Since thou, Tiresias, seest not this light,
I will for thee be spokesman of thy words.
Lo to these halls comes Pentheus hastily.
[Way’s translation]
Again, at the beginning of Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus, Oedipus inquires: “To what place have we come, Antigone? Who will receive the wandering Oedipus?” In a blind man these questions are especially natural, and the use of the proper names identifies the actors’ rôles. Soon a stranger approaches, and to him Oedipus repeats his first question (vs. 38). His replies reveal the location and significance of the scenic setting. The directness of the play’s first line finds a parallel in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Act I, scene 2:
Viola. What country, friends, is this?
Captain. This is Illyria, lady.
Fig. 68.—Mask of a Slave in New Comedy.