Aeschylus Eumenides 640

Herbert Weir Smyth (Translator)

Table of Contents

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

View: By Scene
← Previous Next →

Eumenides. Aeschylus. Herbert Weir Smyth (Translator). New York. 1926.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

Εὐμενίδες (Greek) (Aeschylus, Volume 2. Smyth, Herbert Weir, editor. London; New York: William Heinemann; G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1926.)

Editions (11)
Εὐμενίδες First1KGreek (Aeschyli Tragoediae. Sidgwick, Arthur, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1902.) — 566-777 focus
Εὐμενίδες (1518 edition; OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschylus, Eumenides, 1518 edition. VLM-assisted OCR with native lineation and automated correspondence to the Smyth edition.) — 640 focus
Εὐμενίδες (OCR draft) Experimental (Εὐμενίδες. Guilielmus Dindorfius, 1882.) — 640 focus
Εὐμενίδες (OCR draft) Experimental (Εὐμενίδες. Gottfried Hermann, 1852.) — 640 focus
ΕΥΜΕΝΙΔΕΣ (OCR draft) Experimental (ΕΥΜΕΝΙΔΕΣ. Paul Mazon, 1920-1925.) — 640 focus
Εὐμενίδες (OCR draft) Experimental (Εὐμενίδες. Arthur Sidgwick, 1887.) — 640 focus
Εὐμενίδες (OCR draft) Experimental (Εὐμενίδες. N. Wecklein, 1885.) — 640 focus
πατρὸς προτιμᾷ Ζεὺς μόρον τῷ σῷ λόγῳ,
αὐτὸς δ᾽ ἔδησε πατέρα πρεσβύτην Κρόνον.
Εὐμενίδες (OCR draft) Experimental (Εὐμενίδες. Martin L. West, 1990.) — 640 focus
Aeschyli Eumenides (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschyli Eumenides. Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, 1914.) — 640 focus
Εὐμενίδες (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek text of Aeschylus' Eumenides, edited by F. A. Paley, 1885.) — 640 focus
πατρὸς προτιμᾷ Ζεὺς μόρον, τῷ σῷ λόγῳ·
610
αὐτὸς δ᾽ ἔδησε πατέρα πρεσβύτην Κρόνον.
πῶς ταῦτα τούτοις οὐκ ἐναντίως λέγεις;
ὑμᾶς δ᾽ ἀκούειν ταῦτ᾽ ἐγὼ μαρτύρομαι.
Εὐμενίδες (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek text of Aeschylus' Eumenides, edited by Friedrich Blass, 1907.) — 640 focus
πατρὸς προτιμᾶι Ζεὺς μόρον τῶι σῶι λόγωι·
640
αὐτὸς δ᾽ ἔδησε πατέρα πρεσβύτην Κρόνον.
πῶς ταῦτα τούτοις οὐκ ἐναντίως λέγεις;
ὑμᾶς δ᾽ ἀκούειν ταῦτ᾽ ἐγὼ μαρτύρομαι.
Translations (11)
Eumenides Perseus (Aeschylus, Volume 2. Smyth, Herbert Weir, translator. London; New York: William Heinemann; G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1926. (Modernized by Perseus.)) — 640 focus
The Eumenides (OCR draft) Experimental (The Eumenides. Theodore Alois Buckley, 1849.) — 640 focus
Jove by your account respects the death of a father; but he himself bound his aged father Saturn 1
. How do you say that these things are not contrary to those ? But I call you as witnesses to hear these things.
LES EUMÉNIDES (OCR draft) Experimental (LES EUMÉNIDES. Paul Mazon, 1920-1925.) — 640 focus
ce que j'ai dit, afin d'éveiller le courroux des hommes ici chargés de décider en cette cause.
The Furies (OCR draft) Experimental (The Furies. Robert Potter, 1779.) — 640 focus
So Jove, it ſeems, reſpects the father's fate;
Yet on his father he cou'd bind the chain,
The hoary Saturn: that his deed gainſays
Thy words: I pray you mark the poor evaſion.
710
Eschilo, Le Eumenidi: traduzione italiana di Ettore Romagnoli (OCR draft) Experimental (Eschilo, Le Eumenidi: traduzione italiana di Ettore Romagnoli. Ettore Romagnoli, 1922.) — 640 focus
Ma tu sei vivo, e lei Morte fa libera.
640
Aeschylus, Eumenides: versio Latina Ioannis Sanravii (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschylus, Eumenides: versio Latina Ioannis Sanravii. Ioannes Sanravius, 1555.) — 640 focus
Patris ueneratur Iupiter fatum, tuo ſermone
605
Ipſe ligauit patrem ſenem Saturnum.
Quomodo hæc his non contrario dicis?
Vos uerò audire hoc ego testificor.
Aeschylus, Die Eumeniden: German translation (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschylus, Die Eumeniden: German translation. Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, 1919–1923.) — 640 focus
Zeus schätzt den Tod des Vaters höher, wie du sagst.
Doch seinen eignen Vater Kronos hat er selbst
gefesselt. Darin ist ein offner Widerspruch.
Ihr habt's gehört, ihr Richter, Zeugen seid ihr mir.
Eumenides (OCR draft) Experimental (Eumenides. Anna Swanwick, 1886.) — 640 focus
English (E. D. A. Morshead, 1889, second edition) (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschylus, The Furies — Morshead translation. Wikisource transcription; speech corresp and card milestones aligned to Smyth perseus-grc2.) — 640 focus
Zeus, as thou sayest, holds a father's death
As first of crimes,—yet he of his own act
Cast into chains his father, Cronos old,—
740
How suits that deed with that which now ye tell?
O ye who judge, I bid ye mark my words!
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1854; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (Aeschylos. Deutsch in den Versmaßen der Urschrift. Stuttgart: Hoffmann, 1854. Native Donner line citations, Smyth card correspondence, selected textual readings and metrical facsimiles. Remaining OCR differences and unattributed reading notes are documented in the linked review inventory.) — 640 focus
Du sagtest, schwerer achte Zeus des Vaters Mord;
610
Doch band er selbst den greisen Vater Kronos einst.
Steht das mit deiner Rede nicht im Widerspruch?
Darauf zu hören, ruf' ich euch als Zeugen auf.
English (Smyth; revised Bannon and Nagy, CHS) (OCR draft) Experimental (CHS Primary Sources revision of Herbert Weir Smyth’s translation by Cynthia Bannon and Gregory Nagy, with transliterated Greek terms tagged and aligned to the Smyth edition.)

No corresponding passage available

Commentary

Commentary on Aeschylus: Eumenides (Aeschylus. Eumenides. Sidgwick, Arthur, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1887.)

640. προτιμᾷ , most regards: i. e. counts it of more importance, as a more heinous sin, to slay him.

643. ὑμᾶς , the judges, as the Scholiast says.

645. ἂν λύσειεν , quite general, fetters may be loosed: not 'Zeus' only, but anyone, may loose them.

649. ἐπῳδάς . So Ag. 1019, 'The black blood once fallen on the earth who can call back with charms?'

653. τὸ μητρὸς αἱμ' ὅμαιμον , his mothers kindred blood,' the attribute μητρὸς ὅμαιμον being divided, as often.

659. κῦμα , from kv-, which has the ideas of bulging, swelling, containing, hence κῦμα is the young in the womb, more commonly κύημα. So Cho. 121.

660. ὁ θρώσκων , he who begets, the male. The strange doctrine is that the father who begets is the real parent (τίκτει), the mother a stranger, ξένη, who only cherishes the child for another.

661. οἷσι μὴ βλάψῃ θεός , ‘save what the god blights,' i.e. 'except the god blight it, the plural relative after ἔpvos being a natural laxity of grammar.

665. οὐδ .' has troubled editors: H. Butl. (Dind. Weil, etc.) suppose a line fallen out: Schütz reads οὐκ. I do not see that alteration is necessary if a slight pause is made at πάρεστι :

Close at hand
There is a witness, daughter of Olympian Zeus, -
And not nursed in the darkness of the womb,
But such a sprout,' etc.

667. τἄλλα . θ' answers to καὶ τόνδ' ἔπεμψα. τἄλλα is expanded into τὸ σὸν πόλισμα καὶ στρατόν.

Critical apparatus to Eumenides (OCR draft) (Latin and Greek critical apparatus to Gottfried Hermann's 1852 edition of Eumenides.) focus

mvp-comment-410-1 NA: Hi versus desunt in Ven. Flor. Farn.

mvp-comment-450-1 ἔδησε:

ἔδεισε
Μ. sed
ει
in
η
mutatum est.

mvp-comment-451-1 ταῦτα:

τοῦτ'
Αld. Turn.

mvp-comment-452-1 παντομισῆ: Hinc rursus adiuvamur codicibus Ven. Flor. Farn.

παντοστυγή
Aug.

mvp-comment-453-1 μὲν ἂν:

μὲν ἂν
G. Ald. Turn.

mvp-comment-454-1 ἄκος:

ἔπι
pro
ἔστι
Ald.

mvp-comment-455-1 πολλὴ μηχανὴ:

πολλῆ μηχανή
Ven. Flor.

mvp-comment-456-1 ἐπειδὰν: Hunc et sequentem versum affert Tzetzes Chil. VIII. 231.

ἀς
pro
ὡς
,
ἐπειδὰν
Ven. Flor. Turn.
ἐπειδ᾽ ἂν
M. G. Ald. Rob.

mvp-comment-457-1 ἀνασπάσῃ:

ἀνασπάσῃ
Turn.
ἀνασπάση
M. Rob.
ἀνασπάσση
G. Ald.
ἀνασπάσει
Ven. Flor. Farn.

mvp-comment-458-1 θανόντος: Melius post

θανόντος
quam post
κόνις
interpungitur. Ag. v. 981.
τὸ δ᾽ ἐπὶ γᾶν πεσὸν ἅπαξ θανάσιμον προπάροιθ᾽ ἀνδρὸς μέλαν αἷμα τίς ἂν πάλιν ἀγκαλέσαιτ᾽ ἐπαείδων;

mvp-comment-459-1 ἔστ᾽:

ἐπ'
pro
ἔστ'
Ald. Ennius apud Diomedem p. 380.
nec retrahi potestur imperiis.

mvp-comment-460-1 ἐποίησεν:

ἐποίησεν
Victorius, et sic Ven. Flor.
ἐποίησε
M. Aug. G. Ald. Rob. Turn.

mvp-comment-461-1 ἄνω τε καὶ κάτω:

ἄνω τε καὶ κάτω
Aug. Ven. Flor. Rob. Turn.
ἄνω καὶ κάτω
M. G. Ald.

mvp-comment-462-1 τίθησιν οὐδέν, ἀσμένῳ μένει:

τίθησι κοὐδὲν
Farn. Reliqui
τίθησιν οὐδὲν
, sic quidem ut Aug. G. Ald. Rob. post
τίθησιν
interpungant, Turn. post
οὐδέν
. In G.
οὐδὲν
e correctione est, quum antea fuisset
οὐδ' ἐν
. Deinde
ἀσθμαίνω μένει
M. Aug. G. Ald. Turn.
ἀσθμαίνων μένει
Ven. Flor. Rob. et ut videtur Farn. Hoc inde a Victorio obtinuit. Sed dubitari non potest quin hic versus corruptus sit. Nam ut
οὐδὲν ἀσθμαίνων
defendi possit, quod aegre tamen defendetur, at nullo pacto ferri potest his additum
μένει
. Scripsi
τὰ δ᾽ ἄλλα πάντ' ἄνω τε καὶ κάτω στρέφων τίθησιν οὐδέν, ἀσμένῳ μένει.
Τίθησιν οὐδέν
, temnit. Sophocles El. v. 1270.
δαιμόνιον αὐτὸ τίθημ᾽ ἐγώ
.

mvp-comment-463-1 ὑπερδικεῖς:

ὑπερδικεῖς
e correctione, antea
ὑπερδικὴς
G.

mvp-comment-464-1 ὅρα: Idem et Αld.

ὁρᾷ
.

mvp-comment-465-1 ἐκχέας:

ἐκχόας
Ald.

mvp-comment-466-1 ἔπειτ' ἐν Ἄργει:

ἔπει τ᾽ ἐνάργει
Ald.

mvp-comment-467-1 χέρνιψ:

χέρνιξ
G. Ald.

mvp-comment-468-1 φρατέρων:

φρατέρων
M. Par. Aug. G. Ven. Flor. Ald. et supra adscripto
το
Farn.
φρατόρων
Rob. Turn. V. Buttmannum in Mythologi vol. II. et G. Dindorfium ad Aristoph. Εq. ν. 255.

mvp-comment-469-1 προςδέξεται:

προςδέξεται
Aug. Ven. Ald. Turn. et, ut videtur Par. Flor. Farn.
προσδέξαιται
G.
προσδέξαιτε
M. idemque adscriptum in Par.
προσδέξαιτο
Rob.

mvp-comment-470-1 ἡ κεκλημένη: Recte Musgravius et Schutzius scribendum viderunt

ἡ κεκλημένη
, et hoc habent Ven. Flor. Farn.
ἡ κεκλημένου
M. G. Ald. Rob. Turn. Apte Schutzius attulit Eur. Alc. v. 648.
οὐδ᾽ ἡ τεκεῖν φάσκουσα καὶ κεκλημένη μήτηρ μ' έτικτε
, cum tota autem horum versuum sententia comparavit Eur. Ol. v. 551. seqq. et fragm. inc. LVIII.

mvp-comment-471-1 νεοσπόρου:

νεοσπάρου
Rob.

mvp-comment-472-1 ἅπερ:

ὥσπερ
Par.

mvp-comment-473-1 ξένῳ ξένη:

ξένη ξένῳ
Aug. sed litteris β' ά ordinem invertendum esse indicans.

mvp-comment-474-1 ἔρνος:

ἔρνος
hic et v. 658. G. Ald.

mvp-comment-475-1 βλάψῃ:

βλάψῃ
vel
βλάψῃ
Μ. G. Aug. Ven. Flor. Ald. Rob. Turn.
βλάψει
Par.

mvp-comment-476-1 τεκμήριον:

τεκμήριος
Αld.

mvp-comment-477-1 γένοιτ': Scholiastes, qui

γεννήσειεν
adscripsit, legit
γείνατ'
. At hoc deterius est quam quod libri habent,
γένοιτ'
.

mvp-comment-478-1 NA: Versum excidisse indicavi in Opusc. VI. 2. p. 90. et viderat hoc Butlerus. Multo id probabilius est quam quod Schützius putabat,

οὐδ'
in sequentis versus initio mutandum esse in
οὐκ
. Excidisse autem videtur versus hac sententia, ex capite Iovis armata prosiliens.

mvp-comment-479-1 οἷον:

ἀλλοῖον
G.

mvp-comment-480-1 τέκοι:

πέκοι
Ven.

mvp-comment-481-1 ὡς:

ὅσ'
pro
ὡς
G.
ὃς
Ald.

mvp-comment-482-1 δόμων:

δόμον
Aug.

mvp-comment-483-1 χρόνου:

χρόνον
Aug.

mvp-comment-484-1 τάδ᾽ αἰανῶς μένοι:

τάδ' αἰανῶς
M. Aug. Ven. Flor. Turn. et e correctione G.
τὰ δὲ αἰῶνος
ante correctionem G.
τάδ' αἰῶνος
Ald. Rob. Deinde
μένει
, sed mutatum in
μένοι
, G.
ας
, Flor.

mvp-comment-485-1 τὰ πιστὰ:

τὰ πιστὰ
Ven. Flor Turn.
τ' ἄπιστα
M. Aug. G. Ald. Rob.

Commentary on the Eumenides (OCR draft) (Brief English notes on Aeschylus' Eumenides by F. A. Paley, 1885.) focus

mvp-comment-204-1 ταῦτα τούτοις] Viz. τὸ προτιμᾶν τῷ δῆσαι Κρ. 'They do not wish to find fault with Zeus, but to refute Apollo. Schol.

mvp-comment-205-1 ὑμᾶς] s] You, the judges, I call upon to listen to the answer given. It amounts to this, that one may be liberated from bonds, but not restored to life. The subject to λύσειεν is perhaps μηχανή, but ὁ δήσας might easily be supplied.

mvp-comment-206-1 ἐπῳδάς] The medical remedies of charms or incantations are meant, as θρηνεῖν ἐπῳδὰς, Ajax 582 . Agam. 988

αἷμα-τίς ἂν ἀγκαλέσαιτ᾽ ἐπαείδων; -τὰ δ' ἄλλα,
everything else he can effect, he 'turns everything else upside down and completely alters it, and that without trouble; but he cannot alter the law of fate. Cf. Suppl. 93
πᾶν ἅπονον δαιμόνιον.

mvp-comment-207-1 πῶς γὰρ κ.τ.λ.] Schol.

σκόπει πῶς δικαιοῖς ᾿Ορέστην φεύγειν.
They warn Apollo not to advocate the cause of a man who, even if acquitted, will be excluded from all civil and religious rights. As φυγεῖν, not φεύγειν, means to be acquitted, we must understand in his being a defendant, i.e. in the present cause. Cf. Ajax 1346
σὺ ταῦτ᾽, ᾿Ὀδυσσεῦ, τοῦδ᾽ ὑπερδικεῖς ἐμοί;

mvp-comment-208-1 ὡς ὀρθῶς ἐρῶ] He now speaks with authority as ἐξηγητὴς, interpreter of a great natural law.

mvp-comment-209-1 τοκεύς] She is not the real parent of that which is called her child, as if she were the author of its being; the male alone begets, the female does but rear the embryo to maturity. -κύματος, Schol.

κυήματος.
Id. θρώσκων, ὁ σπερμαίνων. Hesych.
θρώσκων· κνώδαλα ἐκπορίζων. καὶ σπερματίζων, γεννῶν. Αἰσχύλος᾿ Αμυμώνῃ.

mvp-comment-210-1 μὴ βλάψη] A metaphor from the blighting or blasting of plants; cf. inf. 869, 898.

mvp-comment-211-1 Perhaps οὐ δὴ, not, of course. For the explanation of the legend, which is simply the rising of the dawn from the forehead of the sky, see Cox, Aryan Mythology, 1. p. 228 and 441.

mvp-comment-212-1 ὡς ἐπίσταμαι] Schol.

ὅσον δύναμαι.
He refers perhaps to his influence at Delphi in favour of Athens.

mvp-comment-213-1 αἰανῶς] for all time. See on 394. In the next line construe τῶνδε τοὺς ἐπισπόρους, in the political sense, the descendants of the citizens here present. Schol.

ἀπογόνους.

Selected scholia accompanying Blass's Eumenides (OCR draft) (The mixed Greek, Latin, and German scholia register printed with Friedrich Blass's 1907 edition, aligned to O. L. Smith's later recensional editions.) focus

mvp-comment-256-1 ὡς λέγεις σύ (Paley für οὖν), πατέρα προτιμᾶι μητρὸς ὁ Ζεύς.

mvp-comment-257-1 οὐ τὸν Δία προέθετο κακῶς εἰπεῖν, ἀλλὰ τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα ὡς ψευσάμενον βούλετοι ἐλέγξαι.

mvp-comment-258-1 ὦ κριταί.

mvp-comment-259-1 ἐκ τῆς Ἀπόλλωνος ἀπολογίας κατακρινοῦσιν (-κρίνουσιν Μ) Ὀρέστην· εἰ γὰρ τὸν φονέα οὐχ οἷόν τε τὸν φόνον ἀνακαλέσασθαι, πῶς Ὀρέστης φονεύσας ἐλευθερωθήσεται; σκόπει πῶς δικαιοῖς Ὀρέστην φεύγειν.

mvp-comment-260-1 κυήματος.

mvp-comment-261-1 ὁ σπερμαίνων. ὡς παρακαταθήκην.

mvp-comment-262-1 γεννήσειεν.

mvp-comment-263-1 Παλλάς. ὅσον δύναμαι.

mvp-comment-264-1 δι᾿ αἰῶνος.

mvp-comment-265-1 ἀπογόνους.

Wecklein’s commentary on Eumenides (1888; German; OCR draft) (Explanatory commentary, pp. 251–322; HW42J8 and HXJHA8 OCR collated, with missing comparison pages 294–295 explicitly marked. Unresolved OCR and provisional reference mappings are explicitly marked.) focus

mvp-comment-312-1 Wecklein 1888, p. 292

mvp-comment-312-2 viertes Epeisodion: Vor dem neu eingesetzten Gerichtshof, dem Athena als ἡγεμών und εἰσαγωγεύς vorsteht (583), bringen die Erinyen ihre Anklage vor, Apollon legt Zeugnis ab und tritt den Erinyen als Vertreter der Sache des Orestes, die zugleich seine eigene ist, entgegen. Darauf fällen die Areopagiten das Urteil. Athena tritt rechts auf. Ein Herold und ein Trompetenbläser schreiten voraus, Bürger von Athen folgen ihr. κήρυσσε scil. σίγα ( Eur. Phoen. 1224

σίγα κηρύξαι στρατῷ
). Der Schol. :
ὅρα πῶς τὰ νέων ἔθη ἀναχρονίζει. ἃ γὰρ νῦν γίνε ται, ταῦτα τὴν ᾿Αθηνῶν εἰσήγαγε λέγουσαν. ἐχρῶντο γὰρ τῇ σάλ πιγγι ἀνείργειν τὸ πλῆθος θέλοντες
. στρατόν: natürlich ist das Volk nur gedacht.

mvp-comment-352-1 Wecklein 1888, p. 296

mvp-comment-352-2 Schol. :

οὐ τὸν Δία προέθετο κακῶς εἰπεῖν, ἀλλὰ τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα ὡς ψευσάμενον βούλεται ἐλέγξαι
.

mvp-comment-353-1 Wecklein 1888, p. 296

mvp-comment-353-2 ,,Euch rufe ich zu Zeugen an dies zu hören" d. i.,,habt acht auf diesen Widerspruch, damit ihr ihn bezeugen könnt." Damit will sie die besondere Aufmerksamkeit der Richter darauf lenken.

mvp-comment-353-3 1

mvp-comment-354-1 Wecklein 1888, p. 296

mvp-comment-354-2 Vg1. Cho. 1026 .

mvp-comment-355-1 2

mvp-comment-355-2 Wecklein 1888, p. 296

mvp-comment-355-3 Zu Ag. 990 f. Im Προμη θεὺς λυόμενος traten die Titanen als Chor auf: Zeus hat ihre Fesseln gelöst und sich mit Kronos ausgesöhnt. Kronos wohnt dann auf den Inseln der Seligen ( Pind. Ol. II 78 ).

mvp-comment-356-1 Wecklein 1888, p. 297

mvp-comment-356-2 μηχανὴ λυτήριος, vgl. Sept. 1032

θάρσει, παρέσται μηχανὴ δραστήριος
.

mvp-comment-357-1 Wecklein 1888, p. 297

mvp-comment-357-2 Für vergossenes Blut giebt es keine Sühne, während in allem andern Vater Zeus die Sache nicht so genau nimmt und sich nicht sonderlich ereifert. Cetera vero omnia Iupiter constituit, sursum deorsum volvens, h. e. modo sic, modo aliter dirigens (Schütz). Vgl. auch zu 532 f. Wie dort ἄλλο ἄλλα ἐφορεύει, steht hier ἄνω τε καὶ κάτω στρέφων τίθησιν. οὐδὲν.. μένει, keineswegs infolge von Zornmut schnaubend d. i. nicht über die Mafsen aufgebracht und unversöhnlich.

mvp-comment-358-1 Wecklein 1888, p. 297

mvp-comment-358-2 Ganz einverstanden: denn sieh zu, wie du dann für diesen eintrittst, dafs er freigesprochen werde; wenn es für vergossenes Blut keine Sühne giebt, so kann auch Orestes als Mörder nicht gesühnt sein und darf als unrein nicht in seine Heimat kommen. Ζυ τὸ φεύγειν ὑπερδικεῖς τοῦδε vgl. Soph. Ai. 1346 où tavt', 'Odvoσεῦ, τοῦτ᾽ ὑπερμαχεῖς ἐμοί;

mvp-comment-359-1 Wecklein 1888, p. 297

mvp-comment-359-2 Der Mörder mufs den Schauplatz seiner Missethat meiden. Vgl. Hom. Π 573 , Ψ 86 , Ω 481 .

mvp-comment-360-1 Wecklein 1888, p. 297

mvp-comment-360-2 Einem Mörder war der Besuch der Heiligtümer wie der öffentlichen Plätze und Versammlungen untersagt. Dies wurde gleich durch die πρόρρησις bei der Bestattung des Ermordeten erklärt, vgl. Schömann Antiqu. iur. publ. Graec. p. 289. Die

mvp-comment-361-1 Wecklein 1888, p. 297

mvp-comment-361-2 ποία δὲ χέρνιψ: zu Ag. 1020 . Geschlechtsgenossenschaften ( φρῆτραι, φρᾶτραι, φρατρίαι) hatten gemeinsame Kulte und feierten gemeinsame Opfer und Feste, unter denen das bedeutendste die Ἀπατούρια waren.

mvp-comment-361-3 3

mvp-comment-362-1 Wecklein 1888, p. 297

mvp-comment-362-2 Die Mutter von dem was τέκνον heifst ist nicht τοκεύς. Mit κεκλημένον wird so die Bezeichnung τέκνον im Verhältnis zur Mutter als ungenau erklärt. κύματος, κυήματος wie Cho. 128 . Den Gedanken hat auch Eur. Or. 552 zur Widerlegung der gleichen Anklage benützt: πατὴρ μὲν ἐφύ τευσέν με, σὴ (Orestes spricht zu Tyndareos) δ᾽ ἔτικτε παῖς, τὸ σπέρμ' ἄρουρα παραλαβοῦσ᾽ ἄλλου πάρα. ἄνευ δὲ πατρὸς τέκνον οὐκ εἴη ποτ᾽ ἄν. ἐλογισάμην οὖν τῷ γένους ἀρχηγέτῃ κάλλιον ἀμυνεῖν τῆς ὑποστάσης τροφάς. Euripides unterscheidet also zwischen φυτεύειν und τίκτειν, welches letztere er von der Mutter gelten läfst, während Aschylos das τίκτειν nur dem Vater zuerkennt. Vgl. auch Eur. frg. 1048

ἀλλ᾽ ἴσθ᾽, ἐμοὶ μὲν οὗτος οὐκ ἔσται νόμος, τὸ μὴ οὐ σέ, μῆτερ, προσ
- φιλῆ νέμειν ἀεὶ καὶ τοῦ δικαίου καὶ τόκων τῶν σῶν χάριν. στέργω δὲ τὸν φύσαντα τῶν πάντων βρο τῶν μάλισθ'· ὁρίζω τοῦτο καὶ σὺ μὴ φθόνει· κείνου γὰρ ἐξέβλαστον· οὐδ᾽ ἂν εἰς ἀνὴρ γυναικὸς αὐδήσειεν, ἀλλὰ τοῦ πατρός.

mvp-comment-362-3 4

mvp-comment-363-1 Wecklein 1888, p. 298

mvp-comment-363-2 ὁ θρώσκων, ὁ σπερμαίνων Schol. Hesych. θρώσκων κνώδαλα: ἐκθορίζων καὶ σπερματίζων, γεννῶν. Αἰσχύλος Ἀμυμώνη. αἷσι . . θεός, eae saltem, quibus foetum non extinxerit deus (Musgrave). Über den Plural αἷσι Krüger I § 58, 3, 5 und über den Konjunktiv ohne άv zu 211.

mvp-comment-364-1 Wecklein 1888, p. 298

mvp-comment-364-2 Der bei μὲν vorschwebende Gedanke ἄνευ δὲ πατρὸς τέκνον οὐκ εἴη ποτ᾽ ἄν ergänzt sich, wie 628 καὶ γυναῖκα, von selbst.

mvp-comment-365-1 Wecklein 1888, p. 298

mvp-comment-365-2 Nach diesem Verse fehlt, wie das folgende ovde zeigt, ein Vers etwa οὐκ ἐκλοχευθεῖσ᾽ ἀγρίοις μόλις πόνοις oder πατρὸς λοχευθεῖσ᾽ ἐξ ἄκρου κρατός ποτε (in diesem Falle würde οὐδ᾽ für καὶ οὐ stehen).

mvp-comment-366-1 Wecklein 1888, p. 298

mvp-comment-366-2 Zur Argumentation wird noch ( ἔξω τοῦ πράγματος) eine auf das Gemüt wirkende Bemerkung hinzugefügt. Doch s. Anhang.

mvp-comment-367-1 Wecklein 1888, p. 298

mvp-comment-367-2 αἰανῶς (575) μένοι wie Suppl. 956

μένειν ἀραρότως
, Ag. 845
ἐμπέδως μένοι
. — τοὺς ἐπισπόρους τῶνδε, τῶν ἔπειτα, also die fernen Enkel.

Commentary (Arthur Sidgwick, 1887) (OCR draft) (Arthur Sidgwick's commentary on the Eumenides, aligned to the canonical Greek text.) focus

προτιμᾷ , most regards: i. e. counts it of more importance, as a more heinous sin, to slay him.

ὑμᾶς , the judges, as the Scholiast says.

ἂν λύσειεν , quite general, fetters may be loosed: not Zeus only, but anyone, may loose them.

mvp-sidgwick-295-1-1 For this sentiment, the keynote of the three plays, see l. 261

. 1 Hartung, Wakefield, Burgess rewrite the passage: Paley reads ἅμ' αἴνοις for ἄμεινον, harsh in itself, and leaving ἠμποληκότα untranslateable; Bothe and Butler ἢ φράσαι for εὔφροσιν, ingenious, but rather too strong: H. Schütz, Linwood, Rauchenstein suppose a lacuna. Wellauer says procul dubio corrupta. Weckl. also leaves a lacuna. It strikes a modern reader as a grotesque defence of Zeus for his unfilial act, to say Fetters can be undone.

ἐπῳδάς . So Ag. 1019,

The black blood once fallen on the earth who can call back with charms?

mvp-sidgwick-297-1-1 All else he turns about, setting them high or low as he will.

mvp-sidgwick-298-1-1 Beware how thou pleadest for him, that he be acquitted; the τὸ φεύγειν being a kind of consecutive infinitive, giving the desired result of the pleading.

τὸ μητρὸς αἱμ' ὅμαιμον , his mothers kindred blood,' the attribute μητρὸς ὅμαιμον being divided, as often.

mvp-sidgwick-300-1-1 The Phratriai or clans were originally sub-divisions of the four old Ionic Tribes into which Athenians were grouped. There were twelve phratries, and they were based on a real or supposed kinship. The annual clan festival was the Apatouria (festival of those who had the same father, ἀ- πατήρ). And the purification with water (χέρνιψ) was the common preliminary to these, as to all rites in temples or household gatherings: the bloodguilty being naturally excluded from all.

mvp-sidgwick-301-1-1 The Med. reads κεκλημένου, while Ven. Flor. Farn. read κεκλημένη. Both make sense: (1) κεκλημένου: the mother of the so-called child is not the parent. (2) κεκλημένη: the so-called mother is not the parent of the child. But it is obvious that τέκνου and τοκεύς are opposed, the sense required being ' it is called her τέκνον, but she is not the τοκ-εύς really :' and therefore it is best to take (1), the Medicean reading κεκλημένου.

κῦμα , from kv-, which has the ideas of bulging, swelling, containing, hence κῦμα is the young in the womb, more commonly κύημα. So Cho. 121 .

ὁ θρώσκων , he who begets, the male. The strange doctrine is that the father who begets is the real parent (τίκτει), the mother a stranger, ξένη, who only cherishes the child for another.

οἷσι μὴ βλάψῃ θεός , save what the god blights, i.e. except the god blight it, the plural relative after ἔpvos being a natural laxity of grammar.

mvp-sidgwick-304-2-1 [The indef. subj. without av is an Epic use, common in Tragedy. Note also ἔσωσεν gnomic aor.]

οὐδ .' has troubled editors: H. Butl. (Dind. Weil, etc.) suppose a line fallen out: Schütz reads οὐκ. I do not see that alteration is necessary if a slight pause is made at πάρεστι :

Close at hand
There is a witness, daughter of Olympian Zeus, -
And not nursed in the darkness of the womb,
But such a sprout,' etc.

mvp-sidgwick-305-2-1 [No sense can be got by taking οὐδέ, not even, as Pal. following Wellauer.] The and couples the explanatory clause, as te in Ag. 1526 .

τἄλλα . θ' answers to καὶ τόνδ' ἔπεμψα. τἄλλα is expanded into τὸ σὸν πόλισμα καὶ στρατόν.

mvp-sidgwick-307-1-1 That their posterity should cherish this faithful bond:' the emphasis of this wish for permanence is really a political allusion. Not long before the date of the play (which is generally put at 458 B.C.) the Argives had become allied with Athens. The picture of Orestes the Argive, fleeing for refuge to Athens, had therefore a significance from a political point of view, which is of course only lightly touched, but is not lost sight of. See below l. 765

, and Introduction.