eurypides, Tragedia grecka
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Project Gutenberg's The Tragedies of Euripides, Volume I., by EuripidesThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and withalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away orre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License includedwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.netTitle: The Tragedies of Euripides, Volume I.Author: EuripidesRelease Date: February 16, 2005 [EBook #15081]Language: EnglishCharacter set encoding: ASCII*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRAGEDIES OF EURIPIDES, ***Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Keren Vergon, Keith Edkins and thePG Online Distributed Proofreading Team.THETRAGEDIESOFEURIPIDES.LITERALLY TRANSLATED OR REVISED,WITH CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES,BYTHEODORE ALOIS BUCKLEY,OF CHRIST CHURCH.VOL. I.HECUBA, ORESTES, PHOENISSAE, MEDEA, HIPPOLYTUS, ALCESTIS,BACCHAE, HERACLIDAE, IPHIGENIA IN AULIDE,AND IPHIGENIA IN TAURIS.NEW YORK:HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,FRANKLIN SQUARE.1892.* * * * * *PREFACE.The translations of the first six plays in the present volume werepublished at Oxford some years since, and have been frequently reprinted.They are now carefully revised according to Dindorf's text, and areaccompanied by a few additional notes adapted to the requirements of thestudent.The translations of the Bacchae, Heraclidae, and the two Iphigenias, arebased upon the same text, with certain exceptions, which are pointed out atthe foot of the page. The annotations on the Iphigenias are almostexclusively critical, as it is presumed that a student who proceeds to thereading of these somewhat difficult plays[1], will be sufficiently advancedin his acquaintance with the Greek drama to dispense with more elementaryinformation.T.A. BUCKLEY,CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD.[1] The reader will obtain some notion of the difficulties alluded to, andthe best mode of grappling with them, by consulting the recent Cambridgeedition, published with English notes (Iph. in Aulide, 1840, in Tauris,1846), performances of great critical acumen, attributed to the presentBishop of Gloucester.* * * * * *INTRODUCTION.* * * *Euripides, son of Mnesarchus, was born in the island of Salamis, on the dayof the celebrated victory (B.C. 480). His mother, Clito, had been sentthither in company with the other Athenian women, when Attica was given up,and the ships became at once the refuge of the male population, and thenational defense. Mr. Donaldson[1] well remarks, that the patronymic formof his name, derived from the Euripus, which was the scene of the firstsuccessful resistance offered to the Persian navy, shows that the attentionof his parents was fully excited by the stirring events of the time.Notwithstanding the fact that his mother had been an herb-seller, it isprobable that his father was a man of some family. That he was at leastpossessed of ample means, is evident from the care and expense bestowedupon our poet's education. Under the tutorship of Anaxagoras, Prodicus, andProtagoras, he had studied both natural philosophy and rhetoric in itssophistical form. In gymnastic exercises he exhibited a successful prowess,being twice victorious in the Eleusinian and Thesean games. Of his skill inpainting, some specimens were preserved at Megara.His appearance as a dramatist was at an earlier age than that of hispredecessors, as he was only five and twenty years old when he produced the"Peliades," his first tragedy. On this occasion, he gained the third prizein the tragic contests, but the first, fourteen years after, andsubsequently, with the "Hippolytus," in 428 B.C. The peculiar tendency ofsome of the ideas expressed in his plays, was the probable cause of theretirement of Euripides to Macedonia, where he obtained the friendship ofKing Archelaus. Perhaps, however, the unhappiness of his connubial state,arising from the infidelity of his two wives, might have rendered Athens adisagreeable place of abode for the woman-hating poet, especially when his"domestic bliss" was continually seasoned by the sarcastic jokes andallusions of his political enemy, Aristophanes. Moreover, his acquaintancewith the talking philosopher, Socrates, must have been unfavorable to thecontinuance of his popularity.The fate of Pentheus in our author's noble play, the "Bacchae," appears tohave given origin to the tradition that he himself was torn to pieces bydogs. If we reflect that this play was probably the last of his works, themistake seems a plausible one. The death of Euripides, which probablyhappened in the ordinary course of nature, has, like that of AEschylus, beenassociated with the marvelous.The Athenians vainly craved the honor of giving a resting-place to theashes of their philosopher-poet. He was buried at Pella, but a cenotaph atAthens showed that his countrymen had not forgotten Euripides. His deathtook place B.C. 406.The inferiority of our author to the greater tragedians, prevents ourfeeling much desire to enter upon the respective merits and demerits of hisseveral plays, especially as we are completely anticipated by Schlegel,with whose masterly analysis every reader ought to be acquainted.Nevertheless, a few general remarks may, perhaps, be not whollyunprofitable.It has been truly remarked, that tragedy, in no small degree, owed itsdownfall to Euripides. Poetry was gradually superseded by rhetoric,sublimity by earnestness, pathos by reasoning. Thus, Iphigenia and Macariagive so many good reasons for dying, that the sacrifice appears very small,and a modern wag in the upper regions of the theatre would, at the end ofthe speech of the latter heroine, almost have exclaimed, "Then why don'tyou die?"It has been said, that our poet drew the characters of life as he foundthem, but bad as his characters are, they exhibit only a vulgar wickedness.Unable to portray a Clytaemnestra, he revels in the continual paltriness ofa Menelaus or Ulysses. As if he took a delight in the black side ofhumanity, he loves to show the strength of false reasoning, of sophistryantagonistic to truth, and of cold expediency in opposition to the naturalfeelings of humanity. From a similar reason, his occasional attempts atcomedy degenerate into mere farce. We question whether the scene betweenDeath and Apollo in the "Alcestis," could be surpassed in vulgarity, evenby the modern school of English dramatists, while his exaggerations in theminor characters are scarcely to be surpassed by the lowest writer of anyperiod.Under Euripides, the stage began gradually to approximate more closely tothe ordinary and, at that time, debased character of Athenian society. Acontempt for the Lacedaemonians, a passionate taste for the babbling andtrickery of the forum, and an attempt to depreciate the social position andinfluence of the weaker sex, form the most unamiable features of thischange. Yet we must allow, that if Euripides has reveled in theamiabilities of a Melanippe or a Phaedra, in the gentle revenge of a Medeaor Hecuba, he has at the same time given us an Alcestis, the only realexample of genuine conjugal affection on the Greek stage.Nor must we forget that Euripides is a greater admirer of nature, a morecomplete delineator of her workings, than the two greater tragedians. Hehas more of illustrative philosophy, more of regard to the objects of theanimated creation, the system of the universe, than his greater rivalsexhibit. He is, as Vitruvius has justly styled him, a "stage-philosopher."Did we possess a larger acquaintance with the works of Parmenides,Empedocles, and other early cosmogonists, we should perhaps think less ofhis merits on this head: as it is, the possession of some such fragments ofour poet makes us deeply regret the loss of the plays themselves.But his very love for the contemplation of nature has in no small degreecontributed to the mischievous skepticism promulgated by our poet. In earlytimes, when a rural theogony was the standard of belief, when each star hadits deity, each deity its undisputed, unquestioned prerogative and worship,there was little inclination, less opportunity, for skepticism. Throughoutthe poetry of Hesiod, we find this feeling ever predominant, a feelingwhich Virgil and Tibullus well knew how to appreciate. Even Euripideshimself, perhaps taught by some dangerous lessons at home, has expressedhis belief that it is best "not to be too clever in matters regarding theGods."[2] A calm retreat in the wild, picturesque tracts of Macedonia,might have had some share in reforming this spoiled pupil of the sophists.But as we find that the too careful contemplation of nature degeneratesinto superstition or rationalism in their various forms, so Euripides hadimbibed the taste for saying startling things,[3] rather than wise; forreducing the principles of creation to materialism, the doctrines of rightand wrong to expediency, and immutable truths to a popular system ofquestion and answer. Like the generality of sophists, he took away areceived truth, and left nothing to supply its place; he reasoned falsehoodinto probability, truth into nonentity.At a period when the Prodico-Socratic style of disputing was in highfashion, the popularity of Euripides must have been excessive. His familiarappeals to the trifling matters of ordinary life, his characters allphilosophizing, from the prince to the dry-nurse, his excellent reasons fordoing right or wrong, as the case might be, must have been inestimablydelightful to the accommodating morals of the Athenians. The ...
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