has been committed in the absence of the King.  These venerable men gather in front of the royal palace, and their leader opens the play with expressions of apprehension:  no news has come from the host absent in Greece.  The Chorus at first express full confidence in the resistless might of the great army; but remembering that the gods are jealous of vast power and success in men, yield to gloomy forebodings.  These grow stronger when Atossa, the aged mother of Xerxes, appears from the palace and relates the evil dreams which she has had on the previous night, and the omen that followed.  The Chorus beseech her to make prayer to the gods, to offer libations to the dead, and especially to invoke the spirit of Darius to avert the evil which threatens his ancient kingdom.  Too late!  A messenger arrives and announces that all is lost.  By one fell stroke the might of Persia has been laid low at Salamis.  At Atossa’s request, the messenger, interrupted at first by the lamentations of the Chorus, recounts what has befallen.  His description of the battle in the straits is a passage of signal power, and is justly celebrated.  The Queen retires, and the Chorus sing a song full of gloomy reflections.  The Queen reappears, and the ghost of Darius is invoked from the lower world.  He hears from Atossa what has happened, sees in this the fulfillment of certain ancient prophecies, foretells disaster still to come, and warns the Chorus against further attempts upon Greece.  As he departs to the underworld, the Chorus sing in praise of the wisdom of his reign.  Atossa has withdrawn.  Xerxes now appears with attendants, laments with the Chorus the disaster that has overtaken him, and finally enters the palace.

The economy of the play is simple:  only two actors are required.  The first played the parts of Atossa and Xerxes, the second that of the messenger and the ghost of Darius.  The play well illustrates the conditions under which Aeschylus at this period wrote.  The Chorus was still of first importance; the ratio of the choral parts in the play to the dialogue is about one to two.

The exact date of the ‘Suppliants’ cannot be determined; but the simplicity of its plot, the lack of a prologue, the paucity of its characters, and the prominence of the Chorus, show that it is an early play.  The scene is Argos.  The Chorus consists of the daughters of Danaues, and there are only three characters,—­Danaues, a Herald, and Pelasgus King of Argos.

Danaues and Aegyptus, brothers, and descendants of Io and Epaphus, had settled near Canopus at the mouth of the Nile.  Aegyptus sought to unite his fifty sons in marriage with the fifty daughters of the brother.  The daughters fled with their father to Argos.  Here his play opens.  The Chorus appeal for protection to the country, once the home of Io, and to its gods and heroes.  Pelasgus, with the consent of the Argive people, grants them refuge, and at the end of the play repels the attempt to seize them made by the Herald of the sons of Aegyptus.