Page:The Theatre of the Greeks, a Treatise on the History and Exhibition of the Greek Drama, with Various Supplements.djvu/310

 284 ON THE REPEESENTATION OF CERTAIN take their seats either on the steps of her temple, or on seats before the center door, while Apollo appears from the left to support his suppliant. The judges give their votes separately in the twelve intervals of the couplets spoken by the chorus and Apollo (vv. 711 — 733). Orestes is acquitted, and departs by the left-hand door, as soon as he has expressed his gratitude and bound his country- men by a promise of future friendliness (vv. 754 — 777). As he takes no notice of Apollo, that divinity must have departed after the declaration of the verdict in vv. 752, 753. It may be presumed that the Areopagites retain their places till the procession at the end of the play. When Minerva has succeeded in allaying the wrath of the Eumenides, she takes leave of the chorus (v. 1003: ^atpere ;^i5yLtet9), and says that she must go before to prepare their abode for them ; and she leaves the stage by the right-hand door after making her concluding speech (vv. 1021 — 1031). The irpc- TTojuLirot then make their appearance through the right-hand parodos, and lead the chorus from the orchestra by the same door. As they depart the Areopagites leave the stage in solemn procession. The distribution of the parts in the second and third plays of the Trilogy must have been as follows : Choeplioroe, Protagonist, Orestes. Deuter agonist, Electra, iEgisthus, Pylades. Tritagonist, Clyt^emnestra. Eumenides, Protagonist, Orestes. D enter agonist, Apollo. Tritagonist, Pythia, Clytaemnestra, Minerva. The Trilogy was succeeded by a satyrical drama, the Proteus, which had some reference to the adventures of Menelaus alluded to in the Agamemnon (vv. 674 sqq.). The manner, in which the complete chorus of forty-eight was made available for the separate choruses of the four plays, is thus stated by C. O. Miiller^ The Agamemnon had a chorus of twelve senators, as appears from their conference in vv. 1319 — 1342 ; the Eumenides had a chorus of fifteen, as appears from the most probable arrangement of the jjlv^- fjbo<; hiifkov^ of V. 125, as seven repetitions of the word a^e, each 1 Eumeniden, pp. 75 sqq.