Page:The Tragic Drama of the Greeks (1896).djvu/49

.] plot, to form some conception of the methods of composition employed in the primitive drama.

The scene is laid near Argos, in an open space by the seashore. The fifty daughters of Danaus are seen crouching round an altar in supplication, having fled thither to avoid marriage with their fifty cousins. Danaus, their father, is standing beside them. The play begins with a prayer chanted by the maidens. Then follows a short conversation between them and their father on the state of their fortunes. Then the king of Argos appears upon the scene, and the maidens implore his protection. After a long and vivid dialogue the doubts and hesitations of the king are melted away by the passionate entreaties of the fugitives, and he promises to secure their safety. Danaus, who has been a silent spectator of this event, now thanks the king in a short speech, and retires to Argos to offer prayers to the gods. His presence throughout the scene was not really necessary, and might easily have been avoided by a poet who had only a single actor. The chorus, now left to themselves, sing a long hymn to Zeus; and then Danaus returns with the joyful tidings that the people of Argos have ratified the king's decision to protect them. An ode of thanksgiving follows, and then comes the crisis of the play. Danaus, in an agitated speech, informs his daughters that he descries out at sea the ship containing the fifty suitors, which is steering direct towards the shore. He retires to give the alarm, and the chorus break forth into an ode full of piteous lamentations. The herald of the suitors now advances upon the stage, and commands the maidens to follow him to the ship. His insolent threats and their terrified appeals for mercy constitute a most effective scene. Suddenly the king approaches, and here follows the only real dialogue between actors in the course of the tragedy. It consists of an acrimonious and violent debate between king and herald, ending in the discomfiture of the latter. In a play of the Thespian period this scene must have been eliminated, and a narrative by a messenger put in its place. After the retirement of the two combatants, the chorus gives expression to its joy in a short song; and then Danaus