94 Ernest Heinrich Klotsche 



but they differ in the conclusion which they draw from this as- 

 sumption. Sophocles infers : Everything the Gods do is right, no 

 matter how it may seem to us ("even if they bid thee travel be- 

 yond the right" (e^co dkris). Euripides draws the opposite con- 

 clusion : The sinful Gods of mythology are no Gods at all. 



Furthermore, Euripides, as contrasted with Sophocles, could 

 not reconcile the baffling spectacle of injustice triumphing over 

 justice with a belief in the existence of just beings such as he 

 held the Gods must be. The cruel inequality of the distribution 

 of blessings and evils among men leads him sometimes to doubt 

 the providential government of the world in any sense of the 

 term. 



These conceptions that the popular Gods are devoid of justice, 

 and that there is no divine justice in the government of the world, 

 fully explain the poet's attitude to represent these Gods, when- 

 ever opportunity offers, in an unfavorable, obnoxious, and shame- 

 ful light, thus holding forth what a miserable set of deities men 

 had formed for themselves out of their own imagination. 



Euripides makes frequent use of prayers addressed to the dead. 

 vSuch prayers presuppose at least the existence and presence of 

 the spirit of the dead. In this respect Euripides seems, at first 

 thought, to share the views of the two older dramatists who be- 

 lieved in immortality and a future life ; but in reality his many 

 reflections on the subject are of such a conflicting and confusing 

 character that they do not give us any consistent views on the 

 possibility of a future life. Even the prayer of Megara ad- 

 dressed to Hercules in Hades begins with a sceptical remark : 



" Dear love, — if any in Hades of the dead 

 Can hear, — I cry this to thee, Hercules ! " 



See page 60, H. F. 490 ff. ; see also page 130, frgg. 336, 454, 536. 

 Euripides' reflections on life beyond the grave reveal the same 

 inconsistent views which we are everywhere to witness in con- 

 nection with his handling of the supernatural element. 



Curses as well as prayers presuppose the existence of some 

 supernatural power to execute for man his heart's expressed de- 

 sire. All three tragic poets furnish examples where destiny is 



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