This is an exact counterpart in syllables, feet, cola, and periods, of the first passage. The first is called the “strophe” (στροφή, “turn”), the second the “antistrophe” (ἀντιστροφή, “counter-turn”). The chorus, while singing the one, performed various evolutions about the orchestra, and these were repeated exactly, but in reversed order, while they sang the antistrophe. All these lyrics are so constructed; the normal tragic “chorus” consists of one or more such pairs, though occasionally the antistrophe is followed by a passage called an “epode”.[881] The epodes correspond to each other, not to the strophes. This equivalence of strophe and antistrophe is often of value in determining the quantities or the text in one of them.
We have now gained some insight into the nature of a Greek choric song. But before proceeding further it will be well to deepen our impression by taking from the Agamemnon (vv. 160 sqq.) another, and a simpler, pair of strophes:—
Ζεύς, ὅστις ποτ’ ἐστίν, εἰ τόδ’ αὐτῷ φίλον κεκλημένῳ,
τοῦτό νιν προσεννέπω.
οὐχ ἔχω προσεικάσαι, πάντ’ ἐπισταθμώμενος,
πλὴν Διός, εἰ τὸ μάταν ἀπὸ φροντίδος ἄχθος
χρὴ βαλεῖν ἐτητύμως.
οὐδ’ ὅστις πάροιθεν ἦν μέγας, παμμάχῳ θράσει βρύων,
οὐδὲ λέξεται πρὶν ὤν·
ὃς δ’ ἔπειτ’ ἔφυ τριακτῆρος οἴχεται τυχών.