It might have been supposed self-evident that the former of these is a vital part, indeed the foundation, of the subject, but it has suffered remarkable neglect or still more remarkable superficiality of treatment: criticism of the Greek tragedians has been vitiated time and again by a tendency to ignore the very existence of dramatic form. It is a strange reflection that the world of scholarship waited till 1887 for the mere revelation of grave difficulties in the plot of the _Agamemnon_. Examining boards still prescribe “_Ajax_ vv. 1-865,” on the naïve assumption that they know better than Sophocles where the play ought to end. Euripides has been discussed with a perversity which one would scarcely surpass if one applied to Anatole France the standards appropriate to Clarendon. Throughout I have attempted to follow the working of each playwright’s mind, to realize what he meant his work to “feel like”. This includes much besides structure, but the plot is still, as in Aristotle’s day, “the soul of the drama”. Chapter VI, on metre and rhythm, will, I hope, be found useful. Greek lyrics are so difficult that most students treat them as prose. I have done my best to be accurate, clear, and simple, with the purpose of enabling the sixth-form boy or undergraduate to read his “chorus” with a sense of metrical and rhythmical form. With regard to this chapter, even more than the others, I shall welcome criticism and advice. I have to thank my wife for much help, and my friend Mr. Cyril Brett, M.A., who kindly offered to make the Index. GILBERT NORWOOD CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I. THE LITERARY HISTORY OF GREEK TRAGEDY 1 II. THE GREEK THEATRE AND THE PRODUCTION OF PLAYS 49 III. THE WORKS OF ÆSCHYLUS 84 IV. THE WORKS OF SOPHOCLES 132 V. THE WORKS OF EURIPIDES 186 VI. METRE AND RHYTHM IN GREEK TRAGEDY 327 INDEX 365 GREEK TRAGEDY CHAPTER I THE LITERARY HISTORY OF GREEK TRAGEDY