Page:The Theatre of the Greeks, a Treatise on the History and Exhibition of the Greek Drama, with Various Supplements.djvu/305

 TRAGEDIES AND COMEDIES IN PARTICULAR. 279 tlon from the unity of place; for the eccyclema, which displays the interior of the palace, is only a partial change of scene. The unity of time, however, is conspicuously violated. For Clytcemnestra's speech before the first stasimon is supposed to be spoken on the day of the capture of Troy (v. 320 : Tpoiav 'A^j^atol r^S' exovcr' iv 7]fji6pa), and the herald, who enters after the stasimon, details cir- cumstances referring to a long passage from Troy, interrupted by a dreadful storm which dispersed the fleet. Several days must there- fore be supposed to have elapsed between the two acts of the play. The distribution of the parts among the three actors in the Agamemnon may be very easily arranged, so as to allow the same actor (i. e. the tritagonist) to perform the same part in all three plays of the Trilogy, and at the same time to retain the leading- characters for the best performer^: Protagonist, Agamemnon, the guard, the herald. D enter agonist, Casandra, jEgisthus. Tritagonist, Clytsemnestra. The middle play of the Orestea, which is known as the Clioe- pJioroe or "bearers of funeral libations," is divided by a total change of scene into two distinct parts. The scene of the first act, which terminates at v. 651, is a desolate tract of country at some distance from the city, perhaps hilly, and certainly provided with brushwood for the concealment of Orestes and Pylades. The central object is the mound which indicates the tomb of Agamemnon. The play begins with the entrance of Orestes and his friend from the left side-door, and the former speaks the prologue, which has come down to us considerably mutilated. The chorus enters from the right parodos at v. 10. In the present state of the text we cannot say whether they sang any anapa3sts as they advanced to the thy- mele, but the commencement of their first choral song (vv. 22 sqq.) seems to imply that they had previously been silent. Although Orestes is made to suppose (v. 16) that he sees Electra along with the chorus, it is clear that this is only intended to indicate a natural illu- sion on his part. For Electra must enter by the right-hand side-door, where the periactos perhaps represented a distant view of the royal palace, and her entrance is marked by her address to the chorus in vv. 84 sqq. The maidens of the chorus are sent to accompany Electra (v. 23: %oa^' 7rj007royu.7ro9. v. 85: rrjcrSe TrpoarpoTrrj^; ifiol 7ro/jL7rol) ^ See Milller, Hid. Lit. Gv. i. p. 406.