rHE CRIMES OF THE OEDIP ODEAN CYr HENRY NEWPHER BOWi QlorncU Jlttiucrattg SItbrarg Jlttjaca, ^tm Qork BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF HENRY W. SAGE • 1891- , OLIN LIBRARY - ORCULATION DATE DUE ■piiPPi'W'*i IMT "9 « t- - - - CATLOnO Cornell University Library PA 4417.B787 Crimes of ••'f,, 9||||ite|i|f |l||| ifff^^^^^ 3 1924 026 593 875 The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924026593875 BADGER'S CLASSICAL STUDIES The Crimes of the Oedipodean Cycle. By Henry N. Bowman. $1.00 net. A Stody of Virgil's Descriptions OF Nature. By Mabel Louise Anderson. $1.25 net. Deception in Plautus, A Study in the Technique of Comedy. By Helen E. Wieand. $1.00 net. A Study of Latin Hymns. By Alice MacGilton. $1.00 net. RICHARD G. BADGER, PUBLISHER, BOSTON THE CRIMES OF THE OEDIPODEAN CYCLE HENRY NEWPHER BOWMAN < 0^ART1 et V6RITATIj P) BOSTON RICHARD G. BADGER THE GORHAM PRESS Copyright, 1918. by RiohSrd G. Badger AU Rights Reserved 1 ^ScSloO^ h"^ MADE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Tkb Gorham Press, Boston, U. S. A. PRE'FACE Concerning the details of the myths of the Oedipodean cycle, little is popularly known — ^which is as it should be — because the Sophoclean accounts which do not require special training for their understanding are most widely read, and by the general reader, further knowledge would be misunderstood if interpreted from a modern standpoint. But for a classical scholar who has followed the adven- tures of Oedipus through one or more plays there is a natural curiosity aroused as to the events immediately preceding or following the narrative with which he is familiar, and he may be pardoned if this interest leads him into the unearthing of a deal of matter not always pleasant in content, and at times even revolting. It is, then, for those acquainted to some extent with the classics, but without inclination to read in any language but English for the satisfaction of their curiosity, that this account aims to be of service, in that it presents the most noteworthy variations of the myth, together with occasional attempts at explanation and elucidation. CONTENTS Chapter Page Introduction 7 I The Heritage of Oedipus 17 II Murder of Laius 25 III Marriage of Oedipus to His Mother 31 IV Oedipus's Cursing of His Sons 35 V Fate 38 Notes 41 Bibliography 55 Index 61 INTRODUCTION WHY WE LONG FOR THE DEATH OF OUR RELATIVES T F one dreams of the death of a near and dear relative — an uncle or a mother — it is not at all necessary to draw the conclusion that the dreamer now has such a wish. He need merely have had it at some former time. To be sure, no son likes to admit even to hi mself that he wants his father to die. Yet such a wish is natural, instinctive, even if it become less acute with the passage of time and in the end be put down in the subconscious- ness. The daughter, too, wants her mother's death. That is why she dreams of it at times so frequently. For that matter, ™'P!..aIl..Wa.nt-thr Hpat-b nt nn^ rplativps, »iiih- cojjsciou^^K— if—not— Gonsei€His^p-lM)wev«' -de ar w e deem — For an explanation of this circumstance we are refer- red by its discoverer. Doctor Sigmund Freud, of Vienna, the world's most renowned psychologist, to the conditions of child life.* The child up to a certain age is free from *This entire introduction is a review of Dr. William I. White's translation of "Dreams and Myths" by Dr. Karl Abraham. It originally appeared in Current Opinion and is used through their courteous permission. 7 8 Introduction altruistic feelings. He lives in a simple egoism . It is erroneous to assume that the feeling of the child for its parents and brothers and sisters is from the beginning one of affection. On the contrary, there exists instead among the children of a family a certain rivalry. When a second child is born the first clearly shows jealousy. The younger child reacts in the same egoistic manner. It seesjn_the_elder-an- oppressor." Normally these states of mind disappear to a certain extent, but they are never whony_jBErooted„from coasdoasness. This hostile atti- tude of the child towards the nthrr findi itn rTprpfminn i n the wish that the other were dead . The^Md-really means that he_wishes_tlie-oth&r- were-away. But let us consider the wish of the child for the death of the father or the mother. Few laymen will admit the existence of such a thing normally. The most that will be granted refers to the abuse of the child by the parents — the idea being that this is an exceptional instance. Altogether dif- ferent is the elucidation of Doctor Karl Abraham in the monograph on Freudian psychology just cited and which has been followed here: "The dream of the death of the father or mother, as it occurs to every one, co ntains the sou p ;ht for explanation. Freud shows from it that 'the dream of the death of parents is preponderatingly common concerning that one of the pair of the same sex as the dreamer; so the son. Introduction 9 for the most part, dreams of the death of the father, the daughter of the death of the mother.' This behavior is explained in part as due to an early sexual preference of the so n for the mother, the daughter for the fa ther. Out ofjtbis^ preference grows a cer tain rivalry of the son with the father for the love of the mother, and a similar sit- uation between daughter and mother for the love of the father. The son rebels earlier or later against the patria potestas, in some cases openly, in others inwardly. At the same time the father protects his dominance against the growing son. A similar relation occurs between mother and daughter. As much as culture may soften or change this rivalry, through piety towards the parents, through love of the children, still its traces cannot be extinguished. In the most favorable cases these tendencies become repres- sed in the unconscious. Straightway they express them- selves in dreams. Children who are disposed to nervous or psychic disease show, already in the early years, a very strong love or a very strong repulsion towards the parents or towards one of them. In their dreams they show these tendencies especially clearly; not less clearly, however, in the symptoms of their later disease. Freud gives very instructive examples of this kind. He cites, among others, the case of a mentally ill girl who for the first time, in a period of confusion, expressed violent aver- sion for her mother. As the patient became clearer she to Introduction dreamed of the death of her mother. Finally she no longer contented herself with repressing in the uncon- scious her feelings against her mother, but proceeded to over-compensate for that feeling by constructing a phobia, that is, a morbid fear, that something might happen to the mother. The aversion became transposed, the more the patient gained composure, into an excessive apprehen- sion about her mother's goings and comings. I have my- self lately observed a quite similar case. "As complementary it may be mentioned that the dreams of adults not infrequently turn on the death of a child. Pregnant viromen who suffer from their condi- tion dream of an abortion. Fathers or mothers who in the waking state tenderly love their child dream under special conditions that it is dead, for example, when the existence of the child interferes with the attainment of an object. "Th/t t)rpical dreagt-thetT'coirtams wishes"'^Hbicliwe in om: , waking life will no.t admit In the dream life these secret wishes find expression. These wishes, common to many or to all mankind, we meet a]s" '"n, thcjrijJJT^' In Freud's opinion a very large proportion of the re- pressed wishes which realize themselves in the dreams of adults originate in early childhood. So much we learn in a study of the desire for the death of our relatives which Doctor William Brown, head of the psychological Introduction 1 1 department at the University of London, makes in The Lancet. The repressed wishes of which Freud makes so much are, he thinks, conditioned by the sex of the child. Sex is a theme to which children devote their minds at a much earlier period than scientists have hitherto suspected. The child's ideas on the subject bring about a hatred of the father or of the mother, attraction in one case being accompanied by hatred and jealously towards the parent of the opposite sex. These are repressed under the influ- ence of education and environment; but in later life they produce dreams of the death of the father or of the mother : "The legend of Oedipus, who unwittingly marries his own mother, Jocasta, and, though guiltless in intent, pays the penalty for this unholy act, is a mythical representa- tion of this general tendency in human nature. Freud would explain the mystery of Hamlet in the same way. Hamlet is unable to take vengeance on the man who has supplanted and murdered his father because he himself in his early youth had wished his father's death. The wish has been vigorously repressed and he is at present unconscious of it, but it still exists in him unconsciously and produces the inhibitory effects depicted in the play. Freud considers that repressed wishes of this nature are the principal factor in the production of all the psycho- neuroses. 12 Introduction "If we bear in mind that >-Hl•^>^l-pn'g {Apat ^f Ap^th are very vague and in most cases co rrespond simply tp j-manent ab§finc£t' the theory is not so outrageous as ]t might otherwise seem to be. The 'naturalness' of fam- ily affection has undoubtedly been greatly exaggerated by earlier thinkers, and the passions of hostility aroused within the family circle are often very fierce. As the children grow up these feelings generally disappear and make way for the more conventional and intellectualized forms of sentiment; but deep down in the unconscious recesses of their souls persist the traces of earlier conflicts." It may be thought surprising that such an immoral wish as that of the death of so near a relative should pass the "censor." Thejceiwor is that portion,ii£-tfee mental apparatus which stands on guard to repress thoughts we wish to 'htder~Two^ facts sufficiently "explain the failure oTTKe^Tensorr' In the first place the wish is the last in the world that we should ever consciously entertain, and for this reason the censor is unprepared for its ap- pearance. In the second place the wish fulfillment is accompanied in the dream by a feeling of intense sorrow which seems to receive a sufficient explanation in the anxiety for the person's welfare which the dreamer has actually felt in recent times. Freud records the case of a woman who dreamed that she saw her fifteen-year-old daughter lying dead in a box. Psychoanalysis showed that Introduction 13 the latent content of the dream was a wish dating back fifteen years that the child mighty die before it was born. This is a good illustration of the way in which wishes may persist for years in the consciousness, uninfluenced by later experience. THE CRIMES OF THE OEDIPODEAN CYCLE THE CRIMES OF THE OEDIPODEAN CYCLE CHAPTER I THE HERITAGE OF OEDIPUS ^~r~^0 take up the story of the ill-fated family at the -'■ lime of the death of Polydorus, son of Cadmus, and grandson of Agenor, puts us in possession of a number of facts sufficient for the understanding of the events in the life of Laius, which led to his residence in exile with Pelops, King of Pisa. Nycteus, the father of Antiope (who is hence called Nycteis, mother of Labdacus by Polydorus), and guard- ian of Thebes for Labdacys, invaded Sicyon to revenge the carrying off of Antiope by Epopeus, the king of that country ; was there defeated ; and shortly afterward died of his wounds. On his deathbed he handed over the regency to his brother, Lycus, son of Poseidon and the Pleiad Celaeno, who assumed the government for the young Labdacus. When, at length, Labdacus became of age and ascended the throne, he met a fate like that of Pentheus in oppos- ing the cult of Bacchus, and Lycus was left as regent for the king's infant son, Laius. In this office he now put 17 1 8 The Crimes of the Oedipodean Cycle away his former wife, Antiope, who had born to Zeus two sons, Zethus and Amphion, and married Dirce, who treated Antiope with contempt. Zethus and Amphion, having heard of this ill treatment of their mother obtained possession of Thebes, slew Lycus,^ and took revenge upon Dirce, whom they bound to a wild bull which dragged her about until she perished, and then, not yet satisfied, they cast her body into a fountain or spring. This work of destruction accomplished, they set about building walls around the city to the rock-moving strains of Amphion's lyre, and cast out Laius, who sought protection at the court of Pelops. Here, however, he proved false to his position as guest-friend. One day while teaching Pelop's son, Chrysippus, the art of chariot-driving, he seized this opportunity to bear him away; for he was filled with an unnatural love for the boy.^ Such is the account given by ApoUodorus, with whom Pausanias^ is not at variance, except in that he adds - "Laius was stealthily removed out of the way, by those who had it at heart that the house of Cadmus should not be forgotten in after ages." Still earlier accounts* say that Zethus and Amphion occupied Thebes before the time of Cadmus, but it is not for us to attempt to rec- oncile variant accounts dealing with this early period. This youth, Chrysippus,^ who had inflamed Laius, was the §on of Pelops and the nymph Axioche," or Danais,' The Heritage of Oedipus 19 or Hippodameia f the character of the evidence favouring Axioche being the best, that supporting Hippodameia, allowing of the possibility of her being the mother, but not accounting for her later conduct toward her son, while the authority for Danais is weakest. Of Hippo- dameia he is the last named of six sons; of Axioche, the only son; while, according to other accounts, he is not the son of Hippodameia but of another woman." But whatever his descent, he must have been a comely youth^" so to have stirred the lust of Laius that he was seized by him and borne to Thebes from his home — as we conclude from the fact that most authors mention no particular locus raptandi — or from the Nemean^^ games. This was the first example of Knabenliebe among the' Hellenes,^^ as was that of Zeus and Ganymede among the gods or, perhaps that of Poseidon and Pelops. Later, however, this unnatural passion became more common, — a fact that M. Paul Decharme clearly^^ has pointed out: "To speak first of that which is most repug- nant to our moral sense, need we be surprised that Aris- tophanes never dreamt of reproaching Euripides for the subject of his Chrysippus? And yet the main incident of this drama was the rape of Pelops's young son by Laius, who was enamoured of his beauty.^* Cicero speaks of it only in veiled words 'Who does not understand, in read- ing Euripides, what Laius means to say and what are his 20 The Crimes of the Oedipodean Cycle desires ?'^° The Greeks undoubtedly expressed them- selves more freely. As a love of this kind has found expression in the Myrmidons of Aeschylus, and in The Women of Colchis and Niobe of Sophocles/" we must believe that it shocked people on the stage no more than it did in real life." The rape of Chrysippus generally is attributed to Laius,^" but as well to Zeus,^* and Theseus,^' and even to Oedipus;^* however, a comparison of the authorities makes it almost certain that the reading, Laius, is cor- rect, and that the others arose, either from misconceptions on the part of the writer or through corruption of the text. And, too, it is hardly probable that the choice of the dramatists would have fallen so unanimously upon the Laius version, if it had not been substantiated by existing myths then and had it not been most widely known among the people who composed the audiences in the theatre. Plays as a rule set forth that version which had become most popular, and the audience, unusual in that it was familiar with a mass of lore gained through everyday conversation, was apt to criticize a deviation from the accepted story. Certainly it was the version that lent itself most readily to the constructing of a plot, and offered a plausible explanation of the subsequent ills of the Labdacidae which otherwise would have been hanging in air, or, lacking a ready-made explanation, would have The Heritage of Oedipus 21 V been supplied by an invention. About the origin of the evils of Laius and his race, ancient authorities are not agreed. That the sinful love of Laius for Chrysippus provoked the anger of Hera^" is one explanation; another is practically the same, that after Chrysippus had pierced himself with his sword out of shame for his condition, Teiresias, seeing in his capacity of seer that Laius was hated by the gods, turned him from going to consult Apollo and advised him rather to offer, sacrifice to Hera Gamostolos.^^ Again we find that Laius has violated an order of Apollo forbidding him to have a son, which order evidently had been given him to punish him for his amour coupableP M. Legras^^ belieyes that, in as much as the "Septem" of Aeschylus was inspired by the "Thebais" it is possible that this epic had itself con- fused the two stories, i. e. the rape of Chrysippus and Apollo's revenge. Probably the Laius-Chrysippus episode was the nucleus of this part of the myth. From what is icnown of Laius, we think of him as a man singularly weak before temptation, impetuous, reck- less of consequences and basely sensual. Pelops was justly wrathful over this outrage and called down upon the head of Laius the curse that he might never have a son, yet should a child be born to him, that he might die by this son's hand. Here, then, we have the source of the curse that sat so heavily upon the Labdacidae. Laius, however. 22 The Crimes of the Oedipodean Cycle was not the man to submit passively to a fate like this, and, in the face of the tragic outcome that he knew his act must have, begat a son, probably out of the very spirit of perversity which might have possessed him. True, the authorities we have do not so much as hint at perversity, the act being attributed to drunkenness,^ or incontinence either on the part of Laius^^ or the part of Jocasta,^ yet might the drunkenness not have been intentionally brought on to inspire a feeling of bravado and irresponsi- bility? A man in Laius's position naturally would nurse his wrongs and fall into a state of aboulia, as did Hamlet, and require some powerful stimulus to induce him to take a decisive step. This view derives some support from the fact that Laius was mentally abnormal in his unnatural love,^' in being utterly devoid of the affection which a father should feel for his child ,^ in perverting the natural pride in fatherhood to positive cruelty against his off- spring,^ and in his violent, unreasoning anger toward Oedipus at the cross-roads.^ Heredity seems to have taken its wonted course and reserved the evil traits of Laius for the sons of Oedipus, who himself was a man of exemplary character although retaining the hot-headedness of his father, as we see in the slaughter of lord and servants at the cross-roads, in his anger at the aged sire Tiresias* and at Creon, and The Heritage of Oedipus 23 in his curse upon his sons.^ If we were asked to name the predoQunatiogemotion which is stirred in our hearts by the history of Oedipus, almost without exception we would answer that it is /{Jity^ Not pity throughout the life of the hero, for at ^.times^ is to be envied, but pity at the tragedy of a man so exalted by the gods to be ultimately so crushed through auctions, the entrance upon, and the outcome of, which, were beyond his power to avert. He is the unhappy wight,^^ the great example of fortunatus infoelix}'^ the tragic myrrour of misery,'* as he is quaintly called. Even be- fore the time when he came something saucily into the world,^^ we anticipate a world of sadness for this mis- begotten, unwelcome, unloved child. Perverted mother- love and the selfish fears of his father brought him pain on the third day of his new life,^^ and exposure in winter- time, although he was only a tender infant.^' The woman who became his mother as a result of un- controlled passion would not have the same love for her child as would a woman with whom the act had been one of love and whose soul was hungry for a child. Yet mother-love would be strong even in the former case, and we can look upon Jocasta's indifference only as something unnatural. In his father there was much to be desired. A man guilty of the affair of Chrysippus, or of direct disobed- 24 The Crimes of the Oedipodean Cycle ience to Apollo, for in the face of clear warnings, he begat a son with Jocasta, would be unable to experience the finer joys of fatherhood. Laius was a criminal in thought, in giving life to a being whom he previously must have resolved to remove from his path by foul means. Assigned to a momentary sense of irresponsibility or even to drunk- enness,^ it was, nevertheless, crin^nal_jbowghttessness ; assigned to the purpose of making away with the child, it is clearly a deliberate crime. But upon the questions of right and wrong as they were felt in those far-ofi days, there can be no last word from our time which however closely it may ally itself in spirit with the former age, must always feel the lacuna of centuries forbidding satis- faction at our conclusions — quot homines, tot sententiae — or nearly so. CHAPTER II THE MURDER OF LAIUS ACCOUNTS of the slaying of Laius agree only in the essential fact that the son slew the father. Oedipus was said to have gone to the assistance of Chrysippus and to have slain his father in the effort to save the lad,^° but a statement so at variance with the generally accepted form of the myth may be regarded as due to a lack of knowledge on the part of the scholiast, otherwise he would have seen that to make Oedipus and Chrysippus con- temporaries would be to wipe out the cause for the pain- ful events of Oedipus's early life, the exposure and its consequences, which are so essential to the later develop- ment of the story, and which we would expect to be well known to a commentator of the post-Euripidean period. As strange a version is that which explains Laius's death at the hands of his son by the fact that both were enamoured of Chrysippus,^^ leaving to our imagination the rivals' contest which ensued. Again we hear that Laius was accompanied by his wife, Epicaste, and that she was not touched by Oedipus, who fled into the mountains,^* and how he took Laius's belt and sword,^^ and brought his opponent's chariot home to Polybus.*" 25 26 The Crimes of the Oedipodean Cycle A Latin Thebais tells how Laius and his guest-friend, Naubolus, were slain by Oedipus at the cross-roads, and the armour-bearer, or esquire, escaped.*^ Strangest of all is the statement, "Some say that his mother was also slain by him,"^' which is difficult to explain in the light of our knowledge of the Oedipus story. The son could not have killed the mother before he had married her, thus fulfilling the second half of the oracle, and before he had discovered the crimes he had conunitted. Perhaps we are judging the matter from the point of view formed by adherence to the extant account, with- out considering the existence at that time of a possible variant, which may have mentioned only one condition of the oracle. It is next to impossible to explain the slay- ing of both together if Oedipus already had had innocent relations with the mother, and how could he have had these relations if the husband still lived? There is nothing to tell us that Laius had made a long journey before this, or had been given up as lost, the only con- ditions under which Jocasta would have been approached. A strong, virile character was exhibited by Laius in the last event of his life. Born to power, and later deprived of it, he came again into his own wlith the resolve to exercise the royal command to his soul's content, which action was bound to make him querulous, impatient of Murder of Laius 27 delay, in short, something of a curmudgeon, but in the blinding glare of his restoration it gave him courage to bid Apollo and his oracle go to — . Yet the haughty king wins our admiration and sympathy in his encounter with his son, unknown to him. The elder man was in the right. He travelled in a chariot, bore himself as a person of consequence, notwithstanding his scanty attend- ance, and demanded the right of way, because, as the road consisted of two deep ruts, to turn aside his retinue to- gether with removing his chariot to the side of the pas- sage to allow a pedestrian to go on his way, would have been, without a doubt, yielding to an unreasonable de- mand.*^ Peremptory as may have been his words to Oedipus, they were a king's words, and looked to com- pliance with a fair request, but to the person addressed they must have been lashes to a mind raw from the oracle's wound. There was, then, righteous anger on thp., part of Laius; in Oedipus, the torn spirit finding vent for its suffering in a deed of violence that saw nor right nor wrong — truqulence induced by cares. Perhaps we are going too far when we look for the motives that prompted Oedipus, for it may have been that the fate which was upon him manifested itself in a numb- ing of consciousness, and the resulting deed was a neg- ative rather than a positive action. Whatever view is b?ld will not be greatly at variance with the explanation 28 The Crimes of the Oedipodean Cycle that, as a man with a bitter, doubt-breeding anxiety gnawing at his heart, he was not accountable for his con- jduct. A flash of anger, a death-blow, and he was on his I'way again, apparently unruffled, and too absorbed in his jown gloomy thoughts to notice the escape of one of the' I attendants. DeQuiiicy/ would have looked with scorn upon the incompleteness of the murderer's operations, upon the lack pi dramatic efEect, and upon the absence of a plan, comprehensive, and at the same time concerned with details.^^ Oedipus was, then, a_poar_muxderer_sgl^y frem-a~ia£k_o f motiv g< Later we learn that in his mind there must have been a veritable hiatus, a lacuna corresponding exactly with the time of this affair. In the discussions of the former king's death, which must certainly have arisen at the time when he married the widowed queen, there is an inexplicable silence on his part which cannot be accounted for on the grounds of cowardice,** because directly he had had the truth forced into his mind, he did not hesitate to inflict extreme physical pain upon himself.*^ Another circum- stance that leads us to think that his mind was a total blank is from a variant account of Nicolaus Damascen- us,'' who describes the slaying of Laius, but states that Oedipus did not touch Epicaste, who accompanied her husband. Now if he saw Epicaste so short a time before he married her it is strange, to say the least, that he failed Murder of Laius 29 to recognize her at a second meeting. Evidently his mind was a blank at the time. On her part the failure to recognize in her new husband the travel-stained wayfarer who slew Laius, is not re- markable. Probably she even fainted at the time and had rto opportunity to observe Oedipus. Hofer,*^ however, thinks she should have recognized him. But if we call it hiatus, we have to explain how a man swinging along at a round pace on a lonely mountain road, could have suffered lapse of memory upon suddenly encountering a royal party going to consult the oracle at Delphi. In support of this arbitrary term, we may show thaj in the first place, hiatus is not always brought on by bodily shock, but is sometimes, though less frequently, the result of a mental paroxysm, a sudden changing from one form of intense thought to another; in the second place, that this was precisely what happened in this instance, for the l)tadc-TiESpa«-«f^ Oedipus was converted instantly into bo iling xage ; and finally that the acceptance of this ex- planation will account for the freedom from suspicion which we find in the quondam murderer's mind. Very interesting is the discussion of this episode in The Makers of Hellas" : "Th6.,5ncountei- in the Triple Way is an^ncounter of jgajsions, — ^'-Like-4ather,-like-^on!.— ngithpr Laius norOedipus will give way; each of theiii'h'as' not ' o2LlMt.ittJaJmJthejaxxse-joi-.the.race.,Lthe 'hybris that makes 30 The Crimes of the Oedipodean Cycle the tyrant,' the imperious haughty temper that will brook no opposition." This is the key to the situation. The comment of Teiresias would have been : " 'Twas- jipt the meeting was thy bane — 'twas.jthgu jhysel^ unto thyself."*' AOeast one authority, Pausanias,*" states in connection with the marriage of Oedipus and Jocasta (or Epicaste as he calls her) that of this union there were no children: "(Oedipus) married his mother. But I think he had no children by her, and Homer is my witness, who says in the Odyssey^": — 'And the mother of Oedipodes I saw, fair Epicaste, Who, all unwitting, wrought a fearful deed. Wedding her son. But he his father slew And wedded her, and straightway the gods revealed it to mankind.' Now how could they have revealed it straightway if Jocasta was the mother of four children by Oedipus? In point of fact, the mother of his children was Euryganea,^'^ daughter of Hyperphas. This is proved by the author of the poem they call the Oedipodea/^ and Onasias has painted a picture at Plataea of Euryganea bowed with grief at the battle between her sons," CHAPTER III THE MARRIAGE OF OEDIPUS TO HIS MOTHER T N view of this we have the alternatives before us in the question of Oedipus's incest: either he did have chil- dren by his mother, or he did not. The authority for , the latter is not a negligible quantity, but gives w'ay be- fore the older sources which affirm that the children. Antigone, Ismene, Eteocles, and Polynices were born to Jocasta, notwithstanding the {acj>ap), plotzlich in the text of Homer. Of course it is absurd to stretch the meaning to "immediately after sixteen years" — ^which time would be long enough to account for the inter- vening events — , and, moreover, it is unnecessary, for the aap may have been used loosely to express a relatively short lapse of time, days, months, or years, as the case might have been. An account differing from the two just mentioned is given by Epimenides,^^ who says that Oedipus was the son of Laius and Eurycleia, and Epicaste the second wife of Laius, so that Oedipus married not his own mother but his stepmother. However, the only weight this has is lent by the writer's title of genealogist, and in this instance he may have been smoothing over this detail for 31 32 The Crimes of the Oedipodean Cycle the benefit of a client who wished his ancestry traced back to Oedipus, provided the stain of incest could be removed. Assuming the truth of the incestuous union, we have now to .^nnf5JHpi-_jJTP^gHirp_pf the ^erff^- It was far from being a natural occurrence even in the days when licenS&-wai great ; even though " in Saturn's reign Such mixture was not held a stain."'* Always, we have reason to h'-li«r'>,-gii''h mivtnirp Jiac b een deem ed_ disgraceful, . even among the lowest tribes, and it has been thought to bring with it a punishment upon the tribe in which it was practised. An African traveller relates that there is a belief entertained by the Khasis of Assam, that if a man defiles tribal custom by marrying a woman of his own clan, the women of the tribe will die in childbed and the people will suffer from other calamities.^^ Another tells how the ground which has been polluted, must be shunned. °® This throws some light upon the condition of Thebes at the opening of Sophocles's "Oedipus Tyrannus." J. G. Frazer,^^ in his discussion of the point, men- tions the dire results which come upon such a land. "It would seem that the ancient Greeks and Romans enter- tained similar notions '(to those of the Jews) as to the Marriage of Oedipus to His Mother 33 wastin g effects of incest. According to Sophocles (O. T. 22 sqq., 95 sqq.) the land of Thebes suffered from blight, from pestilence, and from sterility both of women and of cattle under the reign of Oedipus, who unwittingly had slain his. father and married his mother, and the Delphic oracle declared that the only way to restore the pros- perity of the country was to banish the sinner from it, as if his mere presence withered plants, animals, and women. No doubt the poet and his hearer set down these public calamities in great part to the guilt of parricide, which rested on Oedipus, but they hardly can have failed to lay much also of the evil at the door of the incest with his mother." Mention of three wives of Oedipus is made by Phere- cydes.^* The first, Jocasta, bore him two sons, Phrastor and Laonytus; the second, Euryganea, daughter of Peri- phas, four children, Antigone, Ismene, Eteocles and Poly- nices ; while of the third, Astymedusa, the mere fact that he married her is given, but the possibility is that she bore him no children. Accepting this, we cannot retain the episode of the blinding,*^ nor can we see why the sons of Jocasta should be totally dropped from subsequent revivals of the myth in poetry and drama. More unusual even than this is the account that tells how "Oedipus had intercourse with Jocasta — ^who had come to the burial of her dead husband — and begot children. But later 34 The Crimes of the Oedipodean Cycle when he had solved the Sphinx's riddle he became aware of what he had done."^* The expression "begot children" or "begot the childr'en" (jutyei/ra ytvi/r/o-ai tous ttcuSos) seems to mean that he begot all the children at the same time, manifestly an absurd conclusion, but in keeping with the extraordinary sequence of events which makes the dis-, rnyrrj^jrfjii'i inrpnt thn remilt nf hii l alving the ridd le. This turning about of the cause (the solving of the riddle) andthe effect (tKe marriage) pu ts us at a loss to explain yyh v Oedipus A ould have mar ried his mother. She was many years his senior, and nowhere do we read that she was particularly attractive, so we must fall back upon the explanation that it is most pr obable that Creo n gave her to Oedipus out of gratitude_fpr^ the. deliverance of the city. The wife, Astymedusa, whom, according to another account,*" he married directly he had put aside Jocasta, stirred up trouble by accusing the stepsons of attempting to violate her honour. If this was an accepted version, and not pure invention on the part of the scholi- ast, it never, to our knowledge at least, recommended itself to another writer. CHAPTER IV OEDIPUS'S CURSING OF HIS SONS O OME may not see in Oedipus's cursing of his sons an act deserving to be called criminal, but it' assumes a more serious aspect when we consider its consequences, and for that reason, if for no other, it may be discussed along with actual crimes. Years before this, he had experienced the sensation of pronouncing unconsciously an eloquent curse upon his own head by directing it.pub-^ licl^Jafctfef;; murderer of LaiuSj^^ and might have been expected to show greater caution in calling down curses on the heads of his sons. But this was no random imprecation ; it was directed against the definite objects of his displeasure, and besides, he was furious at the treat- ment he had received at their hands. lAfter his blind- ing, Oedipus was neglected by his sons, and, one day in a rage at the scantiness of his food, he asked the gods to let his sons share his kingdom between them "with sword- wielding hand."*^ j Or it was because Polynices (without being held back by his brother)*^ set before his father the precious silver vessels of Laius,"* or because, instead of sending him the • shoulder of the sacrificial victim, as was their custom, they sent the rump, an action which he regarded as an insult.^° 35 36 The Crimes of the Oedipodean Cycle Astymedusa, their step-mother, was said to have sland- ered them to Oedipus, saying that they had assailed her honour, and for this her husband was justly angry.'" V^till another reason for his curse was the fact that they had caused him to be locked up in the palace in order that, in his absence,"" they might the better forget the fate hanging over them. J Sophocles has left us in detail the events that led up to the curse in order to secure dramatic effect and to justify Oedipus. Polynices has come to the aged, blind Oedipus in the grove of the Eumenides at Athens there to plead with him to return to Thebes as a help to him and Adrastus, but Oedipus recounts his expulsion from Thebes at the hands of his ungrateful sons, and, with mounting anger at the very thought of the indignity, hurls out a dire curse upon them."' To avert its fulfillment by abandoning the struggle for the throne was in Polynices' power, and we look for him to do this, because he has before him, in the person of his father, a vivid picture of the blighting efEects wrought by such a curse. But he continues in his pur- pose, defying the gods to harm him — the contrary of what Oedipus had done when, the oracle consulted, he went humbly away with the resolve to avert its fulfill- ment. As the character of Creon changes for^the worse during Oedipus's Cursing of His Sons 37 the progress of the story, that of Oedipus becomes nobler in its humbleness, and we have before us an Oedipus pur- ified, cleansed, bent down with suffering, feeble, blind, dependent on the bounty of strangers, miserable, travel- stained, and with unkempt hair fluttering around his sightless head, yet withal, free from curse and penalty; whereas, in the earlier part of his life, he was sensitive, imaginative, tender, passionate, impetuous, short-sighted, zealous, generous, pious, brooding, and dignified. So, "in spite of the scene in which he spurns his suppliant son, we feel that Oedipus at Coloneus is a different being from Oedipus at Thebes. If not softened he is at least chast- ened and enlightened.""* E. E. G. upholds Oedipus in cursing his sons on the grounds that, according to the ethics of his age,°^ he did not sin. He was only passing on to the following gen- eration the ill fortune he had received from his father in the form of a fate. Looking back upon the swift rise to power and the damning discoveries of his unwitting crimes which made his life wretched from that time forth, he looked upon himself "as neither pure nor yet guilty, but as a person set apart by the gods to illustrate their will,"'" as a kind of plaything of fate to warn other men, and at this thought his bitterness welled to his lips in a curse that a calmer moment would have smothered. CHAPTER V FATE TN the words of the chorus of the Antigone'^ we have the keynote to the Oedipus myth, "In mortal life noth- ing is wholly free from any." This any, according to E. E. G.'^ "is both sin and its consequences, its punish- ment, and in the age of Sophocles, as in Homeric days, ' men still clung to the comfortable notion that any was a '[ sort of fate which could not be resisted — a notion which found expression in the current ideas regarding the doom on a house, the curse on a family or race. Sophocles sets himself with all his might to resist this notion. He shows men in the plainest way that they are their own any, that they bring their own curse, their own doom upon themselves — that what they are pleased to call curse, doom, even the fulfilling of the oracles, is nothing else than the natural working out of obedience to the great laws." This thought does not originate with Sophocles — we read of it in Hgmer''^ — , but there is ground, for believ- ing that in the character of Oedipus we see a mortal actually living out a curse. He was not his own any. Long before he was born there was a curse upon his 38 Fate 39 father,^* and his very birth was a violation of a divine oracle. But here E. E. G.''^ declares that "the penalty, not the 'fate' of Laius is that, since by his crime he has deprived another of his child, he himself shall perish at the hands of his own child," which is a possible inter- pretation, but in the end this penalty assumes the pro- portions of a fate in its wasting efEects upon posterity, and so becomes equivalent to a 'curse.' " In his early man- hood the slaying of his father was the rising within him of the unrecognized impulse which had been latent through- ' out his youth. It was a fulfillment, as was his later mar- riage with his mother, which involved no moral responsi- bility on his part. An extraordinary view of Oedipus's conduct is taken by Karl Abraham,'" who explains his actions as the result of the human instinct — of a man in particular — to dream of the death of his father and feel an exceedingly close attachment to the mother. These childish impulses were acted out when the dreamer grew to manhood. The fate of Oedipus is the high water mark of misery in the tide of suffering which overwhelmed the Lab- dacidae. He was not the last sufferer but he was the man upon whom the force of the curse seems to have spent itself, for his descendants were cut off from normal lives with no lingering agonies of body and soul, and for this reason it is that the name of Oedipus calls up, even today, 40 The Crimes of the Oedipodean Cycle the image of a man succumbing to an irresistible fate, whereas the others of his race are totally forgotten or sur- vive merely as names. NOTES 1 Nicol. Damasc. 8 v. 15 sq. (ed. L. Dindorf). ApoUod. Bibl. 3, 5, 4. 2 AppUod. Bibl. 3, 5, 5-10. 3 Paus. IX, 5, 3. 4 Schol. Horn. II. 13, 301. Eustath. on Od. 11, 262. cf. Mueller, Orchom. S. 191. 5 Vid. L. Legras "Les Legendes Thebaines" pp. 155 sqq. 6 Schol. Pind. Ol. i, 144. Schol. Eur. Orest. 5. cf. Hellan. in Schol. Horn. II. 2,105; and Mantissa Proverba in Paroemiogr. gr. ed. Get- ting. II, 773. 7 Plut. parall. Gr. et Rom. h. 33. 8 Schol. Pind. Ol. 1,144. 9 Aristoph. Byzant. in Hypoth. Eur. Phoen. "(Chrysippus) who was his son by another woman, and not by Hippodameia, daughter of Oinomaos." Schol. Horn. II. 2,105 "Pelops, having a son, Chrysippus, by a former wife, married Hippo- dajneia, daughter of Oinomaos." 10 Hyg. Fab. 271 — Chrysippus is mentioned among the youths of extraordinary beauty, i. e., Adonis, Hyacinthus, Narcissus, Hylas, etc., and meets with 41 42 The Crimes of the Oedipodean Cycle a similar fate. — cf. the tale of Argennos who was loved by Agamemnon. cf. Hyg. Fab. 85 "Laius Labdaci filius Chrysip- pum, Pelopis filium nothum, propter formae dignita- tem Nemeae ludis rapuit." 11 Hyg. Fab. 85. 12 Pseudo-Pisandros in Schol. Eur. Phoen. 1760 (transl. Legras. p. 34) "Laios le premier s'abandonna a cet amour contre nature." For Ps.-Pisand. cf. Macrob. V, 2, 4, "Qui (Pisander) inter graecos poetas eminet opere quod a Nuptiis Jovis incipiens." Arist. Byz. in Hypoth. Eur Phoen. Athenaeus XIII, 79-603 a: "paederasty first came over to the Greeks from the Cretans, as Timaeus relates. But others say that Laius, when he was the guest friend at Pelops's court, made a beginning of this kind of love in his passion for his host's son, Chrysippus, whom he seized, placed in his chariot and fled with to Thebes." He goes on to tell how the Celti, a barbarian tribe, preferred boys to their beautiful wives, sometimes indeed, enjoying both; and how Herodotus mentions that this fmOcLv TO Traicrt )(fyi^(T6ai was known to the Per- sians. Notes 43 Laius was clearly not a homosexual because he had prolonged relations with Jocasta, and even procreated a son, so his criminal sensuality may be regarded as a perversion which might have come to any heterosexual under similar conditions. cf. Block The Sexuality of our Times. Rebman, London, 1908, p. 547. 13 P. Decharme Euripides and the Spirit of his Dramas (transl. Loeb) p. 159. 14 Ael. De Nat. Anim. VI, 15. Var. Hist. II, 21. 15 Cic. Tusc. Disp. IV, 33, 71. "Atque, ut mulie- bris amores omittam, quibus maiorem licentiam na- tura concessit, quis out de Ganymedi raptu dubitat, quid po'etae velint, aut non intellegit, quid apud Euripidem et loquatur et cupiat Laius?" (Cited by L. Constans, "La Legende d'Oedipe," p. 18). 16 Athen. XIII, 79-6o2a, 6oia. Plato. Symp. p. i8oa. 17 Nicol. Damasc. F. H. G. Ill, 366, 15. Cic. Tusc. Disp. IV, 33, 71. Apollod. Bibl. 3, 5, 5, 10. Schol. Eur. Phoen. 1760. Dositheos F. H. G. IV, 402, 7. 18 Praxilla frg. 6 (Athen. XIII, 79, 5, 603a). cf, Wilatnowitz-Moellendorf, "Trag, Graec. fr. 44 The. Crimes of the Oedipodean Cycle Prooem." Gott. 1893. "It is better to read here vrro Aios than WOi&VoSos, the latter being the emen- dation of Valckmaer (Diatrbie 23)." Valckmaer joins this with Schol. Eur. Phoen. 60. 19 Hyg. Fab. 271 "Chrysippus, Pelopii filius, quern Theseus rapuit." Probably due to a blunder. (O. Gruppe. "Gr. Myth. u. Rel., p. 508 N. 2). 20 Apollod. Bibl. 3, 5, 8, 2 "for Hera sent the Sphinx." Dio Chrysost. or 11 p. 169 (Dind.). cf. Overbeck, Her. Gall., I, i. 21 Pseudo-Pisand. in Schol. Eur. Phoen. 1760. 22 Pind. 01. n, 24 sqq. cf. the probable form of the oracle as given in: I Hypoth. Soph. O. T. n Hypoth. Eur. Phoen. Aesch. Sept. c. Theb. 745 sqq. "For I speak of the ancient transgression with its speedy punish- ment ; yet it abides unto the third generation ; since Laius, in spite of Apollo, who had thrice declared in the central oracles of Pytho that, dying without issue, he would save the state, did, notwithstanding, overcome by his friends, in his infatuation beget his»own destruction, the parricide Oedipus." 23 "Les Legendes Thebaines," p. 51. 24 Eur. Phoen. ai. Notes 45 Alexander of Aphrodisias, "De Fato" 31, p. 98 (Orelli). ApoUod. Bibl. 3, 5, 7, l oSe olvtstBai avvqXOt. rri yvvaiKi. Hypoth. Eur. Phoen. 25 Aesch. Sept. c. Theb. 750 sqq. ("Ace. to Schneidewin" S. v. O., p. 179 the afiovXiav or djSouXuuf refer to the wife). 26 Hypoth. Eur. Phoen. (prob. Aesch. Sept. c. Theb. 750 sqq.) 27 Vide nn. 34 and 35. 28 Soph. O. T. w. 807 sqq. 29 Soph. O. T. w. 334 sqq. 30 This curse probably implied more than we generally understand. cf. J. C. Lawson Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion in which the author thinks that Sophocles called down upon his sons the curse of the vrykolakas, the meaning of which term will be explained later. pp. 419 sqq. "But he (Euripides) was not alone in employing it (superstition of vrykolakas) for dramatic purposes. In the pages of Sophocles too and of Aeschylus there are passages which only a knowledge of this superstition can explain ade- quately. First among these is the climax of that 46 The Crimes of the Oedipodean Cycle speech in which Oedipus, blind and outcast, denounces his undutiful son (O. C. 1383 sqq.) The last phrase of this denunciation, ('and I call on Tartarus in whose hated gloom my father lies, to drive thee from his home') is that with which I am concerned. — Now even if the word airoLKitfo could in this context bear any of the meanings as- cribed to it such an euphemism following upon the explicit threats that Polynices should be slain by his own brother's hand would be an imbecile anti- climax — . Tartarus is here besought, as plainly as language can express it, to drive Polynices out, not to take him in. There can be only one explana- tion of that prayer. Polynices' death already has been foretold ; but his father's curse pursues him beyond death. Tartarus, in whose keeping the dead should lie, is conjured to drive him forth from the home of the dead, even as the peasants now pray that the earth may cast out those whom they hate. Thus Sophocles . . . proclaims that the belief in the non-dissolution or the rejection of the body by the earth and the powers under the earth was a terror as potent then as it is now, and an ever effective weapon of malediction." p. 364. (In explanation of the vrykolakas) . "The most common form of the Greek name for this Notes 47 species of vampire (causing abnormal condition of the dead) is B/iv/coAa/cas. I prefer henceforth to adopt a transliteration of the Greek word, and . . . . to employ the name vrykolakas. (plu.-kes.) "(Quotes Leo Allatius) 'The vrykolakas/ he writes, 'is the body of a man of evil and immoral life — ^very often of one who has been excommuni- cated by his bishop. Such bodies do not, like those of other men, suffer decomposition after burial nor turn to dust, but having, as it appears, a skin of extreme toughness become swollen and distended all over, so that the joints can scarcely be bent ; the skin becomes stretched like the parchment of a drum, and when struck gives out the same sound; from this circumstance the vrykolakas has received the name tympanios ("drum-like").' Into such a body,' he continues, 'the devil enters, and issuing from the tomb goes about, chiefly at night, knock- ing at doors and calling one of the household. If such a one answers, he dies next day, but a vry- kolakas never calls twice, so the inhabitants of Chios secure themselves by always waiting for a second call at night before replying.' " 31 G. Gascoigne (and F. Kinwelmersh), Jocasta trans- lated from the Italian of Lodovico Dolce. Ed. Cunliffe. Jocasta I, 3, 2. 48 The Crimes of the Oedipodean Cycle 32 Ibid. Argument to Jocasta. (p. 131). 33 Shak. Lear I, i, 20 sq. (Said of Edmund by Glou- cester). 34 Soph. O. T. 717 sqq. 35 Aesch. in Arist. Ran. 1190. Vide Hofer in Roscher's "Ausf. Lex. d. Gr. u. Rom. Myth." (v. sub. Oedipus, — Aussetzung u. Errettung. Sp. 705 sqq.) 36 Schol Eur. Phoen. 26. 37 Schol. Eur. Phoen. 60. (cf. note 18). 38 Nicol. Damasc. frg. 15 (Mueller, F. H. G. Ill, 366) or frg. 9 (Dind. Hist. Gr. Min. vol. I, p. 15). Vide Schneidewin "Die Sage vom Oedipus" p. 174. 39 In the Oedipodeia: ace. to Schol. Eur. Phoen. 1760 and Zenob. 2, 68. 40 Eur. Phoen. 44 sq. and Schol. ad. loc. Schol. Eur. Phoen. 1760. 41 Stat. Theb. 7, 354 sqq. Schol. Stat. Theb. 2, 68. (Naubolus is referred to as Lai auriga in Schol. Stat. Theb. 7, 355 and 358). 42 cf. E. E. G. in Makers of Hellas, a critical inquiry into the philosophy and religion of ancient Greece. (introd. notes and concl. by E. B. Jevons; Lon- Notes 49 don, GriflRth, 1903) p. 402. In justification of Laius's demand he says we must bear in mind — I That an old man, bound on an official mission, and especially one of a sacred character (as the immediate vicinity of Delphi here betokened), was himself sacred for the time. II That the person of a herald was univer- sally regarded as inviolable. Ill That it was absolutely impossible for the chariot to move out of the wheel-ruts for the passage of vehicles in the rocky path (vide C. Curtius "Gesch. des Weg- ebahns hei den Griechen," pp. 14, 15). Hence it was here part of the herald's duty to clear the way before it." 43 cf. De Quincy's On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts works, vol. XIII (ed. Masson). 44 cf. Soph. O. T. 558 sqq. Oedipus asks Creon how long ago Laius met his end. Presumably he him- self did not know, or had thought so little on it that it had slipped his memory. 45 Soph. O. T. 1252 sqq. 46 Hofer, in Roscher (vid. n. 35) Sp. 731, Z 35 sqq. 47 E. E. G. Milkers of Hellas, p. 402. 48 cf. Soph. O. T. 379- 50 The Crimes of the Oedipodean Cycle 49. Pausanias IX, 5, 10 sqq. (Frazer). 50 Horn. Od. II, 271 sqq. 51 For Euryganeia's not having children cf. — Phere- cydes in Schol. Eur. Phoen. 63. Apollod. Bibl. 3, 5, 8, 7. Paus. IX, 5, 5. For Eurygane, wife of Oedipus and mother of his children after the death of Jocasta cf. — SchoU. Eur. Phoen. 1760 and 13. 52 Cinaethon (author), but about this there can be no certainty. 53 Epimenides in Schol. Eur. Phoen. 13. 54 John Milton "// Penseroso" w. 25 sq.. - 55 Gurdon, P. R. T. (Colonel). The Khasis {London, 1907) pp. 94 and 123. Cited by J. G. Frazer in Golden Bough {The Magic Art, vol. II, p. 114). 56 B. F. Matthes, "Over de odd's of gewoonten der Makassaren en Boegineezer," Verslagen en Med- edeelinger der koninklijke Adakemie van Weten- schnaffen, Afdeeling Letterkunde, Derde Reeks, II. (Amsterdam, 1885) p. 182. "In the Buginese language this misdeed (Incest) is called sapa-tana, which, literally translated, signifies that the ground {tana) which has been polluted with the blood of such a person must above all be shunned {sapa)." (Quoted in J. G. Frazer's Golden Bough, Magic Notes SI Art, vol. II, p. no). 57. J. G. Frazer, Golden Bough {Magic Art. vol. II, p. 114)' "among the Hebrews we read how Job, passionately protesting his innocence before God, declares that he is no adulterer (Job XXXI, 11 sqq. — rev. vers.). Job affirms adultery to be de- structive of the fruits of the ground which is just what many savages still believe. This interpreta- tion of his words is strongly confirmed by the narra- tive in Genesis (Gen. XII. 10-20; XX, 1-18), where we read how Sarah, Abraham's wife, was taken into the harem by a king who did not know her to be the wife of the Patriarch, and how there- after God visited the king and his household with great plagues, especially by closing up the wombs of the king's wives and his maid servants, so that they bore no children. It was not till the king had discovered and confessed his sin, and Abraham had prayed God to forgive him, that the king's women again became fruitful. These narratives seem to im- ply that adultery, even when it is committed in ig- norance, is a cause of plague and especially of sterili- ty among women. Again, in Leviticus, after a long list of sexual crimes, we read (Lev. XVIII, 24 sqq.) 'Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled 52 The Crimes of the Oedipodean Cycle which I cast out before you: (25) And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabi- tants.' This passage appears to imply that the land itself was somehow physically tainted by sexual transgressions so that it could no longer support the inhabitants." (The following is quoted in the text). The author adds the statement, supported by examples to prove it, that "the Romans, like other people, attributed to sexual immorality a tendency to blast the fruits of the earth and of the womb." 58 Pherecydes (frg. 48) in Schol. Eur. Phoen. 53. 59 Schol. Eur. Phoen. 26. 60 Schol. Hom. II. 4, 376. 61 Soph. O. T. w. 216-275. 62 Aesch. Sept. c. Theb. 785 sqq. (Dind.). 63 Hofer, in Roscher's "Ausf. Lex. d. Gr. u. Rom. Myth." V. sub Oedipus. Sp. 731, Z 67. 64 Athen. XI, 465 I. Theb, frg. 2. 65 Schol. Laur. ad. Soph. Oed. Col. 1375. Theb. Frg. 3- 66 Eur. Phoen. 64 sqq. 67 Soph. O. C. 1370 sqq. 68 John Adam The Religious Teachers of Greece, pp. Notes 53 170 sqq. 69 E. E. G. Makers of Hellas, p. 411. "Barring this last hot outburst, let us note that, in cursing his unnatural sons, Oedipus sinned not, according to the ethics of his age. He is only giving them up to the punishment which, even among the chosen people, would have overtaken them. Here the un- written law of the Greek met the written law of the Hebrew. Under the Mosaic law the sentence stood fast: 'He that curseth his father or his mother, he shall surely be put to death' (Exod. XXI, 17), a sentence which embraced not merely the cursing of the lips, but the^ unnatural spirit which would withhold from father or mother the necessaries of life or the honour due to them. (cf. Matt. XV, 4-6) (Vide n. 30 for Lawson's explan- ation of the vrykolakas in connection with the curse). 70 R. C. Jebb. Introd. to Soph. O. C. p. XXII. 71 Soph. Antig. 614 (vid. 604 sqq.). 72 Makers of Hellas, p. 386. 73 Horn. Od. I, 32 sqq. {Zeus loquitur) "Lo, you now, how vainly mortal men do blame the gods! For of us they say comes evil, whereas they even of themselves, through the blindness of their own. hearts, have sorrows beyond that which is ordain- ed." (transl. Butcher and Lang. ) 54 The Crimes of the Oedipodean Cycle 74 Hypoth. Vat. Eur. Phoen. Aristoph. Byz. Hypoth. Eur. Phoen. Hypoth. Aesch. Sept. c. Theb. Schol. Eur. Phoen. 60, 69. 75 Makers of Hellas, p. 396. 76 Dreams and Myths, by Karl Abraham. (Berlin) Tranlated by Dr. William I. White. (New York Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease Publish- ing Oampany). (Following quotation from an ar- ticle Why We Long for the Death of Our Rela- tives in Current Opinion, vol. LV. no. I, July, 1913) "The legend of Oedipus, who unwittingly marries his own mother, Jocasta, and, though guiltless in intent, pays the penalty for this unholy act, is a mythical representation of this general tendency in human nature. Freud would explain the mystery of Hamlet in the same way. Hamlet is unable to take vengeance on the man who has supplanted and murdered his father because he himself in his early youth had wished his father's death. The wish has been vigorusly repressed and he is at present unconscious of it, but it still exists in him unconsciously and produces the inhibitory effects depicted in the play. Freud considers that repressed wishes of this nature are the principal factor in the production of all the psychoneuroses." (cf. Introd). BIBLIOGRAPHY Bethe: "Thebanische Heldenlieder." Leipzig 1891. Breal, Michael: "Le Mythe d'Oedipe." In: Melanges de Mythologie. 1878 (Explains Oed. as personification of light, and his blinding as the disappearance of the sun at the end of the day). Constans, Leopold: "La legende d'Oedipe etudiee dans I' antiquite , au moyen age et dans les temps modernes en partic- ulier dans le Roman de Thebes texte francaise du XII^ siecle. Paris: Maisonneure & Cie. 1881. (X 390 S., XCI S. I Abb.) 8 Fr. 10/50. Geffers, H. K. A.: "De Oedipi Sophoclei culpa." Progr. des Gymn Gothingen. 1850. Geist, Hermann: De fabula oedipodea. Pars II progr. des Gymn. Biidingen, 1 880 (14S.) 4 also: De fabulae oed. forma aeschylea. 55 56 The Crimes of the Oedipodean Cycle De fabulae oed. forma sophoclea. De fabulae oed. forma euripidea. Gruppe, O. : "Griechische Mythologie und Religionsgeschkhte" hrsg. V. Iwan Mueller. Miinchen 1906 sqq. 2 vols. Hall, Stanley: Oedipus and Hamlet. In: American Journal of Psychology. XXI Jan. 1910. Lasaubc, P. Eron: "JJber den Sinn der Oedipussage." Progr. des Gymn. Wurzburg 1841. Legras, Leon: "Les Legendes thebaines dans I'Epopee et la trag- edie grecques." Paris: Societe nouvelle de Librairie et d'Edition {Librairie Georges Bellais) 17 Rue Cujas, Ve. 1905. Leidloff: "Der Character des Oedipus im Oedipus Tyrannos des Sophokles." Progr. des Gymn. Braunschweig 1873. Mercier, J.: Oedipus and Lear. In: Argosy 28: 368. Bibliography 57 Miiller, Emil: "Uher den Charakter der Hauptperson im Konig Oedipus des Sophokles." In: Festschrift zur 300 jahrigen Jubelfeier des Gymn. Gittau. 1886. pp. 61-100. Otto, Heinrich: "De fabula oedipodea apud Sophoclem." Dissert inaug getting. Berolini: iSjg {44 S. i S. ung.) 8 (Mayer & Mueller) M. i. 20. Paulson, Johannes: "Anmerkungen zur Oedipus-Sage." In: Eranos Acta philologica suecana I {1896, pp. 11-27, 57-75)- {Article resume par la Rev. des Revues 1897, 314). Paulson, Johannes: "Oidipus-Sagen i den grekiska tragedien." (Popul. vetenskapl. foreldsen. vid. Goteborgs hogskola i). Goteborg: Wettergren & Kerber 1895 (i35 S) 8 Kr. 1.25. Perini, N. : "Reliqu. di Oidip. neW Odissea." Sinigaglia 1898. 512. (Quoted by O. Gruppe. G. M. u. R. p. 524 n. 3). Porter, C, and Clarke, H. A.: Fatherhood in Oedipus Story. 58 The Crimes of the Oedipodean Cycle In: Poet-Lore Ii:i02. Richter, J. Jakob: "Oedipus und Lear." Eine Studie zur Vergleichung Shakespeare's mit Sophokles. Zwei Teile. Progr. des Gymn. Lorrach 1884, 1885. (18, 25 S.) 4. Schneidewin : "Die Sage vom Oedipus" in Abhandlungen der his- tor.-philol. CI. d. Kgl. Gesellschaft d. Wiss. 5 (1853), 163. Steinberger, Alfons: "Die Oedipussage im Drama." In: Blatter fiir das Bayer. Gymnasialschulwesen 22 (1886) pp. 260-275. {Stellenweise etwa ver'dndert in: Die Oedipussage. Eine literarhistorische Skizze Regensberg: A. Copperath 1888 (77. S.) 8. M. 1.00. Sudhaus, Siegfr: "Konig Oedipus Schuld." Rektoratsrede (18 S.) gr. 8°. Kiel; Lipsius & Tischer 19 12. Vetter, Maximilian Hermann: "Ueber den Charakter des Konig Oedipus in der gleichnamigen Tragodie des Sophokles." Walser, Jakob: Bibliography 59 "Das Moment der Idealitat im Charakter des Oedi- pus Tyrannos." In : Zeitschrift fur die osterreichischen Gymnasien. 38 (1887) pp. 493-509, 573-585- Weclewski, Sigismond: "De Sophoclis Oedipo rege commentatio." dissertatio inauguralis, Halle, 1863. Cited by Constans. p. 38. "M. Sigismond Weclewski a cherche a etablir con- tre Schneidewin, Koch, Bergenroth, etc., qu'Oedipe portait le peine de son orgueil et de son imprudence, et que Sophocle n'avait nullement admis la fatalite comme le ressort de sa piece." note I. INDEX (Numbers alone refer to page; with "n.", to notes.) Aboulia, 22, n. 25 Delphi, 29, n. 42 Abraham, Dr. Carl, 7, 39, n. Delphic oracle, 33 57. n. 76 Adam, John, n. 68 Adonis, n. 10 Adrastus, 36 Aeschylus, 20, 21, n. 30 Agamemnon, n. 10 Agenor, 17 Amphion, 18 De Quincy, 28 Dirce, 18 "Dreams and Myths,'' 7, n. 76 E. E. G., 37, 38, 39, n. 42, n. 69 Epicaste, 25, 28, 30, 31 Epimenides, 31 Epopeus, 17 Antigone, 31, 33, 38 (the play) Eteocles, 31, 33 Antiope-Nycteis, 17, 18 Apollo, 21, 24, 27, n. 22 ApoUodorus, 18 Argennos, n. 10 Aristophanes, 19 Assam, Khasis of, 32 Astymedusa, 33, 34, 36 Athens, 36 Axioche, 18, 19 Bacchus, 17 Brown, Dr. William, 10 Buginese, n. 56 Cadmus, 17, 18 Celaeno (Pleiad), 17 Celti, n. 12 Chios, n. 30 Eumenides, 36 Euripides, 19, n. 30 Eurycleia, 31 Eurygane, n. 51 Euryanea, 30, 33 ' Euryg^aneia, n. 51 Exodus, n. 69 Frazer, 32, n. 56 Freud, 7 Gamostolos (Hera), 21 Ganymede, 19, n. 15 Genesis, n. 57 God, n. 57 Hamlet, 11, 22, n. 76 Hebrew, n. 57, n. 69 Chrysippus, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, Hellenes, 19 25, n. 9, n. 10, n. 12, n. 19 Hera Gamostolos, 21 Cicero, 19 Coloneus, 37 Creon, 22, 34, 36, n. 44 Cretans, n. 12 Danais, 18, 19 Decharme, M. Paul, 19 Herodotus, n. 12 Hippodameia, 19, n. 9 Hoefer, 29 Homer, 30, 31, 38 Hyacinthus, n. 10 Hylas, n. 10 Hyperphas, 30 61 62 Index Ismene, 31, 33 Jevon, E. B., n. 42 Jews, 32 Job, n. 57 Jocasta, II, 22, 23, 24, 26, 31, 33, n. 12, n. SI, n. 76 Jupiter ("Jovis"), n. 12 Khasis of Assam, 32 Knabenliebe, 19 Labdacidae, 21 Labdacus, 17, n. 10 Laius, 17, 18, ig, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 35, 39, n. 10, n. 12, n. 15, n. 22, n. 41, n. 42, n. 44 "Lancet, The," 11 Laonytus, 33 Lawson, J. C., n. 30 Legras, M., 21 Leo Allatius, n. 30 Leviticus, n. 57 Lycus, 17, 18 "Makers of Hellas, The,'' 29 Matthes, B. F., n. 56 Matthew (St.), n. 69 Mosaic law, n. 69 "Myrmidons" (of Aeschylus), 20 Naubolus, 26, n. 41 Nemea, n. 10 Nemean games, 19 Nicolaus Damascenus, 28 "Niobe" (of Sophocles), 20 Nycteis-Antiope, 17 Nycteus, 17 Odyssey, 30 "Oedipodea," 30 Oedipodes, 30 Oedipus, II, 20, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 34, 35, 36, 37. 38, 39, 44. n. 18, n. 22, n. 30, n. 51, n. 69, n. 76 "Oedipus Tyrannus," 32, 33 Oinomaus, n. 9 Onasias, 30 Patriarch, The, n. 57 Pausanias, 18, 30 Pelops, 17, 18, 19, 21, n. 12, n. 19 >Pentheus, 17 Periphas, 33 Persians, n. 12 Pherecydes, 33 Phrastor, 33 Pisa (Pelops King of), 17 Plataea, 30 Pleiad Celaeno, 17 Polybus, 25 Polydorus, 17 Polynices, 30, 31, 33, 35, 36 Poseidon 17, 19 Pytho, n. 22 Romans, The, n. 57 Sarah, n. 57 Saturn, 32 "Septem," 21 Sicyon, 17 Sophocles, 20, 33, 36, 38, n. 30 Sphinx, 34 Tartarus, n. 30 Teiresias, 21, 22 "Thebais," 21, 26 (Latin) Thebes, 17, 18, 19, 32, 33, 36, 37, n. 12 Theseus, 20, n. 19 Timaeus, n. 12 "Triple Way, The," 29 Valckmaer, n. 18 Vrykolakas, n. 30, n. 69 White, Dr. W. I., 7, n. 76 "Women of Colchis, The" (of Sophocles), 20 Zetheus, 18 Zeus, 18, 19, 20, n. 18, n. 73 ;