Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1896) v2.djvu/43
But that the pleader oft turmoiling turns
This way and that, and staineth it with wrong:"—
(Frag. Peliades.)
of wealth gotten by vanity—
"Snatch honours by the strong hand, wicked men;
Get wealth, yea, hunt the prey from every side,
Unrighteous gain and righteous undistinguished—
Then the grim harvest reap of all these things:"—
(Frag. Ino.)
of our accountability—
"Mortals hold their possessions not in fee;
We are but stewards of the gifts of God:
Whene'er he will, he claims his own again."
(Phoenician Maidens, 555—557.)
of the wisdom of resignation —
"Never was man born but to toil and pain.
He burieth children, getteth him new babes,
And dies himself. Yet men are grieved hereat
When dust to dust they bear; needs must it be
That death like corn-shocks garner lives of men,
That this man be, that be no more. Now why
Mourn what all must by nature's law pass through?
There is no horror in the inevitable:"—
(Frag. Hypsipyle.)
and of the grandeur of noble, though unsuccessful, endeavour—
"Though one fail, greatly failing, he
By death wins immortality."
(Frag. Aigeus.)
It is not, however, by exhortation that one moves his fellows most deeply and permanently, but by setting before them inspiring examples, by creating great ideals.
One of the foremost of English scholars and critics, arguing that Aristophanes is, in his indictment of Euripides, substantially right from the Athenian point of view, says: