The style of Euripides is, generally speaking, easy; and I can mention no author from whom a taste for elegant Greek and a facility in composition can more easily be derived. Some of his plays have suffered severely from the ravages of time, the ignorance of copyists, and the more dangerous officiousness of grammarians. Some passages of the Bacchæ, Rhesus, Troades, and the two Iphigenias, despite the ingenuity and erudition of such scholars as Porson, Elmsley, Monk, Burges, and a host of others, must still remain mere matter for guessing. Hermann's Euripides is, as a whole, sadly unworthy the abilities of the Humboldt of Greek literature. The present volume contains the most popular of our author's works, according to present usage. But the spirit which is gradually infusing itself into the minds of those who are most actively engaged in the educational system of England, fully warrants a hope that Porson's "four plays" will shortly cease to be the boundaries of the student's acquaintance with Euripides. I need scarcely observe, that the study of Aristophanes is indissolubly connected with that of our author. If the reader discover the painful fact that the burlesque writer is greater than the tragedian, he will perhaps also recollect that such a literary relation is, unfortunately, by no means confined to the days of Aristophanes. * * * * Notes on the Introduction [1] See Theatre of the Greeks, p. 92. sqq. [2] Bacch. 200. This play was written during his sojourn with Archelaus. [3] τοιουτονι τι παρακεκινδευμενον. Aristoph. Ran. 99. [4] Poet. § xviii. [5] Hec. 905 sqq. * * * * * * HECUBA. * * * * PERSONS REPRESENTED. GHOST OF POLYDORE. HECUBA. CHORUS OF FEMALE CAPTIVES. POLYXENA. ULYSSES. TALTHYBIUS. FEMALE ATTENDANT. AGAMEMNON. POLYMESTOR AND HIS CHILDREN. _The Scene lies before the Grecian tents, on the coast of the Thracian Chersonese._ * * * * * THE ARGUMENT. * * * *