Page:History of the Literature of Ancient Greece (Müller) 2ed.djvu/382

360 360 HISTORY OF THE are on the watch for every opportunity of reasoning on their views of things human and divine. Along with this, objects of common life are treated with the minutest attention to petty circumstances of daily oc- currence,* as when Medea makes a detailed complaint of the unhappy lot of women, who are obliged to bring a quantity of money as dowry in order to purchase for themselves a lord and master ;t and as Her- mione, in the Andromache, enlarges on the topic, that a prudent hus- band will not allow his wife to be visited by strange women, because they would corrupt her mind with all sorts of bad speeches. J Euripides must have bestowed the greatest pains on his study of the female character. Almost all his tragedies are full of vivid sketches and in- genious remarks referring to the life and habits of women. The deeds of passion, bold undertakings, fine-spun plans, as a general rule, always originate with the female characters, and the men often play a very de- pendent and subordinate part in their execution. One may easily con- ceive what a shock would be given by thus bringing forward the women from the domestic restraint and retirement in which they lived at Athens. But it would be doing Euripides great injustice if we were, like Aristophanes, to make this a ground for calling him a woman- hater. The honour which his mode of treating the subject confers on the female sex is quite equal to any reproaches which he puts upon women. Euripides also brings children on the stage more frequently than his predecessors ; perhaps he did this for the same reason that made people, when brought before the criminal courts on charges in- volving severe punishment, produce their children to the judges in order to touch their hearts by the sight of their innocence and helplessness. He brings them on in situations which must have moved the heart of every affectionate father and mother among his audience,§ although they were seldom introduced as speaking or singing, because this was not possible without making some tedious arrangements.|| § 3. Euripides also avails himself of every opportunity of touching upon public events, in order to give weight to his opinions on political subjects, whether favourable or unfavourable. He expresses himself f Euripides, Medea, 235. X Eurip. Androm. 944. § As when Peleus holds up the little Molossus to untie the cords with which his mother is bound {Androm, 724). Astyanax, in the Troades. is first embraced by his mother in the midst of her bitter grief, and afterwards brought in dead upon a shield. The infant Orestes must coax Agamemnon, so as to make him listen to the prayers of Iphigenia. Medea are heard crying out from behind the scenes). One of the chorus then stood behind the scenes and sang the part which the child acted, and which was called TO»«y*)i««», also ■ragaxogyy/iftx, a name which comprehended all the chorus did besides their proper part.
 * olxiia tfgdyfAara, oig x/iupiff, oif l-uvsa/tsv, says Aristophanes, Frogs, 959.
 * As in the scenes in the Alcestis and the Andromache (for the children of