New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-12-10

TRANSLATlONS FROM TIE GREEK 1i'NH-
EDIES
SPECIMENS or GREEK. TRAGEDY. Trans
laf.I by Goodwin smith, u. c. J.. Two volumes
pp xxiu "a, VIII l73. Macmillan co.

SPECIMENS 9y GREEK TRAGEIR %o vo Tr4.s.
Pr xNiu pa vii. liS. Macmillan q 20
Professor smith AZ 81 critic takes the ortto-
,lox view which Is tolerant rather than induls'nt
toward Euripides rs a dramatic writer. Eut "h"h
1t comes 70 trarslatins H. gives the last u the thr'
great Greek tragic oocts almost as much n'i'"
rs he giycs - both :hc others There mas always
been a. discrepancy u this sort between the criti-
cal ce,lmatr put u?oa Eu-ioldes and the actual In
tercst taken In his works. When h. WAS alive
though he wrote much. hc rarely took prize
Nanifesily. as 4 contestant for the customary
av.rrds OF the Athcnian stage he was SUBJECT
- formal criticism and somehow the judges could
not often make up their minds TO favor him. on
the other hand. there IA no question that the pop
ulnr cfcct ~ his pays great not merely IN his
own time but ages aftrrwarl. or course. one thinks
II modern writers almost unknown T. criticism who
ncvcr heless secure "A multitude Of admirers. ana OF
others whom deliberate conaure seems 70 have made
more popular than they were before. Bu the crlt-
les may be- right about these modern authors. While
on IN. other hand Euripdes has stood the tes; OF
inspection for over two thousand years. He cam
not ir bad In a literary sense. though he may be
imperfect
His attitude toward religion was nIrn!cal and de-
struct!yc bat ne was only the first of long line Of
Yaiinus which eliminated in Lucan. Of Samosata
HAT found the absurtirs OF the Hellenic faith too
great to 'nlGrr in silence And he could not have
struck "A harder blow at the popular reverence for
2"us than Aeschylus dN In "Promothcu Bound"
wncrc the father OF gods and mon was represented
as IN unmitlgled tyrant. So. Professor Smith says
this drama is q sublime ENIGMA. Aeschylus
conservatlv. and deeply religious. HOW could he
write n play. the hero Of which Is benefactoT OF
man struggling against the tyranny Of the king
Of the gods. and the sequel of which found a tit and
congenai composer In Shelley, who's" sentiment ana
manner the promethcus IiounI wonderfully antic
patcs and perhaps helped to form? Again. how
. could the Atncnians IL age when ttoir pcty had
not yet given way 10 sccpticsm have endured such
dramatic treatment Of the chief Of the gods 1t IL
almost II a myst ~ pi'y had been presented In
the Middle Ages with Satan for the hero and the
First Person ~ the Trinity In the character Of an
Opprcssor" II had The rest OF the story - told
by A,schylus. those questions you'd ansW them
selves. Lacking that. 1t must b. RENE inferred fow
Greek popular relision was underlad wi;h the
doctrine II change. The world was not eternal,
nnl within the world thse was a succ, sion OF
divine rulers The periodical revolutions of the
Inivcrs. revealed power higher than the gods.
and seemed To solve some contradictions which
sceptios were beginning To- dwell upon. From this
point Of view. Acschyirs would seem 10 inculcate
that pious resignation to the order Of nature which
suited well the peculartics OF antique thought
just a man, says Socrates. could be accused Of
impicty II he ventured upon premature Innovations
I'm worship. the gods themselves would be I'm
pous If they sought to resist destiny
Thus. excuse be given for Aeschyus Just
a parsonage almost worthy OF reverence. But the
attitude Of Euripides was, as has sometimes been
remarked rather more like that Of Voltare than
any other modern He kept tho gods. They
useful But he has no reverence TO waste them.
He brings gods and heroes alike down the level
Of ordinary man. and he depicts man just he Is.
The characters OF Euripides as true ID life
a they Those OF Aeschyl Illus and Soph-
oc.es were true. II only their ideal
philosophy which had the aspect Of verify And
just because they not hampered by actual con-
dtions OF life. so they capable Of greater
sublimity and grace In poetic form The poet who
feels AT liberty to depict human life 1t ought to
be. nstead Of as 1t Is. likewise give his poem
such form as II ought to have. But real men
must have real surroundings. and these ar, often
sordid hateful and apparently chaotic. Thus Flu
ripldeS lacks form more than little. His odc' nave
relevancy to the rest OF his plays and s2neicles
his plots do not hang together Bu; his character
drawing is wonderful. and there episodes In his
plays which Sophocles technically perfect ms
re was must have envied Indeed. there IL n tradi-
ton that SophocleS influenced strongly by hiS
more youthful contemporary. That EuTiph's in""-
died In politics Is true: but Aeschylns ana opAoc'eS
did the same. though In IA ass degree froiess"r
Smith points out that in AeschylGS's seven Hs-ilS.
Thebes" the character OF Amphlar"ds was ih'ehueu
for Ars,ldes who called the just but-h one