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415 Troades.

Electra.

413 Helena.

Hercules Furens.

In 413 occurred the destruction of an Athenian armament in Sicily, survivors from which are said by Plutarch to have been indebted to their acquaintance with Euripides' works for merciful treatment from their conquerors.

411 Phœnissæ.

408 Orestes.

406 Euripides dies. Sophocles, with all Athens, put on mourning for him. The Iphigeneia in Aulis, perhaps the Iphigeneia in Tauris, and the Bacchæ were represented shortly after his death. The Rhesus, if written by Euripides, which is disputed, was probably the earliest of his extant plays.

405 Aristophanes' comedy of the Frogs represented, having for its object to exalt the memory of Aeschylus, by belittling that of Euripides.

404 Athens taken by the Spartan general, Lysander. Plutarch records that the emotions stirred in the hearts of the victors by the recitation of a passage from the Electra turned them from their purpose of destroying the city.

The life of Euripides, his relation to contemporary thought, the discussion of various interesting problems, such as the poet's attitude towards women and towards religion, his dramatic innovations, his use of the deus ex machinâ, and so forth, I must postpone to succeeding volumes. One literary question, however, on which the right understanding of the Alcestis depends, could not well be postponed: I have therefore treated it in the appendix to this volume.