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46 himself, for instance, in his Suppliants presents an action which would occupy from first to last something like a month, and he does so without any disguise, leaving the imagination of the audience to leap the necessary interval at the proper time. And similarly if he or any playwright had presented within one action a death and burial, and had meant the proceedings to appear natural and regular, he could and must have allowed a time sufficient for them; he would have shown us where we should suppose the lapse of that interval which could not be denied without affronting the reason and feelings of humanity. There are of course exceptional cases, in which prompt and hasty burial is a sign not of negligence but of love, inasmuch as the rite, if delayed, is likely to be prevented. We have an instance in the Ajax of Sophocles : but such is not our present affair. The Seven against Thebes of Aeschylus is something nearer, though even there the circumstances are highly peculiar, the dead having been slain in the assault and defence of a beleaguered fortress, from whose walls the enemy have just fallen back. It is not improbable that in such a situation no time would be lost. However the dramatist does not demand the supposition, but leaves us to settle the procedure for ourselves, providing us by the regular means of a choric ode with an opportunity for interpolating as much time as we think necessary. Such a fortiori would have been the natural representation of an ordinary case.

And what of the actual case, the case of Alcestis? If the omission of these universal dues would be noticeable in itself, what is it, when the dead is an Alcestis? That we should forget her surpassing claim to every possible sign of love and respect is certainly not the intention of the poet. From first to last the subject of the honours, which ought to be and must be paid to her, is prominent in the minds of the speakers. Twice in beautiful songs the Chorus dilate on the worship which she will receive; how as the noblest of womankind she will be celebrated in the religious feasts of Hellas, and her heroism will be annually sung at Sparta or at Athens; how when travellers pass her tomb, they will pray to her spirit (which doubtless they did) as to a guardian angel. All Pherae is filled with admiration