Page:History of Greece Vol I.djvu/414

 HISTORY OF GBEliCE. tives 1 while the Titan Prometheus, the champion of suffering humanity against the unfriendly dispositions of Zeus, ventures tc depict the latter as a recent usurper reigning only by his superior strength, exalted by one successful revolution, and destined at some future time to be overthrown by another, a fate which cannot be averted except through warnings communicable only by Prometheus himself. 2 It is commonly understood that JEschylus disapproved of the march of democracy at Athens during his later years, and that the Eumenides is intended as an indirect manifestation in favor of the senate of Areiopagus. Without inquiring at present whether such a special purpose can be distinctly made out, we may plain- ly see that the poet introduces, into the relations of the gods with each other, a feeling of political justice, arising out of the times in which he lived and the debates of which he was a witness. But though ^Eschylus incurred reproaches of impiety from Plato, and seemingly also from the Athenian public, for particular speech- es and incidents in his tragedies, 3 and though he does not adhere 1 Eumenides. 150. 'lu TTdl Aidf, ^TTiK/lOTTOf 7TeA, Neof <5e jpaiag 6aifj.ovaf Ka&nrreuau, etc. The same metaphor again, v. 731. JEschylus seems to delight in contrast- ing the young and the old gods: compare 70-162, 882. The Erinnyes tell Apollo that he assumes functions which do not belong to him, and will thus desecrate those which do belong to him (715-754) : 'AW alfiaTripa Trpayuar', oil haxbv, cre/Jetf, Mavreia c5' OVK !$' uyvti fiavrevcei /AEVUV. The refusal of the king Pelasgos, in the Supplices, to undertake what he feels to be the sacred duty of protecting the suppliant Danatdes, without first submitting the matter to his people and obtaining their expressed consent, and the fear which he expresses of their blame (HOT' ap^uf -yap 0i/lamof Xewf ), ore more forcibly set forth than an old epic poet would probably have thought ne- cessary (see Supplices, 369, 397, 485, 519). The solemn wish to exclude both anarchy and despotism from Athens bears still more the mark of political feeling of the time ^r 1 avapxov ^re deoxoTovpevov (Enmenid. 527-696) 8 Prometheus, 35, 151, 170, 309, 524, 910, 940, 956. 3 Plato, Repabl. ii. 381-383; compare JEschyl. Fragment. 159. ed. Din dorf. He was charged also with having divulged in some of his plays secret matters of the mysteries of Demeter, but is said to have excused himself by alleging ignorance : he was not aware that what he had said was comprised