Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1915-05-30
suNDAY.....-.....MAY 20. i0l.
RErnuBrTIyE JUSTICE.

Jane Adams suggests that the
great tragedy OF Euripides, THE Tro-
ian Women, be produced las the
greatest bit " peace lnopaganda ever
conceived Although study of Greek
poets has been something Of n fad
win Miss Addams ever since her cole
lces dnys. as she tells ua in her biog-
raphy. We can hardly believe that
Eurlpides were he alive today, would
be propaganda IN the cause Of
peace.
AZ no other man has portrayed IT.
EuHpldes has pictured crime and its
inevitable punishment as an inflexi-
bic law OF God. The thought OF Enri-
pides is that restribuiion falls as a
vengeance upon every doer Of wrong
ana the innocent also suffer with the
guilty. Were he living now instead Of
writing pamphlets for peace he might
be writing tragedy entitled THE
Beiuian women. substituting Lou
vain for Troy
Let us take only one character Of
Euflpldeg tragedy. Cassandra, the
daughter 81 the TROJAN king After
she had bafgalncd 10 give herself TO
Apollo In return for the gift Of proph-
coy. she laughed at the God when he
had performed his part Of the agree
ment. In revenue for her ncrfidiy'
Apollo ordained that none should be-
lieve Cassandra's prophecies. there
fore when she fofesaw the doom Of
Troy the people laughed her 20 seorn'
Then comes the crime Of Paris
Prince Of Troy, aud the destruction
of that city by the ayonging Crooks
and the violation OF Cassandra by
Ajax In the temple OF Minerva as an
example OF the woe that befell the
noble women gcnerallS when Priam's
capltal was sacked Cassandra falls
into the hands Of Agamemnon az part
Of his spolls Of war, aud here follow
the words Of the enslaved princess
and seercss when she was about to
become the wife Of her owner nj
though he had another wife back IN
Greece.
ooh, mother. FIJI my hair with happy
flowers,
Ana speed me forth. Yea, if my spirit
covers.
Drive me with wrath 80 llVeth
lnxinq
A hloodler bride than ever Helen was
80 70 Agamemon
II shall KIN him. mother;
Shall KIN him, and lay waste ms
house with fire,
As ne laid ours
"But part ! must let be,
Ana sneak not Not the ak that
crHYeth me,
And more than me- not the dark
wandcringH
OF mother-murder that my bridal
brings,
And an The House of Atreus, down,
down, down'h
studied IN connection with their
tragic history. these lines have been
wen described as the most terrible
ever penncd hy mortal man. As cas-
sandra foresaw and fofetold and as
Agamemuon refused to believe, the
Troian women were avenged when
Aeamemnon was murdered by his le-
pal wife on his return TO Greece, and
the wife. who had been unfaithful to
her husband while he was away be-
seieing Troy, was killed BY her own
son TO hay his fathers ghost
EuripIdcs held 10 that fundamental
moral law. which Lincoln and the
ancient Hebrew prophets Understood,
that every crime must he oxpiated in
suffering By the door It was in his
second inaugural address, when the
civil war stlll was raging. that Linz
coin said.
sFondly do we hope. fervently do
We pray, hat this miehty scourge Of
war may speedily pass away. Yet If
God Wills that Il continue until all
the wealth piled by the bondsman's
iva hundred aud fifty years az un-
fcquitea toll shall be sunk. and Until
every drop Of blood drawn with the
lash shall be paid by another drawn
with the sword, as was said three
thousand years ago, 50 still il must
be said, that the judgments OF the
Lord are true and righteous alto
gether.
Somewhere ana somehow, we are
punished for our sins. as nations and
as individuals. We arc punished while
we are living. and il IS possible that
we are punished after We are dead.
AN eye for an eye and toeih for a