elevated stage. At first he may have been contented, like the exarchi of the improved Dithyramb, with personating Bacchus, and surrounding himself with a chorus of Satyrs; but there is every reason to believe that he soon extended his sphere of myths, and that his plots were as various as those of his

successors.

Bentley was interested in the establishment of his proposition that Thespis did not write his plays, and naturally manifested the eagerness of a pleader rather than the impartiality of a judge. There is no antecedent improbability in the statement of Donatus that Thespis wrote tragedies. Solon, and, much earlier, Archilochus and Simonides committed their poems to writing; and in the days of Pisistratus it is not likely that a favourite rhapsode would leave his compositions unpublished. The destruction of Athens, in в. c. 480, made the older specimens of Attic literature very scarce, but there must have been some remains of his writings in the time of Sophocles, otherwise that poet would hardly have published strictures on him and Chœrilus, which, as we may infer from his criticisms on Eschylus ', in all probability referred to the harshness of their style. Aristophanes speaks of him in precisely the same terms as he does of Phrynichus, predicating an antiquated stiffness of both these old Tragedians. We may grant that the lines attributed to Thespis by Clemens Alexandrinus' contain internal evidence of their spuriousness, but there is no presumption against the authenticity of the quotations in Plutarch and Julius Pollux, beyond the ill-founded hypothesis, that Thespis composed only ludicrous dramas. This hypothesis, as we have seen above, rests on the old confusion between Thespis and

8 Below, Part II. p. 72, sqq.

9 Suid. s. v. Σοφοκλῆς: περὶ τοῦ χοροῦ πρὸς Θέσπιν καὶ Χοίριλον ἀγωνιζόμενος.

1 See Müller, Hist. Lit. Gr. vol. i. p. 340, and our note on the translation.

2 Comp. Vesp. 220: apxaroμedioidwvoppvvixýpara pin, “antiquated honeysweet and popular ditties from the Phonissa of Phrynichus," below, p. [69], note 2, with a passage in a subsequent part of the same play (1479) :

ὀρχούμενος τῆς νυκτὸς οὐδὲν παύεται

ταρχαῖ ̓ ἐκεῖν ̓ οἷς Θέσπις ήγωνίζετο.

3 Clem. Al. Strom. v. p. 675, Potter.

Plut. de audiendis poetis, p. 134, Wyttenb.

5 Jul. Poll. vii. 45. Another fragment has been lately published from a papyrus by Letronne, Fragmens inédits d'anciens poètes Grecs, Par. 1838, p. 7: ov ἐξαθρήσας οἶδ'· ἰδὼν δέ σοι λέγω, where ἐξαθρέω is ἅπαξ λεγόμενον.

Susarion. The forgeries of Heraclides Ponticus are themselves no slight proof of the originally serious character of the Thespian Drama; for if his contemporaries had really believed that Thespis wrote nothing but ludicrous dramas, a scholar of Aristotle would hardly have attempted to impose upon the public with a set of plays, altogether different in style and title from those of the author on whom he wished to pass them off. The fact is, that the choral plays from which the Thespian Drama was formed were satyrical, for the Dithyramb in the improved form which it received from Arion was performed by a chorus of satyrs: and there is little doubt that Thespis may have been a satyric poet before he was a Tragedian, in the more modern sense of the word: but Chamæleon seems to have expressly mentioned the fact, that Thespis passed from Bacchic to Epic subjects'. With regard to the titles of his plays preserved by Suidas and Julius Pollux, they are not really open to cavil. For even supposing that they refer rather to the apocryphal compositions of Heraclides than to the lost tragedies of the old Icarian, there is no reason for concluding that the titles were not borrowed by the fabricator from obsolete but genuine dramas. Unless we are prepared to maintain, against the prevalent tendency of all the authorities, that Thespis never wrote or acted a play of grave or pathetic character, we cannot assert that he was unlikely to have brought forward dramas, bearing the titles in question—namely, "Pentheus;" "the Funeral Games of Pelias," or "Phorbas;" "the Priests;" "the Youths;" indeed it would not be difficult to show that these subjects were very well adapted for the narrative speeches which must have abounded while the actor was limited to the personation of one character at a time.

With regard to the violent and ludicrous dances, which were attributed to Thespis, and of which Aristophanes gives a somewhat ludicrous picture at the end of his "Wasps," we have only to remark that all antiquated postures, attitudes, and 6 Above, p. 30.

7 This seems to be the proper interpretation of the passage in Photius, Lex, s. v. οὐδὲν πρὸς τὸν Διόνυσον-τὸ πρόσθεν εἰς τὸν Διόνυσον γράφοντες τούτοις ἠγωνίζοντο ἅπερ καὶ σατυρικὰ ἐλέγετο· ὕστερον δὲ μεταβάντες εἰς τραγῳδίας γράφειν κατὰ μικρὸν εἰς μύθους καὶ ἱστορίας ἐτράπησαν μηκέτι τοῦ θεοῦ μνημονεύοντες, ὅθεν καὶ ἐπεφώνησαν κ. τ. λ. καὶ Χαμαιλέων ἐν τῷ περὶ Θέσπιδος. Below, p. [56], note 3.

8 V. 1848, sqq., below, Part. II. p. 92.

movements, appear ridiculous to those whose grandfathers practised them. Apollo himself is described as leading the Paan with high and springy steps'; and the gymnopædic dance, in which the Tragic Emmeleia took its rise, must have been originally distinguished by the agility which it prescribed. In the early days of the drama a great deal of energetic and expressive gesticulation was expected from the Chorus, and even in the time of Æschylus it is recorded that Telestes, the balletleader of that poet, invented many new forms of xupovouía or manual gesticulations, and that in the "Seven against Thebes " he represented the action of the piece by his mimic dancing '.

The statement of Suidas, that Phrynichus was the first who introduced women on the stage (πρῶτος γυναικεῖον πρόσωπον Elonyayev), which Bentley, perhaps purposely, mistranslates, is no reason for concluding that Thespis never wrote a Tragedy called "Alcestis," were there any real evidence to show that this was the title of one of his plays; for it would have been perfectly easy to handle that subject in the Thespian manner, that is, with more narrative than dialogue, without the introduction of Alcestis herself". Indeed we cannot conceive how she could be introduced as talking to the chorus, whom she does not once address in the play of Euripides, and there was no other actor for her to talk with.

Of course, there could be no theatrical contests in the days of Thespis3: but the dithyrambic contests seem to have been important enough to induce Pisistratus to build a temple in which the victorious choragi might offer up their tripods, a practice which the victors with the tragic chorus subsequently adopted.

9 Above, p. 16, note 9.

1 Welcker, Nachtrag, p. 266, 7. Athen. i. p. 21, F: Kai Téλeσiç dè ǹ Teλéorns, d ὀρχηστοδιδάσκαλος, πολλὰ ἐξεύρηκε σχήματα ἄκρως ταῖς χερσὶ τὰ λεγόμενα δεικνυούσαις . ̓Αριστοκλῆς γοῦν φησὶν ὅτι Τελέστης ὁ Αἰσχύλου ὀρχηστὴς οὕτως ἦν τεχνίτης ὥστε ἐν τῷ ὀρχεῖσθαι τοὺς ἑπτὰ ἐπὶ Θήβας φανερὰ ποιῆσαι τὰ πрáyμara di boxnσews. See Heindorf ad Plat. Cratyl. § 51.

2 In the "Suppliants," one of the most archaic of the extant plays of Eschylus, no female character is introduced on the stage, although all the interest centres in the daughters of Danaus, who form the chorus.

3 Plutarch, Sol. xxix.

4 Πύθιον, ἱερὸν ̓Απόλλωνος ̓Αθήνησιν ὑπὸ Πεισιστράτου γεγονός· εἰς ὃ τοὺς τρίποδας ἐτίθεσαν οἱ τῷ κυκλίῳ χορῷ νικήσαντες τὰ Θαργήλια. Photius. Comp. Thucyd. ii. 15. vi. 54.

CHAPTER IV.

THE PROPER CLASSIFICATION OF GREEK PLAYS.

ORIGIN OF COMEDY.

The best actors in the world, either for tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, pastoralcomical, historical-pastoral, tragical-historical, tragical-comical-historical-pastoral, scene individable, or poem unlimited. For the law of writ and the law of liberty these are the only men. SHAKSPEARE.

IT is generally stated that there were three kinds of Greek Plays, and three only-Tragedy, Comedy, and the Satyrical Drama. It will be our endeavour in the present chapter to examine this classification, and to see whether some better one cannot be proposed. With a view to this it will be proper to inquire into the origin of the Comical and Satyrical Dramas, just as we have already investigated the origin of Tragedy, and to consider how far the Satyrical Drama differed from or agreed with either the Tragedy or Comedy of the Greeks.

The word Tragedy-rpayudía-is derived of course from the words rpayos and won. The former word, as we have already seen, is a synonym for oárupos: for the goat-eared attendant of Dionysus was called by the name of the animal which he resembled, just as the shepherd or goatherd was called by the name of the animal which he tended, and whose skin formed his clothing. Toayudía is therefore not the song of a goat, because a goat was the prize of it; but a song accompanied by a dance performed by persons in the guise of Satyrs, consequently a satyric dance; and we have already shown how Tragedy in its more modern sense arose from such performances. At first,

1 See above, p. 30, note 4.

2 The word Tityrus signifies, according to Servius, the leading ram of the flock; according to other authorities it means a goat: and some have even supposed it to be another form of Satyrus. See the passages quoted by Müller, Dor. iv. ch. 6, § 10, note (e).

then, Tragedy and the Satyric Drama were one and the same. When, however, the Tragedy of Thespis had firmly established itself, and Comedy was not yet introduced, the common people became discontented with the serious character of the new dramatic exhibitions, and missed the merriment of the country satyrs at the same time they thought that their own tutelary deity was not sufficiently honoured in performances which were principally taken up with adventures of other personages; in the end they gave vent to their dissatisfaction, and on more than one occasion the audience vociferously complained that the play to which they were admitted had nothing to do with Bacchus. The prevalence of this feeling at length induced Pratinas of Phlius, who was a contemporary of Eschylus, to restore the Tragic Chorus to the Satyrs, and to write Dramas which were indeed the same in form and materials with the Tragedy, but the choruses of which were composed of Satyrs, and the dances pyrrhic instead of gymnopædic'. This is the Drama which has been considered by some as specifically dif ferent both from Tragedy and Comedy, but which was in fact only a subdivision of Tragedy, written always by Tragedians, and, we believe, seldom acted but along with Tragedies'.

8 In his opening Symposiacal disquisition, Plutarch thus speaks: Ὥσπερ οὖν, Φρυνίχου καὶ Αἰσχύλου τὴν τραγῳδίαν εἰς μύθους καὶ πάθη προαγόντων, ἐλέχθη τί ταῦτα πρὸς τὸν Διόνυσον ; οὕτως ἔμοιγε πολλάκις εἰπεῖν παρέστη πρὸς τοὺς ἕλκοντας εἰς τὰ συμπόσια τὸν κυριεύοντα—Ὦ ἄνθρωπε, τί ταῦτα πρὸς τὸν Διόνυσον ;-Sympos. i. 1.

Zenobius gives this explanation of the phrase Οὐδὲν πρὸς τὸν Διόνυσον :—Τῶν χορῶν ἐξ ἀρχῆς εἰθισμένων διθύραμβον ᾄδειν εἰς τὸν Διόνυσον, οἱ ποιηταὶ ὕστερον ἐκβάντες τῆς συνηθείας ταύτης Αἴαντας καὶ Κενταύρους γράφειν ἐπεχείρουν. "Οθεν οἱ θεώμενοι σκώπτοντες ἔλεγον, Οὐδὲν πρὸς τὸν Διόνυσον. Διὰ γοῦν τοῦτο τοὺς Σατύρους ὕστερον ἔδοξεν αὐτοῖς προεισάγειν, ἵνα μὴ δοκῶσιν ἐπιλανθάνεσθαι τοῦ θεοῦ. p. 40.

Suidas, in his explication of the same saying, after mentioning the opinion by which it was referred to the alterations of Epigenes the Sicyonian, adds, Βέλτιον δὲ οὕτω· Τὸ πρόσθεν εἰς τὸν Διόνυσον γράφοντες, τούτοις ἠγωνίζοντο, ἅπερ καὶ Σατυρικὰ ἐλέγετο ὕστερον δὲ μεταβάντες εἰς τὸ τραγῳδίας γράφειν, κατὰ μικρὸν εἰς μύθους καὶ ἱστορίας ἐτράπησαν, μηκέτι τοῦ Διονύσου μνημονεύοντες —ὅθεν τοῦτο καὶ ἐπεφώνησαν. Καὶ Χαμαιλέων ἐν τῷ περὶ Θέσπιδος τὰ παραπλήσια ἱστορεῖ. So also Photius, above, p. 53, note 7.

4 Above, p. 31. Below, p. [70].

s Demetrius says (de Elocut. § 169. vol. ix. p. 76, Walz): ὁ δὲ γέλως ἐχθρὰ τραγῳδίας· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐπινοήσειεν ἄν τις τραγῳδίαν παίζουσαν, ἐπεὶ σάτυρον γράψει ἀντὶ τραγῳδίας.

If Pratinas wrote only eighteen tragedies to thirty-two satyrical dramas, some of the latter must have been aeted alone. See Welcker, Trilogie, p. 497 - 8.

It has been plausibly conjectured that the Satyrical Drama was originally acted before the Tragedy. Welck. Nachtr. p. 279.