In the remaining plays of Aeschylus there is little or nothing which is worthy of comment from our present viewpoint. In the _Suppliants_, the daughters of Danaus, in their efforts to avoid incestuous marriage, seek asylum at Argos. They have some difficulty in obtaining refuge there, and they feel it necessary to describe themselves thus: Exiles from the sacred land Bordering Syria’s meads, we flee, Not for guilt of murder banned By a people’s just decree.[104] In this play the daughters of Danaus are not yet wedded nor have they slain their cousins, the sons of Aegyptus. We believe, however, that Aeschylus is thinking of their subsequent kin-slaying when he attributes to them these words. In historical Greece, persons guilty of ordinary homicide were legally entitled to reside as aliens abroad. It is only to kin-slayers that we can properly apply an expression which suggests that slayers could not be accorded the privilege of exile. In the _Septem_ we read of the impossibility of cleansing kin-slaughter—an idea which we have already explained.[105] The reference is to the war of the ‘Seven against Thebes’ and to the death of Eteocles and Polyneices[106]: Enough that Argive and Cadmean came To the issue: blood so shed hath power to cleanse. But death of brothers, each by a brother’s hand, That were a stain no time could purify. Finally, the doctrine of the ancestral curse is applied to the guilt of fratricide[107] in the lines: What charm may purge the guilt Of blood so foully spilt? Whose hands shall bathe them? Oh! unhappy store Of fresh woes for this House, blent with the woes before! FOOTNOTES [1] _A.P._ 119. [2] _Supra_, p. 72 ff. [3] Euripides, _Electra_, 1275, _Orestes_, 1647. [4] Schol. ad Eur. _Orestes_, 1640. [5] Eur. _Orestes_, 1654; Pausanias, iii. 1. 16. [6] Eur. _Orestes_, 1660. [7] _Supra_, p. 214. [8] 1250, 1274. [9] Eur. _Orestes_ (1645 ff.); _Iph. in Tauris_. [10] _Infra_, p. 375 ff. [11] _Supra_, p. 270 ff. [12] See Jebb’s edition Soph. _Electra_, Introd. p. xxii. [13] _Supra_, p. 122. [14] _Orestes_, 990 ff. [15] 1095 ff. (trans. L. Campbell). [16] 1220 ff. [17] 1495 ff. [18] See Introduction, p. xii ff. [19] 1520. [20] 1410 ff. [21] _Supra_, p. 238. [22] _Supra_, pp. 2, 27, 65. [23] ix. 7. [24] See _infra_, p. 422. [25] 1645 ff. [26] 1413. [27] 1555 ff. [28] 268 ff. [29] _Supra_, p. 156 ff. [30] _Supra_, p. 174 ff. [31] _Supra_, p. 180 ff. [32] _Supra_, pp. 148, 178, 211. [33] 285 ff. [34] _Supra_, p. 285. [35] 1046 ff. [36] See Introduction to _Eumenides_. [37] _Eum._ 685. [38] _H. of G._ p. 348. [39] See question discussed in Bury, _loc. cit._ and in Jevons, _Hist. Gk. Lit._ pp. 194 ff. [40] _Op. cit._ p. 194. [41] That of the democrats was alliance with Argos. [42] _Op. cit._ p. 195. [43] _Ib._ p. 196. [44] Introd. to _Eum._ p. xlix. [45] _Eum._ 490. [46] Aristotle, _Ath. Pol._ chs. 3, 7, 63.