The Heracleidae, or The Children of Heracles – I know I am being inconsistent about the spelling of Herak/cles – by Euripides, typically dated to c. 429 BCE based almost entirely on the way the end of the play mimics a recent event from the Athenian headlines, which is plausible. Read all about it in Thucydides, as I mentioned last week, but not here.
The children of Heracles, who simply hang around on stage,
are being chased from city to city by King Euystheus, his persecution of
Heracles continuing even after the death of the hero. But now the city is Athens, and (after some
violence), the children find a home. Euripides
is flattering Athens again, although the flattery is perhaps already turning sour. The commitment of Athens to its ideals may
not be as pure as its rhetoric would suggest.
DEMOPHON (king of Athens): If you’ve another plan, let’s hear it, since
I don’t mind telling you, these oracles
Have got me worried and at my wit’s end. (133, tr. Ralph Gladstone)
I did not remember this as good Euripides, and I have not
changed my mind. It appears to me to be
overstuffed with ideas, and perhaps written in haste, so the connections
between scenes are often jagged. The
imagistic language is undeveloped. The
chorus often seems to be off in its own world.
The text is, almost certainly, in bad shape, with major pieces missing. So although I wonder why Macaria, the
daughter of Heracles, vanishes after offering herself for blood sacrifice, the
answer is likely that the speech about what happened to her is lost.
Euripides was obviously fascinated by all of the myths about
young people sacrificing themselves for some stupid oracle – many examples
await us – so he likely would have done something with the trope
here. We’ll never know.
When Eurystheus is captured in battle, Alcmene, the mother
of Heracles, insists on murdering him, a gross violation of the rules of
war. The chorus, representing Athens,
protests. Eurystheus, in two speeches,
defends himself while Alcmene becomes a monster. The swing in sympathy here is wild, and
likely the most interesting part of the play.
ALCMENE: Take him away, and when you’ve killed him, throw
Him to the dogs, to scotch his last hope that
He can come back and exile me again.
CHORUS OF ATHENIANS: That’s the solution. Take away this man.
I want to make sure that our kings are cleared
Of all responsibility in this. (155)
And that’s the end, of the text we have, at least. Like I said, sour.
I had no luck finding an interesting depiction of a scene from
The Heracleidae, so I settled for one of the favorites of the Greek vase
painters, Heracles terrifying Eurystheus – that’s him cowering in the pot – with
the Erymanthean boar, captured as his fourth labor. So some back story about why Eurystheus is
tormenting the children of Heracles, and Eurystheus is a character in this
play. This particular amphora is at the Louvre.
The next play is another Euripides, a good one, I am happy
to say, a major work, like Medea, art that has generated more art. It is Hippolytus (428 BCE), the
ancestor of Jean Racine’s Phèdre (1677) among many other works. Proust fans should read this one.
Thank goodness for that. I was just getting to like Euripides, but this play had good thought, but as a play was not so good. I thought I was missing something, however, I have read more Euripides now and agree this is not one of his best as a play that is. I am really getting z lot out of this project.
ReplyDeleteRight, it was not you, it was Euripides. While Rhesus was an "anthology" play, saved on purpose for reasons I do not understand, Heracleidae is from the "alphabetical" manuscript, saved by pure chance. So at least there is that excuse, although the alphabetical survivors are mostly superb.
ReplyDeleteMost of this play felt like killing time until the ending, and the ending didn't feel fully fleshed out. So yes, not one of the more memorable ones. Alcmene is an interesting character, but only if you squint. She did have a couple funny bits (before what's presumably meant to read as something of a heel turn late on):
ReplyDeleteAlcmene: Are all my near and dear ones still alive?
Attendant: Alive and well and heroes ever one.
Alcmene: And is old Iolaus all right, too?
Attendant: Covered with glory, too, with heaven's help.
Alcmene: What? Has he something to his credit too?
Attendant: He's been changed back to a young man again.
Alcmene: Well, of all things!
I like that translation. Ys, Alcmene could have her name in the title (of a different play).
ReplyDeleteIt's easy to read this play as propaganda, what with the Argives as the enemy and the setting in Attica, where the Peloponnesian War began. The voluntary sacrifice of Macaria, inverting Iphigenia's murder, is a nice touch.
ReplyDelete"who of his own will doth harbour such an evil thought as to yield with his own hands the child he loves?"
"Hellenic dress and fashion in his robes doth he no doubt adopt, but deeds like these betray the barbarian." You tell 'em, Demophon. Those Argives have always been a bloodthirsty, headstrong lot.
"This land is ever ready in an honest cause to aid the helpless. Wherefore ere now it hath endured troubles numberless for friends." Hahahaha. Oh, so that's why Athens goes to war, out of friendship.
"Hera, wife of Zeus, is their leader; Athena ours. And this I say is an omen of success, that we have the stronger deity, for Pallas will not brook defeat." I can hear the applause in the original audience.
I'm not sure I understand the comic scene between Iolus and the servant, as Iolus girds himself and marches off for battle, the servant essentially carrying him forth. Iolus brags about how many Argives he'll kill, the servant replying, "Perhaps, if ever we get there." Who's Euripides making fun of? Were the old men of Athens being drafted at the time? I don't remember my Thucydides that well.
I'm not sure that Alcmene becomes a monster at the end; after all, Eurystheus says that he will become a spectral enemy of her descendants. That's not exactly going to endear him to her. "Throw his body to the dogs."
ReplyDeleteThe text is really short. As you say, there must be a good chunk or chunks missing.
Propaganda must be part of what is going on. And look at all of those ideas you pick up, which could be developed but are not. Puzzling.
ReplyDeleteThe contrast with Hippolytus, which I am reading a little early, is enormous, where the thematic ideas and imagery are carefully developed through the entire play.