EURIPIDES
are these but the ancestors of the Lacedaemonians, after all?
The Argives (neutral in 429; but one Argive was executed at
Athens) are not so bad as we thought, though all heralds grow
arrogant on their sacred immunity. There is plenty of "glori-
ous Athens/' and "liberty" is a key word. But Athens has
slipped, this once. Euripides' faith in his city is not to be
broken for a long time, but here is reproof and warning.
The Play
It is rapid, with little lyric or high poetry, not profound but,
despite the melodrama, often shrewd. The young king is
really a democrat in disguise; will do nothing without the
people's consent; and therefore, while ready to protect the
afflicted, cannot help wishing (like the king in The Suppliants
of Aeschylus) that these particular suppliants had never come
his way. Macaria seems a mere abstraction of virtue, until her
outburst at lolaus, when he offers to spoil her act, shows her
as human after all. The most challenging piece of treatment
is that accorded to lolaus. Why must he be so old? We are
not to press legendary ages, but, after all, lolaus was of the
generation of Hyllus, not of Alcmene; he was the nephew of
Heracles, not his uncle. Probably, for one thing, for the story.
The point is that the Heracleidae are helpless until helped by
Athens and cannot be protected by two strong fighters of their
own. So Hyllus comes in as an afterthought and is kept (with
his army) off stage, while lolaus is superannuated. Therefore,
also, Demophon is king of Athens instead of Good King
Theseus, as in other versions; Demophon can be more plausi-
bly represented as a younger man. But also the theme of reso-
lute old age and of rejuvenation seems to fascinate the
tragedian. The prototype is Laertes in the 24th book of the
Odyssey. But it has been suggested that Aeschylus in his lost
play rejuvenated lolaus, and, if so, Euripides is (as elsewhere)
having his fun with Aeschylus. For there is irony, at least, in
the treatment of lolaus. As to whether the miracle ever took
place at all, the messenger prefaces his account in the best
manner of Herodotus, the scientific historian of the day: "Up
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