THIS book fulfils a hinted promise made in the latest edition of Greek Tragedy (1948), which here and there it corrects. But the constituent essays were conceived and first written at widely separated times; and, as regards one of them, this fact has perhaps some little importance.

My preface to The Riddle of the Bacchae stated that its argument occurred to me as an undergraduate. But I hesitated to increase the reader's distress by revealing that another play also had during the same period inspired me with novel views; and kept the Supplices theory hidden, not least because I could hardly believe it myself. In due course a brief statement was written and every few years exhumed for what should by that time be the cold eye of objective criticism. It became clear that the play as it stands could not be fathered upon Moschion, or any other dramatist in his right mind. The theory of a patchwork origin that in the end took shape as the only credible explanation of our text, but may nevertheless at first repel some readers, is at least (they are assured) not the outcome of a fancy wantonly indulged. Whatever ingenuity I may command has been applied to seeking a solution less eccentric; but the farrago before me has proved otherwise intractable. The whimsical element in Euripides' genius and art, studied in the opening essay, helps to explain the palace-miracle of the Bacchae far better than I explained it long ago: to excuse our fundamentally irrational Supplices it does not suffice.

My thanks are offered to Messrs. Methuen for permission to use translations first printed in Greek Tragedy. The helpful kindness of my friends and colleagues Professors R. J. Getty, G. M. A. Grube, and W. P. Wallace has been most valuable. The dedication of this book is an attempt to voice my gratitude for assistance varied, able, and untiring, without which it could not have been completed.