Page:History of the Literature of Ancient Greece (Müller) 2ed.djvu/368

346 346 HISTORY OF THE only liope. As it is Orestes himself who gives it to her, the recognition scene follows immediately, and this constitutes the revolution, or peri- peteia, as the ancients called it. The death of Clytaeinnestra and iEgisthus is treated by Sophocles more as a necessary consequence of the rest, and less as the chief incident ; and while it is the aim of M&- chylus to place this action itself in its proper light, Sophocles at once relaxes his efforts as soon as Electra is relieved from her sorrow and disquietude. § 7c The Trachinian Women of Sophocles has also entirely the plan and object of a delineation of character, and the imperfections, with which this play is not altogether unreasonably charged, arise from the conflict between the legend on which the play is founded, and the in- tentions of Sophocles. The tragical end of Hercules forms the subject of the play ; Sophocles, however, has again made the heroine Deianeira, and not Hercules, the chief person in the play. Sorrow arising from love, this is the moving theme of the drama, and, treated as the poet wished it to be, it is one possessing the greatest beauties. All Deia- neira's thoughts and endeavours are directed towards regaining the love of her husband, on whom her whole dependence is placed, and towards assuring herself of his constant attachment to herself. By pursuing this impulse without sufficient foresight, she brings upon him, as it ap- pears to her, the most frightful misery and ruin. By this her fate is decided ; but in the ancient tragedy, even when a person perishes, it is possible, by a justification of his name and memory, to attain to that tranquillizing effect, which was required by the feelings of Sophocles as well as by those of iEschylus. It is this, not to speak of the conclusion of the legend itself, which is the object of the best part of the Trachinian Women, in which Hercules appears as the chief character, and, after uttering the most violent imprecations against his wife, at last acknow- ledges that Deianeira, influenced by love alone, hud only contributed to bring about the end which fate had destined for him.* It is true that Hercules does not, as we might expect, give way to compassionate la- mentations for Deianeira, and earnest wishes that she were present to receive his parting forgiveness. The feelings of a Greek would be satis- fied by the hero's quitting the world without uttering any reproaches against his unhappy wife, for this removes any real grounds for repre- hension. § 8. We shall form the clearest idea of the meaning of King CEdipus, if we consider what it does not mean. It does not contain a history of the crime of (Edipus and its detection; but this crime, which fate had brought upon him, without his knowledge or his will, forms a dark and gloomy background on which the action of the drama itself is painted
 * Ifyllus says of her. v. 1136 : uzuv <ro xfit* Si^ajrs, ^nfrit ftco/tUn.