Monday, June 22, 2020
The Finality of Death
Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1018-1021 (tr. Richmond Lattimore):
Newer› ‹Older
But when the black and mortal blood of manDavid Raeburn and Oliver Thomas, The Agamemnon of Aeschylus: A Commentary for Students (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), p. 177:
has fallen to the ground before his feet, who then
can sing spells to call it back again?
τὸ δ᾽ ἐπὶ γᾶν πεσὸν ἅπαξ θανάσιμον
πρόπαρ ἀνδρὸς μέλαν αἷμα τίς ἂν
πάλιν ἀγκαλέσαιτ᾽ ἐπαείδων;
πρόπαρ is a rare form of προπάροιθε. We take it as a preposition with ἀνδρός, since the thought of Iphigenia's blood falling before Agamemnon would appear to be near the front of the Chorus's mind. Alternatively πρόπαρ is adverbial ('beforehand') and ἀνδρός depends on αἷμα. Homicide (in contrast to hunger) is irremediable, even by the powers of song. Similarly Cho. 48 'What payment can release blood once it has fallen to the ground?', Eum. 261–3, and 647–8 'When the dust has absorbed the blood of a man once dead, there is no rising again.'Related post: Ineffectual Prayers.
