Page:The Dramas of Aeschylus (Swanwick).djvu/266

196 single episode, a single generation, was insufficient for the display of the dependence of life upon life, and the moral infinitude of action which it was his design to exhibit. Thus he habitually composed groups of three connected plays, which gave full scope for the development of thought and work."

Unfortunately, we possess only the second member of the trilogy, which, consisting of three separate dramas, severally entitled, Phineus, The Persians, and Glaukos, appears to have been known among the ancients by the general name of 'The Persians.' To this trilogy was appended the Satyric drama of "Prometheus, the Fire-kindler." Though the second member of this trilogy is alone based upon history,