University of Cincinnati 
 
 Bulletin No* 6 
 
 Publications of the University of Cincinnati, 
 
 SBRIKS II. V ° T - !• 
 
 cA Misunderstood Passage 
 
 c. 
 
 JC49UJ ~ m ~ 
 
 iser.2 c/leschylus. 
 
 no. 6 ^ 
 
 J. E. HARRY 
 
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64 /. E. Harry. [190 1 
 
 /OdU 
 
 IV. — ^4 Misunderstood Passage in Aeschylus. 
 By Prof. J. E. HARRY, 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI. 
 
 The chief purpose of this paper is to prove that the tradi- 
 tional interpretation of Prometheus 119 (opare Sea/jLcorijv fie 
 Bvo-7rorfiov 6eov) is incorrect. Wecklein l remarks : "The im- 
 perative has the sense of opav 7rdpa." Sikes and Willson in 
 their school edition (Macmillan, 1898) tacitly accept Weck- 
 lein's interpretation, since on moot points it is their practice 
 to cite the work, if they approve, and to point out the divergen- 
 cies, if they take issue with the German scholar. In the pref- 
 ace they declare that they have examined this edition " both 
 in the original and in Allen's translation." More, in his ver- 
 sion 2 (which bears evidence of a careful comparison of texts 
 and of commentaries), renders " Behold me fettered, the god 
 ill-fated," These citations are sufficient to show that Spare 
 is generally understood to be an imperative, equivalent to 
 opav irdpa\ z and nowhere have I been able to find a different 
 explanation. Nevertheless, it is not to be inferred that such 
 a conception of the passage is universal, or has even gone 
 unchallenged down to the present day, any more than that 
 ipavvdre t<x<? <ypa<f)ds ore vfiels Sofcelre ev avrals ^corjv alcoviov 
 e^ew (John, V. 39) is universally regarded as meaning " Search 
 the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life," 
 simply because the Authorized Version translates it so, many 
 (if not most) graduates of theological seminaries from the 
 pulpit preach it so, and the Revised Version fails to state 
 dogmatically that it is not so. The parallel is a good one, 
 since the mistakes are identical in character. A graduate of 
 one of the most renowned seminaries in the country recently 
 took the passage just quoted for his text and exhorted his 
 congregation to read their Bibles more, because this injunction 
 
 1 Allen's translation. 2 Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1899. 
 
 3 Cf. Ag. 1354 opav Trdpeanv, Cho. 253 ideiv irdpe<TTi, 961 irapa . . . ibelv. 
 
Vol. xxxii.] A Misunderstood Passage in Aeschylus. 6$ 
 
 was laid upon them by Christ himself. Yet in a book dedi- 
 cated to Charles II. (written in 1675) by a member of a sect 
 that is generally supposed to have despised learning at that 
 time, I read these words : ''Moreover, that place may be taken 
 in the indicative mood, Ye search the scriptures ; which 
 interpretation the Greek word will bear, and so Pasor trans- 
 lated it : which by the reproof following seemeth also to be 
 the more genuine interpretation, as Cyrillus long ago hath 
 observed/' 1 But the average student, as well as the layman, 
 is wont to follow tradition, even if he stultifies himself by 
 making a perfectly clear and intelligible passage pointless 
 by his interpretation. That errors are often perpetuated 
 simply because the writer, or teacher, will not think for him- 
 self might be shown by numerous examples. In Lysias, I. 18, 
 fivXwva appears even in the editio altera aucta et emendata 
 of the Teubner series (Scheibe). Some of the more ancient 
 writers may have pointed out that the verb in our Aeschylean 
 passage is not imperative, but it is a more difficult matter to 
 prove this for opare than for ipavvare, since the former makes 
 good sense as commonly interpreted, the latter nonsense. 
 
 But it is not sufficient to say that it makes good sense ; the 
 critic must ask himself the question : " Is it the Aeschylean 
 sense ?" 
 
 In the first place, it would never have occurred to me to 
 take opare as imperative, if my attention had not been called 
 to the matter by the annotators and translators — from the 
 tenor of the passage I do not expect an imperative. From 
 the time Prometheus utters the exclamation a a till he says 
 opare Beapcor^v pie hvcrrrorpov Oeov his mood, or rather moods, 
 are clearly marked, both by metre and by word : rk a^a>, t& 
 oS/jlcl rrpoaerrra p afeyyrjS (surprise and anticipation) r Uero 
 reppoviov errl 7rdyov (emotional excitement) ttovcov epcov Oeoo- 
 pos, rj ri St) Oekcov (strong emotion produced by the thought 
 of a possible sympathizing witness — observe the long vowels 
 in which feeling is wont to dwell), and then comes the verse 
 in question, which apprises the unknown visitor of the facts. 
 
 1 An Apology to the True Christian Divinity, written in Latin and English, by 
 Robert Barclay (pp. 91 ff.). 
 
66 J. E. Harry. [1901 
 
 In that announcement Prometheus appeals to the strangers' 
 pity : "Whoever you are and whatever your object, ye see in 
 me a god ill-starred in bonds." The succeeding verses are in 
 perfect consonance with this interpretation, and the pathos and 
 beauty of the passage are certainly enhanced by this rendition. 
 
 Wecklein has totally misconceived the attitude of Prome- 
 theus toward the newcomer. The feeling of anger and indig- 
 nation finds no lodgement in the sufferer's heart at this 
 moment. Cadit ira metu. Nor does Prometheus regard his 
 visitor as "unwelcome." His emotions are wonder and fear. 
 He is nervous. The Oceanids observe this and, accordingly, 
 their first words are words of comfort and encouragement. 
 They desire to allay his fear. The sufferer is bespeaking 
 compassion (cf. 246) of a <f>i\ta raft? (if haply such the 
 stranger be). He is not indignantly summoning them to 
 gaze upon a god ignominiously treated. The tense of the 
 verb alone indicates that this is the feeling with which 
 Prometheus says opdre. Not until he has been reassured 
 by the kind words of his sympathizers does the Titan's mood 
 change (and in this the poet's representation is psychologi- 
 cally correct), when in tones of mingled plaint and indigna- 
 tion (with the aorist) he says Bep^drjr^ ealheaO' om heafiw | 
 irpoairopirarb^ rrjahe (frdpayyo? | a/coireXois iv a/cpols | (ppovpav 
 aQrfkov dxrjcrco (141 ff.). Nor does he, when addressing the 
 chorus, ever use any other tense than the aorist (273, 274). 
 Furthermore, Prometheus employs practically the same words 
 (ttovcov ifio)v rj/ceis e7ro7TT^?) when he speaks to his friend and 
 sympathizer, Oceanus (298); but he does not feel that the 
 latter has come rep/movcov iirl 7rdyov to gloat over the tor- 
 ments of the fettered Titan. He has come, it is true, to 
 gaze upon the sufferings of the ill-fated god (cf. Oecopos in 
 118), but to feel for- and with him — Oecoprjcrcov ru%a? epas 
 a<f)l%aL teal (ivva<jya\<hv kclkoZs. Then he says Bep/cov Oeafjua, 
 where both the present and the imperative are in place. 
 
 An exact parallel to the verse under discussion is found in 
 612, where Prometheus makes himself known to Io : trvpos 
 fiporols BoTrjp* 6pa$ TIpo/uLrjdea. The mood is determined by 
 the number. If the plural had been used, it might well have 
 
Vol. xxxii.] A Misunderstood Passage in Aeschylus. 6/ 
 
 been taken as an imperative (cf. 69). Compare Aristophanes, 
 Lys. 412 (opdre jxev pe Beo/ievov o-corrjplas). If opdre is impera- 
 tive in Prometheus 119, it is the only example in Aeschylus, 
 whereas the aorist is frequent: Ihere (Cho. 406, Sept. in), 
 XhecrOe {Cho. 973, 980), IBov (Cho. 231, 247), the- (Suppl. 349 
 the fie rdv l/ceriv), IBe'crOco (Suppl. 103), IBcofieda (Eum. 142), 
 fjLTjB' iBrjs (Suppl. 424 — naturally, by reason of the neg.). So 
 with the optative : tSoifii (P. V. 973, Cho. 167), cBocro (Suppl. 
 209), IBoiaOe (P. V. 895). The indicative opdre occurs fre- 
 quently (P.V. 674, Ag. 12 17, Cho. 1034). The singular is 
 found occasionally of intellectual perception (P. V. 997 opa 
 vvv el aoo ravr dpcoyd fyaiverai, Eum. 255 opa opa fiaX* av . . . 
 pir) Xddrj, 652 7rw? <ydp to (f>evyetv tovB' virephiKeh opa, Cho. 
 924 opa, (f>v\ai;ai pLrjTpos ey/coTovs /cvvas). The only example 
 of opa in Aeschylus of actual perception is Eum. 103 opa he 
 7r\?77a9 rdahe KapBlas odev, but that example speaks volumes 
 for the nature of the present imperative of this verb. 1 
 
 Indeed, the behavior of opdv in general, in the imperative 
 (cf. the common ISov and $ep lBcd), is similar to that of many 
 verbs in the optative, that is to say, they are used regularly 
 with one tense (present or aorist — the character of the verb 
 determines) unless a special point is to be made by the 
 unusual tense, and it is these shifts, this rarity of usage, that 
 gives the beauty to those particular passages. Some verbs 
 are never found in both tenses. When one wishes for the 
 attainment of an action the aorist is employed. So almost 
 always £0/779, but Sophocles O.C. 642 StSotr;?. In the begin- 
 ning of the Equites of Aristophanes we read UacfrXayova 
 . . . airo\eaeiav 01 6eol, and Lys. 757 fearcm diroXoto, 887 
 eijoXoto, but the present optative of diroWvvai is never found. 
 The same may be said of the simple verb : oXoiro (Eur. Med. 
 8 3> 659, Ion 704, Phoen. 350, [Rhes.] 720, 875, 906), oXotade 
 (Med. 114), bXeaeiav (Phoen. 152), oXolo (Rhes. 772, Soph. 
 El. 292, Phil. 1019), but never oXXvolto. Similarly we find 
 fxiaolev regularly, but in Euripides, Or. 130 /Mcrrjcreiav, and 
 
 1 Look ! in this place ran Cassius' dagger through : 
 See, what a rent the envious Casca made : 
 Through this the well-beloved Brutus stabbed. 
 
68 J. E. Harry. [1901 
 
 in Antiphon, I. 13 8Ur) tcvftepvijcretev, where we should expect 
 Kv/3epv(prj. Likewise yevoto and yevotro are exceedingly common, 
 whereas yiyvot.ro and ylyvoio are extremely rare. Compare 
 Odvoi/11 Eur. Ion 763. On the other hand x^P™ ls regularly 
 found in the present in the optative. So, too, in the impera- 
 tive (Ar. Pax 338 xa,Lp€T€ teal /3oare teal yeXdre). 
 
 If opare in the one hundred and nineteenth verse of the 
 Prometheus be imperative, it is not only the sole example in 
 Aeschylus, but also the only instance in the whole range 
 of classical Greek literature, with the exception of a few 
 examples used in a special sense, like the rare optatives just 
 mentioned. 
 
 Neither opa nor opare occurs in Homer, but IBe (t8e) is 
 found in 6 443, x 2 33> P J 79> an ^ tBeaOe in M* 469. In the 
 lyric poets opare does not appear. The indicative is found 
 in Solon, IX. 7. In Sophocles the indicative opare occurs in 
 Electra 1228 and Track. 1080 (where irdvres is added and 
 ISov, Oeaade precede). The singular opa appears several times, 
 but not in the sense of "behold." In O.C. 117, 587, 654, 
 and 1 167 opa is used exactly as it is in Demosthenes, Leptines, 
 84 (opa Sr) o-tcoirei), synonymously with aKoiret. So often in 
 Plato. In Electra 925 there is no direct object, and we 
 should expect the present (e? tcelvov y opa), while the exam- 
 ples in 945, 1003, Phil. 519 and 833 are all of intellectual 
 perception. But in Ajax 351, where Sophocles has occasion 
 to use the imperative, he employs the aorist (i8eo-6' /i olov 
 dpri tcv/ia $oivia<$ viro ^dXrj<; | a/ifylhpo/iov tcv/cXelrat). 1 
 
 Euripides has many examples of the aorist imperative, as 
 Hec. 808 IBov fie tcavddprjaov oV e%a> tcatcd, H.F. 1029 i&eaOe, 
 I.T. 1252 tcartSere iSere rav oXo/ievav yvvaltca, 1 2 79 Iheade rr\v 
 iravovpyov, Or. 147 i& drpe/iaiov <w? viro^opov | <f>epo) ftodv. 
 The same may be said of the optative: Hec. 1292 Ihot/iev, 
 Cycl. 437 el yap rrjvS' Ihoi/xev r//iepav, Med. 920 lBoi/jll S' v/ids 
 evr panels, Or. 798 fir/ft 1801/11 /ivrj/ia. The indicative opare 
 is frequent : H.F. 508 (which is parallel to the Aeschylean 
 passage) opare /i oairep rj TreplfiXerrros fiporols | ovo/xaara 
 7rpdo-o-<x)v, tcai /i a^teiXeB* 7/ rvxv \ oacrirep rrrepov 7Tjoo? alOep 
 
 1 Cf. Ar. Vesp. 796 opas ticrov ical tovto dijra Kepdaveit; 
 
Vol. xxxii.] A Misunderstood Passage in Aeschylus. 69 
 
 rjfjLepa fjLia ( = opare m ey(o), LA. 1 259, 1592, IT. 267, 1065, 
 1298, Ion 1090, Or. 273. In Ion 1553 we have no difficulty 
 in determining the mood, for the negative settles the ques- 
 tion once for all : ov yap iroXeixiav fie \eva-a-ere. Although a 
 synonym of opare is used, the resemblance to the Prometheus 
 passage is striking. In H.F. 1072 opare is used absolutely, 
 like the frequent opa in the Oedipus Coloneus. Many exam- 
 ples might be cited from Euripides where the plural (so far 
 as the sense is concerned) might have been taken for an 
 imperative, as Hec. n 15 elaopa? a rrdayop.ev ; H.F. n 17 opa 1 ? 
 yap avrbs el (frpopwv 17877 /cupels, Ion 1337 opa? too" ayyos. 
 Examples of opa /jltj are Ion 1523, Or. 208, [R/ies.] 570. In 
 Cyclops 354 opa rdhe and in Phoen. 1 18 elaopa rov Trpwrov are 
 found the only present imperatives of this verb (actual per- 
 ception) in Euripides. 
 
 In Aristophanes, Pax 327 ft., we have a good illustration of 
 the difference between the two tenses : rjv IBov, /cal Stj ireirav- 
 \xai . . . a\X' opar, ovira) ireiravo-Qe. The remaining indica- 
 tives are Eq. 67 opare rrjv *T\\av ; Nub. 1326, Pax 264, 
 opare rov klvBvvov &)? peyas, 891 opar orrrdviov v/jlIv w? naXov. 
 In Lys. 837 and Pint. 215 the verb is used absolutely. The 
 imperative seems to occur in Achar. 1227, but, if the mood 
 is not indicative, it is to be explained as Pax 887 $ov\r\ y 
 rrpvrdvei?) opare rrjv Secoptav, where the present is peculiarly 
 appropriate. Moreover, for metrical reasons alone we should 
 expect to find opa and opare in a writer like Aristophanes 
 more frequently than the and there (Ihov and iSecrOe, used by 
 Homer and Aeschylus, being excluded by the exigencies of 
 the style), whereas the present imperative in prose, as we 
 shall see, is used but once, and there for a special reason. 
 The examples of opa in Aristophanes are Vesp. 799 opa ro 
 Xprj/jia (= eccere, just think), 1493 Kara cravrdv opa, Av. 65 1 
 opa (w?, Eccl. 300 opa ottcos. 
 
 So much for the poets. Of the prose writers Herodotus 
 and Thucydides furnish very few examples of either opa or 
 opare. AH 1 are indicative {opare Hdt. III. 137, IV. 139 2 ; 
 
 1 Actual perception. 
 
 2 If the verb were plural in VII. 5 (6pq,s tcl inrep£x 0VTa ?V a &$ Kepavvo? b deos) 
 the tendency would doubtless be to consider the mood imperative. 
 
70 J. E. Harry. [ J 9 01 
 
 opa o/cm III. 36; opa vvv {consider now) III. 134; opare Thuc. 
 I. 68, 3, V. 8y ; opare oV©? ^77 III. 57, 1 ; oTwrporra* VI. 33, 3). 
 
 When we come to the philosophers we have a different tale 
 to tell. In Plato examples of opa and opare are particularly- 
 abundant. The prettiest illustration in all his works — in- 
 deed, in all Greek works — of the distinction made in the 
 use of the tenses of this verb in the imperative mood is 
 afforded by a passage in the Republic (514 A and B). It 
 is in the famous allegory of the cave : IBe yap avOpwrrovs olov 
 ev Karayem ol/crjtrei o'TnfKaiwthev . . . /jiera^v Be tov rrvpos ical 
 ro)V 8eo-/jLG)T(ov errdvco 6B6v, irap rjv IBe rei^iov 7rapa}KoBo/uL7]fjLevov. 
 . . . "Opa to (vvv irapa tovto to rei^iov <f>epovra<z av6p<l>7rov<; 
 a/cevrf re iravTohaira virepe^ovra tov Te^ov teal avhpiavTa$. 
 The speaker bids his friend visualize the scene ; but the first 
 object to which he directs his attention is a fixed group, the 
 second a fixed wall (hence IBe in both instances), but the third 
 consists of a succession of figures (avdpayjrov? <f)€povTas cr/cevrj, 
 hence the present opa). The aorist occurs also in 434 A> 
 Alcib. 132 E the aavTov, Phaedo J2 A. So the first person 
 18(0 Rep. 457 C, iBco/jiev 603 C, Leg. 976 C, Charm. 172 C, Gorg. 
 455 A. An excellent example of opa (as distinguished from 1 
 IBe of mental perception) is Rep. 432 C opa ovv /cal 7rpoOv/jLoO' 
 KaTiBelv. In the first verb the effort is expressed by the 
 tense ; in the second by the verb itself {irpodv^ov), and so 
 the aorist of the first verb is employed as a complement. 
 This use of opa is naturally frequent in Plato: Rep. 358 D, 
 416 D, 613 E, Alcib. 115 C (opa el), 121 B, II Alcib. 139 D 
 (opa fJLrj), Rep. 596 A (a\\ y aMs opa), Alcib. 117 C (opa /cal 
 av KOivy), 104 C, II Alcib. 145 A, Rep. 596 B, Laches 188 C 
 (tovBc opa oVa)? e%et). Likewise the dual, Euthydemus 274 A 
 (aXX opaTOV, (a ^vOvBruxe Te /cal Aiovvo-oSaypa, el aXrjOrj e\eye- 
 tov), and the plural, Symposium 192 E opare el tovtov epccTe, 
 Laches 187 D, Rep. 642 A. 
 
 One might be inclined to think that the reason why opare 
 is so rare is that the occasions for using the word in this 
 form are comparatively unfrequent, whereas the singular 
 opa would be much commoner. In Xenophon, however, opa 
 occurs only twice : Cyropaedia III. 1, 27 opa ixtj (bis) and opa 
 
Vol. xxxii.] A Misunderstood Passage in Aeschylus. Ji 
 
 el V. 4, 33. The plural, on the other hand, is abundant : 
 Cyrop. II. I, 18 (Spare ra orrXa), III. 2, 12 (yvv he Spare Br) ev 
 olw eo~re), V. I, 10 (avrol opdre), IV. I, 1 5 (Spare fJLrj), IV. 2, 
 26 (Spare oVft)?), IV. 5, 3 (avrol Spare), IV. 5, 44; IV. 5, 46; 
 VII. 1, 22; VII. 5, 43; Symposium VIII. 3; y2/z^. I. 3, 16; 
 III. 2, 4 ; III. 2, 29 ; III. 5, 5 ; IV. 6, 7 ; V. 2, 10 (VaSe opaTe • el 
 \xev /ere); V. 6, 21 ; V. 6, 28; VI, 5, 16 (opaTe rrorepov). All 
 of these are indicative except those followed by fitf, 6V&)?, a, 
 and Trorepov. 
 
 In the orators there is not a single example of Spare im- 
 perative. Lysias has eight of the indicative (XVI. 12, XIX. 
 2, XX. 3, XXI. 13, XXIV. 14, XXV 34, XXXI. 12, Fr. 70) 
 and two of the subjunctive Spare (XXVIII. 2, XXX. 33), but 
 none of the singular opa. The plural occurs but twice in 
 Isaeus (IV. 15 and V. 39), and both are indicative. Demos- 
 thenes has seven examples of opa and twelve of Spare (intel- 
 lectual perception). The indicative of actual perception 
 occurs XXI. 189, XLV 70, and of mental perception 
 XXIII. 106. As a synonym of o-Korrei, opa is often found 
 in Demosthenes, e.g., opa £' ovrooai (XX. 21), opa 8y icaX 
 o-Koirei (XX. 84). The latter (aKoiret) is almost as peculiar 
 in its behavior as Trade and rravaai, almost as regular as cBere 
 and Spare, that is to say, the singular imperative is usually 
 present, whereas the plural is, as a rule, in the aorist ; aKorrelre 
 is rare, but o-tce^ao-Qe exceedingly common (Thuc. III. 47, 1 ; 
 57, 5 ; 57, 7; Ar. Pax 8SS ; Isae. IV. 9, IX. 4, 30, 36; Xen. 
 An. III. 2, 20), whereas afcorrec is the regular form for the 
 singular, Gicetyai unusual (Ar. Thesm. 160, 11 14; Eccl. 124). 1 
 Compare Plato II. Alcib. 143 E emaKe^onixeOa. In like 
 manner Spay/jLev instead of Ihcofxev is very rare, but occasion- 
 ally it is necessary ; for, if one says opa fir/, he would also 
 naturally say Spcofiev fitf (Plato, Laches 196 C), but the optative 
 never, except, of course, in dependent sentences, like Xeno- 
 phon, An. III. 3, 2 (el ovv Spcprjv vfids /ere). 2 
 
 1 In [Dem.] XLVI. 16 f. (TKexj/acrde . . . <TKOireiTe . . . fir] (TKeiprjcrde. 
 
 2 After examining a large number of translations and editions in many languages, 
 if haply I might find a single departure from the traditional interpretation of the 
 passage under discussion, I discover that Hartung (Leipzig, 1852) renders: " Ihr 
 seht in Banden einen unglucksel'gen Gott."