,
4, 5), and of which mention is made by Pliny in ref-
erence to the campaigns of Corbulo.
4, 5), and of which mention is made by Pliny in ref-
erence to the campaigns of Corbulo.
Charles - 1867 - Classical Dictionary
Vid.
Euhemerus.
E "excs, I. a name common to several epigrammatic
poets, for some account of whom, consult Jacobs, Ca-
tal. Poet. Epig. --Antkol. Grac, vol. 13, p. 893. --
II. A river of ^Etolia, rising, as Strabo (451) reports,
in the country of the Bomicnses, who occupied the
northeast extremity of /Etolia. Ptolemy sayB (p. 87)
? ? that it flowed from Mount Callidromus, meaning the
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? EUM
EUMENES.
th* . and of Panchaia (De Is. et Os. ): that the Pan-
tkdia tellus bad been described in a flowery and poet-
ical style, both by Diodorus Siculus and Virgil (Georg. ,
i, 139), but not in such a manner as to determine its
geographical position. The truth of the relation con-
tained in the work of Euhcmerus has been vindicated
by modern writers, who have attempted to prove that
Panchaia was an island of the Red Sea, which Eu-
lemerus had actually visited in the course of his voy-
ige. (Mem. de CAcad. its Inserip. , vol. 15. ) But
whether Euhcmerus merely recorded what he had seen,
or whether the whole book was not rather a device
and contrivance of his own, it seems highly probable
that the translation of Ennius gave rise to the belief
of many Roman philosophers, who maintained or in-
sinuated their conviction of the mortality of the gods,
and whose writings have been so frequently appealed
to by Parmer, in his able disquisition on the preva-
lence of the Worship of Human Spirits. (Dunlop's
Roman Literature, vol. 1, p. 133. )
Eclcs, a surname of Bacchus, given him, according
to the poets, by Jupiter, whom he was aiding in the
contest with the giants. Jupiter was so delighted
with his valour, that he called out to him, til vie,
"Weli done, oh son . '" Others suppose it to have ori-
ginated from a cry of the Bacchantes, Evoi. (Horat. ,
ll. i. 1, 18,9; 8, 11, 17. )
Eouxos or Choaspks, a river of Persia, flowing
near the city of Susa. The kings of Persia, according
to Herodotus (1, 188), drank of no other; and, wher-
ever they went, they were attended by a number of
four-wheeled carriages, drawn by mules, in which the
water of this river, being first boiled, was deposited in
vessels of silver. . (Elian relates (V. H. , 12, 40), tbat
Xerxes, during his march into Greece, came to a des-
ert place, and was exceedingly thirsty; his attendants
with his baggage were at some distance, and procla-
mation was made, that whosoever had any of the water
sf the Choaspcs should produce it for the use of the
king. One person was found who possessed a small
quantity, but it was quite putrid. Xerxes, however,
drank it, and considered the person who supplied it as
his friend and benefactor, since he must otherwise
have perished with thirst. --Wahl (Asicn, p. 736) de-
rives the name Choaspes from the Persian Khooh asp,
i. e. , "strength of the mountain," "mountain-power,"
and considered it as applicable to all mountain-streams.
The appellation of Eulaeus, in Scripture Ulai (Daniel,
8, 2), is deduced by the same writer from tho Pehlvi
At halath, i. e. , " clear, pure water. " D'Anville sup-
poses the Choaspes to be the modern Karoon; but it
is more probably the Abzal, which flows by the ruins
which both Major Rennel and Mr. Kinneir have deter-
mined to be those of Susa.
Ecmacs, son of Ctesius, king of Syros. He was
carried off when quite young by Phoenician pirates, and
sold to Laertes, father of Ulysses, who brought him up
carefully, and found in him a faithful follower and friend.
Eumzus acted as the steward of Ulysses, and recog-
nised his master, on the return of the latter, though af-
ter an absence of many years. (Od. , 14, 5, seqq. )
Eoatxr/s, I. a son of Admetus, king of Pherse in
Tnessaly, by Afcestis, daughter of PcTias, and who
married Iphthime the sister of Penelope. He went to
the Trojan war, and bad the fleetest horses in the
Grecian array. He distinguished himself in the funer-
al games of PatrocAvm. (Jl. , 2, 714. --Id. , 763, seqq. )
? ? --II. Son of AmriVxilytus. and one of the Corinthian
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? EUM
Ebr
liny 'oe arts and sciences. The moat lasting monu-
ment of his liberality in this respect was the great li-
brary which he founded, and which yielded only to
that of Alcxandrea in extent and value. (Strab. , 624. )
It was from their being first used for writing in this li-
brary, that parchment skins were called "Pergamena
Chariot. " (Varr. ,ap. Plin. ,\3,l\. ) Plutarch informs
us, that this vast collection, which consisted of no less
than 200,000 volumes, was given by Antony to Cleopa-
tra. (Vit. Anionic. 25. ) Eumenesreigned49 years,
leavit. g ar. infant son, under the care of his brother At-
talus, who administered affairs as regent for 21 years,
with great success and renown. (Vid. Pergamus. )
Eumrnia, a city of Phrygia, north of Pelta, which
probably derived its name from Eumenes, king of Per-
gamus. (Steph. Hi/:-, s. v. Ei/ieveta. )
Eumenidis (the kind goddesses), a name given to
the Erinnyes or Furies, goddesses whose business it
was to avenge murder upon earth. They were also call-
ed Scjnna (Seuvtu) or "venerated goddesses. " The
name Eumcnides is commonly thought to have been
used through a superstitious motive. (Vid. Furise. )'
EumknidIa, a festival in honour ef the Eumcnides
or Furies. It was observed once a year with sacri-
fices and libations. At Athens none but freeborn citi-
zens were allowed to participate in the solemnity, and
of these, none but such as were of known virtue and
integrity. (Vid. Eumenides. )
EuMoLPin. fc, a sacerdotal family or house, to which
the priests of Ceres at Eleusis belonged. They claim-
ed descent from the mythic Eumolpus. The Eumol-
pidae had charge of the mysteries by hereditary right,
and to this same sacerdotal line was expressly in-
trusted the celebration of the Thesmophoria. (Vid Eu-
molpus, and consult Crcuzer, Symbolik, vol. 4, p. 355,
44S, 482, seqq. )
Eumolpus, son of Neptune and Chionc, daughter
of Boreas and Orithyia. Chione, to conceal her weak-
ness, threw the babe into the sea, to the protection of
his father. Neptune took him to . Ethiopia, and gave
binr. to his daughter Denthesicyme to rear. When
Eumolpus was grown up, the husband of Denthesicy-
me gave him one of his two daughters in marriage;
but Eumolpus, attempting to offer violence to the sis-
ter of his wife, was forced to fly. He came with his
son Ismarus to Tegyrius, a king of Thrace, who gave
his daughter in marriage to Ismarus. But Eumolpus,
being detected plotting against Tegyrius, was once
more forced to fly, and came to Eleusis. Ismarus
dying, Tegyrius became reconciled to Eumolpus, who
returned"to Thrace, and succeeded him in his king-
dom. War breaking out between the Athenians and
Eleusinians, the latter invoked the aid of their former
guest. A contest ensued, and, according to the ac-
count given by Apollodorus (3, 15, 4), Eumolpus fell
in battle against Erechtheus. Pausanias, however,
states (1, 38, 3), that there fell in thia conflict, on the
one side Erechtheus, and on the other Immaradus, son
of Eumolpus; and that the war was ended on the fol-
lowing terms: the Eleusinians were to acknowledge
the power of Athetis, but were to retain the rites of
Ceres and Proserpina, and over these Eumolpus and
the daughters of Ccleus, king of Eleusis, were to pre-
side. Other authorities, however, make the agree-
ment to have been as follows: the descendants of Eu-
molpus were to enjoy the priestly office at Eleusis,
while the descendants of Erechtheus were to occupy the
? ? Attic throne. (Schot. mser. Aristid. ad Panathen. , p.
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? EUP
ained a thousand verses, for the passage of Suidas re-
specting this writer is somewhat obscure and defective,
and Eudoxia, in the "Garden of Violets," speaks of
a fifth Chiliad, entitled Uepl Xpna/iuv, " Of Oracles. "
Quintilian recommends the reading of this poet, and
Virgil is said to have esteemed his productions very
highly. A passage in the tenth Eclogue (v. 50, seqq. ),
wid a remark made by Servius (ad Eclog. , 6, 72),
have led Heyne to suppose, that C. Cornelius Callus.
the friend of Virgil, had translated Euphorion into
Latin verse. This poet was one of the favourite au-
thors of the Emperor Tiberius, one of those whom he
imitated, and whose busts he placed in his library.
The fragments of Euphorion were collected and pub-
lished by Mcineke, in his work "De Euphoriants
Chalc. vita ct scriptis," Gcdani, 1823, 8vo. (Schbll,
Hut. Lit. Gr. , vol. 3, p. 122. )
Ecj-h kanoh, an eminent statuary and painter of Cor-
inth. He flourished about the 104th Olympiad, B. C.
362. Pliny gives an enumeration of his works. (Plin. ,
35,8, 19. --Compare Pausan. , 1,3, 2, and the remarks
of Fuseli, in his Lecture on Ancient Painting, p. 67. )
EuPHKiTKs, I. a native of Oreus in Eubcea, and a
disciple of Plato. He quitted Athens for the court of
Perdiccas, king of Macedonia, with whom he became
a favourite. After the death of this monarch he re-
turned to bis country, and headed a party against Phil-
ip, the successor of Perdiccas and father of Alexander.
Being shut up, however, within the walls of Oreus,
he put an end to his own life. According to some,
he was killed by order of Parmenio. -- II. A Stoic
philosopher, and native of Alexandrea, who flourished
in the second century. He was a friend of the phi-
losopher Apollonius Tyancus, who introduced him to
Vespasian. Pliny the younger (Epist. , 1, 10) gives a
very high character of him. When he found his
strength worn out by disease and old age, he volunta-
rily put a period to his life by drinking hemlock, hav-
ing first, for some unknown reason, obtained permis-
sion from the Emperor Hadrian. (Enfield, Hist. Phi-
lot. , vol. 2, p. 119, seqq. )--III. One of the most con-
uderable and best known rivers of Asia. The Eu-
phrates rises near Arze, the modern Erze-Koum. Its
source is among mountains, which Strabo makes to be
a put of the most northern branch of Taurus. At
first it is a very inconsiderable stream, and flows to
the west, until, encountering the mountains of Cappa-
docia, it turns to the south, and, after flowing a short
distance, receives its southern arm, a large river com-
ing from the east, and rising in the southern declivity
of the range of Mount Ararat. This southern arm of
the Euphrates is the Arsanias, according to Mannert,
and is the river D'Anville mentions as the Euphrates
which the ten thousand crossed in their retreat (Anab.
,
4, 5), and of which mention is made by Pliny in ref-
erence to the campaigns of Corbulo. The Euphra-
tes, upon this accession of waters, becoming a very
considerable stream, descends rapidly, in a bending
course, nearly W. S. W". to the vicinity of Samosa-
ta. The range of Amanus here preventing its farther
progress in this direction, it turns off to the S. E. ,
a course which it next pursues, with some little va-
riation, until it reaches Circesium. To the south of
this place it enters the immense plains of Senna-;
but, being repelled on the Arabian side by some sandy
and calcareous heights, it is forced to run a<;*i. - So the
S. E. and approach the Tigris. In proportion ai these
two rivers now approximate to one another, the inter-
? ? mediate land loses its elevation, and is occupied by
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? EUR
EURIPIDES
oe i r H- that he owed his unrestrained license of speech
in the patronage of that celebrated minister. His death
was generally ascribed to the vengeance of Alcibiaden,
whom he had lampooned, probably in the BaTrrai.
(Cicero, ad Att. , 6, l. > By his orders, according to
the common account, Eupolis was thrown overboard
during the passage of the Athenian armament to Sicily
(B. C. 41S). Cicero, however, calls this story a vul-
gar error; since Eratosthenes, the Alexandrean li-
brarian, had shown that several comedies were com-
posed by Eupolis some time after the date assigned to
this pseudo-assassination. His tomb, too, according
to Pausanias, was erected on the banks of the Aso-
pus by the Sicyonians, which makes it most probable
that this was the place of his death (Theatre of the
Greeks, p. 103, seq. , 4th ed. )
EURIPIDES, I. a celebrated Athenian tragic poet,
son of Mnesarchus and Clito, of the borough Phlya,
and the tribe Cecropis. (Diog. Lacrt. , 2, 45. -- Sui-
dat, t. v. Ki'y. >>- -- Compare the Life by Thorn. Ma-
gistcr, and the anonymous Life published by Elmsley. )
He was born Olymp. 75, 1, B. C. 480, in Salamis, on
the very day of the Grecian victory near that island.
(Plut. , Symp. , 8, 1. ) His mother Clito had been sent
over to Salamis, with the other Athenian women, when
Attica was given up to the invading army of Xerxes;
and the name of the poet, which is formed like a pa-
tronymic from the Euripus, the scene of the first suc-
cessful resistance to the Persian navy, shows that the
minds of his parents were full of the stirring events
of that momentous crisis. Aristophanes repeatedly
imputes meanness of extraction, by the mother's side,
to Euripides. (Thcsmoph. , v. 386. -- Ibid. , v. 455. --
Acharn. , v. 478. -- Equit. , T. 1 T. --Ranac, v. 840. ) He
%sserts that she was an herb-seller; and, according to
Aulus Gellius (15, 20), Theophrastus confirms the
comedian's sarcastic insinuations. Philochorus, on
the contrary, in a work no longer extant, endeavoured
to prove that the mother of our poet was a lady of no-
ble ancestry. (Suidas, >>. v. Evptir. ) Moschopulus
ilso, in hit life of Euripides, quotes this testimony of
Philochorus. A presumptive argument in favour of
the respectability of Euripides, in regard to birth, is
given in Athcnteus (10, p. 424), where he tells us
Qivoxoovv re ~uiui roic &pxaioif ol evyevcaraToi irai-
fef a fact which he instances in the son of Menelaus
ana in Euripides, who, according to TheophrasLus,
officiated, when a boy, as cup-bearer to a chorus com-
posed of the most distinguished Athenians in the festi-
val of the Delian A polio. Whatever one or both his pa-
rents might originally have been, the costly education
which the young Euripides received intimates B cer-
tain degree of wealth and consequence as then at least
possessed by his family. The pupil of Anaxagoras,
Protagoras, and Prodicus (an instructor so notorious
for the extravagant terms which he demanded for his
lessons), could not have been the son of persons at
that time very mean or poor. It is most probable,
therefore, that his father was a man of property, and
made a marriage of disparagement. In early life we
are told that his father made Euripides direct his at-
tention chiefly to gymnastic exercises, and that, in his
seventeenth year, he was crowned in the Eleusinian
and Thcscan contests. (Aul. Gell. , 15, 20. ) The
scholiast memoirs of Euripides ascribe this determina-
tion of the father to an oracle, which was given him
- when his wife was pregnant of the future dramatist,
? ? wherein he was assured that the child
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? EURIPIDES.
EURIPIDES.
(he roet to accept the invitations of Archela'us. Per-
nips, too, a prosecution in which he became involved,
on a charge of impiety, grounded upon a line in the
Hippolytus (Arittot. , Rhtt, 3, 16), might have had
some share in producing this determination to quit
Athens; nor ought we to omit, that, in all likelihood,
his political sentiments may have exposed him to con-
tinual danger. In Macedonia he is said to have writ-
tea a play in honour of Archelaiis, and to have in-
scribed it with his patron's name, who was so much
pleased with the manners and abilities of his guest as
to appoint him one of his ministers. He composed in
this simf country also some other dramatic pieces, in
one of which (the Baccha) he seems to have been in-
spired by the wild scenery of the land to which he had
come. No farther particulars are recorded of Euripi-
des, except a few apocryphal anecdotes and apoph-
thegms. His death is said to have been, like that of
/Eschylus, in its nature extraordinary. Either from
chance or malice, the aged dramatist was exposed, ac-
cording to the common account, to the attack of some
ferocious hounds, and by them so dreadfully mangled
as to expire soon afterward, in his seventy-fifth year.
This story, however, is clearly a fabrication, for Aris-
tophanes in the Frogs would certainly have alluded to
the manner of bis death, had there been anything re-
markable in it. He died B. C. 406, on the same day on
which Dionysius assumed the tyranny. (Clinton, Fast.
Hcllen. , vol. I, p. 81. ) The Athenians entreated Ar-
chelaiis to send the body to the poet's native city for
interment. The request was refused, and, with every
demonstration of grief and respect, Euripides was
buried at Pella. A cenotaph, however, was erected to
Ms memory at Athens. --" If we consider Euripides
by himself," observes Schlegel (vol. I, p. 198, scqq. ),
"without any comparison with his predecessors; if we
? elect many of his best pieces, and some single pas-
sages of others, we must bestow extraordinary praise
upon him. On the other hand, if we view him in con-
nexion with the history of his art; if in his pieces wc
always regard the whole, and particularly his object, as
generally displayed in those which have come down to
? is, we cannot forbear blaming him strongly, and on
many accounts. There are few writers of whom so
much good and so much ill may be said with truth.
His mind, to whose ingenuity there were no bounds,
was exercised in every intellectual art; but this pro-
fusion of brilliant and amiable qualities was not gov-
erned in him by that elevated seriousness of disposi-
tion, or that vigorous and artist-like moderation, which
we revere lnischylus and Sophocles. He always
strives to please alone, careless by what means.
Hence he is so unequal to himself. He sometimes
has passages overpoweringly beautiful, and at other
times sinks into real lowness of style. With all his
faults, he possesses astonishing ease, and a sort of fas-
cinating charm. --We have some cutting sayings of
Sophocles concerning Euripides, although the former
wis so void of all the jealousy of an artist that he
mourned over the death of the latter; and, in a piece
which he shortly after brought upon the stage, did not
allow his actors the ornament of a garland. I hold
myielf justified in applying to Euripides particularly,
those accusations of Plato against the tragic poets, that
tney gave up men too much to the power of the pas-
nous, and made them effeminate by putting immod-
erate lamentations into the mouths of their heroes, be-
? ? cause their groundlessness would be too clear if refer-
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? EURIPIDES.
EURIPIDES.
in unessential ornament, its songs sre often altogether
episodical, without reference lo tho action; more glit-
tering than energetic or really inspired. 'The cho-
iis,' says Aristotle {Poet. , 18, 21), ' must be consid-
ered as one of the actors, and as a part of the whole;
t must endeavour to assist the others; not as Eurip-
ides, hut as Sophocles, employs it. ' The ancient
comic writers enjoyed the privilege of sometimes ma-
ting the chorus address the audience in their own
oame; this was called a Parabasis. Although it by
ao means belongs to tragedy, yet Euripides, according
? jj the testimony of Julius Pollux, often employed it,
? nd so far forgot himself in it, that, in the piece called
4 The Daughter* of Danaus,' he made the chorus,
consisting of women, use grammatical forms which be-
longed to the masculine gender alone. Thus our poet
took away the internal essence, of tragedy, and injured
the beautiful symmetry of its exterior structure. He
generally sacrifices the whole to parts, and in these,
again, he rather seeks after extraneous attractions than
genuine poetic beauty. In the music of the accompa-
niments he adopted all the innovations of which Timo-
theus was the author, and selected those measures
which are most suitable to the effeminacy of his poe-
try. He acted in a similar way as regarded prosody;
the construction of his verses is luxuriant, and ap-
proaches irregularity. This melting and unmanly turn
would indubitably, on a close examination, show itself
in the rhythm of hia choruses. Ho everywhere su-
perfluously brings in those merely corporeal charms,
which Winckelmann calls a flattery of the coarse out-
ward sense; everything which is stimulating or stri-
king, or, in a word, which has a lively effect, without
any real intrinsic value for the mind and the feelings.
He strives after effect in a degree which cannot be con-
ceded even to a dramatic poet. Thus, for example,
he sri join lets any opportunity escape of having his
personages seized with sudden and groundless terror;
his old men always complain of the infirmities of old
age, and are particularly given to mount, with totter-
ing knees, the ascent from the orchestra to the stage,
which, frequently, too, represented the declivity of a
mountain, while they lament their wretchedness. His
object throughout is emotion, for the sake of which he
not only offends against decorum, but sacrifices the
connexion of his pieces. He is forcible in his deline-
ations of misfortune; but he often lays claim to our
pity, not for some internal pain of the soul, a pain too
retiring in its nature, and borne in a manly manner, but
for mere corporeal suffering. He likes to reduce his
heroes to a state of beggary; makes them suffer hun-
ger and want, and brings them on the stage with all the
exterior signs of indigence, covered with rags, aa Aris-
tophanes so humorously throws in his teeth in the
Acharnians (v. 410-448). --Euripides had visited the
schools of the philosophers, and takes a pride in allu-
ding to all sorts of philosophical theories; in my opin-
ion, in a very imperfect manner, so that one cannot un-
derstand these instructions unless one knows them be-
forehand. He thinks it too vulgar to believe in the
gods in the simple way of the common people, and
therefore takes care, on every opportunity, to insinuate
something of an allegorical meaning, and to give the
world to understand what an equivocal ^ort of creed
he has to boast of. We can distinguish in him a two-
fold personage: the poet, whose productions were
dedicated to a religious solemnity, who stood uniL-r the
? ? orntection of religion, and must therefore honour it on
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? EURIPIDES.
EURIPIDES.
great suscepticiiity even for the more lofty charms of
womanly virtue, but no real respect. --That independ-
ent freedom in the method of treating the story, which
was one of the privileges of the tragic art, frequent-
ly, in Euripides, degenerates into unbounded caprice.
It is well known that the fables of Hyginus, which
differ so much from the relations of other writers, are
partly extracted from his pieces. As he often over-
turned what had hitherto been well known and gener-
ally received, he was obliged to use prologues, in
which he announces the situation of affairs according
to his acceptation, and makes known the course of
evtnta. (Compare the amusing scene in Aristopha-
nes, Ranee, 1177, scqq. , and Porson's explanation of
the employment of such prologues by Euripides, Pra-
Uct. in Eurtp. , p. 6, scqq. ) These prologues make
the beginnings of tbe plays of Euripides very uniform;
it has the appearanco of great deficiency of art when
somebody comes out and says, 'I am so and so; such
and such things have already happened, and this is what
is going to happen. ' This method may be compared
to the labels coming out of the mouths of the figures in
old pictures, which can only be excused by the great
simplicity of their antique style. But then, all the rest
must harmonize with it, which is by no means the case
with Euripides, whose personages discourse according
to the newest fashion of the manners of his time. In
his prologues, as well as in the denouement of his plots,
he is very lavish of unmeaning appearances of gods,
who are elevated above men only by being suspended
in a machine, and might very easily be spared. He
pushes to excess the method which the ancient tragic
writers have of treating the action, by throwing ev-
erything into large masses, with repose and motion
following at stated intervals. At one time he unrea-
sonably prolongs, with too great fondness for vivacity of
dialogue, that change of speakers at every verse which
was usual even with his predecessors, in which ques-
tions and answers, or reproaches and replies, are shot to
and fro like darts; and this he sometimes does so arbi-
trarily, that half of tbe lines might be dispensed with.
At another time he pours forth long, endless speeches;
\r endeavours to show his skill as an orator in its ut-
most brilliancy, by ingenious syllogisms, or by exciting
pi'v. Many of his scenes resemble a suit at law, in
which two persons, who are the parties opposed to one
another, or sometimes in the presence of a third per-
son as judge, do not confine themselves to what their
present situation requires , but, beginning their story
at the most remote period, accuse their adversary and
juatify themselves, doing all this with those turns
which are familiar to pleaders, and frequently with
those which are usual among sycophants. Thus the
poet attempted to make his poetry entertaining to tbe
Athenians by its resemblance to their daily and favour-
ite pursuit, carrying on and deciding, or at least listen-
ing to, lawsuits. On this account Quintilian particu-
larly recommends him to the young orator, who may
learn more by studying him than the older tragedians;
an opinion marked with his usual accuracy. But it is
<<asy to see that auch a recommendation conveys no
high eulogium, since eloquence may indeed find place
in the drama when it is suitable to the capacity and
abject of the person who is speaking; but when rhet-
oric iteps into the place of the immediate expression
of ths soul, it is no longer poetical. --The style of Eu-
ripides is. on the whole, not compressed enough, al-
? ? though it presents us with some very happily-drawn
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? EURIPIDES.
EURIPIDES
ire uave remaining at the present day o. ily eighteen
tragedies and one aatyric piece. 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.
E "excs, I. a name common to several epigrammatic
poets, for some account of whom, consult Jacobs, Ca-
tal. Poet. Epig. --Antkol. Grac, vol. 13, p. 893. --
II. A river of ^Etolia, rising, as Strabo (451) reports,
in the country of the Bomicnses, who occupied the
northeast extremity of /Etolia. Ptolemy sayB (p. 87)
? ? that it flowed from Mount Callidromus, meaning the
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? EUM
EUMENES.
th* . and of Panchaia (De Is. et Os. ): that the Pan-
tkdia tellus bad been described in a flowery and poet-
ical style, both by Diodorus Siculus and Virgil (Georg. ,
i, 139), but not in such a manner as to determine its
geographical position. The truth of the relation con-
tained in the work of Euhcmerus has been vindicated
by modern writers, who have attempted to prove that
Panchaia was an island of the Red Sea, which Eu-
lemerus had actually visited in the course of his voy-
ige. (Mem. de CAcad. its Inserip. , vol. 15. ) But
whether Euhcmerus merely recorded what he had seen,
or whether the whole book was not rather a device
and contrivance of his own, it seems highly probable
that the translation of Ennius gave rise to the belief
of many Roman philosophers, who maintained or in-
sinuated their conviction of the mortality of the gods,
and whose writings have been so frequently appealed
to by Parmer, in his able disquisition on the preva-
lence of the Worship of Human Spirits. (Dunlop's
Roman Literature, vol. 1, p. 133. )
Eclcs, a surname of Bacchus, given him, according
to the poets, by Jupiter, whom he was aiding in the
contest with the giants. Jupiter was so delighted
with his valour, that he called out to him, til vie,
"Weli done, oh son . '" Others suppose it to have ori-
ginated from a cry of the Bacchantes, Evoi. (Horat. ,
ll. i. 1, 18,9; 8, 11, 17. )
Eouxos or Choaspks, a river of Persia, flowing
near the city of Susa. The kings of Persia, according
to Herodotus (1, 188), drank of no other; and, wher-
ever they went, they were attended by a number of
four-wheeled carriages, drawn by mules, in which the
water of this river, being first boiled, was deposited in
vessels of silver. . (Elian relates (V. H. , 12, 40), tbat
Xerxes, during his march into Greece, came to a des-
ert place, and was exceedingly thirsty; his attendants
with his baggage were at some distance, and procla-
mation was made, that whosoever had any of the water
sf the Choaspcs should produce it for the use of the
king. One person was found who possessed a small
quantity, but it was quite putrid. Xerxes, however,
drank it, and considered the person who supplied it as
his friend and benefactor, since he must otherwise
have perished with thirst. --Wahl (Asicn, p. 736) de-
rives the name Choaspes from the Persian Khooh asp,
i. e. , "strength of the mountain," "mountain-power,"
and considered it as applicable to all mountain-streams.
The appellation of Eulaeus, in Scripture Ulai (Daniel,
8, 2), is deduced by the same writer from tho Pehlvi
At halath, i. e. , " clear, pure water. " D'Anville sup-
poses the Choaspes to be the modern Karoon; but it
is more probably the Abzal, which flows by the ruins
which both Major Rennel and Mr. Kinneir have deter-
mined to be those of Susa.
Ecmacs, son of Ctesius, king of Syros. He was
carried off when quite young by Phoenician pirates, and
sold to Laertes, father of Ulysses, who brought him up
carefully, and found in him a faithful follower and friend.
Eumzus acted as the steward of Ulysses, and recog-
nised his master, on the return of the latter, though af-
ter an absence of many years. (Od. , 14, 5, seqq. )
Eoatxr/s, I. a son of Admetus, king of Pherse in
Tnessaly, by Afcestis, daughter of PcTias, and who
married Iphthime the sister of Penelope. He went to
the Trojan war, and bad the fleetest horses in the
Grecian array. He distinguished himself in the funer-
al games of PatrocAvm. (Jl. , 2, 714. --Id. , 763, seqq. )
? ? --II. Son of AmriVxilytus. and one of the Corinthian
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? EUM
Ebr
liny 'oe arts and sciences. The moat lasting monu-
ment of his liberality in this respect was the great li-
brary which he founded, and which yielded only to
that of Alcxandrea in extent and value. (Strab. , 624. )
It was from their being first used for writing in this li-
brary, that parchment skins were called "Pergamena
Chariot. " (Varr. ,ap. Plin. ,\3,l\. ) Plutarch informs
us, that this vast collection, which consisted of no less
than 200,000 volumes, was given by Antony to Cleopa-
tra. (Vit. Anionic. 25. ) Eumenesreigned49 years,
leavit. g ar. infant son, under the care of his brother At-
talus, who administered affairs as regent for 21 years,
with great success and renown. (Vid. Pergamus. )
Eumrnia, a city of Phrygia, north of Pelta, which
probably derived its name from Eumenes, king of Per-
gamus. (Steph. Hi/:-, s. v. Ei/ieveta. )
Eumenidis (the kind goddesses), a name given to
the Erinnyes or Furies, goddesses whose business it
was to avenge murder upon earth. They were also call-
ed Scjnna (Seuvtu) or "venerated goddesses. " The
name Eumcnides is commonly thought to have been
used through a superstitious motive. (Vid. Furise. )'
EumknidIa, a festival in honour ef the Eumcnides
or Furies. It was observed once a year with sacri-
fices and libations. At Athens none but freeborn citi-
zens were allowed to participate in the solemnity, and
of these, none but such as were of known virtue and
integrity. (Vid. Eumenides. )
EuMoLPin. fc, a sacerdotal family or house, to which
the priests of Ceres at Eleusis belonged. They claim-
ed descent from the mythic Eumolpus. The Eumol-
pidae had charge of the mysteries by hereditary right,
and to this same sacerdotal line was expressly in-
trusted the celebration of the Thesmophoria. (Vid Eu-
molpus, and consult Crcuzer, Symbolik, vol. 4, p. 355,
44S, 482, seqq. )
Eumolpus, son of Neptune and Chionc, daughter
of Boreas and Orithyia. Chione, to conceal her weak-
ness, threw the babe into the sea, to the protection of
his father. Neptune took him to . Ethiopia, and gave
binr. to his daughter Denthesicyme to rear. When
Eumolpus was grown up, the husband of Denthesicy-
me gave him one of his two daughters in marriage;
but Eumolpus, attempting to offer violence to the sis-
ter of his wife, was forced to fly. He came with his
son Ismarus to Tegyrius, a king of Thrace, who gave
his daughter in marriage to Ismarus. But Eumolpus,
being detected plotting against Tegyrius, was once
more forced to fly, and came to Eleusis. Ismarus
dying, Tegyrius became reconciled to Eumolpus, who
returned"to Thrace, and succeeded him in his king-
dom. War breaking out between the Athenians and
Eleusinians, the latter invoked the aid of their former
guest. A contest ensued, and, according to the ac-
count given by Apollodorus (3, 15, 4), Eumolpus fell
in battle against Erechtheus. Pausanias, however,
states (1, 38, 3), that there fell in thia conflict, on the
one side Erechtheus, and on the other Immaradus, son
of Eumolpus; and that the war was ended on the fol-
lowing terms: the Eleusinians were to acknowledge
the power of Athetis, but were to retain the rites of
Ceres and Proserpina, and over these Eumolpus and
the daughters of Ccleus, king of Eleusis, were to pre-
side. Other authorities, however, make the agree-
ment to have been as follows: the descendants of Eu-
molpus were to enjoy the priestly office at Eleusis,
while the descendants of Erechtheus were to occupy the
? ? Attic throne. (Schot. mser. Aristid. ad Panathen. , p.
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? EUP
ained a thousand verses, for the passage of Suidas re-
specting this writer is somewhat obscure and defective,
and Eudoxia, in the "Garden of Violets," speaks of
a fifth Chiliad, entitled Uepl Xpna/iuv, " Of Oracles. "
Quintilian recommends the reading of this poet, and
Virgil is said to have esteemed his productions very
highly. A passage in the tenth Eclogue (v. 50, seqq. ),
wid a remark made by Servius (ad Eclog. , 6, 72),
have led Heyne to suppose, that C. Cornelius Callus.
the friend of Virgil, had translated Euphorion into
Latin verse. This poet was one of the favourite au-
thors of the Emperor Tiberius, one of those whom he
imitated, and whose busts he placed in his library.
The fragments of Euphorion were collected and pub-
lished by Mcineke, in his work "De Euphoriants
Chalc. vita ct scriptis," Gcdani, 1823, 8vo. (Schbll,
Hut. Lit. Gr. , vol. 3, p. 122. )
Ecj-h kanoh, an eminent statuary and painter of Cor-
inth. He flourished about the 104th Olympiad, B. C.
362. Pliny gives an enumeration of his works. (Plin. ,
35,8, 19. --Compare Pausan. , 1,3, 2, and the remarks
of Fuseli, in his Lecture on Ancient Painting, p. 67. )
EuPHKiTKs, I. a native of Oreus in Eubcea, and a
disciple of Plato. He quitted Athens for the court of
Perdiccas, king of Macedonia, with whom he became
a favourite. After the death of this monarch he re-
turned to bis country, and headed a party against Phil-
ip, the successor of Perdiccas and father of Alexander.
Being shut up, however, within the walls of Oreus,
he put an end to his own life. According to some,
he was killed by order of Parmenio. -- II. A Stoic
philosopher, and native of Alexandrea, who flourished
in the second century. He was a friend of the phi-
losopher Apollonius Tyancus, who introduced him to
Vespasian. Pliny the younger (Epist. , 1, 10) gives a
very high character of him. When he found his
strength worn out by disease and old age, he volunta-
rily put a period to his life by drinking hemlock, hav-
ing first, for some unknown reason, obtained permis-
sion from the Emperor Hadrian. (Enfield, Hist. Phi-
lot. , vol. 2, p. 119, seqq. )--III. One of the most con-
uderable and best known rivers of Asia. The Eu-
phrates rises near Arze, the modern Erze-Koum. Its
source is among mountains, which Strabo makes to be
a put of the most northern branch of Taurus. At
first it is a very inconsiderable stream, and flows to
the west, until, encountering the mountains of Cappa-
docia, it turns to the south, and, after flowing a short
distance, receives its southern arm, a large river com-
ing from the east, and rising in the southern declivity
of the range of Mount Ararat. This southern arm of
the Euphrates is the Arsanias, according to Mannert,
and is the river D'Anville mentions as the Euphrates
which the ten thousand crossed in their retreat (Anab.
,
4, 5), and of which mention is made by Pliny in ref-
erence to the campaigns of Corbulo. The Euphra-
tes, upon this accession of waters, becoming a very
considerable stream, descends rapidly, in a bending
course, nearly W. S. W". to the vicinity of Samosa-
ta. The range of Amanus here preventing its farther
progress in this direction, it turns off to the S. E. ,
a course which it next pursues, with some little va-
riation, until it reaches Circesium. To the south of
this place it enters the immense plains of Senna-;
but, being repelled on the Arabian side by some sandy
and calcareous heights, it is forced to run a<;*i. - So the
S. E. and approach the Tigris. In proportion ai these
two rivers now approximate to one another, the inter-
? ? mediate land loses its elevation, and is occupied by
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? EUR
EURIPIDES
oe i r H- that he owed his unrestrained license of speech
in the patronage of that celebrated minister. His death
was generally ascribed to the vengeance of Alcibiaden,
whom he had lampooned, probably in the BaTrrai.
(Cicero, ad Att. , 6, l. > By his orders, according to
the common account, Eupolis was thrown overboard
during the passage of the Athenian armament to Sicily
(B. C. 41S). Cicero, however, calls this story a vul-
gar error; since Eratosthenes, the Alexandrean li-
brarian, had shown that several comedies were com-
posed by Eupolis some time after the date assigned to
this pseudo-assassination. His tomb, too, according
to Pausanias, was erected on the banks of the Aso-
pus by the Sicyonians, which makes it most probable
that this was the place of his death (Theatre of the
Greeks, p. 103, seq. , 4th ed. )
EURIPIDES, I. a celebrated Athenian tragic poet,
son of Mnesarchus and Clito, of the borough Phlya,
and the tribe Cecropis. (Diog. Lacrt. , 2, 45. -- Sui-
dat, t. v. Ki'y. >>- -- Compare the Life by Thorn. Ma-
gistcr, and the anonymous Life published by Elmsley. )
He was born Olymp. 75, 1, B. C. 480, in Salamis, on
the very day of the Grecian victory near that island.
(Plut. , Symp. , 8, 1. ) His mother Clito had been sent
over to Salamis, with the other Athenian women, when
Attica was given up to the invading army of Xerxes;
and the name of the poet, which is formed like a pa-
tronymic from the Euripus, the scene of the first suc-
cessful resistance to the Persian navy, shows that the
minds of his parents were full of the stirring events
of that momentous crisis. Aristophanes repeatedly
imputes meanness of extraction, by the mother's side,
to Euripides. (Thcsmoph. , v. 386. -- Ibid. , v. 455. --
Acharn. , v. 478. -- Equit. , T. 1 T. --Ranac, v. 840. ) He
%sserts that she was an herb-seller; and, according to
Aulus Gellius (15, 20), Theophrastus confirms the
comedian's sarcastic insinuations. Philochorus, on
the contrary, in a work no longer extant, endeavoured
to prove that the mother of our poet was a lady of no-
ble ancestry. (Suidas, >>. v. Evptir. ) Moschopulus
ilso, in hit life of Euripides, quotes this testimony of
Philochorus. A presumptive argument in favour of
the respectability of Euripides, in regard to birth, is
given in Athcnteus (10, p. 424), where he tells us
Qivoxoovv re ~uiui roic &pxaioif ol evyevcaraToi irai-
fef a fact which he instances in the son of Menelaus
ana in Euripides, who, according to TheophrasLus,
officiated, when a boy, as cup-bearer to a chorus com-
posed of the most distinguished Athenians in the festi-
val of the Delian A polio. Whatever one or both his pa-
rents might originally have been, the costly education
which the young Euripides received intimates B cer-
tain degree of wealth and consequence as then at least
possessed by his family. The pupil of Anaxagoras,
Protagoras, and Prodicus (an instructor so notorious
for the extravagant terms which he demanded for his
lessons), could not have been the son of persons at
that time very mean or poor. It is most probable,
therefore, that his father was a man of property, and
made a marriage of disparagement. In early life we
are told that his father made Euripides direct his at-
tention chiefly to gymnastic exercises, and that, in his
seventeenth year, he was crowned in the Eleusinian
and Thcscan contests. (Aul. Gell. , 15, 20. ) The
scholiast memoirs of Euripides ascribe this determina-
tion of the father to an oracle, which was given him
- when his wife was pregnant of the future dramatist,
? ? wherein he was assured that the child
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? EURIPIDES.
EURIPIDES.
(he roet to accept the invitations of Archela'us. Per-
nips, too, a prosecution in which he became involved,
on a charge of impiety, grounded upon a line in the
Hippolytus (Arittot. , Rhtt, 3, 16), might have had
some share in producing this determination to quit
Athens; nor ought we to omit, that, in all likelihood,
his political sentiments may have exposed him to con-
tinual danger. In Macedonia he is said to have writ-
tea a play in honour of Archelaiis, and to have in-
scribed it with his patron's name, who was so much
pleased with the manners and abilities of his guest as
to appoint him one of his ministers. He composed in
this simf country also some other dramatic pieces, in
one of which (the Baccha) he seems to have been in-
spired by the wild scenery of the land to which he had
come. No farther particulars are recorded of Euripi-
des, except a few apocryphal anecdotes and apoph-
thegms. His death is said to have been, like that of
/Eschylus, in its nature extraordinary. Either from
chance or malice, the aged dramatist was exposed, ac-
cording to the common account, to the attack of some
ferocious hounds, and by them so dreadfully mangled
as to expire soon afterward, in his seventy-fifth year.
This story, however, is clearly a fabrication, for Aris-
tophanes in the Frogs would certainly have alluded to
the manner of bis death, had there been anything re-
markable in it. He died B. C. 406, on the same day on
which Dionysius assumed the tyranny. (Clinton, Fast.
Hcllen. , vol. I, p. 81. ) The Athenians entreated Ar-
chelaiis to send the body to the poet's native city for
interment. The request was refused, and, with every
demonstration of grief and respect, Euripides was
buried at Pella. A cenotaph, however, was erected to
Ms memory at Athens. --" If we consider Euripides
by himself," observes Schlegel (vol. I, p. 198, scqq. ),
"without any comparison with his predecessors; if we
? elect many of his best pieces, and some single pas-
sages of others, we must bestow extraordinary praise
upon him. On the other hand, if we view him in con-
nexion with the history of his art; if in his pieces wc
always regard the whole, and particularly his object, as
generally displayed in those which have come down to
? is, we cannot forbear blaming him strongly, and on
many accounts. There are few writers of whom so
much good and so much ill may be said with truth.
His mind, to whose ingenuity there were no bounds,
was exercised in every intellectual art; but this pro-
fusion of brilliant and amiable qualities was not gov-
erned in him by that elevated seriousness of disposi-
tion, or that vigorous and artist-like moderation, which
we revere lnischylus and Sophocles. He always
strives to please alone, careless by what means.
Hence he is so unequal to himself. He sometimes
has passages overpoweringly beautiful, and at other
times sinks into real lowness of style. With all his
faults, he possesses astonishing ease, and a sort of fas-
cinating charm. --We have some cutting sayings of
Sophocles concerning Euripides, although the former
wis so void of all the jealousy of an artist that he
mourned over the death of the latter; and, in a piece
which he shortly after brought upon the stage, did not
allow his actors the ornament of a garland. I hold
myielf justified in applying to Euripides particularly,
those accusations of Plato against the tragic poets, that
tney gave up men too much to the power of the pas-
nous, and made them effeminate by putting immod-
erate lamentations into the mouths of their heroes, be-
? ? cause their groundlessness would be too clear if refer-
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? EURIPIDES.
EURIPIDES.
in unessential ornament, its songs sre often altogether
episodical, without reference lo tho action; more glit-
tering than energetic or really inspired. 'The cho-
iis,' says Aristotle {Poet. , 18, 21), ' must be consid-
ered as one of the actors, and as a part of the whole;
t must endeavour to assist the others; not as Eurip-
ides, hut as Sophocles, employs it. ' The ancient
comic writers enjoyed the privilege of sometimes ma-
ting the chorus address the audience in their own
oame; this was called a Parabasis. Although it by
ao means belongs to tragedy, yet Euripides, according
? jj the testimony of Julius Pollux, often employed it,
? nd so far forgot himself in it, that, in the piece called
4 The Daughter* of Danaus,' he made the chorus,
consisting of women, use grammatical forms which be-
longed to the masculine gender alone. Thus our poet
took away the internal essence, of tragedy, and injured
the beautiful symmetry of its exterior structure. He
generally sacrifices the whole to parts, and in these,
again, he rather seeks after extraneous attractions than
genuine poetic beauty. In the music of the accompa-
niments he adopted all the innovations of which Timo-
theus was the author, and selected those measures
which are most suitable to the effeminacy of his poe-
try. He acted in a similar way as regarded prosody;
the construction of his verses is luxuriant, and ap-
proaches irregularity. This melting and unmanly turn
would indubitably, on a close examination, show itself
in the rhythm of hia choruses. Ho everywhere su-
perfluously brings in those merely corporeal charms,
which Winckelmann calls a flattery of the coarse out-
ward sense; everything which is stimulating or stri-
king, or, in a word, which has a lively effect, without
any real intrinsic value for the mind and the feelings.
He strives after effect in a degree which cannot be con-
ceded even to a dramatic poet. Thus, for example,
he sri join lets any opportunity escape of having his
personages seized with sudden and groundless terror;
his old men always complain of the infirmities of old
age, and are particularly given to mount, with totter-
ing knees, the ascent from the orchestra to the stage,
which, frequently, too, represented the declivity of a
mountain, while they lament their wretchedness. His
object throughout is emotion, for the sake of which he
not only offends against decorum, but sacrifices the
connexion of his pieces. He is forcible in his deline-
ations of misfortune; but he often lays claim to our
pity, not for some internal pain of the soul, a pain too
retiring in its nature, and borne in a manly manner, but
for mere corporeal suffering. He likes to reduce his
heroes to a state of beggary; makes them suffer hun-
ger and want, and brings them on the stage with all the
exterior signs of indigence, covered with rags, aa Aris-
tophanes so humorously throws in his teeth in the
Acharnians (v. 410-448). --Euripides had visited the
schools of the philosophers, and takes a pride in allu-
ding to all sorts of philosophical theories; in my opin-
ion, in a very imperfect manner, so that one cannot un-
derstand these instructions unless one knows them be-
forehand. He thinks it too vulgar to believe in the
gods in the simple way of the common people, and
therefore takes care, on every opportunity, to insinuate
something of an allegorical meaning, and to give the
world to understand what an equivocal ^ort of creed
he has to boast of. We can distinguish in him a two-
fold personage: the poet, whose productions were
dedicated to a religious solemnity, who stood uniL-r the
? ? orntection of religion, and must therefore honour it on
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? EURIPIDES.
EURIPIDES.
great suscepticiiity even for the more lofty charms of
womanly virtue, but no real respect. --That independ-
ent freedom in the method of treating the story, which
was one of the privileges of the tragic art, frequent-
ly, in Euripides, degenerates into unbounded caprice.
It is well known that the fables of Hyginus, which
differ so much from the relations of other writers, are
partly extracted from his pieces. As he often over-
turned what had hitherto been well known and gener-
ally received, he was obliged to use prologues, in
which he announces the situation of affairs according
to his acceptation, and makes known the course of
evtnta. (Compare the amusing scene in Aristopha-
nes, Ranee, 1177, scqq. , and Porson's explanation of
the employment of such prologues by Euripides, Pra-
Uct. in Eurtp. , p. 6, scqq. ) These prologues make
the beginnings of tbe plays of Euripides very uniform;
it has the appearanco of great deficiency of art when
somebody comes out and says, 'I am so and so; such
and such things have already happened, and this is what
is going to happen. ' This method may be compared
to the labels coming out of the mouths of the figures in
old pictures, which can only be excused by the great
simplicity of their antique style. But then, all the rest
must harmonize with it, which is by no means the case
with Euripides, whose personages discourse according
to the newest fashion of the manners of his time. In
his prologues, as well as in the denouement of his plots,
he is very lavish of unmeaning appearances of gods,
who are elevated above men only by being suspended
in a machine, and might very easily be spared. He
pushes to excess the method which the ancient tragic
writers have of treating the action, by throwing ev-
erything into large masses, with repose and motion
following at stated intervals. At one time he unrea-
sonably prolongs, with too great fondness for vivacity of
dialogue, that change of speakers at every verse which
was usual even with his predecessors, in which ques-
tions and answers, or reproaches and replies, are shot to
and fro like darts; and this he sometimes does so arbi-
trarily, that half of tbe lines might be dispensed with.
At another time he pours forth long, endless speeches;
\r endeavours to show his skill as an orator in its ut-
most brilliancy, by ingenious syllogisms, or by exciting
pi'v. Many of his scenes resemble a suit at law, in
which two persons, who are the parties opposed to one
another, or sometimes in the presence of a third per-
son as judge, do not confine themselves to what their
present situation requires , but, beginning their story
at the most remote period, accuse their adversary and
juatify themselves, doing all this with those turns
which are familiar to pleaders, and frequently with
those which are usual among sycophants. Thus the
poet attempted to make his poetry entertaining to tbe
Athenians by its resemblance to their daily and favour-
ite pursuit, carrying on and deciding, or at least listen-
ing to, lawsuits. On this account Quintilian particu-
larly recommends him to the young orator, who may
learn more by studying him than the older tragedians;
an opinion marked with his usual accuracy. But it is
<<asy to see that auch a recommendation conveys no
high eulogium, since eloquence may indeed find place
in the drama when it is suitable to the capacity and
abject of the person who is speaking; but when rhet-
oric iteps into the place of the immediate expression
of ths soul, it is no longer poetical. --The style of Eu-
ripides is. on the whole, not compressed enough, al-
? ? though it presents us with some very happily-drawn
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? EURIPIDES.
EURIPIDES
ire uave remaining at the present day o. ily eighteen
tragedies and one aatyric piece. 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.
