circumvent two or three slaves. But Sempronius, it seems, is of
another opinion. He extols to the skies the invention of old
Syphax:--

"'SEMP. Heavens! what a thought was there!'

"Now, I appeal to the reader if I have not been as good as my word.
Did I not tell him that I would lay before him a very wise scene?

"But now let us lay before the reader that part of the scenery of
the fourth act which may show the absurdities which the author has
run into, through the indiscreet observance of the unity of place.
I do not remember that Aristotle has said anything expressly
concerning the unity of place. 'Tis true, implicitly he has said
enough in the rules which he has laid down for the chorus. For by
making the chorus an essential part of tragedy, and by bringing it
on the stage immediately after the opening of the scene, and
retaining it there till the very catastrophe, he has so determined
and fixed the place of action that it was impossible for an author
on the Grecian stage to break through that unity. I am of opinion
that if a modern tragic poet can preserve the amity of place,
without destroying the probability of the incidents, 'tis always
best for him to do it; because by the preservation of that unity, as
we have taken notice above, he adds grace and clearness and
comeliness to the representation. But since there are no express
rules about it, and we are under no compulsion to keep it, since we
have no chorus as the Grecian poet had; if it cannot be preserved
without rendering the greater part of the incidents unreasonable and
absurd, and perhaps sometimes monstrous, 'tis certainly better to
break it.