Page:The Theatre of the Greeks, a Treatise on the History and Exhibition of the Greek Drama, with Various Supplements.djvu/311

 TRAGEDIES AND COMEDIES IN PARTICULAR. 285 spoken by a pair of clioreutiB, the imperative (fipd^ov being uttered by the coryphaaus; the chorus of the Choeplioroe had probably this larger number; and this would leave two ^v^a, or ranks of three each, for the satyric drama. It is probable that the chorus of old men from the Agamemnon appeared as the Areopagites in the Eu- menides^ and the chorus of the ChoepJioroe constituted the festive procession at the end of the last play in the Trilogy. We have examined the details of the representation of these three plays at some length, because, taken together, they furnish the most complete specimen of a Greek dramatic entertainment which has come down to us. Indeed, with the exception of the satyrical drama, which served as an after-piece to the Trilogy, we have here before us a perfect sample of the elaborate theatrical exhibitions, which were provided for the amusement of the Athenians at their Bacchic festivals. It will be seen that no regard was paid to the unities of time and place. The second and third plays are respec- tively broken into two distinct parts by the change of scene, and the first play, which has no change of scene, supposes, like the third, a considerable interval of time between the first and second acts. And while ^schylus has thus allowed himself a full latitude in dealing with space and time, he exhibits in this, the last of his dramatic works, a full acquaintance with all the improvements of the stage. The three actors are all put in requisition, and the chorus, originally one and undivided, is broken up into sections for the sake of the separate plays. Of the other Tragedies of -zEschylus, the Prometheus alone re- quires a special notice of its mode of representation. It differs from all other plays by making no use of the stage. The action proceeds entirely on the balconies above the first story. The scene repre- sents a desolate and rocky region, not far from the shore of Ocean at the extremity of the world. The center door is blocked up by the representation of a craggy mountain. To the summit of this (v. 142 : rrjcrSe cj)apayyo(aKOTrekois; ev a/cpot<;) Vulcan, attended by Strength and Force, is engaged in fastening the form of Prome- theus. On the right-hand pertactos there is a representation of the sea, and a more distant part of the coast is represented on the left. There can be little doubt ^ that Prometheus himself was represented by a lay figure, so contrived that an actor standing behind the pic- ^ See Hermann's note, p. 55.