Tragic brotherhood

Citing the Oresteia , Kass points to the “tragic” character of sibling relations in heroic societies.  Though he does not mean the word “tragic” in this sense, it seems that this is bound up with the essentially backward-looking character of brotherhood.  Cain and Abel are bound only by their common origin; everything else, Kass points out, diverges – occupation, names, birth order, Eve’s enthusiasm at their birth.  Nothing beckons from the future, drawing them to comic cooperation and co-belligerency.

For brotherly rivalry to be healed, there must be a common destiny, a common project.  Eschatology is the medicine the solves sibling rivalry.