20 Ernest Heinrich Klotsche 



Hipp. 1 191-93: 



Zeu, fjirjKkT^ ^'I'Vi ^'i- KaKos irkcfyvK dvrjp- 

 a'ia^oLTO 3' fjuds Cos dn-jjia^ei, ivaT-qp 

 riToi &av6vTas fi (f)aos dedopKoras. 



" Zeus, may I die if I a villain am ! 

 May my sire know that he is wronging me, 

 When I am dead, if not while I see light ! " 



■ Finally the innocent Hippolytus being- deadly wounded cries 

 out: 



Hipp. 1415: 



(pev e'Cd^' rjv dpalov Saifxacnv Pporuv yevos. 

 " O that men's curses could but strike the Gods ! " 



The same innocent, pious Hippolytus who according to his own 

 words had " ever reverenced and feared the Gods," wishes that 

 the human race had the power of bringing curses on the Gods ! 

 What greater condemnation of the traditional Gods could there 

 be than this ! 



In the well known passage v. 612 Euripides seems to express 

 doubt as to the sanctity of oath. When the Nurse adjured Hip- 

 polytus by his oath not to betray her wretched mistress he ex- 

 claims in his fury : 



Hipp. 612 : 



rj yXwcrcr' 6ixwp.ox', V de <j>prtv dfufj.oros. 

 " My tongue has sworn : no oath is on my soul." 



Cicero who renders this celebrated line : Juravi lingua, mentem 

 injuratam gero (De Off. IH, 29), defends the sentiment. Aris- 

 tophanes parodies it in several passages (Arist. Acharn, 398-99; 

 Frogs 102; 1471 ; and Thesm. 275-76). The comic poet, like 

 many others, misrepresents this line of Euripides, as though he 

 justified the breach of an uttered oath on the plea of a mental 

 reservation. This verse is also said to have brought upon Euripi- 

 des the charge of impiety (Arist. Rhet. HI, 15), That the poet 

 intended to imperil the respect due to oaths, is an unjust and ab- 

 surd accusation. First of all it is always precarious to judge a 

 dramatic poet by the excited utterances of his characters ; and 

 then, if this verse is read in its proper place and interpreted in its 



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