may have been variously present, either singly or combined.
In the following list of tragic subjects which are known to have been treated by Sophocles, we may notice, first, the absence of purely Dionysiac fables, which, as the art was more and more refined, were mostly relegated to the satyric drama, until the "old friend with a new face" appeared once more in the Bacchæ of Euripides; and secondly, the preference of human over Olympian or Titanic heroes. An increased proportion of Attic subjects, as compared with Æschylus, has also been remarked. But considering the much smaller number of Æschylean subjects known to us, this point cannot be regarded as certain, although for the Aiantean trilogy of the one poet at least a dozen Attic fables are known to have been treated by the other. Yet these form but a seventh part of the whole, and in some cases, as in the Triptolemus, the choice is rather due to a religious than to a political or patriotic motive. In like manner it is probably the result of religious more than of national affinities, as well as of epic tradition, that the legends of Thebes and Argos bulk so much more largely than the legend of Corinth. The Pan-Hellenic subjects of the Trojan War and the voyage of the Argonauts were largely drawn upon by Sophocles, as appears from the following list of fables treated by him[1]:—
1. Subjects connected with the Trojan War.
Æthiopes (story of Memnon). Ajax with the Scourge. Ajax the Locrian. Aleadæ (story of Telephus). Alexander. Antenoridæ. Captives (perhaps the story of Chryseïs). Dolopians. Eumelus. Euryalus. Helen demanded back. Laconian Maidens. Laocoon. Lovers of Achilles (qy. satyric?). Mysians. Nauplius 1st. Nauplius 2nd. Odysseus feigning madness. Palamedes.
- ↑ This string of names should be made significant by reference to a classical dictionary.
