ARGUMENT.
As the facts upon which the first part of this classical Extravaganza is founded are fully detailed in “The Argonautics,” of Apollonius Rhodius, and do not admit of dispute, of course there can be no argument at all on the subject. But the case is different as regards the second part, inasmuch as Ælian declares that Medea did not murder her children, as represented by Euripides; but that they were disposed of, to use a mild phrase, by the people of Corinth, in revenge for the destruction of Creon and his daughter, by the very-much-injured-and-undoubtedly-with-sufficient-provocation-to-distraction-driven-better-half of Jason. The same erudite historian also states that the Corinthians actually paid five golden talents to Euripides to lay the guilt on Medea; and the author of the present drama has, therefore, most generously expended the only talent he possessed in altering the catastrophe so as to redeem the character of the unfortunate heroine. It may be as well also to mention that two characters in the Medea of Euripides, viz., Ægeus, King of Athens, and the pedagogue entrusted with the education of Medea's children, have been omitted in this version; the monarch, because he is supposed to be at home—and the schoolmaster, because he is known to be abroad.
