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28 tragedy—his posthumous plays were the rich afterglow when that glorious day was gone.

14. He was twice married, and it was said unhappily; first to Chœrile, who was the mother of his three sons—Mnesarchides, a merchant; Mnesilochus, an actor; and the younger Euripides, who produced his father's last plays and composed tragedies of his own. The comic poets do not scruple to reflect upon the unfaithfulness of his wives, from which they deduce the inference that he hated and traduced the sex in his plays. Late in life he removed to the court of Archelaus, king of Macedon, where he was received with the highest honours, and where he wrote some plays (the Bacchæ and the Archelaus) on local Thracian and Macedonian legends. He is said to have died, at the age of seventy-four, from the effects of wounds by dogs which were maliciously set upon him. A pompous tomb was erected to him in Macedonia. His cenotaph at Athens contained the following inscription, which was alleged (I know not why) to be the composition of Thucydides:

We willingly believe the story that the aged Sophocles showed deep sorrow at the death of the rival from whom he learned so much; but, by way of painful contrast, we find Aristophanes composing upon the death of Euripides his bitter and unsparing onslaught in the Frogs. For at this time, as we shall see in the sequel, the play-going world at Athens was rapidly veering round in favour of the much-abused and oft-slighted poet; and Aristophanes must have felt, with disappointment, that the matchless brilliancy of his satire was, after all, powerless against the spirit of the times and the genius of his opponent.

15. Late and doubtful authorities speak of Euripides as of gloomy and morose temper, vexed with domestic