengers (two features imposed on him by the law of the Attic theatre) +making the action halt. + +But it is in the sum-total of his art that his greatness lies; the sense +of a whole is its controlling factor; details are important, indeed, +he took the utmost pains to see that they were necessary and +convincing--yet they were details, subordinate, closely related, not +irrelevant nor disproportionate. This instinct for a definite plan +first is the essence of the classical spirit; exuberance is rigorously +repressed, symmetry and balance are the first, last and only aim. To +some judges Sophocles is like a Greek temple, splendid but a little +chilly; they miss the soaring ambition of Aeschylus or the more direct +emotional appeal of Euripides. Yet it is a cardinal error to imagine +that Sophocles is passionless; his life was not, neither are his +characters. Like the lava of a recent eruption, they may seem ashen on +the surface, but there is fire underneath; it betrays itself through the +cracks which appear when their substance is violently disturbed. + + They, much enforced, show a hasty spark + And straight are cold again. + +Repression, avoidance of extremes, dignity under provocation are the +marks of the gentle Sophoclean type and it is a very high type indeed. + +For we have in him the very fountain of the whole classical tradition in +drama. Sophocles is something far more important than a mere influence; +he is an ideal, and as such is indestructible. To ask the names of +writers who came most under his "influence" is as sensible as to ask the +names of the sculptors who most faithfully followed the Greek tradition +of statuary. He is Classical tragedy. The main body of Spanish and +English drama is romantic, the Sophoclean ideal is that of the small +but powerful body of University men in Elizabeth's time headed by +Ben Jonson, of the typically French school of dramatists, of +Moratin, Lessing, Goethe, of the exponents of the Greek creed in +nineteenth-century England, notably Matthew Arnold and Walter Pater, +and of Robert Bridges. To this school the cultivation of emotional +expression is suspicious, if not dangerous; it leads to eccentricity, to +the revelation of feelings which frequently are not worth experiencing, +to sentimental flabbiness, to riot and extravagance. Perhaps in dread of +the ridiculous the Classical school represses itself too far, creating +characters of marble instead of flesh. These creations are at least +worth looking at and bring no shame; they are better than the spectral +psychological studies which many dramatists, now dead or dying, have +bidden us believe are real men and women. + + +TRANSLATIONS: + +Jebb (Cambridge). This is by far the best; it renders with success the +delicacy of the original. + +Storr (Loeb Series). + +Verse translations by Whitelaw and Campbell. + +See Symonds' _Greek Poets_, and Norwood _Greek Tragedy_, as above. + + + + +EURIPIDES + + +No-Man's Land was the scene of many tragedies during the Great War. +There has come down to us a remarkable tragedy, called the _Rhesus_, +about a similar region. It treats first of the Dolon incident of the +Iliad. Hector sent out Dolon to reconnoitre, and soon afterwards some +Phrygian shepherds bring news that Rhesus has arrived that very night +with a Thracian army. Reviled by Hector for postponing his arrival +till the tenth year of the war, Rhesus answers that continual wars +with Scythia have occupied him, but now that he is come he will end the +strife in a day. He is assigned his quarters and departs to take up his +position. + +Having learned the password from Dolon, Diomedes and Odysseus enter and +reach the tents of Hector who has just left with Rhesus. Diomedes is +eager to kill Aeneas or Paris or some other leader, but Odysseus +warns him to be content with the spoils they have won. Athena appears, +counselling them to slay Rhesus; if he survives that night, neither +Achilles nor Ajax can save the Greeks. Paris approaches, having heard +that spies are abroad in the night; he is beguiled by Athena who +pretends to be Aphrodite. When he is safely got away, the two slay +Rhesus. + +The King's charioteer bursts on to the stage with news of his death. He +accuses Hector of murder out of desire for the matchless steeds. Hector +recognises in the story all the marks of Odysseus' handiwork. The +Thracian Muse descends to mourn her son's death, declaring that she +had saved him for many years, but Hector prevailed upon him and Athena +caused his end. + +This play is not only about No-man's land; it is a No-man's land, for +its author is unknown; it is sometimes ascribed to Euripides, though it +contains many words he did not use, on the ground that it reflects his +art. For it shows in brief the change which came over Tragedy under +Euripides' guidance. It is exciting, it seizes the tragic moment, the +one important night, it has some lovely lyrics, the characters are +realistic, the gods descend to untie the knot of the play or to explain +the mysterious, some detail is unrelated to the main plot--Paris +exercises no influence on the real action--it is pathetic. + +Sophocles said that he painted men as they ought to be, Euripides as +they are. This realistic tendency, added to the romanticism whence +realism always springs, is the last stage of tragedy before it declines. +A Euripides is inevitable in literary history. + +Born at Salamis on the very day of the great victory of 480, Euripides +entered into the spirit of revolution in all human activities which +was stirring in contemporary Athens. He won the first prize on five +occasions, was pilloried by the Conservatives though he was a favourite +with the masses. Towards the end of his life he migrated to Macedonia, +where he wrote not the least splendid of his plays, the _Bacchae_. On +the news of his death in 406 Sophocles clothed his Chorus in mourning as +a mark of his esteem. + +The famous _Alcestis_ won the second prize in 438. Apollo had been the +guest of Admetus and had persuaded Death to spare him if a substitute +could be found. Admetus' parents and friends failed him, but his wife +Alcestis for his sake was content to leave the light. After a series +of speeches of great beauty and pathos she dies, leaving her husband +desolate. Heracles arrives at the palace on the day of her death; he +notices that some sorrow is come upon his host, but being assured that +only a relation has died he remains. Meanwhile Admetus' parents arrive +to console him; he reviles them for their selfishness in refusing to die +for him, but is sharply reminded by them that parents rejoice to see the +sun as well as their children; in reality, he is his wife's murderer. + +Heracles' reckless hilarity shocked the servants who were unwilling +to look after an unfeeling guest. He enters the worse for liquor and +advises a young menial to enjoy life while he can. After a few questions +he learns the truth. Sobered, he hurries forth unknown to Admetus to +wrestle with Death for Alcestis. Admetus, distracted by loss of his +wife, becomes aware that evil tongues will soon begin to talk of his +cowardice. Heracles returns with a veiled woman, whom he says he won +in a contest, and begs Admetus keep her till he returns. After much +persuasion Admetus takes her by the hand, and on being bidden to look +more closely, sees that it is Alcestis. The great deliverer then bids +farewell with a gentle hint to him to treat guests more frankly in +future. + +This play must be familiar to English readers of Browning's +_Balaustion's Adventure_. It has been set to music and produced +at Covent Garden this very year. The specific Euripidean marks are +everywhere upon it. The selfish male, the glorious self-denial of the +woman, the deep but helpless sympathy of the gods, the tendency to +laughter to relieve our tears, the wonderful lyrics indicate a new +arrival in poetry. The originality of Euripides is evident in the choice +of a subject not otherwise treated; he was constantly striving to pass +out of the narrow cycle prescribed for Attic tragedians. A new and very +formidable influence has arisen to challenge Sophocles who may have felt +as Thackeray did when he read one of Dickens' early emotional triumphs. + +In 431 he obtained the third prize with the _Medea_, the heroine of +the world-famous story of the Argonauts related for English readers in +Morris' _Life and Death of Jason_. A nurse tells the story of Jason's +cooling love for Medea and of his intended wedlock with the daughter of +Creon, King of Corinth, the scene of the play. Appalled at the effect +the news will produce on her mistress' fiery nature, she begs the Tutor +to save the two children. Medea's frantic cries are heard within the +house; appearing before a Chorus of Corinthian women she plunges into a +description of the curse that haunts their sex. + + "Of all things that live and have sense women are the most hapless. + First we must buy a husband to lord it over our bodies; our next + anxiety is whether he will be good or bad, for divorce is not easy + or creditable. Entering upon a strange new life we must divine how + best to treat our spouse. If after this agony we find one to live + with us without chafing at the yoke, a happy life is ours--if not, + better to die. But when a man is surfeited with his mate he can + find comfort outside with friend or compeer; but we perforce look + to one alone. They say of us that we live a life free from danger, + but they fight in wars. It is false. I would rather face battle + thrice than childbirth once." + +Desolate, far away from her father's home, she begs the Chorus to be +silent if she can devise punishment for Jason. + +Creon comes forth, uneasy at some vague threats which Medea has uttered +and afraid of her skill as a sorceress. He intends to cast her out of +Corinth before returning to his palace, but is prevailed upon to grant +one day's grace. Medea is aghast at this blow, but decides to use the +brief respite. After a splendid little ode which prophesies that women +shall not always be without a Muse, Jason emerges. Pointing out that +her violent temper has brought banishment he professes to sympathise, +offering money to help her in exile. She bursts into a fury of +indignation, recounting how she abandoned home to save and fly with him +to Greece. He argues that his gratitude is due not to her, but to Love +who compelled her to save him; he repeats his offer and is ready to +come if she sends for him. Salvation comes unexpectedly. Aegeus, the +childless King of Athens, accidentally visits Corinth. Medea wins his +sympathy and promises him children if he will offer her protection. +He willingly assents and she outlines her plan. Sending for Jason, she +first pretends repentance for hasty speech, then begs him to get her +pardon from the new bride and release from exile for the two children. +She offers as a wedding gift a wondrous robe and crown which once +belonged to her ancestor the Sun. In the scene which follows is depicted +one of the greatest mental conflicts in literature. To punish Jason she +must slay her sons; torn by love for them and thirsting for revenge +she wavers. The mother triumphs for a moment, then the fiend, then the +mother again--at last she decides on murder. This scene captured +the imagination of the ancient world, inspiring many epigrams in the +Anthology and forming one of the mural paintings of Pompeii. + +A messenger rushes in. The robe and crown have burnt to death Glauce the +bride and her father who vainly tried to save her: Jason is coming with +all speed to punish the murderess. She listens with unholy joy, retires +and slays the children. Jason runs in and madly batters at the door to +save them. He is checked by the apparition of Medea seated in her car +drawn by dragons. Reviled by him as a murderess, she replies that +the death of the children was agony to her as well and prophesies a +miserable death for him. + +This marvellous character is Euripides' Clytemnestra. Yet unlike her, +she remains absolutely human throughout; her weak spot was her maternal +affection which made her hesitate, while Clytemnestra was past feeling, +"not a drop being left". Medea is the natural Southern woman who takes +the law into her own hands. In the _Trachiniae_ is another, outraged as +Medea was, yet forgiving. Truly Sophocles said he painted men as they +ought to be, Euripides as they were. + +The _Hippolytus_ in 429 won the first prize. It is important as +introducing a revolutionary practice into drama. Aphrodite in a prologue +declares she will punish Hippolytus for slighting her and preferring to +worship Artemis, the goddess of hunting. The young prince passes out to +the chase; as he goes, his attention is drawn to a statue of Aphrodite +by his servants who warn him that men hate unfriendly austerity, but he +treats their words with contempt. His stepmother Phaedra enters with the +Nurse, the Chorus consisting of women of Troezen, the scene of the play. +A secret malady under which Phaedra pines has so far baffled the Nurse +who now learns that she loves her stepson. She had striven in vain +against this passion, only to find like Olivia that + + Such a potent fault it is + That it but mocks reproof. + +She decided to die rather than disgrace herself and her city Athens. The +Nurse advises her not to sacrifice herself for such a common passion; +a remedy there must be: "Men would find it, if women had not found +it already". "She needs not words, but the man." Scandalised by this +cynicism the Queen bids her be silent; the woman tells her she has +potent charms within the house which will rid her of the malady without +danger to her good name or her life. Phaedra suspects her plan +and absolutely forbids her to speak with Hippolytus. The answer is +ambiguous: + + "Be of good cheer; I will order the matter well. Only Queen + Aphrodite be my aid. For the rest, it will suffice to tell my + plan to my friends within." + +A violent commotion arises in the palace; Hippolytus is heard +indistinctly uttering angry words. He and the Nurse come forth; in spite +of her appeal for silence, he denounces her for tempting him. When she +reminds him of his oath of secrecy, he answers "My tongue has sworn, but +not my will"--a line pounced upon as immoral by the poet's many foes. +Hippolytus' long denunciation of women has been similarly considered to +prove that the poet was an enemy of their sex. Left alone with the Nurse +Phaedra is terror-stricken lest her husband Theseus should hear of her +disgrace. She casts the Nurse off, adding that she has a remedy of her +own. Her last speech is ominous. + + "This day will I be ruined by a bitter love. Yet in death I will + be a bane to another, that he may know not to be proud in my woes; + sharing with me in this weakness he will learn wisdom." + +Her suicide plunges Theseus into grief. Hanging to her wrist he sees a +letter which he opens and reads. There he finds evidence of her passion +for his son. In mad haste he calls on Poseidon his father to fulfil one +of the three boons he promised to grant him; he requires the death of +his son. Hearing the tumult the latter returns. His father furiously +attacks him, calling him hypocrite for veiling his lusts under a +pretence of chastity. The youth answers with dignity; when confronted +with the damning letter, he is unable to answer for his oath's sake. +He sadly obeys the decree of banishment pronounced on him, bidding his +friends farewell. + +A messenger tells the sequel. He took the road from Argos along the +coast in his chariot. A mighty wave washed up a monster from the deep. +Plunging in terror the horses became unruly; they broke the car and +dashed their master's body against the rocks. Theseus rejoices at the +fate which has overtaken a villain, yet pities him as his son. He bids +the servants bring him that he may refute his false claim to innocence. +Artemis appears to clear her devotee. The letter was forged by the +Nurse, Aphrodite causing the tragedy. "This is the law among us gods; +none of us thwarts the will of another but always stands aside." +Hippolytus is brought in at death's door. He is reconciled to his father +and dies blessing the goddess he has served so long. + +The play contains the first indication of a sceptical spirit which was +soon to alter the whole character of the Drama. The running sore of +polytheism is clear. In worshipping one deity a man may easily offend +another, Aeschylus made this conflict of duties the cause of Agamemnon's +death, but accepted it as a dogma not to be questioned. Such an attitude +did not commend itself to Euripides; he clearly states the problem in a +prologue, solving it in an appearance of Artemis by the device known as +the _Deus ex machina_. It is sometimes said this trick is a confession +of the dramatist's inability to untie the knot he has twisted. Rather +it is an indication that the legend he was compelled to follow was +at variance with the inevitable end of human action. The tragedies of +Euripides which contain the _Deus ex machina_ gain enormously if the +last scene is left out; it was added to satisfy the craving for some +kind of a settlement and is more in the nature of comedy perhaps than +we imagine. Hippolytus is a somewhat chilly man of honour, the Nurse +a brilliant study of unscrupulous intrigue. Racine's _Phèdre_ is as +disagreeable as Euripides' is noble. Like _Hamlet_, the play is full of +familiar quotations. + +Two Euripidean features appear in the _Heracleidae_, of uncertain date. +Iolaus the comrade of Heracles flees with the hero's children to Athens. +They sit as suppliants at an altar from which Copreus, herald of their +persecutor Eurystheus, tries to drive them. + +Unable to fight in his old age Iolaus begs aid. A Chorus of Athenians +rush in, followed by the King Demophon, to hear the facts. First Copreus +puts his case, then Iolaus refutes him. The King decides to respect the +suppliants, bidding Copreus defy Eurystheus in his name. As a struggle +is inevitable Iolaus refuses to leave the altars till it is over. + +Demophon returns to say that the Argive host is upon them and that +Athens will prevail if a girl of noble family freely gives her life; he +cannot compel his subjects to sacrifice their children for strangers, +for he rules a free city. Hearing his words, Macaria comes from the +shrine where she had been sheltering with her sisters and Alcmena, her +father's mother. When she hears the truth, she willingly offers to save +her family and Athens. + + "Shall I, daughter of a noble sire, suffer the worst indignity? + Must I not die in any wise? We may leave Attica and wander again; + shall I not hang my head if I hear men say, 'Why come ye here with + suppliant boughs, cleaving to life? Depart; we will not help + cowards.' Who will marry such a one? Better death than such + disgrace." + +A messenger announces that Hyllus, Heracles' son, has returned with +succours and is with the Athenian army. Iolaus summons Alcmena and +orders his arms; old though he is, he will fight his foe in spite of +Alcmena's entreaties. In the battle he saw Hyllus and begged him to take +him into his chariot. He prayed to Zeus and Hebe to restore his strength +for one brief moment. Miraculously he was answered. Two stars lit upon +the car, covering the yoke with a halo of light. Catching sight of +Eurystheus Iolaus the aged took him prisoner and brought him to Alcmena. +At sight of him she gloats over the coming vengeance. The Athenian +herald warns her that their laws do not permit the slaughter of +captives, but she declares she will kill him herself. Eurystheus answers +with great dignity; his enmity to Heracles came not from envy but from +the desire to save his own throne. He does not deprecate death, rather, +if he dies, his body buried in Athenian land will bring to it a blessing +and to the Argive descendants of the Heracleidae a curse when they in +time invade the land of their preservers. + +Though slight and weakly constructed, this play is important. Its +two features are first, the love of argument, a weakness of all the +Athenians who frequented the Law Courts and the Assembly; this mania +for discussing pros and cons spoils one or two later plays. Next, the +self-sacrificing girl appears for the first time. To Euripides the +worthier sex was not the male, possessed of political power and +therefore tyrannous, but the female. He first drew attention to its +splendid heroism. He is the champion of the scorned or neglected +elements of civilisation. + +The _Andromache_ is a picture of the hard lot of one who is not merely a +woman, but a slave. Hector's wife fell to Neoptolemus on the capture +of Troy and bore him a son called Molossus. Later he married Hermione, +daughter of Menelaus and Helen; the marriage was childless and Hermione, +who loved her husband, persecuted Andromache. She took advantage of her +husband's absence to bring matters to a head. Andromache exposed her +child, herself flying to a temple of Thetis when Menelaus arrived to +visit his daughter. Hermione enters richly attired, covered with jewels +"not given by her husband's kin, but by her father that she may speak +her mind." She reviles Andromache as a slave with no Hector near and +commands her to quit sanctuary. Menelaus brings the child; after a long +discussion he threatens to kill him if Andromache does not abandon +the altar, but promises to save him if she obeys. In this dilemma she +prefers to die if she can thus save her son; but when Menelaus secures +her he passes the child to his daughter to deal with him as she will. +Betrayed and helpless, Andromache breaks out into a long denunciation of +Spartan perfidy. + +Peleus, grandfather of Neoptolemus, hearing the tumult intervenes. After +more rhetoric he takes Andromache and Molossus under his protection and +cows Menelaus, who leaves for Sparta on urgent business. When her father +departs, Hermione fears her husband's vengeance on her maltreatment of +the slave and child whom he loves. Resolving on suicide, she is checked +by the entry of Orestes who is passing through Phthia to Dodona. She +begs him to take her away from the land or back to her father. Orestes +reminds her of the old compact which their parents made to unite +them; he has a grievance against Neoptolemus apart from his frustrated +wedlock, for he had called him a murderer of his mother. He had +therefore taken measures to assassinate him at Delphi, whither he had +gone to make his peace with Apollo. + +Hearing of Hermione's flight Peleus returns, only to hear more serious +news. Orestes' plot had succeeded and Neoptolemus had been overwhelmed. +In consternation he fears the loss of his own life in old age. His +goddess-wife Thetis appears and bids him marry Andromachus to Hector's +brother Helenus; Molossus would found a mighty kingdom, while Peleus +would become immortal after the burial of Neoptolemus. + +A very old criticism calls this play "second rate". Dramatically it +is worthless, for it consists of three episodes loosely connected. The +motives for Menelaus' return and Hermione's flight with an assassin +from a husband she loved are not clear, while the _Deus ex machina_ adds +nothing to the story. It is redeemed by some splendid passages, but is +interesting as revealing a further development of Euripides' thought. He +here makes the slave, another downtrodden class, free of the privileges +of literature, for to him none is vile or reprobate. The famous painting +_Captive Andromache_ indicates to us the loneliness of slavery. + +The same subject was treated more successfully in the _Hecuba_: she has +received her immortality in the famous players' scene in _Hamlet_. The +shade of Polydorus, Hecuba's son, outlines the course of the action. +Hecuba enters terrified by dreams about him and her daughter +Polyxena. Her forebodings are realised when she hears from a Chorus of +fellow-captives that the shade of Achilles has demanded her daughter's +sacrifice. Odysseus bids her face the ordeal with courage. She replies +in a splendid pathetic appeal. Reminding him how she saved him from +discovery when he entered Troy in disguise, she demands a requital. + + "Kill her not, we have had enough of death. She is my comfort, my + nurse, the staff of my life and guide of my way. She is my joy in + whom I forget my woes. Victors should not triumph in lawlessness + nor think to prosper always. I was once but now am no more, for + one day has taken away my all." + +He sympathises but dare not dishonour the mighty dead. Polyxena +intervenes to point out the blessings death will bring her. + + "First, its very unfamiliar name makes me love it. Perhaps I might + have found a cruel-hearted lord to sell me for money, the sister + of Hector; I might have had the burden of making bread, sweeping + the house and weaving at the loom in a life of sorrow. A slave + marriage would degrade me, once thought a fit mate for kings." + +Bidding Odysseus lead her to death, she takes a touching and beautiful +farewell. Her latter end is splendidly described by Talthybius. + +A serving woman enters with the body of Polydorus; she is followed by +Agamemnon who has come to see why Hecuba has not sent for Polyxena's +corpse. In hopeless grief she shows her murdered son, begging his aid to +a revenge and promising to exact it without compromising him. A message +brings on the scene Polymestor, her son's Thracian host with his sons. +In a dialogue full of terrible irony Hecuba inquires about Polydorus, +saying she has the secret of a treasure to reveal. He enters her tent +where is nobody but some Trojan women weaving. Dismissing his guards, he +lets the elder women dandle his children, while the younger admire his +robes. At a signal they arose, slew the children and blinded him. On +hearing the tumult, Agamemnon hurries in; turning to him, the Thracian +demands justice, pretending he had slain Polydorus to win his favour. +Hecuba refutes him, pointing out that it was the lust for her son's +gold which caused his death. Agamemnon decides for Hecuba, whereupon +Polymestor turns fay, prophesying the latter end of Agamemnon, Hecuba +and Cassandra. + +The strongest and weakest points of Euripides' appeal are here apparent. +The play is not one but two, the connection between the deaths of both +brother and sister being a mere dream of their mother. The poet tends +to rely rather upon single scenes than upon the whole and is so far +romantic rather than classical. His power is revealed in the very +stirring call he makes upon the emotions of pity and revenge; because of +this Aristotle calls him the most tragic of the poets. + +The _Supplices_, written about 421, carries a little further the history +of the Seven against Thebes. A band of Argive women, mothers of the +defeated Seven, apply to Aethra, mother of Theseus, to prevail on her +son to recover the dead bodies. Adrastus, king of Argos, pleads with +Theseus who at first refuses aid but finally consents at the entreaties +of his mother. His ultimatum to Thebes is delayed by the arrival of a +herald from that city. A strange discussion of the comparative merits of +democracy and tyranny leads to a violent scene in which Theseus promises +a speedy attack in defence of the rights of the dead. + +In the battle the Athenians after a severe struggle won the victory; in +the moment of triumph Theseus did not enter the city, for he had come +not to sack it but to save the dead. Reverently collecting them he +washed away the gore and laid them on their biers, sending them to +Athens. In an affecting scene Adrastus recognises and names the bodies. +At this moment Evadne enters, wife of the godless Capaneus who was +smitten by the thunderbolt; she is demented and wishes to find the body +to die upon it. Her father Iphis comes in search of her and at first +does not see her, as she is seated on a rock above him. His pleadings +with her are vain; she throws herself to her death. At the sight Iphis +plunges into a wild lament. + + "She is no more, who once kissed my face and fondled my head. To a + father the sweetest joy is his daughter; son's soul is greater, but + less winsome in its blandishments." + +Theseus returns with the children of the dead champions to whom he +presents the bodies. He is about to allow Adrastus to convey them home +when Athena appears. She advises him to exact an oath from Adrastus +that Argos will never invade Attica. To the Argives she prophecies a +vengeance on Thebes by the Epigoni, sons of the Seven. + +This play is very like the _Heraclidae_ but adds a new feature; drama +begins to be used for political purposes. The play was written at the +end of the first portion of the Peloponnesian war, when Argos began to +enter the world of Greek diplomacy. This illegitimate use of Art cannot +fail to ruin it; Art has the best chance of making itself permanent when +it is divorced from passing events. But there are other weaknesses in +this piece; it has some fine and perhaps some melodramatic situations; +here and there are distinct touches of comedy. + +The _Ion_ is a return to Euripides' best manner. Hermes in a prologue +explains what must have been a strange theme to the audience. Ion is a +young and nameless boy who serves the temple of Apollo in Delphi. There +is a mystery in his birth which does not trouble his sunny intelligence. +Creusa, daughter of Erectheus King of Athens, is married to Xuthus but +has no issue. Unaware that Ion is her son by Apollo, she meets him and +is attracted by his noble bearing. A splendid dialogue of tragic irony +represents both as wishing to find the one a mother, the other a son. +Creusa tells how she has come to consult the oracle about a friend who +bore a son to the god and exposed him. Ion is shocked at the immorality +of the god he serves; he refuses to believe that an evil god can claim +to deliver righteous oracles. Addressing the gods as a body, he states +the problem of the play. + + "Ye are unjust in pursuing pleasure rather than wisdom; no longer + must we call men evil, if we imitate your evil deeds; rather the + gods are evil, who instruct men in such things." + +Xuthus embraces Ion as his son in obedience to a command he has just +received to greet as his child the first person he meets on leaving the +shrine. Ion accepts the god's will but longs to know who is his mother. +Seeing an unwonted dejection in him Xuthus learns the reason. Ion is +afraid of the bar on his birth which will disqualify him from residence +at Athens, where absolute legitimacy was essential; his life at Delphi +was in sharp contrast, it was one of perfect content and eternal +novelty. Xuthus tells him he will take him to Athens merely as a +sightseer; he is afraid to anger his wife with his good fortune; in time +he will win her consent to Ion's succession to the throne. + +Creusa enters with an old man who had been her father's Tutor. She +learns from the Chorus that she can never have a son, unlike her more +lucky husband who has just found one. The Tutor counsels revenge; though +a slave, he will work for her to the end. + + "Only one thing brings shame to a slave, his name. In all else he + is every whit the equal of a free man, if he is honest." + +The two decide to poison Ion when he offers libations. But the plot +failed owing to a singular chance. The birds in the temple tasted the +wine and one that touched Ion's cup died immediately. Creusa flees to +the altar, pursued by Ion who reviles her for her deed. At that moment +the old Prophetess appears with the vessel in which she first found Ion. +Creusa recognises it and accurately describes the child's clothing which +she wove with her own hands; mother and son are thus united. The play +closes with an appearance of Athena, who prophesies that Ion shall be +the founder of the great Ionian race, for Apollo's hand had protected +him and Creusa throughout. + +The central problem of this piece is whether the gods govern the world +righteously or not. No more vital issue could be raised; if gods are +wicked they must fall below the standard of morality which men insist +on in their dealings with one another. Ion is the Greek Samuel; his +naturally reverent mind is disturbed at any suggestion of evil in a +deity. His boyish faith in Apollo is justified and Euripides seems to +teach in another form the lesson that "except we become as children, we +cannot enter the kingdom of Heaven." + +The _Hercules Furens_ belongs to Euripides' middle period. Amphitryon, +father of Heracles, and Megara, the hero's wife, are in Theban territory +waiting for news. They are in grave danger, for Lycus, a new king, +threatens to kill them with Heracles' children, as he had already slain +Megara's father. He has easy victims in Amphitryon, "naught but an empty +noise", and Megara, who is resigned to the inevitable. Faced with this +terror, Amphitryon exclaims:-- + + "O Zeus, thou art a worse friend than I deemed. Though a mortal, + I exceed thee in worth, god though thou art, for I have never + abandoned my son's children. Thou canst not save thy friends; + either thou art ignorant or unjust in thy nature." + +As they are led out to slaughter, Amphitryon makes what he is sure is a +vain appeal to Heaven to send succour. At that moment the hero himself +appears. Seeing his family clad in mourning, he inquires the reason. At +first his intention is to attack Lycus openly, but Amphitryon bids +him wait within; he will tell Lycus that his victims are sitting as +suppliants on the hearth; when the King enters Heracles may slay him +without trouble. + +When vengeance has been taken Iris descends from heaven, sent by Hera +to stain Heracles with kindred bloodshed. She summons Madness who is +unwilling to afflict any man, much less a famous hero. Reluctantly +consenting she sets to work. A messenger rushes out telling the +sequel. Heracles slew two of his children and was barely prevented from +destroying his father by the intervention of Athena. He reappears in +his right mind, followed by Amphitryon who vainly tries to console +him. Theseus who accompanied Heracles to the lower world hurries in on +hearing a vague rumour. To him Heracles relates his life of never-ending +sorrow. Conscious of guilt and afraid of contaminating any who +touch him, he at length consents to go to Athens with Theseus for +purification. He departs in sorrow, bidding his father bury the slain +children. + +Like the _Hecuba_, this play consists of two very loosely connected +parts. The second is decidedly unconvincing. Madness has never been +treated in literature with more power than in Hamlet and Lear. Besides +Shakespeare's work, the description in the mouth of a messenger, though +vivid enough, is less effective, for "what is set before the eyes +excites us more than what is dropped into our ears" as Horace remarks. +But the point of the play is the seemingly undeserved suffering which +is the lot of a good character. This is the theme of many a Psalm in the +Bible; its answer is just this--"Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth." + +In 415 Euripides told how Hecuba lost her last remaining child +Cassandra. The plot of the _Trojan Women_ is outlined by Poseidon and +Athena who threaten the Greeks with their hatred for burning the temples +of Troy. After a long and powerful lament the captive women are told +their fate by the herald Talthybius. Cassandra is to be married to +Agamemnon. She rushes in prophesying wildly. On recovering calm speech +she bids her mother crown her with garlands of victory, for her bridal +will bring Agamemnon to his death, avenging her city and its folk. +Triumphantly she passes to her appointed work of ruin. + +Andromache follows her, assigned to Neoptolemus. She sadly points out +how her faithfulness to Hector has brought her into slavery with a proud +master. + + "Is not Polyxena's fate agony less than mine? I have not that thing + which is left to all mortals, hope, nor may I flatter my mind heart + with any good to come, though it is sweet to even to dream of it." + +This despair is rendered more hopeless when she learns that the Greeks +have decided to throw her little son Astyanax from the walls. + +Menelaus comes forward, gloating at the revenge he hopes to wreak on +Helen. On seeing him Hecuba first prays:-- + + "Thou who art earth's support and hast thy seat on earth, whoever + thou art, past finding out, Zeus, whether thou art a natural + Necessity or man's Intelligence, to thee I pray. Moving in a + noiseless path thou orderest all things human in righteousness." + +She continues:-- + + "I praise thee, Menelaus, if thou wilt indeed slay thy wife, but + fly her sight, lest she snare thee with desire. She catcheth men's + eyes, sacketh cities, burneth homes, so potent are her charms. I + know her as thou dost and all who have suffered from her." + +Hecuba and Helen then argue about the responsibility for the war. The +latter in shameless impudence pleads that she has saved Greece from +invasion and that Love who came with Paris to Sparta was the cause of +her fault. Hecuba ridicules the idea that Hera and Artemis could desire +any prize of beauty. It was lust of Trojan gold that tempted Helen; +never once was she known to bewail her sin in Troy, rather she always +tried to attract men's eyes. Such a woman's death would be a crown +of glory to Greece. Menelaus says her fate will be decided in Argos. +Talthybius brings in the body of Astyanax, over which Hecuba bursts into +a lament of exceptional beauty and then passes out to slavery. + +In this drama Euripides draws upon all his resources of pathos. It is +a succession of brilliantly conceived sorrows. Cassandra's exulting +prophecy of the revenge she is to bring is one of the great things in +Euripides. In this play we have a most vivid picture of the destructive +effects of evil, an inevitable consequence of which it is that the +woman, however innocent she may be, always pays. Hecuba drank the cup of +bereavement to the very last drop. + +The _Electra_, acted about 418, is characteristic. Electra has been +compelled to marry a Mycenean labourer, a man of noble instincts who +respects the princess and treats her as such. Both enter the scene; the +man goes to labour for Electra, "for no lazy man by merely having +God's name on his lips can make a livelihood without toil". Orestes and +Pylades at first imagine Electra to be a servant; learning the truth +they come forward and question her. She tells the story of her mother's +shame and Aegisthus' insolence which Orestes promises to recount to her +brother, "for in ignorant men there is no spark of pity anywhere, only +in the learned." The labourer returns and by his speech moves Orestes to +declare that birth is no test of nobility. Electra sends him to fetch +an old Tutor of her father to make ready for her two guests; he departs +remarking that there is just enough food in the house for one day. + +The old Tutor arrives in tears; he has found a lock of hair on +Agamemnon's tomb. Gazing intently on the two strangers, he recognises +Orestes by a scar on the eyebrow. They then proceed to plot the death of +their enemies. Orestes goes to meet Aegisthus is close by sacrificing, +and presently returns with the corpse, at which Electra hurls back the +taunts and jeers he had heaped on her in his lifetime. She had sent to +her mother saying she had given birth to a boy and asking her to come +immediately. + +Orestes quails before the coming murder, but Electra bids him be loyal +to his father. Clytemnestra on her arrival querulously defends her past, +alleging as her pretext not the death of Iphigeneia but the presence of +a rival, Cassandra. Electra after refuting her invites her inside the +wretched hut to offer sacrifice for her newly born child, where she +is slain by Orestes. At the end of the play the Dioscuri, Castor and +Pollux, bid Pylades marry Electra, tell Orestes he will be purified in +Athens and prophesy that Menelaus and Helen, just arrived from Egypt, +will bury Agisthus real Helen never went to Troy, a wraith of her being +sent there with Paris. + +The startling realism of this drama is apparent. The poverty of Electra, +the more certain identification of Orestes by a scar than by a lock +of hair, the mention of Cassandra as the real motive for the murder of +Agamemnon all indicate that Euripides was not content with the accepted +legend. His Clytemnestra is a feeble creation even by the side of that +of Sophocles. + +Stesichorus in a famous poem tells how Helen blinded him for maligning +her; she never went to Troy; it was a wraith which accompanied Paris. +Such is the central idea of a very strange play, the _Helen_. The scene +is in Egypt. Teucer, banished by his father, meets the real Helen; +to her amazement he tells of her evil reputation and of the great war +before Troy, adding that Menelaus is sailing home with another Helen. +The latter enters, to learn that he is in Egypt, where the real Helen +has lived for the last seventeen years. Warned by a prophetess Theonoe +that her husband is not far off, Helen comes to be reunited to him. +A messenger from the coast announces that the wraith has faded into +nothingness. + +Helen then warns Menelaus of her difficult position. She is wooed by +Theoclymenus, king of the land, brother of Theonoe. Menelaus in despair +thinks of killing himself and Helen to escape the tyrant. Theonoe holds +their fate in her hands; Helen pleads with her; "It is shameful that +thou shouldest know things divine, and not righteousness." Menelaus +declares his intention of living and dying with his wife. The prophetess +leaves them to discover some means of escape which Helen devises. +Pretending that Menelaus is a messenger bringing news of her husband's +death at sea, she persuades the tyrant to provide a ship and rowers that +Helen may perform the last rites to the dead on the element where he +died. At the right moment the Greek sailors overpowered the rowers and +sailed home with the united pair. + +Very commonly real drama suffers the fate which has overtaken it in this +piece; it declines into melodrama. Here are to be found all the stock +melodramatic features--a bold hero, a scheming beauty, a confidante, a +dupe, the murder of a ship's crew. Massinger piloted Elizabethan drama +to a similar end. Given an uncritical audience melodrama is the surest +means of filling the house. Reality matters little in such work; the +facts of life are like Helen's wraith, when they become unmanageable +they vanish into thin air. + +About 412 the _Iphigeneia in Tauris_ appeared. South Russia was the seat +of a cult of Artemis; the goddess spirited Iphigeneia to the place when +her father sacrificed her at Aulis. Orestes, bidden by Apollo to steal +an image of the goddess to get his final purification, comes on the +stage with Pylades; on seeing the temple they are convinced of the +impossibility of burgling it. A shepherd describes to Iphigeneia their +capture, for strangers were taken and offered to the goddess without +exception. One of the two was seized with a vision of the avenging +deities; attacked by a band of peasants both were overpowered after +a stubborn resistance. Formerly Iphigeneia had pitied the Greeks who +landed there; now, warned of Orestes' death by a dream, she determines +to kill without mercy. One of them shall die, the other taking back to +Greece a letter. Orestes insists on dying himself, reminding Pylades of +his duty to Electra. When the letter is brought Pylades swears to fulfil +his word, but asks what is to happen if the ship is wrecked. Iphigeneia +reads the letter to him; it is addressed to Orestes and tells of his +sister's weary exile. After the recognition is completed, Orestes +relates the horrors of his life and begs his sister to help him to steal +the all-important image. + +Thoas, the King of the land, learns from her that the two Greeks are +guilty of kindred murder; their presence has defiled the holy image +which needs purification in the sea as well as the criminals. The +priestess obtains permission to bind the captives and take the image to +be cleansed with private mystic rites. The plot succeeds; Orestes' ship +puts in; after a struggle the three board it, carrying the image with +them. Thoas is prevented from pursuit by an intervention of Athena. + +Goethe used this play for his drama of the same name; he made Thoas the +lover of Iphigeneia, whom he represents as the real image whom Orestes +is to remove. Her departure is not compassed by a stratagem, but is +permitted by the King, a man of singular nobility and self-denial. + +The _Phaenissae_ has been much admired in all ages. Jocasta tells how +after the discovery of his identity Oedipus blinded himself but was +shut up by his two sons whom he cursed for their impiety. Eteocles +then usurped the rule while Polyneices called an Argive host to attack +Thebes. A Choral description of this army is succeeded by an unexpected +entry into the city of Polyneices who meets his mother and tells her of +his life in exile. She sends for Eteocles in the hope of reconciling her +two sons. Polyneices promises to disband his forces if he is restored to +his rights, but Eteocles, enamoured of power, refuses to surrender +it. Jocasta vainly points out to him the burden of rule, nor can she +persuade Polyneices not to attack his own land. + +When the champions have taken up their position at the gates, Teiresias +tells Creon that Thebes can be saved by the sacrifice of his own +son Menoeceus. Creon refuses to comply and urges his son to escape. +Pretending to obey Menoeceus threw himself from the city walls. The +struggle at the gates is followed by a challenge to Polyneices issued +by Eteocles to settle the dispute in single combat. Jocasta and Antigone +rush out to intervene, too late. They find the two lying side by side at +death's door. Eteocles is past speech, but Polyneices bids farewell to +his mother and sister, pitying his brother "who turned friendship into +enmity, yet still was dear". In agony, Jocasta slays herself over her +sons' bodies. + +Led in by Antigone, Oedipus is banished by Creon, who forbids the burial +of Polyneices. After touching the dead Jocasta and his two sons, he +passes to exile and rest at Colonus. + +The harsh story favoured by Sophocles has been greatly humanised by +Euripides, who could not accept all the savagery of the received legend. +Apart from the unexplained presence of Polyneices in the city, the plot +is excellent. The speeches are vigorous and natural, the characters +thoroughly human. The criticising and refining influence of Euripides is +manifest throughout, together with a simple and noble pathos. + +An ancient critic says of the _Orestes_, written in 408, "the drama is +popular but of the lowest morality; except Pylades, all are villains". +Electra meets Helen, unexpectedly returned from Egypt to Argos with +Menelaus, who sends her daughter Hermione with offerings to the tomb of +Agamemnon. Electra's opinion of her is vividly expressed. + + "See how she has tricked out her hair, preserving her beauty; she + is old Helen still. Heaven abhor thee, the bane of me and my + brother and Greece." + +The Chorus accidentally awakens Orestes who is visited by a wild vision +of haunting Furies. When he regains sanity he begs the assistance of +Menelaus, his last refuge. His uncle, a broken reed, is saved from +committing himself by the entry of Tyndareus, father of Clytemnestra +and Helen. He righteously rebukes the bloodthirsty Orestes, though he +is aware of the evil in his two daughters. Orestes breaks out into an +insulting speech which alienates completely his grandfather. Menelaus, +when appealed to again, hurries out to try to win him back. + +Pylades suggests that he and Orestes should plead their case before the +Argive Assembly, which was to try them for murder of Clytemnestra. A +very brilliant and exciting account of the debate tells how the case +was lost by Orestes himself, who presumed to lecture the audience on the +majesty of the law he himself had broken. He and Electra are condemned +to be stoned that very day. Determined to ruin Menelaus before they die, +they agree to kill Helen, the cause of all their troubles, and to fire +the fortified house in which they live. Electra adds that they should +also seize Hermione and hold her as a check on Menelaus' fury for the +death of Helen. The girl is easily trapped as she rushes into the house +hearing her mother's cries for help. Soon after a Trojan menial drops +from the first story. He tells how Helen and Hermione have so far +escaped death, but the rest is unknown to him. In a ghastly scene +Orestes hunts the wretch over the stage, but finally lets him go as he +is not a fit victim for a free man's sword. Almost immediately the house +is seen to be ablaze; Menelaus rushes up in a frenzy, but is checked by +the sight of Orestes with Hermione in his arms. When Menelaus calls for +help, Orestes bids Pylades and Electra light more fires to consume them +all. A timely appearance of Apollo with Helen deified by his side saves +the situation. + +It is plain that Euripides has here completely rejected the old legend. +He never makes Orestes even think of pleading Apollo's command to him to +slay his mother. He is concerned with the defence which a contemporary +matricide might make before a modern Athenian assembly and with the +fitting doom of self-destruction which would overtake him. Like _Vanity +Fair_, the play shows us the life of people who try to do without God. + +The _Bacchae_ is one of Euripides' best plays. In the absence of +Pentheus the King, Cadmus and Teiresias join in the worship of the +new god Dionysus at Thebes. Pentheus returns to find that noble women, +including Agave, his own mother, have joined the strange cult brought to +the place by a mysterious Lydian stranger "whose hair is neatly arranged +in curls, his face like wine, his eyes as full of grace as Aphrodite's". + +Teiresias advises him to welcome the god, Cadmus to pretend that he is +divine, even if he is only a mortal; this new religion is the natural +outlet of the desire for innocent revelry born in both sexes. The Lydian +is arrested and brought before Pentheus, whom he warns that the god will +save him from insult, but Pentheus hurries him away into a dungeon. + +The Chorus of Bacchae are alarmed on hearing a tumult. The stranger +appears to tell how Pentheus was made mad by Dionysus in the act of +imprisoning him. The King in amazement sees his prisoner standing free +before him and becomes furiously angry on hearing that his mother has +joined a new revel on Mount Cithaeron. The stranger suggests that he +should go disguised as a Bacchante to see the new worship. When he +appears transformed, the Lydian comments with exquisite and deadly irony +on his appearance. His fate is vividly and terribly painted. Placing +him in a pine, the stranger suddenly disappeared, while the voice of +Dionysus summoned the rout to punish the spy. Rushing to the tree, the +woman tore it up by the roots and then rent Pentheus piecemeal, Agave +herself leading them on. + +She comes in holding what she imagines to be a trophy. Cadmus slowly +reveals to her the horror of her deed, the proof of which is her son's +head in her grasp. Dionysus himself comes in to point out that this +tragedy is the result of the indignity which Thebes put upon him and +his mother Semele. Broken with grief, Agave passes out slowly to her +banishment. The Bacchae was composed in Macedonia; it contains all the +mystery of the supernatural. Dionysus' character is admirably drawn, +while the infatuation of Pentheus is a fitting prelude to his ruin. +The cult of Dionysus was essentially democratic, intended for those who +could claim no share in aristocratic ritual: hence its popularity and +prevalence. We may regard the Bacchae as the poet's declaration of faith +in the worship which gave Europe the Drama; it is altogether fitting +that he who has left us the greatest number of tragedies should have +been chosen by destiny to bequeath us the one drama which tells of one +of the adventures of its patron deity. + +The _Iphigeneia in Aulis_ was written in the last year of the poet's +life. Agamemnon sends a private letter to his wife countermanding +an official dispatch summoning her and Iphigeneia. This letter is +intercepted by Menelaus, who upbraids his brother; later, seeing his +distress, he advises him to send the women home again. But public +opinion forces the leader to obey Artemis and sacrifice his daughter. +When he meets his wife and child, he tries to temporise but fails. +Achilles meets Clytemnestra and is surprised to hear that he is to marry +Iphigeneia, such being the bait which brought Clytemnestra to Aulis. +Learning the real truth, she faces her husband, pleading for their +daughter's life. Iphigeneia at first shrinks from death; the army +demands her sacrifice, while Achilles is ready to defend her. The knot +is untied by Iphigeneia herself, who willingly at last consents to die +to save her country. + +This excellent play shows no falling in dramatic power; it was imitated +by Racine and Schiller. The figures are intensely human, the conflict of +duties firmly outlined, the pathos sincere and true, there is no divine +appearance to straighten out a tangled plot. Thus Euripides' career ends +as it began, with a story of a woman's noble self-sacrifice. + +The poet's popularity is indicated by the number of his extant dramas +and fragments, both of which exceed in bulk the combined work +of Aeschylus and Sophocles. All classes of writers quoted him, +philosophers, orators, bishops. In his own lifetime Socrates made a +point of witnessing his plays; the very violence of Aristophanes' attack +proves Euripides' potent influence; his lost drama _Melanippe_ turned +the heads of the Athenians, the whole town singing its odes. Survivors +of the Sicilian disaster won their freedom by singing his songs to their +captors, returning to thank their liberator in person; the fragments +of Menander discovered in 1906 contain many reminiscences of him, even +slaves quoting passages of him to their masters. For it was the very +width of his appeal that made him universally loved; women and slaves in +his view were every whit as good as free-born men, sometimes they were +far nobler. If drama is the voice of a democracy, the Athenians had +found a more democratic mouthpiece than they had bargained for. + +With the educated men it was different. They suspected a poet who was +upsetting their tradition. Besides, they were asked to crown a person +who told them in play after play that they were really like Jason, +Menelaus, Polymestor, poor creatures if not quite odious. He made them +see with painful clearness that the better sex was the one which they +despised, yet which was sure one day to find the utterance to which it +had a right in virtue of its greater nobility. The feminism of Euripides +is evident through his whole career; it is an insult to our powers +of reading to imagine that he was a woman-hater. It is then not to be +wondered at that he won the prize only five times, and it can hardly +be an accident that he gained it once with the Hippolytus, which on a +surface view condemns the female sex. + +For the officials could not see that Euripides was not a man only, he +was a spirit of development. Privilege and narrowness in every form he +hated; he demanded unlimited freedom for the intelligence. The narrow +circle of legends, the conventional unified drama, state religion, a +pseudo-democracy based on slavery he fearlessly criticised. Rationalism, +humanism, free speculation were his watchwords; he was always trying new +experiments in his art, introducing politics, philosophy, melodrama and +trying to get rid of the chorus wherever he could. He was a living and a +contemporary Proteus, pleading like an advocate in a lawsuit, discussing +political theory, restating unsolved problems in modern form and +seasoning his work with his own peculiar and often elevating pathos. +Such a man was anathema to conservative Athens. + +But to us he is one of ourselves. He exactly hits off our modern +taste, with its somewhat sentimental tendency, its scepticism, love of +excitement, and its great complexity. We know we have many moods and +passions which strangely blend and thwart each other; these we treat in +our novels, and Euripides' plays are a sort of novel, but for the +divine appearances in the last scenes. He shows us the inevitable end +of actions of beings exactly like ourselves, acting from merely human +motives, neither higher nor lower than we, though perhaps disguised +under heroic names. He is in a word the first modern poet. + + +TRANSLATIONS: + +A. S. Way, Loeb Series. This verse translation is the most successful; +it renders the choric odes with skill. + +Professor Gilbert Murray has published verse translations of various +plays. He is an authority on the text. His volume on Euripides in the +Home University Library is admirable. + +_Euripides the Rationalist_ and _Four Plays of Euripides_ by A. W. +Verrall are well known; the latter is particularly stimulating. The +views it expounds are original but not traditional. + +See Symonds' _Greek Poets_ as above. + + + + +ARISTOPHANES + + +At the end of the _Symposium_ Plato represents Socrates as convincing +both Agathon, a tragedian, and Aristophanes that the writer of tragedy +will be able to write comedy also. That the two forms are not wholly +divorced is clear from the history of ancient drama itself: Each +dramatist competed with four plays, three tragedies and a Satyric drama. +What this last is can be plainly seen in the _Cyclops_ of Euripides, +which relates in comic form the adventures of Odysseus and Silenus in +the monster's company. Further, the tendency of tragedy was inevitably +towards comedy. The extant work of Aeschylus and Sophocles is not +without comic touches; but the trend is clearer in Euripides who was +an innovator in this as in many other matters. Laughter and tears are +neighbours; a happy ending is not tragic; loosely connected scenes are +the essence of Old Comedy, and loosely written tragic dialogue (common +in Euripides' later work) closely resembles the language of comedy, +which is practically prose in verse form. The debt which later comedy +owed to Euripides is great; reminiscences of him abound; he is quoted +directly and indirectly; his stage tricks are adopted and his realistic +characters are the very population of the Comic stage. + +The logically developed plot is the characteristic of serious drama. +Old Comedy, its antithesis, is often a succession of scenes in which the +connection is loose without being impossible. In it the unexpected is +common, for it is an escape from the conventions of ordinary life, a +thing of causes and effects. It might be more accurate to say that farce +is a better description of the work which is associated with the name of +Aristophanes. + +This writer was born about 448, was a member of the best Athenian +society of the day, quickly took the first place as the writer of comedy +and died about 385. He saw the whole of the Peloponnesian war and has +given us a most vivid account of the passions it aroused and its effect +on Athenian life. He first won the prize in 425, when he produced +the _Acharnians_ under an assumed name. Pericles had died in 429; the +horrors of war were beginning to make themselves felt; the Spartans were +invading Attica, cutting down the fruit-trees and compelling the country +folk to stream into the city. One of these, Dicaeopolis enters the +stage. It is early morning; he is surprised that there is no popular +meeting on the appointed day. He loathes the town and longs for his +village; he had intended to heckle the speakers if they discussed +anything but peace. Ambassadors from foreign nations are announced; +seeing them he conceives the daring project of making a separate peace +with the Spartan for eight drachmae. His servant returns with three +peaces of five, ten and thirty years; he chooses the last. + +A chorus of angry Acharnians rush in to catch the traitor; they are +charcoal burners ruined by the invasion. Dicaeopolis seizes a charcoal +basket, threatening to destroy it if they touch him. Anxious to spare +their townsman, the basket, they consent to hear his defence, which he +offers to make with his neck on an executioner's block. He is afraid +of the noisy patriotism appealed to by mob-orators and of the lust for +condemning the accused which is the weakness of older men. Choosing from +Euripides' wardrobe the rags in which Telephus was arrayed to rouse the +audience to pity, he boldly ventures to plead the cause of the Spartans, +though he hates them for destroying his trees. He asserts that "Olympian +Pericles who thundered and lightened and confounded Greece" caused the +war by putting an embargo on the food of their neighbour Megara, his +pretext being a mere private quarrel. + +The Chorus are divided; his opponents send for Lamachus, the +swashbuckling general; the latter is discomfited and Dicaeopolis +immediately opens a market with the Peloponnesians, Megarians and +Boeotians, but not with Lamachus. In an important choral ode the poet +justifies his existence. By his criticism he puts a stop to the foreign +embassies which dupe the Athenians; he checks flattery and folly; he +never bribes nor hoodwinks them, but exposes their harsh treatment of +their subjects and their love of condemning on groundless charges the +older generation which had fought at Marathon. + +The play ends with a trading scene; a Boeotian in exchange for Copaic +eels takes an Athenian informer, an article unknown in Boeotia. Lamachus +returns wounded while Dicaeopolis departs in happy contrast to celebrate +a feast of rustic jollity. + +Aristophanes' chief butts were Cleon, Socrates and Euripides; the last +is treated with good nature in this play. To modern readers the comedy +is important for two reasons; first, it attacks the strange belief that +a democracy must necessarily love peace; Aristophanes found it as full +of the lust for battle as any other form of government; all it needed +was a Lamachus to rattle a sword. Again, the unfailing source of war is +plainly indicated, trade rivalry. War will continue as long as there are +markets to capture and rivals to exclude from them. + +In the next year, 424, Aristophanes produced the _Knights_, the most +violent political lampoon in literature. The victim was Cleon who had +succeeded Pericles as popular leader. He was at the height of his glory, +having captured the Spartan contingent at Pylos, prisoners who were +of great importance for diplomatic purposes. The comedy is a scathing +criticism of democracy; the subject is so controversial that it will be +best to give some extracts without comment. + +Two servants of Demos (the People) steal the oracles of the Paphlagonian +(the babbler, Cleon) while he is asleep. To their joy they find that +he will govern Demos' house only until a more abominable than he shall +appear, namely a sausage-seller. That person immediately presenting +himself is informed of his high calling. At first he is amazed. "I know +nothing of refinement except letters, and them, bad as they are, badly." +The answer is: + + "Your only fault is that you know them badly; mob-leadership has + nothing to do with a man refined or of good character, rather with + an ignoramus and a vile fellow." + +To his objection that he cannot look after a democracy the reply is, + + "it is easy enough; only go on doing what you are doing now. Mix + and chop up everything; always bring the mob over by sweetening it + with a few cook-shop terms. You have all the other qualifications, + a nasty voice, a low origin, familiarity with the street." + +The Paphlagonian Cleon runs in bawling that they are conspiring against +the democracy. They call loudly for the Knights, who enter as the Chorus +to assist them against Cleon, encouraging the sausage-seller to show +the brazen effrontery which is the mob-orator's sole protection, and +to prove that a decent upbringing is meaningless. Nothing loth, he +redoubles Cleon's vulgarity on his head. Cleon rushes out intending to +inform the Upper House of their treasons; the sausage-seller hurries +after him, his neck being well oiled with his own lard to make Cleon's +slanders slip off. A splendid ode is sung in the meantime; it contains a +half-comic account of Aristophanes' training in his art and a panegyric +on the old spirit which made Athens great. The sausage-seller returns +to tell of Cleon's utter defeat; he is quickly followed by Cleon, who +appeals to Demos himself, pointing out his own services. + + "At the first, when I was a member of the Council, I got in vast + sums for the Treasury, partly by torture, partly by throttling, + partly by begging. I never studied any private person's interest + if I could only curry favour with you, to make you master of all + Greece." + +The sausage-seller refutes him. + + "Your object was to steal and take bribes from the cities, to blind + Demos to your villainies by the dust of war, and to make him gape + after you in need and necessity for war-pensions. If Demos can only + get into the country in peace and taste the barley-cakes again, he + will soon find out of what blessings you have rid him by your + briberies; he will come back as a dour farmer and will hunt up a + vote which will condemn you." + +Cleon, the new Themistocles, is deposed from his stewardship. + +He appeals to some oracles of Bacis, but the sausage-seller has better +ones of Bacis' elder brother Glanis. The Chorus rebuke Demos, whom all +men fear as absolute, for being easily led, for listening to the newest +comer and for a perpetual banishment of his intelligence. In a second +contest for Demos' favours Cleon is finally beaten when it appears that +he has kept some dainties in his box while the sausage-seller has given +his all. An appeal to an oracle prophesying his supplanter--one who +can steal, commit perjury and face it out--so clearly applies to the +sausage-seller that Cleon retires. + +After a brief absence Demos appears with his new friend--but it is a +different Demos, rid of his false evidence and jury system, the Demos +of fifty years before. He is ashamed of his recent history, of his +preferring doles to battleships. He promises a speedy reform, full pay +to his sailors, strict revision of the army service rolls, an embargo +on Bills of Parliament. To his joy he recovers the Thirty Years' peace +which Cleon had hidden away, and realises at last his longing to escape +from the city into the country. + +This violent attack on Cleon was vigorously met; Aristophanes was +prosecuted and seems to have made a compromise. In his next comedy, +the _Clouds_ (which was presented in 423) he changes his victim. +Strepsiades, an old Athenian, married a high-born wife of expensive +tastes; their son Pheidippides developed a liking for horses and soon +brought his father to the edge of ruin. The latter requests the son +to save him by joining the academy conducted by Socrates, where he can +learn the worse argument which enables its possessor to win his case. +Aided by it he can rid his father of debt. As the son flatly refuses, +the old man decides to learn it himself. Entering the school he sees +maps and drawings of all kinds and finally descries Socrates himself, +far above his head in a basket, high among the clouds, studying the sun. +Strepsiades begs him to teach him the Worse Argument at his own price. +After initiating him, Socrates summons his deities the Clouds, who enter +as the Chorus. These are the guardian deities of modern professors, +seers, doctors, lazy long-haired long-nailed fellows, musicians who +cultivate trills and tremolos, transcendental quacks who sing their +praises. The old gods are dethroned, a vortex governing the universe. +The Chorus tells Socrates to take the old man and teach him everything. + +The ode which follows contains the poet's claim to be original. + + "I never seek to dupe you by hashing up the same old theme two or + three times, but show my cleverness by introducing ever-new ideas, + none alike and all smart." + +Socrates returns with Strepsiades, whom he can teach nothing. The Chorus +suggest he should bring his son to learn from Socrates how to get rid of +debts. At first Pheidippides refuses but finally agrees, though he warns +his father that he will rue his act. The Just and Unjust arguments +come out of the academy to plead before the Chorus. The former draws a +picture of the old-fashioned times when a sturdy race of men was reared +on discipline, obedience and morality--a broad-chested vigorous type. In +utter contempt the latter brands such teaching as prehistoric. Pleasure, +self-indulgence, a lax code of morality and easy tolerance of little +weaknesses are the ideal. The power of his words is such that the Just +Argument deserts to him. + +Strepsiades, coached by his son, easily circumvents two money-lenders +and retires to his house. He is soon chased out by his son, who when +asked to sing the old songs of Simonides and Aeschylus scorned the idea, +humming instead an immoral modern tune of Euripides' making. A quarrel +inevitably followed; Strepsiades was beaten by his son who easily proved +that he had a right to beat his mother also. Stung to the quick the old +man burns the academy; when Socrates and his pupils protest, he tells +them they have but a just reward for their godlessness. + +The Socrates here pilloried is certainly not the Socrates of history; +his teaching was not immoral. But Aristophanes is drawing attention +to the evil effects produced by the Sophists, who to the ordinary man +certainly included Socrates. The importance of this play to us is clear. +We are a nation of half-trained intelligences. Our national schools are +frankly irreligious, our teachers people of weak credentials. Parental +discipline is openly flouted, pleasure is our modern cult. Jazz bands, +long-haired novelists and poets, misty philosophers, anti-national +instructors are the idols of many a pale-faced and stunted son of +Britain. The reverence which made us great is decadent and openly +scoffed at. What is the remedy? Aristophanes burnt out the pestilent +teachers. We had better not copy him till we are satisfied that the +demand for them has ceased. A nation gets the instruction for which it +is morally fitted. There is but one hope; we must follow the genuine +Socratic method, which consisted of quiet individual instruction. Only +thus will we slowly and patiently seize this modern spirit of unrest; +our object should be not to suppress it--it is too sturdy, but to direct +its energies to a better and a more noble end. + +Finding that the _Clouds_ had been too wholesome to be popular, +Aristophanes in 422 returned to attack Cleon in the _Wasps_. Early in +the morning Bdelycleon (Cleon-hater) with his two servants is preventing +his father Philocleon from leaving the house to go to the jury-courts. +The old man's amusing attempts to evade their vigilance are frustrated, +whereupon he calls for assistance. Very slowly a body of old men dressed +as wasps, led by boys carrying lanterns, finds its way to the house to +act as Chorus. They make many suggestions to the father to escape; just +as he is gnawing through the net over him his son rushes in. The wasps +threaten him with their formidable stings. After a furious conflict +truce is declared. Bdelycleon complains of the inveterate juryman's +habit of accusing everybody who opposes them of aiming at establishing +a tyranny. Father and son consent to state their case for the Chorus to +decide between them. + +Philocleon glories in the absolute power he exercises over all classes; +his rule is equal to that of a king. To him the greatest men in Athens +bow as suppliants, begging acquittal. Some of these appeal to pity, +others tell him Aesop's fables, others try to make him laugh. Most +of all, he controls foreign policy through his privilege of trying +statesmen who fail. In return for his duties he receives his pay, goes +home and is petted by his wife and family. Bdelycleon opens thus: + + "it is a hard task, calling for a clever wit and more than comic + genius to cure an ancient disease that has been breeding in the + city." + +After giving a rough estimate of the total revenue of Athens, he +subtracts from it the miserable sum of three obols which the jurymen +receive as pay. Where does the remainder go? It is evident that the +jurymen are the mere catspaw of the big unscrupulous politicians who get +all the profit and incur none of the odium. This argument convinces +both the Chorus and Philocleon, old heroes of Marathon who created the +Empire. + +The latter asks what he is to do. His son promises to look after him, +allowing him to gratify at home his itch for trying disputes. Two dogs +are brought in; by a trick the son makes his father acquit instead +of condemn. He then dresses him up decently and instructs him in the +etiquette of a dinner-party, whither they proceed. But the old man +behaves himself disgracefully, beating everyone in his cups. He appears +with a flute-girl and is summoned for assault by a vegetable-woman, +whose goods he has spoiled, and by a professional accuser. His insolence +to his victims is checked by his son who thrusts him into the house +before more accusers can appear. + +It is sometimes believed that democracy is a less corrupt form of polity +than any other. Aristophanes in this play exposes one of its greatest +weaknesses. + +Flattered by the sense of power which the possession of the vote brings +with it, the enfranchised classes cannot always see that they easily +become the tools of the clever rogues who get themselves elected to +office by playing on the fears of the electors. The Athenian voter +was as easily scared by the word "tyranny" as the modern elector is +by "capital". The result is the same. Not only do the so-called +lower orders sink into an ignorant slavery; they use their power so +brainlessly and so mercilessly that they are a perfect bugbear to the +rest. + +Literary men's prophecies rarely come true. In 421 the _Peace_, produced +in March, was followed almost immediately by a compact between Athens +and Sparta for fifty years. An old farmer, Trygaeus, sails up to heaven +on the back of a huge beetle, bidding his family farewell for +three days. He meets Hermes, who tells him that Zeus in disgust has +surrendered men to the war they love. War himself has hidden Peace in +a deep pit, and has made a great mortar in which he intends to grind +civilisation to powder. He looks for the Athenian pestle, Cleon, but +cannot find him--the Spartan pestle Brasidas has also been mislaid; both +were lost in Thrace. Before he can find another pestle Trygaeus summons +all men to pull Peace out of her prison. Hermes at first objects, but is +won over by offers of presents. At length the goddess is discovered with +her two handmaids, Harvest and Mayfair. + +A change immediately comes over the faces of men. In pure joy they +laugh through their bruises. Hermes explains to the farmers who form the +Chorus why Peace left the earth. It was the trade rivalry which first +drove her away; at Athens the subject cities fomented strife with +Sparta, then the country population flocked to the city, where they +fell easy victims to the public war-mongers, who found it profitable +to continue the struggle. The god then offers to Trygaeus Harvest as a +bride to make his vineyards fruitful. In the ode which follows the poet +claims that he first made comedy dignified + + "with great thoughts and words and refined jests, not lampooning + individuals but attacking the Tanner war-god." + +Returning to earth Trygaeus sends Harvest to the Council, while the +marriage sacrifice is made ready. A soothsayer endeavours to impose on +the rustics with prophecies that the Peace will be a failure. Trygaeus +refutes him with a quotation from Homer. "Without kin or law or home +is a man who loveth harsh strife between peoples." The makers of +agricultural implements quickly sell all their stock, while the makers +of helmets, crests and breastplates find their market gone. A glad +wedding song forms the epilogue. + +Aristophanes believed that the war meant an extinction of civilisation +and loathed it because it was useless. What would he have thought of the +barbarous and bloodthirsty Great War of our own day? The causes which +produced both struggles were identical--trade rivalry and a set of +jingoes who found that war paid. But he was mistaken in believing that +peace was the normal condition of Greek life. He was born just before +the great period began during which Pericles gave Greece a long respite +from quarrels, and seems to have been quite nonplussed by what to him +was an abnormal upheaval. His bright hopes soon faded and he seems +to have given up thinking about peace or war during a period of eight +years. In the meanwhile Athens had attacked Sicily; perhaps a change had +come over comedy itself owing to legal action. At any rate, the old and +virulent type of political abuse was becoming a thing of the past; the +next play, the _Birds_, produced in 414, abandons Athens altogether for +a new and charming world in which there was a rest from strife. + +Two Athenians, Peithetairus (Persuasive) and Euelpides (Sanguine) reach +the home of the Hoopoe bird, once a mortal, to find a happier place than +their native city. Suddenly, as the bird describes the happy careless +life of his kind, Peithetairus conceives the idea of founding a new bird +city between earth and heaven. The Hoopoe summons his friends to hear +their opinion; as they come in he names them to the wondering Athenians. +At first the Birds threaten to attack the mortals, their natural +enemies. They listen, however, to Peithetairus' words of wisdom. + + "Nay, wise men learn much from their foes, for good counsel saves + everything. We cannot learn from a friend, but an enemy quickly + forces the truth upon us. For example, cities learn from their + enemies, not their friends, to create high walls and battleships, + and such are the salvation of children, home and substance." + +A truce is made. Peithetairus tells them the Birds once ruled the world +but have been deposed, becoming the prey of those who once worshipped +them. They should ring round the air, like Babylon, with mighty baked +bricks and send an ultimatum to the gods, demanding their lost kingdom +and forbidding a passage to earth; another messenger should descend +to men to require from them due sacrifices. The Birds agree; the two +companions retire to Hoopoe's house to eat the magic root which will +turn them into winged things. After a choral panegyric on the bird +species Peithetairus returns to name the new city Cloudcuckootown, whose +erection is taken in hand. Impostors make their appearance, a priest to +sacrifice, a poet to eulogise, an oracle-dealer to promise success, a +mathematician to plan out the buildings, an overseer and a seller of +decrees to enact by-laws; all are summarily ejected by Peithetairus. + +News comes that the city is already completed. Suddenly Iris darts in, +on her way to earth to demand the accustomed sacrifices from men which +the new city has interrupted; she is sent back to heaven to warn the +gods of their coming overthrow. A herald from earth brings tidings that +more than a myriad human beings are on their way to settle in the city. +A parent-beater first appears, then a poet, then an informer--all +being firmly dealt with. Prometheus slips in under a parasol, to advise +Peithetairus to demand from Zeus his sceptre and with it the lady +Royalty as his bride. Poseidon, Heracles and an outlandish Triballian +god after a long discussion make terms with the new monarch, who goes +with them to fetch his bride. A triumphant wedding forms the conclusion. + +The purpose of this comedy has been the subject of much discussion. As a +piece of literature it is exquisite. It lifts us out of a world of hard +unpleasant fact into a region where life is a care-free thing, bores or +impostors are banished and the reign of the usurper ends. The play +is not of or for any one particular period; it is really timeless, +appealing to the ineradicable desire we all have for an existence of +joy and light, where dreams always come true and hope ends only in +fulfilment. It is therefore one of man's deathless achievements; the +power of its appeal is evident from the frequency with which it has been +revived--it was staged at Cambridge this very year. Staged it will be as +long as men are what they are. + +Having learned that men are a naturally combative race, lusting for +blood, the poet saw it was hopeless to bring them to terms. Nor could he +for ever live in Cloudcuckootowns; he therefore bethought him of another +expedient for obtaining peace. In 411 he imagines the women of Athens, +Peloponnese and Boeotia combining to force terms on the men by deserting +their homes, under the leadership of _Lysistrata_. She calls a council +of war, explaining her plot to capture the Acropolis. A Chorus of men +rush in to smoke them out, armed with firebrands, but are met by a +Chorus of women bearing pitchers to quench the flames. An officer of the +Council comes to argue with Lysistrata, who points out that in the first +part of the war (down to 421) the women had kept quiet, though aware of +men's incompetence; now they have determined to control matters. They +are possessed of the Treasury, their experience of household economy +gives them a good claim to organise State finance; they grow old in the +absence of their husbands; a man can marry a girl however old he is. A +woman's prime soon comes; if she misses it, she sits at home looking for +omens of a husband; women make the most valuable of all contributions to +the State, namely sons. The officer retires to report to the Council. + +Lysistrata, seeing a weakness in the women's resolution, encourages +them with an oracle which promises victory if they will only persist. +A herald speedily arrives from Sparta announcing a similar defection in +that city. Ambassadors of both sides are brought to Lysistrata who makes +a splendid speech. + + "I am a woman, but wit is in me and I have no small conceit of + myself. Having heard many speeches from my father and elder men + I am not ill-informed. Now that I have caught you I will administer + to you the rebuke you richly deserve. You sprinkle altars from the + same lustral-bowl, like relatives, at Olympia, Pylae, Delphi and + many other places. Though the barbarian enemy is on you in armed + force, you destroy Greek men and cities." + +She points out that both sides have been guilty of injustice; both +should make surrenders and agree to a peace which is duly ratified. The +Chorus of men believe that Athenian ambassadors should go to Sparta in +their cups:-- + + "As it is, whenever we go there sober, we immediately see what + mischief we can make. We never hear what they say; what they do + not say we conjecture and never bring back the same tale about + the same facts." + +Odes of thanksgiving wind up the piece. + +Exactly twenty years earlier Euripides in the _Medea_ had written the +first protest against women's subjection to an unfair social lot. By +a strange irony of fortune his most severe critic Aristophanes was the +first man in Europe to give utterance to their claim to a political +equality. True, he does so in a comedy, but he was speaking perhaps more +seriously than he would have us think. Women do contribute sons to +the State; they do believe that they are as capable as men of judging +political questions--with justice, in a system where no qualifications +but twilight opinions are necessary. On this ground they have won the +franchise. Nor has the feminist movement really begun as yet. We may see +women in control of our political Acropolis, forcing the world to make +peace to save our chances of becoming ultimately civilised. + +The _Thesmophoriazousae_, staged in 411, is a lampoon on Euripides. +That poet with his kinsman Mnesilochus calls at the house of Agathon, a +brother tragedian whose style is amusingly parodied. Euripides informs +him that the women intend to hold a meeting to destroy him for libel; +they are celebrating the feast of the Thesmophoria. As Agathon refuses +an invitation to go disguised and defend Euripides, Mnesilochus +undertakes the dangerous duty; his disguise is effected on the stage +with comic gusto. At the meeting the case against the poet is first +stated; he has not only lampooned women, he has taught their husbands +how to counter their knaveries and is an atheist. Mnesilochus defends +him; women are capable of far more villainies than even Euripides has +exposed. The statement of these raises the suspicions of the ladies +who soon unmask the intruder, inquiring of him the secret ritual of the +Thesmophoria. + +One of them goes to the Town Council to find out what punishment they +are to inflict. + +Mnesilochus meanwhile snatches a child from the arms of one of +them, holding it as a hostage. To his amazement it turns out to be a +wine-stoup. He vainly tries some of the dodges practised in Euripides' +plays to bring him to the rescue. The Chorus meantime expose the folly +of calling women evil. + + "If we are a bane, why do you marry us? Why do you forbid us to + walk abroad or to be caught peeping out? Why use such pains to + preserve this evil thing? If we do peep out, everybody wants this + bane to be seen; if we draw back in modesty, every man is much + more anxious to see this pest peep out again. At any rate, no + woman comes into the city after stealing public money fifty + talents at a time." + +A better plan would be + + "to give the mothers of famous sons the right of place in festivals; + those whose sons are evil should take a lower place." + +In an amusing series of scenes Euripides enters dressed up as some of +his own characters to save Mnesilochus. A borough officer enters with +a policeman whom he orders to bind the prisoner and guard him. More +disguises are adopted by Euripides who succeeds at last in freeing his +kinsman by pretending to be an old woman with a marriageable daughter +whom the policeman can have at a price. When the latter goes to fetch +the money Euripides and his relative disappear. + +The poet has in this play very skilfully palmed off on Euripides his own +attack on women. We have already seen what Euripides' attitude was to +the neglected sex. Feminine deceit has been a stock theme in all ages; +it had already been treated in Greek literature and was to be passed +through Roman literature to the Middle Ages, in which period it received +more than its due share of attention. In itself it is a poor theme, good +enough perhaps as a stand-by, for it is sure to be popular. Those who +pose as woman-haters might consider the words of the Chorus in this +play. + +The most violent attack on Euripides was delivered after his death by +Aristophanes in the _Frogs_, written in 405. This famous comedy is so +well-known that a brief outline will suffice. It falls into two parts. +The first describes the adventures of Dionysus who with his servant +Xanthias descends to the lower world to bring back Euripides. The god +and his servant exchange parts according as the persons they meet are +friendly or hostile. In the second part the three great tragedians +are brought on the scene. Euripides, who has just died, tries to claim +sovereignty in Hades; Sophocles, "gentle on earth and gentle in death" +withdraws his claim, leaving Aeschylus to the contest. The two rivals +appoint Dionysus, the patron of drama, to act as umpire. In a series +of admirable criticisms the weaknesses of both are plainly indicated. +Finally Dionysus decides to take back Aeschylus. + +This play is as popular as the Birds. It contains one or two touches +of low comedy, but these are redeemed by the spirit of inexhaustible +jollity which sets the whole thing rocking with life and gaiety. It is +an original in Greek literature, being the first piece of definitely +literary criticism. A long experience had made the sense of the stage a +second nature to Aristophanes who here criticises two rival schools of +poetry as a dramatist possessed of inside professional knowledge. So +far his work is of the same class as Cicero's _De Oratore_ and Reynolds' +_Discourses_. His object, however, was not to preserve a balance +of impartiality but to condemn Euripides as a traitor to the whole +tradition of Attic tragedy. He does so, but not without giving his +reasons--and these are good and true. No person is qualified to judge +the development of Greek tragedy who has not weighed long and carefully +the second portion of the _Frogs_. + +In 393 Aristophanes broke entirely new ground in the _Ecclesiazousae_ +(women in Parliament), a discussion of social and economic problems. +Praxagora assembles the women of Athens to gain control of the city. +They meet early in the morning, disguise themselves with beards and open +the question. + + "The decisions of men in Parliament are to reflecting people like + the derangements of drunken men. I am disgusted with our policy, + we always employ unscrupulous leaders. If one of them is honest + for one day, he is a villain for ten. Doling out public money, men + have eyes only for what they can make out of the State. Let women + govern; they are the best at providing money and are not likely to + be deceived in office, for they are well versed in trickery." + +They proceed to the Assembly to execute their plot. + +On the opening of the discussion one Euaeon proposed a scheme of +wholesale spoliation of the property owners to support the poor. Then +a white-faced citizen arose and proposed flatly that women should rule, +that being the one thing which had never yet been tried. The motion was +carried with great enthusiasm, the men declaring that "an old proverb +says all our senseless and foolish decisions turn out for good". When +Praxagora returns to the stage, she declares she intends to introduce +a system of absolute communism. All citizens are to live and dine in +common and possess wives in common, existing on the work of slaves. Any +person who refuses to declare his wealth is to be punished by losing +his rations, "the punishment of a man through his belly being the worst +insult he can suffer". A vivid description of the workings of the new +system ends the play. + +Aristophanes is no doubt criticising Plato's _Republic_, but allowing +for altered circumstances we cannot go far wrong if we see here a +picture of the suggested remedy for the social distress which is +inseparable from a great war. At Athens, beaten and impoverished, there +must have been widespread discontent; the foundation upon which society +was built must have been criticised, its inequalities being emphasised +by idealists and intriguers alike. Our own generation has to face a +similar situation. We have seen women in Parliament and we are deluged +by a flood of communistic idealism emanating from Russia. Its one +commendation is that it has never yet been tried among us and many +simple folk will applaud the philosophy which persuades itself that all +our mistakes will somehow come right in the end. The problem of finding +somebody to do the work was easily solved in ancient Athens where the +slaves were three times as numerous as the free. England, possessing no +slaves, would under communism be unable to feed herself and would die of +starvation. + +The _Plutus_, written in 388 is a singular work. An honest old man +Chremylus enters with Carion "his most faithful and most thievish +servant". They are holding fast a blind old man, in obedience to an +oracle of Apollo. After a little questioning the stranger admits that +he is Plutus, the god of wealth. Wild with joy they invite him to their +house. He does not like houses, for they have never brought him to any +good. + + "If I enter a stingy man's abode, he immediately digs me deep in + the earth and denies he has ever seen me. If I enter a crazy + man's home, given to dicing and fast living, I am soon ejected + naked." + +Learning that Chremylus is honest and poor he consents to try once +again. + +The rumour gets abroad that Chremylus has suddenly grown rich; his +acquaintance reveal their true characters as they come to question him +about his luck. The goddess Poverty enters, to be cross-examined by +Chremylus who has suggested that Plutus should recover his sight under +the healing care of Asclepius. Before the care is effected, she points +out the dangers of his project. He is well-meaning, but foolish; Poverty +is not Mendicancy, it means a life of thrift, with nothing left over +but with no real want; it is the source of the existence of all +the handicrafts, nor can the slaves be counted on to do the work if +everybody becomes rich, for nobody will sell slaves if he has money +already. Riches on the other hand are the curse of many; wealth rots +men, causing gout, dropsy and bloated insolence; the gods themselves are +poor, otherwise they would not need human sacrifice. + +The cure is successful; Plutus recovers his eyes and can see to whom he +gives his blessings; the good and the rascals alike receive their +due reward. The change which wealth produces in men's natures is most +admirably depicted in the Epilogue. + +This is an Allegory dramatised with no little skill. The piece is full +of the shrewdest hits at our human failings, aimed, however, with +no ill-nature. Aristophanes' power of characterisation here shows +no falling-off. Fortune's fickleness is proverbial and has received +frequent literary treatment. Men's first prayer is for wealth; poverty, +according to Dr. Johnson, is evidently a great evil because it needs +such a long defence. Yet it is only the well-meaning but utterly +unpractical idealists who desire to make us all prosperous-- + + "How that may change our nature, that's the question." + +Some are not fit for riches, being ignorant of their true function; +self-indulgence and moral rottenness follow wealth; because of the abuse +of the power which wealth brings, we are taught that it is hard for the +rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. + +It is difficult to convey an adequate impression of Aristophanes to the +English reader. Long excerpts are impossible and undesirable. Comedy +is essentially a mirror of contemporary life; it contains all kinds of +references to passing political events and transient forms of social +life; its turns of language are peculiar to its own age. We who are +familiar with Shakespeare know that one of our chief difficulties +in reading him is the constant reference to what was obvious to the +Elizabethan public but is dark to us. Yet the plays of Aristophanes in +an English translation such as that of Frere read far more like +modern work than the comedies of Ben Jonson, for the society in which +Aristophanes moved was far more akin to ours. It was democratic, was +superficially educated, was troubled by socialistic and communistic +unrest exactly as we are. Some of our modern thinkers would be surprised +to find how many of their dreamings were discussed twenty-three +centuries ago by men quite as intelligent and certainly as honest. + +Aristophanes' greatest fault is excessive conservatism. He gives us a +most vivid description of the evils and abuses of his own time, yet has +no remedy except that of putting back the hands of the clock some fifty +years. Marathon, Aeschylus, the nascent democracy were his ideal and he +was evidently put out by the ending of the period of "Periclean calm." +He then has no solution for the problems in front of him. But it might +be asked whether a dramatist's business is not rather to leave solutions +to the thinker, concerning himself only with mirroring men's natures. +With singular courage and at no small personal risk this man attacked +the great ones of his day, scourging their hypocrisies and exposing the +real tendencies of their principles. If he has opened our eyes to the +objections to popular government and popular poetry and has made us +aware of the significance of the feminist movement, let us be thankful; +we shall be more on our guard and be less easily persuaded that problems +are new or that they are capable of a final solution. + +On the other hand, we shall find in him qualities of a most original +type. His spirits are inexhaustible, he laughs heartily and often +without malice at the follies of the mass of men; Cleon and Euripides +were anathema to him, but the rest he treats as Fluellen did Pistol: +"You beggarly knave, God bless you". His lyrics must be classed with +the best in Greek poetry. Like Rabelais this rollicking jolly spirit +disguises his wisdom under the mask of folly, turning aside with some +whimsical twist just when he is beginning to be too serious. He will +repay the most careful reading, for his best things are constantly +turning up when least expected. His political satire ceasing with the +death of Cleon, he turned to the land of pure fancy among the winged +careless things; he then raised the woman's question, started literary +criticism and ended with Allegory. To few has such a noble cycle of work +been vouchsafed; we owe him at least a debt of remembrance, for he loved +us as our brother. + + +TRANSLATIONS: + +Frere (verse). This spirited version of five plays is justly famous. +Various plays have been rendered into verse by Rogers (Bell). The +translation is on the whole rather free. The volumes contain excellent +introductions and notes. + +No prose translation of outstanding merit has appeared. + +The Greek tragedians have not received their due from translators +and admirers. There is nothing in English drama inspired by Greece to +compare with the French imitations of Seneca, Plautus and Terence. + + + + +HERODOTUS + + +Greek historical literature follows the same course of development as +Greek poetry; it begins in epic form in Ionia and ends in dramatic type +at Athens. + +Herodotus, "the father of History", was born at Halicarnassus in Asia +Minor about 484 B.C. He travelled widely over the East, Egypt, North +Africa and Greece. He was acquainted with the Sophoclean circle, joined +the Athenian colony at Thurii in South Italy and died there before the +end of the century. His subject was the defeat of the Persian attack on +Greece and falls into three main divisions. In the first three books he +tells how Persian power was consolidated: in the next three he shows how +it flooded Russia, Thrace and Greece, being stemmed at Marathon in 490; +the last three contain the story of its final shattering at Salamis +and Plataea in 480 and of the Greek recoil on Asia in 479. It is thus a +"triple wave of woes" familiar to Greek thought. His dialect is Ionic, +which he adopted because it was the language of narrative poetry and +prose. + +His introduction leads at once into Romance; he intends to preserve the +memory of the wonderful deeds of Greeks and Barbarians, the cause of +their quarrel being the abductions of women, Io, Europe, Medea, Helen. A +more recent aggressor was Croesus, King of Lydia, who attacked the Greek +seaboard. The earlier reigns of Lydian kings are recounted in a series +of striking narratives. Gyges was the owner of the famous magic +ring which made its possessor invisible. His policy of expansion was +continued by his son and grandson. But Croesus, his great-grandson, was +the wealthiest of all, extending his realm from as far as the Halys, the +boundary of Cyrus' Persian Empire. Solon's famous but fictitious warning +to him to "wait till the end comes before deciding whether he had +been happy" left him unmoved. Soon clouds began to gather. A pathetic +misadventure robbed him of his son; the growing power of Persia alarmed +him and he applied to Delphi for advice. The oracle informed him that +if he crossed the Halys he would ruin a mighty Empire and suggested +alliance with the strongest state in Greece. Finding that Athens +was still torn by political struggles consequent upon the romantic +banishments and restorations of Peisistratus, he joined with Sparta +which had just overcome a powerful rival, Tegea in Arcadia. + +Croesus crossed the Halys in 554. After fighting an indecisive battle +he retired to his capital Sardis. Cyrus unexpectedly pursued him. The +Lydian cavalry stampeded, the horses being terrified by the sight and +odour of the Persian camel corps. Croesus shut himself up in Sardis +which he thought impregnable. An excellent story tells how the Persians +scaled the most inaccessible part of the fortress. Croesus was put on a +pyre and there remembered the words of Solon. Cyrus, dreading a similar +revolution of fortune, tried in vain to save him from the burning +faggots; the fire was too fierce for his men to quench, but Apollo heard +Croesus' prayer and sent a rainstorm which saved him. Being reproached +by the fallen monarch who had poured treasure into his temple, Apollo +replied that he had staved off ruin for three full years, but could not +prevail against Fate; besides, Croesus should have asked whose Empire he +was to destroy; at least Apollo had delivered him from death. The Lydian +portion ends with a graphic description of laws, customs and monuments. + +The rise of Persia is next described. Assyria, whose capital was +Nineveh, was destroyed by Cyaxares of Media, whose capital was Ecbatana. +His son Astyages in consequence of a dream married his daughter Mandané +to a Persian named Cambyses. A second dream made him resolve to +destroy her child Cyrus who, like Oedipus, was saved from exposure by a +herdsman. Later, on learning Cyrus' identity, Astyages punished Harpagus +whom he had bidden to remove the child. Harpagus sowed mutiny in the +Median army, giving the victory to the Persians in 558. Cyrus proceeded +to attack the Asiatic Greeks, of whom the Phocaeans left their home +to found new states in Corsica and Southern Gaul; the other cities +surrendered. Babylon was soon the only city in Asia not subject to +Persia. Cyrus diverted the course of the Euphrates and entered the town +in 538. In an attack on Tomyris, queen of a Scythian race, Cyrus was +defeated and slain in 529. + +His son Cambyses determined to invade Egypt, the eternal rival of the +Mesopotamian kings. Herodotus devotes his second book to a description +of the marvels of Egypt, through which he travelled as far as +Elephantiné on the border of Ethiopia. He opens with a plain proof that +Egypt is not the most ancient people, for some children were kept apart +during their first two years, nobody being allowed to speak with them. +They were then heard to say distinctly the word "bekos" which was +Phrygian for "bread". This evidence of Phrygian antiquity satisfied even +the Egyptians. + +In this second book there is hardly a single leading feature of Egyptian +civilisation which is not discussed. The Nile is the life of the +land; being anxious to solve the riddle of its annual rise, Herodotus +dismisses as unreasonable the theory that the water is produced by the +melting snow, for the earth becomes hotter as we proceed further +south, and there cannot be snow where there is intense heat. The sun is +deflected from its course in winter, which derangement causes the river +to run shallow in that season. The religious practice of the land are +well described, including the process of embalming; oracles, animals, +medicine, writing, dress are all treated. He notes that in Egyptian +records the sun has twice risen in the west and twice set in the east. + +A long list of dynasties is relieved with many an excellent story, +notably the very famous account of how Rhampsonitis lost his treasures +and failed to find the robber until he offered him a free pardon; having +found him he said the Egyptians excelled all the world in wisdom, and +the robber all the Egyptians. The Pyramids are described; transmigration +is discussed and emphasis is laid upon the growing popularity of Greek +mercenaries. The book closes with the brilliant reign of Amasis, who +made overtures to the Greek oracles, allied himself with Samos and +permitted the foundation of an important Greek colony at Naucratis. + +The third book opens with the invasion of Egypt by Cambyses in 525 on +account of an insult offered him by Amasis. A Greek mercenary named +Phanes gave the Persians information of the one means of attacking +through the desert. After a fierce battle at Pelusium Egypt was beaten; +for years afterwards skulls of both armies lay around, the Persian heads +being easily broken by a pebble, the Egyptian scarcely breakable by +stones. In victory Cambyses outraged Psammenitus, the defeated King; a +fruitless expedition against Ethiopia and the Ammonians followed. The +Egyptians were stirred by the arrival of their calf-god Apis; Cambyses +mockingly wounded him and was punished with madness, slaying his own +kindred and committing deeds of impiety. + +At that time Egypt was leagued with the powerful island of Samos, ruled +by Polycrates, a tyrant of marvellous good fortune. Suspecting some +coming disaster to balance it, Amasis urged him to sacrifice his dearest +possession to avert the evil eye. Polycrates threw his ring into the +sea; it was retrieved by a fisherman. On hearing this, Amasis severed +his alliance. + +In the absence of Cambyses two Magi brothers stirred up revolt in Susa, +one pretending to be Smerdis, the murdered brother of Cambyses. That +monarch wounded himself in the thigh as he mounted his horse. The wound +festered and caused speedy death. Meanwhile the false Smerdis held the +sovereignty. He was suspected by Otanes, a noble whose daughter Phaedymé +was married to him. At great personal risk she discovered that the King +was without ears, a manifest proof that he was a Magian. Otane thens +joined with six other conspirators to put the usurper down. Darius, son +of Hystaspes, warned them that their numbers were too large for secrecy, +advising immediate action. The two pretenders had meanwhile persuaded +Prexaspes, a confidant of Cambyses, to assure the Persians that Smerdis +really ruled. Prexaspes told the truth and then threw himself to death +from the city walls. This news forced the conspirators' hands; rushing +into the palace, they were luckily able to slay the usurpers. + +The next question was, who should reign? Herodotus turned these Persians +into Greeks, making them discuss the comparative merits of monarchy, +oligarchy and democracy. They decided that their horses should choose +the next king; he whose steed should first neigh should rule. Darius had +a cunning groom named Oebares; that evening he took the horse and his +mare into the market-place; next morning on reaching the same spot the +horse did not fail to seat his master on the throne in 521. A review of +the Persian Empire follows, with a description of India and Arabia. + +Polycrates did not long survive. He was the first Greek to conceive +the idea of a maritime empire. He was foully murdered by the Persian +Oroetes, who decoyed him to the mainland by an offer of treasure and +then crucified him. In the retinue of Polycrates was a physician, +Democedes of Croton, who was captured by Oroetes. His fame spread to +Susa at a time when no court doctor could treat Darius' sprained foot. +Democedes was sent for and effected the cure; later he healed the +Queen Atossa of a boil. Instructed by him she advised Darius to send +a commission of fifteen Persians to spy out the Greek mainland under +Democedes' guidance. After an exciting series of adventures the +physician succeeded in returning to his native city. But the idea of an +invasion of Greece had settled on Darius' mind. First, however, he took +Samos, giving it to Syloson, Polycrates' brother who years before in +Egypt had made him a present of a scarlet cloak while he was a mere +guardsman. Darius consolidated his power in Asia by the capture of the +revolted province of Babylon through the self-sacrifice of Zopyrus, son +of one of the seven conspirators. The vivid story of his devotion is one +of the very greatest things in Herodotus. + +Persia being thus mistress of all Asia, of Samos and the seaboard, +began to dream of subduing Greece itself. But first Darius determined to +conquer his non-Greek neighbours. The fourth book describes the attack +which Darius himself led against the Scythians in revenge for the +twenty-eight years' slavery they inflicted on the Medes. A description +of Scythia is relieved by an account of the circumnavigation of Africa +by the Phoenicians and the voyage of Scylax down the Indus and along the +coast of Africa to Egypt. + +The war on the Scyths was dramatic and exciting, both sides acting in +the spirit of chivalry. Crossing the Bosporus, Darius advanced through +Thrace to the Danube which he spanned with a bridge. The Scyths adopted +the favourite Russian plan of retreating into the interior, destroying +the crops and hovering round the foe; they further led the Persians +into the territories of their own enemies. This process at last wearied +Darius; he sent a herald to challenge them to a straight contest or to +become his vassals. The reply came that if Darius wished a conflict +he had better outrage their ancestral tombs; as for slavery, they +acknowledged only Zeus as their master. But the threat of slavery did +its work. A detachment was sent to the Danube to induce the Ionian +Greeks to strike for freedom by breaking down the bridge they were +guarding, thus cutting off Darius' retreat. To the King himself a +Scythian herald brought a present of a bird, a mouse, a frog and five +arrows, implying that unless his army became one of the creatures it +would perish by the arrows. The Scyths adopted guerilla tactics, leaving +the Persians no rest by night and offering no battle by day. At last +Darius began his retreat. One division of the Scythian horsemen reached +the bridge before their foes, again asking the Ionians to destroy it. +The Greeks pretended to consent, breaking down the Scythian end of it. +Darius at last came to the place; to his dismay he found the bridge +demolished. He bade an Egyptian Stentor summon Histiaeus, the Greek +commandant, who brought up the fleet and saved the Persian host which +retired into Asia. + +In 509 a second expedition was dispatched against Barca, a colony of +Cyrene. The history of the latter is graphically described, the first +king being Battus, the Stammerer, who founded it in obedience to +the directions of Apollo. Cyrene was brought under Cambyses' sway +by Arcesilaus who had been banished. He misinterpreted an oracle and +cruelly killed his enemies in Barca. When he was assassinated in that +town his mother Pheretima fled from the metropolis Cyrene to Aryandes, +the Persian governor in Egypt. Backed by armed force she besieged Barca +which resisted bravely for nine months; at the end of that term an +agreement was made that Barca should pay tribute and remain unassailed +as long as the ground remained firm on which the treaty was made. But +the Persians had undermined the spot, covering planks of wood with a +loose layer of earth. Breaking down the planks they rushed in and took +the town, Pheretima exacting a horrible vengeance. Yet she herself died +soon after, eaten of worms. "Thus," remarks the historian, "do men, by +too severe vengeances, draw upon their own heads the divine wrath." + +The fifth book begins the concentration on purely Greek history. Darius +had left Megabazus in command in Europe, retiring himself to Sardis. In +that city he was much struck by the appearance of a Paeonian woman and +ordered Megabazus to invade the country. He subdued it and Macedonia in +506-4, but in the process some of his commanders were punished for an +insult to Macedonian women, revenge being taken by Alexander, son of +King Amyntas; a bride shut the lips of a party sent to discover their +fate. In Thrace, Megabazus began to suspect Histiaeus, the Ionian who +had saved Darius and in return had been given a strong town, Myrcinus on +the River Strymon. The King by a trick drew Histiaeus to Sardis and +took him to the Capital, leaving his brother Artaphernes as governor +in Sardis. But Histiaeus had been succeeded in Miletus by his nephew +Aristagoras; to him in 502 came certain nobles from Naxos, one of the +Cyclades isles, begging restoration from banishment. He decided to apply +to Artaphernes for Persian help; this the viceroy willingly gave as it +would further the Persian progress to the objective, the Greek mainland, +across the Aegean in a direct line. The Persian admiral Megabates soon +quarrelled with Aristagoras about the command and informed the Naxians +of the coming attack. The expedition thus failed. Aristagoras, afraid +to face Artaphemes whose treasure he had wasted, decided on raising a +revolt of the whole of Ionia; at that very moment a slave came to him +from his uncle in Susa with a message tattooed on his head, bidding him +rebel. + +Aristagoras first applied to Sparta for aid. When arguments failed, he +tried to bribe the king Cleomenes. In the room was the King's little +daughter Gorgo. Hearing Aristagoras gradually raise his offer from ten +to fifty talents, the child said, "Father, depart, or the stranger will +corrupt thee". Aristagoras received a better welcome at Athens. That +city in 510 had expelled Hippias, the tyrant son of Peisistratus, who +appealed to Artaphernes for aid. Hearing this, the Athenians sent an +embassy asking the satrap not to assist the exile, but the answer was +that if they wished to survive, they must receive their ruler back. +Aristagoras therefore found the Athenians in a fit frame of mind to +listen. They lent him a fleet of twenty sail and marched with him to +Sardis which they captured and burned in 501. The revolt speedily spread +over all the Asiatic sea-coast. On hearing of the Athenians for the +first time, Darius directed a slave to say to him thrice a day, "Sire, +remember the Athenians". He summoned Histiaeus and accused him of +complicity in the revolt, but Histiaeus assured him of his loyalty and +obtained permission to go to the coast. Meanwhile the Persians took +strong action against the rebels, subduing many towns and districts. The +book ends with the flight of Aristagoras to Myrcinus and his death in +battle against the Thracians in 496. + +The next book opens with the famous accusation of Histiaeus by +Artaphernes: "Thou hast stitched this boot and Aristagoras hath put +it on." Histiaeus in fear fled to his own city Miletus; being disowned +there, he for a time maintained a life of privateering, but was +eventually captured and crucified by Artaphernes. The Ionian revolt had +been narrowed down to Miletus and one or two less important towns. The +Greeks assembled a fleet, but a spirit of insubordination manifesting +itself they were defeated at sea in the battle of Lade in 495. Next year +Miletus fell but was treated with mercy. At Athens the news caused the +greatest consternation; a dramatic poet named Phrynichus ventured to +stage the disaster; the people wept and fined him a thousand talents, +forbidding any similar presentation in future. Stamping out the last +embers of revolt in Asia the Persians coasted along Thrace; before +their advance the great Athenian Miltiades was compelled to fly from the +Dardanelles to his native city. In 492 Mardonius was appointed viceroy +of Asia Minor. He reorganised the provincial system and then attempted +to double the perilous promontory of Athos, but only a remnant of his +forces returned to Asia. + +Next year Darius sent to all the Greek cities demanding earth and water, +the tokens of submission. The islanders obeyed including Aegina, the +deadly foe of Athens. A protest made by the latter led to a war between +the two states in which Athens was worsted. Sparta itself had just been +torn by an internal dissension between two claimants of the throne, one +of whom named Demaratus had been ejected and later fled to the Persian +court. The great expedition of 490 sailed straight across the Aegean, +commanded by Datis and Artaphernes. Their primary objective was Eretria +in Euboea, a city which had assisted the Ionians in their revolt. The +town was speedily betrayed, the inhabitants being carried aboard the +Persian fleet. Guided by Hippias the armament landed at the bay of +Marathon, twenty-five miles from Athens. A vain appeal was sent to +Sparta for succours; Athens, supported by the little Boeotian city of +Plataea, was left to cope with the might of Persia. + +It was fortunate that the Athenians could command the services of +Miltiades who had already had some experience of the Persian methods of +attack. The details of the great battle that followed depend upon the +sole authority of Herodotus among the Greek writers. Many difficulties +are caused by his narrative, but it seems certain that Miltiades was +in command on the day on which the battle was actually fought. He +apparently clung to the hills overlooking the plain and bay of Marathon +until the Persian cavalry were unable to act. Seizing the opportunity, +he led his men down swiftly to the combat; his centre which had been +purposely weakened was thrust back but the two wings speedily proved +victorious, then converged to assist the centre, finally driving the foe +to the sea where a desperate conflict took place. The Persians succeeded +in embarking and promptly sailed round the coast to Athens, but seeing +the victors in arms before the town they sailed back to Asia. The +Spartan reinforcements which arrived too late for the battle viewed the +Persian dead and returned after praising the Athenians. + +A slight digression tells the amusing story how the Athenian +Hippocleides in his cups lost the hand of the princess of Sicyon because +he danced on his head and waved his legs about, shouting that he didn't +care. The great victor Miltiades did not long survive his glory. His +attempt to reduce the island of Paros, which had sided with Persia, +completely failed. Returning to Athens he was condemned and fined, +shortly after dying of a mortified thigh. + +In the third portion Herodotus gradually rises to his greatest height +of descriptive power. Darius resolved on a larger expedition to reduce +Greece. He made preparations for three years, then a revolt in Egypt +delayed his plans and his career was cut short by death in 485. His +successor Xerxes was disinclined to invade Europe, but was overborne by +Mardonius his cousin. A canal was dug across the peninsula of Athos, a +bridge was built over the Hellespont, and provisions were collected. A +detailed account of the component forces is given, special mention being +made of Artemisia, Queen of Herodotus' own city, who was to win great +glory in the campaign. The army marched over the Hellespont and along +the coast, the fleet supporting it; advancing through Thessaly, it +reached the pass of Thermopylae, opposite Euboea, in 480. + +On the Greek side was division; the Spartans imagined that their duty +was to save the Peloponnese only; they were eager to build a wall across +the isthmus of Corinth, leaving the rest of Greece to its fate. But +Athens had produced another genius named Themistocles. Shortly before +the invasion the silver mines at Laureium in Attica had yielded a +surplus; he persuaded the city to use it for building a fleet of two +hundred sail to be directed against Aegina. When the Athenians got an +oracle from Delphi which stated that they would lose their land but be +saved by their wooden walls, he interpreted the oracle as referring to +the fleet. Under his management the city built more ships. The Council +of Greece held at the Isthmus of Corinth decided that an army should +defend Thermopylae while the fleet supported it close by at Artemisium. +The Persian fleet had been badly battered in a storm as it sailed +along the coast of Magnesia, nearly four hundred sail foundering; the +remainder reached safe anchorage in the Malian gulf, further progress +being impossible till the Greek navy was beaten or retired. + +At Thermopylae the advance-guard was composed of Spartans led by +Leonidas who determined to defend the narrow pass. A Persian spy brought +the news to Xerxes that this small body of warriors were combing their +hair. The King sent for Demaratus, the ex-Spartan monarch, who assured +him that this was proof that the Spartans intended to fight to the +death. After a delay of four days the fight began. The Spartans +routed all their opponents including the famous Immortals, the Persian +bodyguard. At length a traitor Ephialtes told Xerxes of a path across +the mountains by which Leonidas could be taken in the rear. Learning +from deserters and fugitives that he had been betrayed, Leonidas +dismissed the main body, himself advancing into the open. After winning +immortal glory he and his men were destroyed and the way to Greece lay +open to the invader. + +In three naval engagements off Artemisium the Greek fleet showed its +superiority; a detachment of two hundred sail had been sent round the +island of Euboea to block up the exit of the channel through which the +Greek navy had to retreat, but a storm totally destroyed this force. +When the army retreated from Thermopylae the Greek ships were obliged +to retire to the Isthmus; in spite of much opposition the Athenians +compelled Eurybiades the Spartan admiral to take up his station at +Salamis, whither the Persian navy followed. Their army had advanced +through Boeotia, attacking Delphi on the way. The story was told how +Apollo himself defended his shrine, hurling down rocks on the invaders +and sending supernatural figures to discomfit them. Entering Attica the +barbarian host captured a deserted Athens, Xerxes sending the glad news +to his subjects in the Persian capital. + +The Greeks were with difficulty persuaded not to abandon the sea +altogether. Themistocles was bitterly opposed in his naval policy by +Adeimantus, the Corinthian; it was only by threatening to leave Greece +with their fleet that the Athenians were able to bring the allies +to reason. By a stroke of cunning Themistocles forced their hands; a +messenger went to Xerxes with news of the Greek intention to retreat; on +hearing this the Persians during the night blocked up the passages round +Salamis and landed some of their best troops on a little island called +Psyttaleia. The news of this encircling movement was brought to the +allies by Aristides, a celebrated Athenian who was in exile, and was +confirmed by a Tenian ship which deserted from the Persians. Next +morning the Greeks sailed down the strait to escape the blockade and +soon the famous battle began. Among the brave deeds singled out for +special mention none was bolder than that of Artemisia who sank a friend +to escape capture. The remainder of the Persian captains had no chance +of resisting, being huddled up in a narrow channel. Seeing Artemisia's +courage Xerxes remarked that his men had become women, his women men. +The rout of the invaders was quickly completed, the chief glory being +won by Aegina and Athens; the victory was consummated by the slaughter +of the troops on Psyttaleia. The Persian monarch sent tidings of this +defeat to his capital and in terror of a revolt in Ionia decided to +retreat, leaving Mardonius in command of picked troops. He hurriedly +passed along the way he had come, almost disappearing from Herodotus' +story. + +Mardonius accompanied him to Thessaly and Macedonia; he sent Alexander, +King of the latter country, as an envoy to Athens, offering to rebuild +the temples and restore all property in exchange for an alliance. +Hearing the news the Spartans in fear for themselves sent a +counter-embassy. The Athenian reply is one of the great things in +historical literature. "It was a base surmise in men like the Spartans +who know our mettle. Not all the gold in the world would tempt us +to enslave our own countrymen. We have a common brotherhood with +all Greeks, a common language, common altars and sacrifices, common +nationality; it would be unseemly to betray these. We thank you for your +offer to support our ruined families, but we will bear our calamities as +we may and will not burden you. Lead out your troops; face the enemy in +Boeotia and there give him battle." + +The last book relates the consequences of the Athenian reply to +Alexander. Mardonius advanced rapidly to Athens, which he captured a +second time. The Spartans were busy keeping the feast of Hyacinthia; +only an Athenian threat to come to terms with the foe prevailed on them +to move. Mardonius soon evacuated Attica, the ground being too stony for +cavalry, and encamped near Plataea. The Greeks followed, taking the high +ground on Mount Cithaeron. A brave exploit of the Athenian infantry in +defeating cavalry heartened the whole army. After eleven days' inaction, +Mardonius determined to attack, news of his plan being brought secretly +at night to the Athenians by Alexander. The Spartans, afraid of facing +the Persians, exchanged places with the Athenians; when this movement +was discovered by Mardonius, he sent a challenge to the Spartans to +decide the battle by a single conflict between them and his Persian +division. Receiving no reply, he let his cavalry loose on the Greeks +who began to retire to a place called the Island, where horse could not +operate. This action took place during the night. When morning broke the +battle began. The Persian wicker shields could not resist their enemies' +weapons; the host fled and after Mardonius fell was slaughtered in +heaps. The Greek took vengeance on the Thebans who had acted with the +Persians, of whom a mere remnant reached Asia under the command of +Artabazus. + +The victorious Greek fleet had advanced as far as Delos, commanded by +Leotychides, a Spartan of royal blood. To them came an embassy from +Samos, urging an attack on the Persians encamped on Mycale. It is said +that the battle was fought on the same day as that of Plataea and that a +divine rumour ran through the Greek army that their brothers had gained +the day. In the action at Mycale the Athenians took the palm of valour, +bursting the enemy's line and storming his entrenchments. This victory +freed Ionia; it remained only to open the Dardanelles. The Spartans +returned home, but the Athenians crossed from Abydos in Asia to Sestos, +the strongest fortress in the district. The place was starved into +surrender; with its capture ends the story of Persia's attempt to +destroy European civilisation. + +In this great Epic nothing is more obvious than the terror the Greeks +felt when they first faced the Persians. The numbers arrayed against +them were overwhelming, their despondency was justifiable. It required +no little courage from a historian to tell the awkward truth--that +Herodotus did tell it is no small testimony to his veracity. Yet only +a little experience was needed to convince the Greeks that they were +superior on both land and sea. Once the lesson was learned, they never +forgot it. Mycale is the proof that they remembered it well. This +same consciousness of superiority animated two other Greek armies, one +deserted in the middle of Asia Minor, yet led unmolested by Xenophon +through a hostile country to the shores of the Black Sea--the other +commanded by Alexander the Great who planted Greek civilisation over +every part of his conquests, from the coast to the very gates of Persia +itself. + +Modern history seems to have lost all powers of interesting its readers. +It is as dull as political economy; it suspects a stylist, questions +the accuracy of its authorities, tends to minimise personal influence +on events, specialises on a narrow period, emphasises constitutional +development, insists on the "economic interpretation" of an age and +at times seems quite unable to manage with skill the vast stores +of knowledge on which it draws. To it Herodotus is often a butt for +ridicule; his credulity, inability to distinguish true causes, belief +in divine influences, love of anecdote and chronological vagueness are +serious blemishes. But to us Herodotus is literature; we believe that +he himself laughs slyly at some of the anecdotes he has rendered more +piquant by a pretended credulity; this quick-witted Greek would find +it paid him to assume innocence in order to get his informers (like his +critics) to go on talking. Like Froissart, Joinville, de Comines and +perhaps even like Macaulay he wishes to write what will charm as well as +what will instruct. + +Yet as a historian Herodotus is great; he sifts evidence, some of +which he mentions only to reject it; the substantial accuracy of his +statements has been borne out by inscriptions; in fact, his value +to-day is greater than it was last century. If a man's literary bulk +is measured by the greatness of his subject, Herodotus cannot be a +mean writer. His theme is nothing less than the history of civilisation +itself as far as he could record it; his broad sweep of narrative may +be taken to represent the wide speculation of a philosophic historian as +opposed to the narrower and more intense examination of a short period +which is characteristic of the scientific historian. He tells us of +the first actual armed conflict between East and West, the never-ending +eternally romantic story. As Persia fought Greece, so Rome subdued +Carthage, Crusader attacked Saladin, Turkey submerged half Europe, +Russia contended with Japan. The atmosphere of Herodotus is the +unchanging East of the Bible, inscrutable Egypt, prehistoric Russia, +barbarous Thrace, as well as civilised Greece, Africa, India; had he +never written, much information would have been irretrievably lost, +for example, the account of one of the "Fifteen decisive battles" in +history. Let him be judged not as a candidate for some Chair of Ancient +History in some modern University, but as the greatest writer of the +greatest prose-epic in the greatest literature of antiquity. + +Of his inimitable short stories it is difficult to speak with measured +praise; it is dangerous to quote them, they are so perfect that a word +added or omitted might spoil them. His so-called digressions have always +some cogent reason in them; they are his means of including in the +panorama a scene essential to its completeness. The narrow type of +history writing has been tried for some centuries; all that it seems +able to accomplish is to go on narrowing itself until it cannot enjoy +for recording or remembering. It is a refreshing experience to move +in the broad open regions of history in which Herodotus trod. If it +is impossible to combine accurate research with the ecstasy of pure +literature, be it so. Herodotus will be read with joy and laughter +and sometimes with tears when some of our modern historians have been +superseded by persons even duller than themselves. + + +TRANSLATIONS: + +Rawlinson's edition with a version contains essays of the greatest +value. It has been the standard for two generations and is not likely to +be superseded. + +The Loeb Series contains a version by A. D. Godley. + +The great annotated edition of the text by R. W. Macan (Oxford) is the +result of a lifetime's work. It contains everything necessary to confirm +the claims of the historian. + +_The Great Persian War,_ by Grundy (London), is valuable. + +See Bury, _Ancient Greek Historians_ (Macmillan). + + + + + +THUCYDIDES + + +History, like an individual's life, is a succession of well-defined +periods. Herodotus took as his subject a long cycle of events; the +shorter period was first treated by Thucydides who introduced methods +which entitle him to be regarded as the first modern historian. Born in +Attica in 471 he was a victim of the great plague, was exiled for his +failure to check Brasidas at Eion in 424 and spent the rest of his life +in collecting materials for his great work. His death took place about +402. + +His preface is remarkable as outlining his creed. First he states his +subject, the Peloponnesian war of 431-404; he then tests by an appeal to +reason the statements in old legends and in Homer, arguing from analogy +or from historical survivals in his own time to prove that various +important movements were caused or checked by economic influence. He +uses his imagination to prove that the importance of an event cannot be +decided from the extant remains of its place of origin, for if only the +ruins of both Sparta and Athens were left, Sparta would be thought to +be insignificant and Athens would appear twice as powerful as she really +is. Poetical exaggeration is easy and misleading, and ancient history is +difficult to determine by absolute proofs. + + "Men accept statements about their own national past from one + another without testing them." + + "To most men the search for truth implies no effort; they prefer to + turn to the first accounts available." + + "It was difficult for me to write an exact narrative of the speeches + actually made; I have therefore given the words that might have been + expected of each speaker, adhering to the broad meaning of what was + really uttered. The facts I have not taken from any chance person, + nor have I given my own impressions, but have as accurately as + possible written a detailed account of what I witnessed myself or + heard from others. The discovery of these facts was laborious owing + to conflicting statements and confused memories and party favour. + Perhaps the unromantic nature of my record will make it uninteresting; + but if any person will judge it useful because he desires to consider + a clear account of actual facts and of what is likely to recur at some + future time, I shall be content. As a compilation it is rather an + eternal possession than a prize-essay for a moment." + +The essentially modern idea of history writing is here perfectly +evident. + +Having pointed out the significance of the war, not only to Greece but +to the whole of the world, he gives its causes. To him the real root of +the trouble was Sparta's fear of Athenian power: the alleged pretexts +were different. The rise of Athens is rapidly described, her building of +the walls broken down by the Persians, her control of the island-states +in a Delian league which eventually became the nucleus of her Empire, +her alliance with Megara, a buffer-state between herself and Corinth. +This last saved her from fears of a land invasion; when she built for +Megara long walls to the sea she incurred the intense anger of Corinth +which smouldered for years and at last caused the Peloponnesian +conflagration. The reduction of Aegina in 451 compensated for the loss +of Boeotia and Egypt. Eventually the Thirty Years' Peace was concluded +in 445; Athens gave up Megara, but retained Euboea; her definite policy +for the future was concentration on a maritime empire; she controlled +nearly all the islands of the Aegean and was mistress of the Saronic +gulf, Aegina, "the eyesore of the Peiraeus", having fallen. + +But if she was to confine her energies to the sea, it was essential that +she should be mistress of all the trade-routes which in ancient history +usually ran along the coast. On both east and west she found Corinth in +possession; a couple of quarrels with this city ruptured the peace. +In the west, Corinth had founded Corcyra (Corfu); this daughter colony +quarrelled with her mother and prevailed. In itself Corcyra was of +little importance in purely Greek politics, but it happened to possess a +large navy and commanded the trade-route to Sicily, whence came the +corn supply. When threatened with vengeance by Corinth, she appealed to +Athens, where ambassadors from Corinth also appeared. Their arguments +are stated in the speeches which are so characteristic of Thucydides. +The Athenians after careful consideration decided to conclude a +defensive alliance with Corcyra, for they dreaded the acquisition of +her navy by Corinth. But circumstances turned this into an offensive +alliance, for Corinth attacked and would have won a complete victory at +sea but for timely Athenian succour. In the east Athens was even more +vitally concerned in trade with the Hellespont, through which her own +corn passed. On this route was the powerful Corinthian city Potidaea, +situate on the western prong of Chalcidice. It had joined the Athenian +confederacy but had secured independence by building strong walls. When +the Athenians demanded their destruction and hostages as a guarantee, +the town revolted and appealed to the mother-city Corinth. A long +and costly siege drained Athens of much revenue and distracted her +attention; but worst of all was the final estrangement of the great +trade rival whom she had thwarted in Greece itself by occupying Megara, +in the west by joining Corcyra, and in the east by attacking Potidsea. + +The final and open pretext for war was the exclusion of Megara from +all Athenian markets; this step meant the extinction of the town as a +trading-centre and was a definite set-back to the economic development +of the Peloponnese, of which Corinth and Megara were the natural avenues +to northern Greece. The cup was full; Athenian ambition had run its +course. The aggrieved states of the Peloponnese were invited to put +their case at Sparta; Corinth drew a famous picture of the Athenian +character, its restlessness, energy, adaptability and inventiveness. "In +the face of such a rival," they added, + + "Sparta hesitates; in comparison Spartan methods are antiquated, + but modern principles cannot help prevailing; in a stagnant state + conservative institutions are the best, but when men are faced with + various difficulties great ingenuity is essential; for that reason + Athens through her wide experience has made more innovations." + +An Athenian reply failed to convince the allies of her innocence; one +of the Spartan Ephors forced the congress to declare that Athens +had violated the peace. A second assembly was summoned, at which the +Corinthians in an estimate of the Athenian power gave reasons for +believing it would eventually be reduced. They further appealed to what +has never yet failed to decide in favour of war--race antagonism; the +Athenians and her subjects were Ionians, whereas the Peloponnesians were +mainly Dorians. The necessary vote for opening hostilities was secured; +but first an ultimatum was presented. If Athens desired peace she +must rescind the exclusion acts aimed at Megara. At the debate in the +Athenian assembly Pericles, the virtual ruler, gave his reason for +believing Athens would win; he urged a demand for the withdrawal +of Spartan Alien Acts aimed at Athens and her allies and offered +arbitration on the alleged grievances. + +It is well to repeat the causes of this war: trade rivalry, naval +competition, race animosity and desire for predominance. Till these are +removed it is useless to expect permanent peace in spite of Leagues +or Tribunals or Arbitration Courts. Further, it should be noted that +Thucydides takes the utmost care to point out the excellent reasons +the most enlightened statesmen had for arriving at contradictory +conclusions; the event proved them all wrong without exception. The +future had in store at least two events which no human foresight could +discover, and these proved the deciding factors in the conflict. + +The war began in 431 by a Theban attack on Plataea, the little town just +over the Attic frontier which had been allied with Athens for nearly a +century and protected her against invasion from the north. This city had +long been hated by Thebes as a deserter from her own league; it alone of +Boeotian towns had not joined the Persians. Burning with the desire to +capture it, a body of Thebans entered the place by night, seizing the +chief positions. But in the morning their scanty numbers were apparent; +recovering from panic the Plataeans overwhelmed the invaders and +massacred them. This open violation of the treaty kindled the +war-spirit. Both sides armed, Sparta being more popular as pretending +to free Greece from a tyrant. Their last ambassador on leaving Athenian +territory said: "This day will be the beginning of mighty woes for +Greece". + +The Spartans invaded Attica, cutting down the fruit trees and forcing +the country folk into the city; the Athenians replied by ravaging parts +of Peloponnese and Megara. The funeral of the first Athenian victims of +the war was the occasion of a remarkable speech. Pericles in delivering +it expounds the Athenian ideal of life. + + "We do not compete with other constitutions, we are rather a pattern + for the rest. In our democracy all are equal before the law; each man + is promoted to public office not by favour but by merit, according as + he can do the State some service. We love beauty in its simplicity, we + love knowledge without losing manliness. Our citizens can administer + affairs both private and public; our working classes have an adequate + knowledge of politics. To us the most fatal error is the lack of + theoretical instruction before we attempt any duty. In a word, I say + that Athens is an education for all Greece; individually we can prove + ourselves competent to face the most varied forms of human activity + with the maximum of grace and adaptability.... We have forced the + whole sea and every land to open to our enterprise. Look daily at the + material power of the city and love her passionately. Her glory was + won by men who did their duty and sacrificed themselves for her. The + whole world is the sepulchre of famous men; their memory is not only + inscribed on pillars in their own country, it lives unwritten in the + hearts of men in alien lands." + +At the beginning of the next year a calamity which no statesman could +have foreseen overtook Athens. A mysterious plague of the greatest +malignity scourged the city, the mortality being multiplied among the +crowds of refugees. The city's strength was seriously impaired, public +and private morality were undermined, inasmuch as none knew how long he +had to live. Discouraged by it and by the invasions the Athenians sent +a fruitless embassy to Sparta and tinned in fury on Pericles. He made +a splendid defence of his policy and gave them heart to continue the +struggle; he pointed out that it was better to lose their property and +save the State than save their property and lose the State; their +fleet opened to them the world of waters over which they could range as +absolute masters. Soon afterwards he died, surviving the opening of the +war only two years and a half; his character and abilities received due +acknowledgment from Thucydides. + +At this point Sparta decided to destroy Plataea, the Athenian outpost +in Boeotia. A very brilliant description of the siege and +counter-operations reveals very clearly the Spartan inability to attack +walled towns and explains their objection to fortified friends. Leaving +the town guarded they retired for a time, to complete the work later. +The war began to spread beyond the Peloponnese to the north of the +Corinthian gulf, the control of which was important to both sides. The +Acarnanians were attacked by Sparta and appealed to the Athenian +admiral Phormio. Two naval actions in the gulf revealed the astonishing +superiority of the Athenian navy on the high seas. Threatened in her +corn supply in the west, Sparta began to intrigue with the outlying +kingdoms on the north-east, the "Thraceward parts" on the trade-route +being the objective. + +A spirit of revolt against Athenian rule appeared in Lesbos, which +seceded in 428. The chief town in this non-Ionic island was Mytilene, +which sent ambassadors to Sparta. Their speech clearly explains how the +Athenians were able to keep their hold on their policy; her policy +(like that of Rome) was to divide the allies by carefully grading their +privileges, playing off the weak against the stronger. The Spartans +proved unable to help and the Athenians easily blockaded the city, +capturing it early in 427. In their anger they at first decided to slay +all the inhabitants, but a better feeling led to a reconsideration next +day. In the Assembly two great speeches were delivered. Pericles had +been succeeded by Cleon, to whom Thucydides seems to have been a little +unjust. He opened his speech with the famous remark that a democracy +cannot govern an Empire; it is liable to sudden fits of passion which +make a consistent policy impossible. He himself never changed his plans, +but his audience were different. + + "You are all eyes for speeches, all ears for deeds; you judge of + the possibility of a project from good speeches; accomplished facts + you believe not because you see them but because you hear them from + smart critics. You are easily duped by some novel plan, but you + refuse to adhere to what has been proved sound. You are slaves to + every new oddity and have nothing but contempt for what is familiar. + Every one of you would like to be a good speaker, failing that, to + rival your orators in cleverness. You are as quick to guess what is + coming in a speech as you are slow at foreseeing its consequences. + In a word, you live in some non-real world." + +He pleaded for the rigorous application of the extreme penalty already +voted. + +He was opposed by Diodotus, who appealed to the same principle as Cleon +did expediency. + + "No penalty will deter men, not even the death penalty. Men have + run through the whole catalogue of deterrents in the hope of + securing themselves against outrage, yet offences still are common. + Human nature is driven by some uncontrollable master passion which + tempts it to danger. Hope and Desire are everywhere and are most + mischievous, for they are invisible. Fortune too is as powerful a + means of exciting men. At tunes she stands unexpectedly at their + side and leads them to take risks with too slender resources. Most + of all she tempts cities, for they are contending for the greatest + prizes, liberty or domination. It is absolutely childish then to + imagine that when human nature is bent on performing a thing it will + be deterred by law or any other force. If revolting cities are quite + sure that no mercy will be shown, they will fight to the last, + bequeathing the victors only smoking ruins. It would be more expedient + to be merciful and thus save the expenses of a long siege." + +This saner view prevailed. The doctrine of a "ruling passion" is +a remarkable contribution to Greek political thought, the abstract +personifications reading like the work of a poet or philosopher. An +exciting race against time is most graphically described. After great +exertions the ship bearing the reprieve arrived just in time to save +Mytilene. This act of mercy stands in sinister contrast with the +treatment the unhappy Plataeans received from the liberators of Greece. +The citizens were captured, Athens having strangely abandoned them in +spite of her promise to help. They were allowed to commemorate their +services to Greece, appealing in a most moving speech to the sacred +ground of their city, the scene of the immortal battle. All was in vain. +The Thebans accused them of flat treachery to Boeotia, securing their +condemnation. Corcyra similarly proved unprofitable; it was afflicted +by fratricidal dissensions which coloured one of Thucydides' darkest +pictures. As the war went on it became clearer that it was a struggle +between two rival political creeds, democracy and oligarchy. To the +partisans all other ties were of little value, whether of blood or race +or religion; only frenzied boldness and unquestioning obedience to a +party organisation were of any consequence. This wretched spirit of feud +was destined in the long run to spell the doom of the Greek cities. In +427 the first mention was made of the will-of-the-wisp which in time led +Athens to her ruin. In her anxiety to intercept the Peloponnesian corn +she supported Leontini against Syracuse, the leading Sicilian state. In +Acarnania the capable general Demosthenes after a series of movements +not quite fruitless succeeded in bringing peace to the jarring mountain +tribes. + +In 425 a most important event took place. As an Athenian squadron +was proceeding to Sicily it was forced to put in at Pylos, where many +centuries later Greece won a famous victory over the Turks. Demosthenes, +though he had no official command, persuaded his comrades to fortify the +place as a base from which to harry Spartan territory. It was situated +in the country which had once belonged to the Messenians who for +generations had been held down by the Spartan oligarchs. Deserters soon +began to stream in; the gravity of the situation was recognised by +the Spartan government who landed more than four hundred of their best +troops on the island of Sphacteria at the entrance to the bay. These +were speedily isolated by the Athenian navy; and news of the event +filled all Greece with excitement. A heated discussion took place at +Athens, where Cleon accused Nicias, the commander-in-chief, of slackness +in not capturing the blockaded force. Spartan overtures for a peace on +condition of the return of the isolated men proved vain; after a lively +altercation with Nicias Cleon made a promise to capture the Spartans +within thirty days, a feat which he accomplished with the aid of +Demosthenes. Nearly three hundred were found to prefer surrender to +death; these were conveyed to Athens and were an invaluable asset for +bargaining a future peace. + +A further success was the capture of Nisaea, the port of Megara, in +424, but an attempt to propagate democracy in Boeotia ended in a severe +defeat at Delium; the fate of Plataea was a bad advertisement in an +oligarchically governed district. Worse was to follow. Brasidas, a +Spartan who had greatly distinguished himself at Pylos, passed through +Thessaly with a volunteer force, reaching Thrace and capturing some +important towns; the loss of one of these, Eion, caused the exile of the +historian, who was too late to save it. In 423 a truce for one year +was arranged between the combatants, but Brasidas ignored it, sowing +disaffection among the Athenian allies. His personal charm gave them a +good impression of the Spartan character and his offer of liberty +was too attractive to be resisted. His success was partly due to a +deliberate misrepresentation of the Athenian power which proved greater +than it seemed to be. The two real obstacles to peace were Brasidas +and Cleon; at Amphipolis they met in battle; a rash movement gave the +Spartan an opportunity for an attack. He fell in action, but the town +was saved. Cleon was killed in the same battle and the path to peace +was clear. The truce for one year developed into a regular settlement in +421, Nicias being responsible for its negotiation in Athens. The chief +clause provided that Athens should recover Amphipolis in exchange for +the Spartan captives. + +The members of the Peloponnesian league considered themselves betrayed +by this treaty, for their hated rival Athens had not been humbled. +Corinth was the ringleader in raising disaffection. She determined to +create a new league, including Argos, the inveterate foe of Sparta. This +state had stood aloof from the war, nursing her strength and biding +her time for revenge. When Sparta failed to restore Amphipolis, the war +party at Athens, led by Alcibiades, formed an alliance with Argos to +reduce Sparta; but this policy alienated Corinth, who refused to act +with her trade rival. An Argive attack on Arcadia ended in the fierce +battle of Mantinea in 418, in which Sparta won a complete victory. Argos +was forced to come to terms, the new league was dissolved and Athens was +once more confronted by her combined enemies, her diplomacy a failure +and her trump-card, the Sphacterian prisoners, lost. + +Next year she was guilty of an act of sheer outrage. Her fleet +descended on the island of Melos, which had remained neutral, though its +inhabitants were colonists from the Spartan mainland close by. Nowhere +does the dramatic nature of Thucydides' work stand more clearly revealed +than in his account of this incident. He represents the Athenian and +Melian leaders as arguing the merits of the case in a regular dialogue, +essentially a dramatic device. The Athenian doctrine of Might and +Expediency is unblushingly preached and acted upon, in spite of Melian +protests; the island was captured, its population being slain or +enslaved. Such an act is a fitting prelude to the great disaster which +forms the next act of Thucydides' drama. + +In 416 Athens proceeded to develop her design of subjugating Sicily. +Segesta was at feud with Selinus; as the latter city applied to Syracuse +for aid, the former bethought her of her ancient alliance with Athens. +Next year the Sicilian ambassadors arrived with tales of unlimited +wealth to finance an expedition. Nicias, the leader of the peace +party, vainly counselled the Assembly to refrain; he was overborne by +Alcibiades, whose ambition it was to reduce not only Sicily but Carthage +also. When the expedition was about to sail most of the statues of +Hermes in the city were desecrated in one night. Alcibiades, appointed +to the command with Nicias and Lamachus, was suspected of the outrage, +but was allowed to sail. The fleet left the city with all the pomp and +ceremony of prayer and ritual, after which it showed its high spirits in +racing as far as Aegina. + +In Sicily itself Hermocrates, the great Syracusan patriot, repeatedly +warned his countrymen of the coming storm, advising them to sink all +feuds in resistance to the common enemy. He was opposed by Athenagoras, +a democrat who, true to his principles, suspected the story as part of +a militarist plot to overthrow the constitution. His speech is the most +violent in Thucydides, but contains a passage of much value. + + "The name of the whole is People, that of a part is Oligarchy; + the rich are the best guardians of wealth, the educated class can + make the wisest decisions, the majority are the best judges of + speeches. All these classes in a democracy have equal power both + individually and collectively. But oligarchy shares the dangers + with the many, while it does not merely usurp the material benefits, + rather it appropriates and keeps them all." + +The Athenians received a cold welcome wherever they went. At Catana they +found their state vessel waiting to convey Alcibiades home to stand his +trial; he effected his escape on the homeward voyage, crossing to the +Peloponnese. The great armament instead of thrusting at Syracuse +wasted its time and efficiency on side-issues, mainly owing to the cold +leadership of Nicias. This valuable respite was used to the full by +Hermocrates, who at a congress held at Camarina was insistent on the +racial character of the struggle between themselves who were Dorians and +the Ionians from Athens. This national antipathy contributed greatly to +the final decision of the conflict. + +Passing to Sparta, Alcibiades deliberately betrayed his country. His +speech is of the utmost importance. + +His view of democracy is contemptuous. "Nothing new can be said of what +is an admitted folly." He then outlined the Athenian ambition; it was +to subdue Carthage and Sicily, bring over hosts of warlike barbarians, +surround and reduce the Peloponnese and then rule the whole +Greek-speaking world. He advised his hearers to aid Sicilian incapacity +by sending a Spartan commander; above all, he counselled the occupation +of Deceleia, a town in Attica just short of the border, through which +the corn supply was conveyed to the capital; this would lead to the +capture of the silver-mines at Laureium and to the decrease of the +Athenian revenues. He concluded with an attempt to justify his own +treachery, remarking that when a man was exiled, he must use all means +to secure a return. + +The Spartans had for some time been anxious to open hostilities; an act +of Athenian aggression gave them an opportunity. Meanwhile in Sicily +Lamachus had perished in attacking a Syracusan cross-wall. Left in +sole command, Nicias remained inactive, while Gylippus, despatched +from Sparta, arrived in Syracuse just in time to prevent it from +capitulating. The seventh book is the record of continued Athenian +disasters. Little by little Gylippus developed the Syracusan resources. +First he made it impossible for the Athenians to circumvallate the city; +then he captured the naval stores of the enemy, forcing them to encamp +in unhealthy ground. Nicias had begged the home government to relieve +him of command owing to illness. Believing in the lucky star of the man +who had taken Nissea they retained him, sending out a second great +fleet under Demosthenes. The latter at once saw the key to the whole +situation. The Syracusan cross-wall which Nicias had failed to render +impassable must be captured at all costs. A night attack nearly +succeeded, but ended in total defeat. Demosthenes immediately advised +retreat; but Nicias obstinately refused to leave. In the meantime the +Syracusans closed the mouth of their harbour with a strong boom, penning +up the Athenian fleet. The famous story of the attempt to destroy it +calls out all the author's powers of description. He draws attention +to the narrow space in which the action was fought. As long as the +Athenians could operate in open water they were invincible; but the +Syracusans not only forced them to fight in a confined harbour, they +strengthened the prows of their vessels, enabling them to smash the +thinner Athenian craft in a direct charge. The whole Athenian army +went down to the edge of the water to watch the engagement which was to +settle their fate. Their excitement was pitiable, for they swayed to and +fro in mental agony, calling to their friends to break the boom and save +them. After a brave struggle, the invaders were routed and driven to the +land by the victorious Syracusans. + +Retreat by land was the only escape. A strategem planned by Hermocrates +and Nicias' superstitious terrors delayed the departure long enough to +enable the Syracusans to secure the passes in the interior. When the +army moved away the scene was one of shame and agony; the sick vainly +pleaded with their comrades to save them; the whole force contrasted the +proud hopes of their coming with their humiliating end and refused to +be comforted by Nicias, whose courage shone brightest in this hour +of defeat. Demosthenes' force was isolated and was quickly captured; +Nicias' men with great difficulty reached the River Assinarus, parched +with thirst. Forgetting all about their foes, they rushed to the water +and fought among themselves for it though it ran red with their own +blood. At last the army capitulated and was carried back to Syracuse. +Thrown into the public quarries, the poor wretches remained there for +ten weeks, scorched by day, frost-bitten by night. The survivors were +sold into slavery. + + "This was the greatest achievement in the war and, I think, in + Greek history the most creditable to the victors, the most + lamentable to the vanquished. In every way they were utterly + defeated; their sufferings were mighty; they were destroyed + hopelessly; ships, men, everything perished, few only returning + from the great host." + +So ends the most heartrending story in Greek history, told with absolute +fidelity by a son of Athens and a former general of her army. + +The last book is remarkable for the absence of speeches; it is a +record of the continued intrigues which followed the Sicilian disaster. +Upheavals in Asia Minor brought into the swirl of plots Tissaphernes, +the Persian satrap, anxious to recover control of Ionia hitherto +saved by Athenian power. In 412 the Athenian subjects began to revolt, +seventeen defections being recorded in all. At Samos a most important +movement began; the democrats rose against their nobles, being +guaranteed independence by Athens. Soon they made overtures to +Alcibiades who was acting with the Spartan fleet; he promised to detach +Tissaphernes from Sparta if Samos eschewed democracy, a creed odious to +the Persian monarchy. The Samians sent a delegation to Athens headed by +Pisander, who boldly proposed Alcibiades' return, the dissolution of the +democracy in Samos and alliance with Tissaphernes. These proposals were +rejected, but the democracy at Athens was not destined to last much +longer, power being usurped by the famous Four Hundred in 411. The +Samian democracy eventually appointed Alcibiades general, while in +Athens the extremists were anxious to come to terms with Sparta. This +movement split the Four Hundred, the constitution being changed to +that of the Five Thousand, a blend of democracy and oligarchy which won +Thucydides' admiration; the history concludes with the victory of the +Athenians in the naval action at Cynossema in 410. + +The defects of Thucydides are evident; his style is harsh, obscure and +crabbed; it is sometimes said that he seems wiser than he really is +mainly because his language is difficult; that if his thoughts were +translated into easier prose our impressions of his greatness would be +much modified. Yet it is to be remembered that he, like Lucretius, had +to create his own vocabulary. It is a remarkable fact that prose +has been far more difficult to invent than poetry, for precision is +essential to it as the language of reasoning rather than of feeling. +Instead of finding fault with a medium which was necessarily imperfect +because it was an innovation we should be thankful for what it has +actually accomplished. It is not always obscure; at times, when "the +lion laughed" as an old commentator says, he is almost unmatched in pure +narrative, notably in his rapid summary of the Athenian rise to power in +the first book and in the immortal Syracusan tragedy of the seventh. + +His merits are many and great; his conciseness, repression of personal +feeling, love of accuracy, careful research, unwillingness to praise +overmuch and his total absence of preconceived opinion testify to +an honesty of outlook rare in classical historians. Because he feels +certain of his detachment of view, he quite confidently undertakes what +few would have faced, the writing of contemporary history. Nowadays +historians do not trust themselves; we may expect a faithful account +of our Great War some fifty years hence, if ever. Not so Thucydides; +he claims that his work will be a treasure for all time; had any other +written these words we should have dismissed them as an idle boast. + +For he is the first man to respect history. It was not a plaything; +it was worthy of being elevated to the rank of a science. As such, its +events must have some deep causes behind them, worth discovering not +only in themselves as keys to one particular period, but as possible +explanations of similar events in distant ages. Accordingly, he deemed +it necessary to study first of all our human nature, its varied motives, +mostly of questionable morality, next he studied international ethics, +based frankly on expediency. The results of these researches he has +embodied (with one or two exceptions) in his famous speeches. +He surveyed the ground on which battles were fought; he examined +inscriptions, copying them with scrupulous care; he criticised ancient +history and contemporary versions of famous events, many of which he +found to be untrue. Further, his anxiety to discover the real sources +of certain policies made it necessary for him to write an account of +seemingly purposeless action in wilder or even barbarous regions such as +Arcadia, Ambracia, Macedonia; in consequence his work embraces the whole +of the Greek world, as he said it would in his famous preface. + +As an artist, he is not without his merits. The dramatic nature of +his plan has been frequently pointed out; to him the main plot is the +destruction not of Athens, but of the Periclean democracy, the overthrow +thereof being due to a conflict with another like it; hence the marked +change in the last book, in which the main dramatic interest has waned. +This dramatic form has, however, defeated its own objects sometimes, for +all the Thucydidean fishes talk like Thucydidean whales. + +To us he is indispensable. We are a maritime power, ruling a maritime +empire, our potential enemies being military nations. He has warned us +that democracy cannot govern an empire. Perhaps our type of this creed +is not so full of the lust for domination and aggrandisement as was that +of Athens; it may be suspected that we are virtuous mainly because we +have all we need and are not likely to be tempted overmuch. But there is +the other and more subtle danger. The enemies within the state betrayed +Deceleia which safeguarded the food-supply. We have many Deceleias, +situate along the great trade-routes and needing protection. Once these +are betrayed we shall not hold out as Athens did for nearly ten years; +ten weeks at the outside ought to see our people starving and beaten, +fit for nothing but the payment of indemnities to the power which +relieves us of our inheritance. + + +TRANSLATIONS:-- + +The earliest is by Hobbes, the best is by Jowett, Oxford. Though +somewhat free, it renders with vigour the ideas of the original text. + +The Loeb Series has a version by Smith. + +_Thucydides Mythistoricus,_ Cornford (Arnold), is an adverse criticism +of the historian; it points out the inaccuracies which may be detected +in his work. + +_Clio Enthroned_ by W. R. M. Lamb, Cambridge, should be read in +conjunction with the above. The author adopts the traditional estimate +of Thucydides. + +See also Bury, _Ancient Greek Historians_, as above. + + + + +PLATO + + +Shortly after the outbreak of the Peloponnesian war Plato was born, +probably in 427. During the eighty years of his life he travelled +to Sicily at least twice, founded the Academy at Athens and saw the +beginning of the end of the Greek freedom. He represents the reflective +spirit in a nation which seems to appear when its development is well +advanced. After the madness of a long war the Athenians, stripped of +their Empire for a time, sought a new outlet for their restless energies +and started to conquer a more permanent kingdom, that of scientific +speculation about the highest faculties of the human mind. + +The death of Socrates in 399 disgusted Plato; democracy apparently was +as intolerant as any other form of political creed. His writings are in +a sense a vindication of the honesty of his master, although the +picture he draws of him is not so true to life as that of Xenophon. The +dialogues fall into two well-marked classes; in the earlier the method +and inspiration is definitely Socratic, but in the later Socrates is a +mere peg on which Plato hung his own system. In itself the dialogue +form was no new thing; Plato adopted it and made it a thing of life and +dramatic power, his style being the most finished example of exalted +prose in Greek literature. The order in which the dialogues were written +is a thorny problem; there is good reason for believing that Plato +constantly revised some of them, removing the inconsistencies which +were inevitable while he was feeling his way to the final form which his +speculations assumed. It is perhaps best to give an outline of a series +which exhibits some regular order of thought. + +It is sometimes thought that Philosophy has no direct bearing on +practical questions. A review of the _Crito_ may dispel this illusion. +In it Socrates refuses to be tempted by his young friend Crito who +offers to secure his escape from prison and provide him a home among his +own friends. The question is whether one ought to follow the opinions of +the majority on matters of justice or injustice, or those of the one +man who has expert knowledge, and of Truth. The laws of Athens have put +Socrates in prison; they would say; + + "by this act you intend to perpetrate your purpose to destroy us + and the city as far as one man can do so. Can any city survive and + not be overturned in which legal decisions have no force, but are + rendered null by private persons and destroyed?" + +Socrates had by his long residence of seventy years declared his +satisfaction with the Athenian legal system. The laws had enabled him +to live in security; more, he could have taken advantage of legal +protection in his trial, and if he had been dissatisfied could have +gone away to some other city. What sort of a figure would he make if he +escaped? Wherever he went he would be considered a destroyer of law; his +practice would belie his creed; finally, the Laws say, + + "if you wish to live in disgrace, after going back on your contract + and agreement with us, we will be angry with you while you are alive + and in death our Brother Laws will give you a cold welcome; they + will know that you have done your best to destroy our authority." + +Sound and concrete teaching like this is always necessary, but is +hardly likely to be popular. The doctrine of disobedience is everywhere +preached in a democracy; violation of contracts is a normal practice and +law-breakers have been known to be publicly feasted by the very members +of our legislative body. + +A different lesson is found in the _Euthyphro_. After wishing Socrates +success in his coming trial, Euthyphro informs him that he is going to +prosecute his father for manslaughter, assuring him that it would be +piety to do so. Socrates asks for a definition of piety. Euthyphro +attempts five--"to act as Zeus did to his father"; "what the gods love"; +"what all the gods love"; "a part of righteousness, relating to the care +of the gods"; "the saying and doing of what the gods approve in prayer +and sacrifice". Each of these proves inadequate; Euthyphro complains of +the disconcerting Socratic method as follows: + + "Well, I do not know how to express my thoughts. Every one of + our suggestions always seem to have legs, refusing to stand still + where we may fix it down. Nor have I put into them this spirit of + moving and shifting, but you, a second Daedalus." + +It is noticeable that no definite result comes from this dialogue; +Plato was within his rights in refusing to answer the main question. +Philosophy does not pretend to settle every inquiry; her business is +to see that a question is raised. Even when an answer is available, +she cannot always give it, for she demands an utter abandonment of all +prepossessions in those to whom she talks--otherwise there will be no +free passage for her teaching. Though refuted, Euthyphro still retained +his first opinions, for his first and last definitions are similar in +idea. To such a person argument is mere waste of time. + +An admirable illustration of Plato's lightness of touch is found in the +_Laches_. The dialogue begins with a discussion about the education of +the young sons of Lysimachus and Melesias. Soon the question is raised +"What is courage?" Nicias warns Laches about Socrates; the latter has +a trick of making men review their lives; his practice is good, for it +teaches men their faults in time; old age does not always bring wisdom +automatically. Laches first defines courage as the faculty which makes +men keep the ranks in war; when this proves inadequate, he defines it as +a stoutness of spirit. Nicias is called in; he defines it as "knowledge +of terrors and confidence in war"; he is soon compelled to add "and +knowledge of all good and evil in every form"--in a word, courage is all +virtue combined. The dialogue concludes that it is not young boys but +grown men of all ages who need a careful education. This spirited little +piece is full of dramatic vigour--the remarks of Laches and Nicias about +each other as they are repeatedly confuted are most human and diverting. + +Literary criticism is the subject of the _Ion_. Coming from Ephesus, +Ion claimed to be the best professional reciter of Homer in all Greece. +Acknowledging that Homer made him all fire, while other poets left +him cold, he is made to admit that his knowledge of poetry is not +scientific; otherwise he would have been able to discuss all poetry, for +it is one. Socrates then makes the famous comparison between a poet and +a magnet; both attract an endless chain, and both contain some divine +power which masters them. Ecstasy, enthusiasm, madness are the best +descriptions of poetic power. Even as a professional reciter Ion admits +the necessity of the power of working on men. + + "When I am on the platform I look on my audience weeping and + looking warlike and dazed at my words. I must pay attention to + them; if I let them sit down weeping, I myself shall laugh when + I receive my fee, but if they laugh I myself shall weep when I get + nothing." + +Homer is the subject of the _Hippias Minor_. At Olympia Hippias once +said that every single thing that he was wearing was his own handiwork. +He was a most inventive person--one of his triumphs being an art of +memory. In this dialogue he prefers the Iliad to the Odyssey because +Achilles was called "excellent" and Odysseus "versatile". Socrates soon +proves to him that Achilles was false too, as he did not always keep his +word. He reminds Hippias that he never wastes time over the brainless, +though he listens carefully to every man. In fact, his cross-examination +is a compliment. He never thinks the knowledge he gains is his own +discovery, but is grateful to any who can teach him. He believes that +unwitting deceivers are more culpable than deliberate tricksters. +Hippias finds it impossible to agree with him, whereupon Socrates says +that things are for ever baffling him by their changeability; it is +pardonable that unlearned men like himself should err; when really wise +people like Hippias wander in thought, it is monstrous that they are +unable to settle the doubts of all who appeal to them. + +_Channides_, the young boy after whom the dialogue was named, was the +cousin and ward of Critias, the infamous leader of the Thirty Tyrants. +On being introduced to him Socrates starts the discussion "What is +self-control?" The lad makes three attempts to answer; seeing his +confusion, Critias steps in, "angry with the boy, like a poet angry with +an actor who has murdered his poems". But he is not more successful; his +three definitions are proved wanting. + + "Like men who, seeing others yawn, themselves yawn, he too was in + perplexity. But because he had a great reputation, he was put to + shame before the audience and refused to admit his inability to + define the word." + +The dialogue gives no definite answer to the discussion. It is a vivid +piece of writing; the contrast between the young lad and the elder +cousin whose pet phrases he copies is very striking. + +In the _Lysis_ the characters and the conclusion are similar. Lysis is +a young lad admired by Hippothales. The first portion of the dialogue +consists of a conversation between Lysis and Socrates; the latter +recommends the admirer to avoid foolish converse. On the entry of Lysis' +friend Menexenus, Socrates starts the question "What is friendship?" +It appears that friendship cannot exist between two good or two evil +persons, but only between a good man and one who is neither good nor +bad, exactly as the philosopher is neither wise nor ignorant, yet he +loves knowledge. Still this is not satisfactory; up conclusion being +reached, Socrates winds up with a characteristic remark; they think +they are friends, yet cannot say what friendship is. This dialogue was +carefully read by Aristotle before he gave his famous description in the +Ethics: "A friend is a second self". Perhaps Socrates avoided a definite +answer because he did not wish to be too serious with these sunny +children. + +The _Euthydemus_ is an amusing study of the danger which follows upon +the use of keen instruments by the unscrupulous. Euthydemus and his +brother Dionysodorus are two sophists by trade to whom words mean +nothing at all; truth and falsehood are identical, contradiction being +an impossibility. As language is meaningless, Socrates himself is +quickly reduced to impotence, recovering with difficulty. Plato was no +doubt satirising the misuse of the new philosophy which was becoming +so popular with young men. When nothing means anything, laughter is +the only human language left. The _Cratylus_ is a similarly conceived +diversion. Most of it is occupied with fanciful derivations and +linguistic discussions of all kinds. It is difficult to say how far +Plato is serious. Perhaps the feats of Euthydemus in stripping words of +all meaning urged him to some constructive work--for Plato's system is +essentially destructive first, then constructive. At any rate, he +does insist on the necessity for determining a word's meaning by its +derivation, and points out that a language is the possession of a whole +people. + +In the _Protagoras_ Socrates while a young man is represented as meeting +a friend Hippocrates, who was on his way to Protagoras, a sophist from +Abdera who had just arrived at Athens. Socrates shows first that his +friend has no idea of the seriousness of his action in applying for +instruction to a sophist whose definition he is unable to give. + + "If your body had been in a critical condition you would have + asked the advice of your friends and deliberated many days before + choosing your doctor. But about your mind, on which depends your + weal or woe according as it is evil or good, you never asked the + advice of father or friend whether you ought to apply to this + newly-arrived stranger. Hearing last night that he was here, you + go to him to-day, ready to spend your own and your friends' money, + convinced that you ought to become a disciple of a man you neither + know nor have talked with." + +They proceed to the house of Callias, where they find Protagoras +surrounded by strangers from every city who listened spell-bound to his +voice. + +Protagoras readily promises that Hippocrates would be taught his system +which offers "good counsel about his private affairs and power to +transact and discuss political matters". Socrates' belief that politics +cannot be taught provokes one of the long speeches to which Plato +strongly objected because a fundamental fallacy could not be refuted at +the outset, vitiating the whole of the subsequent argument. Protagoras +recounted a myth, proving that shame and justice were given to every +man; these are the basis of politics. Further, cities punish criminals, +implying that men can learn politics, while virtue is taught by parents +and tutors and the State. Socrates asks whether virtue is one or many. +Protagoras replies that there are five main virtues, knowledge, justice, +courage, temperance and piety, all distinct. A long rambling speech +causes Socrates to protest; his method is the short one of question and +answer. By using some very questionable reasoning he proves that all +these five virtues are identical. Accordingly, if virtue is one it can +be taught, not however, by a sophist or the State, but by a philosopher, +for virtue is knowledge. + +This conclusion is thoroughly in harmony with Socrates' system. Yet it +is probably false. Virtue is not mere knowledge, nor vice ignorance. If +they were, they would be intellectual qualities. They are rather moral +attributes; experience soon proves that many enlightened persons are +vicious and many ignorant people virtuous. The value of this dialogue is +its insistence upon the unity of virtue. A good man is not a bundle +of separate excellences; he is a whole. Possessing one virtue he +potentially has them all. + +The _Gorgias_ is a refutation of three distinct and popular notions. +Gorgias of Leontini used to invite young men to ask him questions, none +of whom ever put to him a query absolutely new. It soon appears that he +is quite unable to define Rhetoric, the art by which he lived. Socrates +said it was a minister of persuasion, that it in the long run concerned +itself with mere Opinion, which might be true or false, and could not +claim scientific Knowledge. Further, it implied some morality in its +devotees, for it dealt with what was just or unjust. Polus, a young and +ardent sophist, was compelled to assent to two very famous doctrines, +first that it is worse to do evil than to experience it, second, that +to avoid punishment was the worst thing for an offender. But a more +formidable adversary remained, one Callicles, the most shameless and +unscrupulous figure perhaps in Plato's work. His creed is a flat denial +of all authority, moral or intellectual. It teaches that Law is not +natural, but conventional; that only a slave puts up with a wrong, and +only weak men seek legal protection. Philosophy is fit only for youths, +for philosophers are not men of the world. Natural life is unlimited +self-indulgence and public opinion is the creation of those who are too +poor to give rein to their appetites; the good is pleasure and infinite +self-satisfaction is the ideal. Socrates in reply points out the +difference between the kinds of pleasures, insists on the importance of +Scientific knowledge of everything, and proves that order is requisite +everywhere--its visible effects in the soul being Justice and Wisdom, +not Riot. To prevent injustice some art is needed to make the subject as +like as possible to the ruler; the type of life a man leads is far more +important than length of days. The demagogue who like Callicles has +no credentials makes the people morally worse, especially as they +are unable to distinguish quacks from wise men. Nor need philosophers +trouble much about men's opinions, for a mob always blames the physician +who wishes to save it. A delightful piece of irony follows, in which +Socrates twits Callicles for accusing his pupils of acting with +injustice, the very quality he instils into them. Callicles, though +refuted, advises Socrates to fawn on the city, for he is certain to +be condemned sooner or later; the latter, however, does not fear death +after living righteously. + +Most men have held doctrines similar to those refuted here. There is an +idea abroad that what is "natural" must be intrinsically good, if not +godlike. But it is quite clear that "Nature" is a vague term meaning +little or nothing--it is higher or lower and natural in both forms. +Those who wish to know the lengths of impudence to which belief in the +sacredness of "Nature" can bring human beings might do worse than read +the _Gorgias_. + +Plato's dramatic power and fertility of invention are displayed fully +in the _Symposium_. Agathon had won the tragic prize and invited many +friends to a wine-party. After a slight introduction a proposition was +carried that all should speak in praise of Love. First a youth Phaedrus +describes the antiquity of love and gives instances of the attachments +between the sexes. Pausanias draws the famous distinction between +the Heavenly and the Vulgar Aphrodite; the true test of love is its +permanence. A doctor, Eryximachus, raises the tone of the discussion +still further. To him Love is the foundation of Medicine, Music, +Astronomy and Augury. Aristophanes tells a fable of the sexes in true +comic style, making each of them run about seeking its other half. +Agathon colours his account with a touch of tragic diction. At last +it is Socrates' turn. He tells what he heard from a priestess called +Diotima. Love is the son of Fulness and Want; he is the intermediary +between gods and men, is active, not passive; he is desire for +continuous possession of excellent things and for beautiful creation +which means immortality, for all men desire perpetual fame which can +come only through the science of the Beautiful. In contemplation +and mystical union with the Divine the soul finds its true destiny, +satisfying itself in perfect love. + +At this moment Alcibiades arrives from another feast in a state of high +intoxication. He gives a most marvellous account of Socrates' influence +over him and likens him in a famous passage to an ugly little statue +which when opened is all gold within. At the end of the dialogue one +of the company tells how Socrates compelled Aristophanes and Agathon +to admit that it was one and the same man's business to understand and +write both tragedy and comedy--a doctrine which has been practised only +in modern drama. + +In this dialogue we first seem to catch the voice of Plato himself as +distinct from that of Socrates. The latter was undoubtedly most keenly +interested in the more human process of questioning and refuting, his +object being the workmanlike creation of exact definitions. But Plato +was of a different mould; his was the soaring spirit which felt its +true home to be the supra-sensible world of Divine Beauty, Immortality, +Absolute Truth and Existence. Starting with the fleshly conception of +Love natural to a young man, he leads us step by step towards the great +conclusion that Love is nothing less than an identification of the self +with the thing loved. No man can do his work if he is not interested +in it; he will hate it as his taskmaster. But when an object of pursuit +enthrals him it will intoxicate him, will not leave him at peace till +he joins his very soul with it in union indissoluble. This direct +communication of Mind with the object of worship is Mysticism. It is the +very core of the highest form of religious life; it purifies, ennobles, +and above all it inspires. To the mystic the great prophet is the +Athenian Plato, whose doctrine is that of the Christian "God is love" +converted into "Love is God". It is not entirely fanciful to suggest +that Plato, in saying farewell to the definitely Socratic type of +philosophy, gave his master as his parting gift the greatest of all +tributes, a dialogue which is really the "praise of Socrates". + +The intoxication of Plato's thought is evident in the _Phaedrus_. This +splendid dialogue marks even more clearly the character of the new wine +which was to be poured into the Socratic bottles. Phaedrus and Socrates +recline in a spot of romantic beauty along the bank of the Ilissus. +Phaedrus reads a paradoxical speech supposed to be written by Lysias, +the famous orator, on Love; Socrates replies in a speech quite as +unreal, praising as Lysias did him who does not love. But soon he +recants--his real creed being the opposite. Frenzy is his subject--the +ecstasy of prophecy, mysticism, poetry and the soul. This last is like +a charioteer driving a pair of horses, one white, the other black. It +soars upwards to the region of pure beauty, wisdom and goodness; but +sometimes the white horse, the spirited quality of human nature, +is pulled down by the black, which is sensual desire, so that the +charioteer, Reason, cannot get a full vision of the ideal world beyond +all heavens. Those souls which have partially seen the truth but have +been dragged down by the black steed become, according to the amount +of Beauty they have seen, philosophers, kings, economists, gymnasts, +mystics, poets, journeymen, sophists or tyrants. The vision once seen is +never quite forgotten, for it can be recovered by reminiscence, so that +by exercise each man can recall some of its glories. + +The dialogue then passes to a discussion of good and bad writing and +speaking. The truth is the sole criterion of value, and this can be +obtained only by definition; next there must be orderly arrangement, a +beginning, a middle and an end. In rhetoric it is absolutely essential +for a man to study human nature first; he cannot hope to persuade +an audience if he is unaware of the laws of its psychology; not all +speeches suit all audiences. Further, writing is inferior to speaking, +for the written word is lifeless, the spoken is living and its author +can be interrogated. It follows then that orators are of all men the +most important because of the power they wield; they will be potent for +destruction unless they love the truth and understand human nature; in +short, they must be philosophers. + +The like of this had nowhere been said before. It opened a new world to +human speculation. First, the teaching about oratory is of the highest +value. Plato's quarrel with the sophists was based on their total +ignorance of the enormous power they exercised for evil, because they +knew not what they were doing. They professed to teach men how to speak +well, but had no conception of the science upon which the art of oratory +rests. In short, they were sheer impostors. Even Aristotle had nothing +to add to this doctrine in his treatise on _Rhetoric_, which contains +a study of the effects which certain oratorical devices could be +prophesied to produce, and provides the requisite scientific foundation. +Again, the indifference to or the ridicule of truth shown by some +sophists made them odious to Plato. He would have none of their +doctrines of relativity or flux. Nothing short of the Absolute would +satisfy his soaring spirit. He was sick of the change in phenomena, the +tangible and material objects of sense. He found permanence in a world +of eternal ideas. These ideas are the essence of Platonism. They are his +term for universal concepts, classes; there are single tangible trees +innumerable, but one Ideal Tree only in the Ideal world beyond the +heavens. Nothing can possibly satisfy the soul but these unchanging +and permanent concepts; it is among them that it finds its true home. +Lastly, the tripartite division of the nature of the soul here first +indicated is a permanent contribution to philosophy. Thus Plato's system +is definitely launched in the _Phaedrus_. His subsequent dialogues show +how he fitted out the hulk to sail on his voyages of discovery. + +The _Meno_ is a rediscussion on Platonic principles of the problem of +the _Protagoras_: can virtue be taught? Meno, a general in the army of +the famous Ten Thousand, attempts a definition of virtue itself, the +principle that underlies specific kinds of virtues such as justice. +After a cross-examination he confesses his helplessness in a famous +simile: Socrates is like the torpedo-fish which benumbs all who touch +it. Then the real business begins. How do we learn anything at all? +Socrates says by Reminiscence, for the soul lived once in the presence +of the ideal world; when it enters the flesh it loses its knowledge, but +gradually regains it. This theory he dramatically illustrates by calling +in a slave whom he proves by means of a diagram to know something of +geometry, though he never learned it. Thus the great lesson of life is +to practise the search for knowledge--and if virtue is knowledge it will +be teachable. + +But the puzzle is, who are the teachers? Not the sophists, a discredited +class, nor the statesmen, who cannot teach their sons to follow +them. Virtue then, not being teachable, is probably not the result of +knowledge, but is imparted to men by a Divine Dispensation, just as +poetry is. But the origin of virtue will always be mysterious till +its nature is discovered beyond doubt. So Plato once more declares +his dissatisfaction with a Socratic tenet which identified virtue with +knowledge. + +The _Phaedo_ describes Socrates' discussion of the immortality of +the soul on his last day on earth. Reminiscence of Ideas proves +pre-existence, as in the _Meno_; the Ideas are similarly used to prove +a continued existence after death, for the soul has in it an immortal +principle which is the exact contrary of mortality; the Idea of Death +cannot exist in a thing whose central Idea is life. Such in brief is +Socrates' proof. To us it is singularly unconvincing, as it looks like +a begging of the whole question. Yet Plato argues in his technical +language as most men do concerning this all-important and difficult +question. That which contains within itself the notion of immortality +would seem to be too noble to have been created merely to die. The very +presence of a desire to realise eternal truth is a strong presumption +that there must be something to correspond with it. The most interesting +portion of this well-known dialogue is that which teaches that life is +really an exercise for death. All the base and low desires which haunt +us should be gradually eliminated and replaced by a longing for better +things. The true philosopher at any rate so trains himself that when his +hour comes he greets death with a smile, the life on earth having lost +its attractions. + +Such is the connection between the _Meno_ and the _Phaedo_; the life +that was before and the life that shall be hereafter depend upon the +Ideal world. That salvation is in this life and in the practical sphere +of human government is possible only through a knowledge of these Ideas +is the doctrine of the immortal _Republic_. This great work in ten books +is well known, but its unique value is not always recognised. It +starts with a discussion of Justice. Thrasymachus, a brazen fellow like +Callicles in the _Gorgias_, argues that Justice is the interest of +the stronger and that law and morality are mere conventions. The +implications of this doctrine are of supreme importance. If Justice +is frank despotism, then the Eastern type of civilisation is the best, +wherein custom has once for all fixed the right of the despot to grind +down the population, while the sole duty of the latter is to pay taxes. +The moral reformation of law becomes impossible; no adjustment of an +unchanging decree to the changing and advancing standard of public +morality can be contemplated; constitutional development, legal +reformation and the great process by which Western peoples have tried +gradually to make positive law correspond with Ethical ideals are mere +dreams. + +But the verbal refutation of Thrasymachus does not satisfy Glaucus and +Adeimantus who are among Socrates' audience. In order to explain the +real nature of Justice, Socrates is compelled to trace from the very +beginning the process by which states have come into existence. Economic +and military needs are thoroughly discussed. The State cannot continue +unless there is created in it a class whose sole business it is to +govern. This class is to be produced by communistic methods; the best +men and women are to be tested and chosen as parents, their children +being taken and carefully trained apart for their high office. This +training will be administered to the three component parts of the soul, +the rational, the spirited and the appetitive, while the educational +curriculum will be divided into two sections, Gymnastic for the body and +Artistic for the mind--the latter including all scientific, mathematical +and literary subjects. After a careful search, in this ideal state +Justice, the principle of harmony which keeps all classes of the +community coherent, will show itself in "doing one's own business". + +Yet even this method of describing Justice is not satisfactory to Plato, +who was not content unless he started from the universal concepts of the +Ideal world. The second portion of the dialogue describes how knowledge +is gained. The mind discards the sensible and material world, advancing +to the Ideas themselves. Yet even these are insufficient, for they all +are interconnected and united to one great and architectonic Idea, that +of the Good; to this the soul must advance before its knowledge can be +called perfect. This is the scheme of education for the Guardians; the +philosophic contemplation of Ideas, however, should be deferred till +they are of mature age, for philosophy is dangerous in young men. Having +performed their warlike functions of defending the State, the Guardians +are to be sifted, those most capable of philosophic speculation being +employed as instructors of the others. Seen from the height of the +Ideal world, Justice again turns out to be the performance of one's own +particular duties. + +This ideal society Plato admits to be a difficult aim for our weak human +nature; he stoutly maintains, however, that "a pattern of it is laid up +in heaven", man's true home. He mournfully grants that a declension +from excellence is often possible and describes how this rule of +philosophers, if established, would be expected to pass through +oligarchy to democracy, the worst form of all government, peopled by the +democratic man whose soul is at war with itself because it claims to do +as it likes. The whole dialogue ends in an admirable vision in which he +teaches that man chose his lot on earth in a preexisting state. + +Such is a fragmentary description of this masterpiece. What is it all +about? First it is necessary to point out a serious misconception. +Plato is not here advocating universal communism; his state postulates a +money-making class and a labouring class also. Apart from the fact that +he explicitly mentions these and allows them private property, it would +be difficult to imagine that they are not rendered necessary by his +very description of Justice. Not all men are fit for government--and +therefore those who are governed must "do their particular business" for +which they are fitted; in some cases it is the rather mean business of +piling up fortunes. Communism is advocated as the only means of creating +first and then propagating the small Guardian caste. Nor again is the +caste rigid, for some of the children born of communistic intercourse +will be unfit for their position and will be degraded into the +money-making or property owning section. Communism to Plato is a high +creed, too high for everybody, fit only for the select and enlightened +or teachable few. + +Nor is the _Republic_ an instance of Utopian theorising. It is a +criticism of contemporary Greek civilisation, intended to remove the +greatest practical difficulty in life. Man has tried all kinds of +governments and found none satisfactory. All have proved selfish and +faithless, governing for their own interests only. Kings, oligarchs, +democrats and mob-leaders have without exception regarded power as +the object to be attained because of the spoils of office. Political +leadership is thus a direct means of self-advancement, a temptation too +strong for weak human nature. As a well-known Labour leader hinted, five +thousand a year does not often come in men's way. There is only one way +of securing honest government and that is Plato's. A definite class must +be created who will exercise political power only, economic inclinations +of any sort disqualifying any of its members from taking office. The +ruling class should rule only, the money-making class make money only. +In this way no single section will tax the rest to fill its own pockets. +The one requisite is that these Guardians should be recognised as the +fittest to rule and receive the willing obedience of the rest. If +any other sane plan is available for preserving the governed from the +incessant and rapacious demands of tax-collectors, no record of it +exists in literature. Practical statesmanship of a high and original +order is manifest in the _Republic_; in England, where the official +qualifications for governing are believed to be equally existent +in everybody whether trained or untrained in the art of ruling, +the _Republic_, if read at all, may be admired but is sure to be +misunderstood. + +It seems that Plato's teaching at the Academy raised formidable +criticism. The next group of dialogues is marked by metaphysical +teaching. The _Parmenides_ is a searching examination of the Ideas. +If these are in a world apart, they cannot easily be brought into +connection with our world; a big thing on earth and the Idea of Big will +need another Idea to comprehend both. Besides, Ideas in an independent +existence will be beyond our ken and their study will be impossible. +Socrates' system betrays lack of metaphysical practice; at most the +Ideas should have been regarded as part of a theory whose value should +have been tested by results. This process is exemplified by a discussion +of the fundamental opposition between the One and the infinite Many +which are instances of it. + +This criticism shows the advantage Plato enjoyed in making Socrates the +mouthpiece of his own speculations; he could criticise himself as it +were from without. He has put his finger on his own weak spot, the +question whether the Ideas are immanent or transcendent. The results of +this examination were adopted by the Aristotelian school, who suggested +another theory of Knowledge. + +The _Philebus_ discusses the question whether Pleasure or Knowledge +is the chief good. A metaphysical argument which follows that of the +_Parmenides_ ends in the characteristic Greek distinction between the +Finite and the Infinite. Pleasure is infinite, because it can exist in +greater or less degree; there is a mixed life compounded of finite and +infinite and there is a creative faculty to which mind belongs. Pleasure +is of two kinds; it is sometimes mixed with pain, sometimes it is pure; +the latter type alone is worth cultivating and includes the pleasures of +knowledge. Yet pleasure is not an end, but only a means to it. It cannot +therefore be the Good, which is an end. Knowledge is at its best when +it is dealing with the eternal and immutable, but even then it is not +self-sufficient--it exists for the sake of something else, the good. +This latter is characterised by symmetry, proportion and truth. +Knowledge resembles it far more than even pure pleasure. + +The _Theaetetus_ discusses more fully the theory of knowledge. It opens +with a comparison of the Socratic method to midwifery; it delivers the +mind of the thoughts with which it is in travail. The first tentative +definition of knowledge is that it is sensation. This is in agreement +with the Protagorean doctrine that man is the measure of all things. Yet +sensation implies change, whereas we cannot help thinking that objects +retain their identity; if knowledge is sensation a pig has as good a +claim to be called the measure of all things as a man. Again, Protagoras +has no right to teach others if each man's sensations are a law unto +him. Nor is the Heracleitean doctrine much better which taught that all +things are in a state of flux. If nothing retains the same quality +for two consecutive moments it is impossible to have predication, and +knowledge must be hopeless. In fact, sensation is not man's function +as a reasoning being, but rather comparison. Neither is knowledge true +opinion, for this at once demands the demarcation of false opinion or +error; the latter is negative, and will be understood only when positive +knowledge is determined. Perhaps knowledge is true opinion plus reason; +but it is difficult to decide what is gained by adding "with reason", +words which may mean either true opinion or knowledge itself, thus +involving either tautology or a begging of the question. The dialogue at +least has shown what knowledge is not. + +Locke, Berkeley and Hume, the eighteenth century sensation philosophers, +were similarly refuted by Kant. The mind by its mere ability to compare +two things proves that it can have two concepts at least before it +at the same time, and can retain them for a longer period than a mere +passing sensation implies. Yet the problem of knowledge still remains as +difficult as Plato knew it to be. + +"Is the Sophist the same as the Statesman and the Philosopher?" Such is +the question raised in the _Sophist_. Six definitions are suggested, all +unsatisfactory. The fixed characteristic of the Sophist is his seeming +to know everything without doing so; this definition leads straight to +the concept of false opinion, a thing whose object both is and is not. +"That which is not" provokes an inquiry into what is, Being. Dualism, +Monism, Materialism and Idealism are all discussed, the conclusion being +that the Sophist is a counterfeit of the Philosopher, a wilful impostor +who makes people contradict themselves by quibbling. + +The _Politicus_ carries on the discussion. In this dialogue we may see +the dying glories of Plato's genius. In his search for the true pastor +or king he separates the divine from the human leader; the true king +alone has scientific knowledge superior to law and written enactments +which men use when they fail to discover the real monarch. This +scientific knowledge of fixed and definite principles can come only +from Education. A most remarkable myth follows, which is practically +the Greek version of the Fall. The state of innocence is described as +preceding a decline into barbarism; a restoration can be effected only +by a divine interposition and by the growth of a study of art or by +the influence of society. The arts themselves are the children of a +supernatural revelation. + +The _Timaeus_ and the long treatise the _Laws_ criticise the theories +of the Republic. The former is full of world-speculations of a most +difficult kind, the latter admits the weakness of the Ideal State, +making concessions to inevitable human failings. + +Though written in an early period, the _Apology_ may form a fitting end +to these dialogues. Socrates was condemned on the charge of corrupting +the Athenian youth and for impiety. To most Athenians he must have been +not only not different from the Sophists he was never weary of exposing, +but the greatest Sophist of them all. He was unfortunate in his friends, +among whom were Critias the infamous tyrant and Alcibiades who sold +the great secret. The older men must have regarded with suspicion his +influence over the youth in a city which seemed to be losing all its +national virtues; many of them were personally aggrieved by his annoying +habit of exposing their ignorance. He was given a chance of escape by +acknowledging his fault and consenting to pay a small fine. Instead, he +proposed for himself the greatest honour his city could give any of her +benefactors, public maintenance in the town-hall. + +His defence contains many superb passages and is a masterpiece of gentle +irony and subtle exposure of error. Its conclusion is masterly. + + "At point of death men often prophesy. My prophecy to you, my + slayers, is that when I am gone you will have to face a far more + serious penalty than mine. You have killed me because you wish + to avoid giving an account of your lives. After me will come more + accusers of you and more severe. You cannot stop criticism except + by reforming yourselves. If death is a sleep, then to me it is + gain; if in the next world a man is delivered from unjust judges + and there meets with true judges, the journey is worth while. + There will be found all the heroes of old, slain by wicked + sentences; them I shall meet and compare my agonies with theirs. + Best of all, I shall be able to carry out my search into true and + false knowledge and shall find out the wise and the unwise. No + evil can happen to a virtuous man in life or in death. If my sons + when they grow up care about riches more than virtue, rebuke them + for thinking they are something when they are naught. My time has + come; we must separate. I go to death, you to life; which of the + two is better only God knows." + +Two lessons of supreme importance are to be learned from Plato. In the +first place he insists on credentials from the accepted teachers of +a nation. On examination most of them, like Gorgias, would be found +incapable of defining the subjects for the teaching of which they +receive money. The sole hope of a country is Education, for it alone +can deliver from ignorance, a slavery worse than death; the uneducated +person is the dupe of his own passions or prejudices and is the +plaything of the horde of impostors who beg for his vote at elections or +stampede him into strikes. + +Again, the possibility of knowledge depends upon accurate definition +and the scientific comparisons of instances. These involve long and +fatiguing thought and very often the reward is scanty enough; no +conclusion is possible sometimes except that it is clear what a thing +cannot be. The human intelligence has learned a most valuable lesson +when it has recognised its own impotence at the outset of an inquiry +and its own limitations at the end thereof. Knowledge, Good, Justice, +Immortality are conceptions so mighty that our tiny minds have no +compasses to set upon them. Better far a distrust in ourselves than the +somewhat impudent and undoubtedly insistent claim to certitude advanced +by the materialistic apostles of modern non-humanitarianism. When +questioned about the ultimates all human knowledge must admit that it +hangs upon the slender thread of a theory or postulate. The student of +philosophy is more honest than others; he has the candour to confess the +assumptions he makes before he tries to think at all. + +At times it must be admitted that Plato sounds very unreal. His faults +are clear enough. The dialogue form makes it very easy for him to invent +questions of such a nature that the answer he wants is the only one +possible. Again, his conclusions are often arrived at by methods or +arguments which are frankly inadmissible; in the earlier dialogues are +some very glaring instances of sheer logical worthlessness. Frequently +the whole theme of discussion is such that no modern philosopher could +be expected to approve of it. A supposed explanation of a difficulty is +sometimes afforded by a myth, splendid and poetical but not logically +valid. Inconsistencies can easily be pointed out in the vast compass of +his speculations. It remained for Aristotle to invent a genuine method +of sorting out a licit from an illicit type of argument. + +These faults are serious. Against them must be placed some positive +excellences. Plato was one of the first to point out that there is a +problem; a question should be asked and an answer found if possible, +for we have no right to take things for granted. More than this, he was +everywhere searching for knowledge, ridding himself of prejudice, +doing in perfect honesty the most difficult of all things, the duty of +thinking clearly. These thoughts he has expressed in the greatest of +all types of Greek prose, a blend of poetic beauty with the precision of +prose. + +But Plato's praise is not that he is a philosopher so much as Philosophy +itself in poetic form. His great visions of the Eternal whence we +spring, his awe for the real King, the real Virtue, the real State +"laid up in Heaven" fill him with an inspired exaltation which lifts his +readers to the Heaven whence Platonism has descended. There are two main +types of men. One is content with the things of sense; using his powers +of observation and performing experiments he will become a Scientist; +using his powers of speculation he will become an Aristotelian +philosopher; putting his thoughts into simple and logical order, he will +write good prose. The other soars to the eternal principles behind this +world, the deathless forms or the general concepts which give concrete +things their existence. These perfect forms are the main study of the +Artist, Poet, Sculptor, whose work it is to give us comfort and pleasure +unspeakable. So long as man lives, he must have the perfection of beauty +to gladden him, especially if Science is going to test everything by the +ruler or balance or crucible. This love of Beauty is exactly Platonism. +It has never died yet. From Athens it spread to Alexandria, there to +start up into fresh life in the School of which Plotinus is the chief; +its doctrines are described for the English reader in Kingsley's +_Hypatia_. It planted its seed of mysticism in Christianity, with which +it has most strange affinities. At the Renaissance this mystic element +caught the imagination of northern Europe, notably Germany. Passing to +England, it created at Cambridge a School of Platonists, the issue of +whose thought is evident in the poetry of Coleridge and Wordsworth. Its +last outburst has been the Transcendental teaching of the nineteenth +century, so curiously Greek and non-Greek in its essence. + +For there is in our nature that undying longing for communion with the +Divine which the mere thought of God stirs within us. Our true home is +in the great world where Truth is everything, that Truth which one day +we, like Plato, shall see face to face without any quailing. + + +TRANSLATIONS: + +The version in 4 volumes by Jowett (Oxford) is the standard. It contains +good introductions. + +The _Republic_ has been translated by Davies and Vaughan. + +Two volumes in the Loeb Series have appeared. + +A new method of translation of Plato is needed. The text should be +clearly divided into sections; the steps of the argument should be +indicated in a skeleton outline. Until this is done study of Plato is +likely to cause much bewilderment. + +_Plato and Platonism_, by Pater, is still the best interpretation of the +whole system. + + + + +DEMOSTHENES + + +One of the most disquieting facts that history teaches is the inability +of the most enlightened and patriotic men to "discern the signs of the +times". To us the collapse of the Greek city-states seems natural and +inevitable. Their constant bickerings and petty jealousies justly drew +down upon them the armed might of the ambitious and capable power which +destroyed them. Their fate may fill us with pity and our admiration +for those who fought in a losing cause may prejudice us against their +enslavers. But just as the Norman Conquest in the long run brought more +blessing than misery, so the downfall of the Greek commonwealths was the +first step to the conquering progress of the Greek type of civilisation +through the whole world. Our Harold, fighting manfully yet vainly +against an irresistible tendency, has his counterpart in the last +defender of the ancient liberties of Greece. + +Demosthenes was born in 384 of a well-to-do business man who died eight +years later. The guardians whom he appointed appropriated the estate, +leaving Demosthenes and his sister in straitened circumstances. On +coming of age the young man brought a suit against his trustees in 363, +of whom Aphobus was the most fraudulent. Though he won the case, much +of his property was irretrievably lost. Nor were his first efforts at +public speaking prophetic of future greatness. His voice was thin, his +demeanour awkward, his speech indistinct; his style was laboured, +being an obvious blend of Thucydides with Isaeus, an old and practised +pleader. Yet he was ambitious and determined; he longed to copy the +career of Pericles, the noblest of Athenian statesmen. The stories of +his self-imposed exercises and their happy issue are well known; his +days he spent in declaiming on the sea-shore with pebbles in his mouth, +his nights in copying and recopying Thucydides; the speeches which have +come down to us show clearly the gradual evolution of the great style +well worthy of the greatest of all themes, national salvation. + +It will be necessary to explain a convention of the Athenian law courts. +A litigant was obliged to plead his own case; if he was unable to +compose his own speech, he applied to some professional retailer of +orations who would write it for him. The art of these speech-writers +was of varying excellence. A first-class practitioner would not only +discover the real or the supposed facts of the dispute, he would divine +the real character of his client, and write the particular type +of speech which would seem most natural on such a person's lips. +Considerable knowledge of human nature was required in such an exciting +and delicate profession, although the author did not always succeed in +concealing his identity. Demosthenes had his share of this experience; +he wrote for various customers speeches on various subjects; one +concerns a dowry dispute, another a claim for compensation for damage +caused by a water-course, another deals with an adoption, another was +written for a wealthy banker. Assault and battery, ship-scuttling, undue +influence of attractive females on the weaker sex, maritime trickery +of all kinds, citizen rights, are all treated in the so-called private +speeches, of which some are of considerable value as illustrating legal +or mercantile or social etiquette. + +Public suits were of the same nature; the speeches were composed by one +person and delivered by another. Such are the speech against _Androtion_ +for illegal practices, against _Timocrates_ for embezzlement and the +important speech against _Aristocrates_, in which for the first time +Demosthenes seems to have become aware of the real designs of +Macedonia. The speech against the law of _Leptines_, delivered in 354 by +Demosthenes himself, is of value as displaying the gradual development +of his characteristic style; in it we have the voice and the words of +the same man, who is talking with a sense of responsibility about a +constitutional anomaly. + +But for us the real Demosthenes is he who spoke on questions of State +policy. This subject alone can call out the best qualities in an orator +as distinct from a rhetorician; the tricks and bad arguments which are +so often employed to secure condemnation or acquittal in a law court are +inapplicable or undignified in a matter of vital national import. But +before the great enemy arose to threaten Greek liberty, it happened that +Fortune was kind enough to afford Demosthenes excellent practice in a +parliamentary discussion of two if not three questions of importance. + +In 354 there was much talk of a possible war with Persia. Demosthenes +first addresses the sword-rattlers. "To the braggarts and jingoes I say +that it is not difficult--not even when we need sound advice--to win +a reputation for courage and to appear a clever speaker when danger is +very near. The really difficult duty is to show courage in danger and +in the council-chamber to give sounder advice than anybody else." His +belief was that war was not a certainty, but it would be better to +revise the whole naval system. A detailed scheme to assure the requisite +number of ships in fighting-trim follows, so sensible that it commands +immediate respect. The speaker estimates the wealth of Attica, maps +it out into divisions, each able to bear the expense of the warships +assigned to it. To a possible objection that it would be better to raise +the money by increased taxation he answers with the grim irony natural +to him (he seems to be utterly devoid of humour). + + "What you could raise at present is more ridiculous than if you + raised nothing at all. A hundred and twenty talents? What are they + to the twelve hundred camels which they say carry Persia's revenues?" + +He refuses to believe that a Greek mercenary army would fight against +its country, while the Thebans, who notoriously sided with Persia +in 480, would give much for an opportunity of redeeming this old sin +against Greece. + + "The rest of the Greeks, as long as they considered the Persian + their common enemy, had numerous blessings; but when they began to + regard him as their friend they experienced such woes as no man could + have invented for them even in his curses. Whom then Providence and + Destiny have shown useless as a friend and most advantageous as a foe, + shall we fear? Rather let us commit no injustice for our own sakes and + save the rest from commotion and strife." + +Such is the outline of the speech on the _Navy-boards_. Two years +later he displayed qualities of no mean order. Sparta and Thebes were +quarrelling for the leadership. Arcadia had revolted from Sparta, the +centre of the disaffection being _Megalopolis_; ambassadors from the +latter city and from Sparta begged Athenian aid. In the heat of the +excitement men's judgments were not to be trusted. "The difficulty of +giving sound advice is well known," says the orator. + + "If a man tries to take a middle course and you have not the + patience to hear, he will win the approval of neither party but + will be maligned by both. If such a fate awaits me, I would rather + appear to be talking nonsense than allow any party to deceive you + into what I know is not your wisest policy." + +The question was, should Athens join Thebes or Sparta, both ancient +foes? + + "I would like to ask those who say they hate either, whether they + hate the one for the sake of the other or for your sake. If for the + sake of the other party, then you can trust neither, for both are mad; + if for your sake, why do they try to strengthen one of these two + cities unduly? You can with perfect ease keep Thebes weak without + making Sparta strong, as I will prove. You will find that the main + cause of woe and ruin is unwillingness to act with simple honesty." + +After a rapid calculation of possibilities he suggests the following +plan. + + "War between Thebes and Sparta is certain. If Thebes is beaten to + the ground, as she deserves to be, Sparta will not be unduly powerful, + for these Arcadian neighbours will restore the balance; if Thebes + recovers and saves herself, she will still be weak if you ally + yourselves with Arcadia and protect her. It is expedient then in + every way neither to sacrifice Arcadia nor let that country imagine + that it survives through its own power or through any other power than + yours." + +The calm voice of the cool-headed statesman is everywhere audible in +this admirable little speech. + +The power of discounting personal resentment and thinking soberly is +apparent in the speech for the _Freedom of Rhodes_, delivered about this +time. Rhodes had offended Athens by revolting in the Social war of 357-5 +with the help of the well-known Carian king Mausolus. For a time that +monarch had treated Rhodes well; later he overthrew the democracy and +placed the power in the hands of the oligarchs. When Queen Artemisia +succeeded to the throne of Caria the democrats begged Athens to aid +them in recovering their liberty. Deprecating passion of any kind, +Demosthenes points out the real question at issue. The record of the +oligarchs is a bad one; to overthrow the democracy they had won over +some of the leading citizens whom they banished when they had attained +their object. Their faithless conduct promised no hope of a firm +alliance with Athens. The Rhodian question was to be the acid test of +her political creed. + + "Look at this fact, gentlemen. You have fought many a war against + both democracies and oligarchies, as you well know. But the real + object of these wars perhaps none of you considers. Against + democracies you fight for private grievances which cannot be settled + in public, or for territory or boundaries or for domination. Against + oligarchies you fight for none of these things, but for your + constitution and freedom. I would not hesitate to say that I consider + it more to your advantage should become democratic and fight you than + turn oligarchic and be your friends. I am certain that it would not + be difficult for you to make peace with freeconstitutions; with + oligarchies your friendship would not even be secure, for it is + impossible that they in their lust for power could cherish kindness + for a State whose policy is based on freedom of speech." + + "Even if we were to say that Rhodes richly deserves her sufferings, + this is the wrong time to gloat. Prosperous cities ought always to + show that they desire every good for the unfortunate, for the future + is dark to us all." + +His conclusion is this. + + "Any person who abandons the post assigned to him by his commander + you disfranchise and exclude from public life. Even so all who desert + the political tradition bequeathed you by your ancestors and turn + oligarchs you ought to banish from your Council. As it is you trust + politicians who you know for certain side with your country's enemies." + +These three speeches indicate plainly enough the kind of man who was +soon to make himself heard in a more important question. Instead of +a frothy and excitable harangue that might have been looked for in +a warm-blooded Southern orator we find a dignified and apparently +cool-headed type of speech based on sound sense, full of practical +proposals, fearless, manly and above all noble because it relies +on righteousness. An intelligence of no mean order has in each case +discarded personal feeling and has pointed out the one bed-rock fact +which ought to be the foundation of a sound policy. More than this; for +the first time an Attic orator has deliberately set to work to create a +new type of prose, based on a cadence and rhythm. This new language at +times runs away with its inventor; experience was to show him that in +this matter as in all others the consummate artist hides the art whereof +he is master. + +By 352 Greece had become aware that her liberties were to be threatened +not from the East, but from Macedonia. Trained in the Greek practice +of arms and diplomacy, her king Philip within seven years had created +a powerful military system. His first object was to obtain control of a +seaboard. In carrying out this policy he had to reduce Amphipolis on +the Strymon in Thrace, Olynthus in Chalcidice, and Athenian power +centralised in Potidaea, a little south of Olynthus, and on the other +side of the Gulf of Therma in Pydna and Methone. Pydna he secured in 357 +by trickery; Amphipolis had passed under his control through inexcusable +Athenian slackness earlier in the same year. Potidaea fell in 356 and +Methone, the last Athenian stronghold, in 353. Pagasae succumbed in 352; +with it Philip obtained absolute command of the sea-coast. + +In the same year a Macedonian attempt to pass Thermopylae was met by +vigorous Athenian action; a strong force held the defile, preventing a +further advance southward. In the next year the Athenian pacifist party +was desirous of dropping further resistance. This policy caused the +delivery of the _First Philippic_. It is a stirring appeal to the +country to shake off its lethargy. Nothing but personal service would +enable her to recover the lost strongholds. "In my opinion," it says, +"the greatest compelling power that can move men is the disgrace of +their condition. Do you desire to stroll about asking one another for +news? What newer news do you want than that a Macedonian is warring down +Athens? Philip sick or Philip dead makes no difference to you. If +he died you would soon raise up for yourselves another Philip if you +continue your present policy." + +With statesmanlike care Demosthenes makes concrete proposals for the +creation of a standing force of citizens ready to serve in the ranks; +at present their generals and captains are puppets for the pretty +march-past in the public square. He estimates the cost of upkeep and +shows that it is possible to maintain a force in perfect efficiency; +he lays particular stress on creating a base of operations in Macedonia +itself, otherwise fleets sailing north might be checked by trade winds. +"Too late" is the curse of Athenian action; a vacillating policy ruins +every expedition. + + "Such a system was possible earlier, but now we are on the razor's + edge. In my opinion some god in utter shame at our history has + inspired Philip with his restlessness. If he had been content with + his conquests and annexations, some of you would be quite satisfied + with a position which would have branded our name with infamy and + cowardice; as it is, perhaps his unceasing aggressions and lust for + extension might spur you--unless you are utterly past redemption." + +He grimly refutes all those well-informed persons who "happen to know" +Philip's object--we had scores of them in our own late war. + + "Why, of course he is intoxicated at the magnitude of his successes + and builds castles in the air; but I am quite sure that he will + never choose a policy such that the most hopeless fools here are + likely to know what it is, for gossipers are hopeless fools." + +It should be remembered that these are the words of a young man of +thirty-four, unconnected with any party, yet capable of forming a sane +policy. That they are great words will be obvious to anyone who replaces +the name of Philip by that of his country's enemy; the result is +startling indeed. + +The last and most formidable problem Philip had yet to solve, the +destruction of Olynthus, the centre of a great confederation of +thirty-two towns. Military work against it was begun in 349 and led at +once to an appeal to Athens for assistance. The pacifists and traitors +were busy intriguing for Philip; Demosthenes delivered three speeches +for Olynthus. The _First Olynthiac_ sounds the right note. + + "The present crisis all but cries aloud saying that you must tackle + the problem your own selves if you have any concern for salvation. + The great privilege of a military autocrat, that he is his own + Cabinet, Commander-in-Chief, and Chancellor of the Exchequer, that + he is everywhere personally in service with his army, gives him an + enormous advantage for the speedy and timely performance of military + duties, but it makes him incapable of obtaining from Olynthus the + truce he longs for. Olynthus now knows she is fighting not for glory + or territory but to avoid ejection and slavery. She has before her + eyes his treatment of Amphipolis and Pydna. In a word, despotism is + a thing no free country can trust, especially if it is its neighbour." + +He warns his hearers that once Olynthus falls, there is nothing to +hinder Philip from marching straight on Athens. + +A definite policy is then suggested. + + "Carping criticism is easy; any person can indulge in it; but only + a statesman can show what is to be done to meet a pressing difficulty. + I know well enough that if anything goes wrong you lose your tempers + not with the guilty persons, but with the last speaker. Yet for all + that, no thought of private safety will make me conceal what I believe + to be our soundest course of action." + +By a perfectly scandalous abuse, the surplus funds of the State Treasury +had been doled out to the poor to enable them to witness plays in +the theatre, on the understanding that the doles should cease if war +expenses had to be met. In time the lower orders came to consider the +dole as their right, backed by the demagogues refused to surrender it. +This theatre-fund Demosthenes did not yet venture to attack, for it +was dangerous to do so. He had no alternative but to propose additional +taxes on the rich. He concludes with an admirable peroration. + + "You must all take a comprehensive view of these questions and + bear a hand in staving off the war into Macedonia. The rich must + spend a little of their possessions to enjoy the residue without + fear; the men of military age must gain their experience of war + in Philip's country and make themselves formidable defenders of + their own soil; the speakers must facilitate an enquiry into their + own conduct, that the citizen body may criticise their policy + according to the political situation at the moment. May the result + be good on every ground." + +The _Second Olynthiac_ strikes a higher note, that of indignant protest +against the perfidy of Macedonian diplomacy. + + "When a State is built on unanimity, when allies in a war find + their interests identical, men gladly labour together, bearing + their troubles and sticking to their task. But when a power like + Philip's is strong through greed and villainy, on the first pretext + or the slightest set-back the whole system is upset and dismembered. + Injustice and perjury and lies cannot win a solid power; they + survive for a brief and fleeting period and show many a blossom of + promise perhaps, but time finds them out; their leaves soon wither + away. Houses or ships need foundations of great strength; policies + require truth and righteousness as their origin and first principles. + Such are not to be found in Philip's career." + +A history of Macedonian progress shows the weak places in the system. + + "Success throws a veil over these at present, for prosperity shrouds + many a scandal. If he makes one false step, all his vices will come + into the clearest relief; this will soon become obvious under + Heaven's guidance, if you will only show some energy. As long as a + man is in health, he is unaware of his weaknesses, but when sickness + overtakes him, his whole constitution is upset. Cities and despots + are the same; while they are invading their neighbours their secret + evils are invisible, but when they are in the grip of an internal war + these weaknesses all become quite evident." + +An exhortation to personal service is succeeded by a protest against a +parochial view of politics which causes petty jealousies and paralyses +joint action. The whole State should take its turn at doing some war +duty. + +In the _Third Olynthiac_ Demosthenes takes the bull by the horns. +The insane theatre-doles were sapping the revenues badly needed for +financing the fight for existence. Olynthus at last was aware of her +danger; she could be aided not by passing decrees, but by annulling +some. + + "I will tell you quite plainly I mean the laws about the + theatre-fund. When you have done that and when you make it safe + for your speakers to give you the best advice, then you may expect + somebody to propose what you all know is to your interest. The men + to repeal these laws are those who proposed them. It is unfair that + they who passed them should be popular for damaging the State while + a statesman who proposes a measure which would benefit us all should + be rewarded with public hatred. Before you have set this matter right + you cannot expect to find among you a superman who will violate these + laws with impunity or a fool who will run his head into a manifest + noose." + +With the same superb courage he tackles the demagogues who are the cause +of all the mischief. + + "Ever since the present type of orator has appeared who asks + anxiously, 'What do you want? What can I propose? What can I give + you?' the city's prestige has melted in compliment; the net result + is that these men have made their fortunes while the city is + disgraced." + +A bitter contrast shows how the earlier popular leaders made Athens +wealthy, dominant and respected; the modern sort had lost territory, +spent a mint of money on nothing, alienated good allies and raised up +a trained enemy. But there is one thing to their credit, they had +whitewashed the city walls, had repaired roads and fountains. And the +trade of public speaking is profitable. Some of the demagogues' houses +are more splendid than the public buildings; as individuals they have +prospered in exact proportion as the State is reduced to impotence. In +fact, they have secured control of the constitution; their system of +bribery and spoon-feeding has tamed the democracy and made it obedient +to the hand. "I should not be surprised," he continues, + + "if my words bring me into greater trouble than the men who have + started these abuses. Freedom of speech on every subject before you + is not possible--I am surprised that you have not already howled me + down." + +The doles he compares to the snacks prescribed by doctors; they cannot +help keep a patient properly alive and will not allow him to die. +Personal service and an end of gratuities is insisted upon. + + "Without adding or taking away, only slightly altering our present + chaos, I have suggested a uniform scheme whereby each man can do + the duties fitted to his years and his opportunities. I have nowhere + proposed that you should divide the earnings of the workers among + the unemployable, nor that you should slack and amuse yourselves and + be reduced to beggary while somebody else is fighting for you--for + that is what is happening now." + +What a speech is here! Doles, interruptions of men who tell the truth, +organised democratic corruption, waste of public money on whitewash are +familiar to the unhappy British tax-payer. Where is our Demosthenes who +dare appeal to the electorate to sweep the system and its prospering +advocates back into the darkness? + +Having captured Olynthus in 348 and razed it to the ground, Philip +attacked Euboea. A further advance was checked by a disgraceful peace +engineered by Philocrates and Aeschines in 346. The embassy which +obtained it was dodged by Philip until he had made the maximum of +conquest; he had excluded the Phocians from its scope, a people of +primary importance because they controlled Thermopylae, but a week after +signing the peace he had destroyed Phocian unity and usurped their place +on the great Council which met at Delphi. This evident attack on the +liberty of southern Greece raised a fever of excitement at Athens. The +war-party clamoured for instant action; strangely enough Demosthenes +advised his city to observe the peace. In contrast with his fiery +audience he speaks with perfect coolness and calm. He reviews +the immediate past, explains the shameful part played by an actor +Neoptolemus who persuaded Athens to make the peace, then realised all +his property and went to live in Macedon; he describes the good advice +he gave them which they did not follow, and bases his claim to speak not +on any cleverness but on his incorruptibility. + + "Our true interest reveals itself to me in its real outlines as I + judge the existing situation. But whenever a man throws a bribe + into the opposite scale it drags the reason after it; the corrupt + person will never afterwards have any true or sane judgment about + anything." + +In the present case the real point at issue is clear enough. It is a +question of fighting not Philip but the whole body of states who were +represented at the Delphic Council, for they would fly to arms at once +if Athens renounced _the Peace_; against such a combination she could +not survive, just as the Phocians could not cope with the combined +attack of Macedonia, Thessaly and Thebes, natural enemies united for a +brief moment to achieve a common end. After all, a seat on the +Delphic Council was a small matter; only fools would go to war for an +unsubstantial shadow. + +Firmly planted in Greece itself, Philip started intriguing in +Peloponnesus, supporting Argos, Megalopolis and Messene against Sparta. +An embassy to these three cities headed by Demosthenes warned them of +the treacherous friendship. Returning to Athens in 344 he delivered +his _Second Philippi_, which contains an account of the speeches of the +recent tour. Philip acted while Athens talked. + + "The result is inevitable and perhaps reasonable; each of you + excels in that wherein you are most diligent--he in deeds, you + in words." + +Hence comes the intrigue against Sparta. He can dupe stupid people like +the Thebans, or the Peloponnesians; warning therefore is necessary. To +the latter he said:-- + + "You now stare at Philip offering and promising things; if you + have any sense, pray you may never see him practising his tricks + and evasions. Cities have invented all kinds of protections and + safeguards such as stockades, walls, trenches--all of which are + made by hand and expensive. But men of sense have inherited from + Nature one defence, good and salutary--especially democrats against + despots--namely, mistrust. If you hold fast to this, you will never + come to serious harm. You hanker after liberty, I suppose. Cannot + you see that Philip's very title is the exact negation of it? Every + king or despot is a foe to freedom and an adversary of law. Beware + lest while seeking to be quit of a war you find a master." + +He then mentions the silly promises of advantages to come which induced +Athens to make the infamous Peace, and quotes the famous remark whereby +the traitor gang raised a laugh while in the act of selling their +country. "Demosthenes is naturally a sour and peevish fellow, for he +drinks water." Drawing their attention to this origin of all their +trouble, he asks them to remember their names--at the same time +remarking that even if a man deserved to die, punishment should be +suspended if it meant loss and ruin to the State. + +The next three years saw various Macedonian aggressions, especially in +Thrace. That country on its eastern extremity formed the northern coast +of the Dardanelles, named the Chersonese, important as safeguarding +the corn supplies which passed through the Straits. It had been in +the possession of Miltiades, was lost in the Peloponnesian war and was +partly recovered by Timotheus in 863. Diopeithes had been sent there +with a body of colonists in 346. Establishing himself in possession, he +took toll of passing traders to safeguard them against pirates and +had collided with the Macedonian troops as they slowly advanced to the +Narrows. Philip sent a protest to Athens; in a lively debate _on the +Chersonese_ early in 341 Demosthenes delivered a great speech. + +First of all he shows that Diopeithes is really the one guarantee that +Philip will not attack Attica itself. In Thrace is a force which can do +great damage to Macedonian territory. + + "But if it is once disbanded, what shall we do if Philip attacks the + Chersonese? Arraign Diopeithes, of course--but that will not improve + matters. Well then, send reinforcements from here--if the winds allow + us. Well, Philip will not attack--but there is nobody to guarantee + that." + +He suggests that Diopeithes should not be cast off but supported. Such +a plan will cost money, but it will be well spent for the sake of future +benefits. + + "If some god were to guarantee that if Athens observes strict + neutrality, abandoning all her possessions, Philip would not attack + her, it would be a scandal, unworthy of you and your city's power + and past history to sacrifice the rest of Greece. I would rather die + than suggest such action." + +He then turns to the pacifists, pointing out that it is useless to +expect a peace if the enemy is bent on a war of extermination. None +but fools would wait till a foe admits he is actually fighting if his +actions are clearly hostile. The traitors who sell the city should be +beaten to death, for no State can overcome the foe outside till it has +chastised the enemy within. The record of Macedonian duplicity follows; +the hectoring insolence of Philip is easily explained; Athens is the +only place in the world in which freedom of speech exists; so prevalent +is it that even slaves and aliens possess it. Accordingly Philip has +to stop the mouths of other cities by giving them territory for a brief +period, but Athens he can rob of her colonies and be sure of getting +praise from the anti-national bribe-takers. He concludes with a striking +and elevated passage describing the genuine statesman. + + "Any man who to secure your real interests opposes your wishes and + never speaks to get applause but deliberately chooses politics as + his profession (a business in which chance exercises greater + influence than human reason), being perfectly ready to answer for + the caprices is a really brave and useful citizen. I have never had + recourse to the popular arts of winning favour; I have never used + low abuse or stooped to humour you or made rich men's money public; + I continue to tell you what is bound to make me unpopular among you + and yet advance your strength if only you will listen-so unenviable + is the counsellor's lot." + +A deep and splendid courage in hopelessness is here manifest. + +A little later in the same year was delivered the last and greatest of +all the patriotic speeches, the _Third Philippic_. Early in the speech +the whole object of the Macedonian threat is made apparent--the jugular +veins of Athens, her trade-routes. + + "Any man who plots and intrigues to secure the means of my capture is + at war with me, even if he has not fired a shot. In the last event, + what are the danger-spots of Athens? The Hellespont, Megara and Euboea, + the Peloponnese. Am I to say then that a man who has fired this train + against Athens is at peace with her?" + +Then the plot against all Greek liberty is explained. + + "We all recognise the common danger, but we never send embassies to + one another. We are in such a sorry plight, so great a gulf has been + fixed between cities by intrigue that we are incapable of doing what + is our duty and our interest; we cannot combine; we can make no + confederation of mutual friendship and assistance; we stare at the + man as he grows greater; each of us is determined to take advantage + of the time during which another is being ruined, never considering + or planning the salvation of Greece. Every one knows that Philip is + like a recurring plague or a fit of some malevolent disease which + attacks even those who seem to be out of his reach. Remember this; + all the indignities put on Greece by Sparta or ourselves were at least + the work of genuine sons of the land; they may be likened to the wild + oats of some heir to a great estate--if they were the excesses of some + slave or changeling we all would have considered them monstrous and + scandalous. But that is not our attitude to Philip and his diplomacy, + though he is not a Greek or a relation; rather he is not born even of + decent barbarian parents--he is a cursed wretch from Macedonia which + till recently could not supply even a respectable servant." + +The bitterness of this is intense in a man who generally refrains from +anything undignified in a public speech. + +The cause of this disunion is bribery. In former times + + "it was impossible to buy from orators or generals knowledge of the + critical moment which fortune often gives to the careless against the + industrious. But now all our national virtues have been sold out of + the market; we have imported in their place the goods which have + tainted Greek life to the very death. These are--envy for every + bribe-taker, ridicule for any who confesses his guilt, hatred for + every one who exposes him. We have far more warships and soldiers and + revenue to-day, but they are all useless, unavailing and unprofitable + owing to treason." + +To punish these seems quite hopeless. + + "You have sunk to the very depth of folly or craziness or I know not + what. Often I cannot help dreading that some evil angel is persecuting + us. For some ribaldry or petty spite or silly jest--in fact, for any + reason whatsoever you invite hirelings to address you, and laugh at + their scurrilities." + +He points to the fate of all the cities whom Philip flattered. + + "In all of them the patriots advised increased taxation--the traitors + said it was not necessary. They advised war and distrust--the traitors + preached peace, till they were caught in the trap. The traitors made + speeches to get votes, the others spoke for national existence. In + many cases the masses listened to the pro-Macedonians not through + ignorance, but because their hearts failed them when they thought they + were beaten to their knees." + +The doom of these cities it was not worth while to describe overmuch. + + "As long as the ship is safe, that is the time for every sailor and + their captain to be keen on his duties and to take precautions against + wilful or thoughtless upsetting of the craft. But once the sea is over + the decks, all zeal is vain. We then who are Athenians, while we are + safe with our great city, our enormous resources, our splendid + reputation--what shall we do?" + +The universal appeal of this white-hot speech is its most noteworthy +feature. The next year the disgraceful peace was ended, the free +theatre-tickets withdrawn. All was vain. In 338 Athens and Thebes were +defeated at Chaeroneia; the Cassandra prophecies of the great patriot +came true. In 330 one more triumph was allowed him. He was attacked by +the traitor Aeschines and answered him so effectively in his speech _on +the Crown_ that his adversary was banished. A cloud settled over the +orator's later life; he outlived Alexander by little more than a year, +but when Antipater hopelessly defeated the allies at Crannon in 322 he +poisoned himself rather than live in slavery. + +Of all the orators of the ancient world none is more suitable for modern +use than Demosthenes. It is true that he is guilty of gross bad taste in +some of his speeches--but rarely in a parliamentary oration. Cicero is +too verbose and often insincere. Demosthenes is as a rule short, terse +and forcible. It is the undoubted justice of his cause which gives him +his lofty and noble style. He lacks the gentler touch of humour--but a +man cannot jest when he sees servitude before the country he loves. +With a few necessary alterations a speech of Demosthenes could easily +be delivered to-day, and it would be successful. Even Philip is said to +have admitted that he would have voted for him after hearing him, and +Aeschines after winning applause for declaiming part of Demosthenes' +speech told his audience that they ought to have heard the beast. + +Yet all this splendid eloquence seems to have been wasted. The orator +could see much that was dark to his contemporaries, and spoke prophecies +true though vain. But the greatest thing of all was concealed from his +view. The inevitable day had dawned for the genuinely Greek type of +city. It was brilliant but it was a source of eternal divisions in a +world which had to be unified to be of any service. Its absurd factions +and petty leagues were really a hindrance to political stability. +Further, the essential vices of democracy cried aloud for a stern +master, and found him. Treason, bribery, appeals to an unqualified +voting class, theft of rich men's property under legal forms, free seats +in the theatre, belittlement of a great empire, pacifism, love of every +state but the right one--these are the open sores of popular control. +For such a society only one choice is possible; it needs discipline +either of national service or national extinction. Its crazy cranks will +not disappear otherwise. Modern political life is democratic; those who +imagine that the voice of the majority is the voice of Heaven should +produce reasons for their belief. They will find it difficult to hold +such a view if they will patiently consider the hard facts of history +and the unceasing warnings of Demosthenes. + + * * * * * + +No account of Greek literature would be complete without a mention of +the influence which has revolutionised human thought. It is a strange +coincidence that Aristotle was born and died in the same years as +Demosthenes. His native town was Stagira; he trained Alexander the +Great, presided over the very famous Peripatetic School at Athens for +thirteen years and found time to investigate practically every subject +of which an ancient Greek could be expected to have any knowledge. + +His method was the slow and very patient observation of individual +facts. He is the complement of Plato, who tended to neglect the fact for +the "idea" or general law or type behind it and logically prior to +it. Deductive reasoning was Plato's method--that of the poet or great +artist, who worships not what he sees but the unseen perfect form +behind; inductive reasoning was Aristotle's method--that of the ordinary +man, who respects what he sees that he may by patience find out what +is the unseen class to which it belongs. This latter has been the +foundation-stone of all modern science; in the main the resemblance +between Aristotle's system of procedure and that of the greatest +liberators of the human mind, Bacon and Descartes, are more valuable +than the differences. + +It would be difficult to mention any really great subject on which +Aristotle has not left some work which is not to be lightly disregarded. +His works are in the form of disjointed notes, taken down at his +lectures by his disciples. As a rule they are dry and precise, though +here and there rays of glory appear which prove that the master was +capable of poetic expression even in prose. A rather fine hymn has +been ascribed to him. As we might expect, he is weakest in scientific +research, mainly because he could not command the use of instruments +familiar to us. That a human being who possessed no microscope should +have left such a detailed account of the most minute marks on the bodies +of fish and animals is an absolute marvel; so perfect is his description +that it cannot be bettered to-day. Cuvier and Linnaeus are great names +in Botany; Darwin said that they were mere schoolboys compared with +Aristotle--in other words, botanical research had progressed thewrong +way. + +Many works have appeared on Ethics and Philosophy; few of them are +likely to survive as long as Aristotle's _Ethics_ and _Metaphysics_ +Sometimes our modern philosophers seem to forget their obligation to +resemble human beings in their writings. We hear so much of mist and +transcendentalism, problems, theories, essays, critiques that a book of +Aristotle's dry but exact definition seems like the words of soberness +after some nightmare. The man is not assaulting the air; his feet are on +firm ground. This is how he proceeds. "Virtue is a mean between +excess and defect." In fact, his object appears to have been to teach +something, not to mystify everybody and to cover the honourable name of +philosophy with ridicule. + +It is the same story everywhere. Do we want the best book on _Rhetoric_ +or _Politics_? Aristotle may supply it, mainly because he took the +trouble to classify his instances and show the reason why things +not only are of such a kind, but must inevitably be so. A course of +Aristotelian study might profitably be prescribed to every person who +thinks of talking in public; he would at least learn how to respect +himself and his audience, however ignorant and powerful it may be; he +would tend to use words in an exact sense instead of indulging in the +wild vagueness of speech which is so common and so dangerous. This +dry-as-dust philosopher who cut up animals and plants and wrote about +public speeches and constitutions found time to give the world a book on +Poetry. Modern scientists sometimes deny their belief in the existence +of such a thing as poetry, or scoff at its value; no poetic treatise +has yet appeared from them, for it seems difficult for modern science to +keep alive in its devotees the weakest glimmerings of a sense of beauty. +Herein their great founder and father shows himself to be more +humane than his so-called progressive children. His _Poetics_ was the +foundation of literary criticism and shows no sign of being superseded. + +Turning his eyes upwards, he gave the world a series of notes on what he +saw there. Not possessing a telescope, he could but do his best with +the methods available. Let us not jeer at his results; rather let us +remember that this same astronomer found time to observe the heavens in +addition to revolutionising thought in the brief compass of sixty-two +years. + +For the miracle of miracles is this man's universality of outlook. It +makes us ashamed of our own pretentiousness and swollen-headed pride +when we reflect what this great architectonic genius has performed. Just +as our bodies have decreased in size with the progress of history, so +our intelligences seem to have narrowed themselves since Aristotle's +day. Great as our modern scientists are, there is not one of them who +would be capable of writing an acknowledged masterpiece on Ethics, +Politics, Rhetoric, Poetry, Metaphysics as well as on his own subject. + +Nor have we yet mentioned this stupendous thinker's full claim to +absolute predominance in intellectual effort. His works on Medicine were +known to and appreciated by the Arabs, who translated them and brought +them to Spain and Sicily when they conquered those countries. Averroes +commented on them and added notes of his own which contributed not +a little to the development of the healing art. More than this, and +greatest of all, during the later Middle Ages Aristotle's system alone +was recognised as possessing universal value; it was taken as the +foundation on which the most famous and important Schoolmen erected +their philosophies--Chaucer mentions a clerk who possessed twenty books, +a treasure indeed in those days; it provided a European Church with a +Theology and the cosmopolitan European Universities with a curriculum. +Greater honour than this no man ever had or ever can have. Thus, +although the Greek city-state seemed to perish in mockery with +Demosthenes, yet the Greek spirit of free discussion which died in the +great orator was set free in another form in that same year; leaving +Aristotle's body, it ranged through the world conquering and civilising. +If in our ignorance and bigotry we try to kill Greek literature, we +shall find that, like the hero of the _Bacchae_, we are turning +our blows against our own selves, to the delight of all who relish +exhibitions of perfect folly. + + +TRANSLATIONS: + +Kennedy's edition is the best. It is vigorous and reads almost like an +English work. + +Butcher's _Demosthenes_ is the standard introduction to the speeches. + +Many reminiscences of Demosthenes are to be found in the speeches of +Lord Brougham. + + +ARISTOTLE + +_Politics_. Jowett (Oxford). Welldon (Macmillan). + +_Poetics_. Butcher (Macmillan). Bywater (Oxford). + +Both contain excellent commentaries and notes. + +_Ethics_. Welldon. + +_Rhetoric_. Welldon. (Contains valuable analysis and notes.) + +The article on Greek Science in the _Legacy of Greece_ (Oxford) should +not be omitted. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Authors of Greece, by T. W. Lumb + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUTHORS OF GREECE *** + +***** This file should be named 8115-8.txt or 8115-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/1/1/8115/ + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Marc D'Hooghe, Charles Franks, and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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W. Lumb, M.a. + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + .side { float: right; font-size: 75%; width: 25%; padding-left: 0.8em; + border-left: dashed thin; margin-left: 0.8em; text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; + font-weight: bold; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: solid 1px;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Authors of Greece, by T. W. Lumb + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Authors of Greece + +Author: T. W. Lumb + +Commentator: Cyril Alington + + +Release Date: May, 2005 [EBook #8115] +This file was first posted on June 15, 2003 +Last Updated: May 17, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUTHORS OF GREECE *** + + + + +Text file produced by Ted Garvin, Marc D'Hooghe, Charles Franks, and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + +The HTML file produced by David Widger + + + + +</pre> + + <div style="height: 8em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + AUTHORS OF GREECE + </h1> + <h2> + By the Reverend T. W. LUMB, M.A. + </h2> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h4> + With an Introduction by <br /> The Reverend CYRIL ALINGTON, D.D. + </h4> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + AUTHOR'S PREFACE + </h2> + <p> + Greek literature is more modern in its tone than Latin or Medieval or + Elizabethan. It is the expression of a society living in an environment + singularly like our own, mainly democratic, filled with a spirit of free + inquiry, troubled by obstinate feuds and still more obstinate problems. + Militarism, nationalism, socialism and communism were well known, the + preachers of some of these doctrines being loud, ignorant and popular. The + defence of a maritime empire against a military oligarchy was twice + attempted by the most quick-witted people in history, who failed to save + themselves on both occasions. Antecedently then we might expect to find + some lessons of value in the record of a people whose experiences were + like our own. + </p> + <p> + Further, human thought as expressed in literature is not an unconnected + series of phases; it is one and indivisible. Neglect of either ancient or + modern culture cannot but be a maiming of that great body of knowledge to + which every human being has free access. No man can be anything but + ridiculous who claims to judge European literature while he knows nothing + of the foundations on which it is built. Neither is it true to say that + the ancient world was different from ours. Human nature at any rate was + the same then as it is now, and human character ought to be the primary + object of study. The strange belief that we have somehow changed for the + better has been strong enough to survive the most devilish war in history, + but few hold it who are familiar with the classics. + </p> + <p> + Yet in spite of its obvious value Greek literature has been damned and + banned in our enlightened age by some whose sole qualification for the + office of critic often turns out to be a mental darkness about it so deep + that, like that of Egypt, it can be felt. Only those who know Greek + literature have any right to talk about its powers of survival. The + following pages try to show that it is not dead yet, for it has a distinct + message to deliver. The skill with which these neglected liberators of the + human mind united depth of thought with perfection of form entitles them + at least to be heard with patience. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + <b>CONTENTS</b> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> AUTHOR'S PREFACE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_INTR"> INTRODUCTION </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> HOMER </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> AESCHYLUS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> SOPHOCLES </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> EURIPIDES </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> ARISTOPHANES </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> HERODOTUS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0009"> THUCYDIDES </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> PLATO </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> DEMOSTHENES </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_INTR" id="link2H_INTR"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + INTRODUCTION + </h2> + <p> + I count it an honour to have been asked to write a short introduction to + this book. My only claim to do so is a profound belief in the doctrine + which it advocates, that Greek literature can never die and that it has a + clear and obvious message for us to-day. Those who sat, as I did, on the + recent Committee appointed by Mr. Lloyd George when Prime Minister to + report on the position of the classics in this country, saw good reason to + hope that the prejudice against Greek to which the author alludes in his + preface was passing away: it is a strange piece of irony that it should + ever have been encouraged in the name of Science which owes to the Greeks + so incalculable a debt. We found that, though there are many parts of the + country in which it is almost impossible for a boy, however great his + literary promise, to be taught Greek, there is a growing readiness to + recognise this state of affairs as a scandal, and wherever Greek was + taught, whether to girls or boys, we found a growing recognition of its + supreme literary value. There were some at least of us who saw with + pleasure that where only one classical language can be studied there is an + increasing readiness to regard Greek as a possible alternative to Latin. + </p> + <p> + On this last point, no doubt, classical scholars will continue to differ, + but as to the supreme excellence of the Greek contribution to literature + there can be no difference of opinion. Those to whom the names of this + volume recall some of the happiest hours they have spent in literary study + will be grateful to Mr. Lumb for helping others to share the pleasures + which they have so richly enjoyed; he writes with an enthusiasm which is + infectious, and those to whom his book comes as a first introduction to + the great writers of Greece will be moved to try to learn more of men + whose works after so many centuries inspire so genuine an affection and + teach lessons so modern. They need have no fear that they will be + disappointed, for Mr. Lumb's zeal is based on knowledge. I hope that this + book will be the means of leading many to appreciate what has been done + for the world by the most amazing of all its cities, and some at least to + determine that they will investigate its treasures for themselves. They + will find like the Queen of Sheba that, though much has been told them, + the half remains untold. + </p> + <p> + C. A. ALINGTON. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + HOMER + </h2> + <p> + Greek literature opens with a problem of the first magnitude. Two splendid + Epics have been preserved which are ascribed to "Homer", yet few would + agree that Homer wrote them both. Many authorities have denied altogether + that such a person ever existed; it seems certain that he could not have + been the author of both the <i>Iliad</i> and the <i>Odyssey</i>, for the + latter describes a far more advanced state of society; it is still an + undecided question whether the <i>Iliad</i> was written in Europe or in + Asia, but the probability is that the <i>Odyssey</i> is of European + origin; the date of the poems it is very difficult to gauge, though the + best authorities place it somewhere in the eighth century B.C. Fortunately + these difficulties do not interfere with our enjoyment of the two poems; + if there were two Homers, we may be grateful to Nature for bestowing her + favours so liberally upon us; if Homer never existed at all, but is a mere + nickname for a class of singer, the literary fraud that has been + perpetrated is no more serious than that which has assigned Apocalyptic + visions of different ages to Daniel. Perhaps the Homeric poems are the + growth of many generations, like the English parish churches; they + resemble them as being examples of the exquisite effects which may be + produced when the loving care and the reverence of a whole people blend + together in different ages pieces of artistic work whose authors have been + content to remain unnamed. + </p> + <p> + It is of some importance to remember that the Iliad is not the story of + the whole Trojan war, but only of a very small episode which was worked + out in four days. The real theme is the Wrath of Achilles. In the tenth + year of the siege the Greeks had captured a town called Chryse. Among the + captives were two maidens, one Chryseis, the daughter of Chryses, a priest + of Apollo, the other Briseis; the former had fallen to the lot of + Agamemnon, the King of the Greek host, the latter to Achilles his bravest + follower. Chryses, father of Chryseis, went to Agamemnon to ransom his + daughter, but was treated with contumely; accordingly he prayed to the god + to avenge him and was answered, for Apollo sent a pestilence upon the + Greeks which raged for nine days, destroying man and beast. On the tenth + day the chieftains held a counsel to discover the cause of the malady. At + it Chalcas the seer before revealing the truth obtained the promise of + Achilles' protection; when Agamemnon learned that he was to ransom his + captive, his anger burst out against the seer and he demanded another + prize in return. Achilles upbraided his greed, begging him to wait till + Troy was taken, when he would be rewarded fourfold. Agamemnon in reply + threatened to take Achilles' captive Briseis, at the same time describing + his follower's character. "Thou art the most hateful to me of all Kings + sprung of Zeus, for thou lovest alway strife and wars and battles. Mighty + though thou art, thy might is the gift of some god. Briseis I will take, + that thou mayest know how far stronger I am than thou, and that another + may shrink from deeming himself my equal, rivalling me to my face." At + this insult Achilles half drew his sword to slay the King, but was checked + by Pallas Athena, who bade him confine his resentment to taunts, for the + time would come when Agamemnon would offer him splendid gifts to atone for + the wrong. Obeying the goddess Achilles reviled his foe, swearing a solemn + oath that he would not help the Greeks when Hector swept them away. In + vain did Nestor, the wise old counsellor who had seen two generations of + heroes, try to make up the quarrel, beseeching Agamemnon not to outrage + his best warrior and Achilles not to contend with his leader. The meeting + broke up; Achilles departed to his huts, whence the heralds in obedience + to Agamemnon speedily carried away Briseis. + </p> + <p> + Going down to the sea-shore Achilles called upon Thetis his mother to whom + he told the story of his ill-treatment. In deep pity for his fate (for he + was born to a life of a short span), she promised that she would appeal to + Zeus to help him to his revenge; she had saved Zeus from destruction by + summoning the hundred-armed Briareus to check a revolt among the gods + against Zeus' authority. For the moment the king of the gods was absent in + Aethiopia; when he returned to Olympus on the twelfth day she would win + him over. Ascending to heaven, she obtained the promise of Zeus' + assistance, not without raising the suspicions of Zeus' jealous consort + Hera; a quarrel between them was averted by their son Hephaestus, whose + ungainly performance of the duties of cupbearer to the Immortals made them + forget all resentments in laughter unquenchable. + </p> + <p> + True to his promise Zeus sent a dream to Agamemnon to assure him that he + would at last take Troy. The latter determined to summon an Assembly of + the host. In it the changeable temper of the Greeks is vividly pictured. + First Agamemnon told how he had the promise of immediate triumph; when the + army eagerly called for battle, he spoke yet again describing their long + years of toil and advising them to break up the siege and fly home, for + Troy was not to be taken. This speech was welcomed with even greater + enthusiasm than the other, the warriors rushing down to the shore to + launch away. Aghast at the coming failure of the enterprise Athena stirred + up Odysseus to check the mad impulse. Taking from Agamemnon his royal + sceptre as the sign of authority, he pleaded with chieftains and their + warriors, telling them that it was not for them to know the counsel in the + hearts of Kings. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "We are not all Kings to bear rule here. 'Tis not good to have many + Lords; let there be one Lord, one King, to whom the crooked-counselling + son of Cronos hath given the rule." +</pre> + <p> + Thus did Odysseus stop the flight, bringing to reason all save Thersites, + "whose heart was full of much unseemly wit, who talked rashly and unruly, + striving with Kings, saying what he deemed would make the Achaeans smile". + </p> + <p> + He continued his chatter, bidding the Greeks persist in their homeward + flight. Knowing that argument with such an one was vain, Odysseus laid his + sceptre across his back with such heartiness that a fiery weal started up + beneath the stroke. The host praised the act, the best of the many good + deeds that Odysseus had done before Troy. + </p> + <p> + When the Assembly was stilled, Odysseus and Nestor and Agamemnon told the + plan of action; the dream bade them arm for a mighty conflict, for the end + could not be far off, the ten years' siege that had been prophesied being + all but completed. The names of the various chieftains and the numbers of + their ships are found in the famous catalogue, a document which the Greeks + treasured as evidence of united action against a common foe. With equal + eagerness the Trojans poured from their town commanded by Hector; their + host too has received from Homer the glory of an everlasting memory in a + detailed catalogue. + </p> + <p> + Literary skill of a high order has brought upon the scene as quickly as + possible the chief figures of the poem. When the armies were about to + meet, Paris, seeing Menelaus whom he had wronged, shrank from the combat. + On being upbraided by Hector who called him "a joy to his foes and a + disgrace to himself", Paris was stung to an act of courage. Hector's heart + was as unwearied as an axe, his spirit knew not fear; yet beauty too was a + gift of the gods, not to be cast away. Let him be set to fight Menelaus in + single combat for Helen and her wealth; let an oath be made between the + two armies to abide by the result of the fight, that both peoples might + end the war and live in peace. Overjoyed, Hector called to the Greeks + telling them of Paris' offer, which Menelaus accepted. The armies sat down + to witness the fight, while Hector sent to Troy to fetch Priam to ratify + the treaty. + </p> + <p> + In Troy the elders were seated on the wall to watch the conflict, Priam + among them. Warned by Iris, Helen came forth to witness the single combat. + As she moved among them the elders bore their testimony to her beauty; its + nature is suggested but not described, for the poet felt he was unable to + paint her as she was. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Little wonder," they exclaimed, "that the Trojans and Achaeans + should suffer woe for many a year for such a woman. She is marvellous + like the goddesses to behold; yet albeit she is so fair let her depart + in the ships, leaving us and our little ones no trouble to come." +</pre> + <p> + Seeing her, Priam bade her sit by him and tell the names of the Greek + leaders as they passed before his eyes. Agamemnon she knew by his royal + bearing, Odysseus who moved along the ranks like a ram she marked out as + the master of craft and deep counsel. Hearing her words, Antenor bore his + witness to their truth, for once Odysseus had come with Menelaus to Troy + on an embassy. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "When they stood up Menelaus was taller, when they sat down Odysseus + was more stately. But when they spake, Menelaus' words were fluent, + clear but few; Odysseus when he spoke, fixed his eyes on the ground, + turning his sceptre neither backwards nor forward, standing still + like a man devoid of wit; one would have deemed him a churl and a very + fool; yet when he sent forth his mighty voice from his breast in words + as many as the snowflakes, no other man could compare with him." +</pre> + <p> + Helen pointed out Ajax and Idomeneus and others, yet could not see her two + brothers, Castor and Pollux; either they had not come from her home in + Sparta, or they had refused to fight, fearing the shame and reproach of + her name. "So she spake, yet the life-giving earth covered them there, + even in Sparta, their native land." + </p> + <p> + When the news came to Priam of the combat arranged between Paris and + Menelaus, the old King shuddered for his son, yet he went out to confirm + the compact. Feeling he could not look upon the fight, he returned to the + city. Meanwhile Hector had cast lots to decide which of the two should + first hurl his spear. Paris failed to wound his enemy, but Menelaus' dart + pierced Paris' armour; he followed it up with a blow of his sword which + shivered to pieces in his hand. He then caught Paris' helmet and dragged + him off towards the Greek army; but Aphrodite saved her favourite, for she + loosed the chin-strap and bore Paris back to Helen in Troy. Menelaus in + vain looked for him among the Trojans who were fain to see an end of him, + "and would not have hidden him if they had seen him". Agamemnon then + declared his brother the victor and demanded the fulfilment of the treaty. + </p> + <p> + Such an end to the siege did not content Hera, whose anger against the + Trojans was such that she could have "devoured raw Priam and his sons". + With Zeus' consent she sent down Pallas Athena to confound the treaty. + Descending like some brilliant and baleful star the goddess assumed the + shape of Laodocus and sought out the archer Pandarus. Him she tempted to + shoot privily at Menelaus to gain the favour of Paris. While his + companions held their shields in front of him the archer launched a shaft + at his victim, but Athena turned it aside so that it merely grazed his + body, drawing blood. Seeing his brother wounded Agamemnon ran to him, to + prophesy the certain doom of the treaty breakers. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Not in vain did we shed the blood of compact and offer the pledges + of a treaty. Though Zeus hath not fulfilled it now, yet he will at + last and they will pay dear with their lives, they, their wives and + children. Well I know in my heart that the day will come when sacred + Troy will perish and Priam and his folk; Zeus himself throned on high + dwelling in the clear sky will shake against them all his dark aegis + in anger for this deceit." +</pre> + <p> + While the leeches drew out the arrow from the wound, Agamemnon went round + the host with words of encouragement or chiding to stir them up to the + righteous conflict. They rushed on to battle to be met by the Trojans + whose host + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "knew not one voice or one speech; their language was mixed, for they + were men called from many lands." +</pre> + <p> + In the fight Diomedes, though at first wounded by Pandarus, speedily + returned refreshed and strengthened by Athena. His great deeds drew upon + him Pandarus and Aeneas, the son of Aphrodite and the future founder of + Rome's greatness. Diomedes quickly slew Pandarus and when Aeneas bestrode + his friend's body, hurled at him a mighty stone which laid him low. Afraid + of her son Aphrodite cast her arms about him and shrouded him in her robe. + Knowing that she was but a weak goddess Diomedes attacked her, wounding + her in the hand. Dropping her son, she fled to Ares who was watching the + battle and besought him to lend her his chariot, wherein she fled back to + Olympus. There her mother Dione comforted her with the story of the woes + which other gods had suffered from mortals. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "But this man hath been set upon thee by Athena. Foolish one, he + knoweth not in his heart that no man liveth long who fighteth with + the gods; no children lisp 'father' at his knees when he returneth + from war and dread conflict. Therefore, albeit he is so mighty, let + him take heed lest a better than thou meet him, for one day his + prudent wife shall wail in her sleep awaking all her house, bereft + of her lord, the best man of the Achaeans." +</pre> + <p> + But Athena in irony deemed that Aphrodite had been scratched by some Greek + woman whom she caressed to tempt her to forsake her husband and follow one + of the Trojans she loved. + </p> + <p> + Aeneas when dropped by his mother had been picked up by Apollo; when + Diomedes attacked the god, he was warned that battle with an immortal was + not like man's warfare. Stirred by Apollo, Ares himself came to the aid of + the Trojans, inspiring Sarpedon the Lycian to hearten his comrades, who + were shortly gladdened by the return of Aeneas whom Apollo had healed. At + the sight of Ares and Apollo fighting for Troy Hera and Athena came down + to battle for the Greeks; they found Diomedes on the skirts of the host, + cooling the wound Pandarus had inflicted. Entering his chariot by his + side, Athena fired him to meet Ares and drive him wounded back to Olympus, + where he found but little compassion from Zeus. The two goddesses then + left the mortals to fight it out. + </p> + <p> + At this moment Helenus, the prophetic brother of Hector, bade him go to + Troy to try to appease the anger of Athena by an offering, in the hope + that Diomedes' progress might be stayed. In his absence Diomedes met in + the battle Glaucus, a Lycian prince. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Who art thou?" he asked. "I have never seen thee before in battle, + yet now thou hast gone far beyond all others in hardihood, for thou + hast awaited my onset, and they are hapless whose sons meet my + strength. If thou art a god, I will not fight with thee; but if thou + art one of those who eat the fruit of the earth, come near, that + thou mayest the quicker get thee to the gates of death." +</pre> + <p> + In answer, Glaucus said: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Why askest thou my lineage? As is the life of leaves, so is that of + men. The leaves are scattered some of them to the earth by the wind, + others the wood putteth forth when it is in bloom, and they come on + in the season of spring. Even so of men one generation groweth, + another ceaseth." +</pre> + <p> + He then told how he was a family friend of Diomedes and made with him a + compact that if they met in battle they should avoid each the other; this + they sealed by the exchange of armour, wherein the Greek had the better, + getting gold weapons for bronze, the worth of a hundred oxen for the value + of nine. + </p> + <p> + Coming to Troy Hector bade his mother offer Athena the finest robe she + had; yet all in vain, for the goddess rejected it. Passing to the house of + Paris, he found him polishing his armour, Helen at his side. Again + rebuking him, he had from him a promise that he would be ready to re-enter + the fight when Hector had been to his own house to see his wife + Andromache. Hector's heart foreboded that it was the last time he would + speak with her. She had with her their little son Astyanax. Weeping she + besought him to spare himself for her sake. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "For me there will be no other comfort if thou meetest thy doom, but + sorrow. Father and mother have I none, for Achilles hath slain them + and my seven brothers. Hector, thou art my father and my lady mother + and my brother and thou art my wedded husband. Nay, come, pity me and + abide on the wall, lest thou make thy son an orphan and thy wife a + widow." +</pre> + <p> + He answered, his heart heavy with a sense of coming death: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The day will come when Troy shall fall, yet I grieve not for father + or mother or brethren so much as for thee, when some Achaean leads + thee captive, robbing thee of thy day of freedom. Thou shalt weave at + the loom in Argos or perchance fetch water, for heavy necessity shall + be laid upon thee. Then shall many a one say when he sees thee shedding + tears: 'Lo, this is the wife of Hector who was the best warrior of the + Trojans when they fought for their town.' Thus will they speak and thou + shalt have new sorrow for lack of such a man to drive away the day of + slavery." +</pre> + <p> + He stretched out his arms to his little son who was affrighted at the + sight of the helmet as it nodded its plumes dreadfully from its tall top. + Hector and Andromache laughed when they saw the child's terror; then + Hector took off his helmet and prayed that the boy might grow to a royal + manhood and gladden his mother's heart. Smiling through her tears, + Andromache took the child from Hector, while he comforted her with brave + words. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Lady, grieve not overmuch, I beseech thee, for no man shall thrust me + to death beyond my fate. Methinks none can avoid his destiny, be he + brave or a coward, when once he hath been born. Nay, go to the house, + ply thy tasks and bid the maids be busy, but war is the business of + the men who are born in Troy and mine most of all." +</pre> + <p> + Thus she parted from him, looking back many a time, shedding plenteous + tears. So did they mourn for Hector even before his doom, for they said he + would never escape his foes and come back in safety. + </p> + <p> + Finding Paris waiting for him, Hector passed out to the battlefield. Aided + by Glaucus he wrought great havoc, so much that Athena and Apollo stirred + him to challenge the bravest of the Greeks. The victor was to take the + spoils of the vanquished but to return the body for burial. At first the + Greeks were silent when they heard his challenge, ashamed to decline it + and afraid to take it up. At last eight of their bravest cast lots, the + choice falling upon Ajax. A great combat ended in the somewhat doubtful + victory of Ajax, the two parting in friendship after an exchange of + presents. The result of the fighting had discouraged both sides; the + Greeks accordingly decided to throw up a mound in front of their ships, + protected by a deep trench. This tacit confession of weakness in the + absence of Achilles leads up to the heavy defeat which was to follow. On + the other side the Trojans held a council to deliver up Helen. When Paris + refused to surrender her but offered to restore her treasures, a + deputation was sent to inform the Greeks of his decision. The latter + refused to accept either Helen or the treasure, feeling that the end was + not far off. That night Zeus sent mighty thunderings to terrify the + besiegers. + </p> + <p> + So far the main plot of the <i>Iliad</i> has been undeveloped; now that + the chief characters on both sides have played a part in the war, the poem + begins to show how the wrath of Achilles works itself out under Zeus' + direction. First the king of the gods warned the deities that he would + allow none to intervene on either side and would punish any offender with + his thunders. Holding up the scales of doom, he placed in them the lot of + Trojans and of Greeks; as the latter sank down, he hurled at their host + his lightnings, driving all the warriors in flight to the great mound they + had built. For a time Teucer the archer brother of Ajax held them back, + but when he was smitten by a mighty stone hurled of Hector all resistance + was broken. A vain attempt was made by Hera and Athena to help the Greeks, + but the goddesses quailed before the punishment wherewith Zeus threatened + them. When night came the Trojans encamped on the open plain, their + camp-fires gleaming like the stars which appear on some night of + stillness. + </p> + <p> + Disheartened at his defeat, Agamemnon freely acknowledged his fault and + suggested flight homewards. Nestor advised him to call an Assembly and + depute some of the leading men to make up the quarrel with Achilles. The + King listened to him, offering to give Achilles his own daughter in + wedlock, together with cities and much spoil of war. Three ambassadors + were chosen, Phoenix, Ajax and Odysseus. Reaching Achilles' tent, they + found him singing lays of heroes, Patroclus his friend by his side. When + he saw the ambassadors, he gave them a courtly welcome. Odysseus laid the + King's proposals before him, to which Achilles answered with dignity. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "I hate as sore as the gates of Death a man who hideth one thing in + his heart and sayeth its opposite. Do the sons of Atreus alone of + men love their wives? Methinks all the wealth which Troy contained + before the Greeks came upon it, yea all the wealth which Apollo holds + in rocky Pytho, is not the worth of life itself. Cattle and horses + and brazen ware can be got by plunder, but a man's life cannot be + taken by spoil nor recovered when once it passeth the barrier of his + teeth. Nay, go back to the elders and bid them find a better plan + than this. Let Phoenix abide by me here that he may return with me + to-morrow in my ships if he will, for I will not constrain him by + force." +</pre> + <p> + Phoenix had been Achilles' tutor. In terror for the safety of the Greek + fleet, he appealed to his friend to relent. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "How can I be left alone here without thee, dear child? Thy father + sent me to teach thee to be a speaker of words and a doer of deeds. + In thy childhood I tended thee, for I knew that I should never have a + son and I looked to thee to save me from ruin. Tame thy great spirit. + Even the gods know how to change, whose honour is greater, and their + power. Men in prayer turn them by sacrifice when any hath sinned and + transgressed. For Prayers are the daughters of great Zeus; they are + halt and wrinkled and their eyes look askance. Their task it is to go + after Ruin; for Ruin is strong and sound of foot, wherefore she far + outrunneth them all and getteth before them in harming men over all the + world. But they come after; whosoever honoureth the daughters of Zeus + when they come nigh, him they greatly benefit and hear his entreaties, + but whoso denieth them and stubbornly refuseth, they go to Zeus and ask + that Ruin may dog him, that he may be requited with mischief. Therefore, + Achilles, bring it to pass that honour follow the daughters of Zeus, + even that honour which bendeth the heart of others as noble as thou." +</pre> + <p> + When this appeal also failed, Ajax, a man of deeds rather than words, + deemed it best to return at once, begging Achilles to bear them no + ill-will and to remember the rights of hospitality which protected them + from his resentment. When Achilles assured them of his regard for them and + maintained his quarrel with Agamemnon alone, they departed and brought the + heavy news to their anxious friends. On hearing it Diomedes briefly bade + them get ready for the battle and fight without Achilles' help. + </p> + <p> + When the Trojan host had taken up its quarters on the plain, Nestor + suggested that the Greeks should send one of their number to find out what + Hector intended to do on the morrow. Diomedes offered to undertake the + office of a spy, selecting Odysseus as his comrade. After a prayer to + Athena to aid them, they went silently towards the bivouac. It chanced + that Hector too had thought of a similar plan and that Dolon had offered + to reconnoitre the Greek position. He was a wealthy man, ill-favoured to + look upon, but swift of foot, and had asked that his reward should be the + horses and the chariot of Achilles. + </p> + <p> + Hearing the sound of Dolon's feet as he ran, Diomedes and Odysseus parted + to let him pass between them; then cutting off his retreat they closed on + him and captured him. They learned how the Trojan host was quartered; at + the extremity of it was Rhesus, the newly arrived Thracian King, whose + white horses were a marvel of beauty and swiftness. In return for his + information Dolon begged them to spare his life, but Diomedes deemed it + safer to slay him. The two Greeks penetrated the Thracian encampment, + where they slew many warriors and escaped with the horses back to the + Greek armament. + </p> + <p> + When the fighting opened on the next day, Agamemnon distinguished himself + by deeds of great bravery, but retired at length wounded in the hand. Zeus + had warned Hector to wait for that very moment before pushing home his + attack. One after another the Greek leaders were wounded, Diomedes, + Odysseus, Machaon; Ajax alone held up the Trojan onset, retiring slowly + and stubbornly towards the sea. Achilles, seeing the return of the wounded + warrior Machaon, sent his friend Patroclus to find out who he was. Nestor + meeting Patroclus, told him of the rout of the army, and advised him to + beg Achilles at least to allow the Myrmidons to sally forth under + Patroclus' leadership, if he would not fight in person. The importance of + this episode is emphasised in the poem. The dispatch of Patroclus is + called "the beginning of his undoing", it foreshadows the intervention + which was later to bring Achilles himself back into the conflict. + </p> + <p> + The Trojan host after an attempt to drive their horses over the trench + stormed it in five bodies. As they streamed towards the wall, an omen of a + doubtful nature filled Polydamas with some misgivings about the wisdom of + bursting through to the sea. It was possible that they might be routed and + that they would accordingly be caught in a trap, leaving many of their + dead behind them. His advice to remain content with the success they had + won roused the anger of Hector, whose headstrong character is well + portrayed in his speech. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Thou biddest me consider long-winged birds, whereof I reck not nor + care for them whether they speed to right or left. Let us obey the + counsel of Zeus. One omen is the best, to fight for our country. Why + dost thou dread war and tumult? Even if all we others were slain at + the ships, there is no fear that thou wilt perish, for thy heart + cannot withstand the foe and is not warlike. But if thou holdest from + the fight or turnest another from war, straightway shalt thou lose + thy life under the blow of my spear." +</pre> + <p> + Thus encouraged the army pressed forward, the walls being pierced by the + Lycian King Sarpedon, a son of Zeus. Taking up a mighty stone, Hector + broke open the gate and led his men forward to the final onslaught on the + ships. + </p> + <p> + For a brief space Zeus turned his eyes away from the conflict and Poseidon + used the opportunity to help the Greeks. Idomeneus the Cretan and his + henchman Meriones greatly distinguished themselves, the former drawing a + very vivid picture of the brave man. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "I know what courage is. Would that all the bravest of us were being + chosen for an ambush, wherein a man's bravery is most manifest. In + it the coward and the courageous man chiefliest appear. The colour of + the one changeth and his spirit cannot be schooled to remain stedfast, + but he shifteth his body, settling now on this foot now on that; his + heart beateth mightily, knocking against his breast as he bodeth death, + and his teeth chatter. But the good man's colour changeth not, nor is + he overmuch afraid when once he sitteth in his place of ambush; rather + he prayeth to join speedily in the dolorous battle." +</pre> + <p> + Yet soon Idomeneus' strength left him; Hector hurried to the centre of the + attack, where he confronted Ajax. + </p> + <p> + At this point Hera determined to prolong the intervention of Poseidon in + favour of the Greeks. She persuaded Aphrodite to lend her all her spells + of beauty on the pretence that she wished to reconcile Ocean to his wife + Tethys. Armed with the goddess' girdle, she lulled Zeus to sleep and then + sent a message to Poseidon to give the Greeks his heartiest assistance. + Inspired by him the fugitives turned on their pursuers; when Ajax smote + down Hector with a stone the Trojans were hurled in flight back through + the gate and across the ramparts. + </p> + <p> + When Zeus awakened out of slumber and saw the rout of the Trojans, his + first impulse was to punish Hera for her deceit. He then restored the + situation, bidding Poseidon retire and sending Apollo to recover Hector of + his wound. The tide speedily turned again; the Trojans rushed through the + rampart and down to the outer line of the Greek ships, where they found + nobody to resist them except the giant Ajax and his brother Teucer. After + a desperate fight in which Ajax single-handed saved the fleet, Hector + succeeded in grasping the ship of Protesilaus and called loud for fire. + This was the greatest measure of success vouchsafed him; from this point + onwards the balance was redressed in favour of the Greeks. + </p> + <p> + Achilles had been watching the anguish of Patroclus' spirit when this + disaster came upon their friends. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Why weepest thou, Patroclus, like some prattling little child who + runneth to her mother and biddeth her take her up, catching at her + garment and checking her movement and gazing at her tearfully till + she lifteth her? Even so thou lettest fall the big tears." +</pre> + <p> + Patroclus begged his friend to allow him to wear his armour and lead the + Myrmidons out to battle, not knowing that he was entreating for his own + ruin and death. After some reluctance Achilles gave him leave, yet with + the strictest orders not to pursue too far. Fresh and eager for the battle + the Myrmidons drove the Trojans back into the plain. Patroclus' course was + challenged by the Lycians, whose King Sarpedon faced him in single combat. + In great sorrow Zeus watched his son Sarpedon go to his doom; in his agony + he shed tear-drops of blood and ordered Death and Sleep to carry the body + back to Lycia for burial. + </p> + <p> + The great glory Patroclus had won tempted him to forget his promise to + Achilles. He pursued the Trojans back to the walls of the town, slaying + Cebriones the charioteer of Hector. In the fight which took place over the + body Patroclus was assailed by Hector and Euphorbus under the guidance of + Apollo. Hector administered the death-blow; before he died Patroclus + foretold a speedy vengeance to come from Achilles. + </p> + <p> + A mighty struggle arose over his body. Menelaus slew Euphorbus, but + retreated at the approach of Hector, who seized the armour of Achilles and + put it on. A thick cloud settled over the combatants, heightening the + dread of battle. The gods came down to encourage their respective + warriors; the Greeks were thrust back over the plain, but the bravery of + Ajax and Menelaus enabled the latter to save Patroclus' body and carry it + from the dust of battle towards the ships. + </p> + <p> + When the news of his friend's death came to Achilles his grief was so + mighty that it seemed likely that he would have slain himself. He burst + into a lamentation so bitter that his mother heard him in her sea-cave and + came forth to learn what new sorrow had taken him. Too late he learned the + hard lesson that revenge may be sweet but is always bought at the cost of + some far greater thing. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "I could not bring salvation to Patroclus or my men, but sit at the + ships a useless burden upon the land, albeit I am such a man as no + other in war, though others excel me in speech. Perish strife from + among men and gods, and anger which inciteth even a prudent man to + take offence; far sweeter than dropping honey it groweth in a man's + heart like smoke, even now as Agamemnon hath roused me to a fury." +</pre> + <p> + Being robbed of his armour he could not sally out to convey his + companion's body into the camp. Hera therefore sent Iris to him bidding + him merely show himself at the trenches and cry aloud. At the sound of his + thrice-repeated cry the Trojans shrank back in terror, leaving the Greeks + to carry in Patroclus' body unmolested; then Hera bade the sun set at once + into the ocean to end the great day of battle. + </p> + <p> + Polydamas knew well what the appearance of Achilles portended to the + Trojans, for he was the one man among them who could look both before and + after; his advice was that they should retire into the town and there shut + themselves up. It was received with scorn by Hector. In the Greek camp + Achilles burst into a wild lament over Patroclus, swearing that he would + not bury him before he had brought in Hector dead and twelve living + captives to sacrifice before the pyre. That night his mother went to + Hephaestus and persuaded him to make divine armour for her son, which the + poet describes in detail. + </p> + <p> + On receiving the armour from his mother Achilles made haste to reconcile + himself with Agamemnon. His impatience for revenge and the oath he had + taken made it impossible for him to take any food. His strength was + maintained by Athena who supplied him with nectar. On issuing forth to the + fight he addressed his two horses: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Xanthus and Balius, bethink you how ye may save your charioteer + when he hath done with the battle, and desert him not in death as + ye did Patroclus." +</pre> + <p> + In reply they prophesied his coming end. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "For this we are not to blame, but the mighty god—and violent Fate. + We can run quick as the breath of the North wind, who men say is + the swiftest of all, but thy fate it is to die by the might of a + god and a man." +</pre> + <p> + The Avenging Spirits forbade them to reveal more. The awe of the climax of + the poem is heightened by supernatural interventions. At last the gods + themselves received permission from Zeus to enter the fray. They took + sides, the shock of their meeting causing the nether deity to start from + his throne in fear that his realm should collapse about him. Achilles met + Aeneas and would have slain him had not Poseidon saved him. Hector + withdrew before him, warned by Apollo not to meet him face to face. + Disregarding the god's advice he attacked Achilles, but for the moment was + spirited away. Disappointed of his prey Achilles sowed havoc among the + lesser Trojans. + </p> + <p> + Choked by the numerous corpses the River-God Scamander begged him cease + his work of destruction. When the Hero disregarded him, he assembled all + his waters and would have overwhelmed him but for Athena who gave him + power to resist; the river was checked by the Fire-God who dried up his + streams. The gods then plunged into strife, the sight whereof made Zeus + laugh in joy. Athena quickly routed Aphrodite and Hera Artemis. Apollo + deemed it worthless to fight Poseidon. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Thou wouldst not call me prudent were I to strive with thee for + cowering mortals, who like leaves sometimes are full of fire, then + again waste away spiritless. Let us make an end of our quarrel; + let men fight it out themselves." +</pre> + <p> + Deserted by their protectors the Trojans broke before Achilles, who nearly + took the town. + </p> + <p> + Baulked a second time of his vengeance by Apollo, Achilles vowed he would + have punished the god had he the power. Hector had at last decided to face + his foe at the Scaean Gate. His father and his mother pleaded with him in + a frenzy of grief to enter the town, but the dread of Polydamas' + reproaches fixed his resolve. When Achilles came rushing towards him, his + heart failed; he ran three times round the walls of the city. Meanwhile + the gods held up the scales of doom; when his life sank down to death + Apollo left him for ever. + </p> + <p> + Athena then took the shape of Deiphobus, encouraging him to face Achilles. + Seeing unexpectedly a friend, he turned and stood his ground, for she had + already warned Achilles of her plot. Hector launched his spear which sped + true, but failed to penetrate the divine armour. When he found no + Deiphobus at his side to give him another weapon, he knew his end had + come. Drawing himself up for a final effort, he darted at Achilles; the + latter spied a gap in the armour he had once worn, through which he smote + Hector mortally. Lying in approaching death, the Trojan begged that his + body might be honoured with a burial, but Achilles swore he should never + have it, rather the dogs and carrion birds should devour his flesh. Seeing + their great foe dead the Greeks flocked around him, not one passing by him + without stabbing his body. Achilles bored through his ankles and attached + him to his car; then whipping up his horses, he drove full speed to the + camp, dragging Hector in disgrace over the plain. This scene of pure + savagery is succeeded by the laments of Priam, Hecuba and Andromache over + him whom Zeus allowed to be outraged in his own land. + </p> + <p> + That night the shade of Patroclus visited Achilles, bidding him bury him + speedily that he might cross the gates of death; the dust of his ashes was + to be stored up in an urn and mixed with Achilles' own when his turn came + to die. After the funeral Achilles held games of great splendour in which + the leading athletes contended for the prizes he offered. + </p> + <p> + Yet nothing could make up for the loss of his friend. Every day he dragged + Hector's body round Patroclus' tomb, but Apollo in pity for the dead man + kept away corruption, maintaining the body in all its beauty of manhood. + At last on the twelfth day Apollo appealed to the gods to end the + barbarous outrage. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Hath not Hector offered to you many a sacrifice of bulls and + goats? Yet ye countenance the deeds of Achilles, who hath forsaken + all pity which doth harm to men and bringeth a blessing too. Many + another is like to lose a friend, but he will weep and let his + foe's body go, for the Fates have given men an heart to endure. + Good man though he be, let Achilles take heed lest he move us to + indignation by outraging in fury senseless clay." +</pre> + <p> + Zeus sent to fetch Thetis whom he bade persuade her son to ransom the + body; meanwhile Iris went to Troy to tell Priam to take a ransom and go to + the ships without fear, for the convoy who should guide him would save him + from harm. + </p> + <p> + On hearing of Priam's resolve Hecuba tried to dissuade him, but the old + King would not be turned. That night he went forth alone; he was met in + the plain by Hermes, disguised as a servant of Achilles, who conducted him + to the hut where Hector lay. Slipping in unseen, Priam caught Achilles' + knees and kissed the dread hands that had slain his son. In pity for the + aged King Achilles remembered his own father, left as defenceless as + Priam. Calling out his servants he bade them wash the corpse outside, lest + Priam at the sight of it should upbraid him and thus provoke him to slay + him and offend against the commands of Zeus. As they supped, Priam + marvelled at the stature and beauty of Achilles and Achilles wondered at + Priam's reverend form and his words. While Achilles slept, Hermes came to + Priam to warn him of his danger if he were found in the Greek host. + Hastily harnessing the chariot, he led him back safely to Troy, where the + body was laid upon a bed in Hector's palace. + </p> + <p> + The laments which follow are of great beauty. Andromache bewailed her + widowhood, Hecuba her dearest son; Helen's lament is a masterpiece. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Hector, far the dearest to me of all my brethren, of a truth Paris + is my lord, who brought me hither—would I had died first. This is + the tenth year since I left my native land, yet have I never heard + from thee a word cruel or despiteful; rather, if any other chode me, + thy sister or a brother's wife or thy mother—though thy father is + gentle to me always as he were my own sire—thou didst restrain such + with words of persuasion and kindness and gentleness all thine own. + Wherefore I grieve for thee and for myself in anguish, for there is + no other friend in broad Troy kind and tender, but all shudder at me." +</pre> + <p> + Then with many a tear they laid to his rest mighty Hector. + </p> + <p> + Such is the <i>Iliad</i>. To modern readers it very often seems a little + dull. Horace long ago pointed out that it is inevitable that a long poem + should flag; even Homer nods sometimes. Some of the episodes are + distinctly wearisome, for they are invented to give a place in this + national Epic to lesser heroes who could hardly be mentioned if Achilles + were always in the foreground. Achilles himself is not a pleasing person; + his character is wayward and violent; he is sometimes childish, always + liable to be carried away by a fit of pettishness and unable to retain our + real respect; further, a hero who is practically invulnerable and yet dons + divine armour to attack those who are no match for him when he is without + it falls below the ordinary "sportsman's" level. Nor can we feel much + reverence for many of the gods; Hera is odious, Athena guilty of flat + treachery, Zeus, liable to allow his good nature to overcome his judgment—Apollo + alone seems consistently noble. More, we shall look in vain in the <i>Iliad</i> + for any sign of the pure battle-joy which is so characteristic of northern + Epic poetry; the Greek ideal of bravery had nothing of the Berserker in + it. Perhaps these are the reasons why the sympathy of nearly all readers + is with the Trojans, who are numerically inferior, are aided by fewer and + weaker gods and have less mighty champions to defend them. + </p> + <p> + What then is left to admire in the <i>Iliad</i>? It is well to remember + that the poem is not the first but the last of a long series; its very + perfection of form and language makes it certain that it is the result of + a long literary tradition. As such, it has one or two remarkable features. + We shall not find in many other Epics that sense of wistful sorrow for + man's brief and uncertain life which is the finest breath of all poetry + that seeks to touch the human heart. The marks of rude or crude + workmanship which disfigure much Epic have nearly all disappeared from the + <i>Iliad</i>. The characterisation of many of the figures of the poem is + masterly, their very natures being hit off in a few lines—and it is + important to remember that it is not really the business of Epic to + attempt analysis of character at all except very briefly; the story cannot + be kept waiting. But the real Homeric power is displayed in the famous + scenes of pure and worthy pathos such as the parting of Andromache from + Hector and the laments over his body. Those who would learn how to touch + great depths of sorrow and remain dignified must see how it has been + treated in the <i>Iliad</i>. + </p> + <p> + A few vigorous lines hit off the plan of the <i>Odyssey</i>. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Sing, Muse, of the man of much wandering who travelled right far + after sacking sacred Troy, and saw the cities of many men and knew + their ways. Many a sorrow he suffered on the sea, trying to win a + return home for himself and his comrades; yet he could not for all + his longing, for they died like fools through their own blindness." +</pre> + <p> + Odysseus, when the poem opens, was in Calypso's isle pitied of all the + gods save Poseidon. In a council Zeus gave his consent that Hermes should + go to Calypso, while Athena should descend to Ithaca to encourage + Odysseus' son Telemachus to seek out news of his father. + </p> + <p> + Taking the form of Mentes, Athena met Telemachus and informed him that his + father was not yet dead. Seeing the suitors who were wooing his mother + Penelope and eating up the house in riot, she advised him to dismiss them + and visit Nestor in Pylos. A lay sung by Phemius brought Penelope from her + chamber, who was astonished at the immediate change which her son's speech + showed had come upon him, transforming him to manhood. + </p> + <p> + Next day Telemachus called an Assembly of the Ithacans; his appeal to the + suitors to leave him in peace provoked an insulting speech from their + ringleader Antinous who held Penelope to blame for their presence; she had + constantly eluded them, on one occasion promising to marry when she had + woven a shroud for Laertes her father-in-law; the work she did by day she + undid at night, till she was betrayed by a serving-woman. Telemachus then + asked the suitors for a ship to get news of his father. When the assembly + broke up, Athena appeared in answer to Telemachus' prayer in the form of + Mentor and pledged herself to go with him on his travels. She prepared a + ship and got together a crew, while Telemachus bade his old nurse + Eurycleia conceal from his mother his departure. + </p> + <p> + In Pylos Nestor told him all he knew of Odysseus, describing the sorrows + which came upon the Greek leaders on their return and especially the evil + end of Agamemnon. He added that Menelaus had just returned to Sparta and + was far more likely to know the truth than any other, for he had wandered + widely over the seas on his home-coming. Bidding Nestor look after + Telemachus, Athena vanished from his sight, but not before she was + recognised by the old hero. On the morrow Telemachus set out for Sparta, + accompanied by Pisistratus, one of Nestor's sons. + </p> + <p> + Menelaus gave them a kindly welcome and a casual mention of his father's + name stirred Telemachus to tears. At that moment Helen entered; her + quicker perception at once traced the resemblance between the young + stranger and Odysseus. When Telemachus admitted his identity, Helen told + some of his father's deeds. Once he entered Troy disguised as a beggar, + unrecognised of all save Helen herself. "After he made her swear an oath + that she would not betray him, he revealed all the plans of the Greeks. + Then, after slaying many Trojans, he departed with much knowledge, while + Helen's heart rejoiced, for she was already bent on a return home, + repenting of the blindness which Aphrodite had sent her in persuading her + to abandon home and daughter and a husband who lacked naught, neither wit + not manhood." Menelaus then recounted how Odysseus saved him when they + were in the wooden horse, when one false sound would have betrayed them. + On the next morning Telemachus told the story of the ruin of his home; + Menelaus prophesied the end of the suitors, then preceded to recount how + in Egypt he waylaid and captured Proteus, the changing god of the sea, + whom he compelled to relate the fate of the Greek leaders and to prophesy + his own return; from him he heard that Odysseus was with Calypso who kept + him by force. On learning this important piece of news Telemachus was + eager to return to Ithaca with all speed. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile the suitors had learned of the departure of Telemachus and + plotted to intercept him on his return. Their treachery was told to + Penelope, who was utterly undone on hearing it; feeling herself left + without a human protector she prayed to Athena, who appeared to her in a + dream in the likeness of her own sister to assure her that Athena was + watching over her, but refusing to say definitely whether Odysseus was + alive. + </p> + <p> + The poem at this point takes up the story of Odysseus himself. Going to + the isle where he was held captive, Hermes after admiring its great beauty + delivered Zeus' message to Calypso to let the captive go. She reproached + the gods for their jealousy and reluctantly promised to obey. She found + Odysseus on the shore, eating out his heart in the desire for his home. + When she informed him that she intended to let him go, he first with + commendable prudence made her swear that she did not design some greater + evil for him. Smiling at his cunning, she swore the most solemn of all + oaths to help him, then supplied tools and materials for the building of + his boat. When he was out on the deep, Poseidon wrecked his craft, but a + sea goddess Leucothea, once a mortal, gave him a scarf to wrap round him, + bidding him cast it from him with his back turned away when he got to + land. After two nights and two days on the deep he at length saw land. + Finding the mouth of a small stream, he swam up it, then utterly weary + flung himself down on a heap of leaves under a bush, guarded by Athena. + </p> + <p> + The next episode introduces one of the most charming figures in ancient + literature. Nausicaa was the daughter of Alcinous, King of Phaeacia, on + whose island Odysseus had landed. To her Athena appeared in a dream, + bidding her obtain from her father leave to go down to the sea to wash his + soiled garments. The young girl obeyed, telling her father that it was but + seemly that he, the first man in the kingdom, should appear at council in + raiment white as snow. He gave her the leave she desired. After their work + was done, she and her handmaids began a game of ball; their merry cries + woke up Odysseus, who started up on hearing human voices. Coming forward, + he frightened by his appearance the handmaids, but Nausicaa, emboldened by + Athena, stood still and listened to his story. She supplied him with clean + garments after she had given him food and drink. On the homeward journey + Nausicaa bade Odysseus bethink him of the inconvenient talk which his + presence would occasion if he were seen with her near the city. She + therefore judged it best that she should enter first, at the same time she + gave him full information of the road to the palace; when he entered it he + was to proceed straight to the Queen Arete, whose favour was indispensable + if he desired a return home. + </p> + <p> + Just outside the city Athena met him in the guise of a girl to tell him + his way; she further cast about him a thick cloud to protect him from + curious eyes. Passing through the King's gardens, which were a marvel of + beauty and fruitfulness, Odysseus entered the palace and threw his arms in + supplication about Arete's knees. She listened kindly to him and begged + Alcinous give him welcome. When all the courtiers had retired to rest, + Arete, noticing that the garments Odysseus wore had been woven by her own + hands, asked him whence he had them and how he had come to the island. On + hearing the story of his shipwreck Alcinous promised him a safe convoy to + his home on the morrow. + </p> + <p> + At an assembly Alcinous consulted with his counsellors about Odysseus; all + agreed to help in providing him with a ship and rowers. At a trial of + skill Odysseus, after being taunted by some of the Phaeacians, hurled the + quoit beyond them all. Later, a song of the wooden horse of Troy moved him + to tears; though unnoticed by the others, he did not escape the eye of + Alcinous who bade him tell them plainly who he was. Then he revealed + himself and told the marvellous story of his wanderings. + </p> + <p> + First he and his companions reached the land of the Lotus-eaters. Finding + out that the lotus made all who ate it lose their desire for home, + Odysseus sailed away with all speed, forcing away some who had tasted the + plant. Thence they reached the island of the Cyclopes, a wild race who + knew no ordinances; each living in his cave was a law to himself, caring + nothing for the others. Leaving his twelve ships, Odysseus proceeded with + some of his men to the cave of one of the Cyclopes, a son of Poseidon, + taking with him a skin of wine. When the one-eyed monster returned with + his flock of sheep, he shut the mouth of the cave with a mighty stone + which no mortal could move; then lighting a fire he caught sight of his + visitors and asked who they were. Odysseus answered craftily, whereupon + the monster devoured six of his company. Odysseus opened his wine-skin and + offered some of the wine; when the Cyclops asked his name, Odysseus told + him he was called Noman; in return for his kindness in offering him the + strangely sweet drink the Cyclops promised to eat him last of all. But the + wine soon plunged the monster into a slumber, from which he was awakened + by the burning end of a great stake which Odysseus thrust into his eye. On + hearing his cries of agony the other Cyclopes came to him, but went away + when they heard that Noman was killing him. As it was impossible for + anyone but the Cyclops to open the cave, Odysseus tied his men beneath the + cattle, putting the beast which carried a man between two which were + unburdened; he himself hung on to the ram. As the animals passed out, the + Cyclops was a little surprised that the ram went last, but thought he did + so out of grief for his master. When they were all safely outside, + Odysseus freed his friends and made haste to get to the ship. Thrusting + out, when he was at what seemed a safe distance he shouted to the Cyclops, + who then remembered an old prophecy and hurled a huge rock which nearly + washed them back; a second rock which he hurled on learning Odysseus' real + name narrowly missed the ship. Then the Cyclops prayed to Poseidon to + punish Odysseus; the god heard him, persecuting him from that time onward. + Reassembling his ships, Odysseus proceeded on his voyage. + </p> + <p> + He next called at the isle of Aeolus, king of the winds, who gave him in a + bag all the winds but one, a favouring breeze which was to waft him to his + own island. For nine days Odysseus guarded his bag, but at last, when + Ithaca was in sight, he sank into a sleep of exhaustion. Thinking that the + bag concealed some treasure, his men opened it, only to be blown back to + Aeolus who bid him begone as an evil man when he begged aid a second time. + </p> + <p> + After visiting the Laestrygones, a man-eating people, who devoured all the + fleet except one ship's company, the remainder reached Aeaea, the island + where lived the dread goddess Circe. Odysseus sent forward Eurylochus with + some twenty companions who found Circe weaving at a loom. Seeing them she + invited them within; then after giving them a charmed potion she smote + them with her rod, turning them into swine. Eurylochus who had suspected + some trickery hurried back to Odysseus with the news. The latter + determined to go alone to save his friends. On the way he was met by + Hermes, who showed him the herb moly, an antidote to Circe's draught. + Finding that her magic failed, she at once knew that her visitor was + Odysseus whose visit had been prophesied to her by Hermes. He bound her + down by a solemn oath to refrain from further mischief and persuaded her + to restore to his men their humanity. When Odysseus desired to depart + home, she told him of the wanderings that awaited him. First he must go to + the land of the dead to consult the shade of Teiresias, the blind old + prophet, who would help him. + </p> + <p> + Following the goddess' instructions, they sailed to the land of the + Cimmerians on the confines of the earth. There Odysseus dug a trench into + which he poured the blood of slain victims which he did not allow the dead + spirits to touch till Teiresias appeared. The seer told him of the sorrows + that awaited him and vaguely indicated that his death should come upon him + from the sea; he added that any spirit he allowed to touch the blood would + tell him truly all whereof he was as yet ignorant, and that those ghosts + he drove away would return to the darkness. + </p> + <p> + First arose the spirit of his dead mother Anticleia who told him that his + wife and son were yet alive and his father was living away from the town + in wretchedness. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "For me, it was not the visitation of Apollo that took me, nor any + sickness whose corruption drove the life from my frame; rather it + was longing for thee and thy counsels and thy gentleness which + spoiled me of my spirit." +</pre> + <p> + Thrice he tried to embrace her, and thrice the ghost eluded him, for it + was "as a dream that had fled away from the white frame of the body". A + procession of famous women followed, then came the wraith of Agamemnon who + told how he had been foully slain by his own wife, as faithless as + Penelope was prudent. Achilles next approached; when Odysseus tried to + console him for his early death by reminding him of the honour he had when + he was alive, he answered: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Speak not comfortingly of death; I would rather be a clown and a + thrall on earth to another man than rule among the departed." +</pre> + <p> + On hearing that his son Neoptolemus had won great glory in the capture of + Troy, the spirit left him, exulting with joy that his son was worthy of + him. Ajax turned from Odysseus in anger at the loss of Achilles' armour + for the possession of which they had striven. The last figure that came + was the ghost of Heracles, though the hero himself was with the gods in + Olympus. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Round him was the whirr of the dead as of birds fleeing in panic. + Like to black night, with his bow ready and an arrow on the string, + he glared about him terribly, as ever intending to shoot. Over his + breast was flung a fearful belt, whereon were graven bears and lions + and fights, battles, murders and man-slayings." +</pre> + <p> + He recognised Odysseus before he passed back to death; when a crowd of + terrifying apparitions came thronging to the trench, Odysseus fled to his + ship lest the Gorgon might be sent from the awful Queen of the dead. + </p> + <p> + Returning to Circe, he learned from her of the remaining dangers. The + first of these was the island of the Sirens, who by the marvellous + sweetness of their song charmed to their ruin all who passed. Odysseus + filled the ears of his crews with wax, bidding them to tie him to the mast + of his ship and to row hard past the temptresses in spite of his + strugglings. They then entered the dangerous strait, on one side of which + was Scylla, a dreadful monster who lived in a cave near by, on the other + was the deadly whirlpool of Charybdis. Scylla carried off six of his men + who called in vain to Odysseus to save them, stretching out their hands to + him in their last agony. From the strait they passed to the island of + Trinacria, where they found grazing the cattle of the Sun. Odysseus had + learned from both Teiresias and Circe that an evil doom would come upon + them if they touched the animals; he therefore made his companions swear a + great oath not to touch them if they landed. For a whole month they were + wind-bound in the island and ate all the provisions which Circe had given + them. At a time when Odysseus had gone to explore the island Eurylochus + persuaded his men to kill and eat; as he returned Odysseus smelled the + savour of their feast and knew that destruction was at hand. For nine days + the feasting continued. When the ship put out to sea Zeus, in answer to + the prayer of the offended Sun-God, sent a storm which drowned all the + crew and drove Odysseus back to the dreaded strait. Escaping through it + with difficulty, he drifted helplessly over the deep and on the tenth day + landed on the island of "the dread goddess who used human speech", + Calypso, who tended him and kept him in captivity. + </p> + <p> + On the next day the Phaeacians loaded Odysseus with presents and landed + him on his own island while he slept. Poseidon in anger at the arrival of + the hero changed the returning Phaeacian ship into stone when it was + almost within the harbour of the city. When Odysseus awoke he failed to + recognise his own land. Athena appeared to him disguised as a shepherd, + telling him he was indeed in Ithaca: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Thou art witless or art come from afar, if thou enquirest about + this land. It is not utterly unknown; many know it who dwell in the + East and in the West. It is rough and unfitted for steeds, yet it is + not a sorry isle, though narrow. It hath plenteous store of corn and + the vine groweth herein. It hath alway rain and glistening dew. It + nourisheth goats and cattle and all kinds of woods and its streams + are everlasting." +</pre> + <p> + Such is the description of the land for which Odysseus forsook Calypso's + offer of immortality. After smiling at Odysseus' pretence that he was a + Cretan Athena counselled him how to slay the suitors and hurried to fetch + Telemachus from Sparta. The poet tells why Athena loved Odysseus more than + all others. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Crafty would he be and a cunning trickster who surpassed thee in + wiles, though it were a god who challenged thee. We know craft + enough, both of us, for thou art by far the best of mortals in speech + and counsel and I among the gods am famed for devices and cunning." +</pre> + <p> + Transformed by her into an old beggar, Odysseus went to the hut of his + faithful old swineherd Eumaeus; the dogs set upon him, but Eumaeus scared + them away and welcomed him to his dwelling. In spite of Odysseus' + assurance that the master would return Eumaeus, who had been often + deceived by similar words, refused to believe. Feigning himself to be a + Cretan, Odysseus saw for himself that the old servant's loyalty was + steadfast; a deft touch brings out his care for his master's substance: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "laying a bed for Odysseus before the fire, he went out and slept + among the dogs in a cave beneath the breath of the winds." +</pre> + <p> + By the intervention of Athena the two leading characters are brought + together. She stood beside the sleeping Telemachus in Sparta, warning him + of the ambush set for him in Ithaca and bidding him to land on a lonely + part of the coast whence he was to proceed to the hut of Eumaeus. On his + departure from Sparta an omen was interpreted by Helen to mean that + Odysseus was not far from home. As he was on the point of leaving Pylos on + the morrow a bard named Theoclymenus appealed to him for protection, for + he had slain a man and was a fugitive from justice. Taking him on board + Telemachus frustrated the ambush, landing in safety; he proceeded to + Eumaeus' hut, where Odysseus had with some difficulty been persuaded to + remain. + </p> + <p> + The dogs were the first to announce the arrival of a friend, gambolling + about him. After speaking a word of cheer to Eumaeus Telemachus enquired + who the stranger was; hearing that he was a Cretan he lamented his + inability to give him a welcome in his home owing to the insolence of his + enemies. Remembering the anxiety of his mother during his absence he sent + Eumaeus to the town to acquaint her with his arrival. Athena seized the + opportunity to reveal Odysseus to his son, transforming him to his own + shape. After a moment of utter amazement at the marvel of the change, + Telemachus ran to his father and fell upon his neck, his joy finding + expression in tears. The two then laid their plans for the destruction of + the suitors. By the time Eumaeus had returned Odysseus had resumed his + sorry and tattered appearance. + </p> + <p> + Telemachus went to the town alone, bidding Eumaeus bring the stranger with + him. They were met by one Melanthius a goatherd, who covered them with + insults. "In truth one churl is leading another, for the god ever bringeth + like to like. Whither art thou taking this glutton, this evil pauper, a + kill-joy of the feast? He hath learned many a knavish trick and is like to + refuse to labour; creeping among the people he would rather ask alms to + fill his insatiate maw." Leaping on Odysseus, he kicked at him, yet failed + to stir him from the pathway. Swallowing the insult Odysseus walked + towards his house. A superb stroke of art has created the next incident. + In the courtyard lay Argus, a hound whom Odysseus had once fed. Neglected + in the absence of his master he had crept to a dung-heap, full of lice. + When he marked Odysseus coming towards him he wagged his tail and dropped + his ears, but could not come near his lord. Seeing him from a little + distance Odysseus wiped away his tears unnoticed of Eumaeus and asked + whose the hound was. Eumaeus told the story of his neglect: "but the doom + of death took Argus straightway after seeing Odysseus in the twentieth + year". In the palace Telemachus sent his father food, bidding him ask a + charity of the wooers. Antinous answered by hurling a stool which struck + his shoulder. The noise of the high words which followed brought down + Penelope who protested against the godless behaviour of the suitors and + asked to interview the stranger in hope of learning some tidings of her + husband, but Odysseus put her off till nightfall when they would be less + likely to suffer from the insolence of the suitors. + </p> + <p> + In Ithaca was a beggar named Irus, gluttonous and big-boned but a coward. + Encouraged by the winkings and noddings of the suitors he bade Odysseus + begone. A quiet answer made him imagine he had to deal with a poltroon and + he challenged him to a fight. The proposal was welcomed with glee by the + suitors, who promised on oath to see fair play for the old man in his + quarrel with a younger. But when they saw the mighty limbs and stout frame + of Odysseus, they deemed that Irus had brought trouble on his own head. + Chattering with fear Irus had to be forced to the combat. One blow was + enough to lay him low; the ease with which Odysseus had disposed of his + foe made him for a time popular with the suitors. + </p> + <p> + Under an inspiration of Athena, Penelope came down once more to chide the + wooers for their insolence; she also upbraided them for their stinginess. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Yours is not the custom of wooers in former days who were wont to + sue for wedlock with the daughter of a rich man and contend among + themselves. Such men offer oxen and stout cattle and glorious gifts; + they will never consume another's substance without payment." +</pre> + <p> + Stung by the taunt, they gave her the accustomed presents, while Odysseus + rejoiced that she flattered their heart in soft words with a different + intent in her spirit. The insolence of the suitors was matched by the + pertness of the serving maids, of whom Melantho was the most impudent. A + threat from Odysseus drew down upon him the wrath of the suitors who were + with difficulty persuaded by Telemachus to depart home to their beds. + </p> + <p> + That night Odysseus and his son removed the arms from the walls, the + latter being told to urge as a pretext for his action the necessity of + cleaning from them the rust and of removing a temptation to violence when + the suitors were heated with wine. At the promised interview with his wife + Odysseus again pretended he was a Cretan; describing the very dress which + Odysseus had worn, he assured her that he would soon return with the many + treasures which he had collected. Half persuaded by the exact description + of a garment she had herself made, she bade her maids look to him, but he + would not suffer any of them to approach him save his old nurse Eurycleia. + As she was washing him in the dim light of the fireside her fingers + touched the old scar above his knee, the result of an accident in a + boar-hunt during his youth. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Dropping the basin she fell backwards; joy and grief took her + heart at once, her eyes filled with tears and her utterance was + checked. Catching him by his beard, she said: 'In very sooth thou + art Odysseus, my dear boy; and I knew thee not before I had touched + the body of my lord.' So speaking she looked at Penelope, fain to + tell her that her lord was within. But Odysseus laid his hand upon + the nurse's mouth, with the other he drew her to him and whispered: + 'Nurse, wouldst thou ruin me? Thou didst nourish me at thy breast, + and now I am come back after mighty sufferings. Be silent, lest + another learn the news, or I tell thee that when I have punished + the suitors I will not even refrain from thee when I destroy the + other women in my halls.'" +</pre> + <p> + Concealing the scar carefully under his rags by the fireside he put a good + interpretation on a strange dream which had visited his wife. + </p> + <p> + That night Odysseus with his own eyes witnessed the intrigues between his + women and the suitors. He heard his wife weeping in her chamber for him + and prayed to Zeus for aid in the coming trial. On the morrow he was again + outraged; the suitors were moved to laughter by a prophecy of + Theoclymenus: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Yet they were laughing with alien lips, the meat they ate was + dabbled with blood, their eyes were filled with tears and their + hearts boded lamentation. Among them spake Theoclymenus; 'Wretched + men, what is this evil that is come upon you? Your heads and faces + and the knees beneath you are shrouded in night, mourning is kindled + among you, your cheeks are bedewed with tears, the walls and the + fair pillars are sprinkled with blood, the forecourt and the yard is + full of spectres hastening to the gloom of Erebus; the sun hath + perished from the heaven and a mist of ruin hath swept upon you.'" +</pre> + <p> + In answer Eurymachus bade him begone if all within was night; taking him + at his word, the seer withdrew before the coming ruin. + </p> + <p> + Then Athena put it into the heart of Penelope to set the suitors a final + test. She brought forth the bow of Odysseus together with twelve axes. It + had been an exercise of her lord to set up the axes in a line, string the + bow and shoot through the heads of the axes which had been hollowed for + that purpose. She promised to follow at once the suitor who could string + the bow and shoot through the axes. First Telemachus set up the axes and + tried to string the weapon; failing three times he would have succeeded at + the next effort but for a glance from his father. Leiodes vainly tried his + strength, to be rebuked by Antinous who suggested that the bow should be + made more pliant by being heated at the fire. + </p> + <p> + Noticing that Eumaeus and Philoetius had gone out together Odysseus went + after them and revealed himself to them; the three then returned to the + hall. After all the suitors had failed except Antinous, who did not deem + that he should waste a feast-day in stringing bows, Odysseus begged that + he might try, Penelope insisting on his right to attempt the feat. When + she retired Eumaeus brought the bow to Odysseus, then told Eurycleia to + keep the woman in their chambers while Philoetius bolted the hall door. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "But already Odysseus was turning the bow this way and that testing + it lest the worms had devoured it in his absence. Then when he had + balanced it and looked it all over, even as when a man skilled in + the lyre and song easily putteth a new string about a peg, even so + without an effort Odysseus strung his mighty bow. Taking it in his + right hand he tried the string which sang sweetly beneath his touch + like to the voice of a swallow. Then he took an arrow and shot it + with a straight aim through the axes, missing not one. Then he spake + to Telemachus: 'Thy guest bringeth thee no shame as he sitteth in + thy halls, for I missed not the mark nor spent much time in the + stringing. My strength is yet whole within me. But now it is time to + make a banquet for the Achaeans in the light of day and then season + it with song and dance, which are the crown of revelry.' So speaking + he nodded, and his son took a sword and a spear and stood by him + clad in gleaming bronze." +</pre> + <p> + The first victim was Antinous, whom Odysseus shot through the neck as he + was in the act of drinking, never dreaming that one man would attack a + multitude of suitors. Eurymachus fell after vainly attempting a + compromise. Melanthius was caught in the act of supplying arms to the rest + and was left bound to be dealt with when the main work was done. Athena + herself encouraged Odysseus in his labour of vengeance, deflecting from + him any weapons that were hurled at him. At length all was over, the + serving women were made to cleanse the hall of all traces of bloodshed; + the guiltiest of them were hanged, while Melanthius died a horrible death + by mutilation. Odysseus then summoned his wife to his presence. + </p> + <p> + Eurycleia carried the message to her, laughing with joy so much that + Penelope deemed her mad. The story of the vengeance which Odysseus had + exacted was so incredible that it must have been the act of a god, not a + man. When she entered the hall Telemachus upbraided her for her unbelief, + but Odysseus smiled on hearing that she intended to test him by certain + proofs which they two alone were aware of. He withdrew for a time to + cleanse him of his stains and to put on his royal garments, after ordering + the servants to maintain a revelry to blind the people to the death of + their chief men. + </p> + <p> + When he reappeared, endued with grace which Athena gave him, he marvelled + at the untoward heart which the gods had given his wife and bade his nurse + lay him his bed. Penelope caught up his words quickly; the bed was to be + laid outside the chamber which he himself had made. The words filled + Odysseus with dismay: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Who hath put my bed elsewhere? It would be a hard task for any man + however cunning, except a god set it in some other place. Of men + none could easily shift it, for there is a wonder in that cunningly + made bed whereat I laboured and none else. Within the courtyard was + growing the trunk of an olive; round it I built my bed-chamber with + thick stones and roofed it well, placing in it doors that shut tight. + Then I cut away the olive branches, smoothed the trunk, made a + bedpost, and bored all with a gimlet. From that foundation I smoothed + my bed, tricking it out with gold and silver and ivory and stretching + from its frame thongs of cow-hide dyed red. Such is the wonder I tell + of, yet I know not, Lady, whether the bed is yet fixed there, or + whether another hath moved it, cutting the foundation of olive from + underneath." +</pre> + <p> + On hearing the details of their secret Penelope ran to him casting her + arms about him and begging him to forgive her unbelief, for many a + pretender had come, making her ever more and more suspicious. Thus + reunited the two spent the night in recounting the agonies of their + separation; Odysseus mentioned the strange prophecy of Teiresias, deciding + to seek out his father on the morrow. + </p> + <p> + A vivid description tells how the souls of the suitors were conducted to + the realm of the dead, the old comrades of Odysseus before Troy + recognising in the vengeance all the marks of his handiwork. Odysseus + found his father in a wretched old age hoeing his garden, clad in soiled + garments with a goat-skin hat on his head which but increased his sorrow. + At the sight Odysseus was moved to tears of compassion. Yet even then he + could not refrain from his wiles, for he told how he had indeed seen + Odysseus though five years before. In despair the old man took the dust in + his hands and cast it about his head in mighty grief. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Then Odysseus' spirit was moved and the stinging throb smote his + nostrils. Clinging to his father he kissed him and told him he was + indeed his son, returned after twenty years." +</pre> + <p> + For a moment the old man doubted, but believed when Odysseus showed the + scar and told him the number and names of the trees they had planted + together in their orchard. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile news of the death of the wooers had run through the city. The + father of Antinous raised a tumult and led a body of armed men to demand + satisfaction. The threatening uproar was stopped by the intervention of + Athena who thus completed the restoration of her favourite as she had + begun it. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + It is strange that this poem, which is such a favourite with modern + readers, should have made a less deep impression on the Greeks. To them, + Homer is nearly always the <i>Iliad</i>, possibly because Achilles was + semi-divine, whereas Odysseus was a mere mortal. But the latter is for + that very reason of more importance to us, we feel him to be more akin to + our own life. Further, the type of character which Odysseus stands for is + really far nobler than the fervid and somewhat incalculable nature of the + son of Thetis. Odysseus is patient endurance, common sense, + self-restraint, coolness, resource and strength; he is indeed a manifold + personality, far more complex than anything attempted previously in Greek + literature and therefore far more modern in his appeal. It is only after + reading the <i>Odyssey</i> that we begin to understand why Diomedes chose + Odysseus as his companion in the famous Dolon adventure in Noman's land. + Achilles would have been the wrong man for this or any other situation + which demanded first and last a cool head. + </p> + <p> + The romantic elements which are so necessary a part of all Epic are much + more convincing in the <i>Odyssey</i>; the actions and adventures are + indeed beyond experience, but they are treated in such a masterly style + that they are made inevitable; it would be difficult to improve on any of + the little details which force us to believe the whole story. Added to + them is another genuine romantic feature, the sense of wandering in + strange new lands untrodden before of man's foot; the beings who move in + these lands are gracious, barbarous, magical, monstrous, superhuman, + dreamy, or prophetic by turns; they are all different and all fascinating. + The reader is further introduced to the life of the dead as well as of the + living and the memory of his visit is one which he will retain for ever. + Not many stories of adventure can impress themselves indelibly as does the + <i>Odyssey</i>. + </p> + <p> + To English readers the poem has a special value, for it deals with the sea + and its wonders. The native land of its hero is not very unlike our own, + "full of mist and rain", yet able to make us love it far more than a + Calypso's isle with an offer of immortality to any who will exchange his + real love of home for an unnatural haven of peace. A splendid hero, a good + love-story, admirable narrative, romance and excitement, together with a + breath of the sea which gives plenty of space and pure air have made the + <i>Odyssey</i> the companion of many a veteran reader in whom the Greek + spirit cannot die. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + Of the impression which Homer has made upon the mind of Europe it would be + difficult to give an estimate. The Greeks themselves early came to regard + his text with a sort of veneration; it was learned by heart and quoted to + spellbound audiences in the cities and at the great national meetings at + Olympia. Every Greek boy was expected to know some portion at least by + heart; Plato evidently loved Homer and when he was obliged to point out + that the system of morality which he stood for was antiquated and needed + revision, apologised for the criticism he could not avoid. It is sometimes + said that Homer was the Bible of the Greeks; while this statement is + probably inaccurate—for no theological system was built on him nor + did he claim any divine revelation—yet it is certain that authors of + all ages searched the text for all kinds of purposes, antiquarian, + ethical, social, as well as religious. This careful study of Homer + culminated in the learned and accurate work of the great Alexandrian + school of Zenodotus and Aristarchus. + </p> + <p> + In Roman times Homer never failed to inspire lesser writers; Ennius is + said to have translated the <i>Odyssey</i>, while Virgil's <i>Aeneid</i> + is clearly a child of the Greek Homeric tradition. In the Middle Ages the + Trojan legend was one of the four great cycles which were treated over and + over again in the Chansons. Even drama was glad to borrow the great + characters of the <i>Iliad</i>, as Shakespeare did in <i>Troilus and + Cressida</i>. In England a number of famous translations has witnessed to + the undying appeal of the first of the Greek masters. Chapman published + his <i>Iliad</i> in 1611, his <i>Odyssey</i> in 1616; Pope's version + appeared between 1715 and 1726; Cowper issued his translation in 1791. In + the next century the Earl Derby retranslated the <i>Iliad</i>, while an + excellent prose version of the <i>Odyssey</i> by Butcher and Lang was + followed by a prose version of the <i>Iliad</i> by Lang Myers and Leaf. At + a time when Europe had succeeded in persuading itself that the whole story + of a siege of Troy was an obvious myth, a series of startling discoveries + on the site of Troy and on the mainland of Greece proved how lamentably + shallow is some of the cleverest and most destructive Higher Criticism. + </p> + <p> + The marvellous rapidity and vigour of these two poems will save them from + death; the splendid qualities of direct narration, constructive skill, + dignity and poetical power will always make Homer a name to love. Those + who know no Greek and therefore fear that they may lose some of the + directness of the Homeric appeal might recall the famous sonnet written by + Keats who had had no opportunity to learn the great language. His words + are no doubt familiar enough; that they have become inseparable from Homer + must be our apology for inserting them here. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Much have I travelled in the realms of gold, + And many goodly states and Kingdoms seen; + Round many western islands have I been + Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold. + + Oft of one wide expanse had I been told + That deep-browed Homer ruled as his demesne: + Yet never did I breathe its pure serene + Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold. + + Then felt I like some watcher of the skies + When a new planet swims into his ken, + Or like stout Cortes, when with eagle eyes + He stared at the Pacific—and all his men + Look'd at each other with a wild surmise— + Silent, upon a peak in Darien. +</pre> + <p> + TRANSLATIONS. As INDICATED IN THE TEXT OF THE ESSAY. + </p> + <p> + The whole of the Homeric tradition is affected by the recent discoveries + made in Crete. The civilisation there unearthed raises questions of great + interest; the problems it suggests are certain to modify current ideas of + Homeric study. + </p> + <p> + See <i>Discoveries in Crete</i>, by R. Burrows (Murray, 1907). + </p> + <p> + A very good account of the early age of European literature is in <i>The + Heroic Age</i>, by Chadwick (Cambridge, 1912). + </p> + <p> + The best interpretation of Greek poetry is Symonds' <i>Greek Poets</i>, 2 + vols. (Smith Elder). + </p> + <p> + Jebb's <i>Homer</i> is the best introduction to the many difficulties + presented by the poems. + </p> + <p> + Flaxman's engravings for the <i>Iliad</i> and <i>Odyssey</i> are of the + highest order. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + AESCHYLUS + </h2> + <p> + Towards the end of the sixth century before Christ, one of the most + momentous advances in literature was made by the genius of Aeschylus. + European drama was created and a means of utterance was given to the + rapidly growing democratic spirit of Greece. Before Aeschylus wrote, rude + public exhibitions had been given of the life and adventures of Dionysus, + the god of wine. Choruses had sung odes to the deity and variety was + obtained by a series of short dialogues between one of the Chorus and the + remainder. Aeschylus added a second actor to converse with the first; he + thus started a movement which eventually ousted the Chorus from its place + of importance, for the interest now began to concentrate on the two + actors; it was their performance which gave drama its name. In time more + characters were added; the Chorus became less necessary and in the long + run was felt to be a hindrance to the movement of the story. This process + is plainly visible in the extant works of the Attic tragedians. + </p> + <p> + Aeschylus was born at Eleusis in 525; before the end of the century he was + writing tragedies. In 490 he fought in the great battle of Marathon and + took part in the victory of Salamis in 480. This experience of the + struggle for freedom against Persian despotism added a vigour and a + self-reliance to his writing which is characteristic of a growing national + spirit. He is said to have visited Sicily in 468 and again in 458, various + motives being given for his leaving Athens. His death at Gela in 456 is + said to have been due to an eagle, which dropped a tortoise upon his head + which he mistook for a stone. He has left to the world seven plays in + which the rapid development of drama is conspicuous. + </p> + <p> + One of the earliest of his plays is the <i>Suppliants</i>, little read + owing to the uncertainty of the text and the meagreness of the dramatic + interest. The plot is simple enough. Danaus, sprung from Io of Argos, + flees from Egypt with his fifty daughters who avoid wedlock with the fifty + sons of Aegyptus. He sails to Argos and lays suppliant boughs on the + altars of the gods, imploring protection. The King of Argos after + consultation with his people decides to admit the fugitives and to secure + them from Aegyptus' violence. A herald from the latter threatens to take + the Danaids back with him, but the King intervenes and saves them. There + is little in this play but long choral odes; yet one or two Aeschylean + features are evident. The King dreads offending the god of suppliants + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "lest he should make him to haunt his house, a dread visitor who + quits not sinners even in the world to come." +</pre> + <p> + The Egyptian herald reverences no gods of Greece "who reared him not nor + brought him to old age". The Chorus declare that "what is fated will come + to pass, for Zeus' mighty boundless will cannot be thwarted". Here we have + the three leading ideas in the system of Aeschylus—the doctrine of + the inherited curse, of human pride and impiety, and the might of Destiny. + </p> + <p> + The <i>Persians</i> is unique as being the only surviving historical play + in Greek literature. It is a poem rather than a drama, as there is little + truly dramatic action. The piece is a succession of very vivid sketches of + the incidents in the great struggle which freed Europe from the threat of + Eastern despotism. A Chorus of Persian elders is waiting for news of the + advance of the great array which Xerxes led against Greece in 480. They + tell how Persia extended her sway over Asia. Yet they are uneasy, for + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "what mortal can avoid the crafty deception of Heaven? In seeming + kindness it entices men into a trap whence they cannot escape." +</pre> + <p> + The Queen-mother Atossa enters, resplendent with jewels; she too is + anxious, for in a dream she had seen Xerxes yoke two women together who + were at feud, one clad in Persian garb, the other in Greek. The former was + obedient to the yoke, but the latter tore the car to pieces and broke the + curb. The Chorus advises her to propitiate the gods with sacrifice, and to + pray to Darius her dead husband to send his son prosperity. At that moment + a herald enters with the news of the Greek victory at Salamis. Xerxes, + beguiled by some fiend or evil spirit, drew up his fleet at night to + intercept the Greeks, supposed to be preparing for flight. But at early + dawn they sailed out to attack, singing mightily + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Ye sons of Greece, onward! Free your country, your children and + wives, the shrines of your fathers' gods, and your ancestral tombs. + Now must ye fight for all." +</pre> + <p> + Winning a glorious victory, they landed on the little island (Psyttaleia) + where the choicest Persian troops had been placed to cut off the retreat + of the Greek navy, and slew them all. Later, they drove back the Persians + by land; through Boeotia, Thessaly and Macedonia the broken host + retreated, finally recrossing to Asia over the Hellespont. + </p> + <p> + On hearing the news Atossa disappears and the Persian Chorus sing a dirge. + The Queen returns without her finery, attired as a suppliant; she bids the + Chorus call up Darius, while she offers libations to the dead. The ghost + of the great Empire-builder rises before the astonished spectators, + enquiring what trouble has overtaken his land. His release from Death is + not easy, "for the gods of the lower world are readier to take men's + spirits than to let them go". On learning that his son has been totally + defeated, he delivers his judgment. The oracles had long ago prophesied + this disaster; it was hurried on by Xerxes' rashness, for when a man is + himself hurrying on to ruin Heaven abets him. He had listened to evil + counsellors, who bade him rival his father's glory by making wider + conquests. The ruin of Persia is not yet complete, for when insolence is + fully ripe it bears a crop of ruin and reaps a harvest of tears. This evil + came upon Xerxes through the sacrilegious demolition of altars and + temples. Zeus punishes overweening pride, and his correcting hand is + heavy. Darius counsels Atossa to comfort their son and to prevent him from + attacking Greece again; he further advises the Chorus to take life's + pleasures while they can, for after death there is no profit in wealth. A + distinctly grotesque touch is added by the appearance of Xerxes himself, + broken and defeated, filling the scene with lamentations for lost friends + and departed glory, unable to answer the Chorus when they demand the + whereabouts of some of the most famous Persian warriors. + </p> + <p> + The play is valuable as the result of a personal experience of the poet. + As a piece of literature it is important, for it is a poetic description + of the first armed conflict between East and West. It directly inspired + Shelley when he wrote his <i>Hellas</i> at a time when Greece was rousing + herself from many centuries of Eastern oppression. As a historical drama + it is of great value, for it is substantially accurate in its main facts, + though Aeschylus has been compelled to take some liberties with time and + human motives in order to satisfy dramatic needs. From Herodotus it seems + probable that Darius himself hankered after the subjugation of Greece, + while Xerxes at the outset was inclined to leave her in peace. + </p> + <p> + One or two characteristic features are worth note. The genius of Aeschylus + was very bold; it was a daring thing to bring up a ghost from the dead, + for the supernatural appeal does not succeed except when it is treated + with proper insight; yet even Aeschylus' genius has not quite succeeded in + filling his canvas, the last scenes being distinctly poor in comparison + with the splendour of the main theme. On the other hand a notable advance + in dramatic power has been made. The main actors are becoming human; their + wills are beginning to operate. Tragedy is based on a conflict of some + sort; here the wilful spirit of youth is portrayed as defying the forces + of justice and righteousness; it is insolence which brings Xerxes to ruin. + The substantial creed of Aeschylus is contained in Darius' speech; as the + poet progresses in dramatic cunning we shall find that he constantly finds + his sources of tragic inspiration in the acts of the sinners who defy the + will of the gods. + </p> + <p> + <i>The Seven against Thebes</i> was performed in 472. It was one of a + trilogy, a series of three plays dealing with the misfortunes of Oedipus' + race. After the death of Oedipus his sons Polyneices and Eteocles + quarrelled for the sovereignty of Thebes. Polyneices, expelled and + banished by his younger brother, assembled an army of chosen warriors to + attack his native land. Eteocles opens the play with a speech which + encourages the citizens to defend their town. A messenger hurries in + telling how he left the besiegers casting lots to decide which of the + seven gates of Thebes each should attack. Eteocles prays that the curse of + his father may not destroy the town and leaves to arrange the defences. In + his absence the Chorus of virgins sing a wild prayer to the gods to save + them. Hearing this, the King returns to administer a vigorous reproof; he + declares that their frenzied supplications fill the city with terrors, + discouraging the fighting men. He demands from them obedience, the mother + of salvation; if at last they are to perish, they cannot escape the + inevitable. His masterful spirit at last cows them into a better frame of + mind; this scene presents to us one of the most manly characters in + Aeschylus' work. + </p> + <p> + After a choral ode a piece of intense tragic horror follows. The messenger + tells the names of the champions who are to assault the gates. As he names + them and the boastful or impious mottoes on their shields, the King names + the Theban champions who are to quell their pride in the fear of the gods. + Five of the insolent attackers are mentioned, then the only righteous one + of the invading force, Amphiaraus the seer; he it was who rebuked the + violence of Tydeus, the evil genius among the besiegers, and openly + reviled Polyneices for attacking his own native land. He had prophesied + his own death before the city, yet resolved to meet his fate nobly; on his + shield alone was no device, for he wished to be, not to seem, a good man. + The pathos of the impending ruin of a great character through evil + associations is heightened by the terror of what follows. Only one gate + remains without an assailant, the gate Eteocles is to defend; it is to be + attacked by the King's own brother, Polyneices. Filled with horror, the + Chorus begs him send another to that gate, for "there can be no old age to + the pollution of kindred bloodshed". Recognising that his father's curse + is working itself out, he departs to kill and be killed by his own + brother, for "when the gods send evil none can avoid it". + </p> + <p> + In an interval the Chorus reflect on their King's impending doom. His + father's curse strikes them with dread; Oedipus himself was born of a + father Laius who, though warned thrice by Apollo that if he died without + issue he would save his land, listened to the counsels of friends and in + imprudence begat his own destroyer. Their song is interrupted by a + messenger who announces that they have prospered at six gates, but at the + seventh the two brothers have slain each other. This news inspires another + song in which the joy of deliverance gradually yields to pity for an + unhappy house, cursed and blighted, the glory of Oedipus serving but to + make more acute the shame of his latter end and the triumph of the ruin he + invoked on his sons. The agony of this scene is intensified by the entry + of Ismene and Antigone, Oedipus' daughters, the latter mourning for + Polyneices, the former for Eteocles. The climax is reached when a herald + announces a decree made by the senate and people. Eteocles, their King who + defended the land, was to be buried with all honours, but Polyneices was + to lie unburied. Calmly and with great dignity Antigone informs the herald + that if nobody else buries her brother, she will. A warning threat fails + to move her. The play closes with a double note of terror at the doom of + Polyneices and pity for the death of a brave King. + </p> + <p> + Further progress in dramatic art has been made in this play. One of the + main sources of the pathos of human life is the operation of what seems to + us to be mere blind chance. Just as the casual dropping of Desdemona's + handkerchief gave Iago his opportunity, so the casual allotting of the + seven gates brings the two brothers into conflict. But behind it was the + working of an inherited curse; yet Aeschylus is careful to point out that + the curse need never have existed at all but for the wilfulness of Laius; + he was the origin of all the mischief, obstinately refusing to listen to a + warning thrice given him by Apollo. Another secret of dramatic excellence + has been discovered by the poet, that of contrast. Two brothers and two + sisters are balanced in pairs against one another. The weaker sister + Ismene laments the stronger brother, while the more unfortunate Polyneices + is championed by the more firmly drawn sister. Equally admirable is the + contrast between the righteous Amphiaraus and his godless companions. The + character of each of these is a masterpiece. War, horror, kindred + bloodshed, with a promise of further agonies to arise from Antigone's + resolve are the elements which Aeschylus has fused together in this vivid + play. + </p> + <p> + "There was war in Heaven" between the new gods and the old. The <i>Prometheus + Bound</i> contains the story of the proud tyranny of Zeus, the latest + ruler of the gods. Hephaestus, the god of fire, opens a conversation with + Force and Violence who are pinning Prometheus with chains of adamant to + the rocks of Caucasus. Hephaestus performs his task with reluctance and in + pity for the victim, the deep-counselling son of right-minded Law. Yet the + command of Zeus his master is urgent, overriding the claims of kindred + blood. Force and Violence, full of hatred, hold down the god who has + stolen fire, Hephaestus' right, and given it to men. They bid the Fire-God + make the chains fast and drive the wedge through Prometheus' body. When + the work is done they leave him with the taunt: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Now steal the rights of the gods and give them to the creatures + of the day; what can mortals do to relieve thy agonies? The gods + wrongly call thee a far-seeing counsellor, who thyself lackest a + counsellor to save thee from thy present lot." +</pre> + <p> + Abandoned of all, Prometheus breaks out into a wild appeal to earth, air, + the myriad laughter of the sea, the founts and streams to witness his + humiliation; but soon he reflects that he had foreseen his agony and must + bear it as best he can, for the might of Necessity is not to be fought + against. A sound of lightly moving pinions strikes his ears; sympathisers + have come to visit him; they are the Chorus, the daughters of Ocean, who + have heard the sound of the riveted chains and hurried forth in their + winged car Awestruck, they come to see how Zeus is smiting down the mighty + gods of old. It would be difficult to imagine a more natural and touching + motive for the entry of a Chorus. + </p> + <p> + In the dialogue that follows the tragic appeal to pity is quickly blended + with a different interest. By a superb stroke of art Aeschylus excites the + audience to an intense curiosity. Though apparently subdued, Prometheus + has the certainty of ultimate triumph over his foe; he alone has secret + knowledge of something which will one day hurl Zeus from his throne; the + time will come when the new president of Heaven will hurry to him in + anxious desire for reconciliation; when ruin threatens him he will forsake + his pride and beg Prometheus to save him. But no words will prevail on the + sufferer till he is released from his bonds and receives ample + satisfaction for his maltreatment. The Chorus bids him tell the whole + history of the quarrel. To them he unfolds the story of Zeus' ingratitude. + There was a discord among the older gods, some wishing to depose Cronos + and make Zeus their King. Warned by his mother, Prometheus knew that only + counsel could avail in the struggle, not violence. When he failed to + persuade the Titans to use cunning, he joined Zeus who with his aid hurled + his foes down to Tartarus. Securing the sovereignty, Zeus distributed + honours to his supporters, but was anxious to wipe out the human race and + create a new stock. Prometheus resisted him, giving mortals fire the + creator of many arts and ridding them of the dread of death. This act + brought him into conflict with Zeus. He invites the Chorus to step down + from their car and hear the rest of his story. At this point Ocean enters, + one of the older gods. He offers to act as a mediator with Zeus, but + Prometheus warns him to keep out of the conflict; he has witnessed the + sorrows of Atlas, his own brother, and of Typhos, pinned down under Etna, + and desires to bring trouble upon no other god; he must bear his agonies + alone till the time of deliverance is ripe. Ocean departing, Prometheus + continues his story. He gave men writing and knowledge of astronomy, + taught them to tame the wild beasts, invented the ship, created medicine, + divination and metallurgy. Yet for all this, his art is weaker far than + Necessity, whereof the controllers are Fate and the unforgetting Furies. + Terror-struck at his sufferings, the Chorus point out how utterly his + goodness has been wasted in helping the race of mortals who cannot save + him. He warns them that a time would come when Zeus should be no longer + King; when they ask for more knowledge, he turns them to other thoughts, + bidding them hide the secret as much as possible. Their interest is drawn + away to another of Zeus' victims, who at this moment rushes on the scene; + it is lo, cajoled and abandoned by Zeus, plagued and tormented by the + dread unsleeping gadfly sent by Zeus' consort Hera. She relates her story + to the wondering Chorus, and then Prometheus tells her the long tale of + misery and wandering that await her as she passes from the Caucasus to + Egypt, where she is promised deliverance from her tormentor. + </p> + <p> + The play now moves to its awful climax. The sight of Io stirs Prometheus + to prophesy more clearly the end in store for Zeus. There would be born + one to discover a terror far greater than the thunderbolt, and smite Zeus + and his brother Poseidon into utter slavery. On hearing this Zeus sends + from heaven his messenger Hermes to demand fuller knowledge of this new + monarch. Disdaining his threats, Prometheus mocks the new gods and defies + their ruler to do his worst. Hermes then delivers his warning. Prometheus + would be overwhelmed with the terrors of thunder and lightning, while the + red eagle would tear out his heart unceasingly till one should arise to + inherit his agonies, descending to the depths of Tartarus. He advises the + Chorus to depart from the rebel, lest they too should share in the + vengeance. They remain faithful to Prometheus, ready to suffer with him; + then descend the thunderings and lightnings, the mountains rock, the winds + roar, and the sky is confounded with sea; the dread agony has begun. + </p> + <p> + Once more the bold originality of Aeschylus displays itself. Here is a + theme unique in Greek literature. The strife between the two races of gods + opens out a vista of the world ages before man was created. It will + provide a solution to a very difficult problem which will confront us in a + later play. The conflict between two stubborn wills is the source of a + sublime tragedy in which our sympathies are with the sufferer; Zeus, who + punishes Prometheus for "unjustly" helping mortals, himself falls below + the level of human morality; he is tyrannous, ungrateful and revengeful—in + short, he displays all the wrong-headedness of a new ruler. No doubt in + the sequel these defects would have disappeared; experience would have + induced a kindlier temper and the sense of an impending doom would have + made it essential for him to relent in order to learn the great secret + about his successor. + </p> + <p> + Pathos is repeatedly appealed to in the play. Hephaestus is one of the + kindliest figures in Greek tragedy; the noble-hearted young goddesses + cannot fail to hold our affection. They are the most human Chorus in all + drama; their entry is admirable; in the sequel we should have found them + still near Prometheus after his cycle of tortures. But the subject-matter + is calculated to win the admiration of all humanity; it is the persecution + of him to whom on Greek principles mankind owes all that it is of value in + its civilisation. We cannot help thinking of another God, racked and + tormented and nailed to a cross of shame to save the race He loved. The + very power and majesty of Aeschylus' work has made it difficult for + successors to imitate him; few can hope to equal his sublime grandeur; + Shelley attempted it in his <i>Prometheus Unbound</i>, but his Prometheus + becomes abstract Humanity, ceasing to be a character, while his play is + really a mere poem celebrating the inevitable victory of man over the + evils of his environment and picturing the return of an age of happiness. + </p> + <p> + Nearly all the characters in Greek tragedy were the heroes of well-known + popular legends. In abandoning the well-trodden circle Aeschylus has here + ensured an undying freshness for his work—it is novel, free and + unconventional; more than that, it is dignified. + </p> + <p> + The slightest error of taste would have degraded if to the level of a + comedy; throughout it maintains a uniform tone of loftiness and sincerity. + The language is easy but powerful, the art with which the story is told is + consummate. Finally, it is one of the few pieces in the literature of the + world which are truly sublime; it ranks with Job and Dante. The great + purpose of creation, the struggles of beings of terrific power, the + majesty of gods, the whole universe sighing and lamenting for the agonies + of a deity of wondrous foresight, saving others but not himself—such + is the theme of this mighty and affecting play. + </p> + <p> + In 458 Aeschylus wrote the one trilogy which is extant. It describes the + murder of Agamemnon, the revenge of Orestes and his purification from + blood-guiltiness. It will be necessary to trace the history of Agamemnon's + family before we can understand these plays. His great-grandfather was + Tantalus, who betrayed the secrets of the gods and was subjected to + unending torture in Hades. Pelops, his son, begat two sons, Atreus and + Thyestes. The former killed Thyestes' son, invited the father to a banquet + and served up his own son's body for him to eat. The sons of Atreus were + Agamemnon and Menelaus, who married respectively Clytemnestra and Helen, + daughters of Zeus and Leda, both evil women; the son of Thyestes was + Aegisthus, a deadly foe of his cousins who had banished him. The + "inherited curse" then had developed itself in this unhappy stock and it + did not fail to ruin it. + </p> + <p> + When Helen abandoned Menelaus and went to Troy with Paris, Agamemnon led a + great armament to recover the adulteress. The fleet was wind-bound at + Aulis, because the Greeks had offended Artemis. Chalcas the seer informed + Agamemnon that it would be impossible for him to reach Troy unless he + offered his eldest daughter Iphigeneia to Artemis. Torn by patriotism and + fatherly affection, Agamemnon resorted to a strategem to bring his + daughter to the sacrifice. He sent a messenger to Clytemnestra saying he + wished to marry their child to Achilles. When the mother and daughter + arrived at Aulis they learned the bitter truth. Iphigeneia was indeed + sacrificed, but Artemis spirited her away to the country now called + Crimea, there to serve as her priestess. Believing that her daughter was + dead, Clytemnestra returned to Argos to plot destruction for her husband, + forming an illicit union with his foe Aegisthus, nursing her revenge + during the ten years of the siege. + </p> + <p> + The <i>Agamemnon</i>, the first play of the trilogy, opens in a romantic + setting. It is night. A watchman is on the wall of Argos, stationed there + by the Queen. For ten years he had waited for the signal of the + beacon-fire to be lit at Nauplia, the port of Argos, to announce the fall + of Troy. At last the expected signal is given. He hurries to tell the news + to the Queen, a woman with the resolution of a man; in his absence the + Chorus of Argive Elders enter the stage, singing one of the finest odes to + be found in any language. It likens Agamemnon and his brother to two + avenging spirits sent to punish the sinner. The Chorus are past military + age, and are come to learn from Clytemnestra why there is sacrifice + throughout all Argos. They remember the woes at the beginning of the + campaign, how Chalcas prophesied that in time Troy would be taken, yet + hinted darkly of some blinding curse of Heaven hanging over the Greeks, + his burden being + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Sing woe, sing woe, but let the good prevail." + + "Yea, the law of Zeus is, wisdom by suffering, for thus soberness of + thought comes to those who wish not for it. First men are emboldened + by ill-counselling foolish frenzy which begins their troubles; even + as Agamemnon, through sin against Artemis, was compelled to slay his + daughter to save his armament. Her cries for a father's mercy, her + unuttered appeals to her slayers—these he disregarded. What is to + come of it, no man knows; yet it is useless to lament the issue before + it comes, as come it will, clear as the light of day." +</pre> + <p> + Clytemnestra enters, the sternest woman figure in all literature. She + reminds the Chorus that she is no child and is not known to have a + slumbering wit. When they enquire how she has learned so quickly of the + capture of Troy, she describes with great brilliance the long chain of + beacon fires she has caused to be made, stretching from Ida in Troyland to + Argos. She imagines the wretched fate of the conquered and the joy of the + victors, rid for ever of their watchings beneath the open sky. Striking + the same ominous note as Chalcas did, she continues: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "If they reverence the Gods of Troy and their shrines, they shall not + be caught even as they have taken the city. May no lust of plundering + fall upon the army, for it needs a safe return home. Yet even if the + army sins not against the gods, the anger of the slain may awake, + though no new ills arise. But let the right prevail, for all to see + it clearly." +</pre> + <p> + This speech inspires the Chorus to sing another solemn ode. Too much + prosperity leads to godlessness; Paris carried away Helen in pride and + infatuation, stealing the light of Menelaus' eyes, leaving him only the + torturing memories of her beauty which visited him in his dreams. But + there is a spirit of discontent in every city of Greece; all had sent + their young men to Troy in the glory of life, and in return they had a + handful of ashes, asking why their sons should fall in murderous strife + for another man's wife. At night the dark dread haunts Argos that the gods + care not for men who shed much blood, who succeed by injustice, who are + well spoken of overmuch. Often these are smitten full in the face by the + thunderbolt; and perhaps this beacon message is mere imagining or a lie + sent from heaven. + </p> + <p> + Hearing this the Queen comes forth to prove the truth of her story. A + herald at that moment advances to confirm it, for Troy has been sacked. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Altars and shrines have been demolished and all the seed of land + destroyed. Thus is Agamemnon the happiest man of mortals, most + worthy of honour, for Paris and his city cannot say that their + crime was greater than its punishment." +</pre> + <p> + Immediately after learning this story, Clytemnestra makes the first of a + number of speeches charged with a dreadful double meaning. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "When the first news came, I shouted for joy, but now I shall hear + the story from the King himself. And I will use all diligence to + give my lord the best of all possible welcomes. Bid him come with + speed. May he find in the house a wife as faithful as he left her! + I know of no wanton pleasure with another man more than I know how + to dye a sword." +</pre> + <p> + The Chorus understand well the hidden force of this sinister speech and + bid the messenger speak of Menelaus, the other beloved King of the land. + In reply he tells how a dreadful storm sent by the angry gods descended + upon the Greek fleet. In it fire and water, those ancient foes, forsook + their feud, conspiring to destroy the unhappy armament. Whether Menelaus + was alive or not was uncertain; if he lived, it was only by the will of + Zeus who desired to save the royal house. The Chorus who look at things + with a deeper glance than the herald, hear his story with a growing + uneasiness. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Helen, the cause of the war, at first was a spirit ofcalm to Troy, + but at the latter end she was their bane, the evil angel of ruin. + For one act of violence begets many others like it, until + righteousness can no longer dwell within the sinner." +</pre> + <p> + They touch a more joyous chord of welcome and loyalty when at last they + see the actual arrival of Agamemnon himself. + </p> + <p> + The King enters the stage accompanied by Cassandra, the prophetic daughter + of Priam, thus giving visible proof of his contempt for Apollo, the Trojan + protector and inspirer of the prophetess. He has heard the Chorus' welcome + and promises to search out the false friends and administer healing + medicine to the city. Clytemnestra replies in a second speech of double + significance. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The Argive Elders well know how dearly she loves her lord and the + impatience of her life while he was at Troy. Often stories came of + his wounds; were they all true, he would have more scars than a net + has holes. Orestes their son has been sent away, lest he should be + the victim of some popular uprising in the King's absence. Her fount + of tears is dried up, not a drop being left." +</pre> + <p> + After some words of extravagant flattery, she bids her waiting women lay + down purple carpets on which Justice may bring him to a home which he + never hoped to see. Agamemnon coldly deprecates her long speech; the + honour she suggests is one for the gods alone; his fame will speak loud + enough without gaudy trappings, for a wise heart is Heaven's greatest + gift. But the Queen, not to be denied, overcomes his scruples. Giving + orders that Cassandra is to be well treated, he passes over the purple + carpets, led by Clytemnestra who avows that she would have given many + purple carpets to get him home alive. Thus arrogating to himself the + honours of a god, he proceeds within the palace, while she lingers behind + for one brief moment to pray openly to Zeus to fulfil her prayers and to + bring his will to its appointed end. Thoroughly alarmed, the Chorus give + free utterance to the vague forebodings which shake them, the song of the + avenging Furies which cries within their hearts. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Human prosperity often strikes a sunken rock; bloodshed calls to + Heaven for vengeance; yet there is comfort, for one destiny may + override another, and good may yet come to pass." +</pre> + <p> + These pious hopes are broken by the entry of the Queen who summons + Cassandra within: when the captive prophetess answers her not a word, + Clytemnestra declares she has no time to waste outside the palace: already + there stands at the altar the ox ready for sacrifice, a joy she never + looked to have; if Cassandra will not obey, she must be taught to foam out + her spirit in blood. + </p> + <p> + In the marvellous scene which follows Aeschylus reaches the pinnacle of + tragic power. Cassandra advances to the palace, but starts back in horror + as a series of visions of growing vividness comes before her eyes. These + find utterance in language of blended sanity and madness, creating a + terror whose very vagueness increases its intensity. First she sees + Atreus' cruel murder of his brother's children; then follows the sight of + Clytemnestra's treacherous smile and of Agamemnon in the bath, hand after + hand reaching at him; quickly she sees the net cast about him, the + murderess' blow. In a flash she foresees her own end and breaks out into a + wild lament over the ruin of her native city. Her words work up the Chorus + into a state of confused dread and foreboding; they can neither understand + nor yet disbelieve. When their mental confusion is at its height, relief + comes in a prophecy of the greatest clearness, no longer couched in + riddling terms. The palace is peopled by a band of kindred Furies, who + have drunk their fill of human blood and cannot be cast out; they sit + there singing the story of the origin of its ruin, loathing the murder of + the innocent children. Agamemnon himself would soon pay the penalty, but + his son would come to avenge him. Foretelling her own death, she hurls + away the badges of her office, the sceptre and oracular chaplets, things + which have brought her nothing but ridicule. She prays for a peaceful end + without a struggle; comparing human life to a shadow when it is fortunate + and to a picture wiped out by a sponge when it is hapless, she moves in + calmly to her fate. + </p> + <p> + There is a momentary interval of reflection, then Agamemnon's dying voice + is heard as he is stricken twice. Frantic with horror, the Chorus prepare + to rush within but are checked by the Queen, who throws open the door and + stands glorying in the triumph of self-confessed murder. Her real + character is revealed in her speech. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "This feud was not unpremeditated; rather, it proceeds from an + ancient quarrel, matured by time. Here I stand where I smote him, + over my handiwork. So I contrived it, I freely confess, that he + could neither escape his fate nor defend himself. I cast over him + the endless net, and I smote him twice—in two groans he gave up + the ghost—adding a third in grateful thanksgiving to the King of + the dead in the nether world. As he fell he gasped out his spirit, + and breathing a swift stream of gore he smote me with a drop of + murderous dew, while I rejoiced even as does the cornfield under + the Heavensent shimmering moisture when it brings the ears to the + birth. Ye Argive Elders, rejoice if ye can, but I exult. If it were + fitting to pour thank-offerings for any death, 'twere just, nay, + more than just, to offer such for him, so mighty was the bowl of + curses he filled up in his home, then came and drank them up himself + to the dregs." +</pre> + <p> + To their solemn warning that she would herself be cut off, banished and + hated, she replies: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "He slew my child, my dearest birth-pang, to charm the Thracian + winds. In the name of the perfect justice I have exacted for my + daughter, in the name of Ruin and Vengeance, to whom I have + sacrificed him, my hopes cannot tread the halls of fear so long + as Aegisthus is true to me. There he lies, seducer of this woman, + darling of many a Chryseis in Troyland. As for this captive + prophetess, this babbler of oracles, she sat on the ship's bench + by his side and both have fared as they deserved. He died as ye see; + but she sang her swan-song of death and lies beside him she loved, + bringing me a sweet relish for the luxury of my own love." +</pre> + <p> + A little later she denies her very humanity. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Call me not his spouse; rather the ancient dread haunting evil + genius of this house has taken a woman's shape and punished him, + a full-grown man in vengeance for little children." +</pre> + <p> + Burial he should have, but without any dirges from his people. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Let Iphigeneia, his daughter, as is most fitting, meet her father + at the swift-conveying passage of woe, throw her arms about him and + kiss him welcome." +</pre> + <p> + The last scene of this splendid drama brings forward the poltroon + Aegisthus who had skulked behind in the background till the deed was done. + He enters to air his ancient grievance, reminding the Chorus how his + father was outraged by Atreus, how he himself was a banished man, yet + found his arm long enough to smite the King from far away. In contempt for + the coward the Elders prepare to offer him battle; they appeal to Orestes + to avenge the murder. The quarrel was stopped by Clytemnestra, who had had + enough of bloodshed and was content to leave things as they were, if the + gods consented thereto. + </p> + <p> + Before the sustained power of this masterpiece criticism is nearly dumb. + The conception of the inherited curse is by now familiar to us; familiar + too is the teaching that sacrilege brings its own punishment, that human + pride may be flattered into assuming the privilege of a deity. These were + enough to cause Agamemnon's undoing. But it is the part played by + Clytemnestra which fixes the dramatic interest. She is inspired by a lust + for vengeance, yet, had she known the truth that her daughter was not dead + but a priestess, she would have had no pretext for the murder. This + ignorance of essentials which originates some human action is called + Irony; it was put to dramatic uses for the first time in European + literature by Aeschylus. The horrible tragedy it may cause is clear enough + in the <i>Agamemnon</i>; its power is terrible and its value as a dramatic + source is inestimable. There is another and a far more subtle form of + Irony, in which a character uses riddling speech interpreted by another + actor in a sense different from the truth as it is known to the + spectators; this too can be used in such a manner as to charge human + speech with a sinister double meaning which bodes ruin under the mask of + words of innocence. Few dramatic personages have used this device so + effectively as Clytemnestra, certainly none with a more fiendish intent. + Again, in this play the Chorus is employed with amazing skill; their vague + uneasiness takes more and more definitely the shape of actual terror in + every ode; this terror is raised to its height in the masterly Cassandra + scene—it is then abated a little, perhaps it is just beginning to + disappear, for nobody believed Cassandra, when the blow falls. This + integral connection between the Chorus and the main action is difficult to + maintain; that it exists in the <i>Agamemnon</i> is evidence of a + constructive genius of the highest order. + </p> + <p> + The <i>Choephori</i> (Libation-bearers), the second play of the trilogy, + opens with the entry of Orestes. He has just laid a lock of hair on his + father's tomb and sees a band of maidens approaching, among them Electra, + his sister. He retires with Pylades his faithful friend to listen to their + conversation. The Chorus tell how in consequence of a dream of + Clytemnestra they have been sent to offer libations to the dead, to + appease their anger and resentment against the murderers. They give + utterance to a wild hopeless song, full of a presentiment of disaster + coming on successful wickedness enthroned in power. They are captives from + Troy, obliged to look on the deeds of Aegisthus, whether just or unjust, + yet they weep for the purposeless agonies of Agamemnon's house. When asked + by Electra what prayers she should offer to her dead father, they bid her + pray for some avenging god or mortal to requite the murderers. Returning + to them from the tomb, she tells them of a strange occurrence; a lock of + hair has been laid on the grave, and there are two sets of footprints on + the ground, one of which corresponds with her own. Orestes then comes + forward to reveal himself; as a proof of his identity, he bids her + consider the garments which she wove with her own hands; urging her to + restrain her joy lest she betray his arrival, he tells how Apollo has + commanded him to avenge his father's death, threatening him with sickness, + frenzy, nightly terrors, excommunication and a dishonoured death if he + refuses. + </p> + <p> + In a long choral dialogue the actors tell of Clytemnestra's insolent + treatment of the dead King; she had buried him without funeral rites or + mourning, with no subjects to follow the corpse; she even mangled his body + and thrust Electra out of the palace; thus she filled the cup of her + iniquity. The Chorus remind Orestes of his duty to act, but first he + inquires why oblations have been offered; on learning that they are the + result of Clytemnestra's dreaming that she suckled a serpent that stung + her, and that she hopes to appease the angry dead, he interprets the dream + of himself. He then unfolds his plot. He and Pylades will imitate a + Phocian dialect and will seek out and slay Aegisthus. An ode which + succeeds recounts the legends of evil women, closing with the declaration + that Justice is firmly seated in the world, that Fate prepares a sword for + a murderer and a Fury punishes him with it. + </p> + <p> + Approaching the palace Orestes summons the Queen and tells her that a + stranger called Strophius bade him bring to Argos the news that Orestes is + dead. Clytemnestra commands her servants within the house to welcome him + and sends out her son's old nurse Cilissa to take the news to Aegisthus. + The nurse stops to speak to the Chorus in the very language of grief for + the boy she had reared, like Constance in <i>King John</i>. The Chorus + advise her to summon Aegisthus alone without his bodyguard, for Orestes is + not yet dead; when she departs they pray that the end may be speedily + accomplished and the royal house cleansed of its curse. Aegisthus crosses + the stage into the palace to meet a hasty end; seeing the deed, a servant + rushes out to call Clytemnestra, while Orestes bursts out from the house + and faces his mother. For a moment his resolution wavers; Pylades reminds + him of Apollo's anger if he fails. To his mother's plea that Destiny + abetted her deed he replies that Destiny intends her death likewise; + before he thrusts her into the palace she warns him of the avenging Furies + she will send to persecute him. She then passes to her doom. + </p> + <p> + After the Chorus have sung an ode of triumph Orestes shows the bodies of + the two who loved in sin while alive and were not separated in death. He + then displays the net which Clytemnestra threw around her husband's body + and the robe in which she caught his feet; he holds up the garment through + which Aegisthus' dagger ran. But in that very moment the cloud of more + agonies to come descends upon the hapless family. In obedience to Apollo's + command he takes the suppliant's branch and chaplet, and prepares to + hasten to Delphi, a wanderer cut off from his native land. The dreadful + shapes of the avenging Furies close in upon him: the fancies of incipient + madness thicken on his mind: he is hounded out, his only hope of rest + being Apollo's sacred shrine. The play ends with a note of hopelessness, + of calamity without end. + </p> + <p> + After the <i>Agamemnon</i> this play reads weak indeed. Yet it displays + two marked characteristics. It is full of vigorous action; the plot is + quickly conceived and quickly consummated; the business is soon over. + Further, Aeschylus has discovered yet another source of tragic power, the + conflict of duties. Orestes has to choose between obedience to Apollo and + reverence for his mother. That these duties are incompatible is clear; + whichever he performed, punishment was bound to follow. It is in this + enforced choice between two evils that the pathos of life is often to be + found; that Aeschylus should have so faithfully depicted it is a great + contribution to the growth of drama. + </p> + <p> + The concluding play, the <i>Eumenides</i>, calls for a briefer + description. It opens with one of the most awe-inspiring scenes which the + imagination of man has conceived. The priestess of Delphi finds a man + sitting as a suppliant at the central point of the earth, his hands + dripping with blood, a sword and an olive branch in his hand. Round him is + slumbering a troop of dreadful forms, beings from darkness, the avengers. + When the scene is disclosed, Apollo himself is seen standing at Orestes' + side. He urges Hermes to convey the youth with all speed to Athens where + he is to clasp the ancient image of Athena. Immediately the ghost of + Clytemnestra arises; waking the sleeping forms, she bids them fly after + their victim. They arise and confront Apollo, a younger deity, whom they + reproach for protecting one who should be abandoned to them. Apollo + replies with a charge that they are prejudiced in favour of Clytemnestra, + whom, though a murderess, they had never tormented. + </p> + <p> + The scene rapidly changes to Athens, where Orestes calls upon Athena; + confident in the privilege of their ancient office the Chorus awaits the + issue. The goddess appears and consents to try the case, the Council of + the Areopagus acting as a jury. Apollo first defends his action in saving + Orestes, asserting that he obeys the will of Zeus. The main question is, + which of the two parents is more to be had in honour? + </p> + <p> + Athena herself had no mother; the female is merely the nurse of the child, + the father being the true generative source. The Chorus points out that + the sin of slaying a husband is not the same as that of murdering a + mother, for the one implies kinship, while the other does not. Athena + advises the Court to judge without fear or favour. When the votes are + counted, it is found that they are exactly even. The goddess casts her + vote for Orestes, who is thus saved and restored. + </p> + <p> + The Chorus threaten that ruin and sterility shall visit Athena's city; + they are elder gods, daughters of night, and are overridden by younger + deities. But Athena by the power of her persuasion offers them a full + share in all the honours and wealth of Attica if they will consent to take + up their abode in it. They shall be revered by countless generations and + will gain new dignities such as they could not have otherwise obtained. + Little by little their resentment is overcome; they are conducted to their + new home to change their name and become the kindly goddesses of the land. + </p> + <p> + The boldness of Aeschylus is most evident in this play. Not content with + raising a ghost as he had done in the <i>Persae</i>, he actually shows + upon a public stage the two gods whom the Athenians regarded as the + special objects of their worship. More than this, he has brought to the + light the dark powers of the underworld in all their terrors; it is said + that at the sight of them some of the women in the audience were taken + with the pangs of premature birth. The introduction of these supernatural + figures was the most vivid means at Aeschylus' disposal for bringing home + to the minds of his contemporaries the seriousness of the dramatic issue. + It will be remembered that the <i>Prometheus</i> was the last echo of the + contest between two races of gods. The same strain of thought has made the + poet represent the struggle in the mind of Orestes as a trial between the + primeval gods and the newer stock; the result was the same, the older and + perhaps more terrifying deities are beaten, being compelled to change + their names and their character to suit the gentler spirit which a + religion takes to itself as it develops. At any rate, such is Aeschylus' + solution of the eternal question, "What atonement can be made for + bloodshed and how can it be secured?" The problem is of the greatest + interest; it may be that there is no real answer for it, but it is at + least worth while to examine the attempts which have been made to solve + it. + </p> + <p> + Before we begin to attempt an estimate of Aeschylus it is well to face the + reasons which make Greek drama seem a thing foreign to us. We are at times + aware that it is great, but we cannot help asking, "Is it real?" Modern it + certainly is not. In the first place, the Chorus was all-important to the + Greeks, but is non-existent with us. To them drama was something more than + action, it was music and dancing as well. Yet as time went on, the Greeks + themselves found the Chorus more and more difficult to manage and it was + discarded as a feature of the main plot. Only in a very few instances + could a play be constructed in such a manner as to allow the Chorus any + real influence on the story. Aeschylus' skill in this branch of his art is + really extraordinary; the Chorus does take a part, and a vital part too, + in the play. Again, the number of Greek actors was limited, whereas in a + modern play their number is just as great as suits playwright's + convenience or his capacity. The impression then of a Greek play is that + it is a somewhat thin performance compared with the vivacity and + complexity of the great Elizabethans. The plot, where it exists, seems + very narrow in Attic drama; it could hardly be otherwise in a society + which was content with a repeated discussion of a rather close cycle of + heroic legends. Yet here, too, we might note how Aeschylus trod out of the + narrow circumscribed round, notably in the <i>Prometheus</i> and the <i>Persoe</i>. + Lastly, the Greek play is short when compared with a full-bodied five-act + tragedy. It must be remembered, however, that very often these plays are + only a third part of the real subject dealt with by the playwright. + </p> + <p> + All Greek tragedy is liable to these criticisms; it is not fair to judge a + process just beginning by the standards of an art which thinks itself + full-blown after many centuries of history. Considering the meagre + resources available for Aeschylus—the masks used by Greek actors + made it impossible for any of them to win a reputation or to add to the + fame of a play—we ought to admire the marvellous success he + achieved. His defects are clear enough; his teaching is a little archaic, + his plots are sometimes weak or not fully worked out, his tendency is to + description instead of vigorous action, he has a superabundance of choric + matter. Sometimes it is said that the doctrine of an inherited curse on + which much of his work is written is false; let it be remembered that week + by week a commandment is read in our churches which speaks of visiting the + sins of the fathers upon the third and fourth generation of them that hate + God; all that is needed to make Aeschylus' doctrine "real" in the sense of + "modern" is to substitute the nineteenth-century equivalent Heredity. That + he has touched on a genuine source of drama will be evident to readers of + Ibsen's <i>Ghosts</i>. More serious is the objection that his work is not + dramatic at all; the actors are not really human beings acting as such, + for their wills and their deeds are under the control of Destiny. What + then shall we say of this from Hamlet:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "There's a divinity that shapes our ends, + Rough-hew them as we will?" +</pre> + <p> + In this matter we are on the threshold of one of our insoluble problems—the + freedom of the will. An answer to this real fault in Aeschylus will be + found in the subsequent history of the Attic drama attempted in the next + two chapters. Suffice it to say that, whether the will is free or not, we + act as if it were, and that is enough to represent (as Aeschylus has done) + human beings acting on a stage as we ourselves would do in similar + circumstances, for the discussions about Destiny are very often to be + found in the mouths not of the characters, but of the Chorus, who are + onlookers. + </p> + <p> + The positive excellences of Aeschylus are numerous enough to make us + thankful that he has survived. His style is that of the great sublime + creators in art, Dante, Michaelangelo, Marlowe; it has many a "mighty + line". His subjects are the Earth, the Heavens, the things under the + Earth; more, he reveals a period of unsuspected antiquity, the present + order of gods being young and somewhat inexperienced. He carries us back + to Creation and shows us the primeval deities, Earth, Night, Necessity, + Fate, powers simply beyond the knowledge of ordinary thoughtless men. His + characters are cast in a mighty mould; he taps the deepest tragic springs; + he teaches that all is not well when we prosper. The thoughtless, + light-hearted, somewhat shallow mind which thinks it can speak, think, and + act without having to render an account needs the somewhat stern tonic of + these seven dramas; it may be chastened into some sobriety and learn to be + a little less flippant and irreverent. + </p> + <p> + Aeschylus' influence is rather of the unseen kind. His genius is of a + lofty type which is not often imitated. Demanding righteousness, justice, + piety, and humility, he belongs to the class of Hebrew prophets who saw + God and did not die. + </p> + <h3> + TRANSLATIONS:— + </h3> + <p> + Miss Swanwick; E. D. A. Morshead; Campbell (all in verse). Paley (prose). + </p> + <p> + Versions also appear in Verrall's editions of separate plays (Macmillan). + </p> + <p> + An admirable volume called <i>Greek Tragedy</i> by G. Norwood (Methuen) + contains a summary of the latest views on the art of the Athenian + dramatists. + </p> + <p> + See Symonds' <i>Greek Poets</i> as above. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + SOPHOCLES + </h2> + <p> + In Aeschylus' dramas the will of the gods tended to override human + responsibility. An improvement could be effected by making the personages + real captains of their souls; drama needed bringing down from heaven to + earth. This process was effected by Sophocles. He was born at Colonus, + near Athens, in 495, mixed with the best society in Periclean times, was a + member of the important board of administrators who controlled the Delian + League, the nucleus of the Athenian Empire, and composed over one hundred + tragedies. In 468 he defeated Aeschylus, won the first prize twenty-two + times and later had to face the more formidable opposition of the new and + restless spirit whose chief spokesman was Euripides. For nearly forty + years he was taken to be the typical dramatist of Athens, being nicknamed + "the Bee"; his dramatic powers showed no abatement of vigour in old age, + of which the <i>Oedipus Coloneus</i> was the triumphant issue. He died in + 405, full of years and honours. + </p> + <p> + Providence has ordained it that his art, like his country's tutelary + goddess Athena, should step perfect and fully armed from the brain of its + creator. The <i>Antigone</i>, produced in 440, discusses one of the + deepest problems of civilised life. On the morning after the defeat of the + Seven who assaulted Thebes Polyneices' body lay dishonoured and unburied, + a prey to carrion birds before the gates of the city which had been his + home. His two sisters, Antigone and Ismene, discuss the edict which + forbids his burial. Ismene, the more timid of the two, intends to obey it, + but Antigone's stronger character rises in rebellion. + </p> + <p> + Loss of burial was the most awful fate which could overtake a Greek—before + he died Sophocles was to see his country condemn ten generals to death for + neglect of burial rites, though they had been brilliantly successful in a + naval engagement. Rather than obey Antigone would die. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Bury him I will; I will lie in death with the brother I love, + sinning in a righteous cause. Far longer is the time in which I + must please the dead than men on earth, for among the former I + shall dwell for ever. Do thou, if it please thee, hold in dishonour + what is honoured by Heaven." +</pre> + <p> + Here is the source of the tragedy, the will of the individual in conflict + with established authority. + </p> + <p> + A chorus of Theban elders enters, singing an ode of deliverance and joy; + they have been summoned by Creon, the new King, uncle of Oedipus' + children. Full of the sense of his own importance Creon states the + official view. Polyneices is to remain unburied. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Any man who considers private friendship to be more important than + the State is a man of naught. In the name of all-seeing Zeus I would + not hold my tongue if I saw ruin coming to the citizens instead of + safety, nor would I make a friend of my country's enemy. Sure am I + that it is the State that saves us; she is the ship that carries us; + we make our friendships without overturning her." +</pre> + <p> + The elders promise obedience, but grave news is reported by a guard who + has been set to watch the corpse. Someone had scattered dust lightly over + the dead and departed without leaving any trace; neither he nor his + companions had done the deed. + </p> + <p> + When the Chorus suggest that it is the work of some deity, Creon answers + in great impatience: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Cease, lest thou be proved a fool as well as old. Thy words are + intolerable when thou sayest that the gods can have a care of this + corpse. What, have they buried him in honour for his services to them? + Did he not come to burn their pillared temples and offerings and + precincts and shatter our laws?" +</pre> + <p> + He angrily thrusts the watchman forth, threatening to hang him and his + companions alive unless they find the culprit. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "There are many marvels, but none greater than Man. He crosses the + wintry sea, he wears away the hard earth with his plough, ensnareth + the light-hearted race of birds, catcheth the wild beasts, trappeth + the things of the deep, yoketh the horse and the unwearying ox. He + hath taught himself speech and thought swift as the wind, hath learnt + the moods of a city life and can avoid the shafts of the frost; he + hath a device for every problem save Death—though disease he can + escape. Sometimes he moveth to ill, again to good; his cities rear + their heads when they reverence the laws and the gods; he wrecketh + his city when he boldly forsakes the good. May an evil-doer never + share my hearth or heart." +</pre> + <p> + Such is the ordinary man's view of the action of Polyneices, for in + Sophocles the Chorus certainly represents average public opinion. It is + quickly challenged by the entry of Antigone with the Watchman, whose story + Creon hastens out to hear. With no little self-satisfaction the Watchman + tells how they caught the girl in the very act of replacing the dust they + had removed and pouring libations over the dead. Antigone admits the deed. + When asked how she dare defy the official ordinance, she replies— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "It came neither from Zeus nor from Justice, nor did I deem that thy + decrees had such power that a mortal could override the unwritten + and unshaken laws of Heaven. These have not their life from now or + yesterday, but from everlasting, and no man knows whence they have + appeared. It was not likely that, through fear of any man's will, + I would pay Heaven's penalty for their infringement. Die I must, even + hadst thou made no proclamation; if I die before my time, I count + it all gain. If my act seem folly to thee, maybe it is a foolish + judge who counts me mad." +</pre> + <p> + Creon replies that this is sheer insolence; it is an insult that he, a + man, should give way to a woman. He threatens to destroy both girls, but + Antigone is sure that public opinion is with her, though for the moment it + is muzzled through fear. Ismene is brought in and offers to die with her + sister; Antigone refuses her offer, insisting that she alone has deserved + chastisement. + </p> + <p> + In a second ode the gradual extinction of Oedipus' race is described, + owing to foolish word and insensate thought, for "when Heaven leads a man + to ruin it makes him believe that evil is good". A new interest is added + by Creon's son Haemon, the affianced lover of Antigone, who comes to + interview his father. This is the first instance in European drama of that + without which much modern literature would have little reason for existing + at all—the love element, wisely kept in check by the Greeks. A + further conflict of wills adds to the dramatic effect of the play; Creon + insists on filial obedience, for he cannot claim to rule a city if he + fails to control his own family. Haemon answers with courtesy and + deference; he points out that the force of public opinion is behind + Antigone and suggests that the official view may perhaps be wrong because + it is the expression of an individual's judgment. When he is himself + charged thus directly with the very fault for which he claimed to punish + Antigone, Creon lets his temper get the mastery; after a violent quarrel + Haemon parts from him with a dark threat that the girl's death will remove + more than one person, and vows never to cross his father's doorstep again. + </p> + <p> + Antigone is soon carried away to her doom; she is to be shut up in a + cavern without food. In a dialogue of great beauty she confesses her human + weakness—death is near, and with it banishment from the joys of + life. Creon bids her make an end; her last speech concludes with a clear + statement of the problem. Who knows if she is right? She herself will know + after death. If she has erred, she will confess it; if the King is wrong, + she prays he may not suffer greater woes than her own. + </p> + <p> + A reaction now occurs. Teiresias, the blind seer, seeks out Creon because + of the failure of his sacrificial rites; the birds of the air are gorged + with human blood, and fail to give the signs of augury. He bids Creon + return to his right senses and quit his stubbornness. When the latter + mockingly accuses the seer of being bribed, he learns the dread punishment + his obstinacy has brought him. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Know that thou shalt not see out many hurrying rounds of the sun + before thou shalt give one sprung from thine own loins in exchange + for the dead, one in return for two, for thou hast thrust below + one of the children of the light, penning up her spirit in a tomb + with dishonour, and thou keepest above ground a body that belongs + to the gods below, without its share of funerals, unrighteously; + wherefore the late-punishing ruinous gods of death and the + Furies lie in wait for thee, to catch thee in like agonies." +</pre> + <p> + Cowed by the terror, the King hurries to undo his work, calling for + pickaxes to open the tomb and himself going with all speed to set free its + victim. + </p> + <p> + The sequel is told by a messenger who at the outset strikes a note of woe. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Creon I once envied, for he was the saviour of his land, and was + the father of noble children. Now all is lost. When men lose + pleasure, I deem that they are not alive but moving corpses. Heap + up wealth and live in kingly state, but if there is no pleasure + withal, I would not pay the worth of a shadow for all the rest. + Haemon is dead." +</pre> + <p> + Hearing the news, Eurydice the Queen comes out, and bids him tell his + story in full. Creon found Haemon clasping the body of Antigone who had + hung herself. Seeing his father, he made a murderous attack on him; when + it failed, he drew his sword and fell on it—thus in death the two + lovers were not separated. In an ominous silence the Queen departs. Creon + enters with his son's body, to be utterly shattered by a second and an + unexpected blow, for his wife has slain herself. Broken and helpless he + admits his fault, while the Chorus sing in conclusion:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "By far the greatest part of happiness is wisdom; men should + reverence the gods; mighty plagues repay the mighty words of the + over-proud, teaching wisdom to the aged." +</pre> + <p> + To Aeschylus the power that largely controlled men's acts was Destiny. A + notable contrast is visible in the system of Sophocles. Destiny does not + disappear, rather it retires into the background of his thought. To him + the leading cause of ruin is evil counsel. Over and over again this + teaching is driven home. All the leading characters mention it, Antigone, + Haemon, Teiresias, and when it is disregarded, it is remorselessly brought + home by disaster. The dramatic gain is enormous; man's sorrows are + ascribed primarily to his own lack of judgment, the tragic character takes + on a more human shape, for he is more nearly related to the ordinary + persons we meet in our own experience. Another great advance is visible in + the construction of the plot. It is more varied, more flexible; it never + ceases developing, the action continuing to the end instead of stopping + short at a climax. Further, the Chorus begins to fall into a more humble + position, it exercises but little influence on the great figures of the + plot, being content to mirror the opinions of the interested outside + spectator. Truly drama is beginning to be master of itself—"the + play's the thing". + </p> + <p> + But far more important is the subject of this play. It raises one of the + most difficult problems which demand a solution, the harmonisation of + private judgment with state authority. The individual in a growing + civilisation sooner or later asks how far he ought to obey, who is the + lord over his convictions, whether disobedience is ever justifiable. If a + law is wrong how are we to make its immorality evident? In an age when a + central authority is questioned or loses its hold on men's allegiance, + this problem will imperiously demand an answer. When Europe was aroused + from the slumber of the Middle Ages and the spiritual authority which had + governed it for centuries was shattered, the same right of resistance as + that which Antigone claimed was insisted upon by various reformers. It did + not fail to bring with it tragic consequences, for the "power beareth not + the sword in vain". Its sequel was the Thirty Years' War which barbarised + central Germany, leaving in many places a race of savage beings who had + once been human. In our own days resistance is preached almost as a sacred + duty. We have passive resisters, conscientious objectors, strikers and a + host of young and imperfectly educated persons, some armed with the very + serious power of voting, who claim to set their wills in flat opposition + to recognised authority. One or two contributions to the solution of this + problem may be found in the <i>Antigone</i>. The central authority must be + prepared to prove that its edicts are not below the moral standard of the + age; on the other hand, non-compliance must be backed by the force of + public opinion; it must show that the action it takes will ultimately + bring good to the whole community. It is of little use to appeal to the + so-called conscience unless we can produce some credentials of the proper + training and enlightenment of that rather vague and uncertain faculty, + whose normal province is to condemn wrong acts, not to justify + law-breaking. Most resisters talk the very language of Antigone, appealing + to the will of Heaven; would that they could prove as satisfactorily as + she did that the power behind them is that which governs the world in + righteousness. + </p> + <p> + A somewhat similar problem reappears in the <i>Ajax</i>. This play opens + at early dawn with a dialogue between Athena, who is unseen, and Odysseus; + the latter has traced Ajax to his tent after a night of madness in which + he has slain much cattle and many shepherds, imagining them to be his + foes, especially Odysseus himself who had worsted him in the contest for + the arms of Achilles. Athena calls out the beaten hero for a moment and + the sight of him moves Odysseus to say:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "I pity him, though my foe; for I think of mine own self as much as + of him. We men are but shadows, all of us, or fleeting shades." +</pre> + <p> + To this Athena replies:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "When thou seest such sights, utter no haughty word against the gods + and be not roused to pride, if thou art mightier than another in + strength or store of wealth. One day can bring down or exalt all + human state, but the gods love the prudent and hate the sinners." +</pre> + <p> + A band of mariners from Salamis enter as the chorus; they are Ajax' + followers who have come to learn the truth. They are confronted by + Tecmessa, Ajax' captive, who confirms the grievous rumour, describing his + mad acts. When the fit was over, she had left him in his tent prostrate + with grief and shame among the beasts he had slain, longing for vengeance + on his enemies before he died. + </p> + <p> + The business of the play now begins. Coming forth, Ajax in a long + despairing speech laments his lot—persecuted by Athena, hated of + Greeks and Trojans alike, the secret laughter of his enemies. + </p> + <p> + Where shall he go? Home to the father he has disgraced? Against Troy, + leading a forlorn hope? He had already reminded Tecmessa with some + sternness that silence is a woman's best grace; now she appeals to his + pity. Bereft of him, she would speedily be enslaved and mocked; their son + would be left defenceless; the many kindnesses she had done him cry for + some return from a man of chivalrous nature, Ajax bade her be of good + cheer; she must obey him in all things and first must bring his son + Eurysaces. Taking him in his arms, he says:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "If he is my true son, he will not quail at the sight of blood. + But he must speedily be broken into his father's warrior habit + and imitate his ways. My son, I pray thou mayest be happier than + thy sire, but like him otherwise, then thou shalt be no churl. + Yet herein I envy thee that thou canst not feel my agonies. Life + is sweetest in its careless years before it learns joy and pain; + but when thou art come to that, show thy father's enemies thy + nature and birth. Till then feed on the spirit of gladness, + gambol in the life of boyhood and gladden thy mother's heart." +</pre> + <p> + He reflects that his son will be safe as long as Teucer lives, whom he + charges on his return to take the boy to his own father and mother to be + their joy. His arms shall not be a prize to be striven for; they should be + buried with him except his shield, which his son should take and keep. + This ominous speech dashes the hopes which he had raised in Tecmessa's + heart, even the Chorus sadly admitting that death is the best for a + brainsick man, born of the highest blood, no longer true to his character. + </p> + <p> + Ajax re-enters, a sword in his hands. He feels his heart touched by + Tecmessa's words and pities her helplessness. He resolves to go to the + shore and there bury the accursed sword he had of Hector, which had robbed + him of his peace. He will soon learn obedience to the gods and his + leaders; all the powers of Nature are subject to authority, the seasons, + the sea, night and sleep. He has but now learned that an enemy is to be + hated as one who will love us later, while friendship will not always + abide. Yet all will be well; he will go the journey he cannot avoid; soon + all will hear that his evil destiny has brought him salvation. This + splendid piece of tragic irony is interpreted at its surface value by the + Chorus, who burst into a song of jubilation. But the words have a darker + meaning; this transient joy is but the last flicker of hope before it is + quenched in everlasting night. + </p> + <p> + A messenger brings the news that Teucer, Ajax' brother, on his return to + the camp from a raid was nearly stoned to death as the kinsman of the + army's foe. He inquires where Ajax is; hearing that he had gone out to + make atonement, he knows the terror that is to come. Chalcas the seer + adjured Teucer to use all means in his power to keep Ajax in his tent that + day, for in it alone Athena's wrath would persecute him. She had punished + him with madness for two proud utterances. On leaving his father he had + boasted he would win glory in spite of Heaven, and later had bidden Athena + assist the other Greeks, for the line would never break where he stood. + Such was his pride, and such its punishment. Tecmessa hurries in and sends + some to fetch Teucer, others to go east and west to seek out her lord. The + scene rapidly changes to the shore, where Ajax cries to the gods, + imprecates his foes, prays to Death, and after a remembrance of his native + land falls on his sword. + </p> + <p> + The Chorus enter in two bands, but find nothing. Tecmessa discovers the + body in a brake, and hides it under her robe. Distracted and haunted by + the dread of slavery and ridicule, she gives way to grief. Teucer enters + to learn of the tragedy; after dispatching Tecmessa to save the child + while there is yet time, he reflects on his own state. Telamon his father + will cast him off for being absent in his brother's hour of weakness whom + he loved as his own life. Sadly he bears out the truth of Ajax utterance, + that a foe's gifts are fraught with ruin; the belt that Ajax gave Hector + served to tie his feet to Achilles' car—and Hector's sword was in + his brother's heart. + </p> + <p> + The plot now appeals to fiercer passions. Menelaus entering commands + Teucer to leave the corpse where it is, for an enemy shall receive no + burial. He strikes the same note as Creon:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "It is the mark of an ill-conditioned man that he, a commoner, + should see fit to disobey the powers that be. Law cannot prosper + in a city where there is no settled fear; where a man trembles and + is loyal, there is salvation; when he is insolent and does as he + will, his city soon or late will sink to ruin." +</pre> + <p> + Teucer answers that Ajax never was a subject, but was always an equal. He + fought, not for Helen, but for his oath's sake. The dispute waxes hot; the + calm dignity of Teucer easily discomfits the Spartan braggart, who departs + to bring aid. Meanwhile Tecmessa returns with the child whom Teucer in a + scene of consummate pathos bids kneel at his father's side, holding in his + hand a triple lock of hair—Teucer's, his mother's, his own; this + sacred symbol, if violated, would bring a curse on any who dared outrage + him. While the Chorus sing a song full of longings for home, Agamemnon + advances to the place, followed by Teucer. The King is deliberately + insolent, reviling Teucer for the stain on his birth. In reply the latter + in a great speech reminds him that there was a time when the flames licked + the Greek ships and there was none to save them but Ajax, who had faced + Hector single-handed. With kindling passion he hurls the taunt of a + stained birth back on Agamemnon and plainly tells him that Ajax shall be + buried and that the King will rue any attempt at violence. Odysseus comes + in to hear the quarrel. He admits that he had once been the foe of the + dead man, who yet had no equal in bravery except Achilles. For all that, + enmity in men should end where death begins. Astonished at this defence of + a foe, Agamemnon argues a little with Odysseus, who gently reminds him + that one day he too will need burial. This human appeal obtains the + necessary permission; Odysseus, left alone with Teucer, offers him + friendship. Too much overcome by surprise and joy to say many words, + Teucer accepts his friendship and the play ends with a ray of sunlight + after storm and gloom. + </p> + <p> + Once more Sophocles has filled every inch of his canvas. The plot never + flags and has no diminuendo after the death of Ajax. The cause of the + tragedy is not plainly indicated at the outset; with a skill which is + masterly, Sophocles represents in the opening scene Athena and Odysseus as + beings purely odious, mocking a great man's fall. With the progress of the + action these two characters recover their dignity; Athena has just cause + for her anger, while Odysseus obtains for the dead his right of burial. We + should notice further how the pathos of this fine play is heightened by + the conception of the "one day" which brought ruin to a noble warrior. Had + he been kept within his tent that one day—had this fatal day been + known, the ruin need not have happened. "The pity of it", the needless + waste of human life, what a theme is there for a tragedy! + </p> + <p> + The <i>Ajax</i> has never exercised an acknowledged influence on + literature. It was a favourite with the Greeks, but modern writers have + strangely overlooked it. For us it has a good lesson. Here was a hero, + born in an island, who unaided saved a fleet when his allies were forced + back on their trenches and beyond them to the sea. His reward was such as + Wordsworth tells of:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Alas! the gratitude of men + Has oftener left me mourning. +</pre> + <p> + We remember many a long month of agony during which another island kept + destruction from a fleet and saved her allies withal. In some quarters + this island has received the gratitude which Ajax had; her friends asked, + "What has England done in the war, anyhow?" If it befits anybody to + answer, it must be England's Teucer, who has built another Salamis + overseas, just as he did. Our kindred across the oceans will give us the + reward of praise; for us the chastisement of Ajax may serve to reinforce + the warning which is to be found on the lips of not the least of our own + poets:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "For frantic boast and foolish word + Thy mercy on Thy people, Lord." +</pre> + <p> + The <i>Electra</i> is Sophocles' version of the revenge of Orestes which + Aeschylus described in the <i>Choephori</i> and is useful as affording a + comparison between the methods of the two masters. An aged tutor at early + dawn enters the scene with Orestes to whom he shows his father's palace + and then departs with him to offer libations at the dead king's tomb. + Electra with a Chorus of Argive girls comes forward, the former describing + the insolent conduct of Clytemnestra who holds high revelry on the + anniversary of her husband's death and curses Electra for saving Orestes. + Chrysothemis, another daughter, comes out to talk with Electra; she is of + a different mould, gentle and timid like Ismene, and warns Electra that in + consequence of her obstinacy in revering her father's memory Aegisthus + intends to shut her up in a rocky cavern as soon as he returns. She + advises her to use good counsel, then departs to pour on Agamemnon's tomb + some libations which Clytemnestra offers in consequence of a dream. + </p> + <p> + The Queen finds Electra ranging abroad as usual in the absence of + Aegisthus. She defends the murder of her husband, but is easily refuted by + Electra who points out that, if it is right to exact a life for a life, + she ought to suffer death herself. Clytemnestra prays to Apollo to avert + the omen of her dream, her prayer seemingly being answered immediately by + the entry of the old tutor who comes to inform her of the death of + Orestes, killed at Delphi in a chariot race which he brilliantly + describes. Torn by her emotions, Clytemnestra can be neither glad nor + sorry. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Shall I call this happy news, or dreadful but profitable? Hapless + am I, if I save my life at the cost of my own miseries. Strong is + the tie of motherhood; no parent hates a child even if outraged by + him. Yet, now that he is gone, I shall have rest and peace from his + threats." +</pre> + <p> + Hearing so circumstantial a proof of her brother's death, Electra is + plunged into the depths of misery. + </p> + <p> + But soon Chrysothemis returns in a state of high excitement. She has found + a lock of Orestes' hair and some offerings at the tomb. Electra quickly + informs her that her elation is groundless, for their brother is dead; she + suggests that they two should strike the murderers, but Chrysothemis + recoils in horror from the plot. Then Orestes enters with a casket in his + hand; this he gives to Electra, saying it contains the mortal remains of + the dead prince. In utter hopelessness Electra takes it and soliloquises + over it. Seeing her misery, Orestes cannot refrain; gently taking the + casket from her he gradually reveals himself. The tutor enters and recalls + him to their immediate business. Electra asks who the stranger is and + learns that it is the very man to whom she gave the infant boy her + brother. The three advance to the palace which Orestes enters to dispatch + his mother, Electra bidding him smite with double force, wishing only that + Aegisthus were with her mother. + </p> + <p> + The end of Aegisthus himself is contrived with Sophoclean art. He comes in + hurriedly to find the two strangers who have proof of Orestes' death. + </p> + <p> + Electra tells him they are in the palace; they have not only told her of + the dead Orestes, but have shown him to her; Aegisthus himself can see the + unenviable sight; he can rejoice at it, if there is any joy in it. + Exulting, he sings a note of triumph at the removal of his fears and + threatens to chastise all who try henceforth to thwart his will. He dashes + open the door, and there sees the Queen lying dead. Orestes bids him enter + the palace, to be slain on the very spot where his father was murdered. + </p> + <p> + Fortune has been kind in preserving us this play. The great difference + between the art of Sophocles and that of Aeschylus is here apparent. Only + one man has ventured to paint for us Aeschylus' Clytemnestra; Leighton has + revealed her, stern as Nature herself, remorseless, armed with a sword to + smite first, then argue if she can find time to do so. Sophocles' + Clytemnestra is a woman, lost as soon as she begins to reason out her + misdeeds. She prays to Apollo in secret, for fear lest Electra may + overhear her prayer and make it void. But the crudity of Aeschylus' + resources did not satisfy Sophocles, whose taste demanded a contrast to + heighten the character of his heroine and found one in the Homeric story + that Agamemnon had a second daughter. Aeschylus' stern nature did not + shrink from the sight of a meeting between mother and son; Sophocles + closed the doors upon the act of vengeance, though he represents Electra + as encouraging her brother from outside the palace. The Aegisthus incident + maintains the interest to the end in the masterly Sophoclean style of + refined and searching irony. The tone of the play is singular; from misery + it at first sinks to hopelessness, then to despair, and finally it soars + to triumphant joy. Such a dangerous venture was unattempted before. + </p> + <p> + The most lovable woman in Greek literature is the heroine of the next + play, the <i>Trachiniae</i>, produced at an uncertain date. Deianeira had + been won and wed by Heracles; after a brief spell of happiness she found + herself left more and more alone as her husband's labours called him away + from her. For fifteen months she had heard no news of him. Her nurse + suggests that she should send her eldest son to Euboea to seek him out, a + rumour being abroad that he has reached that island. The mother in her + loneliness is comforted by a band of girls of Trachis, the scene of the + action. But her uneasiness is too great to be cheered; she describes the + strange curse of womanhood:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "When it is young it groweth in a clime of its own, plagued by no + heat of the sun nor rain nor wind; in careless gaiety it builds up + its days till it is no longer maid, but wife; then in the night it + hath its meed of cares, terrified for lord or children. Only such a + one can know from the sight of her own sorrows what is my burden + of grief." +</pre> + <p> + But there is a deeper cause for anxiety; Heracles had said that if he did + not return in fifteen months he would either die or be rid for ever of his + labours; that very hour had come. + </p> + <p> + News reached her that Heracles is alive and triumphant; Lichas was coming + to give fuller details. Very soon he enters with a band of captive + maidens, telling how his master had been kept in slavery in Lydia; shaking + off the yoke, he had sacked and destroyed the city of Eurytus who had + caused his captivity, the girls were Heracles' offering of the spoils to + Deianeira. Filled with pity at their lot, she looked closely at them and + was attracted by one of them, a silent girl of noble countenance. Lichas + when questioned denied all knowledge of her identity and departed. When he + had gone, the messenger desired private speech with Deianeira. Lichas had + lied; the girl was Iole, daughter of Eurytus; it was for her sake that his + master destroyed the city, for he loved the maid and intended to keep her + in his home to be a rival to his wife. Lichas on coming out was confronted + by the messenger, and attempted to dissemble, but Deianeira appealed to + him thus:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Nay, deceive me not. Thou shalt not speak to a woman of evil heart, + who knoweth not the ways of men, how that they by a law of their + own being delight not always in the same thing. 'Tis a fool who + standeth up to battle against Love who ruleth even gods as he will, + and me too; then why not another such as I? Therefore if I revile + my lord when taken with this plague, I am crazed indeed—or this + woman is, who hath brought me no shame or sorrow. If my lord + teacheth thee to lie, thy lesson is no good one; if thou art + schooling thyself to falsehood in a desire to be kind to me, thou + shalt prove unkind. Speak all the truth; it is an ignoble lot for a + man of honour to be called false." +</pre> + <p> + Completely won by this appeal, Lichas confesses the truth. + </p> + <p> + During the singing of a choral ode Deianeira has had time to reflect. The + reward of her loyalty is to take a second place. The girl is young and her + beauty is fast ripening; she herself is losing her charm. But no prudent + woman should fly into a passion; happily she has a remedy, for in the + first days of her wedded life Heracles had shot Nessus, a half-human + monster, for insulting her. Before he died Nessus bade her steep her robe + in his blood and treasure it as a certain charm for recovering his waning + affection. Summoning Lichas, she gives him strict orders to take the robe + to Heracles who was to allow no light of the sun or fire to fall upon it + before wearing it. After a short interval, she returns in the greatest + agitation; a little tuft of wool which she had anointed with the monster's + blood had caught the sunlight and shrivelled up to dust. If the robe + proved a means of death, she determined to slay herself rather than live + in disgrace. At that moment Hyllus bursts in to describe the horrible + tortures which seized Heracles when he put on the poisoned mantle; the + hero commanded his son to ferry him across from Euboea to witness the + curse which his mother's evil deed would bring with it. Hearing these + tidings Deianeira leaves the scene without uttering a word. + </p> + <p> + The old nurse quickly rushes in from the palace to tell how Deianeira had + killed herself—while Hyllus was kissing her dead mother's lips in + vain self-reproach, bereft of both his parents. Heracles himself is borne + in on a litter, tormented with the slow consuming poison. In agony, he + prays for death; when he learns of the decease of his wife and her + beguilement by Nessus into an unintentional crime, his resentment softens. + In a flash of inspiration the double meaning of the oracle comes over him, + his labour is indeed over. Commanding Hyllus to wed Iole he passes on his + last journey to the lonely top of Oeta, to be consumed on the funeral + pyre. + </p> + <p> + The Sophoclean marks are clear enough in this play—the tragic + moment, the life and movement, the splendid pathos, breadth of outlook and + fascination of language. Yet there is a serious fault as well, for + Sophocles, like the youngest of dramatists, can strangely enough make + mistakes. The entry of Heracles practically makes the play double, marring + its continuity. The necessary and remorseless sequence of events which is + looked for in dramatic writing is absent. This tendency to disrupt a whole + into parts brilliant but unrelated is a feature of Euripides' work; it may + perhaps find a readier pardon exactly because Sophocles himself is not + able to avoid it always. But the greatest triumph is the character of + Deianeira. It is such as one would rarely find in warm-blooded Southern + peoples. She dreads that loss of her power over her husband which her + waning beauty brings; she is grossly insulted in being forced to + countenance a rival living in the same house after she has given her + husband the best years of her life; yet she hopes on, and perhaps she + would have won him back by her very gentleness. This creation of a type of + almost perfect human nature is the justification of a poet's existence; it + was a saying of Sophocles that he painted men as they ought to be, + Euripides painted them as they are. + </p> + <p> + The rivalry of the younger poet produced its effect on another play with + which Sophocles gained the first prize in 409. <i>Philoctetes</i>, the + hero after whom it is named, had lit the funeral pyre of Heracles on Oeta + and had received from him his unconquerable bow and arrows. When he went + to Troy he was bitten in the foot by a serpent in Tenedos. As the wound + festered and made him loathsome to the army he was left in Lemnos in the + first year of the war. An oracle declared that Troy could not be taken + without him and his arrows; at the end of the siege, as Achilles and Ajax + were dead, Philoctetes, outraged and abandoned, became necessary to the + Greeks. How could they win him over to rejoin them? + </p> + <p> + Odysseus his bitterest foe takes with him Neoptolemus, the young son of + Achilles. Landing at Lemnos, they find the cave in which Philoctetes + lives, see his rude bed, rough-hewn cup and rags of clothing, and lay + their plot. Neoptolemus is to say that he is Achilles' son, homeward bound + in anger with the Greeks for the loss of his father's arms. As he was not + one of the original confederacy, Philoctetes will trust him. He is then to + obtain the bow and arrows by treachery, for violence will be useless. The + young man's soul rises against the idea of foul play but Odysseus bids him + surrender to shamelessness for one day, to reap eternal glory. Left alone + with the Chorus, composed of sailors from his ship, Neoptolemus pities the + hero's deserted existence, wretched, famished and half-brutalised. He + comes along towards them, creeping and crying in agony. Seeing them he + inquires who they are; Neoptolemus answers as he had been bidden and wins + the heart of Philoctetes who describes the misery of his life, his + desertion and the unquenchable malady that feeds on him. In return + Neoptolemus tells how he was beguiled to Troy by the prophecy that he + should capture it after his father's death; arriving there he obtained + possession of all Achilles' property except the arms, which Odysseus had + won. He pretends to return to his ship, but Philoctetes implores him to + set him once more in Greece. The great pathos of his appeal wins the + youth's consent; they prepare to depart when a merchant enters with a + sailor; from him they learn that Odysseus with Diomedes are on the way to + bring Philoctetes by force or persuasion to Troy which cannot fall without + his aid. The mere mention of Odysseus' name fills Philoctetes with anger + and he retires to the cave, taking Neoptolemus with him. + </p> + <p> + When they reappear, a violent attack of the malady prostrates Philoctetes + who gives his bow to Neoptolemus, praying him to burn him and put an end + to his agony. Noticing a strange silence in the youth, suspicions seem to + be aroused in him, but when he falls into a slumber the Chorus takes a + decided part in the action, advising the youth to fly with the bow and to + talk in a whisper for fear of waking the sleeper. The latter unexpectedly + starts out of slumber, again begging to be taken on board. Again + Neoptolemus' heart smites him at the villainy he is about to commit; he + reveals that his real objective is Troy. Betrayed and defenceless, + Philoctetes appeals to Heaven, to the wild things, to Neoptolemus' better + self to restore the bow which is his one means of procuring him food. A + profound pity overcomes Neoptolemus, who is in the act of returning the + weapon when Odysseus appears. Seeing him Philoctetes knows he is undone. + Odysseus invites him to come to Troy of his own freewill, but is met with + a curse; as he refuses to rejoin the Greeks, Odysseus and Neoptolemus + depart bearing with them the bow for Teucer to use. + </p> + <p> + Left without that which brought him his daily food Philoctetes bursts out + into a wild lyric dialogue with the Chorus. They advise him to make terms + with Odysseus, but he bids them begone. When they obey, he recalls them to + ask one little boon, a sword. At this moment Neoptolemus runs in, Odysseus + close behind him. He has come to restore the bow he got by treachery. A + violent quarrel ends in the temporary retirement of Odysseus. Advancing to + Philoctetes, Neoptolemus gives him his property; Philoctetes takes it and + is barely restrained from shooting at Odysseus who appears for a moment, + only to take refuge in flight. Neoptolemus then tells him the whole truth + about the prophecy, promising him great glory if he will go back to Troy + which can fall only through him. In vain Neoptolemus assures him of a + perfect cure; nothing will satisfy the broken man but a full redemption of + the promise he had to be landed once more in Greece. When Neoptolemus + tells him that such action will earn him the hatred of the Greeks, + Philoctetes promises him the succour of his unerring shafts in a conflict. + </p> + <p> + The action has thus reached a deadlock. The problem is solved by the + sudden appearance of the deified Heracles. He commands his old friend to + go to Troy which he is to sack, and return home in peace. His lot is + inseparably connected with that of Neoptolemus and a cure is promised him + at the hands of Asclepius. This assurance overcomes his obstinacy; he + leaves Lemnos in obedience to the will of Heaven. + </p> + <p> + Such is the work of an old dramatist well over eighty years old. It is + exciting, vigorous, pathetic and everywhere dignified. The characters of + the old hero and the young warrior are masterly. The Chorus takes an + integral part in the action—its whisperings to Neoptolemus remind + the reader of the evil suggestions of which Satan breathed into Eve's + equally guileless ears in <i>Paradise Lost</i>. But the most remarkable + feature of the piece is its close resemblance to the new type of drama + which Euripides had popularised. The miserable life of Philoctetes, his + rags, destitution and sickness are a parallel to the Euripidean Telephus; + most of all, the appearance of a god at the end to untie the knot is + genuine Euripides. But there is a great difference; of the disjointed + actions which disfigure later tragedy and are not absent from Sophocles' + own earlier work there is not a trace. The odes are relevant, the Chorus + is indispensable; in short, Sophocles has shown Euripides that he can beat + him even on his own terms. Melodramatic the play may be, but it wins for + its author our affection by the sheer beauty of a boyish nature as noble + as Deianeira's; the return of Neoptolemus upon his own baseness is one of + the many compliments Sophocles has paid to our human kind. + </p> + <p> + Many years previously Sophocles had written his masterpiece, the <i>Oedipus + Tyrannus</i>. It cannot easily be treated separately from its sequel. A + mysterious plague had broken out in Thebes; Creon had been sent to Delphi + by Oedipus to learn the cause of the disaster. Apollo bade the Thebans + cast out the murderer of the last King Laius, who was still lurking in + Theban territory. Oedipus on inquiry learns that there are several + murderers, but only one of Laius' attendants escaped alive. In discovering + the culprit Oedipus promises the sternest vengeance on his nearest + friends, nay, on his own kin, if necessary. After a prayer from the Chorus + of elders he repeats his determination even more emphatically, invoking a + curse on the assassin in language of a terrible double meaning, for in + every word he utters he unconsciously pronounces his own doom. With + commendable foresight he had summoned the old seer Teiresias, but the seer + for some reason is unwilling to appear. When at last he confronts the + King, he craves permission to depart with his secret unsaid. Oedipus at + once flies into a towering passion, finally accusing him without any + justification of accepting bribes from Creon. With equal heat Teiresias + more and more clearly indicates in every speech the real murderer, though + his words are dark to him who could read the Sphinx's riddle. + </p> + <p> + The Chorus break out into an ode full of uneasy surmises as to the + identity of the culprit. When Creon enters, Oedipus flies at him in + headlong passion accusing him of bribery, disloyalty and eventually of + murder. With great dignity he clears himself, warning the King of the + pains which hasty temper brings upon itself. Their quarrel brings out + Jocasta, the Queen and sister of Creon, who succeeds in settling the + unseemly strife. She bids Oedipus take no notice of oracles; one such had + declared that Laius would be slain by his own son, who would marry her, + his mother. The oracle was false, for Laius had died at the hands of + robbers in a place where three roads met. Aghast at hearing this, Oedipus + inquires the exact scene of the murder, the time when it was committed, + the actual appearance of Laius. Jocasta supplies the details, adding that + the one survivor had implored her after Oedipus became King to live as far + away as possible from the city. Oedipus commands him to be sent for and + tells his life story. He was the reputed son of Polybus and Merope, rulers + of Corinth. One day at a wine-party a man insinuated that he was not + really the son of the royal pair. Stung by the taunt he went to Delphi, + where he was warned that he should kill his father and marry his mother. + He therefore fled away from Corinth towards Thebes. On the road he was + insulted by an old man in a chariot who thrust him rudely from his path; + in anger he smote the man at the place where three ways met. If then this + man was Laius, he had imprecated a curse on himself; his one hope is the + solitary survivor whom he had sent for; perhaps more than one man had + killed Laius after all. + </p> + <p> + An ominous ode about destiny and its workings is followed by the entry of + the Queen who describes the mad terrors of Oedipus. She is come to pray to + Apollo to solve their troubles. At that moment a messenger enters from + Corinth with the tidings that Polybus is dead. In eager joy Jocasta + summons Oedipus, sneering at the truth of oracles. The King on his + appearance echoes her words after hearing the tidings-only to sink back + again into gloomy despondency. What of Merope, is she also dead? The + messenger assures him that his anxiety about her is groundless, for there + is no relationship between them. Little by little he tells Oedipus his + true history. The messenger himself found him on Cithaeron in his infancy, + his feet pierced through. He had him from a shepherd, a servant of Laius, + the very man whom Oedipus had summoned. Suddenly turning to Jocasta, the + King asks her if she knows the man. Appalled at the horror of the truth + which she knows cannot be concealed much longer she affects indifference + and beseeches him search no further. When he obstinately refuses, bidding + the man be brought at once, she leaves the stage with the cry: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Alack, thou unhappy one; that is all I may call thee and never + address thee again." +</pre> + <p> + Oedipus by a masterstroke of art is made to imagine that she has departed + in shame, fearing he may be proved the son of a slave. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "But I account myself the son of Fortune, who will never bring me + to dishonour; my brethren are the months, who marked me out for + lowliness and for power. Such being my birth, I shall never prove + false to it and faint in finding out who I am." +</pre> + <p> + The awful power of this astonishing scene is manifest. + </p> + <p> + The bright joyousness of the King's impulsive speech prepares the way for + the coming horror. When the shepherd appears, the messenger faces him + claiming his acquaintance. The shepherd doggedly attempts to deny all + knowledge of him, cursing him for his mad talkativeness. Oedipus threatens + torture to open his lips. Line by line the truth is dragged from him; the + abandoned child came from another—from a creature of Laius—was + said to be his son—was given him by Jocasta—to be destroyed + because of an oracle—why then passed over to the Corinthian + messenger?—"through pity, and he saved the child alive, for a mighty + misery. If thou art that child, know that thou art born a hapless man". + </p> + <p> + When the King rushes madly into the palace, the Chorus sings of his + departed glory. The horrors increase with the appearance of a messenger + from within, who tells how Oedipus dashed into Jocasta's apartment to find + her hanging in suicide; then he blinded himself on that day of mourning, + ruin, death and shame. He comes out a little later, an object of utter + compassion. How can he have rest on earth? How face his murdered father in + death? The memories of Polybus and Merope come upon him, then the years of + unnatural wedlock. Creon, whom he has wantonly insulted, comes not to mock + at him, but to take him into the palace where neither land nor rain nor + light may know him. Oedipus begs him to let him live on Cithaeron, + beseeching him to look after his two daughters whose birth is so stained + that no man can ever wed them. Creon gently takes him within, to be kept + there till the will of the gods is known. The end is a sob of pity for the + tragic downfall of the famous man who solved the Sphinx' enigma. + </p> + <p> + No man can ever do justice to this masterpiece. It is so constructed that + every detail leads up inevitably to the climax. Slowly, and playing upon + all the deepest human emotions, anxiety, hope, gloom, terror and horror, + Sophocles works on us as no man had ever done before. It is a sin against + him to be content with a mere outline of the play; the words he has chosen + are significant beyond description. Again and again they fascinate the + reader and always leave him with the feeling that there are still depths + of thought left unsounded. The casual mention of the shepherd at the + beginning of the play is the first stroke of perfect art; Jocasta's + disbelief in oracles is the next; then follows the contrast between the + Queen's real motive for leaving and the reason assigned to it by her son; + finally, the shepherd in torture is forced to tell the secret which + plunges the torturer to his ruin. Where is the like of this in literature? + To us it is heart-searching enough. What was it to the Greeks who were + familiar with the plot before they entered the theatre? When they who knew + the inevitable end watched the King trace out his own ruin in utter + ignorance, their feelings cannot have remained silent; they must have + found relief in sobbing or crying aloud. + </p> + <p> + The fault in Oedipus is his ungovernable temper. It is firmly drawn in the + play; he is equally unrestrained in anger, despair and hope. He is the + typical instance of the lack of good counsel which we have seen was to + Sophocles the prime source of a tragedy. Indeed, only a headlong man would + hastily marry a widowed queen after he had committed a murder which + fulfilled one half of a terrible oracle. He should have first inquired + into the history of the Theban royal house. Imagining that the further he + was fleeing from Corinth the more certain he was to make his doom + impossible of fulfilment, he inevitably drew nearer to it. This is our + human lot; we cannot see and we misinterpret warnings; how shall not + weaker men tremble for themselves when Oedipus' wisdom could not save him + from evil counsel? + </p> + <p> + In 405 Sophocles showed in his last play how Oedipus passed from earth in + the poet's own birthplace, Colonus. Oedipus enters with Antigone, and on + inquiry from a stranger finds that he is on the demesne of the Eumenides. + At once he sends to Theseus, King of Athens, and refuses to move from the + spot, for there he is fated to find his rest. A Chorus from Colonus comes + to find out who the suppliant is. When they hear the name of Oedipus they + are horror-struck and wish to thrust him out. After much persuasion they + consent to wait till Theseus arrives. Presently Ismene comes with the news + that Eteocles has dispossessed his elder brother Polyneices; further, an + oracle from Delphi declares that Oedipus is all-important to Thebes in + life and after death. His sons know this oracle and Creon is coming to + force him back. Declaring he will do nothing for the sons who abandoned + him, Oedipus obstinately refuses his city any blessing. He sends Ismene to + offer a sacrifice to the Eumenides; in her absence Theseus enters, offers + him protection and asks why he has come. Oedipus replies that he has a + secret to reveal which is of great importance to Athens; at present there + is peace between her and Thebes: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "but in the gods alone is no age or death; all else Time confounds, + mastering everything. Strength of the Earth and of the body wastes, + trust dies, disloyalty grows, the same spirit never stands firm + among friends or allies. To some men early, to others late, + pleasures become bitter and then again sweet." +</pre> + <p> + The secret Oedipus will impart at the proper time. The need for protection + soon comes. Creon attempts to persuade Oedipus to return to Thebes but is + met by a curse, whereupon the Theban guards lay hold of Antigone—they + had already seized Ismene—and menace Oedipus himself. Theseus + hearing the alarm rushes back, reproaches Creon for his insolence and + quickly returns with the two girls. He has strange news to tell; another + Theban is a suppliant at the altar of Poseidon close by, craving speech + with Oedipus. It is Polyneices, whom Antigone persuades her father to + interview. The youth enters, ashamed of his neglect of his father, and + begs a blessing on the army he has mustered against Thebes. He is met by a + terrible curse which Oedipus invokes on both his sons. In despair + Polyneices goes away to his doom. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "For me, my path shall be one of care, disaster and sorrows sent me + by my sire and his guardian angels; but, my sisters, be yours a + happy road, and when I am dead fulfil my heart's desire, for while + I live you may never perform it." +</pre> + <p> + A thunderstorm is heard approaching; the Chorus are terrified at its + intensity, but Oedipus eagerly dispatches a messenger for Theseus. When + the King arrives he hears the secret; Oedipus' grave would be the eternal + protection of Attica, but no man must know its site save Theseus who has + to tell it to his heir alone, and he to his son, and so onwards for ever. + The proof of Oedipus' word would be a miracle which soon would transform + him back to his full strength. Presently he arises, endued with a + mysterious sight, beckoning the others to follow him. The play concludes + with a magnificent description of his translation. A voice from Heaven + called him, chiding him for tarrying; commending his daughters to the care + of Theseus, he greeted the earth and heaven in prayer and then without + pain or sorrow passed away. On reappearing Theseus promised to convey the + sisters back to Thebes and to stop the threatened fratricidal strife. + </p> + <p> + The <i>Oedipus Coloneus</i>, like the <i>Philoctetes</i>, the other play + of Sophocles' old age, closes in peace. The old fiery passions still burn + fiercely in Oedipus, as they did in Lear; yet both were "every inch a + king" and "more sinned against than sinning". Oedipus' miraculous return + to strength before he departs is curiously like the famous end of Colonel + Newcome. There are subtle but unmistakable marks of the Euripidean + influence on this drama; such are the belief that Theban worthies would + protect Athens, the Theseus tradition, and the recovery of worn-out + strength. These features will meet us in the next chapter. But it is again + noteworthy that Sophocles has added those touches which distinguish his + own firm and delicate handiwork. There is nothing of melodrama, nothing + inconsequent, nothing exaggerated. It is the dramatist's preparation for + his own end. Shakespeare put his valediction into the mouth of Prospero; + Sophocles entrusted his to his greatest creation Oedipus. Like him, he was + fain to depart, for the gods called. Our last sight of him is of one + beckoning us to follow him to the place where calm is to be found; to find + it we must use not the eyes of the body, but the inward illumination + vouchsafed by Heaven. + </p> + <p> + To the Athenians of the Periclean age Sophocles was the incarnation of + their dramatic ideal. His language is a delight and a despair. It + tantalises; it suggests other meanings besides its plain and surface + significance. This riddling quality is the daemonic element which he + possessed in common with Plato; because of it these two are the masters of + a refined and subtle irony, a source of the keenest pleasure. His plots + reveal a vivid sense of the exact moment which will yield the intensest + tragic effects—only on one particular day could Ajax die or Electra + be saved. Accordingly, Sophocles very often begins his play with early + dawn, in order to fill the few all-important hours with the greatest + possible amount of action. He has put the maximum of movement into his + work, only the presence ofthe Chorus and the conventional messengers (two + features imposed on him by the law of the Attic theatre) making the action + halt. + </p> + <p> + But it is in the sum-total of his art that his greatness lies; the sense + of a whole is its controlling factor; details are important, indeed, he + took the utmost pains to see that they were necessary and convincing—yet + they were details, subordinate, closely related, not irrelevant nor + disproportionate. This instinct for a definite plan first is the essence + of the classical spirit; exuberance is rigorously repressed, symmetry and + balance are the first, last and only aim. To some judges Sophocles is like + a Greek temple, splendid but a little chilly; they miss the soaring + ambition of Aeschylus or the more direct emotional appeal of Euripides. + Yet it is a cardinal error to imagine that Sophocles is passionless; his + life was not, neither are his characters. Like the lava of a recent + eruption, they may seem ashen on the surface, but there is fire + underneath; it betrays itself through the cracks which appear when their + substance is violently disturbed. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + They, much enforced, show a hasty spark + And straight are cold again. +</pre> + <p> + Repression, avoidance of extremes, dignity under provocation are the marks + of the gentle Sophoclean type and it is a very high type indeed. + </p> + <p> + For we have in him the very fountain of the whole classical tradition in + drama. Sophocles is something far more important than a mere influence; he + is an ideal, and as such is indestructible. To ask the names of writers + who came most under his "influence" is as sensible as to ask the names of + the sculptors who most faithfully followed the Greek tradition of + statuary. He is Classical tragedy. The main body of Spanish and English + drama is romantic, the Sophoclean ideal is that of the small but powerful + body of University men in Elizabeth's time headed by Ben Jonson, of the + typically French school of dramatists, of Moratin, Lessing, Goethe, of the + exponents of the Greek creed in nineteenth-century England, notably + Matthew Arnold and Walter Pater, and of Robert Bridges. To this school the + cultivation of emotional expression is suspicious, if not dangerous; it + leads to eccentricity, to the revelation of feelings which frequently are + not worth experiencing, to sentimental flabbiness, to riot and + extravagance. Perhaps in dread of the ridiculous the Classical school + represses itself too far, creating characters of marble instead of flesh. + These creations are at least worth looking at and bring no shame; they are + better than the spectral psychological studies which many dramatists, now + dead or dying, have bidden us believe are real men and women. + </p> + <h3> + TRANSLATIONS: + </h3> + <p> + Jebb (Cambridge). This is by far the best; it renders with success the + delicacy of the original. + </p> + <p> + Storr (Loeb Series). + </p> + <p> + Verse translations by Whitelaw and Campbell. + </p> + <p> + See Symonds' <i>Greek Poets</i>, and Norwood <i>Greek Tragedy</i>, as + above. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + EURIPIDES + </h2> + <p> + No-Man's Land was the scene of many tragedies during the Great War. There + has come down to us a remarkable tragedy, called the <i>Rhesus</i>, about + a similar region. It treats first of the Dolon incident of the Iliad. + Hector sent out Dolon to reconnoitre, and soon afterwards some Phrygian + shepherds bring news that Rhesus has arrived that very night with a + Thracian army. Reviled by Hector for postponing his arrival till the tenth + year of the war, Rhesus answers that continual wars with Scythia have + occupied him, but now that he is come he will end the strife in a day. He + is assigned his quarters and departs to take up his position. + </p> + <p> + Having learned the password from Dolon, Diomedes and Odysseus enter and + reach the tents of Hector who has just left with Rhesus. Diomedes is eager + to kill Aeneas or Paris or some other leader, but Odysseus warns him to be + content with the spoils they have won. Athena appears, counselling them to + slay Rhesus; if he survives that night, neither Achilles nor Ajax can save + the Greeks. Paris approaches, having heard that spies are abroad in the + night; he is beguiled by Athena who pretends to be Aphrodite. When he is + safely got away, the two slay Rhesus. + </p> + <p> + The King's charioteer bursts on to the stage with news of his death. He + accuses Hector of murder out of desire for the matchless steeds. Hector + recognises in the story all the marks of Odysseus' handiwork. The Thracian + Muse descends to mourn her son's death, declaring that she had saved him + for many years, but Hector prevailed upon him and Athena caused his end. + </p> + <p> + This play is not only about No-man's land; it is a No-man's land, for its + author is unknown; it is sometimes ascribed to Euripides, though it + contains many words he did not use, on the ground that it reflects his + art. For it shows in brief the change which came over Tragedy under + Euripides' guidance. It is exciting, it seizes the tragic moment, the one + important night, it has some lovely lyrics, the characters are realistic, + the gods descend to untie the knot of the play or to explain the + mysterious, some detail is unrelated to the main plot—Paris + exercises no influence on the real action—it is pathetic. + </p> + <p> + Sophocles said that he painted men as they ought to be, Euripides as they + are. This realistic tendency, added to the romanticism whence realism + always springs, is the last stage of tragedy before it declines. A + Euripides is inevitable in literary history. + </p> + <p> + Born at Salamis on the very day of the great victory of 480, Euripides + entered into the spirit of revolution in all human activities which was + stirring in contemporary Athens. He won the first prize on five occasions, + was pilloried by the Conservatives though he was a favourite with the + masses. Towards the end of his life he migrated to Macedonia, where he + wrote not the least splendid of his plays, the <i>Bacchae</i>. On the news + of his death in 406 Sophocles clothed his Chorus in mourning as a mark of + his esteem. + </p> + <p> + The famous <i>Alcestis</i> won the second prize in 438. Apollo had been + the guest of Admetus and had persuaded Death to spare him if a substitute + could be found. Admetus' parents and friends failed him, but his wife + Alcestis for his sake was content to leave the light. After a series of + speeches of great beauty and pathos she dies, leaving her husband + desolate. Heracles arrives at the palace on the day of her death; he + notices that some sorrow is come upon his host, but being assured that + only a relation has died he remains. Meanwhile Admetus' parents arrive to + console him; he reviles them for their selfishness in refusing to die for + him, but is sharply reminded by them that parents rejoice to see the sun + as well as their children; in reality, he is his wife's murderer. + </p> + <p> + Heracles' reckless hilarity shocked the servants who were unwilling to + look after an unfeeling guest. He enters the worse for liquor and advises + a young menial to enjoy life while he can. After a few questions he learns + the truth. Sobered, he hurries forth unknown to Admetus to wrestle with + Death for Alcestis. Admetus, distracted by loss of his wife, becomes aware + that evil tongues will soon begin to talk of his cowardice. Heracles + returns with a veiled woman, whom he says he won in a contest, and begs + Admetus keep her till he returns. After much persuasion Admetus takes her + by the hand, and on being bidden to look more closely, sees that it is + Alcestis. The great deliverer then bids farewell with a gentle hint to him + to treat guests more frankly in future. + </p> + <p> + This play must be familiar to English readers of Browning's <i>Balaustion's + Adventure</i>. It has been set to music and produced at Covent Garden this + very year. The specific Euripidean marks are everywhere upon it. The + selfish male, the glorious self-denial of the woman, the deep but helpless + sympathy of the gods, the tendency to laughter to relieve our tears, the + wonderful lyrics indicate a new arrival in poetry. The originality of + Euripides is evident in the choice of a subject not otherwise treated; he + was constantly striving to pass out of the narrow cycle prescribed for + Attic tragedians. A new and very formidable influence has arisen to + challenge Sophocles who may have felt as Thackeray did when he read one of + Dickens' early emotional triumphs. + </p> + <p> + In 431 he obtained the third prize with the <i>Medea</i>, the heroine of + the world-famous story of the Argonauts related for English readers in + Morris' <i>Life and Death of Jason</i>. A nurse tells the story of Jason's + cooling love for Medea and of his intended wedlock with the daughter of + Creon, King of Corinth, the scene of the play. Appalled at the effect the + news will produce on her mistress' fiery nature, she begs the Tutor to + save the two children. Medea's frantic cries are heard within the house; + appearing before a Chorus of Corinthian women she plunges into a + description of the curse that haunts their sex. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Of all things that live and have sense women are the most hapless. + First we must buy a husband to lord it over our bodies; our next + anxiety is whether he will be good or bad, for divorce is not easy + or creditable. Entering upon a strange new life we must divine how + best to treat our spouse. If after this agony we find one to live + with us without chafing at the yoke, a happy life is ours—if not, + better to die. But when a man is surfeited with his mate he can + find comfort outside with friend or compeer; but we perforce look + to one alone. They say of us that we live a life free from danger, + but they fight in wars. It is false. I would rather face battle + thrice than childbirth once." +</pre> + <p> + Desolate, far away from her father's home, she begs the Chorus to be + silent if she can devise punishment for Jason. + </p> + <p> + Creon comes forth, uneasy at some vague threats which Medea has uttered + and afraid of her skill as a sorceress. He intends to cast her out of + Corinth before returning to his palace, but is prevailed upon to grant one + day's grace. Medea is aghast at this blow, but decides to use the brief + respite. After a splendid little ode which prophesies that women shall not + always be without a Muse, Jason emerges. Pointing out that her violent + temper has brought banishment he professes to sympathise, offering money + to help her in exile. She bursts into a fury of indignation, recounting + how she abandoned home to save and fly with him to Greece. He argues that + his gratitude is due not to her, but to Love who compelled her to save + him; he repeats his offer and is ready to come if she sends for him. + Salvation comes unexpectedly. Aegeus, the childless King of Athens, + accidentally visits Corinth. Medea wins his sympathy and promises him + children if he will offer her protection. He willingly assents and she + outlines her plan. Sending for Jason, she first pretends repentance for + hasty speech, then begs him to get her pardon from the new bride and + release from exile for the two children. She offers as a wedding gift a + wondrous robe and crown which once belonged to her ancestor the Sun. In + the scene which follows is depicted one of the greatest mental conflicts + in literature. To punish Jason she must slay her sons; torn by love for + them and thirsting for revenge she wavers. The mother triumphs for a + moment, then the fiend, then the mother again—at last she decides on + murder. This scene captured the imagination of the ancient world, + inspiring many epigrams in the Anthology and forming one of the mural + paintings of Pompeii. + </p> + <p> + A messenger rushes in. The robe and crown have burnt to death Glauce the + bride and her father who vainly tried to save her: Jason is coming with + all speed to punish the murderess. She listens with unholy joy, retires + and slays the children. Jason runs in and madly batters at the door to + save them. He is checked by the apparition of Medea seated in her car + drawn by dragons. Reviled by him as a murderess, she replies that the + death of the children was agony to her as well and prophesies a miserable + death for him. + </p> + <p> + This marvellous character is Euripides' Clytemnestra. Yet unlike her, she + remains absolutely human throughout; her weak spot was her maternal + affection which made her hesitate, while Clytemnestra was past feeling, + "not a drop being left". Medea is the natural Southern woman who takes the + law into her own hands. In the <i>Trachiniae</i> is another, outraged as + Medea was, yet forgiving. Truly Sophocles said he painted men as they + ought to be, Euripides as they were. + </p> + <p> + The <i>Hippolytus</i> in 429 won the first prize. It is important as + introducing a revolutionary practice into drama. Aphrodite in a prologue + declares she will punish Hippolytus for slighting her and preferring to + worship Artemis, the goddess of hunting. The young prince passes out to + the chase; as he goes, his attention is drawn to a statue of Aphrodite by + his servants who warn him that men hate unfriendly austerity, but he + treats their words with contempt. His stepmother Phaedra enters with the + Nurse, the Chorus consisting of women of Troezen, the scene of the play. A + secret malady under which Phaedra pines has so far baffled the Nurse who + now learns that she loves her stepson. She had striven in vain against + this passion, only to find like Olivia that + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Such a potent fault it is + That it but mocks reproof. +</pre> + <p> + She decided to die rather than disgrace herself and her city Athens. The + Nurse advises her not to sacrifice herself for such a common passion; a + remedy there must be: "Men would find it, if women had not found it + already". "She needs not words, but the man." Scandalised by this cynicism + the Queen bids her be silent; the woman tells her she has potent charms + within the house which will rid her of the malady without danger to her + good name or her life. Phaedra suspects her plan and absolutely forbids + her to speak with Hippolytus. The answer is ambiguous: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Be of good cheer; I will order the matter well. Only Queen + Aphrodite be my aid. For the rest, it will suffice to tell my + plan to my friends within." +</pre> + <p> + A violent commotion arises in the palace; Hippolytus is heard indistinctly + uttering angry words. He and the Nurse come forth; in spite of her appeal + for silence, he denounces her for tempting him. When she reminds him of + his oath of secrecy, he answers "My tongue has sworn, but not my will"—a + line pounced upon as immoral by the poet's many foes. Hippolytus' long + denunciation of women has been similarly considered to prove that the poet + was an enemy of their sex. Left alone with the Nurse Phaedra is + terror-stricken lest her husband Theseus should hear of her disgrace. She + casts the Nurse off, adding that she has a remedy of her own. Her last + speech is ominous. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "This day will I be ruined by a bitter love. Yet in death I will + be a bane to another, that he may know not to be proud in my woes; + sharing with me in this weakness he will learn wisdom." +</pre> + <p> + Her suicide plunges Theseus into grief. Hanging to her wrist he sees a + letter which he opens and reads. There he finds evidence of her passion + for his son. In mad haste he calls on Poseidon his father to fulfil one of + the three boons he promised to grant him; he requires the death of his + son. Hearing the tumult the latter returns. His father furiously attacks + him, calling him hypocrite for veiling his lusts under a pretence of + chastity. The youth answers with dignity; when confronted with the damning + letter, he is unable to answer for his oath's sake. He sadly obeys the + decree of banishment pronounced on him, bidding his friends farewell. + </p> + <p> + A messenger tells the sequel. He took the road from Argos along the coast + in his chariot. A mighty wave washed up a monster from the deep. Plunging + in terror the horses became unruly; they broke the car and dashed their + master's body against the rocks. Theseus rejoices at the fate which has + overtaken a villain, yet pities him as his son. He bids the servants bring + him that he may refute his false claim to innocence. Artemis appears to + clear her devotee. The letter was forged by the Nurse, Aphrodite causing + the tragedy. "This is the law among us gods; none of us thwarts the will + of another but always stands aside." Hippolytus is brought in at death's + door. He is reconciled to his father and dies blessing the goddess he has + served so long. + </p> + <p> + The play contains the first indication of a sceptical spirit which was + soon to alter the whole character of the Drama. The running sore of + polytheism is clear. In worshipping one deity a man may easily offend + another, Aeschylus made this conflict of duties the cause of Agamemnon's + death, but accepted it as a dogma not to be questioned. Such an attitude + did not commend itself to Euripides; he clearly states the problem in a + prologue, solving it in an appearance of Artemis by the device known as + the <i>Deus ex machina</i>. It is sometimes said this trick is a + confession of the dramatist's inability to untie the knot he has twisted. + Rather it is an indication that the legend he was compelled to follow was + at variance with the inevitable end of human action. The tragedies of + Euripides which contain the <i>Deus ex machina</i> gain enormously if the + last scene is left out; it was added to satisfy the craving for some kind + of a settlement and is more in the nature of comedy perhaps than we + imagine. Hippolytus is a somewhat chilly man of honour, the Nurse a + brilliant study of unscrupulous intrigue. Racine's <i>Phèdre</i> is as + disagreeable as Euripides' is noble. Like <i>Hamlet</i>, the play is full + of familiar quotations. + </p> + <p> + Two Euripidean features appear in the <i>Heracleidae</i>, of uncertain + date. Iolaus the comrade of Heracles flees with the hero's children to + Athens. They sit as suppliants at an altar from which Copreus, herald of + their persecutor Eurystheus, tries to drive them. + </p> + <p> + Unable to fight in his old age Iolaus begs aid. A Chorus of Athenians rush + in, followed by the King Demophon, to hear the facts. First Copreus puts + his case, then Iolaus refutes him. The King decides to respect the + suppliants, bidding Copreus defy Eurystheus in his name. As a struggle is + inevitable Iolaus refuses to leave the altars till it is over. + </p> + <p> + Demophon returns to say that the Argive host is upon them and that Athens + will prevail if a girl of noble family freely gives her life; he cannot + compel his subjects to sacrifice their children for strangers, for he + rules a free city. Hearing his words, Macaria comes from the shrine where + she had been sheltering with her sisters and Alcmena, her father's mother. + When she hears the truth, she willingly offers to save her family and + Athens. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Shall I, daughter of a noble sire, suffer the worst indignity? + Must I not die in any wise? We may leave Attica and wander again; + shall I not hang my head if I hear men say, 'Why come ye here with + suppliant boughs, cleaving to life? Depart; we will not help + cowards.' Who will marry such a one? Better death than such + disgrace." +</pre> + <p> + A messenger announces that Hyllus, Heracles' son, has returned with + succours and is with the Athenian army. Iolaus summons Alcmena and orders + his arms; old though he is, he will fight his foe in spite of Alcmena's + entreaties. In the battle he saw Hyllus and begged him to take him into + his chariot. He prayed to Zeus and Hebe to restore his strength for one + brief moment. Miraculously he was answered. Two stars lit upon the car, + covering the yoke with a halo of light. Catching sight of Eurystheus + Iolaus the aged took him prisoner and brought him to Alcmena. At sight of + him she gloats over the coming vengeance. The Athenian herald warns her + that their laws do not permit the slaughter of captives, but she declares + she will kill him herself. Eurystheus answers with great dignity; his + enmity to Heracles came not from envy but from the desire to save his own + throne. He does not deprecate death, rather, if he dies, his body buried + in Athenian land will bring to it a blessing and to the Argive descendants + of the Heracleidae a curse when they in time invade the land of their + preservers. + </p> + <p> + Though slight and weakly constructed, this play is important. Its two + features are first, the love of argument, a weakness of all the Athenians + who frequented the Law Courts and the Assembly; this mania for discussing + pros and cons spoils one or two later plays. Next, the self-sacrificing + girl appears for the first time. To Euripides the worthier sex was not the + male, possessed of political power and therefore tyrannous, but the + female. He first drew attention to its splendid heroism. He is the + champion of the scorned or neglected elements of civilisation. + </p> + <p> + The <i>Andromache</i> is a picture of the hard lot of one who is not + merely a woman, but a slave. Hector's wife fell to Neoptolemus on the + capture of Troy and bore him a son called Molossus. Later he married + Hermione, daughter of Menelaus and Helen; the marriage was childless and + Hermione, who loved her husband, persecuted Andromache. She took advantage + of her husband's absence to bring matters to a head. Andromache exposed + her child, herself flying to a temple of Thetis when Menelaus arrived to + visit his daughter. Hermione enters richly attired, covered with jewels + "not given by her husband's kin, but by her father that she may speak her + mind." She reviles Andromache as a slave with no Hector near and commands + her to quit sanctuary. Menelaus brings the child; after a long discussion + he threatens to kill him if Andromache does not abandon the altar, but + promises to save him if she obeys. In this dilemma she prefers to die if + she can thus save her son; but when Menelaus secures her he passes the + child to his daughter to deal with him as she will. Betrayed and helpless, + Andromache breaks out into a long denunciation of Spartan perfidy. + </p> + <p> + Peleus, grandfather of Neoptolemus, hearing the tumult intervenes. After + more rhetoric he takes Andromache and Molossus under his protection and + cows Menelaus, who leaves for Sparta on urgent business. When her father + departs, Hermione fears her husband's vengeance on her maltreatment of the + slave and child whom he loves. Resolving on suicide, she is checked by the + entry of Orestes who is passing through Phthia to Dodona. She begs him to + take her away from the land or back to her father. Orestes reminds her of + the old compact which their parents made to unite them; he has a grievance + against Neoptolemus apart from his frustrated wedlock, for he had called + him a murderer of his mother. He had therefore taken measures to + assassinate him at Delphi, whither he had gone to make his peace with + Apollo. + </p> + <p> + Hearing of Hermione's flight Peleus returns, only to hear more serious + news. Orestes' plot had succeeded and Neoptolemus had been overwhelmed. In + consternation he fears the loss of his own life in old age. His + goddess-wife Thetis appears and bids him marry Andromachus to Hector's + brother Helenus; Molossus would found a mighty kingdom, while Peleus would + become immortal after the burial of Neoptolemus. + </p> + <p> + A very old criticism calls this play "second rate". Dramatically it is + worthless, for it consists of three episodes loosely connected. The + motives for Menelaus' return and Hermione's flight with an assassin from a + husband she loved are not clear, while the <i>Deus ex machina</i> adds + nothing to the story. It is redeemed by some splendid passages, but is + interesting as revealing a further development of Euripides' thought. He + here makes the slave, another downtrodden class, free of the privileges of + literature, for to him none is vile or reprobate. The famous painting <i>Captive + Andromache</i> indicates to us the loneliness of slavery. + </p> + <p> + The same subject was treated more successfully in the <i>Hecuba</i>: she + has received her immortality in the famous players' scene in <i>Hamlet</i>. + The shade of Polydorus, Hecuba's son, outlines the course of the action. + Hecuba enters terrified by dreams about him and her daughter Polyxena. Her + forebodings are realised when she hears from a Chorus of fellow-captives + that the shade of Achilles has demanded her daughter's sacrifice. Odysseus + bids her face the ordeal with courage. She replies in a splendid pathetic + appeal. Reminding him how she saved him from discovery when he entered + Troy in disguise, she demands a requital. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Kill her not, we have had enough of death. She is my comfort, my + nurse, the staff of my life and guide of my way. She is my joy in + whom I forget my woes. Victors should not triumph in lawlessness + nor think to prosper always. I was once but now am no more, for + one day has taken away my all." +</pre> + <p> + He sympathises but dare not dishonour the mighty dead. Polyxena intervenes + to point out the blessings death will bring her. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "First, its very unfamiliar name makes me love it. Perhaps I might + have found a cruel-hearted lord to sell me for money, the sister + of Hector; I might have had the burden of making bread, sweeping + the house and weaving at the loom in a life of sorrow. A slave + marriage would degrade me, once thought a fit mate for kings." +</pre> + <p> + Bidding Odysseus lead her to death, she takes a touching and beautiful + farewell. Her latter end is splendidly described by Talthybius. + </p> + <p> + A serving woman enters with the body of Polydorus; she is followed by + Agamemnon who has come to see why Hecuba has not sent for Polyxena's + corpse. In hopeless grief she shows her murdered son, begging his aid to a + revenge and promising to exact it without compromising him. A message + brings on the scene Polymestor, her son's Thracian host with his sons. In + a dialogue full of terrible irony Hecuba inquires about Polydorus, saying + she has the secret of a treasure to reveal. He enters her tent where is + nobody but some Trojan women weaving. Dismissing his guards, he lets the + elder women dandle his children, while the younger admire his robes. At a + signal they arose, slew the children and blinded him. On hearing the + tumult, Agamemnon hurries in; turning to him, the Thracian demands + justice, pretending he had slain Polydorus to win his favour. Hecuba + refutes him, pointing out that it was the lust for her son's gold which + caused his death. Agamemnon decides for Hecuba, whereupon Polymestor turns + fay, prophesying the latter end of Agamemnon, Hecuba and Cassandra. + </p> + <p> + The strongest and weakest points of Euripides' appeal are here apparent. + The play is not one but two, the connection between the deaths of both + brother and sister being a mere dream of their mother. The poet tends to + rely rather upon single scenes than upon the whole and is so far romantic + rather than classical. His power is revealed in the very stirring call he + makes upon the emotions of pity and revenge; because of this Aristotle + calls him the most tragic of the poets. + </p> + <p> + The <i>Supplices</i>, written about 421, carries a little further the + history of the Seven against Thebes. A band of Argive women, mothers of + the defeated Seven, apply to Aethra, mother of Theseus, to prevail on her + son to recover the dead bodies. Adrastus, king of Argos, pleads with + Theseus who at first refuses aid but finally consents at the entreaties of + his mother. His ultimatum to Thebes is delayed by the arrival of a herald + from that city. A strange discussion of the comparative merits of + democracy and tyranny leads to a violent scene in which Theseus promises a + speedy attack in defence of the rights of the dead. + </p> + <p> + In the battle the Athenians after a severe struggle won the victory; in + the moment of triumph Theseus did not enter the city, for he had come not + to sack it but to save the dead. Reverently collecting them he washed away + the gore and laid them on their biers, sending them to Athens. In an + affecting scene Adrastus recognises and names the bodies. At this moment + Evadne enters, wife of the godless Capaneus who was smitten by the + thunderbolt; she is demented and wishes to find the body to die upon it. + Her father Iphis comes in search of her and at first does not see her, as + she is seated on a rock above him. His pleadings with her are vain; she + throws herself to her death. At the sight Iphis plunges into a wild + lament. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "She is no more, who once kissed my face and fondled my head. To a + father the sweetest joy is his daughter; son's soul is greater, but + less winsome in its blandishments." +</pre> + <p> + Theseus returns with the children of the dead champions to whom he + presents the bodies. He is about to allow Adrastus to convey them home + when Athena appears. She advises him to exact an oath from Adrastus that + Argos will never invade Attica. To the Argives she prophecies a vengeance + on Thebes by the Epigoni, sons of the Seven. + </p> + <p> + This play is very like the <i>Heraclidae</i> but adds a new feature; drama + begins to be used for political purposes. The play was written at the end + of the first portion of the Peloponnesian war, when Argos began to enter + the world of Greek diplomacy. This illegitimate use of Art cannot fail to + ruin it; Art has the best chance of making itself permanent when it is + divorced from passing events. But there are other weaknesses in this + piece; it has some fine and perhaps some melodramatic situations; here and + there are distinct touches of comedy. + </p> + <p> + The <i>Ion</i> is a return to Euripides' best manner. Hermes in a prologue + explains what must have been a strange theme to the audience. Ion is a + young and nameless boy who serves the temple of Apollo in Delphi. There is + a mystery in his birth which does not trouble his sunny intelligence. + Creusa, daughter of Erectheus King of Athens, is married to Xuthus but has + no issue. Unaware that Ion is her son by Apollo, she meets him and is + attracted by his noble bearing. A splendid dialogue of tragic irony + represents both as wishing to find the one a mother, the other a son. + Creusa tells how she has come to consult the oracle about a friend who + bore a son to the god and exposed him. Ion is shocked at the immorality of + the god he serves; he refuses to believe that an evil god can claim to + deliver righteous oracles. Addressing the gods as a body, he states the + problem of the play. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Ye are unjust in pursuing pleasure rather than wisdom; no longer + must we call men evil, if we imitate your evil deeds; rather the + gods are evil, who instruct men in such things." +</pre> + <p> + Xuthus embraces Ion as his son in obedience to a command he has just + received to greet as his child the first person he meets on leaving the + shrine. Ion accepts the god's will but longs to know who is his mother. + Seeing an unwonted dejection in him Xuthus learns the reason. Ion is + afraid of the bar on his birth which will disqualify him from residence at + Athens, where absolute legitimacy was essential; his life at Delphi was in + sharp contrast, it was one of perfect content and eternal novelty. Xuthus + tells him he will take him to Athens merely as a sightseer; he is afraid + to anger his wife with his good fortune; in time he will win her consent + to Ion's succession to the throne. + </p> + <p> + Creusa enters with an old man who had been her father's Tutor. She learns + from the Chorus that she can never have a son, unlike her more lucky + husband who has just found one. The Tutor counsels revenge; though a + slave, he will work for her to the end. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Only one thing brings shame to a slave, his name. In all else he + is every whit the equal of a free man, if he is honest." +</pre> + <p> + The two decide to poison Ion when he offers libations. But the plot failed + owing to a singular chance. The birds in the temple tasted the wine and + one that touched Ion's cup died immediately. Creusa flees to the altar, + pursued by Ion who reviles her for her deed. At that moment the old + Prophetess appears with the vessel in which she first found Ion. Creusa + recognises it and accurately describes the child's clothing which she wove + with her own hands; mother and son are thus united. The play closes with + an appearance of Athena, who prophesies that Ion shall be the founder of + the great Ionian race, for Apollo's hand had protected him and Creusa + throughout. + </p> + <p> + The central problem of this piece is whether the gods govern the world + righteously or not. No more vital issue could be raised; if gods are + wicked they must fall below the standard of morality which men insist on + in their dealings with one another. Ion is the Greek Samuel; his naturally + reverent mind is disturbed at any suggestion of evil in a deity. His + boyish faith in Apollo is justified and Euripides seems to teach in + another form the lesson that "except we become as children, we cannot + enter the kingdom of Heaven." + </p> + <p> + The <i>Hercules Furens</i> belongs to Euripides' middle period. + Amphitryon, father of Heracles, and Megara, the hero's wife, are in Theban + territory waiting for news. They are in grave danger, for Lycus, a new + king, threatens to kill them with Heracles' children, as he had already + slain Megara's father. He has easy victims in Amphitryon, "naught but an + empty noise", and Megara, who is resigned to the inevitable. Faced with + this terror, Amphitryon exclaims:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "O Zeus, thou art a worse friend than I deemed. Though a mortal, + I exceed thee in worth, god though thou art, for I have never + abandoned my son's children. Thou canst not save thy friends; + either thou art ignorant or unjust in thy nature." +</pre> + <p> + As they are led out to slaughter, Amphitryon makes what he is sure is a + vain appeal to Heaven to send succour. At that moment the hero himself + appears. Seeing his family clad in mourning, he inquires the reason. At + first his intention is to attack Lycus openly, but Amphitryon bids him + wait within; he will tell Lycus that his victims are sitting as suppliants + on the hearth; when the King enters Heracles may slay him without trouble. + </p> + <p> + When vengeance has been taken Iris descends from heaven, sent by Hera to + stain Heracles with kindred bloodshed. She summons Madness who is + unwilling to afflict any man, much less a famous hero. Reluctantly + consenting she sets to work. A messenger rushes out telling the sequel. + Heracles slew two of his children and was barely prevented from destroying + his father by the intervention of Athena. He reappears in his right mind, + followed by Amphitryon who vainly tries to console him. Theseus who + accompanied Heracles to the lower world hurries in on hearing a vague + rumour. To him Heracles relates his life of never-ending sorrow. Conscious + of guilt and afraid of contaminating any who touch him, he at length + consents to go to Athens with Theseus for purification. He departs in + sorrow, bidding his father bury the slain children. + </p> + <p> + Like the <i>Hecuba</i>, this play consists of two very loosely connected + parts. The second is decidedly unconvincing. Madness has never been + treated in literature with more power than in Hamlet and Lear. Besides + Shakespeare's work, the description in the mouth of a messenger, though + vivid enough, is less effective, for "what is set before the eyes excites + us more than what is dropped into our ears" as Horace remarks. But the + point of the play is the seemingly undeserved suffering which is the lot + of a good character. This is the theme of many a Psalm in the Bible; its + answer is just this—"Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth." + </p> + <p> + In 415 Euripides told how Hecuba lost her last remaining child Cassandra. + The plot of the <i>Trojan Women</i> is outlined by Poseidon and Athena who + threaten the Greeks with their hatred for burning the temples of Troy. + After a long and powerful lament the captive women are told their fate by + the herald Talthybius. Cassandra is to be married to Agamemnon. She rushes + in prophesying wildly. On recovering calm speech she bids her mother crown + her with garlands of victory, for her bridal will bring Agamemnon to his + death, avenging her city and its folk. Triumphantly she passes to her + appointed work of ruin. + </p> + <p> + Andromache follows her, assigned to Neoptolemus. She sadly points out how + her faithfulness to Hector has brought her into slavery with a proud + master. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Is not Polyxena's fate agony less than mine? I have not that thing + which is left to all mortals, hope, nor may I flatter my mind heart + with any good to come, though it is sweet to even to dream of it." +</pre> + <p> + This despair is rendered more hopeless when she learns that the Greeks + have decided to throw her little son Astyanax from the walls. + </p> + <p> + Menelaus comes forward, gloating at the revenge he hopes to wreak on + Helen. On seeing him Hecuba first prays:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Thou who art earth's support and hast thy seat on earth, whoever + thou art, past finding out, Zeus, whether thou art a natural + Necessity or man's Intelligence, to thee I pray. Moving in a + noiseless path thou orderest all things human in righteousness." +</pre> + <p> + She continues:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "I praise thee, Menelaus, if thou wilt indeed slay thy wife, but + fly her sight, lest she snare thee with desire. She catcheth men's + eyes, sacketh cities, burneth homes, so potent are her charms. I + know her as thou dost and all who have suffered from her." +</pre> + <p> + Hecuba and Helen then argue about the responsibility for the war. The + latter in shameless impudence pleads that she has saved Greece from + invasion and that Love who came with Paris to Sparta was the cause of her + fault. Hecuba ridicules the idea that Hera and Artemis could desire any + prize of beauty. It was lust of Trojan gold that tempted Helen; never once + was she known to bewail her sin in Troy, rather she always tried to + attract men's eyes. Such a woman's death would be a crown of glory to + Greece. Menelaus says her fate will be decided in Argos. Talthybius brings + in the body of Astyanax, over which Hecuba bursts into a lament of + exceptional beauty and then passes out to slavery. + </p> + <p> + In this drama Euripides draws upon all his resources of pathos. It is a + succession of brilliantly conceived sorrows. Cassandra's exulting prophecy + of the revenge she is to bring is one of the great things in Euripides. In + this play we have a most vivid picture of the destructive effects of evil, + an inevitable consequence of which it is that the woman, however innocent + she may be, always pays. Hecuba drank the cup of bereavement to the very + last drop. + </p> + <p> + The <i>Electra</i>, acted about 418, is characteristic. Electra has been + compelled to marry a Mycenean labourer, a man of noble instincts who + respects the princess and treats her as such. Both enter the scene; the + man goes to labour for Electra, "for no lazy man by merely having God's + name on his lips can make a livelihood without toil". Orestes and Pylades + at first imagine Electra to be a servant; learning the truth they come + forward and question her. She tells the story of her mother's shame and + Aegisthus' insolence which Orestes promises to recount to her brother, + "for in ignorant men there is no spark of pity anywhere, only in the + learned." The labourer returns and by his speech moves Orestes to declare + that birth is no test of nobility. Electra sends him to fetch an old Tutor + of her father to make ready for her two guests; he departs remarking that + there is just enough food in the house for one day. + </p> + <p> + The old Tutor arrives in tears; he has found a lock of hair on Agamemnon's + tomb. Gazing intently on the two strangers, he recognises Orestes by a + scar on the eyebrow. They then proceed to plot the death of their enemies. + Orestes goes to meet Aegisthus is close by sacrificing, and presently + returns with the corpse, at which Electra hurls back the taunts and jeers + he had heaped on her in his lifetime. She had sent to her mother saying + she had given birth to a boy and asking her to come immediately. + </p> + <p> + Orestes quails before the coming murder, but Electra bids him be loyal to + his father. Clytemnestra on her arrival querulously defends her past, + alleging as her pretext not the death of Iphigeneia but the presence of a + rival, Cassandra. Electra after refuting her invites her inside the + wretched hut to offer sacrifice for her newly born child, where she is + slain by Orestes. At the end of the play the Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, + bid Pylades marry Electra, tell Orestes he will be purified in Athens and + prophesy that Menelaus and Helen, just arrived from Egypt, will bury + Agisthus real Helen never went to Troy, a wraith of her being sent there + with Paris. + </p> + <p> + The startling realism of this drama is apparent. The poverty of Electra, + the more certain identification of Orestes by a scar than by a lock of + hair, the mention of Cassandra as the real motive for the murder of + Agamemnon all indicate that Euripides was not content with the accepted + legend. His Clytemnestra is a feeble creation even by the side of that of + Sophocles. + </p> + <p> + Stesichorus in a famous poem tells how Helen blinded him for maligning + her; she never went to Troy; it was a wraith which accompanied Paris. Such + is the central idea of a very strange play, the <i>Helen</i>. The scene is + in Egypt. Teucer, banished by his father, meets the real Helen; to her + amazement he tells of her evil reputation and of the great war before + Troy, adding that Menelaus is sailing home with another Helen. The latter + enters, to learn that he is in Egypt, where the real Helen has lived for + the last seventeen years. Warned by a prophetess Theonoe that her husband + is not far off, Helen comes to be reunited to him. A messenger from the + coast announces that the wraith has faded into nothingness. + </p> + <p> + Helen then warns Menelaus of her difficult position. She is wooed by + Theoclymenus, king of the land, brother of Theonoe. Menelaus in despair + thinks of killing himself and Helen to escape the tyrant. Theonoe holds + their fate in her hands; Helen pleads with her; "It is shameful that thou + shouldest know things divine, and not righteousness." Menelaus declares + his intention of living and dying with his wife. The prophetess leaves + them to discover some means of escape which Helen devises. Pretending that + Menelaus is a messenger bringing news of her husband's death at sea, she + persuades the tyrant to provide a ship and rowers that Helen may perform + the last rites to the dead on the element where he died. At the right + moment the Greek sailors overpowered the rowers and sailed home with the + united pair. + </p> + <p> + Very commonly real drama suffers the fate which has overtaken it in this + piece; it declines into melodrama. Here are to be found all the stock + melodramatic features—a bold hero, a scheming beauty, a confidante, + a dupe, the murder of a ship's crew. Massinger piloted Elizabethan drama + to a similar end. Given an uncritical audience melodrama is the surest + means of filling the house. Reality matters little in such work; the facts + of life are like Helen's wraith, when they become unmanageable they vanish + into thin air. + </p> + <p> + About 412 the <i>Iphigeneia in Tauris</i> appeared. South Russia was the + seat of a cult of Artemis; the goddess spirited Iphigeneia to the place + when her father sacrificed her at Aulis. Orestes, bidden by Apollo to + steal an image of the goddess to get his final purification, comes on the + stage with Pylades; on seeing the temple they are convinced of the + impossibility of burgling it. A shepherd describes to Iphigeneia their + capture, for strangers were taken and offered to the goddess without + exception. One of the two was seized with a vision of the avenging + deities; attacked by a band of peasants both were overpowered after a + stubborn resistance. Formerly Iphigeneia had pitied the Greeks who landed + there; now, warned of Orestes' death by a dream, she determines to kill + without mercy. One of them shall die, the other taking back to Greece a + letter. Orestes insists on dying himself, reminding Pylades of his duty to + Electra. When the letter is brought Pylades swears to fulfil his word, but + asks what is to happen if the ship is wrecked. Iphigeneia reads the letter + to him; it is addressed to Orestes and tells of his sister's weary exile. + After the recognition is completed, Orestes relates the horrors of his + life and begs his sister to help him to steal the all-important image. + </p> + <p> + Thoas, the King of the land, learns from her that the two Greeks are + guilty of kindred murder; their presence has defiled the holy image which + needs purification in the sea as well as the criminals. The priestess + obtains permission to bind the captives and take the image to be cleansed + with private mystic rites. The plot succeeds; Orestes' ship puts in; after + a struggle the three board it, carrying the image with them. Thoas is + prevented from pursuit by an intervention of Athena. + </p> + <p> + Goethe used this play for his drama of the same name; he made Thoas the + lover of Iphigeneia, whom he represents as the real image whom Orestes is + to remove. Her departure is not compassed by a stratagem, but is permitted + by the King, a man of singular nobility and self-denial. + </p> + <p> + The <i>Phaenissae</i> has been much admired in all ages. Jocasta tells how + after the discovery of his identity Oedipus blinded himself but was shut + up by his two sons whom he cursed for their impiety. Eteocles then usurped + the rule while Polyneices called an Argive host to attack Thebes. A Choral + description of this army is succeeded by an unexpected entry into the city + of Polyneices who meets his mother and tells her of his life in exile. She + sends for Eteocles in the hope of reconciling her two sons. Polyneices + promises to disband his forces if he is restored to his rights, but + Eteocles, enamoured of power, refuses to surrender it. Jocasta vainly + points out to him the burden of rule, nor can she persuade Polyneices not + to attack his own land. + </p> + <p> + When the champions have taken up their position at the gates, Teiresias + tells Creon that Thebes can be saved by the sacrifice of his own son + Menoeceus. Creon refuses to comply and urges his son to escape. Pretending + to obey Menoeceus threw himself from the city walls. The struggle at the + gates is followed by a challenge to Polyneices issued by Eteocles to + settle the dispute in single combat. Jocasta and Antigone rush out to + intervene, too late. They find the two lying side by side at death's door. + Eteocles is past speech, but Polyneices bids farewell to his mother and + sister, pitying his brother "who turned friendship into enmity, yet still + was dear". In agony, Jocasta slays herself over her sons' bodies. + </p> + <p> + Led in by Antigone, Oedipus is banished by Creon, who forbids the burial + of Polyneices. After touching the dead Jocasta and his two sons, he passes + to exile and rest at Colonus. + </p> + <p> + The harsh story favoured by Sophocles has been greatly humanised by + Euripides, who could not accept all the savagery of the received legend. + Apart from the unexplained presence of Polyneices in the city, the plot is + excellent. The speeches are vigorous and natural, the characters + thoroughly human. The criticising and refining influence of Euripides is + manifest throughout, together with a simple and noble pathos. + </p> + <p> + An ancient critic says of the <i>Orestes</i>, written in 408, "the drama + is popular but of the lowest morality; except Pylades, all are villains". + Electra meets Helen, unexpectedly returned from Egypt to Argos with + Menelaus, who sends her daughter Hermione with offerings to the tomb of + Agamemnon. Electra's opinion of her is vividly expressed. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "See how she has tricked out her hair, preserving her beauty; she + is old Helen still. Heaven abhor thee, the bane of me and my + brother and Greece." +</pre> + <p> + The Chorus accidentally awakens Orestes who is visited by a wild vision of + haunting Furies. When he regains sanity he begs the assistance of + Menelaus, his last refuge. His uncle, a broken reed, is saved from + committing himself by the entry of Tyndareus, father of Clytemnestra and + Helen. He righteously rebukes the bloodthirsty Orestes, though he is aware + of the evil in his two daughters. Orestes breaks out into an insulting + speech which alienates completely his grandfather. Menelaus, when appealed + to again, hurries out to try to win him back. + </p> + <p> + Pylades suggests that he and Orestes should plead their case before the + Argive Assembly, which was to try them for murder of Clytemnestra. A very + brilliant and exciting account of the debate tells how the case was lost + by Orestes himself, who presumed to lecture the audience on the majesty of + the law he himself had broken. He and Electra are condemned to be stoned + that very day. Determined to ruin Menelaus before they die, they agree to + kill Helen, the cause of all their troubles, and to fire the fortified + house in which they live. Electra adds that they should also seize + Hermione and hold her as a check on Menelaus' fury for the death of Helen. + The girl is easily trapped as she rushes into the house hearing her + mother's cries for help. Soon after a Trojan menial drops from the first + story. He tells how Helen and Hermione have so far escaped death, but the + rest is unknown to him. In a ghastly scene Orestes hunts the wretch over + the stage, but finally lets him go as he is not a fit victim for a free + man's sword. Almost immediately the house is seen to be ablaze; Menelaus + rushes up in a frenzy, but is checked by the sight of Orestes with + Hermione in his arms. When Menelaus calls for help, Orestes bids Pylades + and Electra light more fires to consume them all. A timely appearance of + Apollo with Helen deified by his side saves the situation. + </p> + <p> + It is plain that Euripides has here completely rejected the old legend. He + never makes Orestes even think of pleading Apollo's command to him to slay + his mother. He is concerned with the defence which a contemporary + matricide might make before a modern Athenian assembly and with the + fitting doom of self-destruction which would overtake him. Like <i>Vanity + Fair</i>, the play shows us the life of people who try to do without God. + </p> + <p> + The <i>Bacchae</i> is one of Euripides' best plays. In the absence of + Pentheus the King, Cadmus and Teiresias join in the worship of the new god + Dionysus at Thebes. Pentheus returns to find that noble women, including + Agave, his own mother, have joined the strange cult brought to the place + by a mysterious Lydian stranger "whose hair is neatly arranged in curls, + his face like wine, his eyes as full of grace as Aphrodite's". + </p> + <p> + Teiresias advises him to welcome the god, Cadmus to pretend that he is + divine, even if he is only a mortal; this new religion is the natural + outlet of the desire for innocent revelry born in both sexes. The Lydian + is arrested and brought before Pentheus, whom he warns that the god will + save him from insult, but Pentheus hurries him away into a dungeon. + </p> + <p> + The Chorus of Bacchae are alarmed on hearing a tumult. The stranger + appears to tell how Pentheus was made mad by Dionysus in the act of + imprisoning him. The King in amazement sees his prisoner standing free + before him and becomes furiously angry on hearing that his mother has + joined a new revel on Mount Cithaeron. The stranger suggests that he + should go disguised as a Bacchante to see the new worship. When he appears + transformed, the Lydian comments with exquisite and deadly irony on his + appearance. His fate is vividly and terribly painted. Placing him in a + pine, the stranger suddenly disappeared, while the voice of Dionysus + summoned the rout to punish the spy. Rushing to the tree, the woman tore + it up by the roots and then rent Pentheus piecemeal, Agave herself leading + them on. + </p> + <p> + She comes in holding what she imagines to be a trophy. Cadmus slowly + reveals to her the horror of her deed, the proof of which is her son's + head in her grasp. Dionysus himself comes in to point out that this + tragedy is the result of the indignity which Thebes put upon him and his + mother Semele. Broken with grief, Agave passes out slowly to her + banishment. The Bacchae was composed in Macedonia; it contains all the + mystery of the supernatural. Dionysus' character is admirably drawn, while + the infatuation of Pentheus is a fitting prelude to his ruin. The cult of + Dionysus was essentially democratic, intended for those who could claim no + share in aristocratic ritual: hence its popularity and prevalence. We may + regard the Bacchae as the poet's declaration of faith in the worship which + gave Europe the Drama; it is altogether fitting that he who has left us + the greatest number of tragedies should have been chosen by destiny to + bequeath us the one drama which tells of one of the adventures of its + patron deity. + </p> + <p> + The <i>Iphigeneia in Aulis</i> was written in the last year of the poet's + life. Agamemnon sends a private letter to his wife countermanding an + official dispatch summoning her and Iphigeneia. This letter is intercepted + by Menelaus, who upbraids his brother; later, seeing his distress, he + advises him to send the women home again. But public opinion forces the + leader to obey Artemis and sacrifice his daughter. When he meets his wife + and child, he tries to temporise but fails. Achilles meets Clytemnestra + and is surprised to hear that he is to marry Iphigeneia, such being the + bait which brought Clytemnestra to Aulis. Learning the real truth, she + faces her husband, pleading for their daughter's life. Iphigeneia at first + shrinks from death; the army demands her sacrifice, while Achilles is + ready to defend her. The knot is untied by Iphigeneia herself, who + willingly at last consents to die to save her country. + </p> + <p> + This excellent play shows no falling in dramatic power; it was imitated by + Racine and Schiller. The figures are intensely human, the conflict of + duties firmly outlined, the pathos sincere and true, there is no divine + appearance to straighten out a tangled plot. Thus Euripides' career ends + as it began, with a story of a woman's noble self-sacrifice. + </p> + <p> + The poet's popularity is indicated by the number of his extant dramas and + fragments, both of which exceed in bulk the combined work of Aeschylus and + Sophocles. All classes of writers quoted him, philosophers, orators, + bishops. In his own lifetime Socrates made a point of witnessing his + plays; the very violence of Aristophanes' attack proves Euripides' potent + influence; his lost drama <i>Melanippe</i> turned the heads of the + Athenians, the whole town singing its odes. Survivors of the Sicilian + disaster won their freedom by singing his songs to their captors, + returning to thank their liberator in person; the fragments of Menander + discovered in 1906 contain many reminiscences of him, even slaves quoting + passages of him to their masters. For it was the very width of his appeal + that made him universally loved; women and slaves in his view were every + whit as good as free-born men, sometimes they were far nobler. If drama is + the voice of a democracy, the Athenians had found a more democratic + mouthpiece than they had bargained for. + </p> + <p> + With the educated men it was different. They suspected a poet who was + upsetting their tradition. Besides, they were asked to crown a person who + told them in play after play that they were really like Jason, Menelaus, + Polymestor, poor creatures if not quite odious. He made them see with + painful clearness that the better sex was the one which they despised, yet + which was sure one day to find the utterance to which it had a right in + virtue of its greater nobility. The feminism of Euripides is evident + through his whole career; it is an insult to our powers of reading to + imagine that he was a woman-hater. It is then not to be wondered at that + he won the prize only five times, and it can hardly be an accident that he + gained it once with the Hippolytus, which on a surface view condemns the + female sex. + </p> + <p> + For the officials could not see that Euripides was not a man only, he was + a spirit of development. Privilege and narrowness in every form he hated; + he demanded unlimited freedom for the intelligence. The narrow circle of + legends, the conventional unified drama, state religion, a + pseudo-democracy based on slavery he fearlessly criticised. Rationalism, + humanism, free speculation were his watchwords; he was always trying new + experiments in his art, introducing politics, philosophy, melodrama and + trying to get rid of the chorus wherever he could. He was a living and a + contemporary Proteus, pleading like an advocate in a lawsuit, discussing + political theory, restating unsolved problems in modern form and seasoning + his work with his own peculiar and often elevating pathos. Such a man was + anathema to conservative Athens. + </p> + <p> + But to us he is one of ourselves. He exactly hits off our modern taste, + with its somewhat sentimental tendency, its scepticism, love of + excitement, and its great complexity. We know we have many moods and + passions which strangely blend and thwart each other; these we treat in + our novels, and Euripides' plays are a sort of novel, but for the divine + appearances in the last scenes. He shows us the inevitable end of actions + of beings exactly like ourselves, acting from merely human motives, + neither higher nor lower than we, though perhaps disguised under heroic + names. He is in a word the first modern poet. + </p> + <h3> + TRANSLATIONS: + </h3> + <p> + A. S. Way, Loeb Series. This verse translation is the most successful; it + renders the choric odes with skill. + </p> + <p> + Professor Gilbert Murray has published verse translations of various + plays. He is an authority on the text. His volume on Euripides in the Home + University Library is admirable. + </p> + <p> + <i>Euripides the Rationalist</i> and <i>Four Plays of Euripides</i> by A. + W. Verrall are well known; the latter is particularly stimulating. The + views it expounds are original but not traditional. + </p> + <p> + See Symonds' <i>Greek Poets</i> as above. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + ARISTOPHANES + </h2> + <p> + At the end of the <i>Symposium</i> Plato represents Socrates as convincing + both Agathon, a tragedian, and Aristophanes that the writer of tragedy + will be able to write comedy also. That the two forms are not wholly + divorced is clear from the history of ancient drama itself: Each dramatist + competed with four plays, three tragedies and a Satyric drama. What this + last is can be plainly seen in the <i>Cyclops</i> of Euripides, which + relates in comic form the adventures of Odysseus and Silenus in the + monster's company. Further, the tendency of tragedy was inevitably towards + comedy. The extant work of Aeschylus and Sophocles is not without comic + touches; but the trend is clearer in Euripides who was an innovator in + this as in many other matters. Laughter and tears are neighbours; a happy + ending is not tragic; loosely connected scenes are the essence of Old + Comedy, and loosely written tragic dialogue (common in Euripides' later + work) closely resembles the language of comedy, which is practically prose + in verse form. The debt which later comedy owed to Euripides is great; + reminiscences of him abound; he is quoted directly and indirectly; his + stage tricks are adopted and his realistic characters are the very + population of the Comic stage. + </p> + <p> + The logically developed plot is the characteristic of serious drama. Old + Comedy, its antithesis, is often a succession of scenes in which the + connection is loose without being impossible. In it the unexpected is + common, for it is an escape from the conventions of ordinary life, a thing + of causes and effects. It might be more accurate to say that farce is a + better description of the work which is associated with the name of + Aristophanes. + </p> + <p> + This writer was born about 448, was a member of the best Athenian society + of the day, quickly took the first place as the writer of comedy and died + about 385. He saw the whole of the Peloponnesian war and has given us a + most vivid account of the passions it aroused and its effect on Athenian + life. He first won the prize in 425, when he produced the <i>Acharnians</i> + under an assumed name. Pericles had died in 429; the horrors of war were + beginning to make themselves felt; the Spartans were invading Attica, + cutting down the fruit-trees and compelling the country folk to stream + into the city. One of these, Dicaeopolis enters the stage. It is early + morning; he is surprised that there is no popular meeting on the appointed + day. He loathes the town and longs for his village; he had intended to + heckle the speakers if they discussed anything but peace. Ambassadors from + foreign nations are announced; seeing them he conceives the daring project + of making a separate peace with the Spartan for eight drachmae. His + servant returns with three peaces of five, ten and thirty years; he + chooses the last. + </p> + <p> + A chorus of angry Acharnians rush in to catch the traitor; they are + charcoal burners ruined by the invasion. Dicaeopolis seizes a charcoal + basket, threatening to destroy it if they touch him. Anxious to spare + their townsman, the basket, they consent to hear his defence, which he + offers to make with his neck on an executioner's block. He is afraid of + the noisy patriotism appealed to by mob-orators and of the lust for + condemning the accused which is the weakness of older men. Choosing from + Euripides' wardrobe the rags in which Telephus was arrayed to rouse the + audience to pity, he boldly ventures to plead the cause of the Spartans, + though he hates them for destroying his trees. He asserts that "Olympian + Pericles who thundered and lightened and confounded Greece" caused the war + by putting an embargo on the food of their neighbour Megara, his pretext + being a mere private quarrel. + </p> + <p> + The Chorus are divided; his opponents send for Lamachus, the swashbuckling + general; the latter is discomfited and Dicaeopolis immediately opens a + market with the Peloponnesians, Megarians and Boeotians, but not with + Lamachus. In an important choral ode the poet justifies his existence. By + his criticism he puts a stop to the foreign embassies which dupe the + Athenians; he checks flattery and folly; he never bribes nor hoodwinks + them, but exposes their harsh treatment of their subjects and their love + of condemning on groundless charges the older generation which had fought + at Marathon. + </p> + <p> + The play ends with a trading scene; a Boeotian in exchange for Copaic eels + takes an Athenian informer, an article unknown in Boeotia. Lamachus + returns wounded while Dicaeopolis departs in happy contrast to celebrate a + feast of rustic jollity. + </p> + <p> + Aristophanes' chief butts were Cleon, Socrates and Euripides; the last is + treated with good nature in this play. To modern readers the comedy is + important for two reasons; first, it attacks the strange belief that a + democracy must necessarily love peace; Aristophanes found it as full of + the lust for battle as any other form of government; all it needed was a + Lamachus to rattle a sword. Again, the unfailing source of war is plainly + indicated, trade rivalry. War will continue as long as there are markets + to capture and rivals to exclude from them. + </p> + <p> + In the next year, 424, Aristophanes produced the <i>Knights</i>, the most + violent political lampoon in literature. The victim was Cleon who had + succeeded Pericles as popular leader. He was at the height of his glory, + having captured the Spartan contingent at Pylos, prisoners who were of + great importance for diplomatic purposes. The comedy is a scathing + criticism of democracy; the subject is so controversial that it will be + best to give some extracts without comment. + </p> + <p> + Two servants of Demos (the People) steal the oracles of the Paphlagonian + (the babbler, Cleon) while he is asleep. To their joy they find that he + will govern Demos' house only until a more abominable than he shall + appear, namely a sausage-seller. That person immediately presenting + himself is informed of his high calling. At first he is amazed. "I know + nothing of refinement except letters, and them, bad as they are, badly." + The answer is: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Your only fault is that you know them badly; mob-leadership has + nothing to do with a man refined or of good character, rather with + an ignoramus and a vile fellow." +</pre> + <p> + To his objection that he cannot look after a democracy the reply is, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "it is easy enough; only go on doing what you are doing now. Mix + and chop up everything; always bring the mob over by sweetening it + with a few cook-shop terms. You have all the other qualifications, + a nasty voice, a low origin, familiarity with the street." +</pre> + <p> + The Paphlagonian Cleon runs in bawling that they are conspiring against + the democracy. They call loudly for the Knights, who enter as the Chorus + to assist them against Cleon, encouraging the sausage-seller to show the + brazen effrontery which is the mob-orator's sole protection, and to prove + that a decent upbringing is meaningless. Nothing loth, he redoubles + Cleon's vulgarity on his head. Cleon rushes out intending to inform the + Upper House of their treasons; the sausage-seller hurries after him, his + neck being well oiled with his own lard to make Cleon's slanders slip off. + A splendid ode is sung in the meantime; it contains a half-comic account + of Aristophanes' training in his art and a panegyric on the old spirit + which made Athens great. The sausage-seller returns to tell of Cleon's + utter defeat; he is quickly followed by Cleon, who appeals to Demos + himself, pointing out his own services. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "At the first, when I was a member of the Council, I got in vast + sums for the Treasury, partly by torture, partly by throttling, + partly by begging. I never studied any private person's interest + if I could only curry favour with you, to make you master of all + Greece." +</pre> + <p> + The sausage-seller refutes him. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Your object was to steal and take bribes from the cities, to blind + Demos to your villainies by the dust of war, and to make him gape + after you in need and necessity for war-pensions. If Demos can only + get into the country in peace and taste the barley-cakes again, he + will soon find out of what blessings you have rid him by your + briberies; he will come back as a dour farmer and will hunt up a + vote which will condemn you." +</pre> + <p> + Cleon, the new Themistocles, is deposed from his stewardship. + </p> + <p> + He appeals to some oracles of Bacis, but the sausage-seller has better + ones of Bacis' elder brother Glanis. The Chorus rebuke Demos, whom all men + fear as absolute, for being easily led, for listening to the newest comer + and for a perpetual banishment of his intelligence. In a second contest + for Demos' favours Cleon is finally beaten when it appears that he has + kept some dainties in his box while the sausage-seller has given his all. + An appeal to an oracle prophesying his supplanter—one who can steal, + commit perjury and face it out—so clearly applies to the + sausage-seller that Cleon retires. + </p> + <p> + After a brief absence Demos appears with his new friend—but it is a + different Demos, rid of his false evidence and jury system, the Demos of + fifty years before. He is ashamed of his recent history, of his preferring + doles to battleships. He promises a speedy reform, full pay to his + sailors, strict revision of the army service rolls, an embargo on Bills of + Parliament. To his joy he recovers the Thirty Years' peace which Cleon had + hidden away, and realises at last his longing to escape from the city into + the country. + </p> + <p> + This violent attack on Cleon was vigorously met; Aristophanes was + prosecuted and seems to have made a compromise. In his next comedy, the <i>Clouds</i> + (which was presented in 423) he changes his victim. Strepsiades, an old + Athenian, married a high-born wife of expensive tastes; their son + Pheidippides developed a liking for horses and soon brought his father to + the edge of ruin. The latter requests the son to save him by joining the + academy conducted by Socrates, where he can learn the worse argument which + enables its possessor to win his case. Aided by it he can rid his father + of debt. As the son flatly refuses, the old man decides to learn it + himself. Entering the school he sees maps and drawings of all kinds and + finally descries Socrates himself, far above his head in a basket, high + among the clouds, studying the sun. Strepsiades begs him to teach him the + Worse Argument at his own price. After initiating him, Socrates summons + his deities the Clouds, who enter as the Chorus. These are the guardian + deities of modern professors, seers, doctors, lazy long-haired long-nailed + fellows, musicians who cultivate trills and tremolos, transcendental + quacks who sing their praises. The old gods are dethroned, a vortex + governing the universe. The Chorus tells Socrates to take the old man and + teach him everything. + </p> + <p> + The ode which follows contains the poet's claim to be original. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "I never seek to dupe you by hashing up the same old theme two or + three times, but show my cleverness by introducing ever-new ideas, + none alike and all smart." +</pre> + <p> + Socrates returns with Strepsiades, whom he can teach nothing. The Chorus + suggest he should bring his son to learn from Socrates how to get rid of + debts. At first Pheidippides refuses but finally agrees, though he warns + his father that he will rue his act. The Just and Unjust arguments come + out of the academy to plead before the Chorus. The former draws a picture + of the old-fashioned times when a sturdy race of men was reared on + discipline, obedience and morality—a broad-chested vigorous type. In + utter contempt the latter brands such teaching as prehistoric. Pleasure, + self-indulgence, a lax code of morality and easy tolerance of little + weaknesses are the ideal. The power of his words is such that the Just + Argument deserts to him. + </p> + <p> + Strepsiades, coached by his son, easily circumvents two money-lenders and + retires to his house. He is soon chased out by his son, who when asked to + sing the old songs of Simonides and Aeschylus scorned the idea, humming + instead an immoral modern tune of Euripides' making. A quarrel inevitably + followed; Strepsiades was beaten by his son who easily proved that he had + a right to beat his mother also. Stung to the quick the old man burns the + academy; when Socrates and his pupils protest, he tells them they have but + a just reward for their godlessness. + </p> + <p> + The Socrates here pilloried is certainly not the Socrates of history; his + teaching was not immoral. But Aristophanes is drawing attention to the + evil effects produced by the Sophists, who to the ordinary man certainly + included Socrates. The importance of this play to us is clear. We are a + nation of half-trained intelligences. Our national schools are frankly + irreligious, our teachers people of weak credentials. Parental discipline + is openly flouted, pleasure is our modern cult. Jazz bands, long-haired + novelists and poets, misty philosophers, anti-national instructors are the + idols of many a pale-faced and stunted son of Britain. The reverence which + made us great is decadent and openly scoffed at. What is the remedy? + Aristophanes burnt out the pestilent teachers. We had better not copy him + till we are satisfied that the demand for them has ceased. A nation gets + the instruction for which it is morally fitted. There is but one hope; we + must follow the genuine Socratic method, which consisted of quiet + individual instruction. Only thus will we slowly and patiently seize this + modern spirit of unrest; our object should be not to suppress it—it + is too sturdy, but to direct its energies to a better and a more noble + end. + </p> + <p> + Finding that the <i>Clouds</i> had been too wholesome to be popular, + Aristophanes in 422 returned to attack Cleon in the <i>Wasps</i>. Early in + the morning Bdelycleon (Cleon-hater) with his two servants is preventing + his father Philocleon from leaving the house to go to the jury-courts. The + old man's amusing attempts to evade their vigilance are frustrated, + whereupon he calls for assistance. Very slowly a body of old men dressed + as wasps, led by boys carrying lanterns, finds its way to the house to act + as Chorus. They make many suggestions to the father to escape; just as he + is gnawing through the net over him his son rushes in. The wasps threaten + him with their formidable stings. After a furious conflict truce is + declared. Bdelycleon complains of the inveterate juryman's habit of + accusing everybody who opposes them of aiming at establishing a tyranny. + Father and son consent to state their case for the Chorus to decide + between them. + </p> + <p> + Philocleon glories in the absolute power he exercises over all classes; + his rule is equal to that of a king. To him the greatest men in Athens bow + as suppliants, begging acquittal. Some of these appeal to pity, others + tell him Aesop's fables, others try to make him laugh. Most of all, he + controls foreign policy through his privilege of trying statesmen who + fail. In return for his duties he receives his pay, goes home and is + petted by his wife and family. Bdelycleon opens thus: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "it is a hard task, calling for a clever wit and more than comic + genius to cure an ancient disease that has been breeding in the + city." +</pre> + <p> + After giving a rough estimate of the total revenue of Athens, he subtracts + from it the miserable sum of three obols which the jurymen receive as pay. + Where does the remainder go? It is evident that the jurymen are the mere + catspaw of the big unscrupulous politicians who get all the profit and + incur none of the odium. This argument convinces both the Chorus and + Philocleon, old heroes of Marathon who created the Empire. + </p> + <p> + The latter asks what he is to do. His son promises to look after him, + allowing him to gratify at home his itch for trying disputes. Two dogs are + brought in; by a trick the son makes his father acquit instead of condemn. + He then dresses him up decently and instructs him in the etiquette of a + dinner-party, whither they proceed. But the old man behaves himself + disgracefully, beating everyone in his cups. He appears with a flute-girl + and is summoned for assault by a vegetable-woman, whose goods he has + spoiled, and by a professional accuser. His insolence to his victims is + checked by his son who thrusts him into the house before more accusers can + appear. + </p> + <p> + It is sometimes believed that democracy is a less corrupt form of polity + than any other. Aristophanes in this play exposes one of its greatest + weaknesses. + </p> + <p> + Flattered by the sense of power which the possession of the vote brings + with it, the enfranchised classes cannot always see that they easily + become the tools of the clever rogues who get themselves elected to office + by playing on the fears of the electors. The Athenian voter was as easily + scared by the word "tyranny" as the modern elector is by "capital". The + result is the same. Not only do the so-called lower orders sink into an + ignorant slavery; they use their power so brainlessly and so mercilessly + that they are a perfect bugbear to the rest. + </p> + <p> + Literary men's prophecies rarely come true. In 421 the <i>Peace</i>, + produced in March, was followed almost immediately by a compact between + Athens and Sparta for fifty years. An old farmer, Trygaeus, sails up to + heaven on the back of a huge beetle, bidding his family farewell for three + days. He meets Hermes, who tells him that Zeus in disgust has surrendered + men to the war they love. War himself has hidden Peace in a deep pit, and + has made a great mortar in which he intends to grind civilisation to + powder. He looks for the Athenian pestle, Cleon, but cannot find him—the + Spartan pestle Brasidas has also been mislaid; both were lost in Thrace. + Before he can find another pestle Trygaeus summons all men to pull Peace + out of her prison. Hermes at first objects, but is won over by offers of + presents. At length the goddess is discovered with her two handmaids, + Harvest and Mayfair. + </p> + <p> + A change immediately comes over the faces of men. In pure joy they laugh + through their bruises. Hermes explains to the farmers who form the Chorus + why Peace left the earth. It was the trade rivalry which first drove her + away; at Athens the subject cities fomented strife with Sparta, then the + country population flocked to the city, where they fell easy victims to + the public war-mongers, who found it profitable to continue the struggle. + The god then offers to Trygaeus Harvest as a bride to make his vineyards + fruitful. In the ode which follows the poet claims that he first made + comedy dignified + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "with great thoughts and words and refined jests, not lampooning + individuals but attacking the Tanner war-god." +</pre> + <p> + Returning to earth Trygaeus sends Harvest to the Council, while the + marriage sacrifice is made ready. A soothsayer endeavours to impose on the + rustics with prophecies that the Peace will be a failure. Trygaeus refutes + him with a quotation from Homer. "Without kin or law or home is a man who + loveth harsh strife between peoples." The makers of agricultural + implements quickly sell all their stock, while the makers of helmets, + crests and breastplates find their market gone. A glad wedding song forms + the epilogue. + </p> + <p> + Aristophanes believed that the war meant an extinction of civilisation and + loathed it because it was useless. What would he have thought of the + barbarous and bloodthirsty Great War of our own day? The causes which + produced both struggles were identical—trade rivalry and a set of + jingoes who found that war paid. But he was mistaken in believing that + peace was the normal condition of Greek life. He was born just before the + great period began during which Pericles gave Greece a long respite from + quarrels, and seems to have been quite nonplussed by what to him was an + abnormal upheaval. His bright hopes soon faded and he seems to have given + up thinking about peace or war during a period of eight years. In the + meanwhile Athens had attacked Sicily; perhaps a change had come over + comedy itself owing to legal action. At any rate, the old and virulent + type of political abuse was becoming a thing of the past; the next play, + the <i>Birds</i>, produced in 414, abandons Athens altogether for a new + and charming world in which there was a rest from strife. + </p> + <p> + Two Athenians, Peithetairus (Persuasive) and Euelpides (Sanguine) reach + the home of the Hoopoe bird, once a mortal, to find a happier place than + their native city. Suddenly, as the bird describes the happy careless life + of his kind, Peithetairus conceives the idea of founding a new bird city + between earth and heaven. The Hoopoe summons his friends to hear their + opinion; as they come in he names them to the wondering Athenians. At + first the Birds threaten to attack the mortals, their natural enemies. + They listen, however, to Peithetairus' words of wisdom. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Nay, wise men learn much from their foes, for good counsel saves + everything. We cannot learn from a friend, but an enemy quickly + forces the truth upon us. For example, cities learn from their + enemies, not their friends, to create high walls and battleships, + and such are the salvation of children, home and substance." +</pre> + <p> + A truce is made. Peithetairus tells them the Birds once ruled the world + but have been deposed, becoming the prey of those who once worshipped + them. They should ring round the air, like Babylon, with mighty baked + bricks and send an ultimatum to the gods, demanding their lost kingdom and + forbidding a passage to earth; another messenger should descend to men to + require from them due sacrifices. The Birds agree; the two companions + retire to Hoopoe's house to eat the magic root which will turn them into + winged things. After a choral panegyric on the bird species Peithetairus + returns to name the new city Cloudcuckootown, whose erection is taken in + hand. Impostors make their appearance, a priest to sacrifice, a poet to + eulogise, an oracle-dealer to promise success, a mathematician to plan out + the buildings, an overseer and a seller of decrees to enact by-laws; all + are summarily ejected by Peithetairus. + </p> + <p> + News comes that the city is already completed. Suddenly Iris darts in, on + her way to earth to demand the accustomed sacrifices from men which the + new city has interrupted; she is sent back to heaven to warn the gods of + their coming overthrow. A herald from earth brings tidings that more than + a myriad human beings are on their way to settle in the city. A + parent-beater first appears, then a poet, then an informer—all being + firmly dealt with. Prometheus slips in under a parasol, to advise + Peithetairus to demand from Zeus his sceptre and with it the lady Royalty + as his bride. Poseidon, Heracles and an outlandish Triballian god after a + long discussion make terms with the new monarch, who goes with them to + fetch his bride. A triumphant wedding forms the conclusion. + </p> + <p> + The purpose of this comedy has been the subject of much discussion. As a + piece of literature it is exquisite. It lifts us out of a world of hard + unpleasant fact into a region where life is a care-free thing, bores or + impostors are banished and the reign of the usurper ends. The play is not + of or for any one particular period; it is really timeless, appealing to + the ineradicable desire we all have for an existence of joy and light, + where dreams always come true and hope ends only in fulfilment. It is + therefore one of man's deathless achievements; the power of its appeal is + evident from the frequency with which it has been revived—it was + staged at Cambridge this very year. Staged it will be as long as men are + what they are. + </p> + <p> + Having learned that men are a naturally combative race, lusting for blood, + the poet saw it was hopeless to bring them to terms. Nor could he for ever + live in Cloudcuckootowns; he therefore bethought him of another expedient + for obtaining peace. In 411 he imagines the women of Athens, Peloponnese + and Boeotia combining to force terms on the men by deserting their homes, + under the leadership of <i>Lysistrata</i>. She calls a council of war, + explaining her plot to capture the Acropolis. A Chorus of men rush in to + smoke them out, armed with firebrands, but are met by a Chorus of women + bearing pitchers to quench the flames. An officer of the Council comes to + argue with Lysistrata, who points out that in the first part of the war + (down to 421) the women had kept quiet, though aware of men's + incompetence; now they have determined to control matters. They are + possessed of the Treasury, their experience of household economy gives + them a good claim to organise State finance; they grow old in the absence + of their husbands; a man can marry a girl however old he is. A woman's + prime soon comes; if she misses it, she sits at home looking for omens of + a husband; women make the most valuable of all contributions to the State, + namely sons. The officer retires to report to the Council. + </p> + <p> + Lysistrata, seeing a weakness in the women's resolution, encourages them + with an oracle which promises victory if they will only persist. A herald + speedily arrives from Sparta announcing a similar defection in that city. + Ambassadors of both sides are brought to Lysistrata who makes a splendid + speech. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "I am a woman, but wit is in me and I have no small conceit of + myself. Having heard many speeches from my father and elder men + I am not ill-informed. Now that I have caught you I will administer + to you the rebuke you richly deserve. You sprinkle altars from the + same lustral-bowl, like relatives, at Olympia, Pylae, Delphi and + many other places. Though the barbarian enemy is on you in armed + force, you destroy Greek men and cities." +</pre> + <p> + She points out that both sides have been guilty of injustice; both should + make surrenders and agree to a peace which is duly ratified. The Chorus of + men believe that Athenian ambassadors should go to Sparta in their cups:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "As it is, whenever we go there sober, we immediately see what + mischief we can make. We never hear what they say; what they do + not say we conjecture and never bring back the same tale about + the same facts." +</pre> + <p> + Odes of thanksgiving wind up the piece. + </p> + <p> + Exactly twenty years earlier Euripides in the <i>Medea</i> had written the + first protest against women's subjection to an unfair social lot. By a + strange irony of fortune his most severe critic Aristophanes was the first + man in Europe to give utterance to their claim to a political equality. + True, he does so in a comedy, but he was speaking perhaps more seriously + than he would have us think. Women do contribute sons to the State; they + do believe that they are as capable as men of judging political questions—with + justice, in a system where no qualifications but twilight opinions are + necessary. On this ground they have won the franchise. Nor has the + feminist movement really begun as yet. We may see women in control of our + political Acropolis, forcing the world to make peace to save our chances + of becoming ultimately civilised. + </p> + <p> + The <i>Thesmophoriazousae</i>, staged in 411, is a lampoon on Euripides. + That poet with his kinsman Mnesilochus calls at the house of Agathon, a + brother tragedian whose style is amusingly parodied. Euripides informs him + that the women intend to hold a meeting to destroy him for libel; they are + celebrating the feast of the Thesmophoria. As Agathon refuses an + invitation to go disguised and defend Euripides, Mnesilochus undertakes + the dangerous duty; his disguise is effected on the stage with comic + gusto. At the meeting the case against the poet is first stated; he has + not only lampooned women, he has taught their husbands how to counter + their knaveries and is an atheist. Mnesilochus defends him; women are + capable of far more villainies than even Euripides has exposed. The + statement of these raises the suspicions of the ladies who soon unmask the + intruder, inquiring of him the secret ritual of the Thesmophoria. + </p> + <p> + One of them goes to the Town Council to find out what punishment they are + to inflict. + </p> + <p> + Mnesilochus meanwhile snatches a child from the arms of one of them, + holding it as a hostage. To his amazement it turns out to be a wine-stoup. + He vainly tries some of the dodges practised in Euripides' plays to bring + him to the rescue. The Chorus meantime expose the folly of calling women + evil. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "If we are a bane, why do you marry us? Why do you forbid us to + walk abroad or to be caught peeping out? Why use such pains to + preserve this evil thing? If we do peep out, everybody wants this + bane to be seen; if we draw back in modesty, every man is much + more anxious to see this pest peep out again. At any rate, no + woman comes into the city after stealing public money fifty + talents at a time." +</pre> + <p> + A better plan would be + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "to give the mothers of famous sons the right of place in festivals; + those whose sons are evil should take a lower place." +</pre> + <p> + In an amusing series of scenes Euripides enters dressed up as some of his + own characters to save Mnesilochus. A borough officer enters with a + policeman whom he orders to bind the prisoner and guard him. More + disguises are adopted by Euripides who succeeds at last in freeing his + kinsman by pretending to be an old woman with a marriageable daughter whom + the policeman can have at a price. When the latter goes to fetch the money + Euripides and his relative disappear. + </p> + <p> + The poet has in this play very skilfully palmed off on Euripides his own + attack on women. We have already seen what Euripides' attitude was to the + neglected sex. Feminine deceit has been a stock theme in all ages; it had + already been treated in Greek literature and was to be passed through + Roman literature to the Middle Ages, in which period it received more than + its due share of attention. In itself it is a poor theme, good enough + perhaps as a stand-by, for it is sure to be popular. Those who pose as + woman-haters might consider the words of the Chorus in this play. + </p> + <p> + The most violent attack on Euripides was delivered after his death by + Aristophanes in the <i>Frogs</i>, written in 405. This famous comedy is so + well-known that a brief outline will suffice. It falls into two parts. The + first describes the adventures of Dionysus who with his servant Xanthias + descends to the lower world to bring back Euripides. The god and his + servant exchange parts according as the persons they meet are friendly or + hostile. In the second part the three great tragedians are brought on the + scene. Euripides, who has just died, tries to claim sovereignty in Hades; + Sophocles, "gentle on earth and gentle in death" withdraws his claim, + leaving Aeschylus to the contest. The two rivals appoint Dionysus, the + patron of drama, to act as umpire. In a series of admirable criticisms the + weaknesses of both are plainly indicated. Finally Dionysus decides to take + back Aeschylus. + </p> + <p> + This play is as popular as the Birds. It contains one or two touches of + low comedy, but these are redeemed by the spirit of inexhaustible jollity + which sets the whole thing rocking with life and gaiety. It is an original + in Greek literature, being the first piece of definitely literary + criticism. A long experience had made the sense of the stage a second + nature to Aristophanes who here criticises two rival schools of poetry as + a dramatist possessed of inside professional knowledge. So far his work is + of the same class as Cicero's <i>De Oratore</i> and Reynolds' <i>Discourses</i>. + His object, however, was not to preserve a balance of impartiality but to + condemn Euripides as a traitor to the whole tradition of Attic tragedy. He + does so, but not without giving his reasons—and these are good and + true. No person is qualified to judge the development of Greek tragedy who + has not weighed long and carefully the second portion of the <i>Frogs</i>. + </p> + <p> + In 393 Aristophanes broke entirely new ground in the <i>Ecclesiazousae</i> + (women in Parliament), a discussion of social and economic problems. + Praxagora assembles the women of Athens to gain control of the city. They + meet early in the morning, disguise themselves with beards and open the + question. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The decisions of men in Parliament are to reflecting people like + the derangements of drunken men. I am disgusted with our policy, + we always employ unscrupulous leaders. If one of them is honest + for one day, he is a villain for ten. Doling out public money, men + have eyes only for what they can make out of the State. Let women + govern; they are the best at providing money and are not likely to + be deceived in office, for they are well versed in trickery." +</pre> + <p> + They proceed to the Assembly to execute their plot. + </p> + <p> + On the opening of the discussion one Euaeon proposed a scheme of wholesale + spoliation of the property owners to support the poor. Then a white-faced + citizen arose and proposed flatly that women should rule, that being the + one thing which had never yet been tried. The motion was carried with + great enthusiasm, the men declaring that "an old proverb says all our + senseless and foolish decisions turn out for good". When Praxagora returns + to the stage, she declares she intends to introduce a system of absolute + communism. All citizens are to live and dine in common and possess wives + in common, existing on the work of slaves. Any person who refuses to + declare his wealth is to be punished by losing his rations, "the + punishment of a man through his belly being the worst insult he can + suffer". A vivid description of the workings of the new system ends the + play. + </p> + <p> + Aristophanes is no doubt criticising Plato's <i>Republic</i>, but allowing + for altered circumstances we cannot go far wrong if we see here a picture + of the suggested remedy for the social distress which is inseparable from + a great war. At Athens, beaten and impoverished, there must have been + widespread discontent; the foundation upon which society was built must + have been criticised, its inequalities being emphasised by idealists and + intriguers alike. Our own generation has to face a similar situation. We + have seen women in Parliament and we are deluged by a flood of communistic + idealism emanating from Russia. Its one commendation is that it has never + yet been tried among us and many simple folk will applaud the philosophy + which persuades itself that all our mistakes will somehow come right in + the end. The problem of finding somebody to do the work was easily solved + in ancient Athens where the slaves were three times as numerous as the + free. England, possessing no slaves, would under communism be unable to + feed herself and would die of starvation. + </p> + <p> + The <i>Plutus</i>, written in 388 is a singular work. An honest old man + Chremylus enters with Carion "his most faithful and most thievish + servant". They are holding fast a blind old man, in obedience to an oracle + of Apollo. After a little questioning the stranger admits that he is + Plutus, the god of wealth. Wild with joy they invite him to their house. + He does not like houses, for they have never brought him to any good. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "If I enter a stingy man's abode, he immediately digs me deep in + the earth and denies he has ever seen me. If I enter a crazy + man's home, given to dicing and fast living, I am soon ejected + naked." +</pre> + <p> + Learning that Chremylus is honest and poor he consents to try once again. + </p> + <p> + The rumour gets abroad that Chremylus has suddenly grown rich; his + acquaintance reveal their true characters as they come to question him + about his luck. The goddess Poverty enters, to be cross-examined by + Chremylus who has suggested that Plutus should recover his sight under the + healing care of Asclepius. Before the care is effected, she points out the + dangers of his project. He is well-meaning, but foolish; Poverty is not + Mendicancy, it means a life of thrift, with nothing left over but with no + real want; it is the source of the existence of all the handicrafts, nor + can the slaves be counted on to do the work if everybody becomes rich, for + nobody will sell slaves if he has money already. Riches on the other hand + are the curse of many; wealth rots men, causing gout, dropsy and bloated + insolence; the gods themselves are poor, otherwise they would not need + human sacrifice. + </p> + <p> + The cure is successful; Plutus recovers his eyes and can see to whom he + gives his blessings; the good and the rascals alike receive their due + reward. The change which wealth produces in men's natures is most + admirably depicted in the Epilogue. + </p> + <p> + This is an Allegory dramatised with no little skill. The piece is full of + the shrewdest hits at our human failings, aimed, however, with no + ill-nature. Aristophanes' power of characterisation here shows no + falling-off. Fortune's fickleness is proverbial and has received frequent + literary treatment. Men's first prayer is for wealth; poverty, according + to Dr. Johnson, is evidently a great evil because it needs such a long + defence. Yet it is only the well-meaning but utterly unpractical idealists + who desire to make us all prosperous— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "How that may change our nature, that's the question." +</pre> + <p> + Some are not fit for riches, being ignorant of their true function; + self-indulgence and moral rottenness follow wealth; because of the abuse + of the power which wealth brings, we are taught that it is hard for the + rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. + </p> + <p> + It is difficult to convey an adequate impression of Aristophanes to the + English reader. Long excerpts are impossible and undesirable. Comedy is + essentially a mirror of contemporary life; it contains all kinds of + references to passing political events and transient forms of social life; + its turns of language are peculiar to its own age. We who are familiar + with Shakespeare know that one of our chief difficulties in reading him is + the constant reference to what was obvious to the Elizabethan public but + is dark to us. Yet the plays of Aristophanes in an English translation + such as that of Frere read far more like modern work than the comedies of + Ben Jonson, for the society in which Aristophanes moved was far more akin + to ours. It was democratic, was superficially educated, was troubled by + socialistic and communistic unrest exactly as we are. Some of our modern + thinkers would be surprised to find how many of their dreamings were + discussed twenty-three centuries ago by men quite as intelligent and + certainly as honest. + </p> + <p> + Aristophanes' greatest fault is excessive conservatism. He gives us a most + vivid description of the evils and abuses of his own time, yet has no + remedy except that of putting back the hands of the clock some fifty + years. Marathon, Aeschylus, the nascent democracy were his ideal and he + was evidently put out by the ending of the period of "Periclean calm." He + then has no solution for the problems in front of him. But it might be + asked whether a dramatist's business is not rather to leave solutions to + the thinker, concerning himself only with mirroring men's natures. With + singular courage and at no small personal risk this man attacked the great + ones of his day, scourging their hypocrisies and exposing the real + tendencies of their principles. If he has opened our eyes to the + objections to popular government and popular poetry and has made us aware + of the significance of the feminist movement, let us be thankful; we shall + be more on our guard and be less easily persuaded that problems are new or + that they are capable of a final solution. + </p> + <p> + On the other hand, we shall find in him qualities of a most original type. + His spirits are inexhaustible, he laughs heartily and often without malice + at the follies of the mass of men; Cleon and Euripides were anathema to + him, but the rest he treats as Fluellen did Pistol: "You beggarly knave, + God bless you". His lyrics must be classed with the best in Greek poetry. + Like Rabelais this rollicking jolly spirit disguises his wisdom under the + mask of folly, turning aside with some whimsical twist just when he is + beginning to be too serious. He will repay the most careful reading, for + his best things are constantly turning up when least expected. His + political satire ceasing with the death of Cleon, he turned to the land of + pure fancy among the winged careless things; he then raised the woman's + question, started literary criticism and ended with Allegory. To few has + such a noble cycle of work been vouchsafed; we owe him at least a debt of + remembrance, for he loved us as our brother. + </p> + <h3> + TRANSLATIONS: + </h3> + <p> + Frere (verse). This spirited version of five plays is justly famous. + Various plays have been rendered into verse by Rogers (Bell). The + translation is on the whole rather free. The volumes contain excellent + introductions and notes. + </p> + <p> + No prose translation of outstanding merit has appeared. + </p> + <p> + The Greek tragedians have not received their due from translators and + admirers. There is nothing in English drama inspired by Greece to compare + with the French imitations of Seneca, Plautus and Terence. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + HERODOTUS + </h2> + <p> + Greek historical literature follows the same course of development as + Greek poetry; it begins in epic form in Ionia and ends in dramatic type at + Athens. + </p> + <p> + Herodotus, "the father of History", was born at Halicarnassus in Asia + Minor about 484 B.C. He travelled widely over the East, Egypt, North + Africa and Greece. He was acquainted with the Sophoclean circle, joined + the Athenian colony at Thurii in South Italy and died there before the end + of the century. His subject was the defeat of the Persian attack on Greece + and falls into three main divisions. In the first three books he tells how + Persian power was consolidated: in the next three he shows how it flooded + Russia, Thrace and Greece, being stemmed at Marathon in 490; the last + three contain the story of its final shattering at Salamis and Plataea in + 480 and of the Greek recoil on Asia in 479. It is thus a "triple wave of + woes" familiar to Greek thought. His dialect is Ionic, which he adopted + because it was the language of narrative poetry and prose. + </p> + <p> + His introduction leads at once into Romance; he intends to preserve the + memory of the wonderful deeds of Greeks and Barbarians, the cause of their + quarrel being the abductions of women, Io, Europe, Medea, Helen. A more + recent aggressor was Croesus, King of Lydia, who attacked the Greek + seaboard. The earlier reigns of Lydian kings are recounted in a series of + striking narratives. Gyges was the owner of the famous magic ring which + made its possessor invisible. His policy of expansion was continued by his + son and grandson. But Croesus, his great-grandson, was the wealthiest of + all, extending his realm from as far as the Halys, the boundary of Cyrus' + Persian Empire. Solon's famous but fictitious warning to him to "wait till + the end comes before deciding whether he had been happy" left him unmoved. + Soon clouds began to gather. A pathetic misadventure robbed him of his + son; the growing power of Persia alarmed him and he applied to Delphi for + advice. The oracle informed him that if he crossed the Halys he would ruin + a mighty Empire and suggested alliance with the strongest state in Greece. + Finding that Athens was still torn by political struggles consequent upon + the romantic banishments and restorations of Peisistratus, he joined with + Sparta which had just overcome a powerful rival, Tegea in Arcadia. + </p> + <p> + Croesus crossed the Halys in 554. After fighting an indecisive battle he + retired to his capital Sardis. Cyrus unexpectedly pursued him. The Lydian + cavalry stampeded, the horses being terrified by the sight and odour of + the Persian camel corps. Croesus shut himself up in Sardis which he + thought impregnable. An excellent story tells how the Persians scaled the + most inaccessible part of the fortress. Croesus was put on a pyre and + there remembered the words of Solon. Cyrus, dreading a similar revolution + of fortune, tried in vain to save him from the burning faggots; the fire + was too fierce for his men to quench, but Apollo heard Croesus' prayer and + sent a rainstorm which saved him. Being reproached by the fallen monarch + who had poured treasure into his temple, Apollo replied that he had staved + off ruin for three full years, but could not prevail against Fate; + besides, Croesus should have asked whose Empire he was to destroy; at + least Apollo had delivered him from death. The Lydian portion ends with a + graphic description of laws, customs and monuments. + </p> + <p> + The rise of Persia is next described. Assyria, whose capital was Nineveh, + was destroyed by Cyaxares of Media, whose capital was Ecbatana. His son + Astyages in consequence of a dream married his daughter Mandané to a + Persian named Cambyses. A second dream made him resolve to destroy her + child Cyrus who, like Oedipus, was saved from exposure by a herdsman. + Later, on learning Cyrus' identity, Astyages punished Harpagus whom he had + bidden to remove the child. Harpagus sowed mutiny in the Median army, + giving the victory to the Persians in 558. Cyrus proceeded to attack the + Asiatic Greeks, of whom the Phocaeans left their home to found new states + in Corsica and Southern Gaul; the other cities surrendered. Babylon was + soon the only city in Asia not subject to Persia. Cyrus diverted the + course of the Euphrates and entered the town in 538. In an attack on + Tomyris, queen of a Scythian race, Cyrus was defeated and slain in 529. + </p> + <p> + His son Cambyses determined to invade Egypt, the eternal rival of the + Mesopotamian kings. Herodotus devotes his second book to a description of + the marvels of Egypt, through which he travelled as far as Elephantiné on + the border of Ethiopia. He opens with a plain proof that Egypt is not the + most ancient people, for some children were kept apart during their first + two years, nobody being allowed to speak with them. They were then heard + to say distinctly the word "bekos" which was Phrygian for "bread". This + evidence of Phrygian antiquity satisfied even the Egyptians. + </p> + <p> + In this second book there is hardly a single leading feature of Egyptian + civilisation which is not discussed. The Nile is the life of the land; + being anxious to solve the riddle of its annual rise, Herodotus dismisses + as unreasonable the theory that the water is produced by the melting snow, + for the earth becomes hotter as we proceed further south, and there cannot + be snow where there is intense heat. The sun is deflected from its course + in winter, which derangement causes the river to run shallow in that + season. The religious practice of the land are well described, including + the process of embalming; oracles, animals, medicine, writing, dress are + all treated. He notes that in Egyptian records the sun has twice risen in + the west and twice set in the east. + </p> + <p> + A long list of dynasties is relieved with many an excellent story, notably + the very famous account of how Rhampsonitis lost his treasures and failed + to find the robber until he offered him a free pardon; having found him he + said the Egyptians excelled all the world in wisdom, and the robber all + the Egyptians. The Pyramids are described; transmigration is discussed and + emphasis is laid upon the growing popularity of Greek mercenaries. The + book closes with the brilliant reign of Amasis, who made overtures to the + Greek oracles, allied himself with Samos and permitted the foundation of + an important Greek colony at Naucratis. + </p> + <p> + The third book opens with the invasion of Egypt by Cambyses in 525 on + account of an insult offered him by Amasis. A Greek mercenary named Phanes + gave the Persians information of the one means of attacking through the + desert. After a fierce battle at Pelusium Egypt was beaten; for years + afterwards skulls of both armies lay around, the Persian heads being + easily broken by a pebble, the Egyptian scarcely breakable by stones. In + victory Cambyses outraged Psammenitus, the defeated King; a fruitless + expedition against Ethiopia and the Ammonians followed. The Egyptians were + stirred by the arrival of their calf-god Apis; Cambyses mockingly wounded + him and was punished with madness, slaying his own kindred and committing + deeds of impiety. + </p> + <p> + At that time Egypt was leagued with the powerful island of Samos, ruled by + Polycrates, a tyrant of marvellous good fortune. Suspecting some coming + disaster to balance it, Amasis urged him to sacrifice his dearest + possession to avert the evil eye. Polycrates threw his ring into the sea; + it was retrieved by a fisherman. On hearing this, Amasis severed his + alliance. + </p> + <p> + In the absence of Cambyses two Magi brothers stirred up revolt in Susa, + one pretending to be Smerdis, the murdered brother of Cambyses. That + monarch wounded himself in the thigh as he mounted his horse. The wound + festered and caused speedy death. Meanwhile the false Smerdis held the + sovereignty. He was suspected by Otanes, a noble whose daughter Phaedymé + was married to him. At great personal risk she discovered that the King + was without ears, a manifest proof that he was a Magian. Otane thens + joined with six other conspirators to put the usurper down. Darius, son of + Hystaspes, warned them that their numbers were too large for secrecy, + advising immediate action. The two pretenders had meanwhile persuaded + Prexaspes, a confidant of Cambyses, to assure the Persians that Smerdis + really ruled. Prexaspes told the truth and then threw himself to death + from the city walls. This news forced the conspirators' hands; rushing + into the palace, they were luckily able to slay the usurpers. + </p> + <p> + The next question was, who should reign? Herodotus turned these Persians + into Greeks, making them discuss the comparative merits of monarchy, + oligarchy and democracy. They decided that their horses should choose the + next king; he whose steed should first neigh should rule. Darius had a + cunning groom named Oebares; that evening he took the horse and his mare + into the market-place; next morning on reaching the same spot the horse + did not fail to seat his master on the throne in 521. A review of the + Persian Empire follows, with a description of India and Arabia. + </p> + <p> + Polycrates did not long survive. He was the first Greek to conceive the + idea of a maritime empire. He was foully murdered by the Persian Oroetes, + who decoyed him to the mainland by an offer of treasure and then crucified + him. In the retinue of Polycrates was a physician, Democedes of Croton, + who was captured by Oroetes. His fame spread to Susa at a time when no + court doctor could treat Darius' sprained foot. Democedes was sent for and + effected the cure; later he healed the Queen Atossa of a boil. Instructed + by him she advised Darius to send a commission of fifteen Persians to spy + out the Greek mainland under Democedes' guidance. After an exciting series + of adventures the physician succeeded in returning to his native city. But + the idea of an invasion of Greece had settled on Darius' mind. First, + however, he took Samos, giving it to Syloson, Polycrates' brother who + years before in Egypt had made him a present of a scarlet cloak while he + was a mere guardsman. Darius consolidated his power in Asia by the capture + of the revolted province of Babylon through the self-sacrifice of Zopyrus, + son of one of the seven conspirators. The vivid story of his devotion is + one of the very greatest things in Herodotus. + </p> + <p> + Persia being thus mistress of all Asia, of Samos and the seaboard, began + to dream of subduing Greece itself. But first Darius determined to conquer + his non-Greek neighbours. The fourth book describes the attack which + Darius himself led against the Scythians in revenge for the twenty-eight + years' slavery they inflicted on the Medes. A description of Scythia is + relieved by an account of the circumnavigation of Africa by the + Phoenicians and the voyage of Scylax down the Indus and along the coast of + Africa to Egypt. + </p> + <p> + The war on the Scyths was dramatic and exciting, both sides acting in the + spirit of chivalry. Crossing the Bosporus, Darius advanced through Thrace + to the Danube which he spanned with a bridge. The Scyths adopted the + favourite Russian plan of retreating into the interior, destroying the + crops and hovering round the foe; they further led the Persians into the + territories of their own enemies. This process at last wearied Darius; he + sent a herald to challenge them to a straight contest or to become his + vassals. The reply came that if Darius wished a conflict he had better + outrage their ancestral tombs; as for slavery, they acknowledged only Zeus + as their master. But the threat of slavery did its work. A detachment was + sent to the Danube to induce the Ionian Greeks to strike for freedom by + breaking down the bridge they were guarding, thus cutting off Darius' + retreat. To the King himself a Scythian herald brought a present of a + bird, a mouse, a frog and five arrows, implying that unless his army + became one of the creatures it would perish by the arrows. The Scyths + adopted guerilla tactics, leaving the Persians no rest by night and + offering no battle by day. At last Darius began his retreat. One division + of the Scythian horsemen reached the bridge before their foes, again + asking the Ionians to destroy it. The Greeks pretended to consent, + breaking down the Scythian end of it. Darius at last came to the place; to + his dismay he found the bridge demolished. He bade an Egyptian Stentor + summon Histiaeus, the Greek commandant, who brought up the fleet and saved + the Persian host which retired into Asia. + </p> + <p> + In 509 a second expedition was dispatched against Barca, a colony of + Cyrene. The history of the latter is graphically described, the first king + being Battus, the Stammerer, who founded it in obedience to the directions + of Apollo. Cyrene was brought under Cambyses' sway by Arcesilaus who had + been banished. He misinterpreted an oracle and cruelly killed his enemies + in Barca. When he was assassinated in that town his mother Pheretima fled + from the metropolis Cyrene to Aryandes, the Persian governor in Egypt. + Backed by armed force she besieged Barca which resisted bravely for nine + months; at the end of that term an agreement was made that Barca should + pay tribute and remain unassailed as long as the ground remained firm on + which the treaty was made. But the Persians had undermined the spot, + covering planks of wood with a loose layer of earth. Breaking down the + planks they rushed in and took the town, Pheretima exacting a horrible + vengeance. Yet she herself died soon after, eaten of worms. "Thus," + remarks the historian, "do men, by too severe vengeances, draw upon their + own heads the divine wrath." + </p> + <p> + The fifth book begins the concentration on purely Greek history. Darius + had left Megabazus in command in Europe, retiring himself to Sardis. In + that city he was much struck by the appearance of a Paeonian woman and + ordered Megabazus to invade the country. He subdued it and Macedonia in + 506-4, but in the process some of his commanders were punished for an + insult to Macedonian women, revenge being taken by Alexander, son of King + Amyntas; a bride shut the lips of a party sent to discover their fate. In + Thrace, Megabazus began to suspect Histiaeus, the Ionian who had saved + Darius and in return had been given a strong town, Myrcinus on the River + Strymon. The King by a trick drew Histiaeus to Sardis and took him to the + Capital, leaving his brother Artaphernes as governor in Sardis. But + Histiaeus had been succeeded in Miletus by his nephew Aristagoras; to him + in 502 came certain nobles from Naxos, one of the Cyclades isles, begging + restoration from banishment. He decided to apply to Artaphernes for + Persian help; this the viceroy willingly gave as it would further the + Persian progress to the objective, the Greek mainland, across the Aegean + in a direct line. The Persian admiral Megabates soon quarrelled with + Aristagoras about the command and informed the Naxians of the coming + attack. The expedition thus failed. Aristagoras, afraid to face Artaphemes + whose treasure he had wasted, decided on raising a revolt of the whole of + Ionia; at that very moment a slave came to him from his uncle in Susa with + a message tattooed on his head, bidding him rebel. + </p> + <p> + Aristagoras first applied to Sparta for aid. When arguments failed, he + tried to bribe the king Cleomenes. In the room was the King's little + daughter Gorgo. Hearing Aristagoras gradually raise his offer from ten to + fifty talents, the child said, "Father, depart, or the stranger will + corrupt thee". Aristagoras received a better welcome at Athens. That city + in 510 had expelled Hippias, the tyrant son of Peisistratus, who appealed + to Artaphernes for aid. Hearing this, the Athenians sent an embassy asking + the satrap not to assist the exile, but the answer was that if they wished + to survive, they must receive their ruler back. Aristagoras therefore + found the Athenians in a fit frame of mind to listen. They lent him a + fleet of twenty sail and marched with him to Sardis which they captured + and burned in 501. The revolt speedily spread over all the Asiatic + sea-coast. On hearing of the Athenians for the first time, Darius directed + a slave to say to him thrice a day, "Sire, remember the Athenians". He + summoned Histiaeus and accused him of complicity in the revolt, but + Histiaeus assured him of his loyalty and obtained permission to go to the + coast. Meanwhile the Persians took strong action against the rebels, + subduing many towns and districts. The book ends with the flight of + Aristagoras to Myrcinus and his death in battle against the Thracians in + 496. + </p> + <p> + The next book opens with the famous accusation of Histiaeus by + Artaphernes: "Thou hast stitched this boot and Aristagoras hath put it + on." Histiaeus in fear fled to his own city Miletus; being disowned there, + he for a time maintained a life of privateering, but was eventually + captured and crucified by Artaphernes. The Ionian revolt had been narrowed + down to Miletus and one or two less important towns. The Greeks assembled + a fleet, but a spirit of insubordination manifesting itself they were + defeated at sea in the battle of Lade in 495. Next year Miletus fell but + was treated with mercy. At Athens the news caused the greatest + consternation; a dramatic poet named Phrynichus ventured to stage the + disaster; the people wept and fined him a thousand talents, forbidding any + similar presentation in future. Stamping out the last embers of revolt in + Asia the Persians coasted along Thrace; before their advance the great + Athenian Miltiades was compelled to fly from the Dardanelles to his native + city. In 492 Mardonius was appointed viceroy of Asia Minor. He reorganised + the provincial system and then attempted to double the perilous promontory + of Athos, but only a remnant of his forces returned to Asia. + </p> + <p> + Next year Darius sent to all the Greek cities demanding earth and water, + the tokens of submission. The islanders obeyed including Aegina, the + deadly foe of Athens. A protest made by the latter led to a war between + the two states in which Athens was worsted. Sparta itself had just been + torn by an internal dissension between two claimants of the throne, one of + whom named Demaratus had been ejected and later fled to the Persian court. + The great expedition of 490 sailed straight across the Aegean, commanded + by Datis and Artaphernes. Their primary objective was Eretria in Euboea, a + city which had assisted the Ionians in their revolt. The town was speedily + betrayed, the inhabitants being carried aboard the Persian fleet. Guided + by Hippias the armament landed at the bay of Marathon, twenty-five miles + from Athens. A vain appeal was sent to Sparta for succours; Athens, + supported by the little Boeotian city of Plataea, was left to cope with + the might of Persia. + </p> + <p> + It was fortunate that the Athenians could command the services of + Miltiades who had already had some experience of the Persian methods of + attack. The details of the great battle that followed depend upon the sole + authority of Herodotus among the Greek writers. Many difficulties are + caused by his narrative, but it seems certain that Miltiades was in + command on the day on which the battle was actually fought. He apparently + clung to the hills overlooking the plain and bay of Marathon until the + Persian cavalry were unable to act. Seizing the opportunity, he led his + men down swiftly to the combat; his centre which had been purposely + weakened was thrust back but the two wings speedily proved victorious, + then converged to assist the centre, finally driving the foe to the sea + where a desperate conflict took place. The Persians succeeded in embarking + and promptly sailed round the coast to Athens, but seeing the victors in + arms before the town they sailed back to Asia. The Spartan reinforcements + which arrived too late for the battle viewed the Persian dead and returned + after praising the Athenians. + </p> + <p> + A slight digression tells the amusing story how the Athenian Hippocleides + in his cups lost the hand of the princess of Sicyon because he danced on + his head and waved his legs about, shouting that he didn't care. The great + victor Miltiades did not long survive his glory. His attempt to reduce the + island of Paros, which had sided with Persia, completely failed. Returning + to Athens he was condemned and fined, shortly after dying of a mortified + thigh. + </p> + <p> + In the third portion Herodotus gradually rises to his greatest height of + descriptive power. Darius resolved on a larger expedition to reduce + Greece. He made preparations for three years, then a revolt in Egypt + delayed his plans and his career was cut short by death in 485. His + successor Xerxes was disinclined to invade Europe, but was overborne by + Mardonius his cousin. A canal was dug across the peninsula of Athos, a + bridge was built over the Hellespont, and provisions were collected. A + detailed account of the component forces is given, special mention being + made of Artemisia, Queen of Herodotus' own city, who was to win great + glory in the campaign. The army marched over the Hellespont and along the + coast, the fleet supporting it; advancing through Thessaly, it reached the + pass of Thermopylae, opposite Euboea, in 480. + </p> + <p> + On the Greek side was division; the Spartans imagined that their duty was + to save the Peloponnese only; they were eager to build a wall across the + isthmus of Corinth, leaving the rest of Greece to its fate. But Athens had + produced another genius named Themistocles. Shortly before the invasion + the silver mines at Laureium in Attica had yielded a surplus; he persuaded + the city to use it for building a fleet of two hundred sail to be directed + against Aegina. When the Athenians got an oracle from Delphi which stated + that they would lose their land but be saved by their wooden walls, he + interpreted the oracle as referring to the fleet. Under his management the + city built more ships. The Council of Greece held at the Isthmus of + Corinth decided that an army should defend Thermopylae while the fleet + supported it close by at Artemisium. The Persian fleet had been badly + battered in a storm as it sailed along the coast of Magnesia, nearly four + hundred sail foundering; the remainder reached safe anchorage in the + Malian gulf, further progress being impossible till the Greek navy was + beaten or retired. + </p> + <p> + At Thermopylae the advance-guard was composed of Spartans led by Leonidas + who determined to defend the narrow pass. A Persian spy brought the news + to Xerxes that this small body of warriors were combing their hair. The + King sent for Demaratus, the ex-Spartan monarch, who assured him that this + was proof that the Spartans intended to fight to the death. After a delay + of four days the fight began. The Spartans routed all their opponents + including the famous Immortals, the Persian bodyguard. At length a traitor + Ephialtes told Xerxes of a path across the mountains by which Leonidas + could be taken in the rear. Learning from deserters and fugitives that he + had been betrayed, Leonidas dismissed the main body, himself advancing + into the open. After winning immortal glory he and his men were destroyed + and the way to Greece lay open to the invader. + </p> + <p> + In three naval engagements off Artemisium the Greek fleet showed its + superiority; a detachment of two hundred sail had been sent round the + island of Euboea to block up the exit of the channel through which the + Greek navy had to retreat, but a storm totally destroyed this force. When + the army retreated from Thermopylae the Greek ships were obliged to retire + to the Isthmus; in spite of much opposition the Athenians compelled + Eurybiades the Spartan admiral to take up his station at Salamis, whither + the Persian navy followed. Their army had advanced through Boeotia, + attacking Delphi on the way. The story was told how Apollo himself + defended his shrine, hurling down rocks on the invaders and sending + supernatural figures to discomfit them. Entering Attica the barbarian host + captured a deserted Athens, Xerxes sending the glad news to his subjects + in the Persian capital. + </p> + <p> + The Greeks were with difficulty persuaded not to abandon the sea + altogether. Themistocles was bitterly opposed in his naval policy by + Adeimantus, the Corinthian; it was only by threatening to leave Greece + with their fleet that the Athenians were able to bring the allies to + reason. By a stroke of cunning Themistocles forced their hands; a + messenger went to Xerxes with news of the Greek intention to retreat; on + hearing this the Persians during the night blocked up the passages round + Salamis and landed some of their best troops on a little island called + Psyttaleia. The news of this encircling movement was brought to the allies + by Aristides, a celebrated Athenian who was in exile, and was confirmed by + a Tenian ship which deserted from the Persians. Next morning the Greeks + sailed down the strait to escape the blockade and soon the famous battle + began. Among the brave deeds singled out for special mention none was + bolder than that of Artemisia who sank a friend to escape capture. The + remainder of the Persian captains had no chance of resisting, being + huddled up in a narrow channel. Seeing Artemisia's courage Xerxes remarked + that his men had become women, his women men. The rout of the invaders was + quickly completed, the chief glory being won by Aegina and Athens; the + victory was consummated by the slaughter of the troops on Psyttaleia. The + Persian monarch sent tidings of this defeat to his capital and in terror + of a revolt in Ionia decided to retreat, leaving Mardonius in command of + picked troops. He hurriedly passed along the way he had come, almost + disappearing from Herodotus' story. + </p> + <p> + Mardonius accompanied him to Thessaly and Macedonia; he sent Alexander, + King of the latter country, as an envoy to Athens, offering to rebuild the + temples and restore all property in exchange for an alliance. Hearing the + news the Spartans in fear for themselves sent a counter-embassy. The + Athenian reply is one of the great things in historical literature. "It + was a base surmise in men like the Spartans who know our mettle. Not all + the gold in the world would tempt us to enslave our own countrymen. We + have a common brotherhood with all Greeks, a common language, common + altars and sacrifices, common nationality; it would be unseemly to betray + these. We thank you for your offer to support our ruined families, but we + will bear our calamities as we may and will not burden you. Lead out your + troops; face the enemy in Boeotia and there give him battle." + </p> + <p> + The last book relates the consequences of the Athenian reply to Alexander. + Mardonius advanced rapidly to Athens, which he captured a second time. The + Spartans were busy keeping the feast of Hyacinthia; only an Athenian + threat to come to terms with the foe prevailed on them to move. Mardonius + soon evacuated Attica, the ground being too stony for cavalry, and + encamped near Plataea. The Greeks followed, taking the high ground on + Mount Cithaeron. A brave exploit of the Athenian infantry in defeating + cavalry heartened the whole army. After eleven days' inaction, Mardonius + determined to attack, news of his plan being brought secretly at night to + the Athenians by Alexander. The Spartans, afraid of facing the Persians, + exchanged places with the Athenians; when this movement was discovered by + Mardonius, he sent a challenge to the Spartans to decide the battle by a + single conflict between them and his Persian division. Receiving no reply, + he let his cavalry loose on the Greeks who began to retire to a place + called the Island, where horse could not operate. This action took place + during the night. When morning broke the battle began. The Persian wicker + shields could not resist their enemies' weapons; the host fled and after + Mardonius fell was slaughtered in heaps. The Greek took vengeance on the + Thebans who had acted with the Persians, of whom a mere remnant reached + Asia under the command of Artabazus. + </p> + <p> + The victorious Greek fleet had advanced as far as Delos, commanded by + Leotychides, a Spartan of royal blood. To them came an embassy from Samos, + urging an attack on the Persians encamped on Mycale. It is said that the + battle was fought on the same day as that of Plataea and that a divine + rumour ran through the Greek army that their brothers had gained the day. + In the action at Mycale the Athenians took the palm of valour, bursting + the enemy's line and storming his entrenchments. This victory freed Ionia; + it remained only to open the Dardanelles. The Spartans returned home, but + the Athenians crossed from Abydos in Asia to Sestos, the strongest + fortress in the district. The place was starved into surrender; with its + capture ends the story of Persia's attempt to destroy European + civilisation. + </p> + <p> + In this great Epic nothing is more obvious than the terror the Greeks felt + when they first faced the Persians. The numbers arrayed against them were + overwhelming, their despondency was justifiable. It required no little + courage from a historian to tell the awkward truth—that Herodotus + did tell it is no small testimony to his veracity. Yet only a little + experience was needed to convince the Greeks that they were superior on + both land and sea. Once the lesson was learned, they never forgot it. + Mycale is the proof that they remembered it well. This same consciousness + of superiority animated two other Greek armies, one deserted in the middle + of Asia Minor, yet led unmolested by Xenophon through a hostile country to + the shores of the Black Sea—the other commanded by Alexander the + Great who planted Greek civilisation over every part of his conquests, + from the coast to the very gates of Persia itself. + </p> + <p> + Modern history seems to have lost all powers of interesting its readers. + It is as dull as political economy; it suspects a stylist, questions the + accuracy of its authorities, tends to minimise personal influence on + events, specialises on a narrow period, emphasises constitutional + development, insists on the "economic interpretation" of an age and at + times seems quite unable to manage with skill the vast stores of knowledge + on which it draws. To it Herodotus is often a butt for ridicule; his + credulity, inability to distinguish true causes, belief in divine + influences, love of anecdote and chronological vagueness are serious + blemishes. But to us Herodotus is literature; we believe that he himself + laughs slyly at some of the anecdotes he has rendered more piquant by a + pretended credulity; this quick-witted Greek would find it paid him to + assume innocence in order to get his informers (like his critics) to go on + talking. Like Froissart, Joinville, de Comines and perhaps even like + Macaulay he wishes to write what will charm as well as what will instruct. + </p> + <p> + Yet as a historian Herodotus is great; he sifts evidence, some of which he + mentions only to reject it; the substantial accuracy of his statements has + been borne out by inscriptions; in fact, his value to-day is greater than + it was last century. If a man's literary bulk is measured by the greatness + of his subject, Herodotus cannot be a mean writer. His theme is nothing + less than the history of civilisation itself as far as he could record it; + his broad sweep of narrative may be taken to represent the wide + speculation of a philosophic historian as opposed to the narrower and more + intense examination of a short period which is characteristic of the + scientific historian. He tells us of the first actual armed conflict + between East and West, the never-ending eternally romantic story. As + Persia fought Greece, so Rome subdued Carthage, Crusader attacked Saladin, + Turkey submerged half Europe, Russia contended with Japan. The atmosphere + of Herodotus is the unchanging East of the Bible, inscrutable Egypt, + prehistoric Russia, barbarous Thrace, as well as civilised Greece, Africa, + India; had he never written, much information would have been + irretrievably lost, for example, the account of one of the "Fifteen + decisive battles" in history. Let him be judged not as a candidate for + some Chair of Ancient History in some modern University, but as the + greatest writer of the greatest prose-epic in the greatest literature of + antiquity. + </p> + <p> + Of his inimitable short stories it is difficult to speak with measured + praise; it is dangerous to quote them, they are so perfect that a word + added or omitted might spoil them. His so-called digressions have always + some cogent reason in them; they are his means of including in the + panorama a scene essential to its completeness. The narrow type of history + writing has been tried for some centuries; all that it seems able to + accomplish is to go on narrowing itself until it cannot enjoy for + recording or remembering. It is a refreshing experience to move in the + broad open regions of history in which Herodotus trod. If it is impossible + to combine accurate research with the ecstasy of pure literature, be it + so. Herodotus will be read with joy and laughter and sometimes with tears + when some of our modern historians have been superseded by persons even + duller than themselves. + </p> + <h3> + TRANSLATIONS: + </h3> + <p> + Rawlinson's edition with a version contains essays of the greatest value. + It has been the standard for two generations and is not likely to be + superseded. + </p> + <p> + The Loeb Series contains a version by A. D. Godley. + </p> + <p> + The great annotated edition of the text by R. W. Macan (Oxford) is the + result of a lifetime's work. It contains everything necessary to confirm + the claims of the historian. + </p> + <p> + <i>The Great Persian War,</i> by Grundy (London), is valuable. + </p> + <p> + See Bury, <i>Ancient Greek Historians</i> (Macmillan). + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THUCYDIDES + </h2> + <p> + History, like an individual's life, is a succession of well-defined + periods. Herodotus took as his subject a long cycle of events; the shorter + period was first treated by Thucydides who introduced methods which + entitle him to be regarded as the first modern historian. Born in Attica + in 471 he was a victim of the great plague, was exiled for his failure to + check Brasidas at Eion in 424 and spent the rest of his life in collecting + materials for his great work. His death took place about 402. + </p> + <p> + His preface is remarkable as outlining his creed. First he states his + subject, the Peloponnesian war of 431-404; he then tests by an appeal to + reason the statements in old legends and in Homer, arguing from analogy or + from historical survivals in his own time to prove that various important + movements were caused or checked by economic influence. He uses his + imagination to prove that the importance of an event cannot be decided + from the extant remains of its place of origin, for if only the ruins of + both Sparta and Athens were left, Sparta would be thought to be + insignificant and Athens would appear twice as powerful as she really is. + Poetical exaggeration is easy and misleading, and ancient history is + difficult to determine by absolute proofs. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Men accept statements about their own national past from one + another without testing them." + + "To most men the search for truth implies no effort; they prefer to + turn to the first accounts available." + + "It was difficult for me to write an exact narrative of the speeches + actually made; I have therefore given the words that might have been + expected of each speaker, adhering to the broad meaning of what was + really uttered. The facts I have not taken from any chance person, + nor have I given my own impressions, but have as accurately as + possible written a detailed account of what I witnessed myself or + heard from others. The discovery of these facts was laborious owing + to conflicting statements and confused memories and party favour. + Perhaps the unromantic nature of my record will make it uninteresting; + but if any person will judge it useful because he desires to consider + a clear account of actual facts and of what is likely to recur at some + future time, I shall be content. As a compilation it is rather an + eternal possession than a prize-essay for a moment." +</pre> + <p> + The essentially modern idea of history writing is here perfectly evident. + </p> + <p> + Having pointed out the significance of the war, not only to Greece but to + the whole of the world, he gives its causes. To him the real root of the + trouble was Sparta's fear of Athenian power: the alleged pretexts were + different. The rise of Athens is rapidly described, her building of the + walls broken down by the Persians, her control of the island-states in a + Delian league which eventually became the nucleus of her Empire, her + alliance with Megara, a buffer-state between herself and Corinth. This + last saved her from fears of a land invasion; when she built for Megara + long walls to the sea she incurred the intense anger of Corinth which + smouldered for years and at last caused the Peloponnesian conflagration. + The reduction of Aegina in 451 compensated for the loss of Boeotia and + Egypt. Eventually the Thirty Years' Peace was concluded in 445; Athens + gave up Megara, but retained Euboea; her definite policy for the future + was concentration on a maritime empire; she controlled nearly all the + islands of the Aegean and was mistress of the Saronic gulf, Aegina, "the + eyesore of the Peiraeus", having fallen. + </p> + <p> + But if she was to confine her energies to the sea, it was essential that + she should be mistress of all the trade-routes which in ancient history + usually ran along the coast. On both east and west she found Corinth in + possession; a couple of quarrels with this city ruptured the peace. In the + west, Corinth had founded Corcyra (Corfu); this daughter colony quarrelled + with her mother and prevailed. In itself Corcyra was of little importance + in purely Greek politics, but it happened to possess a large navy and + commanded the trade-route to Sicily, whence came the corn supply. When + threatened with vengeance by Corinth, she appealed to Athens, where + ambassadors from Corinth also appeared. Their arguments are stated in the + speeches which are so characteristic of Thucydides. The Athenians after + careful consideration decided to conclude a defensive alliance with + Corcyra, for they dreaded the acquisition of her navy by Corinth. But + circumstances turned this into an offensive alliance, for Corinth attacked + and would have won a complete victory at sea but for timely Athenian + succour. In the east Athens was even more vitally concerned in trade with + the Hellespont, through which her own corn passed. On this route was the + powerful Corinthian city Potidaea, situate on the western prong of + Chalcidice. It had joined the Athenian confederacy but had secured + independence by building strong walls. When the Athenians demanded their + destruction and hostages as a guarantee, the town revolted and appealed to + the mother-city Corinth. A long and costly siege drained Athens of much + revenue and distracted her attention; but worst of all was the final + estrangement of the great trade rival whom she had thwarted in Greece + itself by occupying Megara, in the west by joining Corcyra, and in the + east by attacking Potidsea. + </p> + <p> + The final and open pretext for war was the exclusion of Megara from all + Athenian markets; this step meant the extinction of the town as a + trading-centre and was a definite set-back to the economic development of + the Peloponnese, of which Corinth and Megara were the natural avenues to + northern Greece. The cup was full; Athenian ambition had run its course. + The aggrieved states of the Peloponnese were invited to put their case at + Sparta; Corinth drew a famous picture of the Athenian character, its + restlessness, energy, adaptability and inventiveness. "In the face of such + a rival," they added, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Sparta hesitates; in comparison Spartan methods are antiquated, + but modern principles cannot help prevailing; in a stagnant state + conservative institutions are the best, but when men are faced with + various difficulties great ingenuity is essential; for that reason + Athens through her wide experience has made more innovations." +</pre> + <p> + An Athenian reply failed to convince the allies of her innocence; one of + the Spartan Ephors forced the congress to declare that Athens had violated + the peace. A second assembly was summoned, at which the Corinthians in an + estimate of the Athenian power gave reasons for believing it would + eventually be reduced. They further appealed to what has never yet failed + to decide in favour of war—race antagonism; the Athenians and her + subjects were Ionians, whereas the Peloponnesians were mainly Dorians. The + necessary vote for opening hostilities was secured; but first an ultimatum + was presented. If Athens desired peace she must rescind the exclusion acts + aimed at Megara. At the debate in the Athenian assembly Pericles, the + virtual ruler, gave his reason for believing Athens would win; he urged a + demand for the withdrawal of Spartan Alien Acts aimed at Athens and her + allies and offered arbitration on the alleged grievances. + </p> + <p> + It is well to repeat the causes of this war: trade rivalry, naval + competition, race animosity and desire for predominance. Till these are + removed it is useless to expect permanent peace in spite of Leagues or + Tribunals or Arbitration Courts. Further, it should be noted that + Thucydides takes the utmost care to point out the excellent reasons the + most enlightened statesmen had for arriving at contradictory conclusions; + the event proved them all wrong without exception. The future had in store + at least two events which no human foresight could discover, and these + proved the deciding factors in the conflict. + </p> + <p> + The war began in 431 by a Theban attack on Plataea, the little town just + over the Attic frontier which had been allied with Athens for nearly a + century and protected her against invasion from the north. This city had + long been hated by Thebes as a deserter from her own league; it alone of + Boeotian towns had not joined the Persians. Burning with the desire to + capture it, a body of Thebans entered the place by night, seizing the + chief positions. But in the morning their scanty numbers were apparent; + recovering from panic the Plataeans overwhelmed the invaders and massacred + them. This open violation of the treaty kindled the war-spirit. Both sides + armed, Sparta being more popular as pretending to free Greece from a + tyrant. Their last ambassador on leaving Athenian territory said: "This + day will be the beginning of mighty woes for Greece". + </p> + <p> + The Spartans invaded Attica, cutting down the fruit trees and forcing the + country folk into the city; the Athenians replied by ravaging parts of + Peloponnese and Megara. The funeral of the first Athenian victims of the + war was the occasion of a remarkable speech. Pericles in delivering it + expounds the Athenian ideal of life. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "We do not compete with other constitutions, we are rather a pattern + for the rest. In our democracy all are equal before the law; each man + is promoted to public office not by favour but by merit, according as + he can do the State some service. We love beauty in its simplicity, we + love knowledge without losing manliness. Our citizens can administer + affairs both private and public; our working classes have an adequate + knowledge of politics. To us the most fatal error is the lack of + theoretical instruction before we attempt any duty. In a word, I say + that Athens is an education for all Greece; individually we can prove + ourselves competent to face the most varied forms of human activity + with the maximum of grace and adaptability.... We have forced the + whole sea and every land to open to our enterprise. Look daily at the + material power of the city and love her passionately. Her glory was + won by men who did their duty and sacrificed themselves for her. The + whole world is the sepulchre of famous men; their memory is not only + inscribed on pillars in their own country, it lives unwritten in the + hearts of men in alien lands." +</pre> + <p> + At the beginning of the next year a calamity which no statesman could have + foreseen overtook Athens. A mysterious plague of the greatest malignity + scourged the city, the mortality being multiplied among the crowds of + refugees. The city's strength was seriously impaired, public and private + morality were undermined, inasmuch as none knew how long he had to live. + Discouraged by it and by the invasions the Athenians sent a fruitless + embassy to Sparta and tinned in fury on Pericles. He made a splendid + defence of his policy and gave them heart to continue the struggle; he + pointed out that it was better to lose their property and save the State + than save their property and lose the State; their fleet opened to them + the world of waters over which they could range as absolute masters. Soon + afterwards he died, surviving the opening of the war only two years and a + half; his character and abilities received due acknowledgment from + Thucydides. + </p> + <p> + At this point Sparta decided to destroy Plataea, the Athenian outpost in + Boeotia. A very brilliant description of the siege and counter-operations + reveals very clearly the Spartan inability to attack walled towns and + explains their objection to fortified friends. Leaving the town guarded + they retired for a time, to complete the work later. The war began to + spread beyond the Peloponnese to the north of the Corinthian gulf, the + control of which was important to both sides. The Acarnanians were + attacked by Sparta and appealed to the Athenian admiral Phormio. Two naval + actions in the gulf revealed the astonishing superiority of the Athenian + navy on the high seas. Threatened in her corn supply in the west, Sparta + began to intrigue with the outlying kingdoms on the north-east, the + "Thraceward parts" on the trade-route being the objective. + </p> + <p> + A spirit of revolt against Athenian rule appeared in Lesbos, which seceded + in 428. The chief town in this non-Ionic island was Mytilene, which sent + ambassadors to Sparta. Their speech clearly explains how the Athenians + were able to keep their hold on their policy; her policy (like that of + Rome) was to divide the allies by carefully grading their privileges, + playing off the weak against the stronger. The Spartans proved unable to + help and the Athenians easily blockaded the city, capturing it early in + 427. In their anger they at first decided to slay all the inhabitants, but + a better feeling led to a reconsideration next day. In the Assembly two + great speeches were delivered. Pericles had been succeeded by Cleon, to + whom Thucydides seems to have been a little unjust. He opened his speech + with the famous remark that a democracy cannot govern an Empire; it is + liable to sudden fits of passion which make a consistent policy + impossible. He himself never changed his plans, but his audience were + different. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "You are all eyes for speeches, all ears for deeds; you judge of + the possibility of a project from good speeches; accomplished facts + you believe not because you see them but because you hear them from + smart critics. You are easily duped by some novel plan, but you + refuse to adhere to what has been proved sound. You are slaves to + every new oddity and have nothing but contempt for what is familiar. + Every one of you would like to be a good speaker, failing that, to + rival your orators in cleverness. You are as quick to guess what is + coming in a speech as you are slow at foreseeing its consequences. + In a word, you live in some non-real world." +</pre> + <p> + He pleaded for the rigorous application of the extreme penalty already + voted. + </p> + <p> + He was opposed by Diodotus, who appealed to the same principle as Cleon + did expediency. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "No penalty will deter men, not even the death penalty. Men have + run through the whole catalogue of deterrents in the hope of + securing themselves against outrage, yet offences still are common. + Human nature is driven by some uncontrollable master passion which + tempts it to danger. Hope and Desire are everywhere and are most + mischievous, for they are invisible. Fortune too is as powerful a + means of exciting men. At tunes she stands unexpectedly at their + side and leads them to take risks with too slender resources. Most + of all she tempts cities, for they are contending for the greatest + prizes, liberty or domination. It is absolutely childish then to + imagine that when human nature is bent on performing a thing it will + be deterred by law or any other force. If revolting cities are quite + sure that no mercy will be shown, they will fight to the last, + bequeathing the victors only smoking ruins. It would be more expedient + to be merciful and thus save the expenses of a long siege." +</pre> + <p> + This saner view prevailed. The doctrine of a "ruling passion" is a + remarkable contribution to Greek political thought, the abstract + personifications reading like the work of a poet or philosopher. An + exciting race against time is most graphically described. After great + exertions the ship bearing the reprieve arrived just in time to save + Mytilene. This act of mercy stands in sinister contrast with the treatment + the unhappy Plataeans received from the liberators of Greece. The citizens + were captured, Athens having strangely abandoned them in spite of her + promise to help. They were allowed to commemorate their services to + Greece, appealing in a most moving speech to the sacred ground of their + city, the scene of the immortal battle. All was in vain. The Thebans + accused them of flat treachery to Boeotia, securing their condemnation. + Corcyra similarly proved unprofitable; it was afflicted by fratricidal + dissensions which coloured one of Thucydides' darkest pictures. As the war + went on it became clearer that it was a struggle between two rival + political creeds, democracy and oligarchy. To the partisans all other ties + were of little value, whether of blood or race or religion; only frenzied + boldness and unquestioning obedience to a party organisation were of any + consequence. This wretched spirit of feud was destined in the long run to + spell the doom of the Greek cities. In 427 the first mention was made of + the will-of-the-wisp which in time led Athens to her ruin. In her anxiety + to intercept the Peloponnesian corn she supported Leontini against + Syracuse, the leading Sicilian state. In Acarnania the capable general + Demosthenes after a series of movements not quite fruitless succeeded in + bringing peace to the jarring mountain tribes. + </p> + <p> + In 425 a most important event took place. As an Athenian squadron was + proceeding to Sicily it was forced to put in at Pylos, where many + centuries later Greece won a famous victory over the Turks. Demosthenes, + though he had no official command, persuaded his comrades to fortify the + place as a base from which to harry Spartan territory. It was situated in + the country which had once belonged to the Messenians who for generations + had been held down by the Spartan oligarchs. Deserters soon began to + stream in; the gravity of the situation was recognised by the Spartan + government who landed more than four hundred of their best troops on the + island of Sphacteria at the entrance to the bay. These were speedily + isolated by the Athenian navy; and news of the event filled all Greece + with excitement. A heated discussion took place at Athens, where Cleon + accused Nicias, the commander-in-chief, of slackness in not capturing the + blockaded force. Spartan overtures for a peace on condition of the return + of the isolated men proved vain; after a lively altercation with Nicias + Cleon made a promise to capture the Spartans within thirty days, a feat + which he accomplished with the aid of Demosthenes. Nearly three hundred + were found to prefer surrender to death; these were conveyed to Athens and + were an invaluable asset for bargaining a future peace. + </p> + <p> + A further success was the capture of Nisaea, the port of Megara, in 424, + but an attempt to propagate democracy in Boeotia ended in a severe defeat + at Delium; the fate of Plataea was a bad advertisement in an + oligarchically governed district. Worse was to follow. Brasidas, a Spartan + who had greatly distinguished himself at Pylos, passed through Thessaly + with a volunteer force, reaching Thrace and capturing some important + towns; the loss of one of these, Eion, caused the exile of the historian, + who was too late to save it. In 423 a truce for one year was arranged + between the combatants, but Brasidas ignored it, sowing disaffection among + the Athenian allies. His personal charm gave them a good impression of the + Spartan character and his offer of liberty was too attractive to be + resisted. His success was partly due to a deliberate misrepresentation of + the Athenian power which proved greater than it seemed to be. The two real + obstacles to peace were Brasidas and Cleon; at Amphipolis they met in + battle; a rash movement gave the Spartan an opportunity for an attack. He + fell in action, but the town was saved. Cleon was killed in the same + battle and the path to peace was clear. The truce for one year developed + into a regular settlement in 421, Nicias being responsible for its + negotiation in Athens. The chief clause provided that Athens should + recover Amphipolis in exchange for the Spartan captives. + </p> + <p> + The members of the Peloponnesian league considered themselves betrayed by + this treaty, for their hated rival Athens had not been humbled. Corinth + was the ringleader in raising disaffection. She determined to create a new + league, including Argos, the inveterate foe of Sparta. This state had + stood aloof from the war, nursing her strength and biding her time for + revenge. When Sparta failed to restore Amphipolis, the war party at + Athens, led by Alcibiades, formed an alliance with Argos to reduce Sparta; + but this policy alienated Corinth, who refused to act with her trade + rival. An Argive attack on Arcadia ended in the fierce battle of Mantinea + in 418, in which Sparta won a complete victory. Argos was forced to come + to terms, the new league was dissolved and Athens was once more confronted + by her combined enemies, her diplomacy a failure and her trump-card, the + Sphacterian prisoners, lost. + </p> + <p> + Next year she was guilty of an act of sheer outrage. Her fleet descended + on the island of Melos, which had remained neutral, though its inhabitants + were colonists from the Spartan mainland close by. Nowhere does the + dramatic nature of Thucydides' work stand more clearly revealed than in + his account of this incident. He represents the Athenian and Melian + leaders as arguing the merits of the case in a regular dialogue, + essentially a dramatic device. The Athenian doctrine of Might and + Expediency is unblushingly preached and acted upon, in spite of Melian + protests; the island was captured, its population being slain or enslaved. + Such an act is a fitting prelude to the great disaster which forms the + next act of Thucydides' drama. + </p> + <p> + In 416 Athens proceeded to develop her design of subjugating Sicily. + Segesta was at feud with Selinus; as the latter city applied to Syracuse + for aid, the former bethought her of her ancient alliance with Athens. + Next year the Sicilian ambassadors arrived with tales of unlimited wealth + to finance an expedition. Nicias, the leader of the peace party, vainly + counselled the Assembly to refrain; he was overborne by Alcibiades, whose + ambition it was to reduce not only Sicily but Carthage also. When the + expedition was about to sail most of the statues of Hermes in the city + were desecrated in one night. Alcibiades, appointed to the command with + Nicias and Lamachus, was suspected of the outrage, but was allowed to + sail. The fleet left the city with all the pomp and ceremony of prayer and + ritual, after which it showed its high spirits in racing as far as Aegina. + </p> + <p> + In Sicily itself Hermocrates, the great Syracusan patriot, repeatedly + warned his countrymen of the coming storm, advising them to sink all feuds + in resistance to the common enemy. He was opposed by Athenagoras, a + democrat who, true to his principles, suspected the story as part of a + militarist plot to overthrow the constitution. His speech is the most + violent in Thucydides, but contains a passage of much value. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The name of the whole is People, that of a part is Oligarchy; + the rich are the best guardians of wealth, the educated class can + make the wisest decisions, the majority are the best judges of + speeches. All these classes in a democracy have equal power both + individually and collectively. But oligarchy shares the dangers + with the many, while it does not merely usurp the material benefits, + rather it appropriates and keeps them all." +</pre> + <p> + The Athenians received a cold welcome wherever they went. At Catana they + found their state vessel waiting to convey Alcibiades home to stand his + trial; he effected his escape on the homeward voyage, crossing to the + Peloponnese. The great armament instead of thrusting at Syracuse wasted + its time and efficiency on side-issues, mainly owing to the cold + leadership of Nicias. This valuable respite was used to the full by + Hermocrates, who at a congress held at Camarina was insistent on the + racial character of the struggle between themselves who were Dorians and + the Ionians from Athens. This national antipathy contributed greatly to + the final decision of the conflict. + </p> + <p> + Passing to Sparta, Alcibiades deliberately betrayed his country. His + speech is of the utmost importance. + </p> + <p> + His view of democracy is contemptuous. "Nothing new can be said of what is + an admitted folly." He then outlined the Athenian ambition; it was to + subdue Carthage and Sicily, bring over hosts of warlike barbarians, + surround and reduce the Peloponnese and then rule the whole Greek-speaking + world. He advised his hearers to aid Sicilian incapacity by sending a + Spartan commander; above all, he counselled the occupation of Deceleia, a + town in Attica just short of the border, through which the corn supply was + conveyed to the capital; this would lead to the capture of the + silver-mines at Laureium and to the decrease of the Athenian revenues. He + concluded with an attempt to justify his own treachery, remarking that + when a man was exiled, he must use all means to secure a return. + </p> + <p> + The Spartans had for some time been anxious to open hostilities; an act of + Athenian aggression gave them an opportunity. Meanwhile in Sicily Lamachus + had perished in attacking a Syracusan cross-wall. Left in sole command, + Nicias remained inactive, while Gylippus, despatched from Sparta, arrived + in Syracuse just in time to prevent it from capitulating. The seventh book + is the record of continued Athenian disasters. Little by little Gylippus + developed the Syracusan resources. First he made it impossible for the + Athenians to circumvallate the city; then he captured the naval stores of + the enemy, forcing them to encamp in unhealthy ground. Nicias had begged + the home government to relieve him of command owing to illness. Believing + in the lucky star of the man who had taken Nissea they retained him, + sending out a second great fleet under Demosthenes. The latter at once saw + the key to the whole situation. The Syracusan cross-wall which Nicias had + failed to render impassable must be captured at all costs. A night attack + nearly succeeded, but ended in total defeat. Demosthenes immediately + advised retreat; but Nicias obstinately refused to leave. In the meantime + the Syracusans closed the mouth of their harbour with a strong boom, + penning up the Athenian fleet. The famous story of the attempt to destroy + it calls out all the author's powers of description. He draws attention to + the narrow space in which the action was fought. As long as the Athenians + could operate in open water they were invincible; but the Syracusans not + only forced them to fight in a confined harbour, they strengthened the + prows of their vessels, enabling them to smash the thinner Athenian craft + in a direct charge. The whole Athenian army went down to the edge of the + water to watch the engagement which was to settle their fate. Their + excitement was pitiable, for they swayed to and fro in mental agony, + calling to their friends to break the boom and save them. After a brave + struggle, the invaders were routed and driven to the land by the + victorious Syracusans. + </p> + <p> + Retreat by land was the only escape. A strategem planned by Hermocrates + and Nicias' superstitious terrors delayed the departure long enough to + enable the Syracusans to secure the passes in the interior. When the army + moved away the scene was one of shame and agony; the sick vainly pleaded + with their comrades to save them; the whole force contrasted the proud + hopes of their coming with their humiliating end and refused to be + comforted by Nicias, whose courage shone brightest in this hour of defeat. + Demosthenes' force was isolated and was quickly captured; Nicias' men with + great difficulty reached the River Assinarus, parched with thirst. + Forgetting all about their foes, they rushed to the water and fought among + themselves for it though it ran red with their own blood. At last the army + capitulated and was carried back to Syracuse. Thrown into the public + quarries, the poor wretches remained there for ten weeks, scorched by day, + frost-bitten by night. The survivors were sold into slavery. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "This was the greatest achievement in the war and, I think, in + Greek history the most creditable to the victors, the most + lamentable to the vanquished. In every way they were utterly + defeated; their sufferings were mighty; they were destroyed + hopelessly; ships, men, everything perished, few only returning + from the great host." +</pre> + <p> + So ends the most heartrending story in Greek history, told with absolute + fidelity by a son of Athens and a former general of her army. + </p> + <p> + The last book is remarkable for the absence of speeches; it is a record of + the continued intrigues which followed the Sicilian disaster. Upheavals in + Asia Minor brought into the swirl of plots Tissaphernes, the Persian + satrap, anxious to recover control of Ionia hitherto saved by Athenian + power. In 412 the Athenian subjects began to revolt, seventeen defections + being recorded in all. At Samos a most important movement began; the + democrats rose against their nobles, being guaranteed independence by + Athens. Soon they made overtures to Alcibiades who was acting with the + Spartan fleet; he promised to detach Tissaphernes from Sparta if Samos + eschewed democracy, a creed odious to the Persian monarchy. The Samians + sent a delegation to Athens headed by Pisander, who boldly proposed + Alcibiades' return, the dissolution of the democracy in Samos and alliance + with Tissaphernes. These proposals were rejected, but the democracy at + Athens was not destined to last much longer, power being usurped by the + famous Four Hundred in 411. The Samian democracy eventually appointed + Alcibiades general, while in Athens the extremists were anxious to come to + terms with Sparta. This movement split the Four Hundred, the constitution + being changed to that of the Five Thousand, a blend of democracy and + oligarchy which won Thucydides' admiration; the history concludes with the + victory of the Athenians in the naval action at Cynossema in 410. + </p> + <p> + The defects of Thucydides are evident; his style is harsh, obscure and + crabbed; it is sometimes said that he seems wiser than he really is mainly + because his language is difficult; that if his thoughts were translated + into easier prose our impressions of his greatness would be much modified. + Yet it is to be remembered that he, like Lucretius, had to create his own + vocabulary. It is a remarkable fact that prose has been far more difficult + to invent than poetry, for precision is essential to it as the language of + reasoning rather than of feeling. Instead of finding fault with a medium + which was necessarily imperfect because it was an innovation we should be + thankful for what it has actually accomplished. It is not always obscure; + at times, when "the lion laughed" as an old commentator says, he is almost + unmatched in pure narrative, notably in his rapid summary of the Athenian + rise to power in the first book and in the immortal Syracusan tragedy of + the seventh. + </p> + <p> + His merits are many and great; his conciseness, repression of personal + feeling, love of accuracy, careful research, unwillingness to praise + overmuch and his total absence of preconceived opinion testify to an + honesty of outlook rare in classical historians. Because he feels certain + of his detachment of view, he quite confidently undertakes what few would + have faced, the writing of contemporary history. Nowadays historians do + not trust themselves; we may expect a faithful account of our Great War + some fifty years hence, if ever. Not so Thucydides; he claims that his + work will be a treasure for all time; had any other written these words we + should have dismissed them as an idle boast. + </p> + <p> + For he is the first man to respect history. It was not a plaything; it was + worthy of being elevated to the rank of a science. As such, its events + must have some deep causes behind them, worth discovering not only in + themselves as keys to one particular period, but as possible explanations + of similar events in distant ages. Accordingly, he deemed it necessary to + study first of all our human nature, its varied motives, mostly of + questionable morality, next he studied international ethics, based frankly + on expediency. The results of these researches he has embodied (with one + or two exceptions) in his famous speeches. He surveyed the ground on which + battles were fought; he examined inscriptions, copying them with + scrupulous care; he criticised ancient history and contemporary versions + of famous events, many of which he found to be untrue. Further, his + anxiety to discover the real sources of certain policies made it necessary + for him to write an account of seemingly purposeless action in wilder or + even barbarous regions such as Arcadia, Ambracia, Macedonia; in + consequence his work embraces the whole of the Greek world, as he said it + would in his famous preface. + </p> + <p> + As an artist, he is not without his merits. The dramatic nature of his + plan has been frequently pointed out; to him the main plot is the + destruction not of Athens, but of the Periclean democracy, the overthrow + thereof being due to a conflict with another like it; hence the marked + change in the last book, in which the main dramatic interest has waned. + This dramatic form has, however, defeated its own objects sometimes, for + all the Thucydidean fishes talk like Thucydidean whales. + </p> + <p> + To us he is indispensable. We are a maritime power, ruling a maritime + empire, our potential enemies being military nations. He has warned us + that democracy cannot govern an empire. Perhaps our type of this creed is + not so full of the lust for domination and aggrandisement as was that of + Athens; it may be suspected that we are virtuous mainly because we have + all we need and are not likely to be tempted overmuch. But there is the + other and more subtle danger. The enemies within the state betrayed + Deceleia which safeguarded the food-supply. We have many Deceleias, + situate along the great trade-routes and needing protection. Once these + are betrayed we shall not hold out as Athens did for nearly ten years; ten + weeks at the outside ought to see our people starving and beaten, fit for + nothing but the payment of indemnities to the power which relieves us of + our inheritance. + </p> + <h3> + TRANSLATIONS:— + </h3> + <p> + The earliest is by Hobbes, the best is by Jowett, Oxford. Though somewhat + free, it renders with vigour the ideas of the original text. + </p> + <p> + The Loeb Series has a version by Smith. + </p> + <p> + <i>Thucydides Mythistoricus,</i> Cornford (Arnold), is an adverse + criticism of the historian; it points out the inaccuracies which may be + detected in his work. + </p> + <p> + <i>Clio Enthroned</i> by W. R. M. Lamb, Cambridge, should be read in + conjunction with the above. The author adopts the traditional estimate of + Thucydides. + </p> + <p> + See also Bury, <i>Ancient Greek Historians</i>, as above. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PLATO + </h2> + <p> + Shortly after the outbreak of the Peloponnesian war Plato was born, + probably in 427. During the eighty years of his life he travelled to + Sicily at least twice, founded the Academy at Athens and saw the beginning + of the end of the Greek freedom. He represents the reflective spirit in a + nation which seems to appear when its development is well advanced. After + the madness of a long war the Athenians, stripped of their Empire for a + time, sought a new outlet for their restless energies and started to + conquer a more permanent kingdom, that of scientific speculation about the + highest faculties of the human mind. + </p> + <p> + The death of Socrates in 399 disgusted Plato; democracy apparently was as + intolerant as any other form of political creed. His writings are in a + sense a vindication of the honesty of his master, although the picture he + draws of him is not so true to life as that of Xenophon. The dialogues + fall into two well-marked classes; in the earlier the method and + inspiration is definitely Socratic, but in the later Socrates is a mere + peg on which Plato hung his own system. In itself the dialogue form was no + new thing; Plato adopted it and made it a thing of life and dramatic + power, his style being the most finished example of exalted prose in Greek + literature. The order in which the dialogues were written is a thorny + problem; there is good reason for believing that Plato constantly revised + some of them, removing the inconsistencies which were inevitable while he + was feeling his way to the final form which his speculations assumed. It + is perhaps best to give an outline of a series which exhibits some regular + order of thought. + </p> + <p> + It is sometimes thought that Philosophy has no direct bearing on practical + questions. A review of the <i>Crito</i> may dispel this illusion. In it + Socrates refuses to be tempted by his young friend Crito who offers to + secure his escape from prison and provide him a home among his own + friends. The question is whether one ought to follow the opinions of the + majority on matters of justice or injustice, or those of the one man who + has expert knowledge, and of Truth. The laws of Athens have put Socrates + in prison; they would say; + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "by this act you intend to perpetrate your purpose to destroy us + and the city as far as one man can do so. Can any city survive and + not be overturned in which legal decisions have no force, but are + rendered null by private persons and destroyed?" +</pre> + <p> + Socrates had by his long residence of seventy years declared his + satisfaction with the Athenian legal system. The laws had enabled him to + live in security; more, he could have taken advantage of legal protection + in his trial, and if he had been dissatisfied could have gone away to some + other city. What sort of a figure would he make if he escaped? Wherever he + went he would be considered a destroyer of law; his practice would belie + his creed; finally, the Laws say, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "if you wish to live in disgrace, after going back on your contract + and agreement with us, we will be angry with you while you are alive + and in death our Brother Laws will give you a cold welcome; they + will know that you have done your best to destroy our authority." +</pre> + <p> + Sound and concrete teaching like this is always necessary, but is hardly + likely to be popular. The doctrine of disobedience is everywhere preached + in a democracy; violation of contracts is a normal practice and + law-breakers have been known to be publicly feasted by the very members of + our legislative body. + </p> + <p> + A different lesson is found in the <i>Euthyphro</i>. After wishing + Socrates success in his coming trial, Euthyphro informs him that he is + going to prosecute his father for manslaughter, assuring him that it would + be piety to do so. Socrates asks for a definition of piety. Euthyphro + attempts five—"to act as Zeus did to his father"; "what the gods + love"; "what all the gods love"; "a part of righteousness, relating to the + care of the gods"; "the saying and doing of what the gods approve in + prayer and sacrifice". Each of these proves inadequate; Euthyphro + complains of the disconcerting Socratic method as follows: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Well, I do not know how to express my thoughts. Every one of + our suggestions always seem to have legs, refusing to stand still + where we may fix it down. Nor have I put into them this spirit of + moving and shifting, but you, a second Daedalus." +</pre> + <p> + It is noticeable that no definite result comes from this dialogue; Plato + was within his rights in refusing to answer the main question. Philosophy + does not pretend to settle every inquiry; her business is to see that a + question is raised. Even when an answer is available, she cannot always + give it, for she demands an utter abandonment of all prepossessions in + those to whom she talks—otherwise there will be no free passage for + her teaching. Though refuted, Euthyphro still retained his first opinions, + for his first and last definitions are similar in idea. To such a person + argument is mere waste of time. + </p> + <p> + An admirable illustration of Plato's lightness of touch is found in the <i>Laches</i>. + The dialogue begins with a discussion about the education of the young + sons of Lysimachus and Melesias. Soon the question is raised "What is + courage?" Nicias warns Laches about Socrates; the latter has a trick of + making men review their lives; his practice is good, for it teaches men + their faults in time; old age does not always bring wisdom automatically. + Laches first defines courage as the faculty which makes men keep the ranks + in war; when this proves inadequate, he defines it as a stoutness of + spirit. Nicias is called in; he defines it as "knowledge of terrors and + confidence in war"; he is soon compelled to add "and knowledge of all good + and evil in every form"—in a word, courage is all virtue combined. + The dialogue concludes that it is not young boys but grown men of all ages + who need a careful education. This spirited little piece is full of + dramatic vigour—the remarks of Laches and Nicias about each other as + they are repeatedly confuted are most human and diverting. + </p> + <p> + Literary criticism is the subject of the <i>Ion</i>. Coming from Ephesus, + Ion claimed to be the best professional reciter of Homer in all Greece. + Acknowledging that Homer made him all fire, while other poets left him + cold, he is made to admit that his knowledge of poetry is not scientific; + otherwise he would have been able to discuss all poetry, for it is one. + Socrates then makes the famous comparison between a poet and a magnet; + both attract an endless chain, and both contain some divine power which + masters them. Ecstasy, enthusiasm, madness are the best descriptions of + poetic power. Even as a professional reciter Ion admits the necessity of + the power of working on men. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "When I am on the platform I look on my audience weeping and + looking warlike and dazed at my words. I must pay attention to + them; if I let them sit down weeping, I myself shall laugh when + I receive my fee, but if they laugh I myself shall weep when I get + nothing." +</pre> + <p> + Homer is the subject of the <i>Hippias Minor</i>. At Olympia Hippias once + said that every single thing that he was wearing was his own handiwork. He + was a most inventive person—one of his triumphs being an art of + memory. In this dialogue he prefers the Iliad to the Odyssey because + Achilles was called "excellent" and Odysseus "versatile". Socrates soon + proves to him that Achilles was false too, as he did not always keep his + word. He reminds Hippias that he never wastes time over the brainless, + though he listens carefully to every man. In fact, his cross-examination + is a compliment. He never thinks the knowledge he gains is his own + discovery, but is grateful to any who can teach him. He believes that + unwitting deceivers are more culpable than deliberate tricksters. Hippias + finds it impossible to agree with him, whereupon Socrates says that things + are for ever baffling him by their changeability; it is pardonable that + unlearned men like himself should err; when really wise people like + Hippias wander in thought, it is monstrous that they are unable to settle + the doubts of all who appeal to them. + </p> + <p> + <i>Channides</i>, the young boy after whom the dialogue was named, was the + cousin and ward of Critias, the infamous leader of the Thirty Tyrants. On + being introduced to him Socrates starts the discussion "What is + self-control?" The lad makes three attempts to answer; seeing his + confusion, Critias steps in, "angry with the boy, like a poet angry with + an actor who has murdered his poems". But he is not more successful; his + three definitions are proved wanting. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Like men who, seeing others yawn, themselves yawn, he too was in + perplexity. But because he had a great reputation, he was put to + shame before the audience and refused to admit his inability to + define the word." +</pre> + <p> + The dialogue gives no definite answer to the discussion. It is a vivid + piece of writing; the contrast between the young lad and the elder cousin + whose pet phrases he copies is very striking. + </p> + <p> + In the <i>Lysis</i> the characters and the conclusion are similar. Lysis + is a young lad admired by Hippothales. The first portion of the dialogue + consists of a conversation between Lysis and Socrates; the latter + recommends the admirer to avoid foolish converse. On the entry of Lysis' + friend Menexenus, Socrates starts the question "What is friendship?" It + appears that friendship cannot exist between two good or two evil persons, + but only between a good man and one who is neither good nor bad, exactly + as the philosopher is neither wise nor ignorant, yet he loves knowledge. + Still this is not satisfactory; up conclusion being reached, Socrates + winds up with a characteristic remark; they think they are friends, yet + cannot say what friendship is. This dialogue was carefully read by + Aristotle before he gave his famous description in the Ethics: "A friend + is a second self". Perhaps Socrates avoided a definite answer because he + did not wish to be too serious with these sunny children. + </p> + <p> + The <i>Euthydemus</i> is an amusing study of the danger which follows upon + the use of keen instruments by the unscrupulous. Euthydemus and his + brother Dionysodorus are two sophists by trade to whom words mean nothing + at all; truth and falsehood are identical, contradiction being an + impossibility. As language is meaningless, Socrates himself is quickly + reduced to impotence, recovering with difficulty. Plato was no doubt + satirising the misuse of the new philosophy which was becoming so popular + with young men. When nothing means anything, laughter is the only human + language left. The <i>Cratylus</i> is a similarly conceived diversion. + Most of it is occupied with fanciful derivations and linguistic + discussions of all kinds. It is difficult to say how far Plato is serious. + Perhaps the feats of Euthydemus in stripping words of all meaning urged + him to some constructive work—for Plato's system is essentially + destructive first, then constructive. At any rate, he does insist on the + necessity for determining a word's meaning by its derivation, and points + out that a language is the possession of a whole people. + </p> + <p> + In the <i>Protagoras</i> Socrates while a young man is represented as + meeting a friend Hippocrates, who was on his way to Protagoras, a sophist + from Abdera who had just arrived at Athens. Socrates shows first that his + friend has no idea of the seriousness of his action in applying for + instruction to a sophist whose definition he is unable to give. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "If your body had been in a critical condition you would have + asked the advice of your friends and deliberated many days before + choosing your doctor. But about your mind, on which depends your + weal or woe according as it is evil or good, you never asked the + advice of father or friend whether you ought to apply to this + newly-arrived stranger. Hearing last night that he was here, you + go to him to-day, ready to spend your own and your friends' money, + convinced that you ought to become a disciple of a man you neither + know nor have talked with." +</pre> + <p> + They proceed to the house of Callias, where they find Protagoras + surrounded by strangers from every city who listened spell-bound to his + voice. + </p> + <p> + Protagoras readily promises that Hippocrates would be taught his system + which offers "good counsel about his private affairs and power to transact + and discuss political matters". Socrates' belief that politics cannot be + taught provokes one of the long speeches to which Plato strongly objected + because a fundamental fallacy could not be refuted at the outset, + vitiating the whole of the subsequent argument. Protagoras recounted a + myth, proving that shame and justice were given to every man; these are + the basis of politics. Further, cities punish criminals, implying that men + can learn politics, while virtue is taught by parents and tutors and the + State. Socrates asks whether virtue is one or many. Protagoras replies + that there are five main virtues, knowledge, justice, courage, temperance + and piety, all distinct. A long rambling speech causes Socrates to + protest; his method is the short one of question and answer. By using some + very questionable reasoning he proves that all these five virtues are + identical. Accordingly, if virtue is one it can be taught, not however, by + a sophist or the State, but by a philosopher, for virtue is knowledge. + </p> + <p> + This conclusion is thoroughly in harmony with Socrates' system. Yet it is + probably false. Virtue is not mere knowledge, nor vice ignorance. If they + were, they would be intellectual qualities. They are rather moral + attributes; experience soon proves that many enlightened persons are + vicious and many ignorant people virtuous. The value of this dialogue is + its insistence upon the unity of virtue. A good man is not a bundle of + separate excellences; he is a whole. Possessing one virtue he potentially + has them all. + </p> + <p> + The <i>Gorgias</i> is a refutation of three distinct and popular notions. + Gorgias of Leontini used to invite young men to ask him questions, none of + whom ever put to him a query absolutely new. It soon appears that he is + quite unable to define Rhetoric, the art by which he lived. Socrates said + it was a minister of persuasion, that it in the long run concerned itself + with mere Opinion, which might be true or false, and could not claim + scientific Knowledge. Further, it implied some morality in its devotees, + for it dealt with what was just or unjust. Polus, a young and ardent + sophist, was compelled to assent to two very famous doctrines, first that + it is worse to do evil than to experience it, second, that to avoid + punishment was the worst thing for an offender. But a more formidable + adversary remained, one Callicles, the most shameless and unscrupulous + figure perhaps in Plato's work. His creed is a flat denial of all + authority, moral or intellectual. It teaches that Law is not natural, but + conventional; that only a slave puts up with a wrong, and only weak men + seek legal protection. Philosophy is fit only for youths, for philosophers + are not men of the world. Natural life is unlimited self-indulgence and + public opinion is the creation of those who are too poor to give rein to + their appetites; the good is pleasure and infinite self-satisfaction is + the ideal. Socrates in reply points out the difference between the kinds + of pleasures, insists on the importance of Scientific knowledge of + everything, and proves that order is requisite everywhere—its + visible effects in the soul being Justice and Wisdom, not Riot. To prevent + injustice some art is needed to make the subject as like as possible to + the ruler; the type of life a man leads is far more important than length + of days. The demagogue who like Callicles has no credentials makes the + people morally worse, especially as they are unable to distinguish quacks + from wise men. Nor need philosophers trouble much about men's opinions, + for a mob always blames the physician who wishes to save it. A delightful + piece of irony follows, in which Socrates twits Callicles for accusing his + pupils of acting with injustice, the very quality he instils into them. + Callicles, though refuted, advises Socrates to fawn on the city, for he is + certain to be condemned sooner or later; the latter, however, does not + fear death after living righteously. + </p> + <p> + Most men have held doctrines similar to those refuted here. There is an + idea abroad that what is "natural" must be intrinsically good, if not + godlike. But it is quite clear that "Nature" is a vague term meaning + little or nothing—it is higher or lower and natural in both forms. + Those who wish to know the lengths of impudence to which belief in the + sacredness of "Nature" can bring human beings might do worse than read the + <i>Gorgias</i>. + </p> + <p> + Plato's dramatic power and fertility of invention are displayed fully in + the <i>Symposium</i>. Agathon had won the tragic prize and invited many + friends to a wine-party. After a slight introduction a proposition was + carried that all should speak in praise of Love. First a youth Phaedrus + describes the antiquity of love and gives instances of the attachments + between the sexes. Pausanias draws the famous distinction between the + Heavenly and the Vulgar Aphrodite; the true test of love is its + permanence. A doctor, Eryximachus, raises the tone of the discussion still + further. To him Love is the foundation of Medicine, Music, Astronomy and + Augury. Aristophanes tells a fable of the sexes in true comic style, + making each of them run about seeking its other half. Agathon colours his + account with a touch of tragic diction. At last it is Socrates' turn. He + tells what he heard from a priestess called Diotima. Love is the son of + Fulness and Want; he is the intermediary between gods and men, is active, + not passive; he is desire for continuous possession of excellent things + and for beautiful creation which means immortality, for all men desire + perpetual fame which can come only through the science of the Beautiful. + In contemplation and mystical union with the Divine the soul finds its + true destiny, satisfying itself in perfect love. + </p> + <p> + At this moment Alcibiades arrives from another feast in a state of high + intoxication. He gives a most marvellous account of Socrates' influence + over him and likens him in a famous passage to an ugly little statue which + when opened is all gold within. At the end of the dialogue one of the + company tells how Socrates compelled Aristophanes and Agathon to admit + that it was one and the same man's business to understand and write both + tragedy and comedy—a doctrine which has been practised only in + modern drama. + </p> + <p> + In this dialogue we first seem to catch the voice of Plato himself as + distinct from that of Socrates. The latter was undoubtedly most keenly + interested in the more human process of questioning and refuting, his + object being the workmanlike creation of exact definitions. But Plato was + of a different mould; his was the soaring spirit which felt its true home + to be the supra-sensible world of Divine Beauty, Immortality, Absolute + Truth and Existence. Starting with the fleshly conception of Love natural + to a young man, he leads us step by step towards the great conclusion that + Love is nothing less than an identification of the self with the thing + loved. No man can do his work if he is not interested in it; he will hate + it as his taskmaster. But when an object of pursuit enthrals him it will + intoxicate him, will not leave him at peace till he joins his very soul + with it in union indissoluble. This direct communication of Mind with the + object of worship is Mysticism. It is the very core of the highest form of + religious life; it purifies, ennobles, and above all it inspires. To the + mystic the great prophet is the Athenian Plato, whose doctrine is that of + the Christian "God is love" converted into "Love is God". It is not + entirely fanciful to suggest that Plato, in saying farewell to the + definitely Socratic type of philosophy, gave his master as his parting + gift the greatest of all tributes, a dialogue which is really the "praise + of Socrates". + </p> + <p> + The intoxication of Plato's thought is evident in the <i>Phaedrus</i>. + This splendid dialogue marks even more clearly the character of the new + wine which was to be poured into the Socratic bottles. Phaedrus and + Socrates recline in a spot of romantic beauty along the bank of the + Ilissus. Phaedrus reads a paradoxical speech supposed to be written by + Lysias, the famous orator, on Love; Socrates replies in a speech quite as + unreal, praising as Lysias did him who does not love. But soon he recants—his + real creed being the opposite. Frenzy is his subject—the ecstasy of + prophecy, mysticism, poetry and the soul. This last is like a charioteer + driving a pair of horses, one white, the other black. It soars upwards to + the region of pure beauty, wisdom and goodness; but sometimes the white + horse, the spirited quality of human nature, is pulled down by the black, + which is sensual desire, so that the charioteer, Reason, cannot get a full + vision of the ideal world beyond all heavens. Those souls which have + partially seen the truth but have been dragged down by the black steed + become, according to the amount of Beauty they have seen, philosophers, + kings, economists, gymnasts, mystics, poets, journeymen, sophists or + tyrants. The vision once seen is never quite forgotten, for it can be + recovered by reminiscence, so that by exercise each man can recall some of + its glories. + </p> + <p> + The dialogue then passes to a discussion of good and bad writing and + speaking. The truth is the sole criterion of value, and this can be + obtained only by definition; next there must be orderly arrangement, a + beginning, a middle and an end. In rhetoric it is absolutely essential for + a man to study human nature first; he cannot hope to persuade an audience + if he is unaware of the laws of its psychology; not all speeches suit all + audiences. Further, writing is inferior to speaking, for the written word + is lifeless, the spoken is living and its author can be interrogated. It + follows then that orators are of all men the most important because of the + power they wield; they will be potent for destruction unless they love the + truth and understand human nature; in short, they must be philosophers. + </p> + <p> + The like of this had nowhere been said before. It opened a new world to + human speculation. First, the teaching about oratory is of the highest + value. Plato's quarrel with the sophists was based on their total + ignorance of the enormous power they exercised for evil, because they knew + not what they were doing. They professed to teach men how to speak well, + but had no conception of the science upon which the art of oratory rests. + In short, they were sheer impostors. Even Aristotle had nothing to add to + this doctrine in his treatise on <i>Rhetoric</i>, which contains a study + of the effects which certain oratorical devices could be prophesied to + produce, and provides the requisite scientific foundation. Again, the + indifference to or the ridicule of truth shown by some sophists made them + odious to Plato. He would have none of their doctrines of relativity or + flux. Nothing short of the Absolute would satisfy his soaring spirit. He + was sick of the change in phenomena, the tangible and material objects of + sense. He found permanence in a world of eternal ideas. These ideas are + the essence of Platonism. They are his term for universal concepts, + classes; there are single tangible trees innumerable, but one Ideal Tree + only in the Ideal world beyond the heavens. Nothing can possibly satisfy + the soul but these unchanging and permanent concepts; it is among them + that it finds its true home. Lastly, the tripartite division of the nature + of the soul here first indicated is a permanent contribution to + philosophy. Thus Plato's system is definitely launched in the <i>Phaedrus</i>. + His subsequent dialogues show how he fitted out the hulk to sail on his + voyages of discovery. + </p> + <p> + The <i>Meno</i> is a rediscussion on Platonic principles of the problem of + the <i>Protagoras</i>: can virtue be taught? Meno, a general in the army + of the famous Ten Thousand, attempts a definition of virtue itself, the + principle that underlies specific kinds of virtues such as justice. After + a cross-examination he confesses his helplessness in a famous simile: + Socrates is like the torpedo-fish which benumbs all who touch it. Then the + real business begins. How do we learn anything at all? Socrates says by + Reminiscence, for the soul lived once in the presence of the ideal world; + when it enters the flesh it loses its knowledge, but gradually regains it. + This theory he dramatically illustrates by calling in a slave whom he + proves by means of a diagram to know something of geometry, though he + never learned it. Thus the great lesson of life is to practise the search + for knowledge—and if virtue is knowledge it will be teachable. + </p> + <p> + But the puzzle is, who are the teachers? Not the sophists, a discredited + class, nor the statesmen, who cannot teach their sons to follow them. + Virtue then, not being teachable, is probably not the result of knowledge, + but is imparted to men by a Divine Dispensation, just as poetry is. But + the origin of virtue will always be mysterious till its nature is + discovered beyond doubt. So Plato once more declares his dissatisfaction + with a Socratic tenet which identified virtue with knowledge. + </p> + <p> + The <i>Phaedo</i> describes Socrates' discussion of the immortality of the + soul on his last day on earth. Reminiscence of Ideas proves pre-existence, + as in the <i>Meno</i>; the Ideas are similarly used to prove a continued + existence after death, for the soul has in it an immortal principle which + is the exact contrary of mortality; the Idea of Death cannot exist in a + thing whose central Idea is life. Such in brief is Socrates' proof. To us + it is singularly unconvincing, as it looks like a begging of the whole + question. Yet Plato argues in his technical language as most men do + concerning this all-important and difficult question. That which contains + within itself the notion of immortality would seem to be too noble to have + been created merely to die. The very presence of a desire to realise + eternal truth is a strong presumption that there must be something to + correspond with it. The most interesting portion of this well-known + dialogue is that which teaches that life is really an exercise for death. + All the base and low desires which haunt us should be gradually eliminated + and replaced by a longing for better things. The true philosopher at any + rate so trains himself that when his hour comes he greets death with a + smile, the life on earth having lost its attractions. + </p> + <p> + Such is the connection between the <i>Meno</i> and the <i>Phaedo</i>; the + life that was before and the life that shall be hereafter depend upon the + Ideal world. That salvation is in this life and in the practical sphere of + human government is possible only through a knowledge of these Ideas is + the doctrine of the immortal <i>Republic</i>. This great work in ten books + is well known, but its unique value is not always recognised. It starts + with a discussion of Justice. Thrasymachus, a brazen fellow like Callicles + in the <i>Gorgias</i>, argues that Justice is the interest of the stronger + and that law and morality are mere conventions. The implications of this + doctrine are of supreme importance. If Justice is frank despotism, then + the Eastern type of civilisation is the best, wherein custom has once for + all fixed the right of the despot to grind down the population, while the + sole duty of the latter is to pay taxes. The moral reformation of law + becomes impossible; no adjustment of an unchanging decree to the changing + and advancing standard of public morality can be contemplated; + constitutional development, legal reformation and the great process by + which Western peoples have tried gradually to make positive law correspond + with Ethical ideals are mere dreams. + </p> + <p> + But the verbal refutation of Thrasymachus does not satisfy Glaucus and + Adeimantus who are among Socrates' audience. In order to explain the real + nature of Justice, Socrates is compelled to trace from the very beginning + the process by which states have come into existence. Economic and + military needs are thoroughly discussed. The State cannot continue unless + there is created in it a class whose sole business it is to govern. This + class is to be produced by communistic methods; the best men and women are + to be tested and chosen as parents, their children being taken and + carefully trained apart for their high office. This training will be + administered to the three component parts of the soul, the rational, the + spirited and the appetitive, while the educational curriculum will be + divided into two sections, Gymnastic for the body and Artistic for the + mind—the latter including all scientific, mathematical and literary + subjects. After a careful search, in this ideal state Justice, the + principle of harmony which keeps all classes of the community coherent, + will show itself in "doing one's own business". + </p> + <p> + Yet even this method of describing Justice is not satisfactory to Plato, + who was not content unless he started from the universal concepts of the + Ideal world. The second portion of the dialogue describes how knowledge is + gained. The mind discards the sensible and material world, advancing to + the Ideas themselves. Yet even these are insufficient, for they all are + interconnected and united to one great and architectonic Idea, that of the + Good; to this the soul must advance before its knowledge can be called + perfect. This is the scheme of education for the Guardians; the + philosophic contemplation of Ideas, however, should be deferred till they + are of mature age, for philosophy is dangerous in young men. Having + performed their warlike functions of defending the State, the Guardians + are to be sifted, those most capable of philosophic speculation being + employed as instructors of the others. Seen from the height of the Ideal + world, Justice again turns out to be the performance of one's own + particular duties. + </p> + <p> + This ideal society Plato admits to be a difficult aim for our weak human + nature; he stoutly maintains, however, that "a pattern of it is laid up in + heaven", man's true home. He mournfully grants that a declension from + excellence is often possible and describes how this rule of philosophers, + if established, would be expected to pass through oligarchy to democracy, + the worst form of all government, peopled by the democratic man whose soul + is at war with itself because it claims to do as it likes. The whole + dialogue ends in an admirable vision in which he teaches that man chose + his lot on earth in a preexisting state. + </p> + <p> + Such is a fragmentary description of this masterpiece. What is it all + about? First it is necessary to point out a serious misconception. Plato + is not here advocating universal communism; his state postulates a + money-making class and a labouring class also. Apart from the fact that he + explicitly mentions these and allows them private property, it would be + difficult to imagine that they are not rendered necessary by his very + description of Justice. Not all men are fit for government—and + therefore those who are governed must "do their particular business" for + which they are fitted; in some cases it is the rather mean business of + piling up fortunes. Communism is advocated as the only means of creating + first and then propagating the small Guardian caste. Nor again is the + caste rigid, for some of the children born of communistic intercourse will + be unfit for their position and will be degraded into the money-making or + property owning section. Communism to Plato is a high creed, too high for + everybody, fit only for the select and enlightened or teachable few. + </p> + <p> + Nor is the <i>Republic</i> an instance of Utopian theorising. It is a + criticism of contemporary Greek civilisation, intended to remove the + greatest practical difficulty in life. Man has tried all kinds of + governments and found none satisfactory. All have proved selfish and + faithless, governing for their own interests only. Kings, oligarchs, + democrats and mob-leaders have without exception regarded power as the + object to be attained because of the spoils of office. Political + leadership is thus a direct means of self-advancement, a temptation too + strong for weak human nature. As a well-known Labour leader hinted, five + thousand a year does not often come in men's way. There is only one way of + securing honest government and that is Plato's. A definite class must be + created who will exercise political power only, economic inclinations of + any sort disqualifying any of its members from taking office. The ruling + class should rule only, the money-making class make money only. In this + way no single section will tax the rest to fill its own pockets. The one + requisite is that these Guardians should be recognised as the fittest to + rule and receive the willing obedience of the rest. If any other sane plan + is available for preserving the governed from the incessant and rapacious + demands of tax-collectors, no record of it exists in literature. Practical + statesmanship of a high and original order is manifest in the <i>Republic</i>; + in England, where the official qualifications for governing are believed + to be equally existent in everybody whether trained or untrained in the + art of ruling, the <i>Republic</i>, if read at all, may be admired but is + sure to be misunderstood. + </p> + <p> + It seems that Plato's teaching at the Academy raised formidable criticism. + The next group of dialogues is marked by metaphysical teaching. The <i>Parmenides</i> + is a searching examination of the Ideas. If these are in a world apart, + they cannot easily be brought into connection with our world; a big thing + on earth and the Idea of Big will need another Idea to comprehend both. + Besides, Ideas in an independent existence will be beyond our ken and + their study will be impossible. Socrates' system betrays lack of + metaphysical practice; at most the Ideas should have been regarded as part + of a theory whose value should have been tested by results. This process + is exemplified by a discussion of the fundamental opposition between the + One and the infinite Many which are instances of it. + </p> + <p> + This criticism shows the advantage Plato enjoyed in making Socrates the + mouthpiece of his own speculations; he could criticise himself as it were + from without. He has put his finger on his own weak spot, the question + whether the Ideas are immanent or transcendent. The results of this + examination were adopted by the Aristotelian school, who suggested another + theory of Knowledge. + </p> + <p> + The <i>Philebus</i> discusses the question whether Pleasure or Knowledge + is the chief good. A metaphysical argument which follows that of the <i>Parmenides</i> + ends in the characteristic Greek distinction between the Finite and the + Infinite. Pleasure is infinite, because it can exist in greater or less + degree; there is a mixed life compounded of finite and infinite and there + is a creative faculty to which mind belongs. Pleasure is of two kinds; it + is sometimes mixed with pain, sometimes it is pure; the latter type alone + is worth cultivating and includes the pleasures of knowledge. Yet pleasure + is not an end, but only a means to it. It cannot therefore be the Good, + which is an end. Knowledge is at its best when it is dealing with the + eternal and immutable, but even then it is not self-sufficient—it + exists for the sake of something else, the good. This latter is + characterised by symmetry, proportion and truth. Knowledge resembles it + far more than even pure pleasure. + </p> + <p> + The <i>Theaetetus</i> discusses more fully the theory of knowledge. It + opens with a comparison of the Socratic method to midwifery; it delivers + the mind of the thoughts with which it is in travail. The first tentative + definition of knowledge is that it is sensation. This is in agreement with + the Protagorean doctrine that man is the measure of all things. Yet + sensation implies change, whereas we cannot help thinking that objects + retain their identity; if knowledge is sensation a pig has as good a claim + to be called the measure of all things as a man. Again, Protagoras has no + right to teach others if each man's sensations are a law unto him. Nor is + the Heracleitean doctrine much better which taught that all things are in + a state of flux. If nothing retains the same quality for two consecutive + moments it is impossible to have predication, and knowledge must be + hopeless. In fact, sensation is not man's function as a reasoning being, + but rather comparison. Neither is knowledge true opinion, for this at once + demands the demarcation of false opinion or error; the latter is negative, + and will be understood only when positive knowledge is determined. Perhaps + knowledge is true opinion plus reason; but it is difficult to decide what + is gained by adding "with reason", words which may mean either true + opinion or knowledge itself, thus involving either tautology or a begging + of the question. The dialogue at least has shown what knowledge is not. + </p> + <p> + Locke, Berkeley and Hume, the eighteenth century sensation philosophers, + were similarly refuted by Kant. The mind by its mere ability to compare + two things proves that it can have two concepts at least before it at the + same time, and can retain them for a longer period than a mere passing + sensation implies. Yet the problem of knowledge still remains as difficult + as Plato knew it to be. + </p> + <p> + "Is the Sophist the same as the Statesman and the Philosopher?" Such is + the question raised in the <i>Sophist</i>. Six definitions are suggested, + all unsatisfactory. The fixed characteristic of the Sophist is his seeming + to know everything without doing so; this definition leads straight to the + concept of false opinion, a thing whose object both is and is not. "That + which is not" provokes an inquiry into what is, Being. Dualism, Monism, + Materialism and Idealism are all discussed, the conclusion being that the + Sophist is a counterfeit of the Philosopher, a wilful impostor who makes + people contradict themselves by quibbling. + </p> + <p> + The <i>Politicus</i> carries on the discussion. In this dialogue we may + see the dying glories of Plato's genius. In his search for the true pastor + or king he separates the divine from the human leader; the true king alone + has scientific knowledge superior to law and written enactments which men + use when they fail to discover the real monarch. This scientific knowledge + of fixed and definite principles can come only from Education. A most + remarkable myth follows, which is practically the Greek version of the + Fall. The state of innocence is described as preceding a decline into + barbarism; a restoration can be effected only by a divine interposition + and by the growth of a study of art or by the influence of society. The + arts themselves are the children of a supernatural revelation. + </p> + <p> + The <i>Timaeus</i> and the long treatise the <i>Laws</i> criticise the + theories of the Republic. The former is full of world-speculations of a + most difficult kind, the latter admits the weakness of the Ideal State, + making concessions to inevitable human failings. + </p> + <p> + Though written in an early period, the <i>Apology</i> may form a fitting + end to these dialogues. Socrates was condemned on the charge of corrupting + the Athenian youth and for impiety. To most Athenians he must have been + not only not different from the Sophists he was never weary of exposing, + but the greatest Sophist of them all. He was unfortunate in his friends, + among whom were Critias the infamous tyrant and Alcibiades who sold the + great secret. The older men must have regarded with suspicion his + influence over the youth in a city which seemed to be losing all its + national virtues; many of them were personally aggrieved by his annoying + habit of exposing their ignorance. He was given a chance of escape by + acknowledging his fault and consenting to pay a small fine. Instead, he + proposed for himself the greatest honour his city could give any of her + benefactors, public maintenance in the town-hall. + </p> + <p> + His defence contains many superb passages and is a masterpiece of gentle + irony and subtle exposure of error. Its conclusion is masterly. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "At point of death men often prophesy. My prophecy to you, my + slayers, is that when I am gone you will have to face a far more + serious penalty than mine. You have killed me because you wish + to avoid giving an account of your lives. After me will come more + accusers of you and more severe. You cannot stop criticism except + by reforming yourselves. If death is a sleep, then to me it is + gain; if in the next world a man is delivered from unjust judges + and there meets with true judges, the journey is worth while. + There will be found all the heroes of old, slain by wicked + sentences; them I shall meet and compare my agonies with theirs. + Best of all, I shall be able to carry out my search into true and + false knowledge and shall find out the wise and the unwise. No + evil can happen to a virtuous man in life or in death. If my sons + when they grow up care about riches more than virtue, rebuke them + for thinking they are something when they are naught. My time has + come; we must separate. I go to death, you to life; which of the + two is better only God knows." +</pre> + <p> + Two lessons of supreme importance are to be learned from Plato. In the + first place he insists on credentials from the accepted teachers of a + nation. On examination most of them, like Gorgias, would be found + incapable of defining the subjects for the teaching of which they receive + money. The sole hope of a country is Education, for it alone can deliver + from ignorance, a slavery worse than death; the uneducated person is the + dupe of his own passions or prejudices and is the plaything of the horde + of impostors who beg for his vote at elections or stampede him into + strikes. + </p> + <p> + Again, the possibility of knowledge depends upon accurate definition and + the scientific comparisons of instances. These involve long and fatiguing + thought and very often the reward is scanty enough; no conclusion is + possible sometimes except that it is clear what a thing cannot be. The + human intelligence has learned a most valuable lesson when it has + recognised its own impotence at the outset of an inquiry and its own + limitations at the end thereof. Knowledge, Good, Justice, Immortality are + conceptions so mighty that our tiny minds have no compasses to set upon + them. Better far a distrust in ourselves than the somewhat impudent and + undoubtedly insistent claim to certitude advanced by the materialistic + apostles of modern non-humanitarianism. When questioned about the + ultimates all human knowledge must admit that it hangs upon the slender + thread of a theory or postulate. The student of philosophy is more honest + than others; he has the candour to confess the assumptions he makes before + he tries to think at all. + </p> + <p> + At times it must be admitted that Plato sounds very unreal. His faults are + clear enough. The dialogue form makes it very easy for him to invent + questions of such a nature that the answer he wants is the only one + possible. Again, his conclusions are often arrived at by methods or + arguments which are frankly inadmissible; in the earlier dialogues are + some very glaring instances of sheer logical worthlessness. Frequently the + whole theme of discussion is such that no modern philosopher could be + expected to approve of it. A supposed explanation of a difficulty is + sometimes afforded by a myth, splendid and poetical but not logically + valid. Inconsistencies can easily be pointed out in the vast compass of + his speculations. It remained for Aristotle to invent a genuine method of + sorting out a licit from an illicit type of argument. + </p> + <p> + These faults are serious. Against them must be placed some positive + excellences. Plato was one of the first to point out that there is a + problem; a question should be asked and an answer found if possible, for + we have no right to take things for granted. More than this, he was + everywhere searching for knowledge, ridding himself of prejudice, doing in + perfect honesty the most difficult of all things, the duty of thinking + clearly. These thoughts he has expressed in the greatest of all types of + Greek prose, a blend of poetic beauty with the precision of prose. + </p> + <p> + But Plato's praise is not that he is a philosopher so much as Philosophy + itself in poetic form. His great visions of the Eternal whence we spring, + his awe for the real King, the real Virtue, the real State "laid up in + Heaven" fill him with an inspired exaltation which lifts his readers to + the Heaven whence Platonism has descended. There are two main types of + men. One is content with the things of sense; using his powers of + observation and performing experiments he will become a Scientist; using + his powers of speculation he will become an Aristotelian philosopher; + putting his thoughts into simple and logical order, he will write good + prose. The other soars to the eternal principles behind this world, the + deathless forms or the general concepts which give concrete things their + existence. These perfect forms are the main study of the Artist, Poet, + Sculptor, whose work it is to give us comfort and pleasure unspeakable. So + long as man lives, he must have the perfection of beauty to gladden him, + especially if Science is going to test everything by the ruler or balance + or crucible. This love of Beauty is exactly Platonism. It has never died + yet. From Athens it spread to Alexandria, there to start up into fresh + life in the School of which Plotinus is the chief; its doctrines are + described for the English reader in Kingsley's <i>Hypatia</i>. It planted + its seed of mysticism in Christianity, with which it has most strange + affinities. At the Renaissance this mystic element caught the imagination + of northern Europe, notably Germany. Passing to England, it created at + Cambridge a School of Platonists, the issue of whose thought is evident in + the poetry of Coleridge and Wordsworth. Its last outburst has been the + Transcendental teaching of the nineteenth century, so curiously Greek and + non-Greek in its essence. + </p> + <p> + For there is in our nature that undying longing for communion with the + Divine which the mere thought of God stirs within us. Our true home is in + the great world where Truth is everything, that Truth which one day we, + like Plato, shall see face to face without any quailing. + </p> + <h3> + TRANSLATIONS: + </h3> + <p> + The version in 4 volumes by Jowett (Oxford) is the standard. It contains + good introductions. + </p> + <p> + The <i>Republic</i> has been translated by Davies and Vaughan. + </p> + <p> + Two volumes in the Loeb Series have appeared. + </p> + <p> + A new method of translation of Plato is needed. The text should be clearly + divided into sections; the steps of the argument should be indicated in a + skeleton outline. Until this is done study of Plato is likely to cause + much bewilderment. + </p> + <p> + <i>Plato and Platonism</i>, by Pater, is still the best interpretation of + the whole system. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + DEMOSTHENES + </h2> + <p> + One of the most disquieting facts that history teaches is the inability of + the most enlightened and patriotic men to "discern the signs of the + times". To us the collapse of the Greek city-states seems natural and + inevitable. Their constant bickerings and petty jealousies justly drew + down upon them the armed might of the ambitious and capable power which + destroyed them. Their fate may fill us with pity and our admiration for + those who fought in a losing cause may prejudice us against their + enslavers. But just as the Norman Conquest in the long run brought more + blessing than misery, so the downfall of the Greek commonwealths was the + first step to the conquering progress of the Greek type of civilisation + through the whole world. Our Harold, fighting manfully yet vainly against + an irresistible tendency, has his counterpart in the last defender of the + ancient liberties of Greece. + </p> + <p> + Demosthenes was born in 384 of a well-to-do business man who died eight + years later. The guardians whom he appointed appropriated the estate, + leaving Demosthenes and his sister in straitened circumstances. On coming + of age the young man brought a suit against his trustees in 363, of whom + Aphobus was the most fraudulent. Though he won the case, much of his + property was irretrievably lost. Nor were his first efforts at public + speaking prophetic of future greatness. His voice was thin, his demeanour + awkward, his speech indistinct; his style was laboured, being an obvious + blend of Thucydides with Isaeus, an old and practised pleader. Yet he was + ambitious and determined; he longed to copy the career of Pericles, the + noblest of Athenian statesmen. The stories of his self-imposed exercises + and their happy issue are well known; his days he spent in declaiming on + the sea-shore with pebbles in his mouth, his nights in copying and + recopying Thucydides; the speeches which have come down to us show clearly + the gradual evolution of the great style well worthy of the greatest of + all themes, national salvation. + </p> + <p> + It will be necessary to explain a convention of the Athenian law courts. A + litigant was obliged to plead his own case; if he was unable to compose + his own speech, he applied to some professional retailer of orations who + would write it for him. The art of these speech-writers was of varying + excellence. A first-class practitioner would not only discover the real or + the supposed facts of the dispute, he would divine the real character of + his client, and write the particular type of speech which would seem most + natural on such a person's lips. Considerable knowledge of human nature + was required in such an exciting and delicate profession, although the + author did not always succeed in concealing his identity. Demosthenes had + his share of this experience; he wrote for various customers speeches on + various subjects; one concerns a dowry dispute, another a claim for + compensation for damage caused by a water-course, another deals with an + adoption, another was written for a wealthy banker. Assault and battery, + ship-scuttling, undue influence of attractive females on the weaker sex, + maritime trickery of all kinds, citizen rights, are all treated in the + so-called private speeches, of which some are of considerable value as + illustrating legal or mercantile or social etiquette. + </p> + <p> + Public suits were of the same nature; the speeches were composed by one + person and delivered by another. Such are the speech against <i>Androtion</i> + for illegal practices, against <i>Timocrates</i> for embezzlement and the + important speech against <i>Aristocrates</i>, in which for the first time + Demosthenes seems to have become aware of the real designs of Macedonia. + The speech against the law of <i>Leptines</i>, delivered in 354 by + Demosthenes himself, is of value as displaying the gradual development of + his characteristic style; in it we have the voice and the words of the + same man, who is talking with a sense of responsibility about a + constitutional anomaly. + </p> + <p> + But for us the real Demosthenes is he who spoke on questions of State + policy. This subject alone can call out the best qualities in an orator as + distinct from a rhetorician; the tricks and bad arguments which are so + often employed to secure condemnation or acquittal in a law court are + inapplicable or undignified in a matter of vital national import. But + before the great enemy arose to threaten Greek liberty, it happened that + Fortune was kind enough to afford Demosthenes excellent practice in a + parliamentary discussion of two if not three questions of importance. + </p> + <p> + In 354 there was much talk of a possible war with Persia. Demosthenes + first addresses the sword-rattlers. "To the braggarts and jingoes I say + that it is not difficult—not even when we need sound advice—to + win a reputation for courage and to appear a clever speaker when danger is + very near. The really difficult duty is to show courage in danger and in + the council-chamber to give sounder advice than anybody else." His belief + was that war was not a certainty, but it would be better to revise the + whole naval system. A detailed scheme to assure the requisite number of + ships in fighting-trim follows, so sensible that it commands immediate + respect. The speaker estimates the wealth of Attica, maps it out into + divisions, each able to bear the expense of the warships assigned to it. + To a possible objection that it would be better to raise the money by + increased taxation he answers with the grim irony natural to him (he seems + to be utterly devoid of humour). + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "What you could raise at present is more ridiculous than if you + raised nothing at all. A hundred and twenty talents? What are they + to the twelve hundred camels which they say carry Persia's revenues?" +</pre> + <p> + He refuses to believe that a Greek mercenary army would fight against its + country, while the Thebans, who notoriously sided with Persia in 480, + would give much for an opportunity of redeeming this old sin against + Greece. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The rest of the Greeks, as long as they considered the Persian + their common enemy, had numerous blessings; but when they began to + regard him as their friend they experienced such woes as no man could + have invented for them even in his curses. Whom then Providence and + Destiny have shown useless as a friend and most advantageous as a foe, + shall we fear? Rather let us commit no injustice for our own sakes and + save the rest from commotion and strife." +</pre> + <p> + Such is the outline of the speech on the <i>Navy-boards</i>. Two years + later he displayed qualities of no mean order. Sparta and Thebes were + quarrelling for the leadership. Arcadia had revolted from Sparta, the + centre of the disaffection being <i>Megalopolis</i>; ambassadors from the + latter city and from Sparta begged Athenian aid. In the heat of the + excitement men's judgments were not to be trusted. "The difficulty of + giving sound advice is well known," says the orator. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "If a man tries to take a middle course and you have not the + patience to hear, he will win the approval of neither party but + will be maligned by both. If such a fate awaits me, I would rather + appear to be talking nonsense than allow any party to deceive you + into what I know is not your wisest policy." +</pre> + <p> + The question was, should Athens join Thebes or Sparta, both ancient foes? + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "I would like to ask those who say they hate either, whether they + hate the one for the sake of the other or for your sake. If for the + sake of the other party, then you can trust neither, for both are mad; + if for your sake, why do they try to strengthen one of these two + cities unduly? You can with perfect ease keep Thebes weak without + making Sparta strong, as I will prove. You will find that the main + cause of woe and ruin is unwillingness to act with simple honesty." +</pre> + <p> + After a rapid calculation of possibilities he suggests the following plan. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "War between Thebes and Sparta is certain. If Thebes is beaten to + the ground, as she deserves to be, Sparta will not be unduly powerful, + for these Arcadian neighbours will restore the balance; if Thebes + recovers and saves herself, she will still be weak if you ally + yourselves with Arcadia and protect her. It is expedient then in + every way neither to sacrifice Arcadia nor let that country imagine + that it survives through its own power or through any other power than + yours." +</pre> + <p> + The calm voice of the cool-headed statesman is everywhere audible in this + admirable little speech. + </p> + <p> + The power of discounting personal resentment and thinking soberly is + apparent in the speech for the <i>Freedom of Rhodes</i>, delivered about + this time. Rhodes had offended Athens by revolting in the Social war of + 357-5 with the help of the well-known Carian king Mausolus. For a time + that monarch had treated Rhodes well; later he overthrew the democracy and + placed the power in the hands of the oligarchs. When Queen Artemisia + succeeded to the throne of Caria the democrats begged Athens to aid them + in recovering their liberty. Deprecating passion of any kind, Demosthenes + points out the real question at issue. The record of the oligarchs is a + bad one; to overthrow the democracy they had won over some of the leading + citizens whom they banished when they had attained their object. Their + faithless conduct promised no hope of a firm alliance with Athens. The + Rhodian question was to be the acid test of her political creed. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Look at this fact, gentlemen. You have fought many a war against + both democracies and oligarchies, as you well know. But the real + object of these wars perhaps none of you considers. Against + democracies you fight for private grievances which cannot be settled + in public, or for territory or boundaries or for domination. Against + oligarchies you fight for none of these things, but for your + constitution and freedom. I would not hesitate to say that I consider + it more to your advantage should become democratic and fight you than + turn oligarchic and be your friends. I am certain that it would not + be difficult for you to make peace with freeconstitutions; with + oligarchies your friendship would not even be secure, for it is + impossible that they in their lust for power could cherish kindness + for a State whose policy is based on freedom of speech." + + "Even if we were to say that Rhodes richly deserves her sufferings, + this is the wrong time to gloat. Prosperous cities ought always to + show that they desire every good for the unfortunate, for the future + is dark to us all." +</pre> + <p> + His conclusion is this. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Any person who abandons the post assigned to him by his commander + you disfranchise and exclude from public life. Even so all who desert + the political tradition bequeathed you by your ancestors and turn + oligarchs you ought to banish from your Council. As it is you trust + politicians who you know for certain side with your country's enemies." +</pre> + <p> + These three speeches indicate plainly enough the kind of man who was soon + to make himself heard in a more important question. Instead of a frothy + and excitable harangue that might have been looked for in a warm-blooded + Southern orator we find a dignified and apparently cool-headed type of + speech based on sound sense, full of practical proposals, fearless, manly + and above all noble because it relies on righteousness. An intelligence of + no mean order has in each case discarded personal feeling and has pointed + out the one bed-rock fact which ought to be the foundation of a sound + policy. More than this; for the first time an Attic orator has + deliberately set to work to create a new type of prose, based on a cadence + and rhythm. This new language at times runs away with its inventor; + experience was to show him that in this matter as in all others the + consummate artist hides the art whereof he is master. + </p> + <p> + By 352 Greece had become aware that her liberties were to be threatened + not from the East, but from Macedonia. Trained in the Greek practice of + arms and diplomacy, her king Philip within seven years had created a + powerful military system. His first object was to obtain control of a + seaboard. In carrying out this policy he had to reduce Amphipolis on the + Strymon in Thrace, Olynthus in Chalcidice, and Athenian power centralised + in Potidaea, a little south of Olynthus, and on the other side of the Gulf + of Therma in Pydna and Methone. Pydna he secured in 357 by trickery; + Amphipolis had passed under his control through inexcusable Athenian + slackness earlier in the same year. Potidaea fell in 356 and Methone, the + last Athenian stronghold, in 353. Pagasae succumbed in 352; with it Philip + obtained absolute command of the sea-coast. + </p> + <p> + In the same year a Macedonian attempt to pass Thermopylae was met by + vigorous Athenian action; a strong force held the defile, preventing a + further advance southward. In the next year the Athenian pacifist party + was desirous of dropping further resistance. This policy caused the + delivery of the <i>First Philippic</i>. It is a stirring appeal to the + country to shake off its lethargy. Nothing but personal service would + enable her to recover the lost strongholds. "In my opinion," it says, "the + greatest compelling power that can move men is the disgrace of their + condition. Do you desire to stroll about asking one another for news? What + newer news do you want than that a Macedonian is warring down Athens? + Philip sick or Philip dead makes no difference to you. If he died you + would soon raise up for yourselves another Philip if you continue your + present policy." + </p> + <p> + With statesmanlike care Demosthenes makes concrete proposals for the + creation of a standing force of citizens ready to serve in the ranks; at + present their generals and captains are puppets for the pretty march-past + in the public square. He estimates the cost of upkeep and shows that it is + possible to maintain a force in perfect efficiency; he lays particular + stress on creating a base of operations in Macedonia itself, otherwise + fleets sailing north might be checked by trade winds. "Too late" is the + curse of Athenian action; a vacillating policy ruins every expedition. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Such a system was possible earlier, but now we are on the razor's + edge. In my opinion some god in utter shame at our history has + inspired Philip with his restlessness. If he had been content with + his conquests and annexations, some of you would be quite satisfied + with a position which would have branded our name with infamy and + cowardice; as it is, perhaps his unceasing aggressions and lust for + extension might spur you—unless you are utterly past redemption." +</pre> + <p> + He grimly refutes all those well-informed persons who "happen to know" + Philip's object—we had scores of them in our own late war. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Why, of course he is intoxicated at the magnitude of his successes + and builds castles in the air; but I am quite sure that he will + never choose a policy such that the most hopeless fools here are + likely to know what it is, for gossipers are hopeless fools." +</pre> + <p> + It should be remembered that these are the words of a young man of + thirty-four, unconnected with any party, yet capable of forming a sane + policy. That they are great words will be obvious to anyone who replaces + the name of Philip by that of his country's enemy; the result is startling + indeed. + </p> + <p> + The last and most formidable problem Philip had yet to solve, the + destruction of Olynthus, the centre of a great confederation of thirty-two + towns. Military work against it was begun in 349 and led at once to an + appeal to Athens for assistance. The pacifists and traitors were busy + intriguing for Philip; Demosthenes delivered three speeches for Olynthus. + The <i>First Olynthiac</i> sounds the right note. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The present crisis all but cries aloud saying that you must tackle + the problem your own selves if you have any concern for salvation. + The great privilege of a military autocrat, that he is his own + Cabinet, Commander-in-Chief, and Chancellor of the Exchequer, that + he is everywhere personally in service with his army, gives him an + enormous advantage for the speedy and timely performance of military + duties, but it makes him incapable of obtaining from Olynthus the + truce he longs for. Olynthus now knows she is fighting not for glory + or territory but to avoid ejection and slavery. She has before her + eyes his treatment of Amphipolis and Pydna. In a word, despotism is + a thing no free country can trust, especially if it is its neighbour." +</pre> + <p> + He warns his hearers that once Olynthus falls, there is nothing to hinder + Philip from marching straight on Athens. + </p> + <p> + A definite policy is then suggested. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Carping criticism is easy; any person can indulge in it; but only + a statesman can show what is to be done to meet a pressing difficulty. + I know well enough that if anything goes wrong you lose your tempers + not with the guilty persons, but with the last speaker. Yet for all + that, no thought of private safety will make me conceal what I believe + to be our soundest course of action." +</pre> + <p> + By a perfectly scandalous abuse, the surplus funds of the State Treasury + had been doled out to the poor to enable them to witness plays in the + theatre, on the understanding that the doles should cease if war expenses + had to be met. In time the lower orders came to consider the dole as their + right, backed by the demagogues refused to surrender it. This theatre-fund + Demosthenes did not yet venture to attack, for it was dangerous to do so. + He had no alternative but to propose additional taxes on the rich. He + concludes with an admirable peroration. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "You must all take a comprehensive view of these questions and + bear a hand in staving off the war into Macedonia. The rich must + spend a little of their possessions to enjoy the residue without + fear; the men of military age must gain their experience of war + in Philip's country and make themselves formidable defenders of + their own soil; the speakers must facilitate an enquiry into their + own conduct, that the citizen body may criticise their policy + according to the political situation at the moment. May the result + be good on every ground." +</pre> + <p> + The <i>Second Olynthiac</i> strikes a higher note, that of indignant + protest against the perfidy of Macedonian diplomacy. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "When a State is built on unanimity, when allies in a war find + their interests identical, men gladly labour together, bearing + their troubles and sticking to their task. But when a power like + Philip's is strong through greed and villainy, on the first pretext + or the slightest set-back the whole system is upset and dismembered. + Injustice and perjury and lies cannot win a solid power; they + survive for a brief and fleeting period and show many a blossom of + promise perhaps, but time finds them out; their leaves soon wither + away. Houses or ships need foundations of great strength; policies + require truth and righteousness as their origin and first principles. + Such are not to be found in Philip's career." +</pre> + <p> + A history of Macedonian progress shows the weak places in the system. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Success throws a veil over these at present, for prosperity shrouds + many a scandal. If he makes one false step, all his vices will come + into the clearest relief; this will soon become obvious under + Heaven's guidance, if you will only show some energy. As long as a + man is in health, he is unaware of his weaknesses, but when sickness + overtakes him, his whole constitution is upset. Cities and despots + are the same; while they are invading their neighbours their secret + evils are invisible, but when they are in the grip of an internal war + these weaknesses all become quite evident." +</pre> + <p> + An exhortation to personal service is succeeded by a protest against a + parochial view of politics which causes petty jealousies and paralyses + joint action. The whole State should take its turn at doing some war duty. + </p> + <p> + In the <i>Third Olynthiac</i> Demosthenes takes the bull by the horns. The + insane theatre-doles were sapping the revenues badly needed for financing + the fight for existence. Olynthus at last was aware of her danger; she + could be aided not by passing decrees, but by annulling some. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "I will tell you quite plainly I mean the laws about the + theatre-fund. When you have done that and when you make it safe + for your speakers to give you the best advice, then you may expect + somebody to propose what you all know is to your interest. The men + to repeal these laws are those who proposed them. It is unfair that + they who passed them should be popular for damaging the State while + a statesman who proposes a measure which would benefit us all should + be rewarded with public hatred. Before you have set this matter right + you cannot expect to find among you a superman who will violate these + laws with impunity or a fool who will run his head into a manifest + noose." +</pre> + <p> + With the same superb courage he tackles the demagogues who are the cause + of all the mischief. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Ever since the present type of orator has appeared who asks + anxiously, 'What do you want? What can I propose? What can I give + you?' the city's prestige has melted in compliment; the net result + is that these men have made their fortunes while the city is + disgraced." +</pre> + <p> + A bitter contrast shows how the earlier popular leaders made Athens + wealthy, dominant and respected; the modern sort had lost territory, spent + a mint of money on nothing, alienated good allies and raised up a trained + enemy. But there is one thing to their credit, they had whitewashed the + city walls, had repaired roads and fountains. And the trade of public + speaking is profitable. Some of the demagogues' houses are more splendid + than the public buildings; as individuals they have prospered in exact + proportion as the State is reduced to impotence. In fact, they have + secured control of the constitution; their system of bribery and + spoon-feeding has tamed the democracy and made it obedient to the hand. "I + should not be surprised," he continues, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "if my words bring me into greater trouble than the men who have + started these abuses. Freedom of speech on every subject before you + is not possible—I am surprised that you have not already howled me + down." +</pre> + <p> + The doles he compares to the snacks prescribed by doctors; they cannot + help keep a patient properly alive and will not allow him to die. Personal + service and an end of gratuities is insisted upon. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Without adding or taking away, only slightly altering our present + chaos, I have suggested a uniform scheme whereby each man can do + the duties fitted to his years and his opportunities. I have nowhere + proposed that you should divide the earnings of the workers among + the unemployable, nor that you should slack and amuse yourselves and + be reduced to beggary while somebody else is fighting for you—for + that is what is happening now." +</pre> + <p> + What a speech is here! Doles, interruptions of men who tell the truth, + organised democratic corruption, waste of public money on whitewash are + familiar to the unhappy British tax-payer. Where is our Demosthenes who + dare appeal to the electorate to sweep the system and its prospering + advocates back into the darkness? + </p> + <p> + Having captured Olynthus in 348 and razed it to the ground, Philip + attacked Euboea. A further advance was checked by a disgraceful peace + engineered by Philocrates and Aeschines in 346. The embassy which obtained + it was dodged by Philip until he had made the maximum of conquest; he had + excluded the Phocians from its scope, a people of primary importance + because they controlled Thermopylae, but a week after signing the peace he + had destroyed Phocian unity and usurped their place on the great Council + which met at Delphi. This evident attack on the liberty of southern Greece + raised a fever of excitement at Athens. The war-party clamoured for + instant action; strangely enough Demosthenes advised his city to observe + the peace. In contrast with his fiery audience he speaks with perfect + coolness and calm. He reviews the immediate past, explains the shameful + part played by an actor Neoptolemus who persuaded Athens to make the + peace, then realised all his property and went to live in Macedon; he + describes the good advice he gave them which they did not follow, and + bases his claim to speak not on any cleverness but on his + incorruptibility. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Our true interest reveals itself to me in its real outlines as I + judge the existing situation. But whenever a man throws a bribe + into the opposite scale it drags the reason after it; the corrupt + person will never afterwards have any true or sane judgment about + anything." +</pre> + <p> + In the present case the real point at issue is clear enough. It is a + question of fighting not Philip but the whole body of states who were + represented at the Delphic Council, for they would fly to arms at once if + Athens renounced <i>the Peace</i>; against such a combination she could + not survive, just as the Phocians could not cope with the combined attack + of Macedonia, Thessaly and Thebes, natural enemies united for a brief + moment to achieve a common end. After all, a seat on the Delphic Council + was a small matter; only fools would go to war for an unsubstantial + shadow. + </p> + <p> + Firmly planted in Greece itself, Philip started intriguing in + Peloponnesus, supporting Argos, Megalopolis and Messene against Sparta. An + embassy to these three cities headed by Demosthenes warned them of the + treacherous friendship. Returning to Athens in 344 he delivered his <i>Second + Philippi</i>, which contains an account of the speeches of the recent + tour. Philip acted while Athens talked. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The result is inevitable and perhaps reasonable; each of you + excels in that wherein you are most diligent—he in deeds, you + in words." +</pre> + <p> + Hence comes the intrigue against Sparta. He can dupe stupid people like + the Thebans, or the Peloponnesians; warning therefore is necessary. To the + latter he said:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "You now stare at Philip offering and promising things; if you + have any sense, pray you may never see him practising his tricks + and evasions. Cities have invented all kinds of protections and + safeguards such as stockades, walls, trenches—all of which are + made by hand and expensive. But men of sense have inherited from + Nature one defence, good and salutary—especially democrats against + despots—namely, mistrust. If you hold fast to this, you will never + come to serious harm. You hanker after liberty, I suppose. Cannot + you see that Philip's very title is the exact negation of it? Every + king or despot is a foe to freedom and an adversary of law. Beware + lest while seeking to be quit of a war you find a master." +</pre> + <p> + He then mentions the silly promises of advantages to come which induced + Athens to make the infamous Peace, and quotes the famous remark whereby + the traitor gang raised a laugh while in the act of selling their country. + "Demosthenes is naturally a sour and peevish fellow, for he drinks water." + Drawing their attention to this origin of all their trouble, he asks them + to remember their names—at the same time remarking that even if a + man deserved to die, punishment should be suspended if it meant loss and + ruin to the State. + </p> + <p> + The next three years saw various Macedonian aggressions, especially in + Thrace. That country on its eastern extremity formed the northern coast of + the Dardanelles, named the Chersonese, important as safeguarding the corn + supplies which passed through the Straits. It had been in the possession + of Miltiades, was lost in the Peloponnesian war and was partly recovered + by Timotheus in 863. Diopeithes had been sent there with a body of + colonists in 346. Establishing himself in possession, he took toll of + passing traders to safeguard them against pirates and had collided with + the Macedonian troops as they slowly advanced to the Narrows. Philip sent + a protest to Athens; in a lively debate <i>on the Chersonese</i> early in + 341 Demosthenes delivered a great speech. + </p> + <p> + First of all he shows that Diopeithes is really the one guarantee that + Philip will not attack Attica itself. In Thrace is a force which can do + great damage to Macedonian territory. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "But if it is once disbanded, what shall we do if Philip attacks the + Chersonese? Arraign Diopeithes, of course—but that will not improve + matters. Well then, send reinforcements from here—if the winds allow + us. Well, Philip will not attack—but there is nobody to guarantee + that." +</pre> + <p> + He suggests that Diopeithes should not be cast off but supported. Such a + plan will cost money, but it will be well spent for the sake of future + benefits. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "If some god were to guarantee that if Athens observes strict + neutrality, abandoning all her possessions, Philip would not attack + her, it would be a scandal, unworthy of you and your city's power + and past history to sacrifice the rest of Greece. I would rather die + than suggest such action." +</pre> + <p> + He then turns to the pacifists, pointing out that it is useless to expect + a peace if the enemy is bent on a war of extermination. None but fools + would wait till a foe admits he is actually fighting if his actions are + clearly hostile. The traitors who sell the city should be beaten to death, + for no State can overcome the foe outside till it has chastised the enemy + within. The record of Macedonian duplicity follows; the hectoring + insolence of Philip is easily explained; Athens is the only place in the + world in which freedom of speech exists; so prevalent is it that even + slaves and aliens possess it. Accordingly Philip has to stop the mouths of + other cities by giving them territory for a brief period, but Athens he + can rob of her colonies and be sure of getting praise from the + anti-national bribe-takers. He concludes with a striking and elevated + passage describing the genuine statesman. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Any man who to secure your real interests opposes your wishes and + never speaks to get applause but deliberately chooses politics as + his profession (a business in which chance exercises greater + influence than human reason), being perfectly ready to answer for + the caprices is a really brave and useful citizen. I have never had + recourse to the popular arts of winning favour; I have never used + low abuse or stooped to humour you or made rich men's money public; + I continue to tell you what is bound to make me unpopular among you + and yet advance your strength if only you will listen-so unenviable + is the counsellor's lot." +</pre> + <p> + A deep and splendid courage in hopelessness is here manifest. + </p> + <p> + A little later in the same year was delivered the last and greatest of all + the patriotic speeches, the <i>Third Philippic</i>. Early in the speech + the whole object of the Macedonian threat is made apparent—the + jugular veins of Athens, her trade-routes. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Any man who plots and intrigues to secure the means of my capture is + at war with me, even if he has not fired a shot. In the last event, + what are the danger-spots of Athens? The Hellespont, Megara and Euboea, + the Peloponnese. Am I to say then that a man who has fired this train + against Athens is at peace with her?" +</pre> + <p> + Then the plot against all Greek liberty is explained. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "We all recognise the common danger, but we never send embassies to + one another. We are in such a sorry plight, so great a gulf has been + fixed between cities by intrigue that we are incapable of doing what + is our duty and our interest; we cannot combine; we can make no + confederation of mutual friendship and assistance; we stare at the + man as he grows greater; each of us is determined to take advantage + of the time during which another is being ruined, never considering + or planning the salvation of Greece. Every one knows that Philip is + like a recurring plague or a fit of some malevolent disease which + attacks even those who seem to be out of his reach. Remember this; + all the indignities put on Greece by Sparta or ourselves were at least + the work of genuine sons of the land; they may be likened to the wild + oats of some heir to a great estate—if they were the excesses of some + slave or changeling we all would have considered them monstrous and + scandalous. But that is not our attitude to Philip and his diplomacy, + though he is not a Greek or a relation; rather he is not born even of + decent barbarian parents—he is a cursed wretch from Macedonia which + till recently could not supply even a respectable servant." +</pre> + <p> + The bitterness of this is intense in a man who generally refrains from + anything undignified in a public speech. + </p> + <p> + The cause of this disunion is bribery. In former times + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "it was impossible to buy from orators or generals knowledge of the + critical moment which fortune often gives to the careless against the + industrious. But now all our national virtues have been sold out of + the market; we have imported in their place the goods which have + tainted Greek life to the very death. These are—envy for every + bribe-taker, ridicule for any who confesses his guilt, hatred for + every one who exposes him. We have far more warships and soldiers and + revenue to-day, but they are all useless, unavailing and unprofitable + owing to treason." +</pre> + <p> + To punish these seems quite hopeless. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "You have sunk to the very depth of folly or craziness or I know not + what. Often I cannot help dreading that some evil angel is persecuting + us. For some ribaldry or petty spite or silly jest—in fact, for any + reason whatsoever you invite hirelings to address you, and laugh at + their scurrilities." +</pre> + <p> + He points to the fate of all the cities whom Philip flattered. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "In all of them the patriots advised increased taxation—the traitors + said it was not necessary. They advised war and distrust—the traitors + preached peace, till they were caught in the trap. The traitors made + speeches to get votes, the others spoke for national existence. In + many cases the masses listened to the pro-Macedonians not through + ignorance, but because their hearts failed them when they thought they + were beaten to their knees." +</pre> + <p> + The doom of these cities it was not worth while to describe overmuch. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "As long as the ship is safe, that is the time for every sailor and + their captain to be keen on his duties and to take precautions against + wilful or thoughtless upsetting of the craft. But once the sea is over + the decks, all zeal is vain. We then who are Athenians, while we are + safe with our great city, our enormous resources, our splendid + reputation—what shall we do?" +</pre> + <p> + The universal appeal of this white-hot speech is its most noteworthy + feature. The next year the disgraceful peace was ended, the free + theatre-tickets withdrawn. All was vain. In 338 Athens and Thebes were + defeated at Chaeroneia; the Cassandra prophecies of the great patriot came + true. In 330 one more triumph was allowed him. He was attacked by the + traitor Aeschines and answered him so effectively in his speech <i>on the + Crown</i> that his adversary was banished. A cloud settled over the + orator's later life; he outlived Alexander by little more than a year, but + when Antipater hopelessly defeated the allies at Crannon in 322 he + poisoned himself rather than live in slavery. + </p> + <p> + Of all the orators of the ancient world none is more suitable for modern + use than Demosthenes. It is true that he is guilty of gross bad taste in + some of his speeches—but rarely in a parliamentary oration. Cicero + is too verbose and often insincere. Demosthenes is as a rule short, terse + and forcible. It is the undoubted justice of his cause which gives him his + lofty and noble style. He lacks the gentler touch of humour—but a + man cannot jest when he sees servitude before the country he loves. With a + few necessary alterations a speech of Demosthenes could easily be + delivered to-day, and it would be successful. Even Philip is said to have + admitted that he would have voted for him after hearing him, and Aeschines + after winning applause for declaiming part of Demosthenes' speech told his + audience that they ought to have heard the beast. + </p> + <p> + Yet all this splendid eloquence seems to have been wasted. The orator + could see much that was dark to his contemporaries, and spoke prophecies + true though vain. But the greatest thing of all was concealed from his + view. The inevitable day had dawned for the genuinely Greek type of city. + It was brilliant but it was a source of eternal divisions in a world which + had to be unified to be of any service. Its absurd factions and petty + leagues were really a hindrance to political stability. Further, the + essential vices of democracy cried aloud for a stern master, and found + him. Treason, bribery, appeals to an unqualified voting class, theft of + rich men's property under legal forms, free seats in the theatre, + belittlement of a great empire, pacifism, love of every state but the + right one—these are the open sores of popular control. For such a + society only one choice is possible; it needs discipline either of + national service or national extinction. Its crazy cranks will not + disappear otherwise. Modern political life is democratic; those who + imagine that the voice of the majority is the voice of Heaven should + produce reasons for their belief. They will find it difficult to hold such + a view if they will patiently consider the hard facts of history and the + unceasing warnings of Demosthenes. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + No account of Greek literature would be complete without a mention of the + influence which has revolutionised human thought. It is a strange + coincidence that Aristotle was born and died in the same years as + Demosthenes. His native town was Stagira; he trained Alexander the Great, + presided over the very famous Peripatetic School at Athens for thirteen + years and found time to investigate practically every subject of which an + ancient Greek could be expected to have any knowledge. + </p> + <p> + His method was the slow and very patient observation of individual facts. + He is the complement of Plato, who tended to neglect the fact for the + "idea" or general law or type behind it and logically prior to it. + Deductive reasoning was Plato's method—that of the poet or great + artist, who worships not what he sees but the unseen perfect form behind; + inductive reasoning was Aristotle's method—that of the ordinary man, + who respects what he sees that he may by patience find out what is the + unseen class to which it belongs. This latter has been the + foundation-stone of all modern science; in the main the resemblance + between Aristotle's system of procedure and that of the greatest + liberators of the human mind, Bacon and Descartes, are more valuable than + the differences. + </p> + <p> + It would be difficult to mention any really great subject on which + Aristotle has not left some work which is not to be lightly disregarded. + His works are in the form of disjointed notes, taken down at his lectures + by his disciples. As a rule they are dry and precise, though here and + there rays of glory appear which prove that the master was capable of + poetic expression even in prose. A rather fine hymn has been ascribed to + him. As we might expect, he is weakest in scientific research, mainly + because he could not command the use of instruments familiar to us. That a + human being who possessed no microscope should have left such a detailed + account of the most minute marks on the bodies of fish and animals is an + absolute marvel; so perfect is his description that it cannot be bettered + to-day. Cuvier and Linnaeus are great names in Botany; Darwin said that + they were mere schoolboys compared with Aristotle—in other words, + botanical research had progressed thewrong way. + </p> + <p> + Many works have appeared on Ethics and Philosophy; few of them are likely + to survive as long as Aristotle's <i>Ethics</i> and <i>Metaphysics</i> + Sometimes our modern philosophers seem to forget their obligation to + resemble human beings in their writings. We hear so much of mist and + transcendentalism, problems, theories, essays, critiques that a book of + Aristotle's dry but exact definition seems like the words of soberness + after some nightmare. The man is not assaulting the air; his feet are on + firm ground. This is how he proceeds. "Virtue is a mean between excess and + defect." In fact, his object appears to have been to teach something, not + to mystify everybody and to cover the honourable name of philosophy with + ridicule. + </p> + <p> + It is the same story everywhere. Do we want the best book on <i>Rhetoric</i> + or <i>Politics</i>? Aristotle may supply it, mainly because he took the + trouble to classify his instances and show the reason why things not only + are of such a kind, but must inevitably be so. A course of Aristotelian + study might profitably be prescribed to every person who thinks of talking + in public; he would at least learn how to respect himself and his + audience, however ignorant and powerful it may be; he would tend to use + words in an exact sense instead of indulging in the wild vagueness of + speech which is so common and so dangerous. This dry-as-dust philosopher + who cut up animals and plants and wrote about public speeches and + constitutions found time to give the world a book on Poetry. Modern scientists + sometimes deny their belief in the existence of such a thing as poetry, or + scoff at its value; no poetic treatise has yet appeared from them, for it + seems difficult for modern science to keep alive in its devotees the + weakest glimmerings of a sense of beauty. Herein their great founder and + father shows himself to be more humane than his so-called progressive + children. His <i>Poetics</i> was the foundation of literary criticism and + shows no sign of being superseded. + </p> + <p> + Turning his eyes upwards, he gave the world a series of notes on what he + saw there. Not possessing a telescope, he could but do his best with the + methods available. Let us not jeer at his results; rather let us remember + that this same astronomer found time to observe the heavens in addition to + revolutionising thought in the brief compass of sixty-two years. + </p> + <p> + For the miracle of miracles is this man's universality of outlook. It + makes us ashamed of our own pretentiousness and swollen-headed pride when + we reflect what this great architectonic genius has performed. Just as our + bodies have decreased in size with the progress of history, so our + intelligences seem to have narrowed themselves since Aristotle's day. + Great as our modern scientists are, there is not one of them who would be + capable of writing an acknowledged masterpiece on Ethics, Politics, + Rhetoric, Poetry, Metaphysics as well as on his own subject. + </p> + <p> + Nor have we yet mentioned this stupendous thinker's full claim to absolute + predominance in intellectual effort. His works on Medicine were known to + and appreciated by the Arabs, who translated them and brought them to + Spain and Sicily when they conquered those countries. Averroes commented + on them and added notes of his own which contributed not a little to the + development of the healing art. More than this, and greatest of all, + during the later Middle Ages Aristotle's system alone was recognised as + possessing universal value; it was taken as the foundation on which the + most famous and important Schoolmen erected their philosophies—Chaucer + mentions a clerk who possessed twenty books, a treasure indeed in those + days; it provided a European Church with a Theology and the cosmopolitan + European Universities with a curriculum. Greater honour than this no man + ever had or ever can have. Thus, although the Greek city-state seemed to + perish in mockery with Demosthenes, yet the Greek spirit of free + discussion which died in the great orator was set free in another form in + that same year; leaving Aristotle's body, it ranged through the world + conquering and civilising. If in our ignorance and bigotry we try to kill + Greek literature, we shall find that, like the hero of the <i>Bacchae</i>, + we are turning our blows against our own selves, to the delight of all who + relish exhibitions of perfect folly. + </p> + <h3> + TRANSLATIONS: + </h3> + <p> + Kennedy's edition is the best. It is vigorous and reads almost like an + English work. + </p> + <p> + Butcher's <i>Demosthenes</i> is the standard introduction to the speeches. + </p> + <p> + Many reminiscences of Demosthenes are to be found in the speeches of Lord + Brougham. + </p> + <h3> + ARISTOTLE + </h3> + <p> + <i>Politics</i>. Jowett (Oxford). Welldon (Macmillan). + </p> + <p> + <i>Poetics</i>. Butcher (Macmillan). Bywater (Oxford). + </p> + <p> + Both contain excellent commentaries and notes. + </p> + <p> + <i>Ethics</i>. Welldon. + </p> + <p> + <i>Rhetoric</i>. Welldon. (Contains valuable analysis and notes.) + </p> + <p> + The article on Greek Science in the <i>Legacy of Greece</i> (Oxford) + should not be omitted. + </p> + <div style="height: 6em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Authors of Greece, by T. W. 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Lumb + +Commentator: Cyril Alington + + +Release Date: May, 2005 [EBook #8115] +This file was first posted on June 15, 2003 +Last Updated: May 17, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUTHORS OF GREECE *** + + + + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Marc D'Hooghe, Charles Franks, and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + + + +AUTHORS OF GREECE + +By the Reverend T. W. LUMB, M.A. + +With an Introduction by + +The Reverend CYRIL ALINGTON, D.D. + + + + +AUTHOR'S PREFACE + + +Greek literature is more modern in its tone than Latin or Medieval or +Elizabethan. It is the expression of a society living in an environment +singularly like our own, mainly democratic, filled with a spirit of free +inquiry, troubled by obstinate feuds and still more obstinate problems. +Militarism, nationalism, socialism and communism were well known, the +preachers of some of these doctrines being loud, ignorant and popular. +The defence of a maritime empire against a military oligarchy was twice +attempted by the most quick-witted people in history, who failed to save +themselves on both occasions. Antecedently then we might expect to find +some lessons of value in the record of a people whose experiences were +like our own. + +Further, human thought as expressed in literature is not an unconnected +series of phases; it is one and indivisible. Neglect of either ancient +or modern culture cannot but be a maiming of that great body of +knowledge to which every human being has free access. No man can be +anything but ridiculous who claims to judge European literature while +he knows nothing of the foundations on which it is built. Neither is it +true to say that the ancient world was different from ours. Human nature +at any rate was the same then as it is now, and human character ought to +be the primary object of study. The strange belief that we have somehow +changed for the better has been strong enough to survive the most +devilish war in history, but few hold it who are familiar with the +classics. + +Yet in spite of its obvious value Greek literature has been damned and +banned in our enlightened age by some whose sole qualification for the +office of critic often turns out to be a mental darkness about it so +deep that, like that of Egypt, it can be felt. Only those who know Greek +literature have any right to talk about its powers of survival. The +following pages try to show that it is not dead yet, for it has a +distinct message to deliver. The skill with which these neglected +liberators of the human mind united depth of thought with perfection of +form entitles them at least to be heard with patience. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +AUTHOR'S PREFACE. + +HOMER + +AESCHYLUS + +SOPHOCLES + +EURIPIDES + +ARISTOPHANES + +HERODOTUS + +THUCYDIDES + +PLATO + +DEMOSTHENES + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +I count it an honour to have been asked to write a short introduction to +this book. My only claim to do so is a profound belief in the doctrine +which it advocates, that Greek literature can never die and that it has +a clear and obvious message for us to-day. Those who sat, as I did, on +the recent Committee appointed by Mr. Lloyd George when Prime Minister +to report on the position of the classics in this country, saw good +reason to hope that the prejudice against Greek to which the author +alludes in his preface was passing away: it is a strange piece of irony +that it should ever have been encouraged in the name of Science which +owes to the Greeks so incalculable a debt. We found that, though there +are many parts of the country in which it is almost impossible for a +boy, however great his literary promise, to be taught Greek, there is a +growing readiness to recognise this state of affairs as a scandal, and +wherever Greek was taught, whether to girls or boys, we found a growing +recognition of its supreme literary value. There were some at least of +us who saw with pleasure that where only one classical language can be +studied there is an increasing readiness to regard Greek as a possible +alternative to Latin. + +On this last point, no doubt, classical scholars will continue to +differ, but as to the supreme excellence of the Greek contribution to +literature there can be no difference of opinion. Those to whom the +names of this volume recall some of the happiest hours they have spent +in literary study will be grateful to Mr. Lumb for helping others to +share the pleasures which they have so richly enjoyed; he writes with +an enthusiasm which is infectious, and those to whom his book comes as +a first introduction to the great writers of Greece will be moved to +try to learn more of men whose works after so many centuries inspire so +genuine an affection and teach lessons so modern. They need have no +fear that they will be disappointed, for Mr. Lumb's zeal is based on +knowledge. I hope that this book will be the means of leading many to +appreciate what has been done for the world by the most amazing of all +its cities, and some at least to determine that they will investigate +its treasures for themselves. They will find like the Queen of Sheba +that, though much has been told them, the half remains untold. + +C. A. ALINGTON. + + + + + +HOMER + + +Greek literature opens with a problem of the first magnitude. Two +splendid Epics have been preserved which are ascribed to "Homer", yet +few would agree that Homer wrote them both. Many authorities have denied +altogether that such a person ever existed; it seems certain that he +could not have been the author of both the _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_, +for the latter describes a far more advanced state of society; it is +still an undecided question whether the _Iliad_ was written in Europe +or in Asia, but the probability is that the _Odyssey_ is of European +origin; the date of the poems it is very difficult to gauge, though +the best authorities place it somewhere in the eighth century B.C. +Fortunately these difficulties do not interfere with our enjoyment of +the two poems; if there were two Homers, we may be grateful to Nature +for bestowing her favours so liberally upon us; if Homer never existed +at all, but is a mere nickname for a class of singer, the literary +fraud that has been perpetrated is no more serious than that which has +assigned Apocalyptic visions of different ages to Daniel. Perhaps the +Homeric poems are the growth of many generations, like the English +parish churches; they resemble them as being examples of the exquisite +effects which may be produced when the loving care and the reverence of +a whole people blend together in different ages pieces of artistic work +whose authors have been content to remain unnamed. + +It is of some importance to remember that the Iliad is not the story of +the whole Trojan war, but only of a very small episode which was worked +out in four days. The real theme is the Wrath of Achilles. In the tenth +year of the siege the Greeks had captured a town called Chryse. Among +the captives were two maidens, one Chryseis, the daughter of Chryses, a +priest of Apollo, the other Briseis; the former had fallen to the lot +of Agamemnon, the King of the Greek host, the latter to Achilles his +bravest follower. Chryses, father of Chryseis, went to Agamemnon to +ransom his daughter, but was treated with contumely; accordingly he +prayed to the god to avenge him and was answered, for Apollo sent a +pestilence upon the Greeks which raged for nine days, destroying man and +beast. On the tenth day the chieftains held a counsel to discover the +cause of the malady. At it Chalcas the seer before revealing the truth +obtained the promise of Achilles' protection; when Agamemnon learned +that he was to ransom his captive, his anger burst out against the seer +and he demanded another prize in return. Achilles upbraided his greed, +begging him to wait till Troy was taken, when he would be rewarded +fourfold. Agamemnon in reply threatened to take Achilles' captive +Briseis, at the same time describing his follower's character. "Thou +art the most hateful to me of all Kings sprung of Zeus, for thou lovest +alway strife and wars and battles. Mighty though thou art, thy might is +the gift of some god. Briseis I will take, that thou mayest know how +far stronger I am than thou, and that another may shrink from deeming +himself my equal, rivalling me to my face." At this insult Achilles half +drew his sword to slay the King, but was checked by Pallas Athena, who +bade him confine his resentment to taunts, for the time would come when +Agamemnon would offer him splendid gifts to atone for the wrong. Obeying +the goddess Achilles reviled his foe, swearing a solemn oath that he +would not help the Greeks when Hector swept them away. In vain did +Nestor, the wise old counsellor who had seen two generations of heroes, +try to make up the quarrel, beseeching Agamemnon not to outrage his best +warrior and Achilles not to contend with his leader. The meeting broke +up; Achilles departed to his huts, whence the heralds in obedience to +Agamemnon speedily carried away Briseis. + +Going down to the sea-shore Achilles called upon Thetis his mother to +whom he told the story of his ill-treatment. In deep pity for his fate +(for he was born to a life of a short span), she promised that she +would appeal to Zeus to help him to his revenge; she had saved Zeus from +destruction by summoning the hundred-armed Briareus to check a revolt +among the gods against Zeus' authority. For the moment the king of the +gods was absent in Aethiopia; when he returned to Olympus on the twelfth +day she would win him over. Ascending to heaven, she obtained the +promise of Zeus' assistance, not without raising the suspicions of Zeus' +jealous consort Hera; a quarrel between them was averted by their son +Hephaestus, whose ungainly performance of the duties of cupbearer to the +Immortals made them forget all resentments in laughter unquenchable. + +True to his promise Zeus sent a dream to Agamemnon to assure him that he +would at last take Troy. The latter determined to summon an Assembly of +the host. In it the changeable temper of the Greeks is vividly pictured. +First Agamemnon told how he had the promise of immediate triumph; when +the army eagerly called for battle, he spoke yet again describing their +long years of toil and advising them to break up the siege and fly home, +for Troy was not to be taken. This speech was welcomed with even greater +enthusiasm than the other, the warriors rushing down to the shore to +launch away. Aghast at the coming failure of the enterprise Athena +stirred up Odysseus to check the mad impulse. Taking from Agamemnon his +royal sceptre as the sign of authority, he pleaded with chieftains +and their warriors, telling them that it was not for them to know the +counsel in the hearts of Kings. + + "We are not all Kings to bear rule here. 'Tis not good to have many + Lords; let there be one Lord, one King, to whom the crooked-counselling + son of Cronos hath given the rule." + +Thus did Odysseus stop the flight, bringing to reason all save +Thersites, "whose heart was full of much unseemly wit, who talked rashly +and unruly, striving with Kings, saying what he deemed would make the +Achaeans smile". + +He continued his chatter, bidding the Greeks persist in their homeward +flight. Knowing that argument with such an one was vain, Odysseus laid +his sceptre across his back with such heartiness that a fiery weal +started up beneath the stroke. The host praised the act, the best of the +many good deeds that Odysseus had done before Troy. + +When the Assembly was stilled, Odysseus and Nestor and Agamemnon told +the plan of action; the dream bade them arm for a mighty conflict, +for the end could not be far off, the ten years' siege that had been +prophesied being all but completed. The names of the various chieftains +and the numbers of their ships are found in the famous catalogue, a +document which the Greeks treasured as evidence of united action against +a common foe. With equal eagerness the Trojans poured from their town +commanded by Hector; their host too has received from Homer the glory of +an everlasting memory in a detailed catalogue. + +Literary skill of a high order has brought upon the scene as quickly as +possible the chief figures of the poem. When the armies were about +to meet, Paris, seeing Menelaus whom he had wronged, shrank from the +combat. On being upbraided by Hector who called him "a joy to his +foes and a disgrace to himself", Paris was stung to an act of courage. +Hector's heart was as unwearied as an axe, his spirit knew not fear; yet +beauty too was a gift of the gods, not to be cast away. Let him be set +to fight Menelaus in single combat for Helen and her wealth; let an oath +be made between the two armies to abide by the result of the fight, +that both peoples might end the war and live in peace. Overjoyed, +Hector called to the Greeks telling them of Paris' offer, which Menelaus +accepted. The armies sat down to witness the fight, while Hector sent to +Troy to fetch Priam to ratify the treaty. + +In Troy the elders were seated on the wall to watch the conflict, Priam +among them. Warned by Iris, Helen came forth to witness the single +combat. As she moved among them the elders bore their testimony to her +beauty; its nature is suggested but not described, for the poet felt he +was unable to paint her as she was. + + "Little wonder," they exclaimed, "that the Trojans and Achaeans + should suffer woe for many a year for such a woman. She is marvellous + like the goddesses to behold; yet albeit she is so fair let her depart + in the ships, leaving us and our little ones no trouble to come." + +Seeing her, Priam bade her sit by him and tell the names of the Greek +leaders as they passed before his eyes. Agamemnon she knew by his royal +bearing, Odysseus who moved along the ranks like a ram she marked out +as the master of craft and deep counsel. Hearing her words, Antenor bore +his witness to their truth, for once Odysseus had come with Menelaus to +Troy on an embassy. + + "When they stood up Menelaus was taller, when they sat down Odysseus + was more stately. But when they spake, Menelaus' words were fluent, + clear but few; Odysseus when he spoke, fixed his eyes on the ground, + turning his sceptre neither backwards nor forward, standing still + like a man devoid of wit; one would have deemed him a churl and a very + fool; yet when he sent forth his mighty voice from his breast in words + as many as the snowflakes, no other man could compare with him." + +Helen pointed out Ajax and Idomeneus and others, yet could not see her +two brothers, Castor and Pollux; either they had not come from her home +in Sparta, or they had refused to fight, fearing the shame and reproach +of her name. "So she spake, yet the life-giving earth covered them +there, even in Sparta, their native land." + +When the news came to Priam of the combat arranged between Paris and +Menelaus, the old King shuddered for his son, yet he went out to confirm +the compact. Feeling he could not look upon the fight, he returned to +the city. Meanwhile Hector had cast lots to decide which of the two +should first hurl his spear. Paris failed to wound his enemy, but +Menelaus' dart pierced Paris' armour; he followed it up with a blow of +his sword which shivered to pieces in his hand. He then caught Paris' +helmet and dragged him off towards the Greek army; but Aphrodite saved +her favourite, for she loosed the chin-strap and bore Paris back to +Helen in Troy. Menelaus in vain looked for him among the Trojans who +were fain to see an end of him, "and would not have hidden him if +they had seen him". Agamemnon then declared his brother the victor and +demanded the fulfilment of the treaty. + +Such an end to the siege did not content Hera, whose anger against the +Trojans was such that she could have "devoured raw Priam and his sons". +With Zeus' consent she sent down Pallas Athena to confound the treaty. +Descending like some brilliant and baleful star the goddess assumed the +shape of Laodocus and sought out the archer Pandarus. Him she tempted +to shoot privily at Menelaus to gain the favour of Paris. While his +companions held their shields in front of him the archer launched a +shaft at his victim, but Athena turned it aside so that it merely grazed +his body, drawing blood. Seeing his brother wounded Agamemnon ran to +him, to prophesy the certain doom of the treaty breakers. + + "Not in vain did we shed the blood of compact and offer the pledges + of a treaty. Though Zeus hath not fulfilled it now, yet he will at + last and they will pay dear with their lives, they, their wives and + children. Well I know in my heart that the day will come when sacred + Troy will perish and Priam and his folk; Zeus himself throned on high + dwelling in the clear sky will shake against them all his dark aegis + in anger for this deceit." + +While the leeches drew out the arrow from the wound, Agamemnon went +round the host with words of encouragement or chiding to stir them up +to the righteous conflict. They rushed on to battle to be met by the +Trojans whose host + + "knew not one voice or one speech; their language was mixed, for they + were men called from many lands." + +In the fight Diomedes, though at first wounded by Pandarus, speedily +returned refreshed and strengthened by Athena. His great deeds drew upon +him Pandarus and Aeneas, the son of Aphrodite and the future founder +of Rome's greatness. Diomedes quickly slew Pandarus and when Aeneas +bestrode his friend's body, hurled at him a mighty stone which laid him +low. Afraid of her son Aphrodite cast her arms about him and shrouded +him in her robe. Knowing that she was but a weak goddess Diomedes +attacked her, wounding her in the hand. Dropping her son, she fled +to Ares who was watching the battle and besought him to lend her his +chariot, wherein she fled back to Olympus. There her mother Dione +comforted her with the story of the woes which other gods had suffered +from mortals. + + "But this man hath been set upon thee by Athena. Foolish one, he + knoweth not in his heart that no man liveth long who fighteth with + the gods; no children lisp 'father' at his knees when he returneth + from war and dread conflict. Therefore, albeit he is so mighty, let + him take heed lest a better than thou meet him, for one day his + prudent wife shall wail in her sleep awaking all her house, bereft + of her lord, the best man of the Achaeans." + +But Athena in irony deemed that Aphrodite had been scratched by some +Greek woman whom she caressed to tempt her to forsake her husband and +follow one of the Trojans she loved. + +Aeneas when dropped by his mother had been picked up by Apollo; when +Diomedes attacked the god, he was warned that battle with an immortal +was not like man's warfare. Stirred by Apollo, Ares himself came to +the aid of the Trojans, inspiring Sarpedon the Lycian to hearten his +comrades, who were shortly gladdened by the return of Aeneas whom Apollo +had healed. At the sight of Ares and Apollo fighting for Troy Hera and +Athena came down to battle for the Greeks; they found Diomedes on the +skirts of the host, cooling the wound Pandarus had inflicted. Entering +his chariot by his side, Athena fired him to meet Ares and drive him +wounded back to Olympus, where he found but little compassion from Zeus. +The two goddesses then left the mortals to fight it out. + +At this moment Helenus, the prophetic brother of Hector, bade him go to +Troy to try to appease the anger of Athena by an offering, in the hope +that Diomedes' progress might be stayed. In his absence Diomedes met in +the battle Glaucus, a Lycian prince. + + "Who art thou?" he asked. "I have never seen thee before in battle, + yet now thou hast gone far beyond all others in hardihood, for thou + hast awaited my onset, and they are hapless whose sons meet my + strength. If thou art a god, I will not fight with thee; but if thou + art one of those who eat the fruit of the earth, come near, that + thou mayest the quicker get thee to the gates of death." + +In answer, Glaucus said: + + "Why askest thou my lineage? As is the life of leaves, so is that of + men. The leaves are scattered some of them to the earth by the wind, + others the wood putteth forth when it is in bloom, and they come on + in the season of spring. Even so of men one generation groweth, + another ceaseth." + +He then told how he was a family friend of Diomedes and made with him +a compact that if they met in battle they should avoid each the other; +this they sealed by the exchange of armour, wherein the Greek had the +better, getting gold weapons for bronze, the worth of a hundred oxen for +the value of nine. + +Coming to Troy Hector bade his mother offer Athena the finest robe she +had; yet all in vain, for the goddess rejected it. Passing to the house +of Paris, he found him polishing his armour, Helen at his side. Again +rebuking him, he had from him a promise that he would be ready to +re-enter the fight when Hector had been to his own house to see his wife +Andromache. Hector's heart foreboded that it was the last time he would +speak with her. She had with her their little son Astyanax. Weeping she +besought him to spare himself for her sake. + + "For me there will be no other comfort if thou meetest thy doom, but + sorrow. Father and mother have I none, for Achilles hath slain them + and my seven brothers. Hector, thou art my father and my lady mother + and my brother and thou art my wedded husband. Nay, come, pity me and + abide on the wall, lest thou make thy son an orphan and thy wife a + widow." + +He answered, his heart heavy with a sense of coming death: + + "The day will come when Troy shall fall, yet I grieve not for father + or mother or brethren so much as for thee, when some Achaean leads + thee captive, robbing thee of thy day of freedom. Thou shalt weave at + the loom in Argos or perchance fetch water, for heavy necessity shall + be laid upon thee. Then shall many a one say when he sees thee shedding + tears: 'Lo, this is the wife of Hector who was the best warrior of the + Trojans when they fought for their town.' Thus will they speak and thou + shalt have new sorrow for lack of such a man to drive away the day of + slavery." + +He stretched out his arms to his little son who was affrighted at the +sight of the helmet as it nodded its plumes dreadfully from its tall +top. Hector and Andromache laughed when they saw the child's terror; +then Hector took off his helmet and prayed that the boy might grow to a +royal manhood and gladden his mother's heart. Smiling through her tears, +Andromache took the child from Hector, while he comforted her with brave +words. + + "Lady, grieve not overmuch, I beseech thee, for no man shall thrust me + to death beyond my fate. Methinks none can avoid his destiny, be he + brave or a coward, when once he hath been born. Nay, go to the house, + ply thy tasks and bid the maids be busy, but war is the business of + the men who are born in Troy and mine most of all." + +Thus she parted from him, looking back many a time, shedding plenteous +tears. So did they mourn for Hector even before his doom, for they said +he would never escape his foes and come back in safety. + +Finding Paris waiting for him, Hector passed out to the battlefield. +Aided by Glaucus he wrought great havoc, so much that Athena and Apollo +stirred him to challenge the bravest of the Greeks. The victor was to +take the spoils of the vanquished but to return the body for burial. At +first the Greeks were silent when they heard his challenge, ashamed to +decline it and afraid to take it up. At last eight of their bravest cast +lots, the choice falling upon Ajax. A great combat ended in the somewhat +doubtful victory of Ajax, the two parting in friendship after an +exchange of presents. The result of the fighting had discouraged both +sides; the Greeks accordingly decided to throw up a mound in front +of their ships, protected by a deep trench. This tacit confession of +weakness in the absence of Achilles leads up to the heavy defeat which +was to follow. On the other side the Trojans held a council to deliver +up Helen. When Paris refused to surrender her but offered to restore her +treasures, a deputation was sent to inform the Greeks of his decision. +The latter refused to accept either Helen or the treasure, feeling that +the end was not far off. That night Zeus sent mighty thunderings to +terrify the besiegers. + +So far the main plot of the _Iliad_ has been undeveloped; now that the +chief characters on both sides have played a part in the war, the poem +begins to show how the wrath of Achilles works itself out under Zeus' +direction. First the king of the gods warned the deities that he would +allow none to intervene on either side and would punish any offender +with his thunders. Holding up the scales of doom, he placed in them +the lot of Trojans and of Greeks; as the latter sank down, he hurled +at their host his lightnings, driving all the warriors in flight to the +great mound they had built. For a time Teucer the archer brother of +Ajax held them back, but when he was smitten by a mighty stone hurled +of Hector all resistance was broken. A vain attempt was made by Hera +and Athena to help the Greeks, but the goddesses quailed before the +punishment wherewith Zeus threatened them. When night came the Trojans +encamped on the open plain, their camp-fires gleaming like the stars +which appear on some night of stillness. + +Disheartened at his defeat, Agamemnon freely acknowledged his fault and +suggested flight homewards. Nestor advised him to call an Assembly and +depute some of the leading men to make up the quarrel with Achilles. +The King listened to him, offering to give Achilles his own daughter in +wedlock, together with cities and much spoil of war. Three ambassadors +were chosen, Phoenix, Ajax and Odysseus. Reaching Achilles' tent, they +found him singing lays of heroes, Patroclus his friend by his side. When +he saw the ambassadors, he gave them a courtly welcome. Odysseus +laid the King's proposals before him, to which Achilles answered with +dignity. + + "I hate as sore as the gates of Death a man who hideth one thing in + his heart and sayeth its opposite. Do the sons of Atreus alone of + men love their wives? Methinks all the wealth which Troy contained + before the Greeks came upon it, yea all the wealth which Apollo holds + in rocky Pytho, is not the worth of life itself. Cattle and horses + and brazen ware can be got by plunder, but a man's life cannot be + taken by spoil nor recovered when once it passeth the barrier of his + teeth. Nay, go back to the elders and bid them find a better plan + than this. Let Phoenix abide by me here that he may return with me + to-morrow in my ships if he will, for I will not constrain him by + force." + +Phoenix had been Achilles' tutor. In terror for the safety of the Greek +fleet, he appealed to his friend to relent. + + "How can I be left alone here without thee, dear child? Thy father + sent me to teach thee to be a speaker of words and a doer of deeds. + In thy childhood I tended thee, for I knew that I should never have a + son and I looked to thee to save me from ruin. Tame thy great spirit. + Even the gods know how to change, whose honour is greater, and their + power. Men in prayer turn them by sacrifice when any hath sinned and + transgressed. For Prayers are the daughters of great Zeus; they are + halt and wrinkled and their eyes look askance. Their task it is to go + after Ruin; for Ruin is strong and sound of foot, wherefore she far + outrunneth them all and getteth before them in harming men over all the + world. But they come after; whosoever honoureth the daughters of Zeus + when they come nigh, him they greatly benefit and hear his entreaties, + but whoso denieth them and stubbornly refuseth, they go to Zeus and ask + that Ruin may dog him, that he may be requited with mischief. Therefore, + Achilles, bring it to pass that honour follow the daughters of Zeus, + even that honour which bendeth the heart of others as noble as thou." + +When this appeal also failed, Ajax, a man of deeds rather than words, +deemed it best to return at once, begging Achilles to bear them no +ill-will and to remember the rights of hospitality which protected them +from his resentment. When Achilles assured them of his regard for them +and maintained his quarrel with Agamemnon alone, they departed and +brought the heavy news to their anxious friends. On hearing it Diomedes +briefly bade them get ready for the battle and fight without Achilles' +help. + +When the Trojan host had taken up its quarters on the plain, Nestor +suggested that the Greeks should send one of their number to find out +what Hector intended to do on the morrow. Diomedes offered to undertake +the office of a spy, selecting Odysseus as his comrade. After a prayer +to Athena to aid them, they went silently towards the bivouac. It +chanced that Hector too had thought of a similar plan and that Dolon +had offered to reconnoitre the Greek position. He was a wealthy man, +ill-favoured to look upon, but swift of foot, and had asked that his +reward should be the horses and the chariot of Achilles. + +Hearing the sound of Dolon's feet as he ran, Diomedes and Odysseus +parted to let him pass between them; then cutting off his retreat they +closed on him and captured him. They learned how the Trojan host was +quartered; at the extremity of it was Rhesus, the newly arrived Thracian +King, whose white horses were a marvel of beauty and swiftness. In +return for his information Dolon begged them to spare his life, but +Diomedes deemed it safer to slay him. The two Greeks penetrated the +Thracian encampment, where they slew many warriors and escaped with the +horses back to the Greek armament. + +When the fighting opened on the next day, Agamemnon distinguished +himself by deeds of great bravery, but retired at length wounded in the +hand. Zeus had warned Hector to wait for that very moment before pushing +home his attack. One after another the Greek leaders were wounded, +Diomedes, Odysseus, Machaon; Ajax alone held up the Trojan onset, +retiring slowly and stubbornly towards the sea. Achilles, seeing the +return of the wounded warrior Machaon, sent his friend Patroclus to find +out who he was. Nestor meeting Patroclus, told him of the rout of the +army, and advised him to beg Achilles at least to allow the Myrmidons +to sally forth under Patroclus' leadership, if he would not fight in +person. The importance of this episode is emphasised in the poem. The +dispatch of Patroclus is called "the beginning of his undoing", it +foreshadows the intervention which was later to bring Achilles himself +back into the conflict. + +The Trojan host after an attempt to drive their horses over the trench +stormed it in five bodies. As they streamed towards the wall, an omen of +a doubtful nature filled Polydamas with some misgivings about the wisdom +of bursting through to the sea. It was possible that they might be +routed and that they would accordingly be caught in a trap, leaving many +of their dead behind them. His advice to remain content with the success +they had won roused the anger of Hector, whose headstrong character is +well portrayed in his speech. + + "Thou biddest me consider long-winged birds, whereof I reck not nor + care for them whether they speed to right or left. Let us obey the + counsel of Zeus. One omen is the best, to fight for our country. Why + dost thou dread war and tumult? Even if all we others were slain at + the ships, there is no fear that thou wilt perish, for thy heart + cannot withstand the foe and is not warlike. But if thou holdest from + the fight or turnest another from war, straightway shalt thou lose + thy life under the blow of my spear." + +Thus encouraged the army pressed forward, the walls being pierced by the +Lycian King Sarpedon, a son of Zeus. Taking up a mighty stone, Hector +broke open the gate and led his men forward to the final onslaught on +the ships. + +For a brief space Zeus turned his eyes away from the conflict and +Poseidon used the opportunity to help the Greeks. Idomeneus the Cretan +and his henchman Meriones greatly distinguished themselves, the former +drawing a very vivid picture of the brave man. + + "I know what courage is. Would that all the bravest of us were being + chosen for an ambush, wherein a man's bravery is most manifest. In + it the coward and the courageous man chiefliest appear. The colour of + the one changeth and his spirit cannot be schooled to remain stedfast, + but he shifteth his body, settling now on this foot now on that; his + heart beateth mightily, knocking against his breast as he bodeth death, + and his teeth chatter. But the good man's colour changeth not, nor is + he overmuch afraid when once he sitteth in his place of ambush; rather + he prayeth to join speedily in the dolorous battle." + +Yet soon Idomeneus' strength left him; Hector hurried to the centre of +the attack, where he confronted Ajax. + +At this point Hera determined to prolong the intervention of Poseidon in +favour of the Greeks. She persuaded Aphrodite to lend her all her spells +of beauty on the pretence that she wished to reconcile Ocean to his wife +Tethys. Armed with the goddess' girdle, she lulled Zeus to sleep +and then sent a message to Poseidon to give the Greeks his heartiest +assistance. Inspired by him the fugitives turned on their pursuers; when +Ajax smote down Hector with a stone the Trojans were hurled in flight +back through the gate and across the ramparts. + +When Zeus awakened out of slumber and saw the rout of the Trojans, his +first impulse was to punish Hera for her deceit. He then restored the +situation, bidding Poseidon retire and sending Apollo to recover Hector +of his wound. The tide speedily turned again; the Trojans rushed through +the rampart and down to the outer line of the Greek ships, where they +found nobody to resist them except the giant Ajax and his brother +Teucer. After a desperate fight in which Ajax single-handed saved the +fleet, Hector succeeded in grasping the ship of Protesilaus and called +loud for fire. This was the greatest measure of success vouchsafed +him; from this point onwards the balance was redressed in favour of the +Greeks. + +Achilles had been watching the anguish of Patroclus' spirit when this +disaster came upon their friends. + + "Why weepest thou, Patroclus, like some prattling little child who + runneth to her mother and biddeth her take her up, catching at her + garment and checking her movement and gazing at her tearfully till + she lifteth her? Even so thou lettest fall the big tears." + +Patroclus begged his friend to allow him to wear his armour and lead the +Myrmidons out to battle, not knowing that he was entreating for his own +ruin and death. After some reluctance Achilles gave him leave, yet with +the strictest orders not to pursue too far. Fresh and eager for the +battle the Myrmidons drove the Trojans back into the plain. Patroclus' +course was challenged by the Lycians, whose King Sarpedon faced him in +single combat. In great sorrow Zeus watched his son Sarpedon go to his +doom; in his agony he shed tear-drops of blood and ordered Death and +Sleep to carry the body back to Lycia for burial. + +The great glory Patroclus had won tempted him to forget his promise to +Achilles. He pursued the Trojans back to the walls of the town, slaying +Cebriones the charioteer of Hector. In the fight which took place +over the body Patroclus was assailed by Hector and Euphorbus under the +guidance of Apollo. Hector administered the death-blow; before he died +Patroclus foretold a speedy vengeance to come from Achilles. + +A mighty struggle arose over his body. Menelaus slew Euphorbus, but +retreated at the approach of Hector, who seized the armour of Achilles +and put it on. A thick cloud settled over the combatants, heightening +the dread of battle. The gods came down to encourage their respective +warriors; the Greeks were thrust back over the plain, but the bravery of +Ajax and Menelaus enabled the latter to save Patroclus' body and carry +it from the dust of battle towards the ships. + +When the news of his friend's death came to Achilles his grief was so +mighty that it seemed likely that he would have slain himself. He burst +into a lamentation so bitter that his mother heard him in her sea-cave +and came forth to learn what new sorrow had taken him. Too late he +learned the hard lesson that revenge may be sweet but is always bought +at the cost of some far greater thing. + + "I could not bring salvation to Patroclus or my men, but sit at the + ships a useless burden upon the land, albeit I am such a man as no + other in war, though others excel me in speech. Perish strife from + among men and gods, and anger which inciteth even a prudent man to + take offence; far sweeter than dropping honey it groweth in a man's + heart like smoke, even now as Agamemnon hath roused me to a fury." + +Being robbed of his armour he could not sally out to convey his +companion's body into the camp. Hera therefore sent Iris to him bidding +him merely show himself at the trenches and cry aloud. At the sound of +his thrice-repeated cry the Trojans shrank back in terror, leaving the +Greeks to carry in Patroclus' body unmolested; then Hera bade the sun +set at once into the ocean to end the great day of battle. + +Polydamas knew well what the appearance of Achilles portended to the +Trojans, for he was the one man among them who could look both before +and after; his advice was that they should retire into the town and +there shut themselves up. It was received with scorn by Hector. In the +Greek camp Achilles burst into a wild lament over Patroclus, swearing +that he would not bury him before he had brought in Hector dead and +twelve living captives to sacrifice before the pyre. That night his +mother went to Hephaestus and persuaded him to make divine armour for +her son, which the poet describes in detail. + +On receiving the armour from his mother Achilles made haste to reconcile +himself with Agamemnon. His impatience for revenge and the oath he had +taken made it impossible for him to take any food. His strength was +maintained by Athena who supplied him with nectar. On issuing forth to +the fight he addressed his two horses: + + "Xanthus and Balius, bethink you how ye may save your charioteer + when he hath done with the battle, and desert him not in death as + ye did Patroclus." + +In reply they prophesied his coming end. + + "For this we are not to blame, but the mighty god--and violent Fate. + We can run quick as the breath of the North wind, who men say is + the swiftest of all, but thy fate it is to die by the might of a + god and a man." + +The Avenging Spirits forbade them to reveal more. The awe of the climax +of the poem is heightened by supernatural interventions. At last the +gods themselves received permission from Zeus to enter the fray. They +took sides, the shock of their meeting causing the nether deity to +start from his throne in fear that his realm should collapse about him. +Achilles met Aeneas and would have slain him had not Poseidon saved him. +Hector withdrew before him, warned by Apollo not to meet him face to +face. Disregarding the god's advice he attacked Achilles, but for the +moment was spirited away. Disappointed of his prey Achilles sowed havoc +among the lesser Trojans. + +Choked by the numerous corpses the River-God Scamander begged him cease +his work of destruction. When the Hero disregarded him, he assembled all +his waters and would have overwhelmed him but for Athena who gave him +power to resist; the river was checked by the Fire-God who dried up his +streams. The gods then plunged into strife, the sight whereof made Zeus +laugh in joy. Athena quickly routed Aphrodite and Hera Artemis. Apollo +deemed it worthless to fight Poseidon. + + "Thou wouldst not call me prudent were I to strive with thee for + cowering mortals, who like leaves sometimes are full of fire, then + again waste away spiritless. Let us make an end of our quarrel; + let men fight it out themselves." + +Deserted by their protectors the Trojans broke before Achilles, who +nearly took the town. + +Baulked a second time of his vengeance by Apollo, Achilles vowed he +would have punished the god had he the power. Hector had at last decided +to face his foe at the Scaean Gate. His father and his mother pleaded +with him in a frenzy of grief to enter the town, but the dread of +Polydamas' reproaches fixed his resolve. When Achilles came rushing +towards him, his heart failed; he ran three times round the walls of the +city. Meanwhile the gods held up the scales of doom; when his life sank +down to death Apollo left him for ever. + +Athena then took the shape of Deiphobus, encouraging him to face +Achilles. Seeing unexpectedly a friend, he turned and stood his ground, +for she had already warned Achilles of her plot. Hector launched his +spear which sped true, but failed to penetrate the divine armour. When +he found no Deiphobus at his side to give him another weapon, he knew +his end had come. Drawing himself up for a final effort, he darted at +Achilles; the latter spied a gap in the armour he had once worn, through +which he smote Hector mortally. Lying in approaching death, the Trojan +begged that his body might be honoured with a burial, but Achilles swore +he should never have it, rather the dogs and carrion birds should devour +his flesh. Seeing their great foe dead the Greeks flocked around him, +not one passing by him without stabbing his body. Achilles bored through +his ankles and attached him to his car; then whipping up his horses, +he drove full speed to the camp, dragging Hector in disgrace over the +plain. This scene of pure savagery is succeeded by the laments of Priam, +Hecuba and Andromache over him whom Zeus allowed to be outraged in his +own land. + +That night the shade of Patroclus visited Achilles, bidding him bury him +speedily that he might cross the gates of death; the dust of his ashes +was to be stored up in an urn and mixed with Achilles' own when his turn +came to die. After the funeral Achilles held games of great splendour in +which the leading athletes contended for the prizes he offered. + +Yet nothing could make up for the loss of his friend. Every day he +dragged Hector's body round Patroclus' tomb, but Apollo in pity for the +dead man kept away corruption, maintaining the body in all its beauty of +manhood. At last on the twelfth day Apollo appealed to the gods to end +the barbarous outrage. + + "Hath not Hector offered to you many a sacrifice of bulls and + goats? Yet ye countenance the deeds of Achilles, who hath forsaken + all pity which doth harm to men and bringeth a blessing too. Many + another is like to lose a friend, but he will weep and let his + foe's body go, for the Fates have given men an heart to endure. + Good man though he be, let Achilles take heed lest he move us to + indignation by outraging in fury senseless clay." + +Zeus sent to fetch Thetis whom he bade persuade her son to ransom the +body; meanwhile Iris went to Troy to tell Priam to take a ransom and +go to the ships without fear, for the convoy who should guide him would +save him from harm. + +On hearing of Priam's resolve Hecuba tried to dissuade him, but the old +King would not be turned. That night he went forth alone; he was met in +the plain by Hermes, disguised as a servant of Achilles, who conducted +him to the hut where Hector lay. Slipping in unseen, Priam caught +Achilles' knees and kissed the dread hands that had slain his son. +In pity for the aged King Achilles remembered his own father, left as +defenceless as Priam. Calling out his servants he bade them wash the +corpse outside, lest Priam at the sight of it should upbraid him and +thus provoke him to slay him and offend against the commands of Zeus. As +they supped, Priam marvelled at the stature and beauty of Achilles and +Achilles wondered at Priam's reverend form and his words. While Achilles +slept, Hermes came to Priam to warn him of his danger if he were found +in the Greek host. Hastily harnessing the chariot, he led him back +safely to Troy, where the body was laid upon a bed in Hector's palace. + +The laments which follow are of great beauty. Andromache bewailed her +widowhood, Hecuba her dearest son; Helen's lament is a masterpiece. + + "Hector, far the dearest to me of all my brethren, of a truth Paris + is my lord, who brought me hither--would I had died first. This is + the tenth year since I left my native land, yet have I never heard + from thee a word cruel or despiteful; rather, if any other chode me, + thy sister or a brother's wife or thy mother--though thy father is + gentle to me always as he were my own sire--thou didst restrain such + with words of persuasion and kindness and gentleness all thine own. + Wherefore I grieve for thee and for myself in anguish, for there is + no other friend in broad Troy kind and tender, but all shudder at me." + +Then with many a tear they laid to his rest mighty Hector. + +Such is the _Iliad_. To modern readers it very often seems a little +dull. Horace long ago pointed out that it is inevitable that a long +poem should flag; even Homer nods sometimes. Some of the episodes are +distinctly wearisome, for they are invented to give a place in this +national Epic to lesser heroes who could hardly be mentioned if Achilles +were always in the foreground. Achilles himself is not a pleasing +person; his character is wayward and violent; he is sometimes childish, +always liable to be carried away by a fit of pettishness and unable to +retain our real respect; further, a hero who is practically invulnerable +and yet dons divine armour to attack those who are no match for him when +he is without it falls below the ordinary "sportsman's" level. Nor can +we feel much reverence for many of the gods; Hera is odious, Athena +guilty of flat treachery, Zeus, liable to allow his good nature to +overcome his judgment--Apollo alone seems consistently noble. More, we +shall look in vain in the _Iliad_ for any sign of the pure battle-joy +which is so characteristic of northern Epic poetry; the Greek ideal +of bravery had nothing of the Berserker in it. Perhaps these are the +reasons why the sympathy of nearly all readers is with the Trojans, who +are numerically inferior, are aided by fewer and weaker gods and have +less mighty champions to defend them. + +What then is left to admire in the _Iliad_? It is well to remember +that the poem is not the first but the last of a long series; its very +perfection of form and language makes it certain that it is the result +of a long literary tradition. As such, it has one or two remarkable +features. We shall not find in many other Epics that sense of wistful +sorrow for man's brief and uncertain life which is the finest breath +of all poetry that seeks to touch the human heart. The marks of rude or +crude workmanship which disfigure much Epic have nearly all disappeared +from the _Iliad_. The characterisation of many of the figures of the +poem is masterly, their very natures being hit off in a few lines--and +it is important to remember that it is not really the business of Epic +to attempt analysis of character at all except very briefly; the story +cannot be kept waiting. But the real Homeric power is displayed in +the famous scenes of pure and worthy pathos such as the parting of +Andromache from Hector and the laments over his body. Those who would +learn how to touch great depths of sorrow and remain dignified must see +how it has been treated in the _Iliad_. + +A few vigorous lines hit off the plan of the _Odyssey_. + + "Sing, Muse, of the man of much wandering who travelled right far + after sacking sacred Troy, and saw the cities of many men and knew + their ways. Many a sorrow he suffered on the sea, trying to win a + return home for himself and his comrades; yet he could not for all + his longing, for they died like fools through their own blindness." + +Odysseus, when the poem opens, was in Calypso's isle pitied of all +the gods save Poseidon. In a council Zeus gave his consent that Hermes +should go to Calypso, while Athena should descend to Ithaca to encourage +Odysseus' son Telemachus to seek out news of his father. + +Taking the form of Mentes, Athena met Telemachus and informed him that +his father was not yet dead. Seeing the suitors who were wooing his +mother Penelope and eating up the house in riot, she advised him to +dismiss them and visit Nestor in Pylos. A lay sung by Phemius brought +Penelope from her chamber, who was astonished at the immediate change +which her son's speech showed had come upon him, transforming him to +manhood. + +Next day Telemachus called an Assembly of the Ithacans; his appeal to +the suitors to leave him in peace provoked an insulting speech from +their ringleader Antinous who held Penelope to blame for their presence; +she had constantly eluded them, on one occasion promising to marry when +she had woven a shroud for Laertes her father-in-law; the work she did +by day she undid at night, till she was betrayed by a serving-woman. +Telemachus then asked the suitors for a ship to get news of his father. +When the assembly broke up, Athena appeared in answer to Telemachus' +prayer in the form of Mentor and pledged herself to go with him on his +travels. She prepared a ship and got together a crew, while Telemachus +bade his old nurse Eurycleia conceal from his mother his departure. + +In Pylos Nestor told him all he knew of Odysseus, describing the sorrows +which came upon the Greek leaders on their return and especially the +evil end of Agamemnon. He added that Menelaus had just returned to +Sparta and was far more likely to know the truth than any other, for +he had wandered widely over the seas on his home-coming. Bidding Nestor +look after Telemachus, Athena vanished from his sight, but not before +she was recognised by the old hero. On the morrow Telemachus set out for +Sparta, accompanied by Pisistratus, one of Nestor's sons. + +Menelaus gave them a kindly welcome and a casual mention of his father's +name stirred Telemachus to tears. At that moment Helen entered; her +quicker perception at once traced the resemblance between the young +stranger and Odysseus. When Telemachus admitted his identity, Helen told +some of his father's deeds. Once he entered Troy disguised as a beggar, +unrecognised of all save Helen herself. "After he made her swear an oath +that she would not betray him, he revealed all the plans of the Greeks. +Then, after slaying many Trojans, he departed with much knowledge, +while Helen's heart rejoiced, for she was already bent on a return home, +repenting of the blindness which Aphrodite had sent her in persuading +her to abandon home and daughter and a husband who lacked naught, +neither wit not manhood." Menelaus then recounted how Odysseus saved +him when they were in the wooden horse, when one false sound would have +betrayed them. On the next morning Telemachus told the story of the ruin +of his home; Menelaus prophesied the end of the suitors, then preceded +to recount how in Egypt he waylaid and captured Proteus, the changing +god of the sea, whom he compelled to relate the fate of the Greek +leaders and to prophesy his own return; from him he heard that Odysseus +was with Calypso who kept him by force. On learning this important piece +of news Telemachus was eager to return to Ithaca with all speed. + +Meanwhile the suitors had learned of the departure of Telemachus and +plotted to intercept him on his return. Their treachery was told to +Penelope, who was utterly undone on hearing it; feeling herself left +without a human protector she prayed to Athena, who appeared to her in +a dream in the likeness of her own sister to assure her that Athena was +watching over her, but refusing to say definitely whether Odysseus was +alive. + +The poem at this point takes up the story of Odysseus himself. Going +to the isle where he was held captive, Hermes after admiring its great +beauty delivered Zeus' message to Calypso to let the captive go. She +reproached the gods for their jealousy and reluctantly promised to obey. +She found Odysseus on the shore, eating out his heart in the desire +for his home. When she informed him that she intended to let him go, he +first with commendable prudence made her swear that she did not design +some greater evil for him. Smiling at his cunning, she swore the most +solemn of all oaths to help him, then supplied tools and materials for +the building of his boat. When he was out on the deep, Poseidon wrecked +his craft, but a sea goddess Leucothea, once a mortal, gave him a scarf +to wrap round him, bidding him cast it from him with his back turned +away when he got to land. After two nights and two days on the deep he +at length saw land. Finding the mouth of a small stream, he swam up it, +then utterly weary flung himself down on a heap of leaves under a bush, +guarded by Athena. + +The next episode introduces one of the most charming figures in ancient +literature. Nausicaa was the daughter of Alcinous, King of Phaeacia, +on whose island Odysseus had landed. To her Athena appeared in a dream, +bidding her obtain from her father leave to go down to the sea to wash +his soiled garments. The young girl obeyed, telling her father that it +was but seemly that he, the first man in the kingdom, should appear at +council in raiment white as snow. He gave her the leave she desired. +After their work was done, she and her handmaids began a game of ball; +their merry cries woke up Odysseus, who started up on hearing human +voices. Coming forward, he frightened by his appearance the handmaids, +but Nausicaa, emboldened by Athena, stood still and listened to his +story. She supplied him with clean garments after she had given him food +and drink. On the homeward journey Nausicaa bade Odysseus bethink him of +the inconvenient talk which his presence would occasion if he were seen +with her near the city. She therefore judged it best that she should +enter first, at the same time she gave him full information of the road +to the palace; when he entered it he was to proceed straight to the +Queen Arete, whose favour was indispensable if he desired a return home. + +Just outside the city Athena met him in the guise of a girl to tell him +his way; she further cast about him a thick cloud to protect him from +curious eyes. Passing through the King's gardens, which were a marvel of +beauty and fruitfulness, Odysseus entered the palace and threw his arms +in supplication about Arete's knees. She listened kindly to him and +begged Alcinous give him welcome. When all the courtiers had retired to +rest, Arete, noticing that the garments Odysseus wore had been woven by +her own hands, asked him whence he had them and how he had come to the +island. On hearing the story of his shipwreck Alcinous promised him a +safe convoy to his home on the morrow. + +At an assembly Alcinous consulted with his counsellors about Odysseus; +all agreed to help in providing him with a ship and rowers. At a trial +of skill Odysseus, after being taunted by some of the Phaeacians, hurled +the quoit beyond them all. Later, a song of the wooden horse of Troy +moved him to tears; though unnoticed by the others, he did not escape +the eye of Alcinous who bade him tell them plainly who he was. Then he +revealed himself and told the marvellous story of his wanderings. + +First he and his companions reached the land of the Lotus-eaters. +Finding out that the lotus made all who ate it lose their desire for +home, Odysseus sailed away with all speed, forcing away some who had +tasted the plant. Thence they reached the island of the Cyclopes, a +wild race who knew no ordinances; each living in his cave was a law +to himself, caring nothing for the others. Leaving his twelve ships, +Odysseus proceeded with some of his men to the cave of one of the +Cyclopes, a son of Poseidon, taking with him a skin of wine. When the +one-eyed monster returned with his flock of sheep, he shut the mouth of +the cave with a mighty stone which no mortal could move; then lighting +a fire he caught sight of his visitors and asked who they were. Odysseus +answered craftily, whereupon the monster devoured six of his company. +Odysseus opened his wine-skin and offered some of the wine; when the +Cyclops asked his name, Odysseus told him he was called Noman; in return +for his kindness in offering him the strangely sweet drink the Cyclops +promised to eat him last of all. But the wine soon plunged the monster +into a slumber, from which he was awakened by the burning end of a great +stake which Odysseus thrust into his eye. On hearing his cries of agony +the other Cyclopes came to him, but went away when they heard that Noman +was killing him. As it was impossible for anyone but the Cyclops to open +the cave, Odysseus tied his men beneath the cattle, putting the beast +which carried a man between two which were unburdened; he himself hung +on to the ram. As the animals passed out, the Cyclops was a little +surprised that the ram went last, but thought he did so out of grief +for his master. When they were all safely outside, Odysseus freed his +friends and made haste to get to the ship. Thrusting out, when he was +at what seemed a safe distance he shouted to the Cyclops, who then +remembered an old prophecy and hurled a huge rock which nearly washed +them back; a second rock which he hurled on learning Odysseus' real name +narrowly missed the ship. Then the Cyclops prayed to Poseidon to punish +Odysseus; the god heard him, persecuting him from that time onward. +Reassembling his ships, Odysseus proceeded on his voyage. + +He next called at the isle of Aeolus, king of the winds, who gave him in +a bag all the winds but one, a favouring breeze which was to waft him +to his own island. For nine days Odysseus guarded his bag, but at last, +when Ithaca was in sight, he sank into a sleep of exhaustion. Thinking +that the bag concealed some treasure, his men opened it, only to be +blown back to Aeolus who bid him begone as an evil man when he begged +aid a second time. + +After visiting the Laestrygones, a man-eating people, who devoured all +the fleet except one ship's company, the remainder reached Aeaea, +the island where lived the dread goddess Circe. Odysseus sent forward +Eurylochus with some twenty companions who found Circe weaving at a +loom. Seeing them she invited them within; then after giving them a +charmed potion she smote them with her rod, turning them into swine. +Eurylochus who had suspected some trickery hurried back to Odysseus with +the news. The latter determined to go alone to save his friends. On the +way he was met by Hermes, who showed him the herb moly, an antidote to +Circe's draught. Finding that her magic failed, she at once knew that +her visitor was Odysseus whose visit had been prophesied to her by +Hermes. He bound her down by a solemn oath to refrain from further +mischief and persuaded her to restore to his men their humanity. When +Odysseus desired to depart home, she told him of the wanderings that +awaited him. First he must go to the land of the dead to consult the +shade of Teiresias, the blind old prophet, who would help him. + +Following the goddess' instructions, they sailed to the land of the +Cimmerians on the confines of the earth. There Odysseus dug a trench +into which he poured the blood of slain victims which he did not allow +the dead spirits to touch till Teiresias appeared. The seer told him of +the sorrows that awaited him and vaguely indicated that his death should +come upon him from the sea; he added that any spirit he allowed to touch +the blood would tell him truly all whereof he was as yet ignorant, and +that those ghosts he drove away would return to the darkness. + +First arose the spirit of his dead mother Anticleia who told him that +his wife and son were yet alive and his father was living away from the +town in wretchedness. + + "For me, it was not the visitation of Apollo that took me, nor any + sickness whose corruption drove the life from my frame; rather it + was longing for thee and thy counsels and thy gentleness which + spoiled me of my spirit." + +Thrice he tried to embrace her, and thrice the ghost eluded him, for it +was "as a dream that had fled away from the white frame of the body". A +procession of famous women followed, then came the wraith of Agamemnon +who told how he had been foully slain by his own wife, as faithless as +Penelope was prudent. Achilles next approached; when Odysseus tried to +console him for his early death by reminding him of the honour he had +when he was alive, he answered: + + "Speak not comfortingly of death; I would rather be a clown and a + thrall on earth to another man than rule among the departed." + +On hearing that his son Neoptolemus had won great glory in the capture +of Troy, the spirit left him, exulting with joy that his son was worthy +of him. Ajax turned from Odysseus in anger at the loss of Achilles' +armour for the possession of which they had striven. The last figure +that came was the ghost of Heracles, though the hero himself was with +the gods in Olympus. + + "Round him was the whirr of the dead as of birds fleeing in panic. + Like to black night, with his bow ready and an arrow on the string, + he glared about him terribly, as ever intending to shoot. Over his + breast was flung a fearful belt, whereon were graven bears and lions + and fights, battles, murders and man-slayings." + +He recognised Odysseus before he passed back to death; when a crowd of +terrifying apparitions came thronging to the trench, Odysseus fled to +his ship lest the Gorgon might be sent from the awful Queen of the dead. + +Returning to Circe, he learned from her of the remaining dangers. The +first of these was the island of the Sirens, who by the marvellous +sweetness of their song charmed to their ruin all who passed. Odysseus +filled the ears of his crews with wax, bidding them to tie him to the +mast of his ship and to row hard past the temptresses in spite of his +strugglings. They then entered the dangerous strait, on one side of +which was Scylla, a dreadful monster who lived in a cave near by, on the +other was the deadly whirlpool of Charybdis. Scylla carried off six +of his men who called in vain to Odysseus to save them, stretching out +their hands to him in their last agony. From the strait they passed to +the island of Trinacria, where they found grazing the cattle of the Sun. +Odysseus had learned from both Teiresias and Circe that an evil doom +would come upon them if they touched the animals; he therefore made his +companions swear a great oath not to touch them if they landed. For +a whole month they were wind-bound in the island and ate all the +provisions which Circe had given them. At a time when Odysseus had gone +to explore the island Eurylochus persuaded his men to kill and eat; as +he returned Odysseus smelled the savour of their feast and knew that +destruction was at hand. For nine days the feasting continued. When +the ship put out to sea Zeus, in answer to the prayer of the offended +Sun-God, sent a storm which drowned all the crew and drove Odysseus back +to the dreaded strait. Escaping through it with difficulty, he drifted +helplessly over the deep and on the tenth day landed on the island of +"the dread goddess who used human speech", Calypso, who tended him and +kept him in captivity. + +On the next day the Phaeacians loaded Odysseus with presents and landed +him on his own island while he slept. Poseidon in anger at the arrival +of the hero changed the returning Phaeacian ship into stone when it was +almost within the harbour of the city. When Odysseus awoke he failed to +recognise his own land. Athena appeared to him disguised as a shepherd, +telling him he was indeed in Ithaca: + + "Thou art witless or art come from afar, if thou enquirest about + this land. It is not utterly unknown; many know it who dwell in the + East and in the West. It is rough and unfitted for steeds, yet it is + not a sorry isle, though narrow. It hath plenteous store of corn and + the vine groweth herein. It hath alway rain and glistening dew. It + nourisheth goats and cattle and all kinds of woods and its streams + are everlasting." + +Such is the description of the land for which Odysseus forsook Calypso's +offer of immortality. After smiling at Odysseus' pretence that he was +a Cretan Athena counselled him how to slay the suitors and hurried to +fetch Telemachus from Sparta. The poet tells why Athena loved Odysseus +more than all others. + + "Crafty would he be and a cunning trickster who surpassed thee in + wiles, though it were a god who challenged thee. We know craft + enough, both of us, for thou art by far the best of mortals in speech + and counsel and I among the gods am famed for devices and cunning." + +Transformed by her into an old beggar, Odysseus went to the hut of +his faithful old swineherd Eumaeus; the dogs set upon him, but Eumaeus +scared them away and welcomed him to his dwelling. In spite of Odysseus' +assurance that the master would return Eumaeus, who had been often +deceived by similar words, refused to believe. Feigning himself to be +a Cretan, Odysseus saw for himself that the old servant's loyalty was +steadfast; a deft touch brings out his care for his master's substance: + + "laying a bed for Odysseus before the fire, he went out and slept + among the dogs in a cave beneath the breath of the winds." + +By the intervention of Athena the two leading characters are brought +together. She stood beside the sleeping Telemachus in Sparta, warning +him of the ambush set for him in Ithaca and bidding him to land on a +lonely part of the coast whence he was to proceed to the hut of Eumaeus. +On his departure from Sparta an omen was interpreted by Helen to mean +that Odysseus was not far from home. As he was on the point of leaving +Pylos on the morrow a bard named Theoclymenus appealed to him for +protection, for he had slain a man and was a fugitive from justice. +Taking him on board Telemachus frustrated the ambush, landing in safety; +he proceeded to Eumaeus' hut, where Odysseus had with some difficulty +been persuaded to remain. + +The dogs were the first to announce the arrival of a friend, gambolling +about him. After speaking a word of cheer to Eumaeus Telemachus enquired +who the stranger was; hearing that he was a Cretan he lamented his +inability to give him a welcome in his home owing to the insolence of +his enemies. Remembering the anxiety of his mother during his absence he +sent Eumaeus to the town to acquaint her with his arrival. Athena seized +the opportunity to reveal Odysseus to his son, transforming him to +his own shape. After a moment of utter amazement at the marvel of the +change, Telemachus ran to his father and fell upon his neck, his joy +finding expression in tears. The two then laid their plans for the +destruction of the suitors. By the time Eumaeus had returned Odysseus +had resumed his sorry and tattered appearance. + +Telemachus went to the town alone, bidding Eumaeus bring the stranger +with him. They were met by one Melanthius a goatherd, who covered them +with insults. "In truth one churl is leading another, for the god ever +bringeth like to like. Whither art thou taking this glutton, this evil +pauper, a kill-joy of the feast? He hath learned many a knavish trick +and is like to refuse to labour; creeping among the people he would +rather ask alms to fill his insatiate maw." Leaping on Odysseus, he +kicked at him, yet failed to stir him from the pathway. Swallowing the +insult Odysseus walked towards his house. A superb stroke of art has +created the next incident. In the courtyard lay Argus, a hound whom +Odysseus had once fed. Neglected in the absence of his master he had +crept to a dung-heap, full of lice. When he marked Odysseus coming +towards him he wagged his tail and dropped his ears, but could not come +near his lord. Seeing him from a little distance Odysseus wiped away his +tears unnoticed of Eumaeus and asked whose the hound was. Eumaeus told +the story of his neglect: "but the doom of death took Argus straightway +after seeing Odysseus in the twentieth year". In the palace Telemachus +sent his father food, bidding him ask a charity of the wooers. Antinous +answered by hurling a stool which struck his shoulder. The noise of the +high words which followed brought down Penelope who protested against +the godless behaviour of the suitors and asked to interview the stranger +in hope of learning some tidings of her husband, but Odysseus put her +off till nightfall when they would be less likely to suffer from the +insolence of the suitors. + +In Ithaca was a beggar named Irus, gluttonous and big-boned but a +coward. Encouraged by the winkings and noddings of the suitors he bade +Odysseus begone. A quiet answer made him imagine he had to deal with +a poltroon and he challenged him to a fight. The proposal was welcomed +with glee by the suitors, who promised on oath to see fair play for +the old man in his quarrel with a younger. But when they saw the mighty +limbs and stout frame of Odysseus, they deemed that Irus had brought +trouble on his own head. Chattering with fear Irus had to be forced +to the combat. One blow was enough to lay him low; the ease with which +Odysseus had disposed of his foe made him for a time popular with the +suitors. + +Under an inspiration of Athena, Penelope came down once more to chide +the wooers for their insolence; she also upbraided them for their +stinginess. + + "Yours is not the custom of wooers in former days who were wont to + sue for wedlock with the daughter of a rich man and contend among + themselves. Such men offer oxen and stout cattle and glorious gifts; + they will never consume another's substance without payment." + +Stung by the taunt, they gave her the accustomed presents, while +Odysseus rejoiced that she flattered their heart in soft words with a +different intent in her spirit. The insolence of the suitors was matched +by the pertness of the serving maids, of whom Melantho was the most +impudent. A threat from Odysseus drew down upon him the wrath of the +suitors who were with difficulty persuaded by Telemachus to depart home +to their beds. + +That night Odysseus and his son removed the arms from the walls, the +latter being told to urge as a pretext for his action the necessity of +cleaning from them the rust and of removing a temptation to violence +when the suitors were heated with wine. At the promised interview with +his wife Odysseus again pretended he was a Cretan; describing the very +dress which Odysseus had worn, he assured her that he would soon return +with the many treasures which he had collected. Half persuaded by the +exact description of a garment she had herself made, she bade her maids +look to him, but he would not suffer any of them to approach him save +his old nurse Eurycleia. As she was washing him in the dim light of the +fireside her fingers touched the old scar above his knee, the result of +an accident in a boar-hunt during his youth. + + "Dropping the basin she fell backwards; joy and grief took her + heart at once, her eyes filled with tears and her utterance was + checked. Catching him by his beard, she said: 'In very sooth thou + art Odysseus, my dear boy; and I knew thee not before I had touched + the body of my lord.' So speaking she looked at Penelope, fain to + tell her that her lord was within. But Odysseus laid his hand upon + the nurse's mouth, with the other he drew her to him and whispered: + 'Nurse, wouldst thou ruin me? Thou didst nourish me at thy breast, + and now I am come back after mighty sufferings. Be silent, lest + another learn the news, or I tell thee that when I have punished + the suitors I will not even refrain from thee when I destroy the + other women in my halls.'" + +Concealing the scar carefully under his rags by the fireside he put a +good interpretation on a strange dream which had visited his wife. + +That night Odysseus with his own eyes witnessed the intrigues between +his women and the suitors. He heard his wife weeping in her chamber for +him and prayed to Zeus for aid in the coming trial. On the morrow he +was again outraged; the suitors were moved to laughter by a prophecy of +Theoclymenus: + + "Yet they were laughing with alien lips, the meat they ate was + dabbled with blood, their eyes were filled with tears and their + hearts boded lamentation. Among them spake Theoclymenus; 'Wretched + men, what is this evil that is come upon you? Your heads and faces + and the knees beneath you are shrouded in night, mourning is kindled + among you, your cheeks are bedewed with tears, the walls and the + fair pillars are sprinkled with blood, the forecourt and the yard is + full of spectres hastening to the gloom of Erebus; the sun hath + perished from the heaven and a mist of ruin hath swept upon you.'" + +In answer Eurymachus bade him begone if all within was night; taking him +at his word, the seer withdrew before the coming ruin. + +Then Athena put it into the heart of Penelope to set the suitors a final +test. She brought forth the bow of Odysseus together with twelve axes. +It had been an exercise of her lord to set up the axes in a line, string +the bow and shoot through the heads of the axes which had been hollowed +for that purpose. She promised to follow at once the suitor who could +string the bow and shoot through the axes. First Telemachus set up the +axes and tried to string the weapon; failing three times he would have +succeeded at the next effort but for a glance from his father. Leiodes +vainly tried his strength, to be rebuked by Antinous who suggested that +the bow should be made more pliant by being heated at the fire. + +Noticing that Eumaeus and Philoetius had gone out together Odysseus went +after them and revealed himself to them; the three then returned to the +hall. After all the suitors had failed except Antinous, who did not deem +that he should waste a feast-day in stringing bows, Odysseus begged that +he might try, Penelope insisting on his right to attempt the feat. When +she retired Eumaeus brought the bow to Odysseus, then told Eurycleia to +keep the woman in their chambers while Philoetius bolted the hall door. + + "But already Odysseus was turning the bow this way and that testing + it lest the worms had devoured it in his absence. Then when he had + balanced it and looked it all over, even as when a man skilled in + the lyre and song easily putteth a new string about a peg, even so + without an effort Odysseus strung his mighty bow. Taking it in his + right hand he tried the string which sang sweetly beneath his touch + like to the voice of a swallow. Then he took an arrow and shot it + with a straight aim through the axes, missing not one. Then he spake + to Telemachus: 'Thy guest bringeth thee no shame as he sitteth in + thy halls, for I missed not the mark nor spent much time in the + stringing. My strength is yet whole within me. But now it is time to + make a banquet for the Achaeans in the light of day and then season + it with song and dance, which are the crown of revelry.' So speaking + he nodded, and his son took a sword and a spear and stood by him + clad in gleaming bronze." + +The first victim was Antinous, whom Odysseus shot through the neck as he +was in the act of drinking, never dreaming that one man would attack +a multitude of suitors. Eurymachus fell after vainly attempting a +compromise. Melanthius was caught in the act of supplying arms to the +rest and was left bound to be dealt with when the main work was +done. Athena herself encouraged Odysseus in his labour of vengeance, +deflecting from him any weapons that were hurled at him. At length all +was over, the serving women were made to cleanse the hall of all traces +of bloodshed; the guiltiest of them were hanged, while Melanthius died +a horrible death by mutilation. Odysseus then summoned his wife to his +presence. + +Eurycleia carried the message to her, laughing with joy so much that +Penelope deemed her mad. The story of the vengeance which Odysseus had +exacted was so incredible that it must have been the act of a god, not +a man. When she entered the hall Telemachus upbraided her for her +unbelief, but Odysseus smiled on hearing that she intended to test him +by certain proofs which they two alone were aware of. He withdrew for +a time to cleanse him of his stains and to put on his royal garments, +after ordering the servants to maintain a revelry to blind the people to +the death of their chief men. + +When he reappeared, endued with grace which Athena gave him, he +marvelled at the untoward heart which the gods had given his wife and +bade his nurse lay him his bed. Penelope caught up his words quickly; +the bed was to be laid outside the chamber which he himself had made. +The words filled Odysseus with dismay: + + "Who hath put my bed elsewhere? It would be a hard task for any man + however cunning, except a god set it in some other place. Of men + none could easily shift it, for there is a wonder in that cunningly + made bed whereat I laboured and none else. Within the courtyard was + growing the trunk of an olive; round it I built my bed-chamber with + thick stones and roofed it well, placing in it doors that shut tight. + Then I cut away the olive branches, smoothed the trunk, made a + bedpost, and bored all with a gimlet. From that foundation I smoothed + my bed, tricking it out with gold and silver and ivory and stretching + from its frame thongs of cow-hide dyed red. Such is the wonder I tell + of, yet I know not, Lady, whether the bed is yet fixed there, or + whether another hath moved it, cutting the foundation of olive from + underneath." + +On hearing the details of their secret Penelope ran to him casting +her arms about him and begging him to forgive her unbelief, for many +a pretender had come, making her ever more and more suspicious. Thus +reunited the two spent the night in recounting the agonies of their +separation; Odysseus mentioned the strange prophecy of Teiresias, +deciding to seek out his father on the morrow. + +A vivid description tells how the souls of the suitors were conducted +to the realm of the dead, the old comrades of Odysseus before Troy +recognising in the vengeance all the marks of his handiwork. Odysseus +found his father in a wretched old age hoeing his garden, clad in +soiled garments with a goat-skin hat on his head which but increased his +sorrow. At the sight Odysseus was moved to tears of compassion. Yet even +then he could not refrain from his wiles, for he told how he had indeed +seen Odysseus though five years before. In despair the old man took the +dust in his hands and cast it about his head in mighty grief. + + "Then Odysseus' spirit was moved and the stinging throb smote his + nostrils. Clinging to his father he kissed him and told him he was + indeed his son, returned after twenty years." + +For a moment the old man doubted, but believed when Odysseus showed the +scar and told him the number and names of the trees they had planted +together in their orchard. + +Meanwhile news of the death of the wooers had run through the city. The +father of Antinous raised a tumult and led a body of armed men to demand +satisfaction. The threatening uproar was stopped by the intervention of +Athena who thus completed the restoration of her favourite as she had +begun it. + + * * * * * + +It is strange that this poem, which is such a favourite with modern +readers, should have made a less deep impression on the Greeks. To +them, Homer is nearly always the _Iliad_, possibly because Achilles was +semi-divine, whereas Odysseus was a mere mortal. But the latter is for +that very reason of more importance to us, we feel him to be more akin +to our own life. Further, the type of character which Odysseus stands +for is really far nobler than the fervid and somewhat incalculable +nature of the son of Thetis. Odysseus is patient endurance, common +sense, self-restraint, coolness, resource and strength; he is indeed +a manifold personality, far more complex than anything attempted +previously in Greek literature and therefore far more modern in +his appeal. It is only after reading the _Odyssey_ that we begin to +understand why Diomedes chose Odysseus as his companion in the famous +Dolon adventure in Noman's land. Achilles would have been the wrong man +for this or any other situation which demanded first and last a cool +head. + +The romantic elements which are so necessary a part of all Epic are much +more convincing in the _Odyssey_; the actions and adventures are indeed +beyond experience, but they are treated in such a masterly style that +they are made inevitable; it would be difficult to improve on any of the +little details which force us to believe the whole story. Added to them +is another genuine romantic feature, the sense of wandering in strange +new lands untrodden before of man's foot; the beings who move in these +lands are gracious, barbarous, magical, monstrous, superhuman, dreamy, +or prophetic by turns; they are all different and all fascinating. The +reader is further introduced to the life of the dead as well as of the +living and the memory of his visit is one which he will retain for ever. +Not many stories of adventure can impress themselves indelibly as does +the _Odyssey_. + +To English readers the poem has a special value, for it deals with the +sea and its wonders. The native land of its hero is not very unlike our +own, "full of mist and rain", yet able to make us love it far more than +a Calypso's isle with an offer of immortality to any who will exchange +his real love of home for an unnatural haven of peace. A splendid hero, +a good love-story, admirable narrative, romance and excitement, together +with a breath of the sea which gives plenty of space and pure air have +made the _Odyssey_ the companion of many a veteran reader in whom the +Greek spirit cannot die. + + * * * * * + +Of the impression which Homer has made upon the mind of Europe it would +be difficult to give an estimate. The Greeks themselves early came to +regard his text with a sort of veneration; it was learned by heart and +quoted to spellbound audiences in the cities and at the great national +meetings at Olympia. Every Greek boy was expected to know some portion +at least by heart; Plato evidently loved Homer and when he was obliged +to point out that the system of morality which he stood for was +antiquated and needed revision, apologised for the criticism he could +not avoid. It is sometimes said that Homer was the Bible of the Greeks; +while this statement is probably inaccurate--for no theological system +was built on him nor did he claim any divine revelation--yet it is +certain that authors of all ages searched the text for all kinds of +purposes, antiquarian, ethical, social, as well as religious. This +careful study of Homer culminated in the learned and accurate work of +the great Alexandrian school of Zenodotus and Aristarchus. + +In Roman times Homer never failed to inspire lesser writers; Ennius +is said to have translated the _Odyssey_, while Virgil's _Aeneid_ is +clearly a child of the Greek Homeric tradition. In the Middle Ages the +Trojan legend was one of the four great cycles which were treated over +and over again in the Chansons. Even drama was glad to borrow the great +characters of the _Iliad_, as Shakespeare did in _Troilus and Cressida_. +In England a number of famous translations has witnessed to the undying +appeal of the first of the Greek masters. Chapman published his _Iliad_ +in 1611, his _Odyssey_ in 1616; Pope's version appeared between 1715 +and 1726; Cowper issued his translation in 1791. In the next century the +Earl Derby retranslated the _Iliad_, while an excellent prose version of +the _Odyssey_ by Butcher and Lang was followed by a prose version of the +_Iliad_ by Lang Myers and Leaf. At a time when Europe had succeeded in +persuading itself that the whole story of a siege of Troy was an obvious +myth, a series of startling discoveries on the site of Troy and on +the mainland of Greece proved how lamentably shallow is some of the +cleverest and most destructive Higher Criticism. + +The marvellous rapidity and vigour of these two poems will save them +from death; the splendid qualities of direct narration, constructive +skill, dignity and poetical power will always make Homer a name to love. +Those who know no Greek and therefore fear that they may lose some of +the directness of the Homeric appeal might recall the famous sonnet +written by Keats who had had no opportunity to learn the great +language. His words are no doubt familiar enough; that they have become +inseparable from Homer must be our apology for inserting them here. + + Much have I travelled in the realms of gold, + And many goodly states and Kingdoms seen; + Round many western islands have I been + Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold. + + Oft of one wide expanse had I been told + That deep-browed Homer ruled as his demesne: + Yet never did I breathe its pure serene + Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold. + + Then felt I like some watcher of the skies + When a new planet swims into his ken, + Or like stout Cortes, when with eagle eyes + He stared at the Pacific--and all his men + Look'd at each other with a wild surmise-- + Silent, upon a peak in Darien. + + +TRANSLATIONS. As INDICATED IN THE TEXT OF THE ESSAY. + +The whole of the Homeric tradition is affected by the recent discoveries +made in Crete. The civilisation there unearthed raises questions of +great interest; the problems it suggests are certain to modify current +ideas of Homeric study. + +See _Discoveries in Crete_, by R. Burrows (Murray, 1907). + +A very good account of the early age of European literature is in _The +Heroic Age_, by Chadwick (Cambridge, 1912). + +The best interpretation of Greek poetry is Symonds' _Greek Poets_, 2 +vols. (Smith Elder). + +Jebb's _Homer_ is the best introduction to the many difficulties +presented by the poems. + +Flaxman's engravings for the _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_ are of the highest +order. + + + + +AESCHYLUS + + +Towards the end of the sixth century before Christ, one of the most +momentous advances in literature was made by the genius of Aeschylus. +European drama was created and a means of utterance was given to the +rapidly growing democratic spirit of Greece. Before Aeschylus wrote, +rude public exhibitions had been given of the life and adventures of +Dionysus, the god of wine. Choruses had sung odes to the deity and +variety was obtained by a series of short dialogues between one of the +Chorus and the remainder. Aeschylus added a second actor to converse +with the first; he thus started a movement which eventually ousted +the Chorus from its place of importance, for the interest now began to +concentrate on the two actors; it was their performance which gave drama +its name. In time more characters were added; the Chorus became less +necessary and in the long run was felt to be a hindrance to the movement +of the story. This process is plainly visible in the extant works of the +Attic tragedians. + +Aeschylus was born at Eleusis in 525; before the end of the century he +was writing tragedies. In 490 he fought in the great battle of Marathon +and took part in the victory of Salamis in 480. This experience of the +struggle for freedom against Persian despotism added a vigour and +a self-reliance to his writing which is characteristic of a growing +national spirit. He is said to have visited Sicily in 468 and again in +458, various motives being given for his leaving Athens. His death +at Gela in 456 is said to have been due to an eagle, which dropped a +tortoise upon his head which he mistook for a stone. He has left to +the world seven plays in which the rapid development of drama is +conspicuous. + +One of the earliest of his plays is the _Suppliants_, little read +owing to the uncertainty of the text and the meagreness of the dramatic +interest. The plot is simple enough. Danaus, sprung from Io of Argos, +flees from Egypt with his fifty daughters who avoid wedlock with the +fifty sons of Aegyptus. He sails to Argos and lays suppliant boughs on +the altars of the gods, imploring protection. The King of Argos after +consultation with his people decides to admit the fugitives and to +secure them from Aegyptus' violence. A herald from the latter threatens +to take the Danaids back with him, but the King intervenes and saves +them. There is little in this play but long choral odes; yet one or two +Aeschylean features are evident. The King dreads offending the god of +suppliants + + "lest he should make him to haunt his house, a dread visitor who + quits not sinners even in the world to come." + +The Egyptian herald reverences no gods of Greece "who reared him not +nor brought him to old age". The Chorus declare that "what is fated will +come to pass, for Zeus' mighty boundless will cannot be thwarted". Here +we have the three leading ideas in the system of Aeschylus--the doctrine +of the inherited curse, of human pride and impiety, and the might of +Destiny. + +The _Persians_ is unique as being the only surviving historical play in +Greek literature. It is a poem rather than a drama, as there is little +truly dramatic action. The piece is a succession of very vivid sketches +of the incidents in the great struggle which freed Europe from the +threat of Eastern despotism. A Chorus of Persian elders is waiting for +news of the advance of the great array which Xerxes led against Greece +in 480. They tell how Persia extended her sway over Asia. Yet they are +uneasy, for + + "what mortal can avoid the crafty deception of Heaven? In seeming + kindness it entices men into a trap whence they cannot escape." + +The Queen-mother Atossa enters, resplendent with jewels; she too is +anxious, for in a dream she had seen Xerxes yoke two women together who +were at feud, one clad in Persian garb, the other in Greek. The former +was obedient to the yoke, but the latter tore the car to pieces and +broke the curb. The Chorus advises her to propitiate the gods with +sacrifice, and to pray to Darius her dead husband to send his son +prosperity. At that moment a herald enters with the news of the Greek +victory at Salamis. Xerxes, beguiled by some fiend or evil spirit, drew +up his fleet at night to intercept the Greeks, supposed to be preparing +for flight. But at early dawn they sailed out to attack, singing +mightily + + "Ye sons of Greece, onward! Free your country, your children and + wives, the shrines of your fathers' gods, and your ancestral tombs. + Now must ye fight for all." + +Winning a glorious victory, they landed on the little island +(Psyttaleia) where the choicest Persian troops had been placed to cut +off the retreat of the Greek navy, and slew them all. Later, they drove +back the Persians by land; through Boeotia, Thessaly and Macedonia the +broken host retreated, finally recrossing to Asia over the Hellespont. + +On hearing the news Atossa disappears and the Persian Chorus sing a +dirge. The Queen returns without her finery, attired as a suppliant; she +bids the Chorus call up Darius, while she offers libations to the +dead. The ghost of the great Empire-builder rises before the astonished +spectators, enquiring what trouble has overtaken his land. His release +from Death is not easy, "for the gods of the lower world are readier to +take men's spirits than to let them go". On learning that his son has +been totally defeated, he delivers his judgment. The oracles had long +ago prophesied this disaster; it was hurried on by Xerxes' rashness, +for when a man is himself hurrying on to ruin Heaven abets him. He had +listened to evil counsellors, who bade him rival his father's glory by +making wider conquests. The ruin of Persia is not yet complete, for when +insolence is fully ripe it bears a crop of ruin and reaps a harvest of +tears. This evil came upon Xerxes through the sacrilegious demolition of +altars and temples. Zeus punishes overweening pride, and his correcting +hand is heavy. Darius counsels Atossa to comfort their son and to +prevent him from attacking Greece again; he further advises the Chorus +to take life's pleasures while they can, for after death there is +no profit in wealth. A distinctly grotesque touch is added by the +appearance of Xerxes himself, broken and defeated, filling the scene +with lamentations for lost friends and departed glory, unable to answer +the Chorus when they demand the whereabouts of some of the most famous +Persian warriors. + +The play is valuable as the result of a personal experience of the poet. +As a piece of literature it is important, for it is a poetic description +of the first armed conflict between East and West. It directly inspired +Shelley when he wrote his _Hellas_ at a time when Greece was rousing +herself from many centuries of Eastern oppression. As a historical +drama it is of great value, for it is substantially accurate in its main +facts, though Aeschylus has been compelled to take some liberties +with time and human motives in order to satisfy dramatic needs. From +Herodotus it seems probable that Darius himself hankered after the +subjugation of Greece, while Xerxes at the outset was inclined to leave +her in peace. + +One or two characteristic features are worth note. The genius of +Aeschylus was very bold; it was a daring thing to bring up a ghost from +the dead, for the supernatural appeal does not succeed except when it +is treated with proper insight; yet even Aeschylus' genius has not quite +succeeded in filling his canvas, the last scenes being distinctly poor +in comparison with the splendour of the main theme. On the other hand +a notable advance in dramatic power has been made. The main actors are +becoming human; their wills are beginning to operate. Tragedy is based +on a conflict of some sort; here the wilful spirit of youth is portrayed +as defying the forces of justice and righteousness; it is insolence +which brings Xerxes to ruin. The substantial creed of Aeschylus is +contained in Darius' speech; as the poet progresses in dramatic cunning +we shall find that he constantly finds his sources of tragic inspiration +in the acts of the sinners who defy the will of the gods. + +_The Seven against Thebes_ was performed in 472. It was one of a +trilogy, a series of three plays dealing with the misfortunes of +Oedipus' race. After the death of Oedipus his sons Polyneices and +Eteocles quarrelled for the sovereignty of Thebes. Polyneices, expelled +and banished by his younger brother, assembled an army of chosen +warriors to attack his native land. Eteocles opens the play with a +speech which encourages the citizens to defend their town. A messenger +hurries in telling how he left the besiegers casting lots to decide +which of the seven gates of Thebes each should attack. Eteocles prays +that the curse of his father may not destroy the town and leaves to +arrange the defences. In his absence the Chorus of virgins sing a wild +prayer to the gods to save them. Hearing this, the King returns +to administer a vigorous reproof; he declares that their frenzied +supplications fill the city with terrors, discouraging the fighting men. +He demands from them obedience, the mother of salvation; if at last they +are to perish, they cannot escape the inevitable. His masterful spirit +at last cows them into a better frame of mind; this scene presents to us +one of the most manly characters in Aeschylus' work. + +After a choral ode a piece of intense tragic horror follows. The +messenger tells the names of the champions who are to assault the gates. +As he names them and the boastful or impious mottoes on their shields, +the King names the Theban champions who are to quell their pride in the +fear of the gods. Five of the insolent attackers are mentioned, then the +only righteous one of the invading force, Amphiaraus the seer; he it was +who rebuked the violence of Tydeus, the evil genius among the besiegers, +and openly reviled Polyneices for attacking his own native land. He had +prophesied his own death before the city, yet resolved to meet his fate +nobly; on his shield alone was no device, for he wished to be, not to +seem, a good man. The pathos of the impending ruin of a great character +through evil associations is heightened by the terror of what follows. +Only one gate remains without an assailant, the gate Eteocles is to +defend; it is to be attacked by the King's own brother, Polyneices. +Filled with horror, the Chorus begs him send another to that gate, +for "there can be no old age to the pollution of kindred bloodshed". +Recognising that his father's curse is working itself out, he departs to +kill and be killed by his own brother, for "when the gods send evil none +can avoid it". + +In an interval the Chorus reflect on their King's impending doom. His +father's curse strikes them with dread; Oedipus himself was born of a +father Laius who, though warned thrice by Apollo that if he died without +issue he would save his land, listened to the counsels of friends and +in imprudence begat his own destroyer. Their song is interrupted by a +messenger who announces that they have prospered at six gates, but at +the seventh the two brothers have slain each other. This news inspires +another song in which the joy of deliverance gradually yields to pity +for an unhappy house, cursed and blighted, the glory of Oedipus serving +but to make more acute the shame of his latter end and the triumph of +the ruin he invoked on his sons. The agony of this scene is intensified +by the entry of Ismene and Antigone, Oedipus' daughters, the latter +mourning for Polyneices, the former for Eteocles. The climax is +reached when a herald announces a decree made by the senate and people. +Eteocles, their King who defended the land, was to be buried with all +honours, but Polyneices was to lie unburied. Calmly and with great +dignity Antigone informs the herald that if nobody else buries her +brother, she will. A warning threat fails to move her. The play closes +with a double note of terror at the doom of Polyneices and pity for the +death of a brave King. + +Further progress in dramatic art has been made in this play. One of the +main sources of the pathos of human life is the operation of what +seems to us to be mere blind chance. Just as the casual dropping of +Desdemona's handkerchief gave Iago his opportunity, so the casual +allotting of the seven gates brings the two brothers into conflict. +But behind it was the working of an inherited curse; yet Aeschylus is +careful to point out that the curse need never have existed at all but +for the wilfulness of Laius; he was the origin of all the mischief, +obstinately refusing to listen to a warning thrice given him by Apollo. +Another secret of dramatic excellence has been discovered by the poet, +that of contrast. Two brothers and two sisters are balanced in pairs +against one another. The weaker sister Ismene laments the stronger +brother, while the more unfortunate Polyneices is championed by the +more firmly drawn sister. Equally admirable is the contrast between the +righteous Amphiaraus and his godless companions. The character of +each of these is a masterpiece. War, horror, kindred bloodshed, with +a promise of further agonies to arise from Antigone's resolve are the +elements which Aeschylus has fused together in this vivid play. + +"There was war in Heaven" between the new gods and the old. The +_Prometheus Bound_ contains the story of the proud tyranny of Zeus, +the latest ruler of the gods. Hephaestus, the god of fire, opens a +conversation with Force and Violence who are pinning Prometheus with +chains of adamant to the rocks of Caucasus. Hephaestus performs his task +with reluctance and in pity for the victim, the deep-counselling son +of right-minded Law. Yet the command of Zeus his master is urgent, +overriding the claims of kindred blood. Force and Violence, full of +hatred, hold down the god who has stolen fire, Hephaestus' right, and +given it to men. They bid the Fire-God make the chains fast and drive +the wedge through Prometheus' body. When the work is done they leave him +with the taunt: + + "Now steal the rights of the gods and give them to the creatures + of the day; what can mortals do to relieve thy agonies? The gods + wrongly call thee a far-seeing counsellor, who thyself lackest a + counsellor to save thee from thy present lot." + +Abandoned of all, Prometheus breaks out into a wild appeal to earth, +air, the myriad laughter of the sea, the founts and streams to witness +his humiliation; but soon he reflects that he had foreseen his agony +and must bear it as best he can, for the might of Necessity is not to +be fought against. A sound of lightly moving pinions strikes his ears; +sympathisers have come to visit him; they are the Chorus, the daughters +of Ocean, who have heard the sound of the riveted chains and hurried +forth in their winged car Awestruck, they come to see how Zeus is +smiting down the mighty gods of old. It would be difficult to imagine a +more natural and touching motive for the entry of a Chorus. + +In the dialogue that follows the tragic appeal to pity is quickly +blended with a different interest. By a superb stroke of art Aeschylus +excites the audience to an intense curiosity. Though apparently subdued, +Prometheus has the certainty of ultimate triumph over his foe; he alone +has secret knowledge of something which will one day hurl Zeus from his +throne; the time will come when the new president of Heaven will hurry +to him in anxious desire for reconciliation; when ruin threatens him he +will forsake his pride and beg Prometheus to save him. But no words will +prevail on the sufferer till he is released from his bonds and receives +ample satisfaction for his maltreatment. The Chorus bids him tell the +whole history of the quarrel. To them he unfolds the story of Zeus' +ingratitude. There was a discord among the older gods, some wishing to +depose Cronos and make Zeus their King. Warned by his mother, Prometheus +knew that only counsel could avail in the struggle, not violence. When +he failed to persuade the Titans to use cunning, he joined Zeus who with +his aid hurled his foes down to Tartarus. Securing the sovereignty, Zeus +distributed honours to his supporters, but was anxious to wipe out +the human race and create a new stock. Prometheus resisted him, giving +mortals fire the creator of many arts and ridding them of the dread +of death. This act brought him into conflict with Zeus. He invites the +Chorus to step down from their car and hear the rest of his story. At +this point Ocean enters, one of the older gods. He offers to act as +a mediator with Zeus, but Prometheus warns him to keep out of the +conflict; he has witnessed the sorrows of Atlas, his own brother, and +of Typhos, pinned down under Etna, and desires to bring trouble upon no +other god; he must bear his agonies alone till the time of deliverance +is ripe. Ocean departing, Prometheus continues his story. He gave men +writing and knowledge of astronomy, taught them to tame the wild beasts, +invented the ship, created medicine, divination and metallurgy. Yet for +all this, his art is weaker far than Necessity, whereof the controllers +are Fate and the unforgetting Furies. Terror-struck at his sufferings, +the Chorus point out how utterly his goodness has been wasted in helping +the race of mortals who cannot save him. He warns them that a time +would come when Zeus should be no longer King; when they ask for more +knowledge, he turns them to other thoughts, bidding them hide the secret +as much as possible. Their interest is drawn away to another of Zeus' +victims, who at this moment rushes on the scene; it is lo, cajoled and +abandoned by Zeus, plagued and tormented by the dread unsleeping gadfly +sent by Zeus' consort Hera. She relates her story to the wondering +Chorus, and then Prometheus tells her the long tale of misery and +wandering that await her as she passes from the Caucasus to Egypt, where +she is promised deliverance from her tormentor. + +The play now moves to its awful climax. The sight of Io stirs Prometheus +to prophesy more clearly the end in store for Zeus. There would be born +one to discover a terror far greater than the thunderbolt, and smite +Zeus and his brother Poseidon into utter slavery. On hearing this Zeus +sends from heaven his messenger Hermes to demand fuller knowledge of +this new monarch. Disdaining his threats, Prometheus mocks the new +gods and defies their ruler to do his worst. Hermes then delivers his +warning. Prometheus would be overwhelmed with the terrors of thunder and +lightning, while the red eagle would tear out his heart unceasingly till +one should arise to inherit his agonies, descending to the depths of +Tartarus. He advises the Chorus to depart from the rebel, lest they too +should share in the vengeance. They remain faithful to Prometheus, ready +to suffer with him; then descend the thunderings and lightnings, the +mountains rock, the winds roar, and the sky is confounded with sea; the +dread agony has begun. + +Once more the bold originality of Aeschylus displays itself. Here is a +theme unique in Greek literature. The strife between the two races of +gods opens out a vista of the world ages before man was created. It will +provide a solution to a very difficult problem which will confront us in +a later play. The conflict between two stubborn wills is the source of a +sublime tragedy in which our sympathies are with the sufferer; Zeus, who +punishes Prometheus for "unjustly" helping mortals, himself falls +below the level of human morality; he is tyrannous, ungrateful and +revengeful--in short, he displays all the wrong-headedness of a new +ruler. No doubt in the sequel these defects would have disappeared; +experience would have induced a kindlier temper and the sense of an +impending doom would have made it essential for him to relent in order +to learn the great secret about his successor. + +Pathos is repeatedly appealed to in the play. Hephaestus is one of the +kindliest figures in Greek tragedy; the noble-hearted young goddesses +cannot fail to hold our affection. They are the most human Chorus in all +drama; their entry is admirable; in the sequel we should have found +them still near Prometheus after his cycle of tortures. But the +subject-matter is calculated to win the admiration of all humanity; it +is the persecution of him to whom on Greek principles mankind owes all +that it is of value in its civilisation. We cannot help thinking of +another God, racked and tormented and nailed to a cross of shame to save +the race He loved. The very power and majesty of Aeschylus' work has +made it difficult for successors to imitate him; few can hope to equal +his sublime grandeur; Shelley attempted it in his _Prometheus Unbound_, +but his Prometheus becomes abstract Humanity, ceasing to be a character, +while his play is really a mere poem celebrating the inevitable victory +of man over the evils of his environment and picturing the return of an +age of happiness. + +Nearly all the characters in Greek tragedy were the heroes of well-known +popular legends. In abandoning the well-trodden circle Aeschylus has +here ensured an undying freshness for his work--it is novel, free and +unconventional; more than that, it is dignified. + +The slightest error of taste would have degraded if to the level of +a comedy; throughout it maintains a uniform tone of loftiness and +sincerity. The language is easy but powerful, the art with which the +story is told is consummate. Finally, it is one of the few pieces in the +literature of the world which are truly sublime; it ranks with Job +and Dante. The great purpose of creation, the struggles of beings of +terrific power, the majesty of gods, the whole universe sighing and +lamenting for the agonies of a deity of wondrous foresight, saving +others but not himself--such is the theme of this mighty and affecting +play. + +In 458 Aeschylus wrote the one trilogy which is extant. It describes the +murder of Agamemnon, the revenge of Orestes and his purification +from blood-guiltiness. It will be necessary to trace the history +of Agamemnon's family before we can understand these plays. His +great-grandfather was Tantalus, who betrayed the secrets of the gods and +was subjected to unending torture in Hades. Pelops, his son, begat two +sons, Atreus and Thyestes. The former killed Thyestes' son, invited the +father to a banquet and served up his own son's body for him to eat. +The sons of Atreus were Agamemnon and Menelaus, who married respectively +Clytemnestra and Helen, daughters of Zeus and Leda, both evil women; +the son of Thyestes was Aegisthus, a deadly foe of his cousins who had +banished him. The "inherited curse" then had developed itself in this +unhappy stock and it did not fail to ruin it. + +When Helen abandoned Menelaus and went to Troy with Paris, Agamemnon led +a great armament to recover the adulteress. The fleet was wind-bound +at Aulis, because the Greeks had offended Artemis. Chalcas the seer +informed Agamemnon that it would be impossible for him to reach Troy +unless he offered his eldest daughter Iphigeneia to Artemis. Torn by +patriotism and fatherly affection, Agamemnon resorted to a strategem to +bring his daughter to the sacrifice. He sent a messenger to Clytemnestra +saying he wished to marry their child to Achilles. When the mother and +daughter arrived at Aulis they learned the bitter truth. Iphigeneia +was indeed sacrificed, but Artemis spirited her away to the country +now called Crimea, there to serve as her priestess. Believing that her +daughter was dead, Clytemnestra returned to Argos to plot destruction +for her husband, forming an illicit union with his foe Aegisthus, +nursing her revenge during the ten years of the siege. + +The _Agamemnon_, the first play of the trilogy, opens in a romantic +setting. It is night. A watchman is on the wall of Argos, stationed +there by the Queen. For ten years he had waited for the signal of the +beacon-fire to be lit at Nauplia, the port of Argos, to announce the +fall of Troy. At last the expected signal is given. He hurries to tell +the news to the Queen, a woman with the resolution of a man; in his +absence the Chorus of Argive Elders enter the stage, singing one of the +finest odes to be found in any language. It likens Agamemnon and his +brother to two avenging spirits sent to punish the sinner. The Chorus +are past military age, and are come to learn from Clytemnestra why +there is sacrifice throughout all Argos. They remember the woes at the +beginning of the campaign, how Chalcas prophesied that in time Troy +would be taken, yet hinted darkly of some blinding curse of Heaven +hanging over the Greeks, his burden being + + "Sing woe, sing woe, but let the good prevail." + + "Yea, the law of Zeus is, wisdom by suffering, for thus soberness of + thought comes to those who wish not for it. First men are emboldened + by ill-counselling foolish frenzy which begins their troubles; even + as Agamemnon, through sin against Artemis, was compelled to slay his + daughter to save his armament. Her cries for a father's mercy, her + unuttered appeals to her slayers--these he disregarded. What is to + come of it, no man knows; yet it is useless to lament the issue before + it comes, as come it will, clear as the light of day." + +Clytemnestra enters, the sternest woman figure in all literature. She +reminds the Chorus that she is no child and is not known to have a +slumbering wit. When they enquire how she has learned so quickly of the +capture of Troy, she describes with great brilliance the long chain of +beacon fires she has caused to be made, stretching from Ida in Troyland +to Argos. She imagines the wretched fate of the conquered and the joy +of the victors, rid for ever of their watchings beneath the open sky. +Striking the same ominous note as Chalcas did, she continues: + + "If they reverence the Gods of Troy and their shrines, they shall not + be caught even as they have taken the city. May no lust of plundering + fall upon the army, for it needs a safe return home. Yet even if the + army sins not against the gods, the anger of the slain may awake, + though no new ills arise. But let the right prevail, for all to see + it clearly." + +This speech inspires the Chorus to sing another solemn ode. Too much +prosperity leads to godlessness; Paris carried away Helen in pride and +infatuation, stealing the light of Menelaus' eyes, leaving him only the +torturing memories of her beauty which visited him in his dreams. But +there is a spirit of discontent in every city of Greece; all had sent +their young men to Troy in the glory of life, and in return they had a +handful of ashes, asking why their sons should fall in murderous strife +for another man's wife. At night the dark dread haunts Argos that the +gods care not for men who shed much blood, who succeed by injustice, who +are well spoken of overmuch. Often these are smitten full in the face by +the thunderbolt; and perhaps this beacon message is mere imagining or a +lie sent from heaven. + +Hearing this the Queen comes forth to prove the truth of her story. A +herald at that moment advances to confirm it, for Troy has been sacked. + + "Altars and shrines have been demolished and all the seed of land + destroyed. Thus is Agamemnon the happiest man of mortals, most + worthy of honour, for Paris and his city cannot say that their + crime was greater than its punishment." + +Immediately after learning this story, Clytemnestra makes the first of a +number of speeches charged with a dreadful double meaning. + + "When the first news came, I shouted for joy, but now I shall hear + the story from the King himself. And I will use all diligence to + give my lord the best of all possible welcomes. Bid him come with + speed. May he find in the house a wife as faithful as he left her! + I know of no wanton pleasure with another man more than I know how + to dye a sword." + +The Chorus understand well the hidden force of this sinister speech and +bid the messenger speak of Menelaus, the other beloved King of the land. +In reply he tells how a dreadful storm sent by the angry gods descended +upon the Greek fleet. In it fire and water, those ancient foes, forsook +their feud, conspiring to destroy the unhappy armament. Whether Menelaus +was alive or not was uncertain; if he lived, it was only by the will of +Zeus who desired to save the royal house. The Chorus who look at things +with a deeper glance than the herald, hear his story with a growing +uneasiness. + + "Helen, the cause of the war, at first was a spirit ofcalm to Troy, + but at the latter end she was their bane, the evil angel of ruin. + For one act of violence begets many others like it, until + righteousness can no longer dwell within the sinner." + +They touch a more joyous chord of welcome and loyalty when at last they +see the actual arrival of Agamemnon himself. + +The King enters the stage accompanied by Cassandra, the prophetic +daughter of Priam, thus giving visible proof of his contempt for Apollo, +the Trojan protector and inspirer of the prophetess. He has heard +the Chorus' welcome and promises to search out the false friends and +administer healing medicine to the city. Clytemnestra replies in a +second speech of double significance. + + "The Argive Elders well know how dearly she loves her lord and the + impatience of her life while he was at Troy. Often stories came of + his wounds; were they all true, he would have more scars than a net + has holes. Orestes their son has been sent away, lest he should be + the victim of some popular uprising in the King's absence. Her fount + of tears is dried up, not a drop being left." + +After some words of extravagant flattery, she bids her waiting women lay +down purple carpets on which Justice may bring him to a home which he +never hoped to see. Agamemnon coldly deprecates her long speech; the +honour she suggests is one for the gods alone; his fame will speak loud +enough without gaudy trappings, for a wise heart is Heaven's greatest +gift. But the Queen, not to be denied, overcomes his scruples. Giving +orders that Cassandra is to be well treated, he passes over the purple +carpets, led by Clytemnestra who avows that she would have given many +purple carpets to get him home alive. Thus arrogating to himself the +honours of a god, he proceeds within the palace, while she lingers +behind for one brief moment to pray openly to Zeus to fulfil her prayers +and to bring his will to its appointed end. Thoroughly alarmed, the +Chorus give free utterance to the vague forebodings which shake them, +the song of the avenging Furies which cries within their hearts. + + "Human prosperity often strikes a sunken rock; bloodshed calls to + Heaven for vengeance; yet there is comfort, for one destiny may + override another, and good may yet come to pass." + +These pious hopes are broken by the entry of the Queen who summons +Cassandra within: when the captive prophetess answers her not a word, +Clytemnestra declares she has no time to waste outside the palace: +already there stands at the altar the ox ready for sacrifice, a joy she +never looked to have; if Cassandra will not obey, she must be taught to +foam out her spirit in blood. + +In the marvellous scene which follows Aeschylus reaches the pinnacle +of tragic power. Cassandra advances to the palace, but starts back in +horror as a series of visions of growing vividness comes before her +eyes. These find utterance in language of blended sanity and madness, +creating a terror whose very vagueness increases its intensity. First +she sees Atreus' cruel murder of his brother's children; then follows +the sight of Clytemnestra's treacherous smile and of Agamemnon in the +bath, hand after hand reaching at him; quickly she sees the net cast +about him, the murderess' blow. In a flash she foresees her own end +and breaks out into a wild lament over the ruin of her native city. Her +words work up the Chorus into a state of confused dread and foreboding; +they can neither understand nor yet disbelieve. When their mental +confusion is at its height, relief comes in a prophecy of the greatest +clearness, no longer couched in riddling terms. The palace is peopled by +a band of kindred Furies, who have drunk their fill of human blood and +cannot be cast out; they sit there singing the story of the origin +of its ruin, loathing the murder of the innocent children. Agamemnon +himself would soon pay the penalty, but his son would come to avenge +him. Foretelling her own death, she hurls away the badges of her office, +the sceptre and oracular chaplets, things which have brought her nothing +but ridicule. She prays for a peaceful end without a struggle; comparing +human life to a shadow when it is fortunate and to a picture wiped out +by a sponge when it is hapless, she moves in calmly to her fate. + +There is a momentary interval of reflection, then Agamemnon's dying +voice is heard as he is stricken twice. Frantic with horror, the Chorus +prepare to rush within but are checked by the Queen, who throws open the +door and stands glorying in the triumph of self-confessed murder. Her +real character is revealed in her speech. + + "This feud was not unpremeditated; rather, it proceeds from an + ancient quarrel, matured by time. Here I stand where I smote him, + over my handiwork. So I contrived it, I freely confess, that he + could neither escape his fate nor defend himself. I cast over him + the endless net, and I smote him twice--in two groans he gave up + the ghost--adding a third in grateful thanksgiving to the King of + the dead in the nether world. As he fell he gasped out his spirit, + and breathing a swift stream of gore he smote me with a drop of + murderous dew, while I rejoiced even as does the cornfield under + the Heavensent shimmering moisture when it brings the ears to the + birth. Ye Argive Elders, rejoice if ye can, but I exult. If it were + fitting to pour thank-offerings for any death, 'twere just, nay, + more than just, to offer such for him, so mighty was the bowl of + curses he filled up in his home, then came and drank them up himself + to the dregs." + +To their solemn warning that she would herself be cut off, banished and +hated, she replies: + + "He slew my child, my dearest birth-pang, to charm the Thracian + winds. In the name of the perfect justice I have exacted for my + daughter, in the name of Ruin and Vengeance, to whom I have + sacrificed him, my hopes cannot tread the halls of fear so long + as Aegisthus is true to me. There he lies, seducer of this woman, + darling of many a Chryseis in Troyland. As for this captive + prophetess, this babbler of oracles, she sat on the ship's bench + by his side and both have fared as they deserved. He died as ye see; + but she sang her swan-song of death and lies beside him she loved, + bringing me a sweet relish for the luxury of my own love." + +A little later she denies her very humanity. + + "Call me not his spouse; rather the ancient dread haunting evil + genius of this house has taken a woman's shape and punished him, + a full-grown man in vengeance for little children." + +Burial he should have, but without any dirges from his people. + + "Let Iphigeneia, his daughter, as is most fitting, meet her father + at the swift-conveying passage of woe, throw her arms about him and + kiss him welcome." + +The last scene of this splendid drama brings forward the poltroon +Aegisthus who had skulked behind in the background till the deed was +done. He enters to air his ancient grievance, reminding the Chorus how +his father was outraged by Atreus, how he himself was a banished man, +yet found his arm long enough to smite the King from far away. In +contempt for the coward the Elders prepare to offer him battle; they +appeal to Orestes to avenge the murder. The quarrel was stopped by +Clytemnestra, who had had enough of bloodshed and was content to leave +things as they were, if the gods consented thereto. + +Before the sustained power of this masterpiece criticism is nearly dumb. +The conception of the inherited curse is by now familiar to us; familiar +too is the teaching that sacrilege brings its own punishment, that human +pride may be flattered into assuming the privilege of a deity. These +were enough to cause Agamemnon's undoing. But it is the part played by +Clytemnestra which fixes the dramatic interest. She is inspired by a +lust for vengeance, yet, had she known the truth that her daughter was +not dead but a priestess, she would have had no pretext for the murder. +This ignorance of essentials which originates some human action is +called Irony; it was put to dramatic uses for the first time in European +literature by Aeschylus. The horrible tragedy it may cause is clear +enough in the _Agamemnon_; its power is terrible and its value as a +dramatic source is inestimable. There is another and a far more subtle +form of Irony, in which a character uses riddling speech interpreted by +another actor in a sense different from the truth as it is known to the +spectators; this too can be used in such a manner as to charge human +speech with a sinister double meaning which bodes ruin under the mask +of words of innocence. Few dramatic personages have used this device so +effectively as Clytemnestra, certainly none with a more fiendish intent. +Again, in this play the Chorus is employed with amazing skill; their +vague uneasiness takes more and more definitely the shape of actual +terror in every ode; this terror is raised to its height in the +masterly Cassandra scene--it is then abated a little, perhaps it is just +beginning to disappear, for nobody believed Cassandra, when the blow +falls. This integral connection between the Chorus and the main action +is difficult to maintain; that it exists in the _Agamemnon_ is evidence +of a constructive genius of the highest order. + +The _Choephori_ (Libation-bearers), the second play of the trilogy, +opens with the entry of Orestes. He has just laid a lock of hair on +his father's tomb and sees a band of maidens approaching, among them +Electra, his sister. He retires with Pylades his faithful friend to +listen to their conversation. The Chorus tell how in consequence of +a dream of Clytemnestra they have been sent to offer libations to the +dead, to appease their anger and resentment against the murderers. +They give utterance to a wild hopeless song, full of a presentiment of +disaster coming on successful wickedness enthroned in power. They are +captives from Troy, obliged to look on the deeds of Aegisthus, whether +just or unjust, yet they weep for the purposeless agonies of Agamemnon's +house. When asked by Electra what prayers she should offer to her dead +father, they bid her pray for some avenging god or mortal to requite the +murderers. Returning to them from the tomb, she tells them of a strange +occurrence; a lock of hair has been laid on the grave, and there are two +sets of footprints on the ground, one of which corresponds with her +own. Orestes then comes forward to reveal himself; as a proof of his +identity, he bids her consider the garments which she wove with her own +hands; urging her to restrain her joy lest she betray his arrival, +he tells how Apollo has commanded him to avenge his father's death, +threatening him with sickness, frenzy, nightly terrors, excommunication +and a dishonoured death if he refuses. + +In a long choral dialogue the actors tell of Clytemnestra's insolent +treatment of the dead King; she had buried him without funeral rites or +mourning, with no subjects to follow the corpse; she even mangled his +body and thrust Electra out of the palace; thus she filled the cup of +her iniquity. The Chorus remind Orestes of his duty to act, but first he +inquires why oblations have been offered; on learning that they are the +result of Clytemnestra's dreaming that she suckled a serpent that stung +her, and that she hopes to appease the angry dead, he interprets the +dream of himself. He then unfolds his plot. He and Pylades will imitate +a Phocian dialect and will seek out and slay Aegisthus. An ode +which succeeds recounts the legends of evil women, closing with the +declaration that Justice is firmly seated in the world, that Fate +prepares a sword for a murderer and a Fury punishes him with it. + +Approaching the palace Orestes summons the Queen and tells her that a +stranger called Strophius bade him bring to Argos the news that Orestes +is dead. Clytemnestra commands her servants within the house to welcome +him and sends out her son's old nurse Cilissa to take the news to +Aegisthus. The nurse stops to speak to the Chorus in the very language +of grief for the boy she had reared, like Constance in _King John_. The +Chorus advise her to summon Aegisthus alone without his bodyguard, for +Orestes is not yet dead; when she departs they pray that the end may +be speedily accomplished and the royal house cleansed of its curse. +Aegisthus crosses the stage into the palace to meet a hasty end; seeing +the deed, a servant rushes out to call Clytemnestra, while Orestes +bursts out from the house and faces his mother. For a moment his +resolution wavers; Pylades reminds him of Apollo's anger if he fails. To +his mother's plea that Destiny abetted her deed he replies that Destiny +intends her death likewise; before he thrusts her into the palace she +warns him of the avenging Furies she will send to persecute him. She +then passes to her doom. + +After the Chorus have sung an ode of triumph Orestes shows the bodies of +the two who loved in sin while alive and were not separated in death. He +then displays the net which Clytemnestra threw around her husband's +body and the robe in which she caught his feet; he holds up the garment +through which Aegisthus' dagger ran. But in that very moment the cloud +of more agonies to come descends upon the hapless family. In obedience +to Apollo's command he takes the suppliant's branch and chaplet, and +prepares to hasten to Delphi, a wanderer cut off from his native land. +The dreadful shapes of the avenging Furies close in upon him: the +fancies of incipient madness thicken on his mind: he is hounded out, +his only hope of rest being Apollo's sacred shrine. The play ends with a +note of hopelessness, of calamity without end. + +After the _Agamemnon_ this play reads weak indeed. Yet it displays +two marked characteristics. It is full of vigorous action; the plot is +quickly conceived and quickly consummated; the business is soon over. +Further, Aeschylus has discovered yet another source of tragic power, +the conflict of duties. Orestes has to choose between obedience to +Apollo and reverence for his mother. That these duties are incompatible +is clear; whichever he performed, punishment was bound to follow. It +is in this enforced choice between two evils that the pathos of life is +often to be found; that Aeschylus should have so faithfully depicted it +is a great contribution to the growth of drama. + +The concluding play, the _Eumenides_, calls for a briefer description. +It opens with one of the most awe-inspiring scenes which the imagination +of man has conceived. The priestess of Delphi finds a man sitting as +a suppliant at the central point of the earth, his hands dripping with +blood, a sword and an olive branch in his hand. Round him is slumbering +a troop of dreadful forms, beings from darkness, the avengers. When the +scene is disclosed, Apollo himself is seen standing at Orestes' side. He +urges Hermes to convey the youth with all speed to Athens where he is to +clasp the ancient image of Athena. Immediately the ghost of Clytemnestra +arises; waking the sleeping forms, she bids them fly after their victim. +They arise and confront Apollo, a younger deity, whom they reproach for +protecting one who should be abandoned to them. Apollo replies with a +charge that they are prejudiced in favour of Clytemnestra, whom, though +a murderess, they had never tormented. + +The scene rapidly changes to Athens, where Orestes calls upon Athena; +confident in the privilege of their ancient office the Chorus awaits the +issue. The goddess appears and consents to try the case, the Council +of the Areopagus acting as a jury. Apollo first defends his action +in saving Orestes, asserting that he obeys the will of Zeus. The main +question is, which of the two parents is more to be had in honour? + +Athena herself had no mother; the female is merely the nurse of the +child, the father being the true generative source. The Chorus points +out that the sin of slaying a husband is not the same as that of +murdering a mother, for the one implies kinship, while the other does +not. Athena advises the Court to judge without fear or favour. When the +votes are counted, it is found that they are exactly even. The goddess +casts her vote for Orestes, who is thus saved and restored. + +The Chorus threaten that ruin and sterility shall visit Athena's city; +they are elder gods, daughters of night, and are overridden by younger +deities. But Athena by the power of her persuasion offers them a full +share in all the honours and wealth of Attica if they will consent +to take up their abode in it. They shall be revered by countless +generations and will gain new dignities such as they could not have +otherwise obtained. Little by little their resentment is overcome; they +are conducted to their new home to change their name and become the +kindly goddesses of the land. + +The boldness of Aeschylus is most evident in this play. Not content with +raising a ghost as he had done in the _Persae_, he actually shows upon +a public stage the two gods whom the Athenians regarded as the special +objects of their worship. More than this, he has brought to the light +the dark powers of the underworld in all their terrors; it is said that +at the sight of them some of the women in the audience were taken with +the pangs of premature birth. The introduction of these supernatural +figures was the most vivid means at Aeschylus' disposal for bringing +home to the minds of his contemporaries the seriousness of the dramatic +issue. It will be remembered that the _Prometheus_ was the last echo of +the contest between two races of gods. The same strain of thought has +made the poet represent the struggle in the mind of Orestes as a trial +between the primeval gods and the newer stock; the result was the +same, the older and perhaps more terrifying deities are beaten, being +compelled to change their names and their character to suit the gentler +spirit which a religion takes to itself as it develops. At any rate, +such is Aeschylus' solution of the eternal question, "What atonement can +be made for bloodshed and how can it be secured?" The problem is of the +greatest interest; it may be that there is no real answer for it, but it +is at least worth while to examine the attempts which have been made to +solve it. + +Before we begin to attempt an estimate of Aeschylus it is well to face +the reasons which make Greek drama seem a thing foreign to us. We are at +times aware that it is great, but we cannot help asking, "Is it +real?" Modern it certainly is not. In the first place, the Chorus was +all-important to the Greeks, but is non-existent with us. To them drama +was something more than action, it was music and dancing as well. Yet +as time went on, the Greeks themselves found the Chorus more and more +difficult to manage and it was discarded as a feature of the main plot. +Only in a very few instances could a play be constructed in such +a manner as to allow the Chorus any real influence on the story. +Aeschylus' skill in this branch of his art is really extraordinary; the +Chorus does take a part, and a vital part too, in the play. Again, +the number of Greek actors was limited, whereas in a modern play +their number is just as great as suits playwright's convenience or his +capacity. The impression then of a Greek play is that it is a somewhat +thin performance compared with the vivacity and complexity of the great +Elizabethans. The plot, where it exists, seems very narrow in Attic +drama; it could hardly be otherwise in a society which was content with +a repeated discussion of a rather close cycle of heroic legends. +Yet here, too, we might note how Aeschylus trod out of the narrow +circumscribed round, notably in the _Prometheus_ and the _Persoe_. +Lastly, the Greek play is short when compared with a full-bodied +five-act tragedy. It must be remembered, however, that very often +these plays are only a third part of the real subject dealt with by the +playwright. + +All Greek tragedy is liable to these criticisms; it is not fair to judge +a process just beginning by the standards of an art which thinks itself +full-blown after many centuries of history. Considering the meagre +resources available for Aeschylus--the masks used by Greek actors made +it impossible for any of them to win a reputation or to add to the fame +of a play--we ought to admire the marvellous success he achieved. His +defects are clear enough; his teaching is a little archaic, his +plots are sometimes weak or not fully worked out, his tendency is to +description instead of vigorous action, he has a superabundance of +choric matter. Sometimes it is said that the doctrine of an inherited +curse on which much of his work is written is false; let it be +remembered that week by week a commandment is read in our churches which +speaks of visiting the sins of the fathers upon the third and fourth +generation of them that hate God; all that is needed to make Aeschylus' +doctrine "real" in the sense of "modern" is to substitute the +nineteenth-century equivalent Heredity. That he has touched on a genuine +source of drama will be evident to readers of Ibsen's _Ghosts_. More +serious is the objection that his work is not dramatic at all; the +actors are not really human beings acting as such, for their wills and +their deeds are under the control of Destiny. What then shall we say of +this from Hamlet:-- + + "There's a divinity that shapes our ends, + Rough-hew them as we will?" + +In this matter we are on the threshold of one of our insoluble +problems--the freedom of the will. An answer to this real fault in +Aeschylus will be found in the subsequent history of the Attic drama +attempted in the next two chapters. Suffice it to say that, whether +the will is free or not, we act as if it were, and that is enough to +represent (as Aeschylus has done) human beings acting on a stage as we +ourselves would do in similar circumstances, for the discussions about +Destiny are very often to be found in the mouths not of the characters, +but of the Chorus, who are onlookers. + +The positive excellences of Aeschylus are numerous enough to make us +thankful that he has survived. His style is that of the great sublime +creators in art, Dante, Michaelangelo, Marlowe; it has many a "mighty +line". His subjects are the Earth, the Heavens, the things under the +Earth; more, he reveals a period of unsuspected antiquity, the present +order of gods being young and somewhat inexperienced. He carries us back +to Creation and shows us the primeval deities, Earth, Night, Necessity, +Fate, powers simply beyond the knowledge of ordinary thoughtless men. +His characters are cast in a mighty mould; he taps the deepest +tragic springs; he teaches that all is not well when we prosper. The +thoughtless, light-hearted, somewhat shallow mind which thinks it can +speak, think, and act without having to render an account needs the +somewhat stern tonic of these seven dramas; it may be chastened into +some sobriety and learn to be a little less flippant and irreverent. + +Aeschylus' influence is rather of the unseen kind. His genius is of +a lofty type which is not often imitated. Demanding righteousness, +justice, piety, and humility, he belongs to the class of Hebrew prophets +who saw God and did not die. + + +TRANSLATIONS:-- + +Miss Swanwick; E. D. A. Morshead; Campbell (all in verse). Paley +(prose). + +Versions also appear in Verrall's editions of separate plays +(Macmillan). + +An admirable volume called _Greek Tragedy_ by G. Norwood (Methuen) +contains a summary of the latest views on the art of the Athenian +dramatists. + +See Symonds' _Greek Poets_ as above. + + + + +SOPHOCLES + + +In Aeschylus' dramas the will of the gods tended to override human +responsibility. An improvement could be effected by making the +personages real captains of their souls; drama needed bringing down from +heaven to earth. This process was effected by Sophocles. He was born at +Colonus, near Athens, in 495, mixed with the best society in Periclean +times, was a member of the important board of administrators who +controlled the Delian League, the nucleus of the Athenian Empire, and +composed over one hundred tragedies. In 468 he defeated Aeschylus, +won the first prize twenty-two times and later had to face the more +formidable opposition of the new and restless spirit whose chief +spokesman was Euripides. For nearly forty years he was taken to be the +typical dramatist of Athens, being nicknamed "the Bee"; his dramatic +powers showed no abatement of vigour in old age, of which the _Oedipus +Coloneus_ was the triumphant issue. He died in 405, full of years and +honours. + +Providence has ordained it that his art, like his country's tutelary +goddess Athena, should step perfect and fully armed from the brain +of its creator. The _Antigone_, produced in 440, discusses one of the +deepest problems of civilised life. On the morning after the defeat +of the Seven who assaulted Thebes Polyneices' body lay dishonoured and +unburied, a prey to carrion birds before the gates of the city which had +been his home. His two sisters, Antigone and Ismene, discuss the edict +which forbids his burial. Ismene, the more timid of the two, intends to +obey it, but Antigone's stronger character rises in rebellion. + +Loss of burial was the most awful fate which could overtake a +Greek--before he died Sophocles was to see his country condemn ten +generals to death for neglect of burial rites, though they had been +brilliantly successful in a naval engagement. Rather than obey Antigone +would die. + + "Bury him I will; I will lie in death with the brother I love, + sinning in a righteous cause. Far longer is the time in which I + must please the dead than men on earth, for among the former I + shall dwell for ever. Do thou, if it please thee, hold in dishonour + what is honoured by Heaven." + +Here is the source of the tragedy, the will of the individual in +conflict with established authority. + +A chorus of Theban elders enters, singing an ode of deliverance and +joy; they have been summoned by Creon, the new King, uncle of Oedipus' +children. Full of the sense of his own importance Creon states the +official view. Polyneices is to remain unburied. + + "Any man who considers private friendship to be more important than + the State is a man of naught. In the name of all-seeing Zeus I would + not hold my tongue if I saw ruin coming to the citizens instead of + safety, nor would I make a friend of my country's enemy. Sure am I + that it is the State that saves us; she is the ship that carries us; + we make our friendships without overturning her." + +The elders promise obedience, but grave news is reported by a guard who +has been set to watch the corpse. Someone had scattered dust lightly +over the dead and departed without leaving any trace; neither he nor his +companions had done the deed. + +When the Chorus suggest that it is the work of some deity, Creon answers +in great impatience: + + "Cease, lest thou be proved a fool as well as old. Thy words are + intolerable when thou sayest that the gods can have a care of this + corpse. What, have they buried him in honour for his services to them? + Did he not come to burn their pillared temples and offerings and + precincts and shatter our laws?" + +He angrily thrusts the watchman forth, threatening to hang him and his +companions alive unless they find the culprit. + + "There are many marvels, but none greater than Man. He crosses the + wintry sea, he wears away the hard earth with his plough, ensnareth + the light-hearted race of birds, catcheth the wild beasts, trappeth + the things of the deep, yoketh the horse and the unwearying ox. He + hath taught himself speech and thought swift as the wind, hath learnt + the moods of a city life and can avoid the shafts of the frost; he + hath a device for every problem save Death--though disease he can + escape. Sometimes he moveth to ill, again to good; his cities rear + their heads when they reverence the laws and the gods; he wrecketh + his city when he boldly forsakes the good. May an evil-doer never + share my hearth or heart." + +Such is the ordinary man's view of the action of Polyneices, for in +Sophocles the Chorus certainly represents average public opinion. It +is quickly challenged by the entry of Antigone with the Watchman, whose +story Creon hastens out to hear. With no little self-satisfaction the +Watchman tells how they caught the girl in the very act of replacing +the dust they had removed and pouring libations over the dead. Antigone +admits the deed. When asked how she dare defy the official ordinance, +she replies-- + + "It came neither from Zeus nor from Justice, nor did I deem that thy + decrees had such power that a mortal could override the unwritten + and unshaken laws of Heaven. These have not their life from now or + yesterday, but from everlasting, and no man knows whence they have + appeared. It was not likely that, through fear of any man's will, + I would pay Heaven's penalty for their infringement. Die I must, even + hadst thou made no proclamation; if I die before my time, I count + it all gain. If my act seem folly to thee, maybe it is a foolish + judge who counts me mad." + +Creon replies that this is sheer insolence; it is an insult that he, a +man, should give way to a woman. He threatens to destroy both girls, but +Antigone is sure that public opinion is with her, though for the moment +it is muzzled through fear. Ismene is brought in and offers to die with +her sister; Antigone refuses her offer, insisting that she alone has +deserved chastisement. + +In a second ode the gradual extinction of Oedipus' race is described, +owing to foolish word and insensate thought, for "when Heaven leads a +man to ruin it makes him believe that evil is good". A new interest is +added by Creon's son Haemon, the affianced lover of Antigone, who comes +to interview his father. This is the first instance in European drama of +that without which much modern literature would have little reason for +existing at all--the love element, wisely kept in check by the Greeks. A +further conflict of wills adds to the dramatic effect of the play; Creon +insists on filial obedience, for he cannot claim to rule a city if +he fails to control his own family. Haemon answers with courtesy and +deference; he points out that the force of public opinion is behind +Antigone and suggests that the official view may perhaps be wrong +because it is the expression of an individual's judgment. When he is +himself charged thus directly with the very fault for which he claimed +to punish Antigone, Creon lets his temper get the mastery; after a +violent quarrel Haemon parts from him with a dark threat that the girl's +death will remove more than one person, and vows never to cross his +father's doorstep again. + +Antigone is soon carried away to her doom; she is to be shut up in a +cavern without food. In a dialogue of great beauty she confesses her +human weakness--death is near, and with it banishment from the joys of +life. Creon bids her make an end; her last speech concludes with a clear +statement of the problem. Who knows if she is right? She herself will +know after death. If she has erred, she will confess it; if the King is +wrong, she prays he may not suffer greater woes than her own. + +A reaction now occurs. Teiresias, the blind seer, seeks out Creon +because of the failure of his sacrificial rites; the birds of the air +are gorged with human blood, and fail to give the signs of augury. He +bids Creon return to his right senses and quit his stubbornness. When +the latter mockingly accuses the seer of being bribed, he learns the +dread punishment his obstinacy has brought him. + + "Know that thou shalt not see out many hurrying rounds of the sun + before thou shalt give one sprung from thine own loins in exchange + for the dead, one in return for two, for thou hast thrust below + one of the children of the light, penning up her spirit in a tomb + with dishonour, and thou keepest above ground a body that belongs + to the gods below, without its share of funerals, unrighteously; + wherefore the late-punishing ruinous gods of death and the + Furies lie in wait for thee, to catch thee in like agonies." + +Cowed by the terror, the King hurries to undo his work, calling for +pickaxes to open the tomb and himself going with all speed to set free +its victim. + +The sequel is told by a messenger who at the outset strikes a note of +woe. + + "Creon I once envied, for he was the saviour of his land, and was + the father of noble children. Now all is lost. When men lose + pleasure, I deem that they are not alive but moving corpses. Heap + up wealth and live in kingly state, but if there is no pleasure + withal, I would not pay the worth of a shadow for all the rest. + Haemon is dead." + +Hearing the news, Eurydice the Queen comes out, and bids him tell his +story in full. Creon found Haemon clasping the body of Antigone who had +hung herself. Seeing his father, he made a murderous attack on him; +when it failed, he drew his sword and fell on it--thus in death the +two lovers were not separated. In an ominous silence the Queen departs. +Creon enters with his son's body, to be utterly shattered by a second +and an unexpected blow, for his wife has slain herself. Broken and +helpless he admits his fault, while the Chorus sing in conclusion:-- + + "By far the greatest part of happiness is wisdom; men should + reverence the gods; mighty plagues repay the mighty words of the + over-proud, teaching wisdom to the aged." + +To Aeschylus the power that largely controlled men's acts was Destiny. A +notable contrast is visible in the system of Sophocles. Destiny does not +disappear, rather it retires into the background of his thought. To +him the leading cause of ruin is evil counsel. Over and over again +this teaching is driven home. All the leading characters mention +it, Antigone, Haemon, Teiresias, and when it is disregarded, it is +remorselessly brought home by disaster. The dramatic gain is enormous; +man's sorrows are ascribed primarily to his own lack of judgment, the +tragic character takes on a more human shape, for he is more nearly +related to the ordinary persons we meet in our own experience. Another +great advance is visible in the construction of the plot. It is more +varied, more flexible; it never ceases developing, the action continuing +to the end instead of stopping short at a climax. Further, the Chorus +begins to fall into a more humble position, it exercises but little +influence on the great figures of the plot, being content to mirror the +opinions of the interested outside spectator. Truly drama is beginning +to be master of itself--"the play's the thing". + +But far more important is the subject of this play. It raises one of the +most difficult problems which demand a solution, the harmonisation +of private judgment with state authority. The individual in a growing +civilisation sooner or later asks how far he ought to obey, who is the +lord over his convictions, whether disobedience is ever justifiable. If +a law is wrong how are we to make its immorality evident? In an age when +a central authority is questioned or loses its hold on men's allegiance, +this problem will imperiously demand an answer. When Europe was aroused +from the slumber of the Middle Ages and the spiritual authority +which had governed it for centuries was shattered, the same right of +resistance as that which Antigone claimed was insisted upon by various +reformers. It did not fail to bring with it tragic consequences, for the +"power beareth not the sword in vain". Its sequel was the Thirty Years' +War which barbarised central Germany, leaving in many places a race of +savage beings who had once been human. In our own days resistance +is preached almost as a sacred duty. We have passive resisters, +conscientious objectors, strikers and a host of young and imperfectly +educated persons, some armed with the very serious power of voting, who +claim to set their wills in flat opposition to recognised authority. One +or two contributions to the solution of this problem may be found in +the _Antigone_. The central authority must be prepared to prove that its +edicts are not below the moral standard of the age; on the other hand, +non-compliance must be backed by the force of public opinion; it must +show that the action it takes will ultimately bring good to the whole +community. It is of little use to appeal to the so-called conscience +unless we can produce some credentials of the proper training and +enlightenment of that rather vague and uncertain faculty, whose normal +province is to condemn wrong acts, not to justify law-breaking. Most +resisters talk the very language of Antigone, appealing to the will of +Heaven; would that they could prove as satisfactorily as she did that +the power behind them is that which governs the world in righteousness. + +A somewhat similar problem reappears in the _Ajax_. This play opens at +early dawn with a dialogue between Athena, who is unseen, and Odysseus; +the latter has traced Ajax to his tent after a night of madness in which +he has slain much cattle and many shepherds, imagining them to be his +foes, especially Odysseus himself who had worsted him in the contest for +the arms of Achilles. Athena calls out the beaten hero for a moment and +the sight of him moves Odysseus to say:-- + + "I pity him, though my foe; for I think of mine own self as much as + of him. We men are but shadows, all of us, or fleeting shades." + +To this Athena replies:-- + + "When thou seest such sights, utter no haughty word against the gods + and be not roused to pride, if thou art mightier than another in + strength or store of wealth. One day can bring down or exalt all + human state, but the gods love the prudent and hate the sinners." + +A band of mariners from Salamis enter as the chorus; they are Ajax' +followers who have come to learn the truth. They are confronted by +Tecmessa, Ajax' captive, who confirms the grievous rumour, describing +his mad acts. When the fit was over, she had left him in his tent +prostrate with grief and shame among the beasts he had slain, longing +for vengeance on his enemies before he died. + +The business of the play now begins. Coming forth, Ajax in a long +despairing speech laments his lot--persecuted by Athena, hated of Greeks +and Trojans alike, the secret laughter of his enemies. + +Where shall he go? Home to the father he has disgraced? Against Troy, +leading a forlorn hope? He had already reminded Tecmessa with some +sternness that silence is a woman's best grace; now she appeals to his +pity. Bereft of him, she would speedily be enslaved and mocked; their +son would be left defenceless; the many kindnesses she had done him cry +for some return from a man of chivalrous nature, Ajax bade her be of +good cheer; she must obey him in all things and first must bring his son +Eurysaces. Taking him in his arms, he says:-- + + "If he is my true son, he will not quail at the sight of blood. + But he must speedily be broken into his father's warrior habit + and imitate his ways. My son, I pray thou mayest be happier than + thy sire, but like him otherwise, then thou shalt be no churl. + Yet herein I envy thee that thou canst not feel my agonies. Life + is sweetest in its careless years before it learns joy and pain; + but when thou art come to that, show thy father's enemies thy + nature and birth. Till then feed on the spirit of gladness, + gambol in the life of boyhood and gladden thy mother's heart." + +He reflects that his son will be safe as long as Teucer lives, whom he +charges on his return to take the boy to his own father and mother to be +their joy. His arms shall not be a prize to be striven for; they should +be buried with him except his shield, which his son should take and +keep. This ominous speech dashes the hopes which he had raised in +Tecmessa's heart, even the Chorus sadly admitting that death is the best +for a brainsick man, born of the highest blood, no longer true to his +character. + +Ajax re-enters, a sword in his hands. He feels his heart touched by +Tecmessa's words and pities her helplessness. He resolves to go to the +shore and there bury the accursed sword he had of Hector, which had +robbed him of his peace. He will soon learn obedience to the gods and +his leaders; all the powers of Nature are subject to authority, the +seasons, the sea, night and sleep. He has but now learned that an enemy +is to be hated as one who will love us later, while friendship will not +always abide. Yet all will be well; he will go the journey he cannot +avoid; soon all will hear that his evil destiny has brought him +salvation. This splendid piece of tragic irony is interpreted at its +surface value by the Chorus, who burst into a song of jubilation. But +the words have a darker meaning; this transient joy is but the last +flicker of hope before it is quenched in everlasting night. + +A messenger brings the news that Teucer, Ajax' brother, on his return +to the camp from a raid was nearly stoned to death as the kinsman of the +army's foe. He inquires where Ajax is; hearing that he had gone out to +make atonement, he knows the terror that is to come. Chalcas the seer +adjured Teucer to use all means in his power to keep Ajax in his tent +that day, for in it alone Athena's wrath would persecute him. She had +punished him with madness for two proud utterances. On leaving his +father he had boasted he would win glory in spite of Heaven, and later +had bidden Athena assist the other Greeks, for the line would never +break where he stood. Such was his pride, and such its punishment. +Tecmessa hurries in and sends some to fetch Teucer, others to go east +and west to seek out her lord. The scene rapidly changes to the shore, +where Ajax cries to the gods, imprecates his foes, prays to Death, and +after a remembrance of his native land falls on his sword. + +The Chorus enter in two bands, but find nothing. Tecmessa discovers the +body in a brake, and hides it under her robe. Distracted and haunted by +the dread of slavery and ridicule, she gives way to grief. Teucer enters +to learn of the tragedy; after dispatching Tecmessa to save the child +while there is yet time, he reflects on his own state. Telamon his +father will cast him off for being absent in his brother's hour of +weakness whom he loved as his own life. Sadly he bears out the truth of +Ajax utterance, that a foe's gifts are fraught with ruin; the belt that +Ajax gave Hector served to tie his feet to Achilles' car--and Hector's +sword was in his brother's heart. + +The plot now appeals to fiercer passions. Menelaus entering commands +Teucer to leave the corpse where it is, for an enemy shall receive no +burial. He strikes the same note as Creon:-- + + "It is the mark of an ill-conditioned man that he, a commoner, + should see fit to disobey the powers that be. Law cannot prosper + in a city where there is no settled fear; where a man trembles and + is loyal, there is salvation; when he is insolent and does as he + will, his city soon or late will sink to ruin." + +Teucer answers that Ajax never was a subject, but was always an equal. +He fought, not for Helen, but for his oath's sake. The dispute waxes +hot; the calm dignity of Teucer easily discomfits the Spartan braggart, +who departs to bring aid. Meanwhile Tecmessa returns with the child whom +Teucer in a scene of consummate pathos bids kneel at his father's side, +holding in his hand a triple lock of hair--Teucer's, his mother's, his +own; this sacred symbol, if violated, would bring a curse on any who +dared outrage him. While the Chorus sing a song full of longings for +home, Agamemnon advances to the place, followed by Teucer. The King is +deliberately insolent, reviling Teucer for the stain on his birth. In +reply the latter in a great speech reminds him that there was a time +when the flames licked the Greek ships and there was none to save them +but Ajax, who had faced Hector single-handed. With kindling passion he +hurls the taunt of a stained birth back on Agamemnon and plainly tells +him that Ajax shall be buried and that the King will rue any attempt at +violence. Odysseus comes in to hear the quarrel. He admits that he +had once been the foe of the dead man, who yet had no equal in bravery +except Achilles. For all that, enmity in men should end where death +begins. Astonished at this defence of a foe, Agamemnon argues a little +with Odysseus, who gently reminds him that one day he too will need +burial. This human appeal obtains the necessary permission; Odysseus, +left alone with Teucer, offers him friendship. Too much overcome by +surprise and joy to say many words, Teucer accepts his friendship and +the play ends with a ray of sunlight after storm and gloom. + +Once more Sophocles has filled every inch of his canvas. The plot never +flags and has no diminuendo after the death of Ajax. The cause of the +tragedy is not plainly indicated at the outset; with a skill which is +masterly, Sophocles represents in the opening scene Athena and Odysseus +as beings purely odious, mocking a great man's fall. With the progress +of the action these two characters recover their dignity; Athena has +just cause for her anger, while Odysseus obtains for the dead his right +of burial. We should notice further how the pathos of this fine play is +heightened by the conception of the "one day" which brought ruin to a +noble warrior. Had he been kept within his tent that one day--had this +fatal day been known, the ruin need not have happened. "The pity of it", +the needless waste of human life, what a theme is there for a tragedy! + +The _Ajax_ has never exercised an acknowledged influence on literature. +It was a favourite with the Greeks, but modern writers have strangely +overlooked it. For us it has a good lesson. Here was a hero, born in an +island, who unaided saved a fleet when his allies were forced back +on their trenches and beyond them to the sea. His reward was such as +Wordsworth tells of:-- + + Alas! the gratitude of men + Has oftener left me mourning. + +We remember many a long month of agony during which another island kept +destruction from a fleet and saved her allies withal. In some quarters +this island has received the gratitude which Ajax had; her friends +asked, "What has England done in the war, anyhow?" If it befits anybody +to answer, it must be England's Teucer, who has built another Salamis +overseas, just as he did. Our kindred across the oceans will give us the +reward of praise; for us the chastisement of Ajax may serve to reinforce +the warning which is to be found on the lips of not the least of our own +poets:-- + + "For frantic boast and foolish word + Thy mercy on Thy people, Lord." + +The _Electra_ is Sophocles' version of the revenge of Orestes which +Aeschylus described in the _Choephori_ and is useful as affording a +comparison between the methods of the two masters. An aged tutor at +early dawn enters the scene with Orestes to whom he shows his father's +palace and then departs with him to offer libations at the dead king's +tomb. Electra with a Chorus of Argive girls comes forward, the former +describing the insolent conduct of Clytemnestra who holds high revelry +on the anniversary of her husband's death and curses Electra for saving +Orestes. Chrysothemis, another daughter, comes out to talk with Electra; +she is of a different mould, gentle and timid like Ismene, and warns +Electra that in consequence of her obstinacy in revering her father's +memory Aegisthus intends to shut her up in a rocky cavern as soon as he +returns. She advises her to use good counsel, then departs to pour on +Agamemnon's tomb some libations which Clytemnestra offers in consequence +of a dream. + +The Queen finds Electra ranging abroad as usual in the absence of +Aegisthus. She defends the murder of her husband, but is easily refuted +by Electra who points out that, if it is right to exact a life for a +life, she ought to suffer death herself. Clytemnestra prays to Apollo +to avert the omen of her dream, her prayer seemingly being answered +immediately by the entry of the old tutor who comes to inform her of +the death of Orestes, killed at Delphi in a chariot race which he +brilliantly describes. Torn by her emotions, Clytemnestra can be neither +glad nor sorry. + + "Shall I call this happy news, or dreadful but profitable? Hapless + am I, if I save my life at the cost of my own miseries. Strong is + the tie of motherhood; no parent hates a child even if outraged by + him. Yet, now that he is gone, I shall have rest and peace from his + threats." + +Hearing so circumstantial a proof of her brother's death, Electra is +plunged into the depths of misery. + +But soon Chrysothemis returns in a state of high excitement. She has +found a lock of Orestes' hair and some offerings at the tomb. Electra +quickly informs her that her elation is groundless, for their brother +is dead; she suggests that they two should strike the murderers, but +Chrysothemis recoils in horror from the plot. Then Orestes enters with +a casket in his hand; this he gives to Electra, saying it contains the +mortal remains of the dead prince. In utter hopelessness Electra takes +it and soliloquises over it. Seeing her misery, Orestes cannot refrain; +gently taking the casket from her he gradually reveals himself. The +tutor enters and recalls him to their immediate business. Electra asks +who the stranger is and learns that it is the very man to whom she +gave the infant boy her brother. The three advance to the palace which +Orestes enters to dispatch his mother, Electra bidding him smite with +double force, wishing only that Aegisthus were with her mother. + +The end of Aegisthus himself is contrived with Sophoclean art. He comes +in hurriedly to find the two strangers who have proof of Orestes' death. + +Electra tells him they are in the palace; they have not only told her of +the dead Orestes, but have shown him to her; Aegisthus himself can see +the unenviable sight; he can rejoice at it, if there is any joy in it. +Exulting, he sings a note of triumph at the removal of his fears and +threatens to chastise all who try henceforth to thwart his will. He +dashes open the door, and there sees the Queen lying dead. Orestes bids +him enter the palace, to be slain on the very spot where his father was +murdered. + +Fortune has been kind in preserving us this play. The great difference +between the art of Sophocles and that of Aeschylus is here apparent. +Only one man has ventured to paint for us Aeschylus' Clytemnestra; +Leighton has revealed her, stern as Nature herself, remorseless, armed +with a sword to smite first, then argue if she can find time to do so. +Sophocles' Clytemnestra is a woman, lost as soon as she begins to reason +out her misdeeds. She prays to Apollo in secret, for fear lest Electra +may overhear her prayer and make it void. But the crudity of Aeschylus' +resources did not satisfy Sophocles, whose taste demanded a contrast to +heighten the character of his heroine and found one in the Homeric story +that Agamemnon had a second daughter. Aeschylus' stern nature did not +shrink from the sight of a meeting between mother and son; Sophocles +closed the doors upon the act of vengeance, though he represents Electra +as encouraging her brother from outside the palace. The Aegisthus +incident maintains the interest to the end in the masterly Sophoclean +style of refined and searching irony. The tone of the play is singular; +from misery it at first sinks to hopelessness, then to despair, and +finally it soars to triumphant joy. Such a dangerous venture was +unattempted before. + +The most lovable woman in Greek literature is the heroine of the next +play, the _Trachiniae_, produced at an uncertain date. Deianeira had +been won and wed by Heracles; after a brief spell of happiness she found +herself left more and more alone as her husband's labours called him +away from her. For fifteen months she had heard no news of him. Her +nurse suggests that she should send her eldest son to Euboea to seek him +out, a rumour being abroad that he has reached that island. The mother +in her loneliness is comforted by a band of girls of Trachis, the +scene of the action. But her uneasiness is too great to be cheered; she +describes the strange curse of womanhood:-- + + "When it is young it groweth in a clime of its own, plagued by no + heat of the sun nor rain nor wind; in careless gaiety it builds up + its days till it is no longer maid, but wife; then in the night it + hath its meed of cares, terrified for lord or children. Only such a + one can know from the sight of her own sorrows what is my burden + of grief." + +But there is a deeper cause for anxiety; Heracles had said that if he +did not return in fifteen months he would either die or be rid for ever +of his labours; that very hour had come. + +News reached her that Heracles is alive and triumphant; Lichas was +coming to give fuller details. Very soon he enters with a band of +captive maidens, telling how his master had been kept in slavery in +Lydia; shaking off the yoke, he had sacked and destroyed the city of +Eurytus who had caused his captivity, the girls were Heracles' offering +of the spoils to Deianeira. Filled with pity at their lot, she looked +closely at them and was attracted by one of them, a silent girl of noble +countenance. Lichas when questioned denied all knowledge of her identity +and departed. When he had gone, the messenger desired private speech +with Deianeira. Lichas had lied; the girl was Iole, daughter of Eurytus; +it was for her sake that his master destroyed the city, for he loved +the maid and intended to keep her in his home to be a rival to his wife. +Lichas on coming out was confronted by the messenger, and attempted to +dissemble, but Deianeira appealed to him thus:-- + + "Nay, deceive me not. Thou shalt not speak to a woman of evil heart, + who knoweth not the ways of men, how that they by a law of their + own being delight not always in the same thing. 'Tis a fool who + standeth up to battle against Love who ruleth even gods as he will, + and me too; then why not another such as I? Therefore if I revile + my lord when taken with this plague, I am crazed indeed--or this + woman is, who hath brought me no shame or sorrow. If my lord + teacheth thee to lie, thy lesson is no good one; if thou art + schooling thyself to falsehood in a desire to be kind to me, thou + shalt prove unkind. Speak all the truth; it is an ignoble lot for a + man of honour to be called false." + +Completely won by this appeal, Lichas confesses the truth. + +During the singing of a choral ode Deianeira has had time to reflect. +The reward of her loyalty is to take a second place. The girl is young +and her beauty is fast ripening; she herself is losing her charm. But no +prudent woman should fly into a passion; happily she has a remedy, +for in the first days of her wedded life Heracles had shot Nessus, a +half-human monster, for insulting her. Before he died Nessus bade her +steep her robe in his blood and treasure it as a certain charm for +recovering his waning affection. Summoning Lichas, she gives him strict +orders to take the robe to Heracles who was to allow no light of the sun +or fire to fall upon it before wearing it. After a short interval, she +returns in the greatest agitation; a little tuft of wool which she had +anointed with the monster's blood had caught the sunlight and shrivelled +up to dust. If the robe proved a means of death, she determined to slay +herself rather than live in disgrace. At that moment Hyllus bursts in to +describe the horrible tortures which seized Heracles when he put on the +poisoned mantle; the hero commanded his son to ferry him across from +Euboea to witness the curse which his mother's evil deed would bring +with it. Hearing these tidings Deianeira leaves the scene without +uttering a word. + +The old nurse quickly rushes in from the palace to tell how Deianeira +had killed herself--while Hyllus was kissing her dead mother's lips +in vain self-reproach, bereft of both his parents. Heracles himself +is borne in on a litter, tormented with the slow consuming poison. In +agony, he prays for death; when he learns of the decease of his wife and +her beguilement by Nessus into an unintentional crime, his resentment +softens. In a flash of inspiration the double meaning of the oracle +comes over him, his labour is indeed over. Commanding Hyllus to wed Iole +he passes on his last journey to the lonely top of Oeta, to be consumed +on the funeral pyre. + +The Sophoclean marks are clear enough in this play--the tragic moment, +the life and movement, the splendid pathos, breadth of outlook and +fascination of language. Yet there is a serious fault as well, for +Sophocles, like the youngest of dramatists, can strangely enough make +mistakes. The entry of Heracles practically makes the play double, +marring its continuity. The necessary and remorseless sequence of events +which is looked for in dramatic writing is absent. This tendency to +disrupt a whole into parts brilliant but unrelated is a feature of +Euripides' work; it may perhaps find a readier pardon exactly because +Sophocles himself is not able to avoid it always. But the greatest +triumph is the character of Deianeira. It is such as one would rarely +find in warm-blooded Southern peoples. She dreads that loss of her power +over her husband which her waning beauty brings; she is grossly insulted +in being forced to countenance a rival living in the same house after +she has given her husband the best years of her life; yet she hopes on, +and perhaps she would have won him back by her very gentleness. This +creation of a type of almost perfect human nature is the justification +of a poet's existence; it was a saying of Sophocles that he painted men +as they ought to be, Euripides painted them as they are. + +The rivalry of the younger poet produced its effect on another play with +which Sophocles gained the first prize in 409. _Philoctetes_, the hero +after whom it is named, had lit the funeral pyre of Heracles on Oeta and +had received from him his unconquerable bow and arrows. When he went +to Troy he was bitten in the foot by a serpent in Tenedos. As the wound +festered and made him loathsome to the army he was left in Lemnos in the +first year of the war. An oracle declared that Troy could not be taken +without him and his arrows; at the end of the siege, as Achilles and +Ajax were dead, Philoctetes, outraged and abandoned, became necessary to +the Greeks. How could they win him over to rejoin them? + +Odysseus his bitterest foe takes with him Neoptolemus, the young son +of Achilles. Landing at Lemnos, they find the cave in which Philoctetes +lives, see his rude bed, rough-hewn cup and rags of clothing, and lay +their plot. Neoptolemus is to say that he is Achilles' son, homeward +bound in anger with the Greeks for the loss of his father's arms. As he +was not one of the original confederacy, Philoctetes will trust him. He +is then to obtain the bow and arrows by treachery, for violence will be +useless. The young man's soul rises against the idea of foul play +but Odysseus bids him surrender to shamelessness for one day, to reap +eternal glory. Left alone with the Chorus, composed of sailors from +his ship, Neoptolemus pities the hero's deserted existence, wretched, +famished and half-brutalised. He comes along towards them, creeping +and crying in agony. Seeing them he inquires who they are; Neoptolemus +answers as he had been bidden and wins the heart of Philoctetes who +describes the misery of his life, his desertion and the unquenchable +malady that feeds on him. In return Neoptolemus tells how he was +beguiled to Troy by the prophecy that he should capture it after his +father's death; arriving there he obtained possession of all Achilles' +property except the arms, which Odysseus had won. He pretends to return +to his ship, but Philoctetes implores him to set him once more in +Greece. The great pathos of his appeal wins the youth's consent; they +prepare to depart when a merchant enters with a sailor; from him they +learn that Odysseus with Diomedes are on the way to bring Philoctetes by +force or persuasion to Troy which cannot fall without his aid. The mere +mention of Odysseus' name fills Philoctetes with anger and he retires to +the cave, taking Neoptolemus with him. + +When they reappear, a violent attack of the malady prostrates +Philoctetes who gives his bow to Neoptolemus, praying him to burn him +and put an end to his agony. Noticing a strange silence in the youth, +suspicions seem to be aroused in him, but when he falls into a slumber +the Chorus takes a decided part in the action, advising the youth to fly +with the bow and to talk in a whisper for fear of waking the sleeper. +The latter unexpectedly starts out of slumber, again begging to be taken +on board. Again Neoptolemus' heart smites him at the villainy he is +about to commit; he reveals that his real objective is Troy. Betrayed +and defenceless, Philoctetes appeals to Heaven, to the wild things, to +Neoptolemus' better self to restore the bow which is his one means of +procuring him food. A profound pity overcomes Neoptolemus, who is in +the act of returning the weapon when Odysseus appears. Seeing him +Philoctetes knows he is undone. Odysseus invites him to come to Troy of +his own freewill, but is met with a curse; as he refuses to rejoin the +Greeks, Odysseus and Neoptolemus depart bearing with them the bow for +Teucer to use. + +Left without that which brought him his daily food Philoctetes bursts +out into a wild lyric dialogue with the Chorus. They advise him to make +terms with Odysseus, but he bids them begone. When they obey, he recalls +them to ask one little boon, a sword. At this moment Neoptolemus runs +in, Odysseus close behind him. He has come to restore the bow he got +by treachery. A violent quarrel ends in the temporary retirement of +Odysseus. Advancing to Philoctetes, Neoptolemus gives him his property; +Philoctetes takes it and is barely restrained from shooting at Odysseus +who appears for a moment, only to take refuge in flight. Neoptolemus +then tells him the whole truth about the prophecy, promising him great +glory if he will go back to Troy which can fall only through him. In +vain Neoptolemus assures him of a perfect cure; nothing will satisfy the +broken man but a full redemption of the promise he had to be landed once +more in Greece. When Neoptolemus tells him that such action will earn +him the hatred of the Greeks, Philoctetes promises him the succour of +his unerring shafts in a conflict. + +The action has thus reached a deadlock. The problem is solved by the +sudden appearance of the deified Heracles. He commands his old friend +to go to Troy which he is to sack, and return home in peace. His lot is +inseparably connected with that of Neoptolemus and a cure is promised +him at the hands of Asclepius. This assurance overcomes his obstinacy; +he leaves Lemnos in obedience to the will of Heaven. + +Such is the work of an old dramatist well over eighty years old. It is +exciting, vigorous, pathetic and everywhere dignified. The characters +of the old hero and the young warrior are masterly. The Chorus takes an +integral part in the action--its whisperings to Neoptolemus remind +the reader of the evil suggestions of which Satan breathed into Eve's +equally guileless ears in _Paradise Lost_. But the most remarkable +feature of the piece is its close resemblance to the new type of drama +which Euripides had popularised. The miserable life of Philoctetes, +his rags, destitution and sickness are a parallel to the Euripidean +Telephus; most of all, the appearance of a god at the end to untie +the knot is genuine Euripides. But there is a great difference; of the +disjointed actions which disfigure later tragedy and are not absent from +Sophocles' own earlier work there is not a trace. The odes are relevant, +the Chorus is indispensable; in short, Sophocles has shown Euripides +that he can beat him even on his own terms. Melodramatic the play may +be, but it wins for its author our affection by the sheer beauty of a +boyish nature as noble as Deianeira's; the return of Neoptolemus upon +his own baseness is one of the many compliments Sophocles has paid to +our human kind. + +Many years previously Sophocles had written his masterpiece, the +_Oedipus Tyrannus_. It cannot easily be treated separately from its +sequel. A mysterious plague had broken out in Thebes; Creon had been +sent to Delphi by Oedipus to learn the cause of the disaster. Apollo +bade the Thebans cast out the murderer of the last King Laius, who was +still lurking in Theban territory. Oedipus on inquiry learns that there +are several murderers, but only one of Laius' attendants escaped alive. +In discovering the culprit Oedipus promises the sternest vengeance on +his nearest friends, nay, on his own kin, if necessary. After a prayer +from the Chorus of elders he repeats his determination even more +emphatically, invoking a curse on the assassin in language of a terrible +double meaning, for in every word he utters he unconsciously pronounces +his own doom. With commendable foresight he had summoned the old seer +Teiresias, but the seer for some reason is unwilling to appear. When +at last he confronts the King, he craves permission to depart with his +secret unsaid. Oedipus at once flies into a towering passion, finally +accusing him without any justification of accepting bribes from Creon. +With equal heat Teiresias more and more clearly indicates in every +speech the real murderer, though his words are dark to him who could +read the Sphinx's riddle. + +The Chorus break out into an ode full of uneasy surmises as to the +identity of the culprit. When Creon enters, Oedipus flies at him in +headlong passion accusing him of bribery, disloyalty and eventually of +murder. With great dignity he clears himself, warning the King of the +pains which hasty temper brings upon itself. Their quarrel brings out +Jocasta, the Queen and sister of Creon, who succeeds in settling the +unseemly strife. She bids Oedipus take no notice of oracles; one such +had declared that Laius would be slain by his own son, who would marry +her, his mother. The oracle was false, for Laius had died at the hands +of robbers in a place where three roads met. Aghast at hearing this, +Oedipus inquires the exact scene of the murder, the time when it was +committed, the actual appearance of Laius. Jocasta supplies the details, +adding that the one survivor had implored her after Oedipus became King +to live as far away as possible from the city. Oedipus commands him to +be sent for and tells his life story. He was the reputed son of Polybus +and Merope, rulers of Corinth. One day at a wine-party a man insinuated +that he was not really the son of the royal pair. Stung by the taunt he +went to Delphi, where he was warned that he should kill his father and +marry his mother. He therefore fled away from Corinth towards Thebes. +On the road he was insulted by an old man in a chariot who thrust him +rudely from his path; in anger he smote the man at the place where +three ways met. If then this man was Laius, he had imprecated a curse +on himself; his one hope is the solitary survivor whom he had sent for; +perhaps more than one man had killed Laius after all. + +An ominous ode about destiny and its workings is followed by the entry +of the Queen who describes the mad terrors of Oedipus. She is come +to pray to Apollo to solve their troubles. At that moment a messenger +enters from Corinth with the tidings that Polybus is dead. In eager joy +Jocasta summons Oedipus, sneering at the truth of oracles. The King on +his appearance echoes her words after hearing the tidings-only to sink +back again into gloomy despondency. What of Merope, is she also dead? +The messenger assures him that his anxiety about her is groundless, for +there is no relationship between them. Little by little he tells Oedipus +his true history. The messenger himself found him on Cithaeron in his +infancy, his feet pierced through. He had him from a shepherd, a servant +of Laius, the very man whom Oedipus had summoned. Suddenly turning to +Jocasta, the King asks her if she knows the man. Appalled at the horror +of the truth which she knows cannot be concealed much longer she affects +indifference and beseeches him search no further. When he obstinately +refuses, bidding the man be brought at once, she leaves the stage with +the cry: + + "Alack, thou unhappy one; that is all I may call thee and never + address thee again." + +Oedipus by a masterstroke of art is made to imagine that she has +departed in shame, fearing he may be proved the son of a slave. + + "But I account myself the son of Fortune, who will never bring me + to dishonour; my brethren are the months, who marked me out for + lowliness and for power. Such being my birth, I shall never prove + false to it and faint in finding out who I am." + +The awful power of this astonishing scene is manifest. + +The bright joyousness of the King's impulsive speech prepares the way +for the coming horror. When the shepherd appears, the messenger faces +him claiming his acquaintance. The shepherd doggedly attempts to deny +all knowledge of him, cursing him for his mad talkativeness. Oedipus +threatens torture to open his lips. Line by line the truth is dragged +from him; the abandoned child came from another--from a creature of +Laius--was said to be his son--was given him by Jocasta--to be +destroyed because of an oracle--why then passed over to the Corinthian +messenger?--"through pity, and he saved the child alive, for a mighty +misery. If thou art that child, know that thou art born a hapless man". + +When the King rushes madly into the palace, the Chorus sings of his +departed glory. The horrors increase with the appearance of a messenger +from within, who tells how Oedipus dashed into Jocasta's apartment to +find her hanging in suicide; then he blinded himself on that day of +mourning, ruin, death and shame. He comes out a little later, an +object of utter compassion. How can he have rest on earth? How face his +murdered father in death? The memories of Polybus and Merope come upon +him, then the years of unnatural wedlock. Creon, whom he has wantonly +insulted, comes not to mock at him, but to take him into the palace +where neither land nor rain nor light may know him. Oedipus begs him +to let him live on Cithaeron, beseeching him to look after his two +daughters whose birth is so stained that no man can ever wed them. Creon +gently takes him within, to be kept there till the will of the gods is +known. The end is a sob of pity for the tragic downfall of the famous +man who solved the Sphinx' enigma. + +No man can ever do justice to this masterpiece. It is so constructed +that every detail leads up inevitably to the climax. Slowly, and playing +upon all the deepest human emotions, anxiety, hope, gloom, terror and +horror, Sophocles works on us as no man had ever done before. It is a +sin against him to be content with a mere outline of the play; the words +he has chosen are significant beyond description. Again and again they +fascinate the reader and always leave him with the feeling that there +are still depths of thought left unsounded. The casual mention of the +shepherd at the beginning of the play is the first stroke of perfect +art; Jocasta's disbelief in oracles is the next; then follows the +contrast between the Queen's real motive for leaving and the reason +assigned to it by her son; finally, the shepherd in torture is forced +to tell the secret which plunges the torturer to his ruin. Where is the +like of this in literature? To us it is heart-searching enough. What was +it to the Greeks who were familiar with the plot before they entered the +theatre? When they who knew the inevitable end watched the King trace +out his own ruin in utter ignorance, their feelings cannot have remained +silent; they must have found relief in sobbing or crying aloud. + +The fault in Oedipus is his ungovernable temper. It is firmly drawn in +the play; he is equally unrestrained in anger, despair and hope. He is +the typical instance of the lack of good counsel which we have seen was +to Sophocles the prime source of a tragedy. Indeed, only a headlong +man would hastily marry a widowed queen after he had committed a murder +which fulfilled one half of a terrible oracle. He should have first +inquired into the history of the Theban royal house. Imagining that the +further he was fleeing from Corinth the more certain he was to make his +doom impossible of fulfilment, he inevitably drew nearer to it. This is +our human lot; we cannot see and we misinterpret warnings; how shall not +weaker men tremble for themselves when Oedipus' wisdom could not save +him from evil counsel? + +In 405 Sophocles showed in his last play how Oedipus passed from earth +in the poet's own birthplace, Colonus. Oedipus enters with Antigone, +and on inquiry from a stranger finds that he is on the demesne of the +Eumenides. At once he sends to Theseus, King of Athens, and refuses to +move from the spot, for there he is fated to find his rest. A Chorus +from Colonus comes to find out who the suppliant is. When they hear the +name of Oedipus they are horror-struck and wish to thrust him out. After +much persuasion they consent to wait till Theseus arrives. Presently +Ismene comes with the news that Eteocles has dispossessed his elder +brother Polyneices; further, an oracle from Delphi declares that Oedipus +is all-important to Thebes in life and after death. His sons know this +oracle and Creon is coming to force him back. Declaring he will do +nothing for the sons who abandoned him, Oedipus obstinately refuses +his city any blessing. He sends Ismene to offer a sacrifice to the +Eumenides; in her absence Theseus enters, offers him protection and asks +why he has come. Oedipus replies that he has a secret to reveal which is +of great importance to Athens; at present there is peace between her and +Thebes: + + "but in the gods alone is no age or death; all else Time confounds, + mastering everything. Strength of the Earth and of the body wastes, + trust dies, disloyalty grows, the same spirit never stands firm + among friends or allies. To some men early, to others late, + pleasures become bitter and then again sweet." + +The secret Oedipus will impart at the proper time. The need for +protection soon comes. Creon attempts to persuade Oedipus to return to +Thebes but is met by a curse, whereupon the Theban guards lay hold of +Antigone--they had already seized Ismene--and menace Oedipus himself. +Theseus hearing the alarm rushes back, reproaches Creon for his +insolence and quickly returns with the two girls. He has strange news to +tell; another Theban is a suppliant at the altar of Poseidon close by, +craving speech with Oedipus. It is Polyneices, whom Antigone persuades +her father to interview. The youth enters, ashamed of his neglect of his +father, and begs a blessing on the army he has mustered against Thebes. +He is met by a terrible curse which Oedipus invokes on both his sons. In +despair Polyneices goes away to his doom. + + "For me, my path shall be one of care, disaster and sorrows sent me + by my sire and his guardian angels; but, my sisters, be yours a + happy road, and when I am dead fulfil my heart's desire, for while + I live you may never perform it." + +A thunderstorm is heard approaching; the Chorus are terrified at its +intensity, but Oedipus eagerly dispatches a messenger for Theseus. +When the King arrives he hears the secret; Oedipus' grave would be the +eternal protection of Attica, but no man must know its site save Theseus +who has to tell it to his heir alone, and he to his son, and so onwards +for ever. The proof of Oedipus' word would be a miracle which soon would +transform him back to his full strength. Presently he arises, endued +with a mysterious sight, beckoning the others to follow him. The play +concludes with a magnificent description of his translation. A voice +from Heaven called him, chiding him for tarrying; commending his +daughters to the care of Theseus, he greeted the earth and heaven in +prayer and then without pain or sorrow passed away. On reappearing +Theseus promised to convey the sisters back to Thebes and to stop the +threatened fratricidal strife. + +The _Oedipus Coloneus_, like the _Philoctetes_, the other play of +Sophocles' old age, closes in peace. The old fiery passions still burn +fiercely in Oedipus, as they did in Lear; yet both were "every inch a +king" and "more sinned against than sinning". Oedipus' miraculous +return to strength before he departs is curiously like the famous end +of Colonel Newcome. There are subtle but unmistakable marks of the +Euripidean influence on this drama; such are the belief that Theban +worthies would protect Athens, the Theseus tradition, and the recovery +of worn-out strength. These features will meet us in the next chapter. +But it is again noteworthy that Sophocles has added those touches which +distinguish his own firm and delicate handiwork. There is nothing +of melodrama, nothing inconsequent, nothing exaggerated. It is the +dramatist's preparation for his own end. Shakespeare put his valediction +into the mouth of Prospero; Sophocles entrusted his to his greatest +creation Oedipus. Like him, he was fain to depart, for the gods called. +Our last sight of him is of one beckoning us to follow him to the place +where calm is to be found; to find it we must use not the eyes of the +body, but the inward illumination vouchsafed by Heaven. + +To the Athenians of the Periclean age Sophocles was the incarnation +of their dramatic ideal. His language is a delight and a despair. It +tantalises; it suggests other meanings besides its plain and surface +significance. This riddling quality is the daemonic element which he +possessed in common with Plato; because of it these two are the masters +of a refined and subtle irony, a source of the keenest pleasure. His +plots reveal a vivid sense of the exact moment which will yield the +intensest tragic effects--only on one particular day could Ajax die or +Electra be saved. Accordingly, Sophocles very often begins his play +with early dawn, in order to fill the few all-important hours with the +greatest possible amount of action. He has put the maximum of movement +into his work, only the presence ofthe Chorus and the conventional +messengers (two features imposed on him by the law of the Attic theatre) +making the action halt. + +But it is in the sum-total of his art that his greatness lies; the sense +of a whole is its controlling factor; details are important, indeed, +he took the utmost pains to see that they were necessary and +convincing--yet they were details, subordinate, closely related, not +irrelevant nor disproportionate. This instinct for a definite plan +first is the essence of the classical spirit; exuberance is rigorously +repressed, symmetry and balance are the first, last and only aim. To +some judges Sophocles is like a Greek temple, splendid but a little +chilly; they miss the soaring ambition of Aeschylus or the more direct +emotional appeal of Euripides. Yet it is a cardinal error to imagine +that Sophocles is passionless; his life was not, neither are his +characters. Like the lava of a recent eruption, they may seem ashen on +the surface, but there is fire underneath; it betrays itself through the +cracks which appear when their substance is violently disturbed. + + They, much enforced, show a hasty spark + And straight are cold again. + +Repression, avoidance of extremes, dignity under provocation are the +marks of the gentle Sophoclean type and it is a very high type indeed. + +For we have in him the very fountain of the whole classical tradition in +drama. Sophocles is something far more important than a mere influence; +he is an ideal, and as such is indestructible. To ask the names of +writers who came most under his "influence" is as sensible as to ask the +names of the sculptors who most faithfully followed the Greek tradition +of statuary. He is Classical tragedy. The main body of Spanish and +English drama is romantic, the Sophoclean ideal is that of the small +but powerful body of University men in Elizabeth's time headed by +Ben Jonson, of the typically French school of dramatists, of +Moratin, Lessing, Goethe, of the exponents of the Greek creed in +nineteenth-century England, notably Matthew Arnold and Walter Pater, +and of Robert Bridges. To this school the cultivation of emotional +expression is suspicious, if not dangerous; it leads to eccentricity, to +the revelation of feelings which frequently are not worth experiencing, +to sentimental flabbiness, to riot and extravagance. Perhaps in dread of +the ridiculous the Classical school represses itself too far, creating +characters of marble instead of flesh. These creations are at least +worth looking at and bring no shame; they are better than the spectral +psychological studies which many dramatists, now dead or dying, have +bidden us believe are real men and women. + + +TRANSLATIONS: + +Jebb (Cambridge). This is by far the best; it renders with success the +delicacy of the original. + +Storr (Loeb Series). + +Verse translations by Whitelaw and Campbell. + +See Symonds' _Greek Poets_, and Norwood _Greek Tragedy_, as above. + + + + +EURIPIDES + + +No-Man's Land was the scene of many tragedies during the Great War. +There has come down to us a remarkable tragedy, called the _Rhesus_, +about a similar region. It treats first of the Dolon incident of the +Iliad. Hector sent out Dolon to reconnoitre, and soon afterwards some +Phrygian shepherds bring news that Rhesus has arrived that very night +with a Thracian army. Reviled by Hector for postponing his arrival +till the tenth year of the war, Rhesus answers that continual wars +with Scythia have occupied him, but now that he is come he will end the +strife in a day. He is assigned his quarters and departs to take up his +position. + +Having learned the password from Dolon, Diomedes and Odysseus enter and +reach the tents of Hector who has just left with Rhesus. Diomedes is +eager to kill Aeneas or Paris or some other leader, but Odysseus +warns him to be content with the spoils they have won. Athena appears, +counselling them to slay Rhesus; if he survives that night, neither +Achilles nor Ajax can save the Greeks. Paris approaches, having heard +that spies are abroad in the night; he is beguiled by Athena who +pretends to be Aphrodite. When he is safely got away, the two slay +Rhesus. + +The King's charioteer bursts on to the stage with news of his death. He +accuses Hector of murder out of desire for the matchless steeds. Hector +recognises in the story all the marks of Odysseus' handiwork. The +Thracian Muse descends to mourn her son's death, declaring that she +had saved him for many years, but Hector prevailed upon him and Athena +caused his end. + +This play is not only about No-man's land; it is a No-man's land, for +its author is unknown; it is sometimes ascribed to Euripides, though it +contains many words he did not use, on the ground that it reflects his +art. For it shows in brief the change which came over Tragedy under +Euripides' guidance. It is exciting, it seizes the tragic moment, the +one important night, it has some lovely lyrics, the characters are +realistic, the gods descend to untie the knot of the play or to explain +the mysterious, some detail is unrelated to the main plot--Paris +exercises no influence on the real action--it is pathetic. + +Sophocles said that he painted men as they ought to be, Euripides as +they are. This realistic tendency, added to the romanticism whence +realism always springs, is the last stage of tragedy before it declines. +A Euripides is inevitable in literary history. + +Born at Salamis on the very day of the great victory of 480, Euripides +entered into the spirit of revolution in all human activities which +was stirring in contemporary Athens. He won the first prize on five +occasions, was pilloried by the Conservatives though he was a favourite +with the masses. Towards the end of his life he migrated to Macedonia, +where he wrote not the least splendid of his plays, the _Bacchae_. On +the news of his death in 406 Sophocles clothed his Chorus in mourning as +a mark of his esteem. + +The famous _Alcestis_ won the second prize in 438. Apollo had been the +guest of Admetus and had persuaded Death to spare him if a substitute +could be found. Admetus' parents and friends failed him, but his wife +Alcestis for his sake was content to leave the light. After a series +of speeches of great beauty and pathos she dies, leaving her husband +desolate. Heracles arrives at the palace on the day of her death; he +notices that some sorrow is come upon his host, but being assured that +only a relation has died he remains. Meanwhile Admetus' parents arrive +to console him; he reviles them for their selfishness in refusing to die +for him, but is sharply reminded by them that parents rejoice to see the +sun as well as their children; in reality, he is his wife's murderer. + +Heracles' reckless hilarity shocked the servants who were unwilling +to look after an unfeeling guest. He enters the worse for liquor and +advises a young menial to enjoy life while he can. After a few questions +he learns the truth. Sobered, he hurries forth unknown to Admetus to +wrestle with Death for Alcestis. Admetus, distracted by loss of his +wife, becomes aware that evil tongues will soon begin to talk of his +cowardice. Heracles returns with a veiled woman, whom he says he won +in a contest, and begs Admetus keep her till he returns. After much +persuasion Admetus takes her by the hand, and on being bidden to look +more closely, sees that it is Alcestis. The great deliverer then bids +farewell with a gentle hint to him to treat guests more frankly in +future. + +This play must be familiar to English readers of Browning's +_Balaustion's Adventure_. It has been set to music and produced +at Covent Garden this very year. The specific Euripidean marks are +everywhere upon it. The selfish male, the glorious self-denial of the +woman, the deep but helpless sympathy of the gods, the tendency to +laughter to relieve our tears, the wonderful lyrics indicate a new +arrival in poetry. The originality of Euripides is evident in the choice +of a subject not otherwise treated; he was constantly striving to pass +out of the narrow cycle prescribed for Attic tragedians. A new and very +formidable influence has arisen to challenge Sophocles who may have felt +as Thackeray did when he read one of Dickens' early emotional triumphs. + +In 431 he obtained the third prize with the _Medea_, the heroine of +the world-famous story of the Argonauts related for English readers in +Morris' _Life and Death of Jason_. A nurse tells the story of Jason's +cooling love for Medea and of his intended wedlock with the daughter of +Creon, King of Corinth, the scene of the play. Appalled at the effect +the news will produce on her mistress' fiery nature, she begs the Tutor +to save the two children. Medea's frantic cries are heard within the +house; appearing before a Chorus of Corinthian women she plunges into a +description of the curse that haunts their sex. + + "Of all things that live and have sense women are the most hapless. + First we must buy a husband to lord it over our bodies; our next + anxiety is whether he will be good or bad, for divorce is not easy + or creditable. Entering upon a strange new life we must divine how + best to treat our spouse. If after this agony we find one to live + with us without chafing at the yoke, a happy life is ours--if not, + better to die. But when a man is surfeited with his mate he can + find comfort outside with friend or compeer; but we perforce look + to one alone. They say of us that we live a life free from danger, + but they fight in wars. It is false. I would rather face battle + thrice than childbirth once." + +Desolate, far away from her father's home, she begs the Chorus to be +silent if she can devise punishment for Jason. + +Creon comes forth, uneasy at some vague threats which Medea has uttered +and afraid of her skill as a sorceress. He intends to cast her out of +Corinth before returning to his palace, but is prevailed upon to grant +one day's grace. Medea is aghast at this blow, but decides to use the +brief respite. After a splendid little ode which prophesies that women +shall not always be without a Muse, Jason emerges. Pointing out that +her violent temper has brought banishment he professes to sympathise, +offering money to help her in exile. She bursts into a fury of +indignation, recounting how she abandoned home to save and fly with him +to Greece. He argues that his gratitude is due not to her, but to Love +who compelled her to save him; he repeats his offer and is ready to +come if she sends for him. Salvation comes unexpectedly. Aegeus, the +childless King of Athens, accidentally visits Corinth. Medea wins his +sympathy and promises him children if he will offer her protection. +He willingly assents and she outlines her plan. Sending for Jason, she +first pretends repentance for hasty speech, then begs him to get her +pardon from the new bride and release from exile for the two children. +She offers as a wedding gift a wondrous robe and crown which once +belonged to her ancestor the Sun. In the scene which follows is depicted +one of the greatest mental conflicts in literature. To punish Jason she +must slay her sons; torn by love for them and thirsting for revenge +she wavers. The mother triumphs for a moment, then the fiend, then the +mother again--at last she decides on murder. This scene captured +the imagination of the ancient world, inspiring many epigrams in the +Anthology and forming one of the mural paintings of Pompeii. + +A messenger rushes in. The robe and crown have burnt to death Glauce the +bride and her father who vainly tried to save her: Jason is coming with +all speed to punish the murderess. She listens with unholy joy, retires +and slays the children. Jason runs in and madly batters at the door to +save them. He is checked by the apparition of Medea seated in her car +drawn by dragons. Reviled by him as a murderess, she replies that +the death of the children was agony to her as well and prophesies a +miserable death for him. + +This marvellous character is Euripides' Clytemnestra. Yet unlike her, +she remains absolutely human throughout; her weak spot was her maternal +affection which made her hesitate, while Clytemnestra was past feeling, +"not a drop being left". Medea is the natural Southern woman who takes +the law into her own hands. In the _Trachiniae_ is another, outraged as +Medea was, yet forgiving. Truly Sophocles said he painted men as they +ought to be, Euripides as they were. + +The _Hippolytus_ in 429 won the first prize. It is important as +introducing a revolutionary practice into drama. Aphrodite in a prologue +declares she will punish Hippolytus for slighting her and preferring to +worship Artemis, the goddess of hunting. The young prince passes out to +the chase; as he goes, his attention is drawn to a statue of Aphrodite +by his servants who warn him that men hate unfriendly austerity, but he +treats their words with contempt. His stepmother Phaedra enters with the +Nurse, the Chorus consisting of women of Troezen, the scene of the play. +A secret malady under which Phaedra pines has so far baffled the Nurse +who now learns that she loves her stepson. She had striven in vain +against this passion, only to find like Olivia that + + Such a potent fault it is + That it but mocks reproof. + +She decided to die rather than disgrace herself and her city Athens. The +Nurse advises her not to sacrifice herself for such a common passion; +a remedy there must be: "Men would find it, if women had not found +it already". "She needs not words, but the man." Scandalised by this +cynicism the Queen bids her be silent; the woman tells her she has +potent charms within the house which will rid her of the malady without +danger to her good name or her life. Phaedra suspects her plan +and absolutely forbids her to speak with Hippolytus. The answer is +ambiguous: + + "Be of good cheer; I will order the matter well. Only Queen + Aphrodite be my aid. For the rest, it will suffice to tell my + plan to my friends within." + +A violent commotion arises in the palace; Hippolytus is heard +indistinctly uttering angry words. He and the Nurse come forth; in spite +of her appeal for silence, he denounces her for tempting him. When she +reminds him of his oath of secrecy, he answers "My tongue has sworn, but +not my will"--a line pounced upon as immoral by the poet's many foes. +Hippolytus' long denunciation of women has been similarly considered to +prove that the poet was an enemy of their sex. Left alone with the Nurse +Phaedra is terror-stricken lest her husband Theseus should hear of her +disgrace. She casts the Nurse off, adding that she has a remedy of her +own. Her last speech is ominous. + + "This day will I be ruined by a bitter love. Yet in death I will + be a bane to another, that he may know not to be proud in my woes; + sharing with me in this weakness he will learn wisdom." + +Her suicide plunges Theseus into grief. Hanging to her wrist he sees a +letter which he opens and reads. There he finds evidence of her passion +for his son. In mad haste he calls on Poseidon his father to fulfil one +of the three boons he promised to grant him; he requires the death of +his son. Hearing the tumult the latter returns. His father furiously +attacks him, calling him hypocrite for veiling his lusts under a +pretence of chastity. The youth answers with dignity; when confronted +with the damning letter, he is unable to answer for his oath's sake. +He sadly obeys the decree of banishment pronounced on him, bidding his +friends farewell. + +A messenger tells the sequel. He took the road from Argos along the +coast in his chariot. A mighty wave washed up a monster from the deep. +Plunging in terror the horses became unruly; they broke the car and +dashed their master's body against the rocks. Theseus rejoices at the +fate which has overtaken a villain, yet pities him as his son. He bids +the servants bring him that he may refute his false claim to innocence. +Artemis appears to clear her devotee. The letter was forged by the +Nurse, Aphrodite causing the tragedy. "This is the law among us gods; +none of us thwarts the will of another but always stands aside." +Hippolytus is brought in at death's door. He is reconciled to his father +and dies blessing the goddess he has served so long. + +The play contains the first indication of a sceptical spirit which was +soon to alter the whole character of the Drama. The running sore of +polytheism is clear. In worshipping one deity a man may easily offend +another, Aeschylus made this conflict of duties the cause of Agamemnon's +death, but accepted it as a dogma not to be questioned. Such an attitude +did not commend itself to Euripides; he clearly states the problem in a +prologue, solving it in an appearance of Artemis by the device known as +the _Deus ex machina_. It is sometimes said this trick is a confession +of the dramatist's inability to untie the knot he has twisted. Rather +it is an indication that the legend he was compelled to follow was +at variance with the inevitable end of human action. The tragedies of +Euripides which contain the _Deus ex machina_ gain enormously if the +last scene is left out; it was added to satisfy the craving for some +kind of a settlement and is more in the nature of comedy perhaps than +we imagine. Hippolytus is a somewhat chilly man of honour, the Nurse +a brilliant study of unscrupulous intrigue. Racine's _Phedre_ is as +disagreeable as Euripides' is noble. Like _Hamlet_, the play is full of +familiar quotations. + +Two Euripidean features appear in the _Heracleidae_, of uncertain date. +Iolaus the comrade of Heracles flees with the hero's children to Athens. +They sit as suppliants at an altar from which Copreus, herald of their +persecutor Eurystheus, tries to drive them. + +Unable to fight in his old age Iolaus begs aid. A Chorus of Athenians +rush in, followed by the King Demophon, to hear the facts. First Copreus +puts his case, then Iolaus refutes him. The King decides to respect the +suppliants, bidding Copreus defy Eurystheus in his name. As a struggle +is inevitable Iolaus refuses to leave the altars till it is over. + +Demophon returns to say that the Argive host is upon them and that +Athens will prevail if a girl of noble family freely gives her life; he +cannot compel his subjects to sacrifice their children for strangers, +for he rules a free city. Hearing his words, Macaria comes from the +shrine where she had been sheltering with her sisters and Alcmena, her +father's mother. When she hears the truth, she willingly offers to save +her family and Athens. + + "Shall I, daughter of a noble sire, suffer the worst indignity? + Must I not die in any wise? We may leave Attica and wander again; + shall I not hang my head if I hear men say, 'Why come ye here with + suppliant boughs, cleaving to life? Depart; we will not help + cowards.' Who will marry such a one? Better death than such + disgrace." + +A messenger announces that Hyllus, Heracles' son, has returned with +succours and is with the Athenian army. Iolaus summons Alcmena and +orders his arms; old though he is, he will fight his foe in spite of +Alcmena's entreaties. In the battle he saw Hyllus and begged him to take +him into his chariot. He prayed to Zeus and Hebe to restore his strength +for one brief moment. Miraculously he was answered. Two stars lit upon +the car, covering the yoke with a halo of light. Catching sight of +Eurystheus Iolaus the aged took him prisoner and brought him to Alcmena. +At sight of him she gloats over the coming vengeance. The Athenian +herald warns her that their laws do not permit the slaughter of +captives, but she declares she will kill him herself. Eurystheus answers +with great dignity; his enmity to Heracles came not from envy but from +the desire to save his own throne. He does not deprecate death, rather, +if he dies, his body buried in Athenian land will bring to it a blessing +and to the Argive descendants of the Heracleidae a curse when they in +time invade the land of their preservers. + +Though slight and weakly constructed, this play is important. Its +two features are first, the love of argument, a weakness of all the +Athenians who frequented the Law Courts and the Assembly; this mania +for discussing pros and cons spoils one or two later plays. Next, the +self-sacrificing girl appears for the first time. To Euripides the +worthier sex was not the male, possessed of political power and +therefore tyrannous, but the female. He first drew attention to its +splendid heroism. He is the champion of the scorned or neglected +elements of civilisation. + +The _Andromache_ is a picture of the hard lot of one who is not merely a +woman, but a slave. Hector's wife fell to Neoptolemus on the capture +of Troy and bore him a son called Molossus. Later he married Hermione, +daughter of Menelaus and Helen; the marriage was childless and Hermione, +who loved her husband, persecuted Andromache. She took advantage of her +husband's absence to bring matters to a head. Andromache exposed her +child, herself flying to a temple of Thetis when Menelaus arrived to +visit his daughter. Hermione enters richly attired, covered with jewels +"not given by her husband's kin, but by her father that she may speak +her mind." She reviles Andromache as a slave with no Hector near and +commands her to quit sanctuary. Menelaus brings the child; after a long +discussion he threatens to kill him if Andromache does not abandon +the altar, but promises to save him if she obeys. In this dilemma she +prefers to die if she can thus save her son; but when Menelaus secures +her he passes the child to his daughter to deal with him as she will. +Betrayed and helpless, Andromache breaks out into a long denunciation of +Spartan perfidy. + +Peleus, grandfather of Neoptolemus, hearing the tumult intervenes. After +more rhetoric he takes Andromache and Molossus under his protection and +cows Menelaus, who leaves for Sparta on urgent business. When her father +departs, Hermione fears her husband's vengeance on her maltreatment of +the slave and child whom he loves. Resolving on suicide, she is checked +by the entry of Orestes who is passing through Phthia to Dodona. She +begs him to take her away from the land or back to her father. Orestes +reminds her of the old compact which their parents made to unite +them; he has a grievance against Neoptolemus apart from his frustrated +wedlock, for he had called him a murderer of his mother. He had +therefore taken measures to assassinate him at Delphi, whither he had +gone to make his peace with Apollo. + +Hearing of Hermione's flight Peleus returns, only to hear more serious +news. Orestes' plot had succeeded and Neoptolemus had been overwhelmed. +In consternation he fears the loss of his own life in old age. His +goddess-wife Thetis appears and bids him marry Andromachus to Hector's +brother Helenus; Molossus would found a mighty kingdom, while Peleus +would become immortal after the burial of Neoptolemus. + +A very old criticism calls this play "second rate". Dramatically it +is worthless, for it consists of three episodes loosely connected. The +motives for Menelaus' return and Hermione's flight with an assassin +from a husband she loved are not clear, while the _Deus ex machina_ adds +nothing to the story. It is redeemed by some splendid passages, but is +interesting as revealing a further development of Euripides' thought. He +here makes the slave, another downtrodden class, free of the privileges +of literature, for to him none is vile or reprobate. The famous painting +_Captive Andromache_ indicates to us the loneliness of slavery. + +The same subject was treated more successfully in the _Hecuba_: she has +received her immortality in the famous players' scene in _Hamlet_. The +shade of Polydorus, Hecuba's son, outlines the course of the action. +Hecuba enters terrified by dreams about him and her daughter +Polyxena. Her forebodings are realised when she hears from a Chorus of +fellow-captives that the shade of Achilles has demanded her daughter's +sacrifice. Odysseus bids her face the ordeal with courage. She replies +in a splendid pathetic appeal. Reminding him how she saved him from +discovery when he entered Troy in disguise, she demands a requital. + + "Kill her not, we have had enough of death. She is my comfort, my + nurse, the staff of my life and guide of my way. She is my joy in + whom I forget my woes. Victors should not triumph in lawlessness + nor think to prosper always. I was once but now am no more, for + one day has taken away my all." + +He sympathises but dare not dishonour the mighty dead. Polyxena +intervenes to point out the blessings death will bring her. + + "First, its very unfamiliar name makes me love it. Perhaps I might + have found a cruel-hearted lord to sell me for money, the sister + of Hector; I might have had the burden of making bread, sweeping + the house and weaving at the loom in a life of sorrow. A slave + marriage would degrade me, once thought a fit mate for kings." + +Bidding Odysseus lead her to death, she takes a touching and beautiful +farewell. Her latter end is splendidly described by Talthybius. + +A serving woman enters with the body of Polydorus; she is followed by +Agamemnon who has come to see why Hecuba has not sent for Polyxena's +corpse. In hopeless grief she shows her murdered son, begging his aid to +a revenge and promising to exact it without compromising him. A message +brings on the scene Polymestor, her son's Thracian host with his sons. +In a dialogue full of terrible irony Hecuba inquires about Polydorus, +saying she has the secret of a treasure to reveal. He enters her tent +where is nobody but some Trojan women weaving. Dismissing his guards, he +lets the elder women dandle his children, while the younger admire his +robes. At a signal they arose, slew the children and blinded him. On +hearing the tumult, Agamemnon hurries in; turning to him, the Thracian +demands justice, pretending he had slain Polydorus to win his favour. +Hecuba refutes him, pointing out that it was the lust for her son's +gold which caused his death. Agamemnon decides for Hecuba, whereupon +Polymestor turns fay, prophesying the latter end of Agamemnon, Hecuba +and Cassandra. + +The strongest and weakest points of Euripides' appeal are here apparent. +The play is not one but two, the connection between the deaths of both +brother and sister being a mere dream of their mother. The poet tends +to rely rather upon single scenes than upon the whole and is so far +romantic rather than classical. His power is revealed in the very +stirring call he makes upon the emotions of pity and revenge; because of +this Aristotle calls him the most tragic of the poets. + +The _Supplices_, written about 421, carries a little further the history +of the Seven against Thebes. A band of Argive women, mothers of the +defeated Seven, apply to Aethra, mother of Theseus, to prevail on her +son to recover the dead bodies. Adrastus, king of Argos, pleads with +Theseus who at first refuses aid but finally consents at the entreaties +of his mother. His ultimatum to Thebes is delayed by the arrival of a +herald from that city. A strange discussion of the comparative merits of +democracy and tyranny leads to a violent scene in which Theseus promises +a speedy attack in defence of the rights of the dead. + +In the battle the Athenians after a severe struggle won the victory; in +the moment of triumph Theseus did not enter the city, for he had come +not to sack it but to save the dead. Reverently collecting them he +washed away the gore and laid them on their biers, sending them to +Athens. In an affecting scene Adrastus recognises and names the bodies. +At this moment Evadne enters, wife of the godless Capaneus who was +smitten by the thunderbolt; she is demented and wishes to find the body +to die upon it. Her father Iphis comes in search of her and at first +does not see her, as she is seated on a rock above him. His pleadings +with her are vain; she throws herself to her death. At the sight Iphis +plunges into a wild lament. + + "She is no more, who once kissed my face and fondled my head. To a + father the sweetest joy is his daughter; son's soul is greater, but + less winsome in its blandishments." + +Theseus returns with the children of the dead champions to whom he +presents the bodies. He is about to allow Adrastus to convey them home +when Athena appears. She advises him to exact an oath from Adrastus +that Argos will never invade Attica. To the Argives she prophecies a +vengeance on Thebes by the Epigoni, sons of the Seven. + +This play is very like the _Heraclidae_ but adds a new feature; drama +begins to be used for political purposes. The play was written at the +end of the first portion of the Peloponnesian war, when Argos began to +enter the world of Greek diplomacy. This illegitimate use of Art cannot +fail to ruin it; Art has the best chance of making itself permanent when +it is divorced from passing events. But there are other weaknesses in +this piece; it has some fine and perhaps some melodramatic situations; +here and there are distinct touches of comedy. + +The _Ion_ is a return to Euripides' best manner. Hermes in a prologue +explains what must have been a strange theme to the audience. Ion is a +young and nameless boy who serves the temple of Apollo in Delphi. There +is a mystery in his birth which does not trouble his sunny intelligence. +Creusa, daughter of Erectheus King of Athens, is married to Xuthus but +has no issue. Unaware that Ion is her son by Apollo, she meets him and +is attracted by his noble bearing. A splendid dialogue of tragic irony +represents both as wishing to find the one a mother, the other a son. +Creusa tells how she has come to consult the oracle about a friend who +bore a son to the god and exposed him. Ion is shocked at the immorality +of the god he serves; he refuses to believe that an evil god can claim +to deliver righteous oracles. Addressing the gods as a body, he states +the problem of the play. + + "Ye are unjust in pursuing pleasure rather than wisdom; no longer + must we call men evil, if we imitate your evil deeds; rather the + gods are evil, who instruct men in such things." + +Xuthus embraces Ion as his son in obedience to a command he has just +received to greet as his child the first person he meets on leaving the +shrine. Ion accepts the god's will but longs to know who is his mother. +Seeing an unwonted dejection in him Xuthus learns the reason. Ion is +afraid of the bar on his birth which will disqualify him from residence +at Athens, where absolute legitimacy was essential; his life at Delphi +was in sharp contrast, it was one of perfect content and eternal +novelty. Xuthus tells him he will take him to Athens merely as a +sightseer; he is afraid to anger his wife with his good fortune; in time +he will win her consent to Ion's succession to the throne. + +Creusa enters with an old man who had been her father's Tutor. She +learns from the Chorus that she can never have a son, unlike her more +lucky husband who has just found one. The Tutor counsels revenge; though +a slave, he will work for her to the end. + + "Only one thing brings shame to a slave, his name. In all else he + is every whit the equal of a free man, if he is honest." + +The two decide to poison Ion when he offers libations. But the plot +failed owing to a singular chance. The birds in the temple tasted the +wine and one that touched Ion's cup died immediately. Creusa flees to +the altar, pursued by Ion who reviles her for her deed. At that moment +the old Prophetess appears with the vessel in which she first found Ion. +Creusa recognises it and accurately describes the child's clothing which +she wove with her own hands; mother and son are thus united. The play +closes with an appearance of Athena, who prophesies that Ion shall be +the founder of the great Ionian race, for Apollo's hand had protected +him and Creusa throughout. + +The central problem of this piece is whether the gods govern the world +righteously or not. No more vital issue could be raised; if gods are +wicked they must fall below the standard of morality which men insist +on in their dealings with one another. Ion is the Greek Samuel; his +naturally reverent mind is disturbed at any suggestion of evil in a +deity. His boyish faith in Apollo is justified and Euripides seems to +teach in another form the lesson that "except we become as children, we +cannot enter the kingdom of Heaven." + +The _Hercules Furens_ belongs to Euripides' middle period. Amphitryon, +father of Heracles, and Megara, the hero's wife, are in Theban territory +waiting for news. They are in grave danger, for Lycus, a new king, +threatens to kill them with Heracles' children, as he had already slain +Megara's father. He has easy victims in Amphitryon, "naught but an empty +noise", and Megara, who is resigned to the inevitable. Faced with this +terror, Amphitryon exclaims:-- + + "O Zeus, thou art a worse friend than I deemed. Though a mortal, + I exceed thee in worth, god though thou art, for I have never + abandoned my son's children. Thou canst not save thy friends; + either thou art ignorant or unjust in thy nature." + +As they are led out to slaughter, Amphitryon makes what he is sure is a +vain appeal to Heaven to send succour. At that moment the hero himself +appears. Seeing his family clad in mourning, he inquires the reason. At +first his intention is to attack Lycus openly, but Amphitryon bids +him wait within; he will tell Lycus that his victims are sitting as +suppliants on the hearth; when the King enters Heracles may slay him +without trouble. + +When vengeance has been taken Iris descends from heaven, sent by Hera +to stain Heracles with kindred bloodshed. She summons Madness who is +unwilling to afflict any man, much less a famous hero. Reluctantly +consenting she sets to work. A messenger rushes out telling the +sequel. Heracles slew two of his children and was barely prevented from +destroying his father by the intervention of Athena. He reappears in +his right mind, followed by Amphitryon who vainly tries to console +him. Theseus who accompanied Heracles to the lower world hurries in on +hearing a vague rumour. To him Heracles relates his life of never-ending +sorrow. Conscious of guilt and afraid of contaminating any who +touch him, he at length consents to go to Athens with Theseus for +purification. He departs in sorrow, bidding his father bury the slain +children. + +Like the _Hecuba_, this play consists of two very loosely connected +parts. The second is decidedly unconvincing. Madness has never been +treated in literature with more power than in Hamlet and Lear. Besides +Shakespeare's work, the description in the mouth of a messenger, though +vivid enough, is less effective, for "what is set before the eyes +excites us more than what is dropped into our ears" as Horace remarks. +But the point of the play is the seemingly undeserved suffering which +is the lot of a good character. This is the theme of many a Psalm in the +Bible; its answer is just this--"Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth." + +In 415 Euripides told how Hecuba lost her last remaining child +Cassandra. The plot of the _Trojan Women_ is outlined by Poseidon and +Athena who threaten the Greeks with their hatred for burning the temples +of Troy. After a long and powerful lament the captive women are told +their fate by the herald Talthybius. Cassandra is to be married to +Agamemnon. She rushes in prophesying wildly. On recovering calm speech +she bids her mother crown her with garlands of victory, for her bridal +will bring Agamemnon to his death, avenging her city and its folk. +Triumphantly she passes to her appointed work of ruin. + +Andromache follows her, assigned to Neoptolemus. She sadly points out +how her faithfulness to Hector has brought her into slavery with a proud +master. + + "Is not Polyxena's fate agony less than mine? I have not that thing + which is left to all mortals, hope, nor may I flatter my mind heart + with any good to come, though it is sweet to even to dream of it." + +This despair is rendered more hopeless when she learns that the Greeks +have decided to throw her little son Astyanax from the walls. + +Menelaus comes forward, gloating at the revenge he hopes to wreak on +Helen. On seeing him Hecuba first prays:-- + + "Thou who art earth's support and hast thy seat on earth, whoever + thou art, past finding out, Zeus, whether thou art a natural + Necessity or man's Intelligence, to thee I pray. Moving in a + noiseless path thou orderest all things human in righteousness." + +She continues:-- + + "I praise thee, Menelaus, if thou wilt indeed slay thy wife, but + fly her sight, lest she snare thee with desire. She catcheth men's + eyes, sacketh cities, burneth homes, so potent are her charms. I + know her as thou dost and all who have suffered from her." + +Hecuba and Helen then argue about the responsibility for the war. The +latter in shameless impudence pleads that she has saved Greece from +invasion and that Love who came with Paris to Sparta was the cause of +her fault. Hecuba ridicules the idea that Hera and Artemis could desire +any prize of beauty. It was lust of Trojan gold that tempted Helen; +never once was she known to bewail her sin in Troy, rather she always +tried to attract men's eyes. Such a woman's death would be a crown +of glory to Greece. Menelaus says her fate will be decided in Argos. +Talthybius brings in the body of Astyanax, over which Hecuba bursts into +a lament of exceptional beauty and then passes out to slavery. + +In this drama Euripides draws upon all his resources of pathos. It is +a succession of brilliantly conceived sorrows. Cassandra's exulting +prophecy of the revenge she is to bring is one of the great things in +Euripides. In this play we have a most vivid picture of the destructive +effects of evil, an inevitable consequence of which it is that the +woman, however innocent she may be, always pays. Hecuba drank the cup of +bereavement to the very last drop. + +The _Electra_, acted about 418, is characteristic. Electra has been +compelled to marry a Mycenean labourer, a man of noble instincts who +respects the princess and treats her as such. Both enter the scene; the +man goes to labour for Electra, "for no lazy man by merely having +God's name on his lips can make a livelihood without toil". Orestes and +Pylades at first imagine Electra to be a servant; learning the truth +they come forward and question her. She tells the story of her mother's +shame and Aegisthus' insolence which Orestes promises to recount to her +brother, "for in ignorant men there is no spark of pity anywhere, only +in the learned." The labourer returns and by his speech moves Orestes to +declare that birth is no test of nobility. Electra sends him to fetch +an old Tutor of her father to make ready for her two guests; he departs +remarking that there is just enough food in the house for one day. + +The old Tutor arrives in tears; he has found a lock of hair on +Agamemnon's tomb. Gazing intently on the two strangers, he recognises +Orestes by a scar on the eyebrow. They then proceed to plot the death of +their enemies. Orestes goes to meet Aegisthus is close by sacrificing, +and presently returns with the corpse, at which Electra hurls back the +taunts and jeers he had heaped on her in his lifetime. She had sent to +her mother saying she had given birth to a boy and asking her to come +immediately. + +Orestes quails before the coming murder, but Electra bids him be loyal +to his father. Clytemnestra on her arrival querulously defends her past, +alleging as her pretext not the death of Iphigeneia but the presence of +a rival, Cassandra. Electra after refuting her invites her inside the +wretched hut to offer sacrifice for her newly born child, where she +is slain by Orestes. At the end of the play the Dioscuri, Castor and +Pollux, bid Pylades marry Electra, tell Orestes he will be purified in +Athens and prophesy that Menelaus and Helen, just arrived from Egypt, +will bury Agisthus real Helen never went to Troy, a wraith of her being +sent there with Paris. + +The startling realism of this drama is apparent. The poverty of Electra, +the more certain identification of Orestes by a scar than by a lock +of hair, the mention of Cassandra as the real motive for the murder of +Agamemnon all indicate that Euripides was not content with the accepted +legend. His Clytemnestra is a feeble creation even by the side of that +of Sophocles. + +Stesichorus in a famous poem tells how Helen blinded him for maligning +her; she never went to Troy; it was a wraith which accompanied Paris. +Such is the central idea of a very strange play, the _Helen_. The scene +is in Egypt. Teucer, banished by his father, meets the real Helen; +to her amazement he tells of her evil reputation and of the great war +before Troy, adding that Menelaus is sailing home with another Helen. +The latter enters, to learn that he is in Egypt, where the real Helen +has lived for the last seventeen years. Warned by a prophetess Theonoe +that her husband is not far off, Helen comes to be reunited to him. +A messenger from the coast announces that the wraith has faded into +nothingness. + +Helen then warns Menelaus of her difficult position. She is wooed by +Theoclymenus, king of the land, brother of Theonoe. Menelaus in despair +thinks of killing himself and Helen to escape the tyrant. Theonoe holds +their fate in her hands; Helen pleads with her; "It is shameful that +thou shouldest know things divine, and not righteousness." Menelaus +declares his intention of living and dying with his wife. The prophetess +leaves them to discover some means of escape which Helen devises. +Pretending that Menelaus is a messenger bringing news of her husband's +death at sea, she persuades the tyrant to provide a ship and rowers that +Helen may perform the last rites to the dead on the element where he +died. At the right moment the Greek sailors overpowered the rowers and +sailed home with the united pair. + +Very commonly real drama suffers the fate which has overtaken it in this +piece; it declines into melodrama. Here are to be found all the stock +melodramatic features--a bold hero, a scheming beauty, a confidante, a +dupe, the murder of a ship's crew. Massinger piloted Elizabethan drama +to a similar end. Given an uncritical audience melodrama is the surest +means of filling the house. Reality matters little in such work; the +facts of life are like Helen's wraith, when they become unmanageable +they vanish into thin air. + +About 412 the _Iphigeneia in Tauris_ appeared. South Russia was the seat +of a cult of Artemis; the goddess spirited Iphigeneia to the place when +her father sacrificed her at Aulis. Orestes, bidden by Apollo to steal +an image of the goddess to get his final purification, comes on the +stage with Pylades; on seeing the temple they are convinced of the +impossibility of burgling it. A shepherd describes to Iphigeneia their +capture, for strangers were taken and offered to the goddess without +exception. One of the two was seized with a vision of the avenging +deities; attacked by a band of peasants both were overpowered after +a stubborn resistance. Formerly Iphigeneia had pitied the Greeks who +landed there; now, warned of Orestes' death by a dream, she determines +to kill without mercy. One of them shall die, the other taking back to +Greece a letter. Orestes insists on dying himself, reminding Pylades of +his duty to Electra. When the letter is brought Pylades swears to fulfil +his word, but asks what is to happen if the ship is wrecked. Iphigeneia +reads the letter to him; it is addressed to Orestes and tells of his +sister's weary exile. After the recognition is completed, Orestes +relates the horrors of his life and begs his sister to help him to steal +the all-important image. + +Thoas, the King of the land, learns from her that the two Greeks are +guilty of kindred murder; their presence has defiled the holy image +which needs purification in the sea as well as the criminals. The +priestess obtains permission to bind the captives and take the image to +be cleansed with private mystic rites. The plot succeeds; Orestes' ship +puts in; after a struggle the three board it, carrying the image with +them. Thoas is prevented from pursuit by an intervention of Athena. + +Goethe used this play for his drama of the same name; he made Thoas the +lover of Iphigeneia, whom he represents as the real image whom Orestes +is to remove. Her departure is not compassed by a stratagem, but is +permitted by the King, a man of singular nobility and self-denial. + +The _Phaenissae_ has been much admired in all ages. Jocasta tells how +after the discovery of his identity Oedipus blinded himself but was +shut up by his two sons whom he cursed for their impiety. Eteocles +then usurped the rule while Polyneices called an Argive host to attack +Thebes. A Choral description of this army is succeeded by an unexpected +entry into the city of Polyneices who meets his mother and tells her of +his life in exile. She sends for Eteocles in the hope of reconciling her +two sons. Polyneices promises to disband his forces if he is restored to +his rights, but Eteocles, enamoured of power, refuses to surrender +it. Jocasta vainly points out to him the burden of rule, nor can she +persuade Polyneices not to attack his own land. + +When the champions have taken up their position at the gates, Teiresias +tells Creon that Thebes can be saved by the sacrifice of his own +son Menoeceus. Creon refuses to comply and urges his son to escape. +Pretending to obey Menoeceus threw himself from the city walls. The +struggle at the gates is followed by a challenge to Polyneices issued +by Eteocles to settle the dispute in single combat. Jocasta and Antigone +rush out to intervene, too late. They find the two lying side by side at +death's door. Eteocles is past speech, but Polyneices bids farewell to +his mother and sister, pitying his brother "who turned friendship into +enmity, yet still was dear". In agony, Jocasta slays herself over her +sons' bodies. + +Led in by Antigone, Oedipus is banished by Creon, who forbids the burial +of Polyneices. After touching the dead Jocasta and his two sons, he +passes to exile and rest at Colonus. + +The harsh story favoured by Sophocles has been greatly humanised by +Euripides, who could not accept all the savagery of the received legend. +Apart from the unexplained presence of Polyneices in the city, the plot +is excellent. The speeches are vigorous and natural, the characters +thoroughly human. The criticising and refining influence of Euripides is +manifest throughout, together with a simple and noble pathos. + +An ancient critic says of the _Orestes_, written in 408, "the drama is +popular but of the lowest morality; except Pylades, all are villains". +Electra meets Helen, unexpectedly returned from Egypt to Argos with +Menelaus, who sends her daughter Hermione with offerings to the tomb of +Agamemnon. Electra's opinion of her is vividly expressed. + + "See how she has tricked out her hair, preserving her beauty; she + is old Helen still. Heaven abhor thee, the bane of me and my + brother and Greece." + +The Chorus accidentally awakens Orestes who is visited by a wild vision +of haunting Furies. When he regains sanity he begs the assistance of +Menelaus, his last refuge. His uncle, a broken reed, is saved from +committing himself by the entry of Tyndareus, father of Clytemnestra +and Helen. He righteously rebukes the bloodthirsty Orestes, though he +is aware of the evil in his two daughters. Orestes breaks out into an +insulting speech which alienates completely his grandfather. Menelaus, +when appealed to again, hurries out to try to win him back. + +Pylades suggests that he and Orestes should plead their case before the +Argive Assembly, which was to try them for murder of Clytemnestra. A +very brilliant and exciting account of the debate tells how the case +was lost by Orestes himself, who presumed to lecture the audience on the +majesty of the law he himself had broken. He and Electra are condemned +to be stoned that very day. Determined to ruin Menelaus before they die, +they agree to kill Helen, the cause of all their troubles, and to fire +the fortified house in which they live. Electra adds that they should +also seize Hermione and hold her as a check on Menelaus' fury for the +death of Helen. The girl is easily trapped as she rushes into the house +hearing her mother's cries for help. Soon after a Trojan menial drops +from the first story. He tells how Helen and Hermione have so far +escaped death, but the rest is unknown to him. In a ghastly scene +Orestes hunts the wretch over the stage, but finally lets him go as he +is not a fit victim for a free man's sword. Almost immediately the house +is seen to be ablaze; Menelaus rushes up in a frenzy, but is checked by +the sight of Orestes with Hermione in his arms. When Menelaus calls for +help, Orestes bids Pylades and Electra light more fires to consume them +all. A timely appearance of Apollo with Helen deified by his side saves +the situation. + +It is plain that Euripides has here completely rejected the old legend. +He never makes Orestes even think of pleading Apollo's command to him to +slay his mother. He is concerned with the defence which a contemporary +matricide might make before a modern Athenian assembly and with the +fitting doom of self-destruction which would overtake him. Like _Vanity +Fair_, the play shows us the life of people who try to do without God. + +The _Bacchae_ is one of Euripides' best plays. In the absence of +Pentheus the King, Cadmus and Teiresias join in the worship of the +new god Dionysus at Thebes. Pentheus returns to find that noble women, +including Agave, his own mother, have joined the strange cult brought to +the place by a mysterious Lydian stranger "whose hair is neatly arranged +in curls, his face like wine, his eyes as full of grace as Aphrodite's". + +Teiresias advises him to welcome the god, Cadmus to pretend that he is +divine, even if he is only a mortal; this new religion is the natural +outlet of the desire for innocent revelry born in both sexes. The Lydian +is arrested and brought before Pentheus, whom he warns that the god will +save him from insult, but Pentheus hurries him away into a dungeon. + +The Chorus of Bacchae are alarmed on hearing a tumult. The stranger +appears to tell how Pentheus was made mad by Dionysus in the act of +imprisoning him. The King in amazement sees his prisoner standing free +before him and becomes furiously angry on hearing that his mother has +joined a new revel on Mount Cithaeron. The stranger suggests that he +should go disguised as a Bacchante to see the new worship. When he +appears transformed, the Lydian comments with exquisite and deadly irony +on his appearance. His fate is vividly and terribly painted. Placing +him in a pine, the stranger suddenly disappeared, while the voice of +Dionysus summoned the rout to punish the spy. Rushing to the tree, the +woman tore it up by the roots and then rent Pentheus piecemeal, Agave +herself leading them on. + +She comes in holding what she imagines to be a trophy. Cadmus slowly +reveals to her the horror of her deed, the proof of which is her son's +head in her grasp. Dionysus himself comes in to point out that this +tragedy is the result of the indignity which Thebes put upon him and +his mother Semele. Broken with grief, Agave passes out slowly to her +banishment. The Bacchae was composed in Macedonia; it contains all the +mystery of the supernatural. Dionysus' character is admirably drawn, +while the infatuation of Pentheus is a fitting prelude to his ruin. +The cult of Dionysus was essentially democratic, intended for those who +could claim no share in aristocratic ritual: hence its popularity and +prevalence. We may regard the Bacchae as the poet's declaration of faith +in the worship which gave Europe the Drama; it is altogether fitting +that he who has left us the greatest number of tragedies should have +been chosen by destiny to bequeath us the one drama which tells of one +of the adventures of its patron deity. + +The _Iphigeneia in Aulis_ was written in the last year of the poet's +life. Agamemnon sends a private letter to his wife countermanding +an official dispatch summoning her and Iphigeneia. This letter is +intercepted by Menelaus, who upbraids his brother; later, seeing his +distress, he advises him to send the women home again. But public +opinion forces the leader to obey Artemis and sacrifice his daughter. +When he meets his wife and child, he tries to temporise but fails. +Achilles meets Clytemnestra and is surprised to hear that he is to marry +Iphigeneia, such being the bait which brought Clytemnestra to Aulis. +Learning the real truth, she faces her husband, pleading for their +daughter's life. Iphigeneia at first shrinks from death; the army +demands her sacrifice, while Achilles is ready to defend her. The knot +is untied by Iphigeneia herself, who willingly at last consents to die +to save her country. + +This excellent play shows no falling in dramatic power; it was imitated +by Racine and Schiller. The figures are intensely human, the conflict of +duties firmly outlined, the pathos sincere and true, there is no divine +appearance to straighten out a tangled plot. Thus Euripides' career ends +as it began, with a story of a woman's noble self-sacrifice. + +The poet's popularity is indicated by the number of his extant dramas +and fragments, both of which exceed in bulk the combined work +of Aeschylus and Sophocles. All classes of writers quoted him, +philosophers, orators, bishops. In his own lifetime Socrates made a +point of witnessing his plays; the very violence of Aristophanes' attack +proves Euripides' potent influence; his lost drama _Melanippe_ turned +the heads of the Athenians, the whole town singing its odes. Survivors +of the Sicilian disaster won their freedom by singing his songs to their +captors, returning to thank their liberator in person; the fragments +of Menander discovered in 1906 contain many reminiscences of him, even +slaves quoting passages of him to their masters. For it was the very +width of his appeal that made him universally loved; women and slaves in +his view were every whit as good as free-born men, sometimes they were +far nobler. If drama is the voice of a democracy, the Athenians had +found a more democratic mouthpiece than they had bargained for. + +With the educated men it was different. They suspected a poet who was +upsetting their tradition. Besides, they were asked to crown a person +who told them in play after play that they were really like Jason, +Menelaus, Polymestor, poor creatures if not quite odious. He made them +see with painful clearness that the better sex was the one which they +despised, yet which was sure one day to find the utterance to which it +had a right in virtue of its greater nobility. The feminism of Euripides +is evident through his whole career; it is an insult to our powers +of reading to imagine that he was a woman-hater. It is then not to be +wondered at that he won the prize only five times, and it can hardly +be an accident that he gained it once with the Hippolytus, which on a +surface view condemns the female sex. + +For the officials could not see that Euripides was not a man only, he +was a spirit of development. Privilege and narrowness in every form he +hated; he demanded unlimited freedom for the intelligence. The narrow +circle of legends, the conventional unified drama, state religion, a +pseudo-democracy based on slavery he fearlessly criticised. Rationalism, +humanism, free speculation were his watchwords; he was always trying new +experiments in his art, introducing politics, philosophy, melodrama and +trying to get rid of the chorus wherever he could. He was a living and a +contemporary Proteus, pleading like an advocate in a lawsuit, discussing +political theory, restating unsolved problems in modern form and +seasoning his work with his own peculiar and often elevating pathos. +Such a man was anathema to conservative Athens. + +But to us he is one of ourselves. He exactly hits off our modern +taste, with its somewhat sentimental tendency, its scepticism, love of +excitement, and its great complexity. We know we have many moods and +passions which strangely blend and thwart each other; these we treat in +our novels, and Euripides' plays are a sort of novel, but for the +divine appearances in the last scenes. He shows us the inevitable end +of actions of beings exactly like ourselves, acting from merely human +motives, neither higher nor lower than we, though perhaps disguised +under heroic names. He is in a word the first modern poet. + + +TRANSLATIONS: + +A. S. Way, Loeb Series. This verse translation is the most successful; +it renders the choric odes with skill. + +Professor Gilbert Murray has published verse translations of various +plays. He is an authority on the text. His volume on Euripides in the +Home University Library is admirable. + +_Euripides the Rationalist_ and _Four Plays of Euripides_ by A. W. +Verrall are well known; the latter is particularly stimulating. The +views it expounds are original but not traditional. + +See Symonds' _Greek Poets_ as above. + + + + +ARISTOPHANES + + +At the end of the _Symposium_ Plato represents Socrates as convincing +both Agathon, a tragedian, and Aristophanes that the writer of tragedy +will be able to write comedy also. That the two forms are not wholly +divorced is clear from the history of ancient drama itself: Each +dramatist competed with four plays, three tragedies and a Satyric drama. +What this last is can be plainly seen in the _Cyclops_ of Euripides, +which relates in comic form the adventures of Odysseus and Silenus in +the monster's company. Further, the tendency of tragedy was inevitably +towards comedy. The extant work of Aeschylus and Sophocles is not +without comic touches; but the trend is clearer in Euripides who was +an innovator in this as in many other matters. Laughter and tears are +neighbours; a happy ending is not tragic; loosely connected scenes are +the essence of Old Comedy, and loosely written tragic dialogue (common +in Euripides' later work) closely resembles the language of comedy, +which is practically prose in verse form. The debt which later comedy +owed to Euripides is great; reminiscences of him abound; he is quoted +directly and indirectly; his stage tricks are adopted and his realistic +characters are the very population of the Comic stage. + +The logically developed plot is the characteristic of serious drama. +Old Comedy, its antithesis, is often a succession of scenes in which the +connection is loose without being impossible. In it the unexpected is +common, for it is an escape from the conventions of ordinary life, a +thing of causes and effects. It might be more accurate to say that farce +is a better description of the work which is associated with the name of +Aristophanes. + +This writer was born about 448, was a member of the best Athenian +society of the day, quickly took the first place as the writer of comedy +and died about 385. He saw the whole of the Peloponnesian war and has +given us a most vivid account of the passions it aroused and its effect +on Athenian life. He first won the prize in 425, when he produced +the _Acharnians_ under an assumed name. Pericles had died in 429; the +horrors of war were beginning to make themselves felt; the Spartans were +invading Attica, cutting down the fruit-trees and compelling the country +folk to stream into the city. One of these, Dicaeopolis enters the +stage. It is early morning; he is surprised that there is no popular +meeting on the appointed day. He loathes the town and longs for his +village; he had intended to heckle the speakers if they discussed +anything but peace. Ambassadors from foreign nations are announced; +seeing them he conceives the daring project of making a separate peace +with the Spartan for eight drachmae. His servant returns with three +peaces of five, ten and thirty years; he chooses the last. + +A chorus of angry Acharnians rush in to catch the traitor; they are +charcoal burners ruined by the invasion. Dicaeopolis seizes a charcoal +basket, threatening to destroy it if they touch him. Anxious to spare +their townsman, the basket, they consent to hear his defence, which he +offers to make with his neck on an executioner's block. He is afraid +of the noisy patriotism appealed to by mob-orators and of the lust for +condemning the accused which is the weakness of older men. Choosing from +Euripides' wardrobe the rags in which Telephus was arrayed to rouse the +audience to pity, he boldly ventures to plead the cause of the Spartans, +though he hates them for destroying his trees. He asserts that "Olympian +Pericles who thundered and lightened and confounded Greece" caused the +war by putting an embargo on the food of their neighbour Megara, his +pretext being a mere private quarrel. + +The Chorus are divided; his opponents send for Lamachus, the +swashbuckling general; the latter is discomfited and Dicaeopolis +immediately opens a market with the Peloponnesians, Megarians and +Boeotians, but not with Lamachus. In an important choral ode the poet +justifies his existence. By his criticism he puts a stop to the foreign +embassies which dupe the Athenians; he checks flattery and folly; he +never bribes nor hoodwinks them, but exposes their harsh treatment of +their subjects and their love of condemning on groundless charges the +older generation which had fought at Marathon. + +The play ends with a trading scene; a Boeotian in exchange for Copaic +eels takes an Athenian informer, an article unknown in Boeotia. Lamachus +returns wounded while Dicaeopolis departs in happy contrast to celebrate +a feast of rustic jollity. + +Aristophanes' chief butts were Cleon, Socrates and Euripides; the last +is treated with good nature in this play. To modern readers the comedy +is important for two reasons; first, it attacks the strange belief that +a democracy must necessarily love peace; Aristophanes found it as full +of the lust for battle as any other form of government; all it needed +was a Lamachus to rattle a sword. Again, the unfailing source of war is +plainly indicated, trade rivalry. War will continue as long as there are +markets to capture and rivals to exclude from them. + +In the next year, 424, Aristophanes produced the _Knights_, the most +violent political lampoon in literature. The victim was Cleon who had +succeeded Pericles as popular leader. He was at the height of his glory, +having captured the Spartan contingent at Pylos, prisoners who were +of great importance for diplomatic purposes. The comedy is a scathing +criticism of democracy; the subject is so controversial that it will be +best to give some extracts without comment. + +Two servants of Demos (the People) steal the oracles of the Paphlagonian +(the babbler, Cleon) while he is asleep. To their joy they find that +he will govern Demos' house only until a more abominable than he shall +appear, namely a sausage-seller. That person immediately presenting +himself is informed of his high calling. At first he is amazed. "I know +nothing of refinement except letters, and them, bad as they are, badly." +The answer is: + + "Your only fault is that you know them badly; mob-leadership has + nothing to do with a man refined or of good character, rather with + an ignoramus and a vile fellow." + +To his objection that he cannot look after a democracy the reply is, + + "it is easy enough; only go on doing what you are doing now. Mix + and chop up everything; always bring the mob over by sweetening it + with a few cook-shop terms. You have all the other qualifications, + a nasty voice, a low origin, familiarity with the street." + +The Paphlagonian Cleon runs in bawling that they are conspiring against +the democracy. They call loudly for the Knights, who enter as the Chorus +to assist them against Cleon, encouraging the sausage-seller to show +the brazen effrontery which is the mob-orator's sole protection, and +to prove that a decent upbringing is meaningless. Nothing loth, he +redoubles Cleon's vulgarity on his head. Cleon rushes out intending to +inform the Upper House of their treasons; the sausage-seller hurries +after him, his neck being well oiled with his own lard to make Cleon's +slanders slip off. A splendid ode is sung in the meantime; it contains a +half-comic account of Aristophanes' training in his art and a panegyric +on the old spirit which made Athens great. The sausage-seller returns +to tell of Cleon's utter defeat; he is quickly followed by Cleon, who +appeals to Demos himself, pointing out his own services. + + "At the first, when I was a member of the Council, I got in vast + sums for the Treasury, partly by torture, partly by throttling, + partly by begging. I never studied any private person's interest + if I could only curry favour with you, to make you master of all + Greece." + +The sausage-seller refutes him. + + "Your object was to steal and take bribes from the cities, to blind + Demos to your villainies by the dust of war, and to make him gape + after you in need and necessity for war-pensions. If Demos can only + get into the country in peace and taste the barley-cakes again, he + will soon find out of what blessings you have rid him by your + briberies; he will come back as a dour farmer and will hunt up a + vote which will condemn you." + +Cleon, the new Themistocles, is deposed from his stewardship. + +He appeals to some oracles of Bacis, but the sausage-seller has better +ones of Bacis' elder brother Glanis. The Chorus rebuke Demos, whom all +men fear as absolute, for being easily led, for listening to the newest +comer and for a perpetual banishment of his intelligence. In a second +contest for Demos' favours Cleon is finally beaten when it appears that +he has kept some dainties in his box while the sausage-seller has given +his all. An appeal to an oracle prophesying his supplanter--one who +can steal, commit perjury and face it out--so clearly applies to the +sausage-seller that Cleon retires. + +After a brief absence Demos appears with his new friend--but it is a +different Demos, rid of his false evidence and jury system, the Demos +of fifty years before. He is ashamed of his recent history, of his +preferring doles to battleships. He promises a speedy reform, full pay +to his sailors, strict revision of the army service rolls, an embargo +on Bills of Parliament. To his joy he recovers the Thirty Years' peace +which Cleon had hidden away, and realises at last his longing to escape +from the city into the country. + +This violent attack on Cleon was vigorously met; Aristophanes was +prosecuted and seems to have made a compromise. In his next comedy, +the _Clouds_ (which was presented in 423) he changes his victim. +Strepsiades, an old Athenian, married a high-born wife of expensive +tastes; their son Pheidippides developed a liking for horses and soon +brought his father to the edge of ruin. The latter requests the son +to save him by joining the academy conducted by Socrates, where he can +learn the worse argument which enables its possessor to win his case. +Aided by it he can rid his father of debt. As the son flatly refuses, +the old man decides to learn it himself. Entering the school he sees +maps and drawings of all kinds and finally descries Socrates himself, +far above his head in a basket, high among the clouds, studying the sun. +Strepsiades begs him to teach him the Worse Argument at his own price. +After initiating him, Socrates summons his deities the Clouds, who enter +as the Chorus. These are the guardian deities of modern professors, +seers, doctors, lazy long-haired long-nailed fellows, musicians who +cultivate trills and tremolos, transcendental quacks who sing their +praises. The old gods are dethroned, a vortex governing the universe. +The Chorus tells Socrates to take the old man and teach him everything. + +The ode which follows contains the poet's claim to be original. + + "I never seek to dupe you by hashing up the same old theme two or + three times, but show my cleverness by introducing ever-new ideas, + none alike and all smart." + +Socrates returns with Strepsiades, whom he can teach nothing. The Chorus +suggest he should bring his son to learn from Socrates how to get rid of +debts. At first Pheidippides refuses but finally agrees, though he warns +his father that he will rue his act. The Just and Unjust arguments +come out of the academy to plead before the Chorus. The former draws a +picture of the old-fashioned times when a sturdy race of men was reared +on discipline, obedience and morality--a broad-chested vigorous type. In +utter contempt the latter brands such teaching as prehistoric. Pleasure, +self-indulgence, a lax code of morality and easy tolerance of little +weaknesses are the ideal. The power of his words is such that the Just +Argument deserts to him. + +Strepsiades, coached by his son, easily circumvents two money-lenders +and retires to his house. He is soon chased out by his son, who when +asked to sing the old songs of Simonides and Aeschylus scorned the idea, +humming instead an immoral modern tune of Euripides' making. A quarrel +inevitably followed; Strepsiades was beaten by his son who easily proved +that he had a right to beat his mother also. Stung to the quick the old +man burns the academy; when Socrates and his pupils protest, he tells +them they have but a just reward for their godlessness. + +The Socrates here pilloried is certainly not the Socrates of history; +his teaching was not immoral. But Aristophanes is drawing attention +to the evil effects produced by the Sophists, who to the ordinary man +certainly included Socrates. The importance of this play to us is clear. +We are a nation of half-trained intelligences. Our national schools are +frankly irreligious, our teachers people of weak credentials. Parental +discipline is openly flouted, pleasure is our modern cult. Jazz bands, +long-haired novelists and poets, misty philosophers, anti-national +instructors are the idols of many a pale-faced and stunted son of +Britain. The reverence which made us great is decadent and openly +scoffed at. What is the remedy? Aristophanes burnt out the pestilent +teachers. We had better not copy him till we are satisfied that the +demand for them has ceased. A nation gets the instruction for which it +is morally fitted. There is but one hope; we must follow the genuine +Socratic method, which consisted of quiet individual instruction. Only +thus will we slowly and patiently seize this modern spirit of unrest; +our object should be not to suppress it--it is too sturdy, but to direct +its energies to a better and a more noble end. + +Finding that the _Clouds_ had been too wholesome to be popular, +Aristophanes in 422 returned to attack Cleon in the _Wasps_. Early in +the morning Bdelycleon (Cleon-hater) with his two servants is preventing +his father Philocleon from leaving the house to go to the jury-courts. +The old man's amusing attempts to evade their vigilance are frustrated, +whereupon he calls for assistance. Very slowly a body of old men dressed +as wasps, led by boys carrying lanterns, finds its way to the house to +act as Chorus. They make many suggestions to the father to escape; just +as he is gnawing through the net over him his son rushes in. The wasps +threaten him with their formidable stings. After a furious conflict +truce is declared. Bdelycleon complains of the inveterate juryman's +habit of accusing everybody who opposes them of aiming at establishing +a tyranny. Father and son consent to state their case for the Chorus to +decide between them. + +Philocleon glories in the absolute power he exercises over all classes; +his rule is equal to that of a king. To him the greatest men in Athens +bow as suppliants, begging acquittal. Some of these appeal to pity, +others tell him Aesop's fables, others try to make him laugh. Most +of all, he controls foreign policy through his privilege of trying +statesmen who fail. In return for his duties he receives his pay, goes +home and is petted by his wife and family. Bdelycleon opens thus: + + "it is a hard task, calling for a clever wit and more than comic + genius to cure an ancient disease that has been breeding in the + city." + +After giving a rough estimate of the total revenue of Athens, he +subtracts from it the miserable sum of three obols which the jurymen +receive as pay. Where does the remainder go? It is evident that the +jurymen are the mere catspaw of the big unscrupulous politicians who get +all the profit and incur none of the odium. This argument convinces +both the Chorus and Philocleon, old heroes of Marathon who created the +Empire. + +The latter asks what he is to do. His son promises to look after him, +allowing him to gratify at home his itch for trying disputes. Two dogs +are brought in; by a trick the son makes his father acquit instead +of condemn. He then dresses him up decently and instructs him in the +etiquette of a dinner-party, whither they proceed. But the old man +behaves himself disgracefully, beating everyone in his cups. He appears +with a flute-girl and is summoned for assault by a vegetable-woman, +whose goods he has spoiled, and by a professional accuser. His insolence +to his victims is checked by his son who thrusts him into the house +before more accusers can appear. + +It is sometimes believed that democracy is a less corrupt form of polity +than any other. Aristophanes in this play exposes one of its greatest +weaknesses. + +Flattered by the sense of power which the possession of the vote brings +with it, the enfranchised classes cannot always see that they easily +become the tools of the clever rogues who get themselves elected to +office by playing on the fears of the electors. The Athenian voter +was as easily scared by the word "tyranny" as the modern elector is +by "capital". The result is the same. Not only do the so-called +lower orders sink into an ignorant slavery; they use their power so +brainlessly and so mercilessly that they are a perfect bugbear to the +rest. + +Literary men's prophecies rarely come true. In 421 the _Peace_, produced +in March, was followed almost immediately by a compact between Athens +and Sparta for fifty years. An old farmer, Trygaeus, sails up to heaven +on the back of a huge beetle, bidding his family farewell for +three days. He meets Hermes, who tells him that Zeus in disgust has +surrendered men to the war they love. War himself has hidden Peace in +a deep pit, and has made a great mortar in which he intends to grind +civilisation to powder. He looks for the Athenian pestle, Cleon, but +cannot find him--the Spartan pestle Brasidas has also been mislaid; both +were lost in Thrace. Before he can find another pestle Trygaeus summons +all men to pull Peace out of her prison. Hermes at first objects, but is +won over by offers of presents. At length the goddess is discovered with +her two handmaids, Harvest and Mayfair. + +A change immediately comes over the faces of men. In pure joy they +laugh through their bruises. Hermes explains to the farmers who form the +Chorus why Peace left the earth. It was the trade rivalry which first +drove her away; at Athens the subject cities fomented strife with +Sparta, then the country population flocked to the city, where they +fell easy victims to the public war-mongers, who found it profitable +to continue the struggle. The god then offers to Trygaeus Harvest as a +bride to make his vineyards fruitful. In the ode which follows the poet +claims that he first made comedy dignified + + "with great thoughts and words and refined jests, not lampooning + individuals but attacking the Tanner war-god." + +Returning to earth Trygaeus sends Harvest to the Council, while the +marriage sacrifice is made ready. A soothsayer endeavours to impose on +the rustics with prophecies that the Peace will be a failure. Trygaeus +refutes him with a quotation from Homer. "Without kin or law or home +is a man who loveth harsh strife between peoples." The makers of +agricultural implements quickly sell all their stock, while the makers +of helmets, crests and breastplates find their market gone. A glad +wedding song forms the epilogue. + +Aristophanes believed that the war meant an extinction of civilisation +and loathed it because it was useless. What would he have thought of the +barbarous and bloodthirsty Great War of our own day? The causes which +produced both struggles were identical--trade rivalry and a set of +jingoes who found that war paid. But he was mistaken in believing that +peace was the normal condition of Greek life. He was born just before +the great period began during which Pericles gave Greece a long respite +from quarrels, and seems to have been quite nonplussed by what to him +was an abnormal upheaval. His bright hopes soon faded and he seems +to have given up thinking about peace or war during a period of eight +years. In the meanwhile Athens had attacked Sicily; perhaps a change had +come over comedy itself owing to legal action. At any rate, the old and +virulent type of political abuse was becoming a thing of the past; the +next play, the _Birds_, produced in 414, abandons Athens altogether for +a new and charming world in which there was a rest from strife. + +Two Athenians, Peithetairus (Persuasive) and Euelpides (Sanguine) reach +the home of the Hoopoe bird, once a mortal, to find a happier place than +their native city. Suddenly, as the bird describes the happy careless +life of his kind, Peithetairus conceives the idea of founding a new bird +city between earth and heaven. The Hoopoe summons his friends to hear +their opinion; as they come in he names them to the wondering Athenians. +At first the Birds threaten to attack the mortals, their natural +enemies. They listen, however, to Peithetairus' words of wisdom. + + "Nay, wise men learn much from their foes, for good counsel saves + everything. We cannot learn from a friend, but an enemy quickly + forces the truth upon us. For example, cities learn from their + enemies, not their friends, to create high walls and battleships, + and such are the salvation of children, home and substance." + +A truce is made. Peithetairus tells them the Birds once ruled the world +but have been deposed, becoming the prey of those who once worshipped +them. They should ring round the air, like Babylon, with mighty baked +bricks and send an ultimatum to the gods, demanding their lost kingdom +and forbidding a passage to earth; another messenger should descend +to men to require from them due sacrifices. The Birds agree; the two +companions retire to Hoopoe's house to eat the magic root which will +turn them into winged things. After a choral panegyric on the bird +species Peithetairus returns to name the new city Cloudcuckootown, whose +erection is taken in hand. Impostors make their appearance, a priest to +sacrifice, a poet to eulogise, an oracle-dealer to promise success, a +mathematician to plan out the buildings, an overseer and a seller of +decrees to enact by-laws; all are summarily ejected by Peithetairus. + +News comes that the city is already completed. Suddenly Iris darts in, +on her way to earth to demand the accustomed sacrifices from men which +the new city has interrupted; she is sent back to heaven to warn the +gods of their coming overthrow. A herald from earth brings tidings that +more than a myriad human beings are on their way to settle in the city. +A parent-beater first appears, then a poet, then an informer--all +being firmly dealt with. Prometheus slips in under a parasol, to advise +Peithetairus to demand from Zeus his sceptre and with it the lady +Royalty as his bride. Poseidon, Heracles and an outlandish Triballian +god after a long discussion make terms with the new monarch, who goes +with them to fetch his bride. A triumphant wedding forms the conclusion. + +The purpose of this comedy has been the subject of much discussion. As a +piece of literature it is exquisite. It lifts us out of a world of hard +unpleasant fact into a region where life is a care-free thing, bores or +impostors are banished and the reign of the usurper ends. The play +is not of or for any one particular period; it is really timeless, +appealing to the ineradicable desire we all have for an existence of +joy and light, where dreams always come true and hope ends only in +fulfilment. It is therefore one of man's deathless achievements; the +power of its appeal is evident from the frequency with which it has been +revived--it was staged at Cambridge this very year. Staged it will be as +long as men are what they are. + +Having learned that men are a naturally combative race, lusting for +blood, the poet saw it was hopeless to bring them to terms. Nor could he +for ever live in Cloudcuckootowns; he therefore bethought him of another +expedient for obtaining peace. In 411 he imagines the women of Athens, +Peloponnese and Boeotia combining to force terms on the men by deserting +their homes, under the leadership of _Lysistrata_. She calls a council +of war, explaining her plot to capture the Acropolis. A Chorus of men +rush in to smoke them out, armed with firebrands, but are met by a +Chorus of women bearing pitchers to quench the flames. An officer of the +Council comes to argue with Lysistrata, who points out that in the first +part of the war (down to 421) the women had kept quiet, though aware of +men's incompetence; now they have determined to control matters. They +are possessed of the Treasury, their experience of household economy +gives them a good claim to organise State finance; they grow old in the +absence of their husbands; a man can marry a girl however old he is. A +woman's prime soon comes; if she misses it, she sits at home looking for +omens of a husband; women make the most valuable of all contributions to +the State, namely sons. The officer retires to report to the Council. + +Lysistrata, seeing a weakness in the women's resolution, encourages +them with an oracle which promises victory if they will only persist. +A herald speedily arrives from Sparta announcing a similar defection in +that city. Ambassadors of both sides are brought to Lysistrata who makes +a splendid speech. + + "I am a woman, but wit is in me and I have no small conceit of + myself. Having heard many speeches from my father and elder men + I am not ill-informed. Now that I have caught you I will administer + to you the rebuke you richly deserve. You sprinkle altars from the + same lustral-bowl, like relatives, at Olympia, Pylae, Delphi and + many other places. Though the barbarian enemy is on you in armed + force, you destroy Greek men and cities." + +She points out that both sides have been guilty of injustice; both +should make surrenders and agree to a peace which is duly ratified. The +Chorus of men believe that Athenian ambassadors should go to Sparta in +their cups:-- + + "As it is, whenever we go there sober, we immediately see what + mischief we can make. We never hear what they say; what they do + not say we conjecture and never bring back the same tale about + the same facts." + +Odes of thanksgiving wind up the piece. + +Exactly twenty years earlier Euripides in the _Medea_ had written the +first protest against women's subjection to an unfair social lot. By +a strange irony of fortune his most severe critic Aristophanes was the +first man in Europe to give utterance to their claim to a political +equality. True, he does so in a comedy, but he was speaking perhaps more +seriously than he would have us think. Women do contribute sons to +the State; they do believe that they are as capable as men of judging +political questions--with justice, in a system where no qualifications +but twilight opinions are necessary. On this ground they have won the +franchise. Nor has the feminist movement really begun as yet. We may see +women in control of our political Acropolis, forcing the world to make +peace to save our chances of becoming ultimately civilised. + +The _Thesmophoriazousae_, staged in 411, is a lampoon on Euripides. +That poet with his kinsman Mnesilochus calls at the house of Agathon, a +brother tragedian whose style is amusingly parodied. Euripides informs +him that the women intend to hold a meeting to destroy him for libel; +they are celebrating the feast of the Thesmophoria. As Agathon refuses +an invitation to go disguised and defend Euripides, Mnesilochus +undertakes the dangerous duty; his disguise is effected on the stage +with comic gusto. At the meeting the case against the poet is first +stated; he has not only lampooned women, he has taught their husbands +how to counter their knaveries and is an atheist. Mnesilochus defends +him; women are capable of far more villainies than even Euripides has +exposed. The statement of these raises the suspicions of the ladies +who soon unmask the intruder, inquiring of him the secret ritual of the +Thesmophoria. + +One of them goes to the Town Council to find out what punishment they +are to inflict. + +Mnesilochus meanwhile snatches a child from the arms of one of +them, holding it as a hostage. To his amazement it turns out to be a +wine-stoup. He vainly tries some of the dodges practised in Euripides' +plays to bring him to the rescue. The Chorus meantime expose the folly +of calling women evil. + + "If we are a bane, why do you marry us? Why do you forbid us to + walk abroad or to be caught peeping out? Why use such pains to + preserve this evil thing? If we do peep out, everybody wants this + bane to be seen; if we draw back in modesty, every man is much + more anxious to see this pest peep out again. At any rate, no + woman comes into the city after stealing public money fifty + talents at a time." + +A better plan would be + + "to give the mothers of famous sons the right of place in festivals; + those whose sons are evil should take a lower place." + +In an amusing series of scenes Euripides enters dressed up as some of +his own characters to save Mnesilochus. A borough officer enters with +a policeman whom he orders to bind the prisoner and guard him. More +disguises are adopted by Euripides who succeeds at last in freeing his +kinsman by pretending to be an old woman with a marriageable daughter +whom the policeman can have at a price. When the latter goes to fetch +the money Euripides and his relative disappear. + +The poet has in this play very skilfully palmed off on Euripides his own +attack on women. We have already seen what Euripides' attitude was to +the neglected sex. Feminine deceit has been a stock theme in all ages; +it had already been treated in Greek literature and was to be passed +through Roman literature to the Middle Ages, in which period it received +more than its due share of attention. In itself it is a poor theme, good +enough perhaps as a stand-by, for it is sure to be popular. Those who +pose as woman-haters might consider the words of the Chorus in this +play. + +The most violent attack on Euripides was delivered after his death by +Aristophanes in the _Frogs_, written in 405. This famous comedy is so +well-known that a brief outline will suffice. It falls into two parts. +The first describes the adventures of Dionysus who with his servant +Xanthias descends to the lower world to bring back Euripides. The god +and his servant exchange parts according as the persons they meet are +friendly or hostile. In the second part the three great tragedians +are brought on the scene. Euripides, who has just died, tries to claim +sovereignty in Hades; Sophocles, "gentle on earth and gentle in death" +withdraws his claim, leaving Aeschylus to the contest. The two rivals +appoint Dionysus, the patron of drama, to act as umpire. In a series +of admirable criticisms the weaknesses of both are plainly indicated. +Finally Dionysus decides to take back Aeschylus. + +This play is as popular as the Birds. It contains one or two touches +of low comedy, but these are redeemed by the spirit of inexhaustible +jollity which sets the whole thing rocking with life and gaiety. It is +an original in Greek literature, being the first piece of definitely +literary criticism. A long experience had made the sense of the stage a +second nature to Aristophanes who here criticises two rival schools of +poetry as a dramatist possessed of inside professional knowledge. So +far his work is of the same class as Cicero's _De Oratore_ and Reynolds' +_Discourses_. His object, however, was not to preserve a balance +of impartiality but to condemn Euripides as a traitor to the whole +tradition of Attic tragedy. He does so, but not without giving his +reasons--and these are good and true. No person is qualified to judge +the development of Greek tragedy who has not weighed long and carefully +the second portion of the _Frogs_. + +In 393 Aristophanes broke entirely new ground in the _Ecclesiazousae_ +(women in Parliament), a discussion of social and economic problems. +Praxagora assembles the women of Athens to gain control of the city. +They meet early in the morning, disguise themselves with beards and open +the question. + + "The decisions of men in Parliament are to reflecting people like + the derangements of drunken men. I am disgusted with our policy, + we always employ unscrupulous leaders. If one of them is honest + for one day, he is a villain for ten. Doling out public money, men + have eyes only for what they can make out of the State. Let women + govern; they are the best at providing money and are not likely to + be deceived in office, for they are well versed in trickery." + +They proceed to the Assembly to execute their plot. + +On the opening of the discussion one Euaeon proposed a scheme of +wholesale spoliation of the property owners to support the poor. Then +a white-faced citizen arose and proposed flatly that women should rule, +that being the one thing which had never yet been tried. The motion was +carried with great enthusiasm, the men declaring that "an old proverb +says all our senseless and foolish decisions turn out for good". When +Praxagora returns to the stage, she declares she intends to introduce +a system of absolute communism. All citizens are to live and dine in +common and possess wives in common, existing on the work of slaves. Any +person who refuses to declare his wealth is to be punished by losing +his rations, "the punishment of a man through his belly being the worst +insult he can suffer". A vivid description of the workings of the new +system ends the play. + +Aristophanes is no doubt criticising Plato's _Republic_, but allowing +for altered circumstances we cannot go far wrong if we see here a +picture of the suggested remedy for the social distress which is +inseparable from a great war. At Athens, beaten and impoverished, there +must have been widespread discontent; the foundation upon which society +was built must have been criticised, its inequalities being emphasised +by idealists and intriguers alike. Our own generation has to face a +similar situation. We have seen women in Parliament and we are deluged +by a flood of communistic idealism emanating from Russia. Its one +commendation is that it has never yet been tried among us and many +simple folk will applaud the philosophy which persuades itself that all +our mistakes will somehow come right in the end. The problem of finding +somebody to do the work was easily solved in ancient Athens where the +slaves were three times as numerous as the free. England, possessing no +slaves, would under communism be unable to feed herself and would die of +starvation. + +The _Plutus_, written in 388 is a singular work. An honest old man +Chremylus enters with Carion "his most faithful and most thievish +servant". They are holding fast a blind old man, in obedience to an +oracle of Apollo. After a little questioning the stranger admits that +he is Plutus, the god of wealth. Wild with joy they invite him to their +house. He does not like houses, for they have never brought him to any +good. + + "If I enter a stingy man's abode, he immediately digs me deep in + the earth and denies he has ever seen me. If I enter a crazy + man's home, given to dicing and fast living, I am soon ejected + naked." + +Learning that Chremylus is honest and poor he consents to try once +again. + +The rumour gets abroad that Chremylus has suddenly grown rich; his +acquaintance reveal their true characters as they come to question him +about his luck. The goddess Poverty enters, to be cross-examined by +Chremylus who has suggested that Plutus should recover his sight under +the healing care of Asclepius. Before the care is effected, she points +out the dangers of his project. He is well-meaning, but foolish; Poverty +is not Mendicancy, it means a life of thrift, with nothing left over +but with no real want; it is the source of the existence of all +the handicrafts, nor can the slaves be counted on to do the work if +everybody becomes rich, for nobody will sell slaves if he has money +already. Riches on the other hand are the curse of many; wealth rots +men, causing gout, dropsy and bloated insolence; the gods themselves are +poor, otherwise they would not need human sacrifice. + +The cure is successful; Plutus recovers his eyes and can see to whom he +gives his blessings; the good and the rascals alike receive their +due reward. The change which wealth produces in men's natures is most +admirably depicted in the Epilogue. + +This is an Allegory dramatised with no little skill. The piece is full +of the shrewdest hits at our human failings, aimed, however, with +no ill-nature. Aristophanes' power of characterisation here shows +no falling-off. Fortune's fickleness is proverbial and has received +frequent literary treatment. Men's first prayer is for wealth; poverty, +according to Dr. Johnson, is evidently a great evil because it needs +such a long defence. Yet it is only the well-meaning but utterly +unpractical idealists who desire to make us all prosperous-- + + "How that may change our nature, that's the question." + +Some are not fit for riches, being ignorant of their true function; +self-indulgence and moral rottenness follow wealth; because of the abuse +of the power which wealth brings, we are taught that it is hard for the +rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. + +It is difficult to convey an adequate impression of Aristophanes to the +English reader. Long excerpts are impossible and undesirable. Comedy +is essentially a mirror of contemporary life; it contains all kinds of +references to passing political events and transient forms of social +life; its turns of language are peculiar to its own age. We who are +familiar with Shakespeare know that one of our chief difficulties +in reading him is the constant reference to what was obvious to the +Elizabethan public but is dark to us. Yet the plays of Aristophanes in +an English translation such as that of Frere read far more like +modern work than the comedies of Ben Jonson, for the society in which +Aristophanes moved was far more akin to ours. It was democratic, was +superficially educated, was troubled by socialistic and communistic +unrest exactly as we are. Some of our modern thinkers would be surprised +to find how many of their dreamings were discussed twenty-three +centuries ago by men quite as intelligent and certainly as honest. + +Aristophanes' greatest fault is excessive conservatism. He gives us a +most vivid description of the evils and abuses of his own time, yet has +no remedy except that of putting back the hands of the clock some fifty +years. Marathon, Aeschylus, the nascent democracy were his ideal and he +was evidently put out by the ending of the period of "Periclean calm." +He then has no solution for the problems in front of him. But it might +be asked whether a dramatist's business is not rather to leave solutions +to the thinker, concerning himself only with mirroring men's natures. +With singular courage and at no small personal risk this man attacked +the great ones of his day, scourging their hypocrisies and exposing the +real tendencies of their principles. If he has opened our eyes to the +objections to popular government and popular poetry and has made us +aware of the significance of the feminist movement, let us be thankful; +we shall be more on our guard and be less easily persuaded that problems +are new or that they are capable of a final solution. + +On the other hand, we shall find in him qualities of a most original +type. His spirits are inexhaustible, he laughs heartily and often +without malice at the follies of the mass of men; Cleon and Euripides +were anathema to him, but the rest he treats as Fluellen did Pistol: +"You beggarly knave, God bless you". His lyrics must be classed with +the best in Greek poetry. Like Rabelais this rollicking jolly spirit +disguises his wisdom under the mask of folly, turning aside with some +whimsical twist just when he is beginning to be too serious. He will +repay the most careful reading, for his best things are constantly +turning up when least expected. His political satire ceasing with the +death of Cleon, he turned to the land of pure fancy among the winged +careless things; he then raised the woman's question, started literary +criticism and ended with Allegory. To few has such a noble cycle of work +been vouchsafed; we owe him at least a debt of remembrance, for he loved +us as our brother. + + +TRANSLATIONS: + +Frere (verse). This spirited version of five plays is justly famous. +Various plays have been rendered into verse by Rogers (Bell). The +translation is on the whole rather free. The volumes contain excellent +introductions and notes. + +No prose translation of outstanding merit has appeared. + +The Greek tragedians have not received their due from translators +and admirers. There is nothing in English drama inspired by Greece to +compare with the French imitations of Seneca, Plautus and Terence. + + + + +HERODOTUS + + +Greek historical literature follows the same course of development as +Greek poetry; it begins in epic form in Ionia and ends in dramatic type +at Athens. + +Herodotus, "the father of History", was born at Halicarnassus in Asia +Minor about 484 B.C. He travelled widely over the East, Egypt, North +Africa and Greece. He was acquainted with the Sophoclean circle, joined +the Athenian colony at Thurii in South Italy and died there before the +end of the century. His subject was the defeat of the Persian attack on +Greece and falls into three main divisions. In the first three books he +tells how Persian power was consolidated: in the next three he shows how +it flooded Russia, Thrace and Greece, being stemmed at Marathon in 490; +the last three contain the story of its final shattering at Salamis +and Plataea in 480 and of the Greek recoil on Asia in 479. It is thus a +"triple wave of woes" familiar to Greek thought. His dialect is Ionic, +which he adopted because it was the language of narrative poetry and +prose. + +His introduction leads at once into Romance; he intends to preserve the +memory of the wonderful deeds of Greeks and Barbarians, the cause of +their quarrel being the abductions of women, Io, Europe, Medea, Helen. A +more recent aggressor was Croesus, King of Lydia, who attacked the Greek +seaboard. The earlier reigns of Lydian kings are recounted in a series +of striking narratives. Gyges was the owner of the famous magic +ring which made its possessor invisible. His policy of expansion was +continued by his son and grandson. But Croesus, his great-grandson, was +the wealthiest of all, extending his realm from as far as the Halys, the +boundary of Cyrus' Persian Empire. Solon's famous but fictitious warning +to him to "wait till the end comes before deciding whether he had +been happy" left him unmoved. Soon clouds began to gather. A pathetic +misadventure robbed him of his son; the growing power of Persia alarmed +him and he applied to Delphi for advice. The oracle informed him that +if he crossed the Halys he would ruin a mighty Empire and suggested +alliance with the strongest state in Greece. Finding that Athens +was still torn by political struggles consequent upon the romantic +banishments and restorations of Peisistratus, he joined with Sparta +which had just overcome a powerful rival, Tegea in Arcadia. + +Croesus crossed the Halys in 554. After fighting an indecisive battle +he retired to his capital Sardis. Cyrus unexpectedly pursued him. The +Lydian cavalry stampeded, the horses being terrified by the sight and +odour of the Persian camel corps. Croesus shut himself up in Sardis +which he thought impregnable. An excellent story tells how the Persians +scaled the most inaccessible part of the fortress. Croesus was put on a +pyre and there remembered the words of Solon. Cyrus, dreading a similar +revolution of fortune, tried in vain to save him from the burning +faggots; the fire was too fierce for his men to quench, but Apollo heard +Croesus' prayer and sent a rainstorm which saved him. Being reproached +by the fallen monarch who had poured treasure into his temple, Apollo +replied that he had staved off ruin for three full years, but could not +prevail against Fate; besides, Croesus should have asked whose Empire he +was to destroy; at least Apollo had delivered him from death. The Lydian +portion ends with a graphic description of laws, customs and monuments. + +The rise of Persia is next described. Assyria, whose capital was +Nineveh, was destroyed by Cyaxares of Media, whose capital was Ecbatana. +His son Astyages in consequence of a dream married his daughter Mandane +to a Persian named Cambyses. A second dream made him resolve to +destroy her child Cyrus who, like Oedipus, was saved from exposure by a +herdsman. Later, on learning Cyrus' identity, Astyages punished Harpagus +whom he had bidden to remove the child. Harpagus sowed mutiny in the +Median army, giving the victory to the Persians in 558. Cyrus proceeded +to attack the Asiatic Greeks, of whom the Phocaeans left their home +to found new states in Corsica and Southern Gaul; the other cities +surrendered. Babylon was soon the only city in Asia not subject to +Persia. Cyrus diverted the course of the Euphrates and entered the town +in 538. In an attack on Tomyris, queen of a Scythian race, Cyrus was +defeated and slain in 529. + +His son Cambyses determined to invade Egypt, the eternal rival of the +Mesopotamian kings. Herodotus devotes his second book to a description +of the marvels of Egypt, through which he travelled as far as +Elephantine on the border of Ethiopia. He opens with a plain proof that +Egypt is not the most ancient people, for some children were kept apart +during their first two years, nobody being allowed to speak with them. +They were then heard to say distinctly the word "bekos" which was +Phrygian for "bread". This evidence of Phrygian antiquity satisfied even +the Egyptians. + +In this second book there is hardly a single leading feature of Egyptian +civilisation which is not discussed. The Nile is the life of the +land; being anxious to solve the riddle of its annual rise, Herodotus +dismisses as unreasonable the theory that the water is produced by the +melting snow, for the earth becomes hotter as we proceed further +south, and there cannot be snow where there is intense heat. The sun is +deflected from its course in winter, which derangement causes the river +to run shallow in that season. The religious practice of the land are +well described, including the process of embalming; oracles, animals, +medicine, writing, dress are all treated. He notes that in Egyptian +records the sun has twice risen in the west and twice set in the east. + +A long list of dynasties is relieved with many an excellent story, +notably the very famous account of how Rhampsonitis lost his treasures +and failed to find the robber until he offered him a free pardon; having +found him he said the Egyptians excelled all the world in wisdom, and +the robber all the Egyptians. The Pyramids are described; transmigration +is discussed and emphasis is laid upon the growing popularity of Greek +mercenaries. The book closes with the brilliant reign of Amasis, who +made overtures to the Greek oracles, allied himself with Samos and +permitted the foundation of an important Greek colony at Naucratis. + +The third book opens with the invasion of Egypt by Cambyses in 525 on +account of an insult offered him by Amasis. A Greek mercenary named +Phanes gave the Persians information of the one means of attacking +through the desert. After a fierce battle at Pelusium Egypt was beaten; +for years afterwards skulls of both armies lay around, the Persian heads +being easily broken by a pebble, the Egyptian scarcely breakable by +stones. In victory Cambyses outraged Psammenitus, the defeated King; a +fruitless expedition against Ethiopia and the Ammonians followed. The +Egyptians were stirred by the arrival of their calf-god Apis; Cambyses +mockingly wounded him and was punished with madness, slaying his own +kindred and committing deeds of impiety. + +At that time Egypt was leagued with the powerful island of Samos, ruled +by Polycrates, a tyrant of marvellous good fortune. Suspecting some +coming disaster to balance it, Amasis urged him to sacrifice his dearest +possession to avert the evil eye. Polycrates threw his ring into the +sea; it was retrieved by a fisherman. On hearing this, Amasis severed +his alliance. + +In the absence of Cambyses two Magi brothers stirred up revolt in Susa, +one pretending to be Smerdis, the murdered brother of Cambyses. That +monarch wounded himself in the thigh as he mounted his horse. The wound +festered and caused speedy death. Meanwhile the false Smerdis held the +sovereignty. He was suspected by Otanes, a noble whose daughter Phaedyme +was married to him. At great personal risk she discovered that the King +was without ears, a manifest proof that he was a Magian. Otane thens +joined with six other conspirators to put the usurper down. Darius, son +of Hystaspes, warned them that their numbers were too large for secrecy, +advising immediate action. The two pretenders had meanwhile persuaded +Prexaspes, a confidant of Cambyses, to assure the Persians that Smerdis +really ruled. Prexaspes told the truth and then threw himself to death +from the city walls. This news forced the conspirators' hands; rushing +into the palace, they were luckily able to slay the usurpers. + +The next question was, who should reign? Herodotus turned these Persians +into Greeks, making them discuss the comparative merits of monarchy, +oligarchy and democracy. They decided that their horses should choose +the next king; he whose steed should first neigh should rule. Darius had +a cunning groom named Oebares; that evening he took the horse and his +mare into the market-place; next morning on reaching the same spot the +horse did not fail to seat his master on the throne in 521. A review of +the Persian Empire follows, with a description of India and Arabia. + +Polycrates did not long survive. He was the first Greek to conceive +the idea of a maritime empire. He was foully murdered by the Persian +Oroetes, who decoyed him to the mainland by an offer of treasure and +then crucified him. In the retinue of Polycrates was a physician, +Democedes of Croton, who was captured by Oroetes. His fame spread to +Susa at a time when no court doctor could treat Darius' sprained foot. +Democedes was sent for and effected the cure; later he healed the +Queen Atossa of a boil. Instructed by him she advised Darius to send +a commission of fifteen Persians to spy out the Greek mainland under +Democedes' guidance. After an exciting series of adventures the +physician succeeded in returning to his native city. But the idea of an +invasion of Greece had settled on Darius' mind. First, however, he took +Samos, giving it to Syloson, Polycrates' brother who years before in +Egypt had made him a present of a scarlet cloak while he was a mere +guardsman. Darius consolidated his power in Asia by the capture of the +revolted province of Babylon through the self-sacrifice of Zopyrus, son +of one of the seven conspirators. The vivid story of his devotion is one +of the very greatest things in Herodotus. + +Persia being thus mistress of all Asia, of Samos and the seaboard, +began to dream of subduing Greece itself. But first Darius determined to +conquer his non-Greek neighbours. The fourth book describes the attack +which Darius himself led against the Scythians in revenge for the +twenty-eight years' slavery they inflicted on the Medes. A description +of Scythia is relieved by an account of the circumnavigation of Africa +by the Phoenicians and the voyage of Scylax down the Indus and along the +coast of Africa to Egypt. + +The war on the Scyths was dramatic and exciting, both sides acting in +the spirit of chivalry. Crossing the Bosporus, Darius advanced through +Thrace to the Danube which he spanned with a bridge. The Scyths adopted +the favourite Russian plan of retreating into the interior, destroying +the crops and hovering round the foe; they further led the Persians +into the territories of their own enemies. This process at last wearied +Darius; he sent a herald to challenge them to a straight contest or to +become his vassals. The reply came that if Darius wished a conflict +he had better outrage their ancestral tombs; as for slavery, they +acknowledged only Zeus as their master. But the threat of slavery did +its work. A detachment was sent to the Danube to induce the Ionian +Greeks to strike for freedom by breaking down the bridge they were +guarding, thus cutting off Darius' retreat. To the King himself a +Scythian herald brought a present of a bird, a mouse, a frog and five +arrows, implying that unless his army became one of the creatures it +would perish by the arrows. The Scyths adopted guerilla tactics, leaving +the Persians no rest by night and offering no battle by day. At last +Darius began his retreat. One division of the Scythian horsemen reached +the bridge before their foes, again asking the Ionians to destroy it. +The Greeks pretended to consent, breaking down the Scythian end of it. +Darius at last came to the place; to his dismay he found the bridge +demolished. He bade an Egyptian Stentor summon Histiaeus, the Greek +commandant, who brought up the fleet and saved the Persian host which +retired into Asia. + +In 509 a second expedition was dispatched against Barca, a colony of +Cyrene. The history of the latter is graphically described, the first +king being Battus, the Stammerer, who founded it in obedience to +the directions of Apollo. Cyrene was brought under Cambyses' sway +by Arcesilaus who had been banished. He misinterpreted an oracle and +cruelly killed his enemies in Barca. When he was assassinated in that +town his mother Pheretima fled from the metropolis Cyrene to Aryandes, +the Persian governor in Egypt. Backed by armed force she besieged Barca +which resisted bravely for nine months; at the end of that term an +agreement was made that Barca should pay tribute and remain unassailed +as long as the ground remained firm on which the treaty was made. But +the Persians had undermined the spot, covering planks of wood with a +loose layer of earth. Breaking down the planks they rushed in and took +the town, Pheretima exacting a horrible vengeance. Yet she herself died +soon after, eaten of worms. "Thus," remarks the historian, "do men, by +too severe vengeances, draw upon their own heads the divine wrath." + +The fifth book begins the concentration on purely Greek history. Darius +had left Megabazus in command in Europe, retiring himself to Sardis. In +that city he was much struck by the appearance of a Paeonian woman and +ordered Megabazus to invade the country. He subdued it and Macedonia in +506-4, but in the process some of his commanders were punished for an +insult to Macedonian women, revenge being taken by Alexander, son of +King Amyntas; a bride shut the lips of a party sent to discover their +fate. In Thrace, Megabazus began to suspect Histiaeus, the Ionian who +had saved Darius and in return had been given a strong town, Myrcinus on +the River Strymon. The King by a trick drew Histiaeus to Sardis and +took him to the Capital, leaving his brother Artaphernes as governor +in Sardis. But Histiaeus had been succeeded in Miletus by his nephew +Aristagoras; to him in 502 came certain nobles from Naxos, one of the +Cyclades isles, begging restoration from banishment. He decided to apply +to Artaphernes for Persian help; this the viceroy willingly gave as it +would further the Persian progress to the objective, the Greek mainland, +across the Aegean in a direct line. The Persian admiral Megabates soon +quarrelled with Aristagoras about the command and informed the Naxians +of the coming attack. The expedition thus failed. Aristagoras, afraid +to face Artaphemes whose treasure he had wasted, decided on raising a +revolt of the whole of Ionia; at that very moment a slave came to him +from his uncle in Susa with a message tattooed on his head, bidding him +rebel. + +Aristagoras first applied to Sparta for aid. When arguments failed, he +tried to bribe the king Cleomenes. In the room was the King's little +daughter Gorgo. Hearing Aristagoras gradually raise his offer from ten +to fifty talents, the child said, "Father, depart, or the stranger will +corrupt thee". Aristagoras received a better welcome at Athens. That +city in 510 had expelled Hippias, the tyrant son of Peisistratus, who +appealed to Artaphernes for aid. Hearing this, the Athenians sent an +embassy asking the satrap not to assist the exile, but the answer was +that if they wished to survive, they must receive their ruler back. +Aristagoras therefore found the Athenians in a fit frame of mind to +listen. They lent him a fleet of twenty sail and marched with him to +Sardis which they captured and burned in 501. The revolt speedily spread +over all the Asiatic sea-coast. On hearing of the Athenians for the +first time, Darius directed a slave to say to him thrice a day, "Sire, +remember the Athenians". He summoned Histiaeus and accused him of +complicity in the revolt, but Histiaeus assured him of his loyalty and +obtained permission to go to the coast. Meanwhile the Persians took +strong action against the rebels, subduing many towns and districts. The +book ends with the flight of Aristagoras to Myrcinus and his death in +battle against the Thracians in 496. + +The next book opens with the famous accusation of Histiaeus by +Artaphernes: "Thou hast stitched this boot and Aristagoras hath put +it on." Histiaeus in fear fled to his own city Miletus; being disowned +there, he for a time maintained a life of privateering, but was +eventually captured and crucified by Artaphernes. The Ionian revolt had +been narrowed down to Miletus and one or two less important towns. The +Greeks assembled a fleet, but a spirit of insubordination manifesting +itself they were defeated at sea in the battle of Lade in 495. Next year +Miletus fell but was treated with mercy. At Athens the news caused the +greatest consternation; a dramatic poet named Phrynichus ventured to +stage the disaster; the people wept and fined him a thousand talents, +forbidding any similar presentation in future. Stamping out the last +embers of revolt in Asia the Persians coasted along Thrace; before +their advance the great Athenian Miltiades was compelled to fly from the +Dardanelles to his native city. In 492 Mardonius was appointed viceroy +of Asia Minor. He reorganised the provincial system and then attempted +to double the perilous promontory of Athos, but only a remnant of his +forces returned to Asia. + +Next year Darius sent to all the Greek cities demanding earth and water, +the tokens of submission. The islanders obeyed including Aegina, the +deadly foe of Athens. A protest made by the latter led to a war between +the two states in which Athens was worsted. Sparta itself had just been +torn by an internal dissension between two claimants of the throne, one +of whom named Demaratus had been ejected and later fled to the Persian +court. The great expedition of 490 sailed straight across the Aegean, +commanded by Datis and Artaphernes. Their primary objective was Eretria +in Euboea, a city which had assisted the Ionians in their revolt. The +town was speedily betrayed, the inhabitants being carried aboard the +Persian fleet. Guided by Hippias the armament landed at the bay of +Marathon, twenty-five miles from Athens. A vain appeal was sent to +Sparta for succours; Athens, supported by the little Boeotian city of +Plataea, was left to cope with the might of Persia. + +It was fortunate that the Athenians could command the services of +Miltiades who had already had some experience of the Persian methods of +attack. The details of the great battle that followed depend upon the +sole authority of Herodotus among the Greek writers. Many difficulties +are caused by his narrative, but it seems certain that Miltiades was +in command on the day on which the battle was actually fought. He +apparently clung to the hills overlooking the plain and bay of Marathon +until the Persian cavalry were unable to act. Seizing the opportunity, +he led his men down swiftly to the combat; his centre which had been +purposely weakened was thrust back but the two wings speedily proved +victorious, then converged to assist the centre, finally driving the foe +to the sea where a desperate conflict took place. The Persians succeeded +in embarking and promptly sailed round the coast to Athens, but seeing +the victors in arms before the town they sailed back to Asia. The +Spartan reinforcements which arrived too late for the battle viewed the +Persian dead and returned after praising the Athenians. + +A slight digression tells the amusing story how the Athenian +Hippocleides in his cups lost the hand of the princess of Sicyon because +he danced on his head and waved his legs about, shouting that he didn't +care. The great victor Miltiades did not long survive his glory. His +attempt to reduce the island of Paros, which had sided with Persia, +completely failed. Returning to Athens he was condemned and fined, +shortly after dying of a mortified thigh. + +In the third portion Herodotus gradually rises to his greatest height +of descriptive power. Darius resolved on a larger expedition to reduce +Greece. He made preparations for three years, then a revolt in Egypt +delayed his plans and his career was cut short by death in 485. His +successor Xerxes was disinclined to invade Europe, but was overborne by +Mardonius his cousin. A canal was dug across the peninsula of Athos, a +bridge was built over the Hellespont, and provisions were collected. A +detailed account of the component forces is given, special mention being +made of Artemisia, Queen of Herodotus' own city, who was to win great +glory in the campaign. The army marched over the Hellespont and along +the coast, the fleet supporting it; advancing through Thessaly, it +reached the pass of Thermopylae, opposite Euboea, in 480. + +On the Greek side was division; the Spartans imagined that their duty +was to save the Peloponnese only; they were eager to build a wall across +the isthmus of Corinth, leaving the rest of Greece to its fate. But +Athens had produced another genius named Themistocles. Shortly before +the invasion the silver mines at Laureium in Attica had yielded a +surplus; he persuaded the city to use it for building a fleet of two +hundred sail to be directed against Aegina. When the Athenians got an +oracle from Delphi which stated that they would lose their land but be +saved by their wooden walls, he interpreted the oracle as referring to +the fleet. Under his management the city built more ships. The Council +of Greece held at the Isthmus of Corinth decided that an army should +defend Thermopylae while the fleet supported it close by at Artemisium. +The Persian fleet had been badly battered in a storm as it sailed +along the coast of Magnesia, nearly four hundred sail foundering; the +remainder reached safe anchorage in the Malian gulf, further progress +being impossible till the Greek navy was beaten or retired. + +At Thermopylae the advance-guard was composed of Spartans led by +Leonidas who determined to defend the narrow pass. A Persian spy brought +the news to Xerxes that this small body of warriors were combing their +hair. The King sent for Demaratus, the ex-Spartan monarch, who assured +him that this was proof that the Spartans intended to fight to the +death. After a delay of four days the fight began. The Spartans +routed all their opponents including the famous Immortals, the Persian +bodyguard. At length a traitor Ephialtes told Xerxes of a path across +the mountains by which Leonidas could be taken in the rear. Learning +from deserters and fugitives that he had been betrayed, Leonidas +dismissed the main body, himself advancing into the open. After winning +immortal glory he and his men were destroyed and the way to Greece lay +open to the invader. + +In three naval engagements off Artemisium the Greek fleet showed its +superiority; a detachment of two hundred sail had been sent round the +island of Euboea to block up the exit of the channel through which the +Greek navy had to retreat, but a storm totally destroyed this force. +When the army retreated from Thermopylae the Greek ships were obliged +to retire to the Isthmus; in spite of much opposition the Athenians +compelled Eurybiades the Spartan admiral to take up his station at +Salamis, whither the Persian navy followed. Their army had advanced +through Boeotia, attacking Delphi on the way. The story was told how +Apollo himself defended his shrine, hurling down rocks on the invaders +and sending supernatural figures to discomfit them. Entering Attica the +barbarian host captured a deserted Athens, Xerxes sending the glad news +to his subjects in the Persian capital. + +The Greeks were with difficulty persuaded not to abandon the sea +altogether. Themistocles was bitterly opposed in his naval policy by +Adeimantus, the Corinthian; it was only by threatening to leave Greece +with their fleet that the Athenians were able to bring the allies +to reason. By a stroke of cunning Themistocles forced their hands; a +messenger went to Xerxes with news of the Greek intention to retreat; on +hearing this the Persians during the night blocked up the passages round +Salamis and landed some of their best troops on a little island called +Psyttaleia. The news of this encircling movement was brought to the +allies by Aristides, a celebrated Athenian who was in exile, and was +confirmed by a Tenian ship which deserted from the Persians. Next +morning the Greeks sailed down the strait to escape the blockade and +soon the famous battle began. Among the brave deeds singled out for +special mention none was bolder than that of Artemisia who sank a friend +to escape capture. The remainder of the Persian captains had no chance +of resisting, being huddled up in a narrow channel. Seeing Artemisia's +courage Xerxes remarked that his men had become women, his women men. +The rout of the invaders was quickly completed, the chief glory being +won by Aegina and Athens; the victory was consummated by the slaughter +of the troops on Psyttaleia. The Persian monarch sent tidings of this +defeat to his capital and in terror of a revolt in Ionia decided to +retreat, leaving Mardonius in command of picked troops. He hurriedly +passed along the way he had come, almost disappearing from Herodotus' +story. + +Mardonius accompanied him to Thessaly and Macedonia; he sent Alexander, +King of the latter country, as an envoy to Athens, offering to rebuild +the temples and restore all property in exchange for an alliance. +Hearing the news the Spartans in fear for themselves sent a +counter-embassy. The Athenian reply is one of the great things in +historical literature. "It was a base surmise in men like the Spartans +who know our mettle. Not all the gold in the world would tempt us +to enslave our own countrymen. We have a common brotherhood with +all Greeks, a common language, common altars and sacrifices, common +nationality; it would be unseemly to betray these. We thank you for your +offer to support our ruined families, but we will bear our calamities as +we may and will not burden you. Lead out your troops; face the enemy in +Boeotia and there give him battle." + +The last book relates the consequences of the Athenian reply to +Alexander. Mardonius advanced rapidly to Athens, which he captured a +second time. The Spartans were busy keeping the feast of Hyacinthia; +only an Athenian threat to come to terms with the foe prevailed on them +to move. Mardonius soon evacuated Attica, the ground being too stony for +cavalry, and encamped near Plataea. The Greeks followed, taking the high +ground on Mount Cithaeron. A brave exploit of the Athenian infantry in +defeating cavalry heartened the whole army. After eleven days' inaction, +Mardonius determined to attack, news of his plan being brought secretly +at night to the Athenians by Alexander. The Spartans, afraid of facing +the Persians, exchanged places with the Athenians; when this movement +was discovered by Mardonius, he sent a challenge to the Spartans to +decide the battle by a single conflict between them and his Persian +division. Receiving no reply, he let his cavalry loose on the Greeks +who began to retire to a place called the Island, where horse could not +operate. This action took place during the night. When morning broke the +battle began. The Persian wicker shields could not resist their enemies' +weapons; the host fled and after Mardonius fell was slaughtered in +heaps. The Greek took vengeance on the Thebans who had acted with the +Persians, of whom a mere remnant reached Asia under the command of +Artabazus. + +The victorious Greek fleet had advanced as far as Delos, commanded by +Leotychides, a Spartan of royal blood. To them came an embassy from +Samos, urging an attack on the Persians encamped on Mycale. It is said +that the battle was fought on the same day as that of Plataea and that a +divine rumour ran through the Greek army that their brothers had gained +the day. In the action at Mycale the Athenians took the palm of valour, +bursting the enemy's line and storming his entrenchments. This victory +freed Ionia; it remained only to open the Dardanelles. The Spartans +returned home, but the Athenians crossed from Abydos in Asia to Sestos, +the strongest fortress in the district. The place was starved into +surrender; with its capture ends the story of Persia's attempt to +destroy European civilisation. + +In this great Epic nothing is more obvious than the terror the Greeks +felt when they first faced the Persians. The numbers arrayed against +them were overwhelming, their despondency was justifiable. It required +no little courage from a historian to tell the awkward truth--that +Herodotus did tell it is no small testimony to his veracity. Yet only +a little experience was needed to convince the Greeks that they were +superior on both land and sea. Once the lesson was learned, they never +forgot it. Mycale is the proof that they remembered it well. This +same consciousness of superiority animated two other Greek armies, one +deserted in the middle of Asia Minor, yet led unmolested by Xenophon +through a hostile country to the shores of the Black Sea--the other +commanded by Alexander the Great who planted Greek civilisation over +every part of his conquests, from the coast to the very gates of Persia +itself. + +Modern history seems to have lost all powers of interesting its readers. +It is as dull as political economy; it suspects a stylist, questions +the accuracy of its authorities, tends to minimise personal influence +on events, specialises on a narrow period, emphasises constitutional +development, insists on the "economic interpretation" of an age and +at times seems quite unable to manage with skill the vast stores +of knowledge on which it draws. To it Herodotus is often a butt for +ridicule; his credulity, inability to distinguish true causes, belief +in divine influences, love of anecdote and chronological vagueness are +serious blemishes. But to us Herodotus is literature; we believe that +he himself laughs slyly at some of the anecdotes he has rendered more +piquant by a pretended credulity; this quick-witted Greek would find +it paid him to assume innocence in order to get his informers (like his +critics) to go on talking. Like Froissart, Joinville, de Comines and +perhaps even like Macaulay he wishes to write what will charm as well as +what will instruct. + +Yet as a historian Herodotus is great; he sifts evidence, some of +which he mentions only to reject it; the substantial accuracy of his +statements has been borne out by inscriptions; in fact, his value +to-day is greater than it was last century. If a man's literary bulk +is measured by the greatness of his subject, Herodotus cannot be a +mean writer. His theme is nothing less than the history of civilisation +itself as far as he could record it; his broad sweep of narrative may +be taken to represent the wide speculation of a philosophic historian as +opposed to the narrower and more intense examination of a short period +which is characteristic of the scientific historian. He tells us of +the first actual armed conflict between East and West, the never-ending +eternally romantic story. As Persia fought Greece, so Rome subdued +Carthage, Crusader attacked Saladin, Turkey submerged half Europe, +Russia contended with Japan. The atmosphere of Herodotus is the +unchanging East of the Bible, inscrutable Egypt, prehistoric Russia, +barbarous Thrace, as well as civilised Greece, Africa, India; had he +never written, much information would have been irretrievably lost, +for example, the account of one of the "Fifteen decisive battles" in +history. Let him be judged not as a candidate for some Chair of Ancient +History in some modern University, but as the greatest writer of the +greatest prose-epic in the greatest literature of antiquity. + +Of his inimitable short stories it is difficult to speak with measured +praise; it is dangerous to quote them, they are so perfect that a word +added or omitted might spoil them. His so-called digressions have always +some cogent reason in them; they are his means of including in the +panorama a scene essential to its completeness. The narrow type of +history writing has been tried for some centuries; all that it seems +able to accomplish is to go on narrowing itself until it cannot enjoy +for recording or remembering. It is a refreshing experience to move +in the broad open regions of history in which Herodotus trod. If it +is impossible to combine accurate research with the ecstasy of pure +literature, be it so. Herodotus will be read with joy and laughter +and sometimes with tears when some of our modern historians have been +superseded by persons even duller than themselves. + + +TRANSLATIONS: + +Rawlinson's edition with a version contains essays of the greatest +value. It has been the standard for two generations and is not likely to +be superseded. + +The Loeb Series contains a version by A. D. Godley. + +The great annotated edition of the text by R. W. Macan (Oxford) is the +result of a lifetime's work. It contains everything necessary to confirm +the claims of the historian. + +_The Great Persian War,_ by Grundy (London), is valuable. + +See Bury, _Ancient Greek Historians_ (Macmillan). + + + + + +THUCYDIDES + + +History, like an individual's life, is a succession of well-defined +periods. Herodotus took as his subject a long cycle of events; the +shorter period was first treated by Thucydides who introduced methods +which entitle him to be regarded as the first modern historian. Born in +Attica in 471 he was a victim of the great plague, was exiled for his +failure to check Brasidas at Eion in 424 and spent the rest of his life +in collecting materials for his great work. His death took place about +402. + +His preface is remarkable as outlining his creed. First he states his +subject, the Peloponnesian war of 431-404; he then tests by an appeal to +reason the statements in old legends and in Homer, arguing from analogy +or from historical survivals in his own time to prove that various +important movements were caused or checked by economic influence. He +uses his imagination to prove that the importance of an event cannot be +decided from the extant remains of its place of origin, for if only the +ruins of both Sparta and Athens were left, Sparta would be thought to +be insignificant and Athens would appear twice as powerful as she really +is. Poetical exaggeration is easy and misleading, and ancient history is +difficult to determine by absolute proofs. + + "Men accept statements about their own national past from one + another without testing them." + + "To most men the search for truth implies no effort; they prefer to + turn to the first accounts available." + + "It was difficult for me to write an exact narrative of the speeches + actually made; I have therefore given the words that might have been + expected of each speaker, adhering to the broad meaning of what was + really uttered. The facts I have not taken from any chance person, + nor have I given my own impressions, but have as accurately as + possible written a detailed account of what I witnessed myself or + heard from others. The discovery of these facts was laborious owing + to conflicting statements and confused memories and party favour. + Perhaps the unromantic nature of my record will make it uninteresting; + but if any person will judge it useful because he desires to consider + a clear account of actual facts and of what is likely to recur at some + future time, I shall be content. As a compilation it is rather an + eternal possession than a prize-essay for a moment." + +The essentially modern idea of history writing is here perfectly +evident. + +Having pointed out the significance of the war, not only to Greece but +to the whole of the world, he gives its causes. To him the real root of +the trouble was Sparta's fear of Athenian power: the alleged pretexts +were different. The rise of Athens is rapidly described, her building of +the walls broken down by the Persians, her control of the island-states +in a Delian league which eventually became the nucleus of her Empire, +her alliance with Megara, a buffer-state between herself and Corinth. +This last saved her from fears of a land invasion; when she built for +Megara long walls to the sea she incurred the intense anger of Corinth +which smouldered for years and at last caused the Peloponnesian +conflagration. The reduction of Aegina in 451 compensated for the loss +of Boeotia and Egypt. Eventually the Thirty Years' Peace was concluded +in 445; Athens gave up Megara, but retained Euboea; her definite policy +for the future was concentration on a maritime empire; she controlled +nearly all the islands of the Aegean and was mistress of the Saronic +gulf, Aegina, "the eyesore of the Peiraeus", having fallen. + +But if she was to confine her energies to the sea, it was essential that +she should be mistress of all the trade-routes which in ancient history +usually ran along the coast. On both east and west she found Corinth in +possession; a couple of quarrels with this city ruptured the peace. +In the west, Corinth had founded Corcyra (Corfu); this daughter colony +quarrelled with her mother and prevailed. In itself Corcyra was of +little importance in purely Greek politics, but it happened to possess a +large navy and commanded the trade-route to Sicily, whence came the +corn supply. When threatened with vengeance by Corinth, she appealed to +Athens, where ambassadors from Corinth also appeared. Their arguments +are stated in the speeches which are so characteristic of Thucydides. +The Athenians after careful consideration decided to conclude a +defensive alliance with Corcyra, for they dreaded the acquisition of +her navy by Corinth. But circumstances turned this into an offensive +alliance, for Corinth attacked and would have won a complete victory at +sea but for timely Athenian succour. In the east Athens was even more +vitally concerned in trade with the Hellespont, through which her own +corn passed. On this route was the powerful Corinthian city Potidaea, +situate on the western prong of Chalcidice. It had joined the Athenian +confederacy but had secured independence by building strong walls. When +the Athenians demanded their destruction and hostages as a guarantee, +the town revolted and appealed to the mother-city Corinth. A long +and costly siege drained Athens of much revenue and distracted her +attention; but worst of all was the final estrangement of the great +trade rival whom she had thwarted in Greece itself by occupying Megara, +in the west by joining Corcyra, and in the east by attacking Potidsea. + +The final and open pretext for war was the exclusion of Megara from +all Athenian markets; this step meant the extinction of the town as a +trading-centre and was a definite set-back to the economic development +of the Peloponnese, of which Corinth and Megara were the natural avenues +to northern Greece. The cup was full; Athenian ambition had run its +course. The aggrieved states of the Peloponnese were invited to put +their case at Sparta; Corinth drew a famous picture of the Athenian +character, its restlessness, energy, adaptability and inventiveness. "In +the face of such a rival," they added, + + "Sparta hesitates; in comparison Spartan methods are antiquated, + but modern principles cannot help prevailing; in a stagnant state + conservative institutions are the best, but when men are faced with + various difficulties great ingenuity is essential; for that reason + Athens through her wide experience has made more innovations." + +An Athenian reply failed to convince the allies of her innocence; one +of the Spartan Ephors forced the congress to declare that Athens +had violated the peace. A second assembly was summoned, at which the +Corinthians in an estimate of the Athenian power gave reasons for +believing it would eventually be reduced. They further appealed to what +has never yet failed to decide in favour of war--race antagonism; the +Athenians and her subjects were Ionians, whereas the Peloponnesians were +mainly Dorians. The necessary vote for opening hostilities was secured; +but first an ultimatum was presented. If Athens desired peace she +must rescind the exclusion acts aimed at Megara. At the debate in the +Athenian assembly Pericles, the virtual ruler, gave his reason for +believing Athens would win; he urged a demand for the withdrawal +of Spartan Alien Acts aimed at Athens and her allies and offered +arbitration on the alleged grievances. + +It is well to repeat the causes of this war: trade rivalry, naval +competition, race animosity and desire for predominance. Till these are +removed it is useless to expect permanent peace in spite of Leagues +or Tribunals or Arbitration Courts. Further, it should be noted that +Thucydides takes the utmost care to point out the excellent reasons +the most enlightened statesmen had for arriving at contradictory +conclusions; the event proved them all wrong without exception. The +future had in store at least two events which no human foresight could +discover, and these proved the deciding factors in the conflict. + +The war began in 431 by a Theban attack on Plataea, the little town just +over the Attic frontier which had been allied with Athens for nearly a +century and protected her against invasion from the north. This city had +long been hated by Thebes as a deserter from her own league; it alone of +Boeotian towns had not joined the Persians. Burning with the desire to +capture it, a body of Thebans entered the place by night, seizing the +chief positions. But in the morning their scanty numbers were apparent; +recovering from panic the Plataeans overwhelmed the invaders and +massacred them. This open violation of the treaty kindled the +war-spirit. Both sides armed, Sparta being more popular as pretending +to free Greece from a tyrant. Their last ambassador on leaving Athenian +territory said: "This day will be the beginning of mighty woes for +Greece". + +The Spartans invaded Attica, cutting down the fruit trees and forcing +the country folk into the city; the Athenians replied by ravaging parts +of Peloponnese and Megara. The funeral of the first Athenian victims of +the war was the occasion of a remarkable speech. Pericles in delivering +it expounds the Athenian ideal of life. + + "We do not compete with other constitutions, we are rather a pattern + for the rest. In our democracy all are equal before the law; each man + is promoted to public office not by favour but by merit, according as + he can do the State some service. We love beauty in its simplicity, we + love knowledge without losing manliness. Our citizens can administer + affairs both private and public; our working classes have an adequate + knowledge of politics. To us the most fatal error is the lack of + theoretical instruction before we attempt any duty. In a word, I say + that Athens is an education for all Greece; individually we can prove + ourselves competent to face the most varied forms of human activity + with the maximum of grace and adaptability.... We have forced the + whole sea and every land to open to our enterprise. Look daily at the + material power of the city and love her passionately. Her glory was + won by men who did their duty and sacrificed themselves for her. The + whole world is the sepulchre of famous men; their memory is not only + inscribed on pillars in their own country, it lives unwritten in the + hearts of men in alien lands." + +At the beginning of the next year a calamity which no statesman could +have foreseen overtook Athens. A mysterious plague of the greatest +malignity scourged the city, the mortality being multiplied among the +crowds of refugees. The city's strength was seriously impaired, public +and private morality were undermined, inasmuch as none knew how long he +had to live. Discouraged by it and by the invasions the Athenians sent +a fruitless embassy to Sparta and tinned in fury on Pericles. He made +a splendid defence of his policy and gave them heart to continue the +struggle; he pointed out that it was better to lose their property and +save the State than save their property and lose the State; their +fleet opened to them the world of waters over which they could range as +absolute masters. Soon afterwards he died, surviving the opening of the +war only two years and a half; his character and abilities received due +acknowledgment from Thucydides. + +At this point Sparta decided to destroy Plataea, the Athenian outpost +in Boeotia. A very brilliant description of the siege and +counter-operations reveals very clearly the Spartan inability to attack +walled towns and explains their objection to fortified friends. Leaving +the town guarded they retired for a time, to complete the work later. +The war began to spread beyond the Peloponnese to the north of the +Corinthian gulf, the control of which was important to both sides. The +Acarnanians were attacked by Sparta and appealed to the Athenian +admiral Phormio. Two naval actions in the gulf revealed the astonishing +superiority of the Athenian navy on the high seas. Threatened in her +corn supply in the west, Sparta began to intrigue with the outlying +kingdoms on the north-east, the "Thraceward parts" on the trade-route +being the objective. + +A spirit of revolt against Athenian rule appeared in Lesbos, which +seceded in 428. The chief town in this non-Ionic island was Mytilene, +which sent ambassadors to Sparta. Their speech clearly explains how the +Athenians were able to keep their hold on their policy; her policy +(like that of Rome) was to divide the allies by carefully grading their +privileges, playing off the weak against the stronger. The Spartans +proved unable to help and the Athenians easily blockaded the city, +capturing it early in 427. In their anger they at first decided to slay +all the inhabitants, but a better feeling led to a reconsideration next +day. In the Assembly two great speeches were delivered. Pericles had +been succeeded by Cleon, to whom Thucydides seems to have been a little +unjust. He opened his speech with the famous remark that a democracy +cannot govern an Empire; it is liable to sudden fits of passion which +make a consistent policy impossible. He himself never changed his plans, +but his audience were different. + + "You are all eyes for speeches, all ears for deeds; you judge of + the possibility of a project from good speeches; accomplished facts + you believe not because you see them but because you hear them from + smart critics. You are easily duped by some novel plan, but you + refuse to adhere to what has been proved sound. You are slaves to + every new oddity and have nothing but contempt for what is familiar. + Every one of you would like to be a good speaker, failing that, to + rival your orators in cleverness. You are as quick to guess what is + coming in a speech as you are slow at foreseeing its consequences. + In a word, you live in some non-real world." + +He pleaded for the rigorous application of the extreme penalty already +voted. + +He was opposed by Diodotus, who appealed to the same principle as Cleon +did expediency. + + "No penalty will deter men, not even the death penalty. Men have + run through the whole catalogue of deterrents in the hope of + securing themselves against outrage, yet offences still are common. + Human nature is driven by some uncontrollable master passion which + tempts it to danger. Hope and Desire are everywhere and are most + mischievous, for they are invisible. Fortune too is as powerful a + means of exciting men. At tunes she stands unexpectedly at their + side and leads them to take risks with too slender resources. Most + of all she tempts cities, for they are contending for the greatest + prizes, liberty or domination. It is absolutely childish then to + imagine that when human nature is bent on performing a thing it will + be deterred by law or any other force. If revolting cities are quite + sure that no mercy will be shown, they will fight to the last, + bequeathing the victors only smoking ruins. It would be more expedient + to be merciful and thus save the expenses of a long siege." + +This saner view prevailed. The doctrine of a "ruling passion" is +a remarkable contribution to Greek political thought, the abstract +personifications reading like the work of a poet or philosopher. An +exciting race against time is most graphically described. After great +exertions the ship bearing the reprieve arrived just in time to save +Mytilene. This act of mercy stands in sinister contrast with the +treatment the unhappy Plataeans received from the liberators of Greece. +The citizens were captured, Athens having strangely abandoned them in +spite of her promise to help. They were allowed to commemorate their +services to Greece, appealing in a most moving speech to the sacred +ground of their city, the scene of the immortal battle. All was in vain. +The Thebans accused them of flat treachery to Boeotia, securing their +condemnation. Corcyra similarly proved unprofitable; it was afflicted +by fratricidal dissensions which coloured one of Thucydides' darkest +pictures. As the war went on it became clearer that it was a struggle +between two rival political creeds, democracy and oligarchy. To the +partisans all other ties were of little value, whether of blood or race +or religion; only frenzied boldness and unquestioning obedience to a +party organisation were of any consequence. This wretched spirit of feud +was destined in the long run to spell the doom of the Greek cities. In +427 the first mention was made of the will-of-the-wisp which in time led +Athens to her ruin. In her anxiety to intercept the Peloponnesian corn +she supported Leontini against Syracuse, the leading Sicilian state. In +Acarnania the capable general Demosthenes after a series of movements +not quite fruitless succeeded in bringing peace to the jarring mountain +tribes. + +In 425 a most important event took place. As an Athenian squadron +was proceeding to Sicily it was forced to put in at Pylos, where many +centuries later Greece won a famous victory over the Turks. Demosthenes, +though he had no official command, persuaded his comrades to fortify the +place as a base from which to harry Spartan territory. It was situated +in the country which had once belonged to the Messenians who for +generations had been held down by the Spartan oligarchs. Deserters soon +began to stream in; the gravity of the situation was recognised by +the Spartan government who landed more than four hundred of their best +troops on the island of Sphacteria at the entrance to the bay. These +were speedily isolated by the Athenian navy; and news of the event +filled all Greece with excitement. A heated discussion took place at +Athens, where Cleon accused Nicias, the commander-in-chief, of slackness +in not capturing the blockaded force. Spartan overtures for a peace on +condition of the return of the isolated men proved vain; after a lively +altercation with Nicias Cleon made a promise to capture the Spartans +within thirty days, a feat which he accomplished with the aid of +Demosthenes. Nearly three hundred were found to prefer surrender to +death; these were conveyed to Athens and were an invaluable asset for +bargaining a future peace. + +A further success was the capture of Nisaea, the port of Megara, in +424, but an attempt to propagate democracy in Boeotia ended in a severe +defeat at Delium; the fate of Plataea was a bad advertisement in an +oligarchically governed district. Worse was to follow. Brasidas, a +Spartan who had greatly distinguished himself at Pylos, passed through +Thessaly with a volunteer force, reaching Thrace and capturing some +important towns; the loss of one of these, Eion, caused the exile of the +historian, who was too late to save it. In 423 a truce for one year +was arranged between the combatants, but Brasidas ignored it, sowing +disaffection among the Athenian allies. His personal charm gave them a +good impression of the Spartan character and his offer of liberty +was too attractive to be resisted. His success was partly due to a +deliberate misrepresentation of the Athenian power which proved greater +than it seemed to be. The two real obstacles to peace were Brasidas +and Cleon; at Amphipolis they met in battle; a rash movement gave the +Spartan an opportunity for an attack. He fell in action, but the town +was saved. Cleon was killed in the same battle and the path to peace +was clear. The truce for one year developed into a regular settlement in +421, Nicias being responsible for its negotiation in Athens. The chief +clause provided that Athens should recover Amphipolis in exchange for +the Spartan captives. + +The members of the Peloponnesian league considered themselves betrayed +by this treaty, for their hated rival Athens had not been humbled. +Corinth was the ringleader in raising disaffection. She determined to +create a new league, including Argos, the inveterate foe of Sparta. This +state had stood aloof from the war, nursing her strength and biding +her time for revenge. When Sparta failed to restore Amphipolis, the war +party at Athens, led by Alcibiades, formed an alliance with Argos to +reduce Sparta; but this policy alienated Corinth, who refused to act +with her trade rival. An Argive attack on Arcadia ended in the fierce +battle of Mantinea in 418, in which Sparta won a complete victory. Argos +was forced to come to terms, the new league was dissolved and Athens was +once more confronted by her combined enemies, her diplomacy a failure +and her trump-card, the Sphacterian prisoners, lost. + +Next year she was guilty of an act of sheer outrage. Her fleet +descended on the island of Melos, which had remained neutral, though its +inhabitants were colonists from the Spartan mainland close by. Nowhere +does the dramatic nature of Thucydides' work stand more clearly revealed +than in his account of this incident. He represents the Athenian and +Melian leaders as arguing the merits of the case in a regular dialogue, +essentially a dramatic device. The Athenian doctrine of Might and +Expediency is unblushingly preached and acted upon, in spite of Melian +protests; the island was captured, its population being slain or +enslaved. Such an act is a fitting prelude to the great disaster which +forms the next act of Thucydides' drama. + +In 416 Athens proceeded to develop her design of subjugating Sicily. +Segesta was at feud with Selinus; as the latter city applied to Syracuse +for aid, the former bethought her of her ancient alliance with Athens. +Next year the Sicilian ambassadors arrived with tales of unlimited +wealth to finance an expedition. Nicias, the leader of the peace +party, vainly counselled the Assembly to refrain; he was overborne by +Alcibiades, whose ambition it was to reduce not only Sicily but Carthage +also. When the expedition was about to sail most of the statues of +Hermes in the city were desecrated in one night. Alcibiades, appointed +to the command with Nicias and Lamachus, was suspected of the outrage, +but was allowed to sail. The fleet left the city with all the pomp and +ceremony of prayer and ritual, after which it showed its high spirits in +racing as far as Aegina. + +In Sicily itself Hermocrates, the great Syracusan patriot, repeatedly +warned his countrymen of the coming storm, advising them to sink all +feuds in resistance to the common enemy. He was opposed by Athenagoras, +a democrat who, true to his principles, suspected the story as part of +a militarist plot to overthrow the constitution. His speech is the most +violent in Thucydides, but contains a passage of much value. + + "The name of the whole is People, that of a part is Oligarchy; + the rich are the best guardians of wealth, the educated class can + make the wisest decisions, the majority are the best judges of + speeches. All these classes in a democracy have equal power both + individually and collectively. But oligarchy shares the dangers + with the many, while it does not merely usurp the material benefits, + rather it appropriates and keeps them all." + +The Athenians received a cold welcome wherever they went. At Catana they +found their state vessel waiting to convey Alcibiades home to stand his +trial; he effected his escape on the homeward voyage, crossing to the +Peloponnese. The great armament instead of thrusting at Syracuse +wasted its time and efficiency on side-issues, mainly owing to the cold +leadership of Nicias. This valuable respite was used to the full by +Hermocrates, who at a congress held at Camarina was insistent on the +racial character of the struggle between themselves who were Dorians and +the Ionians from Athens. This national antipathy contributed greatly to +the final decision of the conflict. + +Passing to Sparta, Alcibiades deliberately betrayed his country. His +speech is of the utmost importance. + +His view of democracy is contemptuous. "Nothing new can be said of what +is an admitted folly." He then outlined the Athenian ambition; it was +to subdue Carthage and Sicily, bring over hosts of warlike barbarians, +surround and reduce the Peloponnese and then rule the whole +Greek-speaking world. He advised his hearers to aid Sicilian incapacity +by sending a Spartan commander; above all, he counselled the occupation +of Deceleia, a town in Attica just short of the border, through which +the corn supply was conveyed to the capital; this would lead to the +capture of the silver-mines at Laureium and to the decrease of the +Athenian revenues. He concluded with an attempt to justify his own +treachery, remarking that when a man was exiled, he must use all means +to secure a return. + +The Spartans had for some time been anxious to open hostilities; an act +of Athenian aggression gave them an opportunity. Meanwhile in Sicily +Lamachus had perished in attacking a Syracusan cross-wall. Left in +sole command, Nicias remained inactive, while Gylippus, despatched +from Sparta, arrived in Syracuse just in time to prevent it from +capitulating. The seventh book is the record of continued Athenian +disasters. Little by little Gylippus developed the Syracusan resources. +First he made it impossible for the Athenians to circumvallate the city; +then he captured the naval stores of the enemy, forcing them to encamp +in unhealthy ground. Nicias had begged the home government to relieve +him of command owing to illness. Believing in the lucky star of the man +who had taken Nissea they retained him, sending out a second great +fleet under Demosthenes. The latter at once saw the key to the whole +situation. The Syracusan cross-wall which Nicias had failed to render +impassable must be captured at all costs. A night attack nearly +succeeded, but ended in total defeat. Demosthenes immediately advised +retreat; but Nicias obstinately refused to leave. In the meantime the +Syracusans closed the mouth of their harbour with a strong boom, penning +up the Athenian fleet. The famous story of the attempt to destroy it +calls out all the author's powers of description. He draws attention +to the narrow space in which the action was fought. As long as the +Athenians could operate in open water they were invincible; but the +Syracusans not only forced them to fight in a confined harbour, they +strengthened the prows of their vessels, enabling them to smash the +thinner Athenian craft in a direct charge. The whole Athenian army +went down to the edge of the water to watch the engagement which was to +settle their fate. Their excitement was pitiable, for they swayed to and +fro in mental agony, calling to their friends to break the boom and save +them. After a brave struggle, the invaders were routed and driven to the +land by the victorious Syracusans. + +Retreat by land was the only escape. A strategem planned by Hermocrates +and Nicias' superstitious terrors delayed the departure long enough to +enable the Syracusans to secure the passes in the interior. When the +army moved away the scene was one of shame and agony; the sick vainly +pleaded with their comrades to save them; the whole force contrasted the +proud hopes of their coming with their humiliating end and refused to +be comforted by Nicias, whose courage shone brightest in this hour +of defeat. Demosthenes' force was isolated and was quickly captured; +Nicias' men with great difficulty reached the River Assinarus, parched +with thirst. Forgetting all about their foes, they rushed to the water +and fought among themselves for it though it ran red with their own +blood. At last the army capitulated and was carried back to Syracuse. +Thrown into the public quarries, the poor wretches remained there for +ten weeks, scorched by day, frost-bitten by night. The survivors were +sold into slavery. + + "This was the greatest achievement in the war and, I think, in + Greek history the most creditable to the victors, the most + lamentable to the vanquished. In every way they were utterly + defeated; their sufferings were mighty; they were destroyed + hopelessly; ships, men, everything perished, few only returning + from the great host." + +So ends the most heartrending story in Greek history, told with absolute +fidelity by a son of Athens and a former general of her army. + +The last book is remarkable for the absence of speeches; it is a +record of the continued intrigues which followed the Sicilian disaster. +Upheavals in Asia Minor brought into the swirl of plots Tissaphernes, +the Persian satrap, anxious to recover control of Ionia hitherto +saved by Athenian power. In 412 the Athenian subjects began to revolt, +seventeen defections being recorded in all. At Samos a most important +movement began; the democrats rose against their nobles, being +guaranteed independence by Athens. Soon they made overtures to +Alcibiades who was acting with the Spartan fleet; he promised to detach +Tissaphernes from Sparta if Samos eschewed democracy, a creed odious to +the Persian monarchy. The Samians sent a delegation to Athens headed by +Pisander, who boldly proposed Alcibiades' return, the dissolution of the +democracy in Samos and alliance with Tissaphernes. These proposals were +rejected, but the democracy at Athens was not destined to last much +longer, power being usurped by the famous Four Hundred in 411. The +Samian democracy eventually appointed Alcibiades general, while in +Athens the extremists were anxious to come to terms with Sparta. This +movement split the Four Hundred, the constitution being changed to +that of the Five Thousand, a blend of democracy and oligarchy which won +Thucydides' admiration; the history concludes with the victory of the +Athenians in the naval action at Cynossema in 410. + +The defects of Thucydides are evident; his style is harsh, obscure and +crabbed; it is sometimes said that he seems wiser than he really is +mainly because his language is difficult; that if his thoughts were +translated into easier prose our impressions of his greatness would be +much modified. Yet it is to be remembered that he, like Lucretius, had +to create his own vocabulary. It is a remarkable fact that prose +has been far more difficult to invent than poetry, for precision is +essential to it as the language of reasoning rather than of feeling. +Instead of finding fault with a medium which was necessarily imperfect +because it was an innovation we should be thankful for what it has +actually accomplished. It is not always obscure; at times, when "the +lion laughed" as an old commentator says, he is almost unmatched in pure +narrative, notably in his rapid summary of the Athenian rise to power in +the first book and in the immortal Syracusan tragedy of the seventh. + +His merits are many and great; his conciseness, repression of personal +feeling, love of accuracy, careful research, unwillingness to praise +overmuch and his total absence of preconceived opinion testify to +an honesty of outlook rare in classical historians. Because he feels +certain of his detachment of view, he quite confidently undertakes what +few would have faced, the writing of contemporary history. Nowadays +historians do not trust themselves; we may expect a faithful account +of our Great War some fifty years hence, if ever. Not so Thucydides; +he claims that his work will be a treasure for all time; had any other +written these words we should have dismissed them as an idle boast. + +For he is the first man to respect history. It was not a plaything; +it was worthy of being elevated to the rank of a science. As such, its +events must have some deep causes behind them, worth discovering not +only in themselves as keys to one particular period, but as possible +explanations of similar events in distant ages. Accordingly, he deemed +it necessary to study first of all our human nature, its varied motives, +mostly of questionable morality, next he studied international ethics, +based frankly on expediency. The results of these researches he has +embodied (with one or two exceptions) in his famous speeches. +He surveyed the ground on which battles were fought; he examined +inscriptions, copying them with scrupulous care; he criticised ancient +history and contemporary versions of famous events, many of which he +found to be untrue. Further, his anxiety to discover the real sources +of certain policies made it necessary for him to write an account of +seemingly purposeless action in wilder or even barbarous regions such as +Arcadia, Ambracia, Macedonia; in consequence his work embraces the whole +of the Greek world, as he said it would in his famous preface. + +As an artist, he is not without his merits. The dramatic nature of +his plan has been frequently pointed out; to him the main plot is the +destruction not of Athens, but of the Periclean democracy, the overthrow +thereof being due to a conflict with another like it; hence the marked +change in the last book, in which the main dramatic interest has waned. +This dramatic form has, however, defeated its own objects sometimes, for +all the Thucydidean fishes talk like Thucydidean whales. + +To us he is indispensable. We are a maritime power, ruling a maritime +empire, our potential enemies being military nations. He has warned us +that democracy cannot govern an empire. Perhaps our type of this creed +is not so full of the lust for domination and aggrandisement as was that +of Athens; it may be suspected that we are virtuous mainly because we +have all we need and are not likely to be tempted overmuch. But there is +the other and more subtle danger. The enemies within the state betrayed +Deceleia which safeguarded the food-supply. We have many Deceleias, +situate along the great trade-routes and needing protection. Once these +are betrayed we shall not hold out as Athens did for nearly ten years; +ten weeks at the outside ought to see our people starving and beaten, +fit for nothing but the payment of indemnities to the power which +relieves us of our inheritance. + + +TRANSLATIONS:-- + +The earliest is by Hobbes, the best is by Jowett, Oxford. Though +somewhat free, it renders with vigour the ideas of the original text. + +The Loeb Series has a version by Smith. + +_Thucydides Mythistoricus,_ Cornford (Arnold), is an adverse criticism +of the historian; it points out the inaccuracies which may be detected +in his work. + +_Clio Enthroned_ by W. R. M. Lamb, Cambridge, should be read in +conjunction with the above. The author adopts the traditional estimate +of Thucydides. + +See also Bury, _Ancient Greek Historians_, as above. + + + + +PLATO + + +Shortly after the outbreak of the Peloponnesian war Plato was born, +probably in 427. During the eighty years of his life he travelled +to Sicily at least twice, founded the Academy at Athens and saw the +beginning of the end of the Greek freedom. He represents the reflective +spirit in a nation which seems to appear when its development is well +advanced. After the madness of a long war the Athenians, stripped of +their Empire for a time, sought a new outlet for their restless energies +and started to conquer a more permanent kingdom, that of scientific +speculation about the highest faculties of the human mind. + +The death of Socrates in 399 disgusted Plato; democracy apparently was +as intolerant as any other form of political creed. His writings are in +a sense a vindication of the honesty of his master, although the +picture he draws of him is not so true to life as that of Xenophon. The +dialogues fall into two well-marked classes; in the earlier the method +and inspiration is definitely Socratic, but in the later Socrates is a +mere peg on which Plato hung his own system. In itself the dialogue +form was no new thing; Plato adopted it and made it a thing of life and +dramatic power, his style being the most finished example of exalted +prose in Greek literature. The order in which the dialogues were written +is a thorny problem; there is good reason for believing that Plato +constantly revised some of them, removing the inconsistencies which +were inevitable while he was feeling his way to the final form which his +speculations assumed. It is perhaps best to give an outline of a series +which exhibits some regular order of thought. + +It is sometimes thought that Philosophy has no direct bearing on +practical questions. A review of the _Crito_ may dispel this illusion. +In it Socrates refuses to be tempted by his young friend Crito who +offers to secure his escape from prison and provide him a home among his +own friends. The question is whether one ought to follow the opinions of +the majority on matters of justice or injustice, or those of the one +man who has expert knowledge, and of Truth. The laws of Athens have put +Socrates in prison; they would say; + + "by this act you intend to perpetrate your purpose to destroy us + and the city as far as one man can do so. Can any city survive and + not be overturned in which legal decisions have no force, but are + rendered null by private persons and destroyed?" + +Socrates had by his long residence of seventy years declared his +satisfaction with the Athenian legal system. The laws had enabled him +to live in security; more, he could have taken advantage of legal +protection in his trial, and if he had been dissatisfied could have +gone away to some other city. What sort of a figure would he make if he +escaped? Wherever he went he would be considered a destroyer of law; his +practice would belie his creed; finally, the Laws say, + + "if you wish to live in disgrace, after going back on your contract + and agreement with us, we will be angry with you while you are alive + and in death our Brother Laws will give you a cold welcome; they + will know that you have done your best to destroy our authority." + +Sound and concrete teaching like this is always necessary, but is +hardly likely to be popular. The doctrine of disobedience is everywhere +preached in a democracy; violation of contracts is a normal practice and +law-breakers have been known to be publicly feasted by the very members +of our legislative body. + +A different lesson is found in the _Euthyphro_. After wishing Socrates +success in his coming trial, Euthyphro informs him that he is going to +prosecute his father for manslaughter, assuring him that it would be +piety to do so. Socrates asks for a definition of piety. Euthyphro +attempts five--"to act as Zeus did to his father"; "what the gods love"; +"what all the gods love"; "a part of righteousness, relating to the care +of the gods"; "the saying and doing of what the gods approve in prayer +and sacrifice". Each of these proves inadequate; Euthyphro complains of +the disconcerting Socratic method as follows: + + "Well, I do not know how to express my thoughts. Every one of + our suggestions always seem to have legs, refusing to stand still + where we may fix it down. Nor have I put into them this spirit of + moving and shifting, but you, a second Daedalus." + +It is noticeable that no definite result comes from this dialogue; +Plato was within his rights in refusing to answer the main question. +Philosophy does not pretend to settle every inquiry; her business is +to see that a question is raised. Even when an answer is available, +she cannot always give it, for she demands an utter abandonment of all +prepossessions in those to whom she talks--otherwise there will be no +free passage for her teaching. Though refuted, Euthyphro still retained +his first opinions, for his first and last definitions are similar in +idea. To such a person argument is mere waste of time. + +An admirable illustration of Plato's lightness of touch is found in the +_Laches_. The dialogue begins with a discussion about the education of +the young sons of Lysimachus and Melesias. Soon the question is raised +"What is courage?" Nicias warns Laches about Socrates; the latter has +a trick of making men review their lives; his practice is good, for it +teaches men their faults in time; old age does not always bring wisdom +automatically. Laches first defines courage as the faculty which makes +men keep the ranks in war; when this proves inadequate, he defines it as +a stoutness of spirit. Nicias is called in; he defines it as "knowledge +of terrors and confidence in war"; he is soon compelled to add "and +knowledge of all good and evil in every form"--in a word, courage is all +virtue combined. The dialogue concludes that it is not young boys but +grown men of all ages who need a careful education. This spirited little +piece is full of dramatic vigour--the remarks of Laches and Nicias about +each other as they are repeatedly confuted are most human and diverting. + +Literary criticism is the subject of the _Ion_. Coming from Ephesus, +Ion claimed to be the best professional reciter of Homer in all Greece. +Acknowledging that Homer made him all fire, while other poets left +him cold, he is made to admit that his knowledge of poetry is not +scientific; otherwise he would have been able to discuss all poetry, for +it is one. Socrates then makes the famous comparison between a poet and +a magnet; both attract an endless chain, and both contain some divine +power which masters them. Ecstasy, enthusiasm, madness are the best +descriptions of poetic power. Even as a professional reciter Ion admits +the necessity of the power of working on men. + + "When I am on the platform I look on my audience weeping and + looking warlike and dazed at my words. I must pay attention to + them; if I let them sit down weeping, I myself shall laugh when + I receive my fee, but if they laugh I myself shall weep when I get + nothing." + +Homer is the subject of the _Hippias Minor_. At Olympia Hippias once +said that every single thing that he was wearing was his own handiwork. +He was a most inventive person--one of his triumphs being an art of +memory. In this dialogue he prefers the Iliad to the Odyssey because +Achilles was called "excellent" and Odysseus "versatile". Socrates soon +proves to him that Achilles was false too, as he did not always keep his +word. He reminds Hippias that he never wastes time over the brainless, +though he listens carefully to every man. In fact, his cross-examination +is a compliment. He never thinks the knowledge he gains is his own +discovery, but is grateful to any who can teach him. He believes that +unwitting deceivers are more culpable than deliberate tricksters. +Hippias finds it impossible to agree with him, whereupon Socrates says +that things are for ever baffling him by their changeability; it is +pardonable that unlearned men like himself should err; when really wise +people like Hippias wander in thought, it is monstrous that they are +unable to settle the doubts of all who appeal to them. + +_Channides_, the young boy after whom the dialogue was named, was the +cousin and ward of Critias, the infamous leader of the Thirty Tyrants. +On being introduced to him Socrates starts the discussion "What is +self-control?" The lad makes three attempts to answer; seeing his +confusion, Critias steps in, "angry with the boy, like a poet angry with +an actor who has murdered his poems". But he is not more successful; his +three definitions are proved wanting. + + "Like men who, seeing others yawn, themselves yawn, he too was in + perplexity. But because he had a great reputation, he was put to + shame before the audience and refused to admit his inability to + define the word." + +The dialogue gives no definite answer to the discussion. It is a vivid +piece of writing; the contrast between the young lad and the elder +cousin whose pet phrases he copies is very striking. + +In the _Lysis_ the characters and the conclusion are similar. Lysis is +a young lad admired by Hippothales. The first portion of the dialogue +consists of a conversation between Lysis and Socrates; the latter +recommends the admirer to avoid foolish converse. On the entry of Lysis' +friend Menexenus, Socrates starts the question "What is friendship?" +It appears that friendship cannot exist between two good or two evil +persons, but only between a good man and one who is neither good nor +bad, exactly as the philosopher is neither wise nor ignorant, yet he +loves knowledge. Still this is not satisfactory; up conclusion being +reached, Socrates winds up with a characteristic remark; they think +they are friends, yet cannot say what friendship is. This dialogue was +carefully read by Aristotle before he gave his famous description in the +Ethics: "A friend is a second self". Perhaps Socrates avoided a definite +answer because he did not wish to be too serious with these sunny +children. + +The _Euthydemus_ is an amusing study of the danger which follows upon +the use of keen instruments by the unscrupulous. Euthydemus and his +brother Dionysodorus are two sophists by trade to whom words mean +nothing at all; truth and falsehood are identical, contradiction being +an impossibility. As language is meaningless, Socrates himself is +quickly reduced to impotence, recovering with difficulty. Plato was no +doubt satirising the misuse of the new philosophy which was becoming +so popular with young men. When nothing means anything, laughter is +the only human language left. The _Cratylus_ is a similarly conceived +diversion. Most of it is occupied with fanciful derivations and +linguistic discussions of all kinds. It is difficult to say how far +Plato is serious. Perhaps the feats of Euthydemus in stripping words of +all meaning urged him to some constructive work--for Plato's system is +essentially destructive first, then constructive. At any rate, he +does insist on the necessity for determining a word's meaning by its +derivation, and points out that a language is the possession of a whole +people. + +In the _Protagoras_ Socrates while a young man is represented as meeting +a friend Hippocrates, who was on his way to Protagoras, a sophist from +Abdera who had just arrived at Athens. Socrates shows first that his +friend has no idea of the seriousness of his action in applying for +instruction to a sophist whose definition he is unable to give. + + "If your body had been in a critical condition you would have + asked the advice of your friends and deliberated many days before + choosing your doctor. But about your mind, on which depends your + weal or woe according as it is evil or good, you never asked the + advice of father or friend whether you ought to apply to this + newly-arrived stranger. Hearing last night that he was here, you + go to him to-day, ready to spend your own and your friends' money, + convinced that you ought to become a disciple of a man you neither + know nor have talked with." + +They proceed to the house of Callias, where they find Protagoras +surrounded by strangers from every city who listened spell-bound to his +voice. + +Protagoras readily promises that Hippocrates would be taught his system +which offers "good counsel about his private affairs and power to +transact and discuss political matters". Socrates' belief that politics +cannot be taught provokes one of the long speeches to which Plato +strongly objected because a fundamental fallacy could not be refuted at +the outset, vitiating the whole of the subsequent argument. Protagoras +recounted a myth, proving that shame and justice were given to every +man; these are the basis of politics. Further, cities punish criminals, +implying that men can learn politics, while virtue is taught by parents +and tutors and the State. Socrates asks whether virtue is one or many. +Protagoras replies that there are five main virtues, knowledge, justice, +courage, temperance and piety, all distinct. A long rambling speech +causes Socrates to protest; his method is the short one of question and +answer. By using some very questionable reasoning he proves that all +these five virtues are identical. Accordingly, if virtue is one it can +be taught, not however, by a sophist or the State, but by a philosopher, +for virtue is knowledge. + +This conclusion is thoroughly in harmony with Socrates' system. Yet it +is probably false. Virtue is not mere knowledge, nor vice ignorance. If +they were, they would be intellectual qualities. They are rather moral +attributes; experience soon proves that many enlightened persons are +vicious and many ignorant people virtuous. The value of this dialogue is +its insistence upon the unity of virtue. A good man is not a bundle +of separate excellences; he is a whole. Possessing one virtue he +potentially has them all. + +The _Gorgias_ is a refutation of three distinct and popular notions. +Gorgias of Leontini used to invite young men to ask him questions, none +of whom ever put to him a query absolutely new. It soon appears that he +is quite unable to define Rhetoric, the art by which he lived. Socrates +said it was a minister of persuasion, that it in the long run concerned +itself with mere Opinion, which might be true or false, and could not +claim scientific Knowledge. Further, it implied some morality in its +devotees, for it dealt with what was just or unjust. Polus, a young and +ardent sophist, was compelled to assent to two very famous doctrines, +first that it is worse to do evil than to experience it, second, that +to avoid punishment was the worst thing for an offender. But a more +formidable adversary remained, one Callicles, the most shameless and +unscrupulous figure perhaps in Plato's work. His creed is a flat denial +of all authority, moral or intellectual. It teaches that Law is not +natural, but conventional; that only a slave puts up with a wrong, and +only weak men seek legal protection. Philosophy is fit only for youths, +for philosophers are not men of the world. Natural life is unlimited +self-indulgence and public opinion is the creation of those who are too +poor to give rein to their appetites; the good is pleasure and infinite +self-satisfaction is the ideal. Socrates in reply points out the +difference between the kinds of pleasures, insists on the importance of +Scientific knowledge of everything, and proves that order is requisite +everywhere--its visible effects in the soul being Justice and Wisdom, +not Riot. To prevent injustice some art is needed to make the subject as +like as possible to the ruler; the type of life a man leads is far more +important than length of days. The demagogue who like Callicles has +no credentials makes the people morally worse, especially as they +are unable to distinguish quacks from wise men. Nor need philosophers +trouble much about men's opinions, for a mob always blames the physician +who wishes to save it. A delightful piece of irony follows, in which +Socrates twits Callicles for accusing his pupils of acting with +injustice, the very quality he instils into them. Callicles, though +refuted, advises Socrates to fawn on the city, for he is certain to +be condemned sooner or later; the latter, however, does not fear death +after living righteously. + +Most men have held doctrines similar to those refuted here. There is an +idea abroad that what is "natural" must be intrinsically good, if not +godlike. But it is quite clear that "Nature" is a vague term meaning +little or nothing--it is higher or lower and natural in both forms. +Those who wish to know the lengths of impudence to which belief in the +sacredness of "Nature" can bring human beings might do worse than read +the _Gorgias_. + +Plato's dramatic power and fertility of invention are displayed fully +in the _Symposium_. Agathon had won the tragic prize and invited many +friends to a wine-party. After a slight introduction a proposition was +carried that all should speak in praise of Love. First a youth Phaedrus +describes the antiquity of love and gives instances of the attachments +between the sexes. Pausanias draws the famous distinction between +the Heavenly and the Vulgar Aphrodite; the true test of love is its +permanence. A doctor, Eryximachus, raises the tone of the discussion +still further. To him Love is the foundation of Medicine, Music, +Astronomy and Augury. Aristophanes tells a fable of the sexes in true +comic style, making each of them run about seeking its other half. +Agathon colours his account with a touch of tragic diction. At last +it is Socrates' turn. He tells what he heard from a priestess called +Diotima. Love is the son of Fulness and Want; he is the intermediary +between gods and men, is active, not passive; he is desire for +continuous possession of excellent things and for beautiful creation +which means immortality, for all men desire perpetual fame which can +come only through the science of the Beautiful. In contemplation +and mystical union with the Divine the soul finds its true destiny, +satisfying itself in perfect love. + +At this moment Alcibiades arrives from another feast in a state of high +intoxication. He gives a most marvellous account of Socrates' influence +over him and likens him in a famous passage to an ugly little statue +which when opened is all gold within. At the end of the dialogue one +of the company tells how Socrates compelled Aristophanes and Agathon +to admit that it was one and the same man's business to understand and +write both tragedy and comedy--a doctrine which has been practised only +in modern drama. + +In this dialogue we first seem to catch the voice of Plato himself as +distinct from that of Socrates. The latter was undoubtedly most keenly +interested in the more human process of questioning and refuting, his +object being the workmanlike creation of exact definitions. But Plato +was of a different mould; his was the soaring spirit which felt its +true home to be the supra-sensible world of Divine Beauty, Immortality, +Absolute Truth and Existence. Starting with the fleshly conception of +Love natural to a young man, he leads us step by step towards the great +conclusion that Love is nothing less than an identification of the self +with the thing loved. No man can do his work if he is not interested +in it; he will hate it as his taskmaster. But when an object of pursuit +enthrals him it will intoxicate him, will not leave him at peace till +he joins his very soul with it in union indissoluble. This direct +communication of Mind with the object of worship is Mysticism. It is the +very core of the highest form of religious life; it purifies, ennobles, +and above all it inspires. To the mystic the great prophet is the +Athenian Plato, whose doctrine is that of the Christian "God is love" +converted into "Love is God". It is not entirely fanciful to suggest +that Plato, in saying farewell to the definitely Socratic type of +philosophy, gave his master as his parting gift the greatest of all +tributes, a dialogue which is really the "praise of Socrates". + +The intoxication of Plato's thought is evident in the _Phaedrus_. This +splendid dialogue marks even more clearly the character of the new wine +which was to be poured into the Socratic bottles. Phaedrus and Socrates +recline in a spot of romantic beauty along the bank of the Ilissus. +Phaedrus reads a paradoxical speech supposed to be written by Lysias, +the famous orator, on Love; Socrates replies in a speech quite as +unreal, praising as Lysias did him who does not love. But soon he +recants--his real creed being the opposite. Frenzy is his subject--the +ecstasy of prophecy, mysticism, poetry and the soul. This last is like +a charioteer driving a pair of horses, one white, the other black. It +soars upwards to the region of pure beauty, wisdom and goodness; but +sometimes the white horse, the spirited quality of human nature, +is pulled down by the black, which is sensual desire, so that the +charioteer, Reason, cannot get a full vision of the ideal world beyond +all heavens. Those souls which have partially seen the truth but have +been dragged down by the black steed become, according to the amount +of Beauty they have seen, philosophers, kings, economists, gymnasts, +mystics, poets, journeymen, sophists or tyrants. The vision once seen is +never quite forgotten, for it can be recovered by reminiscence, so that +by exercise each man can recall some of its glories. + +The dialogue then passes to a discussion of good and bad writing and +speaking. The truth is the sole criterion of value, and this can be +obtained only by definition; next there must be orderly arrangement, a +beginning, a middle and an end. In rhetoric it is absolutely essential +for a man to study human nature first; he cannot hope to persuade +an audience if he is unaware of the laws of its psychology; not all +speeches suit all audiences. Further, writing is inferior to speaking, +for the written word is lifeless, the spoken is living and its author +can be interrogated. It follows then that orators are of all men the +most important because of the power they wield; they will be potent for +destruction unless they love the truth and understand human nature; in +short, they must be philosophers. + +The like of this had nowhere been said before. It opened a new world to +human speculation. First, the teaching about oratory is of the highest +value. Plato's quarrel with the sophists was based on their total +ignorance of the enormous power they exercised for evil, because they +knew not what they were doing. They professed to teach men how to speak +well, but had no conception of the science upon which the art of oratory +rests. In short, they were sheer impostors. Even Aristotle had nothing +to add to this doctrine in his treatise on _Rhetoric_, which contains +a study of the effects which certain oratorical devices could be +prophesied to produce, and provides the requisite scientific foundation. +Again, the indifference to or the ridicule of truth shown by some +sophists made them odious to Plato. He would have none of their +doctrines of relativity or flux. Nothing short of the Absolute would +satisfy his soaring spirit. He was sick of the change in phenomena, the +tangible and material objects of sense. He found permanence in a world +of eternal ideas. These ideas are the essence of Platonism. They are his +term for universal concepts, classes; there are single tangible trees +innumerable, but one Ideal Tree only in the Ideal world beyond the +heavens. Nothing can possibly satisfy the soul but these unchanging +and permanent concepts; it is among them that it finds its true home. +Lastly, the tripartite division of the nature of the soul here first +indicated is a permanent contribution to philosophy. Thus Plato's system +is definitely launched in the _Phaedrus_. His subsequent dialogues show +how he fitted out the hulk to sail on his voyages of discovery. + +The _Meno_ is a rediscussion on Platonic principles of the problem of +the _Protagoras_: can virtue be taught? Meno, a general in the army of +the famous Ten Thousand, attempts a definition of virtue itself, the +principle that underlies specific kinds of virtues such as justice. +After a cross-examination he confesses his helplessness in a famous +simile: Socrates is like the torpedo-fish which benumbs all who touch +it. Then the real business begins. How do we learn anything at all? +Socrates says by Reminiscence, for the soul lived once in the presence +of the ideal world; when it enters the flesh it loses its knowledge, but +gradually regains it. This theory he dramatically illustrates by calling +in a slave whom he proves by means of a diagram to know something of +geometry, though he never learned it. Thus the great lesson of life is +to practise the search for knowledge--and if virtue is knowledge it will +be teachable. + +But the puzzle is, who are the teachers? Not the sophists, a discredited +class, nor the statesmen, who cannot teach their sons to follow +them. Virtue then, not being teachable, is probably not the result of +knowledge, but is imparted to men by a Divine Dispensation, just as +poetry is. But the origin of virtue will always be mysterious till +its nature is discovered beyond doubt. So Plato once more declares +his dissatisfaction with a Socratic tenet which identified virtue with +knowledge. + +The _Phaedo_ describes Socrates' discussion of the immortality of +the soul on his last day on earth. Reminiscence of Ideas proves +pre-existence, as in the _Meno_; the Ideas are similarly used to prove +a continued existence after death, for the soul has in it an immortal +principle which is the exact contrary of mortality; the Idea of Death +cannot exist in a thing whose central Idea is life. Such in brief is +Socrates' proof. To us it is singularly unconvincing, as it looks like +a begging of the whole question. Yet Plato argues in his technical +language as most men do concerning this all-important and difficult +question. That which contains within itself the notion of immortality +would seem to be too noble to have been created merely to die. The very +presence of a desire to realise eternal truth is a strong presumption +that there must be something to correspond with it. The most interesting +portion of this well-known dialogue is that which teaches that life is +really an exercise for death. All the base and low desires which haunt +us should be gradually eliminated and replaced by a longing for better +things. The true philosopher at any rate so trains himself that when his +hour comes he greets death with a smile, the life on earth having lost +its attractions. + +Such is the connection between the _Meno_ and the _Phaedo_; the life +that was before and the life that shall be hereafter depend upon the +Ideal world. That salvation is in this life and in the practical sphere +of human government is possible only through a knowledge of these Ideas +is the doctrine of the immortal _Republic_. This great work in ten books +is well known, but its unique value is not always recognised. It +starts with a discussion of Justice. Thrasymachus, a brazen fellow like +Callicles in the _Gorgias_, argues that Justice is the interest of +the stronger and that law and morality are mere conventions. The +implications of this doctrine are of supreme importance. If Justice +is frank despotism, then the Eastern type of civilisation is the best, +wherein custom has once for all fixed the right of the despot to grind +down the population, while the sole duty of the latter is to pay taxes. +The moral reformation of law becomes impossible; no adjustment of an +unchanging decree to the changing and advancing standard of public +morality can be contemplated; constitutional development, legal +reformation and the great process by which Western peoples have tried +gradually to make positive law correspond with Ethical ideals are mere +dreams. + +But the verbal refutation of Thrasymachus does not satisfy Glaucus and +Adeimantus who are among Socrates' audience. In order to explain the +real nature of Justice, Socrates is compelled to trace from the very +beginning the process by which states have come into existence. Economic +and military needs are thoroughly discussed. The State cannot continue +unless there is created in it a class whose sole business it is to +govern. This class is to be produced by communistic methods; the best +men and women are to be tested and chosen as parents, their children +being taken and carefully trained apart for their high office. This +training will be administered to the three component parts of the soul, +the rational, the spirited and the appetitive, while the educational +curriculum will be divided into two sections, Gymnastic for the body and +Artistic for the mind--the latter including all scientific, mathematical +and literary subjects. After a careful search, in this ideal state +Justice, the principle of harmony which keeps all classes of the +community coherent, will show itself in "doing one's own business". + +Yet even this method of describing Justice is not satisfactory to Plato, +who was not content unless he started from the universal concepts of the +Ideal world. The second portion of the dialogue describes how knowledge +is gained. The mind discards the sensible and material world, advancing +to the Ideas themselves. Yet even these are insufficient, for they all +are interconnected and united to one great and architectonic Idea, that +of the Good; to this the soul must advance before its knowledge can be +called perfect. This is the scheme of education for the Guardians; the +philosophic contemplation of Ideas, however, should be deferred till +they are of mature age, for philosophy is dangerous in young men. Having +performed their warlike functions of defending the State, the Guardians +are to be sifted, those most capable of philosophic speculation being +employed as instructors of the others. Seen from the height of the +Ideal world, Justice again turns out to be the performance of one's own +particular duties. + +This ideal society Plato admits to be a difficult aim for our weak human +nature; he stoutly maintains, however, that "a pattern of it is laid up +in heaven", man's true home. He mournfully grants that a declension +from excellence is often possible and describes how this rule of +philosophers, if established, would be expected to pass through +oligarchy to democracy, the worst form of all government, peopled by the +democratic man whose soul is at war with itself because it claims to do +as it likes. The whole dialogue ends in an admirable vision in which he +teaches that man chose his lot on earth in a preexisting state. + +Such is a fragmentary description of this masterpiece. What is it all +about? First it is necessary to point out a serious misconception. +Plato is not here advocating universal communism; his state postulates a +money-making class and a labouring class also. Apart from the fact that +he explicitly mentions these and allows them private property, it would +be difficult to imagine that they are not rendered necessary by his +very description of Justice. Not all men are fit for government--and +therefore those who are governed must "do their particular business" for +which they are fitted; in some cases it is the rather mean business of +piling up fortunes. Communism is advocated as the only means of creating +first and then propagating the small Guardian caste. Nor again is the +caste rigid, for some of the children born of communistic intercourse +will be unfit for their position and will be degraded into the +money-making or property owning section. Communism to Plato is a high +creed, too high for everybody, fit only for the select and enlightened +or teachable few. + +Nor is the _Republic_ an instance of Utopian theorising. It is a +criticism of contemporary Greek civilisation, intended to remove the +greatest practical difficulty in life. Man has tried all kinds of +governments and found none satisfactory. All have proved selfish and +faithless, governing for their own interests only. Kings, oligarchs, +democrats and mob-leaders have without exception regarded power as +the object to be attained because of the spoils of office. Political +leadership is thus a direct means of self-advancement, a temptation too +strong for weak human nature. As a well-known Labour leader hinted, five +thousand a year does not often come in men's way. There is only one way +of securing honest government and that is Plato's. A definite class must +be created who will exercise political power only, economic inclinations +of any sort disqualifying any of its members from taking office. The +ruling class should rule only, the money-making class make money only. +In this way no single section will tax the rest to fill its own pockets. +The one requisite is that these Guardians should be recognised as the +fittest to rule and receive the willing obedience of the rest. If +any other sane plan is available for preserving the governed from the +incessant and rapacious demands of tax-collectors, no record of it +exists in literature. Practical statesmanship of a high and original +order is manifest in the _Republic_; in England, where the official +qualifications for governing are believed to be equally existent +in everybody whether trained or untrained in the art of ruling, +the _Republic_, if read at all, may be admired but is sure to be +misunderstood. + +It seems that Plato's teaching at the Academy raised formidable +criticism. The next group of dialogues is marked by metaphysical +teaching. The _Parmenides_ is a searching examination of the Ideas. +If these are in a world apart, they cannot easily be brought into +connection with our world; a big thing on earth and the Idea of Big will +need another Idea to comprehend both. Besides, Ideas in an independent +existence will be beyond our ken and their study will be impossible. +Socrates' system betrays lack of metaphysical practice; at most the +Ideas should have been regarded as part of a theory whose value should +have been tested by results. This process is exemplified by a discussion +of the fundamental opposition between the One and the infinite Many +which are instances of it. + +This criticism shows the advantage Plato enjoyed in making Socrates the +mouthpiece of his own speculations; he could criticise himself as it +were from without. He has put his finger on his own weak spot, the +question whether the Ideas are immanent or transcendent. The results of +this examination were adopted by the Aristotelian school, who suggested +another theory of Knowledge. + +The _Philebus_ discusses the question whether Pleasure or Knowledge +is the chief good. A metaphysical argument which follows that of the +_Parmenides_ ends in the characteristic Greek distinction between the +Finite and the Infinite. Pleasure is infinite, because it can exist in +greater or less degree; there is a mixed life compounded of finite and +infinite and there is a creative faculty to which mind belongs. Pleasure +is of two kinds; it is sometimes mixed with pain, sometimes it is pure; +the latter type alone is worth cultivating and includes the pleasures of +knowledge. Yet pleasure is not an end, but only a means to it. It cannot +therefore be the Good, which is an end. Knowledge is at its best when +it is dealing with the eternal and immutable, but even then it is not +self-sufficient--it exists for the sake of something else, the good. +This latter is characterised by symmetry, proportion and truth. +Knowledge resembles it far more than even pure pleasure. + +The _Theaetetus_ discusses more fully the theory of knowledge. It opens +with a comparison of the Socratic method to midwifery; it delivers the +mind of the thoughts with which it is in travail. The first tentative +definition of knowledge is that it is sensation. This is in agreement +with the Protagorean doctrine that man is the measure of all things. Yet +sensation implies change, whereas we cannot help thinking that objects +retain their identity; if knowledge is sensation a pig has as good a +claim to be called the measure of all things as a man. Again, Protagoras +has no right to teach others if each man's sensations are a law unto +him. Nor is the Heracleitean doctrine much better which taught that all +things are in a state of flux. If nothing retains the same quality +for two consecutive moments it is impossible to have predication, and +knowledge must be hopeless. In fact, sensation is not man's function +as a reasoning being, but rather comparison. Neither is knowledge true +opinion, for this at once demands the demarcation of false opinion or +error; the latter is negative, and will be understood only when positive +knowledge is determined. Perhaps knowledge is true opinion plus reason; +but it is difficult to decide what is gained by adding "with reason", +words which may mean either true opinion or knowledge itself, thus +involving either tautology or a begging of the question. The dialogue at +least has shown what knowledge is not. + +Locke, Berkeley and Hume, the eighteenth century sensation philosophers, +were similarly refuted by Kant. The mind by its mere ability to compare +two things proves that it can have two concepts at least before it +at the same time, and can retain them for a longer period than a mere +passing sensation implies. Yet the problem of knowledge still remains as +difficult as Plato knew it to be. + +"Is the Sophist the same as the Statesman and the Philosopher?" Such is +the question raised in the _Sophist_. Six definitions are suggested, all +unsatisfactory. The fixed characteristic of the Sophist is his seeming +to know everything without doing so; this definition leads straight to +the concept of false opinion, a thing whose object both is and is not. +"That which is not" provokes an inquiry into what is, Being. Dualism, +Monism, Materialism and Idealism are all discussed, the conclusion being +that the Sophist is a counterfeit of the Philosopher, a wilful impostor +who makes people contradict themselves by quibbling. + +The _Politicus_ carries on the discussion. In this dialogue we may see +the dying glories of Plato's genius. In his search for the true pastor +or king he separates the divine from the human leader; the true king +alone has scientific knowledge superior to law and written enactments +which men use when they fail to discover the real monarch. This +scientific knowledge of fixed and definite principles can come only +from Education. A most remarkable myth follows, which is practically +the Greek version of the Fall. The state of innocence is described as +preceding a decline into barbarism; a restoration can be effected only +by a divine interposition and by the growth of a study of art or by +the influence of society. The arts themselves are the children of a +supernatural revelation. + +The _Timaeus_ and the long treatise the _Laws_ criticise the theories +of the Republic. The former is full of world-speculations of a most +difficult kind, the latter admits the weakness of the Ideal State, +making concessions to inevitable human failings. + +Though written in an early period, the _Apology_ may form a fitting end +to these dialogues. Socrates was condemned on the charge of corrupting +the Athenian youth and for impiety. To most Athenians he must have been +not only not different from the Sophists he was never weary of exposing, +but the greatest Sophist of them all. He was unfortunate in his friends, +among whom were Critias the infamous tyrant and Alcibiades who sold +the great secret. The older men must have regarded with suspicion his +influence over the youth in a city which seemed to be losing all its +national virtues; many of them were personally aggrieved by his annoying +habit of exposing their ignorance. He was given a chance of escape by +acknowledging his fault and consenting to pay a small fine. Instead, he +proposed for himself the greatest honour his city could give any of her +benefactors, public maintenance in the town-hall. + +His defence contains many superb passages and is a masterpiece of gentle +irony and subtle exposure of error. Its conclusion is masterly. + + "At point of death men often prophesy. My prophecy to you, my + slayers, is that when I am gone you will have to face a far more + serious penalty than mine. You have killed me because you wish + to avoid giving an account of your lives. After me will come more + accusers of you and more severe. You cannot stop criticism except + by reforming yourselves. If death is a sleep, then to me it is + gain; if in the next world a man is delivered from unjust judges + and there meets with true judges, the journey is worth while. + There will be found all the heroes of old, slain by wicked + sentences; them I shall meet and compare my agonies with theirs. + Best of all, I shall be able to carry out my search into true and + false knowledge and shall find out the wise and the unwise. No + evil can happen to a virtuous man in life or in death. If my sons + when they grow up care about riches more than virtue, rebuke them + for thinking they are something when they are naught. My time has + come; we must separate. I go to death, you to life; which of the + two is better only God knows." + +Two lessons of supreme importance are to be learned from Plato. In the +first place he insists on credentials from the accepted teachers of +a nation. On examination most of them, like Gorgias, would be found +incapable of defining the subjects for the teaching of which they +receive money. The sole hope of a country is Education, for it alone +can deliver from ignorance, a slavery worse than death; the uneducated +person is the dupe of his own passions or prejudices and is the +plaything of the horde of impostors who beg for his vote at elections or +stampede him into strikes. + +Again, the possibility of knowledge depends upon accurate definition +and the scientific comparisons of instances. These involve long and +fatiguing thought and very often the reward is scanty enough; no +conclusion is possible sometimes except that it is clear what a thing +cannot be. The human intelligence has learned a most valuable lesson +when it has recognised its own impotence at the outset of an inquiry +and its own limitations at the end thereof. Knowledge, Good, Justice, +Immortality are conceptions so mighty that our tiny minds have no +compasses to set upon them. Better far a distrust in ourselves than the +somewhat impudent and undoubtedly insistent claim to certitude advanced +by the materialistic apostles of modern non-humanitarianism. When +questioned about the ultimates all human knowledge must admit that it +hangs upon the slender thread of a theory or postulate. The student of +philosophy is more honest than others; he has the candour to confess the +assumptions he makes before he tries to think at all. + +At times it must be admitted that Plato sounds very unreal. His faults +are clear enough. The dialogue form makes it very easy for him to invent +questions of such a nature that the answer he wants is the only one +possible. Again, his conclusions are often arrived at by methods or +arguments which are frankly inadmissible; in the earlier dialogues are +some very glaring instances of sheer logical worthlessness. Frequently +the whole theme of discussion is such that no modern philosopher could +be expected to approve of it. A supposed explanation of a difficulty is +sometimes afforded by a myth, splendid and poetical but not logically +valid. Inconsistencies can easily be pointed out in the vast compass of +his speculations. It remained for Aristotle to invent a genuine method +of sorting out a licit from an illicit type of argument. + +These faults are serious. Against them must be placed some positive +excellences. Plato was one of the first to point out that there is a +problem; a question should be asked and an answer found if possible, +for we have no right to take things for granted. More than this, he was +everywhere searching for knowledge, ridding himself of prejudice, +doing in perfect honesty the most difficult of all things, the duty of +thinking clearly. These thoughts he has expressed in the greatest of +all types of Greek prose, a blend of poetic beauty with the precision of +prose. + +But Plato's praise is not that he is a philosopher so much as Philosophy +itself in poetic form. His great visions of the Eternal whence we +spring, his awe for the real King, the real Virtue, the real State +"laid up in Heaven" fill him with an inspired exaltation which lifts his +readers to the Heaven whence Platonism has descended. There are two main +types of men. One is content with the things of sense; using his powers +of observation and performing experiments he will become a Scientist; +using his powers of speculation he will become an Aristotelian +philosopher; putting his thoughts into simple and logical order, he will +write good prose. The other soars to the eternal principles behind this +world, the deathless forms or the general concepts which give concrete +things their existence. These perfect forms are the main study of the +Artist, Poet, Sculptor, whose work it is to give us comfort and pleasure +unspeakable. So long as man lives, he must have the perfection of beauty +to gladden him, especially if Science is going to test everything by the +ruler or balance or crucible. This love of Beauty is exactly Platonism. +It has never died yet. From Athens it spread to Alexandria, there to +start up into fresh life in the School of which Plotinus is the chief; +its doctrines are described for the English reader in Kingsley's +_Hypatia_. It planted its seed of mysticism in Christianity, with which +it has most strange affinities. At the Renaissance this mystic element +caught the imagination of northern Europe, notably Germany. Passing to +England, it created at Cambridge a School of Platonists, the issue of +whose thought is evident in the poetry of Coleridge and Wordsworth. Its +last outburst has been the Transcendental teaching of the nineteenth +century, so curiously Greek and non-Greek in its essence. + +For there is in our nature that undying longing for communion with the +Divine which the mere thought of God stirs within us. Our true home is +in the great world where Truth is everything, that Truth which one day +we, like Plato, shall see face to face without any quailing. + + +TRANSLATIONS: + +The version in 4 volumes by Jowett (Oxford) is the standard. It contains +good introductions. + +The _Republic_ has been translated by Davies and Vaughan. + +Two volumes in the Loeb Series have appeared. + +A new method of translation of Plato is needed. The text should be +clearly divided into sections; the steps of the argument should be +indicated in a skeleton outline. Until this is done study of Plato is +likely to cause much bewilderment. + +_Plato and Platonism_, by Pater, is still the best interpretation of the +whole system. + + + + +DEMOSTHENES + + +One of the most disquieting facts that history teaches is the inability +of the most enlightened and patriotic men to "discern the signs of the +times". To us the collapse of the Greek city-states seems natural and +inevitable. Their constant bickerings and petty jealousies justly drew +down upon them the armed might of the ambitious and capable power which +destroyed them. Their fate may fill us with pity and our admiration +for those who fought in a losing cause may prejudice us against their +enslavers. But just as the Norman Conquest in the long run brought more +blessing than misery, so the downfall of the Greek commonwealths was the +first step to the conquering progress of the Greek type of civilisation +through the whole world. Our Harold, fighting manfully yet vainly +against an irresistible tendency, has his counterpart in the last +defender of the ancient liberties of Greece. + +Demosthenes was born in 384 of a well-to-do business man who died eight +years later. The guardians whom he appointed appropriated the estate, +leaving Demosthenes and his sister in straitened circumstances. On +coming of age the young man brought a suit against his trustees in 363, +of whom Aphobus was the most fraudulent. Though he won the case, much +of his property was irretrievably lost. Nor were his first efforts at +public speaking prophetic of future greatness. His voice was thin, his +demeanour awkward, his speech indistinct; his style was laboured, +being an obvious blend of Thucydides with Isaeus, an old and practised +pleader. Yet he was ambitious and determined; he longed to copy the +career of Pericles, the noblest of Athenian statesmen. The stories of +his self-imposed exercises and their happy issue are well known; his +days he spent in declaiming on the sea-shore with pebbles in his mouth, +his nights in copying and recopying Thucydides; the speeches which have +come down to us show clearly the gradual evolution of the great style +well worthy of the greatest of all themes, national salvation. + +It will be necessary to explain a convention of the Athenian law courts. +A litigant was obliged to plead his own case; if he was unable to +compose his own speech, he applied to some professional retailer of +orations who would write it for him. The art of these speech-writers +was of varying excellence. A first-class practitioner would not only +discover the real or the supposed facts of the dispute, he would divine +the real character of his client, and write the particular type +of speech which would seem most natural on such a person's lips. +Considerable knowledge of human nature was required in such an exciting +and delicate profession, although the author did not always succeed in +concealing his identity. Demosthenes had his share of this experience; +he wrote for various customers speeches on various subjects; one +concerns a dowry dispute, another a claim for compensation for damage +caused by a water-course, another deals with an adoption, another was +written for a wealthy banker. Assault and battery, ship-scuttling, undue +influence of attractive females on the weaker sex, maritime trickery +of all kinds, citizen rights, are all treated in the so-called private +speeches, of which some are of considerable value as illustrating legal +or mercantile or social etiquette. + +Public suits were of the same nature; the speeches were composed by one +person and delivered by another. Such are the speech against _Androtion_ +for illegal practices, against _Timocrates_ for embezzlement and the +important speech against _Aristocrates_, in which for the first time +Demosthenes seems to have become aware of the real designs of +Macedonia. The speech against the law of _Leptines_, delivered in 354 by +Demosthenes himself, is of value as displaying the gradual development +of his characteristic style; in it we have the voice and the words of +the same man, who is talking with a sense of responsibility about a +constitutional anomaly. + +But for us the real Demosthenes is he who spoke on questions of State +policy. This subject alone can call out the best qualities in an orator +as distinct from a rhetorician; the tricks and bad arguments which are +so often employed to secure condemnation or acquittal in a law court are +inapplicable or undignified in a matter of vital national import. But +before the great enemy arose to threaten Greek liberty, it happened that +Fortune was kind enough to afford Demosthenes excellent practice in a +parliamentary discussion of two if not three questions of importance. + +In 354 there was much talk of a possible war with Persia. Demosthenes +first addresses the sword-rattlers. "To the braggarts and jingoes I say +that it is not difficult--not even when we need sound advice--to win +a reputation for courage and to appear a clever speaker when danger is +very near. The really difficult duty is to show courage in danger and +in the council-chamber to give sounder advice than anybody else." His +belief was that war was not a certainty, but it would be better to +revise the whole naval system. A detailed scheme to assure the requisite +number of ships in fighting-trim follows, so sensible that it commands +immediate respect. The speaker estimates the wealth of Attica, maps +it out into divisions, each able to bear the expense of the warships +assigned to it. To a possible objection that it would be better to raise +the money by increased taxation he answers with the grim irony natural +to him (he seems to be utterly devoid of humour). + + "What you could raise at present is more ridiculous than if you + raised nothing at all. A hundred and twenty talents? What are they + to the twelve hundred camels which they say carry Persia's revenues?" + +He refuses to believe that a Greek mercenary army would fight against +its country, while the Thebans, who notoriously sided with Persia +in 480, would give much for an opportunity of redeeming this old sin +against Greece. + + "The rest of the Greeks, as long as they considered the Persian + their common enemy, had numerous blessings; but when they began to + regard him as their friend they experienced such woes as no man could + have invented for them even in his curses. Whom then Providence and + Destiny have shown useless as a friend and most advantageous as a foe, + shall we fear? Rather let us commit no injustice for our own sakes and + save the rest from commotion and strife." + +Such is the outline of the speech on the _Navy-boards_. Two years +later he displayed qualities of no mean order. Sparta and Thebes were +quarrelling for the leadership. Arcadia had revolted from Sparta, the +centre of the disaffection being _Megalopolis_; ambassadors from the +latter city and from Sparta begged Athenian aid. In the heat of the +excitement men's judgments were not to be trusted. "The difficulty of +giving sound advice is well known," says the orator. + + "If a man tries to take a middle course and you have not the + patience to hear, he will win the approval of neither party but + will be maligned by both. If such a fate awaits me, I would rather + appear to be talking nonsense than allow any party to deceive you + into what I know is not your wisest policy." + +The question was, should Athens join Thebes or Sparta, both ancient +foes? + + "I would like to ask those who say they hate either, whether they + hate the one for the sake of the other or for your sake. If for the + sake of the other party, then you can trust neither, for both are mad; + if for your sake, why do they try to strengthen one of these two + cities unduly? You can with perfect ease keep Thebes weak without + making Sparta strong, as I will prove. You will find that the main + cause of woe and ruin is unwillingness to act with simple honesty." + +After a rapid calculation of possibilities he suggests the following +plan. + + "War between Thebes and Sparta is certain. If Thebes is beaten to + the ground, as she deserves to be, Sparta will not be unduly powerful, + for these Arcadian neighbours will restore the balance; if Thebes + recovers and saves herself, she will still be weak if you ally + yourselves with Arcadia and protect her. It is expedient then in + every way neither to sacrifice Arcadia nor let that country imagine + that it survives through its own power or through any other power than + yours." + +The calm voice of the cool-headed statesman is everywhere audible in +this admirable little speech. + +The power of discounting personal resentment and thinking soberly is +apparent in the speech for the _Freedom of Rhodes_, delivered about this +time. Rhodes had offended Athens by revolting in the Social war of 357-5 +with the help of the well-known Carian king Mausolus. For a time that +monarch had treated Rhodes well; later he overthrew the democracy and +placed the power in the hands of the oligarchs. When Queen Artemisia +succeeded to the throne of Caria the democrats begged Athens to aid +them in recovering their liberty. Deprecating passion of any kind, +Demosthenes points out the real question at issue. The record of the +oligarchs is a bad one; to overthrow the democracy they had won over +some of the leading citizens whom they banished when they had attained +their object. Their faithless conduct promised no hope of a firm +alliance with Athens. The Rhodian question was to be the acid test of +her political creed. + + "Look at this fact, gentlemen. You have fought many a war against + both democracies and oligarchies, as you well know. But the real + object of these wars perhaps none of you considers. Against + democracies you fight for private grievances which cannot be settled + in public, or for territory or boundaries or for domination. Against + oligarchies you fight for none of these things, but for your + constitution and freedom. I would not hesitate to say that I consider + it more to your advantage should become democratic and fight you than + turn oligarchic and be your friends. I am certain that it would not + be difficult for you to make peace with freeconstitutions; with + oligarchies your friendship would not even be secure, for it is + impossible that they in their lust for power could cherish kindness + for a State whose policy is based on freedom of speech." + + "Even if we were to say that Rhodes richly deserves her sufferings, + this is the wrong time to gloat. Prosperous cities ought always to + show that they desire every good for the unfortunate, for the future + is dark to us all." + +His conclusion is this. + + "Any person who abandons the post assigned to him by his commander + you disfranchise and exclude from public life. Even so all who desert + the political tradition bequeathed you by your ancestors and turn + oligarchs you ought to banish from your Council. As it is you trust + politicians who you know for certain side with your country's enemies." + +These three speeches indicate plainly enough the kind of man who was +soon to make himself heard in a more important question. Instead of +a frothy and excitable harangue that might have been looked for in +a warm-blooded Southern orator we find a dignified and apparently +cool-headed type of speech based on sound sense, full of practical +proposals, fearless, manly and above all noble because it relies +on righteousness. An intelligence of no mean order has in each case +discarded personal feeling and has pointed out the one bed-rock fact +which ought to be the foundation of a sound policy. More than this; for +the first time an Attic orator has deliberately set to work to create a +new type of prose, based on a cadence and rhythm. This new language at +times runs away with its inventor; experience was to show him that in +this matter as in all others the consummate artist hides the art whereof +he is master. + +By 352 Greece had become aware that her liberties were to be threatened +not from the East, but from Macedonia. Trained in the Greek practice +of arms and diplomacy, her king Philip within seven years had created +a powerful military system. His first object was to obtain control of a +seaboard. In carrying out this policy he had to reduce Amphipolis on +the Strymon in Thrace, Olynthus in Chalcidice, and Athenian power +centralised in Potidaea, a little south of Olynthus, and on the other +side of the Gulf of Therma in Pydna and Methone. Pydna he secured in 357 +by trickery; Amphipolis had passed under his control through inexcusable +Athenian slackness earlier in the same year. Potidaea fell in 356 and +Methone, the last Athenian stronghold, in 353. Pagasae succumbed in 352; +with it Philip obtained absolute command of the sea-coast. + +In the same year a Macedonian attempt to pass Thermopylae was met by +vigorous Athenian action; a strong force held the defile, preventing a +further advance southward. In the next year the Athenian pacifist party +was desirous of dropping further resistance. This policy caused the +delivery of the _First Philippic_. It is a stirring appeal to the +country to shake off its lethargy. Nothing but personal service would +enable her to recover the lost strongholds. "In my opinion," it says, +"the greatest compelling power that can move men is the disgrace of +their condition. Do you desire to stroll about asking one another for +news? What newer news do you want than that a Macedonian is warring down +Athens? Philip sick or Philip dead makes no difference to you. If +he died you would soon raise up for yourselves another Philip if you +continue your present policy." + +With statesmanlike care Demosthenes makes concrete proposals for the +creation of a standing force of citizens ready to serve in the ranks; +at present their generals and captains are puppets for the pretty +march-past in the public square. He estimates the cost of upkeep and +shows that it is possible to maintain a force in perfect efficiency; +he lays particular stress on creating a base of operations in Macedonia +itself, otherwise fleets sailing north might be checked by trade winds. +"Too late" is the curse of Athenian action; a vacillating policy ruins +every expedition. + + "Such a system was possible earlier, but now we are on the razor's + edge. In my opinion some god in utter shame at our history has + inspired Philip with his restlessness. If he had been content with + his conquests and annexations, some of you would be quite satisfied + with a position which would have branded our name with infamy and + cowardice; as it is, perhaps his unceasing aggressions and lust for + extension might spur you--unless you are utterly past redemption." + +He grimly refutes all those well-informed persons who "happen to know" +Philip's object--we had scores of them in our own late war. + + "Why, of course he is intoxicated at the magnitude of his successes + and builds castles in the air; but I am quite sure that he will + never choose a policy such that the most hopeless fools here are + likely to know what it is, for gossipers are hopeless fools." + +It should be remembered that these are the words of a young man of +thirty-four, unconnected with any party, yet capable of forming a sane +policy. That they are great words will be obvious to anyone who replaces +the name of Philip by that of his country's enemy; the result is +startling indeed. + +The last and most formidable problem Philip had yet to solve, the +destruction of Olynthus, the centre of a great confederation of +thirty-two towns. Military work against it was begun in 349 and led at +once to an appeal to Athens for assistance. The pacifists and traitors +were busy intriguing for Philip; Demosthenes delivered three speeches +for Olynthus. The _First Olynthiac_ sounds the right note. + + "The present crisis all but cries aloud saying that you must tackle + the problem your own selves if you have any concern for salvation. + The great privilege of a military autocrat, that he is his own + Cabinet, Commander-in-Chief, and Chancellor of the Exchequer, that + he is everywhere personally in service with his army, gives him an + enormous advantage for the speedy and timely performance of military + duties, but it makes him incapable of obtaining from Olynthus the + truce he longs for. Olynthus now knows she is fighting not for glory + or territory but to avoid ejection and slavery. She has before her + eyes his treatment of Amphipolis and Pydna. In a word, despotism is + a thing no free country can trust, especially if it is its neighbour." + +He warns his hearers that once Olynthus falls, there is nothing to +hinder Philip from marching straight on Athens. + +A definite policy is then suggested. + + "Carping criticism is easy; any person can indulge in it; but only + a statesman can show what is to be done to meet a pressing difficulty. + I know well enough that if anything goes wrong you lose your tempers + not with the guilty persons, but with the last speaker. Yet for all + that, no thought of private safety will make me conceal what I believe + to be our soundest course of action." + +By a perfectly scandalous abuse, the surplus funds of the State Treasury +had been doled out to the poor to enable them to witness plays in +the theatre, on the understanding that the doles should cease if war +expenses had to be met. In time the lower orders came to consider the +dole as their right, backed by the demagogues refused to surrender it. +This theatre-fund Demosthenes did not yet venture to attack, for it +was dangerous to do so. He had no alternative but to propose additional +taxes on the rich. He concludes with an admirable peroration. + + "You must all take a comprehensive view of these questions and + bear a hand in staving off the war into Macedonia. The rich must + spend a little of their possessions to enjoy the residue without + fear; the men of military age must gain their experience of war + in Philip's country and make themselves formidable defenders of + their own soil; the speakers must facilitate an enquiry into their + own conduct, that the citizen body may criticise their policy + according to the political situation at the moment. May the result + be good on every ground." + +The _Second Olynthiac_ strikes a higher note, that of indignant protest +against the perfidy of Macedonian diplomacy. + + "When a State is built on unanimity, when allies in a war find + their interests identical, men gladly labour together, bearing + their troubles and sticking to their task. But when a power like + Philip's is strong through greed and villainy, on the first pretext + or the slightest set-back the whole system is upset and dismembered. + Injustice and perjury and lies cannot win a solid power; they + survive for a brief and fleeting period and show many a blossom of + promise perhaps, but time finds them out; their leaves soon wither + away. Houses or ships need foundations of great strength; policies + require truth and righteousness as their origin and first principles. + Such are not to be found in Philip's career." + +A history of Macedonian progress shows the weak places in the system. + + "Success throws a veil over these at present, for prosperity shrouds + many a scandal. If he makes one false step, all his vices will come + into the clearest relief; this will soon become obvious under + Heaven's guidance, if you will only show some energy. As long as a + man is in health, he is unaware of his weaknesses, but when sickness + overtakes him, his whole constitution is upset. Cities and despots + are the same; while they are invading their neighbours their secret + evils are invisible, but when they are in the grip of an internal war + these weaknesses all become quite evident." + +An exhortation to personal service is succeeded by a protest against a +parochial view of politics which causes petty jealousies and paralyses +joint action. The whole State should take its turn at doing some war +duty. + +In the _Third Olynthiac_ Demosthenes takes the bull by the horns. +The insane theatre-doles were sapping the revenues badly needed for +financing the fight for existence. Olynthus at last was aware of her +danger; she could be aided not by passing decrees, but by annulling +some. + + "I will tell you quite plainly I mean the laws about the + theatre-fund. When you have done that and when you make it safe + for your speakers to give you the best advice, then you may expect + somebody to propose what you all know is to your interest. The men + to repeal these laws are those who proposed them. It is unfair that + they who passed them should be popular for damaging the State while + a statesman who proposes a measure which would benefit us all should + be rewarded with public hatred. Before you have set this matter right + you cannot expect to find among you a superman who will violate these + laws with impunity or a fool who will run his head into a manifest + noose." + +With the same superb courage he tackles the demagogues who are the cause +of all the mischief. + + "Ever since the present type of orator has appeared who asks + anxiously, 'What do you want? What can I propose? What can I give + you?' the city's prestige has melted in compliment; the net result + is that these men have made their fortunes while the city is + disgraced." + +A bitter contrast shows how the earlier popular leaders made Athens +wealthy, dominant and respected; the modern sort had lost territory, +spent a mint of money on nothing, alienated good allies and raised up +a trained enemy. But there is one thing to their credit, they had +whitewashed the city walls, had repaired roads and fountains. And the +trade of public speaking is profitable. Some of the demagogues' houses +are more splendid than the public buildings; as individuals they have +prospered in exact proportion as the State is reduced to impotence. In +fact, they have secured control of the constitution; their system of +bribery and spoon-feeding has tamed the democracy and made it obedient +to the hand. "I should not be surprised," he continues, + + "if my words bring me into greater trouble than the men who have + started these abuses. Freedom of speech on every subject before you + is not possible--I am surprised that you have not already howled me + down." + +The doles he compares to the snacks prescribed by doctors; they cannot +help keep a patient properly alive and will not allow him to die. +Personal service and an end of gratuities is insisted upon. + + "Without adding or taking away, only slightly altering our present + chaos, I have suggested a uniform scheme whereby each man can do + the duties fitted to his years and his opportunities. I have nowhere + proposed that you should divide the earnings of the workers among + the unemployable, nor that you should slack and amuse yourselves and + be reduced to beggary while somebody else is fighting for you--for + that is what is happening now." + +What a speech is here! Doles, interruptions of men who tell the truth, +organised democratic corruption, waste of public money on whitewash are +familiar to the unhappy British tax-payer. Where is our Demosthenes who +dare appeal to the electorate to sweep the system and its prospering +advocates back into the darkness? + +Having captured Olynthus in 348 and razed it to the ground, Philip +attacked Euboea. A further advance was checked by a disgraceful peace +engineered by Philocrates and Aeschines in 346. The embassy which +obtained it was dodged by Philip until he had made the maximum of +conquest; he had excluded the Phocians from its scope, a people of +primary importance because they controlled Thermopylae, but a week after +signing the peace he had destroyed Phocian unity and usurped their place +on the great Council which met at Delphi. This evident attack on the +liberty of southern Greece raised a fever of excitement at Athens. The +war-party clamoured for instant action; strangely enough Demosthenes +advised his city to observe the peace. In contrast with his fiery +audience he speaks with perfect coolness and calm. He reviews +the immediate past, explains the shameful part played by an actor +Neoptolemus who persuaded Athens to make the peace, then realised all +his property and went to live in Macedon; he describes the good advice +he gave them which they did not follow, and bases his claim to speak not +on any cleverness but on his incorruptibility. + + "Our true interest reveals itself to me in its real outlines as I + judge the existing situation. But whenever a man throws a bribe + into the opposite scale it drags the reason after it; the corrupt + person will never afterwards have any true or sane judgment about + anything." + +In the present case the real point at issue is clear enough. It is a +question of fighting not Philip but the whole body of states who were +represented at the Delphic Council, for they would fly to arms at once +if Athens renounced _the Peace_; against such a combination she could +not survive, just as the Phocians could not cope with the combined +attack of Macedonia, Thessaly and Thebes, natural enemies united for a +brief moment to achieve a common end. After all, a seat on the +Delphic Council was a small matter; only fools would go to war for an +unsubstantial shadow. + +Firmly planted in Greece itself, Philip started intriguing in +Peloponnesus, supporting Argos, Megalopolis and Messene against Sparta. +An embassy to these three cities headed by Demosthenes warned them of +the treacherous friendship. Returning to Athens in 344 he delivered +his _Second Philippi_, which contains an account of the speeches of the +recent tour. Philip acted while Athens talked. + + "The result is inevitable and perhaps reasonable; each of you + excels in that wherein you are most diligent--he in deeds, you + in words." + +Hence comes the intrigue against Sparta. He can dupe stupid people like +the Thebans, or the Peloponnesians; warning therefore is necessary. To +the latter he said:-- + + "You now stare at Philip offering and promising things; if you + have any sense, pray you may never see him practising his tricks + and evasions. Cities have invented all kinds of protections and + safeguards such as stockades, walls, trenches--all of which are + made by hand and expensive. But men of sense have inherited from + Nature one defence, good and salutary--especially democrats against + despots--namely, mistrust. If you hold fast to this, you will never + come to serious harm. You hanker after liberty, I suppose. Cannot + you see that Philip's very title is the exact negation of it? Every + king or despot is a foe to freedom and an adversary of law. Beware + lest while seeking to be quit of a war you find a master." + +He then mentions the silly promises of advantages to come which induced +Athens to make the infamous Peace, and quotes the famous remark whereby +the traitor gang raised a laugh while in the act of selling their +country. "Demosthenes is naturally a sour and peevish fellow, for he +drinks water." Drawing their attention to this origin of all their +trouble, he asks them to remember their names--at the same time +remarking that even if a man deserved to die, punishment should be +suspended if it meant loss and ruin to the State. + +The next three years saw various Macedonian aggressions, especially in +Thrace. That country on its eastern extremity formed the northern coast +of the Dardanelles, named the Chersonese, important as safeguarding +the corn supplies which passed through the Straits. It had been in +the possession of Miltiades, was lost in the Peloponnesian war and was +partly recovered by Timotheus in 863. Diopeithes had been sent there +with a body of colonists in 346. Establishing himself in possession, he +took toll of passing traders to safeguard them against pirates and +had collided with the Macedonian troops as they slowly advanced to the +Narrows. Philip sent a protest to Athens; in a lively debate _on the +Chersonese_ early in 341 Demosthenes delivered a great speech. + +First of all he shows that Diopeithes is really the one guarantee that +Philip will not attack Attica itself. In Thrace is a force which can do +great damage to Macedonian territory. + + "But if it is once disbanded, what shall we do if Philip attacks the + Chersonese? Arraign Diopeithes, of course--but that will not improve + matters. Well then, send reinforcements from here--if the winds allow + us. Well, Philip will not attack--but there is nobody to guarantee + that." + +He suggests that Diopeithes should not be cast off but supported. Such +a plan will cost money, but it will be well spent for the sake of future +benefits. + + "If some god were to guarantee that if Athens observes strict + neutrality, abandoning all her possessions, Philip would not attack + her, it would be a scandal, unworthy of you and your city's power + and past history to sacrifice the rest of Greece. I would rather die + than suggest such action." + +He then turns to the pacifists, pointing out that it is useless to +expect a peace if the enemy is bent on a war of extermination. None +but fools would wait till a foe admits he is actually fighting if his +actions are clearly hostile. The traitors who sell the city should be +beaten to death, for no State can overcome the foe outside till it has +chastised the enemy within. The record of Macedonian duplicity follows; +the hectoring insolence of Philip is easily explained; Athens is the +only place in the world in which freedom of speech exists; so prevalent +is it that even slaves and aliens possess it. Accordingly Philip has +to stop the mouths of other cities by giving them territory for a brief +period, but Athens he can rob of her colonies and be sure of getting +praise from the anti-national bribe-takers. He concludes with a striking +and elevated passage describing the genuine statesman. + + "Any man who to secure your real interests opposes your wishes and + never speaks to get applause but deliberately chooses politics as + his profession (a business in which chance exercises greater + influence than human reason), being perfectly ready to answer for + the caprices is a really brave and useful citizen. I have never had + recourse to the popular arts of winning favour; I have never used + low abuse or stooped to humour you or made rich men's money public; + I continue to tell you what is bound to make me unpopular among you + and yet advance your strength if only you will listen-so unenviable + is the counsellor's lot." + +A deep and splendid courage in hopelessness is here manifest. + +A little later in the same year was delivered the last and greatest of +all the patriotic speeches, the _Third Philippic_. Early in the speech +the whole object of the Macedonian threat is made apparent--the jugular +veins of Athens, her trade-routes. + + "Any man who plots and intrigues to secure the means of my capture is + at war with me, even if he has not fired a shot. In the last event, + what are the danger-spots of Athens? The Hellespont, Megara and Euboea, + the Peloponnese. Am I to say then that a man who has fired this train + against Athens is at peace with her?" + +Then the plot against all Greek liberty is explained. + + "We all recognise the common danger, but we never send embassies to + one another. We are in such a sorry plight, so great a gulf has been + fixed between cities by intrigue that we are incapable of doing what + is our duty and our interest; we cannot combine; we can make no + confederation of mutual friendship and assistance; we stare at the + man as he grows greater; each of us is determined to take advantage + of the time during which another is being ruined, never considering + or planning the salvation of Greece. Every one knows that Philip is + like a recurring plague or a fit of some malevolent disease which + attacks even those who seem to be out of his reach. Remember this; + all the indignities put on Greece by Sparta or ourselves were at least + the work of genuine sons of the land; they may be likened to the wild + oats of some heir to a great estate--if they were the excesses of some + slave or changeling we all would have considered them monstrous and + scandalous. But that is not our attitude to Philip and his diplomacy, + though he is not a Greek or a relation; rather he is not born even of + decent barbarian parents--he is a cursed wretch from Macedonia which + till recently could not supply even a respectable servant." + +The bitterness of this is intense in a man who generally refrains from +anything undignified in a public speech. + +The cause of this disunion is bribery. In former times + + "it was impossible to buy from orators or generals knowledge of the + critical moment which fortune often gives to the careless against the + industrious. But now all our national virtues have been sold out of + the market; we have imported in their place the goods which have + tainted Greek life to the very death. These are--envy for every + bribe-taker, ridicule for any who confesses his guilt, hatred for + every one who exposes him. We have far more warships and soldiers and + revenue to-day, but they are all useless, unavailing and unprofitable + owing to treason." + +To punish these seems quite hopeless. + + "You have sunk to the very depth of folly or craziness or I know not + what. Often I cannot help dreading that some evil angel is persecuting + us. For some ribaldry or petty spite or silly jest--in fact, for any + reason whatsoever you invite hirelings to address you, and laugh at + their scurrilities." + +He points to the fate of all the cities whom Philip flattered. + + "In all of them the patriots advised increased taxation--the traitors + said it was not necessary. They advised war and distrust--the traitors + preached peace, till they were caught in the trap. The traitors made + speeches to get votes, the others spoke for national existence. In + many cases the masses listened to the pro-Macedonians not through + ignorance, but because their hearts failed them when they thought they + were beaten to their knees." + +The doom of these cities it was not worth while to describe overmuch. + + "As long as the ship is safe, that is the time for every sailor and + their captain to be keen on his duties and to take precautions against + wilful or thoughtless upsetting of the craft. But once the sea is over + the decks, all zeal is vain. We then who are Athenians, while we are + safe with our great city, our enormous resources, our splendid + reputation--what shall we do?" + +The universal appeal of this white-hot speech is its most noteworthy +feature. The next year the disgraceful peace was ended, the free +theatre-tickets withdrawn. All was vain. In 338 Athens and Thebes were +defeated at Chaeroneia; the Cassandra prophecies of the great patriot +came true. In 330 one more triumph was allowed him. He was attacked by +the traitor Aeschines and answered him so effectively in his speech _on +the Crown_ that his adversary was banished. A cloud settled over the +orator's later life; he outlived Alexander by little more than a year, +but when Antipater hopelessly defeated the allies at Crannon in 322 he +poisoned himself rather than live in slavery. + +Of all the orators of the ancient world none is more suitable for modern +use than Demosthenes. It is true that he is guilty of gross bad taste in +some of his speeches--but rarely in a parliamentary oration. Cicero is +too verbose and often insincere. Demosthenes is as a rule short, terse +and forcible. It is the undoubted justice of his cause which gives him +his lofty and noble style. He lacks the gentler touch of humour--but a +man cannot jest when he sees servitude before the country he loves. +With a few necessary alterations a speech of Demosthenes could easily +be delivered to-day, and it would be successful. Even Philip is said to +have admitted that he would have voted for him after hearing him, and +Aeschines after winning applause for declaiming part of Demosthenes' +speech told his audience that they ought to have heard the beast. + +Yet all this splendid eloquence seems to have been wasted. The orator +could see much that was dark to his contemporaries, and spoke prophecies +true though vain. But the greatest thing of all was concealed from his +view. The inevitable day had dawned for the genuinely Greek type of +city. It was brilliant but it was a source of eternal divisions in a +world which had to be unified to be of any service. Its absurd factions +and petty leagues were really a hindrance to political stability. +Further, the essential vices of democracy cried aloud for a stern +master, and found him. Treason, bribery, appeals to an unqualified +voting class, theft of rich men's property under legal forms, free seats +in the theatre, belittlement of a great empire, pacifism, love of every +state but the right one--these are the open sores of popular control. +For such a society only one choice is possible; it needs discipline +either of national service or national extinction. Its crazy cranks will +not disappear otherwise. Modern political life is democratic; those who +imagine that the voice of the majority is the voice of Heaven should +produce reasons for their belief. They will find it difficult to hold +such a view if they will patiently consider the hard facts of history +and the unceasing warnings of Demosthenes. + + * * * * * + +No account of Greek literature would be complete without a mention of +the influence which has revolutionised human thought. It is a strange +coincidence that Aristotle was born and died in the same years as +Demosthenes. His native town was Stagira; he trained Alexander the +Great, presided over the very famous Peripatetic School at Athens for +thirteen years and found time to investigate practically every subject +of which an ancient Greek could be expected to have any knowledge. + +His method was the slow and very patient observation of individual +facts. He is the complement of Plato, who tended to neglect the fact for +the "idea" or general law or type behind it and logically prior to +it. Deductive reasoning was Plato's method--that of the poet or great +artist, who worships not what he sees but the unseen perfect form +behind; inductive reasoning was Aristotle's method--that of the ordinary +man, who respects what he sees that he may by patience find out what +is the unseen class to which it belongs. This latter has been the +foundation-stone of all modern science; in the main the resemblance +between Aristotle's system of procedure and that of the greatest +liberators of the human mind, Bacon and Descartes, are more valuable +than the differences. + +It would be difficult to mention any really great subject on which +Aristotle has not left some work which is not to be lightly disregarded. +His works are in the form of disjointed notes, taken down at his +lectures by his disciples. As a rule they are dry and precise, though +here and there rays of glory appear which prove that the master was +capable of poetic expression even in prose. A rather fine hymn has +been ascribed to him. As we might expect, he is weakest in scientific +research, mainly because he could not command the use of instruments +familiar to us. That a human being who possessed no microscope should +have left such a detailed account of the most minute marks on the bodies +of fish and animals is an absolute marvel; so perfect is his description +that it cannot be bettered to-day. Cuvier and Linnaeus are great names +in Botany; Darwin said that they were mere schoolboys compared with +Aristotle--in other words, botanical research had progressed thewrong +way. + +Many works have appeared on Ethics and Philosophy; few of them are +likely to survive as long as Aristotle's _Ethics_ and _Metaphysics_ +Sometimes our modern philosophers seem to forget their obligation to +resemble human beings in their writings. We hear so much of mist and +transcendentalism, problems, theories, essays, critiques that a book of +Aristotle's dry but exact definition seems like the words of soberness +after some nightmare. The man is not assaulting the air; his feet are on +firm ground. This is how he proceeds. "Virtue is a mean between +excess and defect." In fact, his object appears to have been to teach +something, not to mystify everybody and to cover the honourable name of +philosophy with ridicule. + +It is the same story everywhere. Do we want the best book on _Rhetoric_ +or _Politics_? Aristotle may supply it, mainly because he took the +trouble to classify his instances and show the reason why things +not only are of such a kind, but must inevitably be so. A course of +Aristotelian study might profitably be prescribed to every person who +thinks of talking in public; he would at least learn how to respect +himself and his audience, however ignorant and powerful it may be; he +would tend to use words in an exact sense instead of indulging in the +wild vagueness of speech which is so common and so dangerous. This +dry-as-dust philosopher who cut up animals and plants and wrote about +public speeches and constitutions found time to give the world a book on +Poetry. Modern scientists sometimes deny their belief in the existence +of such a thing as poetry, or scoff at its value; no poetic treatise +has yet appeared from them, for it seems difficult for modern science to +keep alive in its devotees the weakest glimmerings of a sense of beauty. +Herein their great founder and father shows himself to be more +humane than his so-called progressive children. His _Poetics_ was the +foundation of literary criticism and shows no sign of being superseded. + +Turning his eyes upwards, he gave the world a series of notes on what he +saw there. Not possessing a telescope, he could but do his best with +the methods available. Let us not jeer at his results; rather let us +remember that this same astronomer found time to observe the heavens in +addition to revolutionising thought in the brief compass of sixty-two +years. + +For the miracle of miracles is this man's universality of outlook. It +makes us ashamed of our own pretentiousness and swollen-headed pride +when we reflect what this great architectonic genius has performed. Just +as our bodies have decreased in size with the progress of history, so +our intelligences seem to have narrowed themselves since Aristotle's +day. Great as our modern scientists are, there is not one of them who +would be capable of writing an acknowledged masterpiece on Ethics, +Politics, Rhetoric, Poetry, Metaphysics as well as on his own subject. + +Nor have we yet mentioned this stupendous thinker's full claim to +absolute predominance in intellectual effort. His works on Medicine were +known to and appreciated by the Arabs, who translated them and brought +them to Spain and Sicily when they conquered those countries. Averroes +commented on them and added notes of his own which contributed not +a little to the development of the healing art. More than this, and +greatest of all, during the later Middle Ages Aristotle's system alone +was recognised as possessing universal value; it was taken as the +foundation on which the most famous and important Schoolmen erected +their philosophies--Chaucer mentions a clerk who possessed twenty books, +a treasure indeed in those days; it provided a European Church with a +Theology and the cosmopolitan European Universities with a curriculum. +Greater honour than this no man ever had or ever can have. Thus, +although the Greek city-state seemed to perish in mockery with +Demosthenes, yet the Greek spirit of free discussion which died in the +great orator was set free in another form in that same year; leaving +Aristotle's body, it ranged through the world conquering and civilising. +If in our ignorance and bigotry we try to kill Greek literature, we +shall find that, like the hero of the _Bacchae_, we are turning +our blows against our own selves, to the delight of all who relish +exhibitions of perfect folly. + + +TRANSLATIONS: + +Kennedy's edition is the best. It is vigorous and reads almost like an +English work. + +Butcher's _Demosthenes_ is the standard introduction to the speeches. + +Many reminiscences of Demosthenes are to be found in the speeches of +Lord Brougham. + + +ARISTOTLE + +_Politics_. Jowett (Oxford). Welldon (Macmillan). + +_Poetics_. Butcher (Macmillan). Bywater (Oxford). + +Both contain excellent commentaries and notes. + +_Ethics_. Welldon. + +_Rhetoric_. Welldon. (Contains valuable analysis and notes.) + +The article on Greek Science in the _Legacy of Greece_ (Oxford) should +not be omitted. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Authors of Greece, by T. W. Lumb + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUTHORS OF GREECE *** + +***** This file should be named 8115.txt or 8115.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/1/1/8115/ + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Marc D'Hooghe, Charles Franks, and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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