It has been shown that the number of the actors in a Greek play was limited to three. The principal actor was called the protagonist; next in importance came the deuteragonist; the tritagonist played the inferior characters.[693] The importance of the protagonist on the Greek stage has been pointed out already.[694] In the ordinary theatrical language of the time a play was said to be ‘acted by’ the protagonist, as if the other actors were of no account. The protagonist was publicly appointed by the state, but was allowed to choose the second and third actors at his own discretion. In the same way the prize for acting at each festival was confined to the protagonists. In tragedy more especially the protagonist was a person of the greatest importance. The whole structure of a Greek tragedy was designed with the object of fixing the interest upon some grand central figure. The significance of the other characters consisted mainly in their capacity to excite the passions and draw forth the sentiments of the leading personage. This being so, it was essential that the protagonist should concentrate the interest upon himself; otherwise the harmony and balance of the play would have been destroyed. Hence the subordinate actors were strictly forbidden to attempt to outshine the protagonist. Even if they had finer voices than the protagonist, they were made to moderate and restrain their powers, so as to allow the protagonist to retain the superiority, and rivet the attention of the spectators upon the central character.[695] The jealousy of protagonists towards their fellow-actors is well exemplified by the story about Theodorus, who had a theory that the first speaker in a play always attracted the sympathies of the audience, and therefore would never allow any other actor, however inferior, to appear upon the stage before himself.[696]