How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #10
(Chorus of Furies) (to the jurors): "Our company here is very heavy for the land! I advise that you do it no dishonour in any way."
(Apollo) (also to the jurors): "I too command you, to go in dread of my own and Zeus' oracles, and not to render them fruitless." (711-714)
Aha! Just when you thought you had this fate and free will business all figured out and were ready to go have some dinner… Aeschylus sends some trouble your way. Look at what Apollo says at the very end of this quotation here: respect my oracles and the oracles of Zeus, and don't "render them fruitless" (714).
But wait a second: if oracles are predictions about the future, and hence of what is fated, how would it even be possible for somebody to invalidate them by acting against them? Notice that Apollo isn't even talking to gods here: he's talking to the mortal jurors. Does this mean that the free will of mortals can overcome Fate? Yikes.