1
 
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 UNIVKRSITY OP 
 
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 THE UNIVERSITY UBRWtf 
 
 ONIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN Of ISO 
 
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 Columbia flftmbergftp 
 STUDIES IN CLASSICAL PHILOLOGY 
 
 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES
 
 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 SALES AGENT 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 LEMCKE & BUECHNER 
 30-32 WEST 2?TH STREET 
 
 LONDON: 
 HENRY FROWDE 
 
 AMEN CORNER, E. C.
 
 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN 
 EURIPIDES 
 
 BY 
 
 ' 
 
 CLARENCE AUGUSTUS MANNING, PH.D. 
 
 gotk 
 
 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 1916 
 
 All rights reserved
 
 Copyright, 1916 
 BY COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 
 Printed from type, May, 1916
 
 This monograph has been approved by the Department of 
 Classical Philology of Columbia University as a contribution to 
 
 knowledge worthy of publication. 
 
 CLARENCE H. YOUNG 
 
 Chairman
 
 TO 
 
 THE PROFESSORS 
 
 OP THE 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF CLASSICAL PHILOLOGY 
 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTION xi 
 
 I. THE STRUCTURE OF THE DRAMA 1 
 
 II. THE PROLOGUES AND EPILOGUES OP EURIPIDES 27 
 
 III. THE PARODOS 31 
 
 1. THE STRUCTURE OF THE PARODOS ... 31 
 
 2. THE CAUSE OF THE ENTRANCE OF THE 
 
 CHORUS 41 
 
 IV. THE IAMBIC SPEECHES OF THE CHORUS ... 44 
 V. THE ANAPAEST 51 
 
 VI. THE TROCHAIC TETRAMETER 56 
 
 VII. DESCRIPTION 64 
 
 VIII. DREAMS . 68 
 
 IX. THE RELIGION OF EURIPIDES . 73 
 
 1. DIONYSUS 74 
 
 2. APOLLO 83 
 
 3. ATHENA 92 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY . 97
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 IN discussing the archaism of Euripides, I may seem to be 
 selecting for emphasis a peculiar aspect of a poet who appears 
 on the whole to represent an advanced point of view. Yet, as is 
 often the case, the radical may propose ideas which have already 
 been discarded by his contemporaries, and the sudden revelation 
 of these may cause them to seem far-sighted prophecies of the 
 future. So with Euripides. Although a sceptic and a critic of the 
 Greek state as he knew it, and the victim of the conservative 
 Aristophanes, yet it was he, and not Sophocles, who was often 
 the conserver and the restorer of the old. 
 
 Stalwart champion of the past as Euripides was, in many 
 cases he was unable or unwilling to restore tragedy to its pris- 
 tine shape, and to remove it further from the works of Sophocles 
 and the lesser poets who so often defeated him. Euripides' plays 
 always reveal their true position in the history of tragedy. The 
 poet shows the influence of Sophocles; he yields to the prejudices 
 of his age. So we need not be surprised if in the course of our 
 examination of his archaisms, we find gaps, inconsistencies, and 
 at times a lack of archaism in passages when we might reason- 
 ably expect to see clear examples of it. 
 
 I shall here consider some of the ways in which Euripides, the 
 man of curious and ironic history, as Professor Murray terms 
 him, set himself to restore and revivify old forms of tragedy 
 and older usages, and in which he carried on the tradition of 
 Aeschylus, the poet with whom Aristophanes unfavorably com- 
 pared him in the Frogs. Strange as it may seem to consider 
 the sceptic and recluse, the innovator and reformer, as the suc- 
 cessor of the warrior of Marathon, we shall find it true that in 
 many ways Euripides undertook successfully to revive and 
 adapt the methods of Aeschylus, and that we can understand 
 better many of the peculiarities of his dramatic technique, if 
 we consider them from this point of view.
 
 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN 
 EURIPIDES 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE STRUCTURE OF THE DRAMA 
 
 ONE of the most interesting aspects of Euripides' dramatic 
 character is revealed by a study of his way of handling his 
 subjects. The lack of unity in many of his plays is well known, 
 and even in those of more unified type scenes often seem to be 
 inserted in defiance of the rules of dramatic art. 
 
 Admirers of Euripides have attempted in many ways to 
 excuse or deny these apparent faults. Prof. Verrall, in Euripi- 
 des the Rationalist and in Four Plays of Euripides, tries to es- 
 cape them by supposing the dramas to have one meaning to 
 the general public and another to the educated, sceptical classes. 
 It is remarkable that Aristophanes did not betray the secret, 
 if this were so. Euripides' critics have regarded the lack of 
 unity as an evidence of careless workmanship and have used it 
 to make unfavorable comparisons between him and Sophocles. 
 As Aristophanes does not mention this defect, it may be well 
 to consider whether it exists. Where it does, I think that it 
 is to be explained as due to a tendency to follow the methods of 
 Aeschylus. 
 
 Aristotle, in the Poetics, discusses tragedy and epic poetry 
 
 as if they were closely related forms of art, but he adds that 
 
 tragedy contains elements which are not found in epic poetry. 1 
 
 He states that the action of a play, unlike that of an epic, 
 
 1 P. 1449 b 18 ff.
 
 Z A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 should be contained within one revolution of the sun: /cai 
 Toi)T(j) 6ta0pet, KCUTOI TO irputrov 6/xoicos tv rats TpaycpBicus TOVTO 
 tiroiovv Kai ev rots eir&riv. 1 M. Croiset 2 thinks that the tetralogy 
 was formed by the division of the chorus into sections which 
 appeared separately at different stages in the course of the 
 dithyramb. Such an origin of the tetralogy is very probable, 
 whatever theory we adopt as to the source of tragedy. 
 
 Among the extant dramas of Aeschylus, there is preserved 
 one trilogy, the Oresteia. The satyric drama connected with 
 it has perished, but as it need not have been closely connected 
 by subject, it is relatively unimportant for our present purpose. 
 At times, Aeschylus appears to have used tetralogies in which 
 all the plays were independent. The Persae is probably an 
 example of such a play. 
 
 In the Oresteia, there is but one theme the vengeance of 
 Orestes on his mother for her murder of Agamemnon and his 
 acquittal in a trial at Athens. Similarly the individual plays 
 possess unity. The Agamemnon shows the murder of Agamem- 
 non; the Choephori, the vengeance of Orestes; the Eumenides, 
 the trial and justification of the matricide. Let us now notice 
 a few points in the composition of the three plays. 
 
 In the Agamemnon, the description of the beacon-fire and the 
 early choral odes 3 give the atmosphere. The infidelity of the 
 queen overshadows the joy because of the capture of Troy. 
 The old watchman says: 
 
 yevoiro 8' ovv 
 
 O.VO.KTOS O'LKCOV rrjde jSaardcrat 
 
 TO. d' aXXa ov/co' /SoOs eiri 7\aj(rcr27 
 
 OLKOS 5'ayros, et 4>8oyy?ii> Xa/Sot, 
 av \t&(.tv ws enwv eya> 
 
 av&u KOV paBovai X^do/iai. 4 
 
 1 P. 1449 b 14 f . 
 
 2 De la tetralogie dans I'histoire de la tragedie grecque, Revue des Etudes 
 grecques, Vol. I, p. 373 ff. 1-487. 4 34-39.
 
 THE STRUCTURE OF THE DRAMA 3 
 
 This watchman was apparently traditional in the story of the 
 house of Atreus. In Odyssey IV, 524 ff., a servant of Aegisthus 
 watches a year for the king's return. Prof. Verrall 1 supposes 
 that the old man is loyal to Agamemnon but that Aegisthus 
 sends the beacon-fire as a signal to the queen. The neglect of 
 time involved in the usual interpretation does not seem so diffi- 
 cult as Prof. Verrall thought, since the Persae and Trachiniae 
 offer as striking cases. 2 The storm 3 also has an Homeric source. 
 In Odyssey III, 286 ff., Nestor tells how a storm drove Menelaus 
 to Egypt and in this way gave Aegisthus an opportunity to 
 kill Agamemnon alone. It is important to remember that in 
 the play it is the chorus and not Clytaemestra who inquires 
 for Menelaus. In 40-257, the chorus describes the main events 
 preceding the action of the play, especially the sacrifice of 
 Iphigenia, the ostensible cause of Clytaemestra's hatred of her 
 husband. The same recital is in a way continued in 355-487, 
 an ode in which the chorus pictures the fallen city and the 
 sorrows of victor and vanquished. In 1-781, then, the condi- 
 tion of Argos and Agamemnon is portrayed, while the rumble 
 of the coming storm sounds ever nearer. With matchless unity, 
 every thing conspires to place the king helpless in the hands 
 of his wife, his bitter foe. Since the scenes following the murder 
 show the resolute character of the queen, the unity of the play 
 is unbroken. 
 
 In the Choephori, the long threnos and the invocation of 
 Agamemnon 4 are dramatic in the same sense as the opening 
 scene of the Supplices. The divine powers are gained as helpers. 5 
 When the powerful spirit of the murdered king has been gained 
 as a friend, the most important part of the struggle is over. As 
 the recognition of Orestes and Electra is only an episode in 
 
 1 Agamemnon, p. xxxix. 
 
 1 Cf. Prof. Dyer, The Plot of the Agamemnon, Harvard Studies, Vol. 
 VII, p. 95 ff. 489-680. * 306-513. 
 
 ' Sheppard, The First Scene of the Suppliants of Aeschylus, Classical 
 Quarterly, Vol. V, p. 220 ff.
 
 4 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 the vengeance, it is accomplished by 245, whereas in the Electro, 
 of Sophocles it extends to 1231, and in the Electro, of Euripides 
 to 584. The motif of the vengeance so dominates the play that 
 the unity of it is strongly marked. 
 
 In the Eumenides, the opening scene 1 is laid at Delphi. Since 
 in the Choephori Orestes acts by order of Apollo, 2 it is fitting 
 that in his misery he should return to Delphi to the temple of 
 the god. By this scene, too, the coming of Apollo to Athens 
 for the trial is prepared. An effective scene the one mortal 
 surrounded by the dread Erinyes and aided only by Phoebus 
 it serves as a bond of union with the Choephori. Finally the 
 importance of Orestes in the play is so skilfully treated and 
 diminished that we do not miss his absence at the end. 
 
 The scene at Delphi is only one of the connecting links of 
 the trilogy. Thus in Ag. 1279-1285, Cassandra prophesies the 
 coming of the avenger. In 1646-1648 and 1667, the chorus 
 foretells to Aegisthus the return of Orestes. At the opening of 
 the Choephori, the predictions have been fulfilled and the 
 avenger is at his father's tomb. The threnos recalls the murder 
 of Agamemnon. As the queen enticed her husband into the 
 palace, so Orestes drives her within. 3 The Furies, promised 
 by Clytaemestra in 924, appear at 1048 and drive Orestes 
 away. The Eumenides shows the flight of the matricide. The 
 appearance of the ghost of Clytaemestra 4 reminds us of her 
 fate. The trial of Orestes reviews the whole story, and then 
 the play gradually turns to the relations of the old and new 
 divinities. 
 
 The Oresteia is really a drama in three acts extending over 
 many years. Each of the component parts possesses unity 
 and the three are connected by many interwoven strands. 
 The trilogy is not only dramatic but also epic and lyric in struc- 
 ture. Unfortunately the loss of the Oresteia of Stesichorus and 
 other such lyric epics prevents us from analyzing the relation 
 
 1 1-234. 2 Cf. Ch. 269-273, 900-902. 3 892-934. 94-139.
 
 THE STRUCTURE OF THE DRAMA 5 
 
 of Aeschylus to his sources. The foregoing remarks may serve 
 to indicate the method in which Aeschylus treated the trilogy- 
 form. 
 
 The Supplices, the earliest of the extant plays, was probably 
 the first play of a trilogy. The account of the voyage of the 
 daughters of Danaus from Egypt * and the emphasis laid on 
 their relationship to Argos through lo would suggest this. Prof. 
 Tucker 2 remarks that if this were the second play of a trilogy 
 picturing the whole story of the maidens, the third play would 
 contain a disproportionate amount of material. In the lost 
 dramas (perhaps the Aegyptii and the Danaides), were told 
 probably the murder of the sons of Aegyptus on their wedding 
 night and the trial of Hypermnestra for failure to slay her hus- 
 band and her acquittal through the intercession of Aphrodite. 
 In the Supplices, the lyric elements overshadow in extent and 
 importance those which are purely dramatic. The play might 
 be called The Reception of the Suppliants, since the remaining 
 action serves only to indicate the intention of the Argives to 
 respect their promise. Because of the loss of the other plays, 
 we cannot discuss the structure of the trilogy. Still in 1018- 
 1073, the division in the chorus over the reverence due to 
 Aphrodite would prepare for the second play. The appear- 
 ance of Aphrodite in the Danaides probably was similar to that 
 of Apollo in the Eumenides. 
 
 From the Hypothesis of the Septem contra Thebas we learn 
 that it was the third play of the trilogy, Laius, Oedipus, Septem. 
 As the trial scene in the Eumenides reviewed in a way the sub- 
 ject of the trilogy, so here the choral ode 720-791 summarizes 
 the fate of the Labdacidae, the theme of this group of plays. 
 As Mr. Sheppard 3 notes, the drama falls into three divisions, 
 in each of which the situation is created by a messenger. In 
 1-368, Eteocles calms the women; in 369-791, he chooses the 
 champions and leaves to meet Polynices; finally in 792-1084, 
 1 1-18. * Supplicesj p. xxiv. 3 Greek Tragedy, p. 57.
 
 6 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 the death of the brothers is bewailed and Antigone with part 
 of the chorus insists on burying Polynices. The conclusion is 
 often attacked because Antigone's defiance of the edict seems 
 an unsatisfactory close. Still the division of the chorus was 
 undoubtedly very effective. Similar is the ending of Euripides' 
 Cyclops where the blinded giant says: 
 
 oi> STJT', cTret <re rijaB' droppi^as Trerpas 
 avroiffi avvva.VTO.uji (rvvrptyu 
 
 The epic tradition, if fully known, might explain the end of the 
 Septem as well as it does that of the Cyclops. In spite of the 
 divisions in the play, there is a real unity, since the two themes, 
 the saving of Thebes and the fate of the brothers, are closely 
 connected and even fused together. 
 
 According to the probable view of Wecklein-Allen, 2 the 
 Prometheus Vinctus was the first play of the trilogy Prometheus 
 Bound (Aeo-yuwTTjs) , Unbound (AUOMCTOS), Firebringer (IIup</>6pos). 
 The same editors think that the third play showed the founda- 
 tion of the IIpojui70ia, as the Eumenides did that of the Are- 
 opagus. The Prometheus Vinctus has unity, especially when 
 we consider it as part of the trilogy. The episode of lo pre- 
 pares for the second play, for it is her descendant Heracles who 
 is to free Prometheus (771-774). Frag. 199 3 shows something 
 of Heracles' importance in the Solutus. The oracle concerning 
 Zeus' marriage would be prominent in the other plays. It 
 seems certain then that this trilogy also possessed unity of theme 
 and unity of action in individual plays. 
 
 Among the extant plays of Aeschylus, the Persae is the 
 only one which seems not to be part of a connected trilogy 
 and it is the only extant non-mythological Greek tragedy. 
 The Hypothesis states that Aeschylus competed with the 
 Phineus, Persae, Glaucus Potnieus, and Prometheus. We do 
 
 1 704-705. * Prometheus, p. 19 ff. 3 Nauck 1 .
 
 THE STRUCTURE OF THE DRAMA 7 
 
 not need to follow Wilamowitz 1 in assuming that this in- 
 formation is wrong, and that the Persae was first produced in 
 Sicily and is a trilogy in structure. In spite of the lyric character 
 of the play and the small amount of action, yet because of its 
 glorification of Athens it was undoubtedly a very effective play 
 in that city. The evocation of Darius and the advice which he 
 gives 2 does not destroy the unity of the plot, since it is intro- 
 duced to contrast the might of Darius with the humiliation of 
 Xerxes as seen in 909-1076. The procession in the exodos may 
 be compared with those in the Septem and the Eumenides and 
 contrasted with that in the Supplices, where the opposing songs 
 of the semichoruses prepare for the next play. 
 
 Aeschylus, then, in using the trilogy, apparently constructed 
 a kind of epic drama or, as Welcker 3 described it, an epic in 
 which the important moments were acted. There was often, 
 perhaps usually, unity in the trilogy and also in the individual 
 plays. Some seem episodic, but we should probably not have 
 this impression, if we could see the manner in which the part 
 was related to the whole. 
 
 The plays of Sophocles, since he treated the individual drama 
 and not the trilogy as the real unit, are of course very differ- 
 ent. For the same reason, his method of obtaining unity is 
 not the same as that of Aeschylus. 
 
 We commence with perhaps the earliest extant tragedy of 
 Sophocles, the Antigone. 4 At 988, with the entrance of Tiresias, 
 the way is opened for Creon to suffer for his treatment of An- 
 tigone. We cannot compare the punishment of Creon with 
 the vengeance on Clytaemestra in the Choephori, since no aven- 
 gers appear and the outcome is determined by the previous 
 deeds of the characters. Antigone is punished, because she 
 disobeys the edict of Creon which is mentioned in 1-99 and 
 
 1 Die Parser des Aischylos, Hermes, Vol. XXXII, p. 382 ff. 
 
 623-908. 
 
 1 Aeschylische Trilogie Prometheus, p. 486. 4 Jebb, Ajax, p. liii f .
 
 8 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 reaffirmed by the ruler in 192-206, and the impious character 
 of the same edict causes divine punishment to strike Creon 
 through the deaths of his son, Haemon, betrothed to Antigone, 
 and of his wife, Eurydice. In extent the subject is of about 
 the same magnitude as that of a play of Aeschylus, but the 
 treatment is very different. In structure it is nearer to our 
 conception of a drama than is any work of Aeschylus, but it 
 is not therefore more powerful. Perhaps the greatest change 
 made by Sophocles is in the delineation of character. Antigone 
 stands forth very prominently, and her greatness is made more 
 evident by the contrast with the timid Ismene. Creon, too, 
 is developed as a powerful antagonist for Antigone. In this 
 drama more than in any other of Sophocles now extant, the 
 actors in a way represent certain ideas, a tendency almost 
 wholly lacking in the later plays. 
 
 The Ajax is of nearly the same date. The second play of the 
 Aeschylean trilogy, "Oir\uv Kptons, 0pfj<ro-<u, SaXa/uweu, showed 
 (or rather told of) the suicide of Ajax, and the 
 probably concluded with the establishment of the 
 As the burial of Ajax was an important part of the story, Sopho- 
 cles was bound to use it, 2 but he prepares for the dispute by 
 829-830, where Ajax prays that Teucer may prevent the dis- 
 honoring of his body. The importance of burial to a Greek 
 explains the death of the protagonist in the middle of the 
 play, especially when the play shows the making of a hero. 
 The appearance of Odysseus at the beginning and the end also 
 serves to produce unity. We cannot arbitrarily divide the play 
 without doing violence to the author's intentions. Still the 
 character of Ajax is so excellently drawn that to us, if not to 
 the ancients, his death makes a strong point of division in the 
 action of the tragedy. 
 
 The Trachiniae again apparently lacks unity, but only ap- 
 parently. The real theme is the death of Heracles, whose 
 1 Jebb, Ajax, p. xix ff. * Sheppard, Greek Tragedy, p. 102 ff.
 
 THE STRUCTURE OF THE DRAMA 
 
 character dominates the plot of the play even long before he 
 appears. Deianira, however, is so charmingly drawn that she 
 seems to be the important figure, and we are led by our sym- 
 pathies (perhaps more than the Greeks were) to feel that her 
 death destroys the unity instead of being only an incident in 
 the main story. 
 
 In the Electra, Sophocles again shifts the interest in the course 
 of the action. He has followed the tradition of Aeschylus, 
 save that Clytaemestra is slain first and that there are no Furies 
 to torment Orestes. The recognition of brother and sister is 
 not completed until 1231. Electra herself is more important 
 and much more strongly emphasized than in the Choephori. 
 To obtain this result while still keeping Orestes as the real 
 avenger, Sophocles has been led to obscure the formal unity, 
 a loss well counterbalanced by the gain in the character of 
 Electra. 
 
 If, in the Electra, the emphasis is not laid upon the traditional 
 hero until the play is far advanced, in the Philoctetes it is laid 
 upon a subordinate character practically throughout. It is 
 Neoptolemus, apparently first introduced by Sophocles, 1 in 
 whom we are chiefly interested, and the traditional solution is 
 gained by the use of the deus ex machina. Probably in the 
 Philoctetes of Aeschylus, Philoctetes himself was the character 
 emphasized. 
 
 In the Oedipus Rex, there is no shift of sympathy. Oedipus 
 holds the centre of the stage from the time when he enters as 
 the kind ruler until his final exit, a broken, blinded man. With 
 matchless unity, the action moves on majestically and irre- 
 sistibly. 
 
 We may here briefly mention the Ichneutae, a satyric drama 
 
 of which a large part has recently been discovered. The theme 
 
 is the theft of Apollo's cattle and the invention of the lyre by 
 
 the infant Hermes. The conclusion is not preserved, but I 
 
 1 Jebb. Philoctetes, p. xxii.
 
 10 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 think it almost certain that Hermes appeared at the end and 
 at once overshadowed Apollo, who is prominent in the part 
 preserved. The play is apparently formed much as Sophocles' 
 tragedies are. 
 
 This brief survey will show us some of the cardinal principles 
 of Sophocles' art. His dramas contain one action and accord- 
 ingly possess unity, as do the plays of Aeschylus. Yet this is 
 obscured at times by the elaboration of subordinate charac- 
 ters to such an extent that the dramas seem to fall into distinct 
 sections and the impression of unity is materially weakened. 
 Sophocles is primarily a delineator of character. His art pro- 
 duces the Oedipus Rex, where the interest never shifts, but the 
 weaknesses of it are seen in the Trachiniae, where there is a de- 
 cided shift in emphasis. The reappearance in many plays, 
 towards the end, of a character who had appeared in the be- 
 ginning * tends to emphasize the unity and at the same time to 
 dissipate any resemblance in movement to that of an epic. 
 As a result, Sophocles' dramas seem of a more modern form 
 than those of Aeschylus. 
 
 The Oedipus Coloneus represents a very different type. It 
 falls into three divisions: (1) 1-323, 549-719, the reception of 
 Oedipus at Colonus; (2) 324-548, 720-1455, the attempts to 
 remove him from the protection of Athens; (3) 1456-1779, 
 the passing of Oedipus. The portion 720-1455 again is in two 
 parts: 720-1149, the attempt of Creon in behalf of Eteocles 
 by force; and 1150-1455, the attempt of Polynices by per- 
 suasion. Prof. Murray 2 breaks the symmetry of the piece by 
 not classing as parallel the two attempts. It will be remembered 
 that Aeschylus made the reception of suppliants the theme 
 of the first play of a trilogy. The third division 3 is rather simi- 
 lar to the Eumenides, since it represents the final settlement of 
 
 1 Cf . Platt, The Burial of Ajax, Classical Review, Vol. XXV, p. 102. 
 
 2 Ritual Forms in Greek Tragedy, Excursus in Miss Harrison's Themis, 
 p. 358. * 1456-1779.
 
 THE STRUCTURE OF THE DRAMA 11 
 
 the action under divine influence. The drama is in a sense a 
 kind of trilogy, since it possesses unity but has three distinct 
 parts with separate actions. The insertion of the arrival of 
 Ismene before that of Theseus l causes interlocked order of the 
 first and second sections and in this way the obscuring of the 
 formal divisions increases the general effect of unity. The 
 bipartite division of the second part, and the position of 
 1456 which is within the strophe 1447-1456 and connects the 
 second and the third divisions, tend also to increase the im- 
 pression of unity. We may say briefly that the structure seems 
 epic, as there is a succession of important points in the piece 
 instead of one climax with all details subordinated. 
 
 If ancient tradition is correct, as is likely, in assigning this 
 play to the old age of Sophocles, the poet followed a style of 
 tragedy which Euripides had used long before. To the works 
 of the third of the poets we now come. 
 
 We will first analyze the Hippolytus, a play produced in 
 428 B.C. This is commonly considered one of Euripides' mas- 
 terpieces, and it shows very well his methods of composition. 
 The following scheme will show the structure. 
 
 1- 57 Aphrodite announces that she will punish Hip- 
 polytus for his neglect of her. 
 58- 87 Hippolytus praises and crowns Artemis. 
 88- 113 Despite the advice of a servant, he will not notice 
 
 Aphrodite. 
 
 114- 120 The servant prays to Aphrodite. 
 121- 169 The chorus of women speculates as to the cause of 
 
 Phaedra's illness. 
 
 170- 372 Phaedra betrays her passion for Hippolytus. 
 373- 524 The nurse advises Phaedra to gratify it. 
 525- 564 The chorus praises Eros. 
 565- 668 Hippolytus refuses the nurse's proposals. 
 669- 731 Phaedra reproaches the nurse. 
 
 1 324-719.
 
 12 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 732- 775 The chorus prays for peace and quiet. 
 
 776- 789 The nurse tells of Phaedra's suicide. 
 
 790- 810 Theseus learns of it. 
 
 811- 855 Theseus and the chorus lament for Phaedra. 
 
 856- 898 Theseus finds the letter incriminating Hippolytus 
 and curses him. 
 
 899-1101 He accuses Hippolytus and exiles him. Because 
 
 of his oath, Hippolytus is silent. 
 1102-1150 The chorus laments for Hippolytus. 
 1151-1267 A messenger reports the mishap to Hippolytus. 
 1268-1281 The chorus sings the praise of Aphrodite. 
 1282-1466 Artemis reveals the truth. Hippolytus is carried in, 
 
 pardons his father, and dies. 
 
 In this play, the portion 1-120 is clearly marked off and shows 
 the offence of Hippolytus. Unless we accept Prof. Murray's 
 ascription of 1102-1110 and 1120-1130 to the chorus of hunts- 
 men, the separate chorus of this first section does not reap- 
 pear. There is another break after 855. In 121-855, the 
 subject is the fate of Phaedra. In her last words she hints 
 that she will do mischief. Cf . 728-731 : 
 
 drop K.O.KOV ye 
 
 davovcr', tv' eidfj /ii) 'irl rots e/wus 
 11^77X65 elvai' rijs vovov 8e rfjffde juot 
 /j,6Ta.(rx.<j)v 
 
 The final section sets forth the fate of Hippolytus and contains 
 the appearance of Artemis, which balances that of Aphrodite 
 in the prologue. 
 
 These three sections of the Hippolytus are almost as inde- 
 pendent as the plays of an Aeschylean trilogy, although the 
 choral portions are shorter and of less importance than in the 
 plays of Aeschylus. On the other hand, the feud between 
 Aphrodite and Artemis furnishes a unifying influence, and the 
 appearance of the goddesses, one in the prologue, the other in
 
 THE STRUCTURE OF THE DRAMA 13 
 
 the exodos, increases and emphasizes it. Structurally the play 
 is nearer in form to the Oedipus Coloneus than to either the 
 Oedipus Rex or the Antigone. I will not say that Euripides 
 conceived it as a trilogy, but he at least chose an epic type of 
 drama as a model. 
 
 The Heraclidae, a play of about the same date, has a similar 
 structure. In 1-380, lolaos and the children of Heracles are 
 received by Demophon and protected against Eurystheus. 
 The action, a reception of suppliants and the failure of a herald's 
 attempt to remove them, is substantially that of the Supplices 
 of Aeschylus. Still the play of Euripides shows more honor 
 to Athens than that of Aeschylus to Argos, since in the 
 Heraclidae the suppliants have not been formally received by 
 Demophon and so the king is bound only by the general law of 
 kindness to suppliants. lolaos claims help in 207-212 because 
 of kinship, as do the daughters of Danaus in Supplices 274 ff . 
 Krausse l shows many other similarities between this part of 
 the Heraclidae and the Supplices. In 381-629 Macaria sacri- 
 fices herself to Demeter and Kore in response to an oracle. In 
 630-927 the battle is described and in 928-1055, the slaying 
 of Eurystheus by Alcmene. We might obtain a tripartite 
 division by making parallel 381-629 (the sacrifice of Macaria) 
 and 630-747 (the coming of Hyllus and the arming of lolaos). 
 These could then be compared with the evocation of Agamem- 
 non in the Choephori and the aid given to Orestes by his sister. 
 Thus we could consider 381-927 the second division, and 928- 
 1055 (the settlement under divine or heroic influence) can be 
 compared to the Eumenides. We must, however, not press 
 such analysis too far. Euripides probably intended to treat 
 the material in an epic manner rather than in one marked 
 by a severe dramatic unity. The result is similar to an 
 Aeschylean trilogy. Mr. Sheppard neglects this when he 
 says: 2 
 
 1 De Euripide Aeschyli instauratore, p. 67 f . 2 Greek Tragedy, p. 141.
 
 14 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 " In each [the Heraclidae and the Supplices of Euripides] the simple 
 theme (a coming of weak suppliants to Athens, a fight for their cause, 
 victory, and the promise of benefits that piety has earned) proves 
 inadequate in these days when the part of the chorus is comparatively 
 small. In each the play is lengthened and the interest complicated 
 by an episode. The excuse is the freedom of the old-fashioned type of 
 drama." 
 
 Our ignorance as to the form of Euripides' source prevents 
 an emphatic statement, but we seem to have a kind of trilogy 
 The Reception of Suppliants, The Defeat of the Invaders, The 
 Gaining of Eurystheus as a Hero-ally of Athens. 
 
 The Supplices, dealing with the expedition of Theseus to 
 recover the bodies of those who had fallen on the expedition 
 of Adrastus, opens in the usual manner of suppliant-plays. 
 The argument between Theseus and Adrastus is unusual, but 
 such a dispute is indicated in Aesch. Supp. 340 ff. where Pe- 
 lasgus hesitates to receive the maidens. If we followed analogy, 
 we should consider 1-597 as the first section. Krausse 1 com- 
 pares the language of these lines to that of the Supplices of 
 Aeschylus. It is harder to analyze 598-1234. If we should 
 consider the second part (the rescue of the bodies) as ending 
 at 1113, the third division would contain merely the appear- 
 ance of Athena and the establishment of friendship between 
 Athens and Argos. This, however, would be sufficient for our 
 purpose. In any event, the Evadne-Iphis scene 2 seems dis- 
 connected. In fact the passage 598-1234 is rather similar to 
 the ending of many plays of Euripides. 3 Perhaps the play is 
 based on a shorter mythos. The Supplices, an tyKuniov 'A6i)- 
 vaiuv (as the Hypothesis calls it), is structurally successful, since 
 the divisions are not so clearly marked as in either the 
 Heraclidae or the Hippolytus, although the play contains one 
 loosely connected scene. 
 
 1 Op. tit., p. 75. z 980-1113. 
 
 * Cf. Murray, Ritual Forms, in Themis, p. 354.
 
 THE STRUCTURE OF THE DRAMA 15 
 
 The Andromache is much less unified. 1-308 form a parallel 
 to the opening division of suppliant-plays, but we should prob- 
 ably count 1-801 as the first section, since Menelaus takes Her- 
 mione's place in the quarrel with Andromache, and Peleus 
 saves the unhappy woman, much as Pelasgus does the daughters 
 of Danaus in Aesch. Supp. 911 ff. Such a change of characters 
 is seen in the Ajax where Agamemnon supports his brother 
 against Teucer. The second division is 802-1046, the departure 
 of Hermione, and the third is 1047-1288, the fate of Neoptole- 
 mus. Prof. Verrall's explanation that Neoptolemus had been 
 killed before Orestes left Delphi and that Menelaus, in order 
 that his daughter might leave her husband willingly and marry 
 Orestes, instigated the quarrel with Andromache, 1 provides 
 unity but is unnecessary. The structure is very lax and the 
 main bond of union is sequence in time. The play seems like 
 a slice from an epic rather than a well constructed drama. 
 
 The Hercules Furens is of much the same type. The subject 
 is in two distinct parts, although we may find a tripartite 
 division. In 1-814, the suppliant-motif occurs again. Heracles 
 arrives in time to save his family from death at the hands of 
 Lycus. At 815, Iris and Lyssa appear and Heracles becomes 
 insane and kills his family. The entrance of Theseus at 1153 
 is to comfort Heracles. Perhaps we should take as the second 
 section 815-1087 and regard it as parallel to the Choephori, 
 which also ends with the protagonist insane. The appearance 
 of the goddesses at the opening of this section is much like that 
 of Apollo and Qavaros in the Alcestis and of Poseidon and Athena 
 in the Troades. Finally, 1088-1428 (the healing and comfort- 
 ing of Heracles) can be compared to the Eumenides, except that 
 a hero, not a god, enters. The only unity in thought is furnished 
 by the idea of the injustice of the gods. Structurally the play 
 is nearer to the Andromache than to the Hippolytus. 
 
 The Hecuba has a similar structure. In the first section (1-97), 
 1 Four Plays of Euripides, p. 28 ff.
 
 16 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 the ghost of Polydorus predicts the course of events and Hecuba 
 is terrified by the dream which her dead son sends. This 
 passage may be compared to Hipp. 1-120, in which the offence 
 of Hippolytus is seen and his fate is foretold. The second part 
 (98-656) shows the fate of Polyxena, and the third (657-1295), 
 the punishment of Polymestor for the murder of Polydorus. 
 The character of Hecuba and the prophecy of Polydorus are 
 the main bonds of union. The play can almost be regarded 
 as the presentation of two loosely connected stories. The effect 
 is gained through the delineation of the cruelty of war and the 
 savage nature of the leaders even of the sons of Theseus l 
 and not through the dramatic structure. 
 
 It may now be convenient to consider the earlier plays of 
 Euripides. If we were determined to find divisions in the Al- 
 cestis, a play which was probably substituted for a satyric 
 drama, we could do so as follows: (1) 1-76, Apollo and Thana- 
 tos; (2) 77-475, 568-746, the death and burial of Alcestis; (3) 
 476-567, 747-1163, the rescue of Alcestis by Heracles. This, 
 however, is artificial. The arrival of Heracles 2 and the funeral 
 of Alcestis 3 are treated in interlocked order. Then too the death 
 of Alcestis is not an independent action in the same sense in 
 which this is true of the parts of the Hippolytus. Even if we 
 adopted such a division, the quarrel of Admetus and Pheres 4 
 is still loosely connected. I would suggest that Euripides 
 preserved one action but modelled his work after the older type 
 of drama. Structurally this play is very successful as regards 
 unity. 
 
 Only one scene in the Medea breaks the dramatic action. 
 Aegeus offers Medea a refuge at Athens, 5 apparently because 
 in the tradition she did flee to his court. Dramatically therefore 
 it is a fault. Another slight weakness is seen in 1317 ff., where 
 Medea receives her dragon-car only in time to save her chil- 
 
 1 123-129. 3 568-746. 5 663-763. 
 
 2 476-567. 4 611-740.
 
 THE STRUCTURE OF THE DRAMA 17 
 
 dren's bodies. This might arouse ironical reflections on the 
 care of the gods for mortals, but it is a weakness, unless we 
 assume that it was part of the traditional account. If so, it 
 has been treated admirably. This play is almost the least epi- 
 sodic of any of Euripides' extant dramas or, perhaps we might 
 say, the least epic. 
 
 The later plays of Euripides are in some ways nearer to these 
 dramas than to those of the epoch of the Hippolytus. The Ion 
 is a thinly veiled attack on Apollo. The scenes are some- 
 what loosely connected, but the tripartite division (1-509, 
 the bewilderment of Ion; 510-1243, the adoption of Ion by 
 Xuthus and the futile attempt of Creusa to poison the young 
 man; 1244-1622, the recognition of Ion as Creusa's child) 
 is artificial. The characters are few and in fact Ion and Creusa 
 dominate the piece. Then the failure of the attempted murder 
 reveals the secret of Ion's birth and thwarts the plans of Apollo. 1 
 There is a romantic touch which is not found previously in the 
 work of Euripides, and in Ion's monody 2 there is a charming 
 idyllic touch. This play opens a new series of dramas with free 
 but masterly technique and a light touch that might lead to a 
 development into mere melodrama. 
 
 The Troades, however, is a remarkable drama. The gloom 
 of the piece is unbroken. In Ag. 429 ff., Aeschylus paints the 
 horror and the sin of war and exclaims : 
 
 T&V iro\vK.r()V(j3v yap OVK 
 3 
 
 Euripides feels the horror and barbarity of war more than the 
 sin and says : 
 
 /uiopos 5^ BvrjT&v ooris tKiropQtl TroXeis, 
 vaovs Tf TUM/Sous 0' , iepa T&V 
 dovs aur6$ &\cd' 
 
 1 Cf. 1563 ff. * 461-462. 
 
 1 82-183. 95-97.
 
 18 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 This is the keynote. The folly and outrages of the Greeks 
 justify the words of Andromache 1 that the dead are happier 
 than the living. The plot of Athena and Poseidon to destroy 
 the Greek fleet lends an added horror to the whole. The char- 
 acter of Hecuba placed in relation to the other characters 
 furnishes the only excuse for unity. The play is merely a 
 series of scenes showing the sack of Troy, but these are most 
 skilfully constructed. Euripides shows how untrustworthy is 
 the loyalty of the conquered when he represents Hecuba saying 
 to Andromache: 
 
 KCU 7rcu5a rovde irat.56s K0pei/'eias Q.V 
 Tpota nkyurrov w<eX?7ju', 1v' el irore 
 K <roD yev6/j,evoi 7raI5es "IXtoj' ira.\iv 
 KaTOuicreiav, /cat TroXis ykvoir' en. 2 
 
 This speech explains why the Greeks decided to kill Astyanax. 
 Although the play is so different from the Ion, the search for 
 effectiveness in individual scenes suggests that it is of much the 
 same date. The position of the scene with Helen in the mid- 
 dle of the description of the fate of Astyanax, seems to be an 
 instance of a device worked out later in the Phoenissae. 
 
 In structure, the Electro, is quite near the Ion. We do not 
 find here the romantic note of that play, but there is an appre- 
 ciation of the excellence of the humble in the depiction of Elec- 
 tra's husband. The details of the play are very different from 
 those of the Choephori and the Electra of Sophocles. At the 
 end, the Dioscuri appear and condemn Apollo for ordering the 
 murder. As in the Ion, the scenes are not very closely con- 
 nected, but the main divisions of the play the recognition of 
 brother and sister, the death of Aegisthus, and the murder of 
 Clytaemestra do not form sections as distinct as in the 
 Hippolytus. Rather, as in the Ion, such an arrangement is 
 artificial. 
 
 1 634-683. * 702-705.
 
 THE STRUCTURE OF THE DRAMA 19 
 
 The Iphigenia in Tauris is similar in structure. On the whole 
 it possesses unity. As a play of romantic adventure in a dis- 
 tant land, it is very charming and far surpasses the Ion and the 
 Electro,. There may be a slight touch, but only a slight one, of 
 the melodrama which becomes so prominent in later plays. 
 
 The Helena is the most romantic of Euripides' plays and the 
 lightest, but it has not the careful balance of the Iphigenia in 
 Tauris. There Orestes and Iphigenia were both of equal im- 
 portance. Here Menelaus is not very attractive and is at times 
 almost comic. Structurally also it is not so good. The scene 
 between Helen and Teucer 1 shows the reputation of Helen 
 among the Greeks. As a prelude and introduction, it is almost 
 as separate as the opening of the Hecuba, but it is an exposition- 
 scene and does not indicate the future. Helen's fears are 
 almost at once quieted by Theonoe. The scene with Theonoe 2 
 forms a slight break between the reunion of husband and wife 
 and their escape from the power of Theoclymenus. The effect 
 of the play is good and an impression of unity is given, largely 
 because of the phantom-Helen and the frivolous character 
 given by Theonoe to the conflict of Hera and Aphrodite, who 
 seem not powerful goddesses but mere fairies. 
 
 The Hypsipyle, of which large fragments have recently been 
 discovered, belongs to the same period. Although we do not 
 know all the details of the plot, we can see the general out- 
 lines. Hypsipyle, as a slave of Eurydice, cares for the baby 
 Archemorus. Her two sons, whom she has not seen since they 
 were babes, while searching, happen to meet her and ask for 
 hospitality. Of course there is no recognition on either side. 
 She takes them into her mistress's house. Meanwhile Amphi- 
 araus comes and asks for water for the sacred rites. While 
 Hypsipyle guides him to the spring, a serpent kills Archemorus. 
 In terror, the unhappy slave tries to escape, but she is captured 
 by the two young men and taken back to Eurydice, who wishes 
 1 68-163. 865-1029.
 
 20 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 to slay her. Amphiaraus returns, saves her, and proclaims 
 funeral games in honor of the dead child. Later he unites 
 Hypsipyle with her two sons, and Dionysus appears as deus 
 ex machina, probably to confirm Amphiaraus' action. The 
 Hypsipyle is another romantic drama with almost melodramatic 
 variation in the fortunes of the main characters. Still, interest 
 centres in Hypsipyle and her sons, so that the play has unity 
 in the same sense as the Ion and the Iphigenia in Tauris. 
 
 The Phoenissae is a wonderful example of inclusion, since it 
 touches the whole Theban cycle. There are three main strands : 
 (1) the fate of Thebes, especially prominent in the view from 
 the walls (88-201), the preparations and the battle (690-1199), 
 and the lament for Menoeceus (1308-1334); (2) the fate of the 
 brothers, especially prominent in the meeting (261-637) and 
 the combat (1202-1282, 1335-1529); (3) the fate of Oedipus 
 (1530-1763). Probably the representation of Oedipus and 
 Jocasta as alive at the time of the expedition of Polynices was 
 an invention of Euripides. The Hypothesis gives a good criti- 
 cism. To dpa/jLO. lo-ri fjitv rats ain]viK.aA.s o\l/f<ri Ka\6v, t-rrtl Koii 
 irapair\rip(i)iJLa.TLK6v. tf re airo T&V T6ixtcoi> 'Avnyovt] dewpovcra 
 /xepos OVK eon Spdjuaros, *cai virocrirovdos HoXwelKiqs ovSevos evena 
 irapa.'YiveTcu, 6 re CTTI Tratrt, /xer' <j>5f;s a86\ecrx ov JMTfO&tutftiVOS 
 Oidiirovs Trpoo-eppairrat 5ia KWTJS. 
 
 "The pleasure of witnessing this drama must have depended on a 
 knowledge of much literature now lost; happily we possess enough 
 to make most of the scenes alive." 1 
 
 There are inconsistencies, especially in the final scene, and 
 many critics have claimed to find much interpolation in it. 2 
 The play seems more coherent than the Troades. While this 
 is due to our better knowledge of the sources, the subject has 
 more inherent unity. Structurally it is more involved than 
 
 1 Sheppard, Greek Tragedy, p. 144. 
 
 1 Cf. Wilamowitz, Drei Schluftscenen, Sitzungsbericht d. kgl. Preuss. 
 Akad. d. Wiss. zu Berlin, 1903, p. 587 8 .
 
 THE STRUCTURE OF THE DRAMA 21 
 
 the Troades, but it has the same mixture of epic and dramatic 
 qualities. 
 
 The Orestes, the last of the Greek dramas that belong in this 
 series, is almost pure melodrama. The plot is full of the unex- 
 pected and the play has as much unity as is consistent with it. 
 To point out merely one neglect of probability, the prologue 
 shows Orestes very ill, but he suddenly recovers and goes 
 off to the assembly. This play marks the lowest level which 
 the art of Euripides reached, as far as we can judge. 
 
 It is well for the poet that this was not his last work. He 
 left Athens and during his residence in Macedon, he wrote the 
 Bacchae, an unusually vivid and powerful play. The chorus 
 is much more important than in most of his plays and also 
 much more vitally interested in the action than it usually is. 
 Although some of the scenes, as that between Pentheus, Tiresias, 
 and Cadmus, 1 are somewhat loosely connected, yet these, like 
 the opening scenes of the Agamemnon, show the atmosphere 
 of the piece and illustrate the ever increasing sin of Pentheus. 
 There is more action in this than in the Septem, but the spirit 
 of the play is almost Aeschylean rather than Euripidean. It 
 is a true lyric drama of the old type. 
 
 The Iphigenia in Aulide is another play of the same style 
 and shows that Euripides' art had definitely entered a new 
 period. The play has unity and it shows traces of the lyric 
 character of the works of Aeschylus. Agamemnon's position 
 and the atmosphere of the play are presented in 1-589. It is 
 as impossible to define subdivisions in the play as it is in the 
 plays of Aeschylus. Structurally this is one of the most satis- 
 factory dramas of Euripides. The melodramatic note is absent 
 and the romantic elements are unusually pleasant. The char- 
 acter of Iphigenia, the willing victim, is, in spite of Aristotle's 
 curious judgment, worthy of a great lyric drama. 
 
 I do not think that the Rhesus is spurious. 
 1 170-369.
 
 22 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 "It is a young man's play, full of war and adventure, of spies in 
 wolf-skins and white chargers and gallant chivalry. That is not much 
 like the Euripides whom we know elsewhere; but his mark is upon 
 the last scene, in which the soldiers stand embarrassed and silent 
 while a solitary mother weeps over her dead son. The poetry of the 
 scene is exquisite; but what is most characteristic is the sudden flavour 
 of bitterness, the cold wind that so suddenly takes the heart out of 
 joyous war." 1 
 
 The structure of this piece is interesting, as it is the only extant 
 tragedy based on an extant piece of epic poetry. The play falls 
 into three divisions: (1) 1-263, the mission of Dolon; (2) 264- 
 691, the reception and death of Rhesus; (3) 692-996, the ac- 
 cusation of Hector by the charioteer and the appearance of the 
 Muse. There is a kind of tripartite division, but this is rather of 
 the species found in the Alcestis than of that in the Hippolytus, 
 since in the plays of the period of the latter, the parts are less 
 closely connected. The first section serves rather as a prepara- 
 tion for the rest of the drama than as a distinct and independent 
 division or as an illustration of the theme. Throughout the 
 Rhesus, Hector is the main character, as he is prominent in the 
 three sections. The structure may seem crude, but the play 
 well shows the poet's peculiar use of his material. He has 
 followed Iliad X closely except in regard to the foundation of 
 the cult of Rhesus. There was such a cult in Thrace. 2 Per- 
 haps this was connected with the play in imitation of the usage 
 of Aeschylus, who delights in ending his trilogies with some 
 " foundation." In view of the structure of the Rhesus, we need 
 not follow Wilamowitz 3 in rejecting it as a work of Euripides. 
 Our knowledge of the lost plays is too scanty to allow us to 
 say that no dramas prior to the Andromache contained a deus 
 ex machina. The Rhesus, then, seems a work of the first period 
 of Euripides' activity. 
 
 1 Murray, Euripides and His Age, p. 70. 
 
 z Rohde, Psyche 8 , Vol. I, p. 161 N. 3 Analecta Euripidea, p. 157.
 
 THE STRUCTURE OF THE DRAMA 23 
 
 The Cyclops is the only extant satyric play of Euripides. 
 This follows closely Odyssey IX with such changes as are neces- 
 sary to fit it for the stage. The chorus of Satyrs, except in the 
 prologue and parodos, is of slight importance, as it excuses 
 itself whenever there is need of action. Since the play is a 
 dramatization of a story which possesses perfect unity, it could 
 hardly fail to show the same quality. In general the Cyclops 
 seems to be of the same period as the Medea; but because of 
 our lack of definite information and our ignorance concerning 
 the satyric drama as a whole, it is useless to discuss the date. 
 The ending, a threat of the Cj^clops against Odysseus, 1 is an 
 adaptation of Odyssey IX, 480 ff . Such a conclusion, promising 
 a continued conflict, reminds us of the end of the Septem of 
 Aeschylus. Perhaps another argument for an early date can 
 be drawn from the fact that Euripides makes no effort to gain 
 the sympathy of the audience for the Cyclops. 
 
 Various scholars have argued as to Euripides' use of connected 
 trilogies. Krausse 2 endeavors to prove this in the series Alex- 
 ander, Palamedes, Troades. Although these are all from the 
 Trojan cycle, he himself admits 3 that the Palamedes is very 
 loosely connected. He also considers the Oenomaus, Chry sip- 
 pus, Phoenissae, another instance. 4 Wilamowitz 5 holds the 
 same view and connects the absence of a deus ex machina in 
 the Troades and Phoenissae with the fact that they were the 
 concluding plays of trilogies. Although the Septem does not 
 contain a theophany, yet the Oresteia does, and in general we 
 should expect the gods to appear at the end of a connected 
 trilogy rather more frequently than at the end of either of the 
 first two plays. Our evidence on this whole subject is too scanty 
 to give basis for argument. 
 
 Krausse also argues that some trilogies are dominated by 
 one idea. Thus in the tetralogy, Cressae, Alcmaeon dia 
 
 1 704-707. Op. cU., p. 183. Op. tit., p. 181. 
 
 1 Op. til., p. 179 ff. Op. tit., p. 184 ff.
 
 24 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 Telephus, Alcestis, the virtues and vices of women are repre- 
 sented. 1 The weakness of such theorizing can be easily seen. 
 He thinks that the Iphigenia in Aulide, Alcmaeon 5id KopivBov, 
 and Bacchae show the relations of parents and children. 2 Paul 
 Girard 3 argues for the moral, " Tantum religio potuit suadere 
 malorum." This second interpretation I think mistaken, as 
 the Bacchae seems a sincere glorification of Dionysus and in 
 the Iphigenia in Aulide Calchas may be more responsible for 
 the murder than Artemis. Of course Euripides may have had 
 some general idea which determined his choice of subjects, 
 but we know too little of the methods of grouping used by any 
 of the tragic poets to hazard any conclusions. 
 
 Krausse's theory 4 that Euripides treated prologue and epi- 
 logue in such a way as to include the whole substance of an 
 Aeschylean trilogy will be discussed later. It will suffice 
 here to say that it seems impossible to accept his views in all 
 details. 
 
 We can now review the methods of Euripides. In each of 
 the four periods into which Wilamowitz 5 divides the poet's 
 activity, we find a definite style of composition. In the first 
 period (454-430 B.C.), traces of a tripartite division are hardly 
 definite but are clearest in the Rhesus. The other plays aim 
 more at unity of action. If the Rhesus and the Cyclops both 
 belong here, it is interesting to see how closely Euripides fol- 
 lowed epic tradition in theme and treatment with strong ten- 
 dencies to strict unity. 
 
 In the second period (430-416 B.C.), he abandoned quite 
 frankly his search for unity and aimed to produce plays each 
 containing several actions more or less closely connected. Early 
 in this period, in the Hippolytus, we see the whole well articu- 
 lated and approximating the form of an Aeschylean trilogy. 
 
 1 Op. tit., p. 188. z Op. tit., p. 188. 
 
 3 La trilogie chez Euripide, Revue des eludes grecquea, Vol. XVII, 
 p. 175 ff. 4 Op. tit., p. 48. 8 Ibid., p. 172.
 
 THE STRUCTURE OF THE DRAMA 25 
 
 In other plays, there is no attempt at close connection of the 
 different parts. 
 
 In the third period (415-408 B.C.), Euripides aimed rather 
 to produce a thrilling effect. His plays contain much adven- 
 ture and melodrama. They often seem to have been written 
 to appeal to the mass of the people who were the real judges 
 in the dramatic contests. Unity here is gained by the presenta- 
 tion of a small number of characters in whose fate the audi- 
 ence became interested. Here belongs also the Troades, a play 
 based on the lyric tradition, effective without unity, and the 
 Phoenissae, a summary of Theban legend. 
 
 In the fourth period (407406 B.C.), Euripides returned to 
 the older type of drama and achieved unity better than he had 
 ever done. The aged man received fresh vigor from his life in 
 Macedonia and was enabled to surpass in beauty any of his 
 earlier work now extant. 
 
 What then is the record of the formal development of Greek 
 tragedy? Aeschylus composed mainly in trilogies, groups of 
 plays treated as acts of still greater dramas involving genera- 
 tions or ages. The Persae seems to be an independent play with 
 strict unity. Indeed most of his plays show strict unity, although 
 the lyric and descriptive elements predominate. 
 
 Sophocles abandoned the use of the trilogy and emphasized 
 the delineation of character. He usually attained unity in 
 structure, although he at times obscured it by depicting too 
 carefully a subordinate character and thus shifting the centre of 
 interest. In the Oedipus Coloneus, however, he adopted the 
 methods of Euripides. 
 
 Euripides never attained such perfect unity as Sophocles, 
 for he did not seek it. He often makes wonderful character- 
 studies, but like Aeschylus he is more interested in the story. 
 He freely adopts the older forms of tragedy and shows the 
 influence of epic elements in his structure, with the result that 
 his plays often seem poorly constructed.
 
 26 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 Tragedy commences its career as a union of choral songs and 
 dialogues. The individual scenes become progressively more 
 subservient to the idea of the whole until Euripides appears. 
 He allows the chorus to diminish and he rejects much of the 
 technique of Sophocles. He puts into one play enough material 
 for an Aeschylean trilogy. However he varies his methods, 
 his plays always seem in a way dramatized epics, but he never 
 violates the injunction of Aristotle: 1 xp*l 5e ovrep etpr/rat 7roXX<ms 
 ai /cat ;UT) iroieiv kiroTrouKov (rixrrTj/za Tpayudlav kiroTrouKOV 
 r6 iro\vp.vQov olov et rts rov rrjs 'IXia5os oXo? TTOIOI nvQov. 
 Then at the end the old spirit of tragedy blazes up, and in the 
 swan-song of Greek tragedy we feel "the spirit of the days 
 that are no more." There our record ends. 
 1 Poetics, p. 1456 a 10 ff .
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE PROLOGUES AND EPILOGUES OF EURIPIDES 
 
 IN the Ranae, 945 f., Aristophanes represents Euripides as 
 boasting of his prologues: 
 
 aXX' ovuj)v Trpamora p.kv /JLOL TO yevos efir' av evdiis 
 
 TOV dpa/JLCLTOS. 
 
 Prof. Murray x supposes that Euripides had returned to a form 
 found in the primitive drama, a solemn address by a sacred or 
 mysterious figure. Whatever the cause may be, it seems as 
 if Euripides put too much information into his prologues, even 
 if some of those now extant show signs of interpolation. 
 
 Krausse 2 says that in his prologues and epilogues, Euripides 
 touches material which Aeschylus would have used for the 
 other plays of the trilogy. The first speech of the prologue of 
 the Electro, 3 reviews the expedition to Troy, the murder of 
 Agamemnon, and the fate of his children. In the epilogue, 4 
 the Dioscuri order the marriage of Electra and Pylades and 
 prophesy the acquittal of Orestes at Athens. Thus the poet 
 reviews in one play the material of the Oresteia. 
 
 A long account in strict form is seen in the opening of the 
 Hecuba, Supplices, Hercules Furens, Ion, Electra, Iphigenia 
 in Tauris, Helena, Phoenissae, Orestes, and Bacchae. The 
 Archelaus, 6 the Melanippe i) acx^ij, 8 and the Phrixus 7 and per- 
 haps others of the lost plays began thus. 
 
 1 Ritual Farms, p. 361 ff. * 1-53. * Frag. 228. 
 
 * Op. tit., p. 48. 1238-1291. Ibid., 481. 
 
 7 Ibid., 819.
 
 28 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 Examples of such a usage in the works of Aeschylus natu- 
 rally occur in the opening plays of the trilogies, but we must 
 remember that Aeschylus often uses lyric metres where Eurip- 
 ides employs trimeters. The parodos of the Agamemnon 1 
 describes in beautiful poetry the events leading up to the 
 Trojan expedition and the sacrifice of Iphigenia. Less good 
 examples, because of their closer connection with the plot, are 
 the parodoi of the Supplices, 2 containing the account of the 
 voyage of the maidens to Argos, and of the Persae, 3 reviewing 
 the expedition of Xerxes. In this latter case the foreign 
 names lend an air of remoteness. In the Prometheus Vinctus, 
 Prometheus after the departure of his persecutors breaks 
 his long silence and in iambic trimeters tells the chorus of 
 his service to Zeus during the revolt of the Titans and of his 
 theft of fire. 4 Finally the Eumenides, although the last play 
 of a trilogy, contains a very apposite passage, the descrip- 
 tion of the successive masters and the present cults of Delphi. 6 
 This is used to show the relation of the older and younger 
 deities. 
 
 Sophocles uses such narratives sparingly. Although we 
 might cite Trachiniae 1-48, a review by Deianira of her mar- 
 riage to Heracles and of her subsequent life, and Electro, 23 ff., 
 Orestes' account of the oracle of Apollo in regard to vengeance, 
 such cases are very unimportant and hardly deserve mention. 
 
 The form as found in the Iphigenia in Tauris is then a de- 
 velopment of Aeschylean usage. Thus, much as the chorus in 
 the parodos of the Agamemnon describes the Trojan war, 
 Iphigenia reviews the history of her race from the time of 
 Pelops to her own sacrifice at Aulis, and then tells her dream 
 about Orestes. 
 
 The situation at the end is less clear. In the Eumenides, 
 Orestes promises to Athens the eternal friendship of Argos, 6 
 
 1 104-257. 3 1-64. 6 1-33. 
 
 J 1-18. 199-243. 6 754-777.
 
 THE PROLOGUES AND EPILOGUES OF EURIPIDES 29 
 
 and Athena declares the court of the Areopagus permanent. 1 
 Because of his use of the trilogy, it was not so necessary for 
 Aeschylus to employ long concluding narrations. Yet the 
 Septem ends in an unresolved conflict and the Persae with a 
 mourning procession. So, too, in the Trachiniae of Sophocles 
 Heracles is borne off to Oeta for burning, and in the Oedipus 
 Coloneus the daughters of Oedipus leave for Thebes in an 
 endeavor to reconcile their brothers. 
 
 The Greek drama, drawing its themes from the epic cycle, 
 frequently found it necessary (as indeed all drama does) to 
 leave conflicts unresolved. The Cyclops is a good example. 
 On the Athenian stage, the Cyclops could not carry out his 
 threat to sink the ship of Odysseus with rocks, and so the blinded 
 giant says that he will do it. 
 
 We can now see in what sense we can accept Krausse's theory. 
 A play of Euripides in its prologue and exodos often does con- 
 tain all the material of an Aeschylean trilogy. Still, as such 
 narrations are found even in plays which approximate the 
 trilogy-form, we must not press too far arguments from extent 
 of material. In his historical preludes, Aeschylus is less formal 
 than Euripides, but the methods of the two men are sufficiently 
 similar to suggest that the younger man had revived the custom 
 of the older author. 
 
 It is easy to see the cause of Aristophanes' ridicule. Aes- 
 chylus had veiled his account with beautiful poetry, or had 
 incorporated it within the play. Euripides, in his desire for 
 clearness, his love of rhetoric, and his need of brevity, made 
 a set form for this recital and placed it at the very opening of 
 the play. The use of such a prologue may have been a return 
 to a primitive form, but it seems largely due to the influence of 
 Aeschylus and to Euripides' own modification of the forms of 
 his predecessor. 
 
 In the earlier plays, as the Medea, the prologue is less 
 1 681-710.
 
 30 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 schematic and contains less material foreign to the theme of 
 the play. Well within the second period, we find more formal 
 speeches with more emphasis on genealogy. In the third period, 
 the form of the Iphigenia in Tauris is typical and we find this 
 also in the Bacchae. 
 
 It seems as if Euripides must have recognized the artistic 
 weakness of this form of exposition, unless he felt it fitting 
 because of the epic elements in the drama. In this connec- 
 tion, it is significant that the two dramas based on extant 
 epic sources are probably from a time early in his career. 
 Yet, in spite of the justification of epic usage, the constant 
 tendency to this mannerism may be thought excessive. Cer- 
 tainly Aristophanes wearied of it and satirized it as a special 
 achievement of Euripides.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE PARODOS 
 
 IN the structure of the parodos, Euripides again follows Aes- 
 chylus rather than Sophocles. He does this not only in the 
 metrical structure but also in the contents and the relation 
 to the drama as a whole. Of course, as the parodos is largely 
 lyric, we must expect it to be shorter and less splendid in the 
 plays of Euripides than in those of Aeschylus, but we shall 
 find that the younger poet has arranged the members in the 
 same way as the elder did. 
 
 1. The Structure of the Parodos 
 
 Aeschylus treats the parodos in some plays so that the 
 chorus enters in confusion and haste, a factor which varies the 
 composition of the song. Usually, however, the parodos con- 
 sists of a series of anapaests followed by several strophes and 
 antistrophes. 
 
 We must allude here to an important discussion. What is 
 the parodos? Is it the whole first song of the chorus or the 
 first song of the whole chorus? Freericks l argues for the second 
 definition and accordingly supports the corresponding reading 
 in Aristotle, Poetics, p. 1452 b 22. In discussing the opening 
 of the Supplices, he maintains that the anapaests (1-39) form 
 the prologue, the series of strophes and antistrophes (40-111), 
 the parodos, and finally the strophic series with ephymnia 
 (112-175), the first stasimon. Prof. Tucker 2 considers the 
 anapaests (1-39) as parodos and the whole lyric section (40-175) 
 as the first stasimon. He continues: 
 
 1 De Aeschyli Supplicum choro, p. 22. * Supplices, p. xxxvi.
 
 32 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 "In the Persae the argument says Trpo\oyltt \opfa icpeffptuv, i.e. the 
 anapaestic u-ipoSos is itself a irp6\oyos. In Sophocles' Electro, there is 
 no technical ir&pofos but a nottrfs instead." 
 
 Wecklein 1 apparently considers 1-175 as the parodos. The 
 dispute as to the application of the term will, I think, make it 
 clear that in my analysis of the parodoi in the extant plays, 
 I am not seeking to destroy all semblance of order in this part 
 of the drama. 
 
 I shall consider the parodos to be that choral part of the play 
 which follows an iambic prologue, if one exists, or else that 
 which opens the play. It consists of anapaests or lyric metres 
 or both, and is followed usually by iambic, trochaic, or anapaestic 
 metres. It is only in some plays of Euripides that this last 
 point will perhaps be troublesome. The following is an analysis 
 of the parodoi in the extant plays of Aeschylus. 
 
 Supp. 1-175 1-39 anapaests 
 
 40-111 5 strophic systems 
 112-175 3 strophic systems with ephymnia 
 Pers. 1-149 1-64 anapaests 
 
 65-139 6 strophic systems 
 140-149 anapaests 
 Sept. 78-180 78-107 astrophic section 
 
 108-180 3 strophic systems 
 P. V. 188-194 88-127 anapaests and iambics (spoken by 
 
 Prometheus) 
 
 128-194 2 strophic systems sung by chorus 
 with the strophes separated by 
 anapaestic speeches of Prometheus 
 Ag. 40-257 40-103 anapaests 
 
 104-139 strophic system 
 
 140-159 mesode 
 
 160-257 5 strophic systems 
 
 1 Aschylos Orestie, p. 34.
 
 THE PARODO8 33 
 
 Ch. 22-83 22-74 3 strophic systems 
 
 75-83 epode 
 
 Eum. 244-275 244-253 iambic trimeters 
 
 254-275 astrophic section 
 
 Our knowledge of the lost plays is naturally very slight, but 
 a very few of the fragments can be mentioned here. 
 
 Frag. 131 (Myrmidones) 4 anapaests which Schol. 
 
 Aristoph. Ran. 992, and 
 Harpocration, p. 159. 8, 
 cite as the opening of 
 this play. The Myrmi- 
 dones is conjectured to 
 be the first play of the 
 trilogy, Myrmidones, 
 Nereides, Phryges. 1 
 
 Frag. 190-192 (Prometheus Solutus) 3 anapaestic fragments 
 
 which have been pre- 
 served in various writ- 
 ers. Even if we were 
 not told it, frag. 190 
 would be seen to be 
 from the parodos. 
 
 Frag. 57 (Edoni) This fragment of 11 ana- 
 
 paestic lines may be 
 placed here, although 
 we have no proof that 
 it is from the parodos. 
 The Edoni, we may re- 
 mark, was the first play 
 of the Lycurgeia. 
 
 We find then the normal form of the parodos to be a series 
 of anapaestic verses preceding a lyric section. This is the form 
 1 Nauck , p. 42.
 
 34 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 found in the Supplices, Agamemnon, Persae, and apparently in 
 the Myrmidones and the Prometheus Solutus. Except the last, 
 all of these are the first plays of trilogies or independent dramas. 
 The Prometheus Vinctus shows a monologue and then a dia- 
 logue in which the actor uses anapaests and the chorus lyric 
 metres. The Choephori alone shows simple lyric metres. In 
 the Septem and the Eumenides, the astrophic form well suits 
 the effective but rapid and disordered entrance of the chorus. 
 It will also be noticed that both of these are the concluding 
 plays of trilogies. 
 Let us now turn to the plays of Sophocles. 
 
 Ant. 100-154 100-154 2 strophic systems with strophes sep- 
 arated by anapaestic systems (all 
 sung by chorus) 
 Aj. 134-200 134-171 anapaests 
 
 172-192 strophic system 
 
 193-200 epode 
 Tr. 94-140 94-130 2 strophic systems 
 
 131-140 epode 
 
 0. R. 151-215 151-215 3 strophic systems 
 EL 86-250 86-120 anapaests of Electra 
 
 101 ooo o u- 1 eac h P art divided 
 
 121-232 3 strophic systems , 
 
 ooo OKA j i between chorus 
 
 233-250 epode 
 
 J and Electra 
 
 Phil. 135-217 135-217 3 strophic systems and 3 anapaestic 
 
 systems rendered as follows : 
 str. 1 chorus 
 syst. 1 Neoptolemus 
 ant. 1 chorus 
 
 syst. 2 Neoptolemus and chorus 
 str. and ant. 2 chorus 
 syst. 3 Neoptolemus 
 str. and ant. 3 Neoptolemus and chorus.
 
 THE PARODOS 35 
 
 0. C. 117-253 117-206 2 strophic systems and 3 anapaestic 
 
 systems rendered as follows: 
 str. 1 chorus 
 
 syst. 1 Oedipus and chorus 
 ant. 1 chorus 
 
 syst. 2 Oedipus and Antigone 
 str. 2 chorus, Oedipus, and Antigone 
 syst. 3 Oedipus 
 
 ant. 2 Oedipus, Antigone, and chorus 
 207-253 astrophic section of Oedipus, Antigone, 
 and chorus 
 
 The structure of the parodos in the Ichneutae cannot be 
 certainly outlined because of the fragmentary condition of the 
 text. 
 
 Perhaps we might assign frag. 248, 249 to the parodos of the 
 Inachus and frag. 491, 492 to the parodos of the Rhizotomi, 
 but we have no knowledge as to the position of these anapaestic 
 fragments. 
 
 We see then that Sophocles on the whole used a simpler form 
 than Aeschylus. Two plays (Oedipus Rex and Trachiniae), 
 like the Choephori, have parodoi composed only of lyric systems. 
 The Ajax alone contains introductory anapaests chanted by 
 the chorus. In the Electra, one character uses them before the 
 entrance of the chorus. They are arranged as system and 
 antisystem unlike the use in P. V. 88-127. The rest of the 
 parodos is a kommos in which Electra and the chorus share 
 each strophe or antistrophe. In the Antigone, the anapaestic 
 systems, inserted between the strophes, are also sung by the 
 chorus. This arrangement is found also in the Philoctetes and 
 the Oedipus Coloneus, but in these plays, actors and chorus 
 divide up each section into a regular dialogue. These plays, 
 however, are from a late period in Sophocles' career. 
 
 Now let us look at the plays of Euripides.
 
 36 
 
 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 Cycl 41-81 
 Ale. 77-135 
 
 Med. 96-212 
 
 Her. 73-110 
 
 Hipp. 121-169 
 
 And. 117-148 
 Hec. 59-215 
 
 41-62 
 63-81 
 77-85 
 86-111 
 
 112-131 
 
 132-135 
 
 96-130 
 
 131-147 
 
 148-159 
 
 173-184 
 
 160-172 
 
 185-203 
 
 204-212 
 
 73-74 
 
 75-110 
 
 121-160 
 
 161-169 
 
 117-146 
 
 59-97 
 
 98-153 
 
 154-215 
 
 strophic system with ephymnia 
 
 epode 
 
 anapaests 
 
 strophic system (in which 93-97 
 
 and 105-111 are corresponding 
 
 anapaests) 
 strophic system 
 anapaests 
 
 anapaests of Medea and nurse 
 anapaests of chorus, nurse, and 
 
 Medea 
 
 strophic system 
 
 anapaests of Medea and nurse 
 
 anapaests of nurse 
 
 epode 
 
 iambic trimeters 
 
 strophic system containing many 
 iambic trimeters (a conversation 
 between the chorus, lolaos, and 
 the herald, the last only in the 
 antistrophe) 
 
 2 strophic systems 
 
 epode 
 
 2 strophic systems 
 
 anapaests of Hecuba 
 
 anapaests of chorus 
 
 strophic system and mesode 
 
 (str. Hecuba 
 
 mesode Hecuba and Polyxena 
 
 ant. Polyxena 
 
 The verses are anapaestic with 
 very free substitution of spon- 
 dees, etc. melic anapaests)
 
 THE PARODOS 
 
 37 
 
 Supp. 42-87 
 H. F. 107-137 
 Ion 82-237 
 
 Tro. 98-229 
 
 EL 112-212 
 
 /. T. 123-235 
 Hel 164-251 
 
 PAoen. 202-260 
 
 Or. 140-207 
 5acc/i. 64-169 
 
 42-87 3 strophic systems 
 
 107-137 strophic system 
 82-111 anapaests of Ion 
 
 112-143 strophic system with ephymnia of 
 Ion 
 
 144-183 melic anapaests of Ion 
 
 184-237 2 strophic systems of chorus (in 
 ant. 2, Ion speaks melic ana- 
 paests which have no corre- 
 sponding lines in the strophe) 
 98-152 anapaests of Hecuba 
 
 153-196 strophic system of Hecuba and 
 chorus 
 
 197-229 strophic system of chorus 
 
 (a kommos of melic anapaests) 
 
 112-166 2 strophic systems with mesodes 
 of Electra 
 
 167-212 strophic system of chorus and 
 Electra (each section divided 
 between the two) 
 
 123-235 melic anapaests of Iphigenia and 
 chorus (the metre is almost 
 spondaic) 
 
 164-166 dactylic verses of Helen 
 
 167-251 two strophic systems and epode 
 (Helen and the chorus sing alter- 
 nate strophes) 
 
 202-225 strophic system 
 
 226-238 mesode 
 
 239-260 strophic system 
 
 140-207 2 strophic systems divided be- 
 tween the chorus and Electra 
 64-72 proode 
 73-134 2 strophic systems 
 
 135-169 epode
 
 38 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 7. A. 1-48, 115-302 1-48 1 anapaestic prologue of Agamem- 
 1 15-1 63 J non and servant 
 164-302 choral song, part of which, at least, 
 
 is in strophic systems 
 
 Rh. 1-51 1-22 anapaestic prologue of chorus and 
 
 Hector 
 
 23-33) . . , 
 
 [ strophic system of chorus 
 41-51 J 
 
 34-40 anapaests of Hector 
 Hypsipyle 3(1) 2 strophic" systems sung as follows: 
 
 str. and ant. 1 Hypsipyle 
 
 str. and ant. 2 chorus 
 
 The order is str. 1, ant. 1, str. 2, 
 
 ant. 2 
 (The treatment is really the same 
 
 as in EL 167-212) 
 Frag. 773 11. 19-58 (Phaethon) 19-50 2 strophic systems 
 
 51-58 epode 
 
 Frag. 114 (Andromeda) This play opened with anapaests, as we 
 
 learn from Schol. Aristoph. Thesm. 
 1065 
 Frag. 229 (Archelaus) This anapaestic fragment may possibly 
 
 be from the parodos 
 
 Frag. 472 (Cretes) This is apparently from the parodos l 
 
 Frag. 592-594 (Pirithous) Perhaps these are from the parodos 
 
 If we group these without separating parodoi with proodes, 
 mesodes, or epodes, we obtain the following results. Eight 
 plays (Cyclops, Hippolytus, Andromache, Supplices, Hercules 
 Furens, Phoenissae, Bacchae, Phaethon) have a parodos of lyric 
 metres only. One (Alcestis) has anapaests at the beginning 
 and corresponding anapaests within strophe and antistrophe. 
 One (Cretes) apparently had anapaests at the beginning. Two 
 
 1 Cf. 1. 4.
 
 THE PARODOS 39 
 
 (Helena, Hypsipyle) allow actor and chorus to sing sections 
 antiphonally. Two (Heraclidae, Orestes) have the form of 
 conversation. Two (Medea, Rhesus) have parodoi in which 
 both actors and chorus use anapaests and then the chorus 
 commences the ode, while the actors continue anapaests. One 
 (Iphigenia in Tauris) has a complete anapaestic parodos in 
 which spondees are very numerous. One (Iphigenia in Aulide) 
 has an anapaestic prologue but a parodos of lyric metres sung 
 by the chorus. Three (Troades, Electra, Ion) have as prelude 
 to the choral song, which is variously treated, anapaests, 
 strophic system, or a mixture of the two. Perhaps the Andro- 
 meda also belongs here. Finally, one (Hecuba) has anapaests 
 chanted by an actor, a second series by the chorus, and then 
 an anapaestic kommos of two actors. 
 
 I am well aware that this takes a very broad view of the 
 parodos. In the Hecuba, we probably should omit the kommos 
 as we did in the Ajax. 1 It seems to me no mere coincidence 
 that of nine dramas of Aeschylus, in six the parodos begins with 
 anapaests, and that among the twenty-three of Euripides, nine 
 have anapaests at the beginning or anapaests chanted by an 
 actor and one, a strophic system before the entrance of the 
 chorus. In seven plays, Sophocles has introductory anapaests 
 only twice: in the Ajax, where the form of Aeschylus is fol- 
 lowed, and in the Electra, where an actor recites them. Since, 
 furthermore, several of the plays of Euripides with these ana- 
 paests come from much the same period, it seems likely that the 
 methods of Aeschylus were the determining or at least an 
 influential factor. In Aeschylus, the chorus might be the 
 protagonist, as in the Supplices. When later it lost this rdle, 
 it was possible for an actor to deliver the anapaests or the 
 opening part of the parodos. 
 
 Although the form seen in the Prometheus Vinctus is not used 
 by Sophocles, it occurs in the Medea and the Rhesus. Sir Richard 
 
 1 201 ff.
 
 40 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 Jebb l considers the forms of the Prometheus Vinctus, Antigone, 
 and Philoctetes as closely akin, since the lyric parts are inter- 
 mingled with anapaestic systems, and he holds that this form 
 is quite near that of the Ajax, Persae, etc. There is, however, 
 a striking difference. In the Prometheus, there is a dialogue in 
 which Prometheus regularly uses anapaests and the chorus, 
 lyric strophes. The parodos of the Antigone, on the other 
 hand, consists of one song by the chorus, and the intermingling 
 seems more artificial. Then, in the Philoctetes and the Oedipus 
 Coloneus, this form of parodos is broken up into conversation. 
 Decharme 2 assigns the use of dialogue by Sophocles to the influ- 
 ence of Euripides, and rightly. Euripides did not use the 
 Sophoclean form. In the Alcestis and elsewhere, he uses ana- 
 paests among the strophes, but in the Alcestis they form part 
 of the strophe and are accordingly answered in the antistrophe, 
 whereas Sophocles inserts them as interludes. Elsewhere when 
 used, they occur in dialogue. 
 
 Euripides also follows Aeschylus in not using a song of the 
 whole chorus. The parodos of the Septem opens with a section 
 which seems astrophic. 
 
 "It may be, as many scholars from Hermann to Wecklein have 
 thought, that the first part is not antistrophic, but is sung by different 
 individuals in the Chorus, so as to give a better suggestion of the 
 distraction and fright of the women." 3 
 
 The same is true of the Eumenides, whether we accept as parodos 
 140-177 with Detscheff 4 or 244-275 with Sidgwick. 5 It seems 
 certain that in the Alcestis, Heraclidae, Supplices, Ion, Troades, 
 the songs also were sung by various members of the chorus. 
 From such an arrangement, it is but a short step to the method 
 used in the Heraclidae and Orestes, where we have real conver- 
 
 1 Ajax, p. 31. 2 Euripide et Vdsprit de son theatre, p. 483. 
 
 3 Sidgwick, Septem contra Thebas, p. 5. 
 
 4 De tragoediarum Graecarum conformatione scaenica ac dramatica, p. 134. 
 
 5 Eumenides, p. 19.
 
 THE PARODOS 41 
 
 sation. Apparently Sophocles takes this liberty only in the 
 Oedipus Coloneus. 
 
 It is not easy to assign various tendencies to various periods 
 in the life of Euripides. If we disregard the prologue of the 
 Rhesus as suspicious, we still have the parodoi of the Medea 
 and the Alcestis opening with anapaests, and these are from the 
 first period of Euripides' career. The dramas from the end of 
 the second period and the beginning of the third frequently 
 contain anapaestic sections recited or sung by one of the actors 
 before the entrance of the chorus. The dramas of the last 
 period contain parodoi of lyric metres only. The Iphigenia 
 in Aulide, it is true, has an anapaestic prologue the genu- 
 ineness of which is often attacked, although it is defended 
 by Weil. 1 
 
 The spirit and apparent form of the parodoi of Euripides 
 differ widely from those of Aeschylus. They are less grand and 
 dignified. Yet here as elsewhere Euripides has modified and 
 freed the devices of Aeschylus, rather than those which he could 
 have taken from Sophocles. 
 
 2. The Cause of the Entrance of the Chorus 
 
 Euripides also follows Aeschylus in the way in which he 
 explains to the audience why the chorus enters. The method 
 of Sophocles is really more artificial, but it is also more artistic. 
 I intend to discuss not the deep psychological bond of union 
 between actor and chorus (as in H. Fries, De conexu chori per- 
 sonae cum fabulae actione) but the mere external cause of the 
 entrance. 
 
 In the Supplices of Aeschylus, the chorus is really the pro- 
 tagonist. It enters in its endeavor to escape the sons of Aegyp- 
 tus. In the Persae, it reviews the size of Xerxes' forces and 
 seeks to speculate how he is faring. In the Prometheus Vinctus, 
 it has heard the noise of the binding of Prometheus and comes 
 1 Sept tragedies d'Euripide, p. 309.
 
 42 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 in consequence, and in the Solutus l it appears for much the same 
 reason, a desire to see the afflicted man. The chorus of the 
 Agamemnon enters to learn the reason for the unwonted sacri- 
 fices. In the Choephori, it announces that it is taking libations 
 to Agamemnon's tomb. In the Eumenides, the Erinyes are 
 tracking Orestes. In the Septem, the chorus rushes to the altars 
 and images of the gods. The parodos of Aeschylus, then, usually 
 tells why the chorus has come. 
 
 Sophocles is not so precise. In the Antigone, the chorus 
 heralds the approach of Creon in anapaests 2 and says that it 
 has come as he ordered. This is not strictly in the parodos. 
 Similarly in the Oedipus Rex, Electro,, and Trachiniae, it gives 
 no reason for entrance or at least not in the parodos. In the 
 Ajax, it has come to learn of the truth of the rumors about 
 Ajax, although it does not say so directly. In the Philoctetes, 
 the position of the chorus as the sailors of Neoptolemus' ship 
 renders its presence natural without explanation. In the 
 Oedipus Coloneus, it enters in its search for Oedipus. In the 
 Ichneutae, Silenus tells Apollo in iambics, 3 before the parodos 
 begins, that he has come with his children in hopes of gaining 
 the reward. Sophocles, then, often does not state clearly the 
 reason for the appearance of the chorus. He has a more artistic 
 aim, but at times the chorus does not make any pretence of 
 having a reason for its coming. 
 
 Euripides in his love for clearness of exposition returns to 
 the methods of Aeschylus, nay more, he even renders them 
 more transparent than did his predecessor. In several plays, 
 as the Medea, the Troades, and the Helena, the chorus enters 
 because it has heard the laments of some one of the characters. 
 In another, the Andromache, it comes to sympathize and make 
 peace. In the Alcestis, the Hippolytus, the Orestes, and the 
 Hypsipyle, it enters with a desire to obtain definite knowledge, 
 and we may perhaps place here the Heraclidae, in which it 
 1 Frag. 190. 2 155-161. 3 39 ff.
 
 THE PARODOS 43 
 
 wishes to learn the cause of the tumult. In the Hecuba and the 
 Rhesus, it comes with information for an actor. In the Supplices, 
 it of course is presenting its petition to Aethra. In the Iphi- 
 genia in Aulide, it is merely sight-seeing. In the Electra, it 
 brings an invitation to Electra to attend a religious service. In 
 the Ion, it has accompanied its mistress, Creusa. In the Iphi- 
 genia in Tauris, it comes in response to a summons from Iphi- 
 genia. In the Phaethon, it is to sing at the wedding. 1 In the 
 Bacchae, it accompanies Dionysus. In the Cyclops, it cares 
 for the herds of the Cyclops. In the Hercules Furens, in vague 
 words, it says that it has come to sympathize with Amphitryon, 
 and in the Phoenissae it tells how it came to Thebes. We may 
 notice that in all but the Cyclops, Alcestis, Heraclidae, Hip- 
 polytus, Hercules Furens, Ion, Phoenissae, Orestes, and Hyp- 
 sipyle, it definitely explains why it has come, and even of these 
 exceptions, in all except the Cyclops, Hypsipyle, and Phoenissae, 
 the reason for its appearance is more or less clearly indicated. 
 
 In the dramas of Euripides, the reason advanced for the 
 entry of the chorus may be of the most unsubstantial and chance 
 character possible, but it is given. Aeschylus, because of the 
 importance of the chorus, often gave a real motive for its ap- 
 pearance. Still the methods of Euripides are a development 
 of the usage of Aeschylus, not of that of Sophocles, whom he 
 perhaps influenced in the Oedipus Coloneus, 
 1 Frag. 773, 1. 44 ff.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE IAMBIC SPEECHES OF THE CHORUS 
 
 ALTHOUGH in many ways Euripides reduces the importance 
 of the chorus in his plays, yet in one particular he revives some 
 of its former dignity by making it express clearer judgments 
 upon the actors and the actions than it does in the plays of 
 Sophocles. It is less apt to be strictly neutral and purely 
 conventional in its utterances at the end of the long speeches 
 of the actors. Fries 1 has shown that Euripides connects the 
 chorus with the position of one of the actors more closely 
 than Sophocles, but he has dealt for the most part with the 
 choral songs. We shall here consider the short iambic speeches 
 which are often only one or two lines in length. 
 
 As Fries well emphasizes, in some of the plays of Aeschylus 
 the chorus is one of the protagonists. So in the Supplices and 
 the Eumenides, we can hardly conceive of it as a formal de- 
 liverer of colorless opinions. Not merely in the choral odes 
 but throughout it stands forth as the champion of a definite 
 position. In the Persae, the chorus is vitally interested in the 
 fate of Xerxes and tells Atossa that it is a body of friendly coun- 
 sellors. 2 Such passages then as 787 ff. are not merely conven- 
 tional requests for information to satisfy the spectators, but 
 they are questions of supreme importance to the chorus as well 
 as to Atossa. In the Septem the chorus is on the side of Thebes 
 and advises Eteocles not to meet his brother in battle. 3 In the 
 Prometheus, it suffers at the end with Prometheus. It wishes 
 to hear lo's story. 4 In the Agamemnon the long threnos and the 
 
 1 De conexu chori personae cum fabulae actione. 
 
 2 175. 3 712 ff. 819 ff.
 
 THE IAMBIC SPEECHES OF THE CHORUS 45 
 
 quarrel with Aegisthus 1 show that the chorus takes a definite 
 stand on the questions at issue. In the Choephori its position 
 is not doubtful, for it persuades the nurse to fetch Aegisthus 
 without his bodyguard. 2 In the plays of Aeschylus, in the dia- 
 logue portions as well as in the odes, the chorus is not neutral 
 but is a helper or a very sympathetic adviser to the actors. 
 In most of the plays, it expresses judgments of which the spec- 
 tators approve. 
 
 In the plays of Sophocles, the chorus is less active. In the 
 Antigone, for instance, it advises Creon to yield to Tiresias 3 
 but it previously has submitted to the ruler and in several 
 passages, as 471-472, it merely states facts without comment- 
 ing upon them. In the stormy scene between Creon and 
 Haemon, it lacks a definite position and says: 
 
 ava, ak T' euc6s, et n Kaipiov 
 
 , ak. T J av rovd'' fv yap elprjTai 
 
 In the Ajax, the chorus composed of Salaminian sailors is closely 
 related to Ajax and is imperilled by his fall. 5 Yet it tries to 
 moderate the anger of its chief 6 and during the dispute concern- 
 ing the funeral to restrain the participants, Menelaus, 7 Teucer, 8 
 Agamemnon. 9 In the Oedipus Rex, the chorus continues the 
 same policy. It leaves the discovery of the criminal to the 
 . god w and attempts to calm Oedipus in the scene with Tiresias u 
 and to prevent trouble with Creon. 12 Here as in the Antigone 
 the chorus has little personal connection with the protagonist. 
 The same tendency appears in the Electra, where the chorus 
 urges moderation on Electra. 13 In the Trachiniae also the chorus 
 fails to express any decided views. In the Philoctetes, as in the 
 Ajax, the chorus is formed of sailors subject to one of the 
 
 1407 ff. 481 ff. 10 276 ff. 
 
 730 ff . 7 1091-1092. " 404 ff. 
 
 1100-1101. '1118-1119. 523ff. 
 
 724-725. 1264-1265. 610-611, 1015-1016. 
 
 900 ff.
 
 46 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 actors, yet it contents itself with platitudes, as in its remark 
 to Odysseus: 
 
 ftapvs rt Kai fiapelav 6 evo$ (franv 
 
 rrivd' C'TT', '08v<r<rev, KOVX virt'iKovaav /coucoij. 1 
 
 The Oedipus Coloneus differs from the other Sophoclean trage- 
 dies extant in this point. The chorus takes a firmer stand on 
 various occasions. It declares boldly in answer to Oedipus' 
 appeal for help: 
 
 Oapvet, irapkarai' Kai yap d yepcw eyw, 
 r6 rfjffSe x&pas v yeyhpaKe crdkvos. 2 
 
 It threatens Creon and challenges him: kirlax^ avrov, ^et^e, 3 
 and later condemns Polynices and urges him to leave as quickly 
 as possible. 4 It proves that it spoke the truth in 461 ff., when 
 it declared that as Oedipus was to help Athens, it would assist 
 him. In the Ichneutae, the chorus is very important, as a consid- 
 erable part of the extant portion is a dialogue between Cyllene 
 and the Satyrs, and the latter as the agents of Apollo almost 
 become one of the protagonists of the play. As far then as we 
 can judge from the extant plays, Sophocles uses the speeches 
 of the chorus in a rather colorless manner. The exceptions are 
 the Oedipus Coloneus, the structure of which has been influ- 
 enced by the plays of Euripides, and the Ichneutae, which is 
 probably the oldest satyric drama extant and the earliest 
 play of Sophocles which has been preserved. 
 
 Euripides follows Aeschylus in making the chorus express 
 its opinions more boldly, although the extent to which this is 
 true varies in different plays. In the Bacchae, it is vitally in- 
 terested in the defeat of Pentheus and censures him at every 
 turn. It condemns the king as impious for his treatment of 
 Cadmus and Tiresias, 5 it greets the escaping Dionysus, 6 
 
 1 1045-1046. 3 856. B 263-265. 
 
 1 726-727. 4 1397-1398. 608-609.
 
 THE IAMBIC SPEECHES OF THE CHORUS 47 
 
 in spite of its fear of the ruler, it confesses the power of the 
 god, 1 and it triumphs at the news of the tyrant's death. 2 In 
 the Supplices, the chorus, composed of the mothers of the dead 
 chieftains, would naturally not be neutral. It supplements 
 the pleas of Adrastus, 3 it commends Aethra's intervention, 4 
 it rebukes the herald, 5 and rejoices over the Athenian victory. 6 
 In the Troades, the chorus of captive Trojan women utters 
 many gnomic sayings, as 608--609, or speeches referring to its 
 own lot, as 684-685, but it appeals to Hecuba to answer Helen : 
 
 /ScuriXet', afj.vvov cms reKVoiai K.a.1 irarpq. 
 8ia.(f>8dpovaa rrja-8', lird X&yci 
 Ka/coOp7os ova a.' deivdv ovv r68e. 7 
 
 Similarly it appeals to Menelaus to destroy Helen, who has 
 disgraced her sex. 8 In the Ion, the chorus, composed of the 
 maids of Creusa, is deeply attached to its mistress and con- 
 demns the action of Xuthus. It wishes the prosperity of the 
 queen, 9 it rejoices that Ion wishes to stay at Delphi, 10 it tells 
 the oracle in defiance of Xuthus' orders, 11 and it wishes to 
 share the queen's fate, whatever it may be. 12 In the Heraclidae, 
 the chorus of Athenians does not waver in its views. Without 
 assenting to the speech of the herald, 13 it approves that of lolaus 
 and urges the reception of the suppliants, 14 it refuses to allow 
 the surrender of lolaus, 15 and it opposes the murder of Eurys- 
 theus. 16 Indeed it represents the point of view of the Athenians 
 and so is not neutral. In the Medea, the chorus has a definite 
 opinion. It tells Medea that she is acting rightly 17 and says to 
 Jason that he is doing wrong. 18 It urges Medea not to kill her 
 children 19 and again condemns Jason. 20 In the Hercules Furens, 
 
 775-777. 1033-1035. 461-463. 
 
 1031 ff. 566-568. 961 ff. 
 
 193-194, 250-252. 10 648-649. " 267-268. 
 
 332-333. " 760 ff. 576-578. 
 
 511-512. u 857-858. 19 811-813. 
 
 731-733, 179-180. * 1231-1235. 
 
 7 966-968. " 232-235.
 
 48 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 the chorus is unreservedly on the side of Heracles, it dis- 
 cusses whether or not it can defend the victims of Lycus, 1 and 
 later it blames Hera for the madness of Heracles. 2 In the 
 Iphigenia in Tauris, many of the speeches are colorless, but 
 the chorus promises to help Iphigenia 3 and attempts to delay 
 the messenger who is reporting the escape to Thoas. 4 The chorus 
 in the Phoenissae, although composed of strangers at Thebes, 
 does not hesitate to have an opinion as to the merits of the 
 brothers. It praises Polynices, 5 condemns Eteocles, 6 and 
 prays for a reconciliation. 7 In the Orestes, in addition to gnomic 
 sayings, as 542-543, the chorus formally asks Menelaus to 
 help Orestes. 8 It condemns Helen 9 and assists Electra in her 
 watch for enemies. 10 In the Helena, the chorus is friendly to 
 Helen and advises her to consult Theonoe n instead of believing 
 Teucer. 12 In naive fashion it wishes to hear the plea of Mene- 
 laus, 13 as the chorus in the Prometheus desire to learn about 
 lo's wanderings. 14 The chorus of the Hippolytus is not very 
 decided in its views, but it approves of Phaedra's plan rather 
 than the nurse's, 15 and later because of its oath it does not tell 
 of the innocence of Hippolytus. In the Iphigenia in Aulide, 
 the chorus throughout is opposed to the sacrifice of the maiden 
 and pities Agamemnon 16 and Iphigenia. 17 It clearly condemns 
 the sacrifice, although it approves Iphigenia's decision to die 
 willingly. 18 In the Cyclops, the chorus of Satyrs constantly seeks 
 to escape from the Cyclops 19 and so it naturally sides with 
 Odysseus, and even takes his part against Silenus. 20 It is 
 willing to assist in the blinding of the monster but it always 
 loses its courage and excuses its inactivity. 21 
 
 252 ff., 312-315. 680-681. "482-485. 
 
 1311-1312. 9 1153-1154. 1J 469-470. 
 
 1075-1077. 10 1246 ff. 17 1336-1337. 
 
 1288 ff . 317 ff. 18 1402-1403. 
 
 497-498. * 306-307. 437 ff. 
 
 526-527. 1J 944-946. 20 270-272. 
 
 7 586-587. 14 819 ff. 21 629 ff.
 
 THE IAMBIC SPEECHES OF THE CHORUS 49 
 
 In other plays, however, the chorus does not take so decided 
 a position. In the Alcestis, for instance, the chorus praises 
 Alcestis in such frigid terms that the depairawa becomes indig- 
 nant. 1 The same calm character is seen in 326-327 and the 
 scene between Pheres and Admetus. 2 It is surprised at the 
 reception of Heracles by Admetus. 3 In the Andromache, the 
 chorus is very frigid. In the scene between Peleus and Mene- 
 laus, it urges moderation 4 much in the Sophoclean fashion. It 
 reveals to Peleus the plot of Orestes 5 but on the whole its func- 
 tion is rather slight. Although the chorus of the Hecuba is 
 composed of captive Trojan women, most of their remarks 
 are formal, as in the scene between Odysseus and Hecuba. 6 
 In the Electra, the chorus is quite neutral. In some passages, 
 as 401^403, it sympathizes with Electra, but its comments 7 on 
 Clytaemestra's speech are a good illustration of the gnomic 
 and formal attitude which it assumes. In the Rhesus, too, the 
 chorus does little more than present formal comments on the 
 action, as in 804 ff., where it briefly sums up the situation and 
 shows the innocence of Hector. 
 
 Unlike Sophocles, then, Euripides often connects his chorus 
 in some degree with one of the actors throughout the play. It 
 takes a definite stand and often tends to express the poet's 
 view of the true ethical import of the drama. Prof. Murray 8 
 says of the chorus : 
 
 "It also carries on, by the mouth of its Leader, a certain amount 
 of ordinary dialogue with the actors. Its work here is generally kept 
 unobtrusive, neutral and low-toned. When a traveller wants to ask 
 his way; when the hero or heroine announces some resolve, or gives 
 some direction, the Leader is there to make the necessary response. 
 But only within certain carefully guarded limits. The Leader must 
 never become a definite full-blooded character with strongly personal 
 
 1 150 ff. 1047 ff. 
 
 * 611-740. 296-298. 
 
 551 ff. 7 1051-1054. 
 
 4 642-644, 691-692, 727-728. Euripides and his Age, p. 235 f.
 
 50 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 views. He must never take really effective or violent action. He 
 never, I think, gives information which we do not already possess or 
 expresses views which could seem paradoxical or original. He is an 
 echo, a sort of music in the air. ... At times, in these dialogue scenes, 
 an effect is obtained by allowing the Chorus to turn for a moment into 
 ordinary flesh and blood." 
 
 This is true in the main, but Euripides' choruses very often ex- 
 press a definite opinion as to the justice of one or more of the 
 most prominent characters in the play. 
 
 Herein Euripides has followed the usage of Aeschylus, in 
 whose plays the chorus is usually connected with the actors. 
 Sophocles diminishes the function of the chorus until it inter- 
 feres in the dialogue in a colorless way, and in the desire to 
 keep it neutral he neglects any relationship which it may have 
 with one of the characters. Euripides, who revives the older 
 method, develops all means of connecting the chorus and the 
 characters and also indicates, through the iambic speeches of 
 the coryphaeus, his own attitude toward the moral problems 
 underlying the play. It is true that such iambic speeches 
 are more frequent in the dramas of Euripides than in those 
 of Aeschylus, since the latter uses the lyric metres more 
 extensively, but it is clear that in his use of such speeches, the 
 model of Euripides was not Sophocles but Aeschylus.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 THE ANAPAEST 
 
 IN chapter III, we have seen some similarities in the use 
 of the anapaest by Aeschylus and Euripides. Let us see now 
 if in other ways also the two poets agree in their use of this 
 metre. 
 
 Prof. Smyth, 1 in a classification of the occurrences of this 
 metre, arranges the examples as (1) anapaests of parodos and 
 march; (2) semimelic anapaests; (3) melic anapaests. The 
 third division consists usually of short sections of one or two 
 lines, generally part of a strophe, although in the plays of 
 Euripides we do find long passages in this metre. This class, 
 from its association with other metres and its incorporation 
 in odes, concerns us less intimately and we shall mention only 
 some of the more striking cases of it. In my grouping, I shall 
 follow in general Prof. Smyth's divisions, but I shall not men- 
 tion the passages which I have treated in chapter III. 
 
 1. (a) Anapaests at entrance of character Pers. 150-154 
 (of Atossa), 909-921 (spoken by Xerxes and the chorus), Sept. 
 861-874 (of Antigone and Ismene), P. V. 286-299 (spoken by 
 Oceanus), 561-565 (spoken by lo), Ag. 782-809 (of Agamemnon). 
 
 (6) Anapaests at end of episode or as prelude to stasimon 
 Supp. 625-629, Pers. 532-547, 623-632, Sept. 822-831, P. V. 
 279-285, Ag. 355-366, Bum. 307-320. 
 
 (c) Anapaests at departure of character P. V. 877-886 
 (spoken by lo), Ag. 1331-1342 (of Cassandra), Ch. 855-868 (of 
 Aegisthus). 
 
 1 Notes on the Anapaests of Aischylos, Harvard Studies, Vol. VII, p. 139.
 
 52 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 (d) Anapaests at ending of play Sept . 1059-1084, P. V. 
 1040-1093, Ch. 1065-1076. 
 
 (e) Miscellaneous anapaests (interludes) Supp. 966-979, 
 Ch. 719-729. 
 
 2. Semimelic anapaests threnoi and anapaestic systems 
 mixed with lyric passages Ag. 1448-1576 (1462-1467, 1475- 
 1480, 1497-1504, 1523-1529, 1551-1559, 1567-1576, the speeches 
 of Clytaemestra in kommos), Ch. 306-479 (306-314, 340-344, 
 372-379, 400-404, 476^78, speeches of the chorus in threnos), 
 Eum. 916-1020 (927-937, 949-955, 968-975, 988-995, 1003- 
 1013, the speeches of Athena). 
 
 3. Melic anapaests Pers. 694-696 = 700-702, Ch. 1007- 
 1009 = 1018-1020. 
 
 Sophocles uses the anapaest less extensively. 
 
 1. (a) Ant. 155-161 (of Creon), 376-383 (of Antigone), 
 526-530 (of Ismene), 626-630 (of Haemon), 800-805 (of 
 Antigone), 1257-1260 (of Creon), Phil. 1409-1417 (spoken by 
 Heracles). 
 
 (6) No examples. 
 
 (c) Ant. 929-943 (spoken by chorus, Creon, and Antigone). 
 
 (d) Ant. 1347-1353, Aj. 1402-1420, Tr. 1259-1278, El. 
 1508-1510, Phil. 1445-1471, 0. C. 1751-1779 (the first three 
 passages contain reflections on the action of the plays). 
 
 (e) Aj. 1163-1167. 
 
 2. Ant. 806-882 (817-822, 834-838, speeches of chorus), Aj. 
 201-262 (201-220, speeches of Tecmessa and chorus, 233-244, 
 257-262, the speeches of Tecmessa), Tr. 971-1042 (971-1003, 
 speeches of Hyllus, old man, and Heracles), 0. R. 1297-1368 
 (1297-1312, speeches of chorus and Oedipus). 
 
 This shows the relative unimportance of the anapaest in 
 Sophocles' plays. At the conclusion of a drama, it is often 
 used to express a moralizing comment. In the semimelic pas- 
 sages, it is retained, but even here the proportion of anapaest 
 to lyric is much smaller than in the work of Aeschylus. Only
 
 THE ANAPAEST 53 
 
 in the Antigone is the entrance of characters often heralded in 
 this metre. In these cases, there is a loss in content as well as 
 length, since the treatment is rather formal, a mere announce- 
 ment and a simple comment upon the character entering. 
 
 Now let us consider the usage of Euripides. 
 
 1. (a) Ale. 28-37 (spoken by Thanatos), 238-243 (of Ad- 
 metus and Alcestis), Hipp. 170-266 (170-175 of nurse, 176-266 
 spoken by nurse and Phaedra), 1282-1295 (spoken by Artemis), 
 1342-1369 (spoken by chorus and Hippolytus), And. 494-500 
 (of Andromache), 1166-1172 (of the body of Neoptolemus), 
 1226-1230 (of Thetis), Supp. 794-797 (of the bodies of the slain 
 chiefs), 980-989 (of Evadne), 1114-1122 (of the children with 
 the bones of the chiefs), H. F. 442-450 (of Amphitryon and 
 Megara), Ion 1244-1249 (of Creusa), Tro. 230-234 (of Tal- 
 thybius), 568-576 (of Andromache), 1118-1122 (of the body of 
 Astyanax), 1251-1259 (of the burning of Troy), El. 988-997 
 (of Clytaemestra), 1172-1176 (of the matricides), 1233-1237 
 (of the Dioscuri), I. T. 456-466 (of the captive Orestes and 
 Pylades), Phoen. 1480-1484 (of the bodies of the brothers), 
 Or. 348-355 (of Menelaus), 1013-1017 (of Pylades), /. A. 
 590-606 (of Clytaemestra), Rh. 379-387 (of Rhesus), 882-889 
 (of the Muse), Hyps, iv, 5(3)10-14 (of Amphiaraus), frag. 
 773 (Phaethori), 11. 59-65 (of the king, herald, and Phaethon). 
 
 (6) Cycl. 483-494. 
 
 (c) Ale. 741-746 (of the funeral), Med. 357-363 (of Creon), 
 759-763 (of Aegeus), Tro. 782-798 (spoken by Talthybius and 
 Hecuba). 
 
 (d) Her. 1053-1055, Hipp. 1462-1466, Hec. 1293-1295, Supp. 
 1232-1234, H. F. 1427-1428, El. 1292-1359, 7. A. 1627-1629, 
 Rh. 993-996, frag. 446 (Hippolytus). Ending A Ale. 1159- 
 1163, Med. 1389-1419 (1415-1419, ending, except 1415), And. 
 1284-1288, Hel. 1688-1692, Bacch. 1368-1392 (1388-1392, 
 ending). Ending B 7. T. 1490-1499 (1497-1499, ending), 
 Phoen. 1764-1766, Or. 1682-1693 (1691-1693, ending).
 
 54 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 (e) Med. 1081-1115, Her. 288-296. 
 
 2. Ale. 244-279 (273-279, speech of Admetus in threnos), 
 861-934 (861-871, 878-888, 895-902, 912-925, the speeches 
 of Admetus hi threnos). 
 
 3. Hipp. 1370-1378 (of Hippolytus), And. 501-544 (515- 
 522 = 537-544 of Menelaus), Hec. 154-215 (of Hecuba and 
 Polyxena), Ion 859-922 (monologue of Creusa), Rh. 527-564 
 (538-545 = 557-564). 
 
 Euripides uses the anapaest more than Sophocles does, and 
 he employs it at times in a more formal manner. This is es- 
 pecially seen in the conventional endings which are repeated 
 at the conclusion of several plays. The use of such general 
 schemes in eight out of nineteen plays seems to show a loss of 
 spontaneity, but it is possible that Euripides did not write 
 them. The poet uses freely lyric anapaests, often modified and 
 admitting many substitutions. 
 
 In the anapaests employed at the entrance of characters, 
 Euripides follows the tradition of Aeschylus. The dramatic 
 power of this use can be seen in Ag. 782-809 and P. V. 561-565, 
 examples of a speech by the chorus and of one by the entering 
 actor. Sophocles treats such anapaests in a colorless way. 1 
 Ant. 376-383 is the only passage in which the chorus addresses 
 the person entering. Although Euripides uses the metre here 
 at times in a manner similar to that of Sophocles, he often em- 
 ploys it as in El. 988-997, where the greeting of the queen is 
 on a splendid scale, and in Tro. 568-576, where there is a strik- 
 ing description of Andromache on her way to the ship. In 
 several passages, 2 the chorus addresses the actor entering, and 
 in others, 8 it addresses some character or characters already 
 on the stage. I. A. 590-606 is similar in type to Pers. 150-154, 
 although the latter case seems more like an actual address. 
 
 1 Cf. Ant. 626-630. 
 
 * And. 494-500, Tro. 568-576, El. 988-997, Or. 348-355, Rh. 379-387. 
 
 * Tro. 1118-1122, 1251-1259, I. T. 456-466, Rh. 882-889.
 
 THE ANAPAEST 55 
 
 Finally in Hyps, iv, 5(3)10-14, the chorus appeals to Zeus of 
 Nemea for information concerning the approaching stranger. 
 Even where there is no address of one of the actors, Euripides 
 is apt to give more information and show more variety in form 
 than Sophocles. A comparison of And. 1226-1230 and Ant. 
 526-530 shows this. Aeschylus avoids formalism on the whole, 
 even when the chorus delivers the passage as in Ag. 782-809. 
 
 It is especially in the anapaests at the entrance of characters 
 that Euripides follows the usage of Aeschylus, and it is here 
 that he differs most markedly from Sophocles. Semimelic 
 passages the two later poets treat in rather similar fashion, 
 but Euripides develops and uses melic anapaests more freely. 
 Finally at the end of plays Euripides carries on the change 
 commenced in the dramas of Sophocles and employs more formal 
 schemes than either Sophocles or Aeschylus. The latter, in 
 fact, avoids any such moralizings at the conclusion of a piece. 
 
 Euripides uses the anapaests most frequently in the earlier 
 plays, but toward the end of the third period, he largely dis- 
 cards them. The metrical variety thus lost he regains through 
 the revival of the trochaic tetrameter.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE TROCHAIC TETRAMETER 
 
 UNLIKE the anapaest, the trochaic tetrameter passed almost 
 out of use in the later stages of Aeschylus' career, and later, 
 after a long period of neglect, it reappeared. Euripides revived 
 it in the second period of his work and used it ever more freely. 
 Sophocles never cared for it, or at least he employed it very 
 sparingly. 
 
 Kanz l thinks that Euripides used this metre for two pur- 
 poses: (1) to give a dignified account of serious matters; (2) in 
 altercations which the lively movement of the metre suited. 
 Prof. Verrall 2 says that Bacch. 604-641 (trochaic lines) shows 
 the influence of comedy and indicates that we are not to treat 
 Dionysus seriously. Kanz, however, places this same passage 
 in his first class. 
 
 Aristotle 3 says of tragedy: kit IUKP&V nvQwv na.1 Xe^cws ye\oias 
 8ia TO K <ra.Tvpi.Kov /iera/SaXeTj' 6iJ/e airecrenvvvQr), TO re ukrpov K rcrpa- 
 /xerpou ianfieiov kytveTO- TO fj.ev yap irpuiTov Trpa/xerpc) kxp&VTO 5ta 
 TO (raTvpiKriv /ecu opx^ori/ccoTCpaj' elvai TTJV iroiriaiv, Xeecos ot ytvo- 
 fj.evr)S avTrj rj </>i/cris TO oiKciov neTpov evpe /ia,Xt(TTa yap XCKTIKOV T&V 
 lj.Tpuv TO la/jLpeiov kaTiv. This seems to be a reliable statement. 
 Whatever the origin of tragedy, the trochaic was probably the 
 metre first used, and it seems certain that tragedy was originally 
 of religious origin and that deities appeared on the stage. 
 
 Although the trochaic seems more rapid than the iambic 
 and is less often used for long speeches, still in the Iphigenia 
 in Aulide there are trochaic speeches of 42 lines 4 and 24 lines, 6 
 
 1 De tetrametro trochaico, p. 25. 3 Poetics, p. 1449 a 19 ff. 
 
 * Bacchants of Euripides, p. 76. 4 334-375. * 378-401.
 
 THE TROCHAIC TETRAMETER 57 
 
 respectively. The poets, then, could use long trochaic speeches. 
 Conversely, in the Ion, in which this metre is used consider- 
 ably, there are an iambic stichomythy of 105 lines 1 and another 
 of 91 lines. 2 Trochaics, then, are not always used in scenes 
 with rapid movement. 
 
 The trochaics in the Persae, the earliest play in which they 
 occur, are arranged in an interesting manner. The first passage 
 in which they are found 3 contains also a long iambic speech by 
 Atossa. 4 This might seem to indicate that trochaics were not 
 used for long speeches. It is more significant, however, that 
 this iambic section describes the dream and the portents seen 
 by the queen. When she speaks with the chorus as a mortal, 
 she uses trochaics, but when she reveals the will of the gods, 
 she employs iambics. 
 
 The second scene 6 can be explained in the same way. In 
 681-693, Darius, a prince among the dead, appears in response 
 to the rites of Atossa and the chorus. He uses iambics. The 
 chorus, filled with awe, says: 
 
 niv 7rpocri5ecr0eu, 
 8' avrLa Xecu. 
 akdv dpxauf) irtpl rap/Set. 6 
 
 He turns to the chorus and in trochaics asks it to speak rfiv 
 k^v ai8u ne8ds. 7 He then appeals to the queen and learns from 
 her of the disastrous expedition of Xerxes. 8 During this tro- 
 chaic passage, the ghost is learning about the conditions of his 
 realm and seemingly knows nothing of what has happened since 
 his death. At 759, he changes back to iambics, repeats the 
 history of the Persian kings, and, foretelling the future, warns 
 against another expedition to Greece and departs. Darius uses 
 trochaics while he is seeking information, i.e. while he is a dead 
 mortal. When he assumes the rdle of divine prophet and 
 
 1 264-368. 155-248. 681-851. 7 699. 
 
 * 938-1028. 4 176-214. 694-696. 703-758.
 
 58 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 preacher, i.e., is the hero or god, he uses iambics. At the 
 end of the scene 1 Atossa and the chorus also speak in iambics. 
 This is due to the fact that Darius is the protagonist and to the 
 poet's reluctance to change the metre for the few lines. We do 
 not find anywhere a conversation in which both iambics and 
 trochaics are simultaneously used. 
 
 In the Agamemnon, the trochaic lines 1344, 1346, 1347, 
 may be regarded as expressing strong feeling or as revealing 
 something which takes place off the stage. Probably they are 
 used to emphasize 1343, 1345, the cries of the stricken king. 
 Later, when the chorus says, 
 
 rl dri TOV iivdpa rovd' O.TTO if/vxys KCIKTJS 
 OVK aiiros Vdpifes, dXXd viv 
 X&pas /uacr/za KCLL de&v t 
 
 6KT6lv' ', 'OpCOTTJS Spa 7TOU (SXtTTet 0aOS, 
 
 OTTOJS Kare\6<j}V 8evpo Trpev/jLtvei TVXV 
 a.fj.<j>div y&rjTai rolvde irayKparris (frovevs ; 2 
 
 Aegisthus interrupts with the words : 
 
 dXX' CTret doKcls rad' epdeiv /cat \eyew, yvuffft rdxa- 3 
 
 The mention of the return of Orestes seems to cause the change ; 
 yet the meeting of mother and son, 4 in a sense the climax of the 
 trilogy, contains an iambic stichomythy. In the Agamemnon, 
 Wecklein 5 alters the order of lines and emends unnecessarily. 
 If we should accept his changes, we should be obliged to consider 
 the metre as marking in a scene of excitement the conclusion 
 of one play of a trilogy. It is possible, however, that the 
 prediction of the exile's return may influence the verse here, 
 although this must not be too much emphasized. 
 
 1 843-851. 4 Ch. 892-930. 
 
 1 1643-1648. * Aschylos' Orestie, p. 159, note on 1643 S. 
 
 3 1649.
 
 THE TROCHAIC TETRAMETER 59 
 
 Probably in Oedipus Rex 1515-1530, trochaics are used merely 
 as the ending of the play. These lines follow a scene which 
 contains prayers and predictions, but we do not need to follow 
 Prof. Murray's hint l and see in the departure of Oedipus for 
 Cithaeron a faded theophany. 
 
 In Oedipus Coloneus 887-890 (trochaic lines), Theseus enters 
 in haste, but it is interesting to note that he leaves the altar of 
 Poseidon to rescue Oedipus. Once again there is at least a refer- 
 ence to a god in the trochaic passage. 
 
 Philoctetes 1402-1407 is an interesting case. After Philoctetes 
 says: 
 
 Kai fir) fipadvve /uT/5' Tnfj.vrj(r6fjs 2ri 
 Tpotas" aXts yap /JLOL T^BprjvrjTat 7<XH$. 2 
 
 Neoptolemus answers in trochaics : 
 ci donei, 
 
 Just as the two start, the anapaests of Heracles are heard and 
 Philoctetes is told to go to Troy. Heracles gives his com- 
 mands in iambics and then the final anapaests begin. The 
 use of trochaics before the appearance of the gods obeys the 
 rule which we observed in the Persae. 
 
 Except for the Rhesus, the earliest case of trochaics in the 
 plays of Euripides is Hercules Furens 855-873, near the opening 
 of the second part of the drama. In 822-854, Iris and Lyssa 
 discuss the orders of Hera, and Lyssa refuses to obey. Iris says : 
 
 nr) ov vovOtrci, T&. 6' "Hpas /cd/ua fjLrjxo.vrjfj.aTa.* 
 
 Of course she is overshadowed by her mistress, and the use 
 of trochaics shows this. Lyssa submits. Just as Darius in the 
 Persae turned to iambics when he uttered his prophecy, so these 
 goddesses commence trochaics when they obey the commands 
 of Hera, and the change of metre makes clear their subordination. 
 
 1 Ritual Forms, p. 358. * 1402. 
 
 1400-1401. 4 855.
 
 60 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 In the Ion, the same rule is observed. In the trochaic passage 
 510-565, Ion inquires about Xuthus, and the section describes 
 the oracle and its fulfilment. As soon as this is ended, the 
 iambics, the normal measure of dialogue, begin again. In a 
 scene of wild excitement, 1 after the failure of her plot, Creusa 
 flees to the altar. It is noteworthy that the trochaics begin 
 here again when the characters come into contact with the 
 divine. Ion despite his excitement uses iambics. Finally at 
 1553 Athena appears and delivers a long speech in iambics. 
 Properly, at the close, Ion resumes trochaics 2 and the play ends 
 with them. The words of Athena in these lines are of slight 
 importance. She has delivered her message and the interest 
 centres on the mortals. Just as in Pers. 787 ff . the chorus 
 used iambics after Darius had finished, here Athena speaks 
 in trochaics to prevent awkward changes of the metre. 
 
 Troades 444^61 is a similar case. In 427-443, Cassandra 
 predicts the fate of Odysseus. Suddenly she changes and says : 
 
 dXXd yap ri TOVS 'QSvcrffeus Qanovrlfa TTOVOVS] 
 OTTCOS To-xiar'' es "Aidov vv/j,4>lt>) 
 
 She foretells her own death and Agamemnon's. The keynote 
 of the passage is " Farewell." The prophetess changes from the 
 inspired seer to the wretched captive, and so the metre marks 
 the descent from divine to human. 
 
 Kanz 4 divides Iphigenia in Tauris 1203-1233, assigning 
 1203-1221 to the second division and 1222-1233 to the first 
 as a solemn proclamation. This is unnecessary, as the under- 
 lying thought is the same. The orders are given first to Thoas 
 and then to all, so that no real division exists. In these lines, 
 Iphigenia applies the divine commands to mortals, after the 
 iambics 6 have revealed the pretended will of the goddess. 
 
 1 1250-1260. 3 444-445. 1153-1202. 
 
 1606 ff. Op. cU. t p. 25.
 
 THE TROCHAIC TETRAMETER 61 
 
 This passage then is regular and the choice of metres is another 
 evidence of the cleverness of Iphigenia. 
 
 Helena 1621-1641 is a scene of great excitement, for Theo- 
 clymenus is planning vengeance on his sister, because she has 
 allowed Helen to escape. At the close of this section, the 
 Dioscuri appear and in iambics forbid the king to punish 
 Theonoe or to pursue the fugitives. After they have finished, 
 the king assents briefly in iambics, but this apparent irregularity 
 is due to the same reason as in the Persae and the Ion. 
 
 The Phoenissae shows a wider use of this metre. In 588-637, 
 the trochaics are employed without reference to divinity, but 
 they give a very animated movement to the quarrel of the two 
 brothers. 1308-1309 and 1335-1339 have a somewhat emo- 
 tional character. Finally 1758-1763 (deleted by Wilamowitz) 
 seem to point definitely to the ending of the Oedipus Rex. In 
 this play, then, for the first time in Euripides, the metre cannot 
 be connected with divinity. 
 
 In the Orestes, the return of Pylades and the leaving of the 
 friends for the assembly 1 are described in the trochaic metre. 
 The motive is approximately that of Ag. 1649 ff., but trochaics 
 are probably used for the sake of the rapid movement. The 
 same is perhaps true also of 1506-1536, the meeting of Orestes 
 and the Phrygian, and 1549-1553, the announcement of the 
 coming of Menelaus. 
 
 In Bacchae 604-641, Prof. Verrall uses the metre as an 
 argument for his view of the plot. This is not a strong argu- 
 ment. Nowhere have we found a god as god using the trochaic 
 metre. The clue is given in 622-624 : 
 
 kv dl rQde T$ XP& V W 
 
 aveTLva^' i\6uv 6 B<KXS 5o>^ia xai /zijT/xis r6.<fx^ 
 Tfvp bvitye. 
 
 Dionysus is pretending to be one of his own followers. 2 As 
 
 Darius, when speaking as the dead king, used trochaics, so here 
 
 1 729-806. * Cf. 494, 498, 517.
 
 62 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 Dionysus, posing as a mortal, speaks in the same metre. This 
 emphasizes in a very skilful manner the disguise of the god. 
 
 In the Iphigenia in Aulide, the scene between the two brothers 
 is in trochaics. 1 In this, as in 855-916, the poet chose this metre 
 for no apparent reason. Still, in the second passage, it is inter- 
 esting to note that the queen appeals to Achilles, the son of 
 the goddess Thetis, in terms applicable to a god. 2 Yet we 
 must not insist too strongly upon the divine parentage of Achilles 
 as responsible for the use of the trochaics here. We might find 
 some connection perhaps in 1338-1401, where Iphigenia con- 
 sents to die for the Greeks. It is more likely, however, that 
 Euripides used this metre for important scenes without the 
 usual limitations. 
 
 Rhesus 683-684, 686-691 are trochaic. They occur in the 
 fight between the Trojans and the Greek chiefs, but we must 
 remember that Odysseus and Diomedes are acting at the 
 instigation and under the direction of Athena. 
 
 As we do not know the context in which the trochaic lines 
 preserved among the fragments were situated, they do not 
 concern us here. 
 
 It is difficult to agree with Kanz 3 that Sophocles used the 
 trochaic as a substitute for the anapaestic metre. No doubt 
 in the Agamemnon, Oedipus Rex, and Ion, it does seem to en- 
 croach upon the field of the anapaest, but the use of the latter 
 metre in a situation like 0. C. 887-890 would not be in harmony 
 with the usual Sophoclean practice. Similarly, in Phil. 1402 ff., 
 we should not expect anapaests when the entrance of Heracles 
 is announced in the same metre. There may be some en- 
 croachment in Phoen. 1308-1309 and Or. 1549 ff., but the 
 
 1 317-375, 378-401. 
 1 Cf. 900-901, 
 
 oi>K iiratSt(r6r]ffOfjiai ye irpooietativ ri> abv ytaru, 
 0wjT<Js (K Beat yey&ra, 
 
 and also 903, 911. Op. cit., p. 23.
 
 THE TROCHAIC TETRAMETER 63 
 
 hortatory character of these passages would render them 
 unsuited for conventional anapaestic treatment. 
 
 We may then trust Aristotle in his statements as to the 
 original use of this metre in tragedy. It was early given up, 
 but it retained its position longest in marking the separation 
 of human and divine and at the end of plays. In these places 
 it reappeared first, and only in the later plays of Euripides is 
 it used in important scenes without such cause. 
 
 Its use in tragedy is irregular, for the iambic trimeter had 
 obtained such a hold as the normal metre of dialogue that it 
 could not be displaced sufficiently for the poets to use the 
 trochaic tetrameter consistently. Euripides, however, employed 
 it very freely and seemingly cared for it, perhaps because of his 
 love of archaism.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 DESCRIPTION 
 
 THE plays of Aeschylus and Euripides contain long descrip- 
 tive passages which often materially delay the action of the 
 drama. In this discussion, I shall consider neither most of the 
 speeches of the messengers nor such sections as have mainly 
 political importance, e.g., Eur., Supp. 399-462, but shall con- 
 fine myself to those passages which contain definite pieces of 
 description and narration. 
 
 Critics differ in their judgment of the long geographical 
 descriptions in the dramas of Aeschylus. Prof. Post * condemns 
 them. Mr. Sheppard is less severe and thinks that in the 
 Supplices the description of the kingdom of Pelasgus is very 
 dramatic and balances the invocation of Zeus. 2 
 
 Among such passages are: Supp. 249-273, the description 
 of the kingdom of Pelasgus, and 277-290, the names of the 
 races to which he compares the daughters of Danaus; P. V. 
 640-686, lo's account of her wanderings, and 700-741, 786-876, 
 Prometheus' recital of other portions of her travels and of her 
 future toils. (This does not agree with the choral passage 
 Supp. 538-564.) The easy transition from description to 
 narration is seen in P. V. 846-876, where the Titan mentions 
 the fate of lo's descendants, and in Ag. 281-316, where the 
 queen describes the coming of the fire-signals from Troy to 
 Argos. In Pers. 480-514 we learn about the retreat of Xerxes, 
 and in the ode 864-896 about the conquests of Darius. Among 
 
 1 The Dramatic Art of Aeschylus, Harvard Studies, Vol. XVI, p. 58. 
 1 The First Scene of the Suppliants of Aeschylus, Classical Quarterly, 
 Vol. V, p. 228.
 
 DESCRIPTION 65 
 
 the fragments, we may mention 30-32 from the Glaucus Pontius 
 and those from the Prometheus Solutus. Frag. 199 certainly, 
 and 195-198 probably, describe the journey of Heracles to the 
 home of Geryon. Frag. 190-192 from the parodos tell of the 
 route of the Titans on their way to visit Prometheus. 
 
 Such geography is often united with other kinds of descrip- 
 tion. In Supp. 291-324, Pelasgus and the maidens discuss 
 genealogy. Eum. 1-29 contain a list of the deities who formerly 
 owned Delphi or were worshipped there. We may mention 
 here also the history of the kings of Persia 1 and the lists of 
 names in the same play. 2 Among long passages more frankly 
 narrative are P. V. 199-243 and 436-506, the account of the 
 career of Prometheus and of the benefits which he had conferred 
 on mortals. Perhaps we may mention here Sept. 369-719, the 
 description of the seven chiefs who lead the attack on Thebes. 
 
 Some choral odes have the same characteristics. Such are: 
 Supp. 538-564, the wanderings of lo; Pers. 548-597, the ex- 
 pedition of Xerxes, and 852-908, the reign and conquests of 
 Darius; Sept. 720-791, the history of the Labdacidae; P. V. 
 399-435, the universality of the lament for Prometheus; Ag. 
 40-257, the history of the Trojan war and the sacrifice of 
 Iphigenia; and Ch. 22-11, the description of the dream of 
 Clytaemestra and its effects. 
 
 We see then that if Aeschylus tells a story in dialogue or 
 ode, it is usually connected with the plot of the play. He is 
 fond of long iambic descriptions of geography, but he skilfully 
 combines in these both narrative and geography. 
 
 Sophocles used such description relatively little. Such pas- 
 sages, as Ant. 909-912 and 0. C. 337-345, which are thought 
 to show the influence of Herodotus, are hardly to be compared 
 with the descriptions of Aeschylus. In citing from the Trip- 
 tolemus (frag. 541), Dionysius of Halicarnassus (Antiq. I, 12), 
 states that in this play Demeter predicted the wanderings of 
 1 Pers. 759-786. * 1-64, 302-330, 955-1001.
 
 66 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 Triptolemus in considerable detail; but this drama seems ex- 
 ceptional. We do not know the extent of the description of 
 the river Inachus seen in frag. 249 (Inachus). In the Trachi- 
 niae are brief descriptions of the marriage of Deianeira l and 
 of some of the labors of Heracles. 2 There is little detailed narra- 
 tion in Ant. 100-154 and Aj. 134-171, and in Ant.806-832, 944- 
 987 (the comparison of Antigone with other famous sufferers). 
 
 Euripides follows Aeschylus rather than Sophocles. Prof. 
 Murray 3 remarks on Euripides' indifference to geography. 
 This seems true only if we take as measure for comparison 
 the grander passages of Aeschylus, but even there narration 
 and geography tended to fuse. 
 
 Among passages where we find such description, we may cite 
 Cyd. 290-298, a list of temples of Poseidon, and Hec. 444-474 
 and Tro. 187-229, two choral odes in which the probable 
 destination of the captives is discussed. In the prologues, as 
 Bacch. 13-22, the travelling of Dionysus, frag. 228 (Archelaus), 
 the wandering of Danaus, and frag. 819 (Phrixus), the story 
 of Cadmus, we find some well-marked cases of this usage. 
 Frag. 383 (Theseus) describes Hades, but as we know it only 
 from the parody in Aristoph., Ran. 470 ff., it is of no value for 
 our purposes. 
 
 I shall pass over the use of genealogy in the prologues, of 
 which frag. 14 (Aeolus) is a very good instance. In Her. 207- 
 212, the relationship of Theseus and Heracles, and in I. A. 
 695-713, the ancestry of Achilles, are discussed much as the 
 lineage of the daughters of Danaus in Aesch., Supp. 291-324. 
 
 Euripides treats classes of subjects which Aeschylus does not 
 describe, as the tent of Xuthus at Delphi. 4 In Supp. 857-917, 
 Adrastus delivers a funeral oration praising the various dead 
 chieftains. Although we have not considered the speeches of 
 the messengers, Phoen. 1090-1199 should be mentioned be- 
 
 1 148. 3 History of Ancient Greek Literature, p. 228. 
 
 * 1090-1102. Ion, 1141-1166.
 
 DESCRIPTION 67 
 
 cause of its similarity to the account of the leaders in the 
 Septem of Aeschylus. 
 
 It is in the choral parts that Euripides most uses both descrip- 
 tion and narration. The parodos of the Iphigenia in Aulide 1 
 describes the Greek camp at Aulis, and in magnitude it is 
 worthy of comparison with some of the work of Aeschylus. 
 Similar but shorter are the parodoi of the Ion 2 with its de- 
 scription of the temple of Apollo at Delphi and that of the 
 Hecuba 3 with details concerning the council at which it was 
 decided to sacrifice Polyxena. In /. T. 203-235 and Hel 191- 
 211, a character reviews the fortunes of his relatives. 
 
 Euripides also has a number of choral songs of varying length 
 which are frankly narrative poems at times loosely connected 
 with the plot. Such are: H. F. 348-441, the description of the 
 labors of Heracles; EL 432-486, the praise of Achilles' might 
 and the picture of his shield; 699-746, the story of the quarrel 
 of Atreus and Thyestes over the golden lamb; I. T. 1234-1283, 
 the history of the conquest of Delphi by Apollo, and his dis- 
 possession of Ge, the former owner of the shrine; Phoen. 638- 
 675, the tale of Cadmus and the dragon; 1019-1066, a summary 
 of Theban history from the meeting of Oedipus and the Sphinx; 
 and /. A. 1036-1079, an account of the wedding of Peleus and 
 Thetis. Such songs occur most frequently in the later periods 
 of Euripides' career. 
 
 In the use of description by the various poets, we find dif- 
 ferent tendencies. Aeschylus is most interested in geography, 
 and his narrative odes are closely connected with the theme of 
 his plays. Sophocles neglects formal description. Euripides, 
 in spite of his smaller interest in geography, on the whole, follows 
 Aeschylean usage. In later life he inserts into his plays narra- 
 tive odes which are very loosely connected with the plots of 
 his dramas herein also reviving and continuing the tradi- 
 tions of Aeschylus rather than those of Sophocles. 
 
 * 164-302. 184-218. 98-153.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 DREAMS 
 
 IN their treatment of dreams, Aeschylus and Euripides again 
 agree with each other and differ from Sophocles. The references 
 fall into two groups: (1) those which are meant to be taken 
 seriously and are of importance to the play; (2) those which 
 emphasize the unsubstantial character of these apparitions, 
 often mere metaphorical passages hardly worthy of mention. 
 
 The dream of Atossa in Pers. 176-200 is very important. 
 She sees in her sleep Xerxes trying to yoke to his chariot two 
 women, one a Greek, the other a barbarian. The former is 
 not submissive and breaks loose, and the king falls from the 
 chariot. This dream is a portent and is confirmed by the sight 
 of the hawk pursuing the eagle to the hearth of Phoebus. 1 
 
 In P. V. 645 ff., dreams warn lo to leave home and become 
 the beloved of Zeus. She tells her father Inachus, 
 
 6 5' ?s re Hvddo Kairl AcoSw^s TTVKVOVS 
 TOvs taXXev, cbs /j.adoi ri XP 7 ? 
 T) \eyovra dai/Jiocnv irpaaativ </>Xa. 2 
 
 When a clear answer is received, 
 roiotcrSe 
 
 Loxias then is the interpreter of dreams, although Prometheus 
 says that he himself has taught this art to mortals. 4 The sender 
 is not definitely stated. 
 
 1 205-210. l 658-660. 3 669-670. 4 485-487.
 
 DREAMS 69 
 
 In the Choephori, Clytaemestra dreams that she bears and 
 nurses a serpent, which later stings her breast. Terrified by 
 this vision, she sends libations to Agamemnon's tomb. 1 On 
 hearing the dream, Orestes accepts the omen, 
 
 KdpaKOVTO)6els 8' ty& 
 
 VLV, COS TOVVCipOV kweiTfL To5e. 2 
 
 The queen applies it : 
 
 and Orestes answers : 
 
 17 /cdpra fjiavTis ov oveiparuv 06/3oj. 4 
 
 In the Eumenides, the ghost of Clytaemestra rouses and 
 reproaches the sleeping Furies, because they are not pursuing 
 Orestes. When awakened, one of the goddesses says: 
 
 8' ovecSos e ompdrcoj/ /JLO\OV 
 y bluav 8i<}>pri\aTov 
 
 Similarly, in Ag. 1218, Cassandra sees the ghosts of the mur- 
 dered children of Thyestes, bvdpuv 7rpo<r</>epeis /iop^dj/xaai. 
 
 Among references of the second class, we may mention the 
 following. The daughters of Danaus call the outrage of the 
 herald, ovap 5vap nk\a.v . . . <f>o(3cp6v. 6 Prometheus says that 
 men, before they had learned a language, were dveLparuv 0X17*101 
 Mop^cuai. 7 There are several references in the Agamemnon. 
 In 82, because of his weakness an old man is called <Wp -fine- 
 p6<t>ai>Tov. In 275, the queen, denying that she has heard of the 
 fall of Troy through dreams, says : 
 
 ov 86$-av &v XA/3ot/u /3pif 060-175 ^pepoj. 
 
 1 32 ff. 928. * 155 ff. ' P. V. 448-449. 
 
 2 549-550. * 929. Supp. 888 ff.
 
 70 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 In 491 and 980 f., the phrase oveLparuv dlnriv is used as a type of 
 something that is easy to efface. 
 
 Aeschylus often considers dreams as portents. He does not 
 name the sender, but he shows them as obedient to the will of 
 Zeus. Apollo is the best interpreter and sees that they are 
 obeyed, as mortals can also interpret. The poet also uses 
 dreams as a type of the unsubstantial. Dreams and the spirits 
 of the dead, especially of the murdered, are closely connected. 
 
 In the extant plays of Sophocles, there is but one important 
 dream, and that one is probably due to the influence of Aes- 
 chylus. In Electra 417 ff., Chrysothemis tells how her mother 
 dreamed that the sceptre of Agamemnon took root and grew 
 till it overshadowed all Mycenae and how in consequence she 
 sent libations to her husband's tomb. This dream is often 
 mentioned, 1 but it is not used as an omen to encourage Orestes 
 as is the one in the Choephori. The unreal class is represented 
 in 0. R. 981 and frag. 62 (Acrisius). 
 
 The Hecuba of Euripides contains an important passage on 
 this subject. The ghost of Polydorus concludes his speech with 
 
 ytpaiq. 8' enirod&v 
 7rep yap r/5' VTTO (TKrjvrjs Troda 
 
 Hecuba then says: 
 
 & orepOTra Atos, & anorla, vv, 
 rl ITOT' cupo/xcu Zvvvxos oimo 
 , <f>a<Tfj,a<TLV', 
 
 Trepi Traidos c/iou rov ff<f^onkvov Kara 
 
 oXv&lvys re 0tXr/j dvyarpos 5t' bvelpuv 
 [dSov yap] (froftcpav [6\f/iv e/jia6ov] 
 
 Cf. 480 f., 501, 644 f., 1390. * 52-54. 3 68 flf.
 
 DREAMS 71 
 
 She seeks an interpreter: 
 
 TroO Trore deLav 'EXerou \f/vxo.v 
 
 Ko.1 K.aaav8pa.v ea"i 
 
 ws fjML Kplvwiv oveipovs', 
 tldov yap ftaKiav eXa0ov \VKOV alp/ovi 
 a<}>a.$ontva.v, air' tfji&v yovarwv <nra.<jQtiaa.v 
 
 She fears for her daughter's life, because the ghost of Achilles 
 has recently appeared and demanded that one of the Trojan 
 maidens be sacrificed to him, and she has not yet learned whether 
 the chieftains have decided to obey this savage command. 
 We should note that here the source of dreams is X6&t> and not 
 some associate of Zeus or Apollo. Later 2 the queen laments 
 that she did not need an interpreter, for she herself had guessed 
 too well the sad truth. 
 
 The dream in the Iphigenia in Tauris is also important. 
 Iphigenia dreams that she has consecrated to Artemis the one 
 column of her ancestral palace which had withstood a severe 
 earthquake. 3 She concludes that Orestes is dead 4 and tells 
 this to the chorus. 5 When she learns that her brother is still 
 alive, she says : 
 
 ^euSeZj oveipoi, x a ' i P fr '' ovdiv fir' apa. 6 
 Orestes answers: 
 
 ou5' ot ffofoL 76 datjuom 
 bvelpwv fifflv 
 
 The choral passage 1234-1283 explains why the dream is mis- 
 leading. Ge had been dispossessed by Apollo, and in revenge 
 sent dreams to weaken the intruder, until Zeus interfered to 
 help his son and restore him to honor at Delphi. Although 
 the poet views this strife as past, he shows that dreams are not 
 from Apollo but from the enemy of the god, the dispossessed Ge. 
 
 1 87 ff. * 42 ff. 143 ff. 7 570-571. 
 
 * 702 ff. 56 ff. 569.
 
 72 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 Among minor passages and those of the second class are the 
 following. In Or. 616 f., Tyndareus attacks Electra because by 
 telling dreams about Agamemnon she has stirred up hatred 
 against her mother. In Cyd. 8, Silenus asks if his part in the 
 battle of the gods and giants was but a dream. In Ale. 354 f., 
 Admetus declares that his dead wife will comfort him by appear- 
 ing in dreams, an idea analogous to that of frag. 107 (Alope). 
 In H. F. 517 ff., Heracles appears like a dream to his family. 
 Like Aeschylus, Euripides refers to old men as dreams or 
 shadows of dreams in H. F. 112, Phoen. 1722, and frag. 25 
 (Aeolus). In Phoen. 1545, Oedipus wishes to know if he has 
 been summoned because of a dream. To the charioteer, the 
 attack on Rhesus seemed a dream. 1 Frag. 533 (Meleager) 
 says that, even in dreams, one does not care for the darkness of 
 Hades. 
 
 Like Aeschylus, Euripides both emphasizes the unreality 
 of dreams and makes them important in the economy of his 
 plots. Aeschylus regards them as under the control of Zeus 
 or Apollo, as far as they are substantial. Euripides, who in 
 this shows stronger traces of archaism or even popular theology, 
 connects them quite definitely with Ge, Xd&v, the goddess of 
 Earth, one of the older deities, independent of and even hostile 
 to Zeus and Apollo. Yet the prophets of Apollo, as Cassandra, 
 interpret. Since Sophocles rarely used dreams in his dramas, 
 it is Euripides again who evidently continued the tradition of 
 Aeschylus. 
 
 1 Rh. 782.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE RELIGION OF EURIPIDES 
 
 PERHAPS it is in the religious sphere that we find some of the 
 most interesting examples of Euripides' archaism. These may 
 be due partly to dramatic and technical considerations, but 
 they are also partially caused by the attitude of the poet 
 towards .religion itself. In many ways doubtless the poet was 
 an innovator in this field; yet it is dangerous to generalize in 
 regard to his belief. We must never forget that Euripides was 
 writing on religious themes for a religious festival. 
 
 A very frequent cause of misconception of the poet's attitude 
 is a tendency to overemphasize the unity of Greek religion. 
 So Prof. Verrall l writes: 
 
 "To every human being, that power, which he thinks capable of deal- 
 ing in the last resort with human life, is God. On his conception of 
 that power depends, directly or indirectly, all that he can think. In 
 the days of Euripides the defenders of old religion maintained with 
 regard to this question exactly what is assumed in the prologue [of 
 the Alcestis], that this power resided in certain beings, who had many 
 organs of communication with man, but one organ of incomparable 
 importance, the oracle of the Pythian Apollo : and upon this founda- 
 tion reposed a vast structure of social, civil, and national usage just 
 then beginning perceptibly to totter." 
 
 From this point of view, it is easy for him to conclude that 
 Euripides did not believe in the gods. Yet it is admitted that 
 there was no official creed and that the gods were of different 
 origins. Euripides is called a rationalist because he criticized 
 the gods, and to prove the charge, his views of Zeus and Apollo 
 1 Euripides the Rationalist, p. 114.
 
 74 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 are cited. These are not the whole pantheon, and some would 
 consider them late arrivals in Greece and maintain that their 
 worship was fostered by the tyrants in order to reduce the 
 power of the nobles who supported the local cults. 1 To under- 
 stand Euripides' views, one should study separately the treat- 
 ment of each god, always remembering that Euripides was bound 
 to respect the externals of religion because of the position of 
 Greek tragedy as a religious ceremony. Then we might not 
 agree with the cynical interpretation of Hel. 1301 ff. set forth 
 by Mr. W. Scott: 2 "The gods kill us for their sport and we 
 persuade ourselves that we can secure ourselves against the 
 malignity of fate by beating a tambourine." The following 
 are offered as examples of the way in which Euripides' attitude 
 toward different gods varies, and to show how we may detect 
 a noticeable archaistic tendency in his treatment of them. 
 
 1. Dionysus 
 
 Dionysus and the Bacchae form a natural centre around which 
 the discussion of Euripides' religion revolves. Is this play a 
 recantation or an attack on the god? Whichever is true, the 
 spirit of this drama seems different from that of any of the 
 earlier plays. 
 
 Most scholars are agreed that the connection of Dionysus 
 and tragedy was very close and, if not original, yet of long 
 standing. A Pentheus of Thespis is mentioned, although Nauck 3 
 declares that the titles and fragments of the plays of Thespis 
 are spurious. We know only the title and one line of the Or- 
 pheus of Aristias, probably a drama on a Dionysiac subject, 
 but nothing of the treatment. 
 
 Aeschylus wrote many such plays Bd/cxcu, Batro-apcu, 
 Aiovvvov Tpo0ot, 'Hdcwoi, Au/coDpyos SaruptKos, Hevdevs, 
 
 1 Sheppard, Greek Tragedy, p. 3. 
 
 1 The Mountain-Mother Ode in the Helena of Euripides, Classical 
 Quarterly, Vol. Ill, p. 170. 3 Frag?, p. 832.
 
 THE RELIGION OF EURIPIDES 75 
 
 In contrast to this list, the references to Dionysus 
 in the extant plays are few and mostly unimportant. Such 
 are: 
 
 Sept. 497-499, ('iTTTo/teScov) ejtfeos 5' "Ap 
 
 /8aKx irpbs a\Kriv 0uia$ cos <f>6vov 
 835836 ereua Ti>/z/3cj> /zeXos 
 
 0uias a>s. 
 
 Ch. 698-699, vw 5' f)irep kv 56/xotfft /3a/cxcias KaX^s 
 
 iarpos eXTris ^P, TrpoSoOerav yypa(f>. 
 
 In .Efora. 24-26, we have a definite mention of the worship of 
 Bromios at Delphi. In frag. 5 (Aegyptii) and 228 (Sisyphus) 
 the name Zaypcvs is found. In frag. 341, we have: 
 
 6 Kiff<rcvs 'A7r6XXcov, 6 
 and in frag. 355, . . . juo/36av 
 
 To Aeschylus, Dionysus seems to have been a god of revel and 
 ecstasy, of untamed emotions; yet the poet, because of his 
 especial devotion to Zeus, allows Dionysus to take a subordinate 
 place in plays on non-Dionysiac themes. 
 
 Sophocles apparently wrote no serious Dionysiac drama, 
 although he mentions the god more frequently than does Aes- 
 chylus. Among the instances we may cite Ant. 136, where the 
 word /3a/cxei>coj/ is used to describe the manner in which Capaneus 
 attacked Thebes. Some of the passages in which the god is 
 named in connection with Thebes are Ant. 153 f, 1 1121 ff., Tr. 
 510 ff, 0. R. 209 ff. In Ant. 957, his punishment of Lycurgus, 
 son of Dryas, is mentioned. He is connected with the grape in 
 Tr. 704 and frag. 234 (Thyestes). In 0. R. 1105, he is regarded 
 as a possible father of Oedipus. In 0. C. 679, he is at Colonus, 
 and in frag. 874, he loves Nysa. Finally in frag. 607 (Tyro),
 
 76 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 we read Aiovvcrov rov ravpoff^ayov. Dionysus or Bacchus, his 
 more common name, is especially associated with Thebes. 
 
 To appreciate the neglect of Dionysus, even in his own do- 
 main, we must consult the Ichneutae. In 127, we find the phrase, 
 ri irore panxeveis excov. In 219-222, Cyllene says to the Satyrs 
 concerning their master Silenus : 
 
 vfiiv 5s aid veftpivy 
 
 euiafcr' afjufrl TOV 6eov 
 <rvv kyyovots vv/jL<f>atffi K 
 
 Dionysus is not mentioned by name, and the poet does not 
 emphasize the connection between the god and the Satyrs. 
 
 The atmosphere of the Cyclops of Euripides is very different. 
 The opening words, w Bp6/ue, give the keynote. Silenus and his 
 crew, while on their way to rescue Dionysus from the pirates 
 who have captured him, have been seized by the Cyclops. 
 The god is mentioned frequently and always respectfully. He 
 is pre-eminently the god of wine. 1 Some passages, as 519-520, 
 
 os tyo) TOV 
 TOVTOV Tpiftuv elu', 6v Trieiv eSco/cd eroi, 
 
 might suggest that the god and wine are identified, but others, 
 as the oi>x.i Aiowaos rd6c 2 of the Cyclops when he first sees Odys- 
 seus, and the prologue, seem to show that we are not to consider 
 Dionysus merely as the personification of the vine, although 
 this conception is sometimes present. In this connection, 521- 
 522 are significant, 
 
 Cyc. 6 Bd^xios 5e ris 0eos po/ufTcu; 
 Od. jueyioTos avQp&Troicnv ks repif/iv ftlov. 
 
 We must remember, however, that Odysseus is praising wine 
 to deceive the Cyclops. The only reproach of the god is in 527 : 
 
 ov TOVS deoiis XPV ff&lJ-' ex fiv & fepnacriv. 
 1 123, BpoAifoi; 5* irwju' txovffty, &nire\ov fx>ais; and 139. 2 204.
 
 THE RELIGION OF EURIPIDES 77 
 
 When we compare this with the blasphemous words of the 
 Cyclops commencing, 
 
 ov8' ol8' 6 TL Zeus tar' c/ioO Kpfiacruv 6e6s, 1 
 
 and with the attitude of Odysseus towards Zeus, 2 we see how 
 well Euripides treats Dionysus. Important also are 63-67 
 and 205, where the cymbals and rattles, often associated with 
 Cybele, are mentioned. 
 
 In the Hippolytus, we hear more of Dionysus. Phaedra 
 calls her sister, Ariadne, kiovvcov 86.fj.ap? The birth of Bacchus 
 is hailed as one of the works of Cypris. 4 Finally Theseus 
 addresses his son: 
 
 'Qp<t>fa T' avaicr' fyuv 
 ftaKXfve TTO\\S)V ypaiJ.n&.T<i)v TIH&V Kairvovs. 
 
 In this passage, it is difficult to determine whether or not the 
 poet is clearly thinking of the connection between Bacchus and 
 
 In Hec. 121, Cassandra is called rfjs navrnrfaov 
 and a similar phrase is used of her in 676-677, Tro. 408, 500, 
 and elsewhere. In Hec, 686-687, Hecuba expresses her woes in 
 
 dXaaropos 
 
 In 1077, E&KXO.IS "AiSov is used of murderous rage 6 and a similar 
 phrase is applied to the maddened Heracles in H. F. 1119. 
 Finally in Hec. 1267, the oracle which Polymestor tells to Hecuba 
 is from 6 9ppi navris . . . Advwos. 
 
 In H. F. 682, the phrase napa re JSpbfjuov oivo86rav is used of 
 a feast. On hearing the cries of Amphitryon, the chorus says, 
 
 ob ftponUi) itexa-Pi-vv&a. 0i>p<rcj>. 7 
 
 Here again is a reference to the ritual instruments of Cybele. 
 
 i 321. 339. 953-954. 891-892. 
 
 353-355. 559-560. Heberden, Hecuba, p. 120.
 
 78 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 In Ion 216-218, the chorus mentions Bacchus' participation 
 in the battle of the gods and giants as a subject represented 
 among the temple sculptures. Dionysiac feasts at Delphi are 
 mentioned several times. 1 In 1232, the attempted murder of 
 Ion is detected (rirovdas kn Aiovucrou. 
 
 In El. 497, a jar of wine is 6-tivavpicFiJ.a. Atopftaov. 
 
 In /. T. 164, BOLKXOU T' oivijpas XoijSas is a phrase for wine. 
 In 1243-1244, the revellings of Dionysus at Delphi are again 
 mentioned. 
 
 In Hel. 543-544, Helen says, on seeing Menelaus : 
 
 oi>x ^s dpoftaia ircoXos } 
 
 There is a union of Dionysus and the Mother in 1358 ff . : 
 fj,eya TOL dvvarai vefip&v 
 
 re aT(f)e<Ta 
 pdr^Kas ts iepous, 
 6' d\(,aaojj.kva. 
 KUK\IOS evoffis aldepia, 
 flaKxevovffa T' Wtipa. Bpojitt- 
 c> /cat 
 
 In Phoen. 226-228, there is a reference to the revels at Delphi ; 
 in 1751, to Bacchic revels on other mountains; in 649 ff., to 
 the birth of Dionysus; and in 785, we are told that Ares is not 
 at the feasts of Bromios. 
 
 In Or. 835, the matricide j8e/3d/cxeuTcu navicus. In 1492 ff., 
 the young men seized Hermione 
 
 advpcroL 5' 
 
 old viv SpafjLOVTf BaKxai 
 aav^vov kv x e Pt'' opctac 
 
 1 550-553, 716-717, 1125-1126
 
 THE RELIGION OF EURIPIDES 79 
 
 In Rh. 972, Rhesus will become a BO.KXOV 
 
 In Hypsipyle 1 (N 2 . 752), Dionysus is mentioned in con- 
 nection with Delphi. In 41,106, Thoas is saved Beucxiou 7* 
 fjLrjxo-vals. Dionysus appears as deus ex machina. 1 
 
 Some of the important fragments are: 
 
 frag. 177 (Antigone) & TTOI Aid^s, ws tyvs /zeyas 6e6s, 
 
 472 (Cretes) 1. 11 ff. KCU vvnTnrbXov Zayptus 
 TOUS cb/i<xd7ous 5atras 
 MTpl T' 6peuj 
 icai 
 
 477 (Licymnius) where Dionysus and Apollo are identified. 
 
 562 (Oeneus) where the phrase Ba*xtou Tofcu/iacriv is found 
 
 in a reference to the KO 
 
 586 (Palamedes) Qvaav 
 
 &v' "I8av 
 avv 
 (fir') 
 
 From these passages we can draw a few conclusions. Dionysus 
 is the god of the Maenads and the midnight revel on the moun- 
 tains. He is god of wine. He is often allied with the great 
 Mother, Cybele, whose worship is also orgiastic. Frag. 472 is 
 peculiarly valuable, as it shows conditions in Crete. 2 The frenzy 
 of a Cassandra and any madness take their names from him. 
 Nowhere is there a condemnation of the god, except perhaps 
 in frag. 177, and that is a tribute to his power. 
 
 Now we can consider the Bacchae. Dionysus, the son of 
 Semele, comes to Thebes. The women are drawn by his power 
 
 1 Cf. note on 41, 112 in Frag. Trag. Pap. and Petersen, Euripides' 
 Hypsipyle, Rheinisches Museum, Vol. LXVIII, p. 584 ff. 
 1 Cf. Roscher, Lexikon, Vol. II, 1, pp. 1596.
 
 80 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 to Cithaeron. Pentheus resists the god and pays the penalty. 
 As before, Dionysus is connected with the Mother. 1 Tiresias 
 defines the god's prophetic power: 
 
 HCLVTIS 8' 6 OO.IIJMV 68f TO yap 
 Kai TO fj,avi(t)8ts navruiiiv 7roXXijj> 
 OTO.V yap 6 debs TO aw/*' eX0p TroXus, 
 Xeyeii' TO fj,e\\ov TOVS jte/njj'OTas Trotet. 2 
 
 This explains the description of Cassandra in the Hecuba and 
 Troades as BCIKX*?- 
 
 The offence of Pentheus is not only vftpis but also dae/Seia, 
 neglect of the new deity and therefore impiety. Dionysus says 
 
 6s 0eo/zaxeT TO. /car' ejue /ecu (rirovS&v a-jro 
 a>0el fj.', ev evxals T' oi5ajuou fiveiav exci. 
 S)v OVVCK' avT<$ debs yty&s k 
 
 In 206-209, Tiresias states that the god wants honor from all, 
 old and young. The dcrc/Seia of Pentheus is recognized by the 
 messenger, 4 Agave, 6 and Cadmus. 6 The king threatens to 
 bring back the women by force 7 and has the god arrested. 
 1 Cf. 58-59, 
 
 a, 'Peas re (juirpfc /i 6' 
 and 7282, n&Kap, ocrns 
 
 reXeras Beu>v 
 
 /Stordv ayiffTefai KO.L 
 
 Oiaarevtrai 
 
 b> opeavi 
 
 Offloa Ka6ap/j.olffLt>, 
 TO. re Atarpo? juc^dXas 6p- 
 yia Ku/3eXas 
 &VL diipffov re 
 KiffffQ re ffre<j>avudeis 
 Aiovvcrov depcnrevei, 
 
 and 120-134. 
 
 8 298-301. 4 1150-1152. 1303. 
 
 3 45-48. 5 1255-1256. 7 780-786.
 
 THE RELIGION OF EURIPIDES 81 
 
 Yet in his blindness, he will not see that by escaping, Dionysus 
 has shown superhuman power. Pentheus stands for respecta- 
 bility, for the maintenance of law, for the openness of action. 
 The god praises darkness and secrecy. 
 
 Pen. TO. ' Upa VVKT&P r) jue0' fjp.fpav reXets; 
 
 Di. VVKTUp TO. TToXXd* ffe/JiVOT^T' 5=X ct CTKOTOJ. 
 
 Pen. TOUT' es yvvalKas 86\wv tart. KCU aaQpbv. 
 
 Di. KO.V rjjj.pa TO y' aiaxpov eei>poi Tts a.v. 
 
 Pen. S'ucrjv ff oovvai del aofyi.aiiQ.TUtv K.O.K.&V. 
 
 Di. at 8' a/j.adia<; ye Kaffefiovvr' rbv 
 
 The appeal of Cadmus to Pentheus 2 is not so open to con- 
 demnation as some think. The old man wants his grandson 
 to prove true and be a god. Pentheus has absolutely refused 
 to believe. Cadmus asks him to cease opposition on the ground 
 of safety and cites the example of Actaeon, but the king will 
 not yield. 
 
 Mr. Norwood 8 and Prof. Verrall 4 both deny that Euripides 
 intended to represent Dionysus as a god. They think that he 
 is drawn as a mortal of unusual daring and unscrupulousness, 
 and they defend Pentheus. In their theories, the king is de- 
 ceived by a bold impostor, if not actually drugged, and is then 
 cruelly slain. These theories rest on the hypothesis that the 
 prologue and deus ex machina are to be neglected in a correct 
 interpretation of the play. As we have seen, 6 such a method of 
 treatment is without justification and destroys much of the 
 beauty and practically all of the clarity of Euripides' art. 
 
 Pentheus is a ruler who is always ready to compel obedience 
 to his laws by force the dragon's seed. It is not by chance 
 that he is again and again characterized as in 537 ff . : 
 
 olav oiav opyav 
 
 1 485-490. The Riddle of the Bacchae. Chap. I. 
 
 1 330-342. 4 The Bacchants of Euripides.
 
 82 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 (K<j)VS T 
 
 TTOTC 
 
 repas, ov 
 ra ftpoTfiov, <j>6vu)v 8' ha- 
 rt 717 OLVT' avTiirakov 0eots* 
 
 and 1015-1016: 
 
 TOV adeov HVO/JLOV adutov 'Exiovos 
 TOKOV yrjyevfj. 
 
 He mocks the idea that Zeus could beget new gods 1 and wishes 
 to destroy the property of Tiresias 2 because he thinks the seer 
 is pious only for the sake of gain. 3 Such a character Euripides 
 defends in no extant play. 
 
 In this play, Euripides has not changed his views of Dionysus. 
 He knew from his own experience at Athens how despotism 
 could lurk under the guise of freedom, and he knew the cruelty 
 of those who fought to build an empire. 
 
 " In the Athens of Melos and the Sicilian expedition there was some- 
 thing that roused his aversion far more than did the mere ignorance 
 of a stupid Greek farmer. It was a deeper 'amathia,' a more unteach- 
 able brutality. The men who spoke in the Melian Dialogue were 
 full of what they called 'Sophia.' . . . And the Herd, as represented 
 by Athens, followed them." 4 
 
 Pentheus is one of those leaders. The Dionysus of the poet 
 was in a sense his own, but in the main, he is the Dionysus of 
 tradition of Thracian tradition, the real Dionysus of the 
 people. 
 
 Did Euripides approve of this story? Prof. Macurdy 5 regards 
 the idea as shocking. Prof. Murray 6 finds a shift of sympathy 
 
 1 467. 255-257. 
 
 1 346-351. 4 Murray, Euripides and His Age, p. 191 f. 
 
 1 The Chronology of the Extant Plays of Euripides, p. 127. 
 
 6 Euripides and His Age, p. 185.
 
 THE RELIGION OF EURIPIDES 83 
 
 at the time when Dionysus becomes supreme just as in the 
 Medea and in other studies in revenge. We may think Dionysus 
 cruel and unworthy of worship, but we must remember that 
 many religious conceptions, to us commonplace and faded 
 through familiarity, were unknown to the Greeks. The motto 
 of Aeschylus was dpa<ravTi iraBtiv the soul that sinneth, it 
 shall die an idea founded on a solid basis of observed facts. 
 Pentheus, impious and violent, matches himself against Di- 
 onysus, 0e6$, SeiWTaTos, avdp&TTOKTi 5' ^iruoraros, 1 and the result 
 is never doubtful. The use made of Agave is cruel, but Pen- 
 theus was willing to use force against her 2 and Aristophanes 3 
 shows the enormity of such an offence. 
 
 Euripides always shows Dionysus as a powerful god and 
 honors him throughout his whole career. He glorifies him in 
 the Cyclops and still more in the Bacchae. This last mentioned 
 play could be fairly judged only if we possessed a Dionysiac 
 play of Aeschylus, for the spirit is almost that of the older poet 
 and very different from that of Sophocles. We hear again the 
 cry dpacravri irafitiv. Although Euripides may have felt the 
 cruelty of Dionysus, yet he obeys and worships him as a god 
 who is on the whole beneficent and good, and he treats him as 
 befits the especial deity of tragedy. 
 
 NOTE. It is not without interest that the name Bromios 4 
 does not occur in any known passage of Sophocles, whereas it 
 is often found in the plays of Euripides, especially in the 
 Cyclops and the Bacchae, the two dramas which most glorify 
 Dionysus. 
 
 2. Apollo 
 
 In contrast to Dionysus, Apollo fares badly in the plays of 
 Euripides, for he is one of the deities who are so treated as to 
 give the impression that the poet was an atheist or a rationalist. 
 
 1 860 f. Nub. 1443 ff. 
 
 * 229, 780 ff. Bum. 24.
 
 84 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 In the dramas of Aeschylus, Apollo is an exceedingly impor- 
 tant god. He is primarily the prophet, as he himself acknowl- 
 edges in Eum. 614-621 : 
 
 'A6r}i>aias 
 
 8e<r/ji6v diKcuws, /xdiris &v 8' ov 
 OVTT&TTOT' elirov fj.avTiKolffiv kv dpovois, 
 OVK avSpos, ov yvvatKds, ov TroXecos Trepi, 
 6 ^77 KcKtvffai Zeus 'OXv/z7rta>' 
 TO nev bix.ai.ov Tovd' offov ffOfVf 
 /3ouXfl 7ri0au<rKco 5' C/i/x' ein(nre<T6ai Tarpos. 
 op/cos yap OVTL Zyvos iaxvft ir\kov. 
 
 Yet the poet does not hide faults or seeming faults in the god's 
 history and character. In Eum. 727-728, the Furies say : 
 
 ffv TOL TraXaias 8iavop.as 
 
 6eas, 
 
 a charge which has no effect upon the god. Similarly in frag . 
 350, Thetis accuses him of murdering Achilles. The general 
 impression is that Apollo is a god of light, who may at times 
 seem unjust but who is finally justified. The Eumenides shows 
 the superiority of his rule to that of the older gods, the children 
 of eternal Night. 1 
 
 As we should expect, Aeschylus is very careful in his choice 
 of epithets. The name Loxias, commonly applied to the god 
 in his prophetic character, but not a cult-title, 2 is commonly 
 used in passages referring to prophecy, as Ch. 900 3 and 
 Eum. 19. 4 In a few cases, as Ch. 952, there appears to be 
 less reason for choosing this epithet. Aeschylus is rather fond 
 
 1 416, Nwcrds aiavfjs rkxva. 
 
 2 Farnell, The Cults of the Greek States, Vol. IV, p. 219, note a. 
 s TTOV 5i) rd XoiirA Aoioi> na.vTti>na.Ta.. 
 
 4 AtAs irpo^njs 5' ferrt Aoias irorpoj. Cf. also Sept. 618, P. V. 669, Ch 
 269, 558, 1030, 1036, 1039, Eum. 61, 235, 241, 465.
 
 THE RELIGION OF EURIPIDES 85 
 
 of the vocative of Apollo 1 but otherwise he uses the epithet in 
 various relations. Phoebus rarely occurs. It is distinctly con- 
 nected with the prophetic character of the god only in Eum. 
 8 and frag. 350, 11. 5-6. We find it elsewhere in Pers. 206, 
 Sept. 691, Eum. 283, 744. Aeschylus then clearly prefers both 
 Apollo and Loxias to Phoebus. 
 
 To Sophocles, who frequently mentions Apollo, the god is 
 the lord of Delphi and is often invoked. The poet's 
 
 " aim is not to use the story as the basis of a religious poem, but to 
 present the story itself: he accepts its morality, and uses its religious 
 ideas."* 
 
 Because of this attitude, Sophocles gives few passages that are 
 worth quoting. The most significant is 0. R. 708 ff. To 
 console Oedipus, Jocasta says: 
 
 xot fj.a.6' ofiven' earl voi 
 ftpOTfiov ovdlv fiavTLKrjs ex v 
 <j>av<t) 5e <roc (nj/zeta r&vB 
 XP^oyioj 7 op iJX0e Aatco TTOT', OVK epco 
 3>ol/3oi; y' air' avrov, T&V 5' virrjpfT&v euro, 
 cos avrov ^01 fjjotpa. irp6s 7rai56s 6aveiv. 
 
 The chorus sings: 
 
 yap Aatov TraXai^ara 
 k^atpovaiv f/drj, 
 ri/xais 'AroXXcoi' kn<f)avr)s. 
 <eppei dl TO. 0eTa. 3 
 
 But the oracles come true. Sophocles holds the conventional 
 religion. He is eD/coXos. 4 
 
 Sophocles prefers the epithet Phoebus and uses it freely in 
 all connections, including that of prophecy. 5 He employs 
 
 1 Cf. Sept. 159, Ag. 1073, 1077, 1080, 1085, 1257, Ch. 1057, Eum. 85, 
 198, 574, 610, 744. 
 
 ' Sheppard, Greek Tragedy, p. 89. * Aristoph., Ran. 82. 
 
 906 ff. Cf. 0. R. 149, 305, 712, 1011.
 
 86 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 Apollo frequently but not so often in the vocative as does 
 Aeschylus. Loxias is rare. It occurs three times in the pro- 
 phetic sense 1 and the same number of times without special 
 significance. 2 
 
 In regard to epithets, Euripides does not follow strictly the 
 usage of Aeschylus, because of his fondness for Phoebus, which 
 he uses most frequently of all the titles. Yet he employs Loxias 
 more freely than Sophocles does. In 28 cases, 3 it occurs in the 
 strict sense. In 5 other cases, 4 the passage refers to Delphi. 
 In 16, 5 there seems little reason for the selection. Apollo does 
 not occur in the vocative as freely as in the plays of Aeschylus. 
 Euripides agrees with Aeschylus in using this epithet frequently 
 in scenes in which Cassandra has a part. So in Ag. 1072-1330, 
 Apollo occurs 11 times and Loxias 3. Perhaps this choice is 
 due to the supposed derivation of 'A-n-oXXuv from droXXu/u. 6 
 So in Tro. 308-461, Apollo occurs three times, Loxias and 
 Phoebus each once. Loxias 7 is probably chosen because of 
 the special emphasis laid on the prophetic honor of the god. 
 
 Despite this verbal archaism, Euripides conceives of Apollo 
 in a way very different from that of his predecessors. To him 
 Phoebus is neither a benign nor a conventional deity. He is 
 everything that a man, much less a god, should not be. Let us 
 now look at some of the poet's judgments about him. 
 
 1 O. R. 853, 994, El. 82. 
 
 0. R. 1103, Ichneutae, 367, 436. 
 
 Her. 1028, Supp. 7, Ion 67, 72, 243, 531, 728, 774, 781, 974, 1347, 
 Tro. 356, El. 399, 1266, I. T. 943, 1013, 1084, 1280, 1438, Phoen. 284, 409, 
 1703, Or. 165, 285, 1666, 1681, Bacch. 1336, Melanippe, 14 (Frag. Trag. 
 Pap.). 
 
 And. 51, 1065, Ion 187, 1455, Phoen. 215. 
 
 Ion 36, 78, 311, 425, 931, 1218, 1287, 1531, 1540, 1548, 1608, Tro. 
 1174, Or. 268, 419, Rh. 979, frag. 455 (Cresphontes) . 
 
 8 Cf. 1080-1082. 
 
 y&p oil ju6Xt$ TO dtbrepov. 
 
 7 356.
 
 THE RELIGION OF EURIPIDES 87 
 
 In Ale. 28 ff., Thanatos attacks him for saving Admetus and 
 deceiving the Fates as the Erinyes do in the Eumenides. When 
 the god tries to save Alcestis by saying that Thanatos would 
 receive rich gifts if the queen should die in old age, he receives 
 the answer: 
 
 7rp6s T&V k\6vT(j}v, f>oT/3e, rov vofiov Tidrjs. 1 
 
 Probably, however, Euripides did not intend this scene to be 
 taken seriously. 
 
 The Andromache contains the next case of hostility. Neop- 
 tolemus went to Delphi to ask Phoebus to atone for the 
 death of Achilles. While on a second trip to obtain pardon 
 for the sin which he has thus committed, 2 he is slain by the 
 machinations of Orestes. Old Peleus, in accusing the god of 
 murder, says: 
 
 OlTTAttJ' TKVO)V 
 
 fj,' ecrrtpriff' 6 $oT/3os. 3 
 
 Thetis orders the burial of Neoptolemus at Delphi as AeX</>oij 
 ovetdos. 4 
 
 The poet soon advances beyond this stage. In the Ion, a 
 thinly veiled attack on the god, everything ends happily, but 
 the play shows the shortsightedness of the god. He practically 
 sends word by Athena that he does not dare to meet his former 
 bride: 
 
 fTTOlVV/jLOS ffr]5 CKplKO/ZT/J' x" ov S 
 
 IlaXXds, bpbjMa <nrfvcra.<r' 'ATroXXwj'os irapa, 
 os nlv 6\f/tv <r$a)j' /zoXei;> OVK ril-lov, 
 H^l ruv Trapoide /xe/z^t? ukaov n6\y, 
 
 81 ire/jLTTCi TOVS \6yovs v/j,lv 0pdcrai. B 
 
 She then says that Apollo intended to reveal Ion's parentage 
 at Athens. There is no excuse made for the god's cruelty in 
 abandoning Creusa. True are the words of Ion : 
 
 1 57. 1212-1213. 1555 ff. 
 
 49-55. * 1241.
 
 88 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 tl 8' ov yap eorcu, rep X67(jj 5e 
 
 SIKCIS ffiaiajv Saxrer' avdp&irois ya.fj.wv, 
 
 ov Kol Hoaeldwv Zeus 0' 5s ovpavov Kparel, 
 
 vaous Tivovres dSi/das Kei'wo'eTe. 
 
 rds iJSoi'ds yap TTJS irpon^Bias rapes 
 
 d5i/cctr'. OVKCT' avdpuirovs KO/COJS 
 diKatov, ti ra T&V Qe&v KO\O. 
 ' , dXXd TOUS didaffKOvras radt. 1 
 
 In the Electro,, Euripides continues the attack. The matricides 
 condemn Apollo : 
 
 Or. S) cfroTjSc, TToXXiJi' 7' anadLav Wecriricras 
 
 El. 07TOU 5' 'ATTOXXCOV (TKttlOS ^, TIVK GO^ol', 2 
 
 The Dioscuri blame him: 
 
 5/ccua /i^ rw r/5' ex, <ru 5' 
 
 re, $ot]8os dXX' a^a^ yap (rr' e/xos, 
 )' erodes 5' cov ou/c exp'jo'c o"ot <ro<t>a. s 
 
 They did not save Clytaemestra because 
 
 T avayKris 7 TO 
 
 r 
 
 In the Iphigenia in Tauris, Orestes several times reproaches 
 Apollo, as in 711: 
 
 5' 6 $oT^3os navris &v 
 
 However, the oracles are fulfilled and so it is shown that Apollo 
 is not the rogue that he at first seemed to be. Then, too, the 
 ode 1234-1283 does not put Apollo's acquisition of Delphi 
 in a very creditable light. 
 
 The Orestes contains more attacks on the god's honesty and 
 veracity. Among such instances are: 
 
 1 444 ff. 3 1244-1246. 
 
 2 971-972. * 1301-1302.
 
 THE RELIGION OF EURIPIDES 89 
 
 u 6' adudav / 
 and Ao^la de 
 
 OOTIS n' cTrapas epyov 
 
 TOLS fjifv \6yot.s tjv(f>pave, TOIS 5' fpyoL<nv o#. 2 
 
 Here again the oracles are fulfilled and so Orestes says: 
 
 5) Aoia /xavreic, (rail' 86airiffiJ.a.T(i)v, 
 ov if/evdo/jLavTis fjffd' ap', eiXX' 
 
 These are among the most significant comments on Apollo. 
 We notice at once how they differ in tone from those which relate 
 to Dionysus. There was respect; here, contempt; there, wor- 
 ship; here, revolt. What did Euripides think of Apollo? 
 
 Evidently he did not admire the god of the silver bow. He 
 never loses a chance to attack him, and we have seen how he 
 clearly removes dreams from the sphere of Apollo's influence 
 and restores them to Xdwv. 4 He so consistently represents 
 Phoebus as foolish, unwise, even criminal, that he seems to 
 bear the god special hatred. 
 
 Are we to agree with Prof. Verrall 5 that Euripides never 
 believed in him as a real being? It seems unnecessary to hold 
 that the poet intended the intelligent hearer to disregard pro- 
 logue and epilogue and then to rearrange the story of the inter- 
 vening part. If we deny the personal reality of Apollo, our 
 interpretation of the plays is often forced. 
 
 How are we to regard Delphi? As a gigantic fraud arranged 
 to deceive well-meaning people? Yet on the whole it is clear 
 that the god, himself, is responsible. A Jocasta may throw 
 blame on the servants of Apollo. Euripides, as an honest en- 
 emy, realizes that his real enemy is the god, not the prophet. 
 The unimportance of the priests is surprising. We hear a great 
 deal about oracles, but we can hardly regard them as the work 
 
 * 28. Chap. VIII. 
 
 1 285-287. * Euripides the Rationalist, p. 146. 
 
 1 1666-1667
 
 90 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 of the priests as distinct from the god. This attack on Apollo 
 as the responsible person is to be contrasted with the poet's 
 attitude in the Iphigenia in Aulide, one of his latest plays. 
 There we hear very little of Apollo but much of Calchas. So 
 the old man, in response to Clytaemestra's question as to the 
 reason for the sacrifice of Iphigenia, says: 
 
 Qk(r4>a.d' , cos 76 ^ijeri KdXxas, Ivo. Tropeuiyrai crrparos. 1 
 
 Throughout, one wonders how much responsibility is to be laid 
 upon Calchas and how much upon the deity. Euripides, 
 adopting an attitude toward Apollo unusual for him, has 
 tried to suggest that Calchas is responsible for the crime. 2 
 Except in this play, the god is throughout the cause of religious 
 wrong. 
 
 If it is incorrect to regard Apollo as simply non-existent and 
 to interpret the plays as attacks on Delphi, what shall we say? 
 It is true that in many cases we have an apparent orthodoxy 
 at the end. Yet the Ion seems to be the work of an unbeliever, 
 and must be regarded as an attack on the god. No one who 
 thought at all, could find anything but condemnation for a 
 being who would abandon his child and its mother so cheerfully. 
 Similarly in the Electra, every one would agree with the state- 
 ment of the Dioscuri about the folly of the god. But who would 
 consult a god, if one knew that he might give the most unsuit- 
 able advice? 
 
 Euripides' 
 
 "tendency was to treat the story as a piece of ordinary life, though 
 he was checked at every turn by convention. The result is inevit- 
 ably that the legend, thus presented, is exposed. Euripides was 
 aware of that, and was sometimes quite deliberately exposing latent 
 immorality. Sometimes he meant his audience to feel uneasy, to 
 think that if the story were true it was highly discreditable: some- 
 times he meant them to infer that it was not true." 3 
 
 1 879. 2 Cf. Masqueray, Euripide et ses idees, p. 152. 
 
 3 Sheppard, Greek Tragedy, p. 137 f .
 
 THE RELIGION OF EURIPIDES 91 
 
 That is what is involved in the rebukes of Apollo. Euripides 
 does not deny the god's existence; he merely exposes the myth. 
 
 In this, the poet could not be prosecuted for impiety. Apollo 
 always rises to the occasion and does what he should. His 
 oracles come true. At most, the spectators might suspect; 
 they could prove nothing about the personal faith of the poet. 
 
 It is interesting, however, to find that Apollo aroused 
 Euripides' ire. The god, whom Aeschylus treated as a beneficent 
 deity, is changed. Perhaps his worship was too well-defined, 
 too open for the later poet. In Eum. 416, the Erinyes opposed 
 to Apollo are the NUKTOS alavw Tewa. In the Bacchae, however, 
 Dionysus says : 
 
 TO. TroXXcr (re/xvoTT/r' exet (r/coros, 1 
 and KO.V ri/J-epq. TO 7' aio~xP v eei>poi TW av. 2 
 
 Both Dionysus and Apollo were worshipped at Delphi, but 
 the two became friends probably only after a long contest, for 
 they were of different origins. 3 Euripides did not try to respect 
 both. He followed Dionysus the mystic. 
 
 It is clear that the poet did not trust Apollo. Perhaps since 
 the priests at Delphi favored the Spartans, 1 Euripides was too 
 patriotic to honor a god who was partial to his country's ene- 
 mies. Since he was writing for a religious festival, he could not 
 deny the god's existence, even if he did not believe. Conse- 
 quently he depicts him in such a way that the most unintellec- 
 tual of the audience would feel such a god unfit for honor, 
 much less for worship, a method of attack far more effective 
 and insidious than an open denial would have been. Whatever 
 the poet's belief, he assumes the existence of Apollo in his plays, 
 for he aimed to present the god as a contemptible character 
 and to allow the audience to draw its own conclusions. Di- 
 onysus he praises, Apollo he condemns. In so doing, Euripides 
 
 1 486. * Cf. Rohde, Psyche', II, p. 52. 
 
 1 488. 4 Wilamowitz, Apollo, p. 39.
 
 92 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 practically revives the old idea of a struggle between the gods, 
 and moves tragedy back toward its original position by dis- 
 crediting Zeus and Apollo, and elevating Dionysus, the original 
 patron of tragedy. 
 
 3. Athena 
 
 As the especial deity of Athens, the virgin goddess Pallas 
 Athena occupies a somewhat unusual position in Greek tragedy. 
 Because of her relationship to the state, it was probably expe- 
 dient that she be treated with particular respect. Indeed she 
 stands as a representative of certain tendencies which Athens 
 idealized, and even, in a way, of the city itself, as in Supp. 
 711-712, where Euripides has Theseus quoted as saying: 
 
 & 7rcu6es, fi /IT) (rxwere artppbv 56pv 
 onrapT&v rod' avbp&v, oi'xeTCU ra IlaXXciSos. 
 
 In the Eumenides of Aeschylus, Athena plays an important 
 part. It is her action in conjunction with the Court of the 
 Areopagus, which she establishes, that frees Orestes from the 
 pursuit of the Erinyes and so vindicates Apollo. This means 
 the god of the silver bow has chosen to give human and divine 
 sanction to his oracle. He says to the Erinyes: 
 
 dinas 8e IlaXXas T&vb' eiroirTfVffei fled. 1 
 
 By her act the goddess renders Argos friendly to Athens. 2 The 
 goddess is also mentioned in Pers. 347, where Athens is called 
 TTO\LV . . . HaXXdSos, and Sept. 130, where the terrified Theban 
 maidens appeal to the goddess. In the extant plays, her usual 
 title is IlaXXds. The name 'A6ava is found three times and 
 always in the vocative. 3 The longer form 'Adyvala occurs 
 three times. 4 
 
 Athena appears once in the extant plays of Sophocles, in the 
 Ajax. Here her role is quite different. She is the stern and 
 jealous goddess, the punisher of Ajax. Tecmessa says of her: 
 
 1 224. 3 Eum. 235, 443, 892. 
 
 2 754 ff . Eum. 288, 299, 614.
 
 THE RELIGION OF EURIPIDES 93 
 
 TOiovde nevTOi Zrjvos 17 deivr] 0eos 
 IlaXXas 
 
 Sophocles prefers the name Athena, which occurs ten times. 2 
 Pallas occurs five times 3 and Pallas Athena * once. Only in 
 0. C. 107: 
 
 IT', & fjLeylaTijs IlaXXdSos KaXoi'/zevai 
 
 ira<ru>v 'Adfjvai Ti/xtwraTTj TroXis, 
 
 is this epithet used in connection with Athens. It is mentioned 
 three times in reference to Thebes. In Phil. 134, the goddess 
 is again joined with Odysseus as 'Adava IloXids. Other epithets 
 occur in 0. C. 706, 1071. 
 
 Athena appears in the drama of Euripides more frequently 
 than any other deity. In three, Supplices, Ion, Iphigenia in 
 Tauris, she comes as a deus ex machina at the end of the play. 
 Her appearance then is in a way parallel to that in the Eu- 
 menides. In the Iphigenia in Tauris, she prevents Thoas from 
 pursuing Orestes and so again causes the fulfilment of the oracle 
 of Apollo. In 966, we have an allusion to her intervention 
 at the trial in Athens. In the Ion, she comes again to clear away 
 the difficulties which the oracle of Apollo has caused and which 
 the god is himself unable or unwilling to remove. Both of these 
 interventions bring help and power to Athens, the former 
 giving it possession of the statue of Artemis, the latter restoring 
 to it the heir of Erechtheus and the ancestor of the lonians. 
 In the third case, the Supplices, she is introduced not to help 
 Apollo but merely to strengthen Athens. She gives directions 
 to Theseus concerning the agreement which he is to make with 
 Adrastus so that Athens and Argos may be friendly. Inciden- 
 tally she orders Theseus to have the oath preserved at Delphi 
 under the guardianship of Apollo. 
 
 1 952-963. 
 
 1 Aj. 14, 74, 91, 112, 757, 771, 0. R. 159, Phil. 134, 0. C. 706, 1071. 
 
 1 Ant. 1184, Aj, 953, Tr, 1031, 0. R. 20, 0. C. 107. 
 
 0. C. 1090.
 
 94 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
 In the above cases, the r61e of Athena is similar to that which 
 she had in the Eumenides. In the two other plays in which she 
 appears, she plays a part somewhat analogous to that which 
 she had in the Ajax. So in the Troades, she is the angry goddess 
 slighted by the outrage of Ajax against Cassandra, and she 
 plans to punish the Greeks who have failed to protest, 
 
 O>S O.V TO \OLTTOV 70.\i CLVCLKTOp' 6VCT^etv 
 
 el8S}ff' 'Axaiot, deovs re rovs aXXous akfieiv. 1 
 
 To be sure this might be construed as pettiness on the part of 
 the divinity, and there is some irony in the treatment of the 
 goddess whose favorites have insulted her, but on the whole 
 she is presented with perhaps more reverence than in the Ajax, 
 where she summons the unhappy man to show him in his 
 degradation to Odysseus. 
 
 In the Rhesus, Athena as the friend of Odysseus directs him 
 to the camp of Rhesus and deceives Paris who is coming to 
 Hector to tell him about the intruders. 2 This illustrates Phil. 
 134 or Rh. 609-610, where Odysseus says to the goddess: 
 
 ev TTovoiffi yap 
 irapovv' CL/JLVVCLS rots ejuoTs act Tore. 
 
 In 938 ff., the Muse rebukes her for the death of Rhesus, but 
 this is more of an attack on war than on the goddess herself. 
 In fact both the Troades and the Rhesus show the horrible and 
 inhuman character of war. 
 
 In some passages, the goddess is connected with the fortunes 
 of Heracles and his family. So in Tr. 1031 , the suffering Heracles 
 invokes her. In H. F., she saves Amphitryon and stops the mad 
 career of Heracles by stunning him until the fit of madness has 
 passed away. 3 
 
 Athens is particularly the favorite of the goddess. Besides 
 numerous allusions to the city as the possession of the goddess, 4 
 
 * 85-86. 3 Cf. 907, 1003 f . 
 
 2 595 ff. 4 /. T. 1014, etc.
 
 THE RELIGION OF EURIPIDES 95 
 
 there are passages where this usage is extended, as in Supp. 
 711-712. So she is regarded as the divine helper of the Athenian 
 army in Her. 349-350, 
 
 T&V pev yap "Hpa Trpoo-raret, Aios da.jj.ap, 
 finwv 8' 'Adrjva, 
 and 352, viK^nkv-r] yap IloXXas OVK a 
 
 Euripides mentions the goddess in connection with various 
 other stories, as that of the contest of the three goddesses before 
 Paris, 1 and with her temple in Thebes. 2 
 
 As regards the choice of epithet, Euripides follows the usage 
 of Aeschylus and prefers the title Pallas. There seems to be 
 in many passages little reason for the choice, save that the latter 
 title is the more common where the goddess is connected with 
 Athens. 
 
 Athena, as we might expect, is handled kindly by Euripides. 
 Aeschylus shows her in the Eumenides as confirming the oracles 
 of Apollo, and Euripides does the same in several plays. Even 
 where this is not her purpose, she usually intervenes in the in- 
 terest of some one, whether it be Athens, Odysseus, or Heracles. 
 It is only in the Troades that we see her angered and destructive, 
 more as in the Ajax. 
 
 Euripides treats Athena as a beneficent goddess and in rdles 
 similar to that in Aeschylus' works, although she appears in 
 others, owing to the greater number of stories treated in the 
 extant plays. Yet these appearances do not bear so purely a 
 religious character as do the references to Dionysus. Athena 
 is a goddess, and as the patroness of Athens, she is treated with 
 respect. Still throughout she bears a little too much of the 
 character of the deus ex machina for us to judge how truly 
 Euripides believed in her, although he represented her in the 
 orthodox way. 
 
 1 Tro. 925, 971 ., I. A. 183, 1300 ff. Phoen. 1062, 1372.
 
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 98 A STUDY OF ARCHAISM IN EURIPIDES 
 
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