Page:The Tragic Drama of the Greeks (1896).djvu/79

.] been introduced, he is rarely employed; and the whole play, as pointed out in the previous chapter, differs little in point of structure from the Thespian model. There is only a single scene of animated dialogue between the two actors. The sons of Aegyptus, who constitute the hostile element in the drama, are never introduced, or brought into active conflict with their opponents. The chorus monopolises the attention of the audience; and the occasional appearances of the characters upon the stage merely serve to diversify the course of the long lyrical odes.

The next tragedies in order of time are the Persae and the Septem; and they hold an intermediate place as regards dramatic construction between the Supplices and the later compositions. The chorus still has an intimate connexion with the plot. The Persian elders are as much concerned as Xerxes and Atossa in the ruin of the Persian army; and the fate of the Theban maidens is dependent upon the issue of the conflict between the brothers. But in neither play is the interest concentrated upon the chorus, as in the Supplices. Moreover the choral odes are greatly reduced in length, and the dialogue proportionately increased. There is still, however, no attempt to exhibit the main crisis of the action, or to bring the opposing elements into actual collision. Polyneices, in the Septem, never appears upon the scene; and in the Persae the great conflict between Persians and Greeks has already been concluded before the action commences. The scene, in each case, is laid at a distance from the place in which the fortunes of the combatants are really decided; and the course of events is made known chiefly by the narratives of witnesses, or by the songs of the chorus. The epic and lyrical elements still preponderate, and the principal features in both plays are the descriptions of battles and rival champions, and the lamentations of innocent victims.

The Prometheus, one of the poet's latest productions, shows a considerable advance upon the plays already mentioned.