stealing the image, of escaping from the land by combined fraud and violence, mars the conclusion and weakens our sympathy with the hero. In the earlier scenes he exhibits every element of a really noble nature. He at first refuses to tell his name, that he may die forgotten, for his troubles have made him weary of his life. Yet upon his sister's persistence he tells his country, and confesses the misfortunes of the royal house, all with stern simplicity, as being evils too signal to palliate, too crushing to lament. It is the proposal that he shall escape, and abandon Pylades, which brings him back to his only remaining hold on life—his affection for Pylades. His voluntary resigning of his life[1] to save a friend is a rate instance of this virtue in the heroes of Euripides, and this touching scene has not lost its hold upon the imagination of modern dramatists.
82. There remains but one more hero to be discussed, who appears in two plays, once as a hero of circumstance, once again as a hero of character—I mean the Heracles of the Raging Heracles and of the Alcestis. In the latter his portrait is very distinct and even somewhat comic. He eats and drinks to excess before the heartbroken servant, who is ordered by the hospitable Admetus to keep him in ignorance of the sorrows of the house. He even rallies this servant upon his doleful face, and bids him carouse with him and enjoy his life. But no sooner does he hear the real state of things, than he feels cut to the heart at his apparent want of feeling, and sets off at once, like a blunt honest creature of action, to set matters right by a desperate conflict. Even when he returns with the veiled Alcestis, his comic side comes out in the way he insists upon Admetus receiving her in spite of the strongest protestations. He is of course a secondary character in the play, but the contrast of his
- ↑ The case of Menœkeus in the Phœnissæ (vv. 980 sqq.), is, I think, the only other example. His speech is very splendid, but he passes across the scene like a meteor, and has not sufficient importance to take his place among the protagonists.
