U. U. Club.
* * * * *
"QUEM DEUS VULT PERDERE PRIUS DEMENTAT."
Having disposed of the allegation that the Greek Iambic,
"[Greek: hon theos thelei apolesai prot' apophrenai],"
was from Euripides, by denying the assertion, I am also, on farther
investigation, compelled to deny to him also the authorship of the cited
passage,--
"[Greek: hotan de Daimon andri porsunei kaka, ton noun eblapse
proton]."
Its first appearance is in Barnes, who quotes it from Athenagoras "sine
auctoris nomine." Carmeli includes it with others, to which he prefixes the
observation,--
"A me piacque come al Barnesio di porle per disteso, ed a canto
mettervi la traduzione in nostra favella, _senza entrare tratto tratto
in quistioni_ inutili, _se alcuni versi appartengano a Tragedia di
Euripide, o no_."
There is, then, no positive evidence of this passage having ever been
attributed, by any competent scholar, to Euripides. Indirect proof that it
could not have been written by him is thus shown:--In the Antigone of
Sophocles (v. 620.) the chorus sings, according to Brunck,--
"[Greek: Sophiai gar ek tou]
[Greek: kleinon epos pephantai;]
[Greek: To kakon dokein pot' esthlon]
[Greek: toid' emmen, hotoi phrenas]
[Greek: theos agei pros atan;]
[Greek: prassein d' oligoston chronon ektos atas]."
"For a splendid saying has been revealed by the wisdom of _some one_:
That evil appears to be good to him whose mind God leads to
destruction; _but that he (God) practises this a short time without
destroying such a one_."
Now, had Barnes referred to the scholiast on the Antigone, or remembered at
the time the above-cited passage, he would either not have omitted the
conclusion of his distich, or he would at once have seen that a passage
quoted as "[Greek: ek tou], _of some one_," by Sophocles, seventeen years
the senior of Euripides, could not have been the original composition of
his junior competitor. The conclusion of the distich is thus given by the
old scholiast:
"[Greek: hotan d' ho Daimon andri porsunei kaka,]
[Greek: ton noun eblapse proton hoi BOULEUETAI]."
The words "when he wills it" being left out by Barnes and Carmeli, but
which correspond with the last line of the quotation from Sophocles. The
old scholiast introduces the exact quotation referred to by Sophocles as "a
celebrated (notorious, [Greek: aoidimon]) and splendid saying, revealed by
the wisdom of _some one_, [Greek: meta sophias gar hupo tinos]."
Indeed, the sentiment must have been as old as Paganism, wherein, whilst
all _voluntary_ acts are attributed to the individual, all _involuntary_
ones are ascribed to the Deity. Even _sneezing_ was so considered: hence
the phrase common in the lower circles in England, "Bless us," and in a
higher grade in Germany, "Gott segne euch," which form the usual chorus to
a sneeze.
The other scholiast, Triclinius, explains the passage of Sophocles by
saying, "The gods lead to error ([Greek: blaben]) him whom they intend to
make miserable ([Greek: dustuchein]): hence the application to Antigone,
who considers death as sweet."