Note 909 — Chapter VI · THE CHORUS

Arg. Aesch. Pers. τῶν δὲ χορῶν τὰ μέν ἐστι παροδικά, ὡς ὅτε λέγει δι’ ἣν αἰτίαν πάρεστιν, ὡς τὸ “Τύριον οἶδμα λιποῦσα”. Schol. Eur. Phoen. πάροδος δέ ἐστιν ᾠδὴ χοροῦ βαδίζοντος ᾀδομένη ἅμα τῇ εἰσόδῳ, ὡς τὸ “Σῖγα σῖγα λεπτὸν ἴχνος ἀρβύλης τίθετε”. Aristot. Poet. c. 12 defines the parodos as ἡ πρώτη λέξις ὅλου χοροῦ. He thus extends the meaning of the word so as to include, not only entrance-songs in the proper sense, but also those cases where the chorus enter in silence, and sing their odes later on. [Masqueray, Théorie des formes lyriques de la tragédie grecque, c. ii, analyses in detail the parodoi of the extant plays.]