novelty and loveliness of youth which hung around the form and
the poetry of the beautiful son of Sophillus. Sophocles rarely
appeared on the stage, in consequence of the weakness of his
voice[1]: we are told, however, that he performed on the lyre, in
the character of Thamyris, and distinguished himself by the
grace with which he played at ball in his own play called
Nausica[2]. In 440B.C. he brought out the Antigone, and we
are informed that it was to the political wisdom exhibited in that
play, that he owed his appointment as colleague of Pericles and
Thucydides in the Samian war[3]. On this occasion he met with
Herodotus, and composed a lyrical poem for that historian[4]. It
does not appear that he distinguished himself in his military
capacity[5]. He received many invitations from foreign courts, but
loved Athens too well to accept them. He held several offices
in his old age. He was priest of the hero Alon[6], and in the
year 413B.C. was elected one of the (
Greek characters). This was a
board of commissioners, all old men, which was established immediately after the disastrous termination of the Syracusan expedition, to devise expedients for meeting the existing emergencies[7].
- ↑ (
Greek characters) Vit. Anonym.
- ↑ See the passage of Athen (i. p, 20) quoted above. "The Nausicaa was, according to all appearances, a satyric drama. The Odyssee was in general a rich store-house for the satyrical plays. The character of Ulysses himself makes him a very convenient satyrical impersonation." Lessing, Leben des Sophocles, note K (Vol. vi. p. 342).
- ↑ Strabo, xiv. p. 446; Suidas, v. (Greek characters); Athen. Xiii. p. 603 f; Scholiast, Aristoph. Pax, v. 696; Cic. de Off. I. 40; Plutarch, Pericl. c. viii. ; Plin. H. N. XXXVII. 2; Val. Max. iv. 3: all testify that the true cause is assigned by Aristophanes of Byzantium in the argument to the Antigone: (Greek characters). A
similar distinction was conferred upon Phrynichus, Ælian, V. H. iii. 8. It is probable
that Sophocles conciliated the favour of the more popular party, by the way in which
he speaks of Pericles, v. 662, and they were perhaps willing to take the hint in v. 175,
where, we may observe in passing, (Greek characters) signifies "political opinions," as in the phrases, (Greek characters), which occur in the
same play. On the meanings of (Greek characters) and (Greek characters) in Sophocles, see the notes on the translation of the Antigone, pp. 155, 168.
- ↑ Plutarch, An seni, &c. c. 3. iv. 153, Wyttenb. On this subject the student may consult the Introduction to the Antigone, p. xvii, and Transactions of the Philol. Soc. I. No. 15, where it will be seen that Herodotus was an imitator of Sophocles.
- ↑ At least if we may credit the tale told of him by Ion, a contemporary poet
(Athenæus, xiii. 604), where he is made to say of himself: (Greek characters)
- ↑ (Greek characters)
Vit. Anonym.
- ↑ Thucyd. VIII. i : (Greek characters) We consider these (Greek characters) to have been most probably elected to serve as (Greek characters) (Thucyd. viii. 67), for it was the (Greek characters) who brought about the revolution, and we learn from Aristotle (see below) that Sophocles contributed to it in his character of (Greek characters).
