The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 77 



" Those infatuate marriage-craving suitors swore an oath indeed 

 Unto Tyndareus ; . . . 

 Lead them thou — O these are ready in the folly of their soul ! " 



This oath was invalid because it was extorted on a false pretense : 



I. A. 66-^7 : 



kirei 6' kirtarcod^riaav efxiredcos, yepusv 



VTvrfkd^ev avrovs Tvvddpeois irvKvfi (ppevi, k. t. X. 



" So when they had pledged them thus, and cunningly 

 Old Tyndareus had by craft outwitted them, etc." 



The oath was taken under the usual solemn forms of swearing 

 and an imprecation of harm to him who should fail in his obliga- 

 tion was added, (eTrapacacrt^at) : 



I. A. 57-65 : 



Kal VLV elarjk&tv raSe, 

 opKovs (xwaxpai Se^tas re avix^oXeiv k. t. X. . 



"... and this thing came into his mind. 

 That each to each the suitors should make oath, 

 And clasp right hands, and with burnt sacrifice 

 Should pour drink-offerings, and swear to this : — 

 Whose wife soever Tyndareus' child should be, 

 Him to defend : if any from her home 

 Stole her and fled, and thrust her lord aside, 

 To march against him, and to raze his town, 

 Hellene or alien, with their mailed array." 



The suitors had taken the oath because each hoped to be the hus- 

 band of Helen ; and since they were bound by this oath they had 

 to take the consequences of their folly and join the Trojan expe- 

 dition, and so fulfil their oath. In taking such an oath they are 

 called KaK64>poves "infatuate," vv. 390-91. But Euripides adds 

 that while men may be in the dark about the validity or invalidity 

 of oaths the Godhead well knows how to distinguish those which 

 are valid from those which are not : 



I. A. 395-96 : 



01) yap acrwerov to ^eiov, dXX ex« avvikvaL 

 Tovs KttKcos irayevras opKOVS Kai KaTrivayaaanevovs. 



" God is not an undiscerning judge; his eyes are keen to try 

 Oaths exacted by constraint, and troth-plight held unrighteously." 



13^ 



