The line "how shameful is it that the whole Greek army is silent, yet barbarians may speak" immediately struck me as a perfect expression of my absolute disgust with the West's response to Putin's still unchecked "speech" in Ukraine, where he continues to act exactly as if the whole world were his to do with as he wished and with total impunity. I hope to remember that line, which so perfectly voices my own feeling about the West's continuing failure to exercise fearlessly its military might to bring Putin's barbaric invasion of Russia's neighbor to a decisive halt. Regarding Sophocles's work having outlived those of his competitors in Dio's contest, I'm delighted, since I've always felt an intellectual bond with him.
Tom, there's no greater tribute a playwright can receive than finding his lines relevant 2,500 years after they were written! Those two lines--translated as best I could--are, I think, a perfect example of the "precision," "incisiveness," and "political relevance" that Dio felt were the chief features Euripides' Philoctetes. It is important to bear in mind the setting: the play was produced as Athens entered what proved to be a bitter 30-year war of attrition with Sparta. War clouds undoubtedly hung over the play.
Did Euripdes sense what was to come? Unfortunately, not enough remains for us to determine his stance on the war issue. But the trilogy of which this play was a part included Medea, which undermines Jason's "heroism" and elevates a victim of it. I suspect this version of the Philoctetes legend also ended on a morally ambiguous note. Euripides was a patriot who believed in Athenian ideals, yet not in the jingoistic chest-thumping manner that many of his compatriots did.
I think the trilogy Euripides staged in 431 BC was a warning that war ultimately and inevitably tarnishes any ideals of heroic righteousness that it carries at the outset. Twenty years later, when Euripides wrote "The Trojan Women" he portrayed in stark terms, I think, that his forebodings were correct. Or, at least, that's my impression based on the scantly evidence we have.
Thanks for replying Carey. I first quoted the line from memory then decided to double check for accuracy. Found I had transposed the 3rd and 4th words and written "it is." I think I prefer the declarative to the interrogative. Putin is a modern barbarian, and that he continues to be given, in effect, carte blanche to continue ravaging Ukraine nauseates me. I'm for calling his nuclear bluff let come what may. Whether he and his inner circle are suicidal or not.
The line "how shameful is it that the whole Greek army is silent, yet barbarians may speak" immediately struck me as a perfect expression of my absolute disgust with the West's response to Putin's still unchecked "speech" in Ukraine, where he continues to act exactly as if the whole world were his to do with as he wished and with total impunity. I hope to remember that line, which so perfectly voices my own feeling about the West's continuing failure to exercise fearlessly its military might to bring Putin's barbaric invasion of Russia's neighbor to a decisive halt. Regarding Sophocles's work having outlived those of his competitors in Dio's contest, I'm delighted, since I've always felt an intellectual bond with him.
Tom, there's no greater tribute a playwright can receive than finding his lines relevant 2,500 years after they were written! Those two lines--translated as best I could--are, I think, a perfect example of the "precision," "incisiveness," and "political relevance" that Dio felt were the chief features Euripides' Philoctetes. It is important to bear in mind the setting: the play was produced as Athens entered what proved to be a bitter 30-year war of attrition with Sparta. War clouds undoubtedly hung over the play.
Did Euripdes sense what was to come? Unfortunately, not enough remains for us to determine his stance on the war issue. But the trilogy of which this play was a part included Medea, which undermines Jason's "heroism" and elevates a victim of it. I suspect this version of the Philoctetes legend also ended on a morally ambiguous note. Euripides was a patriot who believed in Athenian ideals, yet not in the jingoistic chest-thumping manner that many of his compatriots did.
I think the trilogy Euripides staged in 431 BC was a warning that war ultimately and inevitably tarnishes any ideals of heroic righteousness that it carries at the outset. Twenty years later, when Euripides wrote "The Trojan Women" he portrayed in stark terms, I think, that his forebodings were correct. Or, at least, that's my impression based on the scantly evidence we have.
Thanks for replying Carey. I first quoted the line from memory then decided to double check for accuracy. Found I had transposed the 3rd and 4th words and written "it is." I think I prefer the declarative to the interrogative. Putin is a modern barbarian, and that he continues to be given, in effect, carte blanche to continue ravaging Ukraine nauseates me. I'm for calling his nuclear bluff let come what may. Whether he and his inner circle are suicidal or not.