great susceptibility even for the more lofty charms of his almost ludicrous delineation of many characterisuc womanly virtue, but no real respect.-That independ- peculiarities (such as the clumsy deportment of Penent freedom in the method of treating the story, which theus in a female garb, when befooled by Bacchus was one of the privileges of the tragic art, frequent- (Baccha, v. 782, seqq.), or the greediness of Hercules ly, in Euripides, degenerates into unbounded caprice. (Alcestis, v. 764, seqq.), and his boisterous demands It is well known that the fables of Hyginus, which on the hospitality of Admetus), Euripides was a forediffer so much from the relations of other writers, are runner of the new comedy; for which he has an evipartly extracted from his pieces. As he often over dent inclination, since, under the names belonging to turned what had hitherto been well known and gener- the age of heroes, he frequently paints real personages ally received, he was obliged to use prologues, in of his own time. Menander also expressed an extrawhich he announces the situation of affairs according ordinary admiration for him, and declared himself to to his acceptation, and makes known the course of be his scholar; and there is a fragment of Philemon, events. (Compare the amusing scene in Aristopha- full of such extravagant admiration of him that it alnes, Rana, 1177, seqq., and Porson's explanation of most seems to be intended as a jest. If the dead,' the employment of such prologues by Euripides, Præ- he says, or makes one of his personages say, really lect. in Eurip., p. 8, seqq.) These prologues make possessed sensation, as some suppose, I would hang the beginnings of the plays of Euripides very uniform; myself in order to see Euripides.' The sentiments it has the appearance of great deficiency of art when of the more ancient Aristophanes, his contemporary, somebody comes out and says, I am so and so; such form a striking contrast to the veneration which the and such things have already happened, and this is what later comic writers had for him. Aristophanes reis going to happen.' This method may be compared proaches or banters him for his lowering the dignity of to the labels coming out of the mouths of the figures in tragedy, by exhibiting so many heroes as whining and old pictures, which can only be excused by the great tattered beggars (Rana, v. 841, 1063.—Acharn., 395, simplicity of their antique style. But then, all the rest seqq.-Pax, v. 147); by introducing the vulgar affairs must harmonize with it, which is by no means the case of ordinary life (Rana, v. 959); by the sonorous unwith Euripides, whose personages discourse according meaningness of his choral odes, and the feebleness of to the newest fashion of the manners of his time. In his verses (Ranæ, v. 1300, seqq.-Pax, v. 532); and his prologues, as well as in the dénoûement of his plots, by the loquacity of all his personages, however low he is very lavish of unmeaning appearances of gods, their rank or unsuitable their character might be. He who are elevated above men only by being suspended charges his dramas with an immoral tendency (Rana, in a machine, and might very easily be spared. He v. 850, 1043, 1068.-Nubes, v. 1371), and himself pushes to excess the method which the ancient tragic with contempt for the gods and fondness for newfanwriters have of treating the action, by throwing ev- gled doctrines. (Rana, v. 887, seqq.) He laughs at erything into large masses, with repose and motion his affectation of philosophy and rhetoric. (Rana, v. following at stated intervals. At one time he unrea- 815, 826, 966, 970, 1073, 1076.) Aristophanes, insonably prolongs, with too great fondness for vivacity of deed, persecutes him indefatigably and inexorably; he dialogue, that change of speakers at every verse which was ordained to be, as it were, his perpetual scourge, was usual even with his predecessors, in which ques- that none of his vagaries in morals or in art might retions and answers, or reproaches and replies, are shot to main uncensured. Although Aristophanes, as a comic and fro like darts; and this he sometimes does so arbi- dramatist, is, by means of his parodies, the foe of the trarily, that half of the lines might be dispensed with. tragic poets in general, yet he nowhere attacks SophAt another time he pours forth long, endless speeches; ocles; and even in the places in which he fastens on he endeavours to show his skill as an orator in its ut- the weak side of Eschylus, his reverence for him is most brilliancy, by ingenious syllogisms, or by exciting manifest, and he everywhere opposes his gigantic propity. Many of his scenes resemble a suit at law, in portions to the petty ingenuity of Euripides. He has which two persons, who are the parties opposed to one laid open, with immense understanding and inexhaustanother, or sometimes in the presence of a third per-ible wit, his sophistical subtlety, his rhetorical and philson as judge, do not confine themselves to what their osophical pretensions, his immorality and seductive efpresent situation requires; but, beginning their story feminacy, and the merely sensual emotions he excites. at the most remote period, accuse their adversary and As modern judges of art have for the most part esjustify themselves, doing all this with those turns teemed Aristophanes to be nothing better than an which are familiar to pleaders, and frequently with extravagant and slanderous buffoon, and, moreover, those which are usual among sycophants. Thus the have not understood the art of translating the humourpoet attempted to make his poetry entertaining to the ous dress he gives subjects into the truths which lie Athenians by its resemblance to their daily and favour- at the bottom, they have attached but little importance ite pursuit, carrying on and deciding, or at least listen to his opinion.-After all that has gone before, we must ing to, lawsuits. On this account Quintilian particu- not lose sight of the fact, that Euripides was yet a larly recommends him to the young orator, who may Greek, and a contemporary, too, of many of the greatlearn more by studying him than the older tragedians; est men that Greece possessed in politics, philosophy, an opinion marked with his usual accuracy. But it is history, and the graphic art. If, when compared with easy to see that such a recommendation conveys no his predecessors, he stands far below them, when comhigh eulogium, since eloquence may indeed find place pared with many moderns he is far superior to them. in the drama when it is suitable to the capacity and He is particularly strong in the representation of a disobject of the person who is speaking; but when rhet-tempered and erring mind, given up to its passions to oric steps into the place of the immediate expression a degree of pl rensy. (Longinus, 15, 3.) He is excelof the soul, it is no longer poetical.-The style of Eu- lent when the subject leads principally to emotion, and ripides is, on the whole, not compressed enough, al- has no higher claims; and still more on occasions though it presents us with some very happily-drawn when even moral beauty demands pathos. Few of his pictures and ingenious turns of language; it has nei- pieces are without single passages that are charmingly ther the dignity and energy of Eschylus, nor the chaste beautiful. Take him altogether, it is by no means my ingrace of Sophocles. In his expressions he frequently tention to deny that he possesses extraordinary talents; aims at the extraordinary and strange, and, on the oth-I only maintain that they were not united to a dispoer hand, loses himself in commonplace; and too of ten the tone of his speeches becomes quite every-day, and descends from the height of the buskin to level ground. For these reasons, as well as on account of

sition honouring the rigour of moral principles and the holiness of religious feelings above everything else." (Theatre of the Greeks, 2d ed., p. 133, seqq.)—Of the 120 dramas which Euripides is said to have composed,

we have remaining at the present day only eighteen | seqq.-Böckh, Grace Tragadia Principum num ea tragedies and one satyric piece. The following are qua supersunt genuina, &c., p. 165.) Elian informs the titles and subjects: 1. 'Ekábŋ, Hecuba. The sac- us (V. H., 5, 21), that the Corinthians prevailed upon rifice of Polyxena, whom the Greeks immolate to the Euripides to alter the tradition in question: he makes manes of Achilles, and the vengeance which Hecuba, no mention, however, of any change in the piece itself doubly unfortunate in having been reduced to captivity According to others, they purchased this compliance and deprived of her children, takes upon Polymnestor, for the sum of five talents. The subject of the Medea the murderer of her son Polydorus, form the subject of was a favourite one with the dramatic writers of forthis tragedy. The scene is laid in the Grecian camp mer times, and has proved no less so with the modin the Thracian Chersonese. The shade of Polydorus, erns. Among the former may be mentioned Neophron whose body remains without the rites of sepulture, has of Sicyonia, Ennius, Pacuvius, Accius, Ovid, and Senthe prologue assigned it. Ennius and L. Accius, and eca; among the latter, Ludovico Dolce, Glover, Corin modern times Erasmus of Rotterdam, have trans- neille, &c.-5. 'Innódurog oregavopópog, Hippolylated this play into Latin verse. Ludovico Dolce has tus Coronifer, "Hippolytus wearing a crown." The given an Italian version of it; several passages have subject of this tragedy is the same with that which been rendered into French by La Harpe; Racine owes Racine has taken for the basis of his Phedre, a subject to it some fine verses in his Andromache and Iphigenia, eminently tragical. It presents to our view a female, and Voltaire has imitated some parts in his Mérope.- a feeble-minded woman, the victim of the resentment 2 'Opéorns, Orestes. The scene of this play is laid of Venus, who has inspired her with a criminal pasat Argos, the seventh day after the murder of Clytem- sion. An object of horror to him whom she loves, nestra. It is on this day that the people, in full as- and not daring to reveal her own shame, she dies, after sembly, are to sit in judgment upon Orestes and Elec- having engaged Theseus, by her misrepresentations, to tra. The only hope of the accused is in Menelaus, become the destroyer of his own son. The title of who has just arrived; but this prince, who secretly this tragedy is probably derived from the crown which aims at the succession, stirs up the people in private Hippolytus offers to Diana. Euripides at first gave it to pronounce sentence of condemnation against the the name of Ιππόλυτος καλυπτόμενος. He afterward parricides. The sentence is accordingly pronounced, retouched it, and, changing the catastrophe and the but the execution of it is left to the culprits themselves. title, reproduced it in the year that Pericles died. It They meditate taking vengeance by slaying Helen; gained the prize over the pieces of Iophon and Ion, but this princess is saved by the intervention of Apol- which had competed with it in the contest. It is somelo, who brings about a double marriage, by uniting times cited under the title of the Phædra, and the celOrestes with Hermione, the daughter of Helen, and ebrated chef-d'œuvre of Racine is an imitation of it, Electra with Pylades. This dénouement is unworthy as well as the tragedy of Seneca, which last, however, of the tragedy. The piece, moreover, is full of comic rather merits the name of a parody. A comparison and satiric traits. Some commentators think they rec-between the Hippolytus of Euripides and the Phedre ognise the portrait of Socrates in that of the simple and virtuous citizen who, in the assembly of the people, undertakes the defence of Orestes. This play is ascribed by some to Euripides the younger, nephew of the former.-3. Powviooai, Phænissa. The subject of this piece is the death of Eteocles and Polynices. The chorus is composed of young Phoenician females, sent, according to the custom established by Agenor, to the city of Thebes, in order to be consecrated to the service of the temple at Delphi. The prologue is assigned to Jocasta. Grotius regards the Phoenissæ as the chef-d'œuvre of Euripides: a more elevated and heroic tone prevails throughout it than is to be found in any other of his pieces. The subject of the Phoenissæ is that also of the Thebais of Seneca. Statius has likewise imitated it in his epic poem, and Rotrou in the first two acts of his Antigone.-4. Mýdɛta, Medea. The vengeance taken by Medea on the ungrateful Jason, to whom she has sacrificed all, and who, on his arrival at Corinth, abandons her for a royal bride, forms the subject of this tragedy. What constitutes the principal charm of the piece is the simplicity and clearness of the action, and the force and natural cast of the characters. The exposition of the play is made in a monologue by the nurse; the chorus is composed of Corinthian females, a circumstance which does not fail to give an air of great improbability to this portion of the plot. It is said that Euripides gave to the world two editions of this tragedy, and that, in the first, the children of Medea were put to death by the Corinthians, while in the second, which has come down to us, it is their mother herself who slays them. According to this hypothesis, the 1378th verse and those immediately following, in which Medea says that she will impose on Corinth, contemptuously styled by her the land of Sisyphus, an expiatory festival for this crime, have been retained by mistake in the revision in which they should have disappeared. Medea has no expiation to demand of the Corinthians, if they are not guilty of the murder of her sons. (Compare Böttiger, de Medea Euripidea, &c. - Matthie, Misc., vol. 1, p. 1,

of Racine, is given by Louis Racine, in the Memoires de l'Academie des Inscrip. et Belles- Lettres, vol. 8, p. 300; and by the Abbé Batteux in the same collection, vol. 42, p. 452. Consult also the work of Aug. Wilhelm Schlegel, Paris, 1805, 8vo, “ Comparaison entre la Phedre de Racine et celle d'Euripide."6. "Aλknoτiç, Alcestis. The subject of this tragedy is moral and affecting. It is a wife who dies for the sake of prolonging her husband's existence. Its object is to show, that conjugal affection and an observance of the rites of hospitality are not suffered to go without their reward. Hercules, whom Admetus had kindly received while unfortunate, having learned that Alcestis, the wife of the monarch, had consummated her mournful sacrifice, seeks her in the shades, and restores her to her husband. In this piece, as in some others of Euripides, the introduction of comic traits into a tragic subject is open to just criticism. Although the character of Hercules is interesting and well-drawn, and though the play, in general, offers many beauties, it is, notwithstanding, regarded as one of the most feeble productions of our author.-7. 'AvSpouúxn, Andromache. The death of the son of Achilles, whom Orestes slays, after having carried off from him Hermione, forms the subject of the piece. The scene is laid in Thetidium, a city of Thessaly, near Pharsalus. Some have pretended, that the aim of Euripides in writing this tragedy was to render odious the law of the Athenians which permitted bigamy. (Consult Reflexions sur l'Andromaque d'Euripide et sur l'Andromaque de Racine, par Louis Racine, in the Mem. de l'Acad des Inscrip., &c., vol. 10, p. 311.) Racine, in the preface to his Andromaque, holds the following language in relation to the mode of treating the subject which he has adopted in his own piece. " Andromaque, dans Euripide, craint pour la vie de Molossus, qui est un fils qu'elle a eu de Pyrrhus, et qu'Hermione veut faire mourir avec sa mère. Mais ici il ne s'agit point de Molossus. Andromaque ne connoit pas d'autre mari qu'Hector, ni d'autre fils qu'Astyanax. J'ai cru en cela me conformer à l'idée

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que nous avons maintenant de cette princesse. La touching interest: nevertheless, Guimond de la Touche plupart de ceux qui ont entendu parler d'Andromaque is said, in this respect, to have surpassed his model. ne la connoissent que pour la veuve d'Hector, et pour -11. Tpóades, Troades, "The Trojan females." la mère d'Astyanax. On ne croit pas qu'elle doive The action of this piece is prior to that of the Hecuba. aimer un autre mari ni un autre fils; et je doute que The scene is laid in the Grecian camp, under the walls les larmes d'Andromaque eussent fait sur l'esprit de of Troy, which has fallen into the hands of the foe. A mes spectateurs l'impression qu'elles ont faite, si elles body of female captives have been distributed by lot avoient coulé pour un autre fils que celui qu'elle avoit among the victors. Agamemnon has reserved Casd'Hector." It is easy to perceive from this how much sandra for himself; Polyxena has been immolated to the French poet has ennobled by the change the char- the manes of Achilles; Andromache has fallen to acter of his heroine.-8. 'Ikέrides, Supplices, "The Neoptolemus, Hecuba to Ulysses. The object of the Female Suppliants." The scene of this tragedy is laid poet is to show us in Hecuba a mother bowed down in front of the temple of Ceres at Eleusis, whither the by misfortune. The Greeks destroy Astyanax, and his Argive females, whose husbands have perished before mangled body is brought in to the mother of Hector, Thebes, have followed their king Adrastus, in the hope his own parent being by this time carried away in the of engaging Theseus to take up arms in their behalf, train of Neoptolemus. Ilium is then given as a prey and obtain the rites of sepulture for their dead, whose to the flames. This succession of horrors passes in bodies were withheld by the Thebans. Theseus yields mournful review before the eyes of the spectator; yet to their request and promises his assistance. In ex- there is no unity of action to constitute a subject for hibiting this play the third year of the 90th Olympiad, the piece, and consequently the play has no dénoûethe fourteenth of the Peloponnesian war, Euripides ment. Neptune appears in the prologue. Seneca and wished, it is said, to detach the Argives from the Spar- M. de Chateaubrun have imitated this tragedy.-tan cause. His attempt, however, failed, and the 12. Bakyaι, Baccha, The female Bacchanalians." treaty was signed by which Mantinea was sacrificed to The arrival of Bacchus at Thebes and the death of the ambition of Lacedæmon. The exposition of this Pentheus, who is torn in pieces by his mother and sispiece has not the same fault as the rest it is impo- ter-such is the subject of this piece, in which Bacsing and splendid, and made without the intervention chus opens the scene and makes himself known to the of an actual prologue; for the monologue by which spectators. Brumoy regards this as a satyric drama ; Æthra, the mother of Theseus, makes known the sub- in this, however, he is mistaken, as the chorus of satyrs ject of the piece, is a prayer addressed to Ceres, in can never be dispensed with in such compositions. which the recital naturally finds a place.-9. 'Ioryéveta The action of the Baccha is very defective: it is a sucἡ ἐν Αἰλίδι, Iphigenia in Aulide, Iphigenia at cession of rich paintings, of tragic situations, of brillAulis." The subject of this tragedy is the intended iant verses, connected together by a very feeble intersacrifice of Iphigenia, and her rescue by Diana, who est. The spectacle which this tragedy presented must substitutes another victim. It is the only one of the have been at once imposing and well calculated to keep plays of Euripides that has no prologue, for it is well alive curiosity. (Compare the remarks of Prevost, known that the Rhesus, which is also deficient in this Examen de la tragédie des Bucchantes, in the Theatre respect, had one formerly. Hence Musgrave has con- des Grecs, by Raoul-Rochette, vol. 9, p. 376.) There jectured that the present play had also once a prologue, is some probability for supposing that we have this in which the exposition of the piece was made by Di-play in a second edition.-13. 'Hрakhɛidal, Heraclide. ana; and Elian (Hist. An., 7, 39) cites a passage of The descendants of Hercules, persecuted by Eurysthe Iphigenia which we do not now find in it, and theus, flee for refuge to Athens, and implore the prowhich could only have been pronounced by Diana; it tection of that city. The Athenians lend aid, and announces what she intends to do for the purpose of Eurystheus becomes the victim of the vengeance he saving Iphigenia. Eichstädt, however, and Böckh, was about bringing upon them. Iolas, an old companmaintain, that the Iphigenia which we at present have ion of Hercules, explains the subject to the spectators. could not have been furnished with a prologue, since, The poet manages to impart an air of great interest to if it had been, this prologue ought to have contained the piece.-14. 'Ehévn, Helena. The scene is laid in the recital which is put in the mouth of Agamemnon Egypt, where Menelaus, after the destruction of Troy, at verse 49, seqq. Hence Böckh concludes, that there finds Helen, who had been detained there by Proteus, were two tragedies with this name, one written by Eu- king of that country, when Paris wished to convey her ripides and having a prologue, the other composed by to Ilium. Euripides follows in this the account of Euripides the younger, and which is also the one that Herodotus, to which he adds some particulars of his we now possess. (Eichstädt, de Dram. Græcorum own that border on romance. The action passes at the Comico-Satyrico, p. 99.-Böckh, Græca Tragadia isle of Pharos, where Theoelymenus, the son and sucPrincipum, &c., p. 216.-Consult also Bremi, Philo- cessor of Proteus, keeps Helen in custody with the log. Beyträge aus der Schweiz, p. 143, and Jacobs, view of espousing her. She employs a stratagem in Zusätze zu Sulzer, vol. 5, pt. 2, p. 401.) Racine has order to escape from his power. The dénouement of made the story of Iphigenia the subject of one of his this piece resembles that of the Iphigenia in Tauris.chefs-d'oeuvre. (Consult the Comparaison de l'Iphi-15. 'Iwv, Ion. Ion, son of Apollo and Creüsa, daughgenie d'Euripide avec l'Iphigenie de Racine, par Louis ter of Erechtheus, king of Athens, has been brought Racine, in the Mem. de l'Acad. des Inscrip., &c., vol. up among the priests at Delphi. The design of Apollo 8. p. 288.) It has also been treated by Ludovico is to make him pass for the son of Xuthus, who has Dolce and by Rotrou.-10. 'Iocyéveia ʼn ev Taúpoç, Iphigenia in Tauride, "Iphigenia in Tauris." The daughter of Agamemnon, rescued by Diana from the knife of the sacrificer, and transported to Tauris, there serves the goddess as a priestess in her temple. Orestes has been cast on the inhospitable shores of this country, along with his friend Pylades, and by the laws of Tauris they must be sacrificed to Diana. Recognised by his sister at the fatal moment, Orestes conducts her back to their common country. A monologue by Iphigenia occupies the place of a prologue and exposition. The scene where Iphigenia and her brother became known to each other is of a deep and

married Creüsa. The interest of the piece consists in the double danger which Creisa and Ion run; the former of being slain by Ion, and the latter of perishing by the poison prepared for him by a mother who is ignorant of his being her son. The play, however, is somewhat complicated, and has need of a long exposition, which is assigned to Mercury. The scene is laid at the entrance of Apollo's temple in Delphi, a place expressly chosen in order to give to the spectacle an air of pomp and solemnity. A religious tone, full of gravity and softness, pervades the whole piece. There is much resemblance between this tragedy and the Athalie of Racine.-16. 'Hpakλñç μaivóμevoç.

story a chorus of satyrs, the poet has recourse to the following expedient. He supposes that Silenus, and his sons, the Satyrs, in seeking over every sea for Bacchus, whom pirates have carried away, have been shipwrecked on the coast of Sicily, where they have fallen into the hands of Polyphemus. The Cyclops has made slaves of them, and has compelled them to tend his sheep. Ulysses, having been cast on the same coast, and having been, in like manner, made captive by Polyphemus, finds in these satyrs a willing band of accomplices. They league with him against their master, but their excessive cowardice renders them very useless auxiliaries. They profit, however, by his victory, and embark along with him.-Among the numerous editions of Euripides which have issued from the press, the following are particularly worthy of notice: that of Beck, commenced by Morus, Lips., 1778-88, 3 vols. 4to: that of Musgrave, Oxon., 1778, 4 vols. 4to: that of Matthiæ, Lips., 1813-37, 10 vols. 8vo. ; and the variorum Glasgow edition, 1820, 9 vols. 8vo.

Hercules furens. After having killed, in his phrensy, sess the only extant specimen of this singular exhibihis wife and children, Hercules proceeds to submit tion. Notwithstanding, however, its burlesque ingrehimself to certain expiatory ceremonies, and to seek dients, the tragic character was so far preserved in the repose at Athens. Amphitryon appears in the pro- satyric play, that the subject appears to have been logue: the scene is laid at Thebes.-17. 'Hλéxтpa, always historical, and the action partly serious, though Electra. The subject of this piece has been treated with a fortunate catastrophe. No less than tragedy also by Eschylus and Sophocles, but by each in his and comedy, the satyric drama had its peculiar and appeculiar way. Euripides transfers the scene from the propriate stage decorations, representing woods, caves, palace of Ægisthus to the country near Argos: the mountains, and other diversities of the sylvan landscape. exposition of the play is made by a cultivator, to Satyrs old and young, with Silenus in his various ages, whom Electra has been compelled to give her hand, were distinguished from one another by the variety of but who has taken no advantage of this, and has re- their grotesque masks, crowned with long, shaggy goat's spected in her the daughter of a royal line. On com- hair; while the Satyrs were negligently clad in skins paring Euripides with Sophocles, we will find him in- of beasts, and the Sileni decorated with garlands of ferior to the latter in the manner of treating the subject: flowers skilfully woven. The satyr-parts, too, appear he has succeeded, however, in embellishing it with in- to have been sometimes acted by pantomimic performteresting episodes.-18. 'Phooç, Rhesus. A subject ers, inoving on a kind of stilts, to give more completely derived from the tenth book of the Iliad. Some able the appearance of goat's legs. The choral dance, it is critics have proved that this piece was never written by hardly necessary to remark, was thoroughly rustic, peEuripides. (Consult Dissertation sur la tragédie de culiarly lively, and quite opposite in character to the Rhesus, par Hardion, in the Mem. de l'Acad. des solemn and impressive movements which accompanied Inscr. et Belles-Lettres, vol. 10, p. 323-Valckenaer, the serious tragedy. (Compare Casaubon, de Sat. Diatribe Euripidea, c. 9, seqq.-Beck's Euripides, Poes., 1, 5.) The fable of the Cyclops of Euripides vol. 3, p. 444, seqq., &c.) 19. Qae0wv, Phaethon. is drawn from the Odyssey. The subject is Ulysses Of this play we have about eighty verses remaining. depriving Polyphemus of his eye, after having intoxClymene, the mother of Phaethon, is the wife of Me-icated him with wine. In order to connect with the rops, king of the Ethiopians, and Phaethon passes for the son of this prince. The young man, having conceived some doubts respecting his origin, addresses himself to the Sun. The catastrophe, which cost him his life, is well known. In the tragedy of Euripides, the body of her son is brought to Clymene, at the very moment when Merops is occupied with the care of procuring for him a bride.—20. ▲avún, Danaë. Of this play we have the commencement alone, unless the sixty-five verses, which commonly pass for a part of the prologue, are rather to be considered as the production of some imitator, who has proceeded no farther in his attempt to ape the style of Euripides. This last is the hypothesis of Wolf. (Litt. Anal, vol. 2, p. 394.) -The ancient writers cite also a poem of Euripides, to which we have already alluded, under the title of ERIKηdetov, "Funeral hymn," on the death of Nicias and Demosthenes, as well as of the other Athenians who perished in the disastrous expedition against Syracuse. We possess also two Epigrams of Euripides, each consisting of four verses, one of which has been Of the separate plays, the best editions are those of preserved for us in the Anthology, and the other in Porson, Brunck, Valckenaer, Monk, &c. The Diatribe Athenæus. There have also come down to us five of Valckenaer (Diatribe in Euripidis perditorum draletters, ascribed to Euripides, and written with suffi- matum reliquias, Lugd. Bat., 1767, 4to) is a choice cient purity and simplicity of style to warrant the belief piece of criticism, and contains some happy corrections that they are genuine productions. (Compare the re- of the text of the fragments. It is an excellent work marks of Beck in his edition of the poet-vol. 7, ed. for those who wish to be acquainted with the philoGlasg., p. 720.)—Of the numerous fragments of Eurip-sophical opinions of Euripides, and with the peculiar ides that have reached us, it seems unnecessary here character of his style, as distinguished from that of to speak. The only production worth mentioning, af- Sophocles.-II. A nephew of the preceding (Suid., ter those already noticed, is the satyric drama entitled s. v.-Böckh, de Trag. Græc., xiv. and xviii.), comCyclops (Kúkλw). The Greek satyric drama must monly styled Euripides Junior. He was a dramatic not be confounded with the satire of the Romans, poet, like his uncle, and exhibited, besides his own from which it was totally distinct. (Bentley on Phal- compositions, several plays of the latter, then dead; aris, p. 246, ed. Lond., 1816.) It was a novel and one of these gained the prize. Bockh and others susmixed kind of play, first exhibited by Pratinas, proba-pect that he reproduced the Iphigenia i Aulis, and bly at a period not long subsequent to Olymp. 70, 2, B.C. 499. (Theatre of the Greeks, 2d ed., p. 113.) The poet, borrowing from tragedy its external form and mythological materials, added a chorus of satyrs, with their lively songs, gestures, and movements. This species of composition quickly obtained great celebrity. The tragic poets, in compliance with the humour of their auditors, deemed it advisable to combine this ludicrous exhibition with their graver pieces. One satyric drama was added to each tragic trilogy, as long as the custom of contending with a series of plays, and not with single pieces, continued. Eschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides were all distinguished satyric composers; and in the Cyclops of the latter we pos

perhaps the Palamedes. (Vid. preceding article.) To this Euripides is ascribed, by Suidas, an edition of Homer. (Theatre of the Greeks. 2d ed., p. 158.)

EURIPUS, a narrow strait, dividing Euboea from the main land of Greece, and supposed to have been formed by an earthquake, or some other convulsion of nature, which tore Euboea from the Baotian coast. (Eurip, ap. Strab., 60) Several of the ancients have reported, that the tide in this strait ebbed and flowed seven times in the day, and as many times during the night, and that the current was so strong as to arrest the progress of ships in full sail. (Pomp. Mela, 2, 7.—Strabo, 55.-Id., 403.-Plin, 2, 100.) According to the popular account, Aristotle drowned himself here out of

We are informed, that the strait was made more narrow by a dike, which the inhabitants of Chalcis constructed to lessen the passage; and it is by no means improbable, that the whole of the flat on which the fortified part of Egripo now stands, and which is surrounded on the land side by a wide marsh, was formerly covered by the waters of the Euripus." (Hobhouse's Journey, vol. 1, Lett. 29, p. 372, seqq., Am. ed.)

chagrin, from not being able to account for so unusual were aware, that the story of the Euripus changing its a motion of the water. The story, however, is devoid course always seven times during the day was unof foundation. (Vid. Aristoteles.)-From this rapid founded; and the account given of it by Livy (28, 6) movement of the current, the Euripus derived its an- corresponds, in some measure, with that of my Athecient name (ɛv, bene, and þínτw, jacio). Livy's ac- nian informant. The bridge which anciently connectcount of this strait appears the most rational. "Aed the main land and the island was considerably longmore dangerous station for a fleet," observes this wri-er than that which at present serves the same purpose. ter, can hardly be found; besides that the winds rush down suddenly and with great fury from the high mountains on each side, the strait itself of the Euripus does not ebb and flow seven times a day, at stated hours, as report says; but the current changing irregularly, like the wind, from one point to another, is hurried along like a torrent tumbling from a steep mountain; so that, night or day, ships can never lie quiet." (Liv., 28, 6.) The straits are now called, by a corruption of the ancient name, the straits of Negropont. Hobhouse visited the Euripus, and the account given by this intelligent traveller of its appearance in our own days is deserving of being cited. "What I witnessed of the Euripus was, that the stream flows with violence, like a mill-race, under the bridges, and that a strong eddy is observable on that side froin which it is about to run, about a hundred yards above the bridges; the current, however, not being at all apparent at a greater distance, either to the south or north. Yet the ebbing and flowing are said to be visible at ten or a dozen leagues distance, at each side of the strait, by marks shown of the rising and falling of the water in several small bays on both coasts. The depth of the stream is very inconsiderable, not much more than four feet. The account which Wheler copied from the Jesuit Babin, respecting the changes of the Euripus, and which he collected on the spot, though not from his personal experience, he not being long enough in the place, was, that it was subject to the same laws as the tides of the ocean for eighteen days of every moon, and was irregular, having twelve, thirteen, or fourteen flowings and ebbings for the other eleven days; that is, that it was regular for the three last days of the old moon and the eight first of the new, then irregular for five days, regular again for the next seven, and irregular for the other six. The water seldom rose to two feet, and usually not above one; and, contrary to the ocean, it flowed towards the sea, and ebbed towards the main land of Thessaly, northward. On the irregular days it rose for half an hour, and fell for three quarters; but, when regular, was six hours in each direction, losing an hour a day. It did not appear to be influenced by the wind. A Greek of Athens, who had resided three years at Egripo, told me that he considered the changes to depend chiefly on the wind, which, owing to the high lands in the vicinity of the strait, is particularly variable in this place. The two great gulfs, for so they may be called, at the north and south of the strait, which present a large surface to every storm that blows, and receive the whole force of the Archipelago, communicate with each other at this narrow shallow channel; so that the Euripus may be a sort of barometer, indicative of every change, and of whatever rising and falling of the tide, not visible in the open expanse of waters there may be in these seas. I did not, however, see any marks of the water being ever higher at one time than at another. The Greek had observed also, that, when the wind was north or south, that is, either up or down the strait, the alteration took place only four times in the twenty-four hours; but that, when it was from the east, and blew strongly over the mountains behind Egripo, the refluxes took place more frequently, ten or twelve times; and that, in particular, immediately before the full of the moon, the turbulence and eddies, as well as the rapidity of the stream, were very much increased. There was never, at any season, any certain rule with respect either to the period or the number of changes. Those of the ancients who inquired into this phænomenon

EUROPA, I. one of the three main divisions of the ancient world. With the northern parts of this the ancients were very slightly acquainted, viz., what are now Prussia, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Russia. They applied to this quarter the general name of Scandinavia, and thought it consisted of a number of islands. From the Portuguese cape, denominated by mariners the Rock of Lisbon, to the Uralian Mountains, the length of modern Europe may be reckoned at about 3300 British miles, and from Cape Nord, in Danish Lapland, to Cape Matapan, the southern extremity of the Morea, it may be about 2350. As regards the limits of Europe, it may be remarked, that the chain of the Ural Mountains, the river of the same name, the Caspian Sea, and the lowest level of the isthmus between it and the Sea of Azof (a level indicated by the course of the Manytch and the Kuma), are boundaries between Europe and Asia in the part in which they are contiguous. That frontier ends at the Tanaïs or Don, which for a short space terminates the two continents. The remaining limits are more easily determined; they are the Sea of Azof, the Black Sea, the Bosporus, the Propontis, and the Hellespont. The line is taken across the Archipelago; Tenedos, Mytilene, Chios, Samos, Nicaria, Cos, and Rhodes, belong to Asia; Naxos, Stampalia, and Scarpanto, to Europe. The Mediterranean divides Africa and Europe; but it is not ascertained whether Malta, Gozo, Comino, Lampedosa, and Linosa are African or European islands. The Canaries, Madeira, and the Azores are, in a physical poin of view, appendages of Africa, being parts of a submarine continuation from the chain of Atlas.-With respect to the name of Europe, it must be confessed that its etymology is altogether uncertain. Bochart derives the word from the Phoenician Ur-appa, which he makes equivalent to the Greek Evкoпроσшжог, " of a white or fair aspect;" and considers it as applying not only to the sister of Cadmus, but also to the Continent of Europe, from the fairer visages and complexions of its inhabitants: "quia Europai Africanos candore faciei multum superant." (Geogr. Sacr., 4, 33, col. 298.) M. Court de Gebelin, on the other hand, deduces the name from the Phoenician Wrab, i. e.," West," as indicating the country lying in that direction with reference to Asia. His explanation, however, of the mode in which the same appellation came to be applied to the lunar divinity, is far less plausible: "Ce nom ne convint pas moins à la Lune; car on ne la voit que le soir; et lorsqu'on commence à l'apercevoir à la Néomenie, c'est toujours au couchant: d'ailleurs n'est elle pas la Reine de la Nuit? elle fut donc appellee avec raison Europe." (Monde Primitif, vol. 1, p 250.)--As regards the progress of geographical discovery, it may be remarked, that the earliest notices of Europe are in the writings of the Greeks, who inhabited the southeastern corner of the continent. From this country the geographical knowledge of Europe extended by degrees to the west and north. Homer was acquainted with the countries round the Ægean Sea or Archipelago. He had also a pretty accurate general notion respecting those which lie on the south