Status Updates From Euripides II: The Cyclops /...

Oh to be a stone! To feel no grief!

Human misery must somewhere have a stop:
there is no wind that always blows a storm;
great good fortune comes to failure in the end.
All is change; all yields its place and goes;
to persevere, trusting in what hopes he has,
is courage in a man. The coward despairs.

I enjoyed Helen. I have to come back to the others at a later date.

Iphigenia in Tauris might be my favorite I’ve read of Euripides so far

Heracles at the end of “Heracles” reminds me of Camus’ Absurd Hero. I enjoyed the debate between Heracles and Theseus on the nature of the gods and whether or not the poets lie about them. Arrowsmith’s introduction is excellent, really an essay on the play, largely motivated by the fact that this place doesn’t meet Aristotelian standards of tragedy (who cares what Aristotle thought, it’s a great play!).