Living Poets

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M = reading of the whole MS tradition
m = reading of part of the MS tradition
P = reading on a papyrus
 

ὥσπερ Αἰσχύλος τὰ μυστικά· δοκεῖ γὰρ Αἰσχύλος λέγειν μυστικά τινα ἔν τε ταῖς Τοξότισι καὶ Ἱερείαις καὶ ἐν Σισύφωι πετροκυλιστῆι καὶ Ἰφιγενείαι καὶ Οἰδίποδι. ἐν γὰρ τούτοις πᾶσι περὶ Δημήτρας λέγων τῶν μυστικῶν μυστικῶν Scheidewin: μυστικωτέρων M περιεργότερον ἅπτεσθαι ἔοικε. λέγει δὲ περὶ Αἰσχύλου καὶ Ἡρακλείδης fr. 170 Wehrli. ὁ Ποντικὸς ἐν τῶι πρώτωι Περὶ Ὁμήρου ὡς κινδυνεύοντος ἐπὶ σκηνῆς ἀναιρεθῆναι ἐπὶ τῶι τῶν μυστικῶν περιφέρειν τινὰ δοκεῖν, εἰ μὴ προαισθόμενος κατέφυγεν ἐπὶ τὸν τοῦ Διονύσου βωμόν, καὶ Ἀρεοπαγιτῶν αὐτὸν παραιτησαμένων ὡς ὀφείλοντα κριθῆναι πρῶτον, ἐδόκει ὑπαχθῆναι εἰς δικαστήριον καὶ ἀποφυγεῖν, τῶν δικαστῶν αὐτὸν τῶν δικαστῶν αυτὸν Radt: αὐτὸν τῶν δικαστῶν m, αὐτῶν τῶν δικαστῶν m ἀφέντων μάλιστα διὰ τὰ πραχθέντα αὐτῶι ἐν τῆι ἐπὶ Μαραθῶνι μάχηι. ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ Κυνέγειρος Κυνέγειρος Hermann: κυναίγυρος M: Κυναίγειρος Heylbut ἀπεκόπη τὰς χεῖρας, αὐτὸς δὲ πολλὰ τρωθεὶς φοράδην ἀνηνέχθη. μαρτυρεῖ τούτοις καὶ τὸ ἐπὶ τῶι τάφωι αὐτοῦ ἐπίγραμμα·

Αἰσχύλον Εὐφορίωνος Ἀθηναῖον τόδε σῆμα
κεύθει ἀποφθινόμενον πυροφόρον **** This seems to be a corrupt version of the epigram transmitted with the Vita (11).

‘Like Aeschylus and the mysteries’: for Aeschylus seems to have said mystical things in the Archer Maidens, the Priestesses, Sisyphus the Stone Roller, the Iphigenia and the Oedipus. For in all these plays, when he speaks about Demeter, he seems to touch in excessive detail on mystical matters. Heraclides of Pontus, too, says in the first book of his On Homer, that Aeschylus would have been killed on stage for his apparent publishing of some mystical matters, if he had not realized in advance and fled to the altar of Dionysus, and when the council of the Areopagus intereceded on the grounds that he should be judged first, he seems to have been taken to court and to have been acquitted, the jurors having released him above all because of the deeds he accomplished in the battle of Marathon. For his brother, Cynegirus had his hands cut off, and he himself, having suffered multiple wounds, was brought home on a stretcher. The epigram on his tomb bears further witness to this:

This tomb covers Aeschylus, the son of Euphorion, an Athenian, who has perished in wheat-bearing ****.

Relevant guides	Aeschylus