Divinities to the ideal Personalities of Olympus. Such an inquiry would, however, exceed the scope of an introduction.
In considering the Zeus of Æschylus I have confined myself almost entirely to the conception of the Olympian king embodied in the Oresteia, leaving untouched the apparent discrepancy between the character there portrayed and that depicted in the Prometheus Bound. I agree with those critics who believe that the discrepancy is only apparent, and would vanish had we the opportunity of studying the other members of the Promethean trilogy. Critics are agreed that the Suppliants ought also to be regarded as a member of a trilogy, in association with the lost dramas of the Ægyptii and the Danaïdes. These fragmentary works can, I believe, be only satisfactorily interpreted when studied in connection with the Oresteia. The investigation would, however, necessitate a reference to the remaining dramas of Æschylus, and must therefore be postponed to a future opportunity.
All true lovers of Art, who recognize her legitimate function as a revealer of truth, a mediator between the Finite and the Infinite, cannot fail to regret the subordinate position to which she is condemned in the present day, when she is too often regarded in the light of a mere elegant superfluity, as one of the costly adjuncts of our modern civilization. The true dignity of art has been nobly vindicated by Hegel in his celebrated work, entitled "Vorlesungen über die Aesthetik." As
