[Ἐπὶ Σωσιγένους σατυρι] 342/1 [— —] [παλαι]ᾶι Νε[οπτόλεμος] [Ἰφιγε]νείαι Εὐρ[ιπ]ίδο[υ] [ποη]: Ἀστυδάμας [Ἀχι]λλεῖ ὑπε: Θετταλός 5 Ἀθάμαντι ὑπε: Νεοπτόλ[εμος] [Ἀν]τιγόνηι ὑπε: Ἀθηνόδω[ρος] [Εὐ]άρετος δ[εύ:] Τεύκρωι [ὑπ]ε: Ἀθηνόδωρος [Ἀχι]λλεῖ ὑ[πε]: Θετταλός 10 [... ε]ι ὑπ[ε: Ν]εοπτόλεμος [Ἀφαρεὺς] τρί: Πελιάσιν [ὑπε: Νεοπτ]όλεμος -κι Ὀρέστηι [ὑπε: Ἀθηνόδωρος] Αὔγηι ὑπε: Θεττα[λός] — 15 ὑπο: Νεοπτόλεμος ἐνίκ[α] — ς Ἐπὶ Νικομάχου σατυρι 341/0 Τιμοκλῆς Λυκούργωι — παλαιᾶι: Νεοπτόλεμ[ος] -αι Ὀρέστηι Εὐριπιδο — 20 ποη: Ἀστυδάμας Παρθενοπαίωι ὑπε: Θετ[ταλός] [Λυκά]ονι ὑπε: Νεοπτόλε[μος] [...ο]κλῆς δεύ: Φρίξωι -ι [ὑπε:] Θετταλός 25 [Οἰδί]ποδι ὑπε: Νεοπτολ[εμος] — [Εὐάρ]ετος τρί [Ἀλκ]μέ[ων]ι: ὑπε: Θεττα[λός] [...λ]ηι: ὑπε: Νεοπτό[λε] [ὑπο: Θ[ετταλὸς ἐνίκα 30 [Ἐπὶ Θεο]φράστου σα[τυρι 340/39 [...] Φορκίσ[ι] [παλαιᾶι· Νικ?]όστρ[ατος] [... Εὐ]ριπί[δου] [...]ο [... There are several matters here which are worthy of comment. It will be noted that by 341 B.C. the tragic poets no longer closed each group of plays with a satyric drama, but one satyr-play was performed instead as a preface to the tragic contest. It followed that the playwrights, the number of whose dramas now corresponded to that of the star performers, were no longer handicapped by being allotted the exclusive services of a single star and his troupe but were placed upon terms of perfect equality by having all the stars in turn at their command, each for a different tragedy. This explains why in 340 B.C., when we must suppose that three players of the first rank with their supporting companies were for some reason not available, the number of tragedies presented by each playwright was likewise reduced to two and the histrionic talent was thus kept evenly distributed. The fact that the tragic writers no longer devoted whole trilogies to different aspects of the same theme made it easy to reduce the number of tragedies in any year in order to conform to an emergency in the histrionic conditions. Furthermore, old tragedies were not now permitted to compete with new ones, as was said to have been the practice in the case of Aeschylus’ plays after his decease (see p. 203, above); but beginning at the City Dionysia of 386 B.C., as we learn from the Fasti, an old tragedy was performed, outside of the contest, every year. It is interesting to observe that in both these years and again in 339 B.C. (see next to the last line in Fig. 76_a_) plays of Euripides were chosen for this purpose, and this is in accord with the