Note 441 — LECTURE XXVI, &c. Of Tragedy.

I am at a Loss here to know what Vossius means, who seems to intimate, that in the Hecuba of Euripides, the Death of Ægisthus added to the Terror and Distress of the Play. But as Agamemnon himself is one of the Persons in the Drama, there could be no Thoughts of revenging a Death, which had not happen'd. In the Electra, there is an account of Ægisthus's Death; but that Incident is not of so much Consequence there, as Vossius seems to make it in the Tragedy he alludes to. It is therefore most probable, that what is here said relates to the Electra of Sophocles; where the concluding Scene represents the meeting of Orestes and Ægisthus, and the latter is conducted off the Stage, only to be put to Death in the same Place where he kill'd Agamemnon. A short Sentence has probably been originally left out in Vossius, which would have clear'd this Matter, in Words to this Effect; Sic tristis exitus in Sophoclis Electra, ubi Ægisthus, &c. It is much our Author, who, upon many other Occasions, has censur'd Vossius, should pass over a Mistake of this Nature.