language so startlingly akin to the ludicrous despairs of Pyramus and
Thisbe that the modern reader, acquainted with the latter, is almost
jarred into laughter.

O cruel hands, O bloody knife, O man, what hast thou done?
Thy daughter dear and only heir her vital end hath won.
Come, fatal blade, make like despatch: come, Atropos: come, aid!
Strike home, thou careless arm, with speed; of death be not afraid.

Of such eloquence we might truly say with Theseus, 'This passion, and
the death of a dear friend, would go near to make a man look sad.'

In 1562 Tragedy, as we have said, took refuge in an imitation of the
Senecan stage: translations of Seneca's tragedies had begun to appear in
1559. _The Tragedy of Ferrex and Porrex_, or _Gorboduc_, as it was
originally and is now most commonly named, marks a new departure for
English drama. To understand this we ought perhaps to say something
about the essential features of a Greek tragedy (Seneca's own model),
and make a note of any special Senecan additions. What strikes one most
in reading a play of Aeschylus is the prominence given to a composite
and almost colourless character known as the Chorus (for though it
consists of a body of persons, it speaks, for the most part, as one),
the absence of any effective action from the stage, the limited number
of actors, and the tendency of any speaker to expand his remarks into a
set speech of considerable length. This tendency, especially noticeable
in the Chorus, whose speeches commonly take the form of chants,
encouraged the faculty of generalizing philosophically, so that one is
constantly treated to general reflections expressive rather of broad
wisdom and piety than of feelings directly and dramatically aroused;
much also is made of retrospection and relation, whether the topic is