toric king of the Jews, though passionately in love with his wife
Mariamne, sacrifices her brother Aristobulus to his suspicions,
fearing that this young prince, the last of the Maccabees, may
supplant him on the throne. This sacrifice, prompted by evil
counselors, results in a train of tragic episodes, including
Mariamne's death and Herod's madness. The lines in which Herod speaks
of thinking in gold and dreaming in silver call to mind the hyperbole
and music of Marlowe's mighty line.

_Ulysses_ (1902), more of a panorama than a play, is founded on the
Homeric story. Its scenes are laid in Olympus, in Hades, on Calypso's
isle, and finally in Ithaca. Calypso tries to retain Ulysses upon her
isle, beautiful--

"With sward of parsley and of violet
And poplars shimmering in a silvery dream."[15]

He struggles against her enchantment, returns home, finds his wife
surrounded by her suitors, joins in their bow-drawing contest, and, in
a most exciting and dramatic scene, surpasses all rivals and claims
his faithful, beautiful Penelope.

The plays of Phillips not infrequently lack that clinching power that
stretches the interest taut. Many scenes are admirably spectacular,
suggestive of richly decorated tapestries, which hang separately in
spacious rooms; but the plays need more forceful dramatic action,
moving through changes to a climax. Phillips's diction, though
sometimes rhetorical, is also often ornately beautiful and highly
poetical. We feel that even in his plays, he is greater as a poet than
as a dramatist.

CELTIC DRAMATISTS

Strong national feeling, interest in the folklore and peasant life of
Ireland, and ambition to establish a national theater, have led to a
distinct and original Irish drama. In 1899, with a fund of two hundred
and fifty dollars, Lady Gregory, William Butler Yeats, G.W. Russell,
and other playwrights and patrons succeeded in establishing in Dublin
the Irish Literary Theater now known as the Irish National Theater.

The object of this theater is twofold. In the first place, it aims to
produce "literary" plays, not the vapid, panoramic kind that merely
pass away the time. In the second place, the Irish plays present
fabled and historical Irish heroes and the humble Irish peasant.

Patriotism inspired many writers to assist in this national movement.
Some gathered stories from the lips of living Irish-speaking peasants;
others collected and translated into English the old legends of
he