to the work of men like Rohde, Farnell, Wilamowitz, Kern,
and Nilsson. If such matter bulks large in both Introduc-
tion and Commentary, the reason is that the last fifty years
have achieved a greater and more fruitful advance in this
field than in any other which has an equally important
bearing on the play. I have also been enabled, thanks
to the generosity of the Egypt Exploration Society, the
Delegates of the Oxford University Press, and Mr. C. H.
Roberts of St. John's College, Oxford, to add something to
the positive evidence for the text by quoting the readings
of two unpublished papyri (see Introduction, p. lvi ).

In accordance with the plan of the series to which it
belongs, the text (and apparatus criticus) of the present
edition is, apart from correction of one or two misprints,
that of Professor Murray ( Euripides, Oxford Classical
Texts, 2nd edition, 1913). In the Commentary, I have
made it my first business to explain this text; but where
I disagree with it I have said so, and have given my
reasons. In the arrangement of my matter I have ventured
to depart in two respects from the established custom of
commentators. (i) Since I believe that linguistic, metrical,
and literary interpretation are alike indispensable, and can-
not be divorced without peril, I have incorporated in the
Commentary both metrical analysis (presented, I hope,
with a minimum of technicality) and discussion of the sig-
nificance of the several scenes, instead of relegating the
former to an unreadable appendix and the latter to an
Introduction which may be left unread. (ii) Since this
edition is intended for schoolboys as well as for scholars,
I have enclosed certain matter in square brackets—matter
which is for the most part controversial, and concerned
mainly (though not exclusively) with textual criticism. I
hope that those reading the play for the first time will in
general ignore this bracketed stuff: it is addressed primarily
to persons who are or wish to become professional scholars.
If the love and knowledge of Greek literature ever die in
this country, they will die of a suffocation arising from its

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