of Sophocles, the heroine herself plays the part of leader to the Chorus; and, conversely, Tecmessa, in the Ajax, follows up the parodos with an anapæstic dialogue aπò σκηνῆς. § 9. The following may suffice as an analysis of the plot or action. I. Пpóλoyos. Just before sun-rise, Antigone, to escape being overheard in the apartments of the women, leads forth her sister Ismene into the open space before the palace, and communicates to her Kreon's decree, forbidding the sepulture of Polyneikes, and her own resolve to violate it. Ismene vainly endeavours to dissuade her, and is greeted in return with indignant reproaches. They part: Ismene returns by the lefthand door into the women's apartments, and Antigone descends by the right-hand steps into the orchestra, in order to visit the spot, delineated on the right hand periaktos, where the body lay. The reader must fancy the actors dressed in sweeping under-garments of black, fringed with gold, and in upper robes of pale green, or bright yellow. Their masks would be expressive of the highest female beauty, and would be surmounted by the glittering frontlet which marked the woman of exalted rank 50. Antigone carries in her hand the prochus, or pitcher with which she poured forth the triple libations around the dead body. She wears, also, the long linen girdle crossing over her bosom, and passing 49 J. Poll. IV. § 118: τῆς δ ̓ ἐν συμφορᾷ, ὁ μὲν συρτὸς μέλας, τὸ δ ̓ ἐπίβλημα γλαυκὸν ἢ μήλινον. 50 Whence the epithet Amapáμπvέ. round her waist, with which she afterward destroyed herself 51. II. Πάροδος.—The choreutæ enter the orchestra by the lower entrance to the left, and file away to the thymele, as described in the previous section. They briefly describe the siege of Thebes, and the defeat of the Argive host, and express their joy and thankfulness to the gods. It may be necessary to remark, for the information of some readers, that the choreutæ, who were much nearer to the audience than the actors on the logeium, were not exaggerated in stature or size by high soles or padding, but, in the case before us, appeared as old men of the upper class, deckt out in Bacchic costume of the most brilliant and expensive description 52. ΙΙΙ. ̓Επεισόδιον πρῶτον.—Kreon comes forth from the centre door of the Proscenium with a retinue of attendants. He wears his crown, and royal robes, and bears in his right hand the long sceptre, which is seen in ancient works of art 53. He alludes to his throne in 51 See note on Pind. O. vi. 31. For the figure of Antigone in the frontispiece I must be held responsible. It was reduced by the artist from a sketch, which I had composed after the best authorities. Although it is designed to exhibit Polus as he might be supposed to appear when masked for this character, I have ventured to make a few departures from the ungainly stiffness of the tragic attire. For instance, I have avoided all exaggeration in the mask, and have substituted the thick-soled sandal for the clumsy cothurnus. The prochus is borne by a figure in a tragic scene, found at Pompeii. M. Bocage, in arranging the mise en scéne for the French version of this tragedy, introduces Antigone with a full-sized amphora on her shoulder! 52 See, for example, Demosth. c. Mid. pp. 519, 520, 531; and Antiphanes apud Athen. III. p. 103, F: ἢ χορηγός αἱρεθείς, ἱμάτια χρυσᾶ παρασχὼν τῷ χορῷ. 53 I am disposed to think that the word κpárŋ in ver. 173 is an SOPH. ANT. с 173, and probably took his seat upon it. Addressing the Chorus, he states the reasons which induced him to forbid the burial of Polyneikes under the penalty of death, and while he invites them to sanction his enactment by giving no countenance to the disobedient, he informs them that he has already posted a watch over the dead body. In the mean time, Antigone has, at day-break, performed the necessary rites, and has then concealed herself in the olive-grove hard by, in order to watch the proceedings of the sentinels. One of them now makes his appearance to inform Kreon of what had been done, the first day-watch having speedily discovered the attentions which had been paid to the corpse. This watchman, or sentinel, who, of course, approaches from the right, probably wore the xλaîva ovλŋ, or outer cloak of thick piled wool54, and the Baotian fir-cone hat 55; he would bear on his left arm the Baotian shield, with indentations for the lance 56; and in his right hand some sort of spear. The reader will observe that Sophocles has used this character much in the same way as Shakspere employs his clowns-by way of contrast to the elevated and tragic tone of the drama. The Sentinel is, in the lowest sense of the term, pauλos, or "vulgarminded 57." Antigone, as naturally éon, is willing to allusion to the sceptre in his hand, which was the emblem of his power, and which is so constantly mentioned in connexion with the throne; cf. Ed. Col. 426: ὃς νῦν σκῆπτρα καὶ θρόνους ἔχει. 450 : θρόνους καὶ σκῆπο τρα κραίνειν. 1356 : σκῆπτρα καὶ θρόνους ἔχων. Pind. Ρ. IV. 152 : καὶ σκαπα τον μόναρχον, καὶ θρόνος, ᾧ πότε Κρ. ἐγκαθίζων ἱππόταις εὔθυνε λαοῖς δίκας. 54 That it was necessary for watchmen, &c. to have such a cloak, is clear from Hom. Od. XIV. 478, sqq. 55 Theophrast. Hist. Pl. III. 9. 56 Müller, Ancient Art and its remains, p. 352. Engl. Tr. 57 For this term, as the regular opposite to kaλòs kȧyalòs, see brave all danger in the performance of her duty; but this man openly avows his selfish timidity, and does not face any danger, except as the best means of escaping something worse. At the same time, he has all the shrewdness of the άyopá, and can chop logic with his betters. The sausage-seller, in the Knights of Aristophanes, is a broader and coarser sketch of the same sort of person; and doubtless there were many of a similar kind among the audience who witnessed the first performance of this Play. On hearing this man's tale, the coryphæus, who, in his function of Chorus, is bound to maintain the religious view of the matter, suggests the thought, that the funeral honours paid to Polyneikes may have been due to supernatural agency. Kreon is greatly exasperated by this suggestion, which he considers the height of folly: he attributes the deed to the watchmen, who, he thinks, have been bribed by a party among the citizens unfavourable to his authority: and he returns to his palace uttering the direst threats against the Sentinel, if he does not forthwith produce the offender. IV. Στάσιμον πρῶτον.—The Chorus sings of the wit and the works of man, and greets the approach of Antigone with anapasts expressive of their extreme surprise at recognizing in her the audacious culprit. V. 'ETTELσódiov deúтepov.-Kreon, coming forth by chance from the palace, finds Antigone before the door, Esch. in Ctes. p. 65. Thucyd. vi. 18. Eurip. Bacch. 431. Plato, Resp. IV. p. 431, c. I have allowed the αγοραία φαυλότης of the first speech delivered by the Sentinel to appear in prose, with a mere soupçon of Tragic rhythm in the cadences. and learns from the Sentinel, that, while the watchmen were blinded by a cloud of dust, she had returned from her concealment, and was caught by them in the act of renewing the covering of dust, which they had removed from the corpse. She avows and justifies what she has done. Kreon threatens her with death, and sends for Ismene, whom he considers as implicated in the crime. Upon this ensues a scene between the two sisters, in which Ismene claims a share in the destined fate of her sister, who, however, indignantly repudiates her as a partner in the deed or its consequences. Kreon sends them back by the left-hand door, which led to the prison, as well as to the women's apartments, forcibly expressing the thought, that imprisonment was the proper lot of their sex. Kreon probably remains on the stage, seated on his royal throne. VI. Zráσiμov deúтepov.-The Chorus expresses, in somewhat oracular language, the belief in the inevitable transmission of ancestral misfortunes, and in the universal dominance among men of ärn, or the principle of mischief. Some anapæsts accompany the approach of Hæmon, from the left-hand parascenia, or the city, where he has overheard the sympathizing murmurs of the townsmen. VII. 'ETTELOÓSIov TpiTov.-The young Prince, who may be conceived as attired in a purple chlamys, and who would of course wear the sword with which he subsequently destroys himself, professes obedience to his father, but endeavours, by representing the opinions which he has heard generally expressed in the city, to |