The discussion of fig. 1 above applies equally well to Orestes and Elektra here. We have practically a repetition of the group. The former figure is, however, thought of at an earlier moment. By removing Elektra one may think of Orestes at the opening of the play. He holds the vase in his hand rather than the lock of hair. The first words of the prologue are suggestive—
Ἑρμῆ χθόνιε πατρῷ’ ἐποπτεύων κράτη,
σωτὴρ γενοῦ μοι ξύμμαχός τ’ αἰτουμένῳ.
Chthonian Hermes, who guards the ancestral rights, has really manifested himself in the painting, and has appeared as a particular ally. The act of crowning the stele declares Hermes’ friendliness toward the family and his interest in Agamemnon’s shade. Elektra addresses him also and beseeches him to hear her supplications and pity her and her dear Orestes (v. 124 ff.). We may note, therefore, a special fitness in the artist’s expressing this double relation of Hermes to the children. Invoked by both of them as a protecting god he introduces nothing that is not in harmony with the spirit of Aischylos. The addition of this figure is, moreover, a good instance of the liberty which the vase painters took with their authors, and shows well the difference between illustration and independent work. It cannot be denied that with the assistance of this monument one is led to see between the lines of the Choephoroi. The pedagogue who does not appear in Aischylos is nevertheless a natural extension of the group. It will be remembered that he speaks the prologue in the Elektra of Sophokles and occupies the place which Pylades usually fills. In Euripides’ Elektra (v. 16), Autourgos says that Orestes had been given into the charge of a τροφεύς. The person resting on the pack appears at first sight a gratuitous addition of the artist, but on closer examination the suggestion for him is found in the poet. When Orestes explains to the chorus that he and Pylades will attempt to gain an entrance to the palace, he states that they will disguise themselves as foreigners by speaking the Phokean dialect (v. 563 f.). To Klytaimestra’s interrogations (v. 668 ff.) he replies—
ξἐνος μέν εἰμι Δαυλιεὺς ὲκ Φωκέων·
στείχοντα δ’ αὐτόφορτον οἰκείᾳ σαγῇ
εἰς Ἄργος ...
In other words, he is a stranger from Phokis who has to carry his own pack. It is upon this σαγή that the figure is resting. The artist has characterized him as a foreigner by the peculiar cap. No Greek ever wore such a head-dress. The make-up hints at the appearance of Orestes seeking admittance to the palace, while, of course, the person is to be understood merely as one of the latter’s servants. Whatever he may have said about carrying his own pack, no artist would have thus represented him. On the oldest of the Orestes-Elektra monuments, the Melan relief[[123]], there is such a figure standing behind Orestes with his luggage strapped to his shoulders. It seems to me that the painter has naïvely caught up the spirit of the text and brought in a figure which goes far towards adding a charm and interest to the scene.
Another Lucanian hydria representing the same scene is published here for the first time, in fig. 3[[124]]. It will be more instructive to point out the few points in which the two paintings differ from each other than to describe this one entire. The column in 3 has a Doric capital, with maeander and checker-board ornament; in 2 the capital is Ionic. In 3 Hermes stands on the ground; in 2 he stands on the step to the grave. Elektra reaches out her left hand in 3 as though to receive the libation; in 2 she is unmindful of Orestes. The latter holds a kylix in 2, and in 3 a pitcher. His hat is a pilos in 3, and he wears it; in 2 the petasos hangs on the back of his neck. The Phokean attendant sitting upon the luggage is in 3 upon the left, and in 2 upon the right. There is an extraordinary likeness between the two. There is the same crooked nose, short chiton, and odd cap, but the latter has no tassel in 3. The servant wears, besides, a chlamys and rests his stick over his leg. Behind him is the nude youth, as in 2, upon the left, holding an ointment vase in a sort of carrier. The two male figures of 2 adjoining the main scene are wanting in 3. In their stead is a female figure sitting upon a stool and holding a large toilet box. She is dressed in a Doric peplos with an apoptygma. She is evidently an attendant of Elektra, and reminds one strongly of the figure in fig. 1. Behind her is the charming girl, exactly as in 2, except that she carries the aryballos in her right, and in the left hand a small box.
