“To dim the bright hue of the fresh-shed blood.”
Footnote 498:
The thought which underlies the obscurity of a corrupt passage seems
to be that, as they relieve the Gods from the task of being avengers
of blood, all that the Gods on their side can legitimately do against
them is to render powerless the prayers for vengeance offered by the
kindred of the slain. Their very isolation, as Chthonian deities, from
the Gods of Olympos should protect them from open conflict. But an
alternative rendering of the second line gives, perhaps, a better
meaning—
“And by the prayers men offer unto me
Work freedom for the Gods;”
_i.e._, by being the appointed receivers of such prayers for
vengeance, they leave the Gods free for a higher and serener life.
Footnote 499:
Perhaps, “With torch of sunless gloom.”
Footnote 500:
The words contain an allusion to the dispute between Athens and
Mitylene in the time of Peisistratos, as to the possession of Sigeion.
Athena asserts that it had been given to her by the whole body of
Achæans at the time when they had taken Troïa. Comp. Herod. vv. 94,
95. It probably entered into the political purposes of the play to
excite the Athenians to a war in this direction, so as to draw them
off from the constitutional changes proposed by Pericles and
Ephialtes.
Footnote 501:
Here, and throughout the trial, we have to bear in mind the
technicalities of Athenian judicial procedure. The prosecutor, in the
first instance, tendered to the accused an oath that he was not
guilty. This he might accept or refuse. In the latter case, the course
of the trial was at least stopped, and judgment might be recorded
against him. If he could bring himself to accept it, he was acquitted
of the special charge of which he was accused, but he was liable to a
prosecution afterwards for that perjury. If, on the other hand, he
tendered an oath affirming his guilt to the prosecutor, he placed
himself in his hands. Orestes, not being able to deny the fact, will
not declare on oath that he is “not guilty,” but neither will he place
himself in the power of his accusers. The peculiarities of this use of
oaths were: (1) That they were taken by the parties to the suit, not
by the witnesses. (2) That if both parties agreed to that mode of
decision, the oath was either way decisive. An allusion to the latter
practice is found in Heb. vi. 16, and traces of it are found in the
law-proceedings of Scotland. If either party refused, the cause had to
be tried in the usual way, and witnesses were called.
Footnote 502:
Æschylos seems here to attach himself to the principles of those who
were seeking to reform the practice described in the previous note as
being at once cumbrous and unjust, throwing its weight into the scale
of the least scrupulous conscience, and to urge a simpler, more
straightforward trial. The same objection is noticed by Aristotle in
his discussion of the subject. (_Rhet._ i. 15.)
Footnote 503:
Athena offers herself, not as arbitrator or sovereign judge, but as
presiding over the court of jurors whom she proceeds to appoint.
Footnote 504:
Ixion appeared in the mythical history of Greece as the prototype of
all suppliants for purification. When he had murdered Deioneus, Zeus
had had compassion to him, received him as a guest, cleansed him from
his guilt. His ingratitude for this service was the special guilt of
his attempted outrage upon Hera. The case is mentioned again in v.
687.
Footnote 505:
In heathen, as in Jewish sacrifices, the blood was the very instrument
of purification. It was sprinkled or poured upon men, and they became
clean. But this could not be done by the criminal himself, nor by any
chance person. The service had to be rendered by a friend, who of very
love gave himself to this mediatorial work.
Footnote 506:
In the legend related by Pausanias (_Corinth._, c. 3), Trœzen was the
first place where Orestes was thus received, and in his time the
descendants of those who had thus helped held periodical feasts in
commemoration of it.
Footnote 507:
The course which Athena takes is: (1) to receive Orestes as a settler
with the rights which attached to such persons on Athenian soil, not a
criminal fugitive to be simply surrendered; (2) to offer to the
Erinnyes, as being too important to be put out of court, a fair and
open trial; (3) to acknowledge that he and they are equally
“blameless,” as far as she is concerned. She has no complaint to make
of them.
Footnote 508:
The red blight of vines and wheat was looked on as caused by drops of
blood which the Erinnyes had let fall.
Footnote 509:
Stress is laid on the fact that the judges of the Areopagos, in
contrast with those of the inferior tribunes of Athens, discharged
their duty under the sanction of an oath.
Footnote 510: