124 SOPHOCLES. and thirdly, tlie style which he considered best and most suited to the representation of human character ^ If we are right in sup- posing that this citation really gives us the words of Sophocles, and that we must therefore take the participle hiaireTrai'xw^ in its old Attic rather than in its subsequent Hellenistic sense ^, it will im- ply either that both the first two styles belonged to the very earliest period of his literary career^, or that he had merely amused him- self with sporting in those styles'*; and in either case we can hardly suppose that they are to be found in Tragedies subsequent to the Antigone. On the other hand, all the extant Tragedies, even the Philoctetes^ which is known to have been produced by Sophocles in his old age, exhibit traces of that intentional obscurity with regard to which it has been well observed^, that " Sophocles often plays at hide-and-seek with the significations of words, in order that the mind, having exerted itself to find out his meaning, may comprehend it more vividly and distinctly when it is once arrived at." The claim, which Sophocles makes for the style of his mature age, namely, that it is the best adapted for the delineation of human character, is combined, by the echo of an old and able criticism, with a recognition of his elaborate art and ingenuity^. And we are inclined to the belief that he never shook ofi" entirely the pecu- liarities of his second style ; but that, as he advanced in life, he combined with it more and more a readier flow of dramatic oratory, such as we find in his contemporary Euripides^. As far as this comparative facility admits of recognition, it may help us to class with the Antigone, as his earliest extant play, the Electra, which is ^ Plutarch, de Profect. Virt. Sent. p. 79 b : 6 1:io^oktjs fKeye, rhv Alcrx^Xov diaire- Traixoi^s 6yK0v, etra to iriKpbv Kal Kardrexvov ttjs avrou KaraaKevTJs, els rpirop -i^drj rb r?7J X^^ews /xera^aWtLu eWos oirep eaTiv r]9iK(J)TaTou Kal j3eTi(rTov. The substitution of avTov for avrou, and the introduction of els before rpirov, are due to Miiller, Hist. Gr. Lit. I. p. [340] 449. In a note to Miiller we have explained KaTacFKev-q in its op- position to i^LS, as above. 2 Moeris, p. 158: epeo-x^X" 'Arrt/cws* Ziairall^eLv/'EWriviKQis. Cf. Etyni. M. p, 621, 54 : nXdrwj' ^laTrai^et ttjv ^^lv Cos jSap^apov. ^ This is Milller's translation: "Having put away along with his boyish days." ■* This seems to be in accordance with the only use of the word by an author of the classical age : Plato, Leges, Vl. 769 A : /caXws toIvvv hv riixiv i] irpea^vTQv ^/xcppoji/ TTaidia p-expi- devp' Slu e'lr) ret vvv diaTreiraia/JLiur]. 5 Miiller, Hist. Gr. Lit. i. p. [356] 469. ^ Vit. Sophocl. ad Jin.: TjdoTroLel 8^ Kal iroiKlWei Kal rots iirivo-qfiacn rexviKQis Xpvrai, 'OfXTjpiKTju iK/Lia-rrdfieuos xapii'. olSe 5^ Kaipbv av/uL/xerpTJa-ai Kal irpdy/xaTa uar' ix fxiKpov TjfXLO-TLxlov rj Xe'^ews jxids i)ov rjOoTroielv TrpbauTOU. "^ Miiller, I. p. [356] 470, refers especially to the speeches of Menelaus, Agamem- non, and Teucer in the Ajax, and to CEdipus' defence in the CEdiims Coloncus.
