Page:Modern Greek folklore and ancient Greek religion - a study in survivals.djvu/133

 Moreover once in Euripides, for all his strict adherence to the conventional literary characterisation of Charon, a glimpse of popular thought is reflected in the person of Death ([Greek: Thanatos]) and the part which he plays in the Alcestis. First, in the altercation between Apollo and Death over the fate of Alcestis, there occur the words, 'Take her and go thy way; for I know not whether I should persuade thee'; to which Death answers, 'Persuade me to slay those whom I must? nay, 'tis with this that I am charged' ([Greek: touto gar tetagmetha] ). Can it be a mere coincidence that, in modern folk-song, when some doomed man seeks to persuade Charos to grant a respite, he answers, 'Nay, brave sir, I cannot; for I am straitly charged'? The very word 'charged,' [Greek: prostammenos], the modern form of [Greek: prostetagmenos], repeats the word placed by Euripides in the mouth of Death. Secondly, Death appears in warrior-guise, just as does Charos most commonly in modern folk-songs; he is girt with a sword, and it is by wrestling that Heracles vanquishes him and makes him yield up his prey. Is this again a mere coincidence? Or was Euripides, in his personification of Death, utilising the character popularly assigned to Charon? It looks indeed in one line as if the poet had almost forgotten that he was not using the popular name also; otherwise there is no excuse for the inelegance of making Death inflict death. It is hardly surprising that the copyist of one of the extant manuscripts of the Alcestis was so impressed with the likeness of Death to Charon as he knew him, that he altered the name of the dramatis persona accordingly.

In the Anthology again Charon appears several times acting in a more extended capacity than that of ferryman; as in modern folk-songs, he actually seizes men and carries them off to the nether world. One epigram is particularly noticeable as seeming to have been suggested by a passage of the Alcestis. 'Is there then any way whereby Alcestis might come unto old age?' asks Apollo; and Death answers, 'There is none; I too must have the pleasure of my dues.' 'Yet,' says Apollo, 'thou wilt not get more than the one soul,'—be it now or later. And similarly the epigram from the Anthology, save that Death is frankly named Charon.