103. Nevertheless, he seems strict in finding dramatic blunders in his forerunner Æschylus, to whom he felt himself no doubt formally opposed in style and character, and mare than once be points with ridicule at some simplicity of economy in the old poet. Thus, in the Phœnissæ (751–752), and again in the Supplices (v. 846), "One thing I will not tell you, lest I incur ridicule, to whom each was individually opposed in battle," pointing to Æschylus' enumeration in the Seven against Thebes. This censure is even more elaborate in reviewing Æschylus' recognition scene (in the Choephoræ) between Orestes and his sister, in his Electra (vv. 524–544)—an early and interesting piece of dramatic criticism. The older poet had somewhat simply based the recognition on the similarity of Orestes' lock of hair (found at the tomb) to Electra's, on the agreement of their footprints, and on a piece of embroidery made for Orestes, when a child, by his sister. All these grounds are justly ridiculed by Euripides; and moreover, the economy of Sophocles, who makes Orestes penetrate within the palace without hindrance, is rejected as improbable (v. 615). The poet was therefore, in his Electra, deliberately criticising older versions. But this very critical tone has injured his own play, and though it has peculiar beauties, he has completely failed to enlist the critics fur his modern version of the story against either of its rivals.
104. To us, indeed, there is one feature of peculiar interest in this tragedy. With an originality which perhaps shocked old Attic playgoers as much as it shocked the French and German critics of the last century, Euripides introduces us to idyllic scenes of peasant life, which he paints with a peculiar simplicity, vividness, and homeliness of detail. The peasant princess surprised with her pitcher upon her shoulder, the heedless hospitality of the honest great-hearted peasant, the anxiety of the housewife about supplying the sudden and noble visitors, the hurried borrowing of provisions from a good neighbour—here are scenes
