Two Problems in the Third Stasimon of Euripides' Medea

Abstract

T HE THIRD CHORAL ODE of the Medea (824-65), with its lavish encomium of Athens' cultural accomplishments and natural beauty, is one of the most celebrated passages in all of Euripides' poetry. The stasimon's general structure is simple and clear: the first pair of strophes praises the city, beginning in the first strophe in general terms with its divine protection (824-26) before moving on to specify in particular its wisdom and culture (Harmonia and the Muses, 829-341), and then, in the first antistrophe, continuing with a further particular aspect, this time Aphrodite (835-40), to conclude by climactically combining both themes in the correlation of Sophia and the Erotes (840-45); the second strophic pair draws the consequences from this general characterization of Athens (ouv 846) and applies them to the specific dramatic situation, turning to address Medea directly, asking her how so holy a city could possibly accept her if she kills her children (846-50), begging her to desist from her horrendous plan (851-55), wondering how she could possibly have the reckless audacity to carry it out (856-62), and finally suggesting that in the end she will prove unable to do so (863-65). Nor does the ode's specific relevance to the immediate dramatic situation present any difficulties: in the preceding scene with Aegeus, Medea has finally secured the place of refuge whose necessity she had recognized when considering her various options for vengeance (cf. 386-88), so that now she can go ahead with the plan she had preferred; when she tells the chorus that she has decided to kill the children so as to punish Jason (790-810), the Corinthian women react with courteously formulated horror (811-13), asking her some of the very same questions they will then go on to repeat in this ode (compare especially TOknIcYit 816 and To'ktav 859) and expressing for the first time an emotional distance from her which will increase throughout the rest of the play.