EURIPIDES

the last of the three great Greek writers of tragedies, was born about 480 B.c., and died 406 B.c. Tradition declares that he was born at Salamis, on the very day of the Greek naval victory there. He was, as far as we can tell, of good birth; at any rate, he was well educated, and was able to live a life of ease and leisure, and to collect one of the largest libraries of the time. The comic poets, especially Aris toph anes, delighted to say that his mother, Cleito, was a cabbage woman, but there is probably little or no truth in this statement. Euripi des was originally trained as an athlete, but conceived an intense dislike for that occupation. Greatly daring, he expre ed his view openly (Fragment 284). Like a popular modern dramatist, his recreation was probably ‘anything except sport.” He then took to painting, but abandoned it in favour of writing tragedies. His first play (not preserved), the Peliades, was produced when he was twenty five years of age. He is said to have written ninety-two dramas, eight of which were satyr-plays. Ancient critics allow seventy-five of these to have been genuine. During his long career he only won the first prize five times. Euripi des did not take any part in public life, but devoted himself entirely to a life of speculation and to writing plays. There is a tradition, not, however, on a very firm basis, that he was twice married, and that both marriages were failures. He is represented by Aris toph anes as a woman-hater, but indeed he portrays women more sympathetically than Adschylus or Sophocles. The women had little cause to congratulate themselves on securing Aris toph anes as a champion, for his scorpions are far more stinging than Euripi des’ whips. Euripi des left Athens about 409 B.c., and went to the court of King Archelaus in Macedonia. There he died in 406 B.c.; according to some accounts, he was killed by savage dogs which were set on him by some of his rivals at the king’s court. k Seventeen tragedies and one satyr play haye been preserved to us. The jatter (The Cyclops) is interesting as being the only example of a satyr-play which we po e . In itself it.is not amusing. It has been admirably translated by Shelley. The seventeen tragedies in the order of their production are: Alcestis, Medea, Hippolytus, Hecuba, And rom ache, Ion, Suppliants, Heracleide, Hercules Furens, Iphigenia among the Tauri, Trojan Women, Helena, Pheni e, Electra, Orestes, Iphigenia at Aulis, and The Bacche. The Rhesus, a feeble production long attributed to Euripi des, is almost certainly not his work. The work of Euripi des still retains the power of arousing strong likes and dislikes. He has had sturdy supporters. and fanatical detractors. The truth is that if the tragedies of A’schylus and Sophocles are looked upon as models for all Greek tragedy, Euripi des falls far short of his models. Euripi des, however, though he died shortly before Sophocles, belonged to a younger and. quite different generation, and held different views about art, morality, Euripi des religion, and almost everything of importance. His aim was rather different from that of the earlier poets, and he must be judged, not by their standards, but on his own merits. His own merits are amply sufficient to justify the high opinion held of him in the ancient world, and supported by many of the greatest of the moderns. The dethroning of Euripdes was the result of a German conspiracy, carried out with much energy by Niebuhr, and with even more by Schlegel. They enjoyed themselves while pulling Euripi des to pieces much as schoolboys who have detected a flaw in the armour of their master. Many proofs can be adduced that Euripi des was not a sophistical trifler; but one glance at his bust is enough to a ure anyone of unbiased judgment that he was a man of remarkable breadth of mind and intellectual gifts. The fact remains, however, that the extant plays of Euripi des are of very unequal merit. The Helena is not a good play; it was 255 EURIPI DES ridiculed by Aris toph anes, but he did not succeed in making it much more absurd than it was already. The Hecuba and the Heracleide are not well constructed, and the Electra and Orestes challenge too directly the masterpieces of the earlier tragedians. In his greatest plays, however, Euripi des can bear comparison with any poet. The Medea is a play which still never fails to please; the Hippolytus and the fon are admirable dramas and admirably constructed; above all, the Bacche is a masterpiece, more picturesque than any other Greek tragedy, a play not unworthy to be set near The Tempest and Cymbeline. Euripi des has been accused by his detractors of degrading his art, because he opened his plays with a prologue and ended them with the intervention of a god. Both devices, if not desirable, are quite pardonable. Po ible plots were becoming more and more scarce; Euripi des did not wish to adopt trite themes, and so went into the by-ways of mythology, or adopted a le well-known alternative version of a well-known legend. He could not count on his audience already po e ing enough knowledge of the story to enable them to understand his plays without a prologue. The deus ex machina, as the god who ends some of the plays is called, was often warranted or required by the plot which called for a conventional ending. Euripi des has also been accused, by Aris toph anes and by many le entertaining writers, of taking away all the dignity of tragedy. It is quite true that he is a realist. Sophocles represented men as they ought to be, Euripi des represented them as they were. This was an unforgiveable offence in the eyes of the “men of Marathon’ at Athens. The tragic heroes were not mere stage characters, they considered; they were often ancestors or national heroes, and it was impious to represent them as speaking ordinary language, or sharing the weakne es of ordinary men. Euripi des did do this, did it intentionally, and did it excellently. He came at an awkward transition period, and the lack of succe of some of his work is owing to the impo ibility of pouring new wine into old bottles. The old tragedy was too tightly bound by convention to suit Euripi des, who wished to portray living men and women, and to have an exciting plot. The new comedy—the romantic comedy of Menander—had not yet been invented. Had it been, Euripi des would surely have written comedies. The comic poets of the next century turned to him for a model, and it was one of them, Philemon, who said that if he were quite sure that dead men retained their perception he would hang himself to see Euripi des. Euripi des is, in fact, the earliest writer of romantic plays, a fact well illustrated by his Alcestis, which is one of his best plays. Init tragedy and comedy are harmoniously blended, and it has a happy ending. For better and for worse Euripi des is a very modern poet, and makes a special appeal to the present generation. But his pathos, his wide sympathies, and his wonderful poetry have appealed to the best judges in all ages. Theocritus, Virgil, Ovid, Horace, Milton, and Browning have been among his admirers; his detractors include a few Teutonic profe ors, and a few who honour the memory of /®schylus and Sophocles on the other side idolatry. BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. W._ Verral. Euripi des the Rationalist; G. G. A, Murray, Euripi des and his ” Age (Home University Library); W. B. Donne, Euripi des (Ancient Cla ics for English Readers); Sir J. P. Mahaffy, Huripides: an Account of his Life and Works; N. J. Patin, tude sur EHuripide; P. Masque ray, Euripide et ses tdées. There is a complete verse translation by A. S. Way, and verse translations of several plays by G. G. A. Murray. There is a ‘transcript’ of the Alcestis in Browning’s Bal a ustion’s Adventure, and of the Hercules Furens in his Aris toph anes’ Apology.