Page:The Theatre of the Greeks, a Treatise on the History and Exhibition of the Greek Drama, with Various Supplements.djvu/283

 GREEK PLAYS IN GENERAL. 257 generally garments of black or dark brown, or quince yellow, or with a shade of olive-green^ The black or at least a very dark robe is plainly seen in the Mosaic (PL xix. Wieseler, Vlii. 2), and the pale green upper robe in the figure, which Mercury is conducting to the grave (PL x. Wieseler, VIT. 5). Pollux mentions especially a net-like woollen robe {a'yp'qvov) as worn by Teiresias and other soothsayers 2, and a bulging robe (KoXTrcofia) as worn by kings over their variegated under-dress 3, which from the word used must have been confined by the girdle*, and may have been the projections before the breast and the stomach mentioned by Lucian^. The upper garment was not properly an l/jbdrLov thrown over the left shoulder and brought back under the right arm according to the r 67rl Sefta dvaffoXr}, but a sort of ^Xa/^u?, ec^aTrr/?, €(pe(TTpL<;, or eirtTrop'jra/jLa, fastened with a clasp on the shoulder like a soldier's cloak or wrapper. The general name for it was eTrl^XTj/jba, and the clasp on the shoulder was one of its special marks ^. There are many allusions in the classical Tragedies to this feature in the dramatic attire. When an actor divests himself of his upper ^ §117: ol §' ei' Sucrrux/ais 6vTes r} Xeu/ca duaTTLvrj elxov, /iaXicrra ol (pvyddes, tj (paia 7] fieXava rj ix-ffKLva r/ yXavKcva. ^ § 116: TO d'' "^v irXey/j.a e^ ipiuiu 5t/CTUwSes irepl irav t5 aCiiia, 6 Teipeaias eire^dX- Xero rj tis dXXos [xdvTLS. ^ Ibid. : KoXTTiOfxa 8 virep rd irotKiXa ivededvpTO ol 'Arpels Kal ol 'Ayap.ip.vove'i koI 6<T0L TOLOVTOt. ^ As in the epithet ^aduKoXvos. ^ De Saltat. 27: ^cD Xiyecv irpocrTepvidia Kai TpoyaarplSia. The whole of Lucian's description of the tragic actor is worth reading by the student. ^ Athenaeus, Xll. p. 535 E: 6 5^ 2i/ceXias rvpaupos Aiovijatos ^va-rida Kal xp^<^o^^ aricpavov iirl irephviQ /xereXdpL^ave rpayiKov. D. T G. 17