The extant remains clearly demonstrate that Homer’s delineation was at the least derived from a genuine tradition. In view of the fact that with three or four exceptions (see pp. 123 f., above) the themes of tragedy were always selected from Homeric or other mythological sources, it was natural that the Greek tragedians should take over from him a social system which so conveniently liberated them from the restrictions of contemporaneous customs. It is unnecessary to cite passages to prove that they actually did this; the women of almost every tragedy move about with a freedom and conduct themselves with an independence such as no respectable woman among the playwright’s contemporaries could have asserted. Nor is it peculiar that so artificial a pose is not consistently maintained. Occasionally, an unconscious sense of outraged propriety causes the dramatist to put words into a woman’s mouth which stand in glaring contrast with the rest of the scene. In Euripides’ _Andromache_, Hermione’s confidential slave brings their dialogue to a close by saying to her mistress: Nay, pass within; make not thyself a show Before this house, lest thou shouldst get thee shame, Before this palace seen of men, my child. [Vss. 877 ff.; Way’s translation] In real life these words would furnish an excellent motive for withdrawing; how artificial they are in tragedy appears from the fact that, though a strange-looking man is now seen approaching, Hermione remains upon the scene! In the same author’s _Electra_ (vss. 341 ff.) that heroine’s peasant-husband finds her conversing with her brother and Pylades (though she recognizes neither) and exclaims: How now? What strangers these about my doors? ... Beseemeth not That with young men a wife should stand in talk. [Way’s translation] The man’s lowly birth and usually deferential attitude toward his wife make these words seem especially incongruous, and Electra promptly apologizes for them. Sometimes these anachronisms are intentional and fulfill a deliberate purpose. In Euripides’ _Phoenician Maids_ (vss. 88 ff.), Antigone and a servant are about to appear on the flat roof of the palace in order to catch a glimpse of the invading army; but for technical reasons (see pp. 171 f., above) it is necessary that Antigone’s entrance be slightly delayed. Accordingly, the slave comes into view first and is made to afford an excuse for her tardy appearance which would have been legitimate for a fifth-century princess but which to a Homeric woman or one at the period of the dramatic time of the play would have seemed to spring from false modesty.