Agamemnon has finished the sack, traversed the Aegean, and appeared before his palace! No hint is given, however, that there is anything unusual about all this; not a word[323] indicates that the action is disconnected at any point. This is the most flagrant instance, and I conceive that it is to be interpreted as follows: The performance of Greek drama in the fifth century was continuous in the sense that with negligible exceptions (see pp. 250 f., above) actors or chorus or both were constantly before the audience. Notice that this is not the same as saying that the _time_ of the plays was continuous. When critically examined it is found to have been interrupted by numerous gaps, as we have already seen and shall see again. But the continuity of performance gave a _semblance_ of continuity also to the action. Therefore when a modern playwright like Pinero restricts his action to one day and represents the lapse of several hours by the fall of the curtain between acts, he does not thereby observe the unity of time in the Greek sense. The dramatic events were tacitly treated by the poets as if they occupied no more than a day and were so accepted by the public. By “tacitly” I mean that if such crowding involved a physical or moral impossibility the dramatists never stooped to apologize or explain but placed their events in juxtaposition just the same. In Plautus’ _Captives_, Philocrates travels from Aetolia (the scene of action) to Elis and back again between vss. 460 and 768. In real life such a trip would have required several days, but in the play it consumes less than one! Do we positively know this? Beyond the shadow of a doubt. A parasite is introduced at intervals during the play scheming to be invited to a meal. He is first seen at vs. 69 and does not get a satisfactory invitation until vs. 897. A more detailed statement would show conclusively that the same day’s meal is under discussion throughout. Moreover, this is no mere _lapsus calami_, such as a few phrases which are found in an opposite sense,[324] but is unmistakable in its import and is closely interwoven with the plot. If anyone feels amazed at so deliberate a contradiction he may console himself with a study of the use of “double time” in Shakespeare. It would be possible, but is quite unnecessary, to cite other plays in which restriction of time to a single day is indicated with sufficient exactness. Of course the Greek dramatists did not consistently introduce references to the precise date or to the time of day. In general they were wise enough to act upon the principle which Corneille[325] expressed as follows: “Above all I would leave the length of the action to the imagination of the hearers, and never determine the time, if the subject does not require it.... What need is there to mark at the opening of the play that the sun is rising, that it is noon at the third act, and sunset at the end of the last?”