The parts of Tragedy to be treated as formative elements in
the whole were mentioned in a previous Chapter.
From the
point of view, however, of its quantity, i. e. the separate
sections into which it is divided, a tragedy has the following
parts: Prologue, Episode, Exode,
tinguished into Parode and Stasimon;
these two are common
to all tragedies, whereas songs from the stage and Commoe
are only found in some.
The Prologue is all that precedes
the Parode of the chorus;
an Episode all that comes in
between two whole choral songs;
the Exode all that follows
after the last choral song.
In the choral portion the Parode
is the whole first statement of the chorus;
a Stasimon,
a song of the chorus without anapaests or trochees;
a
Commos, a lamentation sung by chorus and actor in concert.
The parts of Tragedy to be used as formative elements in
the whole we have already mentioned; the above are its
parts from the point of view of its quantity, or the separate
sections into which it is divided.
Poetics. Aristotle. Ingram Bywater (Translator), ed. Gilbert Murray. Oxford. 1909.