has no rival. It ought at the same time to be kept in view, that it was not the dialogue which chiefly enchanted the Athenians, nor variety in the passions represented, nor perfection in the actors, but machinery and pompous decoration, joined with exquisite music. That these particulars were carried to the greatest height, we may with certainty conclude from the extravagant sums bestowed upon them: the exhibiting a single tragedy was more expensive to the Athenians than their fleet or their army in any single campaign." Sketches of the History of Man, vol. i. p. 141. Let it not be deemed pedantry, or an affectation of admiring the writers of ancient Greece, but impartial justice, to observe, that if the Greek tragedies were more active than sentimental, those great poets perfectly knew their province; for tragedy, as Aristotle' defines it, is the imitation of an action. The simplicity of the subject constitutes one of their principal excellencies; and from that simple subject to give rise to the passions, is a proof of their power: whether these passions were called forth only in their most ordinary exertions, whether no delicate situation occasioned any singular emotion, whether there is no gradual swelling and subsiding of passion, no conflict between different passions, the English reader will be able to determine from reading any one of these tragedies, particularly the impassioned characters of Phædra and Medea, and probably will be enchanted with the dialogue and the variety in the passions represented. The age which produced, besides these tragic poets, Pindar, Simonides, Prodicus, Anaxagoras, the accomplished Pericles, Socrates, and Ο Εσιν οὖν τραγωδία μίμησις πράξεως, &c. Περὶ Ποιητικῆς, κεφ. ε'. Δράμα enim dicitur, quia est μιμητικὸν ἐν τῷ δράν. Vossii Instit. Poetic. lib. ii. c. 1. с many other great men, could not be but beginning to emerge from roughness and barbarity into a taste for literature; Athens was rather at that time advanced to its highest perfection in all the polite arts: it is not a proof of the barbarism of that people, that they had no idea of any thing more perfect than the compositions of Eschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides; if it is, the barbarism yet remains. That the music which accompanied these tragedies was so exquisite as some imagine, "who have formed a romantic idea of ancient music upon the exaggerated accounts of its effects, which they have read in old authors," will not be readily allowed; "with all the simplicity of their music, the poets themselves being able to set their own pieces, and to sing them so well to the satisfaction of the public, is to a perfect judge a certain proof that their music had not only fewer difficulties, but fewer excellencies than the modern." Their machinery and decoration were indeed magnificent; but it must not be supposed that the exhibiting a single tragedy was more expensive to the Athenians than their fleet or their army in any single campaign; the authority of Demosthenes will probably be thought decisive; he says that the Athenians expended more money upon the Panathenæan and Dionysian feasts, than upon any one of their naval expeditions. In Philipp. I. The Panathenæa continued several days, and consisted of various entertainments, races both of men and horses, gymnastic exercises, musical contests, pyrric dances, a naumachium, pompous processions, and at the end a costly sacrifice, at which the whole assembly was feasted dramatic exhibitions made but one part of these expensive shows, and in these each poet who e Dr. Burney's Dissertation on the Music of the Ancients, p. 168. contended for the crown, and many contended, was obliged to present three tragedies and a satiric piece : it might therefore be curious to calculate the expence of exhibiting a single tragedy, and probably it would come out much less than that of bringing a new play upon our stage.-Had these observations fallen from the pen of an obscure writer, they would have been suffered to sink in oblivion; but the well-acquired reputation of the author of the Sketches of the History of Man makes it proper to take this notice of them. The translator's attempt to present the tragedies of Æschylus to the English reader has been honoured with so candid and favourable a reception, that he is encouraged to offer Euripides also to the public; the same care and attention have been applied, whether with equal success, the public will now judge. In Eschylus he found difficulties enough; in translating Euripides he finds one of a peculiar nature, of which the best judges of writing will be most sensible: the sublime and daring imagination of the former, expressed in the strongest and most vivid glow of colouring, animates and inspires; but in Euripides there is much of what the ancient critics called aλav, tenui oratione et scripturâ levi, yet sweet and delicate through the melody and rythmus of the Greek language, and the poet's wonderful skill in the structure of his words, in which he was so elaborately curious, that sometimes he did not compose more than three verses in three days: this simple unraised style has given the translator the most trouble of any part of this poet's works, and probably he will please least where he has laboured most; yet, though he found it impossible to equal the melody of the original, he did not think it allowable to attempt to elevate its simplicity; for in such cases those who are most capable of judging will think that nimium quod est offendit vehementius, quam id quod videtur parum. In deference to the opinion of some persons, who want notes as little as the translator likes to deform his page with them, some few notes are here subjoined. With regard to these, considering the various readers an English book may have, who will prescribe the proper measure? what is enough? what is not too much? Annotations are not properly the province of the translator, but of the critic; and great are his services to literature; to the acumen of Valckenaer, to the extensive learning, the solid judgment, and the amiable candour of Markland, the admirers of Euripides are greatly indebted; they have done much, but much yet remains to be done. The translator feels, and most gratefully acknowledges, the honour done him by many persons of the greatest eminence both in station and learning. He wishes that the translation may be found in some degree to merit this generous encouragement; he can only say, that it is not negligently done, and that it is at least faithful; it may give an agreeable and a rational amusement to the English ladies, whose education does not generally lead them to an acquaintance with the Greek language; and an endeavour to revive the manly simplicity of the ancients cannot be unuseful to any persons in any age. SCARNING, |