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to a _Hippolytus (Artemis Prologizes)_, a command of the majestic, reticent manner of Greek tragedy sufficiently remarkable in one whose natural instincts of expression were far more Elizabethan than Greek. The incongruity of Greek dramatic methods with his own seems to have speedily checked his progress; but Euripides, the author of the Greek _Hippolytus_, retained a peculiar fascination for him, and it was on another Euripidean drama that he now, in the fulness of his powers, set his hand. The result certainly does not diminish our sense of the incongruity. Keenly as he admired the humanity and pathos of Euripides, he challenges comparison with Euripides most successfully when he goes completely his own way. He was too robustly original to
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well, and his bold emphatic speech, curbed to the task of reproducing the choice and pregnant sobriety of Attic style, is apt to eliminate everything but the sobriety. The
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Greek is often yet flatter than
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versions of Greek verse are wont to be, and when Browning speaks in his own person the style recovers itself with a sudden and vehement bound, like a noble wild creature abruptly released from restraint. Among the finest of these
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are the bursts of description which Balaustion's enthusiasm interjects between the passages of dialogue. Such is the magnificent picture of the coming of Herakles. In the original he merely enters as the chorus end their song, addressing them with the simple inquiry,
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Friends, is Admetos haply within? to which the chorus reply, like civil retainers,
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Yes, Herakles, he is at home. Browning, or his Balaustion, cannot permit the mighty undoer of the tragic harms to come on in this homely fashion. A great interrupting voice rings suddenly through the dispirited maunderings of Admetos' house-folk; and the hearty greeting,
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My hosts here!
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Sudden into the midst of sorrow leapt, Along with the gay cheer of that great voice Hope, joy, salvation: Herakles was here! Himself o' the threshold, sent his voice on first To herald all that human and divine I' the weary, happy face of him,--half god, Half man, which made the god-part god the more.