Inversión necesaria

hastens off, refusing to see such a horrible spectacle (762-765). Creon leaves the stage with his attendants after having delivered once again the death sentence against Antigone.

4. Lines 885 and 887 otK* %£OV/&<p£T£: after Antigone's participation in the lament with the Chorus, Creon makes his entrance and once again orders his guards to seize and drive her to her tomb. Antigone delivers a long speech (891-928) and the order is carried out after delay. Creon blames his attendants for this delay and threatens them with violence (931-2).^

5. Lines 1108//1110 i t ’ i t ’ Ô 7i6ov£ç//Ô p|iâa0Creon commands his attendants to leave for Antigone's tomb. He includes those who are with him and others offstage (oi

t’ ÔVTEÇ g î t’ ôtTCÔVTEÇ 1109). This order is executed and reported by the Messenger as an offstage event while Creon's attendants open Antigone's rocky prison and find her

and Haemon dead.

6. Lines 1320-1 ic) J c p ô a jc o X o i/à jid tY e x é p .’ ô r i x à / o ç , ccyexé p ’ èK 7 io 6 (àv : in this emphatic command, Creon, overwhelmed by the suicide o f Haemon and Eurydice, orders his bodyguards to take him away. At 1339 Creon lamenting for his dead son, repeats the same order to his attendants. Up to this point Creon had repeatedly ordered his bodyguards to seize Antigone and practise violence against her. Now Creon orders his soldiers to carry him away. This is an impressive reversal in the commands that Creon had given to his bodyguards from the beginning of the play, which stresses the fact that, at the end o f the play, things turned out to be devastating for Creon. His frequent recourse to violence earlier in the play must make this effect all the stronger.

In Antigone it is clear at entrance that the seer Teiresias is escorted by an attendant, a slave boy (989), and the order to exit is immediately executed when given to the boy (1087).

In Philoctetes, attendants assume a most elaborate mode of behaviour:

1. Line 45 xdv o\)v Ttapôvxa 7cép,\|fov èç Kaxa<ncojrt\v: Odysseus asks Neoptolemus to send an attendant away for inspection of the place.

2. Line 125 K ai to v GKondv npàç v a v v cmoGxekûi nàX iv: in the prologue, Odysseus mentions a scout (cf. 45), who will be sent later disguised as the Merchant."^

3. Line 542 d pèv veè)ç oîjç vai)P6xqg: when the scout reappears as the Merchant with a speaking part, he is accompanied by a sailor from Neoptolemus' ship. The

^See Bain (1981) 24-25.

Merchant says that the sailor was guarding the ship together with two other men.

4. Lines 983, 985 and 988 a% E i% eiv c t ^ ’ a i ) T o l g , t\ p i a a x E X o ix rf c tl/o W è k p i a ç

a ^ o v a iv ;//E i ovxoç èK xwv a©v ctnA ^cxai Piçt; Odysseus makes his second entrance, and probably two escorts are coming along with him. The scene implies threatened violence against Philoctetes.

5. Lines 1003 and 1054-5 $DlX6pExë y ’ ai)xôv//ci(pexE y à p a tx ô v , p.i]Ô£ 7 tp o < y \|fa'ü (n ix ’^ E X i/èâX E p .tp .V E iv : The threat of violence, which started in the previous lines of the scene, is now to be carried out by Odysseus' attendants. Philoctetes is seized by the bodyguards (1004-5, 1029) but Odysseus orders them to release him after a long speech which Philoctetes concludes with curses against the Greeks.^

The specific indications in the text can be combined in order to estimate the number o f extras used in the play. Odysseus mentions a scout in the prologue to check around the place. This mute person will return as the Merchant later in the play, and the role of the Merchant will be taken by the third actor. The false Merchant appears escorted with a sailor and he says that two others are left behind in the ship.^ Neoptolemus is escorted by the Chorus of sailors, rather than any additional bodyguards, who are ordered to

^ At 1003 Lloyd-Jones and Wilson (1990) read ^Xldpexov (Bemhardy), which is a neat emendation of the numerical ^uXXapex’. Cp. below n.8.

^ Kaimio (1988) 71-72. Ley (1988) 102 argues that "it is not clear whether this is meant to be carried out by members of the chorus, or by supernumeraries whom Odysseus brings with him. But the group of people mentioned at 982/3 is most naturally understood as the chorus". I think it makes best sense to assign extra soldiers to Odysseus to perform the violent action in distinction with the Chorus of sailors, who assist Neoptolemus as "fellow-conspirators", cf. Burton (1980) 249.

^ Neoptolemus, listening to this, is probably meant to be thinking of Odysseus and a sailor, but this is also an allusion which alerts the audience to Odysseus' plan.

support Philoctetes (cf. 887, 890). Odysseus presumably enters with two bodyguards to take Philoctetes away by violence.*

In Oedipus Tyrannus there are attendants and orders to be executed in the following cases:

1. Line 144 dllo(;...0(6poi^ET(i): Oedipus enters with attendants and he sends one of them to gather the citizens.

1. Lines 913 and 945: locasta enters with a handmaid who holds offerings to Apollo. The same attendant is used to announce to Oedipus the arrival of the Messenger from Corinth (945-6).

2. Line 1114 loù ç ayoviag mmtsp oiKéxaç: Oedipus' bodyguards arrive with the Herdsman (cp. 860 where Oedipus asks locasta to send somebody for the Herdsman). 3. Line 1154 oi)% ô ç x iç xobÔ’ àrtoaxpé^E i %ëpaç; In the scene between Oedipus, the Corinthian Messenger and the Herdsman, Oedipus threatens that violence will be performed by one of his attendants against the Herdsman, who refuses to speak. The order is not carried out, hindered by the Herdsman's "questioning o f the command" (1155).’

4. Line 1429 à X V ©ç x à / i o x ’ èç oikov e<tkop,1Çexe: attendants in Creon's escort are given the order to take the blind Oedipus into the palace. Oedipus resists and the order is delayed because a dialogue between the two persons and the meeting o f Oedipus and his daughters interfere. Creon repeats his order at 1515 but this time it is directly addressed

* We assume that no more than two extras were used to accompany a superior. A more extended number o f extras would bring confusion to the scenes and they are not needed. ^ Bain (1981) 9-10; Kaimio (1988) 70 n.52: "Oedipus' words are much more effective as a hint o f the coming torture than as an accompaniment o f a whizzing staff'.

to Oedipus. In the last scenes o f O. T., Creon exerts pressure against Oedipus and the two men debate in strong argument but there is no actual threat o f violence.

In Oedipus Tyrannus a mute attendant, probably a slave boy, serves as a guide for the blind Teiresias and stays by his side as long as the encounter lasts with the king. At 297 the Chorus points to the arrival o f the seer escorted by attendants. The Chorus-leader uses the plural oïôe as if the attendants are more than one. At 444 Teiresias addresses his escort with the singular Kai cru, m l while giving the order to lead him off. The execution o f the order is delayed because Teiresias turns back and launches another speech against Oedipus (447-462).^*

In Oedipus at Colonus Creon and Theseus are escorted by bodyguards:

1. Line 722-3 a a a o v êpxexai/K péov ô6’ fip.lv oi)K ccvedtto^ttwy, ndcTEp: Antigone announces Creon's arrival with attendants.

2. Line 826 b p lv otv Evr\ TfjvÔE Koeipôç è^àyEiv: in a violent scene which takes place between Creon, Oedipus and Antigone, Creon orders his attendants to drag Antigone away from her father.

It is difficult to trace the movement and gestures in the dialogue between 830-840 and to

10

See also Part I, ch. 1 .d.

This is an exception to the conventional rule that orders to mute attendants must be carried out; see Bain (1981) 14 and 19, n.4.

Cp. 1019 mpTCÔv for Theseus who will accompany Creon in searching the girls. Jebb thinks that the word "has here a touch o f grim irony". For the transposition o f 1028-1033 to follow 1019 see Lloyd-Jones & Wilson on 1019f.

decide whether it is Creon or his attendants who seize Antigone:

a) Jebb proposes that at 826 Creon addresses his guards with a command, at 830 he steps towards Antigone, at 832 he lays his hand on the girl and one o f his guards steps up and places himself at her side. At 840 the Chorus-leader addresses Creon (ooi), as he did at 834 and 838, and, in an immediate reply, Creon orders the guard (act) to drag Antigone off.'^

b) Bain thinks that 826, though addressed to the guards (bpiv), is at this stage only a threat to Antigone, Creon "speaks as though he himself was going to lay hands on Antigone (830) and later he says 'Tobç èjLiobç ayto' (832)".^'^ So he steps towards Antigone and at 831 he seizes her "hence Oedipus' ciy 6 yfiç ovaKxeç". At 834 and 838 the words of the Chorus (oi)K ôt(pf|O£iç;//pé0eç) mark the fact that Creon holds Antigone and at 840 the dative a o i refers to Creon who is still holding Antigone. )Mth ao i Creon addresses the Chorus, telling them to keep off in a similar command to 836. At 844 "Creon continues to drag Antigone away" and at 847 "he transfers her to his guards who take her off'

The difference between the two interpretations is that the former lays emphasis on the attendants' action and the latter, on Creon's action. Bain argues that in the dialogue 829-

Jebb on 826,830,840. ‘'‘ Bain (1981) 52.

Bain (1981) 53; Kamerbeek (p.l29) suggests that in 834 6 Çév” as in 829 refers to Creon, not one of his attendants. Kamerbeek thinks that it would be better "to assume that no attendant is addressed either by the Chorus or by Creon" in the dialogue 834-840.

840 the second person singular address must be confined between the Chorus and Creon. Moreover, he finds no hint in the text that Creon makes a signal to his attendant to grasp Antigone. Jebb's interpretation gives advantage to the development of a climax in the practice of violence when Creon alone seizes Oedipus at 876ff.^^ It also resembles the movement at the end of O.T., where Creon leads Antigone and Ismene away fi-om their father. Creon's attendants are supposed to perform the action in response to their master's gesture to lead the girls out. However, despite the sustainable reasons for either case, i.e. that Creon, or his attendants, seize Antigone, we cannot have a definite and precise idea o f the gestures that happen on stage.

I would suggest that a combination of the staging proposed by Jebb and Bain can be as follows: the dialogue between 830-840 involves only Creon and the Chorus (with the exception o f Oedipus’ short interference at 831, 833 and 838). So, as Bain argues, the antithetical datives ao i//ao i should point to each other, thus signalling the fact that this is a strong argument between opponents. According to Jebb, it is the guard who drags Antigone off in response to Creon's order. So while Creon and the Chorus address each other in the verbal action (like Bain), the physical action is performed by the attendants (like Jebb). Mute attendants are, by convention, the persons who perform the execution of orders on stage. In this way, a distinction can be drawn between two levels of performance: the speaking parts and the non-speaking parts, and this idea can be brought

Cf. Kaimio (1988) 76-77, who thinks that the conventional rule o f the attendants' task to execute orders should be used to avoid repetition of a similar action by Creon at 876ff.

In this sense we should read something more than a threat at 826-7, and this entails the attendants' grasping of Antigone.

out in the staging of the play to denote that the two aspects o f performance are interacting in the general spectacle. Finally at 844 Antigone is dragged by the attendants and at 847 Creon orders them to take her off.

3. Line 897 and 904 oi>Konv xiç ôç x d x ia x a npoonôlmv ^oX(ôv//i0’, ©ç ôvwya, <n)V x6%ei: Theseus sends his attendants to stop Creon's bodyguards, who are taking Antigone and Ismene to Thebes (cp.933).^* At 1098 the two girls are announced as entering, escorted by Theseus' soldiers (cp.ll03).*^

In Electra there are the following indications for the presence of attendants:

1. Line 634 ertaipE ôt^ <rb 06p,a6’ Ttocpobadc p,oi: Clytaemnestra is escorted by a handmaid who carries offerings for Apollo, and she orders her to lift them when she starts praying.^®

2. Line 1123 ÔÔ0’,..., npoacpépovxEç: Orestes has entered with attendants and he orders