14 LITERATURE AND DRAMA 



drama, which never attempted to represent any other incident 

 than such as could be indicated by the coming or going of one 

 actor. Unity of time and place has nothing to do with such a 

 performance as this. Of course, the old men did not stand 

 singing from the time Troy was taken until Agamemnon 

 arrived. Whether Clytemnestra was or was not present when 

 the Herald told his news would not matter. The form of the 

 art was familiar to the spectators, and they knew what they 

 were to take for granted as well as the audience listening to 

 the Italian 'Maggi' know this to-day. The chorus took care to 

 tell them what personage the actor was going to represent as 

 he came upon the stage, and this was quite sufficient. They 

 gave the actor a little rest from time to time by addressing 

 him, and he gave them a long rest as he recited his speeches. 

 When he went off, the chorus reverted to the main business of 

 the day, the lyric song, and might take it up exactly at the 

 place where they left off. 



Extraordinary art is shown throughout the f Agamemnon ' 

 in so arranging the incidents that each actor may speak at the 

 full pitch of his voice with truth to nature. The presence of 

 the chorus forming a crowd who might be addressed collectively 

 enabled this to be done, and this use of the chorus had an im- 

 portant influence on the earlier forms of Greek tragedy. 



When Agamemnon entered, the performance became much 

 more like our own stage play, but even then ./Eschylus seems 

 to have avoided dialogue between two actors on the stage, 

 feeling, perhaps, that the shouting necessary to make the spec- 

 tators hear would seem unnatural in a mere conversation. 

 Agamemnon arrived in a chariot, with Cassandra beside him 

 or following him in another car> and was probably accompanied 

 by a retinue of soldiers. He did not dismount at once, but 

 remained standing in his chariot in the orchestra before the 

 stage, as if at the front door of his palace. Clytemnestra and 

 he did not converse. He harangued his people from the chariot, 

 and then she harangued them also ; some lines in her speech are 

 addressed to Agamemnon, but in the main her speech, though 

 in honour of the king, was directed to the chorus. She was 

 surrounded by mute attendants, who, at her command, laid 

 down splendid garments for Agamemnon to tread on as he left 



