Page:The Theatre of the Greeks, a Treatise on the History and Exhibition of the Greek Drama, with Various Supplements.djvu/180

 162 AGATHON AND THE lOPHON, the son of Sophocles, is described by Aristophanes* as a man whose powers were, at the time of his father's death, not yet sufficiently proved to enable a critic to determine his lite- rary rank. He appears, however, to have been a creditable dra- matist, and gained the second prize in 428 B.C., when Emipides was first and Ion third ^. EuPHORiON, the son of ^schyliis, deserves to be mentioned as having obtained the first prize, when Sophocles gained the second, and Euripides the third. He probably produced, on this occasion, one of his father's posthumous Tragedies, with which he is said to have conquered four times. He did, however, occasionally bring out Tragedies of his own composing 3. Euripides and Sophocles, the nephew and grandson respec- tively of their namesakes, are said to have exhibited, either for the first or for the second time, some of the dramas of their rela- tives. The younger Sophocles reproduced the (Edijpus at Colo- nus, in 401 B.C.'*; and first contended in his own name 396 B.c.^ Euripides the younger is said to have published an edition of Horner^. Meletus, the accuser of Socrates, is stated to have been a tragedian '^, and a writer of drinking songs ^. (Edipus was the subject of one of his plays ^ Ch^remon, who flourished about B.C. 380, was celebrated for his Centaur, in which he mixed up the drama with the styles of epic and lyric poetry then fashionable ^''. He had a great talent for description, but his works were better suited for the closet than for the stage ^^ ^ Ran. 73 sqq. ^ Arg. Ilippolyti. ^ Suidas, V. Eixpopicjv. Argument. Medece. ^ Elms, ad Bacck. p. 14, and Suidas. ^ Diodor. Sic. Xiv. 53. ^ Suidas. ^ Schol. Ran. 1337 : rpayiKbs woirjTTjS 6 M^Xtjtos' ovtos 5^ iariv 6 Sw/cpcirr; ypaipd- fxevos' Kco/xipdeLTai d^ ws rj/vxpos iv rfj iroLrjaei kuI ws wovrjpbs rbv Tpbirov. ^ Ran. 1297. 9 Gaisford, Led. Platon. p. 170. i*> Aristot. Poet. i. ; Athenssus, xiii. p. 608. " Aristot. Rhef. tit. ic.