This excellent study, and the play, are very timely in a post-9/11 world. Its themes, the arrogant abuse of innocents, self-sacrifice to save the community (as on Flight 593), and vengeance, justified or excessive and inhuman, make this so-called “problem play” most timely for today’s civilized community and theater, not just scholars. It is also a well-structured play, and in contrast to those scholars who call it a “lifeless failure,”1 Allan (hereafter A.) pp. 21-22 rightly finds it a vital piece of theatre. ” The Children of Heracles is still not performed as often as it deserves. It is hoped that this edition will contribute in some way to the play’s continuing rehabilitation.” I myself translated Heraclidae for children’s community theatre production. Allan has recently said ( NY Times Arts Section 1/14/03 p. 1) that he only knows of seven productions since ancient times, including Peter Sellars’ now on Broadway.
First, the translation. A. p. 58 admits that his is not a version for actors; “the translation does not aim at elegance or performability, but attempts above all to make clear my interpretation of the Greek,” which it does very well. It still has nice poetic touches (which aid an actor’s memory), such as alliteration, pp. 66/7 for v. 72: “defiled, a disgrace to your city and a dishonour to the gods,” though A. is right that Iolaus’ full speech is hard for an actor: “You who dwell in Athens from olden times, protect us! We, suppliants of Zeus Agoraios, are being handled with violence and our suppliant branches defiled, a disgrace … and a dishonour” (p. 67, lines 69-72).
On the other hand, A. misses an easy chance to match Euripides’ alliteration (with similar labial consonants): pp. 70/1 “their father’s loyal comrade Iolaus,” for v. 124
Similarly, the identical phrase
A. often makes an excellent choice among alternative senses; e.g., p.207 n. to v. 932: “baleful: Parson understood
A. also provides a fine brief discussion, with current sources, of every topic raised, from suppliant tragedy (pp. 39-43) to self-sacrifice, esp. young women who sacrifice themselves (pp. 32-34; also Barlow, “General Introduction,” p. 17); from “The Heraclidae in Art” (pp. 52-54) to textual transmission (pp. 35-37) and performance practice: the three-actor rule and role-distribution (p. 52 and n. 150, citing C.W. Marshall, Text & Presentation 15 (1994) 53-61). Choral metrics with music and dance is the only topic A. does not give separate treatment, but leaves to notes on the parodos, etc. (pp. 38-41 on vv. 73-117). This is essential, if a modern version aims to re-create or re-embody the lost dance-beats, music and choreography of the original staging, as my versions of Phaethon and Heraclidae do.
It is also time to update Barlow’s General Introduction to the Series (1985, reprinted here), on one point, at least, the stage-action, which was much more intense than she and the most popular studies of the early 1980’s believed. Barlow p.14 ignores dance and performance—physical movement, reaction, gesture—by chorus and actors: “Scenery was sparse, subtle gestures and expressions were precluded by masks, heavy costumes and the sheer size of the theatre. But these things … explain why the burden must be on the language (speech and song) and why the words were so important.”3
On textual-metric matters, A. is thorough and sound; see e.g. his notes on vv. 513 and 529.4 His suggestion, p. 178 note to vv. 610-12, explains and corrects an error: “nobody can hope to escape misfortune forever; … traditional gnome … here applied to a house, with
One might question some of A.’s deletions and transpositions of lines. A. pp. 86/7 accepts Diggle’s and Murray’s transposing of v. 402 between vv. 409 and 410; A. pp. 94/5 places vv. 560-61 between vv. 563 and 564; A. pp. 102/3 follows Zuntz to put vv. 688-90, then v. 687, between vv. 683 and 684, citing “similar beginnings” (174); and A. pp. 118/9 puts vv. 950-52 between vv. 947 and 948, citing “similar endings of 947 and 948” (208) to explain manuscript transposition from “the scribe’s confusion.” Each time the logical flow of the stichomythy is improved from our viewpoint, but I personally feel we should, if the text makes sense, keep the verses as in the ms., unless forced to alter it. Only the last has strong added grammatical and logical grounds: A. p. 208 n. to vv. 950-2: “the transposition … avoids the discontinuity of
Likewise, my translation includes that pair and then the four lines definitely cited as from Heraclidae listed in Fragmenta Heraclidis Falso Adscripta, A. pp. 128/9: “1 [fr. 852 N]: Lines 1-2 only are quoted by Stobaeus (4.25.2) and attribued [ sic ] to Hcld. Orion ( flor. Eur. 7) quotes the whole passage (without title), but … does not separate individual … possibl[y] … two fragments here.” A. p.129 translates “Whoever honours his parents when they are alive/ is dear to the gods both in life and in death.” So also, A. p. 226: “2 [fr. 853 N]: Stobaeus (3.1.80) quotes these lines as coming from Hcld.… advice from an older person to a younger,” most probably Iolaus (possibly Alcmene). The language closely parallels that of the play, as Diggle admits. But as A. p. 225 warns: “while … a valuable and independent alternative to the main manuscript tradition, anthology quotations must always be treated with caution and each … considered on its own merits.” Specifically, “Stobaeus and Orion[‘s] … fifth century AD … anthologies were themselves based on earlier collections of excerpts … without … context and … not primarily concerned with the accurate preservation of the text or its attribution.”
There is an excellent, thorough, up-to-date bibliography. Misprints are extremely few: p. 41 n. 93: “The flip-side to manipulation of suppiliants [ sic for “suppliants”] is manipulation by them”; p. 233 “P.T. Stevens, ‘Euripides and the Athenians,’ JHS 76 (1976 [ sic for 1956] 76-84 [ sic for 87-94]; and misplaced italics: p. 149 on 207-13: Aesch. Suppl. and Eur. Suppl. [ sic ]; p. 221 on 1050-1: “Rosivach, On Creon, Antigone and Not Burying the Dead,’ Rh.M. 126 … discusses Ant. and Eur. El. [ sic” for “Eur. El. ].”
Notes
1. A. pp. 21-22 cites: “AP Burnett, ‘Tribe and City, Custom and Decree in Children of Heracles,’ CP 71 (1976) 4, and JW Fitton, ‘The Suppliant Women and the Heraclidae of Euripides,’ Hermes 89 (1961) 460.”
2. I wonder if there is added force to repeated
3. Barlow p. 14 n. 32 cites “for the role of the non-verbal in theatrical performance” Oliver Taplin Greek Tragedy in Action (London 1978). A volume Barlow could have mentioned even in the 1985 start of the series, J. Michael Walton, Greek Theatre Practice, Contributions in Drama and Theatre Studies, No. 3 (London & Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1980) takes stage action and performance practice much further than Taplin, justifiably. Another A. might have cited is: David Wiles, Tragedy in Action (Cambridge 1997). To Barlow p. 17 and n.43 on “Euripides’ celebration of the ordinary,” esp. “ordinary actions [of] the chorus,” I can add the Chorus of women who enter in the parodos of Phaethon to sweep out the palace of Merops, king of Ethiopia.
4. The text used is J. Diggle’s OCT (with his 1994 OCT III Addenda & Corrigenda) except where noted by Allan: cf. p. 58.