Children of Heracles
First sentence
I HOLD this true, and long have held: Nature hath made one man upright for his neighbours' good, while another hath a disposition wholly given over to gain, useless alike to the state and difficult to have dealings with, but for himself the best of men; and this I know, not from mere hearsay...
Description
This edition and commentary provides an introduction to one of Euripides' less well-known plays, and describes the enormous value of the text for our understanding of Athenian drama, religion, and society. Despite the excellent commentaries of Elmsley (1821) and Pearson (1907), and powerful articles by Wilamowitz, the play has not been given the notice it deserves. This edition interprets the play in a wide cultural setting, considering unorthodox aspects of the structure of the drama, but placing particular emphasis on the cults and myths of Heracles in Attica, on his apotheosis and marriage, on his association with the young, and most of all on the two most striking rituals in the play: the voluntary self-sacrifice of the daughter of Heracles, and the conversion of Eurystheus from an enemy of Athens to a hero whose dead body will protect the city-state. The text is James Diggle's (Oxford Classical Texts 1984).