In modern times the reverse applies. Politics is the real theatre of the age, our preferred vehicle for the exploration of the human soul. And of all the dramas we have seen or are ever likely to see, nothing -- nothing -- could match the Clinton scandals. By turns horrifying, fascinating, and amusing, as marked in plot by twists of caprice as by tragic necessity, peopled by satyrs, fools, sophists, and fanatics, it is our Antigone, our The Clouds, Lear and Tartuffe in one.

The players themselves, as is often the case, seem not to grasp the epic scale of the drama in which they are enfolded. From the time the scandal broke to the day of his impeachment, the president's defenders have insisted that it was "just about sex." His opponents declare with equal vigour that it is all about "the rule of law." But the truth is that if it was just about either of these things this play would have closed in a week. We would not, could not, all of us, Americans and outsiders alike, have been so obsessed with this matter, night after night, hour after televised hour, did it not so richly reward our obsession.

These are just some of the questions it has raised. Why would the president of the United States, the most powerful man in the world, risk everything for an inconsequential fling with an intern? What dark, self-destructive urges lie within so relaxed and charming an exterior, and how did they get there? How could such obvious failings of character survive the extended scrutiny of a thousand TV cameras? Is the race for president a self- selecting process, at once attracting the monomaniacal and repelling more balanced psyches? Do you have to be nuts to be president?

Does character matter? Do we elect programs or leaders? Are we entitled to know the sordid details of politicians' personal lives, so far as these prove illuminating, or are we obliged to accept the pictures of Christmas card perfection they choose to present?What are the lines that separate private from public, sins from crimes? Does our indulgence of failings of character extend to keeping acknowledged felons in office? What is high crime, and what is low? Can the president take care "that the laws are faithfully executed" at the same time as he is actively campaigning to subvert them?

At what point does consensual sex become exploitation? In the Clinton-Lewinsky affair, is it the difference in age that so revolts us? Is it that he was, at least notionally, her employer? Or is it the master-and-servant nature of the particulars? Or is it all of these, wrapped up in her peculiar psychological vulnerability and his predatory readiness to take advantage of it?

What exactly is the Clinton marriage about? Is Hillary to be admired for enduring such humiliations? Or is there something truly creepy about the bargain she appears to have made, a kind of prostitution where the currency is not money and sex, but power and indignity? If they are prepared to join in this chilling charade, must the rest of us?

Is Ken Starr's relentless pursuit of the president evidence of devotion to duty or of zealotry? If the president's character is fair game, is that of his tormentors? Are James Carville, Paul Begala and the rest of the president's attack dogs an example of the "politics of personal destruction?" Is it possible for only one party, in a party-line vote, to be guilty of partisanship?

Are the Republicans to be applauded or reviled for defying the public's well-advertised opposition to impeachment? Are they motivated by principle or hatred? Or do they read the public mood differently? Are polls accurate indicators of the people's will? Should their representatives take instruction from the voters or their consciences?

Why is the GOP so determined to get rid of him? Why is he so determined to stay? Why doesn't the public seem to care either way?

Can we ever say that this is true and that is false, that a thing is either right or wrong, or can the artful spin so dizzy our perceptions that, like the emperor of fable, the president may decree that night is day and day is night? Can Mr. Clinton even tell any more when he is lying, or has he lived so long in falsehood that the truth is a foreign language? Have all of us?