that made every one who saw it wish forthwith to be a 'fiery foe,'" as Aristophanes puts it (Rancæ, 1002). The war atmosphere is convincing, the characters plain and strong. Yet, in spite of a certain brilliance and force, the Seven is perhaps among Æschylean plays the one that bears least the stamp of commanding genius. It is like the good work of a lesser man.
Very different is the Prometheus, a work of the same period of transition as the Seven, and implying the use of three actors in the prologue, as the Seven probably does in the 'exodus.' The trilogy seems to have consisted of Prometheus Bound, Prometheus Freed,* and Prometheus the Fire-Carrier.* The subject is Titanic; it needs a big mind to cope with it. But it has produced in the hands of Æschylus and of Shelley two of the greatest of mankind's dramatic poems. Prometheus is the champion of man against the Tyrant Power that sways the world. He has saved man from the destruction Zeus meant for him, taught him the arts of civilisation, and, type of all else, given him fire, which was formerly a divine thing stored in heaven. For this rebellious love of mankind he is nailed to a storm-riven rock of the Caucasus; but he is not conquered, for, in the first place, he is immortal, and besides he knows a secret on which the future of heaven and earth depends. Zeus tries by threats and tortures to break him, but Prometheus will not forsake mankind. And the daughters of Ocean, who have gathered to comfort him, will not forsake Prometheus. They face the same blasting fire, and sink with him into the abyss. There is action at the beginning and end of the play; the middle part, representing, apparently, centuries
