The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 21 



context, it is easily explained. Ph^dra's nurse before she in- 

 forms Hippolytus of the passion which Phaedra has conceived for 

 him, makes the young man promise not to reveal the secret she is 

 about to communicate to him. Having made the promise under 

 oath Hippolytus declares that if he were not hound by his oath 

 he would unhesitatingly reveal the whole truth to his father, The- 

 seus. This shows that the utterance in v. 612 is nothing but a 

 sudden outburst of self-reproach on the part of a youth of stain- 

 less purity, indignant at having been entrapped into a verbal oath 

 of whose true meaning he was at the time utterly ignorant. Paley 

 considers it uncertain whether Hippolytus spoke these words in 

 earnest or merely to frighten the Nurse. But whatever may be 

 said to explain this line, we know that Hippolytus feels himself 

 bound by the oath : 



Hipp. 656-58: 



ev 5' icr??t, Tov/iov cr' evaeffes aco^ei, yvvat.- 

 el /X17 "yap opKOis dewv a(l>paKTOs 17 pkd^-qv, 

 OVK av ttot' eaxov fxij ov rdS' k^enrelis iraTpi. 



" Woman, I fear God : know, that saveth thee. 

 For, had I not by oaths been trapped unawares, 

 I had ne'er forborne to tell this to my sire,' 



and at the conclusion of the play, we find him bearing his father's 

 unjust resentment, and even exile and death, rather than violate 

 this very oath, which he declares in 612 to be no oath at all : 



Hipp. 1062-63 : 



ov Srjra iravrois ov iri^oip,' af ovs fJ.e del, 

 Harrji' 6' av opKovs avyx^o-Ln' ovs ibp.oaa. 



" No ! — whom I need persuade, I should not so, 

 And all for naught should break the oaths I swore ! " 



And Artemis bears testimony to Hippolytus' faithfulness in the 

 following words : 



Hipp. 1306-09: 



rj aCc 51 opKuiv iraLdi <r7]iJ.aivei vbaov. 

 o 5' wairep &v dlKaios ovk k4)kcnrero 

 XoyoLffLP, ovS' av irpos ae^ev KaKovfxevos 

 opKcav a4>eTKe ttIcttlv, evae^-qs 767^5. 



"... her nurse 



75 



