PKOLETAIKES. 440 PROMETHEA. PBOLETAIRES, piAia'tru' (Fr. proUtaire, from hat. proletarius, one of the lowest class of Koman citizens, regarded as of value to the State only on account of their offspring, from proles, progeny), or rROLETABiAXE. That part of the wage-earning class who are entirely dependent on their daily labor for their livelihood. See Socialism. PROLOGUE (OF.. Fr. prologue, from Lat. proloyKs. from Gk. xp6Xo7os, preface, introduction, from Tp6, pro, before + X67os, loijos, speech, word, reason, ratio). In ancient Greek drama, that part of a play (whether an acted scene or an exclamatory speech) which came before the en- trance of the chorus. Thus the prologue in the (Uilipiis of Sophocles is a scene in which appear (Edipus, the high priest of Zeus, and Creon, whereas the prologue to the Agamemnon of JEs- chylus is only the monologue of the watchman on the tower." From the time of Euripides the prologue became a speech explanatory of the situation to be developed, and it continued to be such in Latin comedy. Yith Plautus and Terence the jHologue was divorced from the main body of the drama. In the early English drama the duties of setting forth the theme were shared by the induction, or prologue, and the chorus. When the induction was falling into decay the prologue or chorus supplied or as- sisted the argument. Their double employment is exemplified in Hamlet in the play scene. When the prologue enters, Hamlet says: "We shall know by this fellow; the players cannot keep counsel;" they'll tell all." Hamlet explains to Ophelia the" relationship of I^ucianus and the King, and Ophelia responds, "You are as good as a ehorus, my lord." In Henry the Fifth a prologue, called 'chorus,' precedes each act, to preinire the audience for the shifting scenes. For other plays Shakespeare wrote no prologue, but in the first scenes he both explaincil and dcv;d- oped the situation. After the Restoration (16150) a play was hardly complete without its prologue and epilogue. Even in Dryden's time the pro- logue served as a subject for literary wrangling as often almost as it .served any dramatic pur- pose. Modern plaj's, save for quaintness' sake, never have a prologue. On the other hand, the playwright is bound to set forth in the first scene the problem or theme to be handled in his play. Thus we observe something like a steady degeneration of the prologue in proportion as the playwright begins more and more to make the main body of his drama a unit of thought and r.ction. Consult G. S. B.. The ProliKjue and Kpilogiie in E)iglish Literatiiiv from Hhakcspeare to Drijden (London. 1884). Taken over into oratory the word prologue is also applied to the opening of a speech. See Epilogue. PROLSS, prels. Johanne.s (1853—). A Ger- man novelist, son of Robert Priilss. He was born in Dresden, studied at Jena and Leipzig, ■was literary editor of the Franlfiirter Zeilung (1880-89), and of the ^tuftgarter Union (ISi)O sqq.). He wrote some lyric poetry, a life of Scheffel, and a series of novels and sketches: Emavcipierte 'Novellen (1880); In der Alpen- sehntzhiitte (1889) ; Modclle (1801) ; Das junge Dentsrhhind ilS02) ; and Bilderstiirmer! (1895). PROLSS, Robert ( 1821 — ) . A German drama- tist and historian of the drama. He was born in Dresden and was at first a merchant there, but after 1863 gave liimself up wholly to literature. In 1847 he wrote Das liecht der Liehc, a comedv. His later plays were the tragedies Sophonisbe (1862), Michael Kohlhaas (1803), and Katharina Howard (1805), and the come- dies Bine edle That and Die verdaehtige n'ahr- heit, after Alarcon. His critical and historical essays include: Erliiuterungen zii Shakcspeares Drnmen (1874-89); Das Mciningensche Uof thea- ter and die Jiiihnenrrform (1876) : Katechis- miis der Dnimnturgie (1877; 2d ed. 1899) ; ver- sions of Marlow, Webster, and Massinger ( 1880 ) ; a life of Heine (1880 1; and Kurzgefasste Ge- schichte der deutschen Schauspielkunst ( 1900). PROME, prom. The capital of a district in Burma, liritish India, at the confluence of the Nawin with the Irrawaddy, 113 miles north- west of Pegu (Map: Burma, B 3). Tt was for- merly surrounded l)y a brick wall, palisade, and ditch, about two miles in circuit. On accovuit of the flatness of the ground on which it stands, the town is often inundated from the Irrawaddy. The principal thoroughfare is the Strand Road, from which a rectangular plan of streets diverges eastward. The chief native building is the Shwesandau Pagoda, 180 feet high, .surrounded by 83 small gilded temples. It is visited by thousands of Buddhist pilgrims on the occasion of each annual festival in March. The European build- ings include the Government offices. Law Courts, the Jubilee Clock Tower, and the Anglican Church; the public gardens and the markets are also notable features. The town has many ad- vantages for trade. In the adjacent country are extensive gardens and rice grounds, and there are important manufactures of paper, silk, cot- ton, sugar, and gold lacquer ware. Population, in 1891, 30,202; in 1901, 27,375. Prome dates from before the Christian Era. when it was the capital of a powerful kingdom. The town was taken by the British in 1825 and in 1852. In 1856 it was almost wholly destroyed by fire. PROMESSI SPOSI, pnVmes'se spO'ze. I. (It., The Betrothed). A novel by Alessandro Manzoni ] (1825) so admirable that it has become a cla.ssic and has been translated into many languages. The story, laid in Milan in the seventeenth cen- tury, tells of two peasants, Renzo and Lucia, betrothed but refused marriage by their parish priest, incited by the outlaw Don Rodrigo. After many adventiires and suffering during a plague, the mivcl ends happily for the lovers. PROME'THEA (Neo-Lat., from Lat. Prome- theti-si, name of a giant). One of the commonest of the large North American silkworm moths ICaUos'imin Promethea) . The female is reddish brown with white, black, and gray markings. The i wings of the male differ both in shape and col- oration from those of the female, and are black- ish, with the markings characteristic of the female very faint or wholly absent. The fully grown larva is two inches or more in length, bluish green, and armed by large black ' tubercles in addition to four coral red ones in the thoracic region and one yellow one on the abdomen, the larvae feed preferably | on the wild cherry and ash, but are also found , on a great variety of trees and shrubs. The eo- ! coon is elongated and inclosed in a leaf, which is attached to a twig by strands of silk and is thus prevented from falling in the autumn. Al- though the cocoon resembles very closely that of
