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 EUEE des and Socrates, the former of whom, ac- cording to one report, exasperated by his at- tacks, threw him into the sea, where he was drowned. He is also said, with more proba- bility, to have been killed in battle during the Peloponnesian war. The fragments of his plays have been edited by Kunkel (Leipsic, 1829), and are contained in Meineke's Frag- tnenta Poetarum Comicorum Grcecorum (Ber- lin, 1839-'47). EURE, a N. department of France, formed by the union of four ancient districts of Nor- mandy, bordering on the departments of Seine- Infe"rieure (from which it is partly separated by the lower part of the Seine), Oise, Seine-et- Oise, Eure-et-Loir, Orne, and Calvados ; area, 2,300 sq. m. ; pop. in 1872, 377,874. It has a level surface, naturally divided into six plateaus by the rivers Epte, Andelle, Eure, Iton, Bille, and Charentonne, which flow through it to the Seine; and it presents well cultivated fields and enclosures, fine forests, marshes, and a few hills. The river from which the department has its name flows on the S. E. border, and then mostly parallel with the Seine. Agriculture is carried to a high degree of per- fection, and the vine, apple, and pear are ob- jects of special cultivation. Its most celebrated and flourishing cloth manufactories are at Lou- viers. It has important copper founderies at Romilly, and manufactories of nails, pins, &c. It has considerable commerce, chiefly in .its own manufactured and agricultural products. It is divided into the arrondissements of lEvreux, Louviers, Pont-Audemer, Bernay, and Les An- delys. Capital, Evreux. EURE-ET-LOIR, a N. department of France, formed from parts of the ancient provinces of Orleanais, Ile-de-France, and Maine, border- ing on the departments of Eure, Seine-et-Oise, Loiret, Loir-et-Cher, Sarthe, and Orne, and comprised in the basins of the Seine and the Loire; area, 2,268 sq. m. ; pop. in 1872, 282,- 622. Its general aspect is that of a plain, with slight undulations of hill and valley, and its soil is unsurpassed in fertility by any in France. The river Eure, which rises near the W. border in Orne, flows E. and N. through the northern part, and the Loir rises near the centre and flows S. S. W. to the Loire. The climate is mild, with frequent rains in spring and autumn. There are but small re- mains of the immense forests which formerly covered its surface. Cereals, the vine, prune, pear, cherry, and apricot are cultivated. It has some cloth manufactories. It is divided into the arrondissements of Chartres, Chateau- dun, Dreux, and Nogent-le-Rotrou. Capital, Chartres. EURIPIDES, the last of the illustrious trio of the tragic poets of Athens, born, according to the almost unanimous consent of the ancient authorities, in the island of Salamis, in the 1st year of the 75th Olympiad, 480 B. 0., and, as was generally believed, on the very day of the battle of Salamis (Sept. 23). The Parian mar- EURIPIDES 779 ble alone carries back the date of his birth to 485, or the fourth year of the 73d Olympiad He died in 406. The name Euripides is said to have been bestowed upon him in commem- oration of the battle of Artemisium, fought not long before, near the channel of the Euri- pus. He was the son of an Athenian citizen named Mnesarchus, and his wife Clito, of the deme of Phlya and the tribe Cecropis, or ac- cording to others of the deme of Phyle and the tribe (Eneis. His parents had left Athens on the approach of Xerxes and his Persian host. The condition of the family was re- spectable and perhaps affluent, though Aristo- phanes, in his comic attacks upon the poet, describes his mother as a seller of herbs. Early trained in athletic exercises, Euripides is said to have gained while still a boy the victory in the Eleusinian and Thesean con- tests; and at the age of 17 he offered himself at the Olympic games, but was not received. For a time he devoted himself to the art of painting, and some of his performances are said to have been exhibited at Megara. He studied rhetoric under Prodicus, the author of the apologue of the "Choice of Hercules," who visited Athens as ambassador of his na- tive city ; physics under Anaxagoras, whose opinions gave a coloring to his poetry; and perhaps philosophy under Protagoras. He be- came an intimate friend of Socrates, who was 11 years his junior. At length, after trying his hand in other pursuits, his natural turn for tragedy manifested itself. His first piece was written at the age of 18, but there is no evi- dence that it was brought upon the stage. "Peliades," the first of his plays represented in his own name, was brought out in 455. This is not preserved. Fourteen years later, in 441, he gained for the first time the first tragic prize. Ten years after this, in 431, he gained the first prize with the tetralogy, including "Medea," " Philoctetes," "Dictys," and " Theristffl." In 428 he brought out the "Hippolytus;" in 412 "Andromeda;" and in 408 "Orestes." He appears to have carried off the prize but seldom, if we con- sider the number of his plays 15 times ac- cording to Thomas Magister, or five times as others state ; while he is said by some to have written 92, and by others 75 pieces^ including the satyric dramas or afterpieces with which the tragic trilogy was usually followed. Soon after the representation of " Orestes," Euripi- des appears to have accepted the invitation of Archelaus, king of Macedon, to take up hi? residence at that court. He had already held possession of the Athenian stage for more than 50 years, and had written an extraordinary number of masterpieces, when he went to try the uncertain experiment of residence at a foreign court ; but there were some powerful reasons which urged him to this step. The rivalries in his art, and still more the attacks to which he exposed himself by the freedom of his philosophical and religious opinions, proba-