Now, since embolimon means “something thrown in,” it seems clear that the songs of the chorus in the intermissions marked by ΧΟΡΟΥ (if songs not recorded in the text were sung) would be embolima in Aristotle’s use of the term. I believe that this was the innovation which Agathon introduced. This conclusion will be strengthened if we ask ourselves what sort of evidence enabled Aristotle to attribute the invention of embolima to Agathon. It is fairly certain that he never saw one of Agathon’s tragedies actually performed in the theater. Then his knowledge of Agathon’s dramatic art must have depended upon the latter’s published works. Therefore, if Agathon’s choral numbers were notable rather for the music than for the libretto, or consisted of music and dancing without words, or were borrowed from other poets, or if for any reason whatsoever Agathon preferred not to copy them down with the rest of the text, but merely to mark their location by ΧΟΡΟΥ or some other symbol, then we can understand how Aristotle could know that Agathon had inaugurated something new in dramatic technique. Whatever their defects of irrelevancy, Euripides’ odes were not “thrown in” in this sense; they were right there in the text. But in Agathon’s manuscripts, on the other hand, there were gaps indicated between acts. In actual performance suitable odes were “thrown in.” A “thrown-in” ode then would be one not appearing in the text. It is self-evident that this interpretation throws a flood of light upon Aristotle’s statements. That ΧΟΡΟΥ was so used in tragedy prior to the time of New Comedy is attested by its occurrence in a recent fragment of a fourth-century _Medea_.[251] Moreover, by inference its use can be safely traced still further back, even close to the period of Agathon. We have seen that tragedy exercised a profound influence upon Old Comedy (see pp. 49 f., above); and Professor Navarre[252] has correctly pointed out that the influence of tragedy was more quickly and strongly felt in the second half of a comedy (that after the parabasis or, when that is lacking, after the agon; see p. 41, above). Accordingly a strong reason for believing that this use of ΧΟΡΟΥ originated in tragedy is found in the fact that ΧΟΡΟΥ occurs in this part of Aristophanes’ last two (extant) comedies; cf. _Women in Council_, vss. 729 and 876 (393-392 B.C.), and _Plutus_, vs. 770 (388 B.C.). It is significant that Aristophanes’ use of embolima is still embryonic, has not yet been carried to the logical issue found in New Comedy. That is to say, the chorus of these two plays still figures in the action and converses with the actors. In the _Women in Council_ it even has, in addition to embolima, several choral songs, the words of which are preserved. The fragments of the fourth-century _Medea_, scanty as they are, nevertheless suffice to indicate that its author employed embolima and the chorus in the same fashion as Aristophanes.