Page:The Theatre of the Greeks, a Treatise on the History and Exhibition of the Greek Drama, with Various Supplements.djvu/322

 296 ON THE REPRESENTATION OF CERTAIN There was obviously a passage from the prison to the palace, and Dionysus (603, of. 635), and afterwards Pentheus (652), come forth from the center door. By the same door the king (846), and after- wards the god (861, cf. 929), leave the stage to equip Pentheus in his bacchic attire. Of course they reappear by the center door (912), and depart by the right-hand periactos (976) on their way to Cithferon. The messenger naturally enters (1025) by the same loeriactos, and it may be concluded that he goes into the palace (1152). From the xigii periactos we liave.the successive entrances of Agave with the head of her son (1166), and of Cadmus with the corpse of Pentheus borne after him by his attendants (1216). As Dionysus declares himself at the end of the play in his divine character, it is obvious that he must appear surrounded by clouds on the balcony of the scene (1332). There is a lacuna in the text at this part, but there can be no doubt as to the nature of the theophany. The god vanishes as he appeared; Agave flees from the stage in the opposite direction to Cithasron (v. 1383) ; and the rest of the actors enter the palace by the middle door. The chorus, consisting of the Asiatic followers of Dionysus, leave the orchestra as they had entered it, by the parodos on the left. The following was obviously the distribution of the parts among the three actors : Protagonist : Dionysus, Teiresias, and the second messenger. Deuteragonist : Cadmus, servant, first messenger. Tritagonist : Pentheus, Agave. The chorus, which consisted of fifteen women, was perhaps in- tended to represent the fourteen ^epaipai of the Anthesteria, with the King-Archon's wife at their head^ They were dressed in Asi- atic style 2, with bare feet^, and the Lydian head- tire ^; and they performed their dances, which, according to the metres of the cho- ruses, had a peculiarly martial character, to the accompaniment of some flute-players, and probably beat time with timbrels and cym- bals which they carried in their hands ^. As the Cyclops of Euripides is the only complete satyrical ^ F. G. Schoen, de Person. Hahitu in Eurip. Bacch. p. 73. "^ Id. p. 130. ^ Bacch. 860 : dp ev iravwxloLS xopo'^ d-qaw Trork evKov irod' apa^aKX^vovca. Cf. Cyclops, 72 : XewoTToSas BctKrxas; see Schoen, pp. 155, 6. ^ Schoen, p. 141. ^ Id. p. 121.