Outrage

 One of the great scenes of outrage in Greek drama features the old Spartan Tyndareus, who was unfortunate in daughters. (He was the father of Helen of Troy and of Clytemnestra, who murdered her husband.)

In Euripides’ account, Tyndareus thought his daughters were despicable, but he was outraged that his grandson Orestes had murdered his mother, Clytemnestra, for killing his dad.

When grandfather and grandson met, the once-loving Tyndareus was outraged. When it was suggested that old age and anger had clouded his understanding, he replied:

 

Understanding, you say?

            What in the name of god

does understanding have to do with him?

Is there some moral question here in dispute

between us?

 

As Trump descends toward the finish line, I can find no moral question to dispute with him. My understanding reached its limits, and so  I’ve been thinking about outrage.

I feel outrage. I am outraged. But Euripides does outrage better than I can.

• Source: Orestes, translated by William Arrowsmith, is in Euripides IV in The Complete Greek Tragedies, edited by David Grene and Richmond Lattimore; Chicago & London: The University of Chicago Press, 1953, pp. 105-208. The quotation is on p. 141.