Page:House of Atreus 2nd ed (1889).djvu/20

xvi the reward of matricide. The Furies might seem, to modern eyes, less a tragedy than a drama of restoration; yet it conforms in all respects to the Aristotelian definition of Tragedy. The situation is undeniably tragic, though the conclusion dispels the gloom.

The Trilogy is Æschylus' presentment of two problems, each of eternal import, though the form in which he contemplated them was the common theme of the Greek drama. These problems are:

The Retribution of Crime.

The Inheritance or Transmission of Evil.

The views of the poet on each may perhaps be illustrated by a few excerpts from his writings. It has been pointed out (Plumptre, Biographical Essay) that, in many cases, they are reflections on the, or current proverbs of the day: the foundations of Greek philosophy, but often as forgotten as those who laid them. Sometimes the poet actually quotes and acknowledges the proverb, as a, "an immemorial saying;" but often, it is probable that some piece of apparently irrelevant mysticism is in reality the poet's reflection on some saying familiar to his audience, but not recognizable by us. Such, e.g., I believe to be the case in the celebrated passage (Agam. 160)

.—"Among the dead, this bitter name of murderess clings ever to my soul; I wander scorned of all." "Though he go down to the grave, the guilty is never freed the sinner on whose hand is the stain of blood must see the Furies rise at his side, avengers of murder, champions of the slain."—The Furies, ll. 175, 316.

"There is one who spoils the spoiler; the slayer in his turn is slain; while Zeus is lord of the world, it is fixed that all who sin shall suffer."—Agamemnon, l. 1562.