Opening The Eumenides — Aeschylus in Plato Scroll…
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Aeschylus · Herbert Weir Smyth (Loeb Classical Library, 1926)
[Image: ]“Orestes Pursued by the Furies” by William-Adolphe Bouguereau THE PRIESTESS OF Apollo discovers Orestes as a suppliant in the inner shrine of the god at Delphi, and fronting him the Erinyes of his mother, a band of fearsome creatures who, wearied with the pursuit of the fugitive, have fallen on sleep. Under promise of his support, Apollo bids Orestes flee to Athens, where he shall submit his case to judgment and be released from his sufferings. The ghost of Clytaemestra rises to upbraid the sleeping Erinyes because of their neglect, whereby she is dishonoured among the other dead. Awakened by her taunts, they revile Apollo for that he has given sanctuary to a polluted man whom they rightly pursue by reason of their office — to take vengeance on all who shed kindred blood. The scene shifts to Athens, whither his pursuers have tracked their prey. Orestes, clasping the ancient …
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