is a strongly accredited tradition, rendered almost certain by the vivid references to both battles in his play of _The Persians_, which was produced in 472. But his earliest extant play was, probably, not _The Persians_ but _The Suppliant Maidens_—a mythical drama, the fame of which has been largely eclipsed by the historic interest of _The Persians_, and is undoubtedly the least known and least regarded of the seven. Its topic—the flight of the daughters of Danaus from Egypt to Argos, in order to escape from a forced bridal with their first-cousins, the sons of Aegyptus—is legendary, and the lyric element predominates in the play as a whole. We must keep ourselves reminded that the ancient Athenian custom of presenting dramas in _Trilogies_—that is, in three consecutive plays dealing with different stages of one legend—was probably not uniform: it survives, for us, in one instance only, viz. the Orestean Trilogy, comprising the _Agamemnon_, the _Libation-Bearers_, and the _Eumenides_, or _Furies_