The Tragedies of Euripides, Volume I

Tragedies of Euripides, Volume
I., by Euripides

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Title: The Tragedies of Euripides, Volume I.
Author: Euripides
Release Date: February 16, 2005 [EBook #15081]
Language: English
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THE TRAGEDIES OF EURIPIDES.
LITERALLY TRANSLATED OR REVISED, WITH CRITICAL
AND EXPLANATORY NOTES,

BY THEODORE ALOIS BUCKLEY, OF CHRIST CHURCH.
VOL. I.
HECUBA, ORESTES, PHOENISSÆ, MEDEA, HIPPOLYTUS,
ALCESTIS, BACCHÆ, HERACLIDÆ, IPHIGENIA IN AULIDE,
AND IPHIGENIA IN TAURIS.
NEW YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, FRANKLIN
SQUARE.
1892.
* * * * * *
PREFACE.
The translations of the first six plays in the present volume were
published at Oxford some years since, and have been frequently
reprinted. They are now carefully revised according to Dindorf's text,
and are accompanied by a few additional notes adapted to the
requirements of the student.
The translations of the Bacchæ, Heraclidæ, and the two Iphigenias, are
based upon the same text, with certain exceptions, which are pointed
out at the foot of the page. The annotations on the Iphigenias are almost
exclusively critical, as it is presumed that a student who proceeds to the
reading of these somewhat difficult plays[1], will be sufficiently
advanced in his acquaintance with the Greek drama to dispense with
more elementary information.
T.A. BUCKLEY, CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD.
[1] The reader will obtain some notion of the difficulties alluded to, and
the best mode of grappling with them, by consulting the recent
Cambridge edition, published with English notes (Iph. in Aulide, 1840,
in Tauris, 1846), performances of great critical acumen, attributed to
the present Bishop of Gloucester.

* * * * * *
INTRODUCTION.
* * * *
Euripides, son of Mnesarchus, was born in the island of Salamis, on the
day of the celebrated victory (B.C. 480). His mother, Clito, had been
sent thither in company with the other Athenian women, when Attica
was given up, and the ships became at once the refuge of the male
population, and the national defense. Mr. Donaldson[1] well remarks,
that the patronymic form of his name, derived from the Euripus, which
was the scene of the first successful resistance offered to the Persian
navy, shows that the attention of his parents was fully excited by the
stirring events of the time.
Notwithstanding the fact that his mother had been an herb-seller, it is
probable that his father was a man of some family. That he was at least
possessed of ample means, is evident from the care and expense
bestowed upon our poet's education. Under the tutorship of Anaxagoras,
Prodicus, and Protagoras, he had studied both natural philosophy and
rhetoric in its sophistical form. In gymnastic exercises he exhibited a
successful prowess, being twice victorious in the Eleusinian and
Thesean games. Of his skill in painting, some specimens were
preserved at Megara.
His appearance as a dramatist was at an earlier age than that of his
predecessors, as he was only five and twenty years old when he
produced the "Peliades," his first tragedy. On this occasion, he gained
the third prize in the tragic contests, but the first, fourteen years after,
and subsequently, with the "Hippolytus," in 428 B.C. The peculiar
tendency of some of the ideas expressed in his plays, was the probable
cause of the retirement of Euripides to Macedonia, where he obtained
the friendship of King Archelaus. Perhaps, however, the unhappiness of
his connubial state, arising from the infidelity of his two wives, might
have rendered Athens a disagreeable place of abode for the
woman-hating poet, especially when his "domestic bliss" was
continually seasoned by the sarcastic jokes and allusions of his political

enemy, Aristophanes. Moreover, his acquaintance with the talking
philosopher, Socrates, must have been unfavorable to the continuance
of his popularity.
The fate of Pentheus in our author's noble play, the "Bacchæ," appears
to have given origin to the tradition that he himself was torn to pieces
by dogs. If we reflect that this play was probably the last of his works,
the mistake seems a plausible one. The death of Euripides, which
probably happened in the ordinary course of nature, has, like that of
Æschylus, been associated with the marvelous.
The Athenians vainly craved the honor of giving a resting-place to the
ashes of their philosopher-poet. He was buried at Pella, but a cenotaph
at Athens showed that his countrymen had not forgotten Euripides. His
death