DICKEY. — ON DELAYS BEFORE RECOGNITIONS. 467 



drama by giving the herdsman, who acts in the capacity of a herald, 

 such a long speech (260-339) in which to report the capture of Orestes 

 and Pylades ; and thereby he adds to the delay before the recognition. 

 No doubt the audience begins to suspect that the recognition is going 

 to happen pretty soon after the herald's report of their capture ; and 

 certainly the searching questions, begun by Iphigenia at 472, n? apa fJLrjrrjp 

 7} T€Kovar' v/j.a.'i Trore | Trarr/p t' ; a8eX<f)y ^^ t, ktX., and Continued at some 

 length, reinforced by her decision (reached by her examination of the 

 captives), to send a letter by one of the captives to her friends at Argos, 

 etc., signify to the audience that the recognition scene is on. I should say, 

 therefore, that the 'secondary' delay begins at 472, and that the recog- 

 nition is really complete at 773, when Iphigenia says to Orestes, ^S' ^v 

 opas a-v ; but he is not allowed to declare himself until 795 (w cfuXTaTt] 

 fjLOL o-v'yyov', ktX.), when Iphigenia has finished reading the letter. Mark- 

 ing the real completion of the recognition at 773, we have before us a 

 ' secondary ' delay of three hundred verses in which the poet shows ex- 

 traordinary skill in handling a delicate situation in a manner quite as 

 satisfactory to the audience, I imagine, as to Aristotle, ^-^ who puts his 

 stamp of approval upon this recognition scene. On this splendid scene, 

 whereby Orestes recognized his sister, Euripides spent his force and had 

 to resort to inferior means to make Orestes known to Iphigenia. From 

 the very nature of the case (for the second recognition is but a neces- 

 sary sequel to the first), there is no ' primary ' delay to the second rec- 

 ognition, and therefore the short delay that does occur before the 

 recognition, — a delay made necessary by the necessity of manufactur- 

 ing convincing evidence, — must be called ' prefatory ' rather than 

 'secondary.' 



Helen. 



The prologue to this play explains practically everything except the 

 whereabouts of Menelaus. Perhaps the audience had a presentiment 

 from the beginning that Menelaus would appear at the proper time, 

 and that there would be a recognition. This latter is practically cer- 

 tain when Menelaus appears on the scene at 386, and particularly 

 when he hears in 470 ('EXeVr; kut oIkov; iarl, ktX.) that Helen is in the 

 house. At 528 Helen appears again, having learned from Theonoe 

 that her husband is still alive, and everything is ready for the recogni- 

 tion. The 'secondary ' delay begins at 541 (ea n? ovtos;), when Helen 

 sights Menelaus, and leads up to the recognition that is completed at 



32 Does not Euripides 'give the situation away' by not calling for an 



33 Poetics, XVI, 11. 



