Æschylos Tragedies and Fragments

Athena. Cry out, O herald; the great host hold back;Then let Tyrrhenian trumpet,513 piercing heaven,Filled with man's breath, to all that host send forthThe full-toned notes, for while this council-hallIs filling, it is meet men hold their peace.[Herald blows his trumpetAnd let the city for all time to comeLearn these my laws, and this accused one too,That so the trial may be rightly judged.514[As Athena speaks, Apollo entersChor. O King Apollo, rule thou o'er thine own;But what hast thou to do with this our cause?Apol. I am come both as witness, – for this manIs here as suppliant, that on my hearth sat,And I his cleanser am from guilt of blood, —And to plead for him as his advocate:I bear the blame of that his mother's death.But thou, whoe'er dost act as president,Open the suit in way well known to thee.515Athena. [to the Erinnyes.] 'Tis yours to speak; I thus the pleadings open,For so the accuser, speaking first, shall have,Of right, the task to state the case to us.Chor. Many are we, but briefly will we speak;And answer thou [to Orestes], in thy turn, word for word;First tell us this, did'st thou thy mother slay?Orest. I slew her: of that fact is no denial.Chor. Here, then, is one of our three bouts516 decided.Orest. Thou boastest this o'er one not yet thrown down.Chor. This thou at least must tell, how thou did'st slay her.Orest. E'en so; her throat I cut with hand sword-armed.Chor. By whom persuaded, and with whose advice?Orest. [Pointing to Apollo.] By His divine command: He bears me witness.Chor. The prophet-God prompt thee to matricide!Orest. Yea, and till now I do not blame my lot.Chor. Nay, when found guilty, soon thou'lt change thy tone.Orest. I trust my sire will send help from the tomb.Chor. Trust in the dead, thou murderer of thy mother!Orest. Yes; for in her two great pollutions met.Chor. How so, I pray? Inform the court of this.Orest. She both her husband and my father slew.Chor. Nay then, thou liv'st, and she gets quit by death.Orest. Why, while she lived, did'st thou to chase her fail?Chor. The man she slew was not one of blood with her.517Orest. And does my mother's blood then flow in me?Chor. E'en so; how else, O murderer, reared she theeWithin her womb? Disown'st thou mother's blood?Orest. [Turning to Apollo.] Now bear thou witness, and declare to me,Apollo, if I slew her righteously;For I the deed, as fact, will not deny.But whether right or wrong this deed of bloodSeem in thine eyes, judge thou that these may hear.Apol. I will to you, Athena's solemn council,Speak truly, and as prophet will not lie.Ne'er have I spoken on prophetic throne,Of man, or woman, or of commonwealth,But as great Zeus, Olympian Father, bade;And that ye learn how much this plea avails,I bid you [turning to the court of jurymen] follow out my Father's will;No oath can be of greater might than Zeus.518Chor. Zeus, then, thou say'st, did prompt the oracleThat this Orestes here, his father's bloodAvenging, should his mother's rights o'erthrow?Apol. 'Tis a quite other thing for hero-chief,Bearing the honour of Zeus-given sceptre,To die, and at a woman's hands, not e'enBy swift, strong dart, from Amazonian bow,519But as thou, Pallas, now shalt hear, and thoseWho sit to give their judgment in this cause;For when he came successful from the tradeOf war with largest gains, receiving himWith kindly words of praise, she spread a robeOver the bath, yes, even o'er its edge,As he was bathing, and entangling himIn endless folds of cloak of cunning work,She strikes her lord down. Thus the tale is toldOf her lord's murder, chief whom all did honour,The ships' great captain. So I tell it out,E'en as it was, to thrill the people's hearts,Who now are set to give their verdict here.Chor. Zeus then a father's death, as thou dost say,Of highest moment holds, yet He himselfBound fast in chains his aged father, Cronos;520Are not thy words at variance with the facts?I call on you [to the Court] to witness what he says.Apol. O hateful creatures, loathèd of the Gods,Those chains may be undone, that wrong be cured,And many a means of rescue may be found:But when the dust has drunk the blood of men,No resurrection comes for one that's dead:No charm for these things hath my sire devised;But all things else he turneth up or down,And orders without toil or weariness.521Chor. Take heed how thou help this man to escape;Shall he who stained earth with his mother's bloodThen dwell in Argos in his father's house?What public altars can he visit now?What lustral rite of clan or tribe admit him?522Apol. This too I'll say; judge thou if I speak right:The mother is not parent of the childThat is called hers, but nurse of embryo sown.He that begets is parent:523 she, as stranger,For stranger rears the scion, if God mar not;And of this fact I'll give thee proof full sure.A father there may be without a mother:Here nigh at hand, as witness, is the childOf high Olympian Zeus, for she not e'enWas nurtured in the darkness of the womb,524Yet such a scion may no God beget.I, both in all else, Pallas, as I know,Will make thy city and thy people great,And now this man have sent as suppliantUpon thy hearth, that he may faithful proveNow and for ever, and that thou, O Goddess,May'st gain him as ally, and all his race,And that it last as law for evermore,That these men's progeny our treaties own.Athena. [To jurors.] I bid you give, according to your conscience,A verdict just; enough has now been said.Chor. We have shot forth our every weapon now:I wait to hear what way the strife is judged.Athena. [To Chorus.] How shall I order this, unblamed by you?Chor. [To jurors.] Ye heard what things ye heard, and in your heartsReverence your oaths, and give your votes, O friends.Athena. Hear ye my order, O ye Attic people,In act to judge your first great murder-cause.And henceforth shall the host of Ægeus' race525For ever own this council-hall of judges:And for this Ares' hill, the Amazons' seatAnd camp when they, enraged with Theseus, came526In hostile march, and built as counterworkThis citadel high-reared, a city new,And sacrificed to Ares, whence 'tis namedAs Ares' hill and fortress: in this, I say,The reverent awe its citizens shall own,And fear, awe's kindred, shall restrain from wrongBy day, nor less by night, so long as they,The burghers, alter not themselves their laws:But if with drain of filth and tainted soilClear river thou pollute, no drink thou'lt find.527I give my counsel to you, citizens,To reverence and guard well that form of stateWhich is not lawless, nor tyrannical,And not to cast all fear from out the city;528For what man lives devoid of fear and just?But rightly shrinking, owning awe like this,Ye then would have a bulwark of your land,A safeguard for your city, such as noneBoast or in Skythia's529 or in Pelops' clime.This council I establish pure from bribe,Reverend, and keen to act, for those that sleep530An ever-watchful sentry of the land.This charge of mine I thus have lengthened outFor you, my people, for all time to come.And now 'tis meet ye rise, and take your ballots,531And so decide the cause, maintaining stillYour reverence for your oath. My speech is said.Chor. And I advise you not to treat with scornA troop that can sit heavy on your land.Apol. And I do bid you dread my oracles,And those of Zeus, nor rob them of their fruit.Chor. Uncalled thou com'st to take a murderer's part;No longer pure the oracles thou'lt speak.Apol. And did my father then in purpose err,Then the first murderer he received, Ixion?532Chor. Thou talk'st, but should I fail in this my cause,I will again dwell here and vex this land.Apol. Alike among the new Gods and the oldArt thou dishonoured: I shall win the day.Chor. This did'st thou also in the house of Pheres,533Winning the Fates to make a man immortal.Apol. Was it not just a worshipper to blessIn any case, – then most, when he's in want?Chor. Thou did'st o'erthrow, yea, thou, laws hoar with age,And drug with wine the ancient Goddesses.534Apol. Nay, thou, non-suited in this cause of thine,Shall venom spit that nothing hurts thy foes.Chor. Since thou, though young, dost ride me down, though old,I wait to hear the issue of the cause,Still wavering in my wrath against this city.Athena. 'Tis now my task to close proceedings here;And this my vote I to Orestes add;For I no mother own that brought me forth,And saving that I wed not, I preferThe male with all my heart, and make mine ownThe father's cause, nor will above it placeA woman's death, who slew her own true lord,The guardian of her house. Orestes wins,E'en though the votes be equal. Cast ye forthWith all your speed the lots from out the urns,Ye jurors unto whom that office falls.Orest. Phœbos Apollo! what will be the judgment?Chor. Dark Night, my mother! dost thou look on this?Orest. My goal is now the noose, or full, clear day.Chor. Ours too to come to nought, or work on still.[A pause. The jurors take out the voting tabletsfrom the two urns (one of bronze, the other ofwood) for acquittal or condemnationApol. Now count ye up the votes thrown out, O friends,And be ye honest, as ye reckon them;One sentence lacking, sorrow great may come,And one vote given hath ofttimes saved a house.[A pause, during which the urns are emptied andthe votes are countedAthena. The accused is found “not guilty” of the murder:For lo! the numbers of the votes are equal.535Orest. O Pallas, thou who hast redeemed my house,Thou, thou hast brought me back when I had beenBereaved of fatherland, and Hellenes nowWill say, “The man's an Argive once again,And dwells upon his father's heritage,Because of Pallas and of Loxias,And Zeus, the true third Saviour, all o'erruling,Who, touched with pity for my father's fate,Saves me, beholding these my mother's pleaders.”And I will now wend homeward, giving pledgeTo this thy country and its valiant host,To stand as firm for henceforth and for ever,That no man henceforth, chief of Argive land,Shall bring against it spearmen well equipped:For we ourselves, though in our sepulchres,On those who shall transgress these oaths of ours,Will with inextricable evils work,Making their paths disheartening, and their waysIll-omened, that they may their toil repent.But if these oaths be kept, to those who honourThis city of great Pallas, our ally,Then we to them are more propitious yet.Farewell then, Thou, and these who guard thy city.Mayst thou so wrestle that thy foes escape not,And so win victory and deliverance!StropheChor. Ah! ah! ye younger God!Ye have ridden down the laws of ancient days,And robbed me of my prey.But I, dishonoured, wretched, full of wrath,Upon this land, ha! ha!Will venom, venom from my heart let fall,In vengeance for my grief,A dropping which shall smiteThe earth with barrenness!And thence shall come, (O Vengeance!) on the plainDown swooping, blight of leaves and murrain direThat o'er the land flings taint of pestilence.Shall I then wail and groan?Or what else shall I do?Shall I become a woe intolerableUnto these men for wrongs I have endured?Great, very great are they,Ye virgin daughters of dim Night, ill-doomed,Born both to shame and woe!Athena. Nay, list to me, and be not over-grieved;Ye have not been defeated, but the causeCame fairly to a tie, no shame to thee.But the clear evidence of Zeus was given,And he who spake it bare his witness tooThat, doing this, Orestes should not suffer.Hurl ye not then fierce rage on this my land;Nor be ye wroth, nor work ye barrenness,By letting fall the drops of evil Powers,536The baleful influence that consumes all seed.For lo! I promise, promise faithfully,That, seated on your hearths with shining thrones,Ye shall find cavern homes in righteous land,Honoured and worshipped by these citizens.AntistropheChor. Ah ah! ye younger Gods!Ye have ridden down the laws of ancient days,And robbed me of my prey.And I, dishonoured, wretched, full of wrath,Upon this land, ha! ha!Will venom, venom from my heart let fall,In vengeance for my grief,A dropping which shall smiteThe earth with barrenness!And thence shall come, (O Vengeance!) on the plainDown-swooping, blight of leaves and murrain direThat o'er the land flings taint of pestilence.Shall I then wail and groan?Or what else shall I do?Shall I become a woe intolerableUnto these men for wrongs I have endured?Great, very great are they,Ye virgin daughters of dim Night, ill-doomed,Born both to shame and woe!Athena. Ye are not left unhonoured; be not hotIn wrath, ye Goddesses, to mar man's land,I too, yes I, trust Zeus. Need I say more?I only of the high Gods know the keysOf chambers where the sealed-up thunder lies;But that I have no need of. List to me,Nor cast upon the earth thy rash tongue's fruit,That brings to all things failure and distress;Lull thou the bitter storm of that dark surge,As dwelling with me, honoured and revered;And thou with first-fruits of this wide champaign,Offerings for children's birth and wedlock-rites,Shall praise these words of mine for evermore.Chor. That I should suffer this, fie on it! fie!That I, with thoughts of hoar antiquity,537Should now in this land dwell,Dishonoured, deemed a plague!I breathe out rage, and every form of wrath.Oh, Earth! fie on it! fie!What pang is this that thrills through all my breast?Hear thou, O mother Night,Hear thou my vehement wrath!For lo! deceits that none can wrestle withHave thrust me out from honours old of Gods,And made a thing of nought.Athena. Thy wrath I'll bear, for thou the elder art,[And wiser too in that respect than I;]Yet to me too Zeus gave no wisdom poor;And ye, if ye an alien country seek,Shall yearn in love for this land. This I tell you;For to this people Time, as it runs on,Shall come with fuller honours, and if thouHast honoured seat hard by Erechtheus' home,Thou shalt from men and women reap such giftsAs thou would'st never gain from other mortals;But in these fields of mine be slow to castWhetstones of murder's knife, to young hearts bale,Frenzied with maddened passion, not of wine;Nor, as transplanting hearts of fighting-cocks,538Make Ares inmate with my citizens,In evil discord, and intestine broils;Let them have war without, not scantily,For him who feels the passionate thirst of fame:Battle of home-bred birds … I name it not;This it is thine to choose as gift from me;Well-doing, well-entreated, and well-honoured,To share the land best loved of all the Gods.Chor. That I should suffer this, fie on it! fie!That I, with thoughts of hoar antiquity,Should now in this land dwell,Dishonoured, deemed a plague,I breathe out rage, and every form of wrath;Ah, Earth! fie on it! fie!What pang is this that thrills through all my breast?Hear thou, O mother Night,Hear thou my vehement wrath!For lo! deceits that none can wrestle withHave thrust me out from honours old of Gods,And made a thing of nought.Athena. I will not weary, telling thee of good,That thou may'st never say that thou, being old,Wert at the hands of me, a younger Goddess,And those of men who in my city dwell,Driven in dishonour, exiled from this plain.But if the might of Suasion thou count holy,And my tongue's blandishments have power to soothe,Then thou wilt stay; but if thou wilt not stay,Not justly would'st thou bring upon this city,Or wrath, or grudge, or mischief for its host.It rests with thee, as dweller in this spot,539To meet with all due honour evermore.Chor. Athena, Queen, what seat assign'st thou me?Athena. One void of touch of evil; take thou it.Chor. Say I accept. What honour then is mine?Athena. That no one house apart from thee shall prosper.Chor. And wilt thou work that I such might may have?Athena. His lot who worships thee we'll guide aright.Chor. And wilt thou give thy warrant for all time?Athena. What I work not I might refrain from speaking.Chor. It seems thou sooth'st me: I relax my wrath.Athena. In this land dwelling thou new friends shalt gain.Chor. What hymn then for this land dost bid me raise?Athena. Such as is meet for no ill-victory.540· · · · ·And pray that blessings upon men be sent.And that, too, both from earth, and ocean's spray,And out of heaven; and that the breezy winds,In sunshine blowing, sweep upon the land,And that o'erflowing fruit of field and flockMay never fail my citizens to bless,Nor safe deliverance for the seed of men.But for the godless, rather root them out:For I, like gardener shepherding his plants,This race of just men freed from sorrow love.So much for thee: and I will never failTo give this city honour among men,Victorious in the noble games of war.Strophe IChor. I will accept this offered home with Pallas,Nor will the city scorn,Which e'en All-ruling ZeusAnd Ares give as fortress of the Gods,The altar-guarding pride of Gods of Hellas;And I upon her call,With kindly auguries,That so the glorious splendour of the sunMay cause life's fairest portion in thick growthTo burgeon from the earth.Athena. Yea, I work with kindliest feelingFor these my townsmen, having settledPowers great, and hard to soothe among them:Unto them the lot is given,All things human still to order;He who hath not felt their pressureKnows not whence life's scourges smite him:For the sin of generationsPast and gone; – a dumb destroyer, —Leads him on into their presence,And with mood of foe low bringethHim whose lips are speaking proudly.Antistrophe IChor. Let no tree-blighting canker breathe on them,(I tell of boon I give,)Nor blaze of scorching heat,That mars the budding eyes of nursling plants,And checks their spreading o'er their narrow bounds;And may no dark, drear plagueSmite it with barrenness.But may Earth feed fair flock in season due,Blest with twin births, and earth's rich produce payTo the high heavenly Powers,Its gift for treasure found.541Athena. Hear ye then, ye city's guardians,What she offers? Dread and mightyWith the Undying is Erinnys;And with Those beneath the earth too,And full clearly and completelyWork they all things out for mortals,Giving these the songs of gladness,Those a life bedimmed with weeping.Strophe IIChor. Avaunt, all evil chanceThat brings men low in death before their time!And for the maidens lovely and beloved,Give, ye whose work it is,Life with a husband true,And ye, O Powers of self-same mother born,Ye Fates who rule aright,Partners in every house,Awe-striking through all time,With presence full of righteousness and truth,Through all the universeMost honoured of the Gods!Athena. Much I joy that thus ye promiseThese boons to my land in kindness;And I love the glance of Suasion,That she guides my speech and accentUnto these who gainsaid stoutly.But the victory is won byZeus, the agora's protector;And our rivalry in blessingsIs the conqueror evermore.Antistrophe IIChor. For this too I will pray,That Discord, never satiate with ill,May never ravine in this commonwealth,Nor dust that drinks dark bloodFrom veins of citizens,Through eager thirst for vengeance, from the StateSnatch woes as penaltyFor deeds of murderous guilt.But may they give insteadWith friendly purpose acts of kind intent,And if need be, may hateWith minds of one accord;For this is healing found to mortal menOf many a grievous woe.Athena. Are they not then waxing wiser,And at last the path discerningOf a speech more good and gentle?Now from these strange forms and fearful,See I to my townsmen coming,E'en to these, great meed of profit;For if ye, with kindly welcome,Honour these as kind protectors,Then shall ye be famed as keeping,Just and upright in all dealings,Land and city evermore.Strophe IIIChor. Rejoice, rejoice ye in abounding wealth,Rejoice, ye citizens,Dwelling near Zeus himself,542Loved of the virgin Goddess whom ye loved,In due time wise of heart,You, 'neath the wings of Pallas ever staying,543The Father honoureth.Athena. Rejoice ye also, but before youI must march to show your chambers,By your escorts' torches holy;Go, and with these dread oblationsPassing to the crypt cavernous,Keep all harm from this our country,Send all gain upon our city,Cause it o'er its foes to triumph.Lead ye on, ye sons of Cranaos,544Lead, ye dwellers in the city,Those who come to sojourn with you,And may good gifts work good purposeIn my townsmen evermore!Antistrophe IIIChor. Rejoice, rejoice once more, ye habitants!I say it yet again,Ye Gods, and mortals too,Who dwell in Pallas' city. Should ye treatWith reverence us who dwellAs sojourners among you, ye shall findNo cause to blame your lot.Athena. I praise these words of yours, the prayers ye offer,And with the light of torches flashing fire,Will I escort you to your dark abode,545Low down beneath the earth, with my attendants,Who with due honour guard my statue here,For now shall issue forth the goodly eyeOf all the land of Theseus; fair-famed troopOf girls and women, band of matrons too,In upper vestments purple-dyed arrayed:Now then advance ye; and the blaze of fire,Let it go forth, that so this companyStand forth propitious, henceforth and for aye,In rearing race of noblest citizens, Enter an array of women, young and old, in procession, leading the Erinnyes – now, as propitiated, the Eumenides or Gentle Ones – to their shrines i. e., by being the appointed receivers of such prayers for vengeance, they leave the Gods free for a higher and serener lifeChorus of Athenian womenStrophe IGo to your home, ye great and jealous Ones,Children of Night, and yet no children ye;546With escort of good-will,Shout, shout, ye townsmen, shout.Antistrophe IThere in the dark and gloomy caves of earth,With worthy gifts and many a sacrificeConsumèd in the fire —Shout, shout ye, one and all.Strophe IICome, come, with thought benignPropitious to our land,Ye dreaded Ones, yea, come,While on your progress onward ye rejoice,In the bright light of fire-devourèd torch;Shout, shout ye to our songs.Antistrophe IILet the drink-offerings come,In order meet behind,While torches fling their light;Zeus the All-seeing thus hath joined in leagueWith Destiny for Pallas' citizens;Shout, shout ye to our songs.[The procession winds its way, Athena at its head, thenthe Eumenides, then the women, round the Areopagostowards the ravine in which the dread Goddesses wereto find their sanctuary.

FRAGMENTS

38Aphrodite loquiturThe pure, bright heaven still yearns to blend with earth,And earth is filled with love for marriage-rites,And from the kindly sky the rain-shower fallsAnd fertilises earth, and earth for menYields grass for sheep, and corn, Demêter's gift;And from its wedlock with the South the fruitIs ripened in its season; and of this,All this, I am the cause accessory.123So, in the Libyan fables, it is toldThat once an eagle, stricken with a dart,Said, when he saw the fashion of the shaft,“With our own feathers, not by others' hands,Are we now smitten.”147Of all the Gods, Death only craves not gifts:Nor sacrifice, nor yet drink-offering pouredAvails; no altars hath he, nor is soothedBy hymns of praise. From him alone of allThe powers of Heaven Persuasion holds aloof.151When 'tis God's will to bring an utter doomUpon a house, He first in mortal menImplants what works it out.162The words of Truth are ever simplest found.163What good is found in life that still brings pain?174To many mortals silence great gain brings.229O Death the Healer, scorn thou not, I pray,To come to me: of cureless ills thou artThe one physician. Pain lays not its touchUpon a corpse.230When the windNor suffers us to leave the port, nor stay.243And if thou wish to benefit the dead,'Tis all as one as if thou injured'st them,And they nor sorrow nor delight can feel:Yet higher than we are is Nemesis,And Justice taketh vengeance for the dead.266Thetis on the death of AchillesLife free from sickness, and of many years,And in a word a fortune like to theirsWhom the Gods love, all this He spake to meAs pæan-hymn, and made my heart full glad:And I full fondly trusted Phœbos' lipsAs holy and from falsehood free, of artOracular an ever-flowing spring,And He who sang this, He who at the feastBeing present, spake these things, – yea, He it isThat slew my son.267The man who does ill, ill must suffer too.268Evil on mortals comes full swift of foot,And guilt on him who doth the right transgress.269Thou see'st a vengeance voiceless and unseenFor one who sleeps or walks or sits at ease:It takes its course obliquely, here to-day,And there to-morrow. Nor does night concealMen's deeds of ill, but whatsoe'er thou dost,Think that some God beholds it.270“All have their chance:” good proverb for the rich.271Wise is the man who knows what profiteth,Not he who knoweth much.272Full grievous burden is a prosperous fool.272AFrom a just fraud God turneth not away.273There is a time when God doth falsehood prize.274The polished brass is mirror of the form,Wine of the soul.275Words are the parents of a causeless wrath.276Men credit gain for oaths, not oaths for them.277God ever works with those that work with will.278Wisdom to learn is e'en for old men good.281The base who prosper are intolerable.282The seed of mortals broods o'er passing things,And hath nought surer than the smoke-cloud's shadow.283Old age hath stronger sense of right than youth.286Yet though a man gets many wounds in breast,He dieth not, unless the appointed time,The limit of his life's span, coincide;Nor does the man who by the hearth at homeSits still, escape the doom that Fate decrees.287How far from just the hate men bear to death,Which comes as safeguard against many ills.288 To FortuneThou did'st beget me; thou too, as it seems,Wilt now destroy me.289The fire-moth's silly death is that I fear.290I by experience know the race full wellThat dwells in Æthiop land, where seven-mouthed NileRolls o'er the land with winds that bring the rain,What time the fiery sun upon the earthPours its hot rays, and melts the snow till thenHard as the rocks; and all the fertile soilOf Egypt, filled with that pure-flowing stream,Brings forth Demêter's ears that feed our life.291This hoopoo, witness of its own dire ills,He hath in varied garb set forth, and showsIn full array that bold bird of the rocksWhich, when the spring first comes, unfurls a wingLike that of white-plumed kite; for on one breastIt shows two forms, its own and eke its child's,And when the corn grows gold, in autumn's prime,A dappled plumage all its form will clothe;And ever in its hate of these 'twill goFar off to lonely thickets or bare rocks.292Still to the sufferer comes, as due from God,A glory that to suffering owes its birth.293The air is Zeus, Zeus earth, and Zeus the heaven,Zeus all that is, and what transcends them all.294Take courage; pain's extremity soon ends.298When Strength and Justice are true yoke-fellows,Where can be found a mightier pair than they?