Note 272 — Chapter II · THE PREPARATION FOR THE CONTESTS

The passage from Philochorus (Athen. p. 464 E καὶ τοῖς χοροῖς εἰσιοῦσιν ἐνέχεον πίνειν καὶ διηγωνισμένοις ὅτ’ ἐξεπορεύοντο ἐνέχεον πάλιν) affords no warrant for assuming, with Müller (Griech. Bühnen, p. 373), that before the commencement of each play the poet and his chorus entered the orchestra and offered a libation to Dionysus. [Aristoph. Ach. 11 ἀλλ’ ὠδυνήθην ἕτερον αὖ τραγῳδικόν, | ὅτε δὴ ’κεχήνη προσδοκῶν τὸν Αἰσχύλον, | ὁ δ’ ἀνεῖπεν, εἴσαγ’, ὦ Θέογνι, τὸν χορόν, is generally taken to refer to this point in the proceedings. But it is not likely that the names, &c., of the poets would be unknown to the spectators, when the Proagon had taken place only a few days before; see p. 66; and Mazon is probably right (Rev. de Philologie, 1903, p. 264) in making the lines refer to the Proagon itself.]