Unspeakable Words in Greek Tragedy

Author(s): Diskin Clay

Source: The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 103, No. 3 (Autumn, 1982), pp. 277-298
Published by: Johns Hopkins University Press
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 UNSPEAKABLE WORDS IN GREEK TRAGEDY

Oedipus (dv6poo6voq)
There is a scene in Sophocles' Oedipus which, forall its power,
has lost thepowerit once possessedto move itsAthenianaudience. The
only vestigeof this power is a confusion in our commentarieson the
line Oedipus finallyextortsfroma prophetwho would preferto remain
silent:
vGa
0oQ O?IPt1 TaMv6pog OU (flTEIl KUpE1V (362).
"I say you are the murdererof the man you seek to discover" is a fair
translationof the line, but the line, which has been recastby way of
commentaryand now by way of emendation, has a context which
explains its deliberateambiguity.'Indeed, it has a numberofcontexts.
Teiresias sayspreciselywhathe wantsto say,because thereis something
he does not want to say. This is clear fromthe immediatecontextof
this line in the Oedipus itself.But the explanation of the inhibition
which twistsTeiresias' language around a word he will not name
comes fromthecontextof this scene (and otherswe will soon turnto)
in the societywhich celebratedits dramaticfestivalsin the theaterof
Dionysos.
First,the immediatecontextof thisline in the textof Sophocles'
Oedipus: Teiresias' reluctance to speak what he knows about the
murderof Laios is framedby language designatingthe unspeakable
and forbiddenand it is preparedforbyOedipus' proclamation thatno

I The ambiguityof this line has inspired threekinds of solutions.

First,it can
disappear in translation,as in Bowra's: "Thou seekest,and thou art, the murderer,"
Sophoclean Tragedy(Oxford 1944) 195. Or it can be rewrittento clarifythe relationof
the relativepronoun, as did Jebb,Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments3(Cambridge
1902) 62; and Kamerbeek,The Plays of Sophocles IV: Oedipus Tyrannos(Leiden 1967)
94. The last solution has been that of emendation and R. D. Dawe's 4oviaq o'E 4nqj
K6V6pa0 o0u' ?lTE71 KUpEiV, Sophoclis Tragoediae I (Leipzig 1975).

Americanjournal of Philology Vol. 103 Pp. 277-298

0002-9475/82/1033-0277$01.00 ? 1982 by The JohnsHopkins UniversityPress

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278 DISKIN CLAY

Theban shall speak to theman who murderedLaios.2 When Teiresias

appears on stage,Oedipus addresseshim and pays tributeto therange
of his understanding(300-1):
w nCIVTCavwpG)v TElpEo'la, &I6aKTa TE
CappTc T' OUpaVla TE Kai XOOVOaTlfl....

The obvious interpretation of thesecontrastingtermsis thatOedipus'

arrangementof wordsis chiasticand thusthosethingswhich Teiresias
can communicateare on thelevelofwhat treadsupon theearthand the
truthsof heaven are thingshe cannot speak of.3But Teiresias' senseof
restraintis not explained by his knowledgeof the heavens; he cannot
finallybringhimselfto name some of the thingsthattreadupon the
earth at Thebes. And once he intimateswhat he knows about these
(413-25), thechorusspeak again of theunspeakable (463-66):
Tig OVTIV a 0EanlbrnE-
a A?inEg InTETrTpa
cip,1
alppqT 6dppfTWV
ppTiVTAoV TEXEOQav-
Ta 4OlVialil XEpaiV;

These lines framethe encounterbetweenOedipus and Teiresias

and Teiresias' language remindsus thatit is "hard to talk about the
unsayable."4If the unsayable,or unspeakable,was in factunsaid, our
themewould be silence and not inhibition. But thereis a dangerous
name that stirsOedipus to anger. It is never pronounced, but it is

2 For thehuman silence thatsurroundsthemurderer, cf.238; 352 and 1437;Eurip-

ides' Orestes428; 481 and 1605; a silence possibly reflectedin Sophocles' Trachiniae
1124-25. Cf. Euripides' Orestes73 and thescholion which explains the silence beforea
murderer:o0 6? TOIgkvayiai npoO06Eyy6pEvoiaUTOi OKOUO1 piaivaOeai, wg KaO ?V
'HpaKXET(1219) Kal I'ioVI 6e6r1KTal.
3The connection betweenthe divine and the incommunicable is so well estab-
lished in Greekthatcommentatorstendto point to thedpptTa createdbyGreekreligious
scruples; as Jebb, for example, who cites Herodotus 6.135. A betterexample of the
contrastbetween the human and communicable and the divine and unspoken comes
fromHerodotus 2.3-4, a passage which is at the beginning of a seriesof Herodotean
silences beforea iEpogXoyog. (An observationI owe to Charles Kahn's cogentand still
unpublished interpretationof Herodotus' reticenceover the traditionof the death of
Dionysos-Osiris,"The Silence of Herodotus in Book II.") As I shall argue, the similar
expressionfromtheColoneus (1001-2, quoted on p. 287 below) describesa traditionthat
is human and centeredon thenarrtof thehouse of Laios.
4This is theinevitablecommentof Edmund Leach in his "Animal Categoriesand
VerbalAbuse" in New Directionsin theStudyofLanguage, ed. Lennenberg(Cambridge,
Mass. 1966)26.

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 UNSPEAKABLE WORDS IN GREEK TRAGEDY 279

suggestedin a peculiar syntaxas Teiresias tellsOedipus obliquely that

he is themurdererwho is bound by his own public curses(350-53):
EVVEnTwaE T4) KtlpUyypaTl
wTlEp npOElnaQ EppEVElV, Ka tiEpaQ
Tfq VUV npocau5av p'TE TOUa5E P'ItT I&P,
Wc OVTI yflq Tfia5 6vxViiq) plaoropl.

Oedipus' violentreactionmakes it clear thatTeiresias' words forhim,

"unholy pollution," can stirup terriblethoughtsand feelings(354-55):
oUTW(g6vai65g E&EKihnoaq TO6e
TOp37pa;
Teiresiashas "stirredup a word" as ifwordswerethingswitha dormant
lifeof theirown.5 But Oedipus fails to registerthe real implication of
Teiresias' painful words. This is not Oedipus' firstmistake in this
angryscene, for,as he asked forTeiresias' help, he spoke of the mur-
derersof Laios, in the plural (308-9) and provokedtheprophetto say
thathe can see thatnot even Oedipus' language hitsthemark(324-25).
This bringsus to theline which seemsso enigmatic.Teiresias protests
thathe has been provokedto speak against his will and it is clear that
some X6yoRlies beneaththesurfaceof thisexchange (358-62):
T. Cu yap
Ia aKOVTa AEyEwV.
0. noTovAoyov; 6jgpaXXov
A'y'auci0t, npOUTpEt_W
pa0w.
T. OUX1'UVfKaqg np6cOEv;t KnrEpa AoywtV;
0. OUX (WOTE y Eitl?EVyVWOToV aXX aUi0tg qpaaov.
T. 4OV?a aE 4flpi TaV6pOg OiU(nTE?lg KUpE?V.

When Teiresias asks "didn't you grasp mymeaningbefore"(360)

he is thinkingof theimplicationsof his wordsto Oedipus, "the unholy
pollution of this our land" (353). And this is why he goes on to ask if
Oedipus is testingwords;thatis, is tryingto make him saya word.6It is

5Kamerbeek'scommenton thisverbis on themark:"the startlingwordis implic-

itlylikenedto a beast,an evil agent thatshould be leftuntouched" (above, note 1) ad loc.
6X6yWvis Brunck'ssuggestion,printedin Pearson's Oxfordtext.Kamerbeeknotes
(above, note 1, ad loc.)): "It is not certainwhetherL. knewof a readingXoywv,but there
is a marginal gloss by a later hand Ei nTrrpavXOyWv KiVeiq." This emendationand the
sense thatan unspeakable word underliesthe inhibitionsof Teiresias' language is the
basis of our translationto Oedipus' question:
Didn't you understand?
Are you tryingto make me say theword?

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280 DISKIN CLAY

not thatOedipus is making a trialof Teiresias by speaking(XEywv)or

thathe is attemptingto make him speak (XiyEav).Teiresias knows that
Oedipus is making a trial of words and that one of these words is
unspeakable and, finally,unspoken in the Oedipus. Teiresias frames
this word, but does not pronounce it when he says "I say you are the
murdererof the man you seek to discover" (363). This is a line of
strainedand deliberateambiguity.Its ambiguityis not to be explained
by Teiresias' relation to the god of the oracle at Delphi who "neither
speaksout, norconceals his meaning,butgivesus signs.''7His sentence
is, indeed, a riddle of sorts,but its dialect is not thatof Phokis. The
inhibitions which twistTeiresias' language around a word he will
framebut will not pronounceare pure Attic.
The relativepronoun ou' inhibits the association of the words
povEa and TaMVp6o.The name Teiresias framesremainsunspoken. It
is one of theunspeakable wordsof Greektragedy.Oedipus' reactionto
its sting shows thathe has put the words togetherand finallyunder-
stood theimplicationsof Teiresias' firstchargeagainst him (364):
6XX OU Ti XaQpwV 5ig yE nTpovaq
g ?pEiq.

The word which is 'appnToVdescribessomethinghuman: dv6poqovog

is the word which causes Teiresias such difficultyand Oedipus such
pain. "Murderer,""killer," "homicide"-our sensibilitiesare inade-
quate to the word, but in Greek its dangerous fieldof attractionand
repulsionexplains theinhibitionsofTeiresias' language and Oedipus'
violentresponseto it.

Sophocles: Oedipus theKing, translatedbyStephenBergand Diskin Clay (Oxford 1978)

39; cf.681 wherethechorusdescribethequarrelbetweenOedipus and Kreonas a 66Kqolg
ayvwgXoywv.Charles Segal has some sensitiveremarkson thispassage and theproblem
of naming in the Oedipus in his Tragedyand Civilization(Cambridge, Mass. 1981)
243-44.
7 The application of Heraclitus(DK 22 B 93) to Teiresias' language seemsinevita-
ble and is made by Bowra (above, note 1) 203. "Delphic" speech explains, of course,the
"Phocian dialect" of Orestes in Aeschylus' Choephoroi 564; cf. 887; but, as we shall
discover,thedialectof Teiresias' inhibitedspeech is Attic.
8 The evidence has been collected by Louis Moulinier, Le pur et l'impur dans la
pense'edes Grecs(Paris 1952)81-92. In theOedipus, Oedipus says thathe will dispel the
pollution that comes fromLaios' murder:TOUT' 6nOOKE6W pu?ao (138). For the word
puoog, see my note on piaopa in line 97 (above, note 6) 100-1. A good example of the
feelingof danger beforethosewho carrythestain of human blood comes froma passage
in Antiphon'sThe MurderofHerodes whichexplains theAthenianprocedureofholding
trialsforhomicide in a sacredplace and in theopen air (cf.Ath.Pol. 57.4): it is to avoid
close contactwith thosewhose hands are stainedwithhuman blood (I'va . .. .o 6IKaoTi

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 UNSPEAKABLE WORDS IN GREEK TRAGEDY 281

Greekwas queasy about human blood and themiasma of homi-

cide.8Teiresias' firstwordsforOedipus, avo6aog JpaGTwp (353), imply
xv5popovog,but as theywerepronounced Oedipus failedto make the
connection(cf.360). Finally, Oedipus will call himselfworse than the
name Teiresias refusesto pronounceand somethingso dangerous that
it cannot be repeated in the theaterof Dionysos (1287-89, a passage
returnedto in sectionIII below). The wordswhich expresstherealities
of Oedipus' lifeare all unspeakable: murder,parricide,and thatthing
for which thereis no generic name in Greek, incest. They are all
unspeakable (dpprjTa)and one of them,av5poo6voc, is forbidden
(6n6ppnTOV). It falls under theAthenianlaw against verbalabuse and
itis theciviccontextofthecourtsofAthenswhichhelpsus recoverthe
poweroftheunspeakable wordsspokenorsuggested bytheiravoidance
in thetheater ofDionysosand thedramaticfestivals
ofAthens.

# #

WediscoverthewordTeiresiascan framebutnotpronouncein a
violationof the law whichformalized the social inhibitionsbefore
homicideand thewordfora murderer. Wecannotbe surethatthislaw
was in effect
whentheOedipuswas produced,butit seemsverylikely
(fromevidencefromthefourth century)thatitwas.In anycase,itis the
pain and dangerofcertainnameswhichexplainsthelaw thatmakes
themdrHoPpflTa.Nopogfindsitsexpression in vopog.
The violationtowhichweowealmosteverything we knowabout
theAthenianlaw againstverbalabuse occurredin thecontextof a
publicassembly.Herean Atheniancitizen,Theomnestos, was accused
ofabandoninghis shieldin battle.The manwhobroughtthispublic
chargeagainstTheomnestos wasLysitheos and hischargeprovidesthe
background ofLysias'AgainstTheomnestos (10).9The trialforwhich

P w
'WOIV eik TO aUTO ToI p1' KaoacpoIq Taq XEpaq, 5.1 1), an explanation D. M. MacDowell
neglectsin his accountof thispassage,AthenianHomicide Law in theAge of theOrators
(Manchester1965) 145-46. He is, however,rightto emphasize the horrorof living under
the same roof with murderers;cf. Sophocles' Electra 1190 and Plato's homicide law,
Laws 9.865 A-869 E and especially868 C-D and 869 A formurderwithina family.
9For the hypothesisimplicit in the details of this speech (and the versionof its
argument in Lysias 11), see the sketch of E. S. Shuckburgh,Lysiae Orationes XVI
(London 1882)220-21 and the "Notice" of Louis Gernetin his Lysias: Discours3I (Paris
1955) 139-43.

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282 DISKIN CLAY

Lysias wrotethisspeech can be dated to 384/83.Lysias' client,whose

identityis unknown, stood as a witnessto Lysitheos' charge against
Theomnestos. It is Theomnestos' counterchargethatour anonymous
clienthad murderedhis fatherthatmakeshim liable to theKaKTyopiac
6{iKr.1OBoth Lysitheos'chargeagainstTheomnestosand Theomnestos'
counterchargeagainst Lysias' clientgrazedangerouswordswhichwere
forbiddenunder the law of Athens. To begin with the charge with
which thiscase begins: to say thata citizenhad abandoned his shield in
battle (@rO3EIXTnK?valTIV 6onli6a, 10.12; cf. 10.1) is forbiddenunder
the law of verbal abuse. The insulting name for such a coward is
pi4taorlR.The great sensitivityto the public disgrace and personal
injuryof such a charge is recognizedby theAthenianof Plato's Laws
who urges the greatestcaution in flingingsuch a charge and would
replace the abusive term hpaaontq by the less offensive&nopoxEukx
onXwvforthecitizenforcedto abandon his weapons. As theAthenian
observesearlier,thestingof such abuse can lead to murder.11
Under Theomnestos' counterchargethatLysias' client had mur-
deredhis fatherlies the forbiddenword which Teiresias can framebut
not pronounce in Sophocles' Oedipus, dv5vpo46voc.Even moreinjuri-
ous is thetermnaTpO(POVO which,it appears,was notexplicitlycovered
bytheAthenianlaw againstslander.And herewe come to theargument
of Lysias' case against Theomnestos: to say in public thata man has
murderedhis fatheramountsto calling him theforbiddendv8ppopo'vo<.
Theomnestos' defensebeforethearbitratorturnson the letterand not
the spiritof the law: the law does not in factprohibit saying that a
citizenhas killed his father;it forbidstheuse of the term&v6po4povoq.
Theomnestos nevercalled Lysias' clienta "murderer";he merelysaid
thathe had killed his father(10.6).
This defensebringsLysias to distinguishbetweenwordsand their
meanings and to argue that the two expressionsamount to the same
thing. No lawmakercould be expected to draw up a complete list of
10 Lysias 10 is themain exhibitfortheAthenianlaw against verbalabuse. For our

purposes, other relevantpassages fromthe oratorscome fromDemosthenes' Against

Meidias 21.79-81; Against Aristokrates23.29 and Antiphon, Tetralogiae 2139-all dis-
cussed in what follows.For the rest,cf. D. M. MacDowell, The Law of Classical Athens
(Ithaca 1978) 127-29 and E. Ruschenbusch,Untersuchungenzur Geschichtedes athen-
ischenStrafrechts, GrazistischeAbhandlungen4 (Kohn. Graz 1968)24-27. Ruschenbusch
is inclined to regardthelaw against verbalabuse as Solonian and selectionsfromLysias
figureas F 32* in his collection,EOAC2NOF:NOMOI: Die Fragmentedes Solonischen
Gesetzeswerkes, 9 (Wiesbaden 1966) 79.
Historia Einzelschriften
l1Laws 9.886 E.

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 WORDSIN GREEKTRAGEDY
UNSPEAKABLE 283

abusive termsand theirsynonyms(10.7). To make his point he exploits

the sensitivitiesunderlyingthe law against cmopprTa and asks Theo-
mnestosif he would allow someone to say in public thathe beat the
motherwho bore him or thefatherwho begothim and not feelthathe
had been injured by the forbiddenwords rQaTpaXoiac or ptrTpaXoiIaq
(10.8). And more pointedlyand ad hominem he asks if Theomnestos
would allow someone to say that he had "thrown away" (64i)ai) his
shield, but prosecute him only if he used the forbiddenexpression
"abandon" (rno0E(XtlK6vai,10.9). Here we have fourof the&n6pptlTa
of the Athenian law against verbal abuse: dv6po46ovoc,naTpaXoiaq,
P1TpaXoiaq,and, it would seem, 6ShCaonic;.Our list is not complete.'2
But these four forbiddenwords and the names for a parricide and
matricidegive us a new access to the inhibitions of the language of
Greek tragedyand thenappnola of comedy.They stirup thecomplex
and ambiguous feelingsof fascinationand recoil beforethethoughtof
violenceand bloodshed withinthefamilyand thekillingor disgraceof
a fellowcitizen.These wordsdo not seem particularlyterribleor dan-
gerous to us, but to the Athenian,constrainedby the tightbonds of
familyand polis, theyweresticksand stones.
There is still anothertrialfromlaterin thefourthcenturywhich
helps us recoverthe forceof Teiresias' unspoken name forOedipus in
Sophocles' Oedipus. This is the speech Demosthenes composed for
EuthyklesAgainstAristokrates (352). It is an importantsource for the
Athenian homicide law and Demosthenes' commentaryof this law
confirmsour explanationof theevasivecharacterofTeiresias' language
in theOedipus. The law allows a citizento put a convictedmurdererto
death if he returnsto Atticsoil beforehis period of exile is up: TO0c 6'
dv6po4oovouq ?'8ivai dTIOKTE1'VE1V (23.29). Here is Demosthenes'com-
mentary:"You have heard the law, citizensof Athens.Now reflectand
considerhow well and withwhatreligiousfeelingthelawmakerframed
this law. He speaks of "murderers."Now observefirstthat by "mur-
derer" he means the man convicted by a jury, for no person comes
underthisdesignationbeforehe has beenconvictedand foundguilty.''13
'?As Gernet says, it is a sample (above, note 9) 139. On the basis of the other
offensivenames in Lysias 10.10,GerhardThur takesdv6pano6iaT1q to have been one of
theforbiddenwordsofAthenianlaw, "Komplex Prozessfuhrungdargestelltam Beispiel
des Trapeketikos" in Symposium:Aktender Gesellschaftfuirgriechischeund hellenis-
tischeRechtsgeschichte, ed. H. J. Wolff,I (Koln. Vienna 1975) 171,n. 46.
'3 Here I would agree with Michael Gagarin thatthispassage fromDemosthenes
illustratesa distinctionin the Draconian law of homicide betweenan "alleged" and a
convictedmurderer, Drakon and theEarly Homicide Law (New Haven 1981)59; cf.IG 12

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 284 DISKIN CLAY

We have had to go to the courtsof Athensand into the fourth

centuryto recovertheforceof a scene and a word thatcould be framed
but which could not be pronounced in the theaterof Dionysos late in
the fifth.But thereare still more terriblewords forOedipus. One of
themis parricide;technicallyit appears not to have fallen under the
Athenianlaw againstverbalabuse. AnotherdescribesOedipus' relation
to his motherand is trulyunspeakableforit remainsunspoken.If these
unspeakable words did not come under the prohibitionsof Athenian
law, theycame of theinhibitionsof thetaboos of Greeksociety.

II

Oedipus naTpoKT6voS
In Sophocles' Oedipus, the firstword forthe murderwhich is at
firsttheobjectof Oedipus' searchis piaopca (97); and thewordforthose
responsibleforthe homicide ((pvov, 100) which is its source is To1'x
a61TOEVTa'q(107). The word itselfwas clearlythoughtto be a termof
greatpower to injure the person to which it was applied as we know,
again, fromthecontextof Athenianlaw, which surroundsso much of
Attictragedy.'4And Louis Gernethas takenus a long way in our return
to thepower of thiswordin a societywhich felttaintedbysheddingof
blood which affectedfirstthemembersof the familyand then thecity
itself.As fortheword itself,which firstdescribesthemurderers(in the
plural) of Laios: "il est,pour l'individu auquel il s'applique un quali-
ficatifsubstantield'une couleur violente."'5 This word is not applied
to Oedipus. There are worse names reservedforhim: the word which
Teiresias framesbut will not pronounce;and worsethanthis,theword
parricide.And as the search of the Oedipus moves frompollution to
homicide and themurderof Laios to parricideand Oedipus' discovery
thathe unwittinglykilled his father,the language of the play shows
the same inhibitionswe have discoveredin the language of Teiresias.

115 (= I3 104) 20-21 as against 30. A passage to support this distinctioncomes from
Antiphon,Tetralogiae2r9,wherethedefendantspeaks of theshame thatwill await his
childrenif he is convictedof murder: caIv6E VOV KaTaQXt140iE'I
6noeavw, dvoaia Ov1&6fl
TO, qnaiaiv UvnoXrOXitIw.
For a sensitivetreatmentof the language of theOedipus as it reflectsthatof the
1'
law of Athens,see BernardKnox, Oedipus at Thebes (New Haven 1957) 78-98.
'5"Sur la designation du meurtrier"in Droit et societe dans la Grece ancienne
(Paris 1955)36.

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 UNSPEAKABLE WORDS IN GREEK TRAGEDY 285

Oedipus cannot at firstname thedeed theprophethas accused him of

and, when he confrontsKreon with Teiresias' painful accusation, he
speaks remotelyand evasivelyof "my destructionsof Laios," which
translatesTaq ',ua'. ... AaTou 5ia4V6opaq (572-73). Here, Oedipus'
choice of a plural is significantsince, like otherevasive plurals of the
Oedipus (and Oedipus at Colonus), it deflectsattention from the
thoughtof a single act.'6
When it finallycomes to the thoughtof parricide,thedangerous
word, naTpoVo6voc, is framed,but not pronounced. Oedipus will not
join theelementsof thiscompound,and he will not describehimselfby
a termwhich is its equivalent, within the constraintsof the iambic
trimeter, until he has fullyrealized thatTeiresias' painful wordshave
become realities;until,thatis, he has convictedhimselfof parricideby
his own verdict.In Teiresias' last words to Oedipus, the word for
parricideis separated.Oedipus will be revealedas theman who sowed
his seed in thesame womb as had his fatherand theman who murdered
his father(459-60):
Kal TOU naTp6?
6vPt6a-op TE Kai UO4Eu?.

Jocastaseems to share the same inhibitionswhen she tells Oedipus of

Apollo's prophecyof thefateof herson, which was thwartedby Laios'
death at a crossroads(720-21):
KavTaue 'An6XXwv OUT EKE1VOVflVUOEV
tcpovEayEv'ECOl naTpo6....

And this is how Oedipus phrases Apollo's prophecy that he would,

among the otherhorrorsof his life,become his father'smurderer-dg
....POVEuc 8' EoaijpV TOO 4VUTEUaaVTOc naTpor (791-93). He treatsthe
in
compound thesame way when he explains to the shepherdof Poly-
bos why he leftCorinth-naTpO6q TE xpn'wv p" oove) V ETlva,yEpov
(1001).
This framingof thewordnaTTpO4VovOc could be explained by the
metricalshape of the word, were it not forthe factthat thereare two
othertermsfora parricidewhich fitin the iambic trimeter and are, in
fact,used, with shockingeffect, once Oedipus has discoveredthe truth

16 Cf. OT 1359-60; OC 527; and Antigone 863-66. For

the "poetic" plural, cf.
Aristotle,Rhetoric3.6.1407b26;[Longinus] 23.2; and Schwyzer-Debrunner,Griechische
GrammatikII (Munich 1950) 44.

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 286 DISKIN CLAY

of Apollo's prophecies. It is only in the violence of his howling rage

thatOedipus can name himselfforwhat he is. The palace servantwho
revealsto Sophocles' audience in the theaterof Dionysos thehorrorhe
witnessedand heard(cf. 1224)in thetheaterwithinthepalace speaks of
all the horrorsforwhich thereis a name. But one he cannot bring
himselfto name; nor can Oedipus (1284-89):
Et. GTEvaypog, aTf, OavaTog, acxXuvrl,KaKWV
00 ECTi TTaVTWVovopaT', Ou6eV UT rn6v.
Xo. VOV6' a'o'0 TXrIJWV EV TIVI OXOXfl KaKOU;

Et. poa 510oiyEIvKXflOpa KaQ6qXo5v T1va

TOIg TTaoi Ka6pEIo'00 TOrVnaTpOKTOVOV,
TOV ,arlrp6?, av66v az 'OVOE P,raTOO....

In thepassion of his discovery,Oedipus can finallyname himselfbya

name he has avoided joining as a compound, but he cannot join
anothername, the name forhis relationwith his mother,in another.
We know of the name forhim fromHipponax, but theabusive name
forBoupalos is nothing thatcould be pronounced on the tragicstage
and nothingwhich comes easily to Greekin any age or any context.It
is the trulyunspeakable word of Greek tragedy,forit is neverspoken.
As for the word naTpO4OoVOc (and its equivalents,naTpOKTVoo
and naTTpOOoVTflq), it is a word whose power is surroundedby strong
inhibitionsin theepic and in thecivic lifeof Athens,as well as on the
tragicstage. In Phoenix "autobiography"in Iliad 9, the word rraTpO-
povoc and the social consequences of parricideseem as fearfulas the
deed itself(458-61):
TOV PEV EyW fouXEuoa KaTaKTaQPEV 0'?E XaXKLP
aXXa Tig aOaVaTWV naf3oEV 6Xov, Og p' ?vi Oeug
6rIOU efKE (XIaTlV KaQ OvEi6Ea n06XX'axv0p6TnWv,
c)g p TnaTpOOoVOg PET 'AXalOioIV KaXE01iJPV.

These four lines do not appear in our textsof the Iliad. Aristarchos
foundthemtoo terribleand removedthemfromhis textof thepoem.'7
We have noticedLysias' client'sreactionto theaccusation of parricide;
it is the one word forbiddenby theAthenianlaw against verbalabuse
which would move him to find redressin the courts (10.2-3). In his
speech AgainstAndrotion,Demosthenescharacterizeshis charge that

17 They werenot printedin a textof theIliad until Barnes' editionof 1711. Barnes

restoredthemfromPlutarch,On How to Listen to Poetry8.26 F. Plutarch'scommentis

precious:o pThvoUv AP{OTaPXOqE?EiXE TaOTa Ta EntH POPrtOEi;q.

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 UNSPEAKABLEWORDS IN GREEK TRAGEDY 287

he was responsibleforthedeath of his own fatheras language which

was inhibited,ifnot forbidden(22.2, 'a KaciXEyev dv
O6KV1oa?1 TIq).
And preciselythe same patternof avoidance and naming occurs
in the Oedipus at Colonus. In the chorus's interrogationof Oedipus,
which rehearseswith obsessive curiositythe tale of Oedipus' life,the
word parricideis suggested,but thenavoided, preciselyas it was in the
Oedipus (542-44):
Xo. cUavE, Ti eoU covov
yTp; a
01. Ti TOUTO; Ti 6 Ee0E'XEtq pJaev;

Xo. naTp6?;
Here we see language recoil beforetheact itselfand not the name that
names the actor. But just as in the Oedipus this name is available. In
the earlier play Oedipus calls himselfTov naTpO4OVTqV, TOy 6cef3i
(1441) in orderto driveKreon to exile him as a parricide.And in the
laterplay Kreondescribestheexiled Oedipus as a n[aTpOKTOVOC in order
to impressupon Theseus an awarenessof thekindofpollution thathas
found its home in Athens (944; cf. 601). Oedipus' reaction to this charge
and thechargeof incest(944-49) is as precisea gauge as we could want
for the power of unspeakable words in Greek and in Greek tragedy.
Oedipus' reactionto Kreonis like his reactionto Teiresias (960): j Xflp'
avat6?k, TOE Kau(3pi(?v 5OKEiC; And it is clear fromOedipus' full
reaction that, like Teiresias in the earlier play, Kreon has spoken the
speakable and theunspeakable,and thisin public (1000-3):
J 65,ETyQp O
6IKaQ0o, 6XX'dnaV KaX6V
Xeyetvvopi(Wv, rTOV a5ppnTOV T Enos,
TOiQUT OVE161'4Etc PE TWV5 EVaVT1OV.

In what he has said, Kreon is not just because he had gone beyondthe
limits of Athenian law. There is a scene in the privatesettingof an
Athenianhouse which bringsthisscenefromtheColoneus back to life.
It is this: Meidias and his brotherThrasylochos broke into Demos-
thenes' house and in the presence of his young sisterthey insulted
Demosthenes,his mother,and his entirefamilyin language Demos-
thenescould not bring himselfto repeat when he recalled this scene,
which was the basis of an earlier KaKflyOpicaq iKfl, in his Against
Meidias: Kai TflV PfTEpa K6jpJ Kai TTaVTTaq pCxqpflTacK6ppfTa KaKa
?krriov (21.79).18We do not know what the brotherssaid, but we do

18We have seen this combination of words in OT 300-1 (cf. note 3, above). This
passage is still anotherpiece of evidencefortheAthenianlaw against verbalabuse; as is
OC 1000-3, which shows its impact on the language of tragedy.Significantin both

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288 DISKIN CLAY

know what Kreon said to provoke Oedipus' anger: he called him a

parricideand describeda relationshipwhich the palace servantof the
Oedipus could not bringhimselfto name.

III

Oedipus, TOVp0Tp6O ...

With the servant'srepressionof Oedipus' descriptionof himself

as his mother's. . ., we arriveat the themeof incestand a thing for
which thereis no genericname in Greek.'9And we arriveat silenceand
therecognitionof thefearfulpotencyof wordsto stirthingswhich are
queasy to be touched.The law of Athenswas silenton thesematters.
Solon, when asked whyhe had framedno law against parricide,is said
And in Plato's Laws, theAthenian
to have replied:8ia TO ir?rtEXnaaj.20
arguesthatthereshould be no law againstincestbecause thereis already
an "unwrittenlaw" which keeps mankind fromactions which can in
no way be toleratedby religion, but are hateful to the gods and the
heightof shame among men. This law theAthenianhears confirmed
not only in comedy, but in tragedy,where those guilty of incest,

Demosthenes'speechagainst Meidias and Kreon'saccusationsagainst Oedipus is thefact

that the insults which are regardedas unspeakable touch the quick of the family;cf.
Demosthenes' Against Androtion(22.2, quoted above) and OC 960-61. The historyof
such insults is a long one in Greek; in Byzantine times the practice had the name
yEvoXoyW; cf.Phaidon Koukoules,Bu(avT1vCv (3ioc Kal nOXlTlopoc III (Athens1949)294.
19For the aposiopesis, cf. Charitonides,AnorppflTa (Thessalonika 1935) 133. The
silence of the palace servantat line 1289 seems to correspondto a silence in the Greek
language. It is difficultto guess at the unspoken word by which Oedipus described
himself.Perhaps the most telling thingabout it is that it was not and could not have
been a compound,like Hipponax's abusive termforBoupalos, pT1TpoKoiTrtg fr.12.2West.
vUpQiovcomes to mind; cf. 1358;plalTOpa is anotherpossibility;cf. 1360and Euripides'
Phoenician Women 1050. On the dubious inspiration of Wasps 1178, Schneidewin
emended TOV pnTpOc by T1V ptlTEpa. The scholion on the aposiopesis of Wasps 1178
makes manifesthow wrong thissolution is fortragedy:6iqX' ?p3iV?1 XEin?t1ETUOTTT1OEV.A.
D. Nock once wonderedwhether"the Greekshad any markedanxieties about incest."
Thalia Phillies Howe pointed him both to comparativeanthropologyand Bowra's dis-
cussion of his question (above, note 1) 169; cf. her "Taboo and the Oedipus Theme,"
TAPA 93 (1962) 126,n. 8. Anotherresponseto thisquestion comes fromthesilenceof the
Greeklanguage.
20 DL 10.59; cf. Cicero, Pro Roscio Amerino70. Indeed, thereseems to have been
no recognitionin the Athenian homicide law of parricideas an offensedistinctfrom
homicide;cf.MacDowell (above, note 8) 116.

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 UNSPEAKABLE WORDS IN GREEK TRAGEDY 289

Thyestes,Oedipus, Makareus,all sentencethemselvesto death.2'These

legislatorswould seem to speak withthewisdom of St. Paul: Xwpigyap
vopou appapTia VEKpa (Romans 7.8).
Even in theheightofhis rage,Oedipus cannotjoin thename that
wouid describehim in his relationto his motherin a compound. And
thepalace servantcannot,as we have seen,repeatOedipus' description
of himself:TOV pflTpO6,au56v avo6i' oui6EplTa' poi (1289). In a calmer
moment, Oedipus shows the proper fear of naming his incestuous
relation to his motherwhen he tells the chorus that he would never
have willinglyhave come to be called "the bridegroomof those from
whom he sprung"-ou'i5 I POTo0WsKXi1O1V J'v 'Epuv arno(1358-
vup4Mioo
59).22 Here again, we findtheevasiveplural. It recurswhen thechorus
of theColoneus speak of "the beds ofevil name on yourmother'sside"
(527) and in Antigone'sdescriptionofherown birth(Antigone863-66).
Incest,Blutschande,was a trueQanopprlTOV in Greek. It was also
one of thethemesof Greek tragedy,as theAthenianstrangerof Plato's
Laws remindsus. Greekstendedto attributethepracticeto barbarians.23
A passage fromEuripides'Andromacheillustratesthis tendency.Here
the veryGreek Hermione can speak with great and mock horrorof
Andromache's"incestuous" relationwith theson of theman who had
killed her husband. Her conception of what we call "incest' might
seem farfetched until we rememberthattheconcept of incestinvolves
blood (173-77).
TOlOUTOV naV TO fa3pIapov yEvoC
nTaTfp TE OuyaTpi TQiCf TE PfTpi
TUiyVVTal
KOp' T Q5EXa4, 5ul QOVOU 5'01oi iXTaTOl
xWPo0Ol, KaQi TWV6' oVt5V ?EipyEl VO6po<.
a pul TTap Tipa c EYO E p.

Laws 8.838 A-C.

21
22 A
failureto recognizethe meaning of theplural in the line thatfollows,vi6v6'
6xOEo piv eip', dvooiwv 65 naff, has great consequences and by the interpretation of
Hugh Lloyd-Jonesmakes the Oedipus a play of ancestralguilt; cf. The Justiceof Zeus
(Berkeley1971) 112. For theword "unholy" in connectionwith incest,cf.Aristophanes'
Frogs 850; forthepollution of incest,cf.Aeschylus'Suppliant Women225 and Euripides
Phoenician Women 1050. It is thispollution thatmakes Jocastaunholy.
23 For Egypt,cf. Herodotus 2.63.4 (the festivalof Papremis) and the Oedipal hip-

popotamos describedby Plutarch in his On Isis and Osiris 32.363 F. In his commentary
to Euripides' Andromache173-76,P. T. Stevenshas gatheredsome passages illustrating
the GreekattitudetowardsthePersians,Euripides: Andromache(Oxford 1971) ad loc.

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290 DISKIN CLAY

This almost sounds like a descriptionof Greek tragedy.P. T. Stevens'

commenton theselines of Hermione is appropriateto thespiritofour
inquiry: "Andromachecannot unfortunately quote Hdt. 1.135,where,
speaking of Persians,he observesan'nEXXrivWvpcaOovTEc naici piayov-
Tal. "24 Andromache,who was a creatureof fifth-century Athens,could
have quoted fromGreektragedyand, indeed,incestis a themein Eurip-
ides' Oedipus and Alkmaion at Corinth.Then thereare the "unholy
marriages"Aeschyluscomplains of in the Frogs; thesewereEuripides'
importationsin tragedy(850). And therewere the women who had
intercoursewiththeirbrothers(1081).25 He is clearlythinkingof Kanake
in Euripides' Aiolos, thatdrama of incestwhich provokedan uproarin
the theaterof Dionysos when one of thecharactersasked: Ti 6' aQiXpOV
fjvPi' ToIl XpWP'voIaI 50oKfJ;The answerfromtheaudience,attributed
to Antisthenes,was what is shamefulis shamefulwhetherit seemsso or
not to the people who experience 't.26 The shock of the Euripidean
plays on the themeof incestcame, it seems,not fromthe themeitself,
which was a partof the tragicrepertory of both Aeschylusand Sopho-
cles (and still otherdramatists),but fromhis explicit and even philo-
sophical treatment of thelargerthemeof human conventions.Such an
explicit treatment of thisdangeroussubjectwas barelytolerablein the
theaterof Dionysos and it was reservedfor the privacyof the social
thoughtof thephilosophers.27
The theme of incest could be translatedfromthe language of
tragedy,with its necessaryrestraint,remoteness,and seriousness,into
the language of comedy.In Aristophanes'Clouds we have the comic
transformation of the language of Euripides' Aiolos. Here is Strepsi-

24 Which one could translate:"With the Greeks as theirtutors,theyhave inter-

course with theirchildren";(above, note 23) 117. The connectionsHermione is making

depend on the Greek feelingfor the pollution of human blood and incest,forwhich
documentationin Moulinier (above, note 8) 81-92 and 64-71 (for"l'acte de chaire 1egi-
time"). Teiresias (OT 460) articulatesthe same connection.Howe expressestheconnec-
tion well when she says of familyblood: "it is sacred,and one must neitherprocreate
with it nor destroyit" (above, note 19) 127.
25 In Nauck, TGF2 frs.14-41.
26 Nauck, TGF2 fr. 19 (fromthe scholion to Frogs 1474). Plutarch preservesthe

anecdote of Antisthenes'response to this outrageous question in his How to Listen to

Poetry12.33 C.
27Cf. Plato, Republic 5.461 B; Zeno and Chrysippus in Sextus Empiricus,adv.
Math. 11.190-92; Outlines of Pyrrhonism3.245-49; and SVF III 734-56 (under von
Arnim'stitle,Cynica).

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 UNSPEAKABLE WORDS IN GREEK TRAGEDY 291

ades' versionof a rhesishe heard Socratesrecitein his phrontisterion

(1371-72):28
O 6' Ei5eugiy' E5ptni6ou p'fiOIV TIV, 'C ?f3iVE?
a'5EX40C, 'X'AiKaK, ThV OPOPnTpiaV a'56?X?4TV.

Strepsiades' reacts to this new mode of tragic poetryas if it were a

personal insultand he pays Socratesback in kind (1374-75):
KIyW 0VKE?T 'ET1VETX6pT1V, 6XX VeEMW aQpaTTW
nOXXOIg KaKOlc KaIaXpoTJl.

There is a hint of what provoked Strepsiadesin one of the veryfew

fragmentsof theAiolos, a fragmentwe owe to Aristophanes'parodyof
thispassage in thePeace (114-19). What is remarkableabout theques-
tion put to Aiolos about the intimacyof his children is its tragic
restraint:29

6p ETUVJOV aQTlV EyVWV

AYoXE,EuVaQEIV TEKVa 1iXTaTa;

The question seems to come fromthechorusof Aiolos' daughtersand

it probes the relation between their brother,Makareus, and sister,
Kanake. WhateverMakareus said in therhesisSocratesrepeatedto the
old-fashionedStrepsiades,he cannot have used thecomic word'EPIVEI.
It is virtually impossible to speak of the unspeakable as it
impinges on the language of the tragedieswhich we have lost. But of
Euripides' tragedieswhich touch on the themeof illicit love withina
familywe have theHippolytus entire.And in thisdramaof thepassion
of a stepmotherforher stepson(and a husband's adultery)we have the
nurse'swordsof comfortto thelovesickPhaedra. They seem innocent,
if mysterious,when theyare firstspoken (293-94):
KEi PEV VOCYtI Ti TWV aTnOPPT1TWVKaKWV,
yuVQaK?a c& OUyKacOloTIaVQl vOaov.

28 I accept K. J. Dover's textfor9y', but would preferthevulgarand direct?j3iVE?to

the metaphorical?KiV?1 of the mss; cf. the scholion to Wasps 1178 (quoted in note 19
above). Dover's is right,ofcourse,in his claim thatK1VE?Vhas thismetaphoricalextension
in comedy,Aristophanes:Clouds (Oxford 1968) 255.
29Nauck, TGF2 fr.17 (fromthe scholion to Aristophanes'Peace 114). The textis
not sure.Zv has AYoXoq,which Seidleremendedto AYoXe,a' ?iuva6?ev.In his commentary
to Peace 114, Platnauer interpretsthe verb to mean "kill" in the sense thatAeolus will
"kill" his childrenbyabandoning them;but theverb,although it is in theactiveand not
the middle voice, clearlymust mean thatAeolus' children,Makareus and Kanake, are
"sleeping together."It is inspired,of course,by Odyssey10.7. For Platnauer's readingof
thisfragment, cf.his Aristophanes:Peace (Oxford 1964) 76.

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292 DISKIN CLAY

Barrettglosses the phrase "afflictionswe dare not mention" by "some

female complaint."30 Perhaps the only relevantcommentaryon the
descriptionof Phaedra's sicknessas "unspeakable" is made by theout-
raged Hippolytus when he has discoveredhis stepmother'spassion for
him (601-2):
J yacapfTEp qIXiouT' avanTUxaQ,
oYwvXoywvappT1TOV EICJflKOUC ona.
Sophocles' Phaedra seems to have had a similar reaction to the same
discovery,but we cannot judge what words Hippolytus found so
distasteful.3"

IV

The case of Orestes

What Teiresias knew was all too human and, in the contextof
Atheniansociety,the words to expressthisknowledgewereeitherfor-
bidden or unspeakable. And in thewordsfinallyfoundto expressthese
unspeakable truths,we encountera peculiarityof the Greeklanguage:
the gods' truth that Oedipus was fated to commit incest with his
mother,have childrenby this union, and murderhis father(787-93)
can also be feltas an insult-6vEilTI (797).32 In Greek,words,even those

30 Eurpides: Hippolytus (Oxford 1964) 215. The connection between these two

passages is strengthened and made explicit by thereiterationof thethoughtof Phaedra's

passion forHippolytusas a "disease" in 597; thesame worddescribesPasiphae's passion
for the bull in Euripides' Cretans (line 12) in D. L. Page, Select Papyri III (Literary
Papyri) (London 1941)74.
3'The horrorof the themeseems to be suggestedin frs.619, 626, 627 and 631,
Nauck, TGF2 (in S. Radt, TGF IV [Gottingen1977]frs.680, 688, 689 and 693).
32 This explains how a statement of the historyof one of the fewgreathouses of
Athenian tragedycan be regardedas both freespoken and abusive; as in theexchange
betweenElectraand Clytemnestra in Sophocles' Electra516-633; cf. 1066-69,and Eurip-
ides' Electra 743-45; Orestes 1235-38. As Piero Pucci observesin anothercontext,the
Greeksdid not easily distinguishbetweenpraise and saying the truthabout someone,
"The Language of the Muses" in Classical Mythologyin 20th CenturyThought and
Literature(Texas Tech University1980) 164. This is equally trueof blame. To name, as
Aristotledoes in his Poetics, the names of the few families fromwhose historiesthe
"finest"tragediesare composed is to name the unspeakable (1453al8). Aristotle'sexam-
ples are: Alkmaion,a matricideand, in one version,possiblyincestuouswithhis daugh-
ter;Oedipus, whose storywe know (cf. OC 1000-1); Orestes,the matricide;Meleager,
who killed his maternaluncles and was killed by his mother;Thyestes,who seducedhis

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 UNSPEAKABLE WORDS IN GREEK TRAGEDY 293

expressingthe truth,could be feltas sticksand stones,as we have seen

in Strepsiades' violent reaction to Socrates' recitationof what must
have been MakareusrhesisfromEuripides'Aiolos. The themeofincest,
the trueappfTOV of the Greeklanguage, has enlargedthescope of this
studywhich began with an inquiry into the source of the inhibitions
surroundinga single word in Sophocles' Oedipus. To statethethemes
of many of the tragediesperformedin the theaterof Dionysos is to
expressabuse, 6vEf5fq. This is a large theme,forit has as itscontextthe
dramaticfestivalsof Athensand involvesa considerationof the social
function of Greek tragedy. But to conclude this probe into the
unspeakable wordsof Greektragedy,letus returnto thecivic contextof
tragedyand one of the a6noppfTasuggestedby Lysias' briefagainst
Theomnestos. His example of a word forbiddenby the Athenianlaw
againstverbalabuse is "motherbeater,"pflTpaXoiaq (10.8). Moreserious
and morepainful is theword formatricide.
There is no lack ofevidenceforthehorrorinspiredbythethought
of the act itself.Take, forexample, the horrorinspired by the act of
Orestesin Euripides' Orestes.The chorusofArgivewomen ask a ques-
tion whose answertheyknow (831-33):
TiC,VoOOC, flTiva 5aKpuaKai
TiC EX?EOCPEi'WV KaTa yav
j pQaTpOKTOVOv alpa XE1p'eEaOae;

A confirmationof the horrorof such an act is themadness thatcomes

as its result,both in the case of Orestes(in both Aeschylusand Eurip-
ides) and Alkmaion (in thecase of Euripides). If themostterriblecrime
to be contemplatedin Plato's Cretan cityis the murder,in rage, of a
parent-a crimewhich deserves"many deaths" ( Laws 9.869 A)-the
deliberatemurderof a motherseems even worse than unintentional
parricide. Aristotleturns to tragedy and to Euripides' Alkmaionto
illustratean extremecase in his analysis of voluntaryand involuntary
action. In response to Alkmaion's claim that he was justifiedin his
murderof his motherby the compulsion of a father'scurse,he com-
mentsthatthereare some acts no one can be forcedto commitand the
most horribledeath is preferableto thecrimeof matricide." So much
brother'swife,was incestuouswithhis daughter,Pelopeia, and ate his own children;and
Telephos, who verynearly marriedhis mother,Auge-on all of which, Gerald Else,
Aristotle'sPoetics: The Argument(Cambridge,Mass. 1957) 391-98, is helpful.
"Nicomachean Ethics 3.1.1110a28; cf. 5.11.1136al3; Euripides' Electra 1226;
Plato's Laws 9.869 C; and Dover's note of theGreeksensitivityto thethoughtof beating
one's mother(commentingon Clouds 1143,above note 28) 262.

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294 DISKIN CLAY

forthe deed itself,but, to returnto our theme,what of the language

thatdescribesthedeed?
There is only thesuggestionof an answerto thisquestion in our
scant fragmentsof Euripides' two treatmentsof the tragedyof Alk-
maion, but the language of our fragmentsseems to exhibita range of
possibilities.Silence and repressionof theunspeakable does not seem
to have been one of them.Matricidecan be skirtedwithfearand hesita-
In Aeschylus,
tion or it can be freelyand, fortragedy,brutallystated.34
it is clear thatOrestesrecoils beforethe thoughtof matricide;he asks
Pylades: IUX68q,Tl 6paciw; paTEpa aQi5EiOOKTav61v; (899). But it is
clear too that naming the deed, once it had been done, is something
that strainsthe inhibitionsof speech. Orestes,when he announces to
the chorus thathe has killed his mother,shiftstheheavyburdenthese
words bear by naming thecountervalentcrimeof his mother.And his
language reveals the ambiguity of forbidden words (Choephoroi
1027-28):
KTaVE!V T?E?flp pnTEp , OUK aV)U siKn
flaTpOKTOVOV pQQaapa Kai OEWV OTUyOg.

In its reactionto thesewords,thechorusrevealsthedangerof naming

thedeed thathas been done (1044-45):
aeX' ?u y'Knpagac, pn6' ?ntri-uxOfcoTocpa
,Pn novnpQp116'riy\o awKQKQ.
Paradoxically, the words forthis deed seem even worse than the deed
itself.We can discover this same recoil beforenaming the crime of
matricideand the doer of this deed in Euripides' Electra and Orestes;
and theabsence of such restraintis remarkablein Sophocles' Electra.35
In the Orestes,thecrazedOrestesshows thesame restraintwe observed
in Oedipus' treatmentof thenamenaTpo4o6voc: 66' Eipl pr7TpO6 Tr<
TaQainWpou (povEa$(392). To which Menelaus responds(393):
lKOUVa- (3Ei6OU 6'. OX1yaKIg XEYEIV KaKa.

of
capable of being named,withintherestraints
But Orestesis perfectly
theiambictrimeter, byhis trueand dangerousname:o PtlTpO(P6VTtg
05E (479). And in Euripides' Electra, when Orestes confrontsthe
34Contrast the bluntness of Nauck, TGF2 fr.68.1, P1TTpa KaTEKTOV T'V ?PEV,
fpaXoCX6oyoc
and Alkmaion's hesitationsin fr.67.1-4.
35 For thetreatmentofmatricideand thename fora matricidein Euripides'Electra,
note 975-76, 1178,1194 and 1226; in the Orestes,note 479, 481, 587, 887, 935, 1073, 1235
and 1238,1424,1559,1587-88and 1665.

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 UNSPEAKABLE WORDS IN GREEK TRAGEDY 295

thoughtthatafterhe has killed Aigisthoshe mustnextkill his mother,

he realizes that he will have to go into exile as a matricide,with his
mother'sblood on his hands (975):
pfTpOKTOVOq Vi3V4Eutopai,noO'ayvoqWv.

But his sisterfindsanother,morecomfortingtermforthebrotherwho

murderedher mother:a6u6pwvrraTpi (976). But Orestesstill fearsthe
word which will describehim and he falls silent:?y(i 6E' ptTp6g-; Ty
p0VOU 6oCW 5iKag; (977).
The case of Orestesis one of ambiguities-both of acting and of
naming; and it is theact of naming thatconcernsus now. In thecase of
Orestes,theact and name of murderingthemotherwho gave him birth
is balanced by the counterweightof the fact that in doing so he is
avenging the fatherwho begot him. So, as Aristotlenoticed in his
Rhetoric,we are leftwith an ambiguous choice of epithetsforOrestes:
we can turnto thebase and shamefuland call theman ptlTpOO6VTtlq; or
we can reach fora betterword and call him his father'sdefender.His
choiceof thebase termpflTpOO6VTlg(ratherthanpfTpo6vo'g) is tell-
ing, for it points to an iambic passage in tragedy.And, indeed, his
example comes fromtheconfrontationbetweenOrestesand Menelaus
in Euripides' Orestes and the moment of Orestes' threatto murder
Hermione (1587-88):36
ME. O p1TpO6OVT11 ?EnJ40V( npaEooeI qVOv;
Op. O nlaTpOq 6PUVTWp, OV oU npOu6WKaq OavETv.

Threeforbiddenwords in comedy
The problemof interpreting a single line in thetextof Sophocles'
Oedipus has taken us to the context of Athenian society and the
law against verbal abuse in which Teiresias' language becomes
intelligible as an attempt to frame, but leave unspoken, a word
which was banned from the civic life of Athens and, it seems,
dangerously present in its dramatic festivals.And homicide, par-
ricide,incest,and matricidehave takenus some way to an appreciation

dhetoric3.2.1405b22.

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296 DISKIN CLAY

of how thelanguage of tragedyrespondsto themeswhichwerecapable

of being regarded as acts of abuse, if named. And the theme of
incest has taken us into comedy. It is in the notorious rrapptloiaof
comedy that we discoverthe other unspeakable words which emerge
fromLysias' briefagainstTheomnestosforbreakingthelegal sanctions
against verbalabuse. If homicide, parricide,incest,and matricideare
distinctivelytragic themes,unspeakable and explosive when finally
spoken, the beating of a fatheror a motherand abandoning one's
shield in battleare some of the arroppnTanamed in comedy.And, of
course, old comedy opens the sluice gate to still other unspeakable
words.37In Aristophanes'Clouds thethrashingofhis motherand father
is a novel thoughtwhich Pheidippides entertainswith greatrelish,to
his father'shorror:Ti qhflg;Ti 4jq CY; (1443). The abusive termnaTpa-
Xoiaq is just one of the insults exchanged by the pair of antithetical
logoi earlier in this play (911). And forWrong,who has persuaded
Pheidippides thathe has an obligation to beathis mother,thisinsultis
a showerof gold dust; forRight it is a heavylump of lead (912-13). We
discoverthose punished forjust such a crimein the mud of Hades, in
thegrimycompanyof thosewho have wrongeda guestor a hostor had
a speech fromthe tragicpoet Morsimoscopied fortheirprivateenjoy-
ment (Frogs 146-51). And we only have to rememberthe ill-omened
name Kleonymosto rememberthe last of theforbiddenwordsrecover-
able fromLysias' Against Theomnestos- paanigt.
In his note to Clouds 353, where Kleonymos is abused by this
word, K. J. Dover notices our passage from Lysias' Against Theo-
mnestos and wonders why the aggrieved Kleonymos did not bring
Aristophanes to court: "Kleonymos perhaps found it imprudent,
impractical,or undignifiedto prosecuteAristophanes."38I would say
impossible. It is not clear that any victimof Aristophanes'sardonic
Muse or of festivalabuse could have recourse to the Athenian law
in a
againstverbalabuse to findsatisfaction, KaKtlyopiaq 5iKfl, for
being pilloried by a poet in a dramaticfestival,although it seems that

was shockingto many,

or license to say anythingand everything,
37 Its rnapprtl(ia,

Athenianand non-Athenianalike. The so-called Old Oligarch is a good example, The

Constitutionof theAthenians2.18. And comic poetryis silenced in Plato's law against
verbalabuse,Laws 11.935 E. ItsaioXpoXoyiahas been studiedin Charitonides"Arnoppryua
(above, note 19) and now byJeffrey Henderson,The Maculate Muse: Obscene Language
in AtticComedy(New Haven 1975).
38Above,note 28.

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 UNSPEAKABLE WORDS IN GREEK TRAGEDY 297

some of Aristophanes'victimstried.39 They seem to have failed.To call

Kleonymosa P'i4aorrig, and Kleistheneseffeminate, and Kinesias lewd,
and Euripides' mothera greengrocerdid not fall under the same res-
traintsduringa festivalcharacterized byitscomicrrapptloia,or sanction
to say anything,as the law which made Meidias liable to a ypacpti
'U,OpEwgwhen,in thenextcentury,he struckthechoregosDemosthenes
in full view of all of Athens. The dramaticfestivalsof Athenswere,
afterall, the festivalsof Dionysos Eleutherios-the god who came to
Athens fromEleutherai in N. W. Attica and the god of freedom,or
better,ofrelease.When his statuewas broughtto his precinctin Athens
on a wagon, he was accompanied by terribleabuse and thislanguage
was the beginning of the tragic and comic drama which freedhis
worshippersfromthe constraintsand inhibitions of theircivic and
familylives.40
During his festivalstherewas a period of freedomin Athens.
Pericles called the festivalsof his city "periods of respite" fromthe
business and labor of life,4'but theirimportanceand social wisdom is
not thattheyweredaysof rest.They weredaysofreleasefromthesevere
pressuresof lifein thefamily,or oikos, and lifein thepolis. They were
days in which debtscould not be secured,a clear formof binding and

39The pain of the personal assaults not only of Aristophaniccomedybut of old

comedygenerallyseemsto have given risenot to prosecutionsundertheAthenianlaw of
verbal abuse but a decreeof the stateof Athensagainst attackingindividuals by name,
KWpIq)6Eta0ael OvopIaOTi. Our evidence for this decree comes fromthe scholia to Aris-
tophanes' Acharnians67 and Birds 1297;cf.MacDowell (above, note 10) 128. A recordof
Kleon's attemptto gain redresscomes fromAristophanes'Acharnians377-82 and 502-3.
It does not seem to have involvedan action underthe law against verbalabuse (cf.379).
40 Evidence for this practice is collected in Pickard-Cambridge,The Dramatic
FestivalsofAthens2(Oxford1968)5 (no. 14) and 7 (no.26). Remarkable,forour purposes,
is a passage fromDemosthenes'On the Crown,wheretheoratorcharacterizestheabusive
language of his opponent and enemy, Aeschines: Kal 3oa,q pfrlTa'Ka(i appr7T ovoii6?wv,
wonrp ?i apagtg, aol Kal T4) cp yEVE 18.122.By thisDemosthenes
npT6EOTIV, OUK ?iOI,
characterizesnot only Aeschinesand his family(cf.note 18 above), but thefreedomof the
dramaticfestivalsof Athensby contrastwith the constraintsof the workadaylifeof the
polis.
41 Thucydides 2.38: TiV rnovwvrn?EloTraq ' opia1o61Ia. Peri-
avanaIuXa?q Tf yvdlin
cles' wordsdo not seem quite to characterizethe social functionof Greekdrama. Closer
to the truthare the wordsof thechorusof Euripides' Electra (744-46):
401EPO1 6& POTO1al P15-
001K?p6og npoip erdiv eEpanEli-
av.
Except thatthe therapyis not forthegods but thehuman spectatorsof tragedy.

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298 DISKIN CLAY

constraint,and daysin whichprisonerswerereleasedfromconfinement

on bond.42Abuse was a partof theprocessionthatconductedtheimage
of thegod Dionysos to his theater.Abuse, thespeakingof theunspeak-
able, obscenity-these are featuresof other festivalsof the Athenian
year. Obscenitywas a necessaryand integral part of the Holoa and
aioXpoXoyfawas a notorious part of the women's celebrationof the
Thesmophoria, although we can only conjecturewhat was said. Even
duringthecelebrationof themostsolemnfestivalof theAthenianyear,
the Eleusinian mysteries,therewere the scurrilous"bridge-songs"of
theyEoupIo-rai,and thedregsof Athenscould look up fromthebanks
of thelocal Kephisos and insult theKerykesand Eumolpidai who were
making their solemnand statelyprogress,in tragicattire,to Eleusis.43
I mention this last contextforthe unspeakable words of comedyand
tragedybecause to understandthea&nopptlTa of thedramaticfestivalsof
Athensone has to begin to inquire into the social functionof Greek
drama.

DISKIN CLAY
THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY

42 Cf. Pickard-Cambridge(above, note 40) 59.

43 Cf. Hesychiusand theSuda, s.v. yEoupiKw.

The conclusion of this essay on the unspeakable wordsof Greek tragedyis the proper
place to acknowledge, with gratitude,the freeand generous conversationsthat have
helped shape mythinkingon thistopic. I thankespecially:William Arrowsmith, Jenny
Strauss Clay, Charles Kahn, BernardKnox and the fellowsof the CenterforHellenic
Studieswho heard it in its firstversion,and Michael McCormick.

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