away a goat, or, according to Ovid, a hind, was found in her place, which was sacrificed in her stead.* The maiden was nevertheless lost to her family, Artemis having carried her away to Taurica Chersonesus (Crimea), where she became the priestess of her temple. Clytemnestra, the wife of Agamemnon, had meanwhile formed an illicit connection with Ægisthus, the cousin of Agamemnon, who had been left in charge of the Kingdom of Argos, during the king's absence at the siege of Troy. On her husband's return she receives him with ostentatious demonstration of respect, offers a sacrifice, spreads a banquet, and is presumably ready to receive him to her couch. But all this outward parade of affection is only intended to throw him off his guard. As he leaves his bath, she presents him with a tunic, the sleeves of which have been sewn up; and, while he is entangled in it, she kills him with an She had intended to kill his young son, Orestes, before his return; but the child had been rescued by his sister, Electra, who had sent him to his uncle, the King of Phocis. Thence, when grown up, he returns, having been com

ахе.

* Eschylus knows nothing of this act of deliverance, leaving it in doubt whether she was killed or not.

manded by the Oracle to avenge his father, and kills both his mother and her paramour. The rest of the fable, which relates how he was tormented by the Furies on account of his matricide, how he was purified from his crime, and how he finally recovered his sister, Iphigeneia, from Taurica Chersonesus, has nothing to do with our subject.

The plot of Agamemnon,' if plot it can be called, is confined to the assassination of that hero; but the drama, constructed on that single incident, is by no means the least effective of the tragedies extant.

The scene is laid before the palace of Agamemnon, the dramatos prosōpa consisting of six persons and the chorus,* viz., Agamemnon, Ægisthus, Clytemnestra, Cassandra, a watchman (púλağ), and Tulthybios, the herald (kηpúğ). The chorus is composed of old men (χόρος γερόντων), too old, as it appears from their own words, to have followed Agamemnon to the siege of Troy.

I. When the piece opens, the watchman is

*It is commonly said that Eschylus increased the number of actors from one to two. It would, perhaps, be more correct to say that he introduced dialogue by putting two speaking actors on the stage at one time, exclusive of the chorus. This is evident from the number of performers (six) in the tragedy before us.

discovered on a tower of the palace, who informs the audience that he is set there to give notice of the appearance of the beacon-fires which are to announce the fall of Troy. Then he perceives the first flash, and goes off to tell his mistress. As he disappears the chorus enters. They tell of the expedition that had left Argos ten years before, and refer to the omen of misfortune which attended it, and the unhappy fate of Iphigeneia. Then Clytemnestra enters, attended by a procession of torch-bearers, and informs the chorus that the fires now blazing on the hills declare that the Grecian arms have been crowned with success. Again, the chorus speak of the omens with apprehension, and assert that the too great success of mortals will often call down the thunderbolt of Zeus, &c. :

πόθῳ δ ̓ ὑπερποντίας

φάσμα δόξει δόμων ἀνάσσειν.* (404.)

II. The next episode introduces the herald sent by Agamemnon to his wife, Clytemnestra's hypocritical professions of delight, and the moralizing of the chorus, who, in spite of what

* "By (his) desire for her, (who is) over the sea (vπερ-ovτías), a ghost will seem to be queen of (his) home."

F

they have previously said, now assert that justice directs everything to its destined end.* Then Agamemnon appears in his chariot, accompanied by Cassandra, one of the daughters of Priam, who has fallen to his share in a division of the spoils of Troy, and a train of soldiers bearing trophies.

This Cassandra is the great character of the tragedy, and her declamation is, perhaps, the very finest to be found in Eschylus. She is a prophetess, though destined never to be believed; and she now comes, bearing in her hand the prophetic staff, and having her temples bound with fillets. At the same time Clytæmnestra enters, attended by a troup of maidens, bearing purple carpets, which she bids them lay down, that Agamemnon may walk over them into the palace. He objects that such arrogance would be offensive to the gods, and only consents to her urgent request after he has had his buskins taken off. She and he then enter

* Professor Jebb, in an interesting article on Greek public opinion, observes that the dramatic chorus is always made to represent it. In this case they do so most completely, now giving way to popular superstition, when misfortune seems to lower, then reverting to reason, as the prospect appears to brighten; and such is always the custom of the vulgar herd.

the palace, leaving Cassandra, for whom he has bespoken a kind reception, still seated in the chariot.

III. The next scene is devoted chiefly to Cassandra. Clytemnestra, who has returned from the palace, having ordered her to leave the chariot and commence her duties as a slave in the house, retires from the stage, leaving her alone with the chorus. The prophetess then alights, but, instead of entering the house, she takes the stage and bursts into a strain of lamentation, which gives us the finest declamation in the tragedy; while a vision of horrors already perpetrated, and of others yet to come, seems to pass before her. She describes the house to which she has been brought as shambles, and points, in confirmation, to the murdered children of Thyestes, murdered in that place long years before, when Atreus was King of Argos; and apostrophizing the Furies, who appear to her hovering over the bloodstained abode, she bids them complete their work. She sees the murder of Agamemnon as if it were taking place before her, crying out that a fell heifer is entangling the noble bull in her robes and goring him with her horns.