The Oresteia: Agamemnon, the Libation-Bearers & the Furies (31 page)

 

FURIES:

Yes and I ban
the winds that rock the olive -
hear my love, my blessing -
thwart their scorching heat that blinds the buds,
hold from our shores the killing icy gales,
and I ban the blight that creeps on fruit and withers -
God of creation, Pan, make flocks increase
and the ewes drop fine twin lambs
when the hour of labour falls.
And silver, child of Earth,
secret treasure of Hermes,
come to light and praise the gifts of god.

 

ATHENA:

Blessings - now do you hear, you guards of Athens,
all that she will do?
Fury the mighty queen, the dread
of the deathless gods and those beneath the earth,
deals with mortals clearly, once for all.
She delivers songs to some, to others
a blinding life of tears -
Fury works her will.

 

FURIES:

And the lightning stroke
that cuts men down before their prime, I curse,
but the lovely girl who finds a mate’s embrace,
the deep joy of wedded life - O grant that gift, that prize,
you gods of wedlock, grant it, goddesses of Fate!
Sisters born of the Night our mother,
spirits steering law,
sharing at all our hearths,
at all times bearing down
to make our lives more just,
all realms exalt you highest of the gods.
T-ATO-K

 

ATHENA:

Behold, my land, what blessings Fury kindly,
gladly brings to pass -
I am in my glory! Yes, I love Persuasion;
she watched my words, she met their wild refusals.
Thanks to Zeus of the Councils who can turn
dispute to peace - he won the day.

Thanks to our duel for blessings;
we win through it all.

 

FURIES:

And the brutal strife,
the civil war devouring men, I pray
that it never rages through our city, no
that the good Greek soil never drinks the blood of Greeks,
shed in an orgy of reprisal life for life -
that Fury like a beast will never
rampage through the land.
Give joy in return for joy,
one common will for love,
and hate with one strong heart:
such union heals a thousand ills of man.

 

ATHENA:

Do you hear how Fury sounds her blessings forth,
how Fury finds the way?
Shining out of the terror of their faces
I can see great gains for you, my people.
Hold them kindly, kind as they are to you.
Exalt them always, you exalt your land,
your city straight and just -
its light goes through the world.

 

FURIES:

Rejoice,
rejoice in destined wealth,
rejoice, Athena’s people -
poised by the side of Zeus,
loved by the loving virgin girl,
achieve humanity at last,
nestling under Pallas’ wings
and blessed with Father’s love.

 

ATHENA:

You too rejoice! and I must lead the way
to your chambers by the holy light of these,
your escorts bearing fire.

Come, and sped beneath the earth
by our awesome sacrifices,
keep destruction from the borders,
bring prosperity home to Athens,
triumph sailing in its wake.
And you,
my people born of the Rock King,
lead on our guests for life, my city -
May they treat you with compassion,
compassionate as you will be to them.

 

FURIES:

Rejoice! -
rejoice - the joy resounds -
all those who dwell in Athens,
spirits and mortals, come,
govern Athena’s city well,
revere us well, we are your guests;
you will learn to praise your Furies,
you will praise the fortunes of your lives.

 

ATHENA:

My thanks! And I will speed your prayers, your blessings -
lit by the torches breaking into flame
I send you home, home to the core of Earth,
escorted by these friends who guard my idol
duty-bound.

Bright eye of the land of Theseus,
come forth, my splendid troupe. Girls and mothers,
trains of aged women grave in movement,
dress our Furies now in blood-red robes.
Praise them - let the torch move on!
So the love this family bears towards our land
will bloom in human strength from age to age.

 

THE WOMEN OF THE CITY:

On, on, good spirits born for glory,
Daughters of Night, her children always young,
now under loyal escort -
Blessings, people of Athens, sing your blessings out.

 

Deep, deep in the first dark vaults of Earth,
sped by the praise and victims we will bring,
reverence will attend you -
Blessings now, all people, sing your blessings out.

 

You great good Furies, bless the land with kindly hearts,
you Awesome Spirits, come - exult in the blazing torch,
exultant in our fires, journey on.
Cry, cry in triumph, carry on the dancing on and on!

 

This peace between Athena’s people and their guests
must never end. All-seeing Zeus and Fate embrace,
down they come to urge our union on -
Cry, cry, in triumph, carry on the dancing on and on!

The factual notes on mythology, history and language are mainly by W.B.S., those on imagery and symbolism mainly by R.F. Only samples of themes and image-patterns have been cited. Our choice of variant readings in the text has not been specified in the notes. We hope that in most places it will be clear from the translation. As in the introduction, we have drawn from the work of others, and a brief list of their writings may be useful to the general reader. Certain more recent works have been included as well. The list is limited to books; separate articles have been omitted, though several of the most important may be found in the McCall collection, and others are referred to in the notes.

Conacher, D. J. (ed.),
Aeschylus’ Oresteia: A Literary Commentary,
Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1987.

Denniston, J. D., and Page, Sir Denys (eds.),
Agamemnon,
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957.

Fraenkel, Eduard (ed.),
Agamemnon,
3 vols with a Commentary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1950.

Garvie, A. F. (ed.),
Choephori: Introduction and Commentary,
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986.

Lloyd-Jones, Sir Hugh (trs.),
Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Eumenides,
3 vols with Commentary, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1970.

Podlecki, Anthony J. (ed.),
Eumenides,
Warminster: Aris and Phillips, 1989.

Rose, H. J.,
A Commentary on the Surviving Plays of Aeschylus,
2 vols, Amsterdam: N. V. Noord-Hollandsche Uitgevers Maatschappij, 1958.

Sidgwick, A. (ed.),
Agamemnon, Choephoroi, Eumenides,
3 vols with Introduction and Notes, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1900-1905.

Smyth, Herbert Weir (trs.),
Aeschylus,
2 vols, inc.
Fragments,
ed. Sir Hugh Lloyd-Jones, The Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, Mass., and London: Harvard University Press, 1971.

Sommerstein, Alan. H. (ed.),
Eumenides,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

Thomson, George, (ed.),
The Oresteia,
2 vols, with an Introduction and Commentary, in which is included the work of the late Walter Headlam. New Ed., Amsterdam: Adolf M. Hakkert, 1966.

Burke, Kenneth,
The Philosophy of Literary Form: Studies in Symbolic
Action (3rd ed.), Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1973.

Chioles, John,
Aeschylus: Mythic Theatre, Political Voice,
Athens: University of Athens Publications, 1995.

Dodds, E. R.,
The Greeks and the Irrational,
Sather Classical Lectures, Vol. 25, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1964.

Earp, Frank Russell,
The Style of Aeschylus,
Cambridge University Press, 1948.

Easterling, P. E., ed.
The Cambridge Companion to Greek Tragedy,
Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Else, Gerald E,
The Origin and Early Form of Greek Tragedy,
Martin Classical Lectures, Vol. 20, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1965; Oxford University Press, 1965.

Fergusson, Francis,
The Idea of a Theatre: A Study of Ten Plays, the Art of Drama in Changing Perspective,
Oxford University Press, 1949; New York: Doubleday, 1953.

Finley, J. H., Jr,
Pindar and Aeschylus,
Martin Classical Lectures, Vol. 14, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1955.

Gagarin, Michael,
Aeschylean Drama,
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976.

Girard, René,
Violence and the Sacred,
trs. Patrick Gregory, Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1977.

Goldhill, Simon,
Aeschylus: The Oresteia,
Landmarks of World Literature, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

Language, Sexuality, Narrative: The Oresteia,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984.

Harrison, Jane,
Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion
(2nd ed.), Cambridge, 1908; re-published The Merlin Press, 1961.

Themis: A Study of the Social Origins of Greek Religion
(2nd ed.), Cambridge, 1927; re-published The Merlin Press, 1963.

Herington, John, Aeschylus, Hermes Books, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986.

The Author of the Prometheus Bound,
Austin and London: University of Texas Press, 1970.

Jaeger, Werner,
Paideia: The Ideals of Greek Culture,
trs. Gilbert Highet, 3 vols, Oxford: Basil Blackwell and Matt, Ltd, 1939-44; New York: Oxford University Press, 1945.

Jones, John,
On Aristotle and Greek Tragedy,
New York: Oxford University Press, 1962; Chatto and Windus, 1962.

Kaufmann, Walter,
Tragedy and Philosophy,
New York: Doubleday, 1968.

Kitto, H. D. F.,
Form and Meaning in Drama: A Study of Six Greek Plays and of
Hamlet (2nd ed.), Methuen, 1964; New York: Barnes and Noble, 1968.

Greek Tragedy: A Literary Study
(2nd ed.), New York: Doubleday, 1954; (3rd ed.), Methuen, 1966.

Kuhns, Richard,
The House, the City, and the Judge: The Growth of Moral Awareness in the Oresteia,
Indianapolis: Bobbs Merrill, 1962.

Lattimore, Richmond, (trs.)
The Oresteia,
with Introduction in
The Complete Greek Tragedies: Volume I, Aeschylus,
ed. David Grene and Richmond Lattimore, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1953.

Lebeck, Anne,
The Oresteia: A Study in Language and Structure,
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1971.

Lenson, David,
Achilles’ Choice: Examples of Modern Tragedy,
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1975.

Lloyd-Jones, Sir Hugh,
The Justice of Zeus,
Sather Classical Lectures, Vol. 41, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1971.

McCall, Marsh H., Jr,
Aeschylus: A Collection of Critical Essays,
Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1972.

Méautis, Georges,
Eschyle et la trilogie,
Paris, 1936.

Murray, Gilbert,
Aeschylus: The Creator of Tragedy,
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1940.

Nussbaum, Martha,
The Fragility of Goodness: Luck and Ethics in Greek Tragedy and Philosophy
(Chapter 2), Cambridge, England, and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986.

Owen, E. T.,
The Harmony of Aeschylus,
Toronto: Clark, Irwin, 1952; G. Bell, 1952.

Podlecki, Anthony J.,
The Political Background of Aeschylean Tragedy,
Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1966.

Roberts, Patrick,
The Psychology of Tragic Drama,
Boston and London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1975.

Romilly, Jacqueline de,
La crainte
et
l’angoisse dans le théâtre d’Eschyle,
Paris: ‘Les Belles Lettres’, 1958.

Time in Greek Tragedy,
Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1968.

Rosenmeyer, Thomas G.,
The Art of Aeschylus,
Berkeley, Los Angeles and London, University of California Press, 1982.

The Masks of Tragedy: Essays on Six Greek Dramas,
Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 1963.