Thus ’midst his ills calm reason had borne rule,
Justice had held its course, and he been righteous.
But the same Fury which had seized his mother
Had now seized him; and with ungoverned rage,
Justly abhorrent of her impious deed,
He did a deed more impious, slew his mother.
In this passage the historical Greek system of State trial and the historical penalty of exile for wilful murder are clearly indicated. We need not point out how inapplicable such an attitude is to Homeric Achaeans.
The manner in which social justice abolished the evils of vendetta is thus described[53]:
For, let me ask thee, should the faithless wife