GREEK POETS. It is not the province of a teacher limited to a literature purely English, to afford much knowledge of the writers of ancient Greece. But these writers have recorded the religion, the moral sentiments, the domestic manners, and the public amusements of the Greeks; and matters of fact in relation to this people, if not the elegance of their language, and the utmost refinement of their thoughts, are offered to common readers in the form of translation. The connexion of the Greek literature with the English, is derived from this circumstance, that the greater part of our writers are classical scholars-have been instructed in the language and literature of Greece; and those who have not been thus instructed, have been informed in the spirit of the Greek literature by their intercourse with books and scholars: so that young persons who cultivate any knowledge of the literature of their own language, have need of some popular elementary information concerning the Greek, The translations of Homer and the Greek dramatists are the best means which merely English students have to inform themselves of the fables, the religion, the public amusements, and the domestic life of the Greeks. Theatrical amusements are not approved by many religious persons, but, dramatic literature—written plays—include so much of the poetry of Greece and England, that it is difficult to exclude it from the liberal studies of any young person. The origin and progress of the Drama among the Greeks cannot be an unsuitable illustration of a collection of poetry, of which the professed object is to connect poetry with the history of nations, and the progress of society. ESCHYLUS. "Eschylus was an Athenian of an honourable family, distinguished for the sublinity of his genius and the ardour of his martial spirit. In his youth he had read Homer with the warmest enthusiasm: and finding his great mas ter unrivalled in the Epic, he early conceived the design of creating a new province for himself, and forming the drama; so much we may be allowed to infer from the fable, that whilst he was yet a boy Bacchus appeared to him as he lay asleep in a vineyard, and commanded him to write tragedies. This noble design he soon executed, and before the twenty-fifth year of his age began to entertain his countrymen with representations worthy of an Athenian audience. He had pursued these studies about ten years, when Darius invaded Greece. His generals, Datis and Artaphernes, with an army of two hundred thousand foot and ten thousand horse, were now advanced to the plains of Marathon, distant only ten miles from Athens. The danger, which threatened his country, called forth the martial spirit of our poet; and very honourable mention is made of him, and his two brothers, Cynægirus and Amynias, for their eminent valour in that battle: to have wanted courage on such an occasion would have been a mark of the most abject baseness; but to be distinguished in an action, where every soldier was a hero, is a proof of superior merit in a picture representing the battle of Marathon the portrait of Eschylus was drawn: this was air the honour that Miltiades himself received from the state for his glorious conduct on that day; he was placed at the head of the ten commanders, and drawn in the act of encouraging the soldiers and beginning the battle. Some time after, Cynægirus was one of the four naval commanders, who with an armament of one thousand Grecians, defeated thirty thousand Persians; but he lost his life in the action. Ten years after the battle of Marathon, when Xerxes made that immense preparation to revenge the defeat of his father, we find the two surviving brothers exerting their courage in the sea fight off Salamis: here Amynias too, boldly laying hold of a Persian ship, had his hand lopped off with a sabre; but Eschylus defended him, and saved his life; and the Athenians decreed him the first honours, because he was the first to attack the commander of the Persian fleet, shattered the ship to pieces, and killed the Satrap. It is observed that the two brothers were ever after inseparable. The following year Eschylus acquired fresh glory in the battle of Platæa, where the brave Persian Mardonius was defeated and slain. Having taken this active part in the three most memorable battles that grace the annals of Greece, and distinguished himself as a good citizen and a brave man, he returned with ardour to his former studies, and completed his design of making the drama a regular, noble, and rational entertainment. He wrote about seventy tragedies, and was in great esteem with his countrymen : but upon some disgust in the latter part of his life he retired from Athens to the court of Hiero king of Sicily, where about three years after he died, in the sixty-ninth year of his age. The tragedy of the Furies gave great offence; and the poet, whether for that or on some other pretence, was accused of impiety. His brother Amynias pleaded his cause the Athenians were struck with this instance of fraternal affection, they reverenced their maimed veteran, and Eschylus was acquitted. But such a spirit was not formed to submit to the affront; it made too deep an impression to be effaced; and the poet quitted the city with great indignation, declaring with a noble pride that he would intrust his tragedies to posterity, certain that he should receive from thence the honour he deserved. This honour the Athenians soon paid to his noble works by a decree of the senate, never granted to any other, they offered rewards to any man that should again exhibit his plays; they frequently adjudged the prize to him after his decease, and acknowledged him the Father of Tragedy. The Grecians, advancing in polished manners, carried into their towns a feast that sprung from the leisure of the country their best poets took a pride in composing these religious hymns to the honour of Bacchus, and embellished them with the agreeable entertainments of music and dancing. After a length of time, the songs advancing in perfection, it was found necessary to give the : singer some relief; and that the company might be amused during the pauses of the music, an actor was introduced his part could be no other than a single speech, setting forth that he represented Hercules, or Theseus, or some other hero of antiquity, and had performed such or such an illustrious achievement; at the next pause another personated character advanced; at the next another; but each unrelated and unconnected with the other. Such was the rude state of tragedy, when Eschylus conceived the great design of forming it into a new species of poetry that should rival even the Epic in dignity. The humble arbour interwoven with vine branches gave place to scenes of astonishing grandeur; the actor, no longer mounted on the cart of Thespis, with his face smeared over with lees of wine, or covered with a mask formed from the bark of a tree, now trod a spacious stage, magnificently habited in a robe of honour and the stately buskin; even the mask, that eternal disgrace of the Athenian theatre, wore a new and elegant form, expressive of the character represented. But these exterior decorations were proofs only of the taste of Eschylus : his superior genius appeared in giving life to the piece, by introducing the dialogue, without which there could be no action; and from this circumstance it is, that he is with the highest propriety called the Father of the Drama. It is commonly said that schylus never produced more than two speakers upon the stage at the same time; there are proofs to the contrary, though he generally adhered to that simple plan: but the new part, which the Chorus now took, amply supplied what we should call that poverty of the stage." Chorus. In the ancient tragedy, a number of persons sufficient probably to give animation to the appearance of the stage, joined in the representations of the drama,— these formed the Chorus. The Chorus seems to consist of persons of a character that might naturally desire to be witnesses of the action represented. Sometimes they were the old men of a city who came to behold some public transaction, at others the attendants of a great family, and at others strangers apparently collected from curiosity. Their observations served to explain what would else be obscure, and to connect what would otherwise be broken and confused in the order of incident. SCENE FROM THE TRAGEDY OF AGAMEMNON. A Herald announces to CLYTEMNESTRA, the wife of AGAMEMNON, the destruction of Troy. CLYTEMNESTRA, CHORUS, and HERALD. Herald. Hail, thou paternal soil of Argive earth! Hail then, lov'd earth; hail, thou bright sun; and thou, Imperial walls, Mansion of kings, ye seats rever'd; ye gods, |