m 
 
 PA 
 
 3978 
 K52 
 1919 
 MAIN 
 
 UC-NRLF 
 
 B M D3S bb'^ 
 
0^ 
 
 'J/ 
 
 s,. 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 # 
 
 v^ 
 
 %. 
 
 ^o^. 
 
 O/-. 
 
 % 
 
 ^o 
 
 ■O, 
 
 ^« 
 
 A«- 
 
 /■ 
 
 ^ 
 
 <^ 
 
 "^-i 
 
 %. 
 
 "'fe 
 
 ^o 
 
 </.. 
 
 
 '^/> 
 
 <?- 
 
 .^^^ 
 
 .^-^^ 
 
 .^^"^ 
 
 o. 
 
\ 
 
 "if 
 
 %. 
 
 -'>> 
 
 <3r 
 
 %, 
 
 yg? 
 
 /^ 
 
 ^1^. 
 
 .# 
 
 
 C^' 
 
 ^^ 
 
 -s^" 
 
 ^<^ 
 
 .# 
 
 ',? 
 
 ^ 
 
i 
 
 I 
 
THESUPERNATURAL IN THETRAGEDIES 
 OF EURIPIDES 
 
 AS ILLUSTRATED IN PRAYERS, CURSES, OATHS, 
 
 ORACLES, PROPHECIES, DREAMS 
 
 AND VISIONS 
 
 ERNEST HEINRICH KLOTSCHE 
 
 A THESIS 
 
 Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate College in the 
 
 University of Nebraska in Partial Fulfillment of 
 
 Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of 
 
 Philosophy, Department of Greek 
 
 History and Literature 
 
 LI.\CX)LX, XKBRASKA 
 March i8, 1918. . , 
 
 PRESS OF 
 
 THE NEW ERA PRINTING COMPANY 
 
 LANCASTER, PA. 
 
MAI 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 To my esteemed instructor in Greek and Sanskrit Literature, 
 Professor J. T. Lees, Ph.D., Head of Department of Greek His- 
 tory and Literature in the L^niversity of Nebraska, who has aided 
 me especially in the composition of this thesis, I owe a great debt 
 of gratitude. He has suggested the subject, and to his valuable 
 counsel and assistance important corrections and improvements 
 are due. 
 
 I have further consulted in one way or other nearly all the 
 books and monographs mentioned in the bibliography. Consid- 
 erable use has been made of the following works : J. Adam : " Re- 
 ligious Teachers of Greece"; C. H. Moore: "The Religious 
 Thought of the Greeks " ; C. F. Whitmore : " The Supernatural 
 in Tragedy " ; W. Nestle : " Euripides, der Dichter der griechi- 
 schen Aufklarung"; P. Decharme : " Euripide et I'esprit de son 
 theatre." 
 
 In quoting from the original I have availed myself of the Teub- 
 ner text. Deviations from this have been noted where they occur. 
 Excepting some of the fragments the translations are by A. S. 
 Way, in the Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann, 1912. 
 
 K 
 
 4?>5628 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Introduction i 
 
 The Prayers, Curses, Oaths, Oracles, Prophecies, Dreams, and Visions 
 
 in the Alcestis 4 
 
 Medea 8 
 
 Hippolytus 14 
 
 Hecuba 23 
 
 Andromache 26 
 
 Ion 28 
 
 SuppHces 33 
 
 Heracleidae 36 
 
 Hercules Furens 37 
 
 Iphigenia in Tauris 41 
 
 Troades 51 
 
 Helena 56 
 
 Phoenissae 61 
 
 Electra 68 
 
 Orestes 71 
 
 Iphigenia at Aulis 76 
 
 Bacchse 79 
 
 Cj'clops 83 
 
 Fragments 84 
 
 Summary Results of the Preceding Discussion 89 
 
 Index of References 100 
 
 Bibliography 105 
 
THE SUPERNATURAL IN THE TRAGEDIES OF 
 EURIPIDES AS ILLUSTRATED IN PRAYERS, 
 CURSES, OATHS, ORACLES, PROPH- 
 ECIES, DREAMS, AND VISIONS 
 
 BY ERNEST HEINRICH KLOTSCHE 
 
 The spirit of the Greek drama is preeminently reHgious. Not 
 only in its beginnings, but throughout the most flourishing period 
 of its history, it was in intimate connection with the supernatural 
 which entered into its very heart, and constituted one of its essen- 
 tial elements. The theatrical representations at Athens, even in 
 the days of Euripides and Aristophanes, were constituent parts 
 of a great religious celebration. 
 
 The presence of the supernatural element in Greek tragedy 
 involved a definite attitude toward it on the part of each indi- 
 vidual dramatist. The strength of personality which .^schylus, 
 Sophocles, and Euripides possessed made them voice their own 
 conceptions concerning the supernatural. 
 
 ^schykis, himself profoundly religious, accepted the popular 
 religion unhesitatingly trying to reconcile it with the more ad- 
 vanced conceptions of his time, by purifying its grossness and 
 harmonizing its various inconsistencies, thus imparting to the re- 
 ligion a new intense vitality. The moral government of all things, 
 the misery and mystery of sin, the power and mysterious dealings 
 of the gods, their terrible and inscrutable wrath, their certain ven- 
 geance upon sinners form the background of his thought. A 
 
 I 
 
sublime imagination lifts him to a region where tl 
 of the universe seem to be close about him. No 
 passed him in his power of creative imagination 
 ■ brings a whole world of mythical figures into being 
 ing impressiveness he presents the dim borderlan 
 material and the spiritual. With dreams and vi 
 habitually and brings them into his dramatic fa 
 summate skill. At times in his reference to the d 
 Zeus he almost approaches a stern and sombr 
 " One God above all, who directs all, who is the 
 (Ag., 163, 1485). 
 
 Sophocles, on the other hand, has no profound 
 supernatural, but accepts it as a traditional feati 
 Though he is by no means unconscious of the discc 
 in human life and destiny, he firmly believes in th( 
 the justice of the Gods, not attempting to solve a ] 
 odicy. His interest is primarily in the conflict of h 
 set before us in definite characters. Behind the n 
 however, are the gods, and with an original and 
 the supernatural elements he makes them really cc 
 whole design, without allowing them to overpov 
 participants. 
 
 A man of a different spirit, and, although cont 
 Sophocles, a man of a dift'erent world, is Eurip 
 world was dying, the new world was not yet born, 
 of intellectual growth, but of religious decay, w 
 were disengaging themselves from their tradition 
 popular religion — the very foundation of tragedy- 
 dermined. Scepticism had begun to be busy w: 
 which that religion consecrated. Neither Gods n 
 mandcd all the old unquestioning faith, and yet 1 
 still kept a real hold on the minds even of the n" 
 Under these circumstances the duty of the tragic [ 
 some difficulty, especially as far as the handling 
 natural in tragedy was concerned. Sophocles rer 
 the old faith in the Gods of his age and nation pr 
 ward acquiescence in the traditional beliefs, while 
 
 p ¥. ,fe i 11: * 6. » » *.fjl.1tt *■ 
 
The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 3 
 
 preaching tradition with the liberal frankness of the new age, is 
 by no means favorable to the established religion which had served 
 the two older dramatists so well ; and yet in his tragedies super- 
 natural manifestations play just as important a part as in those 
 of his predecessors. This fact occasions surprise, indeed, and 
 certainly demands discussion. 
 
 It is peculiarly difficult to estimate correctly the moral and re- 
 ligious views of Euripides. He is an elusive poet, not easy to 
 comprehend. Many even of his fellow-countrymen failed to un- 
 derstand him, and modern critics, since the middle of the eight- 
 eenth century until a recent period, have generally considered 
 him not only a bad poet, but a bad man ; and yet no other Greek 
 poet, except Homer, has made so deep and lasting an impression 
 on ancient and modern literature. Despite the jibes of Aris- 
 tophanes who declared that Euripides' poetry died along with 
 him (Frogs, 869), and vehemently refused him recognition even 
 in Hades, Euripides after his death was universally regarded as 
 a great poet. The Greek tragic poets of the succeeding centuries 
 patterned their plays upon his. At Rome he was early made 
 known through the translations of Ennius and had a marked in- 
 fluence upon the Roman drama. Poets in all ages have thought 
 well of him and he has generally been the favorite with modern 
 authors and dramatists far more than .Eschylus and Sophocles. 
 Milton felt and expressed great admiration for him. Racine, 
 Alfieri, Browning, Goethe, and others were influenced by the 
 ancient poet and imitated him. He was not only a favorite with 
 the masses in ancient times, he appeals to the reader of to-day as 
 well ; and this fact is in part doubtless due to his modern treat- 
 ment of the same human interests that are alive for us to-day. 
 
 Concerning the religious sentiments of Euripides the late Dr. 
 Verrall in his " Euripides the Rationalist," " Essays on Four 
 Plays of Euripides," and " The Bacchantes of Euripides " has at 
 great length and with much subtlety made an ingenious attempt 
 to prove that Euripides was a destructive thinker, " a sceptic of 
 the aggressive type," who wrote his plays with the intention of 
 attacking the traditional religion, but in order to avoid posing as 
 an open enemy to the state religion, attempted to accomplish his 
 
Ernest Hcinrich Klotsche 
 4 
 
 ends by handling the supernatural elements as uneonvincing or 
 even ridiculous ^^^^^^ ^^ ^,^ ^ods in an unfa- 
 
 vorl^: U M, andLs no real -rence for then, b.^^^^^ '« 
 
 — ft;::5^3r^:t— .h: 
 
 ^lu^r " 1 e n st relr^dhere's to the ntethod of using the 
 
 s.fXu^a; ^-p'f •'^:;: -n:r;indr::""a;7.::ii;" 
 rrhiaCfdiL:^:: :«r orrect. ^^^i^::^:^:, 
 
 to the religious ideas of his time. ^^^^ 
 
 , 'TJ^:^7^^:^"^^^^^'>^ - super- 
 nal in hi'strai'dies as ilLtrated in prayers, curses, oaths, 
 
 the ei^nieci f -; „ | -^^i^ ^as come down to us 
 
 ::':;■ irlle^ ;" is"rah™st umversalK. reeogni.ed as 
 
 Spurious 
 
 I. The Alcestis 
 
 The earliest of the exiant plays of Euripides, the " Alcestis," 
 iiie earnebL u ■ ,^q v C ^<^ the fourth play of a 
 
 '^xrr:^"rl,t:t:xri:':;x .ece, .r ....c 
 
 seu'racHficTher conjugal love and .-;^;;riy ca. are e^^^^^^^^ 
 ^-r=Xt^::--,^;-:;;a„athehonte: 
 
 Ale. 163-69: , n. 
 
 8k<T^oiv\ h^ yap tpxof^ai Kara X'^oros, 
 rk.' bp<i>ai'd'<Tai rapid, Kal rw ptv 4>i->^V>' 
 
The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 5 
 
 avi^ev^ov a\oxoi', rfj 5e yevvaiov ivoaiv. 
 H-r]8' clxTTTip avTcbp 17 TeKova aTr6Wvfj.a(. 
 {^avtlv adopovs TralSaj, dXX' evdainovas 
 tv yfi -KaTpi^q. rtpirvov tKTv\fiaai filov. 
 
 " Queen, for I pass beneath the earth, I fall 
 Before thee now, and nevermore, and pray: — 
 Be mother to my orphans : mate with him 
 A loving wife, with her a noble husband. 
 Nor as their mother dieth, so may they. 
 My children, die untimely, but with weal 
 In the home-land fill up a life of bliss." 
 
 It is worth noticing that the poet does not expose Alcestis to 
 view in the act of prayer, as though the situation were too solemn 
 to be exhibited before the eyes of the spectators. We learn Al- 
 cestis' prayer from her handmaid who describes in most affecting 
 terms her mistress's farewell to the beloved home. 
 
 A somewhat different mode of handling the supernatural ele- 
 ment is found in a prayer of the chorus representing the friends 
 of Admetus : 
 
 Ale. 213-25 
 
 ICO Zeu, Tis av ttcos wopos irq. 
 ykvoir' K. T. \. 
 wva^ Ilatd;', 
 
 e^ei'pe p.Tjxo-t'V'^ tiu' 'A5fj.riT0> KaKcov. 
 TTopi^e dij TToptfe. Kal irapos yap 
 TOL'6' e4>evpts, Kal vvv 
 XvTTjpios tK xiavarov yevov, 
 <f)6viov 5' aTTOiravaov Kihav. 
 
 "O Zeus, for our lords is there naught but despair? 
 No path through the tangle of evils, no loosing of chains that 
 
 have bound them? 
 . . . yet uplift we in prayer 
 Our hands to the Gods, for that power from the days everlasting 
 
 hath crowned them. 
 O Healer-king, 
 Find thou for Admetus the balm of relief, for the captive 
 
 deliverance ! 
 Vouchsafe it, vouchsafe it, for heretofore 
 Hast thou found out a way ; even now once more 
 Pluck back our beloved from Hades' door. 
 Strike down Death's hand red-reeking with gore ! " 
 
6 Ernest Ilcinrich Klotsclic 
 
 We should expect that Admetus' friends having heard of the 
 predicted fate of Alcestis, instead of praying desperately : "O 
 Zeus! O Healer-king!" would have acted and hurried to rescue 
 the queen from her fate and tell her and Admetus that the " fatal 
 day " will bring no further harm whatever. Their w^y of acting 
 can be explained only by assuming that they were entirely under 
 the influence of the traditional belief in oracular prediction. 
 
 A notable specimen of vision is found in the following verses 
 where Alcestis in language exceedingly pathetic describes the 
 apparition of Charon and Hades : 
 
 Ale. 252-6.? : 
 
 opij) 8'i.KCjinrov bpw crKa.4)OS 
 
 veKvcof 5i TropOfievs 
 
 itxcov x'fp' iirl kovtCo Xapcoi/ //' tjStj KoKti; k. t. X. 
 
 ayet n' d7et fie tls, ovx opas; 
 
 vfKvcov es avXav 
 
 vtt' 64>pv(TL Kvavavykcri /SXtTrwf TTTipoiTos At5as 
 
 Ti perils; fjiides. o'iav 
 
 bdov a btCkaLOTara irpo^alvui. 
 
 " I see the boat with the oars twin-sweeping, 
 And his hand on the pole as in haste aj'^e keeping, 
 Charon, the Ferryman calleth, 'What ho, wilt thou linger and 
 
 linger? 
 Hasten, — 'tis thou dost delaj' me ! ' he crieth with beckoning 
 
 finger. 
 
 One halcth me — lialctii me hence to the mansion 
 
 Of the dead ! — dost thou mark not the darkling expansion 
 
 Of the pinions of Hades, the blaze of his eyes 'neath their 
 
 caverns out-glaring! , 
 
 What wouldst thou ? — Unhand me ! — In anguish and pain by 
 
 what path am I faring ! " 
 
 A "vision " is that which is seen otherwise than by the ordinary 
 sight ; it may be an imaginary, supernatural, or prophetic sight. 
 In this case it is an imaginary vision. While none of those pres- 
 ent are aware of the apparition. Alcestis hears the Ferryman call 
 her and sees winged Hades beckon. Such fancies are nothing 
 unusual in a woman who is approaching inevitable death and has 
 gone already through a prolonged series of fatiguing devotions 
 and harrowing farewells, from weakness to exhaustion, and 
 
Tlie Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides y 
 
 finally to hallucination. Dying persons often imagine that they 
 see flitting forms, and appeal to others whether they are not 
 equally conscious of their presence, as Alcestis asks: ovx opas; 
 (259). That the poet, however, uses such visions as superna- 
 tural manifestations may be demanded by the traditional belief 
 and dramatic propriety. Such supernatural manifestations, which 
 often recur in connection with tragedy, always appeal to an in- 
 terest in the unseen deeply rooted in human nature. Even in the 
 most sceptical lingers a certain respect for such matters. 
 In the prologue Apollo proclaims an oracle of the Parcse : 
 
 Ale. 12-14: 
 
 ASfJiriTOV aSrjv tov -irapavriK eK<t)vyeii', 
 aXXof diaWa^avra rots Karcj vtKpbv. 
 
 " Admetus shall escape the imminent death 
 If he for ransom gives another life." 
 
 and making use of his prescience he predicts that Heracles shall 
 rescue the heroic Alcestis from the grave and the arm of death, 
 thus revealing the denouement of the drama : 
 
 Ale. 65-69: 
 
 f) ixrjv av irelffeL Kalirep oj/uos wj' iiyav 
 Tolos ^eprjTos elffi irpbs bbfxovs O-vijp, 
 Eupi;(r??etos ivkfjixpavTOs iinreLov fxtra 
 oxv/J'C- Qpv''^V^ *'^' Tbiruiv Svaxn-fj^^pcou, 
 8s bri ^euco^eis rolad' kv ^ kbp.r)rov bbp.ois 
 0lq. ywaiKa Tfji'Se a' k^aLprja-eraL. 
 
 " Surely thou shalt forbear, tliough ruthless thou. 
 So mighty a man to Pheres' hall shall come, 
 Sent of Eurystheus forth, the courser-car 
 From wintry-dreary lands of Thrace to bring. 
 Guest-welcomed in Admetus' palace here 
 By force yon woman shall he wrest from thee." 
 
 The fulfillment of this prophecy, namely the return of Alcestis 
 from death to life is the central theme of the play. But the pre- 
 diction itself is of religious importance ; it appeals to the re- 
 ligious instinct and offers an assurance that the just are in the 
 hands of God. 
 
 |^^Hlzg^-.a.Ji>-*^^'.UtjMl^BB^M| 
 
8 Ernest HciuncJi Klotsche 
 
 2. The Medea 
 
 The "Medea" was acted in 431 B.C. We may grant that the 
 play is not a faultless one, but even the detractors of Euripides 
 cannot deny it the excellence of true tragic pathos. The char- 
 acter of the heroine of the play, her ardent temperament, her 
 proud and daring spirit are also portrayed in the prayers and 
 curses which the poet puts into her mouth. 
 
 Medea in utter distress imprecates death upon herself : 
 
 Med. 144-48: 
 
 atal, 
 
 6id nov Ke^aXds <^X6^ ovpavLa 
 Pairj ri 8k not ^rjv en Kkp5os; 
 (peii 4>^v' ^avarw KaToKvaalp-av 
 Piorav arvyepav ■KpoXnrovcra.. 
 
 " Would God that the flame of Hghtning from heaven descending, 
 
 descending, 
 Might burn through mine head ! — for in Hving wherein any 
 
 more is my gain? 
 Alas and alas ! Would God I might bring to an ending, an 
 
 ending. 
 The life that I loathe, and behind me might cast all its burden 
 
 of pain 1 " 
 
 The chorus on comprehending the cause of her distress appeal 
 to the Gods and speak words of consolation : 
 
 Med. 149 flf. : 
 
 ates, w ZeD koI 7a koL 4>ibs, 
 axo-f o'iav a dvaravos 
 jitXiTfL vvjjL(t)a; K. T. X. 
 
 " O Zeus, Earth, Light, did }-e hear her, 
 How waileth the woe-laden breath 
 Of the bride in unhappiest plight? etc." 
 
 Then IMedea appeals to Artemis in the matter of her marriage 
 imprecating destruction and ruin upon Jason, her forsworn 
 husband : 
 
 Med. 160-65 : 
 
 d) fxeydXa Gtjui Kai' ttotvI Aprtpi, 
 Xevacrtd^ a irdtrxw, pteyaXoLs opKOLs 
 tvorjaaptva tov Karaparou 
 
Tlie Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 9 
 
 Troffiv; 6v TTOT 670) uvfKpap t effiSoi/j. 
 avTols ixeXadpois 8LaKi>aioiJ.tvovs, 
 oi y' e/xk -wpoadtv To\fub(T a8t.Kelv. 
 
 "O Lady of Justice, O Artemis' Majesty, see it, O see it — 
 Look on the wrongs I suffer, by oaths everlasting who tied 
 The soul of mine husband, that never from the curse he might 
 
 free it, nor free it 
 From your vengeance ! O may I behold him at last, even him 
 
 and his bride, 
 Them, and these halls therewithal, all shattered in ruin, in 
 
 Cf. also Med. 332: 
 
 Zed, fii] \adot. ae rcbvd' oj airtos KaKcbv. 
 
 " Zeus, Zeus, forget not him who is cause of this ! " 
 
 After a bitter reproach against her husband's unmanhness 
 Medea expostulates with Zeus : 
 
 Med. 516-19: 
 
 0} Zev, tL 8ri xpv(Tov /xev os ki/SStjXos V 
 TeKfxripl avOpioTroLaiv ibiracras (Ta4)r\, 
 avhpihv 5' OTW XPV '''O" xaKov 5tet5«^at, 
 ovdels x°-P'^'^''"nP (■p.Tr't(f)VKe (Tcoyuart; 
 
 " O Zeus, ah wherefore hast thou given to men 
 Plain signs for gold which is but counterfeit. 
 But no assay-mark nature graven shows 
 On man's form, to discern the base withal?" 
 
 The chorus fully aware that the fatal act of Medea's killing 
 her own children cannot be prevented by any human interference, 
 call on the holy Earth which is about to sustain the pollution of 
 blood, and the Sun, that grandsire of the wretched woman not to 
 allow her to murder her children : 
 
 Med. 1251-60: 
 
 tw Va Ti Kol Trap.4>aT)% 
 
 clktIs 'AeXioUj KariSer ISere rav 
 
 oXontvav yvpalKa. irpiv 4>oiviav 
 
 TtKfots irpoff^aXelv x^P o-vtoktovov; k. r. X. 
 
 " O Eearth, O all-revealing splendour 
 
 Of the Sun, look down on a woman accurst. 
 Or ever she slake the murder-thirst 
 Of a mother whose hands would smite the tender 
 Fruit of her womb. 
 
lO Ernest Heinrich Klotsche 
 
 But tliou. O heaven-begotten glory, 
 Restrain her, refrain her: the wretched, the gory 
 Erinys by demons dogged, we implore thee, 
 Snatch thou from yon home ! etc." 
 
 An earnest and impassioned invocation of the Gods is made by 
 Jason on account of his children nnuTlercd by Medea : 
 
 Med. 1405-07: 
 
 ZeD, rdS' o.Kovtis uis air tkavv 6 iJ.td\ 
 
 old T€ iraaxofii" ^ Trjs fivaapas 
 
 Kal ■7raL5o4>6i'ov Trja5e \eaifqs; k. t. X. 
 
 "O Zeus, dost thou hear it, how spurned I am? — 
 What outrage I suffer of yonder abhorred 
 Child-murderess, j-onder tigress-dam? etc." 
 
 On Medea he pronounces an imprecation: 
 
 Med. 1327-29: 
 
 'ipyov rXdcra bvaae^kaTarov. o\olo. 
 " Thus hast thou wrought . . . 
 Now ruin seize thee ! " 
 
 Med. laSa-QO: 
 
 dXXd ff' 'EptvLis oXecreie rkKvuiv (jjovla re Aik-tj. 
 
 " Now the Fury-avenger of children smite thee. 
 And Justice that looketh on murder requite thee ! " 
 
 A curse presupposes the supernatural as well as a prayer. A 
 curse is a wish expressed in words that evil may befall a certain 
 person. The wish may be expressed by a God or spirit, in which 
 case it is wish, will, and fact in one; or it may be an appeal to 
 another supernattu-al person to execute it. Euripides makes 
 dramatic use of curse? not only because they were survivals from 
 the past, but also because the supernatural element connected 
 with imprecations had evidently still a hold upon the popular 
 imagination. 
 
 Wherever reference to oath is made in our play the religious 
 binding force of the oath is assumed and the perjurer considered 
 a cursed villain. ]Medea is amazed at the perjurer Jason: 
 
The Supcrnainral in the Tragedies of Euripides ii 
 
 Med. 492-95 : 
 
 opKOiv de 4>pov5ri -k'kttis, ovh «x'^ y.ai^eiv 
 fi tJeoiis ^'Ojuifets robs tot ovk apxttv tTL, 
 fi Kaiva. Kelcri&at ^kaixi api)p6}irois to. vvi>. 
 iwti avfOLcrOa y' els tfi ovk tvopKos oiu. 
 
 " But faith of oaths hath vanished. I know not 
 Whether thou deem'st the olden Gods yet rule, 
 Or that new laws are now ordained for men. 
 For thine heart speaks thee unto me forsworn." 
 
 Indignant at Jason's perfidy the chorus exclaims : 
 
 Med. 439-40: 
 
 'EXXdSt TO, /x€7dX^ ixkvtL, aWepia 5' di'tTrro. 
 "Disannulled is the spell of the oath: no shame for the broken 
 troth 
 In Hellas the wide doth remain, but heavenward its flight hath 
 it taken." 
 
 At the conclusion of the play Medea declares Jason as forsaken 
 by the Gods, who will not heed his request because he is for- 
 
 Med. 1391-92: 
 
 TLS 8e kXvu aov i?e6s rj daifiuv, 
 Tov ^evdopKov Kal ^ewaTraTov; 
 
 " What God or what spirit will heed thy request, 
 Caitiff forsworn, who betrayest the guest?" 
 
 Medea demands an oath of ^-Egeus in order to attain a safe 
 refuge after having carried her designs into effect : 
 
 Med. 731-32: 
 
 earat. TaS'; dXXd wicTTis el ykvoiTo p.ot 
 TOVTOiv, exoi-li 0.V TrdvTa -rrpos akdev KoXcbs. 
 
 " So be it. Yet, were oath-pledge given for this 
 To me. then had I all I would of thee." 
 
 Med. 735-36: 
 
 . . . TOVTOIS 8\ OpKtOKTL n'iV ^Vyti%, 
 
 ayovinv ov fiedel' av en yaias ip.k. 
 " Oath-bound, thou couldst never yield me 
 To these, when they drag me from the land." 
 
12 Ernest Hcinrich Klotsche 
 
 lEgtws takes the oath : 
 Med. 7S2-SZ'- 
 
 ofivvm Trjp Kal \ainrp6v 'HXiou <^doj 
 iStoiis re Travras knufvtlv a <tov k\vo}. 
 
 " Bj^ Earth, the Sun's pure ITlajest^^ and all 
 The Gods, I swear to abide by this thou hast said." 
 
 Medea asks him: What do you imprecate on yourself to suffer 
 if you do not abide by this oath? 
 
 Med. 754: 
 
 . . . rt 5 opKij} Tuide nij fjifj.tvuv TrdjJois; 
 "For broken trotli what penalt}-?" 
 
 -^geus answers : 
 
 Med. 755: 
 
 d Tolat 8va<7ej3ovai ylyveTai ^poTuiv. 
 " The worst that scourgeth God-despising men." 
 
 The oaths of Jason by which ]\Iedea was induced to cross from 
 Asia to Europe are represented as a person or supernatural power 
 which brought her : 
 
 Med. 206-10: 
 
 TOP kv X4x*t irpoboTav KaKovviKJiov 
 ■deoKKvTtl 5' abiKa -wadoiiaa 
 
 TOLV TjCLVOS bpKlaV HkflLV, 
 
 a. viv ifiacrtv k. t. X. 
 
 "... the traitor to love who with false vows caught her 
 Who in strength of her wrongs chideth Heaven, assailing 
 The Oath-queen of Zeus, who with cords all prevailing 
 Forth haled her, and brought her o'er, etc." 
 
 The " Oath-queen," i.e., who watches over the fulfillment of 
 oaths. Themis caused IMedea to cross over, because the latter 
 believed in the oaths of Jason. 
 
 Among the Greeks, as among the ancients generally, the oath, 
 regarded as a divine institution, had a sacred character. \Mien 
 the Gods had been called to witness, one's obligation was abso- 
 lute. Zeus was called Zeus opKios (Hipp.. 1025), the "guardian 
 of oaths," or ranlas opKu (]\Ied., 170), the "steward of oaths," 
 
The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 1 3 
 
 who punishes men who break them. In the ^ov\evTr]pLov at 
 Olympia there was a statue of Zei's op/ctos with a thunderbolt in 
 each hand. (Pans. V, 24, 9). 
 
 As regards the formula of oath sometimes a prayer of a some- 
 what conventional form constitutes the oath, but besides these in- 
 stances we find in the tragedies of Euripides as well as in Greek 
 literature in general numerous examples of well-marked formulas 
 of oath, which are mostly references to deities, as " by Zeus ; " 
 "I call Zeus to witness," val jud Ata- vrpos d^euu- 'iarco Zeus- a-v/i- 
 iiapTvai deols. Med. 619: 8aifxovas ixapTvpoixai. 
 
 Med. 21-22 : 
 
 Poa fiiv opKovs, avaKaXel 5e Sepias 
 iriaTLv fieyicTTTiv, Kal i^ioiis iiapTvptTai. 
 
 ^oa opKovs implies the calling for the vengeance due to broken oath ; 
 Se^cds -KLCfTLs is used of plighting troth by the hand. 
 
 Med. 412-13 : 
 
 . . . {^eibv 5' ovK€Ti itiaTis apape. 
 
 ^ecov TTtoTts is the appeal to the Gods as witnesses of a pledge, or 
 faith plighted in the sight of the Gods. 
 
 Sometimes a curse is invoked on himself by the swearer that 
 he may perish if he fails to keep his oath, as Med. 755. The 
 Greeks usually swore by a divinity that was in some way con- 
 nected Avith the subject of discourse. So Medea (395) swears 
 by Hekate, the patroness not only of witches, but of all who com- 
 pounded poisons, philters, etc. Medea figures throughout the 
 play as a magician and accomplishes her vengeance largely 
 through the aid of sorcery. 
 
 An oracle is mentioned in vv. 666 E. /Egeus has been to Delphi 
 to inquire how he may be blessed with offspring. He is on his 
 way to Pittheus to consult him on the meaning of the obscure 
 oracle. The God had said : 
 
 Med. 679 and 681 : 
 
 acTKOv p.e Tov Trpovxovra p.ri \vaai iroSa, 
 TTplv av irarpVav avdis ecrriav /uoXa'. 
 
 "Loose not the wine-skin's forward-jutting foot, 
 Till to the hearth ancestral back thou come." 
 
14 Ernest Hcinrich Klotsche 
 
 This oracle adds nothing particular to our search, except that it 
 is a striking instance of an obscure and ambiguous oracle. Its 
 real meaning being " to preserve continence till his return 
 home"; hni acKov Xvaat -n-oda also signified "to untie the foot- 
 skin of a wine-bag." 
 
 3. Thk Hippolytus 
 
 In the " Hippolytus " we meet with several remarkable features 
 of the supernatural element. The subject of the play is the ven- 
 geance which Aphrodite, the Goddess of love, exacts from the 
 hero after whom the play is named. The prologue is spoken by 
 Aphrodite. She tells us that she is- wroth against Hippolytus, 
 because he has slighted her in- word and deed ; then she goes on 
 to declare her intention of avenging herself by a plot involving 
 Phaedra's destruction as well as his. 
 
 " Theseus shall know this thing ; all bared shall be : 
 And him that is my foe his sire shall slay 
 By curses, whose fulfilment the Sea-king 
 Poseidon gave to Theseus in this boon — 
 To ask three things of him, nor pray in vain. 
 And she shall die — O yea, her name unstained, 
 Yet Phaedra dies : I will not so regard 
 Her pain, as not to visit on my foes 
 Such penalty as is mine honour's due. 
 But, — forasmuch as Theseus' son I see 
 Yonder draw near, forsaking hunting's toil, 
 Hippolytus, — forth will I from this place. 
 Ha, a great press of henclimen following shout 
 Honouring with songs the Goddess Artemis ! 
 He knows not Hades' gates wide flung for him. 
 And this day's light the last his eyes shall see." 
 
 (42-38.) 
 
 By means of this prediction — as is usually the case in the pro- 
 logues of Euripides — the spectators are made familiar before- 
 hand with the subject of the play. In the opening scene the hero 
 of the play enters with attendant huntsmen whom he exhorts to 
 extol the praise of Artemis. They respond in the lofty strain: 
 
TJic SupcrnaiuraJ in flic Tragedies of Euripides i =; 
 
 Hipp. 61-72 : 
 
 TTOTVia TTOTVia (TfUPOTaTa, 
 
 Zai^os yepedXov. 
 
 Xaipe x^Ipe MOt, w Kopa k. t. X. 
 
 'O Majesty, Daughter of Zeus, dread Queeu, 
 
 I hail thee, Artemis, now, 
 O Leto's Daughter, O Zeus's child. 
 Loveliest far of the Undefiled ! 
 In that great Home of the Mighty Father, 
 The palace of Zeus, mid the glorj'-sheen 
 
 Of gold — there dwellest thou. 
 O fairest, to theeward in greeting I call, 
 Artemis, fairest of Maidens that gather 
 
 In Olympus' hall ! " 
 
 Then Hippolytus offers a garland of flowers to Artemis ; hence 
 our play is sometimes called " Stephanephoriis," the " wreath- 
 bearer." 
 
 Hipp. 73-87: 
 
 aoi Tovde irXeKTOv <Tjk4>avov e^ aK-qparov 
 
 Xttyuajcos, CO diffTTOLva, Koanrjaas 4>epo}, 
 
 €vd' ovT€ iroLfj,r]v dftoZ </)€p/3etj' Soto. 
 
 ovt' ^Xde TTW aL5r)pos, dXX' aK-qparov k. t. X. 
 
 " For thee this woven garland from a mead 
 Unsullied have I twined, O Queen, and bring. 
 There never shepherd dares to feed his flock. 
 Nor steel of sickle came: only the bee 
 Roveth the springtide mead undesecrate : 
 And Reverence watereth it with river-dews. 
 
 Now Queen, dear Queen, receive this anadem 
 From reverent hand to deck thy golden hair; 
 For to me sole of men this grace is given. 
 That I be with thee, converse hold with thee, 
 Hearing thy voice, yet seeing not thy face. 
 And may I end life's race as I began." 
 
 In this beautiful prayer the poet portrays with exquisite skill 
 the ideal of a chaste and pious character. Hippolytus' piety is as 
 untainted as his purity. 
 
 The Old Nurse who tries in vain to persuade Hippolytus to 
 worship Aphrodite steps up to the altar of that Goddess whose 
 
 WL 
 
1 6 Ernest Hcinrich KlotscJic 
 
 statue or symbol, like that of Artemis, was on the stage, and 
 utters the following prayer : 
 
 Hipp. 114-20: 
 
 •flfifTs Se, Tous viovs yap ov iiitxr^Tkor, 
 (ppovovvTes ovToos Cos wpiTret. SovXois XeYeit", 
 irpoaev^Ofxeada Tolat, aols ayaX/iacri., 
 SkffTTOLva Kvirpi. 
 
 K. T. X. 
 
 " But we — wlio must not tread in steps of j-outh — 
 With whispered humbleness most meet for thralls 
 Make supplication to thine images. 
 Queen Cypris. It beseems thee to forgive, 
 If one that bears through youth a vehement heart 
 Speak folly. Be as though thou heardest not ; 
 For wiser Gods should be than mortal men." 
 
 The same sentiment of piety and devotion as in the prayer of 
 Hippolytus in vv. 73-87 is expressed in the words in which he 
 addresses his favorite Goddess, when he knew that his fate was 
 sealed : 
 
 Hipp. 1092-94: 
 
 CO (pikTCiTr) fxoi daLfxoucov A777or's Kopr} 
 avv^aKe (rvyKvvaye, 4>ev^ovy.€<Tda. Sfi 
 KXetfds 'Ai?T7fas. 
 
 " Dearest of Gods to me, O Leto's Child, 
 Companion, fellow-huntress, I shall flee 
 Athens the glorious." 
 
 The end soon comes, and the dying Hippolytus is brought 
 home. In lamentations loud and deep he calls on Death, the 
 healer : 
 
 Hipp, isrs-yd- 
 
 Kal ttoi Qavaros Tlaiav ?Xi?oi. 
 vpoaairbWuTt ti 6Wvt€t6v dvaSainov • 
 
 Sianoipaaat. 
 
 " Give ye sleep unto me, 
 Death-salve for my pain. 
 
 The sleep of the sword for the wretched — I long, oh I long to 
 be slain." 
 
 Then suddenly is he aware of the presence of Artemis. A mar- 
 
The Supernal itral in the Tragedies of Euripides ly 
 
 vellous fragrance reveals her presence, and the dying youth mo- 
 mentarily revives and addresses the Goddess to whom he is faith- 
 ful unto death : 
 
 Hipp. 1391-93: 
 
 & Oelop odixrjs wvtvixa' Kal yap iv KaKois 
 &v Xtcrdonriv aov KavtKov^yladrjv Zknas- 
 ((jt' kv TOTTOKJL tol(tL8' Apre/xts tJea; 
 
 " Ah, perfume-breath celestial ! — mid my pains 
 I feel thee, and mine anguish is assuaged. 
 Lo in this place the Goddess Artemis ! " 
 
 But the same pious, innocent Hippolytus being keenly conscious 
 of the injustice of his fate pours out his grief to the Gods: 
 
 Hipp. io6o-f»i : 
 
 w !?eoi, tL drira rovfxov oh Xvu aTOfia, 
 ooTts 7' v<t>' vfjov, ovs (T€/3w SioXXii/ittt; 
 
 " O Gods, whj can I not unlock my lips, 
 Who am destroyed by you whom I revere ? " 
 
 and cries out as he dies : • 
 
 Hipp. 1363-69: 
 
 ZeD ZeD, rdS' opas', 
 68 6 (Tinvos kyu) Kal dtoakirrixip, 
 68' 6 (TU(j)po(jvv{i Travras vvepax^v 
 irpoviTTOv « AiStji/ crretx'^ Kara, yfis, 
 okkaat ^loTov p.6xdovs 5' aXXcos 
 T^j evceffias 
 eis iivd^ponrovs eTrofrjaa. 
 
 " Ah Zeus hast thou seen ? 
 Innocent I, ever fearing the Gods, who was wholly heart-clean 
 Above all men beside, — 
 
 Lo, how I am thrust 
 Unto Hades, to hide 
 
 My life in the dust! 
 All vainly I reverenced God, and in vain unto man was I just." 
 
 The chorus, too, though confessing they derive consolation 
 from a belief in the care of the Gods, declare that on looking at 
 the chances and changes of human life, they fail to get a clear 
 view of the dealings of providence : 
 
 " When faith overfloweth my mind, God's providence all-embracing 
 Banisheth griefs : but when doubt whispereth 'Ah but to know ! ' 
 
1 8 Ernest Heinrich Klotsche 
 
 No clue through the tangle I find of fate and of life for my 
 
 tracing: 
 There is ever a change and many a change, 
 And the mutable fortune of men evermore swaj-s to and fro 
 
 Over limitless range. 
 Ah, would the Gods hear prayer! etc." (Hipp. ii02ff.) 
 
 The j)rayer which Euripides puts into the mouth of Hippolytus 
 (1363-69) not only shows lack of consistency in drawing the 
 character of Hippolytus, but it also illustrates how ready Euripi- 
 des is to discredit the religion he did not believe in. Here the 
 question arises: Why, if Artemis so loved Hippolytus, did she 
 not interfere to save him? In vv. 1327 ff. she explains why she 
 could not prevent the deed, for there is a law of the Gods not to 
 oppose one another : 
 
 Hipp. 1325-30: 
 
 . . . dXX' o^ws 
 
 Ct' i(TTL aol KOI TWPdt (Tl»77l'aj/i77S TVXill'' 
 
 KvTTpis yap fjdiX' cbcrre yiyveffdai raSe, 
 nXripovcra dvptov. deolffi, 5' u5' exet v6^io%- 
 oiibds awoLvrav /SouXerat Tvpodvp-lq. 
 rfi Tov dk\ovTO'i, aXX' a4>L(rTafxead^aei. 
 
 This explanation given by Artemis well fits Prof. Jebb's note- 
 worthy conception of our play. According to him the whole 
 action of the play is made to turn on the jealous feud between 
 Aphrodite, the Goddess of love, and Artemis, the Goddess of 
 chastity. " The natural agency of huinan passion is now re- 
 placed by a supernatural machinery ; the slain son and the be- 
 reaved father are no longer the martys of sin, the tragic wit- 
 nesses of an inexorable law ; rather they and Phaedra are alike 
 the puppets of a divine caprice, the scapegoat of an Olympian 
 quarrel in which they have no concern." (Jebb on Euripides in 
 Encycl. P>ritannica.) 
 
 Some examples of imprecations or curses occur in our play. 
 Phaedra pronounces a curse on the Nurse who without the queen's 
 knowledge and consent has revealed to Hippolytus the whole 
 situation : 
 
The Supernakiral in the Tragedies of Euripides 19 
 
 Hipp. 682-S6: 
 
 o) irayKaKiffTt) koI <}>L\cav 5ia4>dopev, 
 
 ol eipyaaco jue. Zeus tre yivvrjTicp kfxos 
 
 Trpoppi^ov hKTpl\j/ti.ev oiiracras wvpL. k. t. X. 
 
 " Vilest of vile ! destroyer of thy friends ! 
 How hast thou ruined me ! May Zeus my sire 
 Smite thee with flame, blast thee to nothingness ! 
 Did I not tell thee — not divine thy purpose?" 
 
 Another example is found in vv. 887 ff., where Hippolytus 
 charged by Theseus with the crime of having made dishonorable 
 proposals to Phaedra, is cursed by his father with a fatal curse : 
 
 Hipp. 887 ff. : 
 
 dXX' w TTCLTtp Ylocrtibov, as e^oi irore 
 dpa? VTTtaxov rptls, /^t^ Karkpyaaat. 
 TOVTwv kp.6v 7raI5', r]fxipav 5e p-i) ^vyot 
 Ti)vb\ tlirep r]p.lv co7ra<ras cra^els dpds. 
 
 7; yap Iloo'etSaij' avrov els AtSou irvXas 
 ■davovTa irepxfeL rots e/xds dpds cre/Scor, 
 7) TTJade xwpfls eKTreacbv dXcoyueros 
 ^ivTjv kir' alav \vTrp6v. avrX-qati. ^lov. 
 
 " Father Poseidon, thou didst promise me 
 Three curses once. Do thou with one of these 
 Destroy my son : may he not escape this day, 
 If soothfast curses thou hast granted me. 
 
 Either Poseidon, reverencing my pra}ers. 
 
 Shall slay and speed him unto Hades' halls. 
 
 Or, banished from this land, a vagabond 
 
 On strange shores shall he drain life's bitter dregs." 
 
 W'wh this passage compare vv. 44 it., where Aphrodite predicts 
 this curse : 
 
 " And him that is mj- foe his sire shall slay 
 By curses, whose fulfillment the Sea-king 
 Poseidon gave to Theseus in this boon — 
 To ask three things of him, nor pray in vain." 
 
 and vv. 1173 ff., where the messenger brings the news of the ful- 
 fillment of the curse. 
 
 Hippolytus asserts his innocence imprecating Zeus' punishment 
 upon himself in case he is guilty : 
 
20 Ernest He in rich KlotscJie 
 
 Hipp. 1 191-93: 
 
 Zeii, fxrjKtT^ t ''?'', *' KaKos Tri(j}VK^ avrjp- 
 aladoiTo 8' ijjuas cos drcud'^eL Tranjp 
 fjTOL ^avovras rj <f>a.os dedopKoras. 
 
 " Zeus, may I die if I a villain am ! 
 May my sire know that he is wronging me, 
 When I am dead, if not while I see light!" 
 
 Finally the innocent Hippolytus being deadly wounded cries 
 out : 
 
 Hipp. 1415: 
 
 (j>ev eW fiv dpalov 8alp.o(Xiv ^porup ykvos. 
 " O that men's curses could but strike the Gods ! " 
 
 The same innocent, pious Hippolytus who according to his own 
 words had "ever reverenced and feared the Gods," wishes that 
 the human race had the power of bringing curses on the Gods! 
 What greater condemnation of the traditional Gods could there 
 be than this ! 
 
 In the well known passage v. 612 Euripides seems to express 
 doubt as to the sanctity of oath. When the Nurse adjured Hip- 
 polytus by his oath not to betray her wretched mistress he ex- 
 claims in his fury : 
 
 Hipp. 612: 
 
 77 y\ib(Tcr' 6fi(jL>nox', V 5e 4>prtv dvuporos. 
 " My tongue has sworn : no oath is on mj' soul." 
 
 Cicero who renders this celebrated line : Juravi lingua, mentem 
 injuratam gero (De Ofif. HI, 29), defends the sentiment. Aris- 
 tophanes parodies it in several passages (Arist. Acharn. 398-99; 
 Frogs 102; 1471 ; and Thesin. 275-76). The comic poet, like 
 many others, misrepresents this line of Euripides, as though he 
 justified the breach of an uttered oath on the plea of a mental 
 reservation. This verse is also said to have brought upon Euripi- 
 des the charge of impiety (Arist. Rhet. HI, 15). That the poet 
 intended to imperil the respect due to oaths, is an unjust and ab- 
 surd accusation. First of all it is always precarious to judge a 
 dramatic poet by the excited utterances of his characters ; and 
 then, if this verse is read in its proper place and interpreted in its 
 
TJie Supernal iiral in the Tragedies of Euripides 21 
 
 context, it is easily explained. Phaedra's nurse before she in- 
 forms Hippolytus of the passion which Phaedra has conceived for 
 him, makes the young man promise not to reveal the secret she is 
 about to communicate to him. Having made the promise under 
 oath Hippolytus declares that if he were not bound by his oath 
 he would unhesitatingly reveal the whole truth to his father, The- 
 seus. This shows that the utterance in v. 612 is nothing but a 
 sudden outburst of self-reproach on the part of a youth of stain- 
 less purity, indignant at having been entrapped into a verbal oath 
 of whose true meaning he was at the time utterly ignorant. Paley 
 considers it uncertain whether Hippolytus spoke these words in 
 earnest or merely to frighten the Nurse. But whatever may be 
 said to explain this line, we know that Hippolytus feels himself 
 bound by the oath : 
 
 Hipp. 656-58: 
 
 €v 8' ladt, Tovfxov a' eucre/Ses cru>^ei, yxivai- 
 el fxri yap op/cots Oecbv a.<t)paKTOS 77 p'td-qv, 
 ovK ixv TTor' 'iaxoy /l"? 011 rdS' t^eiwelv Trarpl. 
 
 " Woman, I fear God : know, that saveth thee. 
 For, had I not by oaths been trapped unawares, 
 I had ne'er forborne to tell this to my sire,' 
 
 and at the conclusion of the play, we find him bearing his father's 
 unjust resentment, and even exile and death, rather than violate 
 this very oath, which he declares in 612 to be no oath at all: 
 
 Hipp. 1062-63 : 
 
 oil drjra iravTus oil -iridoLp.' av ovs /xe del, 
 p,a.TT]v 5' a.u opKovs avyx'ta-i-P-^ ovs wpoo-a. 
 
 " No !— whom I need persuade, I should not so, 
 And all for naught should break the oaths I swore ! " 
 
 And Artemis bears testimony to Hippolytus' faithfulness in the 
 following words : 
 
 Hipp. 1306-09: 
 
 fi cru) 51 opKiiiv Traihl arfpaivei voaov. 
 6 6' (IxTirep wv SiKaios oiiK eipeaireTO 
 'Koyoiatv, ouS' av Trpos aedev KaKovpevos 
 &PKCOV d</)€tXe ■KiCTi.v, evffe^rii 7e7ws. 
 
 "... her nurse 
 
22 Ernest Hcinrich Klotsche 
 
 Told under oath-seal to thy son her pangs : 
 
 He, even as was righteous, would not heed 
 
 The tempting; no, nor when sore-wronged of thee 
 
 •Broke he the oath's pledge, for he feared the Gods." 
 
 Taken in its context v. 612 may, indeed, be justified; but the 
 formula itself is objectionable on account of the possible abuse of 
 its application. When Euripides distinguished between the 
 tongue that pronounces the formula of the oath and the mind 
 that does or does not acquiesce in the words pronounced, he did 
 certainly not intend to express doubt as to the sanctity of oaths 
 or even justify perjury, but intended to distinguish between valid 
 and invalid oaths thus attempting to goad people to reflection. 
 We may, however, well iinagine that the Greeks in Euripides' 
 days, who were nourished on the idea that the formula of oath, 
 when pronounced, was absolutely binding, were scandalized when 
 they heard in the theatre that oaths might be discriminated ac- 
 cording to the circumstances under which they were made. 
 
 The following oath of the chorus is important for the sequel 
 of the play. It prevents the chorus from revealing to Theseus 
 the truth about the relations of Hippolytus and Phjedra and 
 saving Hippolytus: 
 
 Hipp. 713-14: 
 
 onvvfiL crefivqv Aprefiiv Atos Kop-qv, 
 IJ.r]8ii> KaKoiv aCiv ets 4>aos Sel^eiv irork. 
 
 " I swear by reverend Artemis, Zeus' child, 
 Never to bare to light of thine ills aught." 
 
 The formula "Apre/xti' Atos Koprjv was suggested by the statue of 
 Artemis, which stood on the stage. 
 
 Euripides had no regard for the function of soofJisaycrs or 
 prophets. He evidently considers them as public impostors and 
 attacks them whenever opportunity offers. Hippolytus driven 
 frotn Attica by his father, complains that he has been exiled 
 without a trial, without proof of the crime of which he is accused, 
 and without consultation of the soothsayers : 
 
 Hipp. 1055-56: 
 
 ovS' opKov ovSk ttLcttlv ov8e navrtccf 
 <j)ijna$ kXty^a^ clkpltov kK0a\tls pe 7^s; 
 
TJic Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 23 
 
 " Nor oath, nor pledge, nor prophet's utterance 
 Wilt test, but cast me forth the land untried?" 
 
 and Theseus replies with no respect for the art of ornithomancy: 
 
 Hipp. 1057-59: 
 
 17 5eXros r;5€ KXrjpof ov Stdeynevr] 
 KaT-qyopei aou iriCTTa- tovs 5 inrtp Kapa 
 (poiTcopTas opveis ttoXX' tyw xtttpeti' \tyo3. 
 
 " This tablet, though it bear no prophet's sign, 
 Acuseth thee, not lieth : but the birds 
 That roam o'erhead — I wave them long farewell." 
 
 NB. In vv. 6i6 ft". Hippolytus expostulates with Zeus and lays 
 the blame on him that woman is man's scourge : 
 
 " Why hast thou given a home beneath the sun, 
 Zeus, unto woman, specious curse to man? etc." 
 
 The whole passage is a sally of doubtful sincerity, and since it is 
 not so much an invective against Zeus as an invective — and per- 
 haps the most bitter piece of an invective — against women, it is 
 of little importance in regard to the poet's handling of the super- 
 natural element. 
 
 4. The Hecuba 
 
 The "Hecuba" (about 425 B.C.) treats of the revenge of 
 Hecuba, the widowed queen of Priam, of Polymestor, king of 
 Thrace, who had murdered her youngest son Polydorus, after 
 her daughter Polyxena had already been sacrificed by the Greek? 
 to the shade of Achilles. 
 
 Hecuba appears on the stage and declares that she has been 
 driven from within her tent in alarm at a vision. The vision was 
 the ghost of her murdered son, Polydorus, whom she believes to 
 be safe and well in Thrace. She adds that she also has been 
 warned by an ominous dreaui about her daughter Polyxena. 
 From these apparitions she infers that some misfortune is im- 
 pending over both her children and is anxious to consult her 
 prophetic children, Cassandra and Helenus, as to the purport of 
 these supernatural manifestations. Besides this vision and this 
 
24 Ernest Heinrich Klotsche 
 
 dream a previous appearance of Achilles' ghost over his tomb had 
 added to the alarm and confusion. 
 
 Hec. 68-78: 
 
 w orepoTra Atos, -ai aKoria vv^, 
 
 tI ttot' aLpop.cn evvvxo'i o'iru 
 
 Seinacn tpaafxaai.; Jj iroTPia Xi?oIjr, k. t. X. 
 
 " O lightning splendour of Zeus, O mirk of the night, 
 Why quake I for visions in slumber that haunt me 
 With terrors with phantoms? O Earth's majestic might, 
 Mother of dreams that hover in dusk-winged flight, 
 I cry to the vision of darkness ' Avaunt thee!' — 
 The dream of m}^ son wlio was sent into Thrace to be saved 
 
 from the slaughter, 
 The dream that I saw of Polj'xena's doom, 
 Which I saw, which I knew, which abideth to daunt me." 
 
 Hec. 90 ff. : 
 
 iibov yap /SaXtav e\a4>ov \vkov a'inovL x^Xa 
 
 (Tcpa^onkfav, aw' i.y.wv yovarwv airaadtKrav avayKq. oiKTpibs. 
 
 " For a dappled fawn I beheld which a wolf's red fangs were 
 tearing. 
 Which he dragged from my knees, whereto she had clung in 
 her piteous despairing." 
 
 Hecuba reflects again on the apparition of her son : 
 
 Hec. 702-06: 
 
 iiijioL, alal, €p.ai)ov ivvirvLOV buixaroiv 
 
 eficov '6\ptv, ov p.e wape^a 0d- 
 
 (Tfjia fxeXavoirTepov, 
 
 au efftlSov i.fj.<l>l a', 
 
 w rkKvov, ouKer' ovra Atos tv </)d«t. 
 
 " Woe's me, I discern it, the vision that blasted my sight ! 
 Neither flitted unheeded that black-winged phantom of night, 
 Which I saw, wliich revealed that my son was no more of the 
 light." 
 
 Doubtless, Euripides employs such supernatural element of 
 dreams and visions as a survival of a primitive belief. But the 
 predominant reason for employing supernatural apparitions and 
 manifestations in tragedy, especially where a serious effect is 
 aimed at, is the desire of the poet to arouse terror. The fear of 
 ghosts and the fear resulting from dreams, is, of course, vague 
 
TJie Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 25 
 
 and hard to define, but the feeling is rooted deeply in the human 
 soul that there are such supernatural forces and that they are of 
 doubtful friendliness to man. Hence Euripides calls Earth "the 
 Mother of dreams " regarding dreams as sent up from the re- 
 cesses of the earth, i.e., from Hades; therefore they are "black- 
 winged," i.e., gloomy and of evil portent. 
 
 Different types of prayers occur in the " Hecuba." In utter 
 distress Hecuba fervently implores the Gods to spare her children : 
 
 Hec. 79-80: 
 
 CO x^o'''ot t?€oi, (TcocraTe 7rat5 e/UOJ', 
 OS novos o'Lkuv ajKvp' iixHiv. 
 
 " Gods of the Underworld save ye my son, 
 
 Mine house's anchor, its only one." 
 
 Hec. 96-97 : 
 
 (xtt' efxcLS ovv dir' tjias rode waidos 
 irkn^pare, dalfiopes, i/cereuw. 
 
 " O Gods, I am suppliant before you ! — In any wise turn, I im- 
 plore you. 
 This fate from the child of my womb!" 
 
 Euripides, who sometimes seems to deny or call in question the 
 existence of the Gods, makes Talthybius moralize on the strange 
 dispensations of heaven and the caprice of fortune: 
 
 Hec. 488-91; 
 
 o) Zev, Tt Xejco; Trorepd cr' avOpdcirovs bpav; 
 fj do^av aWws rijvbe KtKTr\adai. ixaT-qv 
 xpevSfj, SoKovvTas daLnovoiv tivaL ■ykvo'i, 
 rvxTl" 5* "Kavra rav ^pOTols kivLcyKOTrelv; 
 
 "What shall I say, Zeus? — that thou look'st on men? 
 
 Or that this fancy false we vainly hold 
 
 For nought, who deem there is a race of Gods, 
 
 While chance controlleth all things among men?" 
 
 In conformity with this sentiment the poet makes Polymestor 
 say: 
 
 Hec. 958-60: 
 
 4>pvpovai 5 avTO. tJeot TrdXti' re Kai, irpoffu} 
 Tapay/jLov efTidepres, cos dyvwalq. 
 ak^Ufiev avrovs. 
 
 " All things the Gods confound, hurl this way and that, 
 
26 Ernest HcinyicJi Klotsche 
 
 Turmoiling all, that we, foreknowing nought. 
 May worship them." 
 
 Prayers to the dead are of frequent occurrence in Euripides. 
 Achilles' son attempts to propitiate his father's ghost by sacrifice 
 and prayer and all the host joined in that prayer: 
 
 Hec. 534 ff-: 
 
 Se^at xoas ixov rdaSe k. t. X. 
 
 " Son of Peleus, father mine, 
 Accept from me these drops propitiator}-, 
 Ghost-raising. Draw thou nigh to drink pure blood 
 Dark-welling from a maid. We give it thee. 
 The host and I. Gracious to us be thou ; etc." 
 
 Invocations of the dead presuppose that the departed soul, 
 though beneath the earth, still has the semblance of existence and 
 the power of hearing. In this case the spirit of the dead was not 
 only thought to be propitiated by the sacrifice, but actually to 
 taste it. 
 
 Polymestor having obtained an oracle from the Thracian seer 
 Dionysus foretells to Hecuba that she shall die by a fall from a 
 mast after having been changed into the canine species, and to 
 Agamemnon that he will die by the hand of his wife: 
 
 Hec. 1261 ff. : 
 
 KpiApri flip ovv Tteffovaav be Kapx'l<f^^v k- t. X. 
 " Nay, but shall whelm thee fallen from the mast. 
 
 Yea — slay him too, upswinging high the axe." 
 
 5. The Andromache 
 
 The " Andromache " was not acted at Athens in the author's 
 life-time. Its plot belongs to the same division of the Trojan 
 affairs as the " Hecuba " and the " Troades," viz., the fortune 
 of the captives after the destruction of their city. The "An- 
 dromache " is by no means one of the best plays of Euripides. It 
 also contributes only a few examples to our discussion, but those 
 few are characteristic of the poet's handling the supernatural 
 element. 
 
The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 27 
 
 Orestes, who prays to his patron God: 
 Andr. 900: 
 
 " O Healer Plioebus, grant from woes release ! " 
 
 assumes that the Gods do wrong; in the following verse (901) he 
 asks Hermione : 
 
 "What ails thee? Art thou wronged of Gods or men?" 
 
 and Hermione answers in the affirmative : 
 
 " Of myself partly, partly of mj' lord. 
 In part of some God : ruin is everywhere ! " 
 
 In the choral ode (lOOQff.) the divine founders of Troy, Apollo 
 and Poseidon, are upbraided for having abandoned to destruction 
 their once beloved city : 
 
 Andr. 1009-16: 
 
 CO ^oi^e TTvpywa-as 
 
 Tov kv 'IXicj) tvT€L-)ifi wayov k. t. X. 
 
 ToXaivav ixe^elre Tpoiav; 
 
 " O Phoebus, who gavest to Ilium glory 
 
 Of diadem-towers on her hights, — and O Master 
 Of Sea-depths, whose grey-gleaming steeds o'er the hoary 
 Surf-ridges speed, — to the War-god, The Waster 
 With spears, for what cause for a spoil did he cast her, 
 Whom your own hands had fashioned, dishonoured to lie 
 In wretchedness, wretchedness — her that was Troy?" 
 
 In the famous speech which the poet puts into the mouth of 
 Andromache, and in which he expresses his own dislike of the 
 Spartans, he pronounces an imprecation on that people : 
 
 Andr. 451-53: 
 
 ov \kyoPTes aWa y.tv 
 yXcoacry, 4>poi>ovvT€s 5 aXX e(l)€VpLaKe(ni) aei; 
 
 oXoiffde. 
 
 " Convicted liars, saying 
 This with the tongue, while still your hearts mean that, 
 Now^ ruin seize ye ! " 
 
 The oracle-god is portrayed as a pitiless character, who con- 
 
28 Ernest Hc'nirich Klotsche 
 
 demns Neoptolemus to death when engaged in expiating a small 
 offence thus seeking by prayer and sacrifice to assuage the wrath 
 of the God: 
 
 Andr. 1 161-65: 
 
 ToiaDi?' 6 Tois aXXotffi iJeffirifwi' ava^, 
 6 Twv biKa'iwv Tracriv avd puirois KpiTrjs, 
 SiKas dLSovra ttoIS' eSpacr' 'Ax'XXews. 
 e)xvr]n6vev(re 8 cbawep avdponros KaKos 
 waXaia peiKj]- ttws di' ovv etij ao<p6s', 
 
 " Thus he that giveth oracles to the world, 
 He that is judge to all men of the right, 
 Hath wreaked revenge upon Achilles' son, — 
 Yea, hath remembered, like some evil man. 
 An old, old feud! How then shall he be wise?" 
 
 The satire in these lines so freely reflecting on the alleged 
 justice, impartiality, and wisdom of Apollo is in keeping with the 
 poet's attitude elsewhere; cf. Ion 436 ff. The poet's enemies of 
 old were delighted with the handle which such passages oft'ered 
 against him. (Arist. Thesm. 450.) 
 
 6. The Ion 
 
 The " Ion " — chronologically placed somewhere between 424- 
 421 B.C. — may safely be called one of the most perfect and beau- 
 tiful of the Greek tragedies. The young Ion is a priest at the 
 temple of Delphi when Xuthus and his wife Creusa, daughter of 
 Erechtheus, come to inquire of the God concerning their child- 
 lessness ; and it is discovered that Ion is the son of Creusa by the 
 God Apollo. 
 
 The " Ion " represents the supernatural, and especially the 
 oracle-god in as unpleasant a light as possible. 
 
 In a monody of remarkable beauty, and full of pure-minded 
 and devout sentiments Ion describes with enthusiasm the pleas- 
 ure, he takes in the service of Apollo, his patron god, vv. 82-183. 
 To quote only : 
 
 Ion 128-43: 
 
 KoXov y€ t6v irovov, w 
 
 <l'oT/3e, <Tol irp6 bbfioiv Xarpevu k. t. X. 
 
 "'Tis my glory, the service I render 
 
The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 29 
 
 In thy portals, O Phoebus, to thee ! 
 I honour thj^ prophet-shrine. 
 Proud labour is mine — it is thine ! 
 I am thrall to the Gods divine : 
 Not to men, but Immortals, I tender 
 My bondage ; 'tis glorious and free : 
 Never faintness shall fall upon me 
 For my father thee, Phoebus, I praise. 
 Who hast nurtured me all my days : 
 My begetter, mine help, my defender 
 This temple's Phoebus shall be. 
 O Healer, O Healer-king. 
 Let blessing on blessing upring 
 Unto Leto's Son as I sing!" 
 
 There are few things more charming in Greek literature than 
 the picture of Ion's childHke innocence and priestly sanctity which 
 Euripides portrays in these lines. Ion reininds one strongly of 
 the boy Samuel whose ministrations are painted with so exquisite 
 a grace in the Old Testament. But as soon as Ion hears of the 
 God's deed he breaks forth in this wise : 
 
 Ion 436-51 : 
 
 vovdeT7]Teos 5e juot 
 $oZ/3os, TL Trdcrxet' TrapOhovs jSlq. yancou 
 ■Kpodi8a)c7t., k. t. X. 
 
 "... Yet must I plead 
 With Phoebus — what ails him ? He ravisheth 
 Maids, and forsakes ; begetteth babes by stealth, 
 And heeds not, though they die. Do thou not so ! 
 Being strong, be righteous. For what man soe'er 
 Transgresseth, the Gods visit this on him. 
 How were it just then that ye should enact 
 For men laws, and 3'ourselves work lawlessness? 
 For if — it could not be, yet put it so — 
 Ye should pay mulct to men for lawless lust, 
 Thou, the Sea-king, and Zeus the Lord of Heaven, 
 Paying for wrongs should make your temples void. 
 For, following pleasure past all wisdom's bounds, 
 Ye work unrighteousness. Unjust it were 
 To call men vile, if we but imitate 
 What Gods deem good : — they are vile who teach us this." 
 
30 Ernest Hcinrlcli Klotsche 
 
 For the same sentiment cf. Creusa's words, 
 
 vv. 249 ff. : 
 
 "... looking on Apollo's dwelling place, 
 I traversed o'er an ancient memory's track : 
 Afar my thoughts were, and my body here. 
 Ah, wrongs of women ! — wrongful-reckless deeds 
 Of Gods! For justice where shall we make suit, 
 If 'tis our Lord's injustice crushes us?" 
 
 Again she charges Apollo with injustice 
 
 Ion 384 ff. : 
 
 cj <I>oZ/3€, KaKel K'di'iydS 011 diKaios el k. t. X. 
 "O Phoebus, there and here unjust art thou 
 Unto the absent one whose plea is here. 
 Thou shouldst have saved thine owai, yet didst not save ; etc." 
 
 and in the violent invectives vv. 88i ff. she cannot find sufficient 
 imprecations wherewith to curse before Heaven the " ravisher- 
 bridegroom " (911) who has made her mother. 
 
 These passages not only show that the poet requires the Gods 
 to teach by example and not merely by precept in order to furnish 
 a moral standard for humanity, but these verses also illustrate 
 how ready Euripides is to bring forward with great force the 
 grosser side of the Greek legend, and to discredit the religion 
 with which he is not at all in inner harmony. Toward the end of 
 the play, however, — as in other tragedies of Euripides, where the 
 Gods are most severely assailed, — the conduct of the God is vin- 
 dicated by Athena who speaks for her brother, vv. 15951^. "Well 
 hath Apollo all things done : etc. ; " and Creusa finally admits the 
 justice of Apollo : 
 
 " Here me : Phoebus praise I, whom I praised not in mine hour 
 of grief, 
 For that whom he set at naught, his child, to me he now re- 
 stores, etc." 
 
 and the chorus insists at the end that the God's ways are not our 
 ways, and that their seeming injustices are made good in due 
 time : 
 
The Siipcniatiiral in the Tragedies of Euripides 31 
 
 Ion 1619-21 : 
 
 d) Atos Atjtoi's t AttoXXoc, X'^'-P ot(^ b tkahvtTaL k. t. X. 
 " Zeus' and Leto's Son Apollo, hail ! Let him to powers divine 
 Render homage undismayed, whose house affliction's buffets 
 
 smite : 
 For the good at last shall overcome, at last attain their right ; 
 But the evil, by their nature's law, on good shall never light." 
 
 Creusa's prayer in vv. 410 ff. is characteristic on account of its 
 ambiguity : 
 
 Ion 410-12: 
 
 J) TTOTVia ^ol^ov nfjTep, el 'yap alcriws 
 'i\&oifxev, a. re vHov crvulSoXaia npoadii' fjv 
 €S 7raI5a top <t6v, fxtTairecroi ^(Xriofa. 
 
 " Queen, Phoebus' mother, grant our home-return 
 Prosperous : all our dealings heretofore 
 Touching thy son, to happier issue fall ! " 
 
 With this prayer Creusa intentionally deceives her husband. She 
 secretly refers to the relation between herself and Apollo, while 
 Xuthus is to take vu)v for himself and his wife, the au^jSoXata 
 being the sacrifices which they two had formerly made to Apollo 
 for children. 
 
 Two other prayers of less importance to our investigation may 
 be mentioned here. The choral ode in vv. 1048 ff. opens as a 
 prayer to Hekate, the Goddess of sorcery and secret poisoning. 
 She is invoked to direct to a favorable issue the stealthy attempt 
 on Ion's life : 
 
 '■ Goddess of Highways, Demeter's Daughter, 
 Queen of the nightmare darkness-ranger, 
 Guide thou tlie hand that for noontide slaughter 
 Shall fill the chalice, my lady's avenger, etc." 
 
 The prayer of the chorus in vv. 452 fif. is an invocation to 
 Athena and Artemis to intercede with their brother in favor of 
 the ancient royal house of Erechtheus : 
 
 " My Queen, at whose birth-tide was given 
 Of the Lady of Travail-pang 
 No help, hear, Pallas, my prayer, etc." 
 
32 Ernest Heinrich KlotscJic 
 
 The DcJpJiic oracle and the Delphic God are exhibited in a very 
 unfavorable light in our play. Apollo is represented as a seducer 
 of women, who attempts to hide his misdeeds by means of fraud- 
 ulent response : 
 
 Ion 365-67: 
 
 TTOJS 6 {}i6s b \adeiv /3o6Xerai ixavTevatrai.; 
 eiTrep Kadi^ei TpiwoSa KOivbv EXXdSos. 
 aiaxwerai ro irpdyixa- fii] '^eXeyx^ vlv. 
 
 Ion: "How should the God reveal that he would hide?" 
 
 Creusa: "How not? — his is the nation's oracle." 
 
 Ion : " His shame the deed is. Question not of him." 
 
 In other words : the God will never reveal in the oracle secrets 
 against himself. Therefore the seer Trophonius 
 
 "... took not on him to forestall the word 
 Of Phoebus. This he said — nor thou nor I 
 Childless shall wend home from the oracle." 
 
 (vv. 407-09.) 
 
 The following verses refer to the ambiguity of Apollo's oracle: 
 
 Ion 787-88: 
 
 OTiif ^vvavTr]<7€uv tK vaov (Tvdels 
 
 Trpwrco TTOcTis ffos, 7raI5' eScoK* aurw deos. 
 
 " Whomso thy lord should first meet as he passed 
 From the God's fane, the God gave him for son." 
 
 According to vv. 537, 775, and 788 the God's oracle was : 818^^1 
 (TOL TOP TToiSa, thus leaving it ambiguous whether the boy was the 
 son of Xuthus or his own son. Therefore Creusa says: 
 
 Ion 1534-36: 
 
 Trf<t)VKkvaL fxlv ovxh Sujpelrai 54 <re 
 avTov yeyoira- Kal yap civ <pi\os (f>l\w 
 8oItj top avTov waioa dfffwoTijv 56jucoi'. 
 
 " Nay, not begotten ; but his gift art thou. 
 Sprung from himself, — as friend to friend should give 
 His own son, that his house might have an heir." 
 
 and Ion asks : 
 
 
The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 33 
 
 Ion 1537-38: 
 
 6 dibs a\r]dh t) /jLarrju fxavTeverai', 
 kfiov Tapcuratt, ixrJTep, eiKorcos 4)pkva. 
 
 "Is the God true? — or doeth his oracle He? 
 Alotlier, my soul it troubleth : well it may." 
 
 " Loxias " ^^ " Apollo " was according to the popular deriva- 
 tion "the God of crooked answers," because his oracles were 
 \6^La " crooked " and so ambiguous. 
 
 At the end after Apollo's plot has been discovered, Athena 
 comes to speak for her brother, wdio is ashamed to appear in 
 person, lest he be reproached for the manner in which he has 
 managed affairs : 
 
 Ion 1556-58 : 
 
 IlaXXas, dpo/jiu crirevaacr' 'AttoXXwj'os irdpa, 
 OS els nev o\piv cr4>ibv fxaXelv ovk r]^Lov, 
 jj.7] T(j>v Tvapof&e nkp.\pLs els pkcTov noXy. 
 
 " I Pallas from Apollo speed in haste, 
 Who deigned not to reveal him to your sight, 
 Else must he chide a^ou for things overpast." 
 
 Literally translated the last line reads : " lest blame for former 
 things should come between " referring to Apollo's conduct in 
 the past. 
 
 The poet's usual contempt for the art of divination is expressed 
 in the following verses : 
 
 Ion 374-77: 
 
 els ycLp ToaovTOP afiadias eXdoi/jLeu dp, 
 el Toi's deovs OLKOPras eKirovi]aop.ev 
 (j)pa^eLP a p,r] deXovaiP r} Trpo^cop-iois 
 <j<j)aya'Cai p.rjXuv ri bl oloiPOiP nTepols. 
 
 " For, lo what height of folly should we reach 
 If in the God's despite we wrest their will, 
 By sacrifice of sheep on altars, or 
 By flight of birds, to tell what they would veil." 
 
 7. The Supplices 
 
 The " Supplices " is almost entirely free from sceptical and ir- 
 religious sentiments and replete with respect for the Gods. The 
 
34 
 
 Ernest Hcinrich Klotsclic 
 
 short prologue from .-Ethra is really an indirect prayer to Demeter 
 at Eleusis : 
 
 Siippl. 1-7 : 
 
 Sij/xTjTep kcTTiovx' 'EXevalvos xi^opos 
 Trja5' K. T. X. 
 
 " Demeter, warder of Eleusis-land 
 
 And ye which keep and serve the Goddess' fanes, 
 
 Grant me and my son Theseus prosperous days, 
 
 Grant them to Athens and to Pittheus' land, 
 
 Where in a happy home my sire nursed me, 
 
 ^thra, and gave me to Pandion's son 
 
 ^geus, to wife, by Loxias' oracle." 
 
 Theseus, who denies the old saying " that evil more abounds 
 with men than good" (vv. 196-97), expresses his gratitude 
 toward divine Providence : 
 
 " Praise to the God who shaped in order's mould 
 Our lives redeemed from chaos and the brute, 
 First, by implanting reason, giving then 
 The tongue, world-herald, to interpret speech ; 
 l^arth's fruit for food, for nurturing thereof 
 Raindrops from heaven, to feed earth's fosterlings. 
 And water her green bosom ; therewithal 
 Shelter from storms, and shadow from the heat, 
 Sea-tracking ships, that traffic might be ours 
 With fellow-men of that which each land lacks " 
 
 (vv. 201-10) ; 
 
 and his firm belief in dhiiiation: 
 Suppl. 211-13: 
 
 a 5' ear' ixcrrjua kov o'a<^^, yiyvuffKotxev 
 
 tls irvp l3\tirovT€s, Kai Kara. awXayxvoiv vrvxas 
 
 fiavras irpoarjfialvovaiv omvwv t' diro. 
 
 " And for invisible things or dimlj' seen, 
 Soothsayers watch the flame, the liver's folds, 
 Or from the birds divine the things to be." 
 
 Cf. also vv. 155 fi., where Theseus asks Adrastus : 
 
 Suppl. 155: 
 
 "Didst seek to seers, and gaze on altar flames?" 
 
 mmmmimKmmm 
 
 > Mi m, J». .ik^ im* L^ 
 
The Supernal It ral in the Tragedies of Euripides 35 
 
 and Aclrastus confesses: 
 
 "Ah me! thou presscst mc where most I erred!" (156.) 
 In vv. 627 ff. Euripides lets the chorus appeal to Zeus : 
 Suppl. 627-30 : 
 
 icb ZeD, rds TraXaiofxaTopos 
 Traidayofe iropLOs Ivaxov. 
 
 ytpov ra8' ev/xepiis. 
 
 " Zeus, hear us, whose offspring was born of yore 
 Of Inachus-daughter, the heifer-maid! 
 Oh be our champion thou, 
 To our citj' be gracious now ! " 
 
 •Adrastus professes that humanity is in close dependence upon 
 Zeus : 
 
 Suppl. 734-36: 
 
 ci) ZeO, tL 8f]Ta tovs raXaLTrcopovs (3poTOvs 
 (jjpovelv XkyovaL; crov yap k^ripTrip.eda 
 8pufj.ku re rotaDt?' av au rvyxfifO^ ^eXoJv. 
 
 " Zeus, wherefore do they say that wretched man 
 Is wise? For lb, we hang upon thy skirts, 
 And that we do, it is but as thou wilt." 
 
 If things go as Heaven has ordained, no wonder that the same 
 Adrastus admits that prayer is of no avail. He leaves the sup- 
 pliant-bough on the altar as a protest that his prayer has been 
 slighted, and exclaims : 
 
 Suppl. 260-62: 
 
 ^eovs T€ Kal yrjv Ti)v re Trvp4>6pov deav 
 Ar]nr)Tpa defxevac fidpTvp' r]\iov re <j)CJS, 
 (is ovdiv Tj/xlv ripKiaav \lto.I deuiv. 
 
 " Calling to witness heaven and earth, Demeter, 
 Fire-bearing Goddess, and the Sun-god's light. 
 That naught our prayers unto the Gods availed." 
 
 Athena who comes in ex macJiina, bids Theseus not to sur- 
 render the bodies of the seven chieftains without their pledging 
 themselves ever after to be faithful to Athens, and promising, 
 under the most solemn imprecations, never to invade the Attic 
 
36 Ernest HcinricJi Klotsche 
 
 territory. She prescribes the ritual of the oath, vv. 1 183-1226. 
 Theseus as well as the chorus express their willingness to obey : 
 
 Theseus : 
 Suppl. 1227-31 : 
 
 bkairoLV^ 'Adava, neiaonai Xoyoiai. trols" 
 • K. T. X. 
 
 " Athena, Queen, thy words will I obey : 
 Thou guidest me ever that I may not err. 
 Him will I bind with oaths : only do thou 
 Still lead me aright ; for gracious while thou are 
 To Athens, shall we ever safely dwell." 
 
 Chorus : 
 Suppl. 1232-35: 
 
 crretxcoMfj ASpacrt?', opKia dwfieu 
 ToJS' avdpl TToXet t • a^ia 5 tiij.Iv 
 irpoixefiox^VKaac ffk^eadat.. 
 
 " On pass we, Adrastus, and take oath-plight 
 Unto Theseus and Athens. That worship requite 
 Their travail for us, is meet and right." 
 
 8. The Heracleid/E 
 
 In the " Heracleidas " Demophon, king of Athens, informs 
 lolus that they who have charge of ancient oracles declare, one 
 and all, that success in the pending conflict can only be assured 
 by sacrificing to Ceres the maiden daughter of an illustrious sire : 
 
 HcracL 403-09: 
 
 XPT/CMW*' 5' iiOiSovs iravras els tv aXicras 
 fjXey^a k. t. X. 
 
 " All prophecy-chanters have I caused to meet. 
 Into old public oracles have I searched, 
 And secret, for salvation of this land. 
 And, mid their manifold diversities. 
 In one thing glares the sense of all the same: — 
 They bid me to Demeter's Daughter slay 
 A maiden of a high-born father sprung." 
 
 In compliance with this oracle, IMacaria offers herself a willing 
 victim for the welfare of the state, vv. 500 ff. 
 
 Another oracle is proclaimed by the captured Eurystheus who 
 
The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 37 
 
 foretells the future destiny of those who are now triumphant 
 over him : 
 
 Heracl. 1026-29 : 
 
 KTi'w, ov Trapat.ToviJ.aL ae- k. t. X. 
 
 XpijCTfJ.ii) iraXaiu) Ao^iov do:pr](TOfxaL, k. t. X. 
 
 " Slay: I ask not thy grace. But I bestow 
 On Athens, who hath spared, who shamed to slay me 
 An ancient oracle of Loxias, 
 Whicli in far days shall bless her more than seems." 
 
 His prophecy is accepted by all as a revelation vv. 1053 ff. : 
 
 " I also consent. On, henchman-train 
 March on with the doomed. No blood-guilt stain, 
 Proceeding of us, on our kings shall remain." 
 
 The words of Alcmena uttered against her divine lover, Zeus, 
 are in mitigated form a cruel reproach for the past : 
 
 Heracl. 869-72: 
 
 CO 7,€V, xporw fjikv rap. kireaKiipco KaKa, 
 Xapiv 5' o/jws (Toi Tcbv ■weirpayp.evtjov exw" 
 Kol Tvalba rbv ep.6v Ttpbadev oh boKova^ 'eyoi 
 t?€oIs bpCKelv vvv eivlaTapaL cra^cos. 
 
 " Zeus, late on mine affliction hast thou looked ; 
 Yet thank I thee for all that thou hast wrought. 
 Now know I of a surety that my son 
 Dwelleth with Gods : — ere this I thought not so." 
 
 See also her discreet complaints in vv. 718-19: 
 
 " Never of me shall ill be said of Zeus ; 
 But is he just to me-ward? Himself knows!" 
 
 9. The Hercules Furens 
 
 The " Hercules Furens " is, as regards the svipernatural ele- 
 ment in the play, a condemnation through Hera and Zeus of the 
 whole system of Gods. To the poet's favorite subject — accusa- 
 tion of the Gods for their alleged injustice and immorality — is 
 made allusion in the invocation of the chorus: 
 
 H. F. 798 ff. : 
 
 w "KkKTpoiv bvo avyyiveis 
 (vvai, K. T. X. 
 
38 Ernest Heinrich Klotsclie 
 
 " Hail to the couch where the spousals divine 
 With the mortal were blended, 
 Where for love of the Lady of Perseus' line 
 Zeus' glory descended ! etc." 
 
 It finds explicit expression in the characteristic passage in which 
 Amphitryon expostulates with Zeus on account of his seduction 
 of Alcmena, and his desertion of Hercules : 
 
 H. F. 339-47 : 
 
 tb ZeD, ixdTrjv ap' Ofxoyafiov a tKTricraixriv, 
 fiarriv de iratdos yove k/jLOV (t' kKXy^o/iev 
 (TV 8 fjff^ dp riaaov fi Sokcls elvai <f>i\os. 
 i-perrj at pikHj -dmjTos oiv deov /leyav 
 TralSas yap ov TvpovdcoKa tovs lipaKKtovs. 
 (TV 5' els n'tv ivva.% Kpv4>Los TfirlaTOi fj.o\tlv, 
 TaWorpca XtKTpa Sovtos ovSevos Xa0ihv, 
 aco'C^eLV 8e tovs crovs ovk ewlaTaaai (piXovs. 
 afxad-qs TLs el i?e6s, el diKaios ovk e(f>vs. 
 
 " Zeus, for my couch-mate gained I thee in vain. 
 Named thee in vain co-father of my son. 
 Less than thou seemedst art thou friend to us ! 
 Mortal, in worth thy godhead I outdo : 
 Hercules' sons have I abandoned not. 
 Cunning wast thou to steal unto my couch, — 
 To filch another's right none tendered thee, — 
 Yet know'st not how to save thy dear ones now ! 
 Thine is unwisdom, or injustice thine." 
 
 In the following verses Amphitryon cries to Zeus : 
 
 H. F. 497-502 : 
 
 ey(j) 8k a\ w Zeu, xei-p' es ovpavov 8lkuv 
 a{)86}, TiKvoLcnv et tl toi<j18^ oKpeXelv 
 fj.eX\eLS, aixvveiv, k. t. X. 
 
 " But I, O Zeus, with hand to heaven upcast. 
 Cry — if for these babes thou hast any help, 
 Save them ; for soon thou nothing shalt avail. 
 Yet oft hast thou been prayed : in vain I toil ; 
 For now, meseems, we cannot choose but die." 
 
 For the same sentiment see also Ion 436 ft. and Heracl. /iSfif. 
 and H. F. 212: "If Zeus to us were righteously inclined." 
 
 Nor does Hera command our respect. The poet represents 
 her as solely responsible for the undeserved sufferings of the 
 great benefactor of humanity : 
 
The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 39 
 
 H. F. 1127-28: 
 
 A: o) ZeD, Trap' Hpas ap' 6pq.s dp6v(jiv rdSe; 
 H: dXX' 7) Ti KtWtv irokkfiLov ireirop^anei'; 
 
 A: "Zeus seest thou this bolt from Hera's throne? " 
 H: "Ha; have I suffered mischief of her hate?" 
 
 Hera drives Hercules mad and makes him slayer of his own 
 innocent children, all because of the Goddess's jealousy of Zeus. 
 In reference to her fierce resentment the chorus exclaim : 
 
 H. F. 888-90 : 
 
 tcb ZeD, TO arov ykvos ayovov avTiKa 
 \vaaix.bt% wp-o^pcores airoLVobiKoi dlKai 
 KaKoidiv eKK€Td(rovcrip. 
 
 " Ah misery ! Zeus, mad vengeance ravenous-wild 
 Straightway, athirst for requital, with evils on evils piled, 
 Shall trample thy son unto dust, as though he were not thy 
 child." 
 
 Such a Goddess has no claim on the adoration of men. No 
 wonder that Hercules when the dreadful truth is brought home 
 to him, cries : 
 
 H. F. 1307-10 : 
 
 TOiavrri i)eu> 
 tLs av TTpoaeiixoii^' ', fj yvvaiKos eivsKa 
 \iKTpo3v 4>^ovovaa Zrjvl robs tiiepytras 
 EXXdSos dTrcbXecr ov8ev ovras alriovs. 
 
 " To such a Goddess 
 Who shall pray now? — who, for a woman's sake 
 Jealous of Zeus, from Hellas hath cut off 
 Her benefactors, guiltless though they were ! " 
 
 " Dare not with thine admonitions trammel Hera's schemes and 
 mine!" (885) 
 
 is Iris's answer to Lyssa who appeals in vain for mercy: 
 
 H.F. 847-54: 
 
 ■n-apaii'tcrat 8k, irplv acpaXelaav elatSilv, 
 Hp?. i?eXw ffoi t', k. t. X. 
 
 " Fain would I plead with Hera and with thee. 
 Ere she have erred, if ye will heed my words. 
 This man, against whose house ye thrust me on. 
 Nor on the ea^th is fameless, nor in heaven. 
 
40 Ernest He in rich Klofsche 
 
 The pathless land, the wild sea, hath he tamed, 
 And the God's honours hath alone restored, 
 When these by impious men were overthrown. 
 Therefore I plead, devise no monstrous wrong." 
 
 That Hercules is the object of divine resentment is also implied 
 in Iris' answer to the chorus' appeal to Psean : 
 
 H. F. 820-21 : 
 
 <j)va^ Ilataj', 
 
 dTTOTpOTTOS ykvOlO HOI, TVr)y.6.T0iP. 
 
 " Healer, to thee, 
 O King to avert from me yon bane I pray ! " 
 
 Iris: "Fear not: this is the child of Night ye see, 
 
 Madness, grey sires : I, handmaid of the Gods, 
 Iris. We come not for your city's hurt; 
 Only on one man's house do we make war — 
 His, whom Zeus' and Alcmena's son they call. 
 For, till he had ended all his bitter toils, 
 Fate shielded him, and Father Zeus would not 
 That I, or Hera, wrought him ever harm. 
 But now he has toiled Eurystheus' labours through, 
 Hera will stain him with the blood of kin, 
 That he shall slay his sons : her will is mine." 
 
 (vv. 822-32.) 
 
 If this is the principle on which Olympus is organized we need 
 not wonder that the Olympians turn a deaf ear to the prayers of 
 suffering mankind and that things go wrong on earth. This is 
 the idea which the poet through such passages — intentionally or 
 unintentionally — suggests. 
 
 Hercules who is believed to be in Hades is invoked by Megara 
 to appear: 
 
 H. F. 490-96 : 
 
 J) 0iXrar', «t rts cjyi^dyyos eicraKoverai 
 
 dvr)T(j}v Trap' AiSjj, aol rd8', 'HpdicXets, Xeyw ic. t. X. 
 
 " Dear love, — if any in Hades of the dead 
 Can hear, — I cry this to thee, Hercules : 
 Thy sire, thy sons, are dj'ing; doomed am I, 
 I, once through thee called blest in all men's eyes. 
 Help ! — come ! — Though as a shadow, yet appear ! 
 
The Supernatural in the Tragtu s of Euripides 41 
 
 Thy coming as a dream-shape would suffice 
 
 To daunt the cravens who would slay thy sons ! " 
 
 Then Hercules is suddenly seen, and though he has in fact re- 
 turned bodily from the nether world, he is at first taken for a 
 spectre who has come at the bidding of Megara ; but soon she be- 
 comes aware that it is no " dream," but Hercules himself : 
 
 " 'Tis he who lay, we heard, beneatli the earth, 
 Except in broad day we behold a dream ! 
 What say I? — see they dreams, these yearning eyes? 
 This is none other, ancient, than thy son. 
 Boys, hither ! — hang upon j'our father's cloak. 
 Speed ye, unhand him not ; for this is he, 
 Your helper he, no worse than Saviour Zeus." 
 
 (vv. 516-22.) 
 
 Megara in invoking Hercules in Hades expresses her belief in 
 
 an invisible world, with which mortals have commerce. 
 
 10. The Iphigenia in Tauris 
 
 Iphigenia who had been doomed to die at Aulis for the Greeks 
 had been snatched from that death by Artemis and had become 
 priestess of the Goddess at the Tauris shrine where human vic- 
 tims were immolated. On landing among the Tauri two strangers 
 were captured by the inhabitants and sentenced to die at the altar 
 according to custom. Iphigenia discovers in them her brother 
 Orestes and his friend Pylades. They plan not only escape for 
 all, but also means of conveying away the statue of the Goddess, 
 which was the special end of their mission. They are recaptured 
 and finally delivered by Athena who commands Thoas, king of 
 the land, to permit their departure. 
 
 A god-fearing herdman in Taurica who first notices the two 
 fugitives, Orestes and Pylades, takes them for Gods, or for the 
 two Dioscuri, or two of the Xeried nymphs, and prays to them : 
 
 I. T. 270-74 : 
 
 d> -KOTvia^ ■wal XevKodkas, vewv 4>v\o,^, 
 SecnroTa WaXalnov, eXecos rn^lv yfvov, 
 etr oi'v eir aKrals OkiTCFeTov ALOCKopw, 
 7) NTjpeoJs dyaX/jLa^ , bs tov evyevrj 
 iTiKTe TriVTr)KOVTa Ntjp'JJScoi' xopov. 
 
42 Ernest Hcinricli Klotsche 
 
 " Guardian of ships, Sea-queen Leucothea's son 
 O Lord Palsemon, gracious be to us ; 
 Or ye, Twin Brethren, if ye yonder sit; 
 Or Nereus' darlings, bom to him of whom 
 That company of fifty Nereids sprang." 
 
 Here the poet adopts the natural expressions of superstitious 
 Greek seamen. Leucothea and Pal?emon were sea-gods beneficent 
 to mariners. 
 
 Iphigenia pleads with Artemis to rescue her and her two coun- 
 trymen or else " Phoebus' lips must lose their truth to mortal men, 
 through thee ! " 
 
 I. T. 1083-88: 
 
 03 irOTVl , TJTTtp ^l' AllXtSoS KCLTO. TTTl'XO-S 
 
 beivfts eercoffas k. t. X. 
 " O Goddess-queen, who erst bj' AuHs' clefts 
 Didst save me from my sire's dread murderous hand, 
 Save me now too with these ; else Loxias' \vords 
 Through thee shall be no more believed of men. 
 But graciously come forth this barbarous land 
 To Athens. It beseems thee not to dwell ' 
 Here, when so blest a city may be thine.' 
 
 and again she prays to Artemis : 
 
 I. T. 1398-1402: 
 
 u! A77T0DS Kopr), 
 aihaov fit Tr\v ar]v leplav k. t. X. 
 
 "Leto's Child, O Maid, 
 Save me, thy priestess ! Bring me unto Greece 
 From alien land ; forgive my theft of thee ! 
 Thy brother, Goddess, dost thou also love : 
 O then believe that I too love my kin ! " 
 
 Iphigenia inquires after her enemies, first of all Helen, then 
 Calchas the seer who had died on his way from Troy, and finally 
 Odysseus who with others had plotted the immolation of Iphi- 
 genia. She pronounces a curse on Odysseus : 
 
 I.T. 535: 
 
 6X0LT0, vbarov ixijiroT etj Trdrpai' tvxwv. 
 "Now ruin seize him! Never win he home!" 
 
The Supernatural in tlie Tragedies of Euripides 43 
 
 Iphigenia requests her brother to take her home or 
 
 " Else to thine house will I become a curse, Orestes." 
 
 I. T. 277-78 : 
 
 7) trots apaia hwnaaiv yevrjao/xai, 
 'Opeffi?', K. T. \. 
 
 alkiding to the influence of the vengeful, haunting spirit of a 
 wronged person. 
 
 In the following lines we have a striking example of a prayer 
 which is used to deceive others. Iphigenia prays to Artemis : 
 
 I. T. 1230-33: 
 
 u> Atos \r)TOvs r' avaaaa irapdfv' , 7)1' rti/co 4>6vov 
 Twv5e Kal {}v(T0ifxei> ovxpVj xaOapov OLK-qaus bopiov, 
 evri'xeis 5' rjnels eaofxeda. raXXa 6 oii Xkyovir , o/xois 
 rots TO. TrXetoj/' ecSocrtc deals aol re (rrjpaivco, dea. 
 
 " Queen, O child of Zeus and Leto, so the guilt from these I lave, 
 So I sacrifice where meet is, stainless temple shalt thou have : 
 Blest withal shall we be — more I say not, yet to Gods who know 
 All, and Goddess, unto thee, mine heart's desire I plainly show." 
 
 The ambiguous meaning of this prayer is apparent to the spec- 
 tator, but not to the party for whose hearing it is intended. King 
 Thoas, a devout man and zealous for the honor of the Goddess, 
 is persuaded by Iphigenia that not only the two strangers, but the 
 image of the Goddess itself requires purification. So he is easily 
 induced to send the captives to the sea-shore, while Iphigenia fol- 
 lows with the image to perform, as Thoas supposes, the solemn 
 rite of lustration, but in reality to take ship and transport the 
 image to Greece. It is at this occasion that Iphigenia utters the 
 equivocal prayer in the hearing of the king. The last words of 
 the prayer " more I say not, etc.," are of course said aside. What 
 the barbarian king understands of the priestess and her charge, 
 duly reinstated in the purged temple, means to the spectators of 
 the scene Athens and the deliverance of Iphigenia. 
 
 That the will of Heaven must be carried out is finally admitted 
 even by Thoas who says : 
 
 I.T. 1475-76: 
 
 a.va.a<j^ 'AOdva, rolffi roiv ddhv Xoyois 
 6<rris k\{)wi> aTTiCTTOj, oi/K opdus (ppovtl. 
 
44 Ernest Heinrich Klotsche 
 
 " Athena, Queen, who liears the words of Gods, 
 And disobej'eth them, is sense-bereft." 
 
 Pylades under a solemn oath promises Iphigenia to present the 
 document written by Iphigenia, to Orestes, or in case the docu- 
 ment be lost to deliver the message to Orestes in person ; while 
 Iphigenia promises to send Pylades home unhurt, 735 ff. The 
 solemn ceremony is concluded with the usual self-imprecation in 
 case of violating the covenant : 
 
 I. T. 747-52 : 
 
 11: tLv ovv eirbfivvs Toiaid' opKiov deusv; 
 
 I : Apreniv, ev i^crwep dunacnv tlucls ex^- 
 
 n : kyo) 8 avaKra. y ovpavov, aep.v6v Ata. 
 
 I: 61 6' tKKnricv tov opKov adiKoirjs (fie; 
 
 n : auoo'Tos tirjv tL 8t ai), fxi] auiaaaix. /it; 
 
 I : jXTjiroTe Kar' Apyos fwtr' Ixvos ^eirjv ttoSos. 
 
 P: "What God dost take to witness this thine oath?" 
 I : " Artemis, in whose fane I hold mine office." 
 
 P : " And I by Heaven's King, reverend Zeus." 
 
 I: "What if thou fail thine oath, and do me wrong?" 
 
 P: "May I return not. If thou save me not? — " 
 I : " Alive in Argos may I ne'er set foot." 
 
 cf. also Medea 754. 
 
 Iphigenia implores the chorus to keep silence about her plan to 
 save her brother and herself. The chorus, consisting of captured 
 Greek women who were spared by the Taurians for a life of 
 servitude, promise under oath: 
 
 I. T. 1076-77 : 
 
 ws iK y' hfiov (701 Travra a ty r]di]<7eTaL, 
 laru fieyas Zeus, w eTrio-KjjTTTets irepi. 
 
 " I W'ill keep silence touching all the things 
 Whereof thou chargest me : great Zeus be witness." 
 
 Orestes impressed with the danger into which he has come 
 through Apollo's oracle upbraids the God for having led him 
 again into a net, when he had looked for a happy termination of 
 his toils : 
 
 I. T. 77-94: 
 
 CO ^olfie, Trot )u' av Ti]vb^ « apKvv fiyayi% 
 Xprjaas, k. t. X. 
 
The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 45 
 
 " Phcebus, why is thy word again my snare, 
 When I have slain my mother, and avenged 
 My sire? From tired Fiends Fiends take up the chase, 
 And exiled drive me, outcast from my land, 
 In many a wild race doubling to and fro. 
 To thee I came and asked how might I win 
 My whirling madness' goal, my troubles' end. 
 Wherein I travailed, roving Hellas through. 
 Thou badst me go unto the Taurian coasts 
 Where Artemis, thy sister hath her altars, 
 And take the Goddess' image, which, men say, 
 Here fell into this temple out of heaven. 
 And, winning it by craft or happy chance, 
 All danger braved, to the Athenians' land 
 To give it — nought beyond was bidden me ; — 
 This done, should I have respite from my toils. 
 Hither I came, obedient to thy words. 
 To a strange land and cheerless." 
 
 Orestes had slain his mother in obedience to an oracle of 
 Apollo. Pursued by the Furies in consequence of this deed, a 
 second oracle had directed him to Athens to be tried before the 
 court of Areopagus. The votes for and against were equal, but 
 though Athena thereby declared him acquitted he did not escape 
 the continued persecution of the Furies. Again Orestes sought 
 counsel of Apollo at Delphi. He was bidden to convey to Attica 
 from the land of the Taurians the image of Artemis worshipped 
 there, with the promise that his sufferings shall end. He sails 
 with his faithful friend Pylades to perform this exploit. At their 
 arrival at Taurica Orestes learns from Pylades that strangers are 
 sacrificed at the teinple of Artemis. He then impressed with the 
 danger of their position appeals to Artemis, yy ff. 
 
 But Orestes who thus impeached the God is reprimanded by 
 Pylades not to speak evil of the oracle of the God : 
 
 I.T. 105- 
 
 Tov Tov deov 5e xP^Cf^o" ov KaKicrreop. 
 " Nor craven may we be to the oracle." 
 
 Then we hear Orestes say : 
 
46 Ernest Hcinrich Klotsche 
 
 I.T. ii8ff.: 
 
 ... oil yap TO Tov deov y'alTiov yevqaerai 
 Trefftlf OLKpavTOv dtacparov ToXixrjTiou k. t. X. 
 
 " Best withdraw ourselves 
 Unto a place where we shall lurk unseen. 
 For, if his oracle fall unto the ground, 
 The God's fault shall it not be. We must dare. 
 Since for j^oung men toil knoweth no excuse." 
 
 Orestes seems to mean that if we do not all we can, it will be our 
 own fault if the oracle prove vain. But Orestes invariably comes 
 around to his sceptical grievances and inveighs against the in- 
 justice of the oracle-god: 
 
 I.T. 711-15: 
 
 rjfjLas 6' 6 4>oZ/3os /xdfris cov k^ptvaaro- . 
 Texvqv dk ^e/xevos K. t. X. 
 
 " Me Phoebus, prophet though he be deceived, 
 And by a cunning shift from Argos drave 
 Afar, for shame of those his prophecies. 
 I gave up all to him, obeyed his words. 
 My mother slew — and perish now myself ! " 
 
 Orestes calls Apollo " prophet "= /idp'rts' which had come to be 
 an unpopular title at the time our play was written. Then he 
 charges the God with a stratagem (rexvw 5' ■dejievos) to put him 
 out of the way that the falseness of his oracle might not be 
 known, the first oracle commanding matricide having proved a 
 mistake, cf. 77 fi. Again Orestes declares openly his judgment of 
 the God : 
 
 I. T. 723 : 
 
 TO. 't'ot/Sou 5' ovSkv wipeKel fj,' 'iin]. 
 " Phoebus' words avail me nothing now." 
 
 But despite all the bitter attacks Orestes has made upon the 
 justice of the oracle-god, towards the end of the play the oracle 
 is proved right. This is nothing unusual in Euripides. In those 
 of his tragedies where the Olympians appear in the most unfa- 
 vorable light, their conduct is generally vindicated in the end. It 
 seems that in the " Iphigenia in Tauris " the poet intended to 
 make the spectators feel that the oracle of Apollo, ordaining the 
 
The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 47 
 
 removal of the statue, ought not to seem fulfilled through strat- 
 agem and theft. So he represents Orestes no longer as the 
 despondent sceptic, but makes him argue that if their undertaking 
 is in harmony with the will of Artemis, it is also in harmony with 
 the will of Apollo, for a conflict between the will of Apollo and 
 the will of Artemis is impossible. 
 
 I.T. 1012-15: 
 
 el ■Kpoaavre'i -qv roSe 
 'Apt€ij.l8i, irws ai' Aortas idkatrLae 
 Koixlaai ti ayoKua ??€ds iroXicrfxa IlaXXaSos 
 Kal (TOP irpoaoiirov tluLheiv. 
 
 " Hear mine opinion — if this thing displease 
 Artemis, how had Loxias bidden me 
 To bear her statue unto Pallas' burg — 
 Yea, see thy face ? " 
 
 This passage presents a difficulty, namely, that the meeting of 
 the brother and sister (/vat adv Trpoaojirov dai-bdv) is not intimated 
 in the words of the God, vv. yj ft". Palay, Seidler, and others 
 assume that Apollo had not expressly said that Orestes would see 
 his sister; he had probably used 0-6770^0$ (v. 86) ambiguously. 
 The oracle probably was : 'hda avyyovos ^cofjiovs exet, thus apply- 
 ing either to Apollo's sister Artemis, or to Orestes' sister Iphi- 
 genia. Others suppose a lacuna in the text, before the words: 
 Kal adv TrpoacoTov eicndelv. Verrall sees in the words : Kal aov 
 ■wpba: K. T. X. a kind of a pia fraus. Orestes adds them, because 
 " he naturally feels that, as things turn out, the oracle ought to 
 have said — then must have said — then did say doubtless — or at 
 any rate mean, that he was to meet his sister." This interpreta- 
 tion does not take into account Athena's words : 
 
 I.T. 143S-42: 
 
 TTtlTpOJukvOS yap ^i(T(}>a.TOl(TL Ao^tOU 
 
 bevp fjXi^' 'Opkarrii, tov t' 'Epivvcov xoXov 
 cl>e{jyo}v a.Bek4>ris r' Apyos elairtfxipcop 5e/xas 
 iiyaXfia- t' Upov els kfir]i> a^icv x^opa. 
 
 " For foreordained by Loxias' oracles, 
 Orestes came, to escape the Erinyes' wrath, 
 And lead his sister unto Argos home, 
 And bear the sacred image to my land. 
 So to win respite from his present woes." 
 
48 Ernest Heiurich KlotscJie 
 
 If we compare these words with v. 1015 '• ^ai aov -Kpoawirov eiaiSeiv, 
 it is evident that Orestes somehow or other had learned before- 
 hand that he would meet his sister in Taurica. He either inferred 
 this knowledge from the ambiguous avyyovos or, — as is generally 
 believed, — a portion of Orestes' argument has been lost from the 
 text after v. 1014, by which he explained how he obtained his 
 knowledge. 
 
 The seer Calchas interprets the burnt offerings to which Aga- 
 memnon had resorted in order to learn the will of Heaven, and 
 proclaims his prophecy: 
 
 I. T. 18 ff.: 
 
 'Ayanefj-vov, ov fxri vavs acpopurjcri;! xi'ows, 
 irplv dv KopTjv ar]!/ 'Icfuyev^Lav Aprenis 
 Xdj(3]7 <T(j)ayeZaav 
 
 "Agamemnon, thou shalt not sail from the land 
 Ere Artemis receive thy daughter slain, 
 Iphigenia, ... 
 Whom thou must offer." 
 
 This time the seer safely escapes — strange though it is — the taunts 
 Euripides always has in store for soothsayers. 
 
 From Iphigenia's lips we hear the recital of her dream-vision: 
 
 I. T. 42 ff. : 
 
 & Kaiva 5' iJKei vi)^ (j)epov(Ta (ftaanara, 
 
 Xe^w Tcpos aidep', et t' Si) t68' ear clkos k. t. X. 
 
 " Now the Strange visions that the night has brought 
 To heaven I tell — if aught of help be there. 
 In sleep methought I had escaped this land 
 And dwelt in Argos. In my maiden-bower 
 I slept : then with an earthquake shook the ground. 
 I fled, I stood without, the cornice saw 
 Of the roof falling, — then, all crashing down. 
 Turret and basement, hurled was the house to earth. 
 . . . Now thus I read this dream of mine: 
 Dead is Orestes — him I sacrificed ; — etc." 
 
 It was held an eft"ectual method of averting the fulfillment of evil 
 dreams to come out into the open air and tell them to the sky, 
 as Iphigenia here does with her sinister dream, Xe^co xpos aidepa. 
 This dream-vision has convinced her that her brother Orestes 
 
The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 49 
 
 must be dead ; cf . also 
 I.T. 348-49: 
 
 vvv 5 6^ ovilpoiv dlcnv rj-ypioifxeda, 
 SoKova' 'OpkaT-qv fxr]Kt§' ^\ioi> ^XeTreiv. 
 
 " But now, from dreams wherebj^ mj^ heart is steeled,— 
 Who deem Orestes seeth light no more." — 
 
 and she has summoned her attendants to assist her in pouring a 
 libation to him as to a spirit in Hades, vv. 61 ff. 
 
 By the knowledge of Iphigenia's delusion in supposing her 
 brother dead the spectator is led to think mainly about the fate 
 of Orestes when the arrival of the two strangers is announced. 
 A similar device of an ominous dream by which the spectators 
 are prepared for events to come has been adopted in the " He- 
 cuba," where a vision of a dappled fawn torn from Hecuba's 
 knees by a wolf, portends the sacrifice of Polyxena, Hec. Qofif. 
 Iphigenia here makes the mistake of interpreting the dream with 
 reference to the past, while it was intended as a warning to her of 
 the coming event. This trust in an ominous dream is ridiculed by 
 Iphigenia ; when she hears that her brother lives, she cries : 
 
 I.T. 569: 
 
 ^€i;5els oveipoi, x^tpeT"'' ohbtv fjr' ixpa. 
 " False dreams, avaunt ! So then ye were but nought." 
 
 And Orestes who knows nothing of her dreams adapts his words 
 to hers in a characteristic reflection of his own, at the same time 
 directing his attack against the Gods especially Apollo whom 
 he supposes to have deceived him, and the art of divination in 
 general : 
 
 I. T. 570-75 : ^ 
 
 ovd' oi CTo4>oi ye 8aifj.oves KeK\r]nkvoL 
 irTT/jvuv bvelpwv eialv a\f/evde(TTepoi. 
 
 " Ay, and not even Gods, whom men call wise. 
 Are less deceitful than the fleeting dreams. 
 Utter confusion is in things divine 
 And human. Wise men grieve at this alone 
 When — rashness? — no, but faith in oracles 
 Brings ruin — how deep, they that prove it know." 
 
50 F.nirst Hcinrich Klotschc 
 
 Dreams obtained by dream-oraeles are described by the poet as 
 a kind of spurious and deceptive divination sent by Earth in vexa- 
 tion for her ejected daughter Themis who alone possessed the 
 power of predicting the truth. In order to punish Apollo for the 
 deposition of her daughter Themis, Earth instituted a dream- 
 oracle which was consulted by sleeping upon the ground by the 
 shrine. Here, Earth sent up dreams, which deluded mankind, 
 who trusted more to the predictions derived from dreams than to 
 the oracles themselves. 
 
 I.T. 1259 ff.: 
 
 QtixLv 5' eTTtt 7ds lull' 
 TratS' awevacraaTO Aa- 
 rwos CLTTO ^adtccv 
 XP'rjcTTrjpLuv, uvxi-O- x. t. \. 
 
 " But the Child of the Earth did his coming make 
 
 Of her birthright dispossessed, 
 For the oracle-sceptre of Themis he lirake : 
 
 Wherefore the Earth from her breast, 
 To make of his pride a derision, sent forth dream-vision on 
 
 vision, 
 Whereby to sons of men the tilings that had been ere then, 
 
 And the things for the God's decision 
 
 Yet waiting beyond our ken, 
 Through the darkness of slumber she spake, and from 
 Phoebus — in fierce heart-ache 
 Of jealous wrath for her daughter's sake — 
 
 His honor so did she wrest." 
 
 Thereupon Apollo appeals to Zeus to stop the baneful power of 
 Earth, 1270 fif. Zeus puts an end to the nightly visions and con- 
 firms Apollo's authority : 
 
 I.T. 1277-83: 
 
 iravaev pvxi^vs oveipovs, 
 
 diri di \aBo(jvi>av 
 
 VVKTUTTOP k^elXfv ^porijiv, K. T. X. 
 
 " And he made an end to the voices of night ; 
 For he took from mortals the dream-visitations, 
 Truth's shadows upfloating from Earth's dark womb ; 
 And he sealed by an everlasting right 
 Loxias' honours, that all men might 
 
The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 51 
 
 Trust vvhollj^ his word, when the thronging nations 
 Bowed at the throne where he sang fate's doom." 
 
 This theme is pecuh'arly in harmony with the plot of the play 
 which turns on Apollo's oracle being proved right in the end, and 
 Iphigenia's dream wrong. The choral ode vv. 1234 ff. celebrates 
 the institution of that oracle, and the abolition of the ancient 
 dream-oracles. The ode closes with a glorification of " Apollo's 
 clear prophetic song " in contrast with " the divination of dark- 
 ness " at Delphi : 
 
 I.T. 1251-58: 
 
 tKaves, S} ^ol^e, fxav- 
 
 Ttloiv 5' eirk^as ^adeccv, k. t. X. 
 
 " Tliou, Phoebus, didst slay him, didst take for thine 
 The oracle's lordship, the right divine. 
 And still on the tripod of gold are keeping 
 
 Thy session, dispensing to us, to the race 
 Of men, revelation of heaven's design, 
 From thy throne of truth, from the secret shrine, 
 By the streams through Castaly's cleft up-sweeping, 
 
 Where the heart of the world is thy dwelling-place." 
 
 11. The Troades 
 
 The "Troades" is a vivid picture of the miseries endured by 
 noble Trojan dames — Hecuba, Andromache, Cassandra — imme- 
 diately after the capture of Troy. Measured by the usage of the 
 stage the piece is not a perfect play, but it is full of tragic scenes, 
 — less a drama than a pathetic spectacle. The concluding scene, 
 where the captive women, allotted as slaves to dififerent masters, 
 leave Troy in flames behind them, and are led towards the ships, 
 is truly grand. Euripides produced the " Troades " when the 
 great fleet of the Athenians was getting ready to sail for the con- 
 quering of Sicily (415), as though he were foreboding this fatal 
 expedition that brought Athens to her doom. Murray, therefore, 
 calls the "Troades" "the work rather of a prophet than a mere 
 artist," and we may add : the work of a prophet whose words are 
 life and truth in our days as well as in the days of Euripides. 
 Never can a great tragedy seem more real to us, than the " Tro- 
 
52 Ernest HeinricJi Klotsche 
 
 jan Women," at this moment of the history of the world. To 
 the people of the present day might the prophetess Cassandra 
 speak her message just as well as to those nearly three thousand 
 years ago : 
 
 " Sooth, he were best shun war, whoso is wise : 
 If war must be, his country's crown of pride 
 Is death heroic, craven death her shame." 
 
 (400-02.) 
 
 And Poseidon, when mourning over the fall of Troy, has the 
 same to say of the terrors of war, which we have to say of them 
 to-day : 
 
 " Fool, that in sack of towns lays temples waste. 
 And tombs, the sanctuaries of the dead ! 
 He, sowing desolation, reaps destruction." 
 
 (95^7-) 
 
 Euripides generally employs a God, through whom the predic- 
 tion of the future in the finales of his tragedies is made. In the 
 " Troades " he uses the more impressive method of a mortal 
 soothsayer to reveal the future. Cassandra in a state of frenzy 
 -comes on the stage (308), singing a wild strain on her supposed 
 nuptials with the Argive king. Then she imparts to Hecuba a 
 long prophecy. She sees the vision of Agamemnon's body — 
 murdered by his wife — and other impending events. Talthybius 
 intervenes and receives a summary of the future wanderings of 
 Odysseus. Finally she declares that she will come a victress to 
 Hades after the death of herself and Agamemnon : vv. 353-460. 
 
 At times Euripides is openly iconoclastic in dealing with cur- 
 rent religious practice. Even prayer and sacrifices are sometimes 
 regarded as of doubtful aid. A striking instance is found in the 
 prayer which he puts into the mouth of ITecuba: 
 
 Tr. 469-71 : 
 
 w diol- KaKovs fJ-iv avaKoXw tovs ci'/u/uaxous, 
 
 oraif Tis r)y.<jiv bvarvxv ^o-^V t^XV^- 
 " O Gods ! to sorry helpers I appeal ; 
 Yet to invoke the Gods hath some fair show 
 When child of man on evil fortune lights." 
 
The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 53 
 
 A bold sentiment, indeed, plainly indicating a disbelief in the 
 popular theology ! The same idea recurs in the following verses 
 where Hecuba says : 
 
 Tr. 1280-81: 
 
 Iw deal. Kal tI roiis Seovs KaXco; 
 
 Kal irplv yap ovk fiKovaav avaKa\ovfj.€V0L. 
 
 " O ye Gods ! — why call I on the Gods ? 
 For called on heretofore they hearkened not ! " 
 
 and vv. 1240 ff. she says: 
 
 " Nought was in Heaven's design, save woes to me 
 And Troy, above all cities loathed of them. 
 In vain wc sacrificed ! " 
 
 In these passages is expressed the inmost theme of the whole 
 play, a search for an answer to the question: if the righteous are 
 not treated better in this life than the wicked, if injustice triumphs 
 over justice, what must we think of the Gods? "Such Gods are 
 as a matter of fact the moral inferiors to good men, and Euripides 
 will never blind his eyes to their inferiority ; and as soon as peo- 
 ple see that their God is bad, they tend to cease believing in his 
 existence at all." (Murray, Troj. Women.) 
 
 The same thought that the Gods turn a deaf ear to the cries of 
 mankind in distress finds expression in the following choral ode: 
 
 Tr. 1060 ff.: 
 
 OVTO} 8r] TOP tv Wlw 
 
 vaov . . . irpovSiiinas . . . w Zeu, . . . ava^ 
 
 ovpavi.ov 'ibpavov €7rt/3e/3d)s 
 
 al^kpa t' eyuas vroXeos okop.kvas, k. t. X. 
 
 " So then thy temple in Troy fair-gleaming. 
 And thine altar of incense heavenward steaming 
 
 Hast thou rendered up to our foes Achsean, 
 O Zeus, and the flame of our sacrificing, etc. . . . 
 Dost thou care, O King, I muse, heart-aching, — 
 Thou who sittest on high in the far blue heaven 
 Enthroned, — that my city to ruin is given, etc." 
 
 Long before Euripides Homer had represented Zeus as aldepi 
 valuiv, cf. Iliad II, 412. In vv 1078-79 Euripides shows us Zeus 
 enthroned on his celestial seat and on ether, while in other pas- 
 
54 Ernest Heinrich Klotschc 
 
 sages he confounds the dweller in the ether with his dwelling so 
 that ether and Zeus are one, cf. Fragm. 596, 869. 935. 
 
 The curious prayer of Hecuba shows how vacillating Euripides' 
 view on this subject was : 
 
 Tr. 884-88: 
 
 03 7^s oxw Kairl ■yr)s tx^^ ibpav, 
 offTis ttot' tl (TV, dvcTTOTracTTos eidivat, 
 Zeiis, etr' 6.i>ayKr] c^uffeos elre vovs fiporuv, 
 Trpoar]v^anriv ere- Travra yap bl a^6<t)OV 
 ^ati'coi' KeKevdov Kara. blKi)v ra dfrir' ayu<;. 
 
 " O Earth's Upbearer, thou whose throne is Earth, 
 Whoe'er thou be, O past our finding out, 
 Zeus, be thou Nature's law, or Mind of Man, 
 Thee I invoke ; for, treading soundless paths. 
 To Justice' goal thou bring'st all mortal things." 
 
 The audience may well have echoed Menelaus' exclamation : 
 
 Tr. 889: 
 
 tL 6' eaTLv; evxo-s cos e/caificras decop. 
 "How now? — what strange prayer this unto the Gods?" 
 
 This prayer was of a new kind, indeed! Zeus had never heard 
 its like. — What do we find in it? All through the play Hecuba 
 is a woman of remarkable intellectual power and of fearless 
 thought. She treats the Olympian Gods as beings that have be- 
 trayed her, and whose names she scarcely deigns to speak. Zeus, 
 if there is such a being at all, is either the air, that both sustains 
 the earth and rests upon it, or the irresistible power of nature to 
 produce all things after a certain law ; or else intellect, or, rather 
 the directing agency which ordains all things from the first and 
 which exists in the soul of every man. She is far from denying 
 the existence of a divine power, and yet in her prayer she rejects 
 all current polytheism. In the first place we have in this prayer 
 the poet's customary identification of Zeus with ether. Here we 
 notice the influence of Anaximenes and especially of Diogenes of 
 Apollonia. The theory that the earth is supported by the air is 
 ascribed by Plutarch (Mor. 896 E) to Anaximenes, and by Aris- 
 totle (De Cselo H, 13) to Anaximenes, Anaxagoras, and De- 
 mocritus. The following words of Anaximenes imply this view : 
 
The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 55 
 
 " Even as our soul, which is air, holds us together, so breath 
 (Tvevtio) and air encompass the whole universe." The doctrine 
 that the supreme Godhead is the Air is ascribed by Cicero in De 
 Nat. Deor. I, 29, to Diogenes of Apollonia. Diogenes deified air 
 and spoke of it as omnipresent. It is by virtue of its intelligence, 
 according to Diogenes, that " the element of Air steers all things 
 and has power over all things." Then in line 886 Euripides gives 
 us a pantheistic interpretation of Zeus. The divine principle, 
 which the common people in ignorance of its nature call Zeus, 
 shows itself as intellect in the mind of man {vovs ^porcbv), and as 
 necessary and immutable law in nature (avajKr] (jyvaeoos), of which 
 he says Ale. 965 : that above it there is nothing {Kpelaaov ov8eu 
 avayKrjs); cf. also Helen 514! Seti'TJs avayKrjs oiiSev laxveLv irXeov. 
 This pantheism finds expression elsewhere in Euripides' poetry. 
 In Fragm. 935 he identifies divinity with all embracing ether: 
 
 " Seest thou the boundless ether there on high, 
 That folds the earth around with dewy arms? 
 This deem thou Zeus, this reckon one with God." 
 
 Cf. also Fragm. 596. Such utterances explain how Aristophanes 
 should have accused Euripides of convincing men that there are 
 no Gods. Finally in the last verse of the prayer the poet charac- 
 terizes the divine reason as world-ruling Justice. To Euripides 
 Justice and God are one, cf. also El. 771 : 
 
 "Gods! All-seeing Justice thou hast come at last!" 
 
 Euripides conceives of Justice as a quasi-personal being, the 
 "Weltgeist" or " Weltvernunft " as the German critic Nestle 
 calls it in his " Euripides," a being not transcendent but immanent 
 in all things, forming and directing all things to universal har- 
 mony. This idea which preeminently pervades the dramas of 
 Sophocles was generally not carried out by Euripides and recon- 
 ciled with the inequality of the distribution of blessings and evils 
 among men. So also Hecuba's prayer breathes discord rather 
 than harmony. "If there is any explanation, any justice, she will 
 be content and give worship (Trpoarjv^aiJLrjv ae), but it seems that 
 there is not." 
 
56 Ernest Hcinrich Klotsche 
 
 12. The Helena 
 
 This play is founded on a strange variation of the Helen-legend, 
 in which Helen was borne away by Hermes to Eg)^pt and detained 
 there, while only a wraith of Helen passed to Troy. She lived 
 like a true wife in Egypt until Menelaus rescued her from Theo- 
 clymenus, king of the land, and brought her safely back to Greece. 
 
 The play is not one of the poet's happier efforts ; it furnishes, 
 however, considerable material of the supernatural element. 
 
 Helen's prayer to Hera and Aphrodite is a line and impressive 
 one inspired by the energy of despair : 
 
 Hel. 1093 flf. : 
 
 w TTOTVL fj Aioicnv kv Xe/crpots 
 
 lipa, 611' oLKTpcb (^ojt' avaxpv^ov irovoiv, 
 
 alrov/ieS^ opdas coXei'as wpos ovpavov k. t. X. 
 
 " O Queen, who restest on the couch of Zeus, 
 Hera, to hapless twain grant pause from ills, 
 We pray, with arms flung upward to the sky. 
 Thy mansion wrought with arabesque of stars. 
 And thou, by mine hand winner of beauty's prize, 
 Cypris, Dione's child, destroy me not ! 
 Enough the scathe thou hast done me heretofore, 
 Lending my name, not me, to alien men : 
 But let me die, if 'tis thy will to slay. 
 In homeland, etc." 
 
 Of the same character is ]\Ienelaus' prayer to Poseidon: 
 
 Hel. 1584-87: 
 
 w vaicj}v aXa 
 woTPie Hoaftoov k. t. X. 
 
 " . . . O Sea-abider 
 Poseidon, and ye, Nereus's daughters pure. 
 Me bring ye and my wife to Xauplia's shores, 
 Safe from this land." 
 
 Menelaus sends another impressive prayer to Zeus, in which he 
 points out that he had acted toward the Gods the part of a pious 
 man, yet he adds, as if upbraiding them for their present neglect: 
 " Not endless ills I merit." 
 
 Hel. 1441-51 : 
 
 J) Zei', iraTTjp re Kal ffo^os xXjlfet deos, 
 
 . . . 6<^eiXw 5' ovK ael Trpaaativ kukus k. t. X. 
 
The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 57 
 
 " Zeus, Father art thou called, and the Wise God : 
 Look upon us, and from our woes redeem ; 
 And as we drag our fortunes up the steep, 
 Lay to thine hand : a finger-touch from thee, 
 And good-speed's haven long desired we win. 
 Suffice our travail heretofore endured. 
 Oft have ye been invoked, ye Gods, to hear 
 My joys and griefs: no endless ills I merit, 
 But in plain paths to tread. Grant this one boon. 
 And happy shall ye make me all my days." 
 
 The prayer of the chorus tends to the same purport: 
 
 Hel. 855-56: 
 
 0} deal, yevka'dio 5r] ttot' evrvx^s yepos 
 TO TavToXeiov Kal neraffT-qTco kukuv. 
 
 " Gods, grant at least fair fortune to the line 
 Of Tantalus, and rescuing from ills ! " 
 
 Menelaus prays to his dead father-in-law, and to Hades. He 
 is well aware that though the dead cannot restore Helen, the re- 
 quest will not be altogether vain : 
 
 Hel. 926 flf. : 
 
 S) ykpov, OS oUels TovSe 'Kawov Ta4>ov, 
 aTTodos, ctTratraJ Trji> efxriv Sanaprd ere, k. t. X. 
 
 " O ancient, dweller in this tomb of stone. 
 Restore thy trust : I claim of thee my wife. 
 Sent hither of Zeus to thee, to ward for me. 
 Thou who art dead, canst ne'er restore, I know : 
 But this thy child will think scorn that her sire. 
 Glorious of old, from the underworld invoked 
 Have infamy, etc. 
 
 O Hades, on thy championship I call, 
 . . . render back my wife." 
 
 The prophetess Theonoe advises Helen to pray to the Gods, w. 
 1024 fif., and to address to her dead father the following prayer: 
 
 Hel. 1028-29: 
 
 ail 5', 03 davuv ^tot irdrep, oaov y eyui adtfu, 
 ovTTOTe K€K\r]<jii Svffffe^ris olvt evaefiovs. 
 
 " And thou, dead sire, so far as in me lies. 
 Impious for righteous ne'er shalt be misnamed." 
 
58 Ernest Heinrich Klotsche 
 
 It is against the art of soothsaying and those who make it their 
 business of interpreting the tliglit of birds and other signs of the 
 divine will, that the attacks of Euripides are more especially di- 
 rected, and for the common trust in omens and prophecies he has 
 only ridicule. At Athens especially prophecies sprang up like 
 mushrooms. Soothsayers of all sorts plied a lively trade and 
 were regarded as " fond of money." Even Sophocles, who treats 
 them and their predictions with respect and even with awe, alludes 
 to this notorious quality of the soothsayers, Antig. 1055, where 
 Creon says to Teiresias : 
 
 TO fxavTiKov yap wdv (i)i\apyvpov yevos. 
 " The race of seers is ever fond of mone}-." 
 
 Euripides defines the idavr to be " one who speaks few truths, 
 but many lies " (Iph. A. 957), and his most bitter invective against 
 the art of divination is contained in our play : 
 
 Hel. 744-57: 
 
 aXXd rot TO. pavreuv 
 icreldov cos <j)av\^ iarl Koi \ieL'5<if TrXta. 
 ovK rjv ap' vyiis ovdev ipirvpov <{)}\.oy6s 
 ov8e TTTepoiTOiif ipdeytxar • tvrjdes 5e tol 
 TO Kal doKelv oppi^as d)<f)e\elv PpoToi)^. 
 
 K. T. X. 
 
 tL drJTa navTevopeda; toIs 'Seolai XP^" 
 dvovTas alTiTf ayada, fjLavrelas 8' edv 
 ^iov yap ctXXcos deXeap -qvpktJr] rode, 
 Kovdels eirXovTrjcr^ ep.Trvpoi.cnv apyos cbv 
 yvcopr; 5' aplarr] p.dvTLS fi t' evjSovXia. 
 
 "... But the lore of seers, 
 How vain it is I see, how full of lies. 
 Utterly naught then were the altar-flames. 
 The voices of winged things ! Sheer folh^ this 
 Even to dream that birds may help mankind. 
 Calchas told not, nor gave sign to the host, 
 Yet saw, when for a cloud's sake died his friends : 
 Not Hclenus told ; but Troy for nought was stormed ! 
 ' Yea, for the Gods forbade,' thou mightest say. 
 Why seek 3^e then to seers? With sacrifice 
 To Gods, ask blessings : let soothsayings be. 
 They were but as a bait for greed devised : 
 No sluggard getteth wealth through divination. 
 Sound wit, with prudence, is the seer of seers." 
 
The Supernatural in tlie Tragedies of Euripides 59 
 
 As the tragedy of " Helen " was played in 412 shortly after the 
 Sicilian expedition which had ended so disastrously, it is probable 
 that Euripides directed these invectives against the soothsayers 
 whom he regarded as mischievous tools in the hands of the war 
 party, and who as such had especially urged the people to under- 
 take the expedition. Euripides was not the only one who at- 
 tacked this " worthless class of idlers " ; cf . the scene in Arist. 
 Birds. 959-991. 
 
 Beside this well-known passage where the poet so violently 
 attacks the art of divination, we have in the same play other pas- 
 sages regarding the same object, where Euripides follows the 
 traditional belief and represents Theonoe, the prophetess and 
 sister of Theoclymenus, as a true oracle possessing supernatural 
 knowledge. Referring to her Helen says : 
 
 Hel. 819: 
 
 cot' evSov avTU) ^ii/i/xaxos ^eoZs tar], 
 " An ally wise as Gods he hath within." 
 
 and Helen again asserts : 
 
 Hel. 861^2: 
 
 aiTOvcra yap ae Kal irapoua a.4>Lyixkvov 
 8evp olSev. 
 
 " Present or absent still she knows of thee, 
 How thou art come." 
 
 From the sequel of the play we know that the prophetess con- 
 trols Destiny ; Theonoe herself declares : 
 
 Hel. 887 ff. : 
 
 TtKos 5 e0 i7Mt'', eti'' o. ^ovXerai Kvirpis 
 
 K. T. X. 
 
 " The issue rests with me — to tell nij^ brother, 
 As Cypris wills, thy presence, ruining thee, 
 Or, standing Hera's ally, save thy life, etc." 
 
 Theonoe chooses to save IMenclaus and Helen, and the decision of 
 the Gods follows that of the prophetess. 
 
 Allusion to vision is made when Helen, aware of the imreality 
 of the Trojan Helen, exclaims : 
 
6o Ernest Hcinrich Klotsche 
 
 Hel. 119: 
 
 "What if he nursed a heaven-sent phantasy?" 
 and when ]Menelaus exclaims: 
 Hel. 569: 
 
 " Light-bearer Hecate, send gracious visions ! " 
 
 Menelaus appeals to Hecate, since spectres and phantoms were 
 regarded as the attendants of that Goddess. 
 
 Respect for the word of an oath is expressed by ]\Ienelaus: 
 
 Hel. 977-79: 
 
 opKois KeKkV/Jted', ws [xadris, k. t. X. 
 " Know, maiden, I have bound me by an oath 
 To dare thy brother, first, unto the fight : 
 Then he or I must die, my word is passed." 
 
 An example of a ciirsc-oatli is contained in 
 
 Hel. 835-41 : 
 
 E: dXX' a~/v6v opKov aov Kapa Karoc/jioaa 
 
 ^I : Tt <i>ris; davelcrdat kovttot' dXXd^eti' Xex'?! 
 
 E: TavTih ^icpei ye- Kelaop.ai 5e crov TreXas. 
 
 M: fTTL TolaSe roivvv Se^ids eju^s diye. 
 
 E: xj/avoi, OavovTos aov rod' iK\ii\petv (paos. 
 
 "M: Kayij} aTeprjdeU uov TeXev-rjao: 0iov. 
 
 H: " Naj^ by thine head I swear a solemn oath — '' 
 
 M : " How ? — Wilt thou die ere thou desert thy lord ? " 
 
 H : " Yea, by thy sword : beside thee will I lie." 
 
 M : " Then, for this pledge, lay thou thine hand in mine." 
 
 H: "I clasp — I swear to perish if thou fall." 
 
 M: "And I. of thee bereft, to end my life." 
 
 Helen when swearing invokes the river Eurotas to witness : 
 
 Hel. 348 ff. : 
 
 ae yap tKoKeaa, ae 8i Karonocra, 
 
 Tov vSpoevra 56vaKi. x^^po" EupcoTai', k. t. X. 
 
 " Thee I invoke, I swear bj' thy name. 
 
 O river with ripple-washed reed-beds green, 
 Eurotas! — if true was the word that came 
 That my lord on the earth is no more seen." 
 
The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 
 
 6i 
 
 13. The Phceniss^ 
 
 The subject of the " Phcenisss " is the same as that of the 
 ^schylean play: "The Seven against Thebes," namely, the war 
 of succession between Polyneices and Eteocles. 
 
 locaste who speaks the prologue prays for her two sons, Poly- 
 neices and Eteocles : 
 
 Phcen. 84-87: 
 
 AXX' CO <f>aevva.s ovpavov valuiv -KTyxo-s 
 ZeD, ddaov rinas, 86s 5k avix0aai.v reKwis. 
 Xpri 5', ei <^o<p6s Trk(f>vKas, oiiK kdv ^porbv 
 rov avTOV ad bvcTTVXV Ka&taravai. 
 " O dweller Zens in heaven's veiling light, 
 Save us, grant reconciling to my sons ! 
 Thou oughtest not, so thou be wise, to kave 
 The same man overcome to be unblest." 
 
 In Antigone's prayer addressed to Nemesis : 
 
 Phcen. 182 ff. : 
 
 NeMeo-t Ktti Atos ^apv^poixoi ^povrai, 
 KepavvGiv T€ 4>Ci% al'9a\6ev, <^v tol 
 fxeyaXayopiav virepavopa Koi/xtfets- 
 
 " O Nemesis, O ye thunders rolling deep 
 Of Zeus, thou flaming light of his levin, 
 Overweening vaunts dost thou hush into endless sleep ! 
 
 the imprecation is impUed : "the haughty boastings of man dost 
 thou silence; mayest thou silence his!" i.e., Capaneus . Then 
 Antigone appeals to Artemis : 
 
 Phcen. 190-92: 
 
 ixi]TOT€ ixriiroTe ravS', do iroTVia, k. r. X., 
 ' AprenL, 8ov\offvvav rXatTjj'. 
 "Never, ah, never, O Artemis Queen, 
 Zeus' child with tresses of golden sheen. 
 Bowed under bondage may I be seen 1 " 
 
 The chorus appeal to the Gods to reconcile the two brothers: 
 Phoen. 586-87: 
 
 w deoi, yevoiade rcbvd' airoTpoTOi kclkuv 
 Kal ^vfiPaa-lv riv OiSivroL' rkKvoiS Sort. 
 " Ah Gods, be ye averters of these ills, 
 And set at one the sons of CEdipus ! " 
 
62 Ernest Hcinrich Klotschc 
 
 Polyneices having resigned and abjured his native Gods, prays 
 to the Argive Hera, whose votary he had become, to assist him in 
 slaying his brother: 
 
 Phoen. 1365-68: 
 
 w ttStvi Hpa, cos yap tl/j.', tirtl 7a/iois 
 efeu^' ' AdpdcTTOv iralda Kal vaioi x^ova, 
 86s fioi KTaviiv abtK4>6v, Aprijpr} 8 ktJ.r\v 
 Kadainarcbaai de^idv viKr)<i)6pov. 
 
 " Queen Hera, — for thine am I since I wed 
 Adrastus' child, and dwell within thy land, — 
 Grant me to slay my brother, and to stain 
 My warring hands witli blood of victory! " 
 
 Eteocles prays to Pallas : 
 
 Phoen. 1373-76 : 
 
 CO Atos Kopr], 
 86s ^7X0^ W'*" KaWiviKov «K' x^pos 
 els (TTtpj'' a8e\(j)ov Tijad' (xtt' tliXevrjs ^a\elv 
 KTavtiv t?' OS ffKde waTpida Tzopdrjaiov 'tpr\v. 
 
 "... Daughter of Zeus, 
 Grant that the conquering spear, of mine hand sped. 
 Yea, from this arm, may smite mj^ brother's breast, 
 And slay him who hath come to waste my land ! " 
 
 The two brothers met their doom owing to a curse pronounced 
 upon them by their father. In a fit of anger GLdipus had pro- 
 nounced on his sons that they might share the kingdom with the 
 sword : 
 
 Phcen. 67-68: 
 
 dpds apdrai Traicrlv dvoffiooTCiTas, 
 drjKTw ai8r)pu Schfxa SiaXaxilv T68e. 
 
 " A curse most impious hurled he at his sons, 
 That they might share their heritage with the sword." 
 
 They fearing the accomplishment of the curse had agreed to rule 
 by turns for a year : 
 
 " They terror-stricken lest, if they should dwell 
 Together, Gods might bring the curse to pass, 
 Made covenant that Polyneices first, 
 The younger, self-exiled, should leave the land. 
 
The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 63 
 
 That Eteocles, tarrying wear the crown 
 One j'ear — then cliange." (vv. 69-74.) 
 
 See also 474-75 ; and 624, where the mother locaste admonishes 
 her sons : 
 
 " Flee, O flee j-our father's curses ! " 
 
 See also 765 and 1355. The fate imprecated upon the sons of 
 CEdipus is inevitable although the two sons fancied they could 
 outwit the Gods : 
 
 " And OLdipus' sons, who fain had cloaked it over 
 With time, as though they could outrun the Gods, 
 In folly erred" (vv. 872-74). 
 
 The chorus exclaim : 
 
 Phoen. 1425-26: 
 
 <j>ev (t>tv, KaKuv auv, OISLttov, <r oawv arkvco- 
 ras ffds 6' dpds eoLKev iKTrXrjaai i?e6s. 
 
 " Alas ! I wail thy sore griefs, QLdipus ! 
 Thy malisons, I wot, hath God fulfilled." 
 
 From these passages we learn that destiny can be aroused by the 
 huinan will in a curse,' and in this case the curse becomes a part 
 of destiny and sways the fate of its victims. In vv. 1595 ff. 
 CEdipus speaks of a hereditary transmission of the curse which 
 works down to the grandchildren and even utterly extirpates a 
 race : 
 
 Phoen. 1608-14: 
 
 KTavcov 8 knavTov Trarkp' 6 Suadai/j.aji' kyw 
 
 tls nrjTpds r}\dov Tfjs ToKanruipov Xexos, 
 
 ■Kolbas T a8e\(f)0vs 'irtKov, ovs airuiXeaa. 
 
 dpds TvapaXapuv Aatov Kai irai-crl dovs. k. t. X. 
 
 " So mine own father did I slay, and came, — 
 Ah wretch ! — unto mine hapless mother's couch. 
 Sons I begat, my brethren, and destroyed, 
 Passing to them the curse of Laius. 
 For not so witless am I from the birth. 
 As to devise these things against mine eyes 
 And my sons' life, but by the finger of God." 
 
64 Ernest Heinrich Klotsche 
 
 Cf. also ^sch. Eum. 934 ff. The Greeks modified their theory of 
 the hereditary transmission of a curse by arguing that each gen- 
 eration commits new sins. 
 
 The poet's opinion in regard to the importance of dreams is 
 iUustrated by the following simile. The feeble trembling feet of 
 CEdipus are like a dream in respect of strength : 
 
 Plicen. 1721-22 : 
 
 Tg.8e T^Se 0adi /xot., 
 
 TaSe rade iroda rldeL k. t. X. 
 
 " Let thy feet follow hither mine hand, 
 
 strengthless as dream of the night!" 
 
 A few examples of oath are found in our play. Polyneices calls 
 the Gods to witness that it is against his own will to take up arms 
 against his relation : 
 
 Phoen. 433-34: 
 
 deoiis 5' eTrcofxatr' ws aKovaicos 
 Tois <t>i\rdTois knovffiv ripdfjir]i> 86pv. 
 
 " And. hy the Gods I swear, unwillingly 
 
 1 lift the spear against my father's house." 
 
 Polyneices expresses his indignation at his brother Eteocles 
 who has not kept what he had promised under oath : 
 
 Phcen. 481-83 : 
 
 6' alcecas rai'i?' opKcovs re Sous t?eoi)s, 
 'iSpacTev ovdev oiv virecrxeT', k. t. X. 
 
 " And he consented, in the God's sight swore. 
 Yet no whit keepeth troth, but holdeth still 
 The kingship and mine half the heritage." 
 
 and angrily proceeds : 
 
 Phoen. 491-93 : 
 
 judpTi'pas 8i T(i)v8i Saipova^ KaXoi, 
 us TavTa irpdaaui' aiiv b'lKxi, Sutjs drep 
 6.iro(TTepovpai iraTpiSos avoffiurara. 
 
 "... I call the Gods to witness this — 
 That, wholly dealing justly, robbed am I 
 Of fatherland, unjustly, impiously." 
 
The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 65 
 
 and again he exclaims : 
 Phcen. 626-27: 
 
 rijv 5e dpexpacrav ij,€ yalav Kal ^toiis fxaprvpofxat, 
 
 cos CLTLixos oiKTpa Tva.<Jx<^v k^eXavvofiat x^ovos, k. t. X. 
 
 " I call to witness earth that nursed me, witness Gods in heaven, 
 How with shame and piteous usage from the home-land I am 
 driven, etc." 
 
 For oath in general see vv. 1240-41 : 
 
 " On these terms made they truce, and in mid-space 
 The chiefs took oaths whereby they should abide." 
 
 As regards the prophecies and oracles in our play the poet's 
 usual vacillation is obvious. On the one hand he treats the sub- 
 ject in harmony with the popular belief and shows that oracles 
 are inexorably fulfilled ; on the other hand he shows his wonted 
 contempt for the prophets and their functions. So he makes 
 CEdipus profess that Phoebus' oracles inevitably come true : 
 
 Phoen. 1595-99: 
 
 ayouov AttoWop Aatoj p. kdtcnricre k. r. X. 
 
 " Ere from my mother's womb I came to light, 
 Phoebus to Laius spake me, yet unborn, 
 My father's murderer — etc." 
 
 and Phcen. 1703 and 05: 
 
 vw xPV^f^os, 0} waZ, Ao^iov ■Kepalverai. 
 tv rals ' K-&TivaLS KaT^avelv p* aXdcpevov. 
 
 " Now, child, doth Loxias' oracle come to pass. 
 That I, a wanderer, should in Athens die." 
 
 The choral ode vv. 638 ft. relates the fulfillment of the oracle 
 which enjoined Cadmus to found a city wherever a heifer driven 
 from a certain herd should throw itself upon the ground: 
 
 Phoen. 640-42: 
 
 poaxo^ ahapavTov Tricrrjpa 
 5tK£ TtKe(j4>6pov hibovaa. 
 XP'ri(Tp6v, ov KaroLKicraL k. t. X. 
 
 " That so was accomplished the oracle spoken 
 When the God for the place of his rest gave token, etc." 
 
66 Ernest Hcinrich Klotsche 
 
 The oracle contained in vv. 409 ff. is an example that oracles 
 present an inevitable future in terms that are dim, ambiguous, 
 equivocal, ironical : 
 
 Phoen. 409 and 411 : 
 
 ixpTfCF^ 'A5pa(rT(^ Aortas xPV^t^o" Tiva. 
 KaTTpcj) 'KiofTl d' apfxoaoLi. iraiSup yafxovs. 
 
 " To Adrastus Loxias spake an oracle : 
 ' Tln^ daughters wed to a lion and a boar.' " 
 
 Eteocles who formerly had mocked at the seer Teiresias admits 
 that he cannot dispense with the seer's advice concerning an im- 
 portant undertaking : 
 
 Phoen. 766 : 
 
 iv 6' iarli' rinlv dpyov, ei rt i)t(j4>aTov 
 oliovotxavTis Tetpectas ex*'' 4>po.<yoLi., 
 rovo' eKTTvdecrdai ravr'- . . . 
 eyw di Tkxvt\v ptavTiKijv kn^ix^pafx-qv k. t. X. 
 
 " One thing abides undone, to ask the seer 
 Teiresias touching this, if aught he hath 
 Of oracles to tell. ... 
 
 But the seer's art in time past liave I mocked 
 Unto his face ; so he may bear me grudge." 
 
 The aged seer Teiresias led by his daughter enters the stage 
 saying : 
 
 Plioen. 838-40: 
 
 K\ripovs re ^lo^ (pvXaacre Ttapdkvui xepl, k. t. X. 
 " Guard in thy maiden hand the augury-lots 
 Which, when I marked the bodings of the birds, 
 In the holy seat I took, where I divine." 
 
 The " augury-lots " {K\r)povs) are the notes which the seer had 
 written down after having observed the flight of the birds. 
 
 Teiresias claims to have secured through the art of divination 
 the victory for Athens over Eleusis and displays as his reward a 
 golden crown, the first-fruits of the spoil: ■ • 
 
 Phcen. 854-58: 
 
 . . . Kal rbvbe xpvffo'j*' <TTt4>ai'0P, ojs opas, *x<^ 
 Xa/Scoj' &wapxo.s TroXefiiuv cTKvXevfiaTiov. 
 
The Supernatural iu llie Tragedies of Euripides 6y 
 
 " There too was war, against Eumolpus' spear, 
 Where I to Cecrops' sons gave victory. 
 This crown of gold, as thou mayst see, have I 
 As firstfruits of the foemen's spoil received." 
 
 Then Teiresias being urged to declare the truth, affirms that 
 the sole hope of the safety of Thebes lies in the sacrifice of 
 Creon's only son, Menoecus : 
 
 Phoen. 911-14: 
 
 cLKove 617 vvv t?ecT<pdTcov tixiov bbov 
 atpa^ai Mei'otKij Tovde del a virep irarpas 
 aov TraZS', (.TreLSrj t7}v tvxV o-vto), KaXels. 
 
 " Hear tlien the tenor of mine oracle, 
 What deed of yours shall save the Thebans town. 
 Menoecus must thou slay for fatherland. 
 Thy son — since thou thyself demandest fate." 
 
 Teiresias leaves the stage with the following characteristic 
 words upon his lips : 
 
 Phoen. 954-59: 
 
 ocrrts 5' eyUTrupw XPV'''"-'- Tex^H, 
 fxaraios' fiv (xiv exJ?P<i ff-qiJ.'qvas ti'X!7, 
 TTiKpos KaxJkcTTrix ols av olcovoaKOTrf]- 
 yf^evdij 6' inr' o'iktov roiai, xP'<JM«fots X'tyoiv 
 adiKei to. rihv x}tuiv. ^olfiov avd picirois jxbvov 
 XPVv i^eairioidelv, os 8e8oLKev ovdkva. 
 
 "... Who uses the diviner's art 
 Is foolish. If he heraldeth ill things. 
 He is loathed of those to whom he prophecies. 
 If pitying them that seek to him, he lie, 
 He wrongs the Gods. Sole prophet unto men 
 Ought Phoebus to have been, who feareth none." 
 
 Euripides renders his condemnation of the soothsayers most 
 effective when he makes the aged seer himself confess that sooth- 
 sayers often do not dare to tell the truth to those that consult 
 them and therefore arc compelled to cheat their clients in order 
 not to give offence. No wonder that Creon says to his son : 
 
 Phoen. 971 : 
 
 aKoXaar' eacras p-avreoiv dtairlcrpaTa. 
 
 " Heed not tlie reckless words of soothsayers." 
 
68 Ernest Heinrich Klotsche. 
 
 14. The Electra 
 
 The "Electra," produced about 413, treats of the same subject 
 as the " Choephorse " of /Eschylus, and the " Electra " of Soph- 
 ocles, namely the return of Orestes from exile, and his revenge 
 upon Clytemnestra. 
 
 The chorus admonish Electra to worship the Gods and pray to 
 them: 
 
 El. 194-97: 
 
 ixr\ TifiiLcra deovs, Kpari)- 
 ativ ex'^pojv; ovtol crTocaxats, 
 dXX' ei'xaio't ^fovs atfii- 
 ^ova^ e^ets evanepiav, w iral. 
 
 " If thou give honour not to Gods, shall bring 
 Thy foes low? — reverencing 
 The Gods with prayers, not groans, shalt thou obtain 
 Clear shining after rain." 
 
 but Electra answers : 
 El. 198-200: 
 
 oi'dels deoiv (voTras KXi'ti 
 rds dvadainovos, ov TraXat- 
 wv Tvarpos (T<j)ayiaffijubi>. 
 
 " No God regards a wretch's cries. 
 Nor heeds old flames of sacrifice 
 Once on my father's altar burning." 
 
 and yet in her distress she prays desperately : 
 
 El. 221 : 
 
 w $01)3' ' AttoWop, TrpocTTTtTj'w ae /ut) daveiv. 
 " Phoebus, T pray thee that I be not slain ! " 
 
 Electra is exhorted by the Old Man to pray to the Gods : 
 
 El. 563 and 565: 
 
 J) ttStvI, tvxov, dvyartp 'HXe/ixpa, i9eots 
 'Kafftiv <f>L\ov drjaavpdv, 5v fpalvei i?e6s. 
 
 " Daughter, Electra — princess ! — pray to the Gods — 
 To win the precious treasure God reveals ! " 
 
 and she replies : 
 
The Supernatural in the- Tragedies of Euripides 69 
 
 El. 566: 
 
 l5ov, KoKH} t}covs. 
 " Lo, I invoke them." 
 
 The prayer in vv. 671 ft", which is according to Murray's ar- 
 rangement in turn recited by Orestes, Electra, and the Old Man, 
 contains also an invocation of the dead: 
 
 El. 671-83 : 
 
 O. CO ZeD iraTpue Kal rpoTral' ex'^P'^*' tp-^v, 
 
 H. OLKTeipe t?' rjnas, olKTpa yap weir6i>dap.cv, k. t. X. 
 
 O. " My father's God, Zeus, smiter of my foes," 
 E. " Pity us : pitiful our wrongs have been." 
 
 O. M. "Yea, pity those whose lineage is of thee!" 
 E. " Queen of Mycenae's altars, Hera, help ! " 
 O. " Grant to us victory, if we claim the right." 
 
 O. M. " Grant for their father vengeance unto these ! " 
 E. " O Earth, O Queen, on whom I lay mine hands," 
 O. " Father, by foul wrong dweller 'neath the earth," 
 
 O. M. " Help, help them, these thy children best-beloved," 
 O. " Come ! bring all those thy battle-helpers slain " 
 E. " All them whose spears with thee laid Phrygians low," 
 
 O. M. " Yea, all which hate defilers impious ! " 
 
 O. " Hear'st thou, O foully-entreated of my mother?" 
 
 This prayer to the dead father presupposes the presence of the 
 spirit of the dead, his sympathy and co-operation with the sur- 
 viving kinsmen. Electra asserts (v. 684) : 
 
 " Our sire hears all, I know." 
 
 In the following invocation of the Gods Electra identifies the 
 Gods with world-ruling Justice : 
 
 El. 771 : 
 
 CO i?€ot, ALkt) re Trdi'i? opcoo , fiXOis rrore. 
 " Gods ! All-seeing Justice thou hast come at last ! " 
 
 Orestes has come by divine command to avenge his father's 
 death : 
 
 El. 87-89: 
 
 d<i>lyiJ,aL 6' Ik ^eov xP'7<'''''7piwi' k. t. X. 
 
"JO Ernest Heinrich Klotsche 
 
 "... At Phcebus' oracle-hest I come 
 To Argos' soil, none privy thereunto, 
 To paj' my father's murderers murder-wage." 
 
 Orestes expresses his belief in Apollo's oracles, but has no re- 
 gard for the tribe of soothsayers : 
 
 El. 399-400: 
 
 S.oi,lov yap enireSoi 
 XprjffijLoi, PpoTuv be fxavTLKTiv xaiptiv fH}. 
 
 "... ; for Loxias' oracles 
 Fail not. Of men's soothsaying will I none." 
 
 In the end of the play the Dioscuri suddenly appear and abuse 
 Apollo on account of his oracle which has brought about the 
 dreadful events, but he is their superior and therefore they cannot 
 speak too plainly : 
 
 El. 1296-97 : 
 
 irpd^iv <t>oviav. 
 
 "... for on Phoebus I lay the guilt 
 Of the blood thou hast spilt, etc." 
 
 Likewise lays Orestes the responsibility for the murder of Cly- 
 temnestra and its consequences at the door of Apollo : 
 
 El. 971 and 973 : 
 
 w <l>oI/3<, TToWrjv 7' d/jiadlav tdkuinaas., 
 '6(TTL<i fj,' exP'Jffas fir]Ttp', fji> ov xPWj KTavclv. 
 
 " O Phoebus, folly exceeding was thine best — 
 Who against nature bad'st me slaj- mj- mother ! " 
 
 and El. 1190-96: 
 
 to) <I>oij8', avvfivriaas dlKav. k. t. X. 
 " Phoebus, the deed didst thou commend 
 
 Aye whispering ' Justice.' Thou hast bared 
 The deeds of darkness, and made end, 
 
 Through Greece, of lust that murder dared. 
 But me what land shall shield? What friend. 
 What righteous man shall bear to see 
 The slayer of his mother — me?" 
 
Tlic Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides y\ 
 
 15. The Orestes 
 
 The Orestes was acted in 408. The first part of the play tells 
 us that after the murder of Aigisthus and Clytemnestra Orestes 
 was haunted by the Furies. In torment thereof he continued six 
 days. Then both, Orestes and Electra were condemned to death 
 by the Argive people. The later portion of the play contains the 
 intrigues for their rescue and the final achievement for their de- 
 liverance. 
 
 Orestes desires to pray at the grave of his father: 
 
 Or. 796-97: 
 
 Kal fie Trpos TVfxj3ov ■Kopevcjov iraTpos, 
 cos VIP LKtTtvaw fie aaitrai. 
 
 " Even to my father's grave-mound guide me on. 
 I would pray him to deliver." 
 
 Orestes, Electra, and Pylades pray to Agamemnon in Hades : 
 Or. 1225 fif.: 
 
 O. w Scbfxa vaiu^v vvktos 6p4>i'aia^ Trdrcp, k. t. X. 
 H. w Trdrep, Ikov Stjt', el fcXuets e'iaco x^ovos 
 
 reKvciov KoKovvroiv, ol aedev ifv-qaKova' inrep. 
 n. o) avyytveia Trarpos ep.ov, Kafjias Xtrds, 
 
 ' Ay a nefxvov, eiaa.KovcToi', eKffiocrov Ttuva.. 
 
 O. " Father, who dwellest in dark halls of night, 
 Thy son Orestes bids thee come to help 
 Those in sore need. For thy sake suffer I 
 Wrongfully — by thy brother am betrayed. 
 Though I wrought righteousness. I fain would seize 
 His wife, and slay: be thou our help therein!" 
 
 E. " Come, father, come, if thou in earth's embrace 
 Hearest thy children cry, who die for thee ! " 
 
 P. " My father's kinsman, to my prayers withal, 
 
 Agamemnon, hearken ; save thy children thou ! etc." 
 
 and Pylades adds : 
 
 Or. 1240-43: 
 
 iravcraade, Kal irpos tpyov e^opfiwue^a. 
 etirep yap etcrco yfj's aKovri^ovcr' dpai, 
 kXuci. ail 5', co ZfD irpoyove Kal Aiktjs a'e^as, 
 Sot' evTVxvo'o.i twS' kfxoi re rfiSe re. 
 
 " Cease ye, and let us haste unto the deed ; 
 For if prayers, javelin-like, pierce earth, he hears. 
 
72 Ernest Heinrich Klotsche 
 
 Forefather Zeus, and Justice' majesty, 
 
 To him, to me, to her. grant happy speed ! " 
 
 Electra prays : 
 
 Or. 1299-1300: 
 
 w Alos, 03 Alox a'tvaov Kparos, 
 
 ?X»>' iiriKovpov ifwlffL <t)i\oiat iravTuis. 
 
 " O power of Zeus, of Zeus, — eternal power, 
 Come, aid my friends in this supremest hour ! " 
 
 Electra pronounces a curse on Helen : 
 Or. 130-31 : 
 
 iSeol at tJ.i(Tr)(THav, ois n' aTrwXecras 
 Kal Toude ■wacav ??' EXXdSa. 
 
 "... —Still the Helen of old ! 
 God's hate be on thee, who hast ruined me. 
 My brother, and all Hellas ! " 
 
 Only one instance of oath is found in our play : 
 
 Or. 1516-17: 
 
 0. oixocrov, il Se nil, Krevw ere, /ujj Xkyeiv ey.r)v x<ip"'- 
 ^. Tr]v ifJLTiv \pvxvv Kardifioa', ffv av evopKoln' kyu). 
 
 O. " Swear— or I will slaj' thee, — that thou speakest not to 
 pleasure me. 
 Phr. B3' my life I swear — an oath I sure sliould honour sacredly." 
 
 In the prologue Electra asserts that the oradc-god is guilty of 
 the most unholy thing, the most abominable deed : 
 
 Or. 28-31 : 
 
 4>ot/3oi' 5' abiKLap ntv ri 5el KaTrjyoptlv; 
 ireideL 6' 'OpeffT-qv nrirkp' f) (T<p' kyeii'aro 
 KTtivai, irp6% ohx awa.vTa's evKKnav (t>epov. 
 <5/xcos 5' &.irkKT€iv' ovk atrudrjaas i?€w. 
 
 " What boots it to lay wrong to Phoebus' cliarge, 
 Wlio thrust Orestes on to slay the mother 
 Tliat bare him? — few but cry shame on the deed, 
 Tliough in obedience to the God he slew." 
 
 Line 30 means literally translated " a deed that does not bring to 
 all the idea that this was creditable in a God," i.e., " that brings 
 discredit to him with some." 
 
The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 73 
 
 That Phoebus was the real author of the deed is admitted by 
 Helen : 
 
 Or. 76: 
 
 els "i>oI/3oj' a.va4>tpovaa Tr)v afxaprlav. 
 " Since upon Phoebus all thy sin I lay, etc." 
 
 Apollo's oracle is called an unjust one by Electra : 
 
 Or. 162-64: 
 
 ixdiKos ixdiKa tot ap' tXaKef eXaKev, airo- 
 (fjovov 6t' (ttI TpLTrodi Qe/dLbos ap' tdiKaffe 
 4>6vov 6 Aortas tM^s yuaxepos. 
 
 " Wrongful was he who uttered that wrongful rede 
 When Loxias, thronged on the tripod of Themis, decreed 
 The death of mj^ mother, a foul, unnatural deed!" 
 
 And Orestes exclaims : 
 
 Or. 275-76: 
 
 tL dfiTa ;ueXXer'; e^aKpi^er' aidepa 
 TTTepols' TO. <i>ot/3oi; 5' alTLaade dtcrtf^aTa. 
 
 " Why tarry ye ? Soar to the welkin's height 
 On wings ! There rail on Phoebus' oracles ! " 
 
 and he continues : 
 
 Or. 285-87 : 
 
 Xo^iq. di fieiJ.4>oiJ.aL, 
 ooTts fj. tirapas tpyov avocnioTaTov. 
 Tols p.iv \6yois r]v4>paiv€, rots 5' epyoiCTW ov. 
 
 "... Loxias I blame, 
 Who to a deed accursed thrust ine on, 
 And cheered me still with words, but not with deeds." 
 
 Orestes, when seized with madness, in his lucid intervals again 
 and aszain blames the God for the deed : 
 
 Or. 414 ff. 
 
 0. dXX' iaTLv rjiJilv ai'a4>opa. rfjs ^Uju^opds 
 
 <t'oi/3os, KeXevaas fX7]Tp6s iKvpa^ai <f)6vov. 
 
 M. afj.adt(TTep6s y dv tov koKov Kal ttjs 5tK7js 
 
 0. BovXevofxev 'deals, 6 tl ttot' eicrlv ol -deol. 
 
 ^I. k^t' oIk ay.{'V€L Aortas rots aols KaKols', 
 
 0. jueXXtf TO ^elov 8' euTi toiovtov 4>v(rei,. 
 
 O. " Yet can I cast my burden of affliction 
 
74 Ernest Heinrich Klotsche 
 
 On PIioel)us, who bade spill my mother's blood." 
 M. " Sore lack was his of justice and of right! " 
 O. " The God's thralls are we — whatsoe'er Gods be." 
 M. "And doth not Loxias shield thee in thine ills?" 
 O. " He tarrieth long — such is the God's wont still." 
 
 Or. 591-96: 
 
 'AttoWcov OS ne(TOfj.(f)a.\ovs (Spas 
 . vaiwv 0poTol<Ti. arofxa vend (Ta<f>ecTTaToi', 
 <fi -wtLdontada ttclviV ocr' av Ktlvos Xeyjj, 
 TOVTCi} TTLdonevos Triv TtKovaav tKravou. 
 tKeivov Tiyelad' avbaiov Kal KTeivere- 
 tKeivos i^fiapr', om kyu. 
 
 "... Apollo at earth's navel-throne 
 Gives most true revelation unto men, 
 Whom we obey in whatsoe'er he saith. 
 Obeying him, my mother did I slay. 
 Account }'e him unholy : yea, slay him ! 
 He sinned, not I." 
 
 After the poet has thoroughly censured the oracle-god for his 
 injustice the play concludes with the usual justification of Apollo's 
 wisdom. Apollo himself appears and gives his oracles as to how 
 afifairs should be managed, vv. 1625-65. Orestes perfectly satis- 
 fied addresses Apollo : 
 
 Or. 1666-67: 
 
 CO Ao^ta /jiavTele auiv decnrLafj.aTojv 
 
 ov xpevbonavTLs fja^' dip', dXX' eriiTvnos. 
 
 " Hail, Prophet Loxias, to thine oracles ! 
 No lying prophet went thou then, Init true." 
 
 and Or. 1680-81 : 
 
 (caTcb TotovTos' airiv8oiJ.at 8e avn4>opais, 
 Mej/tXce, Kal aols, Ao|ia, deairianaaiv. 
 
 " I am as he to my fate reconciled. 
 To Menelaus, and thine oracles." 
 
 The prophet Glaucus, from whom Menelaus learned the news 
 of his brother's fate, is called the " unerring God " : 
 
 Or. 362 ff.: 
 
 . . . N77pea)s vpo<i>i]TTis VKavKos 6.\fev5ris deos, k. t. X. 
 
 "... from the waves 
 The shipman's seer, the unerring God, the son 
 
The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 75 
 
 of Nereus, Glaucus, made it known to me : 
 ' Thy brother, Menclaus, lieth dead, etc' " 
 
 The word Trpo^Tjrrjs, however, does not necessarily imply the power 
 of predicting; Trpo^iyrijs is properly an interpreter or speaker for 
 another, as Apollo was the prophet of Zeus and Glaucus of 
 Nereus. 
 
 Reference to dreams is made in 
 
 Or. 618: 
 
 oveipar ayyeWoixra Taya/jLtfivovos. 
 " TeHino- of dreams from Agamemnon sent." 
 
 This verse is generally considered as spurious. Paley thinks that 
 the notion was borrowed from dreams of vengeance sent to Cly- 
 temnestra by Agamemnon as described in the " Choephori " of 
 /^schylus and in Sophocles' Electra 425 ; it is not elsewhere al- 
 luded to by Euripides. 
 
 In the extremely fine passage vv. 255 ff., which must have been 
 truly terrific when impersonated by a good actor, we have the 
 famous vision of Orestes who sees the Furies by his side : 
 
 Or. 255-57: 
 
 TCis ot;uaTW7roi;s Koi dpaKovrudas Kopas. 
 avrai yap a Drat ir\r](Tiov OpuiaKOval jjlov. 
 
 " Mother ! — beseech thee, hark not thou on me 
 'Yon maidens gory-eyed and snaky-haired ! 
 Lo there ! — lo there ! They are nigh, they leap on me ! " 
 
 At this moment Orestes in his delirium makes a violent efifort to 
 leap from his couch ; Therefore Electra, his sister, who sits by his 
 bed and administers to him with the most tender afifection as- 
 suages him saying : 
 
 Or. 258-59: 
 
 ixkv , CO raXatTTcop", arpkixa crols ev Sep.pioi'S' 
 opas yap ovdtv uv doKfls <Td<j> etSevat. 
 
 " Stay, hapless one, unshuddering on thy couch : 
 Nought of thy vivid vision seest thou." 
 
 In these lines we have a striking example how Euripides manages 
 
76 Ernest He'mrich Klotsche 
 
 the supernatural in contrast with yEschylus. According to the 
 latter the Furies are real deities, living persons of objective ex- 
 istence, who even come upon the stage to torture the murderer. 
 According to Euripides Orestes in his delirium fancies he sees 
 the forms of the Furies pursuing him, while Electra expresses her 
 disbelief in the visible presence of them. She admits that a 
 fancied illness is as afflicting to the patient, as a real one, but 
 insists that the illness is nothing but a vision that haunts the brain 
 of a delirious man : 
 
 Or. 311-15 : 
 
 dXXa kXIpov tls evvr)v btjias, 
 Kol ^l^7 TO rap^ovv KaK(j>o0ovy cr^ tK benvlwv 
 ayav d7ro5exoi') M*''* 5' tirl arpoiTOV \kxov^. 
 Kav fir] voajjs yap, dXXd. So^af ets voat'iv 
 KCLnaros ^poTolcnv kwoplare ylyvtrai. 
 
 " . . . But lay thee down, 
 And heed not terrors overmuch, that scare 
 Thee from thy couch, but on thy bed abide. 
 For, though thy sickness be but of the brain, 
 This is affliction, this despair, to men.'' 
 
 16. The Iphigenia at Aulis 
 
 The " Iphigenia at Aulis " was acted after the death of Euripi- 
 des. Its subject forms a prelude to the "Iphigenia in Tauris." 
 Calchas the prophet had proclaimed — and he was backed by 
 Odysseus and Menelaus — that Artemis claims the sacrifice of 
 Iphigenia, eldest daughter of Agamemnon, before the adverse 
 winds can fall. Iphigenia, doomed by her father to die at Aulis, 
 is miraculously saved by the Goddess and removed to another 
 land, the Tauric Chersonese. 
 
 As in the " Hippolytus " so also in the " Iphigenia at Aulis," a 
 characteristic passage is contained, where Euripides refers to an 
 oath which is invalid. This is the oath sworn to Tyndareus by 
 Helen's suitors : 
 
 LA. 390 ff.: 
 
 wfLoaav TOP Twdapetov opKov ol KaK6(t>poves 
 
 (pLXoyafiot p.vr\(TTr)pK . . . 
 
 ovs Xaficjv ffTparev'- eVoiyuot 5' elcrl ficoplq. <i>pev(hv. 
 
TJic Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 77 
 
 " Those infatuate marriage-craving suitors swore an oath indeed 
 Unto Tyndareus ; . . . 
 Lead them thou — O these are read)- in tlie folly of their soul ! " 
 
 This oath was invahd because it was extorted on a false pretense : 
 
 I. A. 66-67 : 
 
 tTret 5' kiriffTwdriaav e/x7re5ajs, ytpuiv 
 
 inrriKdev avTovs Tvifdapeus irvKufi <^peft, k. t. X. 
 
 " So when they had pledged them thus, and cunningly 
 Old Tyndareus had hy craft outwitted them, etc." 
 
 The oath was taken under the usual solemn forms of swearing 
 and an imprecation of harm to him who should fail in his obliga- 
 tion was added, {eTvapaaaadat) : 
 
 I. A. 57-65 : 
 
 Kal VLv elcrrj'K^ei' Ta5e, 
 opKovs (TwoApai Sejtas t€ avix^akeiv k. t. X. 
 
 "... and this thing came into his mind, 
 That each to each the suitors should make oath, 
 And clasp right hands, and with burnt sacrifice 
 Should pour drink-offerings, and swear to this : — 
 Whose wife soever Tyndareus' child should be, 
 Him to defend: if any from her home 
 Stole her and fled, and thrust her lord aside, 
 To march against him, and to raze his town, 
 Hellene or alien, with their mailed array." 
 
 The suitors had taken the oath because each hoped to be the hus- 
 band of Helen ; and since they were bound by this oath they had 
 to take the consequences of their folly and join the Trojan expe- 
 dition, and so fulfil their oath. In taking such an oath they are 
 called KaK6(l)poves "infatuate," vv. 390-91. But Euripides adds 
 that while men may be in the dark about the validity or invalidity 
 of oaths the Godhead well knows how to distinguish those which 
 are valid from those which are not : 
 
 LA. 395-^6: 
 
 oil yap iavuerov to ^eiov, dXX' ex*' ffvvikvai 
 roxjs KaKUs Trayevras opKovs Kal KaTrjvayKaankvovs. 
 
 "God is not an undiscerning judge; his eyes are keen to try 
 Oaths exacted by constraint, and troth-plight held unrighteously." 
 
78 Ernest He in rich Klofsche 
 
 Menelaus under a solemn oath by his and Agamemnon's an- 
 cestors declares that he no longer desires to possess a bad wife at 
 the cost of a good brother's happiness : 
 
 I. A. 473 ff. : 
 
 ]Ie\o7ra KdTotxvvyJ , oy Trarrip rovfxov irarpos 
 Toil aov t' tKXridri, tov TtKovra 7' 'Axpea, 
 K. T. X. 
 
 " I swear by Pelops, of my sire and thine 
 Named father, and bjr Atreus our own sire, 
 That from mine heart's core I will speak to thee. 
 To serve no end, l)ut all mine inmost thought, etc." 
 
 Likewise Achilles, when swearing, invokes his ancestor : 
 
 I. A. 948-50 : 
 
 /[id TOV dl vypibi> Kvnaruv red panfikvov 
 N77pea, <t>vTovpy6v Bert5os v m' tTtiVaro, 
 ovx atperaL ffTJs i^vyarpos \\.y ap.eij.vijii> ava^. 
 
 " No, by the foster-son of Ocean's waves, 
 Nereus, the sire of Thetis who bare me, 
 King Agamemnon shall not touch thy child." 
 
 The poet's dislike for seers also finds expression in our play : 
 I. A. 520-21 : 
 
 TO navTLKov Trdi' airkpp.a (jiLXoTtpov KaKov. 
 Kovdiv 7' apearov ov5t xP'^'^'-l^ov wapop. 
 
 Agam. " The whole seer-tribe is an ambitious curse." 
 Menel. " Abominable and useless, — zvhile alive." 
 
 Cf. also El. 400; Hel. 755 ; I. T. 574. 
 Achilles bitterly asks : 
 
 LA. 956: 
 
 Tts 8e pdvTis i(TT' dn7p; 
 " What is a seer? " 
 
 and answers his own question : 
 
 LA. 957-58: 
 
 5s oKiy a\r]dfj, woWa 8i \pev8fi \iyu 
 Tvx<j^f orav bi pij rvxil^ dioixeraL. 
 
 " A man who speaks few truths, but many lies. 
 When his shafts hit, who is ruined if he miss." 
 
 (I.e., he loses all credit when he fails.) 
 
TJic Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 79 
 
 17. The Bacch^ 
 
 The " Bacchffi " was composed or completed during the resi- 
 dence of Euripides with Archelaus in Macedonia and in all prob- 
 ability was the work of his latest years. It brings before us the 
 conflict between divine power claiming its due recognition (Dion- 
 ysus), and human arrogance denying that claim (Pentheus). 
 The play details the miserable end of Pentheus, who stands alone 
 in obstinate resistance to the worship of Dionysus. A devout 
 and religious tone is predominant throughout this play. The 
 splendid choral odes of the " Bacchanals," their passionate cries 
 and wild ecstatic prayers express the one theme of pious devotion 
 in varying forms following the development of the action. 
 
 The chorus in an ecstatic prayer call the Goddess of Sanctity 
 to listen to the impious language of Pentheus : 
 
 Bacch. 370 ff. : 
 
 'Offta TTOTva ^eccv, 
 
 'Offta 5' a Kara yav 
 
 Xpvakav ■KTipvya. <^€pets, k. t. X. 
 
 " O Sanctity, thou who dost bear dominion 
 
 Over Gods, yet low as this earthly ground, 
 Unto usward, stoopest thy golden pinion, — 
 
 Hear'st thou the words of the king, and the sound 
 Of his blast of defiance, of Pentheus assailing 
 The Clamour-king? — hear'st thou this blasphemous railing 
 On Semele's son, who is foremost found 
 Of the Blest in the festival beauty-crowned? etc." 
 
 In the spirit of Bacchic frenzy the chorus invoke the God : 
 
 Bacch. 414-15 : 
 
 CKelcr (iye ^te, Bpo^iie BpojUte, k. t. X. 
 "... Thitherward lead me, O Clamour-king ! 
 O Revel-god, guide where the Graces abide 
 And Desire, — where danceth, of no man denied, 
 The Bacchanal ring." 
 
 The chorus call upon the God to come and check the insolence of 
 the king : 
 
 Bacch. 550 flf. : 
 
 i<7op5.s xdS , w Atos Tral 
 ALovvffe, (joi's Trpo4>r]Tas k. t. X. 
 
8o Ernest Hcinrich Klotsche 
 
 "... Son of Zeus, are his deeds of thine eye unbeholden, 
 Dionysus? — thy prophets with tyrannj^ wrestling in struggle and 
 
 strain? 
 Sweep down the slope of Olympus, uptossing thy thyrsus golden : 
 Come to us. King, and the murderer's insolent fury refrain, etc." 
 
 Having called upon the hounds of Madness to arouse the 
 Maenads against Pentheus, the godless intruder into their sacred 
 rites, the chorus invoke Justice and the presence of the God 
 himself : 
 
 Baccli. 1012-23: 
 
 iroj 5iKa <f>ai'ep6s, troi ^i07j06pos k. t. X. 
 
 W, W BdKX«) K- T- ^• 
 
 "Justice, draw nigli us, draw nigh, with the sword of avenging 
 
 appear : 
 Slay the unrighteous, the seed of Echion. the earth-born, and 
 
 shear 
 Clean through his throat; for he feareth not God, neither law 
 
 doth he fear." 
 
 " O Dionysus, reveal thee ! — appear as a bull to behold. 
 Or be thou seen as dragon, a monster of heads manifold, 
 Or as a lion with splendours of flame round the limbs of him 
 
 rolled. 
 Come to us, Bacchus, and smiling in mocker\- compass him 
 
 around 
 Now with the toils of destruction, and so shall the hunter be 
 
 bound, 
 Trapped mid the throng of the ^Isenads, the quarry- his questing 
 
 hath found." 
 
 Since the " Bacchse " apparently breathe a more religious spirit 
 than most of the earlier dramas of Euripides, scholars have often 
 maintained that the play is a sort of recantation on the part of the 
 poet, "a reactionary manifesto in favour of orthodoxy." In the 
 judgment of G. Murray this is a "view which hardly merits refu- 
 tation." Even in the " Bacchas," towards the close of the play in 
 the colloquy between Agave and Dionysus, Euripides does not 
 shrink from exposing the imperfections of the legend and repre- 
 senting the Gods in an obnoxious light : 
 
The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 8i 
 
 Bacch. 1344-49: 
 
 A. Aiovvffe, XicffoyuecriJd <r , ridiKriKanev. 
 
 A. 6x1/ knadtd- rjnas, ore 5 exPV^, "i-"^ vSere. 
 
 A. kyvuKafxev ravr • dXX kire^kpx^i- Xiaf. 
 
 A. Kal yap irpos vp-uv {fto^ yeyus v0pi.'^6pr]v. 
 
 A. opyas ■wpkirit ^eovs ovx oixoiovadac ^porols. 
 
 A. TraXat raSe Zeus oii/xos hirivevaev irarrjp. 
 
 A. " Dionysus, we beseech thee ! — we have sinned." 
 
 D. " Too late ye know me, who knew not in your hour." 
 
 A. " We know it — but thy vengeance passeth bounds." 
 
 D. " I am a God : ye did despite to me." 
 
 A. " It fits not that in wrath Gods be as men." 
 
 D. " Long since mj- father Zeus ordained this so." 
 
 Dionysus possesses prophetic knowledge and predicts future 
 events. No doubt, some verses of Dionysus' speech have been lost 
 at the end of the play. The portion preserved begins with his 
 prophecy of the weird transformation of Cadmus: 
 
 Bacch. 1330 ff. : 
 
 bpaKccv yevrjcrei /uera/SaXcov, k. t. X. 
 XPV^'fJ-os us Xe7et Atos, k. t. X. 
 
 " Thou to a serpent shalt be changed ; thy wife, etc. 
 . . . Zeus' oracle saith, etc." 
 
 Teiresias, the prophet of Apollo, describes Dionysus as a God 
 possessed of oracular power and prophetic madness : 
 
 Bacch. 298-99: 
 
 IxavTLs S' 6 halpxiiv 65e' to yap ^aKxeixripov 
 Kal TO fiavLuSes pavTLKriv ttoWtji' ex*'- 
 
 " A prophet is this God : the Bacchic frenzy 
 And ecstacy are full-fraught with prophecy." 
 
 cf . also Hec. 1267 : 
 
 6 Opri^l pavTLs elire Aiovvffos Ta8r. 
 
 Dramatically appropriate in the lips of the aged seer Teiresias 
 is the conservative tone in which he protests against rationalizing 
 and speculating about the Gods, as if our reason were capable of 
 dealing with the question, vv. 200 ff. 
 
 " 'Tis not for us to reason touching Gods. 
 Traditions of our fathers, old as time, 
 
82 Ernest Heinrich Klotsche 
 
 We hold : no reasoning shall cast them down, — 
 No, though of subtlest wit our wisdom spring, etc." 
 
 We cannot, however, unreservedly accept the seer as the spokes- 
 man of the opinion of the poet, who, as appears from passages in 
 other plays, had no great lovi^; for prophets and soothsayers ; and 
 even a play of such a religious character as the " Bacchae " con- 
 tains a strong invective against the diviners : The taunts of venal- 
 ity which Euripides in vv. 255 ff. allows to be flung at Teiresias 
 by Pentheus, — taunts which remain unanswered by the seer, may 
 well make us hesitate in accepting the prophet as the exponent of 
 the poet's own opinion in vv. 200 ff. Pentheus severely attacks 
 Teiresias : 
 
 Bacch. 255-57: 
 
 ai) ravT^ 'iTreiaas, Teipecta- t6v8' av ^k\et,s 
 rov BaL/JLOv' avOpiciroiaLV ticr^tpcoi/ v'tov 
 OKOirelv irrepuTovs Kaixiriipcav y-iadovs <^kpeiv. 
 
 " Thou didst, Teiresias, draw him to this : 
 'Tis thou wouldst foist this new God upon men 
 For augurj^ and divination's wage ! " 
 
 The service of a new God was pretty sure to bring with it some 
 new profits from the credulous, especially as Dionysus was an 
 oracular God. The function of the soothsayer seems to have been 
 held in small repute among the contemporaries of Euripides, and 
 passages like these (see also Hipp. 1059; Ion 374-8; Hel. 744-57; 
 El. 400; Phoen. 772; I. A. 520; and Frgm. 793) reflect the feeling 
 of the day. Such censure of false prophets, so common in Euripi- 
 des, is doubtless due to the conduct of the mendicant soothsayers 
 and jugglers of the time. 
 For formula of oath see: 
 
 Bacch. 534-35 : 
 
 in val TOLV fioTpvcodrj 
 A1.0PVCTOV X'^-P'-^ owas. 
 
 "... I swear by the full-clustered 
 Grace of the vine Dionj-sian." 
 
 The Greeks usually called a divinity to witness that was connected 
 with the subject of discourse. 
 
The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 83 
 
 18. The Cyclops 
 
 The " Cyclops " is the only extant example of a satyric drama. 
 Although the play brings us into contact with customs and modes 
 of religious worship of a period long before Euripides, it fur- 
 nishes very little material for our search of the supernatural. 
 
 Odysseus prays to Athena and Zeus : 
 
 Cycl. 3SO-55 : 
 
 ci) IlaXXds, o! bkaiTOLva L^^ioyevts dea, k. r. X. 
 ZtD i,kvL opa ra5'' k. t. X. 
 
 " O Pallas, Child of Zeus, O Heavenly Queen, 
 Help, help me now, for never have I been, 
 Mid all Troy's travail, in such strait as this ! 
 Oh, this is peril's bottomless abyss ! 
 O Dweller in the starry Halls of Light, 
 Zeus, thou Guest-champion, look upon my plight ! 
 If thou regard not, vainly we confess 
 Thy godhead, Zeus, who art mere nothingness ! " 
 
 For the same thought see : 
 
 Cycl. 375-7(^- 
 
 <h 7.ev, tL Xe^co, deiv' idihv avrpo^v ecco 
 
 Kov iricrTO., fxMokS etKor' ov5' tpyoLs ^porchv; 
 
 " O God, that cave ! — that mine eyes should behold 
 Horrors incredible, etc." 
 
 Odysseus also appeals to Hephsestus, the presiding God of Etna 
 to help him in getting rid of the Cyclops who is a pest to the 
 island : 
 
 Cycl. 599-607: 
 
 H^atcrr' iiva^ AlTvale, yeirovos KaKOv 
 Xa/jLTTpoy Tvvpoicras op.ix airaXXax^^' aira^, 
 K. T. X. 
 
 " O Fire-god, king of Etna, burn away 
 The eye of thy vile neighbour, and for aye 
 Rid thee of him ! O child of black Night, Sleep, 
 On this god-hated brute in full power leap ! 
 Bring not Odysseus and his crew to naught. 
 After these glorious toils in Ilium wrought, 
 Through one who gives to God nor man a thought ! 
 
84 Ernest Heinrich Klotsche 
 
 Else must we think that Chance bears rule in heaven, 
 That lordship over Gods to her is given." 
 
 The drunken Silenus pronounces curses on Odysseus and his 
 comrades : 
 
 Cycl. 261 : 
 
 KaKibi yap i^oXoio. 
 "... devil take you ! " 
 
 Cycl.268-69 : 
 
 fj KaKUS OVTOl KaKoi 
 
 oi TralSes dTroXotiro. 
 
 "... Else-^may they go to hell 
 These bad boys ! " 
 
 Silenus swears " by all the gods and little fishes " that he has not 
 sold the lambs of Cyclops : 
 
 Cycl. 262 ff . : 
 
 /id TOP HoCTflScb TOV TtKOVTa O , d) KuK'Xwi/', 
 
 /id TOV ixeyav TplTcova nal tov Nrjpka, 
 /id Trjv KaKuipCo rds t€ NTjpecos Kopas, 
 /id t?' lepd /cv/iar' ix'^^''^'' ''"^ ""^'^ y^fos, 
 airw/xocT , K. t. X. 
 
 " By the Sea-god your father, Sir, I vow, 
 By mighty Triton, Nereus, Lord of Waters, 
 Calj'pso, and all Nereus' pretty daughters, 
 By ever}' holy wave that swings and swishes — 
 In short, by all the gods and little fishes 
 I swear — . . . etc." 
 
 19. The Fr.\gments 
 
 In the Fragments of Euripides the following prayers and in- 
 vocations are contained : 
 
 fr. 123: 
 
 o) deoL, tIv^ eis yrjv jSap^apixiv a4>iyfxeda k. t. X. 
 " O Gods, what barbarous land have wc reached ! etc." 
 
 Fr. 132: 
 
 (TV 5' w Tvpavve deuv re Kavdpwiroiu Kpcos, k. t. X. 
 
 " Eros, thou mistress of the Gods and men, etc." 
 
The Supernatural in t!ie Tragedies of Euripides 85 
 
 fr. 177: 
 
 <L Tfal AiuvTjs, cos e<^i;s fityas t?e6s, 
 Ai6vv<7e, dvrjTols t' ou5a^tws vTroararo's. 
 
 " O Dionysus, Dione's son, how great a God hast thou become, 
 in no wise inferior to mortals ! " 
 
 f r. 705 contains an invocation addressed to Apollo : 
 
 CO <I>oIjS' AttoWov Avkls, tL Tore yu' tpyaaei; 
 
 fr. 867 one addressed to xA.hprodite : 
 
 CO KiiTrpts, cos fjdila Kal ,uoxdrip6s il. 
 
 The following beautiful fragment contains a praise of the 
 world-pervading reason or intelligence : 
 
 fr. 596: 
 
 ere TOf avTo<pvrj tov tv aWepiw 
 pviJ-^u TravTOiv ^vaiv ijj.irXk^avd^ , 
 Of irkpi. ixev (pais, irept 5' 6p4>vaia 
 vii^ aioXoxpcos, iiKpiTos t' darpcov 
 oxXos ej'SeXexcos ap-cpixopevfL. 
 
 " Thee, self-begotten, who, in ether rolled 
 . Ceaselessly round, by mystic links dost blend 
 The nature of all things, whom veils enfold 
 Of light, of dark night flecked with gleams of gold. 
 Of star-hosts dancing round thee without end." 
 
 Cf . also fr. 935 : 
 
 " Seest thou the boundless ether there on high, 
 That folds the earth around with dewy arms? 
 This deem thou Zeus, this reckon one with God." 
 
 and fr. 869: 
 
 dXX' aldr]p TiKret, ae, Kopa, 
 Zeiij OS api^pwtrois ouond^erai. 
 
 " Maiden, 'twas Ether gave thee birth, 
 Who is named Zeus by sons of earth." 
 
 (See also pages 80 ff. on Troad. 884-88.) 
 In another fragment we read : 
 
 fr. 938: 
 
 Kal Tala nrjrep- Eariav 8e a ol (TO<pol 
 ^poTwv KoKovaiv i}p.kvriv €v al^kpi.. 
 
86 Ernest Heinrich Klotsche 
 
 " O mother Earth, the wise of mortals call thee Hestia whose 
 seat is in the sky." 
 
 The vague belief of the poet finds expression in the following 
 prayer : 
 
 f r. 904 : 
 
 aol Tu> irdvTOiv fiedeovTL x^V^ 
 
 ireXavSp re (fykpu, Zeus elr' ' Ai5r]s 
 
 ovofxa^ofj-fvoi ffTipyeis' ffii 5e fioi 
 
 d^vaioiV aiTvpov irayKapireiai 
 
 Se^ai w'Krjprj ■wpoxvL^eTaai'. ^ 
 
 (711 yap ev re ^eols rois ovpapiSais 
 
 (TKrJTTTpoi' TO Aios ixeTaxtipl^oiv 
 
 X&ovUov j9' At5g p-erkxtt-s dpx^s- 
 
 ■rrkp.\pov 5' « 0cos i/'uxas kveputv 
 
 Tols 0ov\op.kvoL^ a!?Xoiis Trpopadtiv k. t. X. 
 
 " To thee, ruler of all things, whether thou choosest to be named Zeus 
 or Hades, I bring libation and offerings, etc. . . . thou, who art wielding 
 the sceptre among the Gods in heaven and rulest among the Gods in Hades 
 send souls of those beneath the earth up to light to those who are eager 
 to know the origin of troubles and the source of evils, etc." 
 
 Perhaps line 9 should be read : 
 
 irkn^ov p.hv <j>ws ^vxo-'-'S 6.vipcov. 
 " Send light to the souls of men ! " 
 
 The following two examples are taken from the fragmenta 
 dubia et spuria of Euripides : 
 fr. 1 104 ascribes to Zeus omniscience and omnipresence: 
 
 3} Zev iravdwra Kai KaToitra Tvavraxov. 
 
 fr. 1094 contains a prayer addressed to Athena, — " almost the only 
 Goddess," as J. Adam says, " from whom the poet refrains his 
 sacrilegious hand " : 
 
 o) Tov fieyicrTov Ztjj'os a\Ktpop re/cos 
 IlaXXas, ri dpufxev k. t. X. 
 
 "O Pallas, thou mighty Child of great Zeus, what shall we do?" 
 
 In his "Danae" the poet makes one of his characters declaim the 
 following prayer to gold : 
 
The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 87 
 
 fr. 326: 
 
 d) xP^'^^t Se^tcoyua KaXXterrof (iporols, 
 
 d)s oiire ixrjT-qp 7i5ova^ TOidad ex«', 
 
 oil iralSes av^puiroccnv, ov (piXos iraTrip, 
 
 oias (TV xoi- fft buixacTLv KtKTijp.ei'OL. 
 
 el 5' 17 T\.virpts toiovtov 6<^(9aXjuoIs opa, 
 
 ov t?ai}/i' epwTtts ixvpiovs avTTjv ex«J'. 
 
 " O Gold, most beautiful delight of mortals ! Neither their mother, nor 
 their children, nor their father enjoy such pleasures as thou and those who 
 possess thee. If Cypris has such (splendor) in her eyes, no wonder that 
 she has a thousand lovers ! " 
 
 This eulogy of gold was undoubtedly meant by the poet to be 
 ironical. But the Athenian public was scandalized by such an 
 utterance which seemed opposed to the traditional belief, and, as 
 Seneca tells us, rose at these words and would have driven the 
 actor and the play from the stage had Euripides not come out 
 and announced that the actor was going to be punished for the 
 godless utterance he had made. Seneca Epist. 115: . . . totus 
 populus ad eiciendum et actorem et carmen consurrexit uno im- 
 petu, donee Euripides in medium ipse prosiluit petens ut expec- 
 tarent viderentque quem admirator auri exitum faceret. 
 
 Although Euripides stood aloof from public life he missed no 
 opportunity to declare his love for liberty and his hatred of abso- 
 lute power. Upon tyranny and all those who are in sympathy 
 with it he pronounces a curse : 
 
 fr. 277: 
 
 KaKws 5' oXoivTO iravTis o'i Tvppavfidi. 
 Xaipovcriv oXiyr) t' ev iroXet p.ovapxla. 
 
 " Cursed be all those who rejoice to see the city in the hands of a 
 single man or under the yoke of a few men ! " 
 
 Prayer to the dead is in vain : 
 
 fr. 336: 
 
 ooKtis TOP Aidrjv cruv tl <f>poi'Ti'^eLV "yboiv 
 KoX TraZd' avr\aeiv t6i> <t6v, ei deXois arkveLv; 
 ■Kavaar k. t. X. 
 
 " Do you believe that Hades heeds thy lamentations, 
 . . . and sends up thy sons? Be silent! etc." 
 
 For similar thought see fr. 454, where we read about Hercules: 
 
88 Ernest Heinrich Klotsche 
 
 " For if he dwelleth in the underworld 
 Midst those that are no more, he is strengthless all." 
 
 and f r. 536 : 
 
 "... All who have died 
 Are shadows and dust: nothingness fades to nothingness." 
 
 These passages are striking examples of the contradictions which 
 are so common in Euripides. For the poet's opposite view on the 
 subject cf. El. 677 ff.; Hec. 534-41 ; Troad. 1302, 1307. 
 Reference to oath is made : 
 
 fr. 491 : 
 
 onvvfiL 5' lepov aWtp', oiK-qaw Slos. 
 " I swear by holj^ Ether, the dwelling of Zeus." 
 
 and fr. 1030: 
 
 ffiryyvconopas tol tovs i^eovs elfai Sojcels, 
 oTav Tis opKU ^avarov kK<^vytiv dtKf}; 
 
 " Dost thou believe the Gods are disposed to pardon, if someone 
 wishes to escape death by oath? " 
 
 Zeus is called the most truthful fxavris among the Gods, 
 fr. 875: 
 
 Zers tv deolai, yudirts a\pev5icrraTos 
 Kal reXoy airos ex^i-- 
 
 Melanippe is described as one who proclaimed unerring proph- 
 ecies : 
 
 f r. 485 : 
 
 ^ irpoira fitv to. ^ela wpovfiaPTivaaro 
 XP7)crp.diai. (Ta4>katv aarkpoiv tjr' diroXais 
 
 The following fragments are in keeping with the poet's usual con- 
 tempt for soothsayers : 
 
 fr. 963: 
 
 fiavTis 5 apiCTOs oaris et^dfei KaXcos. 
 " The best seer is he who guesses well." 
 
 and fr. 793: 
 
 tL SrJTa (Jd/cots fxavTiKols tuTifxeuo'. 
 (Ta(t>o)s bi6p.vv(r&^ tibkpo.L rd Sai/uovwi'.', 
 
The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 89 
 
 ov rihvhe x^'-P'^vaKTt'i avdponroL Xoycjp- 
 ocrrts yap avxcl jJecof kirlaTaadaL v'tpi., 
 ovbkv TL ixaWov oldfv fj ntldeiv \kyijiv. 
 
 " Why do you, who hold prophetic seats, declare that you have perfect 
 knowledge of things divine? There are no diviners! For he who pre- 
 tends to know the will of Heaven only knows how to deceive by his talk." 
 
 Summary Result of the Preceding Discussion 
 
 Even after having carefully examined all the available material 
 on the subject the difficulty still remains to reach tenable conclu- 
 sions in regard to the poet's view of the supernatural. For all 
 his lucidity of language, Euripides is not lucid about his ideas 
 especially in connection with the supernatural. No wonder that 
 few subjects connected with Euripides have attracted the atten- 
 tion of scholars more than his religious views, and that the schol- 
 ars do not agree among themselves in answering the question : 
 What position does the poet take up with reference to the super- 
 natural? "As a thinker," says Murray, "he is even to this day 
 treated almost as a personal enemy by scholars of orthodox and 
 conformist minds ; defended, idealized, and sometimes transformed 
 beyond recognition by various champions of rebellion and the 
 free intellect." Schlegel advises: "We may distinguish in him a 
 two-fold character, thc'poet, whose productions were consecrated 
 to a religious solemnity, who stood under the protection of re- 
 ligion, and who therefore, on his part, was bound to honor it, and 
 tJie sophist with his philosophical dicta, who endeavoured to in- 
 sinuate his sceptical opinions and doubts into the fabulous mar- 
 vels of religion from which he derived the subjects of his plays." 
 Schlegel's view is right, if we grant his premises, viz., that the 
 poet's insinuating of sceptical opinions and doubts is of set pur- 
 pose; and even then the question is left to be answered: Where 
 speaks the poet, and where the sophist? — Donaldson, in his " The- 
 atre of the Greeks " briefly describes Euripides as " altogether 
 devoid of religious feelings," while Haigh characterizes the poet's 
 mind " as essentially of a religious and meditative cast.": — Ac- 
 cording to the theory lately propounded by Dr. Verrall our poet 
 is the " sceptic " and " rationalist " whose plays are a covert but 
 intended attack on the popular religion, bearing one meaning to 
 
90 Ernest Hcinnch Klotsclic 
 
 the multitude and another to the " advanced thinkers " of the 
 day. " The orthodoxy is pretended fiction, a mere theatrical trick, 
 required in the first instance, and to some extent throughout, by 
 the peculiar conditions of the tragic stage at Athens, but main- 
 tained in part out of a natural love for duplicity, ambiguity, irony, 
 and the play of meaning, which was characteristic of the people 
 and the time" (Euripides the Rationalist, pp. 231-232). But if 
 Euripides really was concealing a rationalistic doctrine under the 
 garb of his drama, we can hardly imagine how this would have 
 escaped the scrutiny of the most keen-eyed and merciless of 
 critics, Aristophanes. Nor can we imdcrstand that for more than 
 two thousand years none of all the painstaking students has been 
 able to penetrate the disguise, which Dr. Verrall has discovered 
 in the works of Euripides. There can be no doubt that the opin- 
 ion of modern scholars has been influenced by Aristophanes who 
 presents Euripides as a proselyting atheist. Yet the comic poet 
 must not be mistaken for a historian, and his manifest exag- 
 gerations should have put professional critics on their guard, all 
 the more as he swung his comic lash over Euripides with special 
 vigor because of personal feeling. 
 
 To do Euripides justice we must first of all realize that he was 
 the child of a particular age. He lived in a time of general dis- 
 solution when everything in the moral, religious, and social life 
 was fluctuating. It was the age of the sophists with their agnos- 
 ticism on the one hand and their virtual atheism on the other. 
 Protagoras had been expelled from Athens for his free-thinking. 
 To quote his own words : " About the Gods I am unable to affirm 
 either that they exist or that they do not exist, nor what they are 
 like." Prodicus declared that the so-called Gods were only per- 
 sonifications of those objects which experience had found benefi- 
 cial to the life of man : Demeter was only the apotheosis of bread, 
 as Dionysus of wine, Poseidon of water, Hephaestus of fire, and 
 so forth. With these men Euripides was contemporary, and he 
 undoubtedly acquainted himself with their thoughts on nature, 
 man, and God. Then the Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.) 
 in its bearings on religious ideas was also of vital importance. In 
 time of distress and misfortune, men often begin to reconsider 
 
The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 91 
 
 the foundations of their behefs. One fate appeared for the 
 righteous and the wicked, for those that sacrificed and for those 
 that sacrificed not. This bitter experience had shaken the already 
 weakened joints of the ancestral religious structure, and finally 
 the old beliefs themselves went by the board. 
 
 Euripides is above all others the spokesman of his time, the 
 poet in wdiom the spirit of revolt against the older conceptions of 
 the supernatural appears. How far the dissolution of the tra- 
 ditional beliefs had proceeded in his time is difficult to say. It is, 
 however, probable that his attacks on the religion of the masses 
 were preceded by other attacks. At any rate, people's minds in 
 Euripides' days were prepared to hear, even in the theatre, doubt 
 cast on what concerned the Gods ; and when Euripides approached 
 religious tradition with scepticism and liberal frankness he was 
 supported by the spirit of the time in which he lived. 
 
 Here the question arises: H Euripides was so at variance with 
 the traditional beliefs, why then did he make such frequent use of 
 the supernatural in his tragedies ? It is possible, though not very 
 probable, that one of his reasons was to counteract the popular 
 prejudice against his supposed atheism. The main reason, how- 
 ever, was that he could not put aside the historic atmosphere of 
 the Attic drama. Tradition and dramatic propriety compelled 
 him to take his themes from the myths and heroic legends, how- 
 ever abhorrent many of these must have been to him. No one in 
 Euripides' days could have broken free from these traditions ; in 
 attempting to do so he must have wrecked either his fame or his 
 art. And above all we must not forget that Euripides was a 
 dramatic poet and not a theological teacher. His task was rather 
 to interest than to instruct, not to inculcate certain sceptical views 
 and theological criticism, but to give to the people the pleasure 
 which a good tragedy can aiTord. 
 
 We must, moreover, always bear in mind that it will not do to 
 take, without discriniination, all the views which his characters 
 maintain for the reflective opinion of the dramatic poet. Fre- 
 quently these views are contradictory and necessarily vary ac- 
 cording to the dramatis personae and to the dramatic situation. 
 
 But after all due allowances have been made it cannot be 
 
92 Ernest Hcinrich Klotschc 
 
 denied that Euripides through his characters and choruses, not 
 only now and then, but throughout his tragedies, expresses views 
 on the supernatural with evident satisfaction, and in a language 
 that leaves no doubt that these views are dear to him and reflect 
 his own thought. 
 
 Euripides' characters often appeal to the Gods in prayer, and 
 some of their prayers are of the finest type expressing the pro- 
 found sentiments of a devout and godly soul. But side by side 
 with this kind of prayers are others of an entirely opposite char- 
 acter — and these are by no means the exception but the rule. Our 
 poet often employs prayers which are nothing but expressions of 
 disbelief in the use and value of prayer. Others are in reality no 
 prayers at all, but mere expostulations, invectives, maledictions, 
 and blasphemies hurled against the Gods. That this is the pre- 
 vailing attitude of the poet towards the Gods of Greek mythology 
 has sufficiently been illustrated by various examples in the pre- 
 ceding discussion. But how do we account for this extent of the 
 poet's iconoclasm ? 
 
 It has been maintained that Euripides was an atheist, hence 
 his violent attack against the traditional beliefs which he consid- 
 ered nothing but superstitions and follies. I venture to say that 
 he was not in any sense an atheist. The often quoted fragment 
 from the " Bellerophontes " : 
 
 fr. 288: 
 
 (^Tjaif Tts tivai 5rjr if ovpaui^ deovs; 
 OVK eiffiv, ovK eiaiv. 
 
 "Doth any saj- that there are Gods in heaven? 
 Xay there are none ! " 
 
 does not prove the atheism of Euripides any more than Prome- 
 theus' maledictions against Zeus prove the impiety of ^^schylus. 
 Bellerophontes like Prometheus is godless, and for his godless- 
 ness is blasted by the thunderbolt. We must also take into ac- 
 count that a radical denial of the Gods would have been impossible 
 in an Athenian theatre in the days of Euripides. 
 
 In denying the Gods of Greek mythology our poet does not deny 
 the existence of divine powers altogether ; but as to what these 
 
The Snpcrnalural in the Tragedies of Euripides 93 
 
 divine powers really are he does not make any positive sugges- 
 tions. He speaks of God and of the Gods promiscuously. The 
 question whether polytheism or monotheism never roused his in- 
 terest. At times his conception of the divine being is that of a 
 pantheist, at times that of an agnostic. But "whoever Zeus may be," 
 offTLs 6 Zeus, H. F. 1263; fr. 483; whether he be Ether, or Neces- 
 sity, or Mind, or Justice, — "whatever Gods be," Or. 418: 6 n 
 TOT elalv ol deoi — -there is but one thing which Euripides de- 
 mands as an essential quality in a divinity, namely, that it must 
 be morally blameless and absolutely just. The common people 
 endowed the Gods with all the human passions. This unreason- 
 ableness and immorality of popular beliefs was exceedingly re- 
 pugnant to Euripides. He makes Iphigenia say, I. T. 385 ff. : 
 
 " It cannot be that Zeus' bride Leto bare 
 Such folly. Nay, I hold unworthy credence 
 The banquet given of Tantalus to the Gods, — 
 As though the Gods could savour a child's flesh ! 
 Even so, this folk, themselves man-murderers. 
 Charge on their Goddess their own sin, I ween ; 
 For I believe that none of Gods is vile! " 
 
 and one of the poet's characters in the " Bellerophontes " de- 
 clares : 
 
 f r. 294, 7 : 
 
 el tjeoi Ti dpojcrii' alaxpov, ovu tlali/ Otol. 
 "If the Gods do aught base, tlien they are not Gods." 
 
 This latter declaration is according to the German scholar, Nestle, 
 the basic principle of Euripides' whole attack upon the Gods of 
 Greek mythology. Over against this verse of Euripides Nestle 
 sets the following verse of Sophocles : 
 
 fr. 226, 4: 
 
 oXcTXPOV niv ovSev 03V i<j>ri'Y0vvT ai deo'i, 
 " Nothing to which the Gods lead men is base.'' 
 
 and points out what both poets have in common with each other 
 and in what they differ from one another. Common to both is 
 
 the assumption " that God and sin arc nmtually exclusive terms " ; 
 
94 Ernest Ilciiirich Klotschc 
 
 but they differ in the conclusion which they draw from this as- 
 sumption. Sophocles infers: Everything the Gods do is right, no 
 matter how it may seem to us ("even if they bid thee travel be- 
 yond the right" (e^oj SiKrjs). luiripides draws the opposite con- 
 clusion: The sinful Gods of mythology are no Gods at all. 
 
 Furthermore, Euripides, as contrasted with Sophocles, could 
 not reconcile the baffling spectacle of injustice triumphing over 
 justice with a belief in the existence of just beings such as he 
 held the Gods must be. The cruel inequality of the distribution 
 of blessings and evils among men leads him sometimes to doubt 
 the providential government of the world in any sense of the 
 term. 
 
 These conceptions that the popular Gods are devoid of justice, 
 and that there is no divine justice in the government of the world, 
 fully explain the poet's attitude to represent these Gods, when- 
 ever opportunity offers, in an unfavorable, obnoxious, and shame- 
 ful light, thus holding forth what a miserable set of deities men 
 had formed for themselves out of their own imagination. 
 
 Euripides makes frequent use of prayers addressed to the dead. 
 Such prayers presuppose at least the existence and presence of 
 the spirit of the dead. In this respect Euripides seems, at first 
 thought, to share the views of the two older dramatists who be- 
 lieved in immortality and a future life; but in reality his many 
 reflections on the subject are of such a conflicting and confusing 
 character that they do not give us any consistent views on the 
 possibility of a future life. Even the prayer of ^Nlegara ad- 
 dressed to Hercules in Hades begins with a sceptical remark : 
 
 " Deat" love,- — if anj- in Hades of the dead 
 Can hear, — I crj' tliis to thee, Hercules ! " 
 
 H. F. 490 ft".; see also page 130, frgg. 336, 454, 536. 
 E^r flections on life beyond the grave reveal the same 
 
 ir<-or-" ■. views which we are everywhere to witness in cou- 
 nt, .. ith his handling of the supernatural element. 
 
 Curses as well as prayers presuppose the existence of some 
 supernatural power to execute for man his heart's expressed de- 
 sire. All three tragic poets furnish examples where destiny is 
 
The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 95 
 
 aroused and set in motion l)y human will in the curse. The be- 
 liefs in the intervention of protecting and punishing supernatural 
 powers, inherited curses, and evil destinies play an important part 
 in the tragedies of /Eschylus, but according to him it is not a 
 blind fate with which man has to deal ; he is only blinded and 
 hastened to destruction when he has voluntarily made an evil 
 choice: 
 
 Pers. 742: 
 
 aXX' orav crirevS'O ris avros, xw ^^os awairT€Tai. 
 " When the fool to folh^ hasteth, God shall speed him to his fall." 
 
 According to Sophocles destiny as the mere expression of the will 
 of the Godhead is just. CEdipus, for example, v;hen informed of 
 the evil in store acts " neither seeing nor inquiring " {oM^ bpdv 
 oM' laTopoiv) in killing his father and marrying his mother. It is 
 the shortsightedness of man rather than the deception of God 
 which brings him to ruin. Most of the curses in the tragedies of 
 Euripides are imprecations common in the every day life of the 
 Greeks, and they throw but little light on our question regarding 
 the supernatural. But where he refers to hereditary or family 
 curses, as in the " Hippolytus " and the " Phoenissse," he makes 
 them a part of inevitable fate. In conformity with his conception 
 of the providential government of the world he identifies them 
 with unknown forces that, past human control, bring man to ruin. 
 That Euripides did not intend to cast doubt on the sacred char- 
 acter of oaths has already been stated ; for the two examples in 
 question see I. A. 394 ff., and Hipp. 612. In reference to the 
 general outcry against the latter passage Mahafify with indigna- 
 tion expresses his doubt " whether any criticism, ancient or mod- 
 ern, contains among its myriad injustices, whether of negligence, 
 ignorance, or deliberate malice, a more flagrantly absurd accusa- 
 tion." (Classical Greek Literature, Vol. I, page 335.) Euripides 
 throughout his plays shows a deep regard for the sanctity of 
 oath, but as a profound and advanced thinker he rejects the 
 narrow and unintelligent formalism of the herd. It is not the 
 mere formula of oath which when once pronounced is absolutely 
 binding, even though one be not able to keep one's word. In the 
 
96 Ernest Ilcinrich Klotschc 
 
 opinion of Euripides only that oath is vaHd and binding that has 
 been made deliberately and without constraint. 
 
 In Greek life oracles and prophecies played a considerable part. 
 Behef in divination was particularly strong in the hours of politi- 
 cal crisis and national ])eril. as e.g., during the Peloponnesian 
 War where people were so uncertain about the future the Gods 
 held in store for them. The Greek writers reflect the influence 
 of divination in various ways. How important a figure it cut in 
 Greek thought and life is shown especially by the prominence 
 which ^schylus assigns to divination in Prometheus 484 fif. 
 
 Oracles and Prophecies are also of frequent occurrence in the 
 tragedies of Euripides and yet the poet has no regard for the art 
 of diviuation. Only one of his characters speaks favorably of 
 soothsaying — Theseus in the " Supplices " (211 IT.), and he is 
 certaii/y not the medium of the poet's thought. Plis own thought 
 on the subject finds expression in nearly all his tragedies. Un- 
 sparingly he attacks the "ambitious breed" of soothsayers, who 
 a'-<^ impostors, and whose art is a lying art. And his attacks 
 upon oracles and divination arc made the more effective by pre- 
 senting the oracle-god himself in the most shameful light. It is, 
 however, not only the worthless and doubtful character of the 
 seers themselves that provokes Euripides to assail the diviners. 
 The basic principle of his attack must be sought in the poet's 
 conception of divination in general. See Hel. 744 fi. ; I. A. 957 ; 
 fr. 793 ; 963. The knowledge to read the thoughts of the Gods is 
 not within the reach of mortals. Those who pretend to possess 
 this knowledge deceive people by their talk. The inscrutable 
 ways of Heaven are past finding out and therefore divination 
 cannot reveal them. It is at this point that Euripides is prin- 
 cipally at variance with his predecessors as far as divination is 
 concerned. 
 
 The same spirit of the free-thinker, in contrast with the two 
 older dramatists, is revealed in Euripides' handling of dreams 
 and z'isiois. Tiic belief in the divine and prophetic character of 
 dreams and visions is universal throughout Greek literature. In 
 Homer the sender of dreams is Zeus. II. II, 4 ft. ^-Eschylus 
 
The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 97 
 
 believed that in sleep the human mind is open to influences which 
 in waking moments are denied : 
 
 Eum. 104-5 : 
 
 ei'dovcra yap 4>pr)v omxacnv \aixTvphvtTaL, 
 kv fifxkpa 5e ixolp' air poa 1(0110% pporicv. 
 
 " For oft in sleep comes light upon the soul, 
 But in the day their fate is hid from men." 
 
 He also includes the discovery of the rules of oneiromancy among 
 the important things for which mankind are indebted to Pro- 
 metheus (485). Euripides following the traditional belief em- 
 ploys dreams and visions in his dramas. Their usage was too 
 well established and they were also too convenient to be given up 
 altogether. He introduces them especially where a pathetic or 
 serious efifect is aimed at in tragedy, but at the same time he 
 leaves no doubt as to his own opinion about dreams and visions. 
 In his eyes they belong not to the world of reality, but to the 
 world of illusion. \Miatever warrant of truth they have lies in 
 their native power of attraction and in the response which they 
 call out from unprejudiced feeling. Dreams and visions accord- 
 ing to Euripides are natural phenomena without any superna- 
 tural background; see.L T. 569, 570-75; Or. 255; Ale. 252 ff. 
 
 All his life Euripides had been deeply perplexed on the subject 
 of the supernatural, and he found himself no nearer to the truth 
 at the end than he was at the beginning. It has often been main- 
 tained that towards the close of his life he has drawn nearer to 
 the religion of his fathers. The only monument of this alleged 
 change is that remarkable play, the " Bacchse " which has been 
 considered a recantation, or at least an attempt on the part of the 
 poet "to put himself right with the public in matters on which he 
 had been misunderstood " (J. E. Sandys, The Bacchse of Euripi- 
 des, Introd., p. Ixxxi). That this play written in the home of 
 Dionysus, whose worship was intimately connected with the 
 origin and development of the Greek drama, deals predominantly 
 with religious matters, such as the Dionysiac possession, divine 
 madness, and enthusiasm, is only natural. But despite the re- 
 ligious character of the play the handling of the supernatural as 
 
98 Ernest Hcinrich Klotsche 
 
 illustrated in prayer and divination in the "Bacchae" is in keep- 
 ing with the poet's general attitude toward the supernatural. 
 Even if we accept the view held by C. H. IMoore and James Adam 
 that Dionysus in the play " stands for the spirit of enthusiasm 
 in the ancient Greek meaning of the word," and " that the prin- 
 cipal lesson of the drama is to be found in the words : Not zvith 
 knoivledge is zinsdojii bought (395), that is, there is something 
 stronger and greater than reason in the life of man, namely en- 
 thusiasm, inspiration," — the indisputable fact still remains that 
 our poet even in the " Bacchse " relapses into the old iconoclastic 
 manner. 
 
 Euripides marks a transition-period. He stands between tra- 
 ditional belief, which still retained its hold over the minds of the 
 common people, and modern thought, which had already awak- 
 ened and enlightened the minds of many thinking men. He has 
 not altogether thrown off the shackles of tradition, nor has he 
 stepped into the freedom of a new belief. Himself a tragic poet 
 and an advanced and philosophical thinker he is at a double dis- 
 advantage. Constrained by the unwritten laws of Greek tragedy 
 he could not sever all connection with the past. Like his prede- 
 cessors he had to take the subjects for his plays from the myths 
 and heroic legends, but in contrast with the two older tragedians 
 he used his themes as the old forms which he filled with a new 
 spirit. He had to put new wine into old bottles. 
 
 But the new wine bursts the outworn bottles. H we consider 
 that Euripides for nearly half a century presented, before all 
 Athens in the theatre, again and again, his modern conceptions 
 of the supernatural, it is out of question that he helped hurry to 
 complete overthrow the falling superstition of Olympus and 
 thus contributed even more than the sophists to the dissolution of 
 the ancient beliefs. In this negative or destructive aspect of his 
 teaching Euripides closely resembles the great satirist of the sec- 
 ond century A.D., Lucian of Samosata, who far more openly than 
 Euripides professes the scorn of irrational belief and unsparingly 
 drives the pagan Gods from their thrones in the minds of think- 
 ing men. But the Church — strange to say ! — did not consider him 
 an ally but an enemy of Christianity, who, according to Suidas, in 
 
The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 99 
 
 the everlasting hell-fire along with Satan shall suffer for the 
 harm he has done the cause of Christ ; while the destructive teach- 
 ing of Euripides beguiled some of the Fathers of the Church to 
 the point of believing that he was a sort of forerunner of Chris- 
 tianity. 
 
 As regards the positive or constructive side of Euripides' con- 
 ceptions of the supernatural he offers no decided or settled con- 
 victions, but " he raises," as James Adam says, " nearly all the 
 fundamental questions which men will always ask and never fully 
 answer." He presents problems rather than principles, ^schy- 
 lus sets forth the operation of great principles. Sophocles por- 
 trays great characters. Euripides presents great problems. With 
 a higher type of the supernatural than that of the traditional 
 mythology constantly in view he calls the attention of his fellow- 
 men to the imperfections of the customary belief in order to goad 
 them to reflection. 
 
 Euripides is one of the great religious poets of the world, and 
 it is only right and proper that James Adam in his " Religious 
 Teachers of Greece " dedicated an entire chapter to our poet. 
 He is even more than this : not only a religious poet whose mind, 
 like a mirror, reflects the religious ideas of his time, but also a 
 prophet whose message proclaims the morning of a new era. 
 
Ernest Hcinrich Kloischc 
 
 Play 
 
 References to the Prayers, Curses, Oaths, Oracles, Prophe- 
 cies, Dreams, and Visions in the Tragedies and 
 Fragments of Euripides 
 
 Page 
 
 Prayers 
 
 Curses 
 
 Oracles Proph. 
 
 Dreams 
 
 Visions 
 
 Ale. 
 
 Medea. 
 
 Hipp. 
 
 Hecuba . 
 
 25 
 
 29 
 
 32 
 
 33 
 
 143 
 
 34 
 35 
 
 163-69 
 213-25 
 
 149 ff. 
 
 332 
 
 516-19 
 1251-60 
 1405-07 
 
 61-62 
 73-87 
 114-20 
 1092-94 
 1373-76 
 1391-93 
 1060-61 
 
 1363-69 
 1325-30 
 
 144-48 
 160-65 
 
 1327-29 
 
 12-14 
 
 492-95 
 439-40 
 1391-92 
 731-32 
 735-36 
 752-53 
 754-55 1 
 206-10' 
 619 I 
 21-22I 
 412-13I 
 
 679-81 
 
 682-86 
 
 887 ff. 
 
 44 ff. 
 
 1173 ff- 
 
 1191-93 
 
 141S 
 
 612 
 
 656-58 
 1062-63 
 1306-09 
 
 713-14 
 
 65-69 
 
 42-58 
 
 1055-56 
 1057-59 
 
 612 
 
 252-63 
 
 68-7f 
 90 ff. 
 
The Supernatural hi the Tragedies of Euripides loi 
 
 IxDEx OF References to the Prayers, Curses, Oaths, Oracles, Prophe- 
 cies, Dreams, and Visions in the Tragedies and 
 Fragments of Euripides 
 
 Play 
 
 Page 
 
 Prayers 
 
 Curses 
 
 Oaths 
 
 Oracles 
 
 Pi-oph. Dreams Visions 
 
 Hecuda 
 
 Andr. 
 
 Ion. 
 
 Suppl. 
 
 Heracl. 
 
 II. F. 
 
 36 
 
 37 
 
 38 
 
 121 
 
 39 
 40 
 
 42 
 43 
 44 
 45 
 
 '46' 
 47 
 
 48 
 49 
 
 SO 
 SI 
 
 52 
 
 S3 
 
 54 
 55 
 56 
 57 
 58 
 59 
 
 60 
 
 61 
 
 79-80 
 
 96-97 
 488-91 
 534 ff. 
 
 900 
 1009-16 
 
 128 ff. 
 
 436-51 
 
 384 ff. 
 1619-21 
 
 410-12 
 1048 ff. 
 
 452 ff. 
 
 1-7 
 628-30 
 
 734-36 
 
 260-62 
 
 1227-31 
 
 869-72 
 
 798 ff. 
 
 339-47 
 
 497-502 
 1127-28 
 
 888-90 
 1307-10 
 
 847-54 
 820-21 
 490-96 
 
 1261 ff. 
 
 451-53 
 
 1161-65 
 
 365-67 
 407-09 
 787-88 
 1534-36 
 1537-38 
 1537-38 
 1556-58 
 
 1227-31 
 1232-35 
 
 403-09 
 1226-29 
 
 1267 
 
 702-06 
 
 374-77 
 
 211-13 
 155 
 
 516-18 
 
I02 
 
 Ernest Heinrich Klotschc 
 
 Index of References to the Prayers, Curses, Oaths, Oracles, Prophe- 
 cies, Dreams, and Visions in the Tragedies and 
 Fragments of Euripides 
 
 Play 
 
 Page 
 
 Prayers 
 
 Curses 
 
 Oaths 1 Oracles i Proph. Dreams j Visions 
 
 H.F 
 
 I. T 
 
 141 
 
 62 
 63 
 
 '64' 
 
 490-01 
 
 270-74 
 1082-88 ' 
 1398-1402 
 1230-33 
 
 535 
 277-78 
 
 747-52 
 
 ' 
 
 
 65 
 66 
 
 1475-76 
 
 
 
 
 
 1076-77 
 
 
 67 
 68 
 
 
 
 
 
 77-94 
 
 105 
 
 118 
 
 711-15 
 
 723 
 1012-15 
 1438-42 
 
 . : 18 ff. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 69 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 70 
 
 71 
 72 
 
 73 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 42 ff. 42 ff. 
 348-49 
 569 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 74 
 
 
 
 
 570-75 
 1259 ff. 
 1277-83 
 1251-58 
 
 353-460 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 75 
 76 
 
 78 
 79 
 
 80' 
 
 81 
 
 84 
 85 
 
 86 
 
 87' 
 89 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Treacles. . . . 
 
 
 
 
 353-460 
 
 Helen 
 
 469-71 
 1280-81 
 1060 ff. 
 
 884-88 
 
 889 
 
 1093 ff. 
 
 1584-87 
 
 I 44 1-5 I 
 855-56 
 962 ff. 
 
 1028-29 
 
 
 
 744-57 744-57 
 819 819 
 861-62 1 861-62 
 887 ff. 1 887 ff. 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 569 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 119 
 
 
 90 
 
 
 
 : 977-79 
 
 - 835-41 
 
 348 ff. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Phan 
 
 91 
 
 84-87 
 182 ff. 
 190-92 
 
 
 
The Supeniatural in ihc Tragedies of Euripides 103 
 
 Index of Rkferences to the Prayers, Curses, Oaths, Oracles, Prophe- 
 cies, Dreams, and Visions in the Tragedies and 
 Fragments of Euripides 
 
 Play 
 
 Page 
 
 Prayers 
 
 Curses 
 
 Oaths 
 
 Oracles 
 
 Proph. 1 Dreams 
 
 Visions 
 
 Phoen 
 
 92 
 
 92 
 93 
 
 586-87 
 365-68 
 [373-76 
 
 67-68 
 474-75 
 624 
 
 [425-26 
 1608-14 
 
 433-34 
 481-83 
 491-93 
 626-27 
 
 
 
 [721-22 
 6x8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 94 
 95 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1597-99 
 1703. 1705 
 640-42 
 409, 411 
 901-14 
 
 766 
 
 838-40 
 
 854-58 
 
 954-59' 
 
 971 
 
 362 ff. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 96 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 97 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 98 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 99 
 100 
 
 lOI 
 
 102 
 
 103 
 103 
 104 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Electra 
 
 194-97 ' 
 
 198-200 
 
 201 
 
 563-65 
 
 566 
 
 671-83 
 
 771 ■ 
 
 
 
 87-89 
 399-400 
 
 1296-97 
 971-73 
 
 1190-96 
 
 28-31 
 
 76 
 
 162-64 
 
 275-76 
 
 414 ff. 
 
 591-96 
 
 1666-67 
 
 1680-81 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 105 
 106 
 107 
 
 1190-96 
 
 796-97 
 1225 ff. 
 1240-43 
 I299-I3OO 
 
 
 
 
 Orestes 
 
 130-31 
 
 1516-17 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 108 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 109 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 IIO 
 HI 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 255-57 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 258-59 
 
 
 112 
 
 I113 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 311-15 
 
 I. A 
 
 
 
 .390 ff. 
 
 
 
 
 
104 
 
 Ernest Heinrich Klotsche 
 
 Index of Referexces to the Prayers, Curses, Oaths, Oracles, Prophe- 
 cies, Dreams, and Visions in the Tragedies and 
 Fragments of Euripides 
 
 Play 
 
 Page Prayers 
 
 Curses Oaths Oracles j Proph. 
 
 Dreams Visions 
 
 I. A. 
 
 Bacchae. 
 
 Cj'clops. . 
 
 Fragm. 
 
 114 
 
 "5 i 
 
 116 
 
 126 
 
 126 
 127 
 
 128 
 
 129 
 130 
 131 
 
 66-67 
 
 57-65 
 
 395-96 
 
 473 ff. 
 
 948-50 
 
 370 ff. 
 
 414-15 
 I 550 ff. 
 J1012-23 
 
 1344-49 
 
 118 
 
 119 
 120 
 121 
 122 
 
 123 350-55 
 375-76 
 
 124 I 599-607 
 
 123 
 132 
 177 
 705 
 867 
 596 
 869 
 938 
 904 
 1 104 
 
 1094 
 326 
 
 261 
 268-69 
 
 534-35! 
 
 262 ff. 
 
 520-21 
 
 956 
 
 957-58 
 
 1330 ff. ; 
 298-99: 
 
 2 55-571 
 
 336 
 
 277 
 
 491 
 1020 
 
 875 
 485 
 963 
 793 
 
The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 105 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 Adam, J. The Religious Teachers of Greece. 1909. 
 
 Aristotle's Poetics. 
 
 Bayfield, M. A. The Ion of Euripides. 1889. 
 
 Beckwith, I. T. Euripides' Bacchantes. 1885. 
 
 Bergk, T. Griechisclic Literaturgeschichte. 4 vols., 1872-94. 
 
 Bouche-Leclerque, A. Histoire de la divination dans I'antiquite. 4 vols. 
 
 Campbell, L. Religion in Greek Literature. 1898. 
 
 Cicero. De Natura Deorum. 
 
 Cicero. De Divinatione. 
 
 Croiset, A. et M. Histoire de la literature grecque. 5 vols., 1887-99. 
 
 Decharme, P. Euripide et I'esprit de son theatre. 1893. English trans- 
 lation In' James Loeb. Euripides and the Spirit of his Dramas. 1906. 
 
 Donaldson, J. W. The Theatre of the Greeks. 1875. 
 
 Encyclopaedia Britannica. nth ed. Articles on Euripides and Greek 
 Literature. 
 
 Earle, M. L. Euripides' Alcestis. 1894. 
 
 England, E. B. The Iphigenia among the Tauri of Euripides. 1883. 
 
 Fairbanks. A. Handbook of Greek Religion. 1910. 
 
 Farnell, L. R. The Cults of the Greek States. 5 vols., 1896-1907. 
 
 Flagg, I. Euripides' Iphigetiia among the Taurians. 1899. 
 
 Girard, J. Le sentiment religieux an Grece. 3d ed., 1887. 
 
 Gompez, T. Greichische Denker. 3 vols., 2d ed., 1903-09. English trans- 
 lation : Greek Thinkers. 
 
 Haigh, A. E. The Tragic Drama of the Greeks. 1896. 
 
 Haigh, A. E. The Attic Theatre. 2d ed., 1898. 
 
 Halliday, W. R. Greek Divination. 
 
 Harry, J. E. Euripides Hippolytus. 1899. 
 
 Hayley, H. W. The Alcestis of Euripides. 1898. 
 
 Heberden, C. B. Euripides' Medea. 1886. 
 
 Hellenica. Edited by E. Abbott. Essays on yEschylus, Sophocles, and 
 Greek Oracles. 1880. 
 
 Hyslop, A. R. F. The Andromaclie of Euripides. 1900. 
 
 Jebb, R. C. Classical Greek Poetry. 1894. 
 
 Lectures on Greek Literature. Delivered at Columbia University, 1912. 
 
 Mahaffy, J. P. History of Classical Greek Literature. 3d ed., 1891. 
 
 Moore, C. H. The Religious Thought of the Greeks. 1916. 
 
 Moore. G. F. History of Religions. 1914. 
 
 Moultcn, R. G. The Ancient Classical Drama. 1890. 
 
 Miiller, K. O. Literature of Ancient Greece. 
 
 Murray, G. Euripides and his Age. 
 
 Murray, G. The Trojan Women of Euripides. 1915. 
 
 Nauck, A. Euripides Tragcedis. Teubner Series. 2 vols., 1895. 
 
io6 Ernest HcinricJi Klotschc 
 
 Nauck, A. Euripides Perditarum Tragoediarum Fragmenta. Tcubner 
 
 Scries. 1892. 
 Nestle, W. Euripides der Dichter der griechischen Aufkliiruug. 1902. 
 Packard. L. R. Studies in Greek Thought. 1886. 
 Paley, F. A. Euripides, with an EngHsh Commentary. 3 vols.. 2d ed., 
 
 1R72. 
 Patin, M. f2tude sur les tragiques grecs. 3 vols., 1861. 
 Plutarch. De Pythio Oraculo, and De Defectu Oraculorum. 
 Sandys, J. E. The Bacchse of Euripides. 1885. 
 Schlegel, A. W. von. Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature. (Eng- 
 
 lisli translation.) 
 Tyrrell. R. Y. The Troades of Euripides. 1897. 
 Vaschide, N., and Pieron, H. Prophetic Dreams in Greek and Roman 
 
 Antiquity. Tr. by T. J. McCormack. (Monist, XI, 161-194.) 
 Verrall, A. W. Euripides the Rationalist. 1895. 
 Verrall, A. W. Essays on fotir plays of Euripides. 1905. 
 Verrall, A. W. The Bacchantes of Euripides. 1908. 
 Way, A. S. Euripides with an English Translation. 4 vols.. 1912. 
 Whitmore, C. E. The Supernatural in Tragedy. 1915. 
 Whibley, L. A Companion to Greek Studies. 1905. 
 
The Snpcniatitral in the Tragedies of liuripidcs 107 
 
 VITA AUCTORIS 
 
 Ernest Heinrich Klotsche, born August 7, 1875, at Elstra, 
 Saxony; visited public school, in Elstra, 1882-90; Fortbildungs- 
 schule (High School), 1890-93; took private lessons in Latin, 
 Greek, and Music, 1888-93 ; entered the Foreign IMission Semi- 
 nary (Collegium der ev. luth. Mission) at Leipzig, 1893; finished 
 the humanistic course (gymnasial course), with English compul- 
 sory and French elective, 1896; finished the theological course, 
 with Hebrew inclusive, 1899; took the beginner's and advanced 
 course in Tamil, 1898-99; studied music besides: violin, pipe 
 organ, and theory of music, 1893-99; was employed as assistant 
 pastor in Detern, Prov. Hannover, 1899-1900; ordained for the 
 ministry by the Royal Superintendent O. Pank, D.D., Leipzig, 
 June 3, 1900; sent to India as missionary; passed the prescribed 
 examination in Tamil, 1902; married February 3, 1903; studied 
 Sanskrit with two Brahmin teachers, January, 1901, to July, 1903. 
 Suffering from the consequences of a sunstroke he had to leave 
 the tropical climate ; came to America in September, 1903 ; was 
 pastor in South Dakota till 1907, in Nebraska till 1913; took the 
 first papers of citizenship in 1904, the second papers August 28, 
 1909; in 1913 he accepted a call as theological professor in the 
 Martin Luther Seminary, 2840 Sumner St., where he teaches, 
 besides theology, Hebrew, Latin, German, and music. Since 
 1914 he has been a student of the University of Nebraska. In 
 1 91 6 he took a summer course (eleven weeks) in Greek and 
 French at the University of Chicago. He took his master's de- 
 gree in the University of Nebraska in 1916. 
 
20 i syd 
 
/: 
 
 '^^ 
 
 ^a 
 
 <3s 
 
 RETURN CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT 
 TO"^- 198 Main Stacks 
 
 LOAN PERIOD 1 
 HOME USE 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS. 
 
 Renewls and Recharges may be made 4 days prior to the due date. 
 
 Books may be Renewed by calling 642-3405. 
 
 DUE AS STAMPED BELOW 
 
 
 
 
 Dfr ? A IQQl 
 
 1 
 
 
 c 't lyy^ 
 
 1 
 
 
 'V!AY i 1^ ;/[jO[i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 FORM NO. DD6 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. BERKELEY 
 BERKELEY, CA 94720-6000 
 
 V. 
 
 V^ -^^ 
 
 ^<f:u 
 
 <3^ 
 
 '^^^ 
 
 % 
 
 ^ 
 
 >^ 
 
 .# 
 
^ 
 
 U.C.BERKELEY LIBRARIES 
 
 CDMEflElESS 
 
 ^^ 
 
 ^A 
 
 %. 
 
 £ 
 
 ■^ 
 
 /^ 
 
 k' 
 
 # 
 
 .J>- 
 
 <r. 
 
 '<iv 
 
 '^.-^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 .% 
 
 ft?>' 
 
 % 
 
 %c. 
 
 -'fp 
 
 '^y..