Page:The Theatre of the Greeks, a Treatise on the History and Exhibition of the Greek Drama, with Various Supplements.djvu/152

 134 EURIPIDES. lie appears to have been very intimate with Socrates and Alci- biades, the former of whom is said to have assisted him in the composition of his Tragedies^; and when Alcibiades won the cliariot race at Olympia, Euripides wrote a song in honour of his victory 2. That Socrates was, even at this time, very unpopular, is exceedingly likely^; and Alcibiades was a condemned exile. Per- haps, then, Euripides only followed the dictates of prudence in withdrawing from a country where his philosophical, as well as his political sentiments, exposed him to continual danger. At the court of Archelaus, on the contrary, he was treated with the great- est distinction, and was even admitted to the private counsels of the king. He wrote some plays in Macedonia, in one of which (the Bacchce) he seems to have been inspired by the wild scenery of the country^ where he was residing; and the story, according to which he is torn to pieces by dogs*^, just as his hero Pentheus is rent asunder by the infuriated Bacchanals, arose perhaps from a con- fusion between the poet and the last subject on which he wrote. It is clearly a fabrication, for Aristophanes in the Frogs would cer- tainly have alluded to the manner of his death, had there been any ^ ''Laertius (in Socrat.) has preserved a couplet which cunningly brings this charge : ^piyes, earl Kaivbv dpcifxa tovt^ "ElvpLiridov, ''Ot Kul TO, (ppdyav VTroTidrjai lluKpdTrjs. AUusion is made to the same imputation in a line of Antiphanes (Athen. IV. 134) : '0 TO. K€(pdata avyypdcpuu EupiTriS??, where Kefpakaia are the sententious sayings which Socrates was reputed to have furnished, ^lian {Var. Hist. 11. 13) states that Socrates seldom went to the theatre, except to see some new Tragedy of Euripides performed. This philosophising in his dramas gave Euripides the name of the stage pJdlo- soplier; Euripides, auditor Anaxagorse, quem philosophum Athenienses scenicum appellaverunt. Vitruv. viil. in prsef." — Former Editor. See Dindorf, in Poet. Seen. P- 574. ^ Plutarch, Alcihiad. c. XI. : Keyei 5' 6 Eupi7ri5>;s h ry qlcr/xari ravra' Se 5' deiao/xai, (S K.eiuiov irai. KaKbv d m-a" KdWiarov 5' 8 Mrjdels ctXXos 'EXXdvcov "Ap/nart TTyodJra dpa/xelv Kal devrepa Kal rpira ^rjvai 5' dirov-qrl, Tpls (rT€<p6&r' iXaia KdpvKL ^oav Trapadovvat. ^ Archelaus invited Socrates also to his court. Aristot. Ehet. ii. 73. ^ Aristot. Rhet. ill. 15. •■^ See Elmsley on the argviment, p. 4. In v. 400, we should read UeWav for Ila^oz'. '' Hennesianax Colophonius (Athen. xiii. 598) ; Ovid, Ibis, 595 ; Aul. Gell. Noct. Attic. XV. 20; Val. Max. ix. 12. — Pausanias (i. p. 3) seems to doubt the truth of the common account. Dionysius Byzantius expressly denies it (Anthol. in. 36).