The lyric portions of the Greek Drama are admired and even enthusiastically praised by literary judges whose verdict we shall not presume to dispute. To translation, however, the choric odes hardly lend themselves. Their dithyrambic character, their high-flown language, strained metaphors, tortuous constructions, and frequent, perhaps studied, obscurity, render it almost impossible to reproduce them in the forms of our poetry. Nor perhaps when they are strictly analysed will much be found, in many of them at least, of the material whereof modern poetry is made. They are, in fact, the libretto of a chant accompanied by dancing, and must have owed much to the melody and movement. In attempting to render the grand choric odes of the "Agamemnon," moreover, the translator is perplexed by corruptions of the text and by the various interpretations of commentators, who, though they all agree as to the moral pregnancy and sublimity of the passage, frequently differ as to its precise meaning. A metrical translation of these odes in English is apt to remind us of the metrical versions of the Hebrew Psalms. A part of one chorus in Aeschylus, which forms a distinct picture, has been given in rhythmical prose; three choruses of Sophocles and two of Euripides have, not without misgiving, been rendered in verse. The spelling of proper names is in a state of somewhat chaotic transition which makes it difficult to take a definite course. The precisians themselves are not consistent: they still speak of Troy, Athens, Plato, and Aristotle. In the versions themselves the Greek forms have been preferred, though a pedantic extreme has been avoided. In the Preface and Introduction the forms familiar to the English reader have been used. For Aeschylus and Euripides, the editions of Paley in the _Bibliotheca Classica_ have been used; for Sophocles, that of Mr. Lewis Campbell. CONTENTS PREFACE AESCHYLUS. PROMETHEUS BOUND. Introduction Prometheus is brought in by the Spirits of Might and Force, Hephaestus accompanying them. Lines 1-113 The Sin of Prometheus. Lines 444-533 Prometheus defies Zeus. Lines 928-1114 THE PERSIANS. Introduction Atossa's Dream. Lines 1478-216 The Battle of Salamis and the Destruction of the Persian Fleet. Lines 251-473 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES. Introduction The Champions. Lines 370-673 AGAMEMNON. Introduction The Fall of Troy announced at Mycenae. Lines 1-39 The Chorus recounts the Sacrifice of Iphigenia. Lines 177-240 The Meeting of Agamemnon and Clytaemnestra. Lines 828-947 Cassandra's Prophecy. Lines 1149-1391 Cassandra's Prophecy fulfilled. Lines 1343-1554 THE CHOËPHOROE. Introduction Orestes discovers himself to Electra. Lines 158-274 Clytaemnestra pleads to her Son Orestes for her Life in Vain. Lines 860-916 THE EUMENIDES (FURIES). Introduction Orestes is tried as a Matricide before the Court of the Areopagus at Athens. Lines 536-747 SOPHOCLES. OEDIPUS THE KING. Introduction