Aeschylus - Complete Works of Aeschylus

Contents

Brief Biography

THE PERSIANS

THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES

THE SUPPLIANTS

AGAMEMNON

EUMENIDES

THE CHOEPHORI

PROMETHEUS BOUND

Other Delphi Classics available on Kindle:

The Complete Works of Aeschylus

The Complete Works of Sophocles

The Complete Works of Aristophanes

Dual texts

The Works of Pindar (Greek and English version)

The Works of Sappho (Greek and English version)

The Works of Alcaeus (Greek and English version)

The Works of Catullus (Latin and English version)

Aeschylus (ca. 524BC-456BC) was the first of the three (with Sophocles and Euripides) ancient Greek tragedians and he is often termed as the father of tragedy. According to Aristotle, he increased the number of characters on stage to allow conflict. Beforehand characters would only interact with the chorus. Sadly, only seven plays by Aeschylus have survived from Antiquity, although he is believed to have written as many as ninety. There is some debate regarding the authorship of one play, Prometheus Bound , which has been included in this collection.

Aeschylus was said to have been born in Eleusis , a small town northwest of Athens in western Attica . His family was wealthy and his father was a member of the ancient nobility of Attica . The geographer Pausanias told how Aeschylus worked at a vineyard in his youh, when the god Dionysus visited him in a dream, commaninding him to write tragedy. As soon as he awoke, the young Aeschylus began writing a play and the first performance was in 499 BC, when he was only 26 years old. He won his first victory at the City Dionysia in 484 BC.

The Persian Wars played a large role in the playwright's life. In 490 BC, Aeschylus and his brother fought to defend Athens against the Great Persian Kings army at the Battle of Marathon. Though heavily outnumbered, the Athenians slaughtered the Persian army. This crucial victory ended the first Persian invasion of Greece . In 480, Aeschylus was called into service again at the Battle of Salamis. This battle holds a prominent place in his earliest surviving play, The Persians , first performed in 472 BC, winning the first prize at the Dionysia festival.

Aeschylus was initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries , a cult to Demeter founded in his hometown. Members of the cult were supposed to have gained mystical knowledge and, according to Aristotle, Aeschylus had revealed the cult's secrets on stage. Some claim that an angry mob tried to kill Aeschylus, but he managed to flee the scene. When standing trial for the offense he pleaded ignorance and was acquitted, as the jury was sympathetic due to his war service.

After the death of his chief rival Phrynichus in 473 BC, Aeschylus was the favorite in the Dionysia, winning first prize in nearly every competition. In 472 BC, Aeschylus staged four plays, all financed by the famous statesman Pericles.

In 458 BC, he visited the city of Gela in Sicily , where he died in two years later. Some claimed he was killed by a tortoise, which fell out of the sky, dropped by an eagle. Yet many doubt the truth of such a tale. Aeschylus' work was so respected after his death that only his tragedies were allowed to be restaged in ensuing competitions.

The Theatre of Dionysus, Athens

The birthplace of drama where most of

Aeschylus plays were first performed

THE PERSIANS

Written 472 B.C.E
Translated by Robert Potter

Dramatis Personae

ATOSSA, widow of Darius and mother of XERXES
MESSENGER
GHOST OF DARIUS
XERXES
CHORUS OF PERSIAN ELDERS, who compose the Persian Council of State
Scene
Before the Council-Hall of the Persian Kings at Susa. The tomb of Darius the Great is visible. The time is 480 B.C., shortly after the battle of Salamis . The play opens with the CHORUS OF PERSIAN ELDERS singing its first choral lyric.

CHORUS

While o'er the fields of Greece the embattled troops
Of Persia march with delegated sway,
We o'er their rich and gold-abounding seats
Hold faithful our firm guard; to this high charge
Xerxes, our royal lord, the imperial son
Of great Darius, chose our honour'd age.
But for the king's return, and his arm'd host
Blazing with gold, my soul presaging ill
Swells in my tortured breast: for all her force
Hath Asia sent, and for her youth I sigh.
Nor messenger arrives, nor horseman spurs
With tidings to this seat of Persia 's kings.
The gates of Susa and Ecbatana
Pour'd forth their martial trains; and Cissia sees
Her ancient towers forsaken, while her youth,
Some on the bounding steed, the tall bark some
Ascending, some with painful march on foot,
Haste on, to arrange the deep'ning files of war.
Amistres, Artaphernes, and the might
Of great Astaspes, Megabazes bold,
Chieftains of Persia, kings, that, to the power
Of the great king obedient, march with these
Leading their martial thousands; their proud steeds
Prance under them; steel bows and shafts their arms,
Dreadful to see, and terrible in fight,
Deliberate valour breathing in their souls.
Artembares, that in his fiery horse
Delights; Masistress; and Imaeus bold,
Bending with manly strength his stubborn bow;
Pharandaces, and Sosthanes, that drives
With military pomp his rapid steeds.
Others the vast prolific Nile hath sent;
Pegastagon, that from Aegyptus draws
His high birth; Susiscanes; and the chief
That reigns o'er sacred Memphis , great Arsames;
And Ariomardus, that o'er ancient Thebes
Bears the supreme dominion; and with these,
Drawn from their watery marshes, numbers train'd
To the stout oar. Next these the Lycian troops,
Soft sons of luxury; and those that dwell
Amid the inland forests, from the sea
Far distant; these Metragathes commands,
And virtuous Arceus, royal chiefs, that shine
In burnish'd gold, and many a whirling car
Drawn by six generous steeds from Sardis lead,
A glorious and a dreadful spectacle.
And from the foot of Tmolus, sacred mount,
Eager to bind on Greece the servile yoke,
Mardon and Tharybis the massy spear
Grasp with unwearied vigour; the light lance
The Mysians shake. A mingled multitude
Swept from her wide dominions skill'd to draw
The unerring bow, in ships Euphrates sends
From golden Babylon . With falchions arm'd
From all the extent of Asia move the hosts
Obedient to their monarch's stern command.
Thus march'd the flower of Persia , whose loved youth
The world of Asia nourish'd, and with sighs
Laments their absence; many an anxious look
Their wives, their parents send, count the slow days,
And tremble at the long-protracted time.
strophe 1
Already o'er the adverse strand
In arms the monarch's martial squadrons spread;
The threat'ning ruin shakes the land,
And each tall city bows its tower'd head.
Bark bound to bark, their wondrous way
They bridge across the indignant sea;
The narrow Hellespont 's vex'd waves disdain,
His proud neck taught to wear the chain.
Now has the peopled Asia 's warlike lord,
By land, by sea, with foot, with horse,
Resistless in his rapid course,
O'er all their realms his warring thousands pour'd;
Now his intrepid chiefs surveys,
And glitt'ring like a god his radiant state displays.
antistrophe 1
Fierce as the dragon scaled in gold
Through the deep files he darts his glowing eye;
And pleased their order to behold,