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The Persians.
single episode, a single generation, was insufficient for the display of the dependence of life upon life, and the moral infinitude of action which it was his design to exhibit. Thus he habitually composed groups of three connected plays, which gave full scope for the development of thought and work."[1]
Unfortunately, we possess only the second member of the trilogy, which, consisting of three separate dramas, severally entitled, Phineus, The Persians, and Glaukos,[2] appears to have been known among the ancients by the general name of 'The Persians.' To this trilogy was appended the Satyric drama of "Prometheus, the Fire-kindler." Though the second member of this trilogy is alone based upon history,
- ↑ "Æschylus as a Religious Teacher."—Brook F. Westcott.
- ↑ The ancient Greek argument informs us that ἐπί Μένωνος τραγῳδῶν Αἰσχύλος ἐνίκα Φινεῖ, Πέρσαις, Γλαυκῷ Ποτνιεῖ, Προμηθεῖ. Fragments, however, exist of another Æschylean drama, entitled Glaukos Pontios, and various arguments are adduced by Welcker and Gruppe to prove that this drama, rather than the Glaukos Potnieus, formed the third member of the Persian trilogy. This view is supported by W. v. Humboldt, Schlegel, K. O. Müller, and other learned men. It seems, I confess, hard to understand why the error should have been made on several different occasions by several different writers. The principal reason for regarding Glaukos Potnieus as wrong seems to be the difficulty of discovering any link of connection between that legendary hero, the father of Bellerophontes, and the termination of the Persian war. In the text I have adopted the hypothesis of Welcker and Gruppe, and have given a brief epitome of their views respecting the Glaukos Pontios.
