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[454] The Erinyes appear here in their proper function, as upholders of the moral order, and especially as avengers of sins against the family. But though the Erinyes are appealed to, Zeus of the underworld and Persephone carry out the curse; while below, 569 and 571, the exact converse occurs. As in the latter case the Ἐρινύς is distinctly spoken of as a person, not a curse in the abstract, it seems difficult not to identify it with the nether gods, so that Zeus and Persephone would be themselves the “Ἐρινύες” in so far as they were acting to maintain the right order of things. But the views of Erinys in H. cannot be brought into complete harmony; in 21.412 an almost purely abstract conception seems to have been reached. We seem to have the whole development of the idea before us. Primitive man, to whom the shedding of tribal blood is horrible, has to call in supernatural powers to punish it; for this offence cannot be avenged by the next of kin. This first conception of a non-human retribution gradually grows into the lofty idea of a divine moral law ruling the world. See 19.418, and note on 3.278.

The Iliad, edited, with apparatus criticus, prolegomena, notes, and appendices. Walter Leaf. London. Macmillan. 1900.

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