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PART I.

MÜLLER'S DISSERTATIONS-NUMBER

OF CHOREUTE EMPLOYED IN THE TETRALOGY -NUMBER OF THE CHORUS IN THE EUMENIDES-DISPOSITION OF THE CHORUS SCENIC ARRANGEMENTS-DUTY OF AVENGING BLOOD-DUTY OF ORESTES-POSITION OF THE HOMICIDE-EXPIATION FOR BLOOD-HILASMOI AND KATHARMOI-PURIFICATION OF ORESTES-ATTIC COURTS FOR HOMICIDE-JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS IN ESCHYLUS-EXEGESIS OF THE JUS SACRUM-MYTHIC CONCEPTION OF THE ERINNYES -THEIR CULTUS GENERALLY-AT ATHENS-ÆSCHYLUS'S CONCEPTION OF THEM— ZEUS SOTER-POETICAL COMPOSITION OF THE ORESTEA

Disserta

§ 1. No edition of the Eumenides of Eschylus would now be Müller's considered complete unless it in some sort recognised the valuable tions. Dissertations of C. O. Müller. The Cambridge translation of this work, published in 1835, is now out of print: the present Editor has therefore judged it expedient to draw up an Analysis of the principal Essays, sufficiently brief to be comprised within the limits of an Introductory Chapter: to which will be added a Second Part, compiled from various sources, and containing a critique upon the more speculative and unsupported portion of Müller's book-his second Dissertation-which cannot be safely submitted to the reader's unqualified perusal.

Choreutæ employed in the Te

Müller's Dissertations, pp.

2. Eschylus having determined to present himself as a can- Number of didate for the Tragic Prize, with his Trilogy of the "Orestea and the "Proteus," a Satyric Drama, Xenocles of Aphidna was tralogy. appointed to furnish him with a Chorus. The question here naturally arises for our consideration, how many Choreutæ did 17-54. Xenocles engage to provide? We are told by the ancient Grammarians, "that the usual number of the Tragic Chorus was

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either twelve or fifteen: aid this statement has always been understood to imply, that the said twelve or fifteen individuals performed the chorit parts in all the four plays successively. 3. But besides the great difficulty of training people of no very high attainments in Art to undertake so many different characters, sometimes male, and sometimes female; we know that Eschylus frequently employs in his dramas a number of persons, who are, properly speaking, neither actors nor Choreutæ, although they bear a strong resemblance to the latter. Of such a description are the Areopagites and the Escort of Women in the Eumenides: the last-mentioned body even sing the closing ode of the play. 4. Whence we may infer, first, that in addition to the proper Chorus of each individual drama, the one belonging to some other part of the same Tetralogy occasionally appears as a kind of Accessory Chorus; and secondly, that the regular Chorus of one drama was quite distinct from that of the others. Nay, in Choeph. 1044, we find the regular Chorus of Women, and the Accessory one of Furies, actually seen on the stage together, where Orestes exclaims,—

*

Δμωαὶ γυναῖκες, αἵδε Γοργόνων δίκην
Φαιοκχίτωνες καὶ πεπλεκτανημέναι

Πυκνοῖς δράκουσιν· οὐκέτ ̓ ἂν μείναιμ ̓ ἐγώ.

And although the Choephoro are not supposed to behold the Furies here, their presence is unquestionably visible to the audience. We may, therefore, classify the Principal and Accessory Choruses belonging to the three plays of the Orestea, in the following manner :

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In the closing scene of the Eumenides, it is evident that all these three Choruses must be on the stage at once: for the Areopagites have not quitted their position when Pallas summons the Escort of Women.

5. These considerations afford ample evidence that the whole number of Choreutæ assigned for a Tetralogy was far greater than twelve or fifteen. Now the Tragic Chorus was immediately derived from the Dithyrambic; and that, we know, consisted of fifty persons. This brings us nearer the mark; but the number 50 must be taken with some modification. The Dithyrambic Chorus was cyclic; that is, it danced in a circle round the Dionysian Altar; the Tragic was quadrangular (TETpάywvos), and drawn up in rank and file. It was, therefore, a composite number; and as the components could scarcely be so far apart as that the one should double the other, viz. 5 x 10, so as to make up the number 50, we may more reasonably conclude that it was 6 x 848: which, if divided equally, would allow twelve choreutæ for each play. And this is probably what the Grammarians meant, in their statement "that the Tragic chorus consisted of twelve or fifteen."

the Chorus in the Eu

pp. 54-61.

6. In the Agamemnon, it is clear that the number of the Number of regular Chorus was twelve. When the Gerontes hear the death- menides, cry of their sovereign, and are debating what course to pursue, twelve suffrages only are given; and if it be true that they re-appear in the Eumenides as Areopagites, this was unquestionably their number. In the Persæ, Supplices, and Sept. cont. Thebas, proof might be given that the Chorus likewise consisted of twelve. 7. But in the Choephoro and Eumenides this is not so certain; in fact there is strong evidence in favour of a Chorus of fifteen for the Eumenides. For in such of the Odes as are Commatic (sung by different individuals), seven distinct voices, or rather pairs of voices, are frequently apparent; these with the Leader make up the number fifteen; and Hermann (De Choro Eumenidum, Diss. I.) has proved to the general satisfaction that this number was the true one.1

1 One of Müller's arguments in support of this proposition is somewhat surprising. He tells us, "that there is one passage in the Dialogue where the number 7 very clearly presents itself." This passage is the following line, (v. 125.)

ἩΓΕΜ. Φράζου

ΧΟΡ. λάβε, λάβε, λάβε, λάβε, λάβε, λάβε, λάβε.
Now we look in vain for this line in any edition of the text except Müller's own.
The MSS. have it thus: XOP. Λάβε, λάβε, λάβε, λάβε, φράζου. So that Müller

E

Disposition

of the Chorus,

pp. 61-64.

8. The evolutions of the Chorus bear a close analogy to those of a Aóxos drawn up in order of battle; whence Eschylus often uses the word Xoxos for xópos (Eumen. v. 46), and military terms were employed to designate its several divisions. The Choreuta enter in rank (Suya) three abreast, and file (oroixo) generally five deep. When they take up their position in the Orchestra, the individuals fronting the audience are called ἀριστεροστάται, or "left-hand men," (abcde in opp. Fig.;) theirs was reckoned the most honourable place, and in their centre stood the Leader, on the platform of the Thymele, and therefore somewhat higher than the rest. Immediately behind them are the Xavρooτáraι (fghik), so called from standing in the alley (λaúpa) formed by the two other lines. The third and hindmost row are called SeğioσTáTAL. 9. The annexed figure represents the Chorus in two positions: first, in its Пápodos, or entrance on the stage by the side-passages of the orchestra; secondly, in its place about the Thymele, or centre of the orchestra itself. These positions are usually, but not necessarily, adopted by the Chorus at its first alters the MS. reading so as to suit his theory, and then quotes the altered line in support of it! Not less strange is the argument on which he grounds this alteration. "The Scholiast," he says, in p. 61, "describes this verse as a dimeter brachy-catalectic, with a hephthemimer of tribrachs;

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and must have read the line thus

Μὲ μῦ μὲ μῦ· φράζου λάβε, λάβε, λάβε, λάβε, λάβε.

We are not therefore without warrant for considering μù μî μù μû' as 'extra metrum,' repeating λáße seven times, and making the verse a complete Iambic line." We doubt whether any reader will be satisfied with such a warrant. All that can be gathered from the Scholiast is, that the word opáçov as pronounced by the Leader, did in all probability precede the repetitions of λáße. Hermann has argued this matter at great length in his Opusc. vol. vi. p. 35.

1 Ovuéλn, from 0ów, properly "an altar," including the platform on which the altar was raised. Its position in the Theatre was derived from the Dionysian altar, round which the ancient Dithyrambic Chorus executed its dances. The reader should, however, be informed that Hermann (De Re Scenicâ in Oresteâ) distinctly denies that this Thymele could have been so placed, and even the existence of the altar itself. His words are:-"Vanum est commentum Mülleri, thymelen in orchestrâ fuisse putantis, quam in ligneâ illâ orchestrâ, quæ fabularum agendarum causâ exstruebatur, nec fuisse ullam, et in quibusdam fabulis (Prometheo, Philoctetâ, Cyclope) ne potuisse quidem aram, ut in locis desertis, cogitari, demonstratum est."

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