THE HOUSE OF ATREUS

by Aeschylus

BEING

THE AGAMEMNON, THE LIBATION-BEARERS AND THE FURIES

TRANSLATED BY E.D.A. MORSHEAD


Contents

[INTRODUCTORY NOTE]
[AGAMEMNON]
[THE LIBATION-BEARERS]
[THE FURIES]

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

Of the life of Aeschylus, the first of the three great masters of Greek tragedy, only a very meager outline has come down to us. He was born at Eleusis, near Athens, B. C. 525, the son of Euphorion. Before he was twenty-five he began to compete for the tragic prize, but did not win a victory for twelve years. He spent two periods of years in Sicily, where he died in 456, killed, it is said, by a tortoise which an eagle dropped on his head. Though a professional writer, he did his share of fighting for his country, and is reported to have taken part in the battles of Marathon, Salamis, and Plataea.