Page:The Theatre of the Greeks, a Treatise on the History and Exhibition of the Greek Drama, with Various Supplements.djvu/307

 TRAGEDIES AND COMEDIES IN PARTICULAR. 281 it may fairly be infen-ed that the clioreutae take refuge and conceal themselves in the parodos until the end of the interview between Clyt^emnestra and the matricide. The servant of course comes forth from the strangers' apartments, and knocks at the center door, and Clyteemnestra comes from the house at his summons, just as Orestes rushes out in pursuit of her (v. 892). After Orestes has dragged his mother into the strangers' lodging in order to slay her beside JEgisthus (vv. 894, 904), the chorus re-appears and sings the stasi- mon (vv. 931 — 972) at the thymele. It is clear that the corpses of the queen and her paramour are exhibited to the spectators, when Orestes re-appears, and says (v. 973), idecrde xwpas tt]v 6nrT]V rupawida — but it is not so certain in what manner this is effected. As no mention is made of the chorus entering the guests' chambers, where the murders have been perpetrated, and as Orestes clearly intends a public display, we must infer that the eccyclema was not used, but that the bodies were brought out on a bier, as the bodies of Eteocles and Polyneices were paraded in the Seven against Thebes. It is not only clear from the question of the chorus (v. 1051) and from the words of Orestes (v. 1061) that the phantom forms of the Erinyes are visible to Orestes alone ; but the care, which is taken in the following play, not to exhibit the Eumenides until the audience have been wound up to the highest point of expectation, precludes the supposition that the effects of that play would be anticipated by the premature introduction of the chorus, from which it bears its name. Orestes leaves the stage by the left side-door, and the chorus proceeds to the right-hand parodos, reciting the concluding anapaests. In the Eumenides, as in the ChoepJiorce, there are two distinct acts, each with its appropriate scenery. The scene of the first act (w. 1 — 234) is the temple of Apollo at Delphi. The center door on the stage represents the main entrance of the temple, the interior of which is displayed by the eccyclema after v. 93. The right- hand door is marked by a sacred grove, through which Apollo retires after dismissing Orestes. On the other side there may have been the dwelling of the Pythia, from which she enters at the be- ginning of the play, and to which she returns after the prologue. It is probable that the neighbourhood of Delphi, to which the Pythia alludes in her opening address, is depicted in the scenery.