The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1927-12-17
CHAPTER xxxvI

TN the Hecuba we meet the Queen
i of Troy, desolate in defeat.
She has lost her bravest son in
battle with Achilles; now she COM
missions Polymnestor to hide and
protect her younger son, Polydorus,
from the Greeks.
Then the willy Odysseus comes
to tell her that the shade Of Achil-
les demands a living victim and
that her youngest daughter, Poly
xena, has been selected for the sac
rif1ce.
She reminds OdysSeus how once
she saved his life when he was cap
tured as a. spy within the Trojan
lines He answers, with primitive
caSuistry, that therefore he owes
much to her, but nothing to Poly
xena.
PoIyxena is slain, and as she dies
the news is brought to Hecuba that
Polymnestor has murdered Polydo-
rus.
She becomes insane with bitter
rage and, Turing Polymnestor into
her chamber, she tears out his eyes.
1t was a ruthless story, but again
story bravely told. Once more it
sought to moderate the ferocity of
war by showing the woe of the van
quished; it ridiculed the lying Odys-
seus, idol of Greek legend and
Greek sophistry; it exposed the
bloodthirst of the gods, and it re-
vealed again the suffering with
which life requites.
Motherhood, know We not this
burden hath always lain
On the devious being of woman;
yea, burdens twain
1.-THE burden of VIII and the bur-
den of Pain?"
These lines might have been the
motto of one of Euripides' greatest
plays, "Nedea."
Medea is the half savage daughter
Of the King of Colchis, where Jason
has come seeking the Golden Fleece.
She falls in love with Jason, de-
ceives C'fleeces") her father to get
the, Fleece, kills her brother when
he attacks Jason, and goes back to
Iolcos as Jason's unwedded wife.
There she wins the throne for him
by poisoning Pelias. To this point
she is woman at her worst, knowing
no commandment but love.
But Jason tires of her, exhausted
by her barbaric passions; and when
Oreon, King of Corinth, offers him
his daughter in marriage, he ac-
cepts.
With the moral insensitivity of an
animal he takes Medea with him to
Corinth as his concubine. Her
despairing protest is one Of the SUI
preme passages in Euripides:
"Of all things upon earth that
bleed and grow.
A herb most bruised is woman.
We must pay
Our store of gold, boarded for
that one day,
To buy us some mans love; and
10! they bring
A master of our flesh! There
comes the sting
OF the whole shame. And then
the jeopardy,
For good or ill, what shall that
master be.
Home never taught her that-how
best to guide
Toward peace the thing that
sleepeth at her side.
And she who, laboring long, shall
find some way
Whereby her lord may bear with
her, nor fray
His yoke too fiercely, blessed is
the breath
That woman drawsl Else let her
pray for death.
Her lord, If he be wearied Of her
face
Within doors, gets him forth;
some merrier place
Will ease his heart; but she waits
on, her whole
Vision enchanted on single soul.
And when they say It's they that
face the call
OF war, while we sit sheltered, hid
from all
Peril! False mockingl Sooner
would I stand
Three times to face their battles,
shield in hand,
Than bear one child"
Creon comes to exile her; she begs
him for one days stay, which he
grants; and that day sufices for her
revenge.