inferior sort of tragedies which end with a prosperous event," might have been founded on the story of Democedes (see Dict. of Class. Biography). The opening scene would introduce him in the dungeon, conversing with the soothsayer, his fellow-captive, who would prophesy good. A Chorus of Persians might admire the Greek physician while remaining loyal to Darius, whose sprained ankle would be the first complication, leading to the order for the physician's release. Then would follow the enrichment of Democedes, told by a messenger; his longing for home (here the presence of the Chorus would be a difficulty); the delicacy of his relations with Atossa; his interview with Darius, whom he deceives by refusing to unfurnish his house in Susa. His departure would be the crisis of the play; and the sequel, including his voyage and the parting message, "I am married to Milo's daughter," would again be reported in Euripidean narrative by the captain of the Persian crew. If Crotona had had a native drama, and if Democedes had attained to heroic honours there, such a play might have been not impossible. It would be wearisome to follow up these hints, else it might be shown how plays of the romantic order might have been founded on the history of Dorieus, and of his friend Philip of Crotona. The motive for touching so far upon a doubtful theme has been (1) to illustrate some points of tragic method, and (2) to accentuate the inevitable limitations to which tragic poetry in Greece had to conform. CHAPTER XVI HOW TO ENJOY GREEK TRAGEDY1 (A Lecture) DION CHRYSOSTOMUS, the rhetorician and Professor of Literature, who flourished towards the end of the first century A.D., tells in one of his lucubrations how he has spent a day of leisure in reading to himself for pastime three great dramas on the same subject-Philoctetes at Lemnos-by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. He remarks that he has thus been enabled, at small cost, to be his own choragus, his own chorus (or acting company), and his own judge. He possessed some advantages which are denied to the modern student. Classical Greek, if not his native language (he was born in Bithynia), was at least a living language to him, and he had a much larger dramatic repertory-so far as the Greek theatre is in question-at his command. But 1 Books to consult: Papers by Fleeming Jenkin, ed. R. L. Stevenson, vol. i.; Jebb's Oed. Rex, Appendix on Harvard performance; Soph. in Eng. Verse, Prefatory Note. there is no reason why an analogous enjoyment should not be in some measure attainable by English students, or even by the "English reader." Under the present heading I propose to consider I. Translations in prose and verse (rhymed or unrhymed). 2. Dramatic reading. 3. Representation on the stage in Greek or English. The direct knowledge of the Greek tragedians was but little promoted in England by the furore for classical translation otherwise so prevalent at the Revival of Learning. Gascoigne's Jocasta, an adaptation of the Phoenissae of Euripides, is the only Greek play that is known to have appeared so early in an English dress. The Electra and Antigone of Sophocles had been translated and imitated in France and Italy, but do not appear to have been rendered into our language even at second-hand. English students of the drama contented themselves with Seneca. The Electra of Sophocles was rendered into Dutch by J. Vondel about 1640. And, possibly suggested by this, the Electra of Christopher Wase was printed at the Hague in 1649. It is a strange production, dedicated to the Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Charles I., who by implication is compared to Electra, her brother to Orestes, and the late martyred sovereign to Agamemnon. The rendering, which follows Sophocles pretty closely, is in rhymed heroic verse throughout. About a century afterwards, Lewis Theobald made a more serious attempt, and rendered four plays of Sophocles into very tolerable blank verse; the choral portions, however, as in Browning's rendering of the Alcestis, being given in the same metre. Francklin's Sophocles (1759) was the first complete translation of a Greek tragic poet. It was perhaps suggested by the French version of Brumoy, contained in his Theatre of the Ancients (1749). Potter's Aeschylus followed next; and the same diligent Greek Professor also gave a complete translation in verse first of Euripides and finally of Sophocles. The choral odes are in the manner of Gray. Since that time translations, both in prose and verse, of all the tragic poets have been not infrequent, and some favourite plays, such as the Oedipus Tyrannus, the Agamemnon, the Antigone, and the Prometheus, have been attempted oftentimes. Two questions with regard to the translation of ancient poetry have been much disputed. First, as between verse and prose; and secondly, if verse is preferable, whether the metre of the |