The Dramatic Works of Voltaire, Vol. 8 Part I (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The Dramatic Works of Voltaire, Vol. 8: Part I The preceptor of Alexander - kings ought always to have such preceptors - the great Aristotle, that extensive genius, so just, and so deeply versed in all the learning of those times, Aristotle, in his art of poetry, has declared that the meeting of M érope and her son was the most interesting circumstance of the whole Grecian theatre. This stroke was, in his opinion, infinitely superior to all the rest. Plutarch tells us, that the Greeks, who, of all the people in the world, had the quickest feeling, trembled with fear, lest the old man who was to stop the arm of M érope, should not come in time enough. That piece, which was played in his time, and a few fragments of which are still extant, appeared to him the most affecting of all the tragedies of Euripides° but it was not the choice of his subject alone to which that poet owed his success, though in every species of the drama, 3. Happy choice is, no doubt, of the greatest service. F rance' has seen several M éropes, but none of them ever succeeded: the authors perhaps over loaded this Simple subject with foreign ornaments: it was the naked Venus of Praxiteles which they wanted to cover with tinsel. It requires a great deal of time to teach men that everything which is great Should be simple and natural. In 1641, when the French flag began to flourish, and even to raise itself above that of Greece, by the genius of P. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.