Heracles' destructive Impulses :
a Transgression of natural Laws
(Sophocles' Trachiniae)
Marlene Ryzman
The dramatization of Heracles provides a fascinating illustration of a figure who behaves completely contrary to the unwritten laws, and yet it may be thought that his powerful nature, which is characterized by intense feelings, indicates that he does act in accordance with these laws Q). This view, however, is based upon a definition represented, for example, by Callicles or Thrasy- machus (2). Moreover, he is traditionally regarded as a civilizing figure of great physical prowess who destroys the enemies of Greece (3). In this sense he is perceived as a character who represents values pertaining to nomos ; he fights in the name of justice for the Greeks, and attempts to restore a balance in a world disrupted by wild forces. His role is set against a background
(1) Of course, this depends upon one's definition of physis in Sophoclean drama. I believe there is a moral basis to the unwritten laws of the kosmos. In Sophoclean drama acts of humanity are basic expressions of the unwritten laws ; the core of the notion of physis is love and friendship. The importance of human relationships is a vital component. (I have argued this in detail in my PhD thesis).
(2) According to this definition of physis, the 'Law of Nature' is such that any action is justified in the acquisition of power. See PL Gorg. 483a and PL Rep. 1.336b.
(3) See, for example, Pindar's odes, especially 01.3 & 10 and Nem. 1 for this view of Heracles' civilized accomplishments. For a contrary opinion of Heracles' relationship with the values represented by nomos, see Pindar, frag. 169 and [P. Oxy. no. 2450, frag. 1] on νόμος βασικός in which Heracles' labours are described. See M. Ostwald ('Pindar, Nomos, and Heracles', HSCPh 69 [1965], 109-38) for an interesting discussion of νόμος which he believes is related here to violence which is usually regarded as being the opposite of justice in Greek thought (see e.g. Horn. //. 16.387-88 ; Hesiod, Works and Days 275 ; and Solon, frag. 24.16 [DK] where the opposition is implied). Ostwald contends that Geryon is depicted in Pi. (frags, as noted above) not as the terrifying triple-bodied monster (which he is in other versions of the legend, e.g. Hesiod, Theogony 287-94 & 981-83 ; Stesichorus, Geryoneis in J. Vürtheim, Stesichorus' Fragmente und Bibliographie [Leiden, 1919] 13-21 ; Aesch. Ag. 870 ; Eur. Her. 422-23 ; Aristoph. Ach. 1082 ; and Apollodorus 2.5.10), but as the victim of violence 'unjustly perpetrated by that hero who is commonly regarded as the liberator par excellence from monsters that trouble mankind' (p. 118). This contrasts with Pindar's attitude to Heracles in Nem. 1.62-69.
