The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 3 



proaching tradition with the hberal frankness of the new age, is 

 by no means favorable to the estabhshed rehgion which had served 

 the two older dramatists so well ; and yet in his tragedies super- 

 natural manifestations play just as important a part as in those 

 of his predecessors. This fact occasions surprise, indeed, and 

 certainly demands discussion. 



It is peculiarly difficult to estimate correctly the moral and re- 

 ligious views of Euripides. He is an elusive poet, not easy to 

 comprehend. Many even of his fellow-countrymen failed to un- 

 derstand him, and modern critics, since the middle of the eight- 

 eenth century until a recent period, have generally considered 

 him not only a bad poet, but a bad man ; and yet no other Greek 

 poet, except Homer, has made so deep and lasting an impression 

 on ancient and modern literature. Despite the jibes of Aris- 

 tophanes who declared that Euripides' poetry died along with 

 him (Frogs, 869), and vehemently refused him recognition even 

 in Hades, Euripides after his death was universally regarded as 

 a great poet. The Greek tragic poets of the succeeding centuries 

 patterned their plays upon his. At Rome he was early made 

 known through the translations of Ennius and had a marked in- 

 fluence upon the Roman drama. Poets in all ages have thought 

 well of him and he has generally been the favorite with modern 

 authors and dramatists far more than ^^Ischylus and Sophocles. 

 Milton felt and expressed great admiration for him. Racine, 

 Alfieri, Browning, Goethe, and others were influenced by the 

 ancient poet and imitated him. He was not only a favorite with 

 the masses in ancient tim.es, he appeals to the reader of to-day as 

 well ; and this fact is in part doubtless due to his modern treat- 

 ment of the same human interests that are alive for us to-day. 



Concerning the religious sentiments of Euripides the late Dr. 

 Verrall in his " Euripides the Rationalist," " Essays on Four 

 Plays of Euripides," and " The Bacchantes of Euripides " has at 

 great length and with >much subtlety made an ingenious attempt- 

 to prove that Euripides was a destructive thinker, " a sceptic of 

 the aggressive type," who wrote his plays with the intention of 

 attacking the traditional religion, but in order to avoid posing as 

 an open enemy to the state religion, attempted to accomplish his 



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