[554] _Arrangement_ (according to Croiset): protagonist, Amphitryon, Madness; deuteragonist, Megara, Iris, Theseus; tritagonist, Lycus, Heracles, messenger. Of course the dead bodies are lay figures. Other arrangements are possible. [555] vv. 637-700. [556] vv. 70-9, 460-89. [557] vv. 1255-1310, 1340-93. [558] vv. 140-235. [559] _Four Plays of Euripides_, pp. 134-98. [560] vv. 339 _sqq._, etc. [561] vv. 798 _sqq._ [562] vv. 1340-6. [563] Especially vv. 1269 _sqq._ [564] The appearance of Pallas (vv. 1002-6) is regarded by Verrall as “a chance blow received by the madman from the falling ruins of the chamber”. [565] In vv. 562-82 he raves, however eloquently. One man cannot capture a whole fortress and punish a hostile population as Amphitryon (vv. 585-94) feels, though his caution and prosaic advice are painfully ludicrous considering the vast claims he has made for his son an hour ago. [566] v. 1222. [567] Compare the similar explanation of a wonderful feat actually offered by Lycus (vv. 153 _sq._). [568] Cp. Verrall, pp. 147 _sq._ [569] _Ibid._ pp. 156, 162. [570] vv. 65-6. [571] vv. 485-9. [572] _Probable Arrangement_: protagonist, Theseus, messenger; deuteragonist, Adrastus, Evadne; tritagonist, Æthra, herald, Iphis, Athena. [573] The plot strongly recalls the incident after the battle of Delium (424 B.C.), when the victorious Bœotians at first refused to surrender the Athenian dead, and the alliance between Athens and Argos (420 B.C.). [574] The Hypothesis says: τὸ δὲ δρᾶμα ἐγκώμιον Ἀθηναίων (altered by Dindorf with general approval to Ἀθηνῶν). [575] vv. 195-218. [576] vv. 403-56. [577] vv. 297-331. [578] She has arrayed herself, not in black but in festal robes (vv. 1054-6)—an interesting parallel with the fine ending of the second act of Mr. Shaw’s _Doctor’s Dilemma_. [579] _Probable Arrangement_: protagonist, Ion, Pædagogus; deuteragonist, Hermes, Creusa; tritagonist, Xuthus, servant, prophetess, Athena. [580] vv. 1537 _sq._ [581] ἀμαθής (v. 916, used by Creusa). [582] ὁ κακός (v. 952, used by the Pædagogus). [583] v. 1595. [584] vv. 550 _sqq._ are probably significant (and Ion actually the son of Xuthus). [585] Cp. v. 1324 and the rest of the short conversation between her and Ion, which is of course charming on any view of the play. [586] vv. 859 _sqq._ [587] vv. 1029 _sqq._ [588] Cp. v. 1419: οὐ τέλεον, οἷον δ’ ἐκδίδαγμα κερκίδος, and Ion’s acknowledgment (v. 1424): ἰδού· τόδ’ ἐσθ’ ὕφασμα, θέσφαθ’ ὡς εὑρίσκομεν. This latter surely means that Ion is as satisfied as one can expect to be in tracing the fulfilment of oracles. [589] Cp. v. 1565: μηχαναῖς ἐρρύσατο. [590] v. 1550: πρόσωπον. [591] οὐ πέδον τίκτει τέκνα says the elder man (v. 542), casually turning his back on the glory of his wife’s family (cp. vv. 265-8). [592] vv. 585 _sqq._ [593] vv. 738-46. [594] v. 768 _sqq._ [595] vv. 1215 _sqq._