Occasionally, the leader of the Chorus, known as the “coryphaeus” or “hegemon,” got singled out from the rest of the group. He was sometimes allowed to converse briefly with the other characters on stage or to utter a solo speech addressed either to the rest of the Chorus or directly to the audience. This gave him the possibility of partaking in the main dramatic action. Although Sophocles permits the Chorus-leader in Antigone to utter a few separate dialogues, they are not of major significance. His only important utterance is the last one, in which he sums up the moral of the tale at the close of the play:
“High boastings of the proud Bring sorrow to the height to pu pride: A lesson men shall learn when they are old.”
The Chorus was often trained by the poet himself, who, in this capacity, was called the “chorodidaskalos.” The members of the Chorus were selected and backed financially by a prominent private citizen called the “choregus.” The Chorus originally consisted of twelve members, and Sophocles is known to have increased the number to fifteen