[194] Ibid.
[195] This was the normal mode of entry, but the plot sometimes demanded others. In the Eumenides the Chorus rush in pell-mell; so probably in the Bacchæ; in the Euripidean Supplices they are discovered grouped around the Queen.
[196] See pp. 344 sq.
ὥστ’ εἴ τις ὀρχοῖτ’ εὖ, θέαμ’ ἦν· νῦν δὲ δρῶσιν οὐδέν,
ἀλλ’ ὥσπερ ἀπόπληκτοι βάδην ἑστῶτες ὠρύονται.
[198] Haigh³, p. 318. Both the gestures described sound like a curious anticipation of the gestures favoured by the performers of “coon-songs”.
[199] This was not always an advantage when comedy held the scene. There is a delightfully impudent passage in the Frogs (v. 297) where Dionysus to escape a hobgoblin appeals to his own priest for protection.
[200] For a detailed description of the seating see Haigh³, pp. 94-101.
[201] It is a fact familiar to students of comparative religion that obscenity is often a part of ritual. This is true of several Greek worships, including that of Dionysus. Hence even tragedy retained its satyric complement, though satyric drama regularly showed obscene features.