excellence. What is wisest? what is fairest, Who hath 'scaped the turbulent sea, Some have already fled away: Happiness alone is his Who happy is to-day. During his long career Euripides won only five victories in tragic contests, and one of these was won after his death by posthumous plays brought out by his son. His plays were, however, popular even during his lifetime, if we may judge by the criticism directed against them by the comic. poet Aristophanes, and after his death they attained the Popularity utmost popularity, though some critical writand relative ers considered them inferior to those of Sophocles. The large number of fragments preserved in the works of other writers is due in great measure to this popularity, but also in part to the fact that Euripides puts into the mouths of his characters many epigrammatical sentences and much speculation on moral and philosophical subjects. He was therefore often quoted by philosophical and ethical writers. In modern times his works have been alternately excessively admired and decried. The plays of Eschylus and Sophocles which have come down to us appear to have been selected in later times as masterpieces, while those of Euripides seem to have been preserved, in part at least, by mere chance. Comparison between the three great tragedians on the basis of their extant works is therefore unjust to Euripides. Nevertheless, it is evident that Euripides has less grandeur, less religious inspiration, and less spontaneous lyric genius than either Eschylus or Sophocles. Yet, though he should perhaps be ranked as a poet third among the three great tragedians, he surpasses his competitors in truth to nature, in portrayal of human passions, and in variety of plots. In many passages, moreover, he rises to such beauty and brilliancy of expression as few poets of any epoch have attained. CHAPTER XX MINOR TRAGIC POETS Minor tragic poets of the fifth century-Ion of Chios, about 490 to about 422 B. c.—Achæus, 484 to about 410 B. C.-Agathon, about 445 to about 400 B. C.-Tragedy in families-Polyphradmon, 467 B. C.— Aristias, son of Pratinas, about 460 B. C.-Euphorion and Bion, sons of Æschylus Philocles, nephew of Eschylus-Morsimus, Astydamas the elder, Astydamas the younger-Iophon and Ariston, sons of Sophocles -The younger Sophocles-Carcinus the elder, Xenocles the elder, Carcinus the younger, Xenocles the younger-Critias, about 415 B. C.— Meletus, about 410 B. C.-Aristarchus of Tegea, about 430 B. C. -Neophron, about 440 B.C.—Sthenelus, about 440 B. C.—Tragedy in the fourth century-Theodectes, about 375 to 334 B. C.-Chæremon, about 350 B. C.-Heraclides of Pontus, latter part of the fourth century-Dionysius of Syracuse, tyrant 405 to 367 B. C.-Later tragedy. ÆSCHYLUS, Sophocles, and Euripides, though by far the greatest of the tragic poets of the fifth century, were not without imitators, followers, and even rivals. Of the works of the lesser tragedians only inconsiderable frag. ments remain, but the works themselves must have possessed, in some cases at least, real merit of a high order, for we know that they were sometimes victorious over those of the three great tragic poets. Ion of Chios. Ion of Chios, son of Orthomenes, came to Athens as a young man and lived there most of his life, returning only occasionally to Chios. The first of his forty tragedies appeared in 451 B.C. He was defeated by Euripides in 428, but on another occasion won the prize for dithyrambic poetry as well as tragedy. His death took place probably a little before 421. He wrote tragedies, comedies, dithyrambs, elegies, pæans, hymns, epigrams, and scolia, besides treatises on historical and scientific subjects and a collection of Memoirs or Travels. He was an agree able, good-tempered man, a friend of Cimon, Æschylus, and perhaps Sophocles, and somewhat fond of wine and pleasure. His writings seem to have been refined and pleasing. This can be asserted with confidence of his lyric poems, of which some considerable fragments remain, and may be assumed for his tragedies, the fragments of which are too slight to be of much value. Achæus. Achæus of Eretria, the son of Pythodorus or Pythodorides, was born in 484 B. C. and produced his first plays in 447. He gained only one victory, though he is said to have written forty-four tragedies. He seems to have excelled in satyr dramas, in which he was said by some critics to be second only to Eschylus. His diction was graceful, but somewhat obscure. Agathon, the son of Tisamenus of Athens, was born not much after 450 B. C. In 416 he won his first victory, and the banquet in honor of his success is famous as Agathon. the scene of Plato's Symposium. At some time before 406 he went to Macedonia, and remained until his death at the court of Archelaus. He was remarkable for personal beauty and natural ability, but was rather effeminate and foppish. As a dramatic writer he showed some originality and introduced some novelties, being the first to compose choral odes having no connection with the plot, so that they could be inserted indifferently in any tragedy. He was also the first to write a tragedy (called Anthos, the Flower) with a purely fictitious plot, not founded upon mythology or history. His example seems to have been followed by other writers in respect to the choral odes, but in no other way does he seem to have exerted a lasting influence. His style was careful but artificial, and his verses abounded in neat epigrammatical sayings, alliterations, and plays on words. The tragic poet was his own stage-manager, invented his own scenery, and directed the training of his chorus. He needed, therefore, not only the ability to Tragedy hereditary in write tragedies but also some technical knowlfamilies. edge and special training. It is therefore not unnatural that the practise of producing tragedies was to some extent hereditary in certain families. The tragic poet Phrynichus had a son, Polyphradmon, whose tetralogy on the myth of Lycurgus was produced in 467; and Aristias, son of Pratinas, was, like his father, famous for his satyr dramas. Eschylus. Euphorion and Bion, sons of Eschylus, both wrote tragedies, and Euphorion won several victories by exhibiting his father's plays. A nephew of Eschylus, The family of Philocles, produced one hundred tragedies, and even defeated Sophocles when the latter exhibited his Edipus the King. His plays seem, however, to have been as a rule of no great merit. His son Morsimus was also a tragic poet of little importance. Astydamas, the son of Morsimus, began to produce tragedies in 398, and his son, the younger Astydamas, was the most successful tragic writer of the fourth century. He won his first victory in 372, and produced in all two hundred and forty plays, winning the first prize in fifteen contests. The families of Sophocles and Iophon, the son of Sophocles, was a tragic poet of some distinction. He produced fifty plays, some of them in collaboration with his father, and won several victories. Ariston, another son of Sophocles, also wrote tragedies, but without much success. Euripides. His son, the younger Sophocles, exhibited his grandfather's Edipus at Colonus, and in 396 began to produce plays of his own. He is said to have won seven victories and to have written elegies as well as tragedies. Euripides also had a son, or a nephew, to whom he left his unpublished plays, and who also produced tragedies of his own. |