CHAPTER V. SECTION III. SOPHOCLES. Τόν σε χοροῖς μέλψαντα Σοφοκλέα, παῖδα Σοφίλου, πολλάκις ἐν θυμέλῃσι καὶ ἐν σκηνῇσι τεθηλῶς βλαισὸς Ἀχαρνίτης κισσὸς ἔρεψε κόμην, τύμβος ἔχει καὶ γῆς ὀλίγον μέρος· ἀλλ ̓ ὁ περισσὸς SIMMIAS. SOPHOCLES, the son of Sophilus or Sophillus, was born at Colonus, an Attic deme about a mile from the city, in (B.c.) 495. His father, who was a man of good family, and possessed of considerable wealth', gave him an excellent education. His teacher in music was the celebrated Lamprus, and he profited so much by his opportunities, that he gained the prize both in music and in the Palæstra. He was hardly sixteen years old when he played an accompaniment on the lyre to the Paan, which the Athenians sang around the trophy erected after the battle of Salamis; in other words, he was the exarchus, and possibly, therefore, composed the words of the ode3. His first appearance, as a trage 1. Lessing, (Leben des Sophocles) to whom we are indebted for nearly all the particulars which we have given in the text, quotes (note C.). Plin. H. N. xxxvii. 11, principe loco genitum Athenis. 2. καλῶς τε ἐπαιδεύθη καὶ ἐτράφη ἐν εὐπορία...... διεπονήθη δὲ ἐν παισὶ καὶ περὶ παλαίστραν καὶ μουσικὴν, ἐξ ὧν ἀμφοτέρων ἐστεφανώθη, ὥς φησιν Ἴστρος. ἐδιδάχθη δὲ τὴν μουσικὴν παρὰ Λαμπρῳ. Vit. Anonym. 3. Σοφοκλῆς δὲ πρὸς τῷ καλὸς γεγενήσθαι τὴν ὥραν ἦν καὶ ὀρχηστικὴν δεδιδαγ μένος καὶ μουσικὴν ἔτι παῖς ὦν παρὰ Λάμπρῳ. μετὰ γοῦν τὴν ἐν Σαλαμῖνι ναυμαχίαν περὶ τρόπαιον γυμνὸς ἀληλιμμένος ἐχόρευσε μετὰ λύρας· οἱ δέ ἐν ἱματίῳ φασί. Καὶ τὸν Θάμυριν διδάσκων αὐτὸς ἐκιθάρισεν· ἄκρως δὲ ἐσφαίρισεν, ὅτε τὴν Ναυσι κάαν καθῆκε. Athen. i. p. 20. Μετὰ τὴν ἐν Σαλαμίνι ναυμαχίαν Αθηναίων περὶ τρόπαιον ὄντων, μετὰ λύρας γυμνός αληλιμμένος τοῖς παιανίζουσι τῶν ἐπινικίων ἐξῆρχε. Vit. Anon. tion. dian, was attended by a very remarkable circumstance. Cimon removed the bones of Theseus from Scyrus to Athens (468 B.C.') He arrived at Athens about the time of the tragic contests, and Eschylus and Sophocles were among the competitors. The celebrity of the former, and the personal beauty, rank, popularity, and known accomplishments of the latter, excited a great sensaWhen therefore Cimon and his nine colleagues entered the Theatre of Bacchus to perform the usual libations, the Archon, Aphepsion, instead of choosing judges by lot, detained the ten generals in the theatre, and having administered an oath to them, made them decide between the rival tragedians. The first prize was awarded to Sophocles, and, as we have seen, Eschylus departed immediately for Sicily. This decision does not imply any disregard of the Eschylean Tragedy on the part of the Athenians. The contest was, as has been justly observed, not between two individual works of art, but between two species or ages of art; and if, as we think has been fully demonstrated', the Triptolemus was one of the plays which Sophocles exhibited on that occasion, we can readily conceive that when the minds of the people were full of their old national legends, the subject which the young poet had chosen, and the desire to encourage his 1. Marm. Par. No. Lvii. ἀφ' οὗ Σοφοκλῆς ὁ Σοφίλλου ὁ ἐκ Κολωνοῦ ἐνίκησε τραγωδίᾳ, ἐτῶν ὧν ΔΔΠΗ, ἔτη ΗΗΠΙ, άρχοντος Αθήνησιν Αψηφίονος. “ These were the greater Dionysia or the Atovoia Tà ev dσTet, in the month Elaphebolion; because the Archon Eponymus, Apsephion, presided; and, ò μèv äρxwv diaтívnσi Aiovvoia, ó de Baoiλeus (conf. Aristoph. Acharn. 1224, et Schol. ad loc.) pOĆσTYKE Anvalov. Pollux. viii. 89, 90.”—Clinton, F. H. ii. p. 39. 2. Ἔθεντο δ ̓ εἰς μνήμην αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὴν τῶν τραγῳδῶν κρίσιν ὀνομαστὴν γενομένην πρώτην γὰρ διδασκαλίαν τοῦ Σοφοκλέους ἔτι νέου καθέντος, Αφέντων, ὁ ἄρ χων, φιλονεικίας οὔσης καὶ παρατάξεως τῶν θεατῶν, κριτὰς μὲν οὐκ ἐκλήρωσε του ἀγῶνος· ὡς δὲ Κίμων μετὰ τῶν συστρατηγῶν προελθὼν εἰς τὸ θέατρον ἐποιήσατο τῷ θεῷ τὰς νενομισμένας σπονδὰς, οὐκ ἀφῆκεν αὐτοὺς ἀπελθεῖν, ἀλλ ̓ ὁρκώσας, ἠνάγ κάσε καθίσαι καὶ κρῖναι δέκα ὄντας, ἀπὸ φυλῆς μιᾶς ἕκαστον· ὁ μὲν οὖν ἀγὼν καὶ διὰ τὸ τῶν κριτῶν ἀξίωμα τὴν φιλοτιμίαν ὑπερέβαλε. νικήσαντος δὲ Σοφοκλέους, λέγεται τον Αἰσχύλον περιπαθῆ γενόμενον, καὶ βαρέως ἐνέγκοντα, χρόνον οὐ πολύν Αθήνησι διαγαγεῖν, εἶτ ̓ οἶχεσθαι δι' ὀργὴν εἰς Σικελίαν. Plutarch. Cimon. c. viii. There is probably an allusion to this in Aristoph. Ran. 1109. seqq. where the chorus says that the military character of the spectators fits them to be judges of the contest between Eschylus and Euripides, έστρατευμένοι γάρ εἰσι. 3. Welcker, Trilogie, p. 513. 4. By Lessing, Leben des Sophocles (note I.) from a passage in Plin. H. N. xviii. 7. Sophoclis Triptolemus ante mortem Alexandri annis fere, 145. But Alexander died 323, B. C. and 323 + 145 = 468. On the Triptolemus in general see Welcker, Tril. 514, (who thinks it was certainly not a satyrical drama), and Niebuhr, Hist. Rom. vol. I. p. 17, 18. The arguments adduced by Gruppe (Ariadne, p. 358, fol.) to prove that the Rhesus was the play which Sophocles exhibited on this occasion, are all in favour of Lessing's opinion. first attempt, would be sufficient to overweigh the reputation of his antagonist, coupled as it was with anti-popular politics, especially as the Eschylean Tragedy lacked that freshness of novelty and loveliness of youth which hung around the form and the poetry of the beautiful son of Sophilus. Sophocles rarely appeared on the stage, in consequence of the weakness of his voice': we are told, however, that he performed on the lyre, in the character of Thamyris, and distinguished himself by the grace with which he played at ball in his own play called Nausicaa2. In 440 B.C. he brought out the Antigona, and we are told that it was to the political wisdom exhibited in that play that he owed his appointment as colleague of Pericles and Thucydides in the Samian war3. It does not appear that he distinguished himself in his military capacity'. He received many invitations from foreign courts, but loved Athens too well to accept them3. He held several offices in his old age. He was priest of the hero Alon, and in the year 413 B.C. was elected one of the póẞovλo. This was a board of commissioners, all old men, which was established immediately after the disastrous termination of the Syracusan expedition, to devise expedients for meeting the existing emergencies". The constitution of such a committee was necessarily 1. Πρῶτον καταλύσας τὴν ὑπόκρισιν τοῦ ποιητοῦ διὰ τὴν ἰδίαν ἰσχνοφωνίαν. Vit. Anonym. 2. See the passage of Athen. (i. p. 20), quoted above. "The Nausicaa was, according to all appearances, a satyric drama. The Odyssee was in general a rich storehouse for the satyrical plays. The character of Ulysses himself makes him a very convenient satyrical character." Lessing, Leben des Sophocles, note K. Scholiast. 3. Strabo xiv. p. 446. Suidas, v. Méλiros. Athen. xiii. p. 603. F. Aristoph. Pax. v. 696. Cic. de Off. i. 40. Plutarch. Pericl. c. viii. Plin. H. N. xxxvii. 2. Val. Max. iv. 3: all testify that the cause is assigned by Aristophanes of Byzantium in the argument to the Antigona. Φασὶ δὲ τὸν Σοφοκλέα ἠξιώσθαι τῆς ἐν Σάμῳ στρατηγίας εὐδοκιμήσαντα ἐν τῇ διδασκαλία τῆς Ἀντιγόνης. A similar distinction was conferred upon Phrynichus, Ælian, V. H. iii. 8. It is probable that he conciliated the favour of the more popular party by the way in which he speaks of Pericles, v. 662, and they were perhaps willing to take the hint in v. 175, where we may observe, in passing, ppóvnua signifies "political opinions," as in the phrases ἐμπέδοις φρονήμασιν, τοῖονδ ̓ ἐμὸν φρόνημα, ἠνεμούν φρόνημα, ἴσον φρονῶν, which occur in the same play. 4. At least if we may credit the tale told of him by Ion, a contemporary poet, (Athenæus, xiii. 604), where he is made to say of himself-MελεTW σтратηɣeïv, w ἄνδρες ἐπειδήπερ Περικλῆς ποιεῖν μὲν ἔφη με, στρατηγεῖν δ ̓ οὐκ ἐπίστασθαι. 5. Vit. Anonym. 6. Ἔσχε δὲ καὶ τὴν τοῦ Ἄλωνος ἱερωσύνην, ὅς ἥρως ἦν μετὰ Ἀσκληπιοῦ παρα Xeipovi. Vit. Anonym. 7. Thucyd. viii. 1. καὶ ἀρχήν τινα τῶν πρεσβυτέρων ἀνδρῶν ἑλέσθαι οἵτινες περὶ τῶν παρόντων ὡς ἂν καιρὸς ᾗ προβουλεύσουσι, We consider these πρόβουλοι το have aristocratic', and two years after, B.C. 411, Sophocles, once the favourite of the people and the colleague of Pericles, fell into the plans of Peisander and the other conspiritors, and consented in the temple of Neptune, at his own Colonus, to the establishment of a council of four hundred; in other words, to the subversion of the old Athenian constitution. He afterwards defended his policy on the grounds of expediency3. Nicostrata had borne him a son, whom he named Iophon: he had another son Ariston, by Theoris of Sicyon, whose son, Sophocles, was a great favorite with his grandfather and namesake. From this reason, or because, according to Cicero, his love for the stage made him neglect his affairs, his son Iophon charged him with dotage and lunacy, and brought him before the proper court, with a view to remove him from the management of his property. The poet read to his judges a part of the Edipus at Colonus, which he had just finished, and triumphantly asked “if that was the work of an idiot?" Of course the charge was dismissed'. We are sorry to say that this very pretty story is a mere fabrication, for the Edipus at Colonus must have been acted, at least for the first time, before the breaking out of the Peloponnesian war. Sophocles died in the very beginning of the year 405. B.C.; according to Ister and Neanthes he was choked by a grape, which the actor Callippides brought him from Opus, at the time of the Anthesteria. Satyrus tells us that he died in consequence of exerting his voice too much while reading the Antigona aloud: others say that his joy at being proclaimed have been most probably elected to serve as Įvyypapūs, (Thucyd. viii. 67), for it was the Eurypans who brought about the revolution, and we learn from Aristotle (see below) that Sophocles contributed to it in his character of πρόβουλος. 1. Aristot. Polit. vi. 5, 10. δεῖ γὰρ εἶναι τὸ σύναγον τὸ κύριον τῆς πολιτείας καλεῖται δ' ἔνθα μὲν πρόβουλοι διὰ τὸ προβουλεύειν· ὅπου δὲ τὸ πλῆθός ἐστι βουλή μᾶλλον. 2. Thucyd. viii. 67. ξυνέκλησαν τὴν ἐκκλησίαν εἰς τὸν Κολωνόν (ἔστι δὲ ἱερὸν Ποσειδώνος ἔξω πόλεως ἀπέχον σταδίους μάλιστα δέκα) κ.τ.λ. 3. Καὶ συμπεραινόμενον, ἐὰν ἐρώτημα ποιῇ τὸ συμπέρασμα, τὴν αἰτίαν εἰπεῖν· οἷον Σοφοκλῆς ἐρωτώμενος ὑπὸ Πεισάνδρου, “· εἰ ἔδοξεν αὐτῷ, ὥσπερ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις προβούλοις, καταστῆσαι τοὺς τετρακοσιους;” ἔφη.— “Τί δὲ οὐ πονηρά σοὶ ταῦτα ἐδοκεῖ εἶναι;” ἔφη. “ Οὐκ οὖν σὺ ταῦτα ἔπραξας τὰ πονηρά;” “ Ναί,” ἔφη “οὐ Tap ηv äλλa BeλTiw." Aristot. Rhet. iii. 18. . Vit. Anonym. Cicero de Senectute, § 7. Val. Max. viii. 5. See Reisig Enarrat. Ed. Col. p. v. seqq. J. W. Süvern "On some historical and political allusions in ancient tragedy," p. 6, 8. Lachmann in the Rhein. Mus. for 1827, p. 313, fol. 6. We have seen that loxvoqvia was attributed to Sophocles: if it arose from delicate lungs, this account of his death is probable enough. There are chronological objections to the other two statements. See Clinton, F. H. ii. p. 85. tragic victor was too much for his decayed strength. His family burial-place was Decelea, and as that town was in the possession of the Lacedæmonians, it was not possible to bring him there until Lysander, having heard from the deserters that the great poet was dead, permitted his ashes to rest with those of his ancestors. There is a legend, that Bacchus appeared twice to Lysander in a dream, and enjoined him to allow the interment to take place'. According to one account, they placed the image of a Siren over his tomb, according to another, a bronze swallow. Ister informs us that the Athenians decreed him an annual sacrifice. He wrote, besides Tragedies, an Elegy, Pæans, and a prose work on the Chorus, against Thespis and Choerilus. Only seven of his tragedies have come down to us; but an ingenious attempt has been lately made to shew that the Rhesus, which is generally attributed to Euripides, was the first of the plays of Sophocles. With regard to the whole number of plays composed by Sophocles; we have the authority of Aristophanes, of Byzantium, that 130 were ascribed to him, of which seventeen were spurious. It has been objected to this large number, that the Antigona, which was acted in 440, was the thirty-second play; and as Sophocles began to exhibit in 468, and died in 405, he would have written eighty-one pieces in the last thirty-six years of his literary life, and only thirty-two in the first twenty-seven years. Whereas it is not likely that he would have written more in his declining years than in the vigour of his life and it has been conjectured that he only wrote about seventy plays. Reasons have, however, been lately given1, which incline us to believe that Aristophanes is correct in assigning to him 113 genuine dramas. For, in the first place, the meaning of the words in which this objection is founded are not sufficiently clear: it is not certain that the grammarian is not referring to tragedies only, and in that case, even supposing that Sophocles wrote five separate plays in that time, 1. See vita Anonym. Pausanias, i. p. 36, gives a somewhat different story. Λέγεται δὲ Σοφοκλέους τελευτήσαντος ἐσβάλλειν εἰς τὴν Ἀττικὴν Λακεδαιμονίους, καὶ σφῶν τὸν ἡγούμενον ἰδεῖν ἐπιστάντα οἱ Διόνυσον, κελεύειν τιμαῖς, ὅσαι καθεστή κασιν ἐπὶ τοῖς τεθνεῶσι, τὴν Σειρῆνα τὴν Νέαν τιμῶν. καὶ οἱ τὸ ὄναρ Σοφοκλέα καὶ τὴν Σοφοκλέους ποίησιν ἐφαίνετο ἔχειν. |