Three Plausible Villains:
Polymestor , Eurystheus, and Menelaus

Michael H. Shaw (University of Kansas)

After Hecuba has exacted her terrible revenge on Polymestor in Euripides’ Hecuba, the blinded tyrant makes a surprisingly cogent argument to Agamemnon:  “ My action, however, /was dictated, as you shall see by a policy of wise precaution (sophei promethiai).   (If Polydorus had lived and Troy revived), Thrace would once again be ravaged by war. . . those same hardships, my lord, which we in Thrace/have suffered in this war.”  (1137-1145)  Mossaman claims his argument here is “self-serving,” but admits such raids in Thrace are found in  Homer and in Thucydides. Polymestor sounds like a Thracian trying to negotiate with an overpowering army outside his city, in a way reminiscent of the Acanthians’ persuasion by Brasidas (Thucydides, 4.84-88).

There are several close parallels to Polymestor in Euripides, such as Eurystheus in Heracleidai and Menelaus in Andromache.  In these three cases, a defeated villain makes references to the contemporary world which add weight to his arguments.  In the case of Polymestor and Eurystheus, it is even possible to suspect they may be right.  Polymestor, of course, fears the Greeks will return to ravage Thrace.  Eurystheus speaks of the sons of Heracles as a violent faction which no sane person would allow to stay in the city.  Menelaus is less than heroic, as usual, for deserting Hermione, but he actually has (as a contemporary Spartan) an unruly group of neighbors that always need watching.  All of these characters seem to step out of the pages of Thucydides.

After Eurystheus has been defeated and brought on stage a prisoner, a complication has arisen before he speaks a word: now that he is a prisoner, it is against the law to kill him, although Alcmene wants to do just that.  Eurystheus then justifies himself in an unexpected fashion:  “I didn’t start/ this feud of my accord.  I knew quite well/That you’re my cousin and that Heracles was consequently my own flesh and blood./ . . .Hera saddled  me with this /Scourge in the first place. . . ./But though he’d died, the others kept alive/The spite.   I knew the feud was handed down./That’s why I had to try so hard to get/Them killed or exiled. . . . Don’t try to tell me that/ You’d let them stay at peace, in Argos too.”  (Heracleidai, 985-1008)  Eurystheus’ admission he is Heracles’ blood relative has an echo in Thucydides: “ and indeed even kinship was inferior to party spirit because party spirit was readier to dare without thought.” (III.82.6)  “To avenge someone before he had a chance to act was preferable to taking precautions not to be hurt.” (ibid, 7)  “Irrational aggression” is a key concept for Polymestor and Eurystheus.  They want to kill potential enemies while they are still children.

Menelaus is thwarted by Peleus, a man so old he can barely walk (Andromache, 551).  His defense does not improve his image much, but it does show that he has contemporary concerns:  “And now—I don’t have much time to waste--/I’m off to Sparta; there is some little town not far/from Sparta, which was once our friend,/ but now is hostile.  I want to attack it/with an army and put it in its place.” (732-6).  As Stevens notes, Euripides wants to show Menelaus is a weakling, but rebellious neighbors were an ongoing problem for Sparta, culminating in the battle of Mantinea in 420.  When he begins, “I came to Phthia against my will” (730), we recognize him as a Spartan.  The Corinthians chide the Spartans in Thucydides, “they (the Athenians) are never at home, you are most disinclined to leave it. . .” (I.70.4 )  Like Polymestor and Eurystheus, Menelaus has established himself as a villain, but in his final lines, he surprisingly reveals he is a person of the present day with substantial concerns.