Mythistorema - Triceratops Home

62
JOURNAL OF THE HELLENIC DIASPORA
without any mention of the Erinyes." The end of Seferis' poem is closer
to the version of Euripides, in which the Erinyes do not forgive Orestes.
In Euripides' Electra the Dioskouroi advise Orestes after his act to go
away in order to save himself from the menace of the Erinyes." In
Seferis' poem the Furies appear at the end:
. . . you cannot
Escape the sea which cradled you, for which you turn and search
In this moment of contest, among the breathing of horses,
With the reeds that used to sing in autumn to a Lydian mode,
The sea that you cannot find again, run as you may,
Turn as you may, lap after lap, in front of the black
Eumenides who are bored and cannot forgive.
There is no absolution for his modern Orestes. The sea haunts him like
the Furies, in the same way that Cavafy's persona is haunted by the city."
And just as Cavafy's protagonist cannot find a new city, a new sea, so
the modern Orestes cannot reach the sea he is searching for.
Evidently, the sea he cannot escape from and the sea he is searching
for cannot be the same. There are two different seas: the sea he cannot
escape from is the fate of the Atreus family, the perpetuation of crime;
while the sea he is searching for is the calm and balance, the element of
rebirth and regeneration. For the modern Orestes, the sea that cradled
him may be a metaphorical sea, probably some early erotic experiences
that spoiled his life at the time he believed in the omnipotence of the
body. There are some references to this aspect of the sea in other poems
of Seferis, for instance:
Who wants to bathe in the waters of Proteus now?
We sought in our youth the metamorphosis
With desires that flashed like big fishes
"Chorus: House of Atreus! thou hast passed
Through the fire and won at last
Freedom, perfected today
By this glorious essay.
(11. 1507-10)
"Castor: These shall find spousal-solace:—up be doing;
You hell-hounds flee, till thou to Athens win.
Their fearful feet pad on thy track pursuing,
Demons of dragon talon, swart of skin,
Who batten on mortal agonies their malice.
(11. 1342-6)
""You won't find another country, won't find another [sea) /[The} city will
pursue you."
Seferis writes that Cavafy's cities "follow men like Erinyes." Then he quotes
Cavafy's self-comment "The city, an imaginary one, will follow him, pass him, and
wait for bim," and adds, "like death in oriental fairytales." Essays, 1:414-5.