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EURIPIDES. 935 
‘Buripides. from his eighteenth € ar, to the composition of drama- opinions concerning the superior claims of Aschylus, Euripides. 
——~ eomene = which bicedan rose to the hi emi- Sophocles, and the subject of this article. Quintilian ——"\—”" 
nence. He wrote a great number of ies, which seems unwilling to decide, yet he evidently gives the 
were held in the highest estimation during his owntime, palm to Euripides, (Inst. Or. lib. x. cap. 1.) He is 
and have been admired by the best and most inferior to the two first, perhaps, in majesty, sublimity, 
cedon, a great patron of learned men, by whom he was 
i received, and raised tohigh honours. Here, 
-however, he met with a most tragical.fate ; for, while 
he was walking in a wood, according to his custom, ab- 
sorbed in ein ip ga ep a ra 
torn to pieces by the prince’ 's dogs, who happened to be 
at that time engaged in hunting. Archelaus 
his death, and gave him a 
the news of his fate Athens, the inhabitants 
were so grieved at the event, that the whole city went 
i i His great rival Sophocles, with a soul 
into mourning. 
superior to vulgar jealousy, also manifested his grief in _ 
the most unequivocal manner. He ordered a traged 
Setnaiciodiad-dpes: tha acapiices:nt chick tip birpeclt 
- and the actors appeared in deep mourning. The cir- 
cumstances of the death of Euripides, however, are va- 
riously reported ; but we have given the most current 
tradition regarding it; and the event seems to have 
when he 
Euripides. His. oF capeniivnis sssith terpisepel eine 
and. phi ical maxims, that he was called 
the of stage. » many, he has been 
considered as the most i of all the ancient 
tragic poets, although the critics are divided in their 
and force ; but he is generally allowed to surpass them 
in morality and pathos ; atid in the declamatory elo- 
quence of the stage he is probably unrivalled. — Aris- 
totle calls him the most tragical of all the poets. 
Euripides froee ee ope cae aioe ve into the 
composition ly. Among other es, he su 
the prologue, in which it had been saoel comin 
an outline of the story, and threw the exposition of the 
subject into the piece itself; a mode of proceeding, 
which, although it some difficulties to the au- 
thor, was of considerable advantage to the dramatic art. 
The manners of Euripides were harsh, and his cha- 
racter austere ; but his dramatic productions, in gene- 
ral, do not indicate such dispositions; for there is no 
poet who has written with greater feeling and tender- 
ness, or who has described the passion of love in more 
expressive and delicate terms. He is said, however, to 
have had two wives, whose character and conduct were 
far from contributing to soften the asperity of his tem- 
per; and he acquired the name of the woman hater, 
bly in consequence of the many invectives which, 
in his writings, he pointed against the fair sex. 
The earliest edition of Euripides is that of Aldus Ma- 
nutius, Venice, 1503, 8vo. | It contains only the Greek 
text of eighteen ies. This edition was renewed 
by Hervagius, 1537, &c. Robert Winter, pub- 
lished another edition at Basil, in 1541, with a Latin 
version. John Oporin pri an edition of Euripides, 
in Greek and Latin, 1562, fol. Plantinus gave an edi- 
tion at Antwerp, 1571, 16mo, with the division and ar- 
rangement of the verses by William Canter. | Besides 
these, we have the edition of Jerome Commelin, Heidel- 
berg, 1597, 8vo; of Paul Stevens, 1604, 4to; and of Jo- 
shua Barnes, Cambridge, 1694, fol. with a life prefixed, 
and learned notes. Some tragedies have been printed 
sepa ty commented upon, by different editors, 
The excellent English translation of Euripides by Pots 
ter, is well known. (=) ji 
EUROPE. 
tant and governs 
others. the warmth of its climate, the fertility of its 
soil, and the richness and luxuriance of its i 
productions, 
re en a a Bm grange 
the nations which it it, in civilization and. refine- 
ment, in attainments in science, and.in all the useful and 
ornamental arts, the iority. is vast and striking. 
Here is the theatre on which the human character has 
appeared to the and where soci 
The origin of the name Europe is not certainly _knewn; 
but it seems to have been extended from that of a small 
district on the European side of the Hellespont, as the 
name of Asia spread from the name of the 
Sec cabs: oP The extent of this part of the 
obe, 
which. yields considerably even to Africa, is from the Extent. 
most. western point of. P near Lisbon, to the Ura- 
lian mountains on the east, in length about 3300 Bri- 
tish miles, and in breadth, from the North Cape in Lap- 
land to the southern extremity of Greece, about 2350. 
— wo paehg square ae though they ane Ds 
culated with any degree of accuracy, may sta 
at.the medial num 
ancients were but very imperfectly acquainted with the 
boundaries of Europe. A epet eeovetcees this divi- 
sion, especially in the. no: east, has never been 
known with any degree of precision until modern times. 
It is bounded on the by the Arctic Ocean, or 
Frozen Sea ; on the west by 
on the south by the Mediterranean Sea. ' Its eastern li- 
mits are not so well defined.. As the natural -bounda- 
ries on this side extend only a certain length, it is sepa- 
rated from Alaina qiesenantily by. arbitrary li- 
on Europe. 
of two millions and a half. . The Boundaries. 
Atlantic Ocean ; and . 
