Chapter 6

The disappearance of Æschylus! Stretch this catastrophe hypothetically to a few more names, and it seems as though you felt the vacuum annihilating the human mind.

The work of Æschylus was, by its extent, the greatest, certainly, of all antiquity. By the seven plays which remain to us, we may judge what that universe was.

Let us point out what Æschylus lost is.

Fourteen trilogies: the “Promethei,” of which “Prometheus Bound” formed a part; the “Seven Chiefs before Thebes,” of which there remains one piece, “The Danaid,” which comprised the “Supplicants,” written in Sicily, and in which the Sicelism of Æschylus is traceable; “Laius,” which comprised “Œdipus;” “Athamas,” which ended with the “Isthmiasts;” “Perseus,” the node of which was the “Phorcydes;” “Etna,” which had as prologue the “Etnean Women;” “Iphigenia,” the dénouement of which was the tragedy of the “Priestesses;” the “Ethiopid,” the titles of which are nowhere to be found; “Pentheus,” in which were the “Hydrophores;” “Teucer,” which opened with the “Judgment of Arms;” “Niobe,” which commenced with the “Nurses” and ended with the “Men of the Train;” a trilogy in honour of Achilles, the “Tragic Iliad,” composed of the “Myridons,” the “Nereids,” and the “Phrygians;” one in honour of Bacchus, the “Lycurgia,” composed of the “Edons,” the “Bassarides,” and the “Young Men.”