1979/11/01 by M. L. West · 4 citations
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Classical Antiquity Studies #Classical Philosophy and Thought
paper · doi:10.2307/630637
openalex publication_date 1979/11/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/26
The evidence against the Aeschylean authorship of the Prometheus is now overwhelming; or so it appears to me, considering the question without preconception and in that hebdomad of life in which, according to Solon, περὶ πἀντα καταρτύεται νὀος ἀνδρὀς . Those who still maintain that the play is by Aeschylus may probably be divided into three categories: those who have not read Mark Griffith's recent book on the subject; those who are incapable of unlearning anything they grew up believing, at any rate concerning such an important matter; and those who, while not constitutionally incapable of conversion, nor unimpressed by the evidence, yet have a rooted feeling, which they are unwilling to discount, that the play is like Aeschylus. The first group is easy to prescribe for. The second is incurable. To the third I would say that although instinct may certainly on occasion be worth a hundred arguments, its reliability as a pointer to the truth depends on its sources. When it represents a rational calculation performed by the subconscious from considerations or observations of which the conscious mind has not yet taken stock, so that upon reflection it can be put on an objective basis, well and good. There is no doubt an element of such calculation in the present case, for of course the Prometheus does have some Aeschylean features.