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against Thebes, part of a Tetralogy, embracing the cycle of Theban legend, of which Laïus and Œdipus formed the first two pieces, and the satyric drama Sphinx the conclusion. (3) The Suppliants, the reception of Dănăus and his daughters at Argos, evidently part of another Tetralogy, and, to judge by the simple plot and its old-fashioned treatment, one of his earliest works. (4) Promētheus Bound, part of a Trilogy, the Promētheia, whose first and last pieces were probably Prometheus the Fire-bringer and Prometheus Unbound. Lastly, the Oresteia, the one Trilogy which has survived, consisting of the three tragedies, (5) Agamemnon, the murder of

that hero on his return home; (6) The Choēphŏrœ, named from the chorus of captive Trojan women offering libations at Agamemnon’s tomb, in which Orestes avenges himself on Ægisthus and Clytæmnēstra; and (7) The Eumĕnĭdĕs, in which Orestes, pursued by the Furies, is acquitted by the Areopagus at Athens. This Trilogy composed b.c. 458, and probably the last work exhibited by Æschylus at Athens, gives us an idea of the whole artistic conception of the poet, and must be looked upon as one of the greatest works of art ever produced. The style is marked by sublimity and majesty, qualities partly attributable to the courageous and serious temper of the time, but chiefly the offspring of the poet's individuality, which took delight in all that is great and grand, and loved to express itself in strong, sonorous words, an accumulation of epithets, and a profusion of bold metaphors and similes. His view of the universe reveals a profoundly philosophic mind, so that the ancients call him a Pythagorean; at the same time he is penetrated by a heartfelt piety, which conceives of the gods as powers working in the interest of morality. However simple the plot of his plays, they display an art finished to the minutest detail. His Trilogies either embraced one complete cycle of myths, or united separate legends according to their moral or mythical affinity; even the satyric dramas attached to the Tragedies stand in intimate connexion with them. Æschylus is the true creator of Tragedy, inasmuch as, by adding a second actor to the first, he originated the genuine dramatic dialogue, which he made the chief part of the play by gradually cutting dowrn the lyrical or choral parts. Scenic apparatus he partly created and partly completed. He introduced masks for the players, and by gay and richly embroidered trailing garments, the high buskin, head-dresses, and other means, gave them a grand imposing aspect, above that of common men; and he fitted up the stage with decorative painting and machinery. According to the custom of the time, he acted in his own plays, practised the chorus in their songs and dances, and himself invented new dance figures.

Æscŭlāpius. See Asclepius.

Æsōn, son of Crētheus by Tyro (see Æolus, 1), king of Iolcos in Thessaly, was deposed by his half-brother Pĕlĭas, and killed while his son Jason was away on the Argonautic Expedition. (Comp. Argonauts.)

Æsōpus (Gt. Aisōpos). The famous writer of fables, the first author who created an independent class of stories about animals, so that in a few generations his name and person had become typical of that entire class of literature. In course of time, thanks to his plain, popular manner, the story of his own life was enveloped in an almost inextricable tissue of tales and traditions, which represent him as an ugly hunchback and buffoon. In the Middle Ages these were woven into a kind of romance. A Phrygian by birth, and living in the time of the Seven Sages, about 600 b.c., he is said to have been at first a slave to several masters, till Iadmōn of Samos set him free. That he next lived at the court of Crœsus, and being sent by him on an