The ancient Greek tragedies continue to be performed and new translations published. The latest, from UW-Milwaukee classics professor David Mulroy, revisits a trilogy by Aeschylus. Agamemnon, concerning the consequences of misdeeds, is the one most performed nowadays, yet Mulroy makes the case that Libation Bearers and The Holy Goddesses (as he prefers to call Eumenides) are also important. As Mulroy sees it, the latter plays are about the triumph of healthy democracy where persuasion is employed instead of compulsion and “disinterested reasoning instead of blind loyalties.” The relevance “is nothing if not timely.” Mulroy’s translation is worded to preserve the dignity of archaic cadences while making them accessible to contemporary ears (“Perhaps you catch my drift,” the Watchman says).
