[21] Nowhere is the poet's ethical portraiture more delicately
1
vivid than in the heroine of the
Trachiniae; and a sympathetic reader will feel that the language given to her might well be called
ἠθικωτάτη λέξις
. It is exquisitely moulded to the expression of her nature. Take, again, the scene where the Messenger, in Deianeira's presence, taxes Lichas with deceit (vv. 393—435). The shades of language most skilfully characterise the three persons,—the gentle but resolute lady; the herald, nervously deferential to her, but angrily assertive of his dignity against his humble cross-examiner, the Messenger; and lastly the Messenger himself, with his traits of blunt or familiar speech
2
. In this aspect, then, the
Trachiniae shows, like the
Philoctetes, the full excellence of the third style,—that which is
ἠθικώτατον
, ‘most expressive of character.’But the
Trachiniae combines this ethical charm of style with a highly elaborate manner in a certain class of passages. Every Greek tragedy contains at least one set speech,
ῥῆσις
, of the type usually spoken by a messenger who relates a catastrophe. In such speeches, which were really short excursions of drama into the region of epos, the dramatist was convention ally free to use any measure of rhetorical elaboration, however unsuitable it might be to the person of the speaker; some of the most elaborate
ῥήσεις
are delivered by servants. Now, it is a peculiarity of the
Trachiniae that, beside two speeches which are normal examples of this class,—the speech of Hyllus (vv. 749—812), and that of the Nurse (vv. 899—946),—it contains a remarkable number of other passages which are closely akin to that class. Such are the following short narratives;—Lichas recounts the recent deeds of his master (248—290); Deianeira relates her meeting with Nessus (531—587); and describes the occurrence which rouses her fears concerning the ‘love-charm’ (672—722): such, also, is the great speech of Heracles (1046— 1111). Altogether, about one fourth of the play consists of passages which invited or demanded this high elaboration of style, usually reserved for very exceptional moments. It is no accident that the element of narrative in the
Trachiniae is so abnormally large; the cause lies in the nature of the fable itself, and is independent of the circumstance that an epic poem, the
Capture of Oechalia, was probably one of the chief sources. In narrative or description Sophocles exhibits, as a rule, two characteristics; he is remarkably terse; and he has a bold but artistic originality of phrase, often in a manner which resembles that of Vergil. If the passages just cited from the
Trachiniae are compared with their only proper analogues, the set
ῥήσεις
of the poet's other plays, it will be felt that, with allowance for differences of degree, the essential quality of style is the same; the greater frequency of it is the distinction of the
Trachiniae. This play, like the
Philoctetes, is mainly an example of that Sophoclean manner which tradition calls the third or ripest,—the manner ‘best fitted to express character.’ But, owing to special causes, it also gives striking prominence to the dominant trait of the poet's ‘second’ manner, elaborate and incisive force of phrase,—
τὸ πικρὸν καὶ κατάτεχνον
. This is a peculiar combination of elements; and it tends to make a reader feel that the style of the
Trachiniae is somehow, as a whole, unlike the style found in any one of the other six plays. From that feeling, it has been an easy, but hasty, step to the inference that the manner of this play is unworthy of the master; that it shows the immaturity of youth, or the feebleness of age; or even that it is altogether foreign to him, and must have proceeded from some inferior hand
3
. Introduction to Commentary on Sophocles: Trachiniae. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. 1932.
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