Stands off, and with a searching eye examines
Each colour, how 'tis sweeten'd; and then hugs
Himself for his rare workmanship.
In The Emperor of the East[521] occurs a parallel quoted by Dr. Walter Headlam in his notes to Agamemnon:[522]
Theodosius. What an earthquake I feel in me!
And on the sudden my whole fabric totters!
My blood within me turns, and through my veins,
Parting with natural redness, I discern it
Chang'd to a fatal yellow.
It is the general opinion of scholars that our Elizabethan dramatists owed very little to the Greek drama directly, but we cannot forget that Massinger had had a good education at Oxford, and was a widely read man.[523] His forensic skill [pg 150] often reminds us of Euripides; and if he did not know the works of his illustrious predecessor, he would have found in them a congenial spirit.[524]