Persae.---The next play that has survived is the Persae,
which has again a special interest, viz. that it is the
only extant Greek historical drama. We know that Aeschylus'
predecessor, Phrynichus, had already twice tried this
experiment, with the Capture of Miletus and the Phoenician
Women; that the latter play dealt with the same subject
as the Persae, and the handling of its opening scene was
imitated by the younger poet. The plot of the Persae is
still severely simple, though more developed than that of
the Suppliants. The opening is still lyric, and the first
quarter of the play brings out, by song and speech, the
anxiety of the people and queen as to the fate of Xerxes' huge
army. Then comes the messenger with the news of Salamis,
including a description of the sea-fight itself which can
only be called magnificent. We realize what it must have been
for the vast audience---30,000, according to Plato (Symp.
175 E)-- to hear, eight years only after the event, from
the supreme poet of
Athens, who was himself a distinguished
actor in the war, this thrilling narrative of the great
battle. But this reflexion at once suggests another; it
is not a tragedy in the true Greek sense, according to the
practice of the 5th-century poets. It may be called in one
point of view a tragedy, since the scene is laid in Persia,
and the drama forcibly depicts the downfall of the Persian
pride. But its real aim is not the ''pity and terror'' of
the developed drama; it is the triumphant glorification of
Athens, the exultation of the whole nation gathered in one
place, over the ruin of their foe. This is best shown
by the praise of Aeschylus' great admirer and defender
Aristophanes, who (Frogs, 1026-1027) puts into the poet's
mouth the boast that in the Persae he had ''glorified a noble
exploit, and taught men to be eager to conquer their foe.''
Thus, both as an historic drama and in its real effect,
the Persae was an experiment; and, as far as we know,
the experiment was not repeated either by the author or his
successors. One further point may be noted. Aeschylus
always has a taste for the unseen and the supernatural; and
one effective incident here is the raising of Darius's ghost,
and his prophecy of the disastrous battle of Plataea. But
in the ghost's revelations there is a mixture of audacity and
naivete, characteristic at once of the poet and the early
youth of the drama. The dead Darius prophesies Plataea, but
has not heard of Salamis; he gives a brief (and inaccurate)
list of the Persian kings, which the queen and chorus,
whom he addresses, presumably know; and his only practical
suggestion, that the Persians should not again invade Greece,
seems attainable without the aid of superhuman foresight.
Supplices
Persae
The Seven against Thebes
Prometheus
Oresteia
