ΤΟ ΑΙΝΙΓΜΑ ΤΗΣ ΣΦΙΓΓΟΣ. Ἔστι δίπουν ἐπὶ γῆς καὶ τετράπον, οὗ μία φωνή, Athenaeus 456 Β introduces his quotation of the riddle thus : Καὶ τὸ τῆς Σφιγγὸς δὲ αἴνιγμα 'Ασκληπιάδης ἐν τοῖς Τραγῳδουμένοις τοιοῦτον εἶναι φησίν. Asclepiades of Tragilus in Thrace, a pupil of Isocrates, wrote (circ. 340 B.C.) a work called Tpaɣwdoúμeva (' Subjects of Tragedy') in six books, dealing with the legendary material used by the tragic poets, and their methods of treatment. The Αἴνιγμα, in this form, is thus carried back to at least the earlier part of the fourth century B.C. ΛΥΣΙΣ ΤΟΥ ΑΙΝΙΓΜΑΤΟΣ. Κλύθι καὶ οὐκ ἐθέλουσα, κακόπτερε Μοῦσα θανόντων, πρῶτον ἔφυ τετράπους νήπιος ἐκ λαγόνων· γηραλέος δὲ πέλων τρίτατον πόδα βάκτρον ἐρείδει, The ἱκέται in the opening scene (like the προπομποί at the close of the Eumenides of Aeschylus) would come under the general designation of a παραχορήγημα—which properly meant (not, of course, an 'auxiliary chorus' but) anything which the choragus provided in supplement to the ordinary requirements of a drama, and was specially applied to a fourth actor, according to Pollux 4. 110 παραχορήγημα εἰ τέταρτος ὑποκριτής τι παραφθέγξαιτο. The distribution of the parts among the three actors would be as follows: OEDIPUS, πρωταγωνιστής. IOCASTA, PRIEST OF ZEUS, MESSENGER from the house (ἐξάγγελος), - δευτεραγωνιστής. SERVANT OF LAIUS, CREON, TEIRESIAS, τριταγωνιστής. MESSENGER from Corinth (ἄγγελος), STRUCTURE OF THE PLAY. 1. πρόλογος, verses 1-150. 2. πάροδος, 151-215. 3. ἐπεισόδιον πρῶτον, 216-462. 4. στάσιμον πρώτον, 463-512. 5. ἐπεισόδιον δεύτερον, 513862, with κόμμος, 649-697. 7. ἐπεισόδιον τρίτον, 911-1085. 9. ἐπεισόδιον τέταρτον, 1110-1185. 10. στάσιμον τέταρτον, 1186-1222. ΙΙ. έξοδος, 1223-1530. In reference to a Greek tragedy, we cannot properly speak of Acts'; but the πάροδος and the στάσιμα mark the conclusion of chapters in the action. The Oedipus Tyrannus falls into six such chapters. The parts named above are thus defined by Aristotle (Poet. 12): 1. πρόλογος = μέρος ὅλον τραγῳδίας τὸ πρὸ χοροῦ παρόδου, ‘all that part of a tragedy which precedes the parodos' (or 'entrance' of the Chorus into the orchestra). 2. πάροδος = ἡ πρώτη λέξις ὅλου χορού, 'the first utterance of the whole Chorus.' 3. ἐπεισόδιον = μέρος ὅλον τραγῳδίας τὸ μεταξὺ ὅλων χορικών μελῶν, ‘all that part of a tragedy which comes between whole 'choric songs.' 4. στάσιμον = μέλος χοροῦ τὸ ἄνευ ἀναπαίστου καὶ τροχαίου, στ song of the Chorus without anapaests or trochaics. στάσιμον is stationary': στάσιμον μέλος, a song by the Chorus at its station-after it has taken up its place in the orchestra-as distinguished from the πάροδος or entrance-song. 5. έξοδος = μέρος ὅλον τραγῳδίας μεθ ̓ ὃ οὐκ ἔστι χοροῦ μέλος, ‘all that part of a tragedy after which there is no song of the Chorus.' Verses 649-697 of the second ἐπεισόδιον form a short κομμός. The Chorus are pleading with Oedipus, lyric measures being mingled with iambic trimeters. Arist. (Poet. 12) defines the κομμός as θρήνος κοινὸς χοροῦ καὶ ἀπὸ σκηνῆς, i.e. a lamentation in which the Chorus (in the orchestra) took part with the actor on the stage. An example of the кoμμós on a larger scale is Soph. El. 121-250. 6 The ἱκέται in the opening scene (like the προπομποί at the close of the Eumenides of Aeschylus) would come under the general designation of a παραχορήγημα—which properly meant (not, of course, an auxiliary chorus' but) anything which the choragus provided in supplement to the ordinary requirements of a drama, and was specially applied to a fourth actor, according to Pollux 4. 110 παραχορήγημα εἰ τέταρτος ὑποκριτής τι παραφθέγξαιτο. The distribution of the parts among the three actors would be as follows: OEDIPUS, πρωταγωνιστής. IOCASTA, PRIEST OF ZEUS, MESSENGER from the house (ἐξάγγελος), · δευτεραγωνιστής. SERVANT OF LAIUS, CREON, TEIRESIAS, τριταγωνιστής. MESSENGER from Corinth (ἄγγελος),) |