The Complete Aeschylus: Volume II: Persians and Other Plays (Greek Tragedy in New Translations)

427 Pages·2009·1.09 MB·English

by  Peter Burian

GREEK TRAGEDY
IN NEW TRANSLATIONS
general editors
Peter Burian and Alan Shapiro
founding general editor
William Arrowsmith
former general editor
Herbert Golder
THE COMPLETE AESCHYLUS, VOLUME II
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The Complete Aeschylus,
Volume II
Persians and Other Plays
Edited by
PETER BURIAN
and
ALAN SHAPIRO
1
2009
3
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PersiansCopyrightq1981byJanetLembkeandC.JohnHerington
PrometheusBoundCopyrightq1975byJamesScully
SevenagainstThebesCopyrightq1973byAnthonyHechtandHelenBacon
SuppliantsCopyrightq1975byJanetLembke
CompilationCopyrightq2009byOxfordUniversityPress,Inc.
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Aeschylus.
[Selections.English.2009]
Persiansandotherplays/editedbyPeterBurianandAlanShapiro.
p. cm.—(ThecompleteAeschylus;v.2)
(TheGreektragedyinnewtranslations)
Includesbibliographicalreferences.
ISBN978-0-19-537337-0;978-0-19-537328-8(pbk.)
1.Aeschylus—TranslationsintoEnglish. I.Burian,Peter,1943–
II.Shapiro,Alan,1952– III.Title.
PA3827.A2B872009
882'.01—dc22 2008039935
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
EDITORS’ FOREWORD
‘‘TheGreekTragedyinNewTranslationsisbasedontheconviction
that poets like Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides can only be
properlyrenderedbytranslatorswhoarethemselvespoets.Scholars
may,itistrue,produceusefulandperceptiveversions.Butourmost
urgent present need is for a re-creation of these plays—as though
theyhadbeenwritten,freshlyandgreatly,bymastersfullyathome
intheEnglishofourowntimes.’’
With these words, the late William Arrowsmith announced the
purposeofthisseries,andweintendtohonorthatpurpose.Aswas
trueofmostofthevolumesthatbegantoappearinthe1970s—first
under Arrowsmith’s editorship, later in association with Herbert
Golder—those for whichwe bear editorial responsibility are prod-
uctsofclosecollaborationsbetweenpoetsandscholars.Webelieve
(as Arrowsmith did) that the skills of both are required for the
difficultanddelicatetaskoftransplantingthesemagnificentspeci-
mensofanothercultureintothesoilofourownplaceandtime,to
do justice both to their deep differences from our patterns of
thought and expression and to their palpable closeness to our
most intimate concerns. Above all, we are eager to offer contem-
poraryreadersdramaticpoemsthatconveyasvividlyanddirectlyas
possible the splendor of language, the complexity of image and
idea, and the intensity of emotion and originals. This entails,
among much else, the recognition that the tragedies were meant
for performance—as scripts for actors—to be sung and danced as
wellasspoken.Itdemandswritingofinventiveness,clarity,music-
ality, and dramatic power. By such standards, we ask that these
translationsbejudged.
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EDITORS’ FOREWORD
Thisseriesisalsodistinguishedbyitsrecognitionoftheneedof
nonspecialistreadersforacriticalintroductioninformedbythebest
recentscholarship,butwrittenclearlyandwithoutcondescension.
Each play is followed by notes designed not only to elucidate
obscure references but also to mediate the conventions of the
Athenian stage as well as those features of the Greek text that
might otherwise go unnoticed. The notes are supplemented by a
glossary of mythical and geographical terms that should make it
possible to read the plays without turning elsewhere for basic
information. Stage directions are sufficiently ample to aid readers
inimaginingtheactionastheyread.Ourfondesthope,ofcourse,is
that these versions will be staged not only in the minds of their
readers but also in the theaters to which, after so many centuries,
theystillbelong.
anoteontheseriesformat
A series such as this requires a consistent format. Different
translators, with individual voices and approaches to the material
at hand, cannot be expected to develop a single coherent style
for each of the three tragedians, much less make clear to modern
readers that, despite the differences among the tragedians them-
selves, the plays share many conventions and a generic, or
period, style. But they can at least share a common format and
provide similar forms of guidance to the reader.
1. SpellingofGreeknames
Orthography is one area of difference among the translations
that requires a brief explanation. Historically, it has been com-
mon practice to use Latinized forms of Greek names when
bringing them into English. Thus, for example, Oedipus (not
Oidipous) and Clytemnestra (not Klutaimestra) are customary
in English. Recently, however, many translators have moved
toward more precise transliteration, which has the advantage
of presenting the names as both Greek and new, instead of
Roman and neoclassical importations into English. In the case
of so familiar a name as Oedipus, however, transliteration risks
the appearance of pedantry or affectation. And in any case,
perfect consistency cannot be expected in such matters.
Readers will feel the same discomfort with ‘‘Athenai’’ as the
vi
EDITORS’ FOREWORD
chief city of Greeceastheywouldwith‘‘Platon’’astheauthorof
TheRepublic.
The earlier volumes in this series adopted as a rule a ‘‘mixed’’
orthographyinaccordancewiththeconsiderationsoutlinedabove.
ThemostfamiliarnamesretaintheirLatinateforms,whiletherest
are transliterated; -os rather than Latin -us is adopted for the ter-
mination of masculine names, and Greek diphthongs (as in Iphi-
geneiaforLatinIphigenia)areretained.Someofthelatervolumes
continuethispractice,butwheretranslatorshavepreferredtousea
moreconsistentpracticeoftransliterationofLatinization,wehave
honoredtheirwishes.
2. Stagedirections
The ancient manuscripts of the Greek plays do not supply stage
directions (though the ancient commentators often provide infor-
mationrelevanttostaging,delivery,‘‘blocking,’’etc.).Hencestage
directions must be inferred from words and situations and our
knowledgeofGreektheatricalconventions.Atbestthisisaticklish
anduncertainprocedure.Butitissurelypreferablethatgoodstage
directions should be provided by the translator than that readers
shouldbelefttotheirowndevicesinvisualizingaction,gesture,and
spectacle.Ancienttragedywasaustereand‘‘distanced’’bymeansof
masks, which means that the reader must not expect the detailed
intimacy (‘‘He shrugs and turns wearily away,’’ ‘‘She speaks with
deliberate slowness, as though to emphasize the point,’’ etc.) that
characterizesstagedirectionsinmodernnaturalisticdrama.
3. Numberingoflines
For the convenience of the reader who may wish to check the
translation against the original, or vice versa, the lines have been
numberedaccordingtoboththeGreekandEnglishtexts.Thelines
of the translation have been numbered in multiples of ten, and
thesenumbershavebeensetintheright-handmargin.The(inclu-
sive) Greek numeration will be found bracketed at the top of the
page. The Notes that follow the text have been keyed to both
numerations,thelinenumbersofthetranslationinbold,followed
bytheGreeklinesinregulartype,andthesameconventionisused
forallreferencestospecificpassages(ofthetranslatedplaysonly)in
boththeNotesandtheIntroduction.
vii
EDITORS’ FOREWORD
ReaderswilldoubtlessnotethatinmanyplaystheEnglishlines
outnumbertheGreek,buttheyshouldnotthereforeconcludethat
the translator has been unduly prolix. In most cases the reason is
simply that the translator has adopted the free-flowing norms of
modern Anglo-American prosody, with its brief-breath-and-em-
phasis-determined lines, and its habit of indicating cadence and
caesuras by line length and setting rather than by conventional
punctuation.Evenwheretranslatorshavepreferredtocastdialogue
inmoreregularfive-beatorsix-beatlines,thegreatercompactness
ofGreekdictionislikelytoresultinasubstantialdisparityinGreek
andEnglishnumerations.
aboutthetranslations
Thetranslationsinthisserieswerewrittenoveraperiodofroughly
fortyyears.Noattempthasbeenmadetoupdatereferencestothe
scholarly literature in the Introductions and Notes, but each vol-
ume offers a brief For Further Reading listthat will provide some
initial orientation to contemporary critical thinking about the tra-
gediesitcontains.
thisvolume
The seven surviving plays of Aeschylus amount to less than one-
tenthofwhathewrote,atleasttojudgebythetitlesandfragments
that have come down to us—and one of the survivors may not be
his. Nevertheless, we can consider ourselves lucky to have one
complete trilogy, the Oresteia, and the group of four very fine
dramasthatmakeupthisvolume.
Theearliestisalsothemostunusual,inthatithasasubjectbased
on contemporary history rather than the distant, legendary past.
AeschyluswasalmostcertainlyatthebattleofSalamishedescribes
sovividlyinPersians,whichwasperformedonlyeightyearsafterthe
event, when Athenians’ memories were still fresh.The most inter-
esting thing about the play, however, is not its documentation of
realevents,butitstransformationofthoseeventsintoatrueGreek
tragedy, of history into myth. Thus, for example, the ghost of the
previous Persian king, Darius, whom the chorus invokes as a king
‘‘who brought no evil’’ (1064 / 1071) despite the Persian disaster at
Marathon, appears as a kind of idealized god-king, the legendary
heroofanearlierandbettertime.Aeschylusiscreatingnotmerely
viii
EDITORS’ FOREWORD
anaccountofhowbutalsoanexplanationofwhyXerxes’attemptto
subjugatetheGreekscametogrief.
The explanation involves the same sequence of human over-
reaching and divine chastisement that appears again and again in
tragic myth. Scholars have debated whether Aeschylus’ choice of
telling this tale entirely from the point of view of the defeated
Persians creates sympathy for the enemy’s suffering, or whether it
is designed to honor the Greeks’ defeat of a supposedly invincible
enemy. The two need not, of course, be entirely exclusive. In any
case,weshouldnotethattheplaydefinestheGreeksaseverything
the Persians are not, while at the same time it sounds a warning
about the fate that could be theirs should they succumb, as the
Persiansdid,tooverweeningambition.
SevenagainstThebes,producedfiveyearsafterPersians,isalsoa
war play—‘‘full of Ares,’’ says the character Aeschylus proudly in
Aristophanes’comicFrogs.Yet,likePersians,itfocusesonthefear
andsufferingwarbringsratherthanongloryandvictory.Thisisthe
third play of a trilogy that traced the fate of the royal house of
Thebesthroughthreegenerations,fromLaiostoOedipustoOedi-
pus’children.InSeven,Oedipus’curseofhissonsisfulfilledwhen
theydieateachother’shands,butthecityofThebesissavedfrom
destruction.
Attheheartofthisdramaisthe‘‘shieldscene,’’asetofsevenpairs
of speeches in which a scout tells Eteokles which Argive com-
manderhasbeenstationedateachofThebes’sevengates,describ-
ing the blazons on each of their shields. Eteokles responds by
appointingaThebancaptaintodefendeachgate.Onlyattheend
ofthisprocess,whenEteokleshearsthathisbrotherPolyneiceswill
attacktheseventhgate,doeshedecidethathehimselfwilloppose
him;andonly when hehas made thatdecision doesherecognize
thathisfather’scursesarebeingaccomplished.Eteoklesisatonce
the self-sacrificing defender of his city and the son whose choice
fulfills the fate to which Oedipus consigned him along with his
brother.Theclosingsceneoftheplay,inwhichThebes’magistrates
refusePolyneices’burial,isconsideredbymostscholarstobealater
addition to the play designed to harmonize it with Sophocles’
Antigone, perhaps on an occasion when the two plays were being
performed together. As Hecht and Bacon point out in their Intro-
duction,however,thesceneiswellintegratedintowhatprecedesit
ix