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Rh a cheating, lying, and sensual varlet. He may have imbibed from his friend Socrates some of his humane notions on women or slaves, or he may have forestalled them; or, which is quite as possible, have reflected in his dramas a liberal feature of the time fostered alike by the poet and the philosopher.

The feelings of slaves towards a kind and gracious mistress are thus described in the "Alcestis." She, immediately after bidding the last farewell to her children, takes leave of her servants:—

And again, in the same play, the slave appointed to wait on Hercules thus expresses himself:—

The messenger, a slave, in the "Orestes," thus recounts to Electra his loyalty to her family:—

Hither I from the country came, and entered

The gates, solicitous to hear the doom

Of thee and of Orestes; for thy sire

I ever loved, and in thy house was nurtured.