Prolŏgus
（
πρόλογος). A technical term applied to that part of a
Greek drama which precedes the entrance of the first chorus. From the time of Euripides it
came to mean a monologue containing a narrative of the facts introductory to the main action,
and this is the meaning which the word possessed in the language of Roman comedy. It is thus
opposed to
ἐπίλογος, the concluding part of the play.
Aristotle compares the prologue to the prelude in a piece of music (
Rhet. iii. 14, 1). The word is also applied to the actor who speaks the
Prologue. In some plays there are two speakers of this sort— e. g. in the
Alcestis of Euripides and the
Trinummus of Plautus. Terence
uses the Prologue as a means of personal communication on the part of the author to the public
and as a vehicle for replying to adverse criticism (e. g. in the
Andria). (See
Liebig,
De Prologis Terentianis et Plautinis [Görlitz, 1859].) The
tables of contents prefixed to the divisions of books are also called
prologi, as those of the lost history of Pompeius Trogus. See Hallberg,
De Trogo Pompeio (Paris, 1869).
