The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 19 



Hipp. 682-86: 



(5 irayKaKiaTT] Kal <pi\ci)v 8La(j>§opev, 



61 elpyaaoi fxe. Zeus ere yevvrjTcop kfxos 



irpbppi^ov tKTpbpeiev ovraaas irvpL. k. t. X. 



" Vilest of vile ! destroyer of thy friends ! 

 How hast thou ruined me ! May Zeus my sire 

 Smite thee with flame, blast thee to nothingness ! 

 Did I not tell thee — not divine thy purpose?" 



Another example is found in vv. 887 ff., where Hippolytus 

 charged by Theseus v^^ith the crime of having made dishonorable 

 proposals to Phaedra, is cursed by his father with a fatal curse : 



Hipp. 887 ff. : 



dXX J) Trdrep Hbaeidov, as eixol irore 

 dpds VTvkaxov Tpels, /xta Karepyacrat. 

 rovTuv kfiov TraZd , ijixkpav de fxi] 4>vyot. 

 Trjv8', e'Lirep rifuv &Tracras camels dpds. 



Tj yap HoaeiSwv avTov eU Kibov irvKas 

 ■&av6vTa Tre/xi/'et rds e/xds dpds crk^wv, 

 r) TTjude X'^PO'S tK-Keawv akcofxevos 

 ^kv7]v err' alav \virp6v avr\i}(jti ^iov. 



" Father Poseidon, thou didst promise me 

 Three curses once. Do thou with one of these 

 Destroy my son : may he not escape this day, 

 If soothfast curses thou hast granted me. 



Either Poseidon, reverencing my prayers. 



Shall slay and speed him unto Hades' halls. 



Or, banished from this land, a vagabond 



On strange shores shall he drain life's bitter dregs." 



With this passage compare vv. 44 ff., where Aphrodite predicts 

 this curse : 



" And him that is my foe his sire shall slay 

 By curses, whose fulfillment the Sea-king 

 Poseidon gave to Theseus in this boon — 

 To ask three things of him, nor pray in vain." 



and vv. 1173 ff., where the messenger brings the news of the ful- 

 fillment of the curse. 



Hippolytus asserts his innocence imprecating Zeus' pimishment 

 upon himself in case he is guilty : 



73 



