'... accept the old,
Contest the strange! acknowledge work that's done,
Misdoubt men who have still their work to do!' (p. 111.)
He has summed up his case. Euripides must own himself beaten. If
Balaustion will not admit the defeat, let her summon her rosy strength,
and do her worst against his opponent."
Balaustion pauses for a moment before relating her answer to this
challenge: and gives us to understand that, in thus relieving her
memory, she is reproducing not only this special experience, but a great
deal of what she habitually thinks and feels; thus silencing any sense
of the improbable, which so lengthened an argument accurately
remembered, might create in the reader's mind.
Her tone is at first deprecating. "It is not for her, a mere mouse, to
argue on a footing of equality with a forest monarch like himself. It is
not for her to criticize the means by which his genius may attain its
ends. She does not forget that the poet-class is that essentially which
labours in the cause of human good. She does not forget that she is a
woman, who may recoil from methods which a man is justified in
employing. Lastly, she is a foreigner, and as such may blame many things
simply because she does not understand them. She may yet have to learn
that the tree stands firm at root, though its boughs dip and dance
before the wind. She may yet have to learn that those who witness his
plays have been previously braced to receive the good and reject the
evil in them, like the freshly-bathed hand which passes unhurt through
flame. She may judge falsely from what she sees."
"But," she continues,[45] "let us imagine a remote future, and a
far-away place--say the Cassiterides[46]--and men and women, lonely and
ignorant--strangers in very deed--but with feelings similar to our own.
Let us suppose that some work of Zeuxis or Pheidias has been transported
to their shores, and that they are compelled to acknowledge its
excellence from its own point of view--its colouring true to nature,
though not to their own type--its unveiled forms decorous, though not
conforming to their own standard of decorum. Might they not still, and
justly, tax it on its own ground with some flaw or incongruity, which
proved the artist to have been human? And may not a stranger, judging
you in the same way, recognize in you one part of peccant humanity, poet
'three parts divine' though you be?"
"You declare comedy to be a prescriptive rite, coeval in its birth with
liberty. But the great days of Greek national life had been reached when
comedy began. You declare also that you have refined on the early
practice, and imported poetry into it. Comedy is therefore, as you
defend it, not only a new invention, but your own. And, finally, you
declare your practice of it inspired by a fixed purpose. You must stand
or fall by the degree in which this purpose has been attained."
"You would, by means of comedy, discredit war. Do you stand alone in
this endeavour?" And she quotes a beautiful passage from 'Cresphontes,'
a play written by Euripides for the same end. "And how, respectively,
have you sought your end? Euripides, by appealing to the nobler
feelings which are outraged by war; you, by expatiating on the animal
enjoyments which accompany peace. The 'Lysistrata' is your equivalent
for 'Cresphontes.' Do you imagine that its obscene allurements will
promote the cause of peace? Not till heroes have become mean
voluptuaries, and Cleonymos,[47] whom you yourself have derided, becomes
their type."
"You would discredit vice and error, hypocrisy, sophistry and untruth.
You expose the one in all its seductions, and the other in grotesque
exaggerations, which are themselves a lie; showing yourself the worst of
sophists--one who plays false to his own soul."
"You would improve on former methods of comedy. You have returned to its
lowest form. For you profess to strike at folly, not at him who commits
it: yet your tactics are precisely to belabour every act or opinion of
which you disapprove, in the form of some one man. You pride yourself,
in fact, on giving personal blows, instead of general and theoretical
admonitions; and even here you seem incapable of hitting fair; you libel
where you cannot honestly convict, and do not care how ignoble or how
irrelevant the libel may be. Does the poet deserve criticism as such?
Does he write bad verse, does he inculcate foul deeds? The cry is, 'he
cannot read or write;' 'he is extravagant in buying fish;' 'he allows
someone to help him with his verse, and make love to his wife in
return;' 'his uncle deals in crockery;' 'his mother sold herbs' (one of
his pet taunts against Euripides); 'he is a housebreaker, a footpad, or,
worst of all, a stranger;'"--a term of contempt which, as Balaustion
reminds him has been repeatedly bestowed upon himself.
"What have you done," she continues, "beyond devoting the gold of your
genius to work, which dross, in the person of a dozen predecessors or
contemporaries, has produced as well. Pun and parody, satire and
invective, quaintness of fancy, and elegance, have each had its
representative as successful as you. Your life-work, until this moment,
has been the record of a genius increasingly untrue to its better self.
Such satire as yours, however well intended, could advance no honest
cause. Its exaggerations make it useless for either praise or blame. Its
uselessness is proved by the result: your jokes have recoiled upon
yourself. The statues still stand which your mud has stained; the
lightning flash of truth can alone destroy them. War still continues, in
spite of the seductions with which you have invested peace. Such
improvements as are in progress take an opposite direction to that which
you prescribe. Public sense and decency are only bent on cleansing your
sty."
And now her tone changes. "Has Euripides succeeded any better? None can
say; for he spoke to a dim future above and beyond the crowd. If he
fail, you two will be fellows in adversity; and, meanwhile, I am
convinced that your wish unites with his to waft the white sail on its
way.[48] Your nature, too, is kingly." She concludes with a tribute to
the "Poet's Power," which is one with creative law, above and behind all
potencies of heaven and earth; and to that inherent royalty of truth, in
which alone she could venture to approach one so great as he. He too, as
poet, must reign by truth, if he assert his proper sway.
"Nor, even so, had boldness nerved my tongue,
But that the other king stands suddenly
In all the grand investiture of death,
Bowing your knee beside my lowly head--
Equals one moment!" (vol. xiii. p. 144.)
Then she bids him "arise and go." Both have done homage to Euripides.
"Not so," he replies; "their discussion is not at an end. She has
defended Euripides obliquely by attacking himself. Let her do it in a
more direct fashion." This leads up to what seems to her the best
defence possible: that reading of the "Herakles" which the entrance of
Aristophanes had suspended. Its closing lines set Aristophanes musing.
The chorus has said:
"The greatest of all our friends of yore,
We have lost for evermore!" (p. 231.)
"Who," he asks, "has been Athens' best friend? He who attracted her by
the charm of his art, or he who repelled her by its severity?" He
answers this by describing the relative positions of himself and
Euripides in an image suggested by the popular game of Cottabos.[49]
"The one was fixed within his 'globe;' the other adapted himself to its
rotations. Euripides received his views of life through a single
aperture, the one channel of 'High' and 'Right.' Aristophanes has
welcomed also the opposite impressions of 'Low' and 'Wrong,' and
reproduced all in their turn. Some poet of the future, born perhaps in
those Cassiterides, may defy the mechanics of the case, and place
himself in such a position as to see high and low at once--be Tragic and
Comic at the same time. But he meanwhile has been Athens' best
friend--her wisest also--since he has not challenged failure by
attempting what he could not perform. He has not risked the fate of
Thamyris, who was punished for having striven with the higher powers, as
if his vision had been equal to their own."[50] And he recites a
fragment of song, which Mr. Browning unfortunately has not completed,
describing the fiery rapture in which that poet marched, all
unconscious, to his doom. Some laughing promise and prophecy ensues, and
Aristophanes departs, in the 'rose-streaked morning grey,' bidding the
couple farewell till the coming year.
That year has come and gone. Sophocles has died: and Aristophanes has
attained his final triumph in the "Frogs"--a play flashing with every
variety of his genius--as softly musical in the mystics' chorus as
croaking in that of the frogs--in which Bacchus himself is ridiculed,
and Euripides is more coarsely handled than ever. And once more the
voice of Euripides has interposed between the Athenians and their
doom.[51] When Ægos Potamos had been fought, and Athens was in Spartan
hands, Euthykles flung the "choric flower" of the "Electra" in the face
of the foe, and
"... because Greeks are Greeks, though Sparté's brood,
And hearts are hearts, though in Lusandros' breast,
And poetry is power,...." (p. 253.)
the city itself was spared. But when tragedy ceased, comedy was allowed
its work, and it danced away the Piræan bulwarks, which were demolished,
by Lysander's command, to the sound of the flute.
And now Euthykles and Balaustion are nearing Rhodes. Their master lies
buried in the land to which they have bidden farewell; but the winds and
waves of their island home bear witness to his immortality: for theirs
seems the voice of nature, re-echoing the cry, "There are no gods, no
gods!" his prophetic, if unconscious, tribute to the One God, "who
saves" him.
Balaustion has no genuine historic personality. She is simply what Mr.
Browning's purpose required: a large-souled woman, who could be supposed
to echo his appreciation of these two opposite forms of genius, and
express his judgments upon them. But the Euripides she depicts is
entirely constructed from his works; while her portrait of Aristophanes
shows him not only as his works reflect, but as contemporary criticism
represented him; he is one of the most vivid of Mr. Browning's
characters. The two transcripts from Euripides seem enough to prove that
that poet was far more human than Aristophanes professed to think; but
the belief of Aristophanes in the practical asceticism of his rival was
in some degree justified by popular opinion, if not in itself just; and
we can understand his feeling at once rebuked and irritated by a
contempt for the natural life which carried with it so much religious
and social change. Aristophanes was a believer in the value of
conservative ideas, though not himself a slave to them. He was also a
great poet, though often very false to his poetic self. Such a man might
easily fancy that one like Euripides was untrue to the poetry, because
untrue to the joyousness of existence; and that he shook even the
foundations of morality by reasoning away the religious conceptions
which were bound up with natural joys. The impression we receive from
Aristophanes' Apology is that he is defending something which he
believes to be true, though conscious of defending it by sophistical
arguments, and of having enforced it by very doubtful deeds; and we also
feel that from his point of view, and saving his apparent
inconsistencies, Mr. Browning is in sympathy with him. At the same time,
Balaustion's rejoinder is unanswerable, as it is meant to be; and the
double monologue distinguishes itself from others of the same group, by
being not only more dramatic and more emotional, but also more
conclusive; it is the only one of them in which the question raised is
not, in some degree, left open.
The poem bristles with local allusions and illustrations which puzzle
the non-classical reader. I add an explanatory index to some names of
things and persons which have not occurred in my brief outline of it.
Vol. xiii. p. 4. _Koré._ (Virgin.) Name given to Persephoneé. In Latin,
Proserpina.
P. 6. _Dikast_ and _Heliast._ Dicast=Judge, Heliast=Juryman, in Athens.
P. 7. 1. _Kordax-step._ 2. _Propulaia._ (Propylaia.) 1. An indecent
dance. 2. Gateway of the Acropolis. 3. _Pnux._ (Pnyx.) 4. _Bema._ 3.
Place for the Popular Assembly. 4. Place whence speeches were made.
P. 8 _Makaria._ Heroine in a play of Euripides, who killed herself for
her country's sake.
P. 10. 1. _Milesian smart-place._ 2. _Phrunikos._ (Phrynicus.) 1. The
painful remembrance of the capture of Miletus. 2. A dramatic poet, who
made this capture the subject of a tragedy, "which, when performed
(493), so painfully wrung the feelings of the Athenian audience that
they burst into tears in the theatre, and the poet was condemned to pay
a fine of 1,000 drachmai, as having recalled to them their own
misfortunes."[52] He is derided by Aristophanes in the "Frogs" for his
method of introducing his characters.
P. 12. _Amphitheos, Deity, and Dung._ A character in the Acharnians of
Aristophanes--"not a god, and yet immortal."
P. 14. 1. _Diaulos._ 2. _Stade._ 1. A double line of the Race-course. 2.
The _Stadium_, on reaching which, the runner went back again.
P. 16. _City of Gapers._ Nickname of Athens, from the curiosity of its
inhabitants.
P. 17. _Koppa-marked._ Race-horses of the best breed were marked with
the old letter Koppa.
P. 18. _Comic Platon._ The comic writer of that name: author of plays
and poems, _not_ THE Plato.
P. 21. _Salabaccho._ Name of a courtesan.
P. 30. _Cheek-band._ Band worn by trumpeters to support the cheeks.
_Cuckoo-apple._ Fruit so-called=fool-making food. _Threttanelo_,
_Neblaretai_. Imitative sounds: 1. Of a harp-string. 2. Of any joyous
cry. _Three-days' salt-fish slice._ Allowance of a soldier on an
expedition. (It was supposed that at the end of this time he could
forage for himself.)
P. 31. _Goat's breakfast and other abuse._ Indecent allusions, to be
fancied, not explained.
P. 32. _Sham Ambassadors._ Characters in the Acharnians. _Kudathenian._
Famous Athenian. _Pandionid._ Descendant of Pandion, King of Athens.
_Goat-Song._ Tragoedia--Tradegy. It was called goat-song because a
goat-skin, probably filled with wine, was once given as a prize for it.
The expression occurs in Shelley.
P. 33. _Willow-Wicker Flask._ Nickname of the poet it is applied to, a
toper.
P. 36. _Lyric Shell or Tragic Barbiton._ Lesser and larger lyre.
P. 38. _Sousarion._ Susarion of Megara, inventor of Attic comedy.
_Chionides._ His successor.
P. 39. _Little-in-the-Fields._ The Dionysian Feast; a lesser one than
the City Dionysia.
P. 40. _Ameipsias._ A comic poet, contemporary with Aristophanes, whose
two best plays he beat.
P. 42. _Iostephanos._ "Violet-crowned," name of Athens. _Kleophon._ A
demagogue of bad character, attacked by Aristophanes as profligate, and
an enemy of peace. _Kleonumos._ A similar character; also a big fellow,
and great coward.
P. 43. _Telekleides._ Old comic poet, on the same side as Aristophanes.
_Mullos and Euetes._ Comic poets who revived the art of comedy in Athens
after Susarion.
P. 44. _Morucheides._ Son of Morychus--like his father, a comic poet and
a glutton. _Sourakosios._ Another comic poet.
P. 46. _Trilophos._ Wearer of three crests on his helmet.
P. 47. _Ruppapai._ Word used by the crew in rowing--hence, the crew
itself.
P. 49. _Free dinner in the Prutaneion._ (Prytaneion.) Such was accorded
to certain privileged persons. _Ariphrades._ A man of infamous
character, singer to the harp: persistently attacked by Aristophanes.
_Karkinos._ Comic actor: had famous dancing sons.
P. 50. _Exomis._ A woman's garment. _Parachoregema._ Subordinate chorus,
which sings in the absence of the principal one. _Aristullos._ Bad
character satirized by Aristophanes, and used in one of his plays as a
travesty of Plato. This incident, and Plato's amused indifference, are
mentioned at p. 137 of the Apology.
P. 51. _Murrhine_, _Akalantis_. Female names in the Thesmophoriazusae.
_New Kalligeneia._ Name given to Ceres, meaning, "bearer of lovely
children." _The Toxotes._ A Syrian archer in the "Thesmophoriazusae."
_The Great King's Eye._ Mock name given to an ambassador from Persia in
the Acharnians. _Kompolakuthes._ Bully-boaster: with a play on the name
of Lamachus.
P. 52. _Silphion._ A plant used as a relish. _Kleon-Clapper._ Corrector
of Kleon.
P. 54. _Trugaios._ Epithet of Bacchus, "vintager;" here name of a person
in the comedy of "Peace." _Story of Simonides._ Simonides, the lyric
poet, sang an ode to his patron, Scopas, at a feast; and as he had
introduced into it the praises of Castor and Pollux, Scopas declared
that he would only pay his own half-share of the ode, and the Demi-gods
might pay the remainder. Presently it was announced to Simonides that
two youths desired to see him outside the palace; on going there he
found nobody, but meanwhile the palace fell in, killing his patron. Thus
was he _paid_.
P. 58. _Maketis._ Capital of Macedonia.
P. 60. _Lamachos._ General who fell at the siege of Syracuse; satirized
by Aristophanes as a brave, but boastful man.
P. 67. _Sophroniskos' Son._ Socrates.
P. 74. _Kephisophon._ Actor, and friend of Euripides; enviously reported
to help him in writing his plays.
P. 79. _Palaistra._ A wrestling-school, or place of exercise.
P. 82. _San._ Letter distinguishing race-horses. _Thearion's Meal-Tub
Politics._ Politics of Thearion the baker. _Pisthetarios._ Character in
the "Birds," alias "Mr. Persuasive." _Strephsiades._ Character in the
"Clouds."
P. 83. _Rocky ones._ Epithet given to the Athenians.
P. 85. _Promachos._ Champion.
P. 86. _The Boulé._ State Council. _Prodikos._ Prodicus. A Sophist,
satirized in the "Birds" and "Clouds."