Here, then, is the monologue of Neophron's Medea:
εἶεν· τί δράσεις θυμέ; βούλευσαι καλῶς
πρὶν ἢ 'ξαμαρτεῖν καὶ τὰ προσφιλέστατα
ἔχθιστα θέσθαι. ποῖ ποτ' ἐξῇξας τάλας;
κάτισχε λῆμα καὶ σθένος θεοστυγές.
καὶ πρὸς τί ταῦτ' ὀδύρομαι, ψυχὴν ἐμὴν
ὁρῶσ' ἔρημον καὶ παρημελημένην
πρὸς ὧν ἐχρῆν ἥκιστα; μαλθακοὶ δὲ δὴ
τοιαῦτα γιγνόμεσθα πάσχοντες κακά;
οὐ μὴ προδώσεις θυμὲ σαυτὸν ἐν κακοῖς.
οἴμοι δέδοκται· παῖδες ἔκτος ὀμμάτων
ἀπέλθετ'· ἤδη γάρ με φοινία μέγαν
δέδικε λύσσα θυμόν· ὦ χέρες, χέρες,
πρὸς οἷον ἔργον ἐξοπλιζόμεσθα· φεῦ·
τάλαινα τόλμης, ἣ πολὺν πόνον βραχεῖ
διαφθεροῦσα τὸν ἐμὸν ἔρχομαι χρόνῳ.[76]
It is hardly possible not to recognize in these lines the first sketch of the picture afterwards worked out so elaborately in detail by Euripides.
Ion was a native of Chios, who came while still a boy (παντάπασι μειράκιον) to Athens, and enjoyed the honor of supping with Cimon in the house of a certain Laomedon. Of his life and work very little is known, although his reputation among the ancients was so great that the Alexandrians placed him among the first five tragic poets. The titles of eleven of his plays have been preserved; but these were only a few out of many that he wrote. He was, besides, a voluminous prose-author, and practised every kind of lyrical poetry. From the criticism of Longinus we gather that his dramas were distinguished for fluency and finish rather than for boldness of conception or sublimity of style. After praising their regularity, Longinus adds that he would not exchange the Œdipus of Sophocles for all the tragedies of Ion put together. Personally, Ion had the reputation of a voluptuary: φιλοπότην καὶ ἐρωτικώτατον are the words of Athenæus which describe him. There is also a story that he passed some portion of his life at Corinth in love-bondage to the beautiful Chrysilla. In short, both as a man and an artist, Ion was true to his name and race. It is unfortunate that the few fragments we possess of Ion's tragedies have been transmitted for the most part by Hesychius and Athenæus in illustration of grammatical usages and convivial customs. The following gnomic couplet, preserved by Plutarch, is both interesting in itself and characteristic of the poet's style:
τὸ γνῶθι σαυτόν, τοῦτ' ἔπος μὲν οὐ μέγα,
ἔργον δ', ὅσον Ζεὺς μόνος ἐπίσταται θεῶν.[77]
Another passage, quoted by Sextus Empiricus, contains an elegant description of the power of Sparta:
οὐ γὰρ λόγοις Λάκαινα πυργοῦται πόλις,
ἀλλ' εὖτ' Ἄρης νεοχμὸς ἐμπέσῃ στρατῷ,
βουλὴ μὲν ἄρχει, χεὶρ δ' ἐπεξεργάζεται.[78]
Almost less can be said about Achæus of Eretria, the fifth, with Æschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Ion, in the Alexandrian πρώτη τάξις, or first class of tragic worthies. Diogenes Laertius records his skill in the satyric drama; Athenæus remarks that his style was obscure, and that he filled his plays with riddles. The names of some of his dramas—Linus, The Fates, Philoctetes at Troy, Omphale, Peirithous—excite our curiosity; but the fragments are, as usual, cited for some merely frivolous or pedantic purpose.
The following corrupt passage from a play called Ἆθλοι or Ἆθλα, The Games—the loss of which is greatly to be regretted, since it might have thrown a new light upon the feeling of the Greeks for their public contests—presents a lively picture of the physical splendor of trained athletes:
γυμνοὶ γὰρ ὤθουν φαιδίμους βραχίονας
ἥβῃ σφριγῶντες ἐμπορεύονται, νέῳ
στίλβοντες ἄνθει καρτερὰς ἐπωμίδας·
ἄδην δ' ἐλαίου στέρνα καὶ ποδῶν κύτος
χρίουσιν, ὡς ἔχοντες οἴκοθεν τρυφήν.[79]