Alexander, Palamedes, Troades, and satyric drama Sisyphus, was defeated for the first prize by an obscure poet called Xenocles, who produced the Oedipus, Lycaon, Bacchae and satyric play Athamas. After Euripides’ death, in B.C. 406, his Iphigenia in Aulis, Alcmaeon, and Bacchae were produced by his son at the City Dionysia.[50] The evidence of these various records, when compared with one another, proves conclusively that during the whole, or almost the whole, of the fifth century there was no variation in the arrangement of the tragic contests at the City Dionysia. The rule as to the number of poets and plays was as follows. At each festival three poets appeared as competitors,[51] and each poet was required to exhibit four plays, consisting of three tragedies and a satyric drama.[52] If the number seems surprising, we should remember that an ancient drama was only about half the length of a modern one, and that four plays of this type could easily have been got through in a single day. On one occasion the rule just mentioned appears to have been partially relaxed. In 438 Euripides was allowed to substitute the Alcestis, a tragedy with a slightly comic tinge, for the usual satyric drama. Whether this practice ever became common in the fifth century is uncertain. The records give no further instance. In all other cases where they mention the names of the four plays produced, the last is a satyric play. It was this custom of concluding the three tragedies with the licentious merriment of the satyrs which suggested to Ion of Chios his well-known remark, that virtue, like a tragic poet’s group of plays, should always contain a satyric element.[53]