C76 



SOPHOCLKS 



SORBONNE 



in the Mini of Neoptoleniu, in wlioiu ainliitiuii and 

 public duty are struggling with pity fur 1'hiloctetes, 

 and with the love of truth which the young chief 

 inherits from hU father Achilles. The victory of 

 lii- better nature forma the culminating point in 

 the action of the play. 



Of other suhjeets known to have been treated by 

 Sophocles those most suggestive of tragic interest 

 are Alem:mn, Aliens, Danav, Herniione, Thaniy- 

 ras, Thyestes in Sievon, Iphigenia, Clytemnestra, 

 Creusa, Laocoon, Nleleager, Niobe, (Knomaiis, 

 Peleus, Telephus, Terens, Troilus, Plm-dra, 

 I'hinens. The remaining fragments of these and 

 other plays are on the whole disappointing. 

 Sophocles even less than other poets can oe fairly 

 represented liy isolated passages. 



Amidst much variety, the dramatic work of Sopho- 

 cles presents some constant features. Each play has 

 a preliminary scene in which the main situation is 

 set forth. This is followed by the entrance of the 

 i-lioni-. consisting of persons who stand in some 

 well eon-idered relation to the chief agent. Then 

 fresh complications supervene, and the action rises 

 in steady climax to the turning-point. The reverse 

 of fortune is generally announced by a messenger, 

 after whose speech the coinmos or interchange of 

 lamentation between the stage and orchestra 

 naturally conies in. Between the scenes choice 

 odes or sttuima are interposed. But the lyric 

 numbers are not confined to these. At suitable 

 moments the chorus, and sometimes the actors 

 themselves, break out into song, which on the part 

 of the chorus is sometimes accompanied with danc- 

 ing of a more or less animated description. This 

 takes effect particularly in the kyporc/tema, or 

 dancing-ode, which Sophocles is fond of employing 

 at some conjuncture where the drnmatu jicrtotue 

 have been deceived for the moment into a false 

 and short-lived joy. This relieves the monotony 

 of gloom while ultimately rather heightening 

 tragic effect, by emphasising the contrast above 

 noticed between appearance and reality. 



Sophocles has not impressed the world with 

 superhuman grandeur as .-Kschylus has done. Nor 

 has he charmed mankind by the witchery of style 

 in particular scenes and descriptive passages, as 

 appears to have lieen the case with Euripides. But 

 to some of the greatest critics e.g. Leasing his 

 merits as a dramatic artist have appeared to lie 

 supreme. The purely human note in tragedy is 

 dominant for the first time in him. Matthew 

 Arnold in an early sonnet described him well : 



Behl. 



My special thank*, whose even-balanced soul, 

 From Brat youth toiled up to extreme old age, 

 Business could not make dull, nor passion wild ; 

 Who saw life steadily and saw It whole ; 

 The mellow glory of the Attic stage, 

 Singer of sweet Colonus and it* child. 



If not quite holding the first rank with Homer, 

 ^schylus, Dante, and Shakespeare, Sophocles is 

 at least one of the immortals. 



The edit i'o prinrtpt was printed at Venice in 1502. In 

 the long list of editors of the whole or part of the seven 

 the most important names are Brunck, Gottfried Herr- 

 mann, Wander, Oindorf, Sclineiilewin, Hauck, Bergk, 

 Lobeok (Ajnx), Bockh, Mciiuike, Elmsley, Buttmann, 

 Linwood, Kennedy, Wolff, O. Jahn. The chief modern 

 English annotated editions are those of F. H. II. Jilaydea 

 and F. A. Palcy (2 vola. 1859-80), Prof. Lewis Campbell 

 (2 vola. 1873-81), and Prof. Jebb (Cambridge Press, voU. 

 i.-vii., 1884-97 ) a masterly edition, in which Sophocles is 

 treated with admirable thoroughness and clearness. Of 

 English translations may be named those of Francklin, 

 Potter, Dean Hlumptre, 8ir G. Young, K Whitelaw( 1883 ), 

 and Prof. Lewis Campbell ( complete, 1888) in verse ; and 

 those given in Prof. Jebb's edition, in admirable prose. 



Then is an excellent lexicon Nii/Jim-lnim by F. 

 KUendt (24 ed. by H. <;,-nthr, Berlin, 1807 72), sup- 

 plemented by an ' Index Commcntationum ' ( 1874). See 



Hense, Studien tu Sopkoclet ( 1880) ; Patiu, luda tur let 

 Trayiqutt Greet (voL ii., new ed. 1877); Prof. Lewis 

 Campbell, Nphocle in Green's 'Claaaioal Writers '(1879), 

 and A Guide to Greek Tragedy (1891); also Schlegel'i 

 Lerturri, and Bishop Thirlwall s Remains for a famous 

 essay on the Irony of Sophocles. 



Soprano (Ital.), the highest species of voice. 

 Its average range extends from C below the treble 

 stave to A above it ; but the greatest variety in 

 eonipaas and quality is found. The highest com- 

 pass on reei ml is t hat of Agujari, which on the 

 testimony of M/art reached to C in altitsimo 

 ( three octaves ). Music for this voice is now writ t en 

 with the G or treble clef; but in (let-man full 

 scores the old soprano clef, C on the first line, is 

 still used. The mezzo-soprano has a somewhat 

 lower range, usually from A beneath the treble 

 stave to F on the fifth line. See VOICE. 



Sora, a city of Italy, on the Garigliano, 55 

 miles E. by S. of Rome. Pop. 5411. 



Sonata, a volcanic peak of the Bolivian Andes, 

 to the east of Lake Titicaca, rising to 21,470 feet 

 above the sea. 



Sorau. a town of Prussia, 60 miles by rail SSE. 

 of Frankfort-on-the-Oder, has three castles (one 

 dating from 1207), some good churches, and manu- 

 factures of cloth, linen, cigars, &c. Pop. 13,665. 



Sorb. See SERVICE. 



Sorbonne, the earliest, as it was by far 

 the most famous, of all the colleges of the 

 mediaeval university of Paris. The system of 

 colleges, of which the Sorbonne was the first 

 example, dates only from the later part of the 

 13th century, more than a hundred years after 

 the beginnings of the university itself. The 

 system sprang out of the necessity for the 

 adequate accommodation of the vast numbers of 

 students who Hocked to Paris from all the 

 countries of Europe. Previous to the erection of 

 colleges the students had mainly to content them- 

 selves with such lodging as they couhl find, and 

 experience hail shown that they nad suffered both 

 in their purse and their morals from this system. 



It was the happy inspiration of Kobert of Sorbon, 

 in the diocese of Hheims, to conceive and carry out 

 the idea of combining a place of residence and a 

 place of study. With the consent of St Louis, 

 to whom he acted as chaplain, Kobert founded 

 the college of the Sorbonne in I -'>.'(. though it 

 was not formally opened till 1256. By a bull of 

 Clement IV. (1268) the new institution received 

 the indispensable sanction of the pope as the head 

 of all the mediieval universities. At the head of 

 the college was the provinur, who was chosen by 

 the whole university, though its business i\a- 

 mainly in the hands of the prior, elected every 

 year from the members of the college itself. The 

 Mtnben were divided into two classes, Hotpites 

 and Hocii. The llospites received the full benelit 

 of the educational provisions of the college, but 

 they had no part in its administration. On the 

 attainment of the doctorate in theology at the age 

 of thirty-live their residence came to an end. 

 The Socii, who were restricted to the number of 

 thirty six, had the entire management of the 

 college in their hands, and all, whatever their age 

 or academic rank, were on a footing of almolnte 

 equality. The life of the college was according to 

 the strictest monastic rule, and its inmates with 

 proud humility styled themselves 'the poor 

 musters of the Sorbonne.' 



The Sorbonne was exclusively devoted to the 

 study of theology, and no student could enter it 

 till lie had taken the diploma of Bachelor of Arts, 

 aiul had sustained a thesis, known as the Sorbotiica 

 or Robertina, before all the members of the college. 

 The discipline through which he had then to 



