Page:The Theatre of the Greeks, a Treatise on the History and Exhibition of the Greek Drama, with Various Supplements.djvu/237

 GREEK PLAYS IN GENERAL. 219 in the lap of the figure. From the inscriptions on these monuments, the didascalice of Aristotle, Carystius Pergamenus, Dicsearchus, and Callimachus, were probably compiled ^ The choragus in Comedy consecrated the equipments of his chorus 2, and was ex- pected to provide his choreutae with a handsome entertainment, an expectation which, to judge from the complaints of the comic poets themselves, he did not always fulfil in a satisfactory manner^. It is probable that the tragic chorus also looked for a similar conclu- sion of their, labours. The successful poet, as we see from Plato's Banquet, commemorated his victory with a feast. As, however, no prize-drama was permitted to be represented for a second time {with an exception in favour of the three great dramatists, which was not long in operation'*), the poet's glory was very transient; so much so, that when Thucydides wished to predict the immortality of his work, he sought for an apt antithesis in the once-heard dramas of the contemporary poets ^. The time allowed for the representation was portioned out by the'" clepsydra, and seems to have been dependent upon the number of pieces represented 6. What this number was is not known. It is probable, however, that about three trilogies might have been represented on one day*^, 1 Bockh's Corpus ruscript. I. p, 350. ^ Lysias ubi supra. Comp. Theophrastus, Charact. xxn. 3 See Eupolis, ap. Jul. Poll. ill. § T15, (p. 551 Meineke) : ^577 X^PVyOV TTWTTOTe pvirapibrepov roC5* elSes ; Aristoph. Acham. 11 20: 6's 7' i/J-k Tov Trjp.ova hr}vai.a. xopTr^^ d7re/cXet<r' ddeiirvov. Cf. Arist, Av. 88 and the Scholiast : tovto els dia^oXTjv tov xop7j7oO 6ti fiiKpbu 5^5w- Kev lepeiov. ^ Above, p. 99 ; Aul. GeU. vii, 5 ; Plutarch, Hhetorum Vitce. ^ I. 22 : KTrj/xa d^ is del fidWoi' rj dyuvicrfia is to irapaxpvP'-C' dKoveiv ^&yKecTai. ^ Tov dk firiKovs opos, irpbs fxev tovs dyCovas /cat ttjv atad-qaiv, ov ttjs Tixyv^ i(TTLv. EZ ydp ^dec eKaTov Tpay(x)dLas dywvi^eadac, irpbs Kkexpvbpas dv 'qyiovl^ovTO, ucirep iroTi Kai kWoTi (pa(Tiv. Aristot. Poet. c. vii. ^ ** Yet that number seems to have been a fixed thing : so Aristotle speaks of it : eirj 5' dv TOVTO, el tQv fxev dpxo-l<^v iXaTTOvs ai crvcTatjeis eXev, irpos re to ttXtjOos tQ}v TpayuSidv tQv els p-iav dKp6a(Xi.v Tcde/xivoov irap-qKOiev. Poet. § 40. See Tyrwhitt's note. If each tribe fui-nished but one choragus, and not, as some appear to have supposed, one for each diflFerent kind of contest, the number of tragic candi- dates could scarcely have exceeded three. For there seem never to have been less than three or four distinct kinds of choruses at the great Dionysian festivals ; which, ■when portioned out amongst the ten choragi, could not by any chance allow of more than three or four choragi to the tragic competitors ; which agrees very well with all that is elsewhere mentioned on this head, for we seldom meet with more than three candidates recorded, and probably this was in general the whole number of exhibitors.