The disappearance of Æschylus! Stretch this catastrophe hypothetically
to a few more names, and it seems as though you felt the vacuum
annihilating the human mind.
The work of Æschylus was, by its extent, the greatest, certainly, of
all antiquity. By the seven plays which remain to us, we may judge what
that universe was.
Let us point out what Æschylus lost is.
Fourteen trilogies: the "Promethei," of which "Prometheus Bound" formed
a part; the "Seven Chiefs before Thebes," of which there remains
one piece, "The Danaid," which comprised the "Supplicants," written
in Sicily, and in which the _Sicelism_ of Æschylus is traceable;
"Laius," which comprised "Œdipus;" "Athamas," which ended with the
"Isthmiasts;" "Perseus," the node of which was the "Phorcydes;" "Etna,"
which had as prologue the "Etnean Women;" "Iphigenia," the _dénouement_
of which was the tragedy of the "Priestesses;" the "Ethiopid," the
titles of which are nowhere to be found; "Pentheus," in which were the
"Hydrophores;" "Teucer," which opened with the "Judgment of Arms;"
"Niobe," which commenced with the "Nurses" and ended with the "Men
of the Train;" a trilogy in honour of Achilles, the "Tragic Iliad,"
composed of the "Myridons," the "Nereids," and the "Phrygians;" one
in honour of Bacchus, the "Lycurgia," composed of the "Edons," the
"Bassarides," and the "Young Men."
These fourteen trilogies in themselves alone give a total of fifty-six
plays, if we consider that nearly all were tetralogies,--that is to
say, quadruple dramas,--and ended with a satyride. Thus the "Orestias"
had, as a final satyride, "Proteus," and the "Seven Chiefs before
Thebes," had the "Sphinx."
Add to those fifty-six pieces a probable trilogy of the "Labdacides;"
add the tragedies,--the "Egyptians," the "Ransom of Hector,"
"Memnon," undoubtedly connected with some trilogies; add all the
satyrides,--"Sisyphus the Deserter," the "Heralds," the "Lion," the
"Argians," "Amymone," "Circe," "Cercyon," "Glaucus the Mariner,"
comedies in which was found the mirth of that wild genius.
See all that is lost.
Euergetes and Omar have robbed us of all that.
It is difficult to state precisely the total number of pieces written
by Æschylus. The amount varies. The anonymous biographer speaks of
seventy-five, Suidas of ninety, Jean Deslyons of ninety-seven, Meursius
of one hundred.
Meursius reckons up more than a hundred titles, but some are probably
used twice.
Jean Deslyons, doctor of the Sorbonne, theologal of Senlis, author
of the "Discours ecclesiastique contre le paganisme du Roi boit,"
published in the seventeenth century a work against the custom of
laying coffins one above the other in the cemeteries, in which he took
for his authority the twenty-fifth canon of the Council of Auxerre:
"Non licet mortuum super mortuum mitti." Deslyons, in a note added to
that work, now very scarce, and a copy of which was in the possession
of Charles Nodier, if our memory is faithful, quotes a passage from
the great antiquarian numismatist of Venloo, Hubert Goltzius, in
which, in reference to embalming, Goltzius mentions the "Egyptians,"
of Æschylus, and "The Apotheosis of Orpheus,"--a title omitted in the
enumeration given by Meursius. Goltzius adds that "The Apotheosis of
Orpheus" was recited at the mysteries of the Lycomidians.
This title, "The Apotheosis of Orpheus" opens a field for thought.
Æschylus speaking of Orpheus, the Titan measuring the giant, the god
interpreting the god, what more magnificent, and how one would long to
read that work! Dante, speaking of Virgil and calling him his master,
does not fill up this gap, because Virgil, a noble poet, but without
invention, is less than Dante; it is between equals, from genius to
genius, from sovereign to sovereign, that such homage is splendid.
Æschylus raises to Orpheus a temple of which he might occupy the altar
himself: it is grand.