Page:Measuring Euripides.djvu/16

 Golden Fleece by bringing her to Greece and then abandoning her to marry another wife, has the insolence to argue that he has given her more than he owes in that he has given her the boon of living in Hellas where law and justice prevail instead of mere might ruling and where her skill as a sorceress has won a fame that it would never have gained in far off Colchis.

But in a few passages Euripides' sympathy goes out even beyond the bounds of Hellas and he forecasts in two fragments the later Stoics' conception of one law of nature and of one world citizenship of humanity. "Nature is fatherland for every member of the race," he says, and "As the whole air is open to the eagle's flight, so the entire earth is native soil to the noble man."

War occupies a large space in Euripides' drama and messengers keep coming in who relate with gusto the details of the distant fight. But against such military narrative we must set many a reflection upon the woes entailed by war. One passage recognizes that war kills off the best citizens, and in another play the god Poseidon points out the folly of the sacker of cities who destroys temple and tomb and leaves only a desert for himself to die in. In two other tragedies, it is argued that men deceive themselves when they go to war. The longer of these passages is worth quoting in full: "Hope is man's curse and has involved many states in strife by leading them into excessive rage. For when the city has to vote on the question of war, no man ever takes his own death into account, but shifts this misfortune to another. But had death been before their eyes as they voted, Hellas would never have rushed to her doom in mad desire for battle. And yet each man among us knows which of the two to prefer, the good or evil, and how much better peace is for mankind than war,—Peace, chief friend of the Muses, foe of sorrow, whose joy is in glad throngs of children and whose delight is in prosperity. These we cast away and wickedly embark upon war, man enslaving the weaker man, and city city."

From another tragedy comes this invocation of the goddess of peace: "Eirene, exceeding rich and fairest of the blessed gods, I yearn for you as you are long in coming. And I fear lest age o'erwhelm me with troubles ere I see your gracious face and fair choral songs and dear wreathéd hair. Come lady to my city, and dispel hateful faction from its homes and raging strife rejoicing in sharp steel."

In more than one passage discussion and arbitration are advocated in place of war. "For if bloody war is to decide, strife will never leave the cities of men," affirms the chorus in Helen, while Plutarch in his life of Pyrrhus shows us that five hundred years afterwards men still repeated the saying of Euripides: "The force of words can do whate'er is done by conquering swords."