188. Artemis, her supposed part in the transference of Iphigenia to Taurica; rationalistic explanation, after the manner of Palaephatus; the name Thoas 189–192. Summary. True purpose of the play; necessary to its effect as a tragedy, 192–193. Moral quality of Orestes' enterprise, and of Iphigenia's plot, 193–195. The pretended finale, its flatness and futility; allusion to 'the Euripidean tag', 195–197. The stage-gods of Euripides, not to be regarded as personages in the drama; statement of Lucian, 197–201. Inconsistency between the finale and the play; character and condition of Orestes, 201–204. And of Iphigenia, 204. Character and fate of Pylades, 205. And of the Chorus, 206. Euripides and the Poetics of Aristotle, 206–215. General purpose of Aristotle in the Poetics; his criticism of the dramatists negative, 206–207. Aeschylus, 207–208. Sophocles, 208–209. Euripides, 209–211. 'The most tragic of the poets', 210. General opposition between Aristotle's principles and the tragedy of the fifth century, 211–212. Illustrated by Aristotle from the Iphigenia, 213. Question as to the limits of Aristotle's theory, 214.
The variations of orthodoxy useful to the dissenter, 217–218. The Pythian ode in the Iphigenia; importance of its isolation as an entr'acte, 218–219, 229. Religious character of the Chorus as connected with Delos, 219. The ode contrasted with the prologue to the Eumenides, 219–229. Aeschylean history of Pytho, its general character, 220. Tradition of contest between rival deities, how dealt with, 221. Aeschylean Zeus, 222. Bacchus at Delphi, 223. The ode, 224–225. Satire of Pythian avarice, 226. Euripidean history of Pytho, 227–229.
PHOENISSAE.
General result of the preceding Essays, 231–232. The critical problem of the Phoenissae; prima facie appearance of interpolation, 232–235. The personage of Antigone and the banishment of Oedipus, not appropriate, 236–243. Date of the change; not made by Euripides, but suggested by the Oedipus at Colonus, 244–247. Motive and interest of the change; the existing finale allegorical, 247–259. Euripides as 'Oedipus'; allusions elsewhere, 257–259. The Sphinx and Aeschylus, 259. Conclusion, 260.
