iE S C 



And yd he kiifw how to fct bounds to the emotions 

 which he earndlly hibourcd to exciie, and conilatitly 

 avoided poUuting the Itagc with blood ; for he wilUcd to 

 produce fccnes that (hould be terrible but not horrible. He 

 rarely excites pity or tears, either bccaufe he was naturally 

 dellitute oi a very delicate fenlibilily, or bccaufe he did not 

 wifli to render his auditors effeminate. An ingenious 

 author (See Anacharfis's Travels in Greece by the Abbe 

 Barthcleini, vol. vi. p. lo, &e.) has examined the manner 

 in which iEfchylus has acquitted himielf in the different 

 parts of tracjedy, vi«. in the fable, manners, fentiments, 

 diilion, decoration, and mulic. His plots, fays this writer, 

 are extremely iimple ; and he fometimes intereils us merely by 

 the recital of fafts and the vivacity of the dialogue (in Sept. 

 contr. Theb.) ; and at other times (in Suppl. and Eumen.) 

 by the vigour of his ftyle, and the terror of his fcenes. In 

 his eftimation the unities of action and of time weroeffential, 

 but that of place lefs neceffary. His chorus makes a part 

 of the whole. It is the comforter of the wretched, the 

 connfellor of kings, the terror of tyrants, and the confident 

 of all. Sometimes it participates in the aftion during its 

 whole continuance, as in Suppl. and Eumen. The chaiafter 

 and manners of his perfonages rarely fail in fuitablencfs and 

 confiilency. He ufually wrote liis models from the heroic 

 times, and fuftains his charafters at the elevation to which 

 Homer had raifed iiis heroes ; and it fliould be rccolleCfed 

 that he wrote in the time of the Perfian war. As he in- 

 clines more to excite terror than pity, he feeks only to ren- 

 der his charafters more furious, but without injury to the 

 theatrical intereff. See the charafter of ClytKmneftra, in 

 Agamemnon; and particularly v. 1571, 1445, 1494, 141 1, 

 1398, 1506. 



In his time no other ftyle was known for heroic compo- 

 Ction, but that of the epopoeia and that of the dithyram- 

 bic. As they fuited the elevation of his ideas and fenti- 

 ments, yfifchylus, without enfeebling them, referred them 

 to tragedy. HuiTied away by an enthuliafm, which he was 

 unable to govern, he lavilhes epithets, metaphors, every 

 figurative expreffion of the emotions of the foul, and what- 

 ever may give weight, ftrength, and magnificence to lan- 

 guage, or animate and render it impaffioned. Beneath his 

 vigorous pencil, narrative, fentiments, and maxims, are 

 changed into images, which are ftriking for their beauty or 

 fingularity. Of a man of confummate prudence, he fays, 

 (Sept. contr. Theb. v. 599.) — " He reaps thofe fage and 

 generous refolutions, which fpring in the deep furrows of 

 his foul ;" and he thus warns a free people early to watch 

 over the condudl of a citizen dangerous from his abilities 

 and his riches : " Beware how you nurfe up a young lion, 

 how you carefs him while he yet fears you, or how you 

 refill him when he is grown a ilranger to fear." And yet 

 thefe fliinlng paffages are fometimes accompanied by an ob- 

 fcurity, which arifes not only from his extreme concifenefs 

 and the boldnefs of his figures, but alfo from new words 

 with which he affefted to enrich his ftyle. The ftyle of 

 ^fchylus is in general noble and fubhme : in certain parts 

 grand to excefs, and pompous to inflation ; but fome- 

 times degraded and difgufting by ignoble comparifons, a 

 puerile play on words, and other dcfefts which are com- 

 mon to this author, with all thofe who poffefs more genius 

 than taite. But notwithftanding his faults, he merits a 

 diftinguiihed rank among the moft celebrated poets of 

 Greece. 



iEfchylus adapted the drefs of his charafters, and 

 the decorations of the theatre, to thofe impreffions of 

 grandeur which he wiflied to produce on the minds of the 



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auditors. As nature had given to lieroes a lofty flature 

 and imprcffed a majefty on their perfims which commanded 

 refpeil, /Efchylus raifed his attors on high ftilts or bulkins. 

 He covered their features, which were often irregular and 

 difagreeable, with a made ; he clothed them in ilowlng and 

 magnificent robes, fuch as the priclls of Ceres have not 

 blulhcd to adopt. The inferior adtors were alfo provided 

 with ma(l<s and drcffes fuited to their parts. He alfo ob- 

 tained a theatre, furnilhed with machines, and embellilhcd 

 with decorations. Here the found of the trumpet was 

 reverberated, the incenfe was feen to burn on the altars, the 

 (liades of the dead to arife from the tombs, and the furies to 

 rulh from the gulphs of Tartarus. At the fight of fome oi 

 the dreadful fpectres which he contrived, and the found of 

 their hideous bowlings, it is faid that terror feiy.ed on tlic 

 whole affembly, women mifcarried, and children expired 

 with fear : and the magiftrates were under a necefTity of 

 iffulng orders, that the chorus ftiould confiil only of 15, 

 aftors inftead of 50. 



.iEfchylus paid particular attention to the performance of 

 the actors, regulating their ileps, and diiecling them to 

 give additional force to the aftion, by appropriate and ex- 

 preilive gefturcs. He alfo inftrudUd them more effectually 

 by his example, as he performed with them in his pieces. 

 Befides, he employed a perfon, called Teleftes, who had 

 brought the art of gefture to fuch perfeftion, that in the 

 reprefentation of the feven chiefs before Thebes, he per- 

 formed with fo much truth and expreflfion, that his aftion 

 might have fupplied the place of words. Sec Athenxi 

 Deipnofophift, 1. i. p. 22. Ed. Cafaub. 



ikfchylus alfo applied to tragedy the lofty modidations 

 and impetuous rhythmus of certain airs calculated to excite 

 courage, without adopting thofe innovations which began to 

 disfigure the ancient mufic. His choral chant is full of 

 grandeur and decorum, and conftantly in the diatonic 

 genus, which is the moft fimple and natural of all. 



Quinftilian(Inft. Orat.l. i. c. i. torn. ii. p. 897) gives the 

 following charafter of -(Efchylus, as a writer ; " Tni^^aiuas pri' 

 mus in lucem JEfchylus protuVit, fublimis et gravh, isf gnvulilo- 

 qiius fiipe ufque ad vit'iiim, fed rudi in pkrifque i5f iticompofitiis, 

 ice." Longinus (Ed. Pearce, p. 99.) fays, that he had a 

 noble boldnefs of expreflion, a'nd that his imagination was 

 elevated and heroic. Some have afferted that he never com- 

 pofed but wlien he had drank freely ; and by others he has 

 been compared to Shakcfpcarc for energy of fentiment and 

 ftyle, as well as for the exprefrion of charafter and paflion by 

 the happy ufe of trivial circumftances. Horace deferibes 

 the character of jEfchylus in his Ars Poet, v. 282, S:c. 



" Poft hunc perfonK, pallceque repertor honefts, 

 jEfchvlus, et modicis inftravit pulpita tignis, 

 Et docuit magnumque loqui nilique cothurno." 



jEfchylus, fays a modern author, exhibits both the beau- 

 ties and the defefts of an early original writer. He is bold, 

 nervous, and animated ; but very obfcure and difficult to be 

 underftood ; partly by reafon of the incon-cft ftute in which 

 his works have been tranfmitted to us, and partly on ac 

 count of the nature of his ftyle, which is crouded with 

 metaphors, often harfli and tumid. He abounds with mar- 

 tial ideas and defcriptions. He has much fire and elevation ; 

 lefs of tendernefs than force. He delights in the marvel- 

 lous. The ghoft of Darius in the Perfs, the infjjiratioii 

 of Cnffandra in Agamemnon, and the fongs of the Furies in 

 the Eumenides, are beautiful in their kind, and ftrongly ex- 

 prefti-e of his geuliis. Blair's Ledt, vol. iii. p. 340. 



iEiian informs us ( Var. Hill;. 1. v. c. xviii. tom. i. p. 433. 

 ^ Ed. 



