Francisci Porti Cretensis... In omnes Sophoclis tragoedias prolegomena, ut vulgo vocantur

the judges might remove him from his family property as if he were deranged. Then, as an old man, he is said to have recited to the judges that play which he had in his hands and had most recently written, the Oedipus at Colonus, and to have asked whether that poem seemed to be the work of a madman. Having recited it, he was acquitted by the votes of the judges. This is from Cicero. In that same trial, they report that he said something worthy of memory: ou men eimi Sophokles, ho paraphronon: ei de paraphrono, ouk eimi Sophokles original: "I am not Sophocles, the one who is deranged: but if I am deranged, I am not Sophocles", alluding, of course, to the etymology of his name, which signifies a man famous for wisdom.

Because of the thinness of his voice, he is said to have been the first to remove the poet's own person from the number of actors. Isocrates, also a great orator, abstained from public life because of the thinness of his voice; he is said to have sung only in the Thamyris to the lyre. For which reason, in that portico which was called poikilia variegated/variety on account of the variety of its paintings, he was depicted holding a lyre in his hands. He was also the first author to have the poets compete against one another with their plays. The same man introduced the tritagonist actor of the third parts onto the stage; and he increased the chorus, which previously consisted of twelve persons, by adding three more, and made it consist of fifteen. He adorned the dress of the actors and the equipment of the stage, made it more magnificent, and adapted the plays to the natures and talents of the actors (which was considered very difficult to do). Finally, he surpassed the others in this genre so that he was dear to his own people, highly sought after by foreigners, and invited by Kings with great rewards, which he scorned out of greatness of soul and love for his fatherland. According to Suidas, he wrote CXXIII 123 plays. Others say more. He earned the name of "Bee" on account of the sweetness and pleasantness of his character. He competed with Aeschylus, with Euripides, with Chaerilus, with his son Iophon, and others; he won twenty-four times. He also wrote elegies, paeans, songs, and even works in prose. He departed from life (if we believe the poet Simonides) by the seed of a sour grape, which stuck in his throat and suffocated him. Others report that, while reciting the Antigone, when he had fallen into a longer continuation of words in which there was no breath, he expired from the strain of his voice. Others say he was extinguished by excessive joy because of an unhoped-for victory brought back from a certain tragedy.