Harrison, _Prolegomena_, pp. 292 ff. Late writers degrade the story into
a beauty contest between three thoroughly personal goddesses--and a
contest complicated by bribery. But originally the Judgment is rather a
Choice between three possible lives, like the Choice of Heracles between
Work and Idleness. The elements of the choice vary in different
versions: but in general Hera is royalty; Athena is prowess in war or
personal merit; Aphrodite, of course, is love. And the goddesses are not
really to be distinguished from the gifts they bring. They are what they
give, and nothing more. Cf. the wonderful lyric _Androm._ 274 ff., where
they come to "a young man walking to and fro alone, in an empty hut in
the firelight."
There is an extraordinary effect in Helen herself _being_ one of the
Crowns of Life--a fair equivalent for the throne of the world.
P. 57, l. 940 ff., Alexander . . . Paris.]--Two plays on words in the
Greek.
P. 58, l. 956, The old Gate-Warden.]--He and the Watchers are, of
course, safely dead. But on the general lines of the tradition it may
well be that Helen is speaking the truth. She loved both Menelaus and
Paris; and, according to some versions, hated Deiphobus, the Trojan
prince who seized her after Paris' death. There is a reference to
Deiphobus in the MSS. of the play here, but I follow Wilamowitz in
thinking it spurious.
Pp. 63 ff., Chorus.]--On the Trojan Zeus see above, on p. 11. Mount Ida
caught the rays of the rising sun in some special manner and distributed
them to the rest of the world; and in this gleam of heavenly fire the
God had his dwelling, which is now the brighter for the flames of his
City going up like incense!
Nothing definite is known of the Golden Images and the Moon-Feasts.
P. 64, l. 1088, Towers of the Giants.]--The prehistoric castles of
Tiryns and Mycenae.
P. 65, l. 1111, May Helen be there.]--(Cf. above.) Pitane was one of the
five divisions of Sparta. Athena had a "Bronzen House" on the acropolis
of Sparta. Simois, of course, the river of Troy.
P. 71, l. 1232, I make thee whole.]--Here as elsewhere Hecuba fluctuates
between fidelity to the oldest and most instinctive religion, and a
rejection of all Gods.
P. 72, l. 1240, Lo, I have seen the open hand of God.]--The text is,
perhaps, imperfect here; but Professor Wilamowitz agrees with me that
Hecuba has seen something like a vision. The meaning of this speech is
of the utmost importance. It expresses the inmost theme of the whole
play, a search for an answer to the injustice of suffering in the very
splendour and beauty of suffering. Of course it must be suffering of a
particular kind, or, what comes to the same thing, suffering borne in a
particular way; but in that case the answer seems to me to hold. One
does not really think the world evil because there are martyrs or heroes
in it. For them the elements of beauty which exist in any great trial of
the spirit become so great as to overpower the evil that created
them--to turn it from shame and misery into tragedy. Of course to most
sufferers, to children and animals and weak people, or those without
inspiration, the doctrine brings no help. It is a thing invented by a
poet for himself.
P. 75, l. 1288, Thou of the Ages.]--The Phrygian All-Father, identified
with Zeus, son of Kronos. (Cf. on p. 11.)
P. 76, l. 1304, Now hast thou found thy prayer.]--The Gods have deserted
her, but she has still the dead. (Cf. above, on p. 71.)
P. 79, l. 1332, Forth to the dark Greek ships.]--Curiously like another
magnificent ending of a great poem, that of the _Chanson de Roland_,
where Charlemagne is called forth on a fresh quest:
"Deus," dist li Reis, "si penuse est ma vie!"
Pluret des oilz, sa barbe blanche tiret. . . .
Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO.
Edinburgh & London
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
HISTORY OF ANCIENT GREEK LITERATURE.
ANDROMACHE: A Play.
CARLYON SAHIB: A Play.
THE EXPLOITATION OF INFERIOR RACES, IN ANCIENT AND MODERN TIMES: An
Essay in "Liberalism and the Empire."
EURIPIDIS FABULAE: Brevi Adnotatione Critica Instructae, Vols. I. and II.
EURIPIDES: Hippolytus; Bacchae; Aristophanes' 'Frogs.' Translated into
English verse.
Transcriber's notes:
The following changes were made to the original text:
Page 57: Gesperrt emphasis changed to italics. "_She_" for "S h e".
Page 58: similarly "_thee_" for "t h e e"
Page 59: similarly "_She_" for "S h e".
Page 62: similarly "_thou_" for "t h o u".
Page 76: similarly "_Ye_" for "Y e" and "_ye_" for "y e".
Page 91: changed "fire-brand's" to "firebrand's" to match referenced text.
"P. 57, l. 922, The firebrand's image.]"
Minor punctuation changes made.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Trojan Women of Euripides, by Euripides