^LKaviKo^ A0709 ill Euripides. 5 



advance in the economy of the drama by which Sophokles 

 introduced three actors belongs to the same Hne of develop- 

 ment. In at least four of the seven extant plays of Sophokles 

 the rhetorical element is clearly discernible. The best exam- 

 ple is in the Antigone, 639-680, 683-723, where the character 

 of Haimon is manifestly that of an Athenian pleader. A dis- 

 cussion, which may be compared with many in the plays of 

 Euripides, is found in Soph., Elek., 516-551, 558-609. In 

 this passage the prj(TL<i of Klytaimnestra has a distinctly rhe- 

 torical structure, and contains a Trpoot/xtov, 516-522, as well 

 as an eViXoyo?, 549-551. The prja-K; of Elektra in reply is 

 much longer, but the divisions are not so clearly defined. 

 We also see a strong tendency to argument and discussion 

 in Soph., Aiax, 1226-1263, 1266-1315, Oid. Tyr., 380-403, 

 408-428. We may also add Philok., 1004-1044, 1047-1062. 



Clearly discernible in Sophokles, the rhetorical element 

 becomes still more conspicuous in the dramas of Euripides. 

 Tragedy and oratory, each a form of public speaking, began 

 to be strongly attracted to each other. Oratory lent its 

 schemes to tragedy, and the drama in turn affected oratory, 

 as we see from many dramatic passages in the orators from 

 Lysias in the earlier time to Aischines in the later. And as 

 in Aischines we think that we can trace the effects of his 

 early training as an actor, so in Euripides we can trace the 

 fondness for argument and altercation to his early familiarity 

 with sophistic methods, — to the influence of such men as 

 Prodikos. At any rate, natural bent, sophistic training, ten- 

 dency of the times, singly or combined, will suffice to explain 

 the rhetorical speeches in nearly all the plays of Euripides. 

 This peculiar feature of the plays of Euripides is more widely 

 distributed than the "Agon of the Old Comedy." ^ In the 

 comedies of Aristophanes there are three plays without an 

 Agon; 2 while in the dramas of Euripides there is but one 

 without a rhetorical scene.^ This is the Iph. Taur., and even 



^ See Zielinski, "Die Gliederung der Altattischen Komodie," Leipzig, 1885. 

 Also M. W. Humphreys, " The Agon of the Old Comedy," A. J. P. VIII, 1 79-206. 

 ^ Acharnes, Eirene, Thesmophoriazousai. ^ The Rhesos is not included. 



