We have only two examples, and those not certain, of Euripides' work before that time. The _Cyclops_ is a satyr-play pure and simple, and the only complete specimen of its class. It is probably earlier than the _Alcestis_, and is interesting because it shows Euripides writing for once without any _arrière pensée_, or secondary intention. It is a gay and grotesque piece, based on Homer's story of Odysseus in the Cyclops' cave. The farcical and fantastic note is firmly held, so that the climax of the story, in which the monster's eye is burnt out with a log of burning wood, is kept unreal and not disgusting. The later Euripides would probably have made it horrible and swung our sympathies violently round to the side of the victim. The _Rhesus_ has come down to us in a very peculiar condition and is often considered spurious. We know, however, that Euripides wrote a _Rhesus_, and tradition says that he was "very young" when he wrote it. My own view--explained in the preface to my translation--would make it probably a very early pro-satyric play which was produced after the poet's death and considerably rewritten. It is a young man's play, full of war and adventure, of spies in wolf-skins and white chargers and gallant chivalry. That is not much like the Euripides whom we know elsewhere; but his mark is upon the last scene, in which the soldiers stand embarrassed and silent while a solitary mother weeps over her dead son. The poetry of the scene is exquisite; but what is most characteristic is the sudden flavour of bitterness, the cold wind that so suddenly takes the heart out of joyous war. Some touch of that bitter flavour will be found hereafter in every play, however beautiful or romantic, that comes from the pen of Euripides.