TRAGEDIES AND COMEDIES IN PARTICULAE. 289 CEdipus and the chorus is interrupted by the unexpected arrival of Ismene (v. 310), who comes mounted on horseback (v. 312), and accompanied by a faithful domestic (v. 334). It may be considered doubtful whether the horse is seen by the audience ^ The mention of the servant seems to be inti'oduced because he is there to hold the horse after she has dismounted, and the interval between v. 310 when she is first seen, and v. 324 when she first speaks, together with the momentary difficulty in recog- nizing her (v. 315 sqq.), may be best explained by the supposition that she rides into the orchestra, leaves her horse with the servant, (who leads it out.) and then mounts the stage. It may fairly be inferred that, when Ismene retires from the stage to pour forth the libations on the other side of the grove (v. 505: rovKetdev aXao^ TovSe), she makes her exit by the middle door on the left. For she is seized by Creon on his way from Thebes, though the ordinary route to Boeotia is not that which Ismene is supposed to have taken, otherwise she would not have needed the guidance of the chorus. Now it is expressly intimated that the road from Thebes branched off in two directions not far from Colonus (v. 900) . And it is to be understood that Creon had diverged from the straight road on his approach to the sacred grove in search of CEdipus, so as to pass through the spot where Ismene was occupied in her pious offices. As Theseus leaves GEdipus to the care of the chorus (v. 653), it is quite clear that the old men of Colonus cannot be passive spectators of Creon's outrage, and the text shows that some at least of the choreut^ mount the stage and lay hands on the Theban prince ; for he says to them (v. 855) , fiy) yraveLv Xe^/co, and the choir-leader replies, ovtol a a<^r)crco^. The main body 1 Schonbom says (p. 280) : " Den Anblick des Rosses den Zuschauem zu gewahren, dazu liegt kein Motiv vor." Kolster, on the other hand, justly remarks {Pref. p. xi) :
- Schonborn musste wenigstens sagen ■waruni der Dichter denn Ismene von der
Schwester zu Ross sehen lasst, wenn sie nicht so auftreten soil ; Sophokles wirft doch dergleichen Worte nicht umsonst hin." 2 Kolster maintains that the struggle takes place on the steps leading to the orchestra, through which Creon had to return. He says (p. 60): "If any one denies Lis appearance in the orchestra because he does not come on horseback or in a chariot, he ought to remark, first, that he comes not alone, but accompanied by numerous attendants, v. 723, ovk avev tto/jlttuu ; and then, that though he comes expressly to carry off CEdipus, he does not at once address him, whom he would have been close to, if he had appeared on the stage, but speaks to the chorus in twelve long trimeters, and obviously opens a safe way to the stage by his conciliatory expressions. It is not till V. 740 tlaat he directs his speech to CEdipus ; and when his overtures are rejected, he changes his tone, and CEdipus learns with horror that Creon has already got possession D.T.G. 19
