Talthybius in the Trojan Women

Author(s): Kristine Gilmartin

Source: The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 91, No. 2 (Apr., 1970), pp. 213-222
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/293044
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 TALTHYBIUS IN THE TROJAN WOMEN.

In the many discussions of the structure and mean

Euripides' Trojan Women, the character and function o
herald Talthybius are mentioned only occasionally, usu
passing. Yet he is a minor character whose role and pers
give us new insight into the whole tragedy. Euripides h
him as a structural device, not merely for dramatic conv
but because the herald here represents what little orde
civilization is left in the midst of disaster, grief, and ru
The theatrical effectiveness of the Trojan Women is
niable, but its construction has been the subject of some sch
debate. Wilamowitz and others criticized the play as a l
joined series of scenes.1 In reply scholars have admitted
the tragedy does not have Aristotelian unity,2 but insist th
incidents "have complete dramatic relevance and together
a single and clear emotional pattern." 3 In addition, We
saw the play as symmetrically composed: between the ko
parodos and the final kommos two scenes are elaborate
of Cassandra, before and after which Polyxene's fate is
sidered, and that of Helen, before and after which Asty
the subject.4 Friedrich saw a structural pattern in whic
announcement of the fate of Astyanax is the axis,5 and t
dromache-scene is the pathetic mid-point of the drama
center of a triptych of scenes: Cassandra-Andromache-

'E.g. Ghriechische Trag6dien iibersetzt von Ulrich von Wilam

Moellendorff (Berlin, 1906), III, p. 263; Alfred and Maurice C
Histoire de la litt6rature grecque (2nd ed., Paris, 1899), III, p
Max Pohlenz, Die griechische Tragodie (G6ttingen, 1954), p. 366
2H. D. F. Kitto, Greek Tragedy (London, 1939; Anchor ed. 1
p. 221; G. M. A. Grube, The Drama of Euripides (London, 1941)
T. B. L. Webster, Greek Art and Literature 530-400 B.C. (Oxford,
1939), p. 155. I wish to thank Prof. Webster for his helpful criticism
of this paper.
8 Grube, p. 81; see also pp. 282 f. Cf. Kitto, pp. 219-25.
4Webster, p. 159. The prologue stands outside the pattern.
Wolf H. Friedrich, Euripides und Diphilos (Munich, 1953), p. 74.
Ibid., p. 62.
213

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214 KRISTINE GILMARTIN.

with links backward to the first arrival of Talthybi

and forward to the dirge for Astyanax (1118 ff.).7
The two most recent (1967) considerations of the
of the play, Webster's and Conacher's, represent th
proaches to this problem: the technical and the ph
Webster essentially reiterates his earlier analysi
specifically mentions Talthybius in the pattern: "(a)
with misunderstood news of Polyxene, (b) Kassa
Andromache with news of Polyxene's death, (c)
with orders for Astyanax' death, (bl) Helen, (cl)
with Astyanax' body." 8 Conacher finds a "rhythm
forms the structure of the play," for "in default of
on the part of Hecuba there appears . . . a curious in
hope which punctuates the sufferings," but is again
stamped out.9 Most often Talthybius' announcements
these gleams of hope, as Conacher's analysis reveals
interpretations imply Talthybius' importance,l b
define it.
The thematic symmetry observed by Webster is not
forced by Talthybius, but would be static and artific
his human agency. It is because of his character
hearted euphemism (264-70),12 that Polyxene's deat
twice in the drama, before and after the Cassan
Again, his sympathetic character makes the symmet
the Astyanax motif, before and after the Helen-sc
tionally convincing. The Greek herald's pity for th
prince (709-19, 732-6, 782-9) gives his return with
(1123 ff.) a human as well as a structural motivatio

7 Ibid., p. 74.
8 T. B. L. Webster, The Tragedies of Euripides (London, 1967), p. 283.
9 D. J. Conacher, Euripidean Drama (Toronto and London, 1967),
p. 139.
'0 Conacher, pp. 139-44.
11 See also Friedrich, pp. 73-4; L. Parmentier, introduction to the
Bude edition (Paris, 1925), pp. 10-11. Kitto describes the herald as
" coming in like a series of telegrams" (p. 220), but this does not
figure in his structural analysis. Hans Strohm (Euripides, [Munich,
1957]), following Friedrich, speaks of "die Rolle des Herolds Talthy-
bios, dessen viermaliges Auftreten das Stuck iusserlich gliedert" (p.
117).
:2 The text used is that of Gilbert Murray (Oxford, 1913).

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 TALTHYBIUS IN THE " TROJAN WOMEN." 215

bius is not absolutely tied to the thematic symmetry,

does not himself bring up the Polyxene theme the second t
however, and his appearances in the play do not form a
pattern, since he does not figure in the Helen-scene.
The rhythm of rising and falling hopes analyzed by C
clarifies the emotional structure of the tragedy, helps
how "the power of this play increases steadily un
finished; its closing lines leave us with a sense of comp
..."14 But for the audience in the theater, this prog
must be seen more concretely. Talthybius' repeated en
accomplish this necessary reinforcement. He not only
hopes with words, his departures effect an increasing
logical and physical desolation on the stage as he le
Cassandra, Astyanax, and finally Hecuba and all the w
But again, in the Helen-scene Euripides does not us
Hecuba's hope for vengeance is quenched by Menelaus.l6
Talthybius helps us to see that in the composition
Trojan Women the rising and falling pattern of emotio
velopment is complemented by a thematic symmetry. Two
acters, Hecuba and Talthybius, one continually pres
other coming and going throughout the play, forge t
dents of the drama together. Yet the herald also, beca
appearances are slightly irregular in rhythm, contribut
feeling of disjointedness we have about this play. The
rated scenes remain distinct in our minds. All the sch
debate and the differing conclusions 7 should make us
that the tragedy has disunity as well as unity. The su
the Trojan Women suggests that Euripides has deliberat

18 Though Hecuba mentions Talthybius by name (625).

14 Conacher, p. 138.
16 I am indebted to my student at Vassar College, Elizabeth W
for this observation. Her paper, "Heralds of Gods and Men," h
enced and stimulated my thinking about Talthybius.
16 As Strohm (p. 116, n. 3) notes, quoting Dietrich Ebener ("Die
Hel.-Szene der Tro.," Wiss. Ztschr. der Martin Luther Universitdt,
Halle-Wittenberg, (III [1954]): ". . Menelaos selbst an die Stelle
des 'Abholers' tritt . . ." (715).
17 Is the announcement of the fate of Astyanax the high point (Fried-
rich, p. 74), or his burial (Grube, p. 282; Louise M. Mead, "The
Troades of Euripides," G. & R., 1939, p. 107)? Conacher's 'rhythm'
ends with the Helen-scene (p. 144).

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216 KRISTINE GILMARTIN.

produced the episodic disorder of the aftermath of

noticeable but not inartistic degree.
Since Euripides gave to the Greek herald such a con
structural function in the play, he also had a chance
his character. Talthybius is not a colorless messe
opinions of his character differ considerably. Most c
him a sympathetic person, and credit him with tact, co
kindness, and humanity.l8 Particularly when he mus
to Andromache and Hecuba the sentence of death on
(709 ff.), Talthybius reveals his distaste for the cruel
must carry out and his pity for the victims. As Gr
notes, "it is he who breaks into anapaests, and thus
starts the lamentation which is taken up by Hecuba." 19
lines also (782-9) he analyzes himself: Tra 6 rotole Xp
KEVEtV? 0rTt' avoLKT70 / Kat avaci8Ea 'T? ' jtLerepas / yvw
<AXoS iaTtv (786-9).
With this clear evidence of Talthybius' humane
Conacher's verdict seems irreconciliable:

Talthybius is a harsh, sinister figure in the Troades, very

different from the sympathetic Talthybius of the Hecuba;
here he is used to represent the impersonal cruelty of the
Achaeans; though personally guiltless of the deeds and
instructions he relates, we cannot but sympathize with Cas-
sandra's scornful comment on the type he represents.20

The other hostile views of Talthybius' character also are based

on his apparent stupidity in the Cassandra-scene.21 His ques-
tion: ov yap aEy' avr,7 ftautXAtKWc X4rKTp(v TVXe<V (259), however,
is best viewed as part of his attempt in this whole conversation
to speak euphemistically, and Rheby's patronizing sarcasm:
"Talthybius, poor simpleton, thinks it is a great honour for
the girl . . . 22 is overstated and distorting. Talthybius' atti-

18 Webster (1967), p. 177; Gennaro Perrotta, "Le Troiane di Eu-

ripide," Dioniso, 1952, pp. 240, 245; E. M. Blaiklock, The Male Char-
acters of Euripides (Wellington, 1952), p. 107.
19 Grube, p. 291; see also Eric A. Havelock, "Watching the Trojan
Women" in Euripides (Twentieth Century Views, ed. Erich Segal
[Englewood Cliffs], 1968), p. 124.
20 Conacher, p. 144.
21'Rheby,' "The Daughters of Troy," G. & R., 1955, p. 20; Gilbert
Murray, Euripides and his Age (paper ed., Oxford, 1965), p. 66.
22 'Rheby,' p. 20.

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 TALTHYBIUS IN THE " TROJAN WOMEN." 217

tude (408-10, 417-20) toward Cassandra's ill-omened

about the Greeks is actually far less hostile than it mig
been,23 and indeed failure to understand Cassandra is tradi-
tional.24 Talthybius' remark that he, a poor man, would never
have anything to do with such a woman (415-16) is nearly
humorous,25 but as Friedrich perceptively notes, this sudden,
brief glimpse of the everyday world helps us to feel more
strongly "die Atmosphire grossen Schicksals." 26 Together
with Cassandra's attack: . Setvos o XaTrpL . Tr 7roT' Xovom, Tro-
vola / KpVK, E a 7 tKOLVOV pOro / KoirpvK p Tpav'oyKovov
Kai 7TroAses v7rtpETaL (424-6), we should remember that Hecuba
addresses Talthybius as Z 0'kXog (267) and that Andromache
appreciates his courtesy (718).27
In the end we must agree with Friedrich's description of Tal-
thybius: " der widerstrebend gehorchende gutmiitig beschrankte
Herold," 28 and overlook neither his human sympathy for others
nor his human concern for himself (304-5, 408-10) and his
painful preaching of the laws of necessity (726 ff., 1284-6; also
302-3). Euripides has created this believable person with some
depth to him by means of very few words and actions. The

28 See Grube, p. 287.

24Hecuba also fails to understand Cassandra-see Havelock, p. 119.
25 Grube, p. 287; Perrotta, p. 243; Friedrich, p. 73; Jean-Paul Sartre,
"Why the Trojan Women?" in Euripides (Twentieth Century Views,
Englewood Cliffs, 1968), p. 129.
26 Friedrich, p. 73; cf. Sartre, p. 129.
27 It has not been noticed that Cassandra's flash of anger is a response
to Talthybius' words to Hecuba, her mother, perhaps more than to his
remarks to her. Talthybius has just said to Hecuba: a&fpovos 8' iotQ
XdrpLs / fyvvatKos (422-3), and it is this word which Cassandra throws
back at him: )f Seivs 6 XdrpIs. The whole of her brief "tirade" rings
the changes on the names of heralds (note also Kip-vi, the possible pun
suggested in Murray's apparatus), and is much more of a semantic
quibble than a wholesale indictment of the race of heralds. (Friedrich,
p. 73, rejects these lines as out of character for Cassandra, but this
seems an unnecessarily violent solution of the difficulty.) The playing
with the word latris here helps explain the use of the word to describe
Talthybius by Hecuba in 707, where it has been used as grounds for
substituting an vAyyeXos for Talthybius from 709 on. The majority of
scholars, however, read Talthybius throughout.
28 Friedrich, p. 69; cf. Wilamowitz (op. cit., p. 270): ein gutmiitiger
Mensch, aber gehorsamer Diener."

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218 2KRISTINE GILMARTIN.

fulness of Talthybius' character is perhaps most strikingly seen

when he returns to Hecuba with the body of Astyanax. He has
wept for Andromache (1130-1), and he has stopped to wash the
corpse of Astyanax (1150-2) and goes now to dig his grave
(1153), but his eagerness to go home is equally plain. He has
done these things: Ws covvTrop' 'fplv raV7' CeLOv re Ka7Co r ov / es 'E
svveXA0VTr' otKca' opp.rl 7rAXdraT (1154-5). His last appearance in
the play similarly reveals both his sympathy and courtesy (0
yEpaLa ovarvxoTaTr7y yv'vat, 1269) and his joy at going home:
areUo1EXL?' ot'Ka' aoa,uvot Tpot'as aro (1264). In this last scene
he prevents Hecuba's attempted suicide by fire (1284-6), just
as in the first scene he had tried to stop what he thought was
a similar action of the Trojan women (299-302).
Why has Euripides so consistently stressed Talthybius' obedi-
ence to orders, though his feelings rebel against them? 29 An
audience sympathizes with the Trojan women more than he
does, and does not need him to cue its response. He is not
important enough as an individual for this internal conflict to
be emphasized for his sake. Talthybius' sympathy would in fact
be less meaningful, less important, if he were not the obedient
herald of the Greeks.30 Cassandra's remarks about heralds (424-
6) should make us think seriously about what they are, what
they stand for in general-not just what Talthybius is like or
what his announcements are. The order the herald represents
is here deformed and stupid (764, 1158), but there is no other.
Euripides' answer to Cassandra is suggested by the character of
Talthybius: even this order is better than none, for a herald is
at least a fellow man.
Since Talthybius has not usually received much attention

29 Wilamowitz (op. cit., pp. 270-1) offered a political explanation:

"Euripides hat die Herolde als gemeine Bedientenseelen mit einem
seltsamen Hasse verfolgt, um in ihnen die Subalternbeamten oft un-
freien Standes zu treffen, die in der athenischen Demokratie nur zu
oft statt der Unerfahrenheit jiahrlich wechselnder Losbeamten die Ge-
schafte faktisch fuhrten." This idea is not very convincing, and does
not seem to have met with general acceptance.
30 Talthybius is a more developed, prominent character than other
"good slaves of bad masters," e.g. Hephaestus in the Prometheus and
Lyssa in the Heracles. Talthybius' sympathy is more significant in the
action of the Trojan Women than theirs is in those plays.

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 TALTHYBIUS IN THE " TROJAN WOMEN." 219

from scholars, it is not surprising that he does not figure

interpretation of the play. The standard view has been
Trojan Women is an anti-war document, a demonstrat
the truth of Poseidon's final words in the prologue: /
OqwvTV o07rla CK7rOpe pO o 7ToXc / vaoVs TIE TvoA/OV 6, pc Tevp
KOT(V, / Epr)uptLa 8ov avTos WXKE' vcTrpov (95-7). The au
knows that the Greeks, apparently victorious, are the
doomed to destruction.31 Grube and Norwood both note how the
many indications of the Greeks' eagerness to set sail remind
us of their destined sufferings.32 Conacher well stresses, how-
ever, that despite our assurance of the eventual punishment of
the Greeks, "it is their personal offence against Athena, not
their heinous atrocities against the Trojans, which is to bring
divine punishment. Closely viewed, there is little justice in
this play or in its prologue."33 Sartre has recently expressed
this anti-war interpretation most profoundly:

We know today what war means; an atomic war will leave

neither victors nor vanquished. And that is precisely what
the play demonstrates. The Greeks have destroyed Troy,
but they shall not enjoy any of the spoils of this victory,
since the vengeance of the gods will destroy them all.34

But after Euripides has shown us the triumph of Helen,35 I do

not think that we can say that the play demonstrates this pro-
found truth about the nature of war. Rather that truth is its
basic assumption. Against this background of the futility of
war, Euripides has something else to say.
Both Conacher and Havelock feel that what Hecuba learns in
the course of the play constitutes its theme. Conacher notes

81 See e. g. Perrotta, p. 248; Anton Maria Scarcella, " Letture Euri-

pidee: Le Troadi," Dioniso, 1959, p. 60.
2 Grube, pp. 126, 284; Gilbert Norwood, Greek Tragedy (3rd ed.,
London, 1942), pp. 244-5.
38 Conacher, p. 136. In addition, we should realize (as no critic seems
to have done) that as far as the Trojan women, the subject of this play,
are concerned, this foretold shipwreck of the Greeks is no compensa-
tion or ethical satisfaction. Having embarked with their Greek masters,
they, the last survivors of Troy, will be destroyed with them.
84 Sartre, p. 130.
8 The audience, trained on the Odyssey, knows that she and Menelaus
survive-see Havelock, p. 126.

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220 KRISTINE GILMARTIV.

the prologue's emphasis upon the power and fickleness o

gods36 and concludes:

Viewed in this light, the play's progression might be

garded as the gradual recognition, on the part of He
and her women, of the truth about the gods which t
prologue has already expressed, by satiric implication
the audience.37

Havelock sees Hecuba as " a conventional woman 38 who, after

the outcome of her debate with Helen, " looks at last into the
heart of things and announces to the chorus that she has indeed
looked there and found-nothing." 39 Conacher, however, does
not see the end of the play as mere desolation. Hecuba leads her
women in the invocation of the soil of Troy and its dead (1302-
3) and seems to recognize that "Trojan greatness and future
fame depend on this utter ruin which the gods have sent." 40
Yet this last scene is full of contradictions which should not be
overlooked. Hecuba rejects the gods (1240-2, 1280-1) and takes
comfort from fame (1242-5), but she and the chorus later ex-
claim at the namelessness of Troy as they watch its destruction
(1278, 1319, 1322). Hecuba is both strong in her lamentation
and her leadership and hysterical in her attempted suicide.41
The chorus' last words are a fair thematic summary: It rdXAava
TroALs* o,uS 8e 7rpocfpe 7ro8a aov E7rl 7rXATra 'Axalwv (1331-2). Troy
is lamented; the future is faced. But there is no assurance that
true knowledge of the gods and of fame supports or enlightens
the women as they go.
Is the message of the Trojan Women then that nullity which
Havelock describes? " It is as though the world into which the

se Conacher, p. 137.
7 Ibid., p. 139.
" Havelock, p. 121.
s Ibid., p. 127.
'o Conacher, p. 145. The passage in question is 1242-5. Murray also
held this view: "But beyond that first stage there is a glimpse of
another scale of values, in which there is something-call it a glory, or
splendour, or, for lack of a better name, beauty-something at any
rate which is the material for eternal song, in playing one's part to the
last word and enduring what fate sends" (Greek Studies [Oxford,
1946], pp. 147-8). Cf. Mead, pp. 108-9.
" Though Mead attempts to excuse this (p. 108).

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 TALTHYBIUS IN THE "TROJAN WOMEN." 221

victors and vanquished have survived has grown tire

the general lassitude the meanings expressed in ou
common humanity have been exhausted." 42 The forci
ing of human relationships is indeed shown again and
the play,43 and the /pvda stressed in the prologue (15
is seen carried out in the case of Hecuba in the course of the
play.44 The difficulties of communication in this disordered
world are shown clearly in the first dialogue between Hecuba
and Talthybius (235 ff.) in which the awkward switches of
topic (259-60, 270-1, 293-4) betray not the author's ineptitude
but Hecuba's distraction.45 Yet Talthybius' sympathetic attempt
to spare Hecuba's feelings is equally apparent in the scene.
Here and throughout the play, his humane character, in the role
of herald, the established means of communication between
victors and vanquished, argues against Havelock's nihilistic in-
terpretation.46 From the very beginning of the play where we
see the strange alliance of Poseidon and Athena formed: o/pz
o6 C0o / KOLvov ecLavaj r' es peov Ao'yovs, avae (53-4). . KOlvwof
Xoyovs / Kal wvc EXatq re'v cy w 7rptat OiXo0w; (61-2), the idea of
community is repeatedly brought up.47 The prominence of Tal-
thybius the herald stresses it, and each time he breaks a tie his
sympathy creates a new one, however tenuous. But Euripides
emphasizes not only his sympathy but the order he represents.
Hecuba and her women have no place in society, since the fall
of their own city, except what the Greeks give them. Talthybius
enters first to give them their new identity (235 ff.) and his last
words about Hecuba refer to the same crucial fact: 'OS8voewso &
Xp7 / es xepa soovratv rtV KoU ~erev yCpa, (1285-6). This play
is neither a Hecuba nor an Andromache nor a Helen, but a
Trojan Women: the tragedy of a short-lived community of
women, in existence only from the fall of Troy until the Greek

42 Havelock, p. 125.
4"As Mead (p. 108) also notes.
4 Strohm, p. 34.
4 Cf. Havelock, p. 118.
4 Havelock uses Talthybius' humanity to argue the insufficiency of
the view of the Trojan Women as a protest against man's inhumanity
to man; in fact it tells against his own theory as well.
4 Note e. g. Hecuba's attempt to create one between herself and Mene-
laus: iyc& ,vP ol8a,Kal o', Xol IreoroOv6Tes (894).

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222 KRISTINE GILMARTIN.

departure, in order to support each other and th

through this worst of agonies.48 Euripides condemns
and war, but though the play may be completely d
it is not completely negative. When we realize that "
ings expressed in our normal common humanity" h
fact been exhausted, that Talthybius and the Trojan wom
them alive throughout the play, we can appreciate
plexity of Euripides' statement about war in the Troj

KRISTINE GILMARTIN.
RICE UNIVERSITY.

48 See e. g.: es Trairbpv KeIS crv/Lropas OprqpoJaac B / 7b aobv 8L8iKe&S l'

bvua 7rr1v&TWV KvpC (684-5, Chorus to Hecuba).

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