Euripidis Tragoediae (Nauck 3rd ed.)

Euripides, son of Mnesarchides, an Athenian. The poets of the Old Comedy mock him as the son of a vegetable-seller. They say he was a painter at first, but later, after spending time with Archelaus the physicist and Anaxagoras, he was moved toward 115 tragedy. Because of this, he naturally developed a higher sense of himself and avoided the masses, showing no ambition for the theaters. For this reason, this trait harmed him just as much as it benefited Sophocles. The comic poets also persistently attacked him out of envy. Having looked down upon everything, he left for Macedon to Archelaus 120 the king, and there, while returning late, he was destroyed by royal dogs. He began to teach during the 81st Olympiad in the archonship of Callias. Using a medium style, he succeeded in his composition, skillfully employing both arguments. He is inimitable in his songs, casting into the shade 125 almost all the melody-makers. He is excessive and coarse in his exchange of dialogue, and troublesome in his prologues, but very rhetorical in his construction, varied in his phrasing, and capable of refuting what has been said. He had a total of 92 plays. 67 of his plays are preserved, and in addition to these, 130 the disputed ones; and 8 satyr plays. One of these is also disputed. He had 5 victories.

We do not have sources for this life except manuscripts of an inferior quality, a list of which was provided by Kirchhoff. The Ambrosianus A 104 and the Vaticanus 1345 are superior to the others; the former (A) contains verses 1–43, the latter (B) contains verses 1–43, 111–131, 44–60, 89–110. Verses 61–88 exist in the Vindobonensis 119 (F), which prefixes verses 1–43 to these—though with some omissions—and appends verses 106–110. I have been content to provide the more significant discrepancies between the books. Verse 1 sl Mnesarchus A, Mnesarchides B. 2 Clyto A. 3 Callias] more correctly Calliades, which Meursius ordered to be restored here and in Diogenes Laertius 2.7. 5 or] I would prefer and. 8 many books, many Thomas M. words AB, prologues others. 12 to have composed B. 13 That Mnesilochus a character in Aristophanes' Thesmophoriazusae Meineke Com. 2 p. 372, Mnesilochus is that one who Dindorf. some Phrygian thing A, Phrygian thing B, Phrygian Dindorf. 14 Euripides A. and Socrates