Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878).djvu/50

xlviii as well as with the more effective utterance of the choral odes; and in our ignorance of these details, we can but note it as an instance of the critical perception of beauty or fitness, which did not slight any element of perfection, however apparently insignificant. (4.) Another departure from previous routine was the composition of dramas, independent of each other, though exhibited together, instead of the long continuous Trilogy of which we have an example in the Oresteia of Æschylos. The lessons which the older poet taught by tracing the progress of guilt and its punishment through successive generations, Sophocles apparently passed over for subtle relations of harmony or contrast. So also (5.) the traditions of the Athenian stage assigned to him the introduction of the twisted, sturdy walking-stick, which became the conventional sign of age, as the lighter wand was of youth, and the white boots which were worn both by the chorus and the other actors. (6.) Even the use of landscape scenery has been ascribed to him, as having first applied or greatly improved this element of reality in dramatic performances. The scenery required for the Œdipus at Colonos and the Aias must have presented a far greater variety and beauty than the conventional palace with its right,