“Seven mighty men, and valiant captains, slew
Over an iron-bound shield a bull, then dipped
Their fingers in the blood, and all invoked
Ares, Enyo, and death-dealing Flight
In witness of their oaths,”[7]

and describes how they all mutually pledged themselves without flinching
to die. Sometimes, however, his thoughts are unshapen, and as it were
rough-hewn and rugged. Not observing this, Euripides, from too blind a
rivalry, sometimes falls under the same censure.

[Footnote 7: _Sept. c. Th._ 42.]

6
Aeschylus with a strange violence of language represents the palace of
Lycurgus as _possessed_ at the appearance of Dionysus--

“The halls with rapture thrill, the roof’s inspired.”[8]

Here Euripides, in borrowing the image, softens its extravagance[9]--

“And all the mountain felt the god.”[10]

[Footnote 8: Aesch. _Lycurg._]

[Footnote 9: Lit. “Giving it a different flavour,” as Arist. _Poet._
ἡδυσμένῳ λόγῳ χώρις ἑκάστῳ τῶν εἰδῶν, ii. 10.]

[Footnote 10: _Bacch._ 726.]