In this crash of the world, Prometheus flings his final defiance against Zeus, and amid the lightnings and shattered rocks that are overwhelming him and his companions, speaks his last word, “_It is unjust!_” Any spectacular representation of this finale must, it is clear, have roused intense sympathy with the Titan and the nymphs alike. If, however, the sequel-plays had survived to us, we might conceivably have found and realized another and less intolerable solution. The name _Zeus_, in Greek, like that of _God_, in English, comprises very diverse views of divine personality. The Zeus in the _Prometheus_ has little but the name in common with the Zeus in the first chorus of the _Agamemnon_, or in _The Suppliant Maidens_ (ll. 86-103): and parallel reflections will give us much food for thought. But, in any case, let us realize that the _Prometheus_ is not a human play: with the possible exception of Io, every character in it is an immortal being. It is not as a vaunt, but as a fact, that Prometheus declares, as against Zeus (l. 1053), that “Me at least He shall never give to death.” A stupendous theological drama of which two-thirds has been lost has left an aching void, which now can never be filled, in our minds. No reader of poetry needs to be reminded of the glorious attempt of Shelley to work out a possible and worthy sequel to the _Prometheus_. Who will not echo the words of Mr. Gilbert Murray, when he says that “no piece of lost literature has been more ardently longed for than the _Prometheus Freed_”? But, at the end of a rather prolonged attempt to understand and translate the surviving tragedies of Aeschylus, one feels inclined to repeat the words used by a powerful critic about one of the greatest of modern poets—“For man, it is a weary way to God, but a wearier far to any demigod.” We shall not discover the full sequel of Aeschylus’ mighty dramatic conception: we “know in part, and we prophesy in part.” The Introduction (pp. xvi.-xviii.) prefixed by Mr. A. O. Prickard to his edition of the _Prometheus_ is full of persuasive grace, on this topic: to him, and to Dr. Verrall of Cambridge—_lucida sidera_ of help and encouragement in the study of Aeschylus—the translator’s thanks are due, and are gratefully and affectionately rendered. E. D. A. M. THE SUPPLIANT MAIDENS DEDICATION