No More Learning

The lollowing are
. he titles and subjects: 1. 'Exatn, Hecuba. The sac-
rifice of Polyxena, whom the Greeks immolate to the
wanes of Achilles, and the vengeance which Hecuba,
doubly unfortunate in having been reduced to captivity
and deprived of her children, takes upon Polymneslor,
the murderer of her son Polydorus, form the subject of
this tragedy. The scene is laid in the Grecian camp
in the Thracian Chersonese. The shade of Polydorus,
whose body remains without the rites of sepulture, has
the prologue assigned it. Ennius and L. Acciua, and
in modern times Erasmus of Rotterdam, have trans-
lated this play into Latin verse. Ludovico Dolce has
given an Italian version of it; several passages have
been rendered into French by La Harpe; Racine owes
to it some fine verses in his Andromache and Iphigenia,
and Voltaire has imitated some parts in his Meropc. --
2. 'Opiarrje, Orestes. The scene of this play is laid
at Argos, the seventh day after the murder of Clytem-
ncstra. It is on this day that the people, in full as-
sembly, are to sit in judgment upon Orestes and Elec-
'. ra. The only hope of the accused is in Menelaus,
who has just arrived; but this prince, who secretly
aims at the succession, stirs up the people in private
to pronounce sentence of condemnation against the
parricides. The sentence is accordingly pronounced,
but the execution of it is left to the culprits themselves.
They meditate taking vengeance by slaying Helen;
but this princess is saved by the intervention of Apol-
lo, who brings about a double marriage, by uniting
Orestes with Hermicne, the daughter of Helen, and
Electra with Pylades. This denouement is unworthy
of the tragedy. The piece, moreover, is full of comic
and satiric traits. Some commentators think they rec-
ognise the portrait of Socrates in that of the simple
ind virtuous citizen who, in the assembly of the people,
undertakes the defence of Orestes. This play is as-
cribed by some to Euripides the younger, nephew of
the former. --3. iomaaat, Phanisstt. The subject
of this piece is the death of Eteoclis 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
issigned to Jocasta. Grotius regards the Phoenissaj
n<< the chef-d'osuvre 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 Phcenis-
<n; 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. Mf/dcia, Medear
The vengeance taken by Medea on the ungrateful Ja-
lon, to whom she has sacrificed all, and who, on his
irrival 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 clear-
ness of the action, and the force and natural cast of
. he 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 rf Medea were put to death by the Corinthi-
ans, <hii3 tnthe second, which has come down to us, it
iu their mother heraelf who slays them. Accotdiug to
? ? this hypothesis, the 1378th verse and those immediate-
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:09 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? EURIPIDES.
EURIPIDES.
que nous avuns maintenant do cette princesae. I. a
plupart dc ccux qui out enlendu parlcr d'Andromaque
ne la connoisscrit quo pour la veuve d'Hector, et pour
la rone d'Astyanax. On ne croit pas qu'elle doivo
aimer un autre man m un autre tils; et je doute que
Its lannes d'Andromaque euseent fait sur l't-sprit de
incs spectateurs I'impression qu'elles ont faite, si elles
avoient coule pour un autre fils que celui qu'elle avoit
d'Hector. " It is easy to perceive from this how much
'? he French poet has ennobled by the change the char-
acter of his heroine. --8. 'Lterider, Supplices, "The
Fema. t Suppliants. " The scene of this tragedy is laid
in front of the temple of Ceres at Eleusis, whither the
Argive females, whose husbands have perished before
Thebes, have followed their king Adrastus, in the hop*
of engaging Theseus to take up anna in their behalf,
and obtain the rites of sepulture for their dead, whose
bodies were withheld by the Thebans. Theseus yields
to their request and promises his assistance. In ex-
hibiting this play the third year of the 90th Olympiad,
the fourteenth of the Peloponncsian war, Euripides
wished, it is said, to detach the Argives from the Spar-
tan cause. His attempt, however, failed, and the
treaty was signed by which Mantinea was sacrificed to
the ambition of Lacedasmon. The exposition of this
piece has not the same fault as the rest: it is impo-
sing and splendid, and made without the intervention
of an actual prologue; for the monologue by which
-Eihra. the mother of Theseus, makes known the sub-
ject of the piece, is a prayer addressed to Ceres, in
which the recital naturally finds a place. --9. 'lityeveia
i h kiiidt, Iphigenia in Aulide, "Iphigenia at
Aulis. " The subject of this tragedy is the intended
sacrifice of Iphigenia, and her rescue by Diana, who
substitutes another victim. It is the only one of the
plays of Euripides that has no prologue, for it is well
known that the Rhesus, which is also deficient in this
lespect, had one formerly. Hence Musgrave has con-
jacturedthat the present play had also once a prologue,
B which tb"? exposition of the piece was made by Di-
ana; and . E. ian {Hist. An. , 7, 39) cites a passage of
the Iphigenia which we do not now find in it, and
which could only have been pronounced by Diana; it
announces what she intends to do for the purpose of
saving Iphigenia. Eichstadt, however, and Bockh,
maintain, that the Iphigenia which wo at present have
could not have been furnished with a prologue, since,
if it had been, this prologue ought to have contained
the recital which is put in the mouth of Agamemnon
at verse 49, scqq. Hence Bockh concludes, that there
were two tragedies with this name, one written by Eu-
ripides and having a prologue, the other composed by
Euripides the younger, and which is also the one that
we now possess, ( Eichstadt, de Dram. Gracorum
Comko-Salyrieo, p. 99. --Bockh, Gracoe Tragozdia
Principum, &c, p. 216. --Consult also Bremi, Philo-
log. Bcytrdge out cter Scheeis, p. 143, and Jacobs,
Zusdtze s<< Sutzer, vol. 5, pt. 3, p. 401. ) Racine has.
made the story of Iphigenia the subject of one of his
chefs-d'asuvre. (Consult the Comparaison de Vlphi-
gene a*Euripide arcc l'l phi genie de Racine, par Louis
Racine, in the Mem. &? I'Acad, des Inscrip. , dec, vol.
8. p. 283. ) It has also been treated by Lmlovico
Dulce and by Rotrou. --10. 'Ifiyivtia ri ivTavpoic,
fphgenia in Tmcride, "Iphigenia in Tauris. " The
daughter of Agamemnon, rescued by Diana from the
knife olthe aaerincer, and transported to Tauris, there
? ? serves the goddess as a priestess in her temple. Ores-
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:09 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? EURIPIDES.
EURIPIDES.
Hercules jurens. After having killed, in his phrensy,
his wife and chi'dren, Hercules proceeds to submit
himself to certain expiatory ceremonies, and to seek
repose at Athens. Amphitryon appears in the pro-
logue: the scene is laid at Thebes. --17. 'Hfjurpa,
Elcclra. The subject of this piece has been treatcii
slso by ^Eachylus and Sophocles, but by each in his
peculiar way. Euripides transfers the scene from the
palace of jEgislhus to the country near Argos: the
eincaition of the play is made by a cultivator, to
vraom Electra has been compelled to give her hand,
ou, who has taken no advantage of this, and has re-
spected in her the daughter of a royal line. On com-
paring Euripides with Sophocles, we will find him in-
terior to the latter in the manner of treating the subject:
be has succeeded, however, in embellishing it with in-
teresting episodes. --18. 'Prjooc, Rhesus. A subject
derived from the tenth book of the Iliad. Some able
critics have proved that this piece was never written by
Euripides. (Consult Dissertation sur la tragidie de
Rliesus, pw Hardion, in the Mem. de I'Acad. des
inscr. et Belles-Lctlrcs, vol. 10, p. 323. --Valckenaer,
Diatribe Euripidca, c. 9, seqq. --Beck's Euripides,
vol. 3, p. 444, seqq. , Ac. )--19. 4ae6W, Phaithon.
Of this play we have about eighty verses remaining.
Clymene, the mother of Phaethon, is the wife of Me-
rops, king of the Ethiopians, and Phaethon passes for
the son of this prince. The young man, having con-
ceivrd 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. Aavt'ui, Danae. Of
this play we have the commencement alone, unless the
eix'. y-five verses, which commonly pass for a part of
the prologue, are rather to be considered as the produc-
tion of some imitator, who has proceeded no farther in
iis attempt to ape the style of Euripides. This last
:>>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
EiriKtia'eiov, " Funeral hymn," on the death of Nicias
and Demosthenes, as well as of the other Athenians
who perished in the disastrous expedition against Syra-
cuse. We possess also two Epigrams of Euripides,
each consisting of four verses, ono of which has been
preserved for us in the Anthology, and the other in
Athenmtis. There have also come down to us five
letters, ascribed to Euripides, and written with suffi-
cient purity and simplicity of style to warrant the belief
that they are genuine productions. (Compare the re-
marks of Beck in his edition of the poet--vol. 7, ed.
Glasg. , p. 720. )--Of the numerous fragments of Eurip-
ides that have reached us, it seems unnecessary here
to speak. The only production worth mentioning, af-
ter those already noticed, is the satyric drama entitled
Cyclops (KvkZu^). The Greek satyric drama must
not be confounded with the satire of the Romans,
from which it was totally distinct. (Bentley on Phal-
aris, p. 246, ed. Land. , 1816. ) It was a novel and
mixed kind of play, first exhibited by Pratinas, proba-
bly at a period not long subsequent to Olymp 70 2
B. C. 499. (Theatri of the Greeks, id ed. , p. lis. )
The poet, borrowing from tragedy its external form
tod mythological materials, added a chorus of :alyre,
with their lively songs, gestures, and movements. This
? ? species o' composition quickly obtained great celebri-
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:09 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? EURIPUS.
EUR
iJsgrin, from not being able tu account for so unusual
? motion of the water. The atory, however, is devoid
of foundation. ( Vtd. Aristoteies. )--From this rapid
movement of the current, the Euripus derived its an-
cient name (ev, bene, and iiirru, jacto). Livy'a ac-
count of irtiii strait appears the most rational. "A
more dangerous station for a fleet," observes this wri-
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 limes a day, at staled
hours, as report says; but the current changing irreg-
ularly, 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. " (L-c, 2d, 6. ) The strails are now called, by
a corruption of the ancient name, the straits of Negro-
font. Hobhouse visited the Euripus, and the account
given by this intelligent traveller of its appearance in
our own days is deserving of belag cited. "What I
witnessed of the Euripus was, that the stream flows
with violence, like a mill-race, under the bridges, and
? Jut a strong eddy is observable on that side from which
it is about to run, about a hundred yards above the
bridges; the current, however, not being at all appa-
rent 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
? trait, 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 |>eraonal 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 eTery moon, and was irregular, having twelve, thir-
teen, or fourteen Sowings and ebbiugs lor the other
lleven days; that is, that it was regular for the three
U>>t days c? the old moon and the eight first of the
aev>>, 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 Thcssaly, north-
ward. On '. he irregular days it rose for half an huur,
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 vi-
cinity 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, tha if, either up or down the strait, the
? Iteration took place o>>. . 'y four times in the twenty-four
? ? boars, but that, when it was from the east, and blew
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:09 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? EUROPA.
TUROPA.
coasl of tlie Clack Sea; but what he says aoout the
countries west of Greece, on the shores of the Medi-
terranean, is a mixture if fable and truth, in which
the fabulous part prevails. It would seem that, in his
age, these seas were not yet visited by his country-
men, and that lie obtained his knowledge from the
Phoenicians, who had probably for some tune sailed to
these regions, but who, according to the common poli-
cy of trading nations, spread abroad false accounts of
these unknown countries, in order to deter other na-
tions from following their track, and participating in
'. he advantages of this distant commerce. It is proba-
ble, also, that the Phoenicians long excluded tho Greeks
from the navigation of the Mediterranean; for when
the latter began to form settlements beyond their na-
tive country, they first occupied the shores of the -Ege-
i n, and afterward those of the Black Sea. As the
European shores of this last-mentioned sea are not
well adapted for agriculture, except a comparatively
? mall tract of the peninsula of Crimea, their early set-
tlements were mostly on the Asiatic coasts, and, con-
sequently, little addition was made by these colonies
to the geographical knowledge of Europe. But the
navigation of the Phoenicians was checked in the mid-
dle of the sixth century before Christ, apparently by
their being subjugated by the Persians. About this
time, also, the Greeks began to form settlements in
the southern parts of Italy and on the island of Sicily,
and to navigate the Mediterranean Sea to its full ex-
tent. Accordingly, we find that, in the time of Herodo-
tus (450 B. C. ), not only the countries on each side of
the Mediterranean, and the northern shores of the Black
Sea, were pretty well known to the Greeks, but that,
following the track of the Phoenicians, they ventured to
oass the Columns of Hercules, and to sail as far as the
Lassiterides, or Tin Islands, by which name the Scil-
lv Isles and a part of Cornwall must be understood.
It is even reported, that some of their navigators sailed
through the English Channel and entered the North
Sea, and perhaps even the Baltic. It must be ob-
served, however, that Herodotus professes himself to-
tally unacquainted with the islands called Cassilerides
(3, 115), and Strabo (p. 104, cite. ) expresses a very
unfavourable opinion of the alleged northern voyages
of Pylheas. Thus a considerable part of the coasts of
Europe was discovered, while the interior remained
almost unknown. When the Romans began their con-
quests, this deficiency was partly rilled up. The con-
quest }f Italy was followed by that of Spain and the
southern parts of Gaul, and, not long afterward, Sicily,
Greece, and Macedonia were added. Caesar conquer-
ed Gaul and the countries west of the Rhine, together
with the districts lying between ill- different arms by
which that river enters the sea. His two expeditions
into Britain made known also, in some measure, the
nature of that island and the character of its inhabi-
tants. Thus, in the course of little more than two
hundred years, the interior of all those countries was
discovered, the shores of which had been previously
known. In the mean time, nothing was added to the
knowledge of the coasts, the Greeks having lost their
spirit of discovery by sea along with their liberty, and
the Romans not being inclined to naval enterprise.
After the establishment of imperial power at Rome,
the conquests of the Romans went on at a much (. lower
rale, am! the boundaries of the empire soon became
stationary. This circumstance must be chiefly at-
? ? tributed to the nature of the countries which were con-
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:09 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? EUROPa.
EUROPA.
ifficiei. tly attractive to occupy the attention of many
? f the later Greek and Roman authors. Hence we
5ud it reappearing, after some lapse of time, in Mos-
chus (Idyll. , S), Lucian (Did. Mar. --Opp. , vol. 8,
p. 185, ed. Bip), and Achilles Tatius (de Am. Clit.
tl hate. , 1, 1. --Compare also Anacreon, Od. , 35. --
Uorat. , Od. , 3, 27--Ovid, Met. , 8, 833-- Id. , Fast. ,
5, 605 -- Germanici Aral. Phan. , 533. )-- The an-
cient writers themselves attempt an explanation of the
fable, with which the mythological expounders of later
days are in full accordance, as we have already ob-
served. Thus Palsphatus (p. 78, ed. Ftsch. ) makes
the individual who carried off Europa to have been
called Taurus (compare Tzctzct,adLycophr. , v. 1899,
and Meursius, p. 250), and Julius Pollux says (Ono-
matt. , 1, 83) the ship in which she was carried away
had a bull for its reapuaiiuov. If there be any ancient
fable which requires, in ita explanation, a careful sep-
arating of the earlier and original portions from what
is of later addition, it is this of Europa. If we follow
the narrative of Apollodorus, we will find the legend
dividing itself into two distinct parts; the carrying off
of Europa, and the search made for her by Cadmus,
Cilix, Ace. These two portions, however, are not ne-
cessarily connected with each other, as evidently ap-
pears from the former of the two having alone been
bandied by many writers. --What, now, were the ideas
entertained by tie earlier mycologists on the subject
of this fable 1 Homer, in the well-known passage (II. ,
14, 315) where be speaks of the reunion of Jupiter
ind Juno on Mount Ida, merely mentions the daugh-
ter of Phoenix as having been one of the objects of
Jupiter's love. This, most probably, was the earliest
form of the legend; at least the bearing away of Eu-
ropa by that deity appears to have been a later addition.
According to Acusilaus (<</>. Apollod. , 2, 5, 7), it was a
real boll that brought Xuropa to Crete; and, according
to another authority, the animal was selected by Nep-
tune for this purpose, and was sent to Sidon by Jupiter,
lor the purpose of carrying off the maiden (Nigidius,
i>>. Sehol. ad Germ. Aral. Phan. , ed. Buhle, 8, p.
K), for which service be was afterward placed among
the stars. (Eurip. , J'hryx. ap Eratoxlh. , cat. 14. --
Tktognis, Schol. ad Aral. , p. 4rf, ed. Buhle. --Hygin. ,
Poet. Astr. , 21. ) It is easy to perceive, that this
mythus loses all its meaning the moment this bull be-
comes the transformed Jupiter. (Compare Gruber's
Lexicon, 2, p. 9. ) We find, it is true, that even as
early a writer as Heaiod is acquainted with the meta-
morphosis of Jupiter into a bull {Schol. ad Horn. , II. ,
12. 397, ed. Aid. , 1521, p. 815), but this only shows
at how early a period the addition to which we allude
was made to the original fable. The gcrme of that fa-
ble, however, still remained, and was. in effect, simply
this, Jove indulged his passion with Europa in Crete.
The elucidation of the mythus mainly dependa upon
the clearing up of another question: what means the
term Europa primitively, a land or a person T The
former of these interpretations can in no way whatever
be the true one. Homer and Hesiod, to whom Eu-
ropa is known as the daughter of Phoenix, have no ac-
quaintance with Asia and Europe as parts of the world.
The Asian meadow or field ('Actor /. ci/ujv) in Homer
(Mai, 8, 461), is merely a small tract of land in
the vicinity of the Cayster. The name of Asia only
began to be more extensively applied as the interior of
Lower Asia began to be bettor known to the Greeks.
? ? (Compare Hermann, ad Hymn, in Apoll. , 250. ) Eu-
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:09 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? EUROPA.
E (J R
? pect to Selene arid Astarte. (tot'vuur <5e 'karpodp-
Xyv ovofiufriot, oehqvnv eliai titTurvrec. Hcrodmn,
5, 6, 10. ) This goddess bad the principal seat of her
worship in Sidon. (2 Kings, 23, 13. ) As lunar god-
dess, Astarte had, among her other symbols, some of
the attributes of the bull; she wore, says Sanchonia-
thon (ar>>. Euseb. , Precp. Evang. , 1, 10), the hide of
a bu'. l as an ornament for the head when she wandered
ncr the earth. In all the physico-religious systems
of Lower Asia there existed a great uniformity in
tho leading principles (Creuzer, Symbolik, vol. 2, p.
il, seqq. ), and throughout a large portion of this coun-
try the worship of the moon was firmly established.
Without stopping to discover any traces of this in the
Phrygian rites, or in those of the goddess of Comana,
it will be sufficient to refer to Artemis Tauropolos, who
we old seem, in many respects, to have been the same
with the Phoenician Astarte. (Compare Creuztr, Sym-
bolik, vol. 4, p. 199. --Millm, Galerie Myth. , vol. 1,
pi 34, Nr. 121. ) It is curious to observe, moreover,
that Artemis Tauropolos was worshipped on the shores
of the Persian Gulf, the primitive seat of the Phoenician
race. (Euslath. ad Dionys. Perieg. , 609. -- Com-
pare Dupuis, Memoires it Vinslit. not. , an. XII. ,
Lilt, ct b. arts, vol. 5, p. 11. ) Nor should we omit
to notice, that, from the researches of Creuzer, the
worship of Diana Luna would appear to have extended
not only along the Persian Gulf, but also in various parts
of middle Asia; and that the symbolical mode of rep-
resenting this goddess was a female figure riding on a
bull, with a crescent-shaped veil over her head. Such
Is the way in which she appears on a medal of the Isl-
and Icaria (Harduin, de Num. Anliq. , p. 217), where
this worship also prevailed. (Strab. , 638. ) It is ex-
tremely probable, that some early statue of Diana Luna,
represented in precisely the same posture as the figure
on the Icarian medal, gave rise to the my thus of the car-
rying away of Europa by a bull; and thus Europa be-
longs, as an imaginary personage, to the cycle of the
lunar worship. To place this in a still clearer light,
let us turn our attention to the testimony afforded by
ancient works of art. Achilles Tatius (p. 10. --Corn-
paw Plin. , 36, 10) saw, in the Sidonian temple of As-
lartf, among the sacred offerings, a painting which
had for its subject the carrying off of Europa. The
description of this differs only in some collateral points
from that of a painting preserved to us in the tomb of
tho Nasonii, of which Belloir makes mention. (Pic-
turaz Antiqua scpuichri Nasonidrum in via Flaminia.
--Gratn. , Thcs. Ant. Rom. , vol. 12, p. 1059.