Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-12-11
The Story of
Civilization

Civilization
Continued from Sixteenth Psge)
score years and twelve. went into vol
untary exile to spend his last days at
the court of Archelaus, King of
Macedon. The King knew that his
country was barbarous, and. like
frederick with Noltaire. resolved 10
import enlightenment. There. shell
tered and weary. but still supreme
artist, Euripidcs broke his staff, ami
drowned his book" with play as
beautiful as any, and perhaps the best
of all.
Here in the Bacchae (Bacchantes.
]. e., women whirling in the sacreG
dance of Dionysusl. Nictzsche ana
Iater found what they thought was
f.nripides apology To the gods OF
Greece. And it would seem So Tor
with "A magic marvellous in 40 years.
the spirit of the wild Dionysian cut
Is so sympathctically dramatized that
our first feelings are all against rem.
theus. youthful King of Thehes, VINO
tries puritanicaly to put an end 10
AlAt EdtCn201lS. buA X dNhAitF - 81
pears that il is not these wild reNeiS
which offend the young King. it is
the cruel supcrStitions mingled with
the cult. the growth Of a sterile
other worldinesS and the rise OF a
corrupt and ignorant prlesthood'
It's thou must set
Another altar and another yet
Amongst us. watch new birds, and
win more hire
or gold. Interpreting new signs OF
fire.
Gradually the mood Of the play
veers from reverence to ruthless
exposure of superstition and pious VIC
len"e. No god Of Joy this fellow
Dionysus. but as Jealous Of praise and
worship as a popular author Ills
worshipers dance themselves INTO &C
staSy, led 10y ACavc. mother OF leu,
theus, and when PentheuS. disguised
so that they do not recognize hlm, is
caught by them watching their dance
they tear him limb from limb, led by
Agave. When the mother comes to
her senses and secs the head which
Z she holds in her bloody hands is that
of her own son she is reNolted WIN
the cult that has so craZed her ana
cries out:
Dionysus. we heseech thee We
have sinned,
But Dionysus answers harshly;
Ye Knocked me, being God; this is
your wage.
And AGave wonders with Eurlpl-
dss:
Should God be like a proud man in
in his rage
The last lesson is the same as the
In the same year in which the
bcchae was written. Euripides died
in :he case of Aschylus. legend
BAYS about his death; he was torn
10 pieces, one story has it, by the
= dogs of rival poets; he was killed by
women. says another. on the way TO
an designation. Let us choose the
latter tale; for ii is a great honor TO
have designations at "A.
In the following year his son pro-
duced the Bacchae at Athens and 1t
won first prize. The Athenians re-
pented now of their treatment OF
him: they asked Archelaus for his
remains but Archelaus refused and
buried the poet with great pomp. This
insult to Athens intensified its adj
miration for Euripides; and all enc
mics become admire hle when they are
dead Critics became unanimous in
placing him above .4ESchNIuS anu
Sophocles. Plato and Aristotle pre-
ferred him in their quotations from
the dramatics: his plays became for
the Greek and the Roman text books
of tragic art. He became the idol of
young rebels and free thinkers: Lucian
tells how the youth of Abdera would
declaim in the streets the famous
ode from the Andromeda: Love.
monarch over gods and men," And
one historian attributes the release of
some Athenians captured in war to
the fact that they had charmed their
captors by reciting Euripides. Phile'
mon. a later dramatist, gave the finest
testimony of all IF / were certain
that the dead had consciousness" he
said. Il would hang myself to see
Euripides."
But ii is not certain: let us live.
Copyright. 1927. by Will DurantD