ur
minds a little long. We must remember (1) that a Tragedy _is_ a
Threnos--a _Trauerspiel_--and, however much it develops in the
direction of a mere entertainment, the Threnos-element is of primary
importance. (2) This scene has two purposes to serve; first to illustrate
the helpless loneliness of Admetus when he returns to his empty house, and
secondly the way in which remorse works in his mind, till in ll. 935-961
he makes public confession that he has done wrong. For both purposes one
needs the illusion of a long lapse of time.

P. 53, l. 945 ff., The floor unswept.]--Probably the floor really would be
unswept in the house of a primitive Thessalian chieftain whose wife was
dead and her place unfilled; but I doubt if the point would have been
mentioned so straightforwardly in a real tragedy.

Pp. 54-55, l. 966 ff., That which Needs Must Be.]--Ananke or Necessity.--
Orphic rune.]--The charms inscribed by Orpheus on certain tablets in
Thrace. Orphic literature and worship had a strong magical element in
them.

P. 55, l. 995 ff., A grave-mound of the dead.]--Every existing Greek
tragedy has somewhere in it a taboo grave--a grave which is either
worshipped, or specially avoided or somehow magical. We may conjecture
from this passage that there was in the time of Euripides a sacred tomb
near Pherae, which received worship and had the story told about it that
she who lay there had died for her husband.

Pp. 56-67, ll. 1008-end. This last scene must have been exceedingly
difficult to compose, and some critics have thought it ineffective or
worse. To me it seems brilliantly conceived and written, though of course
it needs to be read with the imagination strongly at work. One must never
forget the silent and veiled Woman on whom the whole scene centres. I have
tried conjecturally to indicate the main lines of her acting, but, of
course, others may read it differently.

To understand Heracles in this scene, one must first remember the
traditional connexion of Satyrs (and therefore of satyric heroes) with the
re-awakening of the dead Earth in spring and the return of human souls to
their tribe. Dionysus was, of all the various Kouroi, the one most widely
connected with resurrection ideas, and the Satyrs are his attendant
daemons, who dance magic dances at the Return to Life of Semele or
Persephone. And Heracles himself, in certain of his ritual aspects, has
similar functions. See J.E. Harrison, _Themis_, pp. 422 f. and 365