312 WAR AND PEACE XI

perhaps by the religious problems — which reveals how lonely

his voice was. Although public opinion was frequently re-

flected in his plays by one character or another, he himself

rarely followed it. Aristophanes, on the other hand, can time

and again be seen sharing the views of a large section of the

people. Euripides — together with a few 'modern' thinkers —

remained isolated, a man whose smgle-mmdedness was ahead

of his time. To show this, it will suffice to point to a few

passages only. Though he may have shared the common view

that the best thing to do for a man is to be 'hard to one's foes

and kind to one's friends',1 his hatred of war is of a very

different kind from that of the comedians. It burns like a fire

through such plays as the Htketides and the Troades^ and the

terrible loss of life — of sons, husbands, fathers — is a theme

frequently repeated, and sometimes in almost identical words.2

These plays taught the little-known truth that war spells doom

for vanquished and victors alike Euripides realized the

foolishness of war which does not decide anything and only

leads to never-ending retaliation.3 The generals have the

glory and the advantages, the common soldiers the hardships

and the dangers * Naturally, when it was necessary to ward

off a lover of war', Athens would defend herself; but peace

remained the aim of the government.5 Peace is praised,

frequently in a traditional manner,6 but the praise is based on

the knowledge that peace rather than war can be defended by

reason and sensible argument*7 Surely, Euripides was a pacifist.

The desire for peace expressed in comedy is not pacifism,

which is an attitude of mind based on principle. How could

the comedians be pacifists, they who at the same time praised

the soldierly virtues of bygone days ! Nowhere in comedy is

there any sign of the view that war is *a violent teacher', as

Thucydides impressively describes it, or that it makes men

brutal and savage, and so destroys also the inner peace of

the State.8 At most it is said that war affords ample oppor-

tunity for the dishonest practices of the demagogues.9 Nor do

1 Eur Med. 809.
Eur Andr. 6iiff, losSf, KykI 304$ HeL 6$off, cf 322ff.

3 Eur Tro $$$, El tfj£9 Hel
4 Eur. Andr* 6930". 5 Eur EerakL 37 iff
«Eur Eik 489^ 949ff,/r# 453 7 Eur Hik 4§6ff
« TLuc. Ill, 82. 9 K goiff, cf Thuc Vr 16, i.