[1] This is a mere guess: we have no information as to how the evolutions of a Proem differed from those of a regular Choral Ode.
[2] The Chorus generally speak of themselves in the Singular.
[3] This is simply an English pun substituted for a Greek one: the name Helen resembles a Greek root which signifies captivity.
SECOND PLAY: MIDDAY:
THE SEPULCHRAL RITES
(CHOEPHORI)
PROLOGUE
The Permanent Scene, as before, represents the Palace of Agamemnon at Argos. The only difference is that the place of the Thymele in the centre of the Orchestra is taken up by Agamemnon's Sepulchre. Enter by the Left Side-door (signifying distance) Orestes and Pylades, and descending the Orchestra-staircase advance to the Sepulchre.
Orestes, invoking the Conductor of the Dead, lays locks of hair and fragments of garments as offerings on his Father's tomb, cut off as he had been by exile from being present at the actual Funeral-rites:
He is interrupted by the opening of one of the Inferior Doors of the Palace, out of which comes Electra, and a train of Trojan Captive-maidens bearing urns of libations, all with dishevelled hair and the well-known gestures proper to Sepulchral rites. They descend (with the exception of Electra) the Orchestra-staircase, and perform a Choral Ode with funeral rhythm and gestures. Orestes and Pylades, recognizing them, stand aside. {19}