The Chorus and Society

The chorus is frequently used as an analogue for the dynamics between a leader and those who follow. Chapter 7 focuses on two early ‘political theorists’, Xenophon and Plato, and the way they often reach for the image of a chorus as a means to illustrate and elucidate their arguments about leadership and the ideal society. While Xenophon tends towards a practical application of the dynamics between leader and led, found in choral training and performance, Plato is shown to go much further in his delineation of these dynamics, and their proposed practical use in his construction of the ‘second-best city’ in his Laws. Plato’s peculiar picture of the chorus, as a place where individuals lose their rationality and give themselves over to a child-like, ductile state, suits his overall aims in his construction of the city of Magnesia, but, the chapter argues, necessitates a profoundly distorted picture of ancient choreia.

The Structure and Properties of Boundaries in Bicrystals of Boron-Doped Ni3(Al,l at% Ta)

ABSTRACTThe effect of boron on the structure and macroscopic properties of an isolated grain boundary in bicrystals of a non-stoichiometric Ni3Al alloy (76 at% Ni, 23 at% Al, 1 at%Ta) has been studied. The room temperature tensile ductility and fracture mode of the bicrystals varies dramatically with the rate of cooling after elevated temperature heat treatment. In the absence of significant segregation of boron to the boundary, the bicrystals fail via brittle interfacial fracture with little or no ductility. When the segregation of boron to the boundary is maximized, the bicrystals are highly ductile. High resolution transmission electron microscopy reveals that this ductile state is achieved without the formation of a detectable region of compositional disorder at the boundary. Atomistic calculations using a Monte Carlo scheme predict that only partial disordering of the planes immediately adjacent to the boundary should occur for Ni-rich alloys both with and without boron. These results suggest that the presence of boron causes an increase in the cohesive energy of the boundaries rather than a change in the local compositional ordering.