The Supernatural in the Tragedies of Euripides 99 



the everlasting hell-fire along with Satan shall suffer for the 

 harm he has done the cause of Christ ; while the destructive teach- 

 ing of Euripides beguiled some of the Fathers of the Church to 

 the point of believing that he was a sort of forerunner of Chris- 

 tianity. 



As regards the positive or constructive side of Euripides' con- 

 ceptions of the supernatural he offers no decided or settled con- 

 victions, but " he raises," as James Adam says, " nearly all the 

 fundamental questions which men will always ask and never fully 

 answer." He presents problems rather than principles. yEschy- 

 lus sets forth the operation of great principles. Sophocles por- 

 trays great characters. Euripides presents great problems. With 

 a higher type of the supernatural than that of the traditional 

 mythology constantly in view he calls the attention of his fellow- 

 men to the imperfections of the customary belief in order to goad 

 them to reflection. 



Euripides is one of the great religious poets of the world, and 

 it is only right and proper that James Adam in his " Religious 

 Teachers of Greece " dedicated an entire chapter to our poet. 

 He is even more than this : not only a religious poet whose mind, 

 like a mirror, reflects the religious ideas of his time, but also a 

 prophet whose message proclaims the morning of a new era. 



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