[714] His “progression, upward in strength and downward in reason, is visible throughout,” says Dr. Verrall (_Four Plays_, p. 245), whose eloquent and vivid essay on this drama should be carefully studied. [715] vv. 1204 _sqq._: ὦ τὰς φρένας μὲν ἄρσενας κεκτημένη.... [716] vv. 615 _sqq._ [717] vv. 72-92. Compare the amusing little passage-of-arms, vv. 107-11 (see Verrall, _Four Plays_, pp. 219 _sq._). [718] vv. 126 _sqq._ [719] vv. 1-3. [720] vv. 78 _sq._ [721] v. 121. [722] vv. 960 _sqq._ [723] At v. 1539 (very late in the day) they discuss whether it is their duty to inform the State of the murderous plot against Helen and Hermione. Even then they decide to do nothing. [724] vv. 1547 _sqq._ [725] Note vv. 743, 745, 747, 749, and the excitement in the last two verses. [726] vv. 481 _sqq._ [727] vv. 371 _sqq._ [728] v. 1323. [729] vv. 37 _sqq._ [730] vv. 395 _sqq._ [731] Contrast v. 420: μέλλει· τὸ θεῖον δ’ ἐστὶ τοιοῦτον φύσει; with v. 423: ὡς ταχὺ μετῆλθόν σ’ αἷμα μητέρος θεαί. [732] vv. 360 _sqq._ [733] v. 373. [734] First Menelaus says that Glaucus spoke to him “from the waves” (v. 362), but from v. 365 (ἐμφανῶς κατασταθείς) it seems that the person is standing on the shore. Such inconsistencies are significant, and in Euripides common. They indicate how much accuracy the narrator commands. [735] vv. 1493 _sqq._ [736] vv. 1662-3. [737] Professor Gilbert Murray (_Euripides and his Age_, pp. 160 _sqq._) has some beautiful and striking observations on the epiphany of Apollo and its effect on the raving mortals below: a trance falls upon them from which they awake purged of hate and anger. But could Euripides, can we, attribute this to a god who has commanded matricide? And the effect is largely spoiled by Orestes (vv. 1666 _sqq._): “Prophetic Loxias, what oracles are thine! Thou art not, then, a lying prophet, but a true. Yet had I begun to dread lest, when I heard thy voice as I thought, it was that of a fiend.” ... These are not the tones of blissful faith. [738] Paley says that this play is more frequently quoted by ancient writers than all the works of Æschylus and Sophocles together. [739] vv. 174 _sqq._ [740] _Arrangement_: Protagonist, Pentheus, Agave; deuteragonist, Dionysus, Tiresias; tritagonist, Cadmus, guard, messengers. [741] Before Cadmus’ speech, a passage has been lost in which the mourners adjusted the torn fragments. [742] There is another gap at this point. A considerable number of Dionysus’ lines are missing, and no doubt also further conversation between Cadmus and Agave. [743] See Professor Murray (_Euripides and his Age_, pp. 183 _sq._). I now think that what I wrote about the psychology of Dionysus and Pentheus (_The Riddle of the Bacchæ_, pp. 66 _sq._, 87-101) is over-elaborated. [744] vv. 824-45. [745] vv. 732-51. [746] Professor Murray’s beautiful translation of these lyrics will be familiar to most readers.