Sophocles
sof'o-kleez (about 495-406 B. C.), one of the three great tragic poets of Greece. Aeschylus and Euripides are the others. Little save tradition is known of his early life except that his father was an artisan and lived in an aristocratic quarter of Athens. Sophocles ranks next to Aeschylus as a tragedian, and some critics place him before Aeschylus. His greatest tragedies are Oedipus Tyrannus, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone, Electra, Philoctetes, Ajax, and Maidens of Trachis. He is said to have won a score of tragic victories. In all his contests for prizes, he ranked either first or second, never once third. Only seven of his tragedies have been preserved. His plays are considered the most perfect of all dramas. From a habit of borrowing freely and gracefully from other authors, he has been nicknamed the "Attic Bee." Instead of taking space for the traditional gossip relative to his private life, we make room for a few quotations:
Judge not fully of a man's life before he dieth.
A short saying oft contains much wisdom.
The truth is always the strongest argument.
It is better not to live at all, than to live disgraced.
Fortune is not on the side of the faint hearted.
Think not that thy word, and thine alone, must be right.
Most modern critics have agreed with the Attic public that the tragedies of Sophocles are the most perfect that the world has ever seen.--Mahaffy.