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THE SUPPLIANTS
An introduction
to the play by Aeschylus |
THE
trilogy to which this drama belonged, like that of which "The
Seven Against Thebes" formed the concluding member,
was founded upon an ancient epic, by an unknown author. Of this
poem little is known, except that it contained five thousand
five hundred verses, and bore the title of "The Danaides."
The story which it embodied appealed powerfully
to that passion for legendary genealogies which formed such a
striking feature of the Grecian character. Alleged descent from
a common ancestor was the bond of union between the members of
every Grecian community, great or small; and as this legendary
personage was usually of divine or semi-divine origin, even the
humblest citizen thus felt himself brought into more or less
direct filiation with the gods. The divine element thus, according
to the popular conception, incarnated in humanity, culminated
in the great national hero, Herakles, "the most renowned
and ubiquitous of all the semi-divine personages worshipped by
the Hellenes"--the only mortal who, from a life of toil
and suffering on earch, was admitted to the godhead, and received
into the society of Olympos. His descendants, moreover, the Herakleids,
associated with the Dorians in the conquest of the Peloponnesus,
were glorified in the popular imagination as the founders of
the great Dorian cities of Argos, Sparta, and Messenia, and as
the introducers in those localities of a new special order. Peculiar
interest thus attaches to Io, the progenitrix of Herakles, and
to the birth of her offspring, Epaphos, an event celebrated in
such glowing strains by the chorus of "The Suppliants"
(v. 580).
In thus veiling the grosser features of
the Io legend, as popularly conceived, while, at the same time,
investing it with a more spiritual meaning, Aeschylus appears
not only as the great creative poet, but also as the true prophet
of his generation. The numerous legends of which the story of
Io may be regarded as a typical example embodied, in vulgar form,
the idea that it was only through association with the divine
principle that man could raise to his true ideal as man. The
poet seizes upon this idea, separates it from the grosser elements
of the popular symbol, and extols the benignity of Zeus in thus
seeking fellowship with mortals--giving prominence to the idea
that through this agency alone the human race was raised to a
higher level, physical and moral, than it could otherwise have
attained.
The introductory character of "The
Suppliants" has been inferred from the extreme simplicity
of the plot, and from other considerations; accordingly, it is
now generally regarded as forming the first member of a trilogy
of which the succeeding dramas were "The Egyptians,"
and "The Danaides," both of which have been lost. Though
deficient in dramatic interest, this piece is characterized by
the remarkable beauty of the choral odes, which, from their sublime
simplicity, and from the high conception which they embody of
Zeus, as the supreme and omnipotent ruler, remind us occasionally
of the Hebrew psalms.
It must be remembered, moreover, that,
at the time of Aeschylus, the national legends had not yet lost
their hold upon the popular belief, and accordingly mythical
events, such as the arrival of the Danaides in Argos, were considered
not only as having influenced the subsequent destinies of Greece,
but also as having been brought about by the inscrutable counsels
of Zeus; the unfolding of whose designs, through the medium of
tragedy, was regarded as the highest function of the poet.
The ancient legend tells of the strife
between the sons of Belos; how Danaos was driven from his home
by Ægyptos, who usurped his throne; how the latter sought
to force the Danaides to marry his sons, and how Athena herself
exhorted Danaos to flee with his daughters to the land of Io.
The introductory drama opens with their
arrival, in the character of suppliants, at Argos, and is founded
upon the protection accorded to them by the Argives and their
king, Pelasgos: the appearance of the Egyptian herald, at the
conclusion of the play, together with his forcible attempt to
carry off the suppliants, prepares the spectator for the arrival
of the Egyptian pursuers in the succeeding drama. Attention has
been called to the picturesque beauty of the opening scene, where,
holding in their hands their wool-wreathed myrtle boughs, and
arrayed in white apparel, which formed a striking contrast to
their swarthy limbs, the suppliants grouped themselves under
the statues of the gods: they would, moreover, be regarded with
peculiar interest as wanderers from the valley of the Nile, "the
wondrous river fed with snow," upon whose fountains no human
eye had been permitted to gaze.
Of "The Egyptians," unfortunately,
no fragments remain; it doubtless embodied the main incident
in the tragic story of the Danaides. It is related in the legend
that Danaos was elected king by the Argives, in place of Pelasgos;
being unable to cope with Ægyptos and his sons, who still
press their suit, he is compelled to yield to their demand, and
promises to give his daughters in marriage to their detested
suitors. In secret, however, he furnishes each with a dagger,
enjoining her, at the same time, to slay her lord during the
nuptial night. The terrible deed was executed, Hypermnestra alone,
soothed by love, and preferring the reputation of cowardice to
that of blood-guiltiness (Pro. 887), spared Lynceus, the partner
of her couch. Here one duty could not be observed without violating
another, and thus was brought about the collision between two
primary principles of human nature, the reconciliation of which
constitutes the essence of the Æschylean drama. The remark
of Grote with reference to this feature of Grecian tragedy will
be perused with interest: "The tragedian," he says,
"not only appeals more powerfully to the ethical sentiments
than poetry had ever done before, but also, by raising these
grave and touching questions, addresses a stimulus and challenge
to the intellect, spurring it on to ethical speculation."
From the Hellenic point of view, Hypermnestra
was regarded as a criminal, while the bloody deed of her sisters
was extolled as an act of heroism, enjoined not only by their
father, but by the gods themselves.
The suitors, moreover, are represented
from the first as in the highest degree insolent and overbearing:
barbarians, they had dared to invade the sacred soil of Hellas,
and the vengeance which had overtaken them would ally itself
in the popular imagination with the destruction of the Oriental
hosts which had so recently crowned the grand contemporary conflict
between Persia and Hellas. This feeling would be heightened by
the war between Egypt and Athens, which began B.C. 462.
The trial of Hypermnestra most probably
formed the principal subject of "The Danaides," the
concluding member of the trilogy. From a fragment of the prologue
which has been preserved, we learn that the drama opened with
the hymn with which it was customary to awaken the newly-married
pair:
- "Since now arises the bright
lamp of day,
- The bridegrooms I awake with
friendly lay,
- Chanted by choral bands of youths
and maids."
The horrors of the bridal night would thus
be revealed, together with what was regarded as the treacherous
clemency of Hypermnestra. According to the ancient story, she
was cast by her father into prison, and subsequently brought
to trial before a court with the constitution of which we are
not acquainted. The goddess Aphrodite herself appears to plead
her cause, reminding us of the trial of Orestes before the court
of Areopagus, when Pallas Athena, as president, gave her casting
vote in his favour.
One fragment from the address of Aphrodite
has been preserved:
- "Longs the pure sky to
blend with Earth, and Love
- Doth Earth impel to yield to
his embrace;
- The rain shower, falling from
the slumberous heaven,
- Kisses the Earth; and Earth
brings forth for mortals
- Pasture for sheep-flocks and
Demeter's grain.
- The woods in spring their dewy
nuptials hold;
- And of all these I am in part
the cause."
Hypermnestra was acquitted, and from her
union with Lynceus sprang in course of time the demigod Herakles.
The remaining daughters of Danaos were purified from the stain
of blood by Athena and Hermes, or, according to another form
of the legend, by Zeus himself.
This article was originally
published in The Dramas of Aeschylus. Trans. Anna Swanwick.
London: George Bell and Sons, 1907. pp. 395-400.
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