Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1896) v2.djvu/23
this occasion a number of Athenians, upon their return home, went to Euripides, and thanked him in the most respectful manner for their obligations to his pen; some having been enfranchised for teaching their masters what they remembered of his poems, and others having got refreshments when they were wandering about after the battle, for singing a few of his verses. Nor is this to be wondered at, since they tell us, that when a ship from Caunus, which happened to be pursued by pirates, was going to take shelter in one of their ports, the Sicilians at first refused to admit her; but upon asking the crew whether they knew any of the verses of Euripides, and being answered in the affirmative, they received both them and their vessel."[1]
Life of Nicias—Langhorne's trans.)
Such crowns as these no partial judges, no envious detractors, no malicious critics could take away; and it may well be that the last six years of Euripides' life were his happiest.
Marriage relations.Of his home-affairs we know but little. We are told, in the anonymous "Life" contained in certain inferior MSS., of his two wives, Melito and Chœrilè, both of whom were in succession unfaithful to him. There is good reason for doubting the fact of a second marriage,[2] and little evidence for his domestic unhappiness at all. Aristophanes, who would assuredly have made the most of any such scandal, refers to one wife only; and the sole reference which can be construed into an imputation on her chastity is to be found—not in any play brought out during Euripides' life—but in the Frogs, which appeared the year after his death. The passage runs thus:—
| Aesch. | None knows of any woman whom I drew by passion cursed. |
| Eurip. | Ha! little part had you in Aphroditè! |
- ↑ This incident forms the basis of Browning's Balaustion's Adventure.
- ↑ See Decharme, Euripide et l'Esprit de son Théatre pp. 12, 13.