I apologize for this post coming out late. I had a full day Saturday and forgot to prepare the post before hand. Oops.
Since I have your attention, I won't be writing a final essay on Aeschylus since there isn't a lot of material to work with and I've said most that I wanted to say about his plays. Therefore, next week I will be starting the next author: Sophocles.
Also, my book on Aeschylus will be coming out soon. If not this week, then next week.
Have a good day!
DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT AN ANCIENT GREEK SCHOLAR. FOR THE FULL DISCLAIMER, READ HERE
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Deep in the gloom of death, to-day,
Lie Susa and Ecbatana;
How many a maid in sorrow stands
And rends her tire with tender hands!
How tears run down, in common pain
And woeful mourning for the slain!
O delicate in dole and grief,
Ye Persian women! past relief
Is now your sorrow! to the war
Your loved ones went and come no more!
Gone from you is your joy and pride—
Severed the bridegroom from the bride—
The wedded couch luxurious
Is widowed now, and all the house
Pines ever with insatiate sighs,
And we stand here and bid arise,
For those who forth in ardour went
And come not back, the loud lament!
Aeschylus, The Persians, lines 535-48; E. D. A. Morshead translation
Introduction
The Persians is a unique play. It’s the only surviving play from the Big Three tragic playwrights (Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides) that doesn’t deal with a story from mythology, legend, or prehistory, but rather from recent events of that time period: the Persian War. Aeschylus was a veteran of the Persian War, so I imagine this play meant quite a bit to him.
We will learn a lot about the Persian War when we get to Herodotus, the father of modern historical inquiry and author of The Histories, so all I’ll say about it now is that the Persian War held the same importance to the Greeks that the Revolutionary War holds for Americans today. The Greeks, a small country made of many nation-states, utterly defeated the Persian Empire (the superpower at the time) and prevented them from conquering Greece. Athens and Sparta were the two main leaders in that war and started their respective rises to power and influence in the region.
All quotes from The Persians are from the E. D. A. Morshead translation which is in the public domain. For some reason, I think due to copyright, the Herbert Weir Smyth translation did not come with the Aeschylus volume I have and did not find out he actually had translated The Persians until it was too late. I had to rely on the Seth Benardete translation for the line numbers, so they may not be 100% accurate.
As always, I encourage you to read The Persians for yourself. You can do it! The Morshead translation can be difficult if you’re not used to more poetic English. If you can find the Smyth translation, which is more prose, then I would recommend sticking with that. If you prefer a modern translation, Richmond Lattimore and David Grene also translated and/or edited the plays of Aeschylus and compiled them into two volumes (The Persians is found in Aeschylus I). Lastly, I just recently discovered a modern translation that the translator Ian Johnston offers for free! He’s also translated other ancient Greek works like the Iliad and the Odyssey. You can find them here.
Summary
In the palace of the capital of the Persian Empire, a Chorus of Persian elders worry about not hearing any news of the army who went off to conquer the Greeks. The Persian army, under the leadership of King Xerxes, had built a bridge across the Sea of Helle in order to launch both a land and sea campaign. The Chorus are confident in the army’s victory, however they can’t shake off a feeling of foreboding.
Queen Atossa, Xerxes’ mother and wife of the late King Darius, approaches the Chorus troubled. She asks them for their advice about a dream she had the night before and an omen she saw that morning. In the dream, she saw two women: one dressed as a Persian, the other dressed as a Greek. The two women appeared to be sisters. When the women began feuding, her son Xerxes yoked both of them to a chariot. The Persian woman was obedient and proud to be yoked, but the Greek woman resisted and broke her yoke which caused Xerxes to be hurled from the chariot. Her late husband, Darius, appears and mourns over Xerxes. When Xerxes saw his father, he tore his robes. When Atossa woke up and presented her morning offerings, she saw an eagle fleeing to Apollo’s shrine. Pursuing it was a falcon, and when the falcon caught up, it began tearing at the eagle with its claws. The eagle just laid there cowering and did not fight back or flee.
The Chorus are disturbed by the dream and advise Atossa to pray to her dead husband for help in securing Xerxes’ victory. Atossa then asks the Chorus about Athens. The Chorus explain that Athens has an abundance of silver and are not ruled by a king, and yet they were able to fend off the Persian army under Darius’ reign. They explain that if Athens falls, the Persians could easily conquer the rest of Greece.
A Messenger shows up and announces that the Persian army has been defeated. Much of the army, along with their leaders, either died on land or were shipwrecked on the sea. However, to Atossa’s relief, Xerxes was able to retreat. When Atossa asks for more details, the Messenger explains that a Greek spy gave Xerxes false information: the Greeks were going to take their ships out of the sea at night, and if the Persians took over the sea of Helle afterward they could ambush the Greeks. However, the Greeks ended up ambushing the Persian fleet instead and destroyed much of the Persian navy. The survivors, who managed to escape on land, began dying of hunger and thirst. Then winter came and even more died. While crossing a frozen river, it broke apart and many drowned. Finally, a remnant made it back to the capitol city.
Atossa decides she will still present offerings to the gods and pray to her dead husband, in the hopes of some good coming out of it, and leaves. The Chorus, meanwhile, mourn for the dead and wonder how Xerxes could have possibly lost with the Persian army as vast and as powerful as it was. They also lament that this defeat will probably spell the end for the Persian empire. Now that Persia is weakened, countries will begin to rebel and free themselves from Persian rule.
Atossa comes back and informs the Chorus she has the offerings for the dead, but she wants them to call out to Darius while she pours them out. When the Chorus call out to Darius, his ghost rises up from the earth and asks the Chorus why everyone in the city is mourning. The Chorus are too stricken with sorrow to say anything, so Atossa tells Darius what happened to the Persian navy and army while trying to conquer the Greeks. Darius is devastated by the news, but relieved to find out that Xerxes was able to retreat. When Darius asks why Xerxes attacked the Greeks, Atossa tells him Xerxes listened to the bad advice of counselors. Darius is disappointed with Xerxes, who warned him about the Greeks, and advises the Persians to never attack the Greeks again. He prophecies that the army that is still with Xerxes is not going to fair well because they desecrated the shrines, temples, and images of the Greek gods. As Darius’ time runs out, he asks the Chorus and Atossa to take care of Xerxes, who is now approaching the palace, before sinking back into the ground.
Atossa leaves to grab a robe to meet her son while the Chorus continue to lament that Xerxes has destroyed everything the previous Persian kings built up. Xerxes enters the palace distraught by what has happened and wishes he would have died along with his men. The Chorus chastise Xerxes for his foolish choices and point out all the mourning going on in the city. They ask about the leaders who went out to war and Xerxes confirms that most of them are dead. The play ends with Xerxes and the Chorus mourning the immense losses and wondering what will happen to Persia in the wake of its defeat.
Another Lesson in Bad Associations
[Atossa]: Such is the lesson, ah, too late! to eager Xerxes taught –
Trusting random counsellors and hare-brained men of nought,
Who said Darius mighty wealth and fame to us did bring,
But thou art nought, a blunted spear, a palace-keeping king!
Unto those sorry counsellors a ready ear he lent,
And led away to Hellas’ shore his fated armament.Aeschylus, The Persians, lines 752-58; E. D. A. Morshead translation
In Seven Against Thebes, we learned about the prophet who was entangled with Polynices, the leader of the army who attacked Thebes. He was a respected prophet who criticized Polynices’ actions and had a good sense of justice, but nonetheless suffered the consequences of being apart of the siege as Thebes’ enemy. Someone’s respectability, good morals, and righteous sense of justice does not save them if they’re associated with a bad crowd.
Related to bad associations is bad counselors. People who surround you and give out bad advice due to inexperience, or opportunism, or hubris. In Xerxes’ case, it appears that the counselors who gave him bad advice were opportunistic. They wanted Xerxes to bring Persia, and therefore themselves, more wealth and fame. All they had to do was shame him, and Xerxes was ready to spring into action. And Xerxes sprung alright—into utter disaster and defeat.
It’s a good lesson in being careful who you choose to get advice from, who you choose for help in making decisions related to your life and your endeavors. I have first hand experience with trusting someone with moral and spiritual advice—only to be crushed when it turned out he was a fraud and a self-seeker. It cost me years of my life in my twenties, at the time of my life where I was suppose to establish myself in the world. I never fully recovered from it.
What should you look out for? That’s a difficult question to answer. I can try and give some general advice, but I don’t think it can be applied universally. It’s more like, if you see these things happening, guard yourself just in case.
-If the person shames you for not following their advice, or shames you into following their advice, they may not have your best intentions in mind. There are exceptions to this, so maybe it should be coupled with the other observations I give.
-Related to above: if the person is critical of you seeking other opinions aside from theirs, they may not have your best intentions in mind.
-If the person threatens to end the relationship, kick you out of the group, or damage your relationship with others, because you refuse to follow their advice, they may not have your best intentions in mind. There are exceptions to this, like if you’re self-destructive or may harm others. If that’s the case, your ostracization would be for the best.
-If the person’s advice appears to benefit them more than you, and the relationship would become one-sided (in their favor) as a result, they may not have your best intentions in mind.
-If the person rarely or never admits when they’re wrong, and instead may blame you for why their advice didn’t work, they probably don’t have your best intentions in mind.
-If the person tries to isolate you from others—whether friends, family, other groups, etc.—they probably don’t have your best intentions in mind.
-If the person doesn’t allow you to fail or succeed on your own, they may not have your best intentions in mind.
I think that’s good enough to start a discussion, provoke some thought, or evaluate one’s situation. Like I said though, those observations are not definitive. It’s not hard to think of exceptions of when those behaviors may be for your benefit rather than the other’s.
Every situation is unique. Treat them as such.
King Cyrus Was Popular
[Darius]: Third in succession, Cyrus, blest of Heaven,
Held rule and ‘stablished peace for all his clan:
Lydian and Phrygian won he to his sway,
And wide Ionia to his yoke constrained,
For the god favoured his discretion sage.Aeschylus, The Persians, lines 768-72; E. D. A. Morshead translation
It’s interesting to see ancient perspectives on someone like King Cyrus, or Cyrus the Great. Admittedly, though, I only know of the perspectives of the ancient Greeks and the Jews.1 Even though Cyrus was a foreign king, a conqueror, and did not tolerate rebellion, he was well admired by the ancient Greeks and Jews. As long as you accepted his rule, Cyrus was pretty tolerant and even allowed the people he ruled over to practice their religions. As far as monarchs or dictators went, it appears that Cyrus was one that would be preferable to 99% of the other monarchs or dictators that have existed in world history.
We’ll learn more about Cyrus when we go through The Histories by Herodotus, as well as when we go through the Old Testament after our journey through the ancient Greeks.
When Times are Good, Times are Taken for Granted
[Atossa]: Friends, whosoe’er is versed in human ills,
Knoweth right well that when a wave of woe
Comes on a man, he sees in all things fear;
While, in flood-tide of fortune, ‘tis his mood
To take that fortune as unchangeable,
Wafting him ever forward.Aeschylus, The Persians, lines 598-603; E. D. A. Morshead translation
This is a pretty good insight into human nature. When things are going well, or even okay, a person tends to live as if their life is always going to be that way. There’s no need to think about the bad. They may not even be able to think about the bad. Think about the first few weeks of that new dream job, or a romantic relationship, or after winning a tournament. It would take a lot to bring someone down during that time period.
However, when something goes wrong, it changes someone’s perspective on their life, even if temporarily. They can only focus on the bad and it quickly drowns out everything else. Think about the times the car broke down, a leak springs up in the house, or receiving a diagnosis of a serious illness. Those moments can lead to days, weeks, months, of forgetting the good. It colors a person’s perspective of everything else in their life. Suddenly, those things that were taken for granted are either diminished or disappear entirely.
Personally, I think it would be better to take a more moderate approach. Don’t get swept up in the good or the bad and allow either to dictate your attitude and plans for my life. However, in reality, the bad tends to affect me much more than the good. I find it difficult to “count my blessings” because the weight and scope (or perhaps, the perceived weight and scope) of the bad stuff overshadows the good I have.
Perhaps I should pay close attention to King Darius’ advice.
Parting Advice From the Dead
[Darius]: Therefore, old men, take my farewell, and clasp,
Even amid the ruin of this time,
Unto your souls the pleasure of the day,
For dead men have no profit of their gold!Aeschylus, The Persians, lines 840-42; E. D. A. Morshead translation
These are the words King Darius left the Chorus with before returning to the land of the dead.
Even in hard, or bad, or tragic times, find enjoyment in the day in which you live. When you’re dead, you’ll no longer be able to enjoy what life has to offer.
Dwelling on everything that just went wrong is wasting away the only life you have. Dwelling on what went wrong does not make it disappear and it doesn’t magically return your life to how it was before.
Think about it this way: both the good and the bad change your life forever, not just the bad. Someone’s life is changed forever when they get their dream house just as it’s changed forever when their favorite grandparent dies. Why just focus on the bad things that change your life forever? Why not give more weight to the good things that change your life forever?
Why not seek the good so it can change your life forever? Why not find the good, in the midst of everything going wrong, so that it can also change your life just as the bad inevitably will?
That's all for The Persians.
May your days be filled with grace.
-Andronikos
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Thumbnail: The Battle of Salamis by Wilhelm von Kaulbach, 1858. Public domain.
1I use the term “Jews” intentionally. By this point in history, the only Israelites left were those of the southern kingdom of Judah (the kingdom of Israel divided into two kingdoms shortly after the reign of King Solomon). Judah was made up primarily of those from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin (who were loyal to the royal line of King David), along with part of the tribe of Levi (who were priests) and a remnant of the other nine tribes of Israel (the other nine tribes, plus part of Levi, were either scattered from their lands or commingled with foreigners due to the Assyrians invading the northern kingdom of Israel). It was those of the kingdom of Judah who were exiled from their land by the Babylonians and allowed to return under the Persians. This remnant is what we know now as the Jewish people. They rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem (which was then destroyed in 70 AD) and from them came what would become known as Judaism.