Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/310

* EURIPIDES. 276 EUROPA. in some plays he appears as the precursor of the modern romantic school. In his lost Andromeda, of which the theme was Perseus's affection for the princess whose life he had saved, he produced the only known example among the tragedies of antiquity of a plot based on the favorite motive of the modern novel. Euripides shared in the current skepticism of the day as to the older religious beliefs, and many passages in his tragedies betray his doubts. His attitude not unnaturally brought down upon his head the wrath of the conservatives, of whom Aristophanes was the chief literary representa- tive. In Euripides's language the speech of com- mon life had a considerable part, and his style shows a remarkable smoothness and dexterity : Aristophanes actually imitated it, Aristotle praised it, so that it was the model for the writers of the later comedy. The structure of his plays, however, is often dramatically defective, as many of them are made up of brilliant detached episodes and do not form coherent units through which the plots are gradually developed. On the other hand, in other plays, as, for example, in the Medea, the plot is steadily developed from be- ginning to end. Euripides has been blamed for his use of the explanatory prologue, in which he makes known to the spectators the events which precede the opening of the play and oftentimes outlines coming events. But he deserves cen- sure, not for his employment of such prologues, but for the manner in which he managed them, for many of them are mechanical and ten are burdened with long genealogies which deserve the ridicule that Aristophanes heaped upon them. He also resorts too often to the 'deus ex machina' (q.v.) to solve his tragic situations, and the choral songs have frequently nothing to do with his play. Yet with all allowances for his defects, Euripides remains a great tragic poet. His greatest strength lay, as was pointed out in antiquity, in the representation of human pas- sion and in his recognition scenes. After the beginning of the Peloponnesian War Euripides enjoyed great popularity, and his fame was not confined to Attica alone. In the fourth century he was read and presented almost to the exclusion of the two older poets. The vases from southern Italy which have representations of scenes from his work attest his fame there in the fourth and third centuries B.C., and in the Roman and Byzantine periods he was highly esteemed and imitated. In modern times he lias influenced Eng- lish, German, and especially French dramatists. Euripides took his plots from the same general sources as previous poets. A' considerable num- ber of plays are based on the legends of Thebes, Argn-. and the stories of Heracles; the Trojan cycle had less charm for him. so thai only about a fifth of his plots can be traced to that source, although ten of the extant plays, including the Rhesus, which popular taste ha- preserved to us, belong to this cycle. The myths of his native Attica, however, had a strung attraction for him, and he i. i..k pleasure in celebrating the Athenian heroes, <Egeus, Theseus, ami Erechtheus. He also gh1 t'T subjects in new fields, especially for themes which exhibited violent passion or ro- mantic- adventures. Such were the stories of Bellerophon. Crcsphontes, and Phaethon, which he handled for the first time, lb' also treated bis mythology with great fin, I, mi, sometimes varying it in different plays, or enlarging and developing a myth until it was practically his own invention. Tradition -ays that he left ninety-two plays in all. Of these we possess but eighteen, and the Rhesus, which is almost universally regarded as spurious. The genuine plays are: Alcestis (438); Andromache; Bacchce; Hecuba; Helena (412); Electra; Heraclidce; Hercules Fwrens; Supplices; Hippolytus (428); Iphigenia Auli- densis; Iphigenia Taurica; I'm: Cyclops (the single satyr drama extant); Medea (431j; Orestes (408) ; Troades (415) ; ami Phcenissce. Only the dates given are known with certainty; but the Bacchce ami Iphigenia A-ulidensis were produced after the poet's death. Besides the above complete plays, over 1100 fragments of the other dramas have been preserved. Of the extant play-, the Medea, Hippolytus, Bacchce, and Iphi- i/i ui'i Among tlie Taurians are the best. The best critical editions are by Kirchhoff ( Ber- lin. 1855); Nauck (Leipzig, 1871); Prinz and Wecklein (Leipzig, 1878 et seq.), and a complete edition with English commentary by Pa ley (Lon- don, 1858-60, 3 vols.; vols. i. and ii. in 2d ed., 1872-75). Commentated editions of single plays are very numerous; only a few of the best Eng- lisn editions can be named here: Alcestis, Earle (New York, 1894); Haley (Boston, 1898); Baccha?, Sandys (2d ed., Cambridge, 188.5); Tyrrell (London. 1892): Helena, Jerram (Ox- ford, 1881); Heraelcidce, Beck (Cambridge, 1S82): Hippolytus, Harry (Boston, 1809); Ion, Yerrall (Cambridge, 1890); Iphigenia at Aulis, England (London, 1891): Iphigenia Among the Taurians, England (London, 1880) ; Jerram (Ox- ford, 1885); Medea, Yerrall (London, 1881); Allen-Moore (Boston, 1901): Troades, Tyrrell (London. 1S97). The Scholia are best edited by Schwartz (Berlin, 1887-91). There is an excellent English translation in verse by Way (London. 1894-98); prose translation by Coleridge (London, 1885). Consult: Mahaffy, Introduction t<> the Study of Euripides (London, 1879); Decharme, Euri- pidi 'l I'esprit de son th&ltre (Paris, 1893): Yen-all. Euripides the Rationalist (Cambridge, 1895); Haigh, Tragic Drama of the Greeki (Oxford, 1890); England. Euripides mid the Attic Orators (London, 1S98): Nestle. Euri- pides, der Dichter der griechischen Aufkldrung (Stuttgart, 1901) : Huddilston, Greek Tragedy in the Light of Vase Paintings i New York, 1898). EURI'PUS (Lat.. from Gk. Eljpnrou. The narrowest part of the channel between the island of Eubcea and the mainland of Greece (Map: Greece, E 3). Opposite Chalcis the width of the strait is but a little over 40 yards, ami it is very shallow. Here a rock in the channel facilitated the construction of a bridge as early a- B.C. 410. Exceedingly swift ami variable currents exist in the strait. ''Tie name i- sometimes used in a wiilcr sense to designate the southeastern portion of the Eubcean channel. ETJROC'LYDON. See ECBAQUTLO. EURO'PA (Lat., from Gk. Evpwttj, Europe, from Assyr. SrSbu, to set (of the sun), although the Greeks etymologized the word a- broad-eyed, from tipfa, eurys, broad + Sifi, ops, eye). In Greek legend, a daughter of Agenor (q.v.). or Phoenix, King of Phoenicia. Her beauty attract- ed the attention of Zeus, who appeared in (he