14 Olivia Pound 
Fare we so short-lived howso’er, and pay 
What price we may to ransom thee thy town, 
Not me my life; but thou that diest not, thou, 
Though all our house die for this people’s sake 
Keep thou for ours thy crown our city, guard 
And give it life the lovelier that we died. 
The same note is sounded by Praxithea. For her too the will 
of the gods is all powerful. Without hesitation she submits to 
the sacrifice of her child for the sake of her country.*® 
In this motive of duty to the gods and to one’s country is in- 
volved the idea of self-sacrifice. This is the leading motive 
in the part of Chthonia. She not only is devoted to the gods and 
to her country, but takes pride in becoming the victim that shall 
be the means of saving her people.** 
Countrymen 
With more good will and height of happier heart 
I give me to you than my mother bare, 
And go more gladly this great way to death 
Than young men bound to battle. 
Another dramatic motive that adds to the tragedy of the plot 
of Erechtheus is ‘love of freedom.’ This is, of course, one of 
the motives that inspires patriotism. It is as much love of free- 
dom as love of country that moves Erechtheus. Hence it is per- 
petual liberty that is given by Athena as the greatest reward® for . 
his sacrifice. Love of freedom is another theme common to 
post-French revolutionary writers. Many of Swinburne’s poems 
were inspired by this sentiment. Tyranny in any form called 
forth from him as from Byron or Shelley or Landor the strongest 
invectives, and patriotism the highest praise. This note, how- 
ever, is not out of place in Swinburne’s dramas, for love of 
liberty is a note found in Greek plays.°® Moreover it is from 
Athens that Swinburne received much of his inspiration on this 
subject. 
53 Tbid., pp. 357-361. 
54 Tbid., p. 389. Cf. Euripides, Iphigenia at Aulis, ll. 1374-1401. 
55 Erechtheus, p. 411. 
56 Euripides, Iphigenia at Aulis, ll. 1374-1401. 
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