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Untitled Article
GkMk& iDrfehie instance , ( we are not told why ) is , th * t the race of , AiArfl £ tu& should be destroyed , and that , as long aa any of tbi < - race existed , a pestilence should depopulate Argot . AdHahsa had been marked for destruction ( we are not told why ) by a divine voice , at the moment of his birth ; he had been pursued by wrong and injustice from his infancy , and his nature had been savea from reckless obduracy by love , but dri ve to
a ^ ain n almost desperation by the death of the object o ? thai love , in consequence of the supposed murder of their child , by the emissaries of his father . Irritated by this unceasing persecution , he is represented as shut up in his palace , p « 68 lttg the time in feasting and revelry , and regardless of the sufferings of his people , who are perishing by the pestilence . To their repeated entreaties , that he will humble himself to the .. Gods , aud thus endeavour to abate their wrath , he turns a
deft £ ear , and at length decrees that whoever intrudes into his presence with such a request shall be put to death . The youth , Ion , braves this danger , and at his own peril enters the palace . In the interview which follows , and in which Adra $ tus consents to meet his subjects , and seek to discover the causes of their misery , he pours out his soul to his young mouitor , i * eveals to him his misfortunes and his struggles , and spares has life in consequence of the interest he suddenly conceives for him .
Ion is now chosen by the Gods as the instrument to take aw € * y the life of Adrastus . He accepts the office , and at the moment he is about to execute it , he is discovered to be the son of Jbis intended victim . He throws away the knife , but an 0 th # i ! performs the fatal office , and Ion becomes king . Still th $ pestilence rages . The race of Adrastus must perish ; Ion
s U * b s himself at the altar , and the plague ceases accordingly . * iW ^ gain noth ing by seeing human passions thus unnaturally vtwketT upon . Ihe characters of the drama are placed in impossible circumstances ; their destinies being governed by capricious demons , and the will of these demons being made tr ^ utaphant by the sacrifice of noble humanity . Supposing the oracle had " said or sung , " all these things would not have occurred a whit the more on that account . If the circumstances
a * e ixisupposable , the characters which they assist to form are incongruous and confusing . The resistance of Adrastus is , in fact , grand and right , ana the submission of Ion is a mythological weakness of intellect , or rather a misdirected strength ; y * t the first is represented as selfishness and tyranny , the second as * true heroism .
Stieji a groundwork for a tragedy might have been effective am 6 ri& the Greeks ; but our philosophy has got beyond it . It inljghtbe possible to throw our sympathies ,, and asao ^ tMapiis into * j 3 i $ supposed circumstance * , were tta activn-conducted ia
Untitled Article
44 gfc * ' To * , ' and Jk&Aihentevm *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1836, page 448, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2659/page/56/
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