Messenia was at this time ruled by Melanthus, a descendant of Neleus. This ancestor, a prince of the great house of AEolus, had come from Thessaly and succeeded to the Messenian throne on the failure of the previous dynasty. Melanthus and his race were thus foreigners in Messenia and were unpopular. His subjects offered little or no opposition to the invading Dorians; Melanthus abandoned his kingdom to Cresphontes, and retired to Athens. Cresphontes married Merope, whose native country, Arcadia, was not affected by the Dorian invasion. This marriage, the issue of which was three sons, connected him with the native population of Peloponnesus. He built a new capital of Messenia, Stenyclaros, and transferred thither, from Pylos, the seat of government; he proposed, moreover, says Pausanias, to divide Messenia into five states, and to confer on the native Messenians equal privileges with their Dorian conquerors. The Dorians complained that his administration unduly favoured the vanquished people; his chief magnates, headed by Polyphontes, himself a descendant of Hercules, formed a cabal against him, and he was slain with his two eldest sons. The youngest son of Cresphontes, AEpytus, then an infant, was saved by his mother, who sent him to her father, Cypselus, the king of Arcadia, under whose protection he was brought up. The drama begins at the moment when AEpytus, grown to manhood, returns secretly to Messenia to take vengeance on his father's murderers. At this period Temenus was no longer reigning at Argos; he had been murdered by his sons, jealous of their brother-in-law, Deiphontes. The sons of Aristodemus, Procles and Eurysthenes, at variance with their uncle and ex-guardian, Theras, were reigning at Sparta. * * * * * PERSONS OF THE DRAMA LAIAS, _uncle of_ AEPYTUS, _brother of_ MEROPE. AEPYTUS, _son of_ MEROPE _and_ CRESPHONTES. POLYPHONTES, _king of_ MESSENIA. MEROPE, _widow of_ CRESPHONTES, _the murdered king of_ MESSENIA. THE CHORUS, _of_ MESSENIAN _maidens_. ARCAS, _AN OLD MAN OF_ MEROPE'S _household_. MESSENGER. GUARDS, ATTENDANTS, etc. _The Scene is before the royal palace in_ STENYCLAROS, _the capital of_ MESSENIA. _In the foreground is the tomb of_ CRESPHONTES. _The action commences at day-break._ MEROPE LAIAS. AEPYTUS. _Laias_