some kind in the sufferer himself which call for chastisement. Jocasta speaks mockingly and defyingly of the Oracles of Delphi, and has been guilty of cold-blooded infanticide.[1] Œdipus is proud and lifted up with his victory over the Sphinx.[2] Philoctetes has outraged the sanctuary of a Goddess, or a Nymph.[3] Aias has sinned in asserting his independence of all Divine aid, his scorn of all prayer for Divine blessing,[4] and so there comes on him the terrible madness which shows him how the wrath of the Gods may come on those who despise them. Heracles has made himself the slave of lust and ferocious passion,[5] and the fiery pain of the robe of Nessos is his due penalty. Creon and Hæmon forget the ties which bind them together as father and as son, and the father has to mourn, in his lonely age, over a terrible desolation.[6]
But it is not merely the fact that calamity is deserved that is thus brought out. With hardly a single exception, there is also the lesson that it does its work as a discipline, chastening and correcting faults that would otherwise have been incurable, and bringing out excellency in others that would otherwise have been dormant. The sufferings of Œdipus teach him humility, reverence, contentment, and give scope, in
