The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 87 



fr. 326: 



CO xpvo'^, Se^icona KoXKiaToi' jSporoZs, 



cos ovTe fJ^rjTrip rjdovas rotacrS' ex^tj 



01) TratSes avd^ponroiaiv, ov <{>lXos iraTrip, 



o'ias <Tv xol <xe 5cofj,aatv KeKTj]fj,evot. 



el 5' 57 KvTrpts tolovtov 6</)??aX/xoIs opa, 



01) ^avfj,' epcoras fivpiovs avrriv exeiv. 



" O Gold, most beautiful delight of mortals ! Neither their mother, nor 

 their children, nor their father enjoy such pleasures as thou and those who 

 possess thee. If Cypris has such (splendor) in her eyes, no wonder that 

 she has a thousand lovers ! " 



This eulogy of gold was undoubtedly meant by the poet to be 

 ironical. But the Athenian public was scandalized by such an 

 utterance which seemed opposed to the traditional belief, and, as 

 Seneca tells us, rose at these words and would have driven the 

 actor and the play from the stage had Euripides not come out 

 and announced that the actor was going to be punished for the 

 godless utterance, he had made. Seneca Epist, 115: . . . totus 

 populus ad eiciendum et actorem et carmen consurrexit uno im- 

 petu, donee Euripides in medium ipse prosiluit petens ut expec- 

 tarent viderentque quem admirator auri exitum faceret. 



Although Euripides stood aloof from public life he missed no 

 opportunity to declare his love for liberty and his hatred of abso- 

 lute power. Upon tyranny and all those who are in sympathy 

 with it he pronounces a curse : 



fr. 277: 



KctKcoy 5 6\oLVTo TrdvTes o'l Tvppavvidi, 

 Xalpovaiv oXiyrj t kv TroXet jxovapxi-o- 



"Cursed be all those who rejoice to see the city in the hands of a 

 single man or under the yoke of a few men ! " 



Prayer to the dead is in vain : 



fr. 336: 



boKeis Tov Aidrjv acov tl (f>povTi^eiV yocov 

 /cat irald' avriaeiv tov <t6p, el d^eXoLS arkvew; 

 iravcrai- K. r. X. 



" Do you believe that Hades heeds thy lamentations, 

 . . . and sends up thy sons? Be silent! etc." 



For similar thought see f r. 454, where we read about Hercules : 



141 



