The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 97 



believed that in sleep the human mind is open to influences which 

 in waking moments are denied : 



Eum. 104-5 : 



eiibovcra yap (f>pr)v ofXfxacTLV Xa^t^^puI'era(., 

 kv ijfxkpq. be jxoip' airpoffKOiros /Sporcoj'. 



" For oft in sleep comes light upon the soul, 

 But in the day their fate is hid from men." 



He also includes the discovery of the rules of oneiromancy among 

 the important things for which mankind are indebted to Pro- 

 metheus (485). Euripides following the traditional beHef em- 

 ploys dreams and visions in his dramas. Their usage was too 

 well established and they were also too convenient to be given up 

 altogether. He introduces them especially where a pathetic or 

 serious effect is aimed at in tragedy, but at the same time he 

 leaves no doubt as to his own opinion about dreams and visions. 

 In his eyes they belong not to the world of reality, but to the 

 world of illusion. Whatever warrant of truth they have lies in 

 their native power of attraction and in the response which they 

 call out from unprejudiced feeling. Dreams and visions accord- 

 ing to Euripides are natural phenomena without any superna- 

 tural background ; see I. T. 569, 570-75 ; Or. 255 ; Ale. 252 ff. 



All his life Euripides had been deeply perplexed on the subject 

 of the supernatural, and he found himself no nearer to the truth 

 at the end than he was at the beginning. It has often been main- 

 tained that towards the close of his life he has drawn nearer to 

 the religion of his fathers. The only monument of this alleged 

 change is that remarkable play, the " Bacchse " which has been 

 considered a recantation, or at least an attempt on the part of the 

 poet " to put himself right with the public in matters on which he 

 had been misunderstood " (J. E. Sandys, The Bacchas of Euripi- 

 des, Introd., p. Ixxxi). That this play written in the home of 

 Dionysus, whose worship was intimately connected with the 

 origin and development of the Greek drama, deals predominantly 

 with religious matters, such as the Dionysiac possession, divine 

 madness, and enthusiasm, is only natural. But despite the re- 

 ligious character of the play the handling of the supernatural as 



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