Page:Sophocles (Storr 1912) v1.djvu/13



, one of the decisive battles of the world, which saved not only Greece but western civilization, is a connecting link between the three great Attic tragedians. Aeschylus, then in his prime, fought himself and celebrated the victory in his Persae; Sophocles, a boy of fifteen, was chosen for his beauty and musical skill as leader of the youthful choir who danced and sang a paean round the trophy; and Euripides, according to tradition, was born on the very day of the battle.

In his art, no less than in his age, Sophocles stands half way between the primitive faith and large utterance of Aeschylus, the “superman,” and the lyric pathos, “the touch of all things human,” of Euripides the Rationalist.

Of his private life, if we neglect later myth and gossip, there is little to tell. As Phrynicus wrote shortly after his death, “Thus happily ended a life without one mishap.” He was born at Colonus (495 ), that deme of Athens which he afterwards immortalized in what Cicero pronounced the sweetest vii