Page:History of the Literature of Ancient Greece (Müller) 2ed.djvu/359

337 LITERATURE OF ANCIENT GREECE. 337 CHAPTER XXIV. § 1. Condition in which tragic poetry came into the hands of Sophocles. His first appearance. § 2. Subsequent events of his life ; his devotion to the drama. § 3. Epochs in the poetry of Sophocles. § 4. Thorough change in the form of tra- gedy. § 5. Outline of his plays; the Antigone. § 6. The Electra. § 7. The Trachinian Women. § 8. King CEdipus. § 9. The Ajax. § 10. The Philoc- tetes. § 11, 12. The CEdipus at Colonus, in connexion with the character and conduct of Sophocles in his latter years. § 13. The style of Sophocles. § 1. The tragic trilogies of TEschylus had given a dramatic represen- tation of the great cycle of Hellenic legends. In exhibiting the history of whole families, tribes, and states, the poet had contrived to show the influence of supreme wisdom and power shining amidst the greatest difficulty and darkness. Every Greek, who witnessed such an exhibition of the dispensations of Providence in the history of his race, must have been filled with mingled emotions of wonder and joyful exultation. A tragedy of this kind was at once political, patriotic, and religious. How was it possible that, after these mighty creations of so great a genius as iEschylus, a still fairer renown should be in reserve for Sophocles? In what direction could such great advances be made from the point to which iEschylus had brought the tragic art ? We will not indulge ourselves in an d priori determination of the way in which this advance might have been made, but will rather con- sider, with history for our guide, how it really took place. It will be seen that the change was retrograde as well as progressive ; that if something was gained on the one side, it was because something was also given up on the other ; and that it was due above all to that moderation and sobriety of character, which was the noblest and most amiable property of the Greek mind. Before we can solve the great question proposed above, we must give an account of so much of the poet's life as may be necessary for an un- derstanding of his poetical career. Sophocles, the son of Sophilus, was born at the Attic dermis, or village of Colonus, in Olymp. 71. 2. B.C. 495* He was, therefore, fifteen years old when the battle of Salumis was fought. He could not, of course, share in the dangers of the fight, but he was the exar- chus, or leader of the chorus which sang the paean of victory, and in that capacity appeared naked, according to the rule in gymnastic solem- two years older, but this is opposed to the fact mentioned in the note to § 2. z
 * This is the statement in the Pita Sophoclis. The Pari in marble makes him