[221] _Arrangement_: protagonist: Eteocles and Antigone; deuteragonist, messenger, and herald. The part of Ismene was taken by a member of the chorus. [222] _Frogs_, 1021. [223] vv. 591-4. [224] _Life of Aristides_, III. [225] Dr. Verrall, however, in his Introduction (pp. xiv, xv) sees technical drama of the highest kind in the choosing of the champions. As the Theban warriors are told off one by one, the chorus (and audience) see with ever-increasing horror that Eteocles must be left as the opponent of Polynices. [226] Müller-Heitz (_Griechische Litteraturgeschichte_, ii. p. 88) point out, also, that this play needs more elaborate machinery than any other extant drama. But it may well be doubted whether all the effects mentioned by the poet are realized. [227] Bia (“Violence”), also present, is a mute. [228] See H. Weil’s masterly _Note sur le Prométhée d’Eschyle_ (_Le drame antique_, pp. 86-92). [229] Zeus had intended to wed Thetis. On hearing the secret, he married her to Peleus, who became the father of Achilles. [230] It is fairly certain that it dealt with Menelaus’ visit to Egypt on his way back from Troy. He was shipwrecked on an island and the prophetic Proteus gave him advice, sending him first to Egypt. See _Odyssey_, IV, 351-586. [231] _Arrangement_: protagonist, Clytæmnestra; deuteragonist, Herald, Cassandra; tritagonist, Sentinel, Agamemnon, Ægisthus. [232] See especially his _Introduction_ (pp. xiii-xlvii of the 2nd edition). [233] This is noted by an admirable touch. Almost always a tragedy ends with words of the chorus as the least impassioned parties. In the _Agamemnon_ the closing words are uttered by Clytæmnestra. [234] _Choephorœ_, 889. [235] _The Relapse_, V, iv. 135. [236] _Arrangement_: protagonist, Orestes; deuteragonist, Electra, Clytæmnestra; tritagonist, Pylades, nurse, attendant, Ægisthus. [237] This is of course a conventional _mise-en-scène_; we are to imagine the tomb as distant from the palace. [238] On this and the other “tokens” see below, p. 258. [239] The dead man is undoubtedly supposed to send aid in a mysterious way, but no ghost appears, as in the _Persæ_. This discrepancy points to a change in religious feeling. Clytæmnestra’s shade “appears” in the _Eumenides_, but as a dream (see v. 116). [240] vv. 870-4. It seems most natural to suppose that they altogether quit the orchestra, returning before v. 930. [241] Not quite, however. The poet is to depict a man, with whom we are to sympathize, almost in the act of slaying his mother. Not only Orestes, but the spectator also, needs as much spiritual fortification as can be provided. [242] vv. 313: δράσαντι παθεῖν.