The Fixed Law

[sdi]

Ζῆνα δέ τις προφρόνως ἐπινίκια κλάζων
τεύξεται φρενῶν τὸ πᾶν,
τὸν φρονεῖν βροτοὺς ὁδώ-
σαντα, τὸν πάθει μάθος
θέντα κυρίως ἔχειν.
στάζει δ᾽ ἔν θ᾽ ὕπνῳ πρὸ καρδίας
μνησιπήμων πόνος: καὶ παρ᾽ ἄ-
κοντας ἦλθε σωφρονεῖν.
δαιμόνων δέ που χάρις βίαιος
σέλμα σεμνὸν ἡμένων.

But whoever willingly sings a victory-song for Zeus, he shall gain wisdom altogether—Zeus, who sets mortals on the path to understanding; Zeus, who has established a fixed law that "wisdom comes by suffering." But even as trouble, bringing memory of pain, drops over the mind in sleep, so wisdom comes to men, whether they want it or not. Harsh, it seems to me, is the grace of gods enthroned upon their awful seats.

(The chorus of Argive elders speaking. Aiskhulos, Agamemnon 174–83, as translated by Herbert Weir Smyth.)

Comments

[jprussell]

I've been thinking about this quote a lot lately, and have, in fact, written it down a sticky note stuck to my desk right in front of me right now (though I used Bobby Kennedy's looser translation from his speech in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Cheers,
Jeff

[sdi]

I'd never come across it before—unlike most people who study Greek, I suppose, the tragedians haven't been high on my list—but it's timely, as I've hardly been able to move or stand lately and could really use the encouragement!

Aiskhulos is hesitant to name the god (line 160, "Zeus, whoever he may be, if by this name it pleases him to be invoked"), but I think there's a reason Zeus is called μητίετα "counsellor," and men are called διογενής "born of Zeus," even though (especially because?) the world he presides over is so painful!

I'm sorry you've had cause to be thinking of it lately, but may your sufferings at least bring wisdom in their train...

[jprussell]

Yeah, I think there's a lot of wisdom in the tragedians, even (especially) when we think it's all been wrung out by cliche or familiarity - revisiting what's actually in there, which is (surprise!) often more religious than most modern tellings credit, can be instructive.

And thanks - I'm doing what I can to find the wisdom in the suffering, but at least this is "reassuring" that I'll get it whether I want it or not.

Cheers,
Jeff

[sdi]

I think there's a lot of wisdom in the tragedians [...] which is (surprise!) often more religious than most modern tellings credit

I think there's even more to it than just that... consider that Aiskhulos was both born and initiated at Eleusis; was inspired to become a tragedian by Dionusos in a dream; "invented" the trilogy (which, as I've mentioned, I think really came from the threefold mysteries of Isis, Osiris, and Horus); was put on trial for revealing the mysteries; and the plays we know about explicitly concern Greek variants of the Horus myth (Polunikes vs. Eteokles is Osiris vs. Set; Orestes is Horus; the Danaides fleeing the Aiguptioi to Argos are Tefnut fleeing Shu to Nubia; etc.)...

More on this soon!

[jprussell]

Excellent points, and I look forward to reading your thoughts on it!