1 8 Ernest Heinrich Klotsche 



No clue through the tangle I find of fate and of life for my 



tracing : 

 There is ever a change and many a change, 

 And the mutable fortune of men evermore sways to and fro 



Over limitless range. 

 Ah, would the Gods hear prayer! etc." (Hipp, iioaff.) 



The prayer which Euripides puts into the mouth of Hippolytus 

 (1363-69) not only shows lack of consistency in drawing the 

 character of Hippolytus, but it also illustrates how ready Euripi- 

 des is to discredit the religion he did not believe in. Here the 

 question arises : Why, if Artemis so loved Hippolytus, did she 

 not interfere to save him? In vv. 1327 ff. she explains why she 

 could not prevent the deed, for there is a law of the Gods not to 

 oppose one another : 



Hipp. 1325-30: 



. . . CtXX' OjUCOS 



er' ecrrt crot Kal ruivSe avyyvccii-qs rvxelv 

 KvTrpts yap fix}e\' ccare yiyvea^aL raSe, 

 Tr\r]povaa dvp-ov. {^eolcn 5' S>8' exet vo/j-os' 

 ovdels airavrav PovKerai irpo'dviJ.ia 

 rfi Tov SeXovTOs, aXX a(t>i(rTaiJ.ea-& aei. 



This explanation given by Artemis well fits Prof. Jebb's note- 

 worthy conception of our play. According to him the whole 

 action of the play is made to turn on the jealous feud between 

 Aphrodite, the Goddess of love, and Artemis, the Goddess of 

 chastity. " The natural agency of human passion is now re- 

 placed by a supernatural machinery ; the slain son and the be- 

 reaved father are no longer the martys of sin, the tragic wit- 

 nesses of an inexorable law ; rather they and Phaedra are alike 

 the puppets of a divine caprice, the scapegoat of an Olympian 

 quarrel in which they have no concern." (Jebb on Euripides in 

 Encycl. Britannica.) 



Some examples of imprecations or curses occur in our play. 

 Phaedra pronounces a curse on the Nurse who without the queen's 

 knowledge and consent has revealed to Hippolytus the whole 

 situation : 



72 



