And that the Poet does not exhort to Vertue in the same merry Stile which encounters Vice To tell the Athenians in a direct Address the Folly of some of their Counsels and the Benefit of others to inspire them with Heat and Vigour for a War or to perswade them seriously to court a Peace to return solemn Thanks to Heaven for Blessings on the City and to implore the future Protection of the Tutelar Deities were all Subjects too Noble for the Common Speech of a Comedian And as long as the Chorus had sometimes the same Employment in both Species of the Drama it could not be absurd if it used too the same Language in both Upon the whole Plutarch's main Quarrel with Aristophanes is his not being like Menander And this is as unjust a reason to condemn him as if he should have fallen foul on his own Theseus for not using the same Arms as Romulus or censur'd Romulus for not fighting with the Conduct and the Discipline of Julius Caesar For the Old Comedy as well as the Old Method of War was agreeable to its proper Age. And if the later Improvements in both should be acknowledg'd to be founded on better and more universal Reason Yet we have not so much pretence to be angry with those ancient Masters for neglecting them as with Nature for not putting them into their Heads But Aristophanes's Credit does not need so poor a Plea as the Rudeness of the Times to support it For tho' we should grant his Characters to be false his Jokes Malicious or Obscene and his Designs irregular Yet the Excellencies of his pure Stile will always keep up his Name at a just height in the World He has been long acknowledg'd on all hands for the happy Engrosser of all the Charms and all the Delicacies of the Language he adorn'd and for the Great Treasurer of the Attick Graces And certainly we may be better contented to scramble among some Dirt and Rubbish for all the Grecian Beauties in Aristophanes than to dig thro' much deeper heaps of Ordure for a few Latin Elegancies in Petronius THEOCRITVS Apud Fuluium Vrsinum in marmore THEOCRITVS AMong all the Complaints that have been made against the Old Tribe of Grammarians and Commentators there is not one with less injustice taken up than that which taxes them with their hard usage of Theocritus's Story For as if it were impossible for them to agree in their Verdict tho' upon the plainest Evidence we find them strangely divided in their accounts of the Age and Country of this Poet when all the while he himself if they would have taken his Word has settled both the Points beyond Dispute In an Epigram commonly set in the front of his Poem and perhaps according to the Author 's Original Design he thus acquaints us with his City and Family 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chios can lay no Title to My Muse But I 'm Theocritus of Syracuse Praxagoras and fam'd Philina's Son And I ne'er wrote a Verse but was my own And then as to his Age one would think 't were impossible that should raise a Quarrel while the two Idylliums remain address'd to Hiero King of Syracuse and to Ptolemy Philadelphus of Egypt This Hiero was the same famous Prince whose Actions are recorded in the first Book of Polybius's History He recover'd the Regal Honour to his Family after it had been lost almost Two Hundred Years beginning his Reign in the Second Year of the 126th Olympiad as Casaubon has made out in his Observations on that Historian a Pag. 127. c. Tho' Pausanias b Lib. 6. p. 365. makes him to have obtain'd the Crown in the Second Year of the 120th Olympiad and tho' Casaubon when he wrote his Lections on Theocritus c Pag. 283. has follow'd Pausanias in the Mistake As for Ptolemy Philadelphus the Commencement of his Reign is constantly fix'd in the 123d Olympiad Hiero tho' a Prince who made a great noise in the World by the Fortune of his Arms and by the Fame of his Good Government yet seems to have express'd no great Affection for Letters Which is suppos'd to have been the occasion of Theocritus's Sixteenth Idyllium inscrib'd with Hiero's Name where the Poet asserts the dignity of his own Profession complains of the poor encouragement it met with in the World and after a very Artisicial manner touching on some of the Noblest Virtues of the Prince shows what a Brave Figure he would have made in Verse had he been as good a Patron as he was an Argument to the Muses It 's probable this Unkindness of Hiero was the main reason which prevail'd with Theocritus to leave Sicily for the Egyptian Court where King Ptolemy then sat Supreme President of Arts and Wit And we may guess that the Poet met with kinder Entertainment at Alexandria than he had enjoy'd at Syracuse from his famous Panegyrick on Ptolemy which makes his Seventeenth Idyllium and in which after the Praises of his Race his Power and his Riches he extols his Generous Protection of Learning and Ingenuity as something beyond the degree of common Virtues and Excellencies There are no farther Memorials of the Poet's Life to be gather'd from his Works except his Friendship with Aratus the famous Author of the Phaenomena To Him he addresses his Sixth Idyllium His Loves he describes in the Seventh and from Him he borrows the pious Beginning of the Seventeenth Theocrius lies under an unhappy censure in relation to his Death For if Ovid mean's Him by the Syracusian Poet in his Ibis he must seem to have suffer'd either from his own or from other Hands the shameful Fate of a Malefactor * Vtque Syracosio praestrict à fauce Poëtae Sic animae laqueo sit via clausae tuae But it will not be very insolent to say that in such a trivial Business Ovid himself might be mistaken For tho' the Old Commentators on the place tell us a grave Story of Theocritus's Execution as there hinted at and the occasion of it yet 't is possible the whole matter may lye in confounding Theocritus the Rhetorician of Chios with Theocritus the Poet of Syracuse tho' the Latter in his Epigram already set down has taken particular care to be known and distinguish'd from his Name-sake Now it 's true enough as Plutarch a Sympos l. 2. and Macrobius b Saturnal l. 7. c. 3. will witness that Theocritus of Chios was Executed by order of King Antigonus and the reason of his Misfortune was his most unseasonable Wit For having committed a very high Crime against that Prince who by the way had but one Eye and He promising him a Pardon provided he would come into his Presence to accept it his Friends were very urgent in hastening his Journey to Court and told him he need not question having his Life sav'd as soon as ever
Heavens quick Lightning scatter'd them again 'T was Jove's own Work to clear the Mortal Load And purge thy Nobler Relicks to a GOD. The People of Athens when they found it impossible to recover his Bones were contented to raise him an Honorary Tomb in their own Country which was remaining in Pausanias's Time a Attic. p. 3. And 't is to this Monument we are to refer that pretty Distich of an Epitaph extant in the common Collection of Greek Epigrams 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou art thy Tomb's Memorial that 's not Thine While thy fair Glory makes the Marble shine Which thought seems to have been imitated in the latter part of Mr. Drayton's well known Epitaph in Westminster-Abby The Story how the Originals of his Works together with those of Sophocles came into King Ptolemy's Hands when he was founding his Famous Library at Alexandria told by Lylius Gyraldus and Mr. Barnes on the Authority of Galen is to this purpose The King sent to Athens to desire those Books for the increasing his Collection but the City refus'd to comply within a little time after there happen'd a great Dearth in Attica and then Ptolemy denying them the importation of any Corn from Egypt unless they answer'd his old Demand they were forc'd to part with the Treasure to keep themselves from starving Whatever authority those Great Men had for their relation it 's certain the account in Galen is very different King Ptolemy says he sent to the Athenians to borrow the Original Manuscripts of Sophocles Aeschylus and Euripides in order to transcribe them for his Library laying down in their hands Fifteen Talents of Silver by way of Security Upon receipt of the Books he took care to have them wrote out on the fairest Parchment and set off with richest Ornaments and then keeping the Originals he sent the Copies to Athens with this Message that the King desir'd the City to accept of those Books and of the Fifteen Talents which he had left in their Hands That they had no reason to be angry since if he had neither sent them the Originals nor the Copies he had done them no injury as long as they themselves by taking the security suppos'd it a sufficient reparation in case of a Loss a Galen Tom. 5. Fol. 196. Edit Ald. AMONG all the hard Censures that have been pass'd upon EURIPIDES whether on account of his Conduct his Manners or his Stile there is not one which dares touch on the Nobler Excellencies of his Wisdom and his Passion 'T is for this reason that he has been always esteem'd the most useful Man of his Art for Human Life tho' others may have the advantage of him in Delight The same Oracle that pronounc'd Socrates the Wisest of Mortals gave Euripides the second place in the Character of Wisdom and honour'd Sophocles only with the lowest Degree 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Schol. in Aristoph p. 131. Suidas in v. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It seems a little strange that while this Testimony is so often brought to establish the honour of the Philosopher we should scarce ever find it alledg'd to credit the Poets But perhaps Men were afraid of injuring the Divine Moralist by joining him in Character with a couple of Play-wrights And the Great Origen a Contra. Cels p. 335. is of opinion that the Devil when he deliver'd that Sentence by giving Socrates those Partners purposely obscur'd his Glory while he was forc'd in some measure to applaud it However as long as the End of Poesy is to Instruct and since the Gravity of the Ancient Tragedies made them appear something more than bare Lessons of Virtue it will not detract from the Glory of the Great Socrates to call those Persons Wise who advanc'd the same Truths as himself At least he will be contented to allow Euripides a share in that Title since he was pleas'd to honour his Plays with his Company when he denied that favour to the other Masters of the Stage b Aelian Var. Hist l. 2. c. 13. Plutarch then had good reason to assign WISDOM as the peculiar Character and Glory of Euripides's Works For tho' the other Tragedians propose the same end the regulating of Mens Notions about Providence and Human Affairs the representing Vice in all it's deformities and Mischiefs and the painting Virtue with the highest Beauties and with the best rewards yet he will always appear to have answer'd that Design with so much the more advantage as he added the strength of Philosophy to the powers of Action and of Verse For thus by a course of frequent Sentences he instils all his Good Principles and Counsels by the immediate conveyance of the Ear. Whereas in the other Tragick Pieces the People were instructed more by what they saw than by what they heard The whole Action and Scope of the Play might perhaps recommend some Noble Virtue to their Practice because they beheld either that Virtue thriving happily in some Great Person or the contrary Vice procuring as remarkable Misfortunes But this was rather teaching by Picture and dumb show than by Words and Precepts While the Written part was all spent in bringing about and adjusting the Intrigue without intermixing many new Advices for fear of retarding the Grand Design But now Euripides besides their Advantage of shadowing one great Duty by the main Action has inserted a long train of inferior Rules and has given these in direct words to the Audience without putting them to the trouble of making inferences from what they see And tho' the first of these ways may be thought the most artificial Instruction the other will be admitted as the most useful or at least as the most suitable to Common Apprehensions 'T is on the account of this Wisdom and this forcible way of teaching that Quintilian when he is giving his Young Orator a List of Authors with their proper Characters and Uses while he does but just mention Sophocles's Name passes on presently to a long recommendation of Euripides as far the most beneficial to a Man who design'd to rule the Forum His Language which some reprehend as inferiour to the Grandeur of the Buskin the Rhetorician for the same reason esteems and applauds as approaching nearer to the stile of Oratory Then as to the happy abundance of his Sentences and his delivering the Grave Precepts of the Ancient Sages he thinks him almost equal to the Wise Masters themselves and in his Speeches and Answers comparable to the most commanding Pleader at the Bar. And ends his Character with the most taking part of it the excellency of his Passions and his unresistable force of raising Pitty None can deny but that the Virtues and Excellencies which Quintilian here recommends to his Orator's Imitation will have their use and value in proportion with all Persons who are engag'd in the Business of the World They will be better Citizens by reading
and restrain the furious Winds when they were visiting his Country at an unseasoble Time a Philostrat Vit. Apollon pag. 393. The same opinion of his extraordinary Worth gain'd him a free Passage to the highest Offices in the State We find him in Strabo going in joint Commission with the famous Pericles to reduce the rebellious Samians 'T was during his continuance in this Honour that he receiv'd the severe Reprimand from his Collegue which Cicero has left upon record They were standing and conferring about their Common Affairs when there happen'd to run by a very beautiful Young Boy Sophocles could not but take notice of his Prettiness and began to express his own admiration to his Brother Pericles To which the Grave General return'd this memorable Reply a Praetor Sophocles should observe Continency with his Eyes as well as with his Hands c Tull. Offi. l. 1. But whatever inclinations the Poet might then have as indeed his Chastity is deeply suspected yet they may in some measure be excus'd as the effects of a Passion submitted to on no other account but because it was unconquerable For thus we find him rejoycing at last that by the Benefit of Old Age he was deliver'd from the severe Tyranny of Love d Philostrat Vit. Apollon l. 1. c. 10. Plutarch Moral Tully in his admir'd Book de Senectute brings in Sophocles as an Example to show that the weakness of the memory and Parts is not a necessary attendant on the Condition he there defends He observes that this Great Man continued the Profession of his Art even to his latest Years But it seems his Sons resented this severe Application to Writing as a manifest neglect of his Family and Estate On which account they at last declared the Business in Court before the Judges desiring the Guardianship of their Father as one that was grown delirous and so put out of a capacity to manage his Concerns The Old Gentleman being soon acquainted with the Motion in order to his Defence came presently into Court and recited his Oedipus of Colonos a Tragedy which he had just before finish'd desiring to know whether that Piece look'd like the Work of a Mad-man There needed no other Plea to gain the Cause The Judges admiring and applauding his Wit not only acquitted him of the Charge but as Lucian adds voted his Sons Mad-men for accusing Him The General Story goes that having exhibited his last Play and getting the Prize he fell into such a Transport of Joy as carried him off a Diod. Sic. l. 13. Plin. l. 7. c. 53. Val. Max. c. Tho' Lucian b In 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 differs from the Common Report affirming him to have been choak'd with a Grape-stone like Anacreon They tell a remarkable Accident that attended his Funeral He died they say at Athens at the time when the Lacedaemonians were besieging the City for which reason the Solemnity of his Burial could not be carried on Lysander the Spartan General used at the same time frequently to have a Vision of Bacchus desiring him to suffer his Dearest Servant to be Interr'd Upon this Lysander made enquiry of the Besieg'd what eminent Persons had lately died in the Town And finding upon Information that his Vision must needs be understood of Sophocles in as much as Bacchus was the Patron and President of the Tragedians he granted them a Truce for the decent performance of his last Honours c Pausan Attic. p. 36. Plin. Nat. Hist l. 7. c. 30. It is observable that this Story about Lysander does not agree with our Marble Chronicle which places the Death of Sophocles in the Second Year of the 93d Olympiad whereas the Siege of Athens did not fall out 'till the Fourth Year of the same Olympiad the 27th of the Peleponnesian War a Xenophon If Aeschylus be stil'd the Father Sophocles will demand the Title of Master of Tragedy What one brought into the World the other adorn'd with true shapes and Features and with all the Accomplishments and Perfections it's Nature was capable of Diogenes Laertius when he would give us the highest Idea of the Advances Plato made in Philosophy compares them to the Improvements of Sophocles in the Tragick Art The chiefest of these Monsieur Boileau has thus reckon'd up and applauded Sophocle enfin donnant l' essor à son Genie Accrut encore la pompe augmenta l' Harmonie Interessa le Chaeur dans toute l' Action De vers trop raboiteux polit l' expression Lui donna chez les Grecs cette hauteur divine Ou jamais n' atteignit la foiblesse Latine Then Sophocles with happier Genius strove To raise the Musick and the Pomp improve Gave his just Chorus in the Plot their shares And filing rugged Words by nicest Ears In Grecian Grandeur reach'd that envied height Which Rome in vain affects and ape's with weaker flight His Conduct and his Expressions are the Advantages which commonly gain him the Prize against the two Rivals of his own Age and the more unequal Contenders since The first of these Virtues has made his Oedipus the General Rule and Model of true Plotting The other is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Plutarch fixes as the distinguishing mark of his Character and of his Fame One of his most judicious Artifices and on the account of which Aristotle a Poet. cap. 4. gives him the Preference to Euripides was his allowing the Chorus an Interest in the main Action so as to make the Play all of a piece every thing conducing regularly to the chief Design Whereas in Euripides we often meet with a rambling Song of the Chorus intirely independent of the main Business and as proper to be us'd on any other Subject or Occasion whatsoever Indeed the stiffest Patrons of Euripides are willing enough to allow Sophocles the poor Glory of Mechanism and Contexture provided they can but secure the Nobler Talents of Wit and Stile to the possession of their Friend At the same time the Applauders of Sophocles will come to no Composition nor yield the least part of the Tragick Laurels to the pretensions of the opposite Party Or now and then perhaps if they are in a Generous Fit they will acknowledge Euripides to have attain'd a Clearness and Happiness of Stile but then it must arise from ignobler means And what Sophocles owe's only to the force of Genius and the Native loftiness of thought his Rival must faintly imitate by an exactness of care and a skilful ranging of Words and Sentences The Compositions of Sophocles must relish of the World while those of Euripides betray the harsher twang of the School Those must be the best Tragedies these the best Socratick Discourses Those must have the Air of a Gentleman and of a Commander these of a Plausible Declaimer And in short Sophocles must be the greatest Poet and Euripides the greatest Philosopher Now if there were room for a moderate Judgment tho'
to run the hazard of his Wise Master's Profession he determin'd to turn his Philosophy to the use of the Stage with this particular resolution to keep as far as he could from disgusting so ticklish an Audience by contradicting or exposing the Superstitious Genius and the Common Fancies of the Age. Yet his Prudence and Caution were not able to secure him from all trouble on this Score For they tell us that upon that bold stroke in his Hippolytus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My Tongue has sworn but still my Mind is free He was indicted as a wicked Encourager of Perjury tho' it does not appear that he suffer'd for it The Answer he made to the Accuser is left on record by Aristotle b Rhetor. l. 3. c. 15. That 't was a very unreasonable thing to bring a Cause into a Court of Judicature which belong'd only to the Cognisance of a Theatre and the Liberty of a Publick Festival That when those words were spoken on the Stage there went along with them some reason to justifie them if not on the Stage he was ready to defend them when ever the Bill should be once prefer'd in the right Place Indeed there was another time when he incens'd the Audience to as high a Degree but then he immediately brought himself off by his Art It was in the Tragedy of Bellerophon where that old Gentleman laying himself out very eloquently in Praise of Money against Honesty in a Rant something like Mr. Waller's Miser's Speech the People were so enrag'd as to rise with general consent to demolish the Play and the Actor But Euripides stepping out in time only desir'd their patience 'till they should see what end this Patron of Covetousness came to For it seems in the sequel of the Piece he had punish'd the sordid Wretch as he deserv'd and so justified the heightning of his Character by raising the ill Consequences of it in proportion a Vid. Senec. Epist 115. He had one happiness which Men of Wit are generally strangers to and that is the being as eminent for Labour as for invention 'T was a noble return that he gave Alcest is a Brother of his Profession on this occasion Euripides it seems had been complaining that he could not get out above three Verses in three Days whereas Alcest is vapour'd that he had always Three hundred at command in the same time Ay but says Euripides You don't consider the difference Your Verses are made to live no longer than those three Days and mine to continue for ever b Val. Max. l. 3. c. 7. 'T is a remarkable Instance in what manner the Prizes were carried at the Common Trials of Wit in Athens when we find Euripides tho' he wrote Seventy-five Tragedies yet winning only Five or at most but Fifteen Victories and frequently losing the Crown to some pittiful Contender c A. Gell. l. 17. c. 4. But this had been Aeschylus's Case before him and perhaps Homer's before either Yet Euripides is generally suppos'd to have had a tolerable Fortune in the World and so not to have been oblig'd to depend mercenarily on the People's Humour If we might believe Diogenes Laertius a In Plat. he should seem to have been as intimate with Plato as he was with Plato's Master Socrates For in the Life of Plato by that Author Euripides is said to have accompanied him in his Egyptian Voyage which he made to learn the Course of the Planets But tho' the Younger Scaliger has declar'd in favour of this report yet it cannot possibly agree with the difference of Age between the Poet and the Philosopher as Mr. Barnes has most judiciously observ'd The only Great Action of those Times with which Euripides's Story is concern'd was the famous Overthrow of the Athenian Forces in Sicily This sad Disaster describ'd so largely by Thucydides in his 6th and 7th Books and by Plutarch in his Life of Nicias happen'd in the Fourth Year of the 91st Olympiad and the 72d of Euripides his Life After the last dreadful Battle wherein the Athenian Army was entirely routed and such prodigious numbers taken Prisoners It was extremely remarkable that many were sav'd and releas'd merely for the sake of Euripides For it seems of all the In-land Grecians his Muse was in highest esteem with the Men of Sicily Many of the poor Creatures that were thus preserv'd after they had got home are said to have gon and made their acknowledgments to the Poet reporting that some of them had been deliver'd from their Slavery upon teaching what they could of his Verses and how others when straggling about after the Defeat had been reliev'd with Meat and Drink for singing some of his Compositions Nor were those who fell honourably in this Unfortunate Expedition less oblig'd to Euripides than the Survivors For he paid the last Duties to their Memory in a most passionate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Funeral Elegy a fragment of which is thus set down in Plutarch a In Nicias 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eight times they put all Syracuse to flight While Heaven stood Neuter to behold the Fight Sophocles and he as the Two Great Masters of the same Trade are commonly thought to have maintain'd no great Intimacy at least not till the latter part of their Lives Yet his Second Epistle is address'd to Sophocles who was then in the Island Chios congratulating his safety after a Ship-wreck and condoling the loss of his Tragedies by that Accident as a Common Misfortune to Greece yet such as might easily be repair'd in as much as the Worthy Author of them surviv'd If this Epistle be genuine there was without doubt a fair understanding at last between these Great Persons a point which will be confirm'd farther when we come to take notice of Sophocles's Behaviour upon the News of Euripides's Death His Humour and Carriage are represented as Grave and Serious and not much inclin'd to the ordinary gaiety of Poets Aulus Gellius b Lib. 15. c. 20. has preserv'd a notable Epigram of Alexander the Aetolian on which this account of his Temper is commonly built 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Spark of Anaxgoras's School I always took for a rough Stubborn Soul His aukward Court ne'er wear's a smiling Look Nor all the Power of Wine can raise him to a Joke Yet when he Writes the Syrens croud his Tongue And with fair Honey mix the flowing Song As to Love-matters the common Business of his Profession his Character runs double for we find him distinguish'd by the Title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Suidas and Gellius and by the quite contrary appellation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Athenaeus But the appearing Contradiction may be easily salv'd His continual Care to fill his Plays with Satyrs against Women might well make him esteem'd a Hater of