riters there certainly were before Aeschylus
the former notwithstanding, we may, with the utmost propriety, style the
inventor and father of heroic poetry, and the latter of the ancient
drama, which, before his time, does not appear to have had any
particular form but that of Pantomime, song, and the union of song and
dance. _Aeschylus first introduced dialogue_, that most essential part
of tragedy, and by the addition of the second personage, threw the whole
fable into action, and restored the chorus to its ancient dignity.

Aeschylus having, like a tender parent, endowed his darling child with
every mental accomplishment, seemed resolved that no external ornaments
should be wanting to render her universally amiable; he clothed her,
therefore, in the most splendid habit, and bestowed upon her everything
that Art could produce, to heighten and improve her charms. Aeschylus,
who being himself author, actor, and manager, took upon him the whole
conduct of the drama, and did not neglect any part of it; he improved
the scenery and decorations, brought his actors into a well constructed
theatre, raised his heroes on the _cothurnus_, or buskin, invented the
masks, and introduced splendid habits with long trains, that gave an air
of majesty and dignity to the performers.

From the time when Tragedy began to assume a regular form, we find her
closely following the steps of epic poetry; all the parts of _epopee_,
or heroic poem, may be traced in tragedy, though, as Aristotle observes,
all the parts of tragedy are not to be found in the _epopee_; whence the
partisans of the stage with some reason conclude, that perfection in the
former is more difficult to be attained than in the latter. Without
entering into a dispute, we may venture, however, to say that from Homer
the tragedians drew the plan, construction, and conduct of their fables,
and not unfrequently, the fable itself; to him they applied for
propriety of manners, character, sentiment, and diction.

From this era then, we are to consider Tragedy as an elegant and noble
structure, built according to the rules of art, symmetry, and
proportion; whose every part was in itself fair, firm, and compact--and
at the same time contributed to the beauty, utility, and duration of the
whole edifice.

Sophocles and Euripides carefully studied the plan laid down by
Aeschylus, and by their superior genius and judgment, improved it in a
short time to its highest state of perfection, f