Page:The Theatre of the Greeks, a Treatise on the History and Exhibition of the Greek Drama, with Various Supplements.djvu/443

 THE GREEK TRAGEDIANS. 417 10. State the best attested dates of the birth and death of ^schyhis. Enumerate his di*amatic predecessors and contemporaries in the order of time. Mention the leading occurrences in his life, the honoui's paid to him after his death, the members of his family whose names are known, and the causes of their celebrity. Do his plays contain any intimation as to his political sentiments ? What grounds have been assigned for the charge of impiety said to hare been brought against him ? Wliat reason is there for believing that he made more than one journey to Sicily? When did EQero become king of Syracuse, and how long did his reign last? 11. What were the plays that made up the Tetralogy to which the PerscB belonged? State the principal features of the legends connected with their names. What ground is there for supposing that the Trilogy had a common title ? In what manner may the argument of the Persce have been connected with those of the other two pieces What other poets wrote plays of the same name ? 12. Quote the lines of Aristophanes which relate to the chorus of the Persce. What difficulty have they occasioned? How may they be understood, without supposing them to refer to any other edition of the play than the one we have ? What other references are made by ancient MT.iters to passages of the Persce not contained in the extant play of that name? How may this be accounted for, without supposing them to have di'opped out of the latter? How does Stanley conjecture the chorus of the Persce to have been composed? How may this conjecture be recon- ciled with the usual number of the tragic chorus? How is it confirmed by the distribution of the dialogue ? 13. Make out a list of the Median and Persian kings, down to the fall of the Persian monarchy, noticing the variations between ^.-Eschylus, Herodotus, and Ctesias. AVho was Ctesias? when did he live, and what were his sources of information ? Give the pedigi'ee of Xerxes, and show ho^^' he was related to Cyrus. How many kings of the name of Darius are mentioned in histoiy? 14. Mention the divisions of the Pei-sian nation according to Hero- dotus. How is Xenophon to be undei-stood when he says : Xeyovrat Hepaat d[x(f>l rag Soj'SeKa /xrptaSas euat? Mention the divisions of the Persian empire according to Plato, Herodotus, and the Old Testament. How may the three accounts be reconciled ? Trace the frontier of the empire imder Darius in the last year of his reign, and mention the modern names of the countries through which it passes. Give the modern names of Susa and Ecbatana, and mention the different opinions on D. T. G. 27