Wednesday, January 24, 2024
Freedom?
Sophocles, Electra 339-340 (Chrysothemis to her sister Electra; tr. Richard C. Jebb):
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But if I am to live in freedom, our rulers must be obeyed in all things.J.C. Kamerbeek ad loc.:
εἰ δ᾽ ἐλευθέραν με δεῖ
ζῆν, τῶν κρατούντων ἐστὶ πάντ᾽ ἀκουστέα.
ἐλευθέραν implies that in her opinion Electra lives the life of a δούλη (which outwardly she does); her notion of ἐλευθερία is limited to the possibility of enjoying the material advantages of a princess.Cf. Epictetus, Discourses 4.1.1 (tr. W.A. Oldfather):
He is free who lives as he wills, who is subject neither to compulsion, nor hindrance, nor force, whose choices are unhampered, whose desires attain their end, whose aversions do not fall into what they would avoid.P.J. Finglass on Chrysothemis' words:
ἐλεύθερός ἐστιν ὁ ζῶν ὡς βούλεται, ὃν οὔτ᾽ ἀναγκάσαι ἔστιν οὔτε κωλῦσαι οὔτε βιάσασθαι, οὗ αἱ ὁρμαὶ ἀνεμπόδιστοι, αἱ ὀρέξεις ἐπιτευκτικαί, αἱ ἐκκλίσεις ἀπερίπτωτοι.
