Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece by Sommerstein Alan H.;Torrance Isabelle C

Author:Sommerstein, Alan H.;Torrance, Isabelle C.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: De Gruyter
Published: 2014-08-12T00:00:00+00:00

11.3 The tongue and the mind: responses to Euripides,Hippolytus 612

I.C. Torrance

The absolutely binding power of an oath is well illustrated by the case of Euripides’ Hippolytus in the eponymous play. The angry statement he makes at Hipp. 612 – “It was my tongue that swore, but my mind is unsworn” – is uttered when his stepmother Phaedra’s nurse reminds him that he has been bound by an oath of secrecy which he should not break (611). The line, which seems to have gained immediate and unique notoriety, as discussed below, is spoken after Hippolytus has been told of Phaedra’s desire for him. Furious, he threatens to reveal the outrageous secret in public, and momentarily contemplates breaking his oath with his statement at 612. He soon reveals, however, just forty-five lines later, that his reverence for the gods will make him refrain from breaking the oath which he took in their name (657). When Theseus returns, Hippolytus again wonders whether he should unseal his lips (1060) in frustration at Theseus’ refusal to believe him, but decides that it would have no purpose since he would at once violate his oath and fail to convince Theseus (1061-3). Hippolytus’ piety in relation to oaths is even confirmed by Artemis in the exodos where she praises Hippolytus not only for rejecting the Nurse’s proposal, but also for keeping his oath of silence even in the face of Theseus’ slanderous accusations (1306-9). Having been duped into swearing a blind oath, Hippolytus is prevented from revealing the truth that would exonerate him.

It is likely that the oath of silence sworn by Hippolytus, and his subsequent expression of frustration at being trapped by it, were inventions of Euripides.804 As Barrett observes, the implication at Hipp. 612 that Hippolytus might break his oath, however briefly this suggestion is made, is “essential to the play” since it leads Phaedra to believe that Hippolytus “will ignore the oath; and it is in that belief (689-92) that she plots his destruction”.805 The crucial component to that plot is the suicide letter in which Phaedra accuses Hippolytus of having raped her.806 Hipp. 612 is thus central to the development of the tragedy, and although Hippolytus does not break his oath, the fact that he considers doing so seems to contribute to his fate. Judith Fletcher observes that a second oath of silence in this play is also part of the orchestration of Hippolytus’ downfall, namely the oath of the chorus to keep Phaedra’s desire for Hippolytus secret (713-14),807 and oaths of silence seem to be important in Phaedra’s Cretan background. A fragment of Bacchylides (fr. 26.8) includes a reference to Phaedra’s mother Pasiphae telling Daedalus of her illness (i.e. her lust for the bull) and making him swear an oath, presumably one of secrecy.

Hippolytus does not break his oath of secrecy, but as we saw above in the case of Glaucus the Spartan the mere contemplation of perjury could be enough to condemn his progeny to the perjurer’s punishment of extinction (§10.2).

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