Page:The Theatre of the Greeks, a Treatise on the History and Exhibition of the Greek Drama, with Various Supplements.djvu/313

 TRAGEDIES AND COMEDIES IX PARTICULAE. 287 actors speak from the upper platform. Oceanus remains seated on liis courser in the clouds, and rides away upon it when his selfish fears are excited (v. 396). lo, who had been wandering on the sea-shore near the mountain (v. 575 : irXava re vrjcrrtv dvd rdv irapaXiav yfrdfi/jLov), enters from the left on the balcony which re- presents the summit of these rugged rocks; for she speaks of casting herself down from them in her despair (yv. 747 sqq.) : ri dip-' ifJLol ^v Kephos, aXS! ovk iv rdx^i. ippi'^ efxavT-qv rijcrd' oltto arixpXov irerpas ; In the same manner Mercury enters from the same side : for there is no reference whatever, as in the case of Oceanus and the chorus, to his having flown thither through the air, and he is expressly called "the running-footman of Jove" (v. 941: top Aio? Tpoyj.v)-, and as Prometheus sees him at once, he cannot be on the stage below. It is clear that the chorus leaves the orchestra by the right-hand parodos, just as Mercury quits the balcony by a side- door to the left, probably veiled by a peak of the mountain, and Prometheus is left alone to describe the coming storm in the splen- did anapassts which conclude the play and accompany the exodus of the chorus. Then, it may be presumed, the scenic rocks fall asunder, and the figure representing Prometheus descends with them below the stage. As a specimen of the manner in which Sophocles, the perfecter of the Greek drama, placed his Tragedies on the stage, it will be sufficient to examine the latest of his plays, the CEdipus at Colonus. The scene, which remains the same throughout the play, is minutely described in the opening verses. CEdipus entering from behind the left-hand ^e/-2*ac^c>5, which represents the road to Thebes, asks his guide Antigone (w. 1,2): TCKVov TV(pov yepovTos ^AvTiyoPTi, riva^ X^povs a.<piyixed rj rivuv dvdpQv iroXcv ', ''Child of a blind old man, Antigone, What lands, what city are we come unto?" and she replies (vv. 14 — 20) : irdrep roKaliroip Oldiwov, irvpyoL fiev, ot iroKiv ar^yovaiv, ws ciTr' dfifidruu, Trpocrw* X^pos d' o5' ipos, ws ad(p' elKdaai, ^pvuv dd<pv7js, eaias, d[xireov' TrvKvoTrrepoi. 5' etcToj Kar' avrbv evarofMova drjdoves' ov KU)a Kdpi.}/ov ToG5' ctt' d^icTTov irirpov. /xaKpdv ydp, ws yipovTL, TrpoucrrdXT?? 656f.