The Tragedies of Sophocles

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Bliss and Baxter, 1813 - Greek drama - 408 pages

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Page 39 - Of Law there can be no less acknowledged than that her seat is the bosom of God ; her voice the harmony of the world. All things in heaven and earth do her homage ; the very least as feeling her care, and the greatest as not exempted from her power.
Page 190 - Life's but a walking shadow ; a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more : it is a tale Told by an ideot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
Page 91 - Thou comest, to this region's blest retreats, Where white Colonos lifts his head, And glories in the bounding steed. Where sadly sweet the frequent nightingale Impassioned pours his evening song, And charms with varied notes each verdant vale, The ivy's dark-green boughs among, Or sheltered 'neath the clustering vine Which, high above him...
Page vi - ... and its gates proudly hung with trophies. Sophocles appears with splendid dignity, like some imperial palace of richest architecture, the symmetry of whose parts and the chaste magnificence of the whole, delight the eye. and command the approbation of the judgment. The pathetic and moral Euripides hath the solemnity of a Gothic temple, whose storied windows admit a dim religious light, enough to...
Page 92 - O'er the rich bosom of the ground, Quick spring the plants, the flow'rs around Here oft to raise the tuneful song The virgin band of Muses deigns ; And car-borne Venus guides her golden reins Strophe 2.
Page 162 - Again th' illustrious son fresh glory beams. Far be this temper from thy mind, to think What thou may'st say, and nothing else, is right. Whoe'er imagines prudence all his own, Or deems that he hath pow'rs to speak and judge, Such as none other hath, when they are known They are found shallow. There are many things Which e'en the wise without disgrace may learn, And yield convinc'd.
Page 314 - Divine providence which he puts into the mouth of Philoctetes: ' Never have I known That the base perish : such the Gods protect, Delighting from the realms of death to snatch The crafty and the guileful ; but the just And generous they in ruin always sink : How for these things shall we account Or how approve them ? When I find the Gods unjust, How shall I praise their heavenly governance ? ' The Hebrew Psalmist had felt the same perplexity some...
Page 248 - Gertrude felt her heart drop beneath the oppressive gloom which surrounded her, and thought even actual suffering must be preferable to this total stagnation of all enjoyment. But, — " All human things a day In darkness sinks — a day to light restores." It was drawing towards the close of a day, when the snow had fallen without intermission, but was now beginning to abate. Lord Rossville stood at his drawing-room window speculating on the aspect of the clouds, and predicting a change of weather,...
Page vi - Sophocles appears with splendid dignity, like some imperial palace of richest architecture, the symmetry of whose parts, and the chaste magnificence of the whole delight the eye, and command the approbation of the judgment. The pathetic and moral Euripides hath the solemnity of a Gothic Temple, whose storied windows admit a dim religious light, enough to show...
Page 133 - Polynices to be cast out unburied, a prey to dogs and ravenous birds, denouncing death to any person who should presume to disobey his edict, and inter the corse. The tender and virtuous Antigone, so illustrious for her filial piety, shines forth on this occasion a bright example of affection to her brother, and reverence to the gods ; animated with a sense of duty, and unterrified by the menaces of a relentless tyrant, she pays the last sad offices to the unhappy Polynices. This, with its dreadful...

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