alignant, whose ways there is no attempt to explain or
justify. The original story, indeed, may have had one of its roots in a
Theban "moral tale." Aelian (_Varia Historia_, 2, 7) tells us that the
exposure of a child was forbidden by Theban Law. The state of feeling
which produced this law, against the immensely strong conception of the
_patria potestas_, may also have produced a folklore story telling how a
boy once was exposed, in a peculiarly cruel way, by his wicked parents,
and how Heaven preserved him to take upon both of them a vengeance which
showed that the unnatural father had no longer a father's sanctity nor
the unnatural mother a mother's. But, as far as Sophocles is concerned,
if anything in the nature of a criticism of life has been admitted into
the play at all, it seems to be only a flash or two of that profound and
pessimistic arraignment of the ruling powers which in other plays also
opens at times like a sudden abyss across the smooth surface of his art.

There is not much philosophy in the _Oedipus_. There is not, in
comparison with other Greek plays, much pure poetry. What there is, is
drama; drama of amazing grandeur and power. In respect of plot no Greek
play comes near it. It contains no doubt a few points of unsophisticated
technique such as can be found in all ancient and nearly all modern
drama; for instance, the supposition that Oedipus has never inquired
into the death of his predecessor on the throne. But such flaws are
external, not essential. On the whole, I can only say that the work of
translation has made me feel even more strongly than before the
extraordinary grip and reality of the dialogue, the deftness of the
construction, and, except perhaps for a slight drop in the Creon scene,
the unbroken crescendo of tragedy from the opening to the close.

* * * * *

Where plot-interest is as strong as it is in the _Oedipus_,
character-interest is apt to be comparatively weak. Yet in this play
every character is interesting, vital, and distinct. Oedipus himself is
selected by Aristotle as the most effective kind of tragic hero,
because, first, he has been great and glorious, and secondly he has not
been "pre-eminently virtuous or just." This is true in its way. Oedipus
is too passionate to be just; but he is at least noble in his
impetuosity, his devotion, and his absolute truthfulness. It is
important to realise that at the beginning of the play he is prepar