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THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
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THE ORIGIN OF 
 ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 BY 
 
 FRANCIS MACDONALD CORNFORD 
 
 FBLLOW OF TBINITY COLLEGE, OAMBBIDGE 
 
 Movca (TV [i^v iroX£|J.ov5 diro)(ra|jL^VTi |i.£t' cuov 
 
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 LONDON 
 
 EDWARD ARNOLD 
 
 1914 
 
 All rights reserved 
 
-3/(0 I 
 
 
TO 
 
 GILBERT MURRAY 
 
PEEFACE 
 
 Aristotle observes that at the date from which the record of 
 comic poets begins, Attic Comedy had akeady 'certain definite 
 forms.' 1 The hypothesis put forward in this book is that these 
 traditional ' forms/ still clearly traceable in the constant features 
 of the Aristophanic play, were inherited from a ritual drama, the 
 content of which can be reconstructed. Chapters ii to viii 
 contain the argument for this theory, and Chapter ix deals with 
 the paradox (if paradox it be) that the ritual drama Ipng behind 
 Comedy proves to be essentially of the same type as that in which 
 Professor Gilbert Murray has sought the origin of Tragedy. 
 
 I was not myself prepared for any such conclusion. This book 
 was plaimed, and part of it (now cancelled) was even written, while 
 I still accepted the current view that Aristophanic Comedy is a 
 patchwork of elements loosely pieced together, and in origin 
 possibly foreign to one another. A closer study of the eleven plays 
 convinced me that this opinion was almost wholly mistaken. The 
 . plays, under all their variety and extravagance, have not only a 
 unity of structure, but a framework of traditional incidents, which 
 cannot, I believe, be otherwise explained than as the surviving fabric 
 of a ritual plot. The hypothesis was thus forced upon me by the 
 facts ; but very probably it would never have occurred to me, if 
 I had not had in my mind Professor Murray's theory of the ' ritual 
 forms' in Tragedy. My debt to him is, therefore, great. The 
 dedication marks my sense of it, as well as my gratitude for all 
 that I have learnt from his imaginative and delicate interpretation 
 of Greek poetry. 
 
 Among earlier writers, I owe most to Zielinski, whose Gliederung 
 der altattischen Komodie contained the first serious effort to account 
 for the unique structure of the Old Comedy. Pursuing further 
 
 ^ Poetics, 5: -IjSti Si a-xil'^Td riya air^s ixoi<rTii oi Xc7i/*«i'oi airlj! iroi-qral 
 fiVT)fU)veiovrai, 
 
viii THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 the Unes suggested by ZieUnski, I have reached many conclusions 
 that are at variance with his ; but this does not lessen my admira- 
 tion for his masterly handUng and fineness of insight. The other 
 writings from which I have learnt most are mentioned in the 
 BibUography. 
 
 Two friends have given me much help : Miss Jane Harrison 
 and Mr. Arthur Bernard Cook. To Mr. Cook I am particularly 
 indebted for allowing me to see proofs of his forthcoming book, 
 Zeus, which contains a most important discussion of Dionysiac 
 ritual, and for consenting, with his unfaiUng generosity, to read 
 my manuscript at a time when the pressure of his own work was 
 heavy upon him. Miss Harrison has let me draw upon stores of 
 learning far greater than my own. My theory, moreover, Uke 
 Professor Murray's, rests upon conceptions which she has done 
 much to elucidate. 
 
 For the convenience of the reader who may be unable to carry 
 in his head the plots and structure of the eleven plays, I have added 
 a Synopsis at the end of the volume, giving a brief summary of the 
 action, and indicating the occurrence of the ritual motives discussed 
 in the text. 
 
 That Tragedy and Comedy should have the same divine pro- 
 tagonist, the dying God whose defeat is a victory, the ironical 
 Bufioon whose folly confounds the pretence of wisdom — this is a 
 mystery of Dionysiac religion, the treatment of which here is neces- 
 sarily incomplete ; for this book contains no independent study 
 of the essence of Greek Tragedy. I hope some day to rettirn to 
 the question, and try to define further the relations which Tragedy 
 and Comedy have to each other, and to their common source in 
 ritual. Meanwhile, I shall be content if those who feel the fasci- 
 nation of tracing Uterary origins find in this preliminary study of 
 Comedy a fresh and not misleading clue to a very curious chapter 
 in the history of drama. 
 
 F. M. C. 
 
 TbINIIY COLLBGIi, Cambiudoii, 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 INTRODUCTORY 
 
 1. The Data for Inquiry, 
 
 2. The Structure of an Aristophanic Play, 
 
 3. Some current Theories of the Origin of Comedy, 
 
 II 
 
 THE EXODOS 
 
 4. The Exodos : Marriage and Kdmos, 
 
 5. The Exodoi of the Plays, . 
 
 6. The Problem of the final Marriage, 
 
 7. The Sacred Marriage, 
 
 8. The New Ood and the New King, . 
 
 9. The New Zeus in the Birds, 
 
 10. The Sacred Marriage of Dionysus and the Queen at Athens, 
 
 11. The New Zeus in the Plutus, 
 
 12. Trygaeus as Bellerophon in the Peace, 
 
 13. The New Zeus in the Clouds, 
 
 14. The New King in the Knights and the Frogs, 
 
 15. The Women Plays, 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 16 
 18 
 20 
 21 
 24 
 25 
 27 ■ 
 28 
 31 
 33 
 
 III 
 
 THE PHALLIC SONGS 
 
 16. Aristotle's Statements about the Origin of Comedy, 
 
 17. The Fourth Chapter of the Poetics, 
 
 18. The Phallic Song in the Acharnians, 
 
 19. The form and content of the Phallic Song, 
 
 20. The Phallophori, Ithyphalli, Autokabdali, 
 
 21. The same elements in the Parabasis, 
 
 22. The incompleteness of Aristotle's statement, 
 
 23. The essential content of phallic rites, 
 
 24. The transition to ritual drama. 
 
 35 
 35 
 37 
 38 
 41 
 45 
 46 
 48 
 51 
 
THE OEIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 rv 
 
 SOME TYPES OP DRAMATIC FERTILITY RITUAL 
 
 25. ClassiflcaMon of types, 
 
 26. The Carrying out of Death, 
 
 27. The Fight of Swnmer and Winter, 
 
 28. The Toung and the Old King, 
 
 29. The Death and Resurrection type, 
 
 30. Survivals of these rites in folk plays. 
 
 31. Description of the English Mummers' Play, 
 
 32. The Festival Plays in Northern Greece, 
 
 33. The ancient Armed Dance, 
 
 34. The Fight of Xanthus and Melanthus, 
 
 PAGE 
 
 53 
 53 
 56 
 
 57 
 58 
 60 
 61 
 62 
 65 
 66 
 
 AGON, SACRIEICE, AND FEAST 
 
 36. The Agon contrasted with the struggle of the romantic plot, 
 
 36. The Characters in the Agon, 
 
 37. The Form of the Agon, 
 
 38. A ' dramatised debate,' 
 
 39. The Agones in the Plays, . 
 
 40. Summary and conclusions, 
 
 41. The Resurrection Motive, . 
 
 42. The Frogs and the Peace, . 
 
 43. The Rejuvenation of Demos in the Knights, 
 
 44. Rejuvenation in other plays, 
 
 45. The Sacrifice and the Feast, 
 
 46. Sacrifice and Feast in the Plays, 
 
 47. The Significance of the Sacrifice and Feast, 
 
 48. The scattering of sweetmeats to the spectators, 
 
 49. Conclusion, .... 
 
 70 
 71 
 
 72 
 73 
 75 
 83 
 84 
 85 
 87 
 90 
 93 
 94 
 99 
 100 
 103 
 
 VI 
 
 THE CHORUS IN AGON AND PARABASI8 
 
 60. The part of the Chorus in the Agon, 
 .51. The Function of the comic Chorus, . 
 62. Antiolioria and Epirrhematic structure, 
 
 53. Choral matches in abuse (aiVxpoXoyi'ai), 
 
 54. Ritual Combats for fertility, 
 
 56. The Sophistic Antilogy, .... 
 56. The mediaeval D6bat, 
 
 106 
 107 
 108 
 110 
 111 
 114 
 
 in 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 XI 
 
 67. The Choral Agon : the Parabasis, 
 
 58. The Form of the Parabasis, 
 
 59. The Anapaests, . 
 
 60. The Second Part of the Parabasis, 
 
 61. The Parabasis of the Lysistrata, 
 
 62. The Parabasis a Choral Agon, 
 
 63. The Second Parabasis, 
 
 64. Epirrhematic and ' Episodic ' composition, 
 
 FAOU 
 
 120 
 121 
 122 
 124 
 125 
 128 
 130 
 131 
 
 VII 
 THE IMPOSTOR 
 
 65. The unwelcome Intruders, . 
 
 66. The Ira/postors in the Plays, 
 
 67. The Eiron and the Alazon, 
 
 68. The Minor Buffoon, 
 
 69. Who is the Impostor ? 
 
 70. The Im/postor scenes as ' Episodes,' 
 
 71. The Analogy with the Kasperlespiel, 
 
 72. Punch and Judy, . 
 
 73. The Impostor a douhle of the Antagonist, 
 
 74. The Impostor in the Dragon-slaying myths. 
 
 132 
 133 
 136 
 139 
 140 
 141 
 142 
 144 
 148 
 152 
 
 VIII 
 THE STOCK MASKS OP THE OLD COMEDY 
 
 75. The major Impostors, 
 
 76. The Miles Oloriosus : 
 
 77. The Learned Doctor : Socrates, 
 
 78. The Learned Doctor : Euripides, . 
 
 79. The Miles Ghriosus : Aeschylus, . 
 
 80. The Cook : the Sausage-seller, Agoracritus, 
 
 81. The Parasite : Gleon, 
 
 82. The absence of individual characterisation, 
 
 83. The Age and Sex Types : the Old Man and the Young Man 
 
 84. The Old Woman and the Young Woman, . 
 
 85. The list of Stock Masks in the Old Comedy, 
 
 86. The Masks in the New Comedy, 
 
 87. Aristophanes on ' Vulgar Comedy,' 
 
 88. The Pdoponnesian Mime and its derivatives, 
 
 89. The Stock Masks in ' Vulgar Comedy,' 
 
 90. The Stock Masks in the AteUane farce, 
 
 91. The Affinities of these forms of drama, 
 
 92. Hmo does svjch a set of stock masks originate ? 
 
 154 
 165 
 156 
 162 
 163 
 164 
 166 
 168 
 171 
 174 
 175 
 175 
 177 
 179 
 181 
 183 
 185 
 187 
 
xa 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIO COMEDY 
 
 IX 
 
 93. 
 94. 
 95. 
 
 97. 
 
 „ 99. 
 -9400. 
 
 101. 
 
 102. 
 
 103. 
 ^ 104. 
 
 COMEDY AND TRAGEDY 
 
 How did Comedy and Tragedy differentiate ? 
 
 The ritual was probably indigenous, 
 
 The Dionysiac festivals at Athens, 
 
 Plot and Character in Tragedy and Comedy : the primcuiy of Plot in 
 
 Tragedy, .... 
 
 The primacy of Character in Comedy, 
 The tragic Myth and the comic Logos, 
 Character in Tragedy, 
 Character in Comedy, 
 Why Tragedy represents ' exalted persons^ 
 The germs of Tragedy and Comedy in the original 
 Tragedy or Comedy, a difference of emphasis. 
 The History of the Old Comedy, 
 
 Synopsis of the extant Plays, 
 
 Bibliography, 
 
 Addenda, 
 
 Index, . 
 
 PAQE 
 
 190 
 192 
 193 
 
 195 
 197 
 199 
 200 
 201 
 204 
 207 
 212 
 216 
 
 221 
 244 
 246 
 247 
 
 Note. — The design on the title-page is copied from a coloured drawing by 
 George Cruikshank in Pa3Tie CoUier's Punch and Judy, London, 1870. 
 
THE OEIGII^ OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 CHAPTEK I 
 
 INTRODUCTOEY 
 
 1. The Data for Inquiry 
 
 An inquiry into the origins of the Old Comedy which flourished 
 and dechned at Athens in the century between the Persian Wars 
 and the death of Aristophanes must be based partly on literary 
 tradition, partly on a study of the eleven plays which are the 
 only complete specimens left to us of this pecuhar form of art. 
 The literary tradition is, unfortunately, very meagre. Its most 
 important data come, directly or indirectly, from Aristotle and 
 his school, the first serious students of hterary origins. When 
 to these are added certain statements made by Aristophanes 
 about his own work and that of his predecessors, we have before 
 us the bulk of what deserves to be taken as evidence of first-rate 
 authority. Precious as it is, and not to be set aside without the 
 very strongest reasons, the consideration and reconsideration of 
 it by many generations of scholars have not led to very clear con- 
 clusions. Above all, a number of remarkable features, which are 
 characteristic of the Aristophanic play and distinguish it from every 
 other form of Comedy, are still unexplained. Until these can be 
 accounted for, the problem, under its most interesting aspects, 
 remains unsolved. ZieUnski, therefore, was well advised when he 
 turned from these scraps of historical tradition to a direct study 
 of the plays themselves, and sought to determine the laws of their 
 structure and composition. Many of his minor conclusions will 
 not stand ; but the method has proved unexpectedly fruitful. 
 I shall follow his example, and try to set in a clear light those 
 constant features of Aristophanic Comedy which make it unlike the 
 
 A 
 
2 THE OBIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 Comedy of other lands and later days. I shall also put forward an 
 hypothesis to account for them. Whether this hypothesis finds 
 favour or not, I hope to convince the reader of the need of some 
 explanation more adequate to the curious nature of the facts than 
 any that has yet been given. 
 
 2. The Structure of an Arisiophanic Play 
 
 Of all the strange characteristics of a play by Aristophanes, the 
 one which most forcibly strikes the modern reader is the Parabasis 
 of the Chorus — a long passage which cuts the play in two about 
 half way through its course and completely suspends the action. 
 This passage is almost wholly undramatic. It is delivered by the 
 Chorus and its Leaders, and it normally opens with a farewell to 
 the actors, who leave the stage clear till it is over, and then return 
 to carry on the business of the piece to the end. The Chorus, 
 meanwhile, turn their backs on the scene of action and advance 
 across the orchestra to address the audience directly — the move- 
 ment from which the Parabasis takes its name. The action of the 
 play is thus divided into two parts. 
 
 Of these two parts, the first normally consists of the Prologue, or 
 exposition scenes ; the Entrance of the Chorus {Parados) ; and what 
 is now generally called the Agon, a fierce ' contest ' between the 
 representatives of two parties or principles, which are in effect 
 the hero and villain of the whole piece. In the Acharnians, for 
 instance, the conflict is between Peace and War ; in the Lysistrata, 
 between Man and Woman ; in the Wasps, between the poUtical 
 ideals of the elder and the younger generation. The victorious 
 principle is usually incarnated in the protagonist or hero of the 
 play. In this contest the interest of the first part centres and 
 culminates. 
 
 The second part, after the Parabasis, contains the rest of the 
 action. It is especially with reference to this division of the play 
 that the work of previous students needs to be supplemented. 
 Zielinski concentrated attention on the Agon, with the result that 
 scholars often speak as if the business of the play were finished with 
 the first part, and nothing remained in the second but a string oi 
 ' loose burlesque scenes.' This is by no means a true account ol 
 the matter. When we compare the plays with one another, it is 
 
INTRODUCTORY 3 
 
 soon evident, in the first place, that nearly all of them end with an 
 incident no less canonical than the Agon — a festal procession (Kdmos) 
 and a union which I shall call a ' Marriage ' — a use of the term 
 to be hereafter justified. But that is not all. We shall also find 
 in almost every play two other standing incidents which fall between 
 the Agon and the final Kdmos — a scene of Sacrifice and a Feast. 
 In several of the earlier plays these form nearly the whole of the 
 action, and fill nearly the whole time of presentation, in the 
 second part. In the later plays, from the Birds onwards, plots of 
 a more complicated type are developed, chiefly in this latter half 
 of the play ; but still the old sequence of fixed incidents in the 
 old order remains as the substructure of the action : Agon, Sacri- 
 fice, Feast, Marriage Kdmos. Another regularly recurring type oj^ 
 incident is the interruption of the Sacrifice, or the Feast, or both, 
 by a series of unwelcome intruders, who are successively put to 
 derision by the protagonist and driven away with blows. Each 
 of these constant incidents we shall later examine in turn, and 
 the proof of these statements will then be laid fully before the 
 reader. 
 
 Meanwhile, for the sake of clearness, it will be well to state here ' 
 the hypothesis we shall offer in explanation of these facts. It is 
 that this canonical plot-formula preserves the stereotyped action of 
 a ritual or folk drama, older than literary Comedy, and of a pattern 
 well knoum to us from other sources. In the absence of direct j 
 external evidence, -the proof of this proposition must necessarily 
 be cumulative, and the reader is invited to suspend his judgment 
 until the whole argument has been laid before him. 
 
 3. Some current Theories of the Origin of Comedy 
 
 That Comedy sprang up and took shape in connection with 
 Dionysiac or PhalUc ritual has never been doubted. In the older 
 histories of Uterature, it was customary to draw more or less imagina- 
 tive pictures of village feasts in honour of the God of Wine, with 
 processions and dances of wild disorder and drunlfen licence. We 
 were asked to conceive some rustic poet breaking out, when the 
 new wine and the general excitement had gone to his head, into 
 satirical sallies and buffooneries, taken up with shouts of laughter 
 by the crowd of reeling revellers. The ultimate matter of Attic 
 
4 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 Comedy was to be sought in these songs and broad jokes, varied 
 occasionally by a set match in abuse. M. Maurice Croiset/ who 
 sets before our eyes a brilliant bacchanaUan piece on these lines, 
 remarks, however, that in primitive Comedy, as so conceived, there 
 is no element of ' dramatic fiction/ This observation may give 
 us pause. The absence of dramatic fiction or dramatic representa- 
 tion {fi[firjai<;) in the original phase of any kind of drama is a grave 
 defect. It is as difficult to see how drama can come out of what 
 is not, even in germ, dramatic as it was to Anaxagoras to conceive 
 how hair could come out of what is not hair. M. Croiset is driven 
 to suppose that his drunken cortege of Attic peasants must sometimes 
 have indulged the natural love of mimicryin little 'scenesbouffonnes.' ^ 
 In the absence of any direct evidence that they did, he turns to 
 Dorian countries and to the very doubtful tradition that Megarian 
 Comedy was imported into Attica in the days of Susarion. We 
 shall return to this view later. Here we need only note that our 
 
 Town hypothesis stands in sharp opposition to any such theory. We 
 shall argue that Attic Comedy, as we know it from Aristophanes, 
 is constructed in the framework of what was already a drama, a 
 folk play ; and that behind this folk play lay a still earlier phase, 
 
 ^ in which its action was dramatically presented in religious ritual. 
 
 ', This view has the advantage of supposing that the element of 
 
 \^ dramatic representation was there from the very first. 
 
 Another point of difference between this hypothesis and other 
 current accounts is that it seeks for traces of the original form of 
 Comedy in the dramatic action of the plays, in the conventional 
 pattern of the plot. It has been more usual to regard the Parabasis 
 — the choral passage which breaks this action in two — as, in some 
 sort, the nucleus of Comedy.* Eound the Parabasis, we are told, 
 a number of originally disconnected comic scenes have gathered, 
 which, in the developed form of the art, as known to us from 
 
 1 Hist, de la lit. grecque-' (Paris, 1899), iii. 429. Mazon'a description (Essai 
 sur la comp. des Cmn. d'Arhl. , p. 178) is similar. So, too, is Couat's (Aristopkam 
 tt I'aiicienne Comidie attique', Paris, 1902, p. 14 ff.). 
 
 2 M. Croiset, op. ell. p. 557, regards primitive Comedy as consisting of these 
 almost disconnected scenes, surviving in the second part of the Aristophanio 
 play, while he thinks the first part ' manifestemeM ime extension du prologue, qui 
 avaitservi d'ahord a. Her plus etroilement les scenes suivantes et qui, peu d «e« 
 6tait devenu lui-mSme une partie considerable de la piece. ' ' ' 
 
 ' The Parabasis has also been regarded as a prologue, and as an epilogue. 
 
INTRODUCTORY 5 
 
 Aristophanes, are strung on the thread of some guiding idea.^ 
 This view altogether ignores the plot-formula which we shall bring 
 to light. It is certainly not easy to see how any form of drama 
 worthy of the name could come into existence by such a casual 
 process of aggregation. That a form of drama with a conventional 
 plot-formula, and such distinct features as the Agon, shoul 
 in this way may be frankly declared impossible. 
 
 Zielinski's brilliant work marks the first definite advance towards 
 a more reasonable view. However little we may be convinced by 
 some of his attempts to bring recalcitrant plays into Une with the 
 normal type, a great step was taken when the importance of the 
 Agon was established. But the emphasis laid upon this moment 
 of the action to the exclusion of the rest, together with the contrast 
 between the two sorts of composition — epirrhematic and episodic — 
 which ZieKnski held to be characteristic of the two halves of the 
 play, led him to break an Aristophanic Comedy into two parts, each 
 of a different type. This entailed the supposition that these two 
 parts must at some time have been juxtaposed. Comedy must 
 have arisen, not merely by the confluence of two streams of influence, 
 but by the patching together of two kinds of dramatic performance 
 originally distinct. Ziehnski, accordingly, saw in the Pardbasis 
 the epilogue of the first part, and treated the second part as an 
 appendix. 2 
 
 ' This seems, for instance, to be the view of Christ-Schmid {Griech. Littera- 
 turgesch,^, Munohen, 1908, i. 384) : In diesem Teil (Parabasis) der altattischen 
 KomSdie achimmern noch deutlich kvltliche Vorgdnge aus dem alten Dionysos/est 
 hervor. An diesem Ilittelpunkt scMossen sich wohl, vorhergehend oder nachfolgend, 
 schon beim alten Volhsfest verhindingslos die cUlerlei komischen Szenen, die dann 
 durch die KunstkomOdie leidlich auf einen Faden gezogen warden sind und die 
 J. Poppelreuter passend mit den Entremeses bei den Kirchenfesten in Spanien ver- 
 glichen hat. Poppelreuter's theory will be criticised below, § 71. 
 
 ^ Kaibel's view (s.v. Aristophanes, Pauly-Wiss. ii. 987) seems to be similar : 
 Die Parabase redet in der Person des Dichters den Epilog . . . Bis zur Parabase 
 ist sie (die Komodie) gam individuell, wie die epirrhematische Composition dieses 
 Teils zeigt : was hinzu kommt, lediglich urn den Umfavg zu erweitern, hat fremde 
 Form, die epeisodische Composition der TragOdie. Inhaltlich sind es ganz freie, 
 imeist possenha/te Scenen, die mit der Handhmg vor der Parabase in ideellem, after 
 nichi in logisch zwingtndem Zusammenhang etehen. Starkie ( Wasps, p. xxi), after 
 summarising Zielinski's view of the Parabasis as an epilogue, says: 'It seems 
 to me more probable that down to the end of the Parabasis, the Attic Comic 
 poets constructed their plays after the model set by Epioharmus. The succeed- 
 ing scenes are a survival of the old Phallic Posaenspiel, which suited too well the 
 iaste of the ordinary Athenian playgoer to be omitted with impunity.' 
 
6 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 Various considerations seemed to point to a Dorian origin of 
 these later scenes.^ Poppekeuter took another step along the same 
 Unes, when he suggested that the type of drama from which they 
 must have come was some sort of popular play hke the Kasperlesjnel 
 of modern Germany. A later writer, W. Suss,^ has gone further 
 still, and maintained that this type of popular mime, whose influence 
 he detects in all parts of the plays, is the oldest form of Aristophanes'] 
 Comedies, and he speaks of the Chorus as having ' crept into the 
 mime.' Another ^ traces even the Agon, in which, if anywhere, 
 the Chorus have a real part in the action, to the non-choral Comedy 
 of the northern Peloponnese. The present tendency is, thus, to 
 derive nearly all the characteristic features of Aristophanic Comedy, 
 except the Parabasis and Exodos, from foreign sources ; and hardly 
 anything is left for the native tradition of Attica, beyond certain 
 choral dances of beast-clad mummers, known to us from early vases, 
 but otherwise obscure. 
 
 This theory, in some form, is now widely held, and that it contains 
 some elements of truth will not be denied. We shall later see good 
 reason to recognise certain affinities with Dorian forms of mime. 
 But we shall not admit that the structure of Aristophanic Comedy 
 could have been made by the simple juxtaposition of two blocks 
 of different origin. It will, I hope, become clear that there is a 
 unity of action running through both parts of the plays, consisting 
 precisely in that recurrent plot-formula which has already been 
 indicated. If the existence of such a structural unity can be made 
 out, the theory of mere juxtaposition falls to the ground at once, 
 We shall be compelled to suppose — what, after all, seems ante- 
 cedently much more probable — that in that underlying formula o: 
 the action we have the fundamental framework of the origina 
 drama complete from beginning to end. Some amount of foreigi 
 influence coming in upon the top of it can then be admitted. Ii 
 respect, however, of the extent and importance of this foreigi 
 influence, our hypothesis will run directly counter to the prevalen 
 
 1 Others, however, regard the so-called 'loose scenes 'as survivals of an ol 
 ' Ionian Possenapiel,' and suppose that it is the early part of the play that follow 
 the Dorian model set by Epicharmus. Cf. Starkie, Introd. to the Wasps. 
 
 ^ De personarum, etc., p. 100. 
 
 ' H. E. Sieokmann, de comoediae atticae primordiis (Gottingae, 1906), p. 21 
 W. Suss (Zur Komp. der altoUt. Kom., Eh. Mus. (1908), 12 ff.), while correctin 
 some of Sieckmann's statements about Epicharmus, agrees that the origin of tl 
 A(j<m type of composition is to be sought in Dorian lauds. 
 
INTRODUCTORY 7 
 
 tendency, and claim not only all the principal features of plot and 
 stnicture, but also the main types of character as the indigenous 
 growth of Attic soil. We shall end by reducing the contributions 
 of Megarian or Dorian mime within very narrow compass. 
 
 Our task, then, is to establish the existence of the underlying 
 plot-formula, to discover the ritual sources from which it derives, 
 and to show how our results can be reconciled with such of the 
 external evidence of literary tradition as deserves respect. 
 
CHAPTEE II 
 THE EXODOS 
 
 4. The Exodos : Marriage and Komos 
 
 Reseeving the Agon, for a later chapter, we shall begin our examina- 
 tion with the last term in the fixed series of incidents which make 
 up the plot-formula of Aristophanic Comedy. The plays regularly 
 end with a procession in which the Chorus marches out of the; 
 orchestra, conducting the chief character in triumph and singing 
 a song technically known as the Exodos?- The hero, moreover, 
 is accompanied in this Komos by a person who, perhaps because she 
 is (except in one play) always mute, has attracted less notice than 
 she deserves. This person is sometimes a nameless coiirtesan, 
 sometimes an allegorical figure. She is the temporary partner of 
 the hero in what is, in fact though not always in the legal sense, a 
 marriage. She exists solely for that purpose, and has no other part 
 in the action, only making her appearance in time to take her 
 place beside the hero in his triumphal Edmos. Superficial dissimi- 
 larities of hterary form and variations dictated by the needs of the 
 several plots have diverted attention from the fact that what is 
 fundamentally the same incident — this marriage with its Edmos — 
 ends almost every play of Aristophanes, no matter what its subject 
 may be. Before we discuss its significance, the facts must be set 
 before the reader in detail. We shall, accordingly, pass in review 
 the final scenes of all the plays in their order of date. Besides 
 the uniform character of the concluding incident, the reader is 
 invited to notice several cases in which the hero is treated with 
 royal, and even divine, honours — hailed as a new King or a new 
 God. 
 
 ' That this term as applied to Comedy properly denotes the final soug, not 
 including the scene which precedes it, is rightly pointed out by Asoherson 
 Jahrb. f. klass. Philol. iv. Suppl. 3 Heft (1862), p. 423 £f., and explicitly 
 asserted by the ' Tractatus Goislmianm ' (Kaibel, C. 0. F. i. p. 53) : e^oS6s iari. t6 
 itrl Ti\(i \ey6iievov toO xopo5. Cf. Poppelreuter, de com. att. prim., p. 37 ff. 
 8 
 
THE EXODOS 9 
 
 5. The Exodoi oj the Plays 
 
 The AoHAENiAiJS ends with the scene (1190 fE.) in which DikaiopoHs 
 and Lamachus return, the one from the banquet with the priest of 
 Diony3Us,at which he haswon the drinking-competitionof the Choes} 
 the other from the battlefield, covered with wounds and other 
 marks of the miseries of war. Dikaiopolis has a courtesan on each 
 arm ; there are two of them, to match the two slaves who support 
 the hobbling Lamachus. The two heroes perform a duet, Lamachus 
 bewaihng his discomforts in the tone of a tragic Lament, Dikaiopolis 
 capping him with ribald lines which set in contrast his own 
 enviable condition. While Lamachus calls for a surgeon, DikaiopoUs 
 demands to be taken to the ' King ' of the festival,^ to receive his 
 prize, the skin of wine, which he presently holds up empty. He 
 then raises the cry of rrjveXKa KaXKivbKo<s (Hurrah for the Victor !), 
 and calls upon the Chorus to sing it as they follow him. This cry is 
 well known as the refrain of the K6mos Song of Archilochos, 
 chanted by the victor's friends in the evening procession after the 
 Olympian contest. It is to be noted that DikaiopoUs, like the 
 Olympic victor, himself leads the triumphal strain : he acts as 
 Eooarchos.^ Evidently, the actual Song of Archilochos, though it 
 is not written out, formed the Exodos of the Acharnians^ 
 
 In the Knights, the victory of the Sausage-seller in the long 
 competition with his rival is at last admitted by the Paphlagonian, 
 who resigns to him the wreath of office (1250). When he has piously 
 
 1 1143. Dikaiopolis has been dismissed by the Chorus to this banquet with 
 the wish : rif Sk xadeiSuv \ fierd, raiSiaKris wpaioriTTis. 
 
 ^ Perhaps, aa Starkie holds (note ad loc], the Archon Basileus, who presided 
 at the Lenaea. 
 
 ' Find. 01. ix. 1 : t4 /tiv 'Apx^^^X"" A'^^"' (pavaev 'OXu^ir/?, KaWlviKos 6 r/snrXiot 
 Kex^aSili!, lipKe(re Kpopiov Trap' txBov ayefioveOffai. KU/idfovn 0lXois 'E(papp.6<TTip ativ 
 eralpoK. Christ ad loc. : Victor vera ipse vice praecentoris (i^apxav) fungebatur 
 sodalibus praeeuntis, id quod Pindarus verba aye/xoveOffai. significavit et scholiasta 
 hac adnotatione confirmat : Kup.dt;et Si irpds rdv toO Ai6s /Sw/iiv 6 vm-qaas p-era tuv 
 iplXwv, airbs ttjs i(J5^s i^ijyoi/Kvos. Cf. F. M. Cornford, chapter on the ' Olympic 
 Games,' in J. E. Harrison, Themis (Cambridge, 1912), p. 256 £f. 
 
 •■ Ach. 1227. Dik. . . . riJi'eXXa KaWlviicos. | Ohor. ri/veWa S^t" etrep KoKeU y', 
 & liipiaPv, KaWlvtKOS . . . \ T'^veWd vvv &yevv6.Sa ... 1 Dilc. iireaBi vOv gSoi/res ffl 
 TTJi-eXXa KuXKipiKOS. \ Char. dXX' itl/d/ieada a-ijv xapi-f | TiJi-eXXa (caXXfi/i/cos ^ISovres ffi 
 Kai t6v ia-Kdv. Sehol. ad loc. T^veXXa' iilp-^qp-a iici.<jieiypuT05 aiXov rb riveKKa. 
 'Apx^^oxos- rnveWa, S) KaWlviKe x<^'p' (Si-al 'Hpd/cXees, airbs re Klb\aos, alxi^-ip-b. Sio. 
 Zielinski, Oliederung, p. 187. 
 
10 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 ejaculated ' Zeus Hellanios, thine the prize of victory ! ' the 
 Sausage-seller is hailed as kuWCviko';.^ After an interval of 
 preparation for the final festivities, filled by the Second Parahasis: 
 of the Chorus, the Sausage-seller reappears, calhng for religious 
 silence, and declaring that, Uke Medea, he has regenerated Demos 
 by cooking him to a new life. The Propylaea are thrown open, 
 and Demos is revealed in all the splendours of the old Ionian dress, 
 to be hailed as ' King of the Hellenes.' When he has proved the 
 amendment of his character by being put through a sort of political 
 catechism, the Sausage-seller presents him with a folding stool and 
 a boy to carry it. Finally he calls out Libations {al 'tirovBai), 
 courtesans who represent allegorically the old peace days of the 
 thirty-years truce.^ Demos in return invites him to dine in the 
 Prytaneum and gives him a green-coloured robe, such as was worn 
 by the King in tragedy.* Demos ordains that the defeated Paphla^" 
 gonian shall be degraded to the vile condition formerly held by his 
 rival. He calls the wretched man a Phannakos, and orders that 
 he shall be ' carried off to his trade ' of sausage-selhng, and exhibited . 
 to those whom he has outraged in the days of his power.* Here 
 the text of the play ends ; but the Chorus can hardly have left the 
 orchestra in silence. It may be conjectured that it was divided 
 into two parties. One half would escort Demos with ' Libations ' 
 and his new favourite in triumphal procession to the Prytaneum, 
 probably singing the Song of Archilochos. The other half would 
 hound the Paphlagonian out with cries of execration, perhaps 
 literally treating him as a Pharmahos, a scape-goat carrying all 
 the evil of the city upon his head.® 
 
 ' 1254 : <D xf'Pf /coXXfci/ce kt\. The lines are variously assigned to the Chorui 
 or to Demosthenes. 
 
 ^ Schol. ad V. 1390 : claijXBoi' al SrovSal eraipoi upaiai, 
 
 ' 1406: Stov Si ravnivl Xafiiiv ttjh ^arpaxiSa. Pollux, iv. 116: i(r6TJTes /lit 
 rpayiKol TroixlXoy . . . rh, Si fTrijSXiJ/iaTO f uo-ris, /Sarpaxlf. . . . 
 * 1404 : Demos. Kai a' ivn Todruv is rd irpvTavetov KaXSi 
 is T7)i' ^Spav 8', IV ixeTvos i/v o <t>apixaKbs. 
 'iirov Sirawrivl Xa^iiv Ti]v parpaxiSa' 
 KaKetyov iKcpepiro) Tis ihs iwi TTjy Tixvyiv, 
 ty' (Suaiy airSv ols iXoifiaS' ol ^ivoi. 
 ^ The suggestion that the Paphlagonian was so treated is put forward bj 
 Mazon, Easai aur la comp. des com. d' Aristophane (Paris, 1904), p. 47 : CUon ^tait 
 sans doute trains dans ^orchestra. LA, on h traitait peut-gtre comme unt victim 
 expiatoire (1405, (papnaKds) ; on lui mettait dans la main un/romage, unt galetti, 
 deajigues, et le choeur U suivait e» U huant et en le flagellant avec des scillei et aittret 
 
THE EXODOS 11 
 
 The Clouds, exceptional in this respect as in so many others, has 
 no Kdmos at its almost tragic close. The torches which elsewhere 
 light the final procession are here used to burn the house of Socrates. 
 This ending was substituted in the play as we ha\e it for a different 
 ending in the first edition.^ It has been conjectured " that origin- 
 ally Socrates and Chaerephon were driven out of the theatre by 
 Strepsiades and Xantliias. In any case the play leads up, not to 
 the triumphal Kdmos of the good principle, but to the riddance or 
 expulsion of the evil. 
 
 In the second part of the Wasps the same situation comes twice 
 over. There are two chorika (1265 ff and 1450 fE) sung while the 
 actors are feasting or drinldng behind the scenes. At the conclusion 
 of each, a slave comes out to complain of the riotous behaviour of 
 !Philocleon, who shortly afterwards appears in a state to justify the 
 slaves' descriptions. On the first occasion, he is returning from 
 the dinner-party with a Kdmos of other guests, beating every one he 
 meets and quarrelling with his companions. He enters singing the 
 opening words of Cassandra's mad Hymenaeal in the Troades,^ 
 
 plantes sauvages. (Cf. Tzetzes, C/iil. v. 726 ; Hippoiiai, frag. 5 and 7.) Mazon, 
 however, does not suggest the division of the Chorus into two parties, which 
 seems to me necessary. For the PharmaJcos, see below, p. 55. Mazon's con- 
 jecture is, I think, supported by Frogs 731, where the Chorus complains that 
 Athens uses for all her purposes the vilest politicians, ' men whom in former days 
 she would have thought twice before she used as pharmahoi ' : ofcrii/ ^ irAXis irpb 
 ToO I oidi ^apiMtKoiffiv eU'j pg.Sias ixp^'^'"'' ^"^ The Chorus exhort the people to 
 ' change their ways ' {/leTa^aKivTes roiis rpdirovs), (as Demos changes his in the 
 Knights) and once more make use of good men. St. Paul (1 Cor. iv. 6 ff. ) refers to 
 a similar ceremony (at Corinth?), where lie contrasts the Corinthians, who are 
 ' filled ' (KiKopeaiiivoi), ' have become rich ' (^TrXourijo-arc), and ' kings without us ' 
 (xw/>i! ij/iuiv i^aatXeiaare), with the apostles, designated by God to be 'last of all, 
 as men doomed to death ' (eVxarous, lis eiriffocarious), made a ' spectacle ' (Biarpov) 
 to angels and men, 'fools' (liupol) for Christ's sake, reviled {XoiSopoH/i-evot), 
 peisecuted (SiojKo/ievot), defamed {Sva^rifioifievoi), He ends : us Trepi.Ka9dpimTa 
 Tov K^fffiov iycv-qSrit^ev, irAvrtav Trepi\p7jfia,. K6.6apfia and Trepl^tjua are both used of 
 the Pharmakos. What is specially interesting to us is the contrast with the 
 Corinthians who have 'become kings.' Compare also the expression 'we are 
 made a spectacle to men and angels ' with the last line of the Knights : h' Cdicffiv 
 airdv oU AoijSaS' oi f^yoi. 
 
 1 Hypothesis vii., which is by Eratosthenes or some other well-informed 
 grammarian. 
 
 2 Biicheler, X Jahrb. Ixxxiii. 678. Cf. the last words of the Chorus, SIukc, 
 /SdXXe, iroie, kt\, 
 
 ' 1326 : Philod. &yexe irdpex^, ktX. Schol. R. e/c Ipifddoiv Eipirldov oi Kotrdi'J/pa 
 
12 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 and he is accompanied by a flute-girl,^ the regular mute person, 
 whom he addresses in the broadest language.^ Later, he enters 
 his house to renew his potations, during an interval covered by the 
 next chorihon. 
 
 Then his own slave, Xanthias, appears, to tell the Chorus that 
 the old man is spending the whole night in dancing. He is closeljl 
 followed by Philocleon himself, in the violent motions and shocking 
 postures of a dance which he challenges the whole field of modern 
 tragedians to outdo. The three sons of Karkinos take up the 
 match, which is thought to have been suggested by the proposed 
 K6mos of the drunken Polyphemus in Euripides' Cyclops.^ The 
 Chorus join in, and the whole troupe dance out of the orchestra 
 with such frantic flings and wild gjrrations that no breath is left 
 in them for further song.* 
 
 The Exodos of the Peace is in the full form of the marriage Kdmos 
 with its hymenaeal song. The last scene opens with the demand! 
 for sacred silence, while torches are brought and the bride, the 
 mute attendant of Peace, Fruits-of-Summer (Opora), whom the 
 hero, Trygaeus, has received from the hands of Hermes (706), is led 
 forth.* After a prayer for plenty of corn and wine and figs, for 
 children and all the blessings of recovered peace, Opora and her 
 bridegroom, carried shoulder-high, go off to the country, attended 
 by the Chorus singing their fescennine verses with the refrain, 
 ' Hymen, Hymenaee, 0.' 
 
 The Birds gives us the most elaborate and important instance 
 of all. Pisthetairos, the founder of the city in the air, has, upon 
 Prometheus' suggestion, won by diplomatic cajolery of the divine 
 envoys no less a person for his bride than Basileia, the Queen of 
 Heaven and maiden daughter of Zeus. A messenger announces 
 his approach, comparing him and his bride in magnificent language 
 
 ' Schol. on 134:1 : iraipa ti.s iiKoXovBei avrtfi, fjv IXaxe" ck toS <TVfjnroalov. 
 
 2 His comparison of himself to an elderly Olympic victor (1381) is in aocord- 
 anoe with Bdelycleon's instructions (1190). 
 
 '■' Gyd. 445 : firi Kui/iov iptreiv wpo! Ka<nyf/iTovs 9i\ei 
 
 KiiKXaTras ijffBeU Tii)5c Bokx^ou ttot-cJ;. 
 See vanLeeuwen, Mnem. xvi. 421 ; Starkie on Wasps, 1499. 
 
 * This seems to be the meaning of the last words, which state that this dancing 
 finale is novel. See Starkie ad loc. 
 
 " Trygaeus is an old man (856) with daughters. 
 
THE EXODOS 13 
 
 to the Sun and Moon.^ We are told that he is brandishing the very 
 thunderbolt of Zeus himself ; and it becomes clear as we proceed 
 that he is in fact to be regarded as a new Zeus. His appearance 
 with his consort is hailed by the Chorus with the hymenaeal song,^ 
 which likens his wedding to the marriage of Zeus and Hera, riding 
 in their chariot driven by Eros. The Chorus are then called upon 
 to celebrate his thunders and the fiery lightnings of Zeus, the dread 
 and glancing bolt. This they do ; it is Pisthetairos now who shall 
 shake the earth and give her rain with his thunderings, for he has 
 become ' master of everything that belonged to Zeus,' and even of 
 his consort, Basileia.^ Pisthetairos then calls upon his bird subjects 
 to follow him to heaven, and bids Basileia to take his hand in the 
 dance. The Chorus conduct him out with cries of victory and 
 rejoicing. They call him ' Highest of the Gods ' and break into the 
 Song of Archilochos, TyveXXa KaXK'Lvi,KO<;, which, as we have seen, 
 was dedicated to the honour of the Olympic victor.* Presumably, 
 here as in other cases, the song continued as the procession wound 
 out of the orchestra. 
 
 The denouement of the Lysistrata is efEected when the heroine 
 brings out the mute person. Reconcilement {AiaWa^rj), the love- 
 charm which will appease the leading states of Greece.* She then 
 preaches a sermon to the envoys of Sparta and Athens, whose 
 attention is so divided between the diplomatic situation and the 
 
 1 1709 : irpoalprxerai yip olos oSre ira/i^a^s 
 
 oiSd' i]\lov Tri\avyh aKrlvuv aiXas 
 TOioSTOV i^eXa/i^j/cv, oXov ipx^rai 
 ^XOiv yvyaiKbs xdWos oi (pariv 'Kiyei.v, 
 irdXkiiiv Kepavvbv, wTepo^Spov Ai6s /3Aos . . . 
 
 2 1720 : Ohor. aya7e, diex^, wdpaye, iripexe i^t\. . . . 
 
 Coryph. dXV i/ievaioit | Kal ifv/^^idloicn S^x"'^' ¥'*«« 1 '^i^^" ''"' '^^'' 
 Ba(Ti\eiav. 
 ' 1748 : ffl /iiya XP'^'^^O" &<rTepoTTJs tpdos, | ffi Aids &p,PpoTov lyxos ■!rvp<p6pov , \ 
 a x^ii-iai papvax^es \ (i/x/3po0(ipoi 0' d/ia ppovral, \ ah S5e vvv xe6va <re(ei. | Aia U 
 T&vTa Kparitaas \ Kal Tdpedpov BaaCKeiav fjcei Ai.6s. \ 'Tjnijc'T^^^oi' Si. 
 * 1763 : Chor. dXoXoXai Iri vaidv, 
 
 TifveXXn KaXKlviKos, S> 
 Satixbvoiv iripraTi. 
 Schol. ad V. 1764, tA riveWa . . . dir6 toO iipv/ivlov o5 elirei' 'Apxl>^oxos els rbv 
 'HpaKKia iMtra rbv iBXon Aiy^ov. T-qveXKa Si KaXXivixe, xo'pe ^va^ 'Hpd/tXees airds 
 
 re (cWXoos, oixA")™ ^'^O' 
 
 5 The Scholiast on v. 1114 says that the play was called, from this part of it, 
 
 Av<ruTTpi,TTi fj Aia\Xa7oi. 
 
14 THE ORIGIN OP ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 attractions of the courtesan that they lapse into language am- 
 biguously applicable to either, and come to an understanding. 
 They are bidden to enter the citadel and take the oaths. After a 
 banquet, two of them come out, thrusting the torches of the Kdmos^ 
 into the bystanders' faces, and reflecting with drunken sagacity oi 
 the wisdom of not discussing international politics till after dinner. 
 A Laconian envoy follows with a flute-girl and insists on dancing 
 with his colleagues to the honour of Artemis the Huntress and of 
 Sparta. The Chorus of men and women are then bidden to pair 
 off in couples, 2 and they dance out of the orchestra singing a hymn 
 to various Gods, including Zeus, with his fiery lightning, and Hera, 
 and celebrating the peace which the Goddess of Love and Marriage 
 has efiected.* The reunion of men and women in this final dance 
 is itself a sort of re-marriage. The song ends with shouts of victory 
 and Bacchic cries.* 
 
 At the end of the Thesmophoriazusae, the canonical mute person 
 is Elaphium, a dancing-girl, introduced, to fascinate the Policeman 
 and lure him from his watch over Euripides' kinsman, by the poet 
 himself, disguised as an old woman. ' What Kdmos is this, waking 
 me up ? ' mutters the Policeman, stirring in his slumbers. The' 
 girl's dance and kisses effect their purpose, and the PoUceman, 
 leaving his quiver as a pledge, goes off with her. Returning to find 
 his birds flown, he is misdirected all ways at once by the Chorus, 
 and the play ends with his rushing off the opposite way from his 
 prisoner. The Chorus make their exit with a couple of anapaestic 
 lines. In the light of the earlier examples, this denouement is 
 clearly an adaptation of the ' marriage ' motive. Owing to the tun 
 given to it, there can obviously be no Kdinos Song as Exodos. 
 
 \ The Feogs ends with the torch-ht procession of the mystics, 
 
 ^ 1217 : liSiv iyi) TiiXa/iiridi \ v/ias KOTaKOiJrrci) ; Sohol. ad loc. ^TiKU/idfci Xa/J-riSt 
 
 ^ 1275 : Lys. aviip di Tapa yvpoiKa Kal ywj] \ a-Tiyroi irap' ivSpa. 
 ' 1285 : Chor. AIo re wvpl 4>\tyl>ixcvov, iirl re | iroTvlav 6.\oxov dX^lar, | elra SI 
 5alp.ovaf, oh irt/idpTVtn | XPV<^1>I^^S' oiK iTnX'fifffi.oiriv | 'Ho-uxfosTr^pi r^s ayavlxfipovoi, \ 
 1)v iirolr)<7c Beet. KiStt/jis. 
 
 * 1291 : dXaXai irj Trat^oii', 
 
 alpecrd' ivu, iai 
 lis eiri viKi[i, Iai 
 euoi, dot, eiai, eiai. 
 
THE EXODOS 15 
 
 escorting Aeschylus up from the realm of Pluto to a world which 
 needs a tragedian with sound political views. The necessary 
 conclusion is thus a resurrection, not a marriage ; and the marriage- 
 motive is absent.^ The Exodos is in hexameters, chanted to an 
 Aeschylean air. The drama ends in a serious key. 
 
 The EccLESiAZUSAE, late as it is, preserves the old pattern. A 
 female servant of the heroine ^ takes the place of the usual mute 
 person. Praxagora has sent her to fetch her husband Blepyros 
 to the feast which inaugurates the new regime. She appears 
 intoxicated ahke with Thasian wine and with the unguents of the 
 courtesan ^ on her hair. When Blepyros appears, armed with the 
 torch (1150) which will light him home again in the Kdmos, she 
 addresses him with the courtesan's oath by Aphrodite * and in terms 
 which show that Praxagora is prepared to begin at home the 
 practice of community of women which she has recommended.^ 
 Blepyros, nothing loath, descends into the orchestra, while the 
 girl * sings ' a before-dinner song.' The choral Exodos consists of 
 the same Bacchic cries that end the Lysistrata. 
 
 Even in the Plutus the traditional termination survives. In 
 one of the latest scenes we find the motive, already used in the 
 Ecclesi-azusae, of the old woman and the young man who rejects 
 her advances. The youth comes on with wreath and torch, as if 
 
 ^ That a resarrootiou, however, wis an integral part of our supposed ritual 
 will appear later. 
 
 ^ If, that is to say, we accept (as I do) the view of van Leeuwen and others 
 that the persons in the last scene are the servant and the husband of Praxagora, 
 not two quite unknown characters. See van Leeuwen's note on p. 2 of his 
 edition. 
 3 1117, of. 525. 
 
 ^ 1136. Cf. Schol. ad v. 999 : /ii t^v' KippoUrifV us eralpa oScra. to0t6 (prjiri. 
 ' 1138 : Sfias S' eKAei/ire (rvWaPovffdv /j.' t) ywi) \ iyav <re. Cf. the conclusion of 
 Praxagora's discourse in the Agon, 690 : 
 
 vaui. yip &(pBova v&vra Tape^o/iev 
 {bare ^s&uadels avT'^ ffTe<j)a,vi^ 
 Trfis Tis &TeLtnv t^v S^da Xa^dv, 
 al 5i yvvaiKes Karii. ris SiSSovs 
 Trpoinriirrouffai toU iwo Selin/QV 
 TdSe \i^ovaiV ' SeOpo Trpds rjjtiSs ' kt\. 
 * If we assign (with van Leeuwen) lines 1151-3, 1163-6, 1166-77 to her and 
 not to the Chorus. 
 
16 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 he were going in a Kdmos.^ The last scene takes the usual form 
 of a procession with torches. The priest of Zeus Soter comes, 
 complaining that since the blind God of Wealth has received his 
 sight, no one will worship the elder Gods, and his occupation, as 
 well as his livehhood, is gone. But he is told that the only ' Saviour 
 Zeus ' — Plutus himself — has already come of his own accord ; and 
 we have seen Hermes in the previous scene arrive as a desertes 
 from the service of Zeus, to beg a situation in the new God's house- 
 hold. Nothing remains but to install Plutus in the back-chamber 
 of the Parthenon. Plutus is called out, and the procession forms, 
 The old woman is induced to take part with the promise that she 
 shall have her young man in the evening. The Exodos consists of 
 two anapaestic lines in which the Chorus declare that they will 
 follow in the procession with songs. 
 
 6. The Problem of the final Marriage 
 
 The above review of the whole series of Aristophanic plays 
 establishes that a ' marriage ' with its accompanying Kdmos is the 
 canonical ending of the oldest extant Comedy. This fact has not 
 been sufficiently considered. The neglect is, no doubt, due to our 
 famiUarity with innumerable comedies, romances, and novels, 
 which terminate in a happy marriage. Such a finale is as regular 
 in these forms of literature as the death of the hero is in Tragedy 
 But, for reasons that will soon appear, this is not the last word 
 on the matter. A moment's reflection will show that, whereas a 
 marriage is the natural ending led up to by the whole course of 
 the modern romantic love-story, there is nothing whatever in the 
 previous incidents of an Aristophanic plot to prepare the spectator 
 for any such conclusion. The formula of the romantic plot ii 
 modern comedies and novels, reduced to its barest and most abstract 
 form, would be something of this sort. Two young lovers, prevented 
 by circumstances from attaining their desires, are, after various 
 dangers and adventures which bring them to the brink of despair, 
 at last united by a sudden turn of good fortune and live happily 
 ever afterwards. If illustration were needed. The History of Tom 
 
 ' 1040 ; Old Woman, c'oixe S' iirl KUjxav /SuS/feij'. 
 
 Ghor. <l>aLv€Tai' 
 
 <!Ti(j)aLVOv y4 Toi Kal S^S' Ix'^" TropeiieraL. 
 
THE EXODOS 17 
 
 Jones, which stands at the head of the great series of English novels, 
 is a typical instance. The tradition of this romantic plot might be 
 followed up through renaissance and mediaeval novels to the 
 romances of later antiquity, such as Daphnis and Ghloe. Another 
 line would lead through the learned Comedy, influenced by Plautus 
 and Terence, back to a common source of both traditions, the 
 New Comedy of the Alexandrine age. There, for the first time, in 
 the plays of Menander and his fellows, appears this formula of 
 romantic love and its fortunes, in its necessary outlines already 
 complete. 
 
 But, if we seek to trace its ancestry still farther back, we 
 
 shall find that its essential elements — the conception of romantic 
 
 love itself, and the various plot motives, such as the child lost or 
 
 exposed in infancy or captured by pirates and other evil-doers — 
 
 are derived, not from the stock-in-trade of Aristophanes and his 
 
 predecessors, but directly from the Tragedy of Euripides. The 
 
 plays of Aristophanes ^ — and the same is true of all fifth-century 
 
 Comedy at Athens, so far as we know it — are entirely free from 
 
 any conception of romantic love. The hero is normally an old man 
 
 {yepcDv), who is married already and has grown-up children. The 
 
 youthful and romantic heroine is conspicuously absent. Where 
 
 there is a heroine at all — a Lysistrata or a Praxagora — she replaces 
 
 '■ the hero, and she is not merely married, but distinguished for her 
 
 Ihostihty to the other sex. The courtesan or allegorical personage 
 
 ' who is the female partner in the ' marriages ' we have reviewed, is 
 
 a mute figure with no other part in the action ; in no sense the 
 
 I heroine of the play. The plots, again, do not turn on the interests 
 
 'or fortunes of love. They are concerned with the rival merits of 
 
 iwar and peace, the Athenian passion for serving on juries, the sex 
 
 i strike as a weapon in pohtics, the founding of a city in the air, the 
 
 I superiority of Aeschylus and the culture of his generation over the 
 
 inew culture of Euripides and the Sophists. No one, setting out to 
 
 I read a series of comedies dealing with social and literary themes of 
 
 ithis sort and totally devoid of love-interest, would dream of expect- 
 
 iing that nearly all of them would end with a Kdmos-Tpvocession and 
 
 a marriage. There is in the nature and whole treatment of the 
 
 subjects no reason whatever for such a termination. True, the 
 
 ' With the possible exception of his last play, the Cocalus, which appears to 
 have resembled the New Comedy. 
 
 B 
 
18 THE OBIGIN OF ATTIC COMEBY 
 
 satirical operas of W. S. Gilbert, the Victorian Aristophanes, end in 
 this way ; but then they are built round the love-story of the 
 traditional pattern with its youthful couple, now indispensable in 
 the hghter forms of Comedy. Strike these characters and theii 
 romance out of the play, and it would be as surprising to find 
 Gilbert's Chorus invariably singing the curtain down to the tune 
 of The voice that breathed o'er Eden, as it is to find the hymenad 
 hymn or the triumph song of the Olympic victor ending so many 
 of the plays of Aristophanes. 
 
 7. The Sacred Marriage 
 
 We are left, then, with a problem which cannot be lightly dis- 
 missed with false analogies from later forms of the comic art con- 
 ceived on a radically diSerent plan. This canonical marriage is 
 so far from being dictated by the social and literary themes of the 
 OIH Comedy, or demanded by the general design of the plays them-, 
 selves, that it cannot be regarded as the product of poetic invention, 
 working free from any sort of tradition. Yet it certainly cannot 
 be accounted for by any hterary convention known to us. I do 
 not see what remains but to suppose that the tradition which lies 
 I behind this standing feature of the comic plot is not literary, hut 
 ! ritual. This hypothesis cannot be proved outright. It will, how- 
 ever, become increasingly probable when we go on later to examine 
 other fixed incidents of the plot, notably the Agon, which is equally 
 important and no less canonical. We shall also have to consider 
 in the next chapter how this supposition squares with the literary 
 tradition, which for the present we have left on one side. But 
 before we do so, it will be well to take account of the implicatiom 
 of the hypothesis itself— to make out precisely what it is that w ■ 
 are supposing, when we take this marriage to be the survival of one 
 moment in a ritual action' older than any form of comic literature, 
 A ritual marriage means a ' sacred marriage ' (tepo? <yd/j,o(s), as 
 the Greeks called it ; and in a sacred marriage the bridegroom and 
 bride are the representatives of divine or spiritual beings, the powers 
 of fertiUty in nature, however these may be conceived.^ Suci 
 rituals are mimetic in two ways. 
 
 1 This whole aubjeot has been so abundantly elucidated by Prazer, The Mm 
 Art, vol. ii. (London, 1911), that I limit myself to a bare mention of the points 
 flhioh here oonoern us. 
 
THE EXODOS 19 
 
 In the first place, their object, which is to promote fertility of 
 all lands, is efEected by the methods of mimetic (' sympathetic ') 
 magic : a sexual union is consummated or feigned in order that 
 all natural powers of fertility may be stimulated to perform their 
 function and give increase of crops and herds and of man himself. 
 Between the imitative rite and the natural events it is intended to 
 cause there is the bond of sympathetic mimesis, consisting in the 
 actual likeness of the act ritually performed to the desired event. 
 
 In the second place, where the belief in spirits and Gods has 
 taken a more definite shape, a further element of mimesis comes in. 
 Instead of trusting, as of old, to the direct sympathetic operation 
 of their own act, the worshippers may specially designate two 
 individual performers to impersonate the divine husband and wife, 
 whose union now stands as a type for all the corresponding 
 processes in nature. We have here the essential of dramatic 
 representation (mimesis) — an assumed character impersonated or 
 incarnated in a human actor. -^ 
 
 The pair often represent, under a more or less transparent disguise, 
 the two great agents of vegetable fertility, the Earth-mother and 
 the Heaven-father, whose rain falls in a life-giving stream into the 
 womb of Earth. In Greece there is the marriage of Zeus and Demeter 
 at Eleusis, or of Zeus and Hera in various other cities. In these 
 cases, the divine beings have reached the stage of fully anthropo- 
 morphic development. There are also clear traces of a stage in 
 which the divinity was conceived in animal form, as a bull, a goat, 
 or a ram, and the worshippers disguised themselves in the skins of 
 the sacred beast. We hear of bands of dancers caUing themselves 
 Goats {Tpdyoi) or Rams {Tkvpoi) ^ ; and, if the common account 
 is true, these and their congeners, the Satyrs, are very nearly 
 related to the sister form of drama. Tragedy. In other instances, 
 the spirit of fertiUty may be Dionysus himself, or the vaguer figure 
 of Phales, who is little more than the emblem of human procrea- 
 tion, the 'phallus, barely personified. We shall presently examine 
 Aristotle's statement that Comedy took its rise in the Phalhc per- 
 formances, in honour of Phales himself, who in the ' Phallic Song ' 
 was invoked to be present at the dance and procession of his wor- 
 shippers. In the plays of Aristophanes we find the protagonist, 
 
 ' 0. Kern (Tityroi, Hermes, 1913, p. 318) concludes that Tityroi are rams, 
 just as T(i&yoi are he-goats. 
 
20 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 certainly in some cases and possibly in all, wearing an artificial 
 phallus as part of his costume.^ We have seen too, that he regularly 
 leads a Kdmos at the end, as male partner in a marriage. If we 
 are right in supposing that this is the survival of a ritual marriage, 
 little doubt can remain as to the further point that, in that case, 
 the protagonist in Comedy must originally have been the spirit of 
 fertility himself, Phales or Dionysus. Who else, indeed, can lead 
 the K6mos from which, in all probability. Comedy {Ktofi-mhia) 
 derives its name ? 
 
 8. The New God and the New King 
 
 There are some further remarkable features of Aristophanes' 
 plays which seem to gain a fresh significance in the light of our 
 hypothesis, and to these we must now turn. Where the ritual oft 
 a sacred marriage is performed, it is always periodic and nearlyf 
 always annual, for the simple reason that the fertihty of the Eartlil 
 needs to be renewed after every winter. The ritual, therefore, 
 involves a succession of human representatives, a new impersonator 
 of the God at each festival. The new God is also a new King— 
 a title still given to the May Kings, Leaf Kings, Grass Kings, whose 
 marriage with their Queens is celebrated at the spring and summer 
 festivals of modern Europe.^ Dr. Frazer's researches have shown 
 how the conceptions of God and King meet in the functions attri-| 
 buted to the King in early society, the magical control of the thundew 
 and rain, and, therefore, of the fertility of the Earth. One funda- 
 mental idea of such festivals, accordingly, is the succession of a 
 new divine King to one who stands for the old year whose powers 
 have failed in the decay of winter. We shall later have occasion 
 to note the varieties of dramatic symbohsm in which this idea is 
 expressed. It may be figured as the expulsion or death of Winter, 
 while Summer is brought in ; or the young King may kill the old 
 and marry his wife or daughter ; or, again, the God may be put to 
 
 ^ Cases which seem to me indisputable are Philooleon in the Wasps (1343), 
 Euripides' kinsman in the Thesmoph. (62, 239(?), 643, 1114). Trygaeus in the 
 Pax (142) seems very probable ; of. Sohol. adloc. to alSoiov SeUvmi. The wearing 
 of the phallus is not confined to the protagonist. It is worn, for instance, by the 
 Sp.irtan envoys at Lysistrata, 991. The question, which has been much debated, 
 will be discussed later, p. 183. 
 
 2 See Frazer, The Magic Art, chap. a. 
 
THE BXODOS 21 
 
 death and rise again in renewed youth, and vigour. That such 
 conceptions are at home in the cult of Dionysus is so well known 
 that we need not dwell upon the point here : some of the actual 
 rites will be discussed later. What now concerns us is to point out 
 that in several of Aristophanes' plays this idea of the succession of 
 a new God or King of fertility is prominently associated with the 
 concluding marriage and triumph. 
 
 9. The New Zeus in the Birds 
 
 When Pisthetairos propounds to the Birds his design of founding 
 a new City in the air,i he begins with the startling declaration that 
 the Birds were once kings over all, even over Zeus himself ; nay, 
 their sovereignty is older than Kronos and the Titans. If they 
 had duly thumbed their Aesop, they would remember that the Lark 
 was the first bird, and, being older than the Earth itself, had nowhere 
 to bury her father, save in her own head. How much more are 
 they older than the Gods. (' Zeus,' interposes Euelpides, ' will 
 soon give back his sceptre to the woodpecker.') After other proofs 
 of the royal powers once enjoyed by the Cock over the Persians,^ 
 the Hawk over the Greeks, and the Cuckoo over the orientals, 
 Pisthetairos, in the second part of his discourse, tells the Birds how 
 to recover their kingdom. They must fortify the air all round, like 
 Babylon, with baked bricks, and then, if Zeus refuse to abdicate, 
 declare a holy war upon heaven, debar the Gods from visiting 
 mortal women, and send a herald to mankind to bid them sacrifice 
 first to the Birds, before they offer anything to the Gods. (' Now 
 let Zeus thunder ! ' interjects Euelpides.) If man will not respect 
 them, all the seed of his crops shall be eaten up by the fieldfares 
 and the eyes of his cattle pecked out. Then let Demeter give them 
 corn, if she can ! If mankind is submissive, the Birds will spare 
 their fruits, give them omens, find hidden treasure to enrich them, 
 ^nd bestow on them health and lives as long as the crow's. They 
 will make much better kings than Zeus.' The Birds are beside 
 themselves with enthusiasm, and in the Parabasis they confirm 
 
 1 Birds, 462 ff. 
 
 ' Later in the phy (828) Athena PoUas ia rejected aa guardian divinity of the 
 new CJity, and replaced by the Cook. 
 ' 611 : Etielp. dis iroWifi Sij KpetrTovs oStoi toO AiAs iiiup ^aaiKeieiV. 
 
22 THE OBIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 these promises. The City is built, and the Gods are starved into 
 making terms.^ 
 
 The final scene shows us Pisthetairos, dressed in his bridal robe, 
 and hailed not only as King of the new city, with the Queen of 
 Heaven for his bride, but also as a new Zeus — a new master of the 
 thunder and fertihsing rain. "VThe details here are significant, 
 because the whole passage institutes an elaborate comparison 
 between Pisthetairos and the Olympic victor.^ This analogy is 
 peculiarly instructive. 
 
 We have seen how the appearance of Pisthetairos and his bride, 
 Basileia, is compared by the messenger in words of almost Aeschylean 
 grandeur, to the Sun and Moon shining in all the splendour of their 
 golden rays, and how, in the hymenaeal song that follows, their 
 wedding is likened to the marriage of Zeus and Hera, driven by 
 Bros in a chariot with golden reins. The same conjunction of ideas 
 seems to have been attached to the pair of Olympic victors — the 
 winner of the chariot-race and the winner of the Virgins' race at 
 the Heraea. As I have argued elsewhere,^ this couple, whose 
 prototypes are Pelops and Hippodameia in Pindar's First Olympian 
 Ode, were regarded as periodic representatives of Zeus and Hera, 
 and also as impersonating the Sun and Moon, united in one form 
 of that sacred marriage which was often celebrated at midsummer 
 feasts. Like Pelops and Hippodameia, the Sun and Moon are 
 represented both in art and in literature, though-rn-despite-^-natnrah~ 
 
 ' At 1514 Prometheus, describing their distress, says simply, 'It is all over 
 with Zeus ' (a.iroXiii'Kep 6 Zeis). 
 
 2 This was observed by Mr. M. S. Thompson of Aberdeen, who, after readiug 
 my chapter on the Olympic Games in Miss Harrison's Themis, pointed out the 
 comparison in a letter to Miss Harrison, which she has kindly communicated 
 to me. 
 
 3 In Miss Harrison's Themii, p. 224 flf. , following a suggestion from Mr. A. B. 
 Cook. Dr. Frazer independently reached the same conclusion. He writes 
 {G. B.', pt. iii. p. 91) •• ' If the olive-crowned victor in the men's race at Olympia 
 represented Zeus, it becomes probable that the olive-crowned victor in the girls' 
 race, which was held every fourth year at Olympia in honour of Hera, repre- 
 sented in like manner the god's wife; and that in former days the two to- 
 gether acted the part of the god and goddess in that sacred marriage which is 
 known to have been celebrated in many parts of Greece. This conclusion is 
 confirmed by the legend that the girls' race was instituted by Hippodamia in 
 gratitude for her marriage with Pelops ; for if Pelops as victor in the chariot-race 
 represented Zeus, his bride would naturally play the part of Hera. But under 
 the names of Zeus and Hera the pair of Olympic victors would seem to have 
 really personated the Sun and Moon, who were the true heavenly bridegroom 
 and bride of the aucient octennial festival.' 
 
THE EXODOS 23 
 
 -^iaStej as driving together in one chariot across the sky.^ The story 
 of Pelops also preserves the Agon between the young King and the 
 old weather and fertility Eng, Oenomaus, who is slain with his own 
 spear. '^ The Olympic victor, as a new incarnation of Zeus, wields 
 his royal and divine powers of control over the weather. His 
 attributes are worn by Salmoneus, who defied Zeus and essayed 
 to mimic the sky-god's thunder.^ So, in the Birds, Pisthetairos 
 comes ' brandishing the thunderbolt, the winged shaft of Zeus,' ^ 
 while all the circle of the sky is filled with the smoke of incense. 
 
 For we have already been told that Basileia, like Athena in 
 Aeschylus, has the keys of her father's thunder, with which go all 
 the attributes of the Heaven-father.* When the Chorus are bidden-, 
 after their hymenaeal song, to celebrate ' the thunders underground 
 and the fiery liglitnings of Zeus and the dread flashing thunderbolt/ _, 
 they break out into a song which declares that Pisthetairos'ls now 
 ' master of everything that belongs to Zeus ' : it is he who now will 
 shake the earth with rumbUng thunders that bring the rain.^ He 
 is not merely like Zeus, but, transfigured in the beauty of his renewed 
 youth,® he is a new Zeus, a new lord of the thunders and dispenser 
 of the fertilising rain. He demands to be escorted to ' the floor of 
 Zeus and his bridal bed.' '^ 
 
 The whole point is summed up in the last words of the Exodos : 
 ' Hurrah for the victor ! highest of the Gods ' — 
 
 Trji'€A.A.a KaWivLKO^, 3> 
 SaLiiovtov virepraTe. 
 
 Pisthetairos, leading* the procession of the Chorus, as the Olympic 
 
 1 For references see J. E. Harrison, Themis, pp. 200, 227. 
 
 2 On the fifth century Krater figured and interpreted by A. B. Cook, 
 Class. Rev. xvii. (1903) p. 275 ; T/iemis, pp. 80, 223. 
 
 ' 1714 : irdXXwi' Kepavvdv, Trrepo^opov Aios (3^Xos. 
 * 1537 : Pisth. tIs ianv ^ ^aa'CKua ; 
 
 Prom. KoWldT-q Kbp-q 
 
 ijirep rapueOet tov Kepavvov toO Atos 
 ical rdW avaii-iravra , . . 
 Aesoh. Eum. 829 : Ath. K&yu> T^woiBa Z-qvl, koI ri Set \ifei.v ; 
 KoX (cXgSas olSa du/idrav piv-q BeCiv 
 iv ^ Kepavvos icmv e(r<ppayt(Tp.ipoi. 
 ' See the lines quoted in the note on p. 13, u. 3. 
 
 " 1724 : ffl 0eC 0cC ttjs Upas rod KdXXous. The context shows that these words 
 refer to Pisthetairos, who is changed from an old man into a youthful bride- 
 groom. The meaning of this rejuvenation will appear later. 
 ' 1757 : ivl Ti-iSav Aios | Koi \ixos yap.iiKiov. 
 8 1755 : Pisth. iveaSe vvv ydp.ouTiv . . . 
 
24 THE ORIGIN OP ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 victor led the Komos of his friends in the evening celebrations, is 
 hailed in the words of the Song of Archilochos, consecrated to that 
 occasion. We have noted already that the same song seems to 
 have served for the Exodos of the Acharnians, and perhaps also of 
 the Knights. When we remember that the protagonist who is 
 f^ted in the torchlit Kdmos of Comedy, is normally also the victor 
 ia the Agon at the beginning of the play, we may suspect something 
 more than a superficial analogy between the progranmie of ritual 
 action which we suppose to underlie the comic plot, and the pro- 
 gramme of the great panhellenic festival. How complete the 
 analogy in fact is— whatever be the explanation — we shall see as 
 we proceed. 
 
 10. The Sacred Marriage of Dionysus and the Queen 
 at Athens 
 
 The identity of Pisthetairos' bride, Basileia, has been much 
 debated.^ Whoever she may be, she is certainly the partner in 
 a sacred marriage and her husband is a God. She is a ' Queen,' 
 and her husband is a new King. Mr. J. T. Sheppard has pointed 
 out that the last scene of the Birds could not fail to recall to the- 
 Athenian spectator the sacred marriage of Dionysus to the Queen- 
 {^aaiXiaraa), the wife of the King Archon, which was annually 
 celebrated, perhaps at the Anthesteria.^ ' Whatever the date of 
 the wedding,' says Dr. Frazer, ' its object can hardly have been 
 any other than that of ensuring the fertiUty of the vines and other 
 
 ^ Two recent contributions to the subject are : J. T. Sheppard, ' Ws iariv t) 
 /SofflXeia ; ' in Fasciculim loanni Willis Clark dicatus (Cantabrigiae, 1909), 
 pp. 529 ff. ; and A. B. Cook, ' Nephelokokkygia,' in Essays and Studies presented 
 to William Ridgeivay (Cambridge, 1913). Mr. Sheppard sees a reference, not only 
 to the sacred marriage of Zeus and Hera, but also to the sacred marriage of 
 Dionysus and the Athenian paalXiaaa. My own argument seems to confirm 
 this view, which is anticipated by J. E. Hirrison, Myth, ond Moil, of Anc. 
 Athens (1890), p. 52. 
 
 = SeeJ. G. Frazer,(?.B. •',Jlfa(7i>.4w, vol. ii.(London,1911),p.l3Gff., who points 
 out that, while the Queen took her oath of purity at the Anthesteria, there is 
 no positive evidence that the marriage was held at that festival. Mr. Cook, in 
 his brilliant restoration of the reliefs of the stage of Phaedrus in the Athenian 
 theatre {Zeiis, vol. i. p. 708, pi. xl. }, finds the scene of this sacred marriage 
 depicted on the third slab. The four slabs represent, he believes, (1) the birth 
 of Dionysus ; (2) his entrance into Attica ; (,S) the sacred marriage with the 
 Basilissa ; (4) Dionysus finally installed in his own theatre. 
 
THE EXODOS 25 
 
 fruit-trees, of which Dionysus was the god. Thus both in form and 
 in meaning the ceremony would answer to the nuptials of the King 
 and Queen of May/ It is not, of course, necessary to suppose an 
 exclusive reference to this ceremony ; the similar rite of marriage 
 between Zeus and Hera is also clearly referred to, and, as we have 
 argued above, probably the marriage of the pair of Olympic victors. 
 What is important to our argument is the indisputable fact that 
 the yearly ritual of Dionysus at Athens included precisely that rite 
 which we have supposed to be the basis of the canonical Exodos of 
 Aristophanes' plays. 
 
 1 1 . The New Zeus in the Plutus ^ 
 
 The case of Pisthetairos does not stand alone in Aristophanes. 
 The Plutus likewise ends with the plain declaration that the God of 
 Wealth has become a new Zeus, and the reign of the old Zeus is 
 ended. At his first appearance,^ Plutus has no sooner disclosed 
 his identity than he complains that Zeus in his jealousy blinded 
 him in his youth, to prevent him from carrying the blessings of 
 wealth to the just and virtuous only. If his sight is restored, he 
 promises to inaugurate a new reign of justice, but he fears that, if 
 he does so, Zeus may blast him.^ Chremylus protests : ' Why, do 
 you suppose that Zeus' kingly power and those thunderbolts of 
 his will be worth twopence, if you get back your sight ? ' To what 
 does Zeus owe his rule ? To money, the gift of Plutus himself ! 
 For what else do men sacrifice to him ? Without Plutus' consent, 
 they will not even be able to pay for a victim, and the Gods will 
 starve. Plutus single-handed can overthrow the power of Zeus,* 
 and all will go well with mankind. The reader will notice how 
 closely this argument resembles Pisthetairos' discourse to the 
 Birds, and the means by which the new kingdom is established 
 are the same : the Gods are starved out and their ministers make 
 their submission. At the end of the play, not only does the priest 
 
 1 It will appear that the Plutus, though the latest of the plays, is in some 
 respects nearer in structure to the earliest plays than some of its predecessors. 
 The explanation probably lies in the fact that it is the second edition of a play 
 first produced in 408 (Schol. on Plutus, 173). 
 
 ■■i 87 ff. 
 
 3 119 : Plut. 6 Zerls /J-iv oBc . . . ei | iri/ffoir' &p ivLTpl^ue. 
 
 * 141 : SiffTe ToC Ai6s | t^h Sivajuv, f/v Xviry ti, /cdTaXiio-eis fiivos. 
 
26 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 of Zeus transfer his services to the new God, but the divine lacquey, 
 Hermes, after blustering threats of Zeus' vengeance on the whole 
 house of Chremylus, is tempted by the offer of food to take a 
 situation in Plutus' household. 
 
 The new Saviour Zeus is to be installed in the back-chamber of 
 the Parthenon. The conjunction of Zeus Soter and Athena Soteira 
 is known to us from inscriptions. They had a common sacrifice 
 at the Diisoteria,^ and one of the seats in the theatre is inscribed 
 with the title of their common priest.^ The obvious reason for 
 installing Plutus in this chamber is that it was the treasury of the 
 state ; and that, no doubt, is what Aristophanes intends. But, in 
 the light of a conjecture of Mr. Cook's,^ we may perhaps see a 
 further significance, curiously suitable to our own hypothesis, and, 
 for all we know to the contrary, familiar to the minds of Aristophanes 
 and his audience. In discussing the plan of the Erechtheum, Mr. 
 Cook has argued that the back-chamber of the Goddess' temple was 
 nothing less than the room occupied by her divine husband. He 
 believes that when Peisistratus drove into the city with a woman 
 habited as Athena at his side and re-established his tyranny, he 
 wished the people to regard him in this light and to see the Goddess 
 escorting her consort to her dwelling on the Acropolis. H this is so, 
 we have here an historic instance of the new King going in proces- 
 sion with his divine bride, and Peisistratus must have reUed on the 
 conception being famiUar to the simple-minded folk in ritual. 
 
 To this I would add a further point. I have elsewhere * tried to 
 show that the sacred marriage of Kore and Pluto at Eleusis is to 
 
 1 C.I. A. ii. 469, 326. 
 
 ^ G.I. A. iii. 281 : 'lepras Ai4s Sur^pos /cai 'Ad-qvas Xurdpat. 
 
 ' Mr. Cook kindly allows me to mention this conjecture, whioh is as yet 
 unpublished. He writes to me in a letter dated 8th September 1913 : ' Briefly 
 my point was this. The Ereohtheion (almost certainly), the Hekatompedon 
 (certainly), the earlier Parthenon (probably), and the Parthenon (certainly), 
 were double temples, the western part being completely cut oflT from the eastern. 
 Why ? Possibly because the western part was reserved originally for the king 
 or human consort of the goddess. The Erechtheion presupposes a palace. 
 Peisistratos was escorted by Athena to the Acropolis. Demetrios Poliorketes, 
 who posed as Zeus, was domiciled in the western part of the Parthenon.' 
 Wieseler {Adversaria in Aesch. Prom. V. et Ar. Aves, Gottingae, 1843, p. 124) 
 identified the Basileia of the Birds with Athena ; cf. Tz. in Lye. AL, 'AfiTji'p rm 
 jSoffiXfSi Tjj Kal BoXcvIkxi \eyofihii, Ovyarpi Si 'Bpovriov iirapxaia-g. 
 
 * F. M. Cornford, The 'Awapxal and the Meusinian Mysteries in Essays and 
 Studies presented to William Ridgeway (Cambridge, 1913). 
 
THE EXODOS 27 
 
 be explained as the descent of the Corn-maiden into the under- 
 ground storehouse after harvest, in order that she may be fertiUsed 
 by the God of the grain-store and re-emerge as seed for the new 
 sowing in autumn. The Plutus, the wealth, of a primitive com- 
 munity consists quite as much in the precious store of grain on 
 which the next harvest depends as in gold and silver, and we are 
 familiar with representations of Plutus as an infant holding the 
 cornucopia filled with the fruits of the year. If the back-chamber 
 of the Goddess' temple originally contained the store of grain as 
 well as other treasures, the Eleusinian sacred marriage would come 
 into line with Mr. Cook's conjecture. Nor is other confirmation 
 lacking, once more in curious agreement with what we have said 
 earlier. A votive relief discovered in 1893 near the Southern Long 
 Wall between Athens and Phalerum shows Echelos and Basile 
 (inscribed) driving together in a chariot conducted by Hermes. 
 It has been pointed out ^ that they are the counterparts of Pelops 
 and Hippodameia, and that the relief witnesses to the otherwise 
 unknown legend of the founding of the contests at the Athenian 
 Hippodrome, which was situated in Echehdai near the herdon 
 of Echelos. Usener ^ identified Basile with the Queen of Heaven ; 
 others maintain that she is a variant of Persephone and lady of 
 the underworld.^ The dispute is unimportant : in either case she 
 is the bride in a sacred marriage.* There is just the same ambiguity 
 about the divine bride of Trygaeus in the Peace, Opora, Fruits-of- 
 Summer; Trygaeus goes up, like Bellerophon, to heaven, receives 
 her from Hermes, and brings her down to earth ; yet she is at the 
 same time an attendant of the Goddess Eirene, who rises from 
 underground. When we put all these cases in conjunction, we are 
 perhaps justified in adding the Exodos of the Plutus to the Ust of 
 plays which end in a divine marriage. Whether this be so or not, 
 we have at any rate a clear case of the new God whose reign 
 supersedes that of Zeus. 
 
 12. Trygaeus as Bellerophon in the Peace 
 The Peace, like the Birds, is based on the general idea of the man 
 
 1 See Milchhbfer in Pauly-Wissowa, s.v. Echelidai. 
 
 2 GStternarmn, 230. 
 
 ^ Robert and Ed. Meyer, Hermes, xxx. (1895) 286. 
 
 ■* Basile has actually been identified with the Basileia of the Birds by 0. Kern, 
 Pauly-Wiss. iii. 41. 
 
28 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 who scales heaven to beard Zeus in his own domain, and returna 
 to earth with a celestial bride. Trygaeus, mounting through the 
 air on his dung-beetle, is modelled on the Bellerophon of Euripides' 
 tragedy. His ' madness," of which his slave complains, is hke that 
 of Salmoneus. ' He stands all day looking up at the sky, gaping 
 hke this, and abuses Zeus.^ He says, " Zeus, what dost thou 
 mean to do ? Put down that besom ; do not sweep Hellas clean 
 away ! " ' 2 Resolved upon reaching the presence of the God, he 
 has tried various unfortunate means of scahng the sky, and at last 
 found his Pegasus in the reluctant and gluttonous beetle. He 
 means to ask Zeus himself, once for all, what his intentions 
 are.^ Aristophanes, as always, refrains from bringing Zeus upon 
 the scene. When Trygaeus asks for him, Hermes makes excuses 
 for his absence, and only Polemos appears. Trygaeus, of course, 
 carries his point with Hermes, whom he induces to help in dragging 
 up Peace from her underground cavern and to give him the divine 
 bride, whose spousals are celebrated in the hymenaeal Exodos. 
 The play thus presents the New Zeus motive in a milder form. 
 
 13. The New Zeus in the Clouds 
 
 v 
 
 AVith the two examples before us, in the Birds and Plulus, of 
 plays ending with the installation of a new Zeus, we gain a fresh 
 light on the peculiar economy of the Clouds. This play presents 
 the same idea, only in an inverted form : the place of Zeus is 
 temporarily usurped by a new-fangled deity, Dinos, who is dethroned 
 at the end, while Zeus is restored. 
 
 When Strepsiades has submitted to the instructions of Socrates, 
 
 ' The description recalls the attitudfr.of Salmoneus on the vase above referred 
 to (p. 23, n. 2). Salmoneus stands with head thrown back and looking upwards, 
 while he brandishes a sword as if threatening Zeus, whose thunderbolt he holds 
 in his other hand. 
 
 ' 56 : Sl' iifdpas yap is rhv ovpavby (SX^wk 
 
 (iiSl KEXV^^^ XotSopeiTat ry Sii 
 Kal (pi}(!i.v a Zed, ri iroTf (SouXeiiei iroierr ; 
 KariBov t6 xipTjMa" M') 'KKSpa t^v 'EXKdSa. 
 ' 103 : Slave. . . . Sttoi TrireirBiu Siavoei. 
 
 Tryg. ' t( 5' dXXo 7' f, 
 
 ws rbv At' cs rhv ovpavdv ; . . . 
 iprjffd/Meros iKelvov 'EXXtJ^wv iripL 
 aTTa^amivTUtv rt iroLfiv /SovXeiJcrat. 
 
THE BXODOS 29 
 
 the adept in the mysteries of the meteorosophists, and the Clouds 
 have made their majestic entrance, the first and greatest secret of 
 the new irreUgion is revealed.i^-These Clouds, says Socrates, are 
 the only divinities ; all the rest is rubbish. ' But Zeus,' exclaims 
 the astounded neophyte, ' our Olympian Zeus, is he not a God ? ' 
 ' Nonsense,' replies Socrates ; ' what do you mean by Zeus ? 
 There is no Zeus.' ' What do you say ? Then, who is it who 
 sends the rain ? ' ' Why, the Clouds of course ! Did you ever see 
 it rain without clouds ? If Zeus sends the rain, he might as well 
 send it from a clear sky and give the clouds a holiday.' It is the 
 Clouds, too, whose rolling motion causes the thunder. ' But who 
 makes them move ? Is it not Zeus ? ' ' Certainly not ; it is Dinos, 
 the heavenly Whirl.' ' Dinos ! — and I never knew there was no 
 Zeus, but Dinos now is king instead of him ! ' ^ 
 
 When the new doctrine has been brought to the reach of 
 Strepsiades' intelligence by homely analogies, he raises the objec- 
 tion : ' Whence comes the thunderbolt, flashing with fire, that 
 strikes and shrivels us, and scorches where it does not kill ? This, 
 at any rate, is clearly sent by Zeus to fall upon the perjurers.' The 
 answer is forcible : we need not look far to find perjurers who have 
 never been blasted ; and the bolt quite as often strikes the temple 
 of Zeus himself or his own trees, the oaks, which cannot be guilty 
 of impiety. The thunderbolt is explained physically by the action 
 of a dry wind on the clouds. 
 
 The deposition of Zeus by the usurping Dinos leads to conse- 
 quences which, at the end of the play, finally revolt Strepsiades, 
 when he hears the same doctrine from the lips of his son. In 
 Pheidippides' mind it has led to the practical conclusion that there 
 is no harm in beating his father.^ The incident is the occasion of 
 the Agon,^ in which the young man all but triumphs over the old, 
 were it not that his offer to maintain the ' worse reason ' and prove 
 
 1 365 ff. 
 
 ^ 380 : Streps. A!vos ; tovtI /j,' i\e\'/i$eiv, | 6 Zeis oiiK Siv, dXX' dvr' airov Awos 
 vvvl pariXeiav. It is not accidental that ' O King Zeus ! ' was formerly 
 Strepsiades' favourite oath, Clouds 1, & ZeD ^aaiXeO rd XPW" t"'' "inTUv Saov, 
 and 153, ffl ZeO jSao-iXeB r^s Xeirr^TT/T-os rfiy <ppevui>. Perhaps 7ra/i^a(r(Xeia 'AjraiAXi; 
 (1150) might be regarded as the wife of Dinos, the impious counterpart of the 
 Basileia of the Birds. (The Clouds are called Tra/t/SatriXeiai at 357.) 
 
 ' He has learnt from the Unjust Reason (904) that there can be no Justice, 
 or Zeus would have perished for binding his father Kronos. 
 
 " 1345 ff. 
 
30 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 the Tightness of beating his mother too, brings about a revulsion 
 in his father. Strepsiades calls upon him to respect Zeus Patr6os. 
 ' Hark at you with your Zeus Patr6os ! ' cries Pheidippides ; 
 ' how old-fashioned you are ! As if there were any Zeus ! ' ' There 
 is ! ' affirms Strepsiades emphatically. ' There is not/ answers hia 
 son ; ' Dinos has driven out Zeus, and he is King now.' ^ The old 
 man vehemently recants his former folUes, accusing the heavenly 
 Whirl of having turned his head. He calls for his slave to bring 
 a ladder and a mattock, and to cUmb on the philosophers' roof to 
 dig it down, while he himself takes a torch to set it on iire.^ Thus, 
 as if armed with the ' pick of Zeus ' and the Ughtning itself, he 
 batters and burns the dwelling of impiety. 
 
 That this analogy is present to Aristophanes' mind seems probable 
 in view of the similar threats exchanged by Iris and Pisthetairos in 
 the Birds. The usurping new Zeus of that play has just declared that 
 the Birds alone are gods, and men must not sacrifice to Zeus. Iris 
 bids him not to excite the awful anger of heaven, ' lest Justice, with 
 the pick of Zeus, overturn the whole race in one common destruction, 
 and the murky flame bring thy body and thy house to ashes.' 
 Pisthetairos, nothing daunted by this tragic outburst, retorts the 
 threat. If Zeus gives him any trouble, he will send his fire-bearing 
 eagles to burn down his house.^ In the Clouds, Strepsiades acts 
 
 ' 1468 : 8tr. val vai KaraiSiaBriTi. irarpiSov Aia. 
 
 Ph. lio6 ye Aia iraTpt^ov ' ws apxaios eT. 
 
 Zei>s yap rts ^(Ttlv ; 
 Str. iiTT.v. 
 
 P^. ovK far', oSk, iTel 
 
 Aii'O! /3o(ri\ei5et t6v AC ^fcXjjXoKus. 
 ' He is prompted to this by (the statue of) Hermes, whom he has asked not to 
 blast him for his former impiety, 1479 flP. Hermes, as usual, represents Zeus. 
 ^ 12,38 : Iris. S> /J.upe, p-dpc, ixtj deCbv Kivei. Spinas 
 
 Scivis, Swois |UiJ trou 7^1/os TavuiKedpov 
 Aios /ta^■^XX^; ttcLv avaaTpi^rj AlK-q, 
 XiyxiJs 5^ (TMjua Kal dd/iuv Tre/jlTrrux&s 
 KOLTaiSaXiicrri aou AiKV/nplats jSoXais. 
 Pisth. . . . 5p oTo-d' Sn Zeds et /le Xvrr-^ffet Hpa, 
 p,i\a8pa fih airroO Kal W/joks 'Ap.^loi/os 
 KaraidaXJiffoi irvptpiipoKriv alerois ; 
 The Scholiast on this passage quotes Soph. frag. 659 [Chrises), MaxAXp Zij^Js 
 i^ai'a<rTpa<f>iJ. The language of Cloud.'i 1486, ap-Lvii^v <j>ipuv . . . tJ riyoi Kuri- 
 o-KOTrT' recalls Aesoh. Again. .'525 : T^oloi' Kara^Kd^avrtx. toO SiKr/iphpov \ Aios fiaK^Wn, 
 and the Scholiast perhaps refers to similar phrases in his note on a/aviriv diri 
 ToO SUeXXai'. 
 
THE BXODOS 31 
 
 as the repentant minister of the old Zeus, now reinstated after the 
 interregnum of inverted morality and Ucence under Dinos.^ 
 
 There are thus three (or, if we count the Peace, four) plays of 
 Aristophanes whose chief motive is the accession of a new God to 
 the throne of the old Zeus. We must next turn to others, in which 
 the closely allied notion of the accession of a new King dominates 
 the plot and especially its end. 
 
 14. The New King in the Knights and the Frogs 
 
 Two other plays, the Knights and the Frogs, are ahke in that 
 there is in each a long struggle between two competitors for a seat 
 of honour, in presence of a judge who represents the Athenian 
 public of the fnyx (Demos) or the theatre (Dionysus). In the 
 Knights, the contest is, in a sense, between young and old, for the 
 Sausage-seller is supported by the youthful knights, while Cleon, 
 the Paphlagonian, appeals to the ' old men ' of the law courts.^ 
 The competition throughout is for the seat at the pubUc table in 
 the Prytaneum. Cleon's enjoyment of this privilege is repeatedly 
 mentioned, and the transference of it to his conqueror is the last 
 fruit of victory.^ But, though the Sausage-seller wins the wreath 
 and privileges of office and is hailed as kallinikos (1254),* while his 
 
 1 In view of the frequency of the New Zeus motive, it is curious that the Old 
 Man, Philooleon, in the Wa$ps, in the course of his Agon with the Young Man, 
 his son, compares his power in the law courts to the kingdom of Zeus : 620 8. 
 Up' oi) /leydXriv ipxh" &PX<^ ""■^ '"'''' ^'^' oiSiv iMrru, | SffTis i.Koiw TailB' Hvep 6 Zeiis ; 
 I ^v yoOv ■li/jieis Bopv^ijaoiix^v, \ ttSs rU (priffiv rav vapi.l>VTwv, \ oXov §povTq rb 
 Si.Kaa-T'fipi.ov, I S> ZeO /SairiXeO. | k&v itrTpd<j/a, iroinri^ovaiv \ KdyKexiSacrlv p.' oi 
 irXoi/ToCirfs | KoX vdvv a-eimoi. At the beginning of the Agon, he is addressed as 
 pleading for his kingdom : Tcpl rfji xdo-T/s p,i\\o>v pa<n\eias i,vn\oyfi<rei.v . 
 Bdelyoleon, beginning his reply in the Antepirrheme (662), addresses him as 
 Zeus : dXX' ffl Tdrfp -fifiireps KpovlSTj. There seems to be a faint reminiscence of 
 the Old King, or Old Zeus, defeated by the Young. 
 
 ^ 255 : Paph. Si y^pavres t/Xiao-rai, ippdrepa rpiu^SXav, . . . irapa^oTjSeiTe . . . 
 270 : Chor. liis S' i\al;x!iv, lis 5^ p,dff6\Tjs' cldes oV inripxerai | ucrirepel yipovras 
 7)p.as . . . 
 
 ' 1404 : Demos, xai a' dvH toiStuiv ^s t6 irpvTavciov koKSi 
 ' h TT]v iSpav 8', tv' iKcTvos fjv b ipappaxhs. 
 Earlier references are 280, 709, 766 (where, at the beginning of Agon II., Cleon 
 prays that if successful he may keep his seat in the Prytaneum), 823. 
 
 * It may be noted here that in the Knights the two suitors for the favour 
 of Demos, who are called his 'lovers' (Ipaarai), run a race while the object of 
 their affections 'plays the coquette ' : v. 1159, Saumge-seller : S.<pes dirb ^aX^lSav 
 
32 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 antagonist is reduced to his rival's former menial trade, the final 
 triumph is reserved for Demos himself. He has been promised by 
 the Sausage-seller that he shall drive in a golden chariot, wearing 
 a diadem and a purple robe bespangled with gold.^ In the last 
 scene he appears in all his glory and is saluted as ' monarch of 
 Hellas and of this land ' and ' King of the Hellenes.' ^ 
 
 In the Frogs, ^ we learn that it is a law in the underworld that 
 the best representative of any noble art shall be entertained in the 
 Prytaneum and have the seat next to Pluto, until a greater artist 
 come to dispossess him. Aeschylus has held the throne of Tragedy ; 
 but now Euripides has arrived, and, emboldened by his success 
 with the more disreputable characters in Hades, has laid claim to 
 the succession. The public have demanded a trial. Sophocles, 
 when he arrived, behaved very differently, kissing Aeschylus with 
 reverence and taking his hand ; and Aeschylus made room for him. 
 But in the present strife Sophocles will stand as odd man out, and 
 dispute the victory only if it falls to Euripides. When Aeschylus 
 is taken back to the upper world, he bequeaths his throne during 
 his absence to Sophocles.* 
 
 In both these plays the main interest turns on a contest for what 
 is, in a democracy, the nearest equivalent to a royal throne. The 
 Prytaneum, containing the common hearth and household gods 
 of the state, was a survival of the King's palace. Once more, too, 
 we find an analogy with the Olympic victor, who, at the conclusion 
 of the Games, was feasted in the Prytaneum. 
 
 It may be noted here that the greatest of all the demagogues, 
 Pericles himself, was again and again compared by the writers of 
 the Old Comedy to Zeus, and given the title of tyrant or king. 
 Kratinus calls him a tyrant born of the marriage of old Kronos 
 and the spirit of Eevolution, Stasis.^ Pericles is the ' squill-headed 
 
 4)1.4 re xai Tovrovi, | iVo a' eu iroiCifiev ii iVou. Demos: Spav tuvto. xpi). I &nrov. 
 Paph. : l5oij. Demos : Bioir' Hv. Saus. : iiroeeiv oi'k iii. \ Demos: aXK' ^ /icyaXm 
 fiiailxovi]tru Trifiepov \ iiri tG>v ipaaruv ; i/j; A/' ij 'yw Spitpofiai ; This race, which is 
 followed by a feast and sacriBoe in one (Neil on 1168) and the crowning of the 
 victor, saluted as KaWlvLKos (1254), resembles the race of suitors for the bride. 
 The Paphlagonian whose wreatli is taken a^^•ay is like Oenomaus, the defeated 
 old king. 
 
 ' 967. The Sausage-seller produces an ' oracle ' to this effect. 
 1330: Chor. 5eI|0Te riv ttjs 'EXXdSos vfuv xal ttjs 7^5 T^o-Se ixbvapxov 
 Xaip\ a fiaffiXeO rO>v 'BXXiJxoj;'. 
 
 » 761 ff. ' \h^:^ ff. 5 Frag. 240 K. 
 
THE EXODOS 33 
 
 Zeus who wears the Odeum on his head ' like a crown.^ With his 
 Olympian ligjitnings and thunders he confounds all Hellas, and 
 carries the thunderbolt in his tongue.^ The name of Hera was 
 satirically bestowed on Aspasia.^ In his Nemesis Kratinus repre- 
 sented the loves of Pericles and Aspasia under the guise of the 
 amours of Zeus and Nemesis. In the Ught of our inquiry, it seems 
 likely that these comparisons were, if not suggested, at least helped 
 out, by the New Zeus motive. 
 
 15. The Women Plays 
 
 The reign of Zeus stood in the Greek mind for the existing moral 
 and social order ; its overthrow, which is the theme of so many of 
 the comedies, might be taken to symbohse, as in the Clouds, the- 
 breaking up of all ordinary restraints, or again, as in the Birds 
 and the Plutus, the restoration of the Golden Age of Justice and 
 Lovingkindness, that Age of Kronos which hngered in the imagina- 
 tion of poets, like the after-glow of a sun that had set below the 
 horizon of the Age of Iron. The seasonal fegtixaJs of a Satornalian 
 character celebrated the return, for a brief interregnum, of a 
 primiti ye innocence Jihat knew not shame, and a liberty that at any 
 other time would have been Ucentious. Social ranks were inverted, 
 the slave exercising authority over the master. At Rome each 
 household became a miniature republic, the slaves being invested 
 with the dignities of office. A mock king was chosen to bear rule 
 during the festival, Uke the mediaeval Abbot of Unreason or Lord 
 of Misrule. 
 
 This idea may underhe the two plays of Aristophanes in which the 
 social position of men and women is reversed. In the Lysistrata 
 the women seize the Acropolis and refuse to have anything to do 
 with their husbands till the war shall be ended.* Praxagora, in the 
 
 ' Frag. 71 K : 6 o-x'i'Of^^aXos Zeils 'oSl irpoipx^TM \ 6 UepiK\iris, TipSelov lirl toS 
 Kpavlov I ^av. Plutarch Vit. Per. 13 : to 'OSefoK . . . eMpa X^yovcri. yevitreai koX 
 /il/xruia TTJs Pa<ri\iKijs aKrjvtji, ^jrtcTTOToOcTos koI Toirif HepiKKiovs. 
 
 2 Ach. 530. Plut. Vit. Per. 8 : al fiivrot KUfxifSlai. twv t6te hilo-UKSkav aTovS-g re 
 TToXXAs Kal licrk yiXwTos d^eiKdruv ^avdis els airiv iitl Tif Myip /tdXiffra ttJc 
 irpoaoiwiilav SifKomi., '^povrai/' iiiv airbv Kal ' iarpdirreiv,' Sre Srniriyopolv, ' Seivip Si 
 Kepavvbv iv yXiiaiT'ri <pipHV ' \ey6vTiiip. 
 
 3 KratinuB, frag. 241 K : Plut. Vit. Per. 24. 
 
 * Mr. A. B. Cook points out to me that the Lysistrata glances at the story of 
 the Amazons, who encamped on the Areopagus to attack the Acropolis. The 
 allusion actually occurs in the Parabasis, 678, ris S' 'Afxa^6pas (rKdvei, Ss MUoiv 
 lypatf' iip' Xwuv inaxop^pas reus avdpiicrip. 
 
 C 
 
34 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEBY 
 
 Ecclesiazusae, packs the assembly with women disguised in their 
 husbands' clothes, and by a snap vote puts her sex in absolute 
 authority over the state. She then estabhshes a Utopian Constitu- 
 tion, with a likeness, probably more than accidental, to some 
 features of Plato's EepubUc — a form of government more than once 
 compared by its author to the Reign of Kronos in the Golden Age. 
 In Aristophanes, the exchange of dress between the sexes reflects 
 a custom which frequently marks Saturnahan festivals.^ The 
 general atmosphere of hcence, and in particular the sexual freedom 
 which marks the Old Comedy, are explained and justified by the 
 persistence of these associations. The Golden Age is an extra- 
 ordinarily frequent motive in the Old Comedy. ^ 
 
 It can hardly be a mere chance that so many of the extant plays 
 are based on the general idea of an inversion of the existing order. 
 We have seen, too, how the notion of the new God or new King is 
 bound up with the Sacred Marriage, in which, year by year, a fresh 
 representative of the power of fertihty must take the part of divine 
 husband in the magical sacrament. From the fact that almost every 
 play ends with a 'marriage,' we have conjectured that what we called 
 the underlying plot-formula of the Old Comedy preserves the out- 
 Hnes of a ritual or folk drama performed at some seasonal festival. 
 Other fixed features of the comic plot have still to be examined, 
 with results which, it is hoped, will considerably strengthen our 
 hypothesis. But before we turn to them, we shall break ofi here 
 to ask how this supposition squares with the Uterary tradition of 
 the origin of Comedy. At the head of this external tradition stands 
 Aristotle ; and from his authoritative statement we must take our 
 start. 
 
 ^ The motive is used iu the Prologue of the Ecclesiazusae and in the 
 Thesmophoriazusae, where Euripides and his kinsman both disguise themselves 
 as women. Compare the female disguise of Pentheus, violating the mysteries of 
 the Maenads in the Bacchae. 
 
 ^ Athenaeus, vi. 267 B S., cites on this topic the Pluti of Kratinus, the Thena 
 of Krates, the Amphictyones of Telecleides, the Melaileis and Persai of Phere- 
 Urates, the Tagenistai of Aristophanes, the Thuriopersai of Metagenes, the 
 /Seirewes of Nicophon. Ct. ConB,t, Aristophane, -p. 199. Add to these the GoWen 
 Sace of Eupolis. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 THE PHALLIC SONGS 
 
 16. Aristotle's Statements about the Origin of Comedy 
 
 The loss of the second book of the Poetics, which dealt with Comedy, 
 leaves us in the main dependent on a few unsystematic remarks 
 dropped in the extant first book. It is true that the summary 
 known as the Tractatus Coislinianus ^ is supposed to be based on 
 the lost part of Aristotle's treatise ; but it tells us nothing about 
 origins. Perhaps this fact, coupled with Aristotle's own statement ^ 
 that the early stages of Comedy had left no record, because it was 
 for a long time an amateur performance not officially recognised, 
 makes it fairly certain that, if the lost book of the Poetics were 
 recovered, it would not add to our knowledge in this particular. 
 We fall back, accordingly, on the well-known passage in the fourth 
 chapter of Book i. A summary of the context will be useful here, 
 because we shall see later that the statement is incomplete, and 
 that this incompleteness is due to the general drift of the passage. 
 
 17. The Fourth Chapter of the Poetics 
 
 The chapter opens with a derivation of all poetry from the innate 
 human instinct for imjiatisce-cepigsgntaiiou (mimesis), aided by a 
 natural sense of harmony and rhythm. Starting from these original 
 aptitudes, men, by a series of gradual improvements on their first 
 efforts, ' created poetry out of their improvisations.' ^ 
 
 Poetry was divided into two kinds," according to the difference of 
 
 ' Published by Cramer, An. Par. i. 403, and discussed by Bernays, Zwei 
 Abhandl. iiher d. Ar. Theorie des Dramas, Berlin, 1880. It is now printed in 
 Kaibel's Com. Or. Frag. i. p. 50. 
 
 2 Poet. 5, 1449 a, 37. 
 
 * iy4vvri<rav t^p irolrjcriy ix rdv aiTO(XXfSMcrii,iT<av. 
 
 ^ Aristotle here follows Plato, who speaks of ' each of the two sorts of poetry,' 
 Theaet. 152 B, tSv ttohjtw o! S,Kpoi ttjs Toiriffews iKaripas, KU/iifSlas /ih 'Erlxap/Jios, 
 rpayifSlai 5i "Qp.ifpos. 
 
36 THE OBIGESr OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 character in the poets. The graver sort, representing noble persons 
 and actions, produced hymns and panegyrics ; the more frivolous 
 and worthless represented the actions of the ignoble, and composed 
 invectives (■\lr6yov<;). The natural metre for invective is the iambic 
 — a term, indeed, the use of which to describe this metre is derived 
 from these primitive invectives, for to ' iambise ' a person means to 
 make him the object of abuse, satire, lampoon, and ' it was in this 
 metre that they used to iambise one another.' ^ 
 
 There are thus two main traditions, the graver poets writing heroic 
 verse, the others iambic. Homer's position is pecuUar, for his 
 Margites gives him a place in the ancestry of Comedy, as the Iliad 
 and Odyssey make him the forerunner of Tragedy. When, however, 
 Tragedy and Comedy made their appearance, natural inclination 
 and the grandeur of these new forms drew the writers of epic 
 to become tragedians and the writers of iambic to take to Comedy. 
 
 Aristotle now goes back to his point that poetry had its origin in 
 improvisation ; and here comes (in a parenthesis) the most important 
 statement that ' Comedy originated with the leaders of the Phalhc 
 Songs, which survive to this day as institutions in many of our 
 states.' ^ He then passes on to describe the early phases of Tragedy. 
 To this meagre information the Poetics adds Uttle more than that 
 no record had been preserved of the early stages of Comedy, though 
 it is implied that a long course of development lay behind the ' late 
 moment ' in its history when - official recognition substituted a 
 regular Chorus for the amateur performers of its earlier phases — a 
 date now fixed at 488-7. We are only told that Comedy, in that 
 pre-official phase, had certain definite forms (i7;;^i7/iaTa), and it is 
 impUed that it had masks, a prologue, and a plurality of actors.^ 
 These last remarks we shall consider at a later stage. 
 
 ' iv Tip fiirpif Toirif id/ipil^oi> dXXijXow. Note that the phrase suggests a set 
 match in abuse or invective. Iambi is used of prose satire, tois KariXorfiSiiv 
 W/i/3ois, Ath. X. 445 B. Gorgias is said to have remarked of Plato's dialogue 
 called after him, ws KaXios otSc XlXiroiv laiJ.pi^ei.v, Ath. xi. 505 D. 
 
 * 1449 a, 9 : yevofi.ivrjt <5'> oHv dir' ipxv' airoaxeSiatmKris — xal oiirT) [i) TfiaytfSla) 
 Kai 7} icu/itpSia Kal rj /ih dTrJ tUv i^apxivTUv riv SiSipafi^ay, ii S^ dri tuv ri, 0ttXXu[4 
 & (ti Kal vvv iv jToXXors rdv irdXeuv Sianim vo/tifiyneva — kot4 /UKpbv 7ji)Ji)9)) (^ 
 rpayifidla) ktX. 
 
 " 1449 a, 37 : ol /iiu oSv t^s rpaytfiSias /ieTa/Sdireis Kai St' Siv ^y^voi-to oi \e\-^6a<rai, 
 T] Si Kia/UfiSia Sid t6 fii] trirouSdfetrSai i^ dpxiji (\a8cv • Koi yiip xop^" KUHifSuii d<j/( irore 
 6 ipxw iSuK(v, dXX' i$c\ovTai ^irav. ijSri Si irx'fll'^T& riva aiVr^s ^oiJo-ijs oi "Ke^biuvm 
 ain-Tii TTOirfTal luirtfiOveiovTai. ris Si Tp6<Twira iiriSwKef 1j irpoXi7oiis ^ 7rXi}6i) {nroKpiTiiv 
 Kai S<ro TotavTa, ijyv6riTai. For these last statements see below p. 216. 
 
THE PHALLIC SONGS 37 
 
 The statements of fact contained in this passage, though they are 
 sometimes lightly put aside, have the highest authority. None but 
 the most cogent reasons ought to make us reject them, so far as 
 they go. Until such reasons come to light, we shall take it as a 
 matter of history that Comedy had one root — probably its main 
 root— in the Phallika , which Aristotle speaks of as a well-known 
 and widespread institution in the Greece of his own day. 
 
 18. The Phallic Song in the Acharnians 
 
 The best illustration of what Aristotle means by ' the Leaders of 
 the Phallic Songs ' is provided by Aristophanes himself, who gives 
 us a miniature representation of the ritual in the scene which follows 
 the Parados of the Acharnians. This passage has often been dis- 
 cussed, but we must go back upon it once more, because it brings 
 out the point in which Aristotle's stafement needs to be supplemented. 
 
 The grim old charcoal-burners hi Acharnae, who form the Chorus 
 of the play, hav e got w ind_of Amphitheos, as he was returning with 
 specimens of wine for libations, which are to symbolise a private 
 treaty of peace he had been sent to conclude between Dikaiopolis 
 and Sparta. The emissary has barely had time to hand over the 
 thirty-years' sample before his pursuers are heard in full cry on his 
 tracks. Amphitheos makes a clean bolt, while Dikaiopolis retires 
 to his farm in the country,^ where the new-made peace enables him 
 to celebrate once more the Country Dionysia, intermitted during 
 six years of war. Pursuing their search, the Acharnians are startled 
 at hearing from within the farmhouse the ritual cry for silence ; and 
 inferring at once that their quarry must be close at hand, they 
 conceal themselves to catch him when he comes out. The cry 
 ' Silence ! Silence ! ' is again heard, and DikaiopoKs appears at his 
 front door, carrying a large pot and marshalUng a miniature proces- 
 sion, which consists of his daughter, as K mephoros , bearing on her 
 head the sacred basket containing the implements of sacrifice, and 
 two slaves holding erect a pole surmounted by the phalUc emblem. 
 When the procession has marched some way round the orchestra, 
 Dikaiopolis bids his daughter set down the basket, that they may 
 
 ' On the change of scene see Nilsson, Siudia, 69 S. If the 'stage' of 
 Aristophanes had, as is probable, the- same dimensions as those of the first 
 permanent stage bnildings, this long narrow space would allow of two or three 
 scenes being set simultaneously, as in the mediaeval mysteries. 
 
38 THE ORIGIN or ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 begin the sacrifice — a ceremony abridged to the pouring of soup 
 over a flat loaf. The celebrant, standing presumably before the 
 image of Dionysus set up in the theatre to watch the dramatic 
 performances, invokes the blessing of the God. The procession is 
 then re-formed and proceeds on its way, while DikaiopoUs sings the 
 hymn to Phales. Since he is both priest and congregation, he has 
 not only to perform the part of ' Leader ' of this Phalhc Song, but 
 also to act as his own Chorus. The form of the Song is important. 
 
 It opens with an invocation of Phales, the companion of Bacchus 
 in his nightly revels, who is greeted once more after six years of 
 neglect. This passage is no doubt sung by the ' Chorus.' It is 
 followed by iambic trimeters, evidently extemporised by the 
 ' Leader,' for they mention individuals by name. The tone and 
 subject are appropriate to the cult of a phallic divinity. The song 
 might be continued indefinitely on the same plan ; but it is inter- 
 rupted by the Acharnians breaking out from their hiding-place and 
 dispersing the procession with a shower of stones. 
 
 In spite of this curtailment, the scheme of the ritual performance 
 seems to be complete in outline. There is (1) a procession to the 
 place of sacrifice ; ^ (2) the sacrifice itself ; (3) the procession re- 
 sumed with a Kdmos song addressed to Phales^Tro/iTr??, Ovala, 
 K&/io<;, But what immediately concerns us is first the form, and 
 secondly the contents, of the PhalHc Song. 
 
 19. The form and content of the Phallic Song 
 
 We can now see what Aristotle means by the ' Leaders ' {i^dpxov- 
 re?) of the Phalhc Songs. The function of a leader, or leaders, is 
 characteristic of many types of popular poetry. The simplest case 
 of all is the work-song, or rudimentary chanty, used where some 
 piece of work performed by a number of persons at the same time 
 needs to be regulated in a recurrent rhythm.^ Thus, when the 
 Chorus of farmers in the Peace are hauhng up the image of the 
 Goddess, Hermes acts as ' leader ' with the cry " Heave-ho / ' (w eta), 
 
 1 Nilaaon's description of the scene [Studia, 91) ignores this first procession, 
 but the text (241-24:3) seems to imply it. I agree with the stage directions as 
 given in Starkie's edition. 
 
 ' An interesting, though one-sided, study of the relations of work to poetic 
 rhythm will be found in Biicher's Arbf.it und Rhythmus (4 Aufl., Teubner, 1909). 
 
THE PHALLIC SONGS 39 
 
 repeated by the Chorus at each pull on the ropes. ^ Again, there is 
 the boatswain's ' 0-op ' ; but instances need not be multiplied of 
 so universal a custom. On the basis of this simple practical device, 
 it is easy to trace the growth of poetical forms like the seaman's 
 chanty and a host of other work-songs. There is no line dividing 
 these work-songs from the recurrent cries of ritual, where the work 
 done is the magical or religious ' dance,' as when the priests of 
 Baal ' leaped up and down at the altar ' ^ on Carmel, calUng from 
 morning even until noon, ' Baal, hear us ! ' A similar form 
 survives in the Utanies of modern ecclesiastical use, where the priest 
 utters a series of short prayers, and the congregation join in a 
 recurrent response, -a 
 
 Another popular form, in which there are a number of ' leaders,' 
 who improvise in succession, is the Lament. The classic instance 
 is the mourning for Hector at the end of the Iliad? As soon as the 
 body is laid upon a bed in the palace, the women gather round, and, 
 one after another, Andromache, Hecuba, and Helen ' lead the 
 wailing.' Each utters her grief in eloquent words, and, as she ends, 
 the whole company howl together. In this case the improvised 
 solos are, of course, ' serious ' (airovhala, as Aristotle would say) ; 
 but on happier occasions the same form naturally lent itself to 
 encomia of a hghter kind ; for instance, the Marriage Songs — 
 hymenaeal and epithalamium — with their ribald stanzas and the 
 refrain ' Hymen, Hymenaee ! ' * 
 
 We approach still nearer to what Aristotle indicates, in the Chil- 
 dren's Songs which accompany the quete in the festal processions 
 of many countries. In these there is commonly a choral verse 
 sung by the whole company at every house-door as they come to it. 
 Then follows that other element mentioned by Aristotle, of im- 
 provised ' iambic,' often taking the form of imprecations upon the 
 householder, either of blessings if he gives liberally or of the reverse 
 
 ' Schol. ad Pac. 459 : roe ''Spiiriv Kal raOra i^tipx^t" 0i\ov<ri . . . raOra ava 
 ixipot "Kiyerai, rb ftiv toO 'B/jjaoO KeKeiovros Kal fX/covros, rb di ruv iMbvriiiv 
 iwnKovbvTiiiv . 
 
 2 1 Kings xviii. 26 A. V. marg. 
 
 3 xxiv. 718 flf. : r^iri-v 3' aW "EkA^ti adivoS i^rjpxe yboio (747). For the dotSoiis 
 ep^uv iUpxo^' of '^- 720 see Nilsson, ' Der Ursprung der Tragodie,' JV. Jahrb. f. 
 klass. Alt. xxvii. (1911) 618 ff. 
 
 * Agathon's K6mos-aong (v. 104, Hvi Sai.iJ.bvav b kQ/xos ;) in Aristoph. Thesmoph. 
 101 S. is a good instance. The leader sings three or four lines alternately with 
 three or four lines by the Chorus. 
 
40 THE OEIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 if he is stingy. The Pseudo-Homeric Eiresione Song preserves the 
 type, and better still the Ehodian Swallow-Song recorded by 
 Athenaeus.^ This last has the choral verse beginning ' The swallow 
 has come, has come,' followed by iambic Unes in which the children 
 threaten to carry ofi the wife of the grudging householder, and 
 promise that, if he gives, he shall get much good. L. von Schroder,^ 
 in his interpretation of Rg Veda, ix. 112, as a hymn belonging to a 
 popular procession at the Soma festival, finds in the third verse, 
 which begins ' I am the Singer,' the figure of ' the Yorsanger and 
 Leader of the procession who sings the stanzas of the song, while 
 the rest only join in the refrain,' and remarks that he is a typical 
 figure whose congeners appear in the European processions, such 
 as that of the Sword-dancers. 
 
 In the procession of the mystics, whose ritual songs form the 
 Parados of the Frogs, the lacchos Song consists of three stanzas 
 in iambic metre, each ending with the refrain invoking lacchos to 
 join in the procession. It is immediately followed by a passage 
 resembUng, no doubt, the canonical ' Jesting at the Bridge ' 
 {Gephyrismos), where the procession at the Greater Mysteries rested 
 on its tiring journey from Athens to Eleusis.* The short stanzas of 
 three hues each should probably be assigned alternately to one or 
 more Leaders and the Chorus.* It is evident that the series might 
 be carried on so long as the improvisers could think of new victims, 
 just as I have heard a gathering of modern students sing, until 
 their wits were exhausted, extempore couplets at one another's 
 expense, with the chorus : 
 
 ' Vive la, 
 Vive la, 
 Vive la compagnie I ' 
 
 The marching songs of various English regiments, with their 
 
 1 viii. 360 B. For a. good diaousaion of these songs with modern parallels 
 see Dieterioh, Sommertag (Kleine Schr. 1911, p. 324 ff.). Examples from modem 
 Greece will be found in A. J. B. Waoe, ' North Greek Festivals and the Worship 
 of Dionysus,' Brit. Sch. Ann., xvi. (1909-10) p. 233 ff. These are used in pro- 
 cessions which include a mummers' play of the type described below, p. 62. 
 
 ^ Mysterium u. Mimus (Leipzig, 1908), p. 451. 
 
 ' Of. V. 372 ff. ; x'^f" ""Ss . . . KainaKdnrTiov Kal xal^uv Kal x^f^fwc. I am 
 inclined to agree with Tucker (Class. Rev. xviii. 416 ff.) that the procession 
 which forms the Frogs Parados is not the Eleusinian procession, but perhaps 
 belongs to a similar ritual at the Lesser Mysteries of Agrai. But this does not 
 affect our present point. 
 
 * Van Leeuwen accepts this arrangement in his edition, following Arnoldt. 
 
THE PHALLIC SONGS 41 
 
 ribald satire on the officers, still perpetuate the fescennine tradition 
 of the Roman triumph.^ 
 
 The essential features, then, of the PhalKc Song are those which 
 we have found illustrated in the miniature specimen sung by 
 DikaiopoUs. In point of form, the song is divided in alternation 
 between a Chorus and a succession of Leaders. In point of content, 
 it consists Ukewise of two elements. There is first the invocation 
 of the God or genius of the rite, who is invited to be present among 
 his worshippers : — Phales, Phales !— H3Tnen, Hymenaee ! — 
 lo, Paian ! etc.^ Second, there is the ' iambic ' element of ribaldry 
 or satire, improvised by the Leaders at the expense of individuals 
 by name. From Aristotle's statement it is clear that, in his opinion 
 at any rate, the ' iambic ' element of personal satire and abuse, 
 which he takes as the essential feature of the Old Comedy, was 
 derived from these improvisations, and modern students agree with 
 him.^ 
 
 Before we consider how this statement needs to be supple- 
 mented, we shall glance at another type of performance, evidently 
 of Idndred origin, which preserved the same two features — the 
 iambic abuse on which Aristotle lays stress, together with the 
 invocation of the God of fertihty, of which he makes no mention. 
 
 20. The Phallo'phori, Ithyphalli, Autokabdali 
 
 In the well-known passage in which Athenaeus * describes various 
 forms of the Mime and of primitive Comedy, he quotes extracts 
 
 ' Similar customs lived on through the Middle Ages at church festivals, 
 especially those which perpetuated the Roman Kalends. Thus, the Synod held 
 at Rome in 826 {canon xxxv.) speaks of bad Christians who go to church on 
 feast days, tallando, verba turpia decantando, choros tenendo ac ducendo, simili- 
 tudinem pagamorum pera'gendo. Du Mdril, Hist, de la ComMie (Paris, 186i), i. 
 p. 67. A good collection of similar texts from the Fathers and Church Councils 
 is given by B. K. Chambers, The Mediaeval Stage (Oxford, 1903), vol. ii. 
 Appendix N. 
 
 ^ Dionysus is invoked to lead the Kui/tos in Thesmoph. 987, riyov Si y' ffiS' airis 
 ail I Ki<rcro^6pe Bd((X"e | SicrTor' • iyi) di /cii/xois | ffi ^i\oxlipoi.ai fiiX^pa. He is actually 
 called Ifo/J^os, Eur. Bacch. 141 d d' HapX"^ Bp6fuos, of. 115, Bpi/uos Scms Ayu 
 Bida-ovs. Soph, Ant. 154, 6eui> W vaois x°P°^^ warmixtois irdvTa! iTriXdu/iey, o 9^/3os 
 3' iXeXlxOuv BdKXtos ipxoi. 
 
 ' Cf. Reich, DerMimus, i. 327, who points out that the other root of Comedy, 
 the Mime, was free from this element of personal abuse. 
 
 "f-xiv. 62lDflf. 
 
42 THE ORiaiN OF ATTIC COMEBY 
 
 from two authors, Sosibios of Laconia (about 300 B.C.) and Semos 
 of Delos (not later than the first century B.C.), both of whom men- 
 tion a kind of performance closely related to the Phallic Songs 
 we have been studying. Sosibios confuses it with the quite distinct 
 varieties of the Peloponnesian Mime— the Spartan Dikelon, the 
 Tarentine Phlyax, etc. Semos does not make this confusion, and 
 he supplies us with short descriptions of what evidently are merely 
 local varieties of the performance in question. Athenaeus quotes 
 textually from Semos' book On Paeans : 
 
 ' The Autokabdali (" Improvisers "), as they are called, used to' 
 wear crowns of ivy and deliver extempore speeches. Later the 
 name " Iambi " was given both to the performers and to their 
 compositions. 
 
 ' The Ithyphalli wear masks of drunken men and wreaths ; 
 they have flowered sleeves and tunics with a white stripe down the 
 middle, and they are girt with a Tarentine mantle (a long transparent 
 garment) which covers them down to the ankles. They enter in 
 silence through the door (in the back-scene of the theatre), and 
 when they reach the middle of the orchestra they turn towards 
 the audience and say : 
 
 Come, make way for the God ; 
 
 Erect arid in full vigour. 
 
 He will pass through the midst?- 
 
 ' The Phallophori,' he continues, ' wear no mask, but they put 
 on a visor made of the flowers serpyllum and paideros, and above it 
 they wear a thick wreath of violets and ivy.^ Wrapt in thick 
 cloaks, they enter (the theatre), some by the side entrance, others by 
 the central door (in the back-scene), marching in step and saying : 
 
 This song to thy glory, Bacchus, we pour, 
 In simple rhythm with various tune ; 
 Fresh is our muse and virginal ; 
 
 €iT€ tQ dec^' '6^\eL ycip [6 Beds'] 
 dpdbs i<r^vdwfihos 
 
 Sia iJ,iaov /3a5/feiv. 
 The God, of course, is Phales, or the phallus borne erect on its pole. 
 
 '^ (TTi(j>avov dacriiv iav Kal kIttov, like the wreath worn by Alcibiadea in the 
 epilogue o£ Plato's Symposium (212 b, idTeipiwaiiivov kittov ri rivi areipivifi Saffet 
 Kal loiv). 
 
THE PHALLIC SONGS 43 
 
 She has not the old songs in use, 
 
 But maiden is the song that we hegin.^ 
 
 Next they ran forward and satirised persons whom they had fixed 
 on. They performed standing still. The bearer of the phallus . . . 
 was smeared with soot.' ^ 
 
 ' It is evident at the first glance/ says Eeich,* ' that these Auto- 
 kabdali, Phallophori, Ithyphalli are not mimes, but totally distinct 
 from them. Their external appearance at once distinguishes them 
 from the mime. They appear in chorus, and have their chorus- 
 leader ; they perform a choral dance and sing a choral song in 
 dignified language ; then they ridicule individuals among the 
 audience, that is to say, sing derisive songs at them. Their place 
 is in the orchestra. The mimes, on the other hand, appear singly, 
 or at most in a small company, never in a Chorus ; they speak in 
 a burlesque style, they represent definite types and eschew iambic 
 ridicule ; they have nothing to do in the orchestra.' 
 
 These remarks rightly emphasise one important point about these 
 companies of revellers — that they are an undifferentiated Chorus, 
 not a body of actors assuming distinct parts. They wear a uniform 
 dress, which is not the grotesque costume worn by the mimes on 
 the Lower Italy vases. Above all, they do not wear the phallus.* 
 Their Sikyonian title 'Phallophori' means only that one of their 
 number, explicitly mentioned in Semos' description as ' the Phallo- 
 phoros,' carried the emblem aloft on a pole, as Xanthias and his 
 
 * aol, Bdxxf > ravSe ixovaav ayKatj^o/iev, 
 airXovv fivB/ibv x^"''''^' al6\<j> /UXei, 
 Kaivdv, d,irap8ivevTov, oH ti rah irdpos 
 Kexp'tf'ivO'V i^Salcnv, dXX' iK'^parov 
 
 Kardpxo/J'ev rbv Hfivov, 
 
 elra TrpoarpixovTes eriiBa^ov oOs hv wpoiXoiVTO, ardS-qv Si irpaTTOv. o Si 
 ipaKKotpbpos I8i §aSltu)v(Vi Karawaa-Bels alBd'Kif. The 'simple rhythm' is, of course, 
 the iambic. 
 
 ^ I can see no reason to accept Poppelreuter's sceptical suggestion (De com, 
 ait. prim. 14) that Semos in this circumstantial description deserts truth to 
 illustrate Aristotle's doctrine of the ' leaders of the Phallika,' as he understood 
 it. The rural Phallic Songs were no doubt as familiar to Semos as they were 
 to Aristotle before him, and to Augustine centuries later; and why should 
 Semos invent all these curious details of dress and the actual text of the 
 hymns ? 
 
 ' Der Mimus, i. 277. G-. Thiele, Anfdnge d. griech. Kom. N. Jahrb. ix. 
 (1902) 405 should also be consulted. 
 
 * The dress of the Ithyphalli precludes the wearing of a visible phallus, in 
 spite of their name. 
 
44 THE OEIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 fellow-slave carry it in Dikaiopolis' procession — the emblem called 
 'the God' in the song of the Ithyphalli. Their performance is evi- 
 dently closely akin to the third part of Dikaiopolis' ritual — the pro- 
 cession resumed after the sacrifice and accompanied by the Phalhc 
 Song. The form and content of the Phalhc Song remain essentially 
 unaltered. There is first the invocation of the God, then the im- 
 provised ' speeches ' (pi]aei<;) or ' Iambi,' containing personal satire 
 
 '" (rwOaa-fioi) upon individual spectators. The important change 
 is that the performance has been detached from the old country 
 ritual procession of which it once formed the concluding part, and 
 
 I has become a stationary performance in a permanent theatre. 
 
 The authors of these descriptions do not state how they are related 
 to the ruder Phalhc Songs of country ritual, such as that sung by 
 Dikaiopolis. But it seems probable that the Phallophori, Auto- 
 kabdali, and the rest were guilds or societies of fashionable young 
 men, like the Ithyphalh, Tribalh, Autolekythi, whose drunken revels 
 disturbed the peaceable citizens of the Athens of Demosthenes.^ 
 There was also a club of Fools (' The Sixty ') who met in the precinct 
 of Heracles at Kynosarges.^ They may, perhaps, be alluded to by 
 Aristophanes in the phrase AiofieiaXd^ove^.^ EarUer than this, 
 however, we cannot trace them. We hear of an encomium sung 
 by the Ithyphalh at the entrance of Demetrius Poliorketes.* 
 Another such society was presided over by Antheas of Lindos in 
 Rhodes, ' an elderly man of good fortune, with a gift for poetry, 
 who spent his whole Ufe in the service of Dionysus, wearing Dionysiac 
 dress and maintaining a large company of fellow-devotees. He 
 was always leading a Edmos by day or night. He composed 
 ' Comedies ' {i.e. satires) and many other poems of the same sort, 
 in which he ' led ' his company who carried the phallus.' ® A 
 
 ' Dem. in Oonon. liv. 14 and 39. ^ Athen. xiv. 614 D. 
 
 ^ Ach. 605. Bieterich, Pukinella, p. 42^ calls this club ' eine Art Karntval- 
 gesellschaft, ' and remarks that the lobacchoi of the Athenian inscription have 
 more resemblance to such oluba than to the Orphic cults. Some dispute the 
 existence of the Diomean Club as early as Aristophanes' time ; see Starkie's 
 note on Ach. 606. * Athen. vi. 253 D. 
 
 " Athen. x. 445 A (after Philomnestos) : 'Avdias 6 AlpSios . . . w/jeo-jSiVepos icai 
 ciSalfiMv duBpuiTTos cii(j>v^s re vepi wolri<riv &v TrdfTa riv /3to ^Siovwiafei', iffBIJTi. te 
 AioKwria/c?!' (popSiv koI iroWoiis Tpi(j>(jiv o-u/i/Sd/cxous, ii9iyiv re Kwfi.ov alel fi.€$' inUpaf 
 Koi viKToip . . . oSros Si koI KU/iipSlas iirolei Kal &\\a woWi, iv roirifi rif rphirip rdv 
 iroi.T)iii.TU)v, 4 i^ijpxe Tois 11(6' airoS (paWo^opoviri. Rohde, Griech. Roman ^ p. 270, 
 remarks that KaiufSlat would mean srMrzhafU GtdicUe, ja wold gar phaiUastisch 
 erfundene Brzdhlungen in Prosa, and illustrates this use of the word. 
 
THE PHALLIC SONGS 45 
 
 Christian writer records similar proceedings at Bphesus in connection 
 with the famous cult of Artemis.^ They had no doubt flourished 
 there since the days of Heracleitus.^ 
 
 It seems likely that these clubs were to some extent analogous 
 to the convpagnies des fous, confriries des sots, sociitSs joyeuses, etc., 
 of fifteenth-century France. These guilds were formed to carry 
 on the popular Feast of Fools, when the reforming party in the 
 Church succeeded in suppressing the official celebration. Similarly, 
 perhaps, the Greek societis joyeuses may have kept up the old 
 popular tradition of ribaldry and personal invective, under the 
 emblem of Phales, when these elements were purged out of Comedy 
 in the fourth century. In any case these Phallophori or Autokabdali 
 throw no independent light on the origins of Comedy. We have 
 mentioned them here to show how they perpetuate the form and 
 contents of the Phallic Song, with its two elements of invocation 
 and invective. 
 
 21. The same elements in the Parabasis 
 
 The discussion of the Parabasis must be kept for a later stage 
 of our inquiry ; but one undeniable fact about it is in place here, 
 namely that, in point of content, the Parahasis closely resembles 
 the Phallic Songs we have studied. After the introductory Anapaests, 
 the rest of the Parahasis consists of an ' epirrhematic syzygy.' That 
 is to say, an Ode, sung by one half of the Chorus, is followed by a 
 speech called the Epirrheme, delivered by the leader of that half ; * 
 then the other half-Chorus sing the Antode, followed by the Ant- 
 epirrheme, recited by their leader. We are not now concerned with 
 this 'epirrhematic' structure, further than to note that it is not (as it 
 
 ' Martyr. S. Timoth. (Lobeck, Aglaoph. 177), rijs ''E<f}e<rlo>v iarl \el\j/ava Trjs 
 irpihiiv elSuXoKarpelas KaTayuyelwi' oCtw KoKov/iivoiv, lis airol rdre iK&Kovv eopr^v iv 
 TlHipau Ticlv iTtTeXovvTes, Tpoirx^fiara iiiv dirpeir^ iaVToti irpoffTlBeiiTes irpds Si t6 lii] 
 yiyviinKeadai TpoauTlots KaraKaMTToyres rd, iavrSv Tpbaiava, fibvaXi re iwiipepdiievoi 
 Kal eMvas elSiliXuv Kal Tiva ^a-fuiTa ivoKaXoSiiTes (sic) iTiivres re drdxruis i\ev9ipois 
 afSpiffi Kal aepvati yvvai^l. 
 
 ^ Frag. 127 (Byw.) : el /ir] y^p Awvicrip ttoixv^v Ittoiovvto Kal iliivcov g.ff/i,a alioloiaiv, 
 iyaiSiaTara etpyaffr' S,v. wvrbs Si 'AiSijS Kal Aidwaos, Sreifi iialvovrai Kal \T]val^ovaiv. 
 
 ' I cannot agree with the writers who hold that Pax 1171-2, where the 
 Antepirrheme follows the Antode without a complete grammatical break, shows 
 that both passages must, at least in this play, have been delivered by the same 
 voices. Van Leeuwen's distribution of parts in his edition seems to me right. 
 
46 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 is sometimes said to be) identical with that of the Phallic Song, but 
 very different.^ It may, however, be relevant to point out here that, 
 apart from form, the Pardbasis contains the same two elements — 
 invocation and invective — that we have met in the Phallic Songs and 
 the compositions of the Phallophori. The Ode and Antode normally 
 contain an invocation, either of a muse or of Gods, who are invited 
 to be present at the dance, the divine personages being always 
 selected with reference to the character of the Chorus.^ The 
 Epirrheme and Antepirrheme often contain the other element of 
 satire or some milder form of advice or exhortation. But, though 
 the content is 'iambic,' the metre is normally trochaic. We cannot 
 here go into the difficult question. how this fact is to be explained. 
 All that now concerns us is the fact itself : that the Parabasis 
 does contain these two elements— the hymn of invocation, and 
 some sort of satire or exhortation, delivered directly to the audience 
 by the Leader of a half-Chorus. 
 
 22. The incompleteness of Aristotle's statement 
 
 We have now made out what Aristotle means by ' the Leaders 
 of the Phalhc Songs,' and traced these from country festivals of 
 Dionysus to regular performances of societSs joyeuses in the per- 
 manent theatre of the city. With the improvised satire and in- 
 vective used on these occasions Aristotle connects the correspond- 
 ing element in the Old Comedy — an element which distinguished 
 it from the Comedy of his own age. If this was a conjecture, it 
 was an extremely acute one ; but it seems more likely that so 
 much of genuine tradition about the origins of Comedy was aHve 
 in Aristotle's time. 
 
 Against this account we have nothing to say, except that it 
 
 1 The Epirrhematic syzygy is a closed system in two balanced antiphon.=il 
 halves. The Phallic Song is a series of stanzas, -nhich may be continued to any 
 length, punctuated by a recurrent refrain sung by the whole (not the half) chorus. 
 We shall discuss the Epirrhematio form later. 
 
 2 Ach. 665 {Ode), deOpo MoDira . . . 'AxapviK-//. Knights, 551 (Ode), Poseidon, 
 patron of the Knights, and 581 (Antode), Pallas, invoked to bring Victory. 
 Olouds, 583 (Ode), Zeus, Poseidon, and Aether, God of the meteorosophists ; 595 
 (Antode), Phoebus, Artemis, Athena, Dionysus. The Wasps, 1061 (Ode), invoke 
 their former selves, the ghosts of their youth. Peace, 775 (Ode), MoCcro iri /ifi/ 
 TToX^Mous dTToxTttM^va, 796 (Antode), XctpiTcs. Birds, 737 (Ode), MoOaa \oxiMia. 
 Lysiatrata is exceptional ; see below p. 125. Thesmoph. 829, Ode and Antode 
 are wanting. Frogs, 675 (Ode), MoCtra xop'^i' 'fpwc. 
 
THE PHALLIC SONGS 47 
 
 is uot complete, and that its author never intended it to be 
 so. He was thinking of the differentia of the Old Comedy, the 
 characteristic which sets it in polar opposition to the tradition 
 of heroic encomia and the glorification of heroic Saga in Epic 
 and Tragedy. Hence, he pitches upon satire and invective ; and 
 it must be remembered that the verb K(Ofi^Seiv meant ' to 
 satirise.' But the Comedy we know does not consist solely or 
 mainly of personal satire and abuse. These are — and this is a 
 fundamental point — not in any way dramatic ; more, they involve 
 no germ out of which a drama could grow. The form into whiclT 
 those old rude Phalhc Songs of the country festivals could and did 
 develop we have before us in the performance of the Phallophori 
 in the theatre. These bands of young men are not actors ; they^ 
 have no assumed character ; the disguise they wear is no more 
 dramatic than the mask and domino assumed in the modern carnival, 
 in order to conceal the wearer's identity, while he behaves in a way 
 that might have unpleasant consequences if he were recognised. 
 From such a performance we might derive something like the 
 Parabasis of the Old Comedy, though even this has features which 
 cannot be so explained^-3ut the Parabasis is not the drama. It 
 merely interrupts the action of the play ; the actors leave the stage 
 while it is performed ; its contents are irrelevant and in no way 
 help out the course of the action. The element of drama here sinks 
 to the lowest point : the Chorus-leader in the introductory Anapaests 
 drops the mask completely and deUvers a message direct from the 
 poet to the Athenian pubUc. Nothing could be clearer than that 
 the play itself, with all its curious and stiff conventions of form and 
 plot, could not possibly grow out of the Parabasis as a nucleus. 
 
 Aristotle, moreover, never meant to say that it did.*" As we have 
 already insisted, he was not, in the passage we summarised, pro- 
 fessing to give a systematic account of the origin of Comedy. The 
 parenthetic statement we have illustrated refers only to the element 
 of personal invective ; and of that we have every reason to think 
 it gives a true explanation. But phalhc rites — this is our next 
 point — have another side of equal importance, of which Aristotle 
 says nothing, because it does not happen to be relevant to his 
 theme at the moment. We, however, who are looking for a com- 
 plete account of the beginnings of Comedy, cannot neglect this 
 other side, and to it we must now turn. We shall find there the 
 
48 THE OBIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 roots and essentials of the comic drama, as opposed to the non- 
 dramatic performances of the Phallophori or of the Chorus in the 
 
 23. The essential content of phallic rites 
 
 It has never been doubted that the phalUc procession, with its 
 sacrifice and Kdmos, belongs to a well-known class of rites, to be 
 found all over Europe and in many other regions, and intended 
 to secure the fertihty of the earth and of man and beast. Plutarch ^ 
 describes the corresponding procession in his native Boeotia as 
 ' of a popular and joyful character. One carried an amphora of 
 wine and a bough ; another dragged along a goat ; a third followed 
 carr5dng a basket of dried figs; and, to crown all, the phallus.' 
 Herodotus ^ beheved that the institution of such festivals in Greece 
 was due to Melampus, who ' introduced the name of Dionysus 
 and his sacrifice and the procession of the phallus.' Melampus, 
 he thought, had brought them from Egypt ; and, though this 
 affiliation may be dismissed as unhistorical, Herodotus was right 
 in recognising the same essential content in the processions of 
 Osiris. The women of Egypt, in their village festivals, carried 
 about puppets of a cubit in height, fitted with a phallus of nearly 
 the same length, moved by strings. A flute-player went before, 
 and the women followed, singing to Osiris. 
 
 The main purpose of these fertihty processions is well brought 
 out by Mr. Chambers.' He remarks that ' the customs of the village 
 festival gave rise to two types of dance. There was the processional 
 dance of the band of worshippers in progress round their boundaries 
 and from field to field, from house to house, from well to well of the 
 village. . . . The other type of folk-dance, the ronde or " round," 
 is derived from the comparatively stationary dance of the group 
 of worshippers around the more especially sacred objects of the 
 festival, such as the tree or the fire. The custom of dancing round 
 the Maypole has been more or less preserved wherever the Maypole 
 is known.' 
 
 ' Maypole or church,' he says elsewhere,* 'may represent a focus 
 
 1 Z>e cup. divit. 8. For all these ceremonies see NiUson'a Stndia, p. 90 ff. 
 
 2 ii. 49. 
 
 ' Mediaeval Stage, i. 164. Mr. Chambers refers to Kogel, Oesch. d. deutschen 
 lAtteratur, i. i. 6. * /bid. p. 118. 
 
THE PHALLIC SONGS 49 
 
 of the cult at some specially sacred tree or grove in the heathen 
 village. But the ceremony, though it centres at these, is not 
 confined to them, for its whole purpose is to distribute the benign 
 influence over the entire community, every field, fold, pasture, 
 orchard close, and homestead thereof. . . . Probably all the 
 primitive festivals, and certainly that of high summer, included a 
 lustration, in which the image or tree which stood for the fertilisa- 
 tion spirit was borne in solemn procession from dwelhng to dwelhng 
 and round all the boundaries of the village. Tacitus records the 
 progress of the earth-goddess Nerthus amongst the German tribes 
 about the mouth of the Elbe, and the dipping of the Goddess and 
 the drowning of her slaves in a lake at the term of the ceremony.^ 
 So too at Upsala in Sweden the statue of Freyr went round when 
 winter was at an end ; while Sozomenes tells how, when Ulfilas 
 was preaching Christianity to the Visigoths, Athanaric sent the 
 image of his god abroad in a wagon, and burnt the houses of all 
 who refused to bow down and sacrifice. Such lustrations continue 
 to be a prominent feature of the folk survivals.' 
 
 Mr. Chambers' description needs to be supplemented by taking 
 into account precisely that other factor which Aristotle emphasises 
 to the exclusion of the positive element of fertihty magic. Besides 
 the distribution of benign influence, of which Mr. Chambers speaks, 
 these processions have also the converse magical intent of defeating 
 and driving away bad influences of every kind. The phallus itself 
 is no less a negative charm against e\'il spirits than a positive agent 
 of fertilisation.^ But the simplest of all methods of expelhng such 
 malign influences of any kind is to abuse them with the most violent 
 language. No distinction is drawn between this and the custom of 
 abusing, and even beating, the persons or things which are to be 
 rid of them, as a carpet is beaten for no fault of its own, but to get 
 the dust out of it. Professor Margoliouth,^ illustrating Aristotle's 
 
 1 Oermania, 40. 
 
 2 The magical potency of the phallus is well illustrated by the supposed 
 connection of the words fascinum and ^i^Kapos, regarded by Kretschmer 
 (EinUitung, 248*) as borrowed from lUyrian or Thracian speech. It is 
 conjectured that /Sifo,, m'-h P^'^'^^^"- ^^T"". ^/coXoyer^ Hesyoh., may come 
 from the same source. Of. Boisacq, Did. etym. de la. langm greeque (1910), 
 s.v. pdffKavos; Walde, Latein. Etym. WSrterb. s.v. fascinum. Phallic objects 
 are, of course, used to avert the evil eye. 
 
 3 The Poetics of Aristotle (London, 1911), p. 142. 
 
 D 
 
50 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 division of primitive poetry into encomium and invective, observes 
 that Arabic poetry has never passed beyond this stage, and adds — 
 what Aristotle did not know — that both are in origin the magical 
 utterance of words fraught with blessings or curses. He instances 
 the involuntary blessings uttered by Balaam in place of the curses 
 desired by his employer, and the insults by which Apollonius of 
 Tyana and his party got rid of a vampire on their travels. 
 ' The spell against a demon usually takes the form of violent 
 abuse.' 
 
 Examples from classical antiquity readily occur, notably in the 
 fescennine'^ verses sung at the Eoman triumph or the wedding 
 procession. The same double intent of stimulating fertihty and 
 averting bad influences hes at the root of many forms of festival 
 dance, which, when the serious purpose has died out of them, are 
 kept up under the sanction of old custom, and partly for the sake 
 of the inherent pleasurableness of obscenity. In the same way 
 XoiBopo'i (abuse) passes into ludus (play).^ There can be no doubt 
 that the element of invective and personal satire which distinguishes 
 the Old Comedy is directly descended from the magical abuse of 
 the phallic procession, just as its obscenity is due to the sexual 
 magic ; and it is likely that this ritual justification was well known 
 to an audience famihar with the phaUic ceremony itself. Many 
 centuries later, the double purpose of the phalHc procession was 
 quite understood by Augustine, who quotes Varro's description of 
 how the phallus was carried at the Liberaha on carts, at first through 
 the villages of Italy and later into Eome itself. ' By such means,' 
 he adds with pious horror, ' the God Liber had to be placated for 
 the success of the crops, by such means must malign influences he 
 
 1 The derivation of fescenninus iiom fascinum ( = <pa\\6s) is still in dispute. 
 Walde (Lalein. Mym. WOrterb.^ p. 286) rejects it in favour of the derivation 
 from the town Fesoennium ; but the Roman antiquarians were alvpays tempted 
 to derive whatever was obscure in their customs and language from Etruria, 
 and may well have invented this. Cf. Hendrickson, ' The Dramatic Satura,' 
 etc., Amer. Journ. Phil. xv. (1894), p. 5. 
 
 2 Walde, Latein. Mym. WOrierh.^ (1910) s.v. Indo, ludus: Sehr wahrscheMich 
 zu gr. X(fei' 7raif«, Wfouiri Tal^ovin Hes., XbdeffSai- iiMWaaBat. His., \ot5opos 
 ' schimpfend,' \oi5opetv 'schm&hen.' So ^ici, 1*, 533, Prellwitz Wh. The name 
 of lambe is connected at Eleusis with a type of sexual dance (for which of. 
 Diels, Arcana Oerealia, in Miscellanea di Arch, di Storia e di Eilol. dedicata 
 al Prof. A. Salinas, 1907). lambe cannot be dissociated from fa/i|8os, 
 ' invective. ' 
 
THE PHALLIC SONGS 61 
 
 Mven from the fields' i The Phallic Song is sung by Dikaiopolis 
 at the Country Dionysia, a festival held in the villages of Attica 
 soon after the winter solstice, when the seeds of the new crop had 
 ]ust been deposited in the ground.^ This was the critical moment 
 lor inducmg the powers of f ertihty and expelhng all adverse influences 
 of blight and death. 
 
 24. The transition to ritual drama 
 
 In the phallic procession, the ceremonies centre round the 
 sacred emblem of human fertihty, borne high upon a pole. In 
 the Egyptian equivalent described by Herodotus, the same emblem 
 IS the attribute of a human figure, moved by strings, the hieratic 
 marionette,^ aheady capable of figuring as the first actor in a 
 genuine drama, the puppet-show. At the great round lake in the 
 temple precinct at Sais, the sufferings of Osiris were enacted by 
 night in a passion-play, perhaps by means of puppets, more probably 
 by human actors.* We have here in epitome every necessary stage 
 linking the processional dance to the drama. In the phalhc cere- 
 mony of the Acharnians, not only is the emblem visibly there, but 
 the vaguely personified genius, Phales, is invoked to lend his unseen 
 presence. Let him but appear incarnate in a human form,^ and 
 we shall have the first actor, the hero of our supposed ritual drama, 
 which ends — how else should a fertihty drama end ?— in the sacred 
 marriage of the divine protagonist, that mystical and magical union 
 by which the whole creation is moved to bring forth the fruits of 
 the year in due season. 
 
 1 Oiv. Dei, vii. 21 : Sic uidelicet Liber deus placandus J'uerat pro euenlibus 
 seminum, sic ab agris faacinatio repellenda. Nilsson, 8tudia, p. 93. The two 
 aspects are illustrated by the gigantic phallus-plough with its apotropaic eyes, 
 carried by a row of naked men on the black-figured vase figured by Dieterich, 
 Mutter Erde (1905), pp. 107, 108. 
 
 ^ Nilsson, loc. cit. 
 
 * See Magnin, Histoire des marionnettes, for the movable statue of a God as 
 the first puppet. 
 
 * Herod, ii. ITl: iv Si tj; Xf/ii'^ Tairfi to, 8elKri\a t&v TdBeav airoO vvKtis noievai, 
 Tk KaXiovcri iivnT'fipia, Aiyiimoi. The term SeUrjXa is the name also of the oldest 
 known type of drama at Sparta. 
 
 " The notion of an abstract spirit or genius incarnate in a representative, 
 though earlier than any drama, is of course not primitive. The abstraction 
 itself must first arise by a process of generalisation from repeated concrete facta. 
 On this process see J. E. Harrison, Ancient Art and BitucU (1913), pp. 70-73. 
 
52 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 Here, in the very type of ritual to which Aristotle bids us look 
 for the origins of Comedy, we find the necessary germ from which 
 could arise a form of drama strongly marked by the obscenity 
 into which positive sexual magic must degenerate, and the invective 
 which perpetuates the old negative element of magical aversion. 
 Some of the various forms which such a drama may assume will be 
 passed in review in the next chapter, before we return to the other 
 fixed features of the Aristophanic plot, which they will serve to 
 elucidate. 
 
1 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 SOME TYPES OF DRAMATIC FERTILITY RITUAL 
 
 25. Classification of types 
 
 The forms taken by the rudimentary drama of the fertility ritual 
 can be ranged under several heads. We shall here mention some 
 of the most important, which specially concern us because we shall 
 find clear traces of their influence on the comic plot. The account 
 will be based on fuller statements, to which the reader is referred. 
 All the varieties that we shall pass in review symbolise the same 
 natural fact, which, in their primitive magical intention, they were 
 designed to bring about and further by the famihar means of 
 sympathetic or mimetic representation— the death of the old year 
 and the birth or accession of the new, the decay and suspension of 
 life in the frosts of winter and its release and renouveau in spring. 
 Hence, in their essential core, they involve the two aspects we have 
 studied in the phallic ritual : the expulsion of death, the induction 
 of life. The ritual ceremonies may be classed according to the 
 modes in which these two powers and the conflict between them is 
 symbolised. 
 
 26. The Carrying out of Death 
 
 In the simplest type, an efiigy of the power of evil, often under 
 the name of Death, is carried out and burnt, or thrown into the 
 water, or otherwise destroyed. In ancient Greece a ceremony of 
 this kind was held at Delphi, where a puppet called Charila was 
 beaten by the King with his sandal, hanged, and buried in a pre- 
 cipitous chasm. The rite is identical in content, and not improb- 
 ably even in name, with the Russian Funeral of Yarilo celebrated at 
 
 ^ Frazer, G. B.', The Dying God, chap. viii. A useful short statement will 
 be found in Chambers, Mediaeval Stage, chap. ix. A scientific classification 
 ought to be based on the condition of society — pastoral, agricultural, etc. The 
 tree represents fertility to the forest-dweller, the bull, ram, or goat to the 
 pastoral nomad, and so on. This, however, lies beyond our present scope. 
 
 63 
 
54 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 the end of June.^ In this too, a puppet used to be put into a coffin, 
 carried out of the town with dirges, and buried in the fields. 
 Closely analogous to the Charila ceremony is the ' Driving out of 
 Hunger,' recorded by Plutarch, at which a household slave was 
 beaten with rods of a plant of cathartic powers and driven out of 
 doors to the words, ' Out with hunger, in with wealth and health.' ^ 
 This simple ritual formula reminds us that such ceremonies have 
 commonly their other complementary half. If Hunger and Death 
 are driven out. Wealth and Life must also be brought in to take 
 their place. ' In many Silesian villages the figure of Death, after 
 being treated with respect, is stript of its clothes and flung with 
 curses into the water, or torn to pieces in a field. Then the young 
 folk repair to a wood, cut down a small fii-tree, peel the trunk, and 
 deck it with festoons of evergreens, paper roses, painted egg-shells, 
 motley bits of cloth, and so forth. The tree thus adorned is called 
 Summer or May. Boys carry it from house to house singing appro- 
 priate songs and begging for presents. Among their songs is the 
 following : 
 
 " We have carried Death out, 
 
 We are bringing the dear Summer back, 
 The Summer and the May, 
 And all the floiuers gay." ' ^ 
 
 The Greeks had their Eiresione, more than once mentioned by 
 Aristophanes. The songs which accompanied the procession of 
 this Harvest May have been illustrated in the last chapter. 
 
 The festival at which the Eiresione was carried about and hung 
 up over the doors of houses was the early harvest festival of the 
 Thargelia. This feast has linlcs with the Dionysia that preceded 
 it in the spring : both were under the management of the same 
 
 1 Frazer, O. B.', The Dying Ood, p. 262. The identification of Charila and 
 Yarilo is suggested by Mr. G. Calderon, ' Slavonic Elements in Greek Religion,' 
 Class. Rev. xxvii. (1913), p. 80. 
 
 2 Pint. Q. Symp. vi. 8. These ceremonies and the Pharmakoi are fully 
 discussed by J. E. Harrison, Prolegomena, p. 95 ff. ; G. Murray, Rise of the 
 Greek Epic (1907), Appendix A ; J. G. Frazer, G. B.^, The Scapegoat (London, 
 1913), pp. 252 ff. In the last named volume an enormous mass of eyidence is 
 collected bearing upon the periodic expulsion of evil and induction of good 
 influences, discussed in the last chapter. 0. Kern (Arch. f. Religionsxviss. xv., 
 1912, 642) thinks that Ar. Plutus, 873, irikov Sri /Soi/Xi/iiji', taken with its context, 
 is evidence of the existence of a ^ovKl/xov ^f Aoffis at Athens in 388 B.C. 
 
 ' Frazer, G. B. ', ibid. p. 246, where many parallel customs are collected. 
 
SOME TYPES OF DRAMATIC FERTILITY RITUAL 55 
 
 magistrate, the Archon ; both had cyclic choruses of men and boys. 
 The ThargeHa illustrates in distinct ceremonies each of the two 
 aspects we have been considering— the induction of fruitfulness 
 and wealth, and the expulsion of hunger, disease, sin, and death. 
 
 The bringing in of the new wealth of the harvest is symbolised 
 in the simplest way by the procession of the Eiresione, an olive- 
 branch, twined with wool, on which were hung figs and loaves, small 
 vessels of wine and oil, and a drinking-cup. It was carried by 
 a boy who, in order to symbohse fulness of life and dissociation 
 from any contact with death, was required to be d/i<f,ieaXv'i, the 
 child of hving parents. The other and darker side, the driving out 
 of hunger, sin, and death, was expressed in the expulsion of the 
 Pharmakoi. On the 6th of Thargelioni two men, with strings of 
 figs hung on them, black and white to show that one was for the 
 men, the other for the women, were led out of the city and ' set in 
 an appointed place.' There cheese, barley cakes, and figs were 
 put in their hands, and they were ceremonially beaten on the 
 genital organs with leeks, branches of wild fig and other plants. 
 Finally, it is said, they were burnt, and their ashes were scattered 
 to the winds and into the sea, for a purification.^ 
 
 The point we wish to emphasise is that the Pharmakos, by some* 
 primitive conjunction difficult for us to grasp, is a representative 
 both of the power of fertility and of the opposite powers of famine, 
 disease, impurity, death.* The ceremonies of the Pharmakos andj 
 the Eiresione are complementary. At the former we have the 
 human victim, at the latter the olive-branch, conducted in pro- 
 cession. Both are hung with fruits. The Eiresione, again, has 
 its figs, loaves, and vessels of wine and oil : the Pharmakos is given 
 figs, a barley-cake, and cheese. Each has even its drinking-cup ; 
 for a kylix was hung on the Eiresione, ' that it might go drunk to 
 bed ' ; while the Pharmakos carried a phiale, the ritual theft of 
 which from the temple of Apollo was yearly enacted as part of 
 
 ' Plutarch {8ymp. 8. 1. 1.) tella us that the 7eWfl\ia of Socrates were celebrated 
 on the 6th of Thargelion, those of Plato on the 7th. This implies, not that the 
 two philosophers were really born on those days, but that Plato was held to be 
 an incarnate Apollo (cf. Mommsen, Feste, 469), and— what is much more striking 
 —that Socrates, the purifier of men's souls, who suflfered an unjust death, was 
 regarded as a Pharmakos, who bore the sins of Athens on his innocent head. 
 
 2 The sources are given and discussed by Mommsen, Feste, 468 £f. ; J. E. 
 Harrison, Prolegomena, 95 S. ; Farnell, Cults, iv. 270 ff. 
 
 s On this point see Frazer, The Scapegoat (1913), pp. 227-8. 
 
56 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 the ceremony. 1 The human victims, with their burden of sin and 
 death, are driven out and consumed with fire. Their ashes are 
 scattered, both to get rid of the evil and to distribute the good 
 fertihty charm over the fields. They cannot be brought back again. 
 In their place, the Eiresione branch comes in, bearing the wealth 
 of the year and the promise of life and food in abundance. Our 
 authorities do not tell us when this second ceremony occurred ; but 
 it is a natural conjecture that it was connected with the procession 
 on the second and happy day of the festival, ThargeUon 7.^ 
 
 We may note here that one play of Aristophanes, the Plutus, is 
 on the theme : ' Out with Poverty and hunger, in with Wealth 
 and health.' Wealth is brought into the house, which overflows 
 with abundance ; Poverty, who comes to make her protest and 
 plead her beneficence in the Agon, is driven away with curses, like 
 a PharmaJcos. 
 
 27. The Fight of Summer and Winter 
 
 In other cases, the two powers of evil and of good are personified 
 as two antagonists who fight together. This clear distinction and 
 opposition of the two spirits is easy, because, in the succession of 
 the seasons, each in turn has his separate reign, the period during 
 which he triumphs over his rival. ' Thus in the towns of Sweden 
 on May Day two troops of young men on horseback used to meet 
 as if for mortal combat. One of them was led by a representative 
 of Winter clad in furs, who threw snowballs and ice in order to 
 prolong the cold weather. The other troop was commanded by a 
 representative of Summer covered with fresh leaves and flowers. 
 In the sham fight which followed the party of Summer came off 
 victorious, and the ceremony ended with a feast.' ^ 
 
 Usener * explained on these Unes the Macedonian Xandika, held 
 
 1 Euatath. II. xxii. 496, p. 1283 : ^5ov Si iraWer 
 
 elpea-idivrj avKO. (pipei koI iriovas fipTous 
 
 Kal fiiXiTOS KOTi\'r)v Kal ftaioK ^7riKpi}(roff9ai 
 
 Kal KiiXixa ei^ijipov ha. fie$ijoV(Ta KaSeid-ri. 
 
 Harpoor. p. 180 Bekk., s.v. iap/j,aK6s. , . . 6Vi Si ivofui Kipiiv icTiv 6 ^apfMKis, 
 lepis Si (piAXas toO 'AiriXXu^'os (cX^^as &\ovs iirb tuv irepl rbv 'kxiWia KaT^KeiaBij, 
 Kal TO, Toh QapytjKtois dYi/xeva Toirav Airo/iififi/iaTd Istlv, "Iot/jos iv i. twv 'Aw6X\uvos 
 iirKpaveL&v etpTjKev. 
 
 2 Cf. Mommsen, Feste, 481. » Frazer, O. .B.^, Dying Ood, p. 254. 
 " 'Heilige Handlung,' Arch. f. Beligionswiss. vii. (1904) p. 301. 
 
SOME TYPES OF DRAMATIC FERTILITY RITUAL 57 
 
 in the month Xandikos before the Spring equinox. The rite 
 marked the opening of the campaigning season, and was regarded 
 as a purification of the army. On the occasion described by Livy^ 
 it consisted of three parts. First came the Lustration : the army 
 marched between the two halves of a slain dog. Then followed 
 the Parade {Decursus) ; and finally the two halves of the army 
 engaged in a sham fight, led by the two royal princes. A banquet 
 and Kdmos followed in the evening. 
 
 The combat often takes forms which are still famihar as games. 
 The Tug-of-War, for instance, is practised among many primitive 
 peoples as a magical means of procuring the victory of the powers 
 of fertihty. A well-known case is the autumn contest among the 
 Central Esquimaux, in which two parties, the Ptarmigans compris- 
 ing all persons born in winter and the Ducks all persons born in 
 summer, tug at a long rope of sealskin. If the Ptarmigans are 
 beaten, then Summer has won the game and fine weather may be 
 expected in the coming winter.^ In his general remarks on 
 ceremonies of this type. Dr. Frazer * says : ' We may surmise 
 that in many cases the two contending parties represent respec- 
 tively the powers of good and evil strugghng against each other for 
 the mastery.' * 
 
 28. The Young and the Old King 
 
 In the battle of Summer and Winter the two powers are clearly 
 opposed and distinct. In other forms the good spirit and his 
 antagonist are felt to be, after all, only two successive representatives 
 of the same principle. Here again, the explanation is obvious with 
 reference to the order of time. The spirit of the new year and of its 
 
 ^ xl. 6 fif. , in lustratione et decursu el simulacra ludicro pugnae. Cf. also Plut. 
 Vit. Alex. 31, which describes a mock battle between two parties of Alexander's 
 followers, led by an 'Alexander' and a 'Darius.' Polyb. xxiii. 10, 17 (Suid. 
 s.v. ivayliuv). Similar sham fights in Java and Turkestan are described by 
 Frazer, Q. B.^', The Scapegoat (London, 1913), p. 184. 
 
 2 P. Boas, ' The Central Eskimo,' Sixth Ann. Rep. of the Bureau of Mthnol. 
 (Washington, 1888), p. 605 ; Frazer, The Dying God (London, 1911), p. 259. 
 
 ' The Scapegoat (London, 1913), p. 180, where many instances are collected. 
 
 ^ Mr. A. B. Coot suggests to me that some such festival Agon may lie behind 
 the myths of the contests of Heracles with Death (Alcestis) ; Old Age (the 
 earliest illustration being a bronze found at Olympia, Olympia iv. Bronzen, pi. 
 xxxix. no. 699a) ; orEpiales (Sophron, frag. 70, Kaibel). The explanation would 
 give body to what seem somewhat thin abstractions. Cf. also J. E. Harrison, 
 'Helios-Hades,' Class. Rev. xxii. (1908) 12 flf. 
 
58 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 fertility is merely the spirit of the old year come back again. The 
 old year is a force of evil and obstruction, only because it has grown 
 old and yielded to the decay of winter. When this is remembered, 
 the contest may take the form of a struggle between the Old and 
 the Young King, ending in the death of the former and the succession 
 of the latter to his throne. We have already had this type before 
 us in the myth of Pelops, who defeats the old weather-king, 
 Oenomaus, and wins his daughter, Hippodameia. Oedipus, again, 
 kills his father Laius, marries the Queen, and succeeds to the 
 kingdom. There are many other similar stories of the contest 
 for the hand of a princess which carries the kingdom with it.^ In 
 this type, it must be noted, the action ends in the triumph of the 
 new King and the sacred marriage with the local Earth Goddess. 
 Another widespread version makes the hero rescue his bride from 
 a monster. St. George defeats the Dragon and carries off Sabra, 
 the king of Egypt's daughter ; Perseus rescues Andromeda ; 
 Heracles deUvers Hesione, and so on.^ Besides the monster, the 
 hero in these stories often has to deal with two other forms of the 
 antagonist — the wicked Old King, a Laomedon or an Burystheus, 
 who would defraud him of his rightful reward, and an impostor 
 who falsely pretends to have killed the monster and all but wins 
 the bride, when the hero appears in the nick of time with convincing 
 proof of his own claim. 
 
 29. The Death and Resurrection type 
 
 Another very important variant is that in which the same Spirit 
 of Life dies yearly and is brought back to Ufe. In this form the 
 identity of the old Year Spirit with the new is recognised still more 
 clearly than in the contest of the old and the new king. We cannot 
 here discuss the impUcations and developments of this rite, which 
 may, in its origin, be hnked with the mock death and resurrection 
 of the candidates for tribal initation,^ and undoubtedly gives rise 
 to a certain type of mystical ' sacrifice.' But a few points must 
 
 ^ See Frazer, O. B.', The Magic Art, ii. chap, xviii. 
 
 ^ These legends and countless parallels are exhaustively studied in Mr. 
 Hartland's Legend of Ptrsetis (London, 1894). See also L. von Schroder, 
 VoUendung d. aruclien Mysteriums (Miinchen, 1911), p. 6.5 ff. 
 
 ^ On this subject in connection with the mummeries held by societies of 
 young men at Spring festivals, see H. Schurtz, Altershlassen u. Mdnnerbiinde 
 (Berlin, 1902), pp. 102 ff. 
 
SOME TYPES OE DRAMATIC EERTILITY RITUAL 69 
 
 here be noted. The first is that in this form it is the good principle 
 that IS slam; its triumph, the necessary conclusion to a ritual 
 designed for a beneficial purpose, must take the form of a resurrec- 
 tion. Again, the kilHng may be done either by the worshippers 
 themselves, who tear the representative of the spirit to pieces 
 {<yrrapa^ix6<;) and then lament his death, or by a wicked antagonist 
 in which case the death will be preceded by a contest similar to 
 those we have passed in review. To these points we shall return 
 later. 
 
 The significance of this form of fertility drama with reference to 
 the origin of Tragedy has been elaborated by Professor Gilbert 
 Murray,! who, while studying the ' fixed forms ' of the Tragic plot, 
 came to recognise in them the sequence of a ritual procedure which 
 he summarises as follows : ^ — 
 
 '1. An Agon or Contest, the Year against its Enemy, Light 
 against Darkness, Summer against Winter. 
 
 ' 2. A Pathos of the Year-Daimon, generally a ritual or sacrificial 
 death, in which Adonis or Attis is slain by the tabu animal, the 
 Pharmakos stoned, Osiris, Dionysus, Pentheus, Orpheus, Hippolytus 
 torn to pieces {(nrapayfio';). 
 
 ' 3. A Messenger. For this Pathos seems seldom or never to be 
 actually performed under the eyes of the audience. ... It is 
 announced by a messenger. " The news comes " that Pan the 
 Great, Thammuz, Adonis, Osiris is dead, and the dead body is often 
 brought in on a bier. This leads to 
 
 ' 'L A Threnos or Lamentation. . . . 
 
 ' 5 and 6. An Anagnorisis — discovery or recognition — of the slain 
 and mutilated Daimon, followed by his Eesurrection or Apotheosis 
 or, in some sense, his Epiphany in glory. This I shall call by the 
 general name Theofhany.' 
 
 I am not now concerned with the details of this theory, though 
 I may be allowed to say that I am convinced that it is, in general, 
 true, and that it provides an indispensable root for the growth of 
 the tragic drama. Whether Tragedy so originated or not, at any 
 
 * The theory was, I believe, first published at the meeting of the Classical 
 Association on January 8, 1912 (Proceedings, vol. ix. (1912) p. 35 ff.). It is 
 restated in an excursus to J. E. Harrison, Themis (Cambridge, 1912), p. 341 ff. 
 See also Murray, Four Stages of Greek Religion (Oxford, 1912), p. 46. 
 
 '^ Excursus in J. E. Harrison, Themis, p. 341 ff. 
 
60 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 rate the Death and Resurrection play is a most important variety 
 of the fertility ritual drama, and it is as such that it has a place here. 
 Especially we must observe that the nature of this form entails 
 that the antagonist shall be regarded as a purely evil power. His 
 sole function is to cause the passion and death of the good Spirit. 
 It is forgotten that he had also a right to be considered as having 
 been, in his own day, the good Spirit himself. It is owing, however, 
 to this forgotten fact that his fate is sometimes identical with the 
 usual death of his rival. Thus Pentheus, in the Bacchae, is torn in 
 pieces and has his pitiful and tragic Re'cognition at the close.^ 
 
 30. Survivals of these rites in folk plays 
 
 Such are some of the chief varieties of the dramatic ritual associ- 
 ated with the renewal of life in spring. The essential content of 
 them all is ultimately the same as that of the PhalUc Song, the 
 victory of the Spirit of Ufe over the adverse influences of bhght 
 and death. The only difEerence is that this Spirit, instead of being 
 merely invoked to be present at the procgssion of his worshippers, 
 is visibly embodied in the person of one of them, and his contest 
 with the adversary, his death and resurrection, are enacted in 
 jpantomime. 
 
 In modern Europe, this primitive magical ceremony has given 
 birth to two main types of festival performance, according as one 
 or other of its two elements, the choral dance or the rudimentary 
 drama, has tended to prevail. The Sword-dance, including the 
 Morris Dance, probably, as Mr. Chambers ^ argues, has its origin 
 here, not in the war-dance : some of the figures retain traces of the 
 mock slaying or sacrifice which was the kernel of the dramatic 
 part. In ancient Thrace we shall presently see an instance of the 
 sword-dance enclosing a scene of mimic death and resurrection : but 
 elsewhere in Greece, the armed or ' Pyrrhic ' dance became detached. 
 
 ' See further below, p. 149. 
 
 ° The Mediaeval Stage (Oxford, 1903), i. 203. An interesting confirmation 
 of this view is supplied by a sword-dance combined with a Mummers' Play, 
 performed in Piedmont. It is described at length by E. Canziani and E. Rohde, 
 Piedmont (London, 1913), 59 ff. One figure in the dance consists of all the 
 sword-dancers placing their swords round Harlequin's neck. He is tried, con- 
 demned to death, and told that his skin will be made into a, wine-bag. He 
 dies and is carried out to burial by two 'Moors.' See Miss J. E. Harrison's 
 note ad loc. 
 
SOME TYPES OE DRAMATIC FERTILITY RITUAL 61 
 
 Along the other line of development, the dance remained subordi- 
 nate to the dramatic action, giving us the tvpe which survives in 
 the EngUsh Mummers' Play. We shall glance at this performance 
 before passmg to other examples of the same type of drama on 
 Greek soil. 
 
 31. Description of the English Mummers' Play 
 
 This popular drama has three parts, the Presentation, the Drama, 
 the Quete.i ' In the first somebody speaks a prologue, claiming 
 a welcome from the spectators, and then the leading characters are 
 in turn introduced. The second consists of a fight followed by the 
 intervention of a doctor to revive the slain. In the third some 
 supernumerary characters enter and there is a collection.' 
 
 In the dramatic nucleus, ' the leading fighter is generally St. 
 George, who alone appears in all the versions . . . George's chief 
 opponent is usually one of two personages who are not absolutely 
 distinct from each other. One is the " Turkish Knight." ... He 
 is sometimes represented with a blackened face. The other is 
 variously called " Slasher," " Captain Slasher," " Bold Slasher," 
 or, by an an obvious corruption, " Beau Slasher." Earer names 
 for him are " Bold Slaughterer " (Bampton), " Captain Bluster " 
 (Dorset), and "Swiff, Swash, and Swagger" (Chiswick). His 
 names fairly express his vaunting disposition, which, however, is 
 largely shared by the other characters in the play.' After enumerat- 
 ing a long hst of minor fighters on one side or the other, Mr. 
 Chambers continues : ' The fighting generally takes the form of a 
 duel or a succession of duels. In the latter case George may fight 
 all comers, or he may intervene to subdue a previously successful 
 champion. But an important point is that he is not always vic- 
 torious. On the contrary, the versions in which he slays and those 
 in which he is slain are about equal in number. . . . 
 
 ' Whatever the nature of the fight, the result is always the same. 
 One or more of the champions falls, and then appears upon the 
 scene a Doctor, who brings the dead to life again. . . . The central 
 action of the play consists, then, in these two episodes of the fight 
 
 1 Chambers, The Mediaeval Stage, i. 211 flf., from whom the following 
 description is quoted. Mr. Chambers gives the text of one version in an 
 Appendix. 
 
62 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 and the resurrection ; and the protagonists, so to speak, are the 
 heroes — a ragged troop of heroes, certainly — and the Doctor.' 
 
 Many similar ceremonies exist in northern Europe. A good 
 parallel is furnished by the Whitsuntide mummery in Saxony and 
 Thiiringen, called ' Chasing the Wild Man out of the bush,' or 
 ' Fetching the Wild Man out of the wood.' ' A young fellow is 
 enveloped in leaves or moss and called the Wild Man. He hides 
 in the wood, and the other lads of the village go out to seek him. 
 They find him, lead him captive out of the wood, and fire at him 
 with blank muskets. He falls Uke dead to the ground, but a lad 
 dressed as a doctor bleeds him, and he comes to life again. At 
 this they rejoice, and binding him fast on a wagon, take him to 
 the village, where they tell all the people how they have caught 
 the Wild Man. At every house they receive a gift.' ^ 
 
 32. The Festival Plays in Northern Greece 
 
 Several observers ^ have recently recorded similar mummers' 
 plays in various districts of Thrace and northern Greece, and 
 called attention to many remarkable points in which they resemble 
 Dionysiac myth and ritual. When we compare them with the 
 Enghsh plays, we note that the original connection with fertility 
 magic is much more clear, and evidently well understood by the 
 performers. The phallic element is still prominent ; the sacred 
 marriage at least equally important with the mimic death and 
 resurrection which interrupts it. We shall give a short description 
 generalised from the various instances, in some of which naturally 
 this or that feature is missing. 
 
 Like the Enghsh mummers, these Greek masqueraders go round 
 the village from house to house, demanding presents of food or 
 
 1 From Frazer, G.B.^, The Dying Got? (1911), p. 208, after E. Sommer, Sagm, 
 Mdrchtn und Otbrauchtaua Sachsen und Thiiringen (Halle, 1846), pp. 154 sq. ; 
 W. Mannhardt, Baumhultus, pp. 335 sq. For the Doctor, as a survival of the 
 primitive medicine-man, magician, Soliaman, etc., see L. von Schroder, 
 Myiterium und Mimus (Leipzig, 1908), p. 370, who finds a humorous picture of 
 this seller of magical herbs in Rg Veda, 10, 97. The Doctor as a comic figure thus 
 goes back to the Aryan Urzeit. See also pp. 448 fl'. of the same work. We 
 shall return to the Doctor below, p. 156. 
 
 ' K. M. Dawkins, • The Modern Carnival in Thrace and the Cult of Dionysus,' 
 /. H. S., xxvi. (1906), 191 ; A. J. B. Waoe, 'North Greek Festivals,' Brit. Sch. 
 Ann. xvi. (1909-10), 232. 
 
SOME TYPES OE DRAMATIC EBRTILITY RITUAL 63 
 
 money, and singing songs of the type above described, which 
 combine the invocation of blessings on the generous giver with 
 personal references to the householder and his family, adapted to 
 their ages and occupations.^ In Thrace one of them carries a 
 wooden phallus, afterwards used in the play, with which he knocks 
 at the doors, 2 and an obscene pantomime is enacted on the straw- 
 heaps before the houses by a male character and another man 
 disguised as his wife. In the same instance the drama, proper is 
 prefaced by a hand-in-hand dance of all the characters, in which 
 the ' PoUcemen,' two characters carrying swords and whips, with 
 embroidered kerchiefs round their fezzes, brandish their drawn 
 swords.3 It may be conjectured that this is a relic of the sword- 
 dance accompanying the play. 
 
 This dance is followed by a sort of Vorspiel, consisting of the 
 mock forging of a ploughshare by two characters, called the Gipsy 
 Smith and his wife. This pantomime is repeated after the play, 
 and then leads to the yoking of a real plough, which is drawn round 
 the village square, while a man walks behind scattering seed, and 
 cries are uttered for plenteous crops. 
 
 In the first act of the play itself, an old woman, the ' Babo,' 
 appears carrying in a basket a swaddled puppet, representing a 
 seven months' child of which she seems to be the illegitimate 
 mother. She declares that ' the baby is getting too big for the 
 basket.' The child develops a Gargantuan appetite for meat and 
 drink, and he demands a wife.* 
 
 This first act has in most of the recorded instances dropt out, 
 though the old woman, sometimes with a doll in her arms, survives 
 in some places.^ 
 
 In the rest of the play the child, supposed to be grown to maturity, 
 is represented by an actor, the bridegroom, and the action consists 
 of his marriage with the bride, interrupted by his death and resur- 
 rection. The other essential character is the adversary who kills 
 him. In view of what has been said above about the ultimate 
 identity of the two antagonists, the old year and the new, it is 
 interesting to note, in the Thracian play recorded by Mr. Dawkins, 
 that the adversary is an exact double in name and dress of the 
 
 1 Waoe, p. 233 ff., quotes the text of several such songs. 
 
 2 Dawkins, p. 197. ^ Ibid. p. 198. " Ibid. p. 198. 
 = The sigaifioanoe of this first Act will be discussed below, p. 86. 
 
64 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 hero, except that he carries a bow, while the hero carries a phallus. 
 Both wear bells tied at their waist and a mask consisting of an 
 entire goatskin without the horns, with holes cut for eyes and 
 mouth. Or the mask may be reduced to a fur cap, the face and 
 hands being blackened. In Thessaly^ the hero and his adversary 
 are differentiated. The bridegroom wears a fustanella and red 
 fez, carries a rusty sword, and has bells tied to waist and elbows. 
 The ' Arab ' has the black mask of sheep- or goatskin, a sheepskin 
 cloak, and sometimes a tail as well. Elsewhere these two characters 
 are actually reduced to one, called both bridegroom (yufi^po^) and 
 Arab.^ A fourth character is the Doctor {yiarpo'i), ' dressed in 
 a black coat, a collar, and a black felt hat, to resemble a graduate 
 of Athens University.' Where this personage is present, it is of 
 course his business to resuscitate the slain hero. Some of these 
 characters may be multiplied : at Lechovo there are three or four 
 bridegrooms, at Viza two brides.^ 
 
 Mr. Wace summarises this part of the action as follows : ' A bride 
 is found for him (i.e. the child who has grown up), and the wedding 
 is celebrated, . . . but during the wedding festivities he quarrels 
 with one of his companions who attempts to molest the bride, and 
 is killed. He is then lamented by his bride and miraculously 
 restored to life. The interrupted festivities are resumed, and the 
 marriage is consummated.' 
 
 In these modern instances we find, unmistakably surviving 
 in northern Greece, exactly what our hypothesis requires. There 
 is the phalUc procession, going round the village to bring plenty 
 and good luck to all its inhabitants, with its Phalhc Songs invoking 
 blessings or improvising maledictions with personal references to 
 stingy householders. The procession pauses to perform a short 
 play, the action of which culminates in a marriage, evidently 
 intended to promote fertility by magical sympathy. Before this 
 marriage is consummated, it is interrupted by a struggle between 
 the hero and a black adversary, the Turkish Knight of the English 
 play, in which the hero is slain and afterwards revived. The phalUc 
 I procession and the sacred marriage we have already discussed at 
 
 1 Wace, p. 233. 2 Ibid. p. 239. 
 
 ' Mr. Dawkins, p. 199, says this doubling of the koritsi is hard to explain ; but 
 is it not because two are required to drag thejplough to which they are 
 yoked at the end (p. 200) ? 
 
SOME TYPES OF DRAMATIC FERTILITY RITUAL 65 
 
 length. Presently we must consider whether any traces of the 
 struggle, the death, and the resurrection can be clearly made out in 
 Aristophanic Comedy. But before we turn to that question, we 
 shall glance at one or two evidences that have come down to us of 
 similar ritual pantomimes of a popular sort in ancient Greece, which 
 were associated with the armed dance, just as the Mummers' Play 
 in England still has links with the Morris dance. 
 
 33. The ancient Armed Dance 
 
 Xenophon in the Anabasis i describes a series of dances performed 
 after a sacrifice and feast. First some Thracians danced in arms 
 to the flute, using their swords (fidxaipai). The dance ended with 
 one of them appearing to stab another, who fell and was despoiled 
 of his arms. The victor went o£E singing, while others carried out 
 the ' dead ' man, who was really unhurt. The Aenianes and 
 Magnetes followed with another armed dance called the Karpaia. 
 One performer laid aside his arms and began sowing and driving 
 his team, with signs of fear. Upon the appearance of a bandit, 
 he snatched up his weapons and fought for his oxen— all this in 
 rhythmical motion to the flute. Sometimes one, sometimes the 
 other, proved victorious. The defeated, with hands bound behind 
 him, was yoked and driven beside the oxen. Other local varieties 
 of the armed dance followed.^ 
 
 The armed dance called ' Pjnrrhic ' was performed by boys in Crete, 
 where it was said to have been instituted by 'Koures.' ^ This dance 
 of the armed priests formed part of a ritual pantomime in which the 
 child Dionysus was screened from the jealousy of Hera. It has been 
 so fully discussed * that we need not dwell upon it here. We find 
 
 ' vi. 1. 
 
 ^ The connection between the armed dance and fertility has been elucidated 
 by Frazer ( The Scapegoat, 233 flf. ), who points to the primitive custom of a 
 number of armed men dancing to drive away demons that would harm the 
 crops, while others are sowing. There is thus an original link between the 
 sword-dancers and the performers of the mummers' play or other mimetic rites 
 promoting fertility. 
 
 3 Strabo x. 480, da-Ke7v di /cot Tofi/cf xal ivoir\l(f ipxic^i-, ^v Karadet^ai KovpfJTa 
 irpwTOV, ila-Tepov di Ktd (TwrdfocTtt tt/k Kk-qdetaav iir' airoO IlvpplxV! ^'"''^ l"l^^ '''^^ 
 Taidii.i' ifiocpov elvM rav wpis irdXe/iop xpW^/J'''''. This language seems to bear out 
 Mr. Chambers' view that the armed dance was not in origin a war-dance. 
 
 * See especially J. E. Harrison, Themis, chap. i. for the theory that the 
 Kouretic dance is an initiation ceremony and linked with that form of death 
 and resurrection ritual. 
 
 £ 
 
66 THE OBIGIK OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 it again at Smyrna, where, upon one occasion, the Chians attacked 
 the town when all the men were out on the mountains, celebrating 
 Dionysiac orgies. The attempt failed, for the men of Smyrna were 
 engaged in the armed dance and used their weapons to inflict on 
 their assailants the fate of those who interrupt Bacchic rites.^ 
 Athenaeus ^ regarded the Pyrrhic dance as a war-dance, and such 
 no doubt it became in effect in Crete and Lacedaemon. But he 
 records that in his own time there was a Dionysiac variety, in which 
 the performers held narthekes, torches, and thyrsi instead of spears, 
 and danced the story of Dionysus and the Indians and the story of 
 Pentheus. The Indian expedition of Dionysus may not be earher 
 than the campaigns of Alexander,^ but the story of Pentheus is 
 older than the Greek drama, and this and kindred motives may well 
 have been the themes of pantomime armed dances from very early 
 times. At Athens the Pyrrhic dance was associated with the victory 
 of the Gods over the Giants, and in historic times it forms a distinct 
 feature of the Panathenaea, the festival of the armed Goddess. 
 For Pallas Bellerophon, too, seems to have performed an armed 
 dance on horseback before he set out to kill the Chimaera.* Here 
 again we probably have the mythical counterpart of a mimic 
 slaying of a monster, combined with a weapon dance. 
 
 34. The Fight of Xanthus and Melanthus 
 
 r 
 
 We approach still nearer to the origins of Athenian drama in 
 a legend attached to the cult of Dionysus of the Black Goatskin 
 {Melanaigis),t\i& very God whose image was brought from Eleutherae 
 to Athens and was annually set up in the theatre to witness the 
 ^performance of his sacred plays. His cult was said to have been 
 instituted at Eleutherae by the eponymous hero, Eleuther, to 
 deUver his daughters from madness that had been sent upon them, 
 because they ' saw an apparition of Dionysus wearing a black 
 goatskin and they reviled liim.' ^ The story is a double of the 
 more famous instance of the madness sent upon the women of 
 
 ' Aristid. Or. in Smym. i. 230. » 630 D. 
 
 ' Kern, Pauly- Wissowa, v. 1040. 
 
 ■* Find. 01. xiii. 86, dvajSds S' eiSis h6vr\ia xaXKudeb irait^ev. Sohol. ad loc. . . . 
 fj hbirXiov Spxv'i-'' iTroiuTo is certainly the right interpretation. 
 
 ' Suidas, s. V. M^Xoi'. The ' reviling ' points to a ritual aWxpoKoyla. 
 
SOME TYPES OF DRAMATIC FERTILITY RITUAL 67 
 
 Thebea, when the God came to his own, and his own received 
 him not. 
 
 Another legend of this same cult tells of a duel between Xanthus 
 (' fair man ') and Melanthus (' black man '), who is, as the story 
 shows, a double of Dionysus of the Black Goatskin himself.^ As ^ 
 the two were about to fight, Melanthus saw behind his opponent 
 a figure wearing a black goatskin, and accused him of having brought 
 a second to this single combat. Xanthus, turning to look, was 
 killed. J 
 
 Usener,^ in the light of the spring combat of the Macedonian 
 Xandika, saw that this duel was the fight of the God of fight 
 and summer against his antagonist of darkness and winter. He 
 added : ' I have no doubt that the contest (aymv), in which Ziefinski 
 has taught us to see a constant and central element of the Old 
 Attic Comedy, was originally the regular battle of the Gods of 
 Summer and Winter.' This suggestion has since been taken up 
 by Dr. FarnelF and appUed to the origin of Tragedy. In reviewing 
 this theory, Mr. A. B. Keith * suppfies an important parallel from 
 India. ' The earliest notice of the Indian drama which we certainly 
 possess is that contained in the Mahahhasya, or " great commentary " 
 on the grammar of Panini, a work of about 145 B.C. In illustrating 
 the use of the present of the causative, the commentator alludes 
 to the story of Kamsa's death at the hands of Krsna. He tells us 
 that it was represented by actors who actually killed Kamsa— we 
 may hope merely in show, the whole being a sort of Punch-and- 
 Judy show with human actors— and also that it was represented 
 by rhapsodists {granthika), who reproduced in dialogue the feelings 
 of the persons concerned in the whole episode of the relations of 
 Kamsa and Krsna, part taking one side, part the other, and the 
 supporters of Kamsa having black faces, the supporters of Krsna 
 
 having red faces There must have been dialogue m the 
 
 recitation, and the conflict of "black" and "red" men is clearly a 
 remnant of a nature conflict between the representatives of winter 
 and spring or summer, in which the black man is in this case the 
 victim. Moreover, in the Hindu version the play cannot have 
 been altogether tragic, for Kamsa is killed and the young Krsna 
 
 1 TTaener. OOttemamen, 21. ^. r. i. ca 
 
 . Slge H^dlung,- Ar.U., R.U, vH. (100^3^0. See a.jv.^p.^5e. 
 
 3 Cvlts, V. 235. 
 
68 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 is preserved. It ia fair to suppose that the primitive Attic drama 
 combined both elements of tragedy and comedy, and it may well 
 be that after all Aristotle is right in holding that the early drama 
 was only slowly developed into the solemn tragedy which no doubt 
 marks one side of the Attic drama ; the practice of writing satjric 
 dramas can thus best be accounted for, and it is admitted that 
 Aeschylus is not adverse to an admixture of somewhat broad 
 comedy in his tragedy.' 
 
 Returning to the same subject elsewhere, Mr. Keith ^ remarks 
 that Dr. Farnell has over-emphasised the seriousness of the early 
 ritual. ' The modern parallels from Thrace are certainly not 
 overburdened with sadness, and the essence of the ritual is its 
 double side, the tragedy of the death and the joy of the revival of 
 the vegetation spirit. It is much more in keeping with primitive 
 thought to find these sides closely alUed than to beKeve in a solemn 
 ritual of death alone, and the earlier mummeries, now lost, no doubt 
 showed in combination those elements which in separation gave us 
 tragedy and satyric drama.' 
 
 Dr. Farnell's apphcation of Usener's suggestion to the problem 
 of Tragedy is valuable and, I believe (subject to Mr. Keith's 
 correction), sound. But it has diverted attention from the other 
 problem, the origin of Comedy, to which it was applied by its author. 
 It may well be that the satyric drama preserves traces of an original 
 joyful element in the ritual or folk-play from which Tragedy may 
 have come. But it is, as I hope will be clear, at least equally likely 
 that Comedy itself has sprung, not necessarily from the same ritual, 
 but from one closely alhed to it and belonging to the same class. 
 In Tragedy, apart from the satjric plays, the element of sex magic 
 and consequent obscenity has, if it ever was there, been totally 
 suppressed. The emphasis has come to fall on the death, the 
 resurrection surviving only in rudiments, such as the Anagnorisis 
 and Theophany. In Comedy the emphasis still falls on the phalUc 
 element and the fertility marriage ; and, from that day to this, 
 not only has a marriage been the canonical end of Comedy, but 
 this whole form of art, together with other romantic forms which 
 it has influenced, has been marked all through its history by an 
 
 1 'The Origin of Trageily and the Akhyana,' Jcmr. Royal Asiatic Soc, 1912, 
 p. 421, which contains an admirable criticism of Ridgeway, The Origin of 
 Tragedy. 
 
SOME TYPES OE DRAMATIC EBBTILITY RITTJAL 69 
 
 erotic tone, and in its lower manifestations relied openly on the 
 stimulus of sex attraction. This emphasis is faithfully kept in the 
 northern Greek folk-plays, where the marriage is still the central 
 act, the death and resurrection episode is a mere interruption^ 
 But Comedy has its Agon, in which Usener has detected the old 
 strife of Summer and Winter, or of the new and old fertility spirits. 
 In the next chapter we shall study this feature, to see how far the 
 extant plays bear out the hypothesis. 
 
CHAPTEK V 
 AGON, SACRIFICE, AND FEAST 
 
 35. The Agon contrasted with the struggle of the romantic plot 
 
 It is often remarked that every drama involves a struggle. In 
 the comedies and novels of modern times the hero has to traverse 
 all sorts of dangers and difficulties before he wins his bride at the 
 denouement, and in the course of them he is led through all the 
 intricacies of the romantic plot. In works of a melodramatic turn, 
 moreover, the element of struggle takes the form of a prolonged 
 conflict, in which the hero is persecuted by the machinations of the 
 villain. Defeated at last, the wicked antagonist retires, grinding 
 his teeth in despair, while the hero and his bride sail into the smooth 
 haven of married bUss.^ 
 
 With this traditional scheme the Aristophanic plot has one point 
 in common. The Agon, which, together with the scenes leading up 
 to it, normally occupies the first half of the play between Parados 
 and Pardbasis, stands in a fixed relation to the concluding marriage, 
 in that the bridegroom in that marriage is usually the victor in the 
 Agon. Here, however, the resemblance ends. For, in the Comedy 
 of Aristophanes, as we have seen, there is no romantic plot, no 
 comphcation of intrigue to be straightened out in a denouement, 
 no pair of lovers separated and reunited by the turns of fortune. 
 The contest, the Agon, is not with a favoured rival for the hand of 
 the bride ; nor are its dangers and difficulties occasioned by the 
 morose old father who exists in later Comedy to see that the course 
 of true love shall not run smooth. On the contrary, the hero is 
 often himself a morose old father, and the Agon turns, not upon his 
 love aSairs, but upon his political and social views. The normal 
 plan is that the action of the play should begin with a quarrel or 
 
 ' Legrand, Daoa (Paris, 1910), p. 389, says of the New Comedy : La rdiUration, 
 dana le cours d'une meme piice, dea obstacles et des expedients n'empeche pas que 
 I'intdret ne demeure concentri sur un unique probUme, le plus souveiU, sur une sorte 
 de duel, engage entre deux adnersaires oudeux groupes d'adversaire'. 
 70 
 
AGON, SACRIFICE, AND FEAST 71 
 
 fight, which leads as quickly as possible to the Agon proper. This is 
 not, as in the romantic plot, a whole train of action with well- 
 laid schemes and counter-machinations prolonged to a denouement. 
 It is more like a sort of trial, with a strict rule of procedure. The 
 hero, who has been attacked and even threatened with death, is 
 put upon his defence. He makes out his case and turns the tables 
 upon his accuser. The debate lasts for, perhaps, two hundred lines, 
 during which the action does not advance. Then, in the second half 
 of the play, after the Parahasis, we are shown the hero enjojdng 
 the fruits of his victory and at last led in triumph in his marriage 
 procession. So far from being prolonged to the close, as it must 
 be in the romantic plot, the Agon is often over and the victory 
 proclaimed before the play is half way through, with all the rest 
 of the action still to come. However this extraordinary feature of 
 the Old Comedy is to be explained, it is certain that, in its nature 
 and its relation to the economy of the piece, the Agon is radically 
 different from the machinery of the romantic plot. 
 
 In seeking to account for it, we shall follow the clue put into our 
 hands by what has gone before, and see what hght can be obtained 
 by supposing that in the Agon we have to do with the first term 
 in some ritual sequence, of which the last term is a sacred marriage. 
 We shall begin with a description of its essential features. 
 
 36. The Characters in the Agon 
 
 Three, or sometimes four, roles are involved in the Agon : never 
 more than four. First there are the two Adversaries (as we shall 
 call them). For the sake of convenience, we shall distinguish them 
 as the 'Agonist' and the 'Antagonist.' The Agonist is the hero, 
 who is attacked, is put on his defence, and comes off victorious. 
 The Antagonist is the villain, who is in the stronger position at 
 first, but is worsted and beaten from the field. Besides these there 
 is the Chorus, whose Leader directs the trial and sometimes pro- 
 nounces the verdict ; the rest of the Chorus sing their Ode and 
 Antode at the proper moments. Finally, there is in some cases a 
 minor character, a friend or companion of the Agonist, who plays 
 the part of Buffoon, interjecting remarks and anecdotes, naive, 
 humorous, or obscene, aside to the audience. 
 
72 THE OBIGIN OF ATTIO COMEDY 
 
 37. The Form of the Agon 
 
 The Agon is, in most of the plays, a perfectly definite section with 
 a structure as fixed and canonical as that of any other part. It is 
 referred to in the text as ' the Agon ' with a frequency which warrants 
 our use of the word, since Ziehnski's work, as a technical term.^ 
 
 The structure of the regular Agon is antiphonal, in two balanced 
 halves. First comes the Ode, in which half the Chorus, according 
 as their sympathies incline, encourage one or both of the adversaries 
 to do their utmost. Then the Leader, in the Kaiaheleicsmos, calls 
 on the Antagonist to speak first. The party who will ultimately 
 be defeated always begins.^ He opens his case in the Epirrheme, 
 usually interrupted by objections and questions from the Agonist. 
 The passage ends in a Pnigos. 
 
 The second part is parallel in form and contents. In the Anlode, 
 the other half-Chorus encourages the Agonist, who is called upon, 
 in the Antikataheleusmos, to make his defence. He does so in the 
 Antepirrheme, ending with an Antipnigos. Finally, in the Sphragis, 
 the leader of the Chorus pronounces the verdict in favour of the 
 Agonist. 
 
 Zielinski confined the term Agon to passages which are written 
 on this formal pattern. Consequently, he did not recognise the 
 existence of an Agon in the Acharnians and the Thesmophoriazusae. 
 The former play, however, has an Agon at the usual place, though 
 its form is not normal and the passage is written in iambics.' In 
 
 ' E.g. Ach. 392: us (rKTJ'pii/ ayHiv oStos oiic ecSi^erai, 481: Sffov Ton dYUK' 
 d-ywi/iei rdxa. Knights, 688 : Swus dyaviei (ppSvTi^c. Clouds, 958 : ijs wipi rots i/iois 
 cl>i\ois iarlv dyiiv fUyiiTTOs. Wasps, 633 : bpq.s yhp fis trot p,4yas itrrlv a.yil>v. Frogs, 
 883 : vw yap iyihv o-o0(os 6 p.4ya! X"P" ^pJs ipyov ifdri, 785 : dywva voietv airka 
 niXa Kal Kplinv | K&Xeyxoy airuv ttjs rixv-qs. Frag. 331 : ayd}v wp6(j>a<rtv ov d^xerai. 
 Telmesses, frag. 3 : oii yhp riee/jLev rbv aywa rdrds t6v rpinrov \ &<nrep ritas fjv, dXXd 
 Kaivav Tpayfidrai' is doubtful. 
 
 ^ Knights, 335, where the Sausage-seller snatches the first word, is no excep- 
 tion, for the Paphlagonian protests (oSk aO fi' (d(reis ;) and succeeds in claiming 
 hia right to take the lead in the Epirrheme. 
 ' The structure is as follows :— 
 Ode ; 490-494. 
 
 (t KatakeUusmos : 494 eta . . . \iyei..) 
 Epirrheme: 496-565, monologue of Dikaiopolis, followed by quarrel between 
 
 the Leaders of the half-Chorusea. 
 Antode : 566-571, calling on Lamachus. 
 
 Quasi-Antikatakeleusmos (spoken by Leader of 2nd half-Chorus) : 576-7. 
 Antepirrheme : 572-625, scene between Dikaiopolis and Lamachua. 
 Sphragis = KoiiixdTiov of Parabasis: 626, driip vik^ toTo-i Xii7oieri kt\. 
 
AGON, SACRIFICE, AND FEAST 73 
 
 the Thesmophoriazusae, the Agon is replaced by a debate in the 
 women's assembly, wHch fits fairly well into the general outhne 
 of the normal Agon,^ though the Ode and Antode are out of place, 
 the Ode being used to divide the Epirrheme between two speakers. 
 The fact that the Peace contains no Agon is explained by the action 
 in the first part of that play being based on a different ritual, the 
 A.nodos of the Earth Goddess.^ Zielinski's theory of the inaugura- 
 tion of a statue by Pheidias is superfluous. 
 
 Such, then, are in outUne the essentials of the Agon. There are 
 several points to be discussed. The simplest plan will be to put 
 aside for the present the role of the Chorus, important though it 
 be, and the minor character who sometimes plays the Buffoon, 
 and fix our attention on the Adversaries. 
 
 38. ^ ' dramatised debate ' 
 
 Professor Butcher remarks, in a sentence often quoted : ' A play 
 of Aristophanes is a dramatised debate, an arfoiv, in which the 
 persons represent opposing principles ; for in form the piece is 
 always combative, though the fight may be but a mock fight.' 
 This dictum is in the main true, but it is not a complete account. 
 In the first place, the Agon proper is not the whole play, but the 
 first moment in the action : and, though it is the chief and critical 
 moment, there are those other standing incidents already mentioned, 
 
 ' ICatakeleunmos : 381-2. 
 
 Epirrheme : 383-458, divided by 
 
 Ode: 434-442. 
 
 Antepirrheme : 466-519. 
 
 Antode: 520-530. 
 
 Quasi- Sphragis : 531-2. 
 The fact that these two plays have Ag6nes in this wider sense was pointed 
 out by Weil, Etudes sur le drame antique, 290 ff. Kaibel, solely on the grounds 
 that there is no Agon in the Acharnians, Peace, and Thesmophoriazusae, and 
 that the Agon, no more than the Parabasis, has an absolutely fixed form, denies 
 Zielinski's view that the Agon was an integral part of the oldest Comedy 
 (Art. 'Aristophanes,' Pauly- Wiss., ii. 989). Neither reason seems to me to have 
 any weight. Dieterioh (Pulcinella, 78) says that the Agdnes of Greek Comedy 
 sicher zu deren alteaten Bestandttilen gelwren. 
 
 " Mazon {Essai sur la corwp. des com. d'Arist. p. 86) describes Peace, 601-705, 
 as an Agon, though admitting the extreme irregularity of its form. Perhaps 
 all that can be said is that the substance of this passage might well have been 
 put into the Agori form in a play constructed on the usual lines. 
 
74 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC (JOMEDY 
 
 that follow it in a regular order. In the second place, the term 
 ' dramatised debate ' is too mild. When Mr. StarMe ^ speaks of 
 the ' philosophic calm ' of the Agon in the Wasps, as forming ' an 
 admirable contrast with the Sturm und Drang of the preceding 
 scenes,' the English reader who recalls Bdelycleon's passionate 
 denunciations and his father's successive threats of suicide and 
 murder, will admire the Irishman's notion of philosophic calm in 
 a debate. The Agon of the Wasps, moreover, is one of the mildest. 
 In some plays, it is less like a debate than a criminal trial, and less 
 like a trial than a duel, with the two half-Choruses acting as seconds 
 and the Leader as umpire. It is several times preceded by an actual 
 fight with fists or missiles, which is somehow arrested in order that 
 the flushed combatants may have it out with their tongues instead. 
 Though the victory is finally won by argument — a term which must 
 include all the arsenal of invective — the Agon is no mere ' dramatised 
 debate ' ; it ends in the crisis and turning-point of the play, reverses 
 the situation of the adversaries, and leads not to an academic 
 resolution, but to all the rest of the action that follows.^ Above 
 all, it is, as we have said, organically related to the final marriage 
 in which the victor is bridegroom, the triumph of the new God or 
 the new King. 
 
 f The hypothesis we are to consider is that the Agon had its origin 
 in one of those ritual contests between the representatives of 
 Summer and Winter, Life and Death, which we studied in the last 
 
 \_chapter. We have seen how such ceremonies, once performed 
 with the serious intent of promoting the fertihty of the year — an 
 intent still clearly remembered in Thrace — survive in folk-dramas 
 like those of northern Greece or the Mummers' Play in England. 
 They bear the unmistakable mark of their ritual origin. They 
 keep the old plot, always the same from year to year, and the old un- 
 varjdng characters. They have never passed into the Uterary stage, 
 
 _^but have degenerated, by an inevitable decUne, into plays or games. 
 
 When rites like these sink below the rehgious plane, the most 
 
 serious elements are naturally the first to be softened and reduced 
 
 to harmless mummery — a process, indeed, that sets in even while 
 
 > The Wasps of Aristophanes, p. xv. 
 
 ^ The central importance of the Agon is illustrated by the fact that Aristo- 
 phanes can describe his first play, the Banqueters, by the names of the two 
 adversaries in its^g'oii; Glouds, u2S : ii otou yap ivSdS' iir' avSpdv, oh ijSi) Kal 
 X^yeti', I 6 Z^(i}(ppioi> re x^ KarairiJ'ywi' &pnjT^ 7jKovffdT7}P . 
 
AGON, SACRIFICE, AND FEAST 75 
 
 the religious meaning is still alive. The actual death of the 
 human God or of the substituted victim gives place to a transparent 
 pretence ; the resurrection becomes a simple matter of the slain 
 man jumping up again. No shadow will be allowed to fall across 
 the general cheerfulness and jollity of the occasion. j 
 
 But, however such a crude procedure may suit the rustic folk- 
 drama, we must, of course, not expect to find in the Uterary Comedy 
 of Aristophanes anything so naive as the simulated death and 
 revival of the hero. What we do find is that the Agon is the moment 
 in the play at which the tone becomes most serious, though this 
 seriousness may no longer be rehgious, but due to the real gravity 
 of the poUtical and social themes, the real contemporary contest 
 between War and Peace or the New and Old Culture. In a general 
 atmosphere of very high-spirited Comedy, shot through vnth 
 flashes of these serious issues, a dramatic death and resurrection 
 of either adversary would be either too serious or too silly. The 
 Alcestis of Euripides shows plainly enough how difficult it is for an 
 artist, setting such a theme in a half-comic Ught, so to hold the 
 balance as to avoid the tragic tone on the one side and a jarring 
 levity on the other. In pure Comedy the situation is impossible, 
 unless the death is so obviously unreal that it threatens to become 
 childish. At the same time, if our hypothesis is sound, we might 
 expect to find some reminiscences of the death and resurrection 
 motive clinging to the Agdnes in Aristophanes. We will pass 
 some of them in review, in order that the reader may judge 
 whether there are sufficient traces to strengthen the supposition 
 we were led to on other grounds. 
 
 39. The Agones in the Plays 
 In the ACHARNIANS, the stern old charcoal-burners, pursuing the 
 peace emissary of Dikaiopohs, declare that they will take their fill 
 of pelting the traitor with stones. After the episode of the phallic 
 procession they proceed to discharge their missiles at Dikaiopohs, 
 declaring they will stone him to death— a fate with which, by the 
 way, Pentheus threatens Dionysus in the Bacchae.^ Dikaiopohs 
 claims a hearing, offering to speak with his head over a block 
 The more irreconcilable half of the Chorus still shout that he shall 
 die ; until Dikaiopohs, parodying a situation in the Telefhus of 
 
 1 356. 
 
76 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 Euripides, rushes into his house and fetches out a carving-knife 
 and a coal-basket, which he threatens to butcher, if he is not heard. 
 This appeal works upon the softer feeUngs of the Acharnian coal- 
 heavers, who drop their stones and allow Dikaiopolis to fetch his 
 chopping-block and plead his case over it. Here the Agon would 
 begin,^ but that DikaiopoUs, still frightened, thinks it more prudent 
 to borrow the pathetic rags and beggar's outfit of Telephus from 
 the wardrobe of Euripides. After this episode comes the Agon. 
 The Antagonist, Lamachus, has not yet appeared ; so the Epirrheme 
 of the first half consists of a long speech by Dikaiopolis on the rights 
 and wrongs of the Peloponnesian War, which divides the Chorus 
 against itself. The two Leaders engage in a tussle, ending in a 
 cry of appeal (the Antode) from the defeated party to Lamachus. 
 In the Antepirrheme, Dikaiopolis puts this miles gloriosus so out 
 of countenance thai the Chorus are converted. At the end of the 
 play, while Dikaiopolis feasts and triumphs, we see Lamachus, the 
 Antagonist, covered with wounds, hobbling to the hospital. 
 
 The first Agon in the Knights (303 ff.), again, is led up to by a scene 
 of fighting. The Paphlagonian has no sooner appeared, breathing 
 threats of death and destruction, than the Knights are invoked by 
 Demosthenes to the assistance of the Sausage-seller. They instantly 
 fall upon the Paphlagonian and beat him ; then match him and the 
 Sausage-seller to outdo one another in shameless screaming. The 
 Agon follows. The adversaries exchange the most tremendous 
 threats, and it ends with the Paphlagonian being again thrashed, 
 this time by the victorious Sausage-seller. In the second Agon 
 (756 fi.) the adversaries begin by each imprecating the most horrible 
 death upon himself, if he is not patriotic. At the end of the last 
 competition between the rival demagogues, the Paphlagonian, 
 degraded by Demos and stripped of his wreath of office, demands 
 to be wheeled into the house in a fainting condition, taking farewell 
 of his former glories in words borrowed from the dying Alcestis.^ 
 
 * It is announced at this point in the words, cos (rKTJ\pip o^wv opros oix 
 icUhrai., 392. 
 
 ^ 1250 : (& (rT4(/>ave, x^^P^^ &TnBt, Kel (r' Ukuv iyui 
 
 Xeiirw (ri S' (SAXos tis \apibv KexT-iJo-eTai, 
 kX^tttijs flip o6k if liSXXov, eirux^' 8' (ctDs. 
 Eurip. Ale. 177. Aloestis says farewell to her marriage bed : 
 
 (rii<f>piav fiiv oiiK &i> naXKov, eirvXT]! S' ffffcis. 
 
AGON, SACRIFICE, AND FEAST 77 
 
 At the conclusion of the play, as we saw. Demos pronounces 
 his final doom. He is to be reduced to the vile trade from which 
 his adversary has risen. Demos expressly calls him a fhwrmakos 
 (1405), one of those human scape-goats who served for the annual 
 expulsion of evil at the Attic Thargelia. That the word is not, as 
 sometimes, a casual term of abuse, is made slightly more probable 
 by an earUer passage, where the Chorus recommend Demos to fatten 
 up his demagogues ' like pubHc victims,' and then, when he needs 
 a dehcate morsel, to sacrifice and make a meal of them.i As the 
 expulsion of the Pharmakoi was a rite of the same type as the 
 Driving out of Death or Winter, we seem here to have something 
 like a reminiscence of the original fate of the Antagonist. We 
 have already mentioned the probable conjecture that this ritual 
 of expulsion was actually parodied in the Exodos of the Knights.^ 
 
 ' 1131 S.: Chor. xoSru, ^eV ft;- eD to«,«, | . . . d -roM' MrvSis Mwep 
 Svfiofflov! rpifui I iv r-S irvicvl, kM' irav | ^i, <roi rixa ^i'ov 6v, \ roirup Ss &y r, 
 xa-X^h I 9i5o-as iiriSeivvek. It is true that the Scholiast's note, 1136, dTi/ioalovs Si 
 rods \eyoii^vovs (papixaxois, otircp KaBalpovn ras TriXeis tQ iavrdv 04c(j,, cannot be 
 correct, as the Pharmakoi were not eaten or fattened up for that purpose (cf. 
 Mommsen, Feste, p. 475) ; but the analogy is close between the fattening up of 
 sacred animals for sacrifice and the common custom of allowing a Saturnalian 
 victim a period of unlimited self-indulgence before his death ; and, for all we 
 know, the Pharmakoi may have been given this alleviation, as the corresponding 
 victim at Marseilles was alendus anno integro publicis sumptibus (Serv. Aen, 3, 57). 
 Note also that, just before the Chorus give Demos this advice, Demos himself 
 has said : ' I choose to maintain one thief as my TpatrrdTTis, and when he is full 
 I hoist and beat him.' {KXiTrrovrd re fioiXo/iai \ Tp4(pety '4va wpo<rT6.Triv I toutov 6' 
 &Ta.v y T\4m, | S.pa.! iirdra^a. ) The Pharmakos was, according to legend, a thief 
 who robbed Apollo's temple, and this ritual theft was represented yearly at the 
 Thargelia (Harpocr. s.v. (pap/j.aKis) ; as embodying the sins of all Athens, he 
 was a sort of irpo(TrdTT]s toO S-^/xov ; and he was beaten, as he was led out of the 
 city. Again, in the Antode of the Agon (400), the Chorus express the delight 
 they would feel if Cleon were made to disgorge {iK^dXois tt)v IvOeatv), and they 
 say that 'the son of loulios' {whoever he was) would in his delight lijTraioi'la-ai. 
 Kal /SaKx^^ffX"" po'i"- It may be worth while to point out that, at the 
 expulsion of the Pharmakoi at Apollo's festival, Iti iraidv would be appropriate ; 
 and that the Pharmakoi were called cri^aKxoi or ai/jL^aKxai. (Helladios, Phot. 
 Bibl. 279, p. 534, Bdkk. Both readings have MS. authority). The Scholiast 
 on Knights, 408, saya that the KKdSoi carried by the mystae were called /Sd/c^oi, 
 and Hesych. (s.v.) tells us of a KpaStrjs v6/ios sung while the Pharmakoi were led 
 in procession and beaten Kpddais khI Sptois. I conjecture that the song indicated 
 in itiTraiuvla-aL and ;8aKx^^'"fX<"' ?"■"' ^*^ t^'" xpaSlris v6p,o!. 
 
 2 We may compare the driving away of the Proboulos loaded with grave- 
 ornaments, at the end of the Agon in the Lysistrata (see below, p. 81), and the 
 similar expulsion of the Informer of the Plutus (below, p. 136), decorated with 
 the cast-off cloak and shoes of the Just Man. Both these resemble the expulsion 
 of the Pharmakos. 
 
78 THE ORIGIN 01" ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 The final Agon in the Clouds^ is preceded by the scene in which 
 Pheidippides beats his father Strepsiades on the stage — a proceeding 
 which he all but justifies in the ensuing debate. It is interesting 
 that this contest between father and son contains two allusions 
 to the Agon between Admetus and Pheres in the Alcestis — a passage 
 itself barely intelhgible except in the light of the old ritual conflict 
 of the Young King claiming to supersede the outworn Old King.^ 
 Pheidippides would be completely victorious, were it not that at 
 the last moment he turns Strepsiades against him by declaring 
 that he will beat his mother too. This leads to Strepsiades' 
 reconversion and the vengeance he executes on the house of 
 Socrates, who is, in reahty though not in form, the Antagonist 
 and principle of evil in the play. We have already noted the 
 suggestions that Strepsiades is a sort of minister of the restored 
 Zeus, blasting the priest of the usurping Dinos. 
 
 Earlier in the play, the usual place of the Agon,^ between Parodos 
 and Parabasis, is occupied by the instruction of the neophyte 
 Strepsiades in the mysteries of philosophy. It is curious to note 
 that at this point of the action, just where it is to be looked for,- 
 we find something like a death and resurrection of the hero. When 
 the prehminary instruction is ended (497), Strepsiades is bidden 
 to lay aside his upper garment and enter the low-browed sanctuary 
 of thought.* He expresses horror at the idea of becoming ' half- 
 dead ' {rffiiOvrjs:) Hke the palUd and skinny Chaerephon, and asks 
 for a honey-cake to appease the subterranean guardians of this 
 ' Cave of Trophonius.' ^ Those who were to go down into the real 
 
 1 1345 ff. The earlier ^grora between the two Reasons will be considered later. 
 
 ^ 1416 : KKi,ov<n iraUes, Traripa d' od KXdeiy doKcTs ; 
 Ale. 691 : x^'/'f "P""" 'P'^^i TaT^pa S' oi xalpeiv SoKeU ; 
 1420 : Streps. dXX' oiSa-fioO vofii^erai Tbv iraTipa raSra waaxci-v. 
 Ale. 683 : oi yap r-arpi^oy rivS' iS€^dp,ijv vbp.ov \ iralSav -wpoBvijaKeLV iraTipas ovi' 
 
 ' Mazon (p. 54) speaks of Clouds, 358-475, as an Agon ; but the use of the term 
 seems to me indefensible. 
 
 ^ The door of the Phrontisterion is' so low that Strepsiades kicks it instead of 
 knocking : t^v 66pav XeXd/cTiKas, 136. It ma3- be that a similar reason makes 
 Dionysus, at Pluto's door in the Frogs, ask ' how they knock at doors in this 
 country,' 460 : il7e S-f; rlva. Tp6irov rijv Bipav K6\pa ; rlva ; \ jtus heiS' dpa KbwTovatv 
 
 oiTlX'^pi'Ol ', 
 
 ' 507 : 56s ixoi iicKtT0UTTa.v rpdrepop, m diSoiK' 4yii 
 
 eiatii Kara^alvuv Hjawep ^s Tpoipwviov. 
 The Scholiast says that at the real Cave of Trophonius, oi /iuoi//tei/oi KaBitovrai 
 iirl ToO <Tr6iiaTos yvuvol, Pausanias, ix. 39, tells us the ritual dress was a linen 
 tunic. Of. Clouds, 498 : Soer. , yvfivois elmhat vopd^erai. 
 
AGON, SACRIFICE, AND FEAST 79 
 
 Cave of Trophonius drank first of the waters of Lethe and Mnemosyne, 
 that they might forget what they knew before and remember what 
 was revealed to them in their trance below. There seems to be a 
 reference to this when Socrates, just after the Parabasis, calls 
 Strepsiades out again ' to the hght,' complaining that the old boor 
 is so oblivious that he has forgotten all he has learnt, before learning 
 it. At any rate, we know from trustworthy sources ^ that those 
 who were brave enough to consult that subterranean oracle at 
 Lebadeia went through an experience which was made to resemble 
 death as closely as was consistent with an actual return to life. 
 When the consultant emerged, dazed and barely conscious, he was 
 seated on the throne of Memory — the equivalent of which in the 
 Clouds is the pallet-bed {aa-KdvT7i<;) which Strepsiades is bidden to 
 bring out with him — and when he had told what he had seen and 
 heard, he was carried by his friends to the house of the Agathos 
 Daimon and Agathe Tyche. Later, he recovered his wits and the 
 power to laugh returned. 
 
 Further on in the play (1113) Strepsiades' son likewise submits 
 to the philosopher's instructions. After the first Agon, in which 
 the Just and Unjust Eeasons contend for his soul, Pheidippides 
 enters the Cave of Thought, to emerge soon afterwards, transformed 
 into the likeness of a pale and disputatious sophist. The words of 
 the text clearly indicate an actual change of mask.^ Overjoyed at 
 this transfiguration, Strepsiades, singing a Kdmos Song (iyKoyfioov), 
 carries off his son in triumph, in order to feast him within. 
 
 In the Wasps, the Agon is again introduced by a fight, in which 
 the Chorus attack the Agonist Bdelycleon, as the Acharnians 
 attacked DikaiopoUs. For all the 'philosophic calm' of the 
 Agon, Philocleon, before it begins, calls for a sword in order that 
 he may fall upon it, Uke Ajax, if he is defeated.^ Later, he threatens 
 instead to murder Bdelycleon, if he is not defeated and converted 
 
 1 The principal evidence is collected and discussed in J. E. Harrison, Themis, 
 
 V- 508 ff. 
 
 2 1 170 : Streps, to to, riKvov, lii loO lov. 
 
 (is TJSo/ial aov -irpCiTO. tt]v yp6av ISdiv. 
 vvv /liv y' ISelf el Tpuirov i^aprnnKis 
 KdvTL\oyiK6i . . • 
 eiri ToO vpoiTiSixov r' iarlv 'ArTLxiv /SX^ttos. 
 
 3 522 : PMod. «»' ^'*« T^ >""■ **"' „ ,, 
 
 ^v y&p TfTTieu Xiyup 0-01/, Treptreffovfiai rcf iltpet. 
 
80 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 by his son's arguments.^ Bdelycleon's exposure of the slavery 
 that is masked as democratic freedom reduces the old man to a 
 fainting condition. The sword drops from his nerveless hand.^ 
 Already his eyes are fixed on a better land of everlasting service 
 on the jury, and his soul is taking flight, when his son coaxes 
 him back to Ufe with the promise of a private lawcourt at his own 
 fireside.^ Philocleon's words are full of reminiscences of the 
 languishing heroes and heroines of Euripides.* In this passage we 
 come as near as possible to a sort of simulated death and revival. 
 
 In the Birds there is the regular pitched battle between the 
 Chorus and the Agonist, Pisthetairos ; but when a truce has been 
 sworn, things go smoothly ; for the Hoopoe, who plays the 
 Antagonist, is already convinced. He merely puts objections 
 and leading questions, and the Birds are easily persuaded. The 
 Hoopoe, it may be noticed, is the old King of the Birds, and a 
 metamorphosis of one of the ancient kings of Athens. The Agon 
 is between the old King and the new who succeeds to his position. 
 
 The Lysistrata has both a quarrel between the two halves of 
 the Chorus and also a fight between the Proboulos with his poUce- 
 men and the women supporters of the heroine. In the Agon (476 fE.) 
 the Proboulos plays Antagonist. Towards the end, Lysistrata 
 launches into a serious and even pathetic description of what war 
 means to women. The veteran returned can easily find a wife ; 
 but the young maiden's time is short in which to get married ; 
 once it is past, she may sit and watch for omens of the lover that will 
 not come." The Proboulos interrupts ; but Lysistrata cuts him 
 short with the surprising question : Why on earth he does not die. 
 
 * 653 : Phiiocl. ei fx^ yap 6irojs SofXeiJw '716, tovtI rax^ws /xe 5t5d|ets, 
 
 ovK l(TTLV Siras oixl Teev/}^eis, k&v xpv avKayxvuv fi' dvix^ffBai. 
 '^ 714 : Phiiocl. ot/j,oi tL irlvovB' ; ws vdpKij fiov Karh ttjs x^ipis (caTaxftrai, 
 
 Koi t6 J/0OS oij Sipafmi jcar^x"''. 'i'^'^' 'Ij^V /xaXBaKds elfu. 
 ' 765 : eiceiffe (to Hades) fxiv juijicM ^dSi^, dXX' hedSe 
 
 aiiroC fji^vuv SiKai^e Totatv oi/f^rats. 
 1751: Kelyoiv Ipcmai, xeWi. yevol/xav kt\. Sohol. 4^ 'iTToKirov 'EipiirlSov (230). 
 Alcesiis, 866 iKeivutp ^pa/xat kt\. 
 
 756 : <nreOS' S> ^j/vxi- toO yitoi ypvxi ; | Trdpts Si (Tui^pL Schol. vapa ra 4k BcWepo- 
 ^dfrov Taipei Tavra. 
 763 : TouTo Si \ "AiStjs diaKpiveT. Eurip. Kp^o-crai, frag. 465 (N^), <"Ai5);s> 
 
 « 695. 
 
AGON, SACRIFICE, AND FEAST 81 
 
 There is nothing to prevent him : ' there is a place for you (to be 
 buried in) ; a coffin can be had for money ; a honey-cake (for 
 Cerberus) I will make for you with my own hands ; here is a funeral 
 wreath for you.' Lysistrata and her companion Kalonike load him 
 with the usual grave-ornaments and tell him that Charon is waiting 
 for him.^ The Prohoulos goes ofi to show himself thus arrayed to 
 his colleagues. Lysistrata calls after him to know if he is going 
 to complain that the women have not laid him out for burial, and 
 promises to come on the third day and do the customary offices. 
 This passage, which can hardly be said to be led up to by anything 
 in the preceding context,^ is dramatically a very odd and unexpected 
 device for getting the Antagonist off the stage. 
 
 In the Thesmophoriazusae, the Agon takes the form of a debate 
 in the women's Bcclesia. It is preceded by a parody of the ritual 
 prayer, invoking destruction on any man who commits various 
 offences inconvenient to women (331 ff.). In the Agon itself, the 
 hero, disguised as a woman, defends his kinsman Euripides with 
 such an outrageous justification of the poet's attacks on the sex 
 as to lead to his detection. He is tied up to a plaiik and only saves 
 himself from being burnt to death by the infuriated women by 
 repeating Dikaiopolis' trick, borrowed from the Telephus, of seizing 
 a child from the arms of one of them and threatening to kill it. 
 Though the child turns out to be an ilUcit skin of wine, the ruse is 
 successful and the hero is finally saved, Hke a second Andromeda, 
 by the tragedian. 
 
 The Agon in the Frogs ends in the resurrection of the Agonist 
 
 1 501 : £jys, <rti 5k Sri tI fiaOCiv ovk diroflj'ijVKeis ; 
 
 Xoiptov iffri' (Topiy C)V7)aW 
 HeXiTovTrav iyib Kai St] fid^ai. 
 XajSJ ravrl Kai irre^di'miroi. 
 Kalonike (?) Kai ravTaai SHai. trap' i/t-ov. 
 
 Kai TOVTOvyl \a/3e rbv aTi<j>avov. 
 ToD Sei; tI TodeTs; xii/Jei 's ttip vavv. 
 6 Xd/jwi' ire KoKeT, 
 ai Si KwXieis cLviyeffSat. ktX. 
 ForthedistributionofpartsseeW. Siiss, meira. -af«s., 1908, p. 16. 
 
 2 la the counterpart of this passage, at the end of the first half of the Agon 
 (530 ff) Lysistrata and her companion offer the Prohoulos n woman s veil and 
 wool-basket, telling him to leave war to women. Is it fanciful to recall that 
 Pentheus, Dionysus' antagonist in the Bacchae, is dressed as a woman, before 
 he is led out to his death at the hands of the women? 
 
 F 
 
82 THE ORIGIN OP ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 Aeschylus, wHle the Antagonist Euripides complains that he is 
 'left for dead' in the underworld ^— a phrase which gains point 
 if we suppose a reminiscence that such had originally been the 
 Antagonist's fate. Dionysus replies to this appeal with a quotation 
 from a play of Euripides' own, the Polyidos, which itself turned on 
 a death and resurrection motive : 
 
 Who knows if to be living he not death ? 
 
 In the Frogs, as in the Clouds, the principal Agon is postponed to 
 the second part of the play ; but, just as in the Clouds we found 
 a sort of death and resurrection at the point where the Agon usually 
 comes, so at the same point in the Frogs, before the Pardbasis, 
 there is the scene in which Dionysus and his slave submit to 
 torture, as a test of their respective claims to divinity. The trial 
 is inconclusive. They are carried off to be judged by Pluto himself 
 and Persephone, and the true God comes off victorious. The torture 
 scene contains what sounds hke even a verbal echo of the trial of 
 Dionysus by Pentheus in the Bacchae.^ 
 
 The Agon of the Ecclesiazusae is imperfect,^ as there is no violent 
 opposition to the pohtical projects of Praxagora. Blepyros merely 
 puts objections, hke the Hoopoe in the Birds. He is convinced, 
 and all goes forward peacefully. 
 
 In the Agon of the Plutus, the Antagonist, Poverty, gets the 
 better in the argument ; but she is driven away with curses ' to 
 the crows ' or ' to the pillory ' (604). Her real adversary. Wealth, 
 is not confronted with her in the Agon, which is accordingly im- 
 perfect in form. But, as we have already noted,* the expulsion 
 of Poverty is balanced by the bringing in of Wealth, as the driving 
 out of the PharmaJcos had its counterpart in the carrjdng in of the 
 Eiresione. 
 
 • 1476 : Eur. Hi (rx^rXie, irepi6^ei /ie di) TeBvT/KdTa ; 
 
 Dion. tIs olSev el rb {ijv ixiv itm KarBaveTv kt\. 
 CI. J. E. Harrison, 'Sophocles, lchnevita,e, etc' in JEssaps and Studies presented 
 to W. Ridgeway (Cambridge, 1913), p. 149. 
 
 ^ 628 ; Dion, ayopeiu rivl | i/ik fi?) ^aaavl^eai dddvarov Sit'. el Se fi-f), | oiV6s 
 aeavrbv alriu. Van Leeuwen ad loc. cites Bacchae, 504, aiSd /ne fji.-ij Seiv aoxppovav 
 ou <T(ii<l>po<xiv . 
 
 ' Ode (571-S80) ; KataMeusmos (581-2) ; Epirrheme anipnigos (583-709). The 
 other half of the structure is wanting. 
 
 ' Above, p. 56. 
 
AGON, SACRIFICE, AND FEAST 83 
 
 40. Summary and conclusions 
 
 To sum up the results of this survey. In five plays (Acharnians, 
 Knights, Wasps, Birds, Lysistrata) the Chorus before the Agon 
 make a violent assault upon one or other of the adversaries and 
 threaten him with death. In the Acharnians and Lysistrata the 
 two halves of the Chorus also quarrel among themselves. After 
 the Agon, one or other of the adversaries is wounded (finale of the 
 Acharnians) ; is beaten by his adversary and the Chorus, and finally 
 degraded and expelled as if he were a Pharmakos (Knights) ; endures 
 the terrors of a descent into the Cave of Trophonius (Clouds ^) ; 
 faints almost to death and is recalled to Ufe, after threatening to 
 kill first himseM and then his son (Wasps) ; is adorned for burial 
 (Lysistrata) ; tied to a plank and only saved from death by a ruse 
 (Thesmophoriazusae) ; ' left for dead ' in Hades, while his adversary 
 is brought back to life (Frogs) ; driven away with curses, as Hunger 
 or Death was driven out, while Wealth is brought in instead 
 (Plutus). 
 
 The strength of this evidence may be variously estimated. No 
 one instance taken by itself would have much weight ; but when 
 all are taken together, and it is seen how constant this motive is, 
 it appears to me that the probabihty that we have here survivals 
 of an original simulated death of one or other adversary is con- 
 siderably stronger than we should expect to find it, even if we knew 
 on other grounds that the hypothesis were true. Granted that 
 an Old Comedy play is a ' dramatised debate'— a fact which itself, 
 of course, calls for explanation— still it is possible for a debate, 
 even on political topics of burning interest at the moment, to be 
 conducted without so much murderous violence, which not seldom 
 goes beyond the ordinary limits of good-tempered Comedy among 
 a civilised people. In point of taste, there is no reason to suppose 
 that the audience wHch enjoyed the plays of Sophocles and Euripides 
 was much ruder than the audience which applauded Menander a 
 century later. On the whole, it seems probable that the physical 
 violence and horseplay of the Old Comedy, Uke the element of 
 personal satire and the obscenity, is to be explamed as part of the 
 
 1 Not after the Ago,i proper, where he is merely beaten, but at the point 
 where the Agon usually comes, just before the Parabasis. 
 
84 THE OBIGIN OP ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 inheritance from the crudities of folk-drama. It is not at all 
 unlikely that a theatrical pubUc who were more squeamish about 
 physical violence in Tragedy than any modern Europeans, may 
 have felt that nothing but the sanction of tradition would excuse 
 any of the three features mentioned. Since two of them — the 
 personal invective and the indecency — are admittedly traceable 
 to the phalUc origin of Comedy, it seems likely that the third is 
 also derived from a motive which we have seen to be altogether 
 in place in any dramatic form of the same ritual of the expulsion 
 of evil and the induction of the powers of fertihty. 
 
 41. The Resurrection Motive 
 
 So far we have been concerned to show that there are sufficient 
 traces left in the Agon to warrant our supposing that this regular 
 feature of the comic plot originally, in its ritual form, led to the 
 death of one or other of the Adversaries, followed, at the end of the 
 play, by the marriage and triumph of that one who represents 
 the good principle, the King of the festival, the God or Fertihty 
 Spirit himself. The type of drama we have had chiefly in view is 
 that in which the evil principle of Death or Hunger or Winter, 
 which is driven out or slain, is represented by the Antagonist, who 
 in the plays becomes the discomfited villain. But we must not lose 
 sight of another type, which we have already had before us in the 
 English Mummers' Play, the folk-plays of northern Greece, and the 
 ancient Thracian armed dance, where it is the representative of 
 the good principle that is killed by the evil, and afterwards brought 
 back to life. If we look again at the series of Aristophanic plays, 
 we shall not merely find isolated vestiges of this motive of resurrec- 
 tion, or rebirth, or renewal of hfe, but we shall see how it governs, 
 in several cases, the general com'se of the action after the Agon. 
 
 We must here draw a distinction hitherto neglected. We must 
 now put aside the cases in which the Antagonist, or evil principle, 
 is maltreated and expelled, and turn to those in which it is the 
 good principle, the hero, who passes through the danger of death 
 or is represented as renewing his Ufe or youth.^ By the ' hero ' 
 is meant the person who is led in triumph at the end as a partner 
 in the sacred marriage. 
 
 ^ The two typea can of oourae be combined. 
 
AGON, SACRIFICE, AND FEAST 85 
 
 42. The Progs and the Peace 
 
 The only play which ends with an actual resurrection of the 
 good adversary in the Agon is the Frogs. This is also the only 
 .play in which Dionysus takes a leading part ; but it is hardly fair 
 to lay much stress upon it, because the whole conception of the 
 plot demands that it shall be modelled on a Descent into Hades. 
 We cannot, however, pass it over without remarking that we have 
 here another point of contact with the Athenian Lenaea. In the 
 ritual that lay behind these Descents — or one form of that ritual — 
 it was the male power of fertility who went down to bring back 
 from the underworld either his mother or his bride. Orpheus 
 fetches Eurydice ; Heracles recovers Alcestis from the clutches 
 of Death. At Lerna the Argives said that Dionysus went down 
 to Hades through the Lake Alkyonia to bring up his mother, 
 Semele ; and yearly rites were performed there by night.^ It is 
 across a lake, tenanted by the Frogs, that Dionysus of the Limnae 
 descends to bring up the tragedian.^ 
 
 In the closely alUed ritual of the Lenaea, the male divinity figured 
 as a child. 'At the Lenaean contests of Dionysus,' we are told;^ 
 ' the daiduchos, holding a torch, says : " Call ye the God," and the 
 hearers shout : " lacchos, child of Semele, Giver of wealth." ' It 
 is highly probable that, in response to this evocation, the infant 
 God appeared in his mother's arms from some cave or artificial 
 mound. The ' Giver of wealth ' would hold his cornucopia. The 
 type is that of the famous statue of Eirene, bearing the child 
 Plutus. This ritual combined the Eesurrection of the Mother, the 
 Earth-Goddess, from her winter sojourn beneath the ground, with 
 the New Birth of the Child, the wealth and promise of the coming 
 
 year. 
 Now the scheme of this Anodos ritual is the basis of the first 
 
 1 Paua ii 37, 5: r^" 'AXuvoviav U^v-qv, Si' ^s <pa.<rLV 'kpyeloi Aiivvaov Is Tbv"AiSvv 
 A9«^ He'iJiiXv Ipi.iovra. Farnell, Culls, v. 183. Of. Paus. ii. 31, 2 
 
 2 Aristophanes used a similar motive in the lost Gerytades, m which a deputa- 
 tion was sent by the poets to the dead poets in Hades, Athen. xu. 551 a. It 
 was used also by Pherekrates in his Krapatali (Meineke, Com^c^, i. 84), and by 
 Bupolis in his Demoi (Mein. ibid. 126), where he is said to have resuscitated 
 several statesmen from the underworld. _ _ „ , , 
 
 3 Schol R. Ar. Frogs, 479 : (cdXei Scbv . . . i" toIs Ai,volVco« ayuxr. toxj Aio^wou 
 
 'Ukx^ T\ovroS6ra.' See A. B. Cook, Zeus (Cambridge, 1914), vol. .. p. 669 ff. 
 
86 THE OEiam OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 part of the Peace. The image of Eirene is dragged up by the 
 Chorus of farmers, apparently out of an artificial cave or mound 
 in the orchestra. The Chorus, it may be noted, are armed with 
 the same agricultural tools (a^vpai.) that are used by the Satjrs 
 on the vases which represent the Anodos of Gaia.^ Hermes 
 presides over the operation, as he does over the Anodos of 
 Pherophatta on the Dresden hrater.'^ The Peace is the only play 
 which has no Agon. Its exceptional economy is explained by its 
 being modelled on a Lenaean ceremony in which no contest was 
 involved. 
 
 In discussing the various types of fertihty drama in Chapter iv 
 we omitted this type, for the sake of simpUcity. The Eising of the 
 Earth-Mother with her new-born child involves a symbolism dis- 
 tinct from that of the contest, death, and resurrection of the God. 
 But the two symboUsms can be combined ; they are only, as it 
 were, two acts in the drama of the divine life. The miraculous 
 Birth of the wonder-child can be followed by his death at maturity. 
 There is some ground for believing that this sequence actually 
 existed in the ritual of the Lenaea, for that included also ' the 
 Rending (a-Trapayixo^) of Dionysus,' at least as the theme of a 
 ' rustic chant.' ^ 
 
 Now, it is a very striking fact that the same sequence is pre- 
 served in the folk-play observed by Mr. Dawldns in Thrace.* It 
 will be remembered that the first act of that drama showed us the 
 Old Woman, called Babo, nursing her infant {' Liknites'), who, like 
 Dionysus, is the seven-months child of no known human father. 
 The child grows to maturity with miraculous speed — a constant 
 trait of these divine infants, which may be illustrated from the 
 
 ^ Peace, 566 : vr) At' ii yap ir^Opa \ainrpbv ^v Up' e^awXio-fiivTi. Schol. ad loc. : 
 vo^fl-ai Set TOP x'P^" <"t""P'''^ txpvTa, aXs ^oKoKoirodai.. . . . This olod-beating gives 
 its title to the navSJipa ^ 'SipvpoKhiroi of Sophocles. C. Robert (' Pandora, ' .ffermes, 
 xlix, 1914, 17 ff. ) points out that Pandora at her Anodos, represented on the 
 Oxford Krater (/. H. S. xxi. 1901, PI. 1 ; J. E. Harrison, Prolegomena, p. 281, 
 fig. 72), is veiled as a bride. He calls attention to the deliverance of Peace in 
 Aristophanes as founded on this nature-myth of the release of the Earth-Goddess 
 in spring from her winter prison. 
 
 ^ Jahrb. d. k. d. arch. Inst. viii. (1893) 166. The vase is figured also in 
 J. E. Harrison, Prolegomena (1903), p. 277, fig. 68. 
 
 ' Schol. Clem. Al. Protrept. p. 297, 4 (Stahlin) : Xijyaifoi'Tas" AypoiK^K^ ifS^ 
 iirl T(^ Xt;!**^ t^So/jJvrf, ^ Kal aiir^ TepieTxev Thv AtopiJcrou ffivapayjxbv. Parnell, Cutis, 
 V. 176 ; A. B. Cook, Ztui, vol. i. p. 672. * Above, p. 63. 
 
AGON", SACRIFICE, AND FEAST 87 
 
 newly discovered Ichneutai of Sophocles.^ In the Old Woman we 
 must recognise the Earth-Mother, and in the sordid pantomime of 
 this first part of the play a last survival of the supernatural birth 
 and growth of Dionysus. In the Peace the infant is not mentioned, 
 though he may have been represented, as Plutus, in the arms of 
 the statue of Eirene. His r61e is aheady occupied by Trygaeua, 
 who is to become the bridegroom of the final marriage. The rarity 
 of this motive is soon accounted for. The birth of an infant and 
 his miraculous growth to maturity are not easily represented in 
 Comedy that has once passed out of the naive crudities of folk- 
 drama. 
 
 43. The Rejuvenation of Demos in the Knights 
 
 The Peace and the Frogs have given us one point of contact 
 with Dionysiac ritual; the Knights provides another, no less 
 curious. In the English Mummers' Play the resurrection of St. 
 George, foully slain by the Turkish Knight, is effected by the 
 Noble Doctor, who can cure 
 
 ' All sorts of diseases, 
 Whateve?' you pleases.' 
 
 The same figure appears in the northern Greek folk-plays and in 
 similar performances in Germany and elsewhere. The Doctor in 
 Aristophanes' Plutus is no less a person than Asclepius, the God 
 of Medicine himself, who was slain by the thunder of Zeus for raising 
 
 1 256 ff. Kyllene describes the divine birth of Hermes in her cave, and 
 how she has nursed him (Xi-kvItlp rpoipiiv). He grows daily to her amaze- 
 ment, and attains maturity in six days, ofiTru ■yhp Iktov 9jp,ap iKiretpaff/ihos \ yvlots 
 ipelBei jraidos e(s tj^t)! i.K/j.'^v. It may be worth while to point out a possible 
 parallel in the case of Veiovis, the youthful Jupiter, to whom March 7 (six days 
 after the beginning of the old Roman year) was sacred. The Epiphany of Christ, 
 who, according to the Protevangelion, was born in a cave in his father's absence, 
 is on January 6. This manifestation on the sixth day may explain the obscure 
 phrase used of lamos in Pindar, 01. vi. 53, where the king's servants tell him 
 that 'they had seen or heard nothing of the child that had been born five days,' 
 Tol S' o<St' Siv iKoua-ai \ oOt' ISeiv eiixovTO TrefiwTatoi' yeyevriixivov. As the servants 
 could not know this fact, the words are pointless, unless they have a ritual 
 meaning. Compare also the miraculous growth of the infant Zeus : Callim. 
 hymn. Zeus 55, koXcI niv v^iev, KaXi. 8' lTpa(pes, oipivie Zeu. | 6|i> S' av-fipijo-as, raxiyol 
 Si TOt fiXdov tovXoi. I dXX' Iti iraidvis iibv i(ppiircrao iravra riXeia. The situation in 
 Sophocles' Ichneutai has been discussed by J. E. Harrison in Essays and Studies 
 presented to W. Ridgeway (Cambridge, 1913). 
 
88 THE ORIGIN OP ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 the dead to life.^ He is not, of course, a character in the play ; 
 but Plutus recovers his sight at his temple. We shall later find 
 other traces of the Doctor in very impoltant parts in the Old Comedy. 
 Meanwhile, we turn to the allied figure of the Cook, who performs 
 upon the hero of the Knights a magical ceremony of rejuvenation. 
 
 The Knights ends with a burst of splendour. After the Second 
 Parabasis, the ex-Sausage-seller, Agoracritus, adorned with the 
 symbols of his newly-won ofiS.ce, comes out and calls for a paean 
 over the good fortune of Athens. Presently the gates of the 
 Propylaea will be fiung wide and reveal Demos, arrayed in the 
 old Ionian attire, such as he wore when he dined with Aristides or 
 Miltiades, to be hailed as King of Hellas. The Sausage-seller comes 
 first to prepare us for this amazing transformation, which is so 
 complete that Demos ' does not know what he was hke before, 
 nor what sort of things he used to do, or he would think the Sausage- 
 seller a God to have so reformed him.' ^ How has this transfigure- 
 ment, this rejuvenation of the grim, testy, deaf old rufi&an been 
 effected ? The Sausage-seller himseK has done it by the exercise 
 of his art as Cook : ' I have boiled your Demos and changed his 
 ugliness to beauty.' ^ The trade of the Sausage-seller, who is 
 repeatedly called a ' Cook ' {fiwyeipos;), has, in fact, been chosen solely 
 in order that he may render this last brilhant service to Demos. 
 We do not need the Schohast to remind us that Medea more than 
 once performed the same operation of turning an old man into a 
 youth in the flower of his age, by boihng his dismembered hmbs 
 in a cauldron.* Aeson, Jason, and Pehas were all submitted to 
 this treatment. 
 
 ■ Schol. ad. Eurip. Ale. 1, dvicrTtj yhp luj/ievos roi)s re^j'turas. The Scholiast 
 adds that Asolepiua was said to have resurrected. various persons: Hippolytus 
 (Apollodorus) j Glaucus (Amelesagoras) ; Tyndareus (Panyasis) ; Hymenaeus 
 (the Orphios) ; the Phineidae (Phylarchus) ; Orion (Telesarohus). Stesichorus 
 said it was ' on account of Kapaneus and Lycurgus.' ' Pherekydes in his history 
 says that he raises to life those who die at Delphi ; ' Polyarchus of Cyrene that 
 he healed the daughters of Proetus, and for that was struck by the thunderbolt. 
 
 '' 1336 : Saus. dXX' ffi ;uA' oiK ottrff' otos ijirS' airii Tdpos 
 
 oi55' oV ?5/)0S' ifi^ yap vofill^ois &v Be&v. 
 
 ' 1321 . rbv Arifiov 40f^7)i7as iifiiv koK&v i^ alffxpoO ireirolriKa. The Argument 
 recognises that this is a rejuvenation : tov dWavTowtlAov rov A^/xop d^e^iJffai/Tos 
 ftra veitrrepov i^avTrjs h Toimpavh yeyovhra irpodyovTos. 
 
 * Schol. 1321 : d^e^ijcras' KnXuJs, lis fi.dyei,pos. iicnrep i) MtjScio Xiyerai, uis /ih 
 AfffxuXos liTTopeT (Nauck^ frag. 50, Aiovia-ov rpo^ol) rds rpotpois toO AiokiVou 
 i(t>e'l'TI<raa-a dvavedtrai Troiijtroi /tterd tuv dfSpuv air&v. lit Si 6 70i>s NiiTTous 7ron}(ras 
 
AGON, SACRIFICE, AND FEAST 89 
 
 But it is not so generally recognised that these stories reflect a 
 rite of regeneration or resurrection, which has an established place 
 m the cycle of Dionysiac ritual. I have argued elsewhere i that 
 the story of the boiling of Pelops, who is taken to be simply a double 
 of Pelias, is to be so explained; and Mr. Cook 2 has collected the 
 evidence for the 'cauldron of apotheosis ' and carried the explana- 
 tion much further. The argument is too intricate to be repeated 
 here. It leads Mr. Cook to conjecture that the original Thraco- 
 Phrygian ceremony of the death and resurrection of Dionysus 
 involved a ritual boiUng of the God, in the form of a kid, in milk, 
 preparatory to the sacramental eating of his flesh. ' Let us suppose, 
 then, that the early Thraco-Phrygian " kings," the Titanes of the 
 myth, after kilUng Dionysos as a kid, pitched him into their cauldron 
 and boiled him in milk with a view to his being born again. The 
 mystic who aspired to be one with his god underwent, or at least 
 claimed to have undergone, a like ordeal.^ He had fallen as a 
 slain kid into a milky cauldron : henceforward he was called " a 
 god instead of a mortal." ' * 
 
 The legends ultimately based on this ritual, the stories of Pelops, 
 Pelias, Aeson, and the rest, have come down to us in forms which 
 date from a time when their original meaning had been forgotten. 
 There is naturally some degree of confusion. A neophyte who was 
 actually boiled would have taxed the skill of cook or medicine-man 
 to restore him to Hfe. Miss Harrison points out to me that boiUng 
 was a very early and economical form of cooking. On Dartmoor 
 the stones which used to be heated and dropped into their cooking- 
 pots by the primitive inhabitants are still to be found in the hut- 
 
 Kal rhv Aicova, X^ytav oiirojs' KiniKa d' Atcova 6tjk£ tpiXop Kdpov Tj^dtovTa | jTJpas 
 dTTof i)<racr' elSviriffi wpavldeffffi, \ <pdp/uiKa irdW (^j/ova' hi x/juo-eioiiri "Ki^Tjaiv. (Nosti, 
 frag 6, Kinkel. ) ^epexiSris Si Kal T^i/xoiplSris rbv 'Ida-ova, The Argument of 
 Eurip. Medea has almost the same statement. 
 
 ^ In a chapter on the ' Olympic Games ' in J. E. Harrison, Themis, p. 243 ff. 
 
 '^ Zeus (Cambridge, 1914), vol. i. p. 676. 
 
 ^ Thus Mr. Cook explains the mystic formula : ' A kid, I have fallen into 
 milk,' of which certainly no simpler explanation has been offered. 
 
 * Mr. Cook kindly calls my attention to a curious piece of evidence which has 
 come to light too late for inclusion in his forthcoming Zeus. An inscription 
 from Salonioa, published in the BuU. Oorr. Hell, xxxvii. (1913) 97 ff., mentions 
 a female yaKa.KTr]tj>6pos and an 6,pxi-IJ.a'y\_ei.']peis in connection with a 'Cave-Father.' 
 The suggestion that the inscription is Mithraic is not supported, so far as I know, 
 by any known instance of a Cook or arch-Cook as a functionary in Mithraic 
 ritual. 
 
90 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 circles. The sacramental victim destined to be eaten in the com- 
 munal meal would be boiled. The burnt sacrifice, consumed and 
 offered only to the Gods, comes later. The boihng, therefore, may 
 be regarded as the primitive sacrifice or sacrament. The God who 
 was torn to pieces, boiled, and eaten could not literally rise again, 
 though a simulated resurrection might be contrived by some mum- 
 mery comparable with the old Bouphonia ritual at Athens, where 
 the slain ox was flayed, and his skin, stuffed with straw, was set 
 up on its legs and yoked to a plough. To the candidate for the re- 
 birth of initiation, who must undergo what his God had suffered, 
 the process could be still further tempered by rehgious fiction. 
 
 I venture to think that Mr. Cook's hypothesis is strengthened by 
 the instance of Demos in the Knights, who renews his youth in the 
 Sausage-seller's cauldron and emerges as a new King and (as the 
 parallel cases allow us to add) a new God, ready for his marriage. 
 No wonder he does not know what manner of man he was before. 
 When the scene is read in this hght, there is a certain ritual air 
 about the catechism through which his restorer puts him, to ascer- 
 tain whether his heart too is changed and he will amend his life. 
 The passage may be compared with the solemn fines in which 
 Plutus, his sight restored, declares that he did not know what 
 sort of men he had consorted with in his blindness, and that 
 now he will reverse his whole manner of life and conduct.^ A 
 Cook who can perform such miraculous operations is manifestly _a 
 magician, and his profession coalesces with that of the Doctor in 
 the primitive functions of the medicine-man — a figure who, as 
 we shall see later, stands out in the dim past behind the Doctor 
 who revives the slain in the folk-plays. 
 
 44. Rejuvenation in other 'plays 
 
 This turning of an old man into a youth is by no means confined 
 to the Knights. It was the principal theme of the lost play called 
 Old Age. In this comedy the Chorus appears to have consisted 
 
 otois flp* d.vdp(i)Trois ^vvujv i\dv6avoVf 
 Toils djious Si Trjs ^/iijs 6/iiX(os 
 ^^euYoy, elSihs oiSiv t& tXtJ/iwi' ^7(5. 
 uis odr' €K€iv' dp* o^fre raOr' 6p6ujs ^dpwv' 
 dXX' aird wdyra ir6.\iv dvatrrp^^as iydj 
 Se(Jft) ri \onr6v kt\. 
 
i 
 
 AGON, SACRIFICE, AND FEAST 91 
 
 of old men who threw ofE their age, as the serpent casts his slough 
 and behaved themselves with youthful licence and indecorum;! 
 Memeke remarks that the hero must have been an old man himself, 
 and deduces from the fragments that he expelled his wife from the 
 house and married a young woman— the marriage motive akeady 
 famiHar to us. 2 Two of the fragments may possibly indicate that 
 the process of rejuvenation was performed by a Cook.^ We should 
 then have a comic parallel to Medea's boiUng of the whole Chorus 
 in Aeschylus' Nurses of Dionysus.* The same motive was used 
 again in the Amphiaraus, where a superstitious old man goes on 
 pilgrimage to Oropus, to recover his youth by Incubation in 
 the temple, as Plutus recovers his sight- jn the temple of 
 Asclepius.^ - 
 
 But, besides these cases, it is the usual thing for Aristophanes' 
 elderly heroes in the course of the play to throw off the slough of 
 sour and morose old age, and emerge at the end carrjdng their 
 youthful behaviour to the point of scandal. In the Wasps, for 
 instance, we see Bdelycleon converting his deplorable old parent 
 to the dress and manners of a smart young man about town, with 
 more success than he had bargained for. At the dinner-party 
 the old man outdoes the wildest young aristocrats.® He appears 
 
 ' Ar. frag. 178 Dind. =Athen. iii. 109 F: Kpipavlrqi/- roirov nvrj/ioveici 
 A.pLffTO<)>i.v'r)i iv T'qpg,' iroie? Si \iyoii(Tav AproinSKiv SiripTra<T/j.huv airfji tQi/ UpTuiv virb 
 tQv to yrjpa^ dTTQ^aX^vruv ' 
 
 — tovtI tI ijf TO irpcLy/j-a ; — Sepnovs, & TiKvor. 
 — dX\' ^ ira.pa<ppov€is ; — Kpt^avlras, & t^kvov. 
 2 Meiueke, Frag. Com. Graec, ii. 994. Frag. 192 Dind. = Sehol. Nieand. 
 Theriac. v. 295 : Kal 'Ap. iy ry Trripg, yvvdiKa Trot^tras ^irl ^615701;? 6vuv dxovfihtjv 
 irapdyGi tlvo. ipQvTa aiJr^s, ^ Kal ipe8l^ov<rd <f>i^ffL Trp6s aiiTbv' 
 diroirXevaT^ov iwl t6v v^jxcfiiov 
 t^ yafJ.oOfj,at T^fiepov. 
 ' Frag. 184 Dind. = Pollux x. 104: 'Api(iTO<pdvovs 70D1' iv 'JirTivinv 6 ixdyeipos 
 \ey€L ^/iaxatpiSioif Te irXifiyas' itjairep Kal iv TtfiTif}pg,6 aiiros ■jroL'rjTi^s etptjKe ' KoiriSi twp 
 IMyeipiKiSv.' When this reference to the cook's knife is taken in conjunction 
 with Frag. 185a as restored by Fritzsoh : iyifS' diroXoTl^eiv ye Kal rdw' dvBpdKuv, 
 it seems certain that a cook was a character in the play, and possible that he 
 rejuvenated the old men by peeling off their skins, as if they were snakes. See 
 below, note 5. 
 * Above, p. 88. 
 
 ° See Kaibel, s.v. 'Aristophanes' in Pauly-Wiss. ii. 979, citing frag. 102 
 Dind. = Erotian, 93, 8 Kl. Ae^rjplSos' iiievdSovi dToffipfiaTos, Svep iarl to tQv 
 i<j>€<i>v XeySfievov yrjpas, tis Kal 'ApuTTOtpdvris iv 'A/i^iapdif. Hesych. Tv/ivoTepos 
 Xe^ripidos- 'ApiffT0<pdi/7}s tpr/a-l, TV(p\6Tepos Xefir/pldo!. la-n di XejlTjpls ri tov 6<pcw! yyjpas 
 Sii. rb Xiiros ehai. ° 1300. 
 
92 THE ORIGIN OV ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 dancing and thrusting his reveller's torch in the iace of a fellow- 
 guest, who threatens legal proceedings, ' though you are such a 
 very young man ! ' ^ In his speech to the courtesan he says : ^ ' As 
 soon as my son is dead I will have you for my concubine ; at 
 present I am not master of my own fortune ; I am so young, and 
 they keep such a sharp eye on me. It 's my son who looks after 
 me ; he 's such a crabbed old skinflint, and so he 's afraid of my 
 wasting it. You see, I 'm the only father he 's got.' All through 
 these scenes the fun hes in the reversed positions of son and father — 
 Bdelycleon reproving his parent for youthful extravagances.* 
 
 Strepsiades in the Clouds is another instance. He goes to school 
 instead of his son, and assimilates the latest thing in culture to such 
 purpose that at their next meeting he accuses the fashionable 
 youth of being quite out of date.* It is worth noting that this 
 rejuvenation is begun by Socrates performing the hocus-pocus of 
 mystic initiation — a ceremony of new birth, the details of which 
 make the patient fear that he is going to be sacrificed like Athamas. 
 As Strepsiades after his initiation disappears into the ' Cave of 
 Trophonius,' the Chorus, singing farewell, congratulate him on 
 having put off his years and ' dyed his nature in the colours of 
 newer things.' ^ 
 
 Both in the Clouds and in the Wasps the plot turns upon the 
 contrast and conflict of the older and younger generations and their , 
 ideals, and of course too much stress must not be laid on these 
 
 •'instances. But it is certainly a curious feature which distinguishes 
 Aristophanes' plays from all other forms of Comedy, that they 
 present a whole series of heroes who are old men and behave as 
 such at the beginning, while at the end they are more or less trans- 
 
 (_figured into youthful bridegrooms. When Trygaeus returns from 
 heaven, the Chorus sing that ' the old man ' seems to have found 
 happiness and prosperity. ' What will you say, then, ' says Trygaeus, 
 ' when you see me in my glory as a bridegroom ? ' ' All will envy 
 you, old man, when you have become a youth once more and are 
 
 ' 1333 : Kel ff(l>6Sp' cI veavia^. ^ Sohol. 1353 : fuiiehai rois veavlsKovi. 
 
 ' Cf. Starkie's note on Wasps, 1367 : ' A complete reversal of their original 
 positions. The father has become the Bdelycleon of the beginning of the play, 
 and attributes to the new Philooleou the tastes of the old.' 
 
 * 821 : tppoyets ipxauKi. 
 
 ° 512 : eirvxlt yhoiTO TavlSpdnrifi, Stl irpo^Kay \ els /3a9i> t^s ^XikJos | pewripots 
 tV <)>i(riy av\ToS vpAyiMCiv xpairiferai | Kal ao<t>lav iiraffKeT, 
 
AGON, SACRBFICB, AND FEAST 93 
 
 anointed with myrrh.' i The case of Trygaeus is not exceptional, 
 but typical : Dikaiopolis, Demos, Strepsiades, Philocleon, Pisthe- 
 tairus, Blepyrus, Plutus — all these undergo, in some sense, a 
 similar rejuvenation. This is not an obvious course for the action 
 of a comedy to take, and that not once or twice, but so normally 
 that we find it in eight out of the eleven extant plays, while of the 
 remainder, one (the Frogs) leads up to the resurrection of the elder I 
 poet, another (the Lysistrata) has no male hero at all. Such are 
 the facts. Whether the explanation here ofEered is right or wrong, 
 we are justified in insisting that some explanation is required.^ 
 
 45. The Sacrifice and the Feast 
 
 There is a further point of considerable importance for the com- 
 pletion of our argument. The hypothesis we have been following i 
 throughout, has been based on the observation that, as a matter 
 of fact, underlying the plots of a whole series of comedies on very 
 diverse themes, we can distinctly make out the framework of a 
 regular series of incidents. The hypothesis is that these form the 
 moments in a ritual procedure. We have now examined the first J 
 and the last terms in this series— the Agon and the Marriage. The 
 ritual, if ritual it be, begins with a fierce and deadly, conflict of two 
 adversaries ; it ends with the marriage and triumph of the victor. 
 Between these two points we have looked for traces of that resur- 
 rection or rebirth which, in known instances of the kind of ritual 
 drama we are considering, follows the conflict and death of the 
 Agonist. We must now go back to the actual plots of the plays 
 
 1 Peace, 856 : Chor. fiSai/ioviKios y' 6 irpeir- 
 
 ^urris, Sffa 7' &S' iSeh, 
 TCL vvv TaSe irpdrTei, 
 Tryrj. tI Stjt' iirei.Sci.i' vv/icpioy fi.' Spare Xainrpon ovra ; 
 Chor. ^7j\(^bs ^trei, y^pov, 
 
 aff^is vios wv TraKiy 
 fiip(^ KdTciXeLirTOS. 
 
 2 The rejuvenation motive occurs in the Bacchae in the persons of Cadmus 
 and Teiresias : 184 ttoi Se? xop^i^^", ^roJ Ka.8iffr6.pai irbSa ; \ Kal Kpdra ff£?<rai woXidy ; 
 ifTiyoO ri noi I 7^/"-" T^/^o""-', Te^.T^a- . . . ^7nXeX^<r/xe9' Wm | yjpo.re, d.res. 
 Teir rair' ip.ol ,r<i<rxe« fipa" | Kayi, yap v§C Kainx^ip-fi<ro, x"/-"". Van Leeuwen 
 cites these lines to illustrate the song of the Mystics in the Frogs : 345 yd^v 
 ■^6X\era.iycpivro>V \ dwoffeiovrai di U^as | XPO''iov, d' irwv iraXaiwy hiavrovs. Cf. 
 the Chorus of Old Men in the Lysistrata (Parabasis) : 669 vO, Sei vO, d,'v^r,<,ai 
 irdMP KivarrepiSffat \ irav rb <rw>a KiizoffdaacBai. ri yijpas t65«. 
 
94 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 and point out what are the regular incidents which fill in the outHne 
 of the underlying plot — the ritual plot, as we suppose it to be — 
 between the Agon at the beginning and the Marriage at the end. 
 It is in this part of the play, between the Parabasis and the Exodos, 
 that the comphcated plots of the later plays are developed. But 
 underneath this diversity we can discern one or both of two incidents 
 which in the earUer plays, apart from interrupting episodes, consti- 
 tute the whole, or nearly the whole, of the action between the Agon 
 and the final Kdmos. These are a scene of Sacrifice and prayer, 
 and the cooking and eating of a Feast.^ 
 
 Before we consider the possible ritual significance, the facts must 
 be set before the reader. 
 
 46. Sacrifice and Feast in the Plays 
 
 In the AcHAKNiANS the Sacrifice motive is combined with the 
 Agon. Dikaiopohs pleads his case with his head over the chopping- 
 block — a cooking utensil for cutting up meat.^ There is also the 
 threatened sacrifice of the coal-scuttle, which wins him a hearing. 
 
 After the Agon and Parabasis, the action is divided into two 
 chief parts. First, there is the series of scenes in which Dikaiopohs 
 holds his market. These come under the head of preparations 
 for sacrifice and feast. The Megarian disguises his daughters as 
 pigs for the mysteries, and he maintains that they are old enough 
 for sacrifice, at any rate, to Aphrodite.^ The sacrifice motive is 
 thus given a comic turn. The Boeotian brings game and eels for 
 the feast afterwards prepared by Dikaiopohs. Then, after the 
 Second Parabasis, the Feast of the Choes is proclaimed, and 
 Dikaiopohs sets about cooldng on the stage the dehcacies he has 
 
 ' For the Fea^t as a standing incident preceding the K6mos in the second 
 part of an Old Comedy play, cf. Pint. Lucullus 39, l<rTi d' oSv toO AouKoiiXXou 
 ^iov, Kaddirep dpxa^as KajfitfiSias, avayvvpat to, fiev irpwra TroXtrefas naX arpaTTjyias, ra. 
 S' CffTepo Trirovi Kal Seiirva Kal fiovovovxl (ciijUous Kai \afiwiSas Kal iraiSiciV fi7ra<rav. 
 This notice is important because it refers to the Old Comedy in general, not 
 merely to Aristophanes. Owing to the accident that so many of the comic 
 fragments are preserved in the Deipnosophists, there are abundant traces of 
 the frequency of the Feast motive throughout the Old Comedy, comparatively 
 few of the other standing incidents. 
 
 ^ Sohol. 318 ^TTifiji/os KaXeiToi 6 fiayeipiKos Kop/uSs, 4<l>' oS rd. xpia cvyKbirTovm. 
 
 ' 764 xolpovi ixvcTiKis. 784 Dik. dXX' oide 8i<n.ij.b^ icriv airttyl. Meg. a6. niv ; 
 TTf 5' ovxl Simiibs iari ; , . (celXXio-ros ^ittoi x^'^po^ 'AippoSlrq. SAeiv. 
 
AGON, SACEIMCB, AND FEAST 95 
 
 purchased.i The cooking is interrupted by unwelcome intruders. 
 Next, Dikaiopolis is invited to the banquet held by the Priest of 
 Dionysus, at which he wins the prize wine-skin of the drinking 
 competition. This carries us to his final appearance as victor with 
 his courtesans. 
 
 In the Knights the last competition between the suitors for the 
 favour of Demos begins with a race (1158 fE.), followed by a feast 
 which is also a sacrifice. The Paphlagonian is first in fetching a 
 chair for Demos, but his rival provides the table. When the former 
 produces a cake kneaded of barley grain 2 from Pylos, the Sausage- 
 seller has ready a bread-spoon moulded by tt^ ivory hands of 
 Athena herself.^ The soup also has been made by Pallas; as 
 Phobesistrate she ofiers fish, as Obrimopatra other viands of a some- 
 what coarse character, and so on. The Sausage-seller wins the 
 match by steaUng a dish of hare which his rival had in reserve, 
 and offering it as his own. The Paphlagonian is beaten and 
 deprived of his official wreath. 
 
 The rest of the action consists only of the Cooking of Demos, 
 which takes place ofi the stage during the Second Parabasis, and 
 the last scene, already described, in which the rejuvenated hero 
 is brought out and leads away his new favourite to feast in the 
 Prytaneum. 
 
 The structure of the Clouds, as we have seen, is abnormal ; but 
 we have already noted the initiation scene which the neophyte 
 mistakes for a sacrifice like that of Athamas, and his ' death and 
 resurrection,' when he goes down to the ' Cave of Trophonius.' 
 
 The feast, interrupted by unwelcome intruders, comes at its usual 
 place, going on * behind the scenes up to the moment where the 
 
 1 1015: Chorus. iJKovffas ws /iayeipiKun 
 
 KOH^WS T€ Kal S€nrV7)TLKitj$ 
 
 avTc^ dcaKoveirat. ; 
 
 '' The term 6\al is used, elsewhere always applied to barley grain used in 
 sacrifice. 
 
 ' Neil on 1168 says: 'The idea that a feast and a sacrifice are one runs 
 through the passage : but here the goddess almost waits upon Demos with 
 offerings, and gets little thanks or respect. Probably the scene is suggested by 
 the banquet given to the citizens of Athens at the Panathenaea after the 
 hecatomb offered to Athena on the Acropolis, G. I. A., ii. 307.' 
 
 * 1212-1320. 
 
96 THE ORIGIN OP ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 old man rushes out screaming under his son's blows. Then follows 
 the Agon and the concluding scene. 
 
 In the Wasps we find again the normal order of events. The 
 Agon, as we have seen, leaves Philocleon in a fainting condition, 
 bidding farewell to his soul. When his son's cajoleries have at last 
 brought him back to life with the promise of a domestic law-court, 
 and all is ready for the Dog Trial, Bdelycleon calls for myrtle- 
 boughs and incense, which he offers while the Chorus sing a solemn 
 Paean to Apollo. He then prays to the Agyieus before his door 
 to bless the new rite they are inaugurating, and to turn the old 
 juror's heart to a milder temper. The Chorus add their prayers 
 for a blessing on these ' new beginnings.' ^ The serious tone of 
 this whole passage makes it an amusing preface to the criminal 
 prosecution of a house-dog for steahng cheese. The trial ends in a 
 verdict of acquittal, which, in spite of Philocleon's regeneration, 
 is almost too much for him. He faints again, and is supported 
 by his son into the house. 
 
 The Parahasis follows, and after it the action consists of prepara- 
 tions for feasting (1221-1264), the dinner-party itself, behind the 
 scenes (1265-1291), the K6mos, interrupted by unwelcome intruders 
 (1292-1449), the renewed feasting at Philocleon's house (1450-1481), 
 and the final scene of dancing. 
 
 In the Peace, the fijst half of the play, as we have seen, is modelled 
 on the ritual Anodos of the Earth Goddess. It ends with Trygaeus 
 setting out, with the two brides, Opora and Theoria, on his return 
 from heaven to earth. After the Parahasis we see him arrive. 
 He sends his own bride into the house to be prepared for the wedding, 
 and hands over Theoria to the Chairman of the Council. 
 
 Then follow the preparations for a sacrifice to Peace. The sacri- 
 fice, accompanied by a long prayer, is conducted up to the point 
 where the sheep is to be slain, but this final act is transferred to 
 behind the scenes on the excuse that the altar of Peace must not be 
 stained with blood. 
 
 Trygaeus is ordering the thighs to be cooked for the feast, when 
 the unwelcome intruder appears in the person of an oracle-monger 
 
 ' 885 ; Ghor. ^vvevxi/J'CcSa, <TaOTd> aoi. KAirfSoiiev 
 
 viataLV Apxa-ts. 
 
AGON, SACRIFICE, AND FEAST 97 
 
 attracted by the smell of roast meat. The victim is cut up and 
 cooked, while the greedy visitor is kept at bay and finally driven 
 away with blows. During the subsequent scenes the feast goes on 
 inside, and various dealers in the weapons of war are disposed of. 
 The remains of the sacrificial feast are eaten on the stage by the 
 Chorus (1311). Then follows immediately the concluding Kdmos, 
 and the Marriage hymn. 
 
 The Birds follows the same hues. After the Agon and Pamhasis, 
 a sacrifice is begun to inaugurate the new city (810). Pisthetairos 
 intones a long prayer to the new feathered deities of the air ; but 
 the proceedings are so interrupted by a long series of intruders 
 that, as in the Peace, the final slajdng of the goat has to be done 
 behind the scenes (1057). This sacrifice fills the space between the 
 first and second Parahasis. 
 
 Further on, we come to the cooking scene, greedily watched by 
 the three envoys from the Gods, who are starving for lack of sacrifices. 
 The offer of a free breakfast at once wins over Heracles and leads 
 to a happy conclusion of the negotiations. This cooking scene is 
 an especially good instance of a fixed motive. It is separated by 
 a considerable interval from the sacrifice, with which it has no 
 connection. The birds cooked by Pisthetairos are explained to be 
 criminals condemned to death for revolt against the patriotic 
 birds (1583). When Heracles has concluded the bargain and invites 
 the hero to go with him to heaven and fetch his bride, Pisthetairos 
 says the dishes will come in very well for the marriage-feast (1688) ; 
 but no marriage-feast is actually held. The cooking is introduced 
 partly for the sake of the glutton Heracles — a favourite comic 
 motive. 
 
 In the Lysistbata the conflict continues well on into the second 
 part of the play. The men and women who compose the two halves 
 of the Chorus are not reconciled till the Second Parahasis.^ There 
 is no sacrifice ; but the feast, at which the envoys are entertained 
 in the Acropohs, comes in its usual place and leads to the final 
 Kdmos. 
 
 In the Thesmophoriazusab we have, after the Agon, the mock 
 
 1 1014-1071. 
 G 
 
98 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDl 
 
 sacrifice of the wine-skin illicitly introduced in the disguise of baby- 
 clothes by one of the women — the motive borrowed from the 
 Telephus, and used before in the Achamians. By this ruse the 
 herb saves himself from being burnt ahve. After this the plot 
 is continued on the Knes of Perseus' rescue of Andromeda. There 
 is no feast ; but we have seen how the ' marriage ' motive is used 
 to cheat the pohceman of his prisoner. 
 
 The chief Agon in the Frogs falls in the second part of the play. 
 It is preceded by a sacrifice of incense, a prayer addressed to the 
 Muses by the Chorus, and an invocation of Demeter by Aeschylus 
 and of Aether by Euripides. 
 
 After the Agon Dionysus and Aeschylus are entertained by 
 Pluto at a farewell feast, and the play ends with their departure 
 to the upper world. 
 
 In the EccLESiAZUSAE the place usually filled by the sacrifice is 
 occupied by the curious scene in which the Neighbour marshals 
 his household goods in the street in the form of the Panathenaic 
 procession, so that he may conduct them as offerings to the common 
 store of the new community. It almost looks as if this odd motive, 
 amusing as it is, were suggested by the canonical requirement of 
 some sort of sacrificial scene at this point of the action. 
 
 Then the Herald comes to invite all the citizens to a feast, which 
 continues behind the scenes until the end of the play. The Chorus 
 and the well-disposed spectators are also invited to the banquet 
 (1138 ff.). 
 
 In the Plutus a sacrifice of a pig, a ram, and a goat is celebrated 
 upon the return of the hero from his miraculous cure (819), and the 
 Karaxva-fiaTa are poured over him (789 fE.). 
 
 The Just Man comes to dedicate the old coat and shoes of his 
 days of poverty now to be ended. The hungry Sycophant, scenting 
 the cooking of the feast inside the house, is driven away. Then, 
 after the episode of the old woman and her young lover, the starving 
 Hermes appUes for a share in the good victuals and the post of 
 footman, and the priest of Zeus is allowed to join in the final 
 procession to install the new God. 
 
AGON, SACRIFICE, AND FEAST 99 
 
 47. The Significance of the Sacrifice and Feast 
 
 This review of the course of the action in the second half of the 
 several plays can leave little doubt that a Sacrifice and its usual 
 sequel, the cooking and eating of a Feast, are incidents no less 
 canonical than those we have examined earlier. They fill in the 
 outline of the action between the Agon at the beginning and the 
 Marriage at the end. 
 
 If the hypothesis we have so far followed is true, the sacrifice 
 and feast occupying this fixed position are open to two construc- 
 tions. In the first place they can be regarded, as they sometimes 
 are in the actual plays, as celebrating the victory of the successful 
 adversary in the Agon. They will then complete the parallel 
 between our supposed ritual drama and the procedure at the Olympic 
 Games. The victors in these contests, after their Agon, ofiered 
 solemn sacrifice at the altar of Zeus, and then went to the banquet 
 in the Prytaneum and the torchht Kdmos. 
 
 But we have seen sufficient traces of an older form of ritual 
 in which it is the God himself, in human or animal form, who is 
 the victim. He is dismembered, and the pieces of his body are 
 either devoured raw in a savage omophagy, or cooked and eaten 
 in a sacramental feast. Or again, in yet simpler forms, the frag- 
 ments of the divine body are distributed among the worshippers 
 to be placed in stall and manger, or strewn upon the fields for the 
 fertilisation of the crops. In all these cases, the fundamental need 
 is the same ; the essential purpose is that of the phalhc rites, which 
 aim at spreading the benign influence as widely as possible, so that 
 all members of the community may have their share. 
 
 This dispersal, moreover, is the prelude to a resurrection. The 
 scattered limbs of Osiris are reverently collected and the God returns 
 to life. Zagreus, cooked in the Titans' cauldron, Pelops, boiled 
 and partly eaten at the feast of Tantalus, Uve again. Indeed, 
 if Mr. Cook's conjecture be sound, the rite of cooking, symboUcally 
 performed upon the initiate in his bath of milk, is actually the 
 means of regeneration. 
 
 Let us suppose, then, that the original ritual Agon was of the type 
 in which the good principle is slain and then brought back to life. 
 In the comedies this principle is represented by the hero or the 
 sympathetic adversary, who triumphs at the close. A fair number 
 
100 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 of the plays have shown us something like a death and resurrection 
 of this personage. Demos is cooked into renewed youth ; Strep- 
 siades goes down into his Cave of Trophonius ; Philocleon faints 
 to the point of death ; Euripides' kinsman is crucified on his plank, 
 all but burnt ahve, and rescued by the author of the Andromeda ; 
 Aeschylus is fetched up from the underworld by the God of Tragedy ; 
 Plutus has his sight restored by the painful therapeutics of the 
 God of Medicine. Unless our hypothesis is false from beginning 
 to end, we cannot refuse to see in the canonical sacrifice a survival 
 of the original death of the divine Agonist, and in the scenes of 
 cooking and feasting that follow with such surprising regularity, 
 the sacramental meal and the cauldron of apotheosis through 
 which the God passes to his resurrection. 
 
 48, The scattering of sweetmeats to the spectators 
 
 In support of this interpretation, the Plutus preserves, I believe, 
 a curious piece of evidence. At the first appearance of the divine 
 hero after his sight has been restored, he is met by the wife of 
 Chremylus, who offers to pour over him, 'according to custom,' 
 the Karaxvo'/Ji'aTa, which appear to be figs and other fruits brought 
 in a basket.^ Plutus prevents her. It will be more decent, he 
 says, to go inside the house and perform this ceremony at the 
 hearth, ' as the custom is.' Then for a moment he drops his mask 
 and speaks for the poet. ' Besides,' he adds, ' in that way we shall 
 escape that piece of vulgarity. It would not be seemly for our 
 author to force a laugh from his audience, in return for figs and 
 sweetmeats thrown to them.' ' Very true,' repKes the woman ; 
 ' there 's Dexinikos akeady rising in his place to snatch at the 
 figs.' 2 
 
 The scholium on this passage rightly refers to the Prologue of 
 the Wasps,^ where Aristophanes has mentioned this very ' piece 
 
 ^ The Scholiast on 791 oalU them Tpayfiiiara, 
 
 ^ 796 : iTeiTo, xal t&v <p6pToy (Kipiyoi-iicv &v. 
 
 oi yap TpeTwSis iCTi T(f di.Sa<rKA\(fi 
 
 la-XiSia Kal rpuyiXta rois Beoiiiivots 
 
 vpo^aKdvr' iri roiirois etr' dvayxd^eip 7^X01'. 
 ' Wasps 58 : ii/uv yip oix ^(tt' oire Kipv' Ik ^opfilSos 
 
 SoiXw dtappiTToSvTe rois deu/U^vois. 
 At Ach. 805 Dikaiopolis orders figs to be brought for the Megarian's pig- 
 daughters : iveyKira tis ?c5o«e» rCiv l<rx.dSuv | tois xotpiStoiviv. S.pa rpii^omai ; 
 
AGON, SAOEIFIOE, AND FEAST 101 
 
 of vulgarity ' among the devices of the older Comedy which he 
 intends to abandon : ' We shall not have a pair of slaves scattering^ 
 nuts from a basket among the audience.' The Plutus shows us 
 the moment in the proceedings when this distribution occurred. 
 Note that the woman says nothing about scattering her figs among 
 the audience ; she offers to pour them over Plutus. But he takes 
 it as a matter of course that they will afterwards be thrown to the 
 spectators, and speaks of avoiding ' that vulgarity ' before it has 
 been even mentioned. No doubt such a custom would be kept 
 up by Aristophanes' ' vulgar ' predecessors for reasons easily under- 
 stood ; but, given the place it occupies in the Plutus, it may well 
 be that it had its origin in the distribution of things that had been 
 in contact with the sacred victim and were charged with his benefi- 
 cent influence, and perhaps, earlier still, of the fragments of the 
 victim himself.! 
 
 This suggestion is strengthened by the scene of sacrifice in the 
 Peace. Trygaeus is just about to kill the sheep and has poured 
 water over its head. He orders the slave Xanthias to take from 
 the basket the barley grains {KpiOdt) for sprinkling, and to throw 
 some of them to the spectators.^ The Chorus is next drenched 
 
 /3a^a( I oiov poei&^ova' . Starkie [ad loc.) suggests that the figs were here thrown 
 to the audience, who are suddenly treated as pigs. This is pure conjecture ; 
 but if it is Boiind, we may note that there is the same play on the meaning of 
 ipipivSos (801, Sohol. ^Tratfe irpbs ri alSoiov toO av5pb$, iirel Kal ipipivBov airb 
 KoKoOin) as there is in the Peace on the meaning of Kpifffi (see below). 
 
 1 The custom of pouring KaTaxuaiiara over a newly married pair when they 
 first entered their house, and over a new slave on entering the house of his 
 master, might be explained on similar lines. The object might be to get the 
 newcomers into communion with the existing household, by a sort of symbolic 
 communal feast. As they could not be eaten themselves, objects that had been 
 in contact with them were substituted. See p. 102, n. 1 on the oSKbxvrai. 
 At the Apaturia, another rite of the admission of a new member to a group, 
 portions of the victim were distributed. The iirapxal of boiled 6(TTpia at the 
 inauguration of a new statue or altar (Schol. on Peace 923, jci^^ais iSpvTiov) may 
 have had a similar meanitig. 
 
 ^ 962 : Tryg. Kal rois Bearatt piTTTe tSv KpiBuv. 
 
 Slave. iSoiJ. 
 
 Tryg. ISuxas ijSri ; 
 
 Slave. VT) rbv 'Epurjv iiare ye 
 
 Toiriav Saomip elcri. t&v Beaiiivuv 
 oiiK SffTiv oiSels SffTis oi KpiB^v ^x"- 
 
 Tryg. oi)x ".l yvvaiiUs 7' O.a^ov. 
 
 Slave. o-^^- e^s iavipav 
 
 SibiTovffLV airats UpSpes. 
 Schol. ad. V. 965 : irpis rriv KpiBriv iral^ei, &ti. rb twv aySpiiv alSoiov KpiBw ftc7oi'. 
 
102 THE OEIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 with more than the usual dose of lustral water. Both the ritual 
 actions here parodied are intended to make the onlookers partakers 
 of the rite. Later on, the spectators are directly invited to share 
 In the feast that follows the sacrifice/ as they are again in the 
 Ecclesiazusae (1141), and the Chorus actually finish the remains 
 of the feast on the stage just before the Exodos. 
 
 Van Leeuwen on the above passage innocently says that the 
 barley grains cannot have been really scattered among the spec- 
 tators, because, in the Wasps and the Plwtus, the poet forswears 
 the distribution of sweetmeats to the audience. Aristophanes, 
 however, is not to be taken too strictly at his word. All the other 
 devices of his ' vulgar ' predecessors which he renounces, he uses 
 himself whenever he chooses.^ In view of the punning use of the 
 word xpiOai in our passage, I suspect that Uttle barley-cakes in 
 the form of phalli were tossed to the lower tiers of spectators.' I 
 conclude that this distribution, which was a regular incident in the 
 ' vulgar Comedy ' of Aristophanes' predecessors, may have been 
 a survival from the old ritual, in which originally portions of the 
 slain God, and later grain that had been sprinkled over the sacrifi- 
 cial victim, were given to the worshippers to be used for spreading 
 the beneficent infiuence of the fertiUty rite throughout the 
 community.* 
 
 ^ 1115 : dye St] dearal deOpo (jvcnrXayxveieTe 
 
 fxera vt^v. 
 
 1 suspect that this intention of making the congregation partakers of the rite 
 lay behind the oi)X6x'""<", which consisted of KpiBai and salt (Eustath. on II. i. 
 449, p. 132, 23 : ol ov\6xvTai od\al i]<rav, Tovr^ffrt Kpidal fiera dXw*', As iw^xeov Tois 
 ^ojfiois Tpb T^s iepovpylas, iTroiovv S^ toOto fj iroXv-nX-^dsLaf Kapirdv oiuvi^Sfispoij dv 
 a,wa.pxoX olov al oiXal airal irpocrriyovTo, i) kt\. ). Plutarch says they were used by 
 'most of the Greeks' at their 'very ancient sacrifices' • oi TrXeicrToi rCiv 'KW-fivav 
 trpds Tas irdw iraXaLOLS Ovirias ixP^^'^^ '"^^^ KpidaTSf airapx^f^vti^v tuv iroKirwv. This 
 would fit in with the view that the more ancient form of sacrifice was a 
 communal meal at which the God was eaten. When the burnt sacrifice came 
 in, the ouXixi""'" became meaningless, and were merely poured on the altar. 
 
 2 See below, p. 183. 
 
 ^ Compare the distribution by the King of grain and pulse to both strangers 
 and citizens at the Charila ceremony at Delphi, Plut. Qu. Graec. xii. Cakes in 
 the form of the male and female sex-organs were used at the Haloa (Schol. on 
 Lucian, Dial. Merelr. vii. 4) and other kindred festivals. Mr. A. B. Cook 
 informs me that they are still handed about at Easter in Italy. 
 
 ^ In connection with the scattering of sweetmeats, Couat (.4»'i«iop/ia)ie, etc. , 
 p. 18) calls attention to the obscure story in Athen. ix. 406 D ff., that Hegemon 
 of ThasoB, a contemporary of Aloibiades, uarjXOi irore xoi et's to Biarpov SiScufkoiv 
 
AGON, SACRIFICE, AND FEAST 103 
 
 49. Conclusion 
 
 The outline of our supposed ritual plot is now complete. Starting 
 from Aristotle's authoritative statement, we sought the nucleus 
 of Comedy in the PhalUc ceremonies, illustrated by Aristophanes 
 himself in the rites performed by Dikaiopolis at his Country Dionysia. 
 We found there, in barest outhne, a ritual procedure in three parts. 
 (1) The procession of the worshippers of Phales moves on its way, 
 carrying the emblem of the God on a pole and the instruments of 
 sacrifice. (2) It pauses at some fixed place for the sacrifice, accom- 
 panied by a prayer to Dionysus. (3) The procession moves on 
 again singing the Phalhc Song. This K6mos hymn reflects the 
 two essential elements : invocation and induction of the good in- 
 fluence or spirit, magical abuse and expulsion of the evil. The 
 same two elements we found perpetuated in the comic Pa/rdbasis. 
 In the Agon which regularly precedes the Pa/rahasis we now have 
 come to see the equivalent of the sacrifice which precedes the 
 Phalhc Song. The Agon is the beginning of the sacrifice in its 
 primitive dramatic form— the conflict between the good and evil 
 principles. Summer and Winter, Life and Death. The good 
 spirit is slain, dismembered, cooked and eaten in the communal 
 feast, and yet brought back to hfe. These acts survive in the 
 standing features of the comic plot between the Pardbasis and the 
 Exodos. Finally comes the sacred Marriage of the risen God, 
 restored to life and youth to be the husband of the Mother Goddess. 
 This marriage is the necessary consummation of the PhalUc ritual, 
 
 Kwni^Uav UBuv ^wr w\r,pe, to iii&TLov'ois ^iWav ds "> ipxharpav bcaTropav iirol-qat 
 Toil! ffeards. Koi dXlyov SiaXiiriiv etire' 
 
 Udoi fih o'ide- jSoXX^TW S' eiTi.s OiXef 
 
 iyadiv Si k&h x"/"™! k&v Bipn. (paKTJ. 
 (*a/ci7 was a nickname of Hegemon). The anecdote is told on the occasion of 
 the handing round of roast game, and x^rpai containing <paKv and njol. One 
 guest says : Let us have a share of the ^axij, or at least of the x^rpo. itself, /x'! 
 Kal \ieoi9 Tcs iixQ. §.p.ii<TeTai Ka.Ti Thv Qi<!<.ov ■HT^f.o.a. Another asks : ris S a^j; 
 ^ \MvTi ^aU^rtfs ; saying he knows the Eleusinian BaXX,r^5. Then this anecdote 
 is quoted from Chamaileon, iv (kt^ Trepi Trj, Apx^la, Ko,^<fSla,. Memeke {.Com^c^, 
 i 214) remarks on Athen. xv. 699 A, yiyp^'Pe U Kal Koi,upSUy d, Ti. apx-uou 
 Tp&^ov, ^. ^^.7M0o"« ^M.w, that, as Hegemon lived in the period of the Old 
 Comedy, the phrase eh Thv &pxalov Tpb^ov may point to a form of Comedy older 
 than C^atinus. Did Hegemon provide his stones for a ^oKXryri, between 
 audience and performers, like the pelting of the actors by the Chorus in the 
 Acharnians prologue V 
 
104 THE OBIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 which, when it takes a dramatic form, simulates the union of Heaven 
 and Earth for the renewal of all life in Spring. 
 
 Our discussion of the Agon is, however, not yet complete ; for 
 we have simplified it by omitting the part played in the contest by 
 the Chorus. This omission must now be made good ; and we must 
 also consider the literary form in which the primitive ritual action 
 is clothed. 
 
CHAPTEK VI 
 
 THE CHORUS IN AGON AND PARABASIS 
 
 50. The part of the Chorus in the Agon 
 
 ZiELiNSKi, in his discussion of the cast of the Agon, started 
 from a remark in Lucian's tract On not giving easy credence to 
 Slander, to the effect that in slander, ' as in comedies,' three roles 
 are involved : the slanderer, the slandered, and the third person 
 who listens to the slander.^ The phrase ' as in comedies ' must 
 refer to the Agon, in which the third person is certainly the Chorus. 
 In three cases {Knights, the two Reasons in the Clouds, Frogs) an 
 individual judge — Demos, Pheidippides, Dionysus — is chosen ; 
 but even here, Ziehnski says, the judge is really in the second 
 instance the Chorus, and in the third the pubhc. These individual 
 judges, if they speak at all in the course of the Agon, speak not 
 as judges but in the character of Buffoon — a part taken in other 
 plays by a separate person, who interposes humorous asides, un- 
 noticed by the principal speakers. The function of the Chorus, 
 according to Zielinski, is to keep the lists for the combat, as agono- 
 thetes or rhabduchus. The Leader opens and closes the debate. 
 But in the Epirrhemes themselves the Chorus generally does not 
 intervene.^ The part of the Chorus thus mainly consists in opening 
 the debate {Katakeleusmos), encouraging the adversaries to do their 
 best {Ode and Antode), and pronouncing the verdict {Sphragis). 
 
 If, however, we consider, not their formal function, but their 
 attitude of mind, we shall find that this is very far from the im- 
 
 1 Zielinski, GUederung, 112. Luoian, op. cit., 6 : TpiQv S' ivruv tuv Trpoadnruv, 
 KaBdTrep iv raU Ka/i<fSlais, rod SiafiiWovTos Kal toD SiapaWo/i^vov, xal toC irpis Sy 57 
 5toj3o\7) yiyyerai. 
 
 2 Zielinski maintained (GUederung, 117 ff.) that the Chorus never speaks in 
 
 the Epirrhemes. This opinion is criticised by J. W. White (An Unrecognised 
 
 Actor, etc., p. 117), who allows the Chorus to speak where the arguments are 
 
 mainly addressed to it, as in the Birds. This, however, does not apply to the 
 
 typical Agon, in which two actors are the adversaries. Mr. White gives the 
 
 evidence of the MSS. 
 
 106 
 
106 THE OBIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 partiality of a judge or of the steward of a contest. We have 
 seen how often the Agon is preluded by a scene in which the Chorus 
 attack one or other of the adversaries with fists or missiles. In 
 every play, when the Agon opens, the Chorus is either more or less 
 violently on the side of one of the adversaries against the other, 
 or else divided against itself, one half taking each side. Where it 
 is on the side of the victorious principle, as in the Knights, it 
 remains so throughout the play. Where it is at first hostile to the 
 Agonist, as in the Wasps or the Birds, it is converted by his argu- 
 ments and changes over. Where it is divided against itself, as 
 in the Lysistrata, it remains divided at the end of the Agon. There 
 is no instance of an impartial Chorus, except perhaps in the Frogs, 
 and there the r61e of the Chorus is negligible, for they take no part 
 in the action, and there is an individual judge, Dionysus, who repre- 
 sents the Athenian public in their character of theatre-goers. There 
 is thus a curious contrast between the formal function of the Chorus 
 as stewards of the conflict and their attitude of mind, which is, 
 almost without exception, violently partisan.^ 
 
 The pursuit of our hypothesis demands that we should make out 
 what was the original ritual function of the Chorus. The first point 
 must be to make sure that it had such a function — that there was 
 any Chorus at all in the type of phallic ritual from which we suppose 
 Comedy to have sprung. On this head there can be no doubt. 
 The presence of a Chorus is guaranteed by the Parahasis, which 
 in point of structure hangs together with the Agon and the other 
 epirrhematic parts. The epirrhematic structure is absolutely 
 unintelUgible except as based on the division of the Chorus into 
 two halves {Antichoria) : ^ without a Chorus this peculiar arrange- 
 ment could not exist. As the function of the Chorus dwindles 
 and fades out in the Middle and New Comedy, epirrhematic structure 
 necessarily disappears. To judge from that part of the develop- 
 ment which we can trace, the presumption is that the further back 
 we could go, the more important the r61e of the Chorus would be 
 
 ' The Chorus in the Clouds have a quite exceptional position, which has been 
 described as that of 'passive but malignant onlookers ' (Starkie on Clouds, 1113). 
 In the Agon they are impartial, merely calling on each speaker in turn. 
 Strepsiades turns upon them, considered as deities of the sophists, at the end ; 
 but they tell him coldly that he has only himself to thank, and that they have 
 been leading him on, that he may learn to feav the Gods. 
 
 = See below, § 52. 
 
THE OHORTJS IN AGON AND PABABASIS 107 
 
 found to be. There can be no question that the original ritual, 
 if ritual there was, involved a Chorus. 
 
 51. The Function of the comic Chorus 
 
 When we pass to the next question : what part that Chorus"' 
 played, we must first allow for the difference between a dramatic 
 performance in presence of a body of spectators and a rehgious 
 ceremony, in which all who are present take part and the mere 
 onlooker is altogether left out of account. A rite needs no audience ; 
 and, when a rite passes out of the purely rehgious stage into the 
 dramatic or spectacular, the performers acquire a new relation to 
 the body of spectators, who have now gathered to watch, but not 
 to take any active part in, the proceedings. The congregation or 
 band of worshippers now becomes a Chorus, standing in an inter- 
 mediary position between the actors, still absorbed in the action, 
 and the spectators, who are only concerned in the drama by way 
 of sympathetic contemplation. ^ 
 
 So far, what we have said applies to the Chorus in Comedy and 
 in Tragedy ahke. But here a vital difference comes into view. 
 The comic Chorus has not, from the standpoint of art, the justifica- 
 tion and utiUty which kept the Chorus ahve in Tragedy to the 
 last days of the ancient drama. In Tragedy it is needed for a 
 high function, not to be so well fulfilled by any other means. 
 It has to utter emotions that can be expressed only in lyric poetry, 
 to say things which the audience longs to have said, but which 
 cannot be said by any character on the stage. For this purpose 
 a homogeneous Chorus is needed: there is one common feeling, 
 one common thought, that craves for utterance. The twelve 
 members of the tragic Chorus always had, and must have, the 
 same dress, the same mask, the same sex, age, and character. Their 
 function, too, is integral, and need never decay. 
 
 Nothing of this appUes to the comic Chorus. The audience here 
 can completely reUeve their feelings in laughter; there are no 
 thoughts or emotions stirred that he too deep for stage dialogue, 
 no remoter universal meaning to be caught only in the passionate 
 images of lyric poetry. From this point of view to compare, as 
 ZieUnski does, the structure of the second part of an Aristophanic 
 play with the ' episodic ' structure of Tragedy is quite misleading. 
 
108 THE OBIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 After the Agon and Pamhasis, the comic Chorus has no part in the 
 action until the Exodos ; it is merely waiting for the moment to 
 form the final procession of the Kdmos. But, unlike the Chorus 
 in Tragedy, it has also nothing relevant to say. Its sole business 
 is to keep the audience amused through intervals during which 
 something is done off the stage. It fills up the gap with funny 
 anecdotes or anything the author can think of : but it might just 
 as well be silent and execute a comic dance. In the latest plays 
 of Aristophanes this is recognised. The irrelevant little lyrics 
 no longer appear. The omission is not a symptom of dechne. 
 The earUer plays, as plays, would lose nothing if the practice had 
 been changed a generation sooner. 
 
 It is in the first half of the play, or wherever the Agon occurs, 
 that the Chorus is wanted ; and here, as we have seen, it has a 
 relation on the one side to the action, on the other to the audience. 
 It is evident, too, that when we ask what its original function 
 in ritiial can have been, one of these — the relation to the audience 
 — has to be discounted, as a thing which only springs into 
 existence when the performance ceases to be a rite and becomes a 
 spectacle. 
 
 ' When we set our problem in that hght, we see how to explain 
 the contrast between the judicial function and the partisan sym- 
 pathies of an Aristophanic Chorus. Their sympathies belong to 
 them as characters in the play and are dictated by their mask. 
 The Knights are for the Sausage-seller, because they support the 
 character of young Athenian aristocrats, who prefer any demagogue, 
 however shameless, to the particular demagogue they know, as 
 conservatives in the frying-pan sometimes cry out for the fire. 
 On the other hand, their judicial functions fall to the Chorus as 
 representatives of the audience, or of some part of it — that part, 
 namely, to which the Agonist's arguments are to be addressed. 
 The Wasps, for instance, stand for the Athenian Demos, in its 
 
 juridical capacity. As such, it is their business to hear what 
 Bdelycleon has to tell them of how they are hoodwinked by their 
 adored leaders. They must sheathe their stings, hush their buzzing, 
 and listen for their own good. But all this is incidental to the 
 drama considered as a spectacle. In a word, the judicial function 
 of the Chorus belongs to the spectacular stage and must be elimi- 
 nated. The probability remains that their partisan sympathies 
 
THE OHOETJS IN AGON AND PABABASIS 109 
 
 survive from their original function as participants in the ritual 
 drama without an audience. 
 
 > 
 
 52. Antichoria and Epirrhematic structure 
 
 This probabihty is raised almost to certainty by considerations 
 urged by Ziehnski, and now, perhaps, generally accepted.^ Arai- 
 cAona— the division of the Chorus into two halves performing 
 antiphonally— is, as Ziehnski says,^ 'the soul of epirrhematic 
 composition.' In other words, the whole structure of the most"^ 
 important part of the play implies this opposition between the two 
 half-Choruses. This division explains the fact that the comic 
 Chorus is twice the size of the tragic. It has twenty-four members, 
 including its two Leaders. Moreover, in one extant play (the 
 Lysistrata), the two haK-Choruses have distinct masks : twelve are 
 men, twelve women. If we consider that in the thirty-two extant" 
 tragedies and in all the others whose cast is known from the frag- 
 ments there is not a single case of a Chorus with more than one 
 mask,3 the fact that such a thing is possible at all in Comedy is a 
 strong argument that it was traditional. Another instance is 
 afforded by the Odysses of Aristophanes' predecessor, Kratinus, 
 which is held to have had a Chorus of twelve Companions of 
 Odysseus and twelve Cyclopes.* There is, further, the case of the 
 Acharnians, where the Chorus, though uniform in mask, is divided 
 against itself, and the two Leaders actually quarrel and fight in the 
 course of the Agon. Still fainter traces survive in those Agdnes 
 where each half of the Chorus in turn encourages, in Ode and Antode, 
 
 ^ They are endorsed by the high authority of Kaibel {Hermes, xxx. p. 80) who 
 regards the double Chorus in the oldest art form of Comedy as a certain fact. 
 See also J. W. White, An Unrecognised Actor, etc., Harvard Studies in Class. 
 Philol., xvii. (1906), 106. 
 
 2 Oliederung, 272. 
 
 ^ Kaibel (Hermes, xxx. p. 88) thinks that a double chorus of Nymphs and 
 their ' husbands' (Satyrs) was required for Aeschylus' Aioviaov rpoipot; but that 
 was a satyrio drama, not a tragedy. 
 
 * Kaibel, loc. cit. There is an odd hint of a double Chorus in the Knights. 
 At the beginning of the Parados (247 ff. ) the first half-Chorus of young Knights 
 enters and attacks Cleon. He calls out for help to the Old Men of the law- 
 courts (255 : a yipovT€s ifl\i.a<XTal . . . Trapa/Sojjffeifi', lis vt' avSpuv riirToiiai. f ww- 
 fjLoTwv). The audience must have expected the second half-Chorus to consist of 
 these old men ; but to Cleon's dismay, when they appear at 258, they turn out 
 to be twelve more knights. ' Do you join in the attack on me ?' gasps Cleon : 
 ivveirlKfiffS' iyneVs ; of. Mazon, Mssai, p. 36, 
 
110 THE OEIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 one of the two adversaries to do his best. It has been pointed out ^ 
 that in this respect again there is a significant contrast between the 
 
 T comic Chorus and the tragic. In Tragedy, where there is an Agon, 
 in the sense of a set debate between two characters, of the kind 
 so common in Euripides, the Chorus always do what they can to 
 soothe and pacify the adversaries. In Comedy, on the contrary, 
 they always incite them to greater efforts. Once more, the inference 
 is that in Comedy we have to do with two opposed bands, each 
 
 ^of which encourages a champion. There is thus a strong prob- 
 abihty that in the earher forms of Comedy the Agon was a contest 
 between the Leaders of two bands distinct and opposed in 
 character, like the men and women in the Lysistrata.^ 
 
 53. Choral matches in abuse (ala-xpo^oyiai) 
 
 In the fertility cults of Greece there is good evidence for the 
 ritual custom of two or more companies of worshippers engaging in 
 a set match of abuse. Herodotus ^ tells us that the two Earth- 
 Goddesses, Damia and Auxesia, at Aegina were propitiated by 
 abusive Choruses or dances of women. Ten men were designated 
 for each Goddess, to arrange these choral performances : but the 
 abuse was directed, ' not at any man, but at the women of the place.' 
 The same ceremonies were in use at Epidauros, and apparently 
 connected with rites described as ' secret ' (dpprjTot Ipovpjiat), and 
 probably of a phallic nature. At Troezen the women worshippers of 
 the same Goddesses did not hmit themselves to the exchange of 
 abuse, but pelted one another with stones.* At a more famous 
 seat of the same cult, Eleusis itself, the women at the winter Haloa 
 abused one another ; and we hear also of an ' ancestral Agon,' the 
 nature of which is unfortunately unknown.^ At Eleusis the young 
 men also held a mimic battle every year, known as the Pelting 
 (BaWr]Tv<s).^ We approach still nearer to the double Chorus with 
 
 ' Weil, Etudes sur le drame antique, p. 303. 
 
 ^ This ia Zielinski's conclusion, Gliederung, 312. 
 
 = Hdt. V. 83. 4 Pans. ii. 32, 2. 
 
 ° Farnell, Ctdts, iii. 315 ff. ; Frazer, G. B.^, Spirits of the Com, etc., vol. i. 
 p. 61. 
 
 " Horn. Hym. Dem. 236. Mr. A. B. Cook suggests to me that this word 
 might help out the rather poor joke at Ach. 234, where the Koryphaeua bids his 
 followers ^Xiwti.v BaXXiJ^'aSc, when they are pelting Dikaiopolia with stones. 
 
THE CHORUS IN AGON AND PARABASIS 111 
 
 its two masks in the cult of Apollo at Anaphe, in whose honour 
 there was a ritual of ' strife and abuse ' carried on between parties 
 ot men and women.i The abuse flung at the passers-by or at one 
 another by the worshippers riding in carts at the K6mos of the 
 Choes, m the Eleusinian procession, and at the Lenaea, may have 
 been unorganised. ^ 
 
 54. Ritual Combats for fertility 
 The custom of holding more or less serious battles, as a means 
 of promoting the fertiUty of the crops, has been illustrated by 
 Mannhardt from Europe and by Dr. Frazer from various other 
 parts of the world.^ Sometimes it is the blood drawn from the com- 
 batants that is sprinkled on the fields, sometimes the portions of 
 the dismembered representative of the principle of Life, whether 
 in human or animal form or in the shape of a puppet. No clear 
 hue can be drawn between these contests of two bands and the 
 1 Apoll. Rhod. iv. 1726: 
 
 rds 5' alirxpols ■^pues iTiiTTO^haKOv iireffaiv 
 'X}^eiri yridbavpoi.' y\vKep^ S' ifCKalero to'ktlv 
 Keproixl-q Kal veiKOS iirea^liKov. ix Si vv Kelv-qs 
 /loXirris ypiliuv viiaif ivL Tola yvva^Kes 
 ipdpdffi SripidavTai, 8t' 'AwSWuva SuijXais 
 AlyX'^TTtv 'Avd^T)s riii-qopov iXdcKUvrai, 
 /ioXirijs implies that regular choral songs of abuse were performed. 
 
 ^ Suidas s.v. t4 ^k rav afM^wv <TKii/i/w,Ta. 'ABiiVQai. yap iv t^ tuv Xowv iopry ol 
 KU/itffoj'Tes iirl tuv dfia^uv roils diravTSivTai IckutttSv re Kal i\oiS6povv. rb Si airb 
 Kal ToTs ATpalois ScrTepov iirolow. (It is oonceivable that oi iiravTuvTes might 
 mean a party of people who met the procession and made a show of resisting it. 
 See the instance next quoted from Egypt.) Sti iwl rijs d/ia^ijs (ixoiJ/tcyai ai 
 yvyaTKes oi Tuv 'ABrinatup, iirhv els ra 'EXevcrlvia i^dSi^ov els to, /i^7aXa iiVdTTjpia, 
 iXoiSbpovD dW-fjXas iv ry dS<fi. 
 
 ^ Mannhardt, SaumJcuUus, 548 flf. ; Frazer on Pausanias, ii. 30, 4. Add to 
 these G. Calderon, 'Slavonic Elements in Greek Religion,' Class. Eev. xxvii. 
 (1913), p. 79 ff., who describes fighting between two organised parties as a common 
 feature of Slavonic spring-rites. ' The Russian Spring-fight is sometimes 
 enacted by two parties of women, with their hair flying, like the Maenads, and, 
 where the body of the Whitsun doll is made of straw, it is torn up when 
 victory declares itself, and scattered over the fields in order to distribute the 
 productive energy concentrated in the figure. The existence of such a custom 
 among the Thracians would afford the moat satisfying explanation for the 
 frequency of the legend of a man being torn in pieces in connection with Dionysian 
 rites, as Orpheus, Pentheus, and Dionysus himself.' Doutt^, Edig. et Mcigie 
 dans I'A/rique du Nord, p. 554 ffi, describes the game of Koura, in North Africa, 
 a kind of ritual football played generally in spring, sometimes in seasons of 
 drought, and in many places reserved to the t'olba {savants, clercs). Cf. the 
 games played by Abbots and Canons of the Mediaeval Church. 
 
112 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 beating or killing of some individual victim for the double purpose 
 of ' purification ' (the expulsion of evil influences) and the pro- 
 motion of fertility. A faded survival may be seen in the battles 
 of flowers or confetti which accompany the modern Carnival. 
 
 Herodotus ^ describes a ritual battle at Papremis in Egypt which 
 is connected with a procession and a sacred marriage. The priests 
 of the God identified by Herodotus with Ares, armed with clubs, 
 took their stand at the doors of the temple in the evening. Opposite 
 them were drawn up more than a thousand votaries, also with clubs. 
 On the day before the festival, the image of the God in his shrine 
 was drawn in a four-wheeled car by a few of the priests to another 
 sacred building. Others, supported by the votaries, opposed his 
 entrance. In the fight that followed heads were often broken. 
 The myth was that the mother of the God once dwelt in this temple. 
 The God, reared apart from his parents, desired, on reaching man- 
 hood, to have intercourse with his mother. Her attendants, to 
 whom he was a stranger, shut him out. But he went to another 
 city and collected a band of men by whose aid he forced his way 
 in. The myth shows that the occasion of the procession was a 
 divine marriage. 
 
 Another ritual combat which is specially interesting because the 
 two parties, Uke so many of the beast Choruses in Attic Comedy, 
 are disguised as animals, is cited by Du Meril. ' A Coma-pa, deux 
 troupes d'acteurs, distingues les uns des autres par la peau d'un 
 animal dont la tete est ramenee sur leur front, viennent encore se ranger 
 en bataille ; des propositions d' arrangement sont faites, discwtees par 
 I'autre, et difinitivement repoussees ; alors un signal est donne, et le 
 combat s'engage au milieu des cris de guerre. Aprks une lutte acharnee 
 la victoire se diclare pour le parti qui porte des peaux de daim ; les 
 vaincus abandonnent le champ de bataille, et les vainqueurs y tracent 
 avec un long baton la figure d'un animal.' ^ 
 
 In the Indian example, above described,* of the battle between 
 the supporters of Kamsa and Krsna, the black party and the red, 
 we have the choral Agon combined with the dramatised death of 
 one of the individual adversaries. At Orchomenos the women 
 called Okiai performed some Dionysiac rite which involved the 
 
 1 ii. 63. 
 
 ^ From a letter of Don Urrutia on the antiquities of Cinaoa-mecallo in the 
 Athence-um, 13 Dec. 1856, p. 1537. ' P. 67, 
 
THE CHORUS IN AGON AND PARABASIS 113 
 
 dismemberment of a youth.i Whether they engaged in a battle 
 with their ' husbands,' the Psoloeis (' Sooty Ones '), we do not know. 
 But it is certainly curious that these Oleiai are ' daughters of 
 Mmyas '—belong, that is to say, to the old Minyan stock, with which 
 Melanthus, the antagonist of Xanthus in the Agon at Eleutherae, 
 is connected, as a Neleid.^ The conjunction makes it not improb- 
 able that behind these scattered notices lies a ceremony identical 
 in essence with the Indian battle of the parties of Kama and Krsm, 
 involving a choral Agon and a duel of the two antagonists represen- 
 ing Winter and Summer. The intimate connection of the Chorus 
 in Comedy with the Agon and the division of it into two parties 
 make it necessary to presuppose a ritual of this type. 
 
 The Agon proper, the duel of the adversaries, has already been 
 discussed. We have seen in it the survival of a ritual combat of 
 the two champions, on its way to become a mere debate, but still 
 keeping sufficient traces of the time when it ended in the real or 
 simulated death of one of the combatants.^ In this debate the 
 
 ' Plut. Qu. Or. xxxviii. 
 
 '•* Farnell, Gvlts, v. 236. For Xanthus and Melanthus, see above, p. 67. 
 At Eleutherae also there is «. trace of the choral oicrxpoXoyia in the statement 
 that the daughters of Eleuther ' reviled ' the apparition of the God of the Black 
 Goatskin. Above, p. 66. 
 
 ' It should be added that two Ag6nes in the plays are prefaced by a rapid inter- 
 change of abuse in short metre. The Sausage-seller and the Paphlagonian inter- 
 change threats, Knights, 284 ff. So do the two Reasons, Clouds, 889 flf. Birds, 386 ff. 
 is somewhat similar. Strepsiades describes a similar passage between himself and 
 his son before their Agon, Clouds, 1375, 'diros irpbs Siros iipuSbiieada. Aeschylus 
 and Euripides are heard engaged in a XoiSopTiff/jiis before they appear (Frogs, 758), 
 and Dionysus tells Aeschylus not to \oidope!<r8ai, but to argue the case out (857). 
 It is tempting to see in these \oiSopri(rp.ol the preliminary brags of the two 
 champions, familiar in the folk-plays, and illustrated by Harleian MS. 1197, 
 where a champion presents himself singing ; 
 / ame a Knighte, 
 and menes tofigliie, 
 and artnet well ame I ; 
 lo, here I stand 
 with swerd in hand, 
 my manhood /or to try. 
 Another champion answers : 
 
 Thow marciall wite, 
 that menes tofighte, 
 and sete upon me so, 
 lo, here I stand 
 with swird in hand 
 to dvbbelle evrey bloue. 
 Then the fight begins. 
 
 H 
 
114 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 r61e of the Chorus, though integral, has dwindled in most cases to 
 something between the functions of seconds in a duel and of judges 
 in a contest. The main interest lies in the arguments of the two 
 actors. But we shall presently argue that in the Pardbasis, 
 
 __ immediately following the individual Agon, Attic Comedy probably 
 preserves a survival of the choral contest or match in abuse. We 
 shall suppose, in fact, that the original ritual contained a combat 
 between two parties, representing Summer and Winter, with their 
 two champions, one of whom was dramatically slain by the 
 other, and that, while the duel of the two champions gives the 
 Agon, the contest of their supporters remains in the purely choral 
 
 I Pardbasis. 
 
 Before we turn to the Parabasis, however, something more must 
 be said of the Agon proper and of its affinities with some species of 
 a large' class of hterature which takes the form of a debate. In 
 particular, we have to meet the possible objection that the comic 
 Agon has no ritual origin, but is sufficiently explained as modelled 
 on debates of a forensic or rhetorical type. 
 
 55. The Sophistic Antilogy 
 
 The first Agon in the Clouds, which we have so far left out of 
 account, is a contest for the soul of Pheidippides, held between 
 the two Reasons or Arguments (Logoi), the Just and the Unjust. 
 In the Prologue of the play Strepsiades says he has heard teU that 
 the Sophists have ' a pair of Arguments, the stronger (or ' better,' 
 KpeiTTwv), whatever that may be, and the weaker (or ' worse,' 
 r^TTcov). Of these two it is said that the weaker wins, by pleading 
 the more unjust cause.' ^ Strepsiades wishes to send Pheidippides 
 to learn this weaker, or worse, or unjust, argument, so that he may 
 be able to save his father from paying his debts. 
 
 The old man has heard and misinterpreted the famous profession 
 of the first and greatest of the sophists. We are told of Protagoras 
 of Abdera that he was the first to maintain that ' for every argument 
 there is a counter-argument,' or that ' on every subject two argu- 
 
 ' 112 : Streps, ehat. Trap' airois (fiacnv i/itpa tw Xi-yu, 
 
 rbv KpdTTOv', SffTis iarl, Kal rbv liTTOva. 
 Toirow rim irepov Tolv \6yoi,v, rbv iJTTOva, 
 viKoiv Xiyovri, (jyaai riSiKiirepa. 
 
THE OHOEUS IN AGON AND PARABASIS 115 
 
 ments can be made out/ ^ He accordingly composed a series 
 of ' Antilogies,' or specimen arguments on both sides of a number 
 of questions. We can form an idea of these from the anonymous 
 Dialexeis or Pairs of Arguments {Siaa-ol Xoyoi), written in the Doric 
 dialect soon after 404 b.c.^ In these the first argument supports 
 a paradoxical thesis, such as that Good and Evil are the same ; 
 the second supplies the refutation. It was Protagoras' ' profession ' 
 [eTrajyeX/xa) that he could ' make the weaker (or worse) argument 
 the stronger (or better) ' and teach his pupils the same art.^ Now, 
 it is clear that a teacher who lived to a considerable age in the 
 enjoyment of general respect in many cities of Greece, cannot have 
 professed to make the argument which was 'worse ' in a moral 
 sense, win over the ' better.' He must have used Kpeirrmv and 
 •^TTfov in their other sense of ' stronger ' and " weaker,' with no 
 moral impUcation. What he was prepared to do, as a teacher of 
 rhetoric, was to take both sides of any question and show how the 
 intrinsically weaker case could be strengthened so as actually to 
 be a match for the ' stronger,' which had common sense on its side 
 to start with. The enemies of the sophists, wilfully or innocently, 
 took ' better ' and ' worse ' in a moral sense, and represented the 
 sophists as teaching the art of making the wrong side triumph over 
 the right. And, of course, as Plato and Isocrates complained, the 
 weapon they put into their pupils' hands could be turned to such 
 
 uses. 
 
 In the Clouds, the two Arguments, the better and the worse, 
 identified simply with the Just and the Unjust, are produced in 
 person to have out their quarrel in presence of Pheidippides.* It 
 is to be noted that in this Agon the unsympathetic principle, the 
 
 1 Clem Alex Strom, vi. 65 : "EXXijc^s <pa(n. Uparayopov TpoKarap^avros, Travrl 
 
 J,rb, Jpiyimros d.r.««M^^ou» &\M\o.s. See. for this whole subject, the mter- 
 esting discussion of Protagoras in H. Gomperz, SopMshk u. Ehetorik, Leipzig 
 
 "■»^These are printed by Diels, Frag. d. Voreohratiker^ vol. ii. p. 635 ff. For 
 a discussion and references to earlier literature see Gomperz, op. at. p. 138 fl. 
 3 Ar Rhet b 24, 1402 a, 23 : Kal t6 rbv ^ttco S^ Uyov Kpdrn^ ■Koui.y rour iar^. 
 
 ^ Certain terms seem to refer to Protagoras: dvr.XoT^cra. (321 d.r.X^fac 1040 
 recall his Antilogiai. (Cf. Frogs, 878, d.«Xo-yoC-«, 998 and 1007, a.r.X^T"-) 
 £1, 1229, r6. d«ard,3X,ro. Uyoy, of, the title of Protagoras' work, Kara- 
 jSdXXovres. 
 
116 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 worse Eeason, speaks second and is victorious. The same is true 
 of the other Agon in the play, between father and son. Pheidip- 
 pides there offers his father the choice of whichever argument he 
 prefers, the better or the worse. The worse falls to himself, and he 
 almost succeeds in his undertaking to make it prevail.^ That the 
 second speaker should be victorious is the rule in all Aristophanes' 
 Agdnes, but it is only in the Clouds that the evil or unsjmipathetic 
 side wins. This is of a piece with the inverted economy of the whole 
 play. It illustrates the sophist's misunderstood profession of 
 making the worse argument the stronger. 
 
 The influence of Protagoras and the sophistic Antilogy is traceable 
 also in Euripides. The best instance occurred in a lost play, the 
 Antiope, where the twins, Zethus and Amphion, argued each in 
 favour of his own manner of life in a way that reminds one of Cain 
 and Abel. A fragment survives in which some speaker says, ' There 
 is no subject on which one who is a clever speaker could not set up 
 an Agon of twin arguments.' ^ Euripides has given us in many 
 plays a proof of his own cleverness in this art.^ 
 
 1 have gone into these details of the Sophistic Agon with a view 
 to the possible objection that the Agon in Comedy and Tragedy is 
 derived from the tradition of Rhetoric and has no root in ritual. 
 The objection, however, is easily met. The Agon exists already 
 
 ^ 1334 ; Pheid. ^ywy' diroSei^w Ka.i (re viK-qtro) \iytav. 
 
 Streps. TOVTL ffb viK'/jtrets ; 
 Pheid. TToXO ye Kal pq.5L0j$. 
 
 eXoO 5' oirhTepov rotv \6yoLV ^ouXei Xeyeiv. 
 Streps. TToioLV \6yoiV ; 
 
 Pheid. rhv KpelrTov^ ^ rhv iJTTOva. 
 
 1444 : Pheid. ri S' ijv ix'^" ^iv iJTra | X670!' <re viK^cra Xiyav \ ttji' firiTip' us 
 TTL)TTeiv xpetttp ; 
 
 2 Eurip. Antiopt, frag. 189 N". 
 
 iK toctJs Hv Tis Tpdyixaros SurirQv Myav 
 
 ct-ytSpa deir' &v, el \4yet.v eiT] (TO(pbs. 
 Cf . P. Decharme, Euripide et I'esprit de son thidtre (Paris, 1893), p. 47 ff. ; 
 Starkie, Clouds, p. 333. 
 
 ' Compare Androm,, 957, atxpiiv n XPW'> '''oO SiSofairos ^poroOs | \A70us aKoiem 
 T&v ivavTlar irapa, with Wasps, 725, ?? irou (ro06s ^v So-tis (<pacKev, irplv 4>/ ifiipoiv 
 /iSBoy iKoiffys \ ovk &v SiKda-ais. Heracles, 204 (Amphitryon's dyiliv withLyous), 
 Xi^oi /iff oUe Toiai trois inavrlav \ yvdijiriv lx<>^'"- '■w'' KaSedTiiiTwv iripi. This last is 
 a good instance of an Agon or dihat which strikes the modern reader as very 
 imdramatic. The tyrant and Heracles' aged father, who, with the rest of 
 Heracles' family, is threatened with instant death, argue the question whether 
 it is braver to fight with a bow or with a spear. 
 
THE CHORTJS IN AGON AND PARAEASIS 117 
 
 in the Sicilian Mime of Epicharmus, the senior contemporary of 
 Aeschylus.^ Among the titles of his works we find Land and Sea, 
 Logos and Logina, which were certainly Agdnes or Debates. In 
 this form of literature, Comedy was in the field before Ehetoric. 
 Another species which flourished on Sicilian soil was the pastoral 
 Agon, familiar in Bucolic poetry. There is evidence to connect 
 this, as well as the SiciUan Mime, with ruder forms native to the 
 Peloponnese and perhaps associated with ritual.^ Since Sicily was 
 the principal home of the art of Ehetoric, the probability is that, 
 if any borrowing took place, it was the rhetoricians who took the 
 Agon form from the Mime. The form itself is popular and much 
 older than the sophistic movement. This conclusion is borne out 
 by very close analogies in mediaeval literature. _\ 
 
 56. The mediaeval Debat 
 
 The Middle Ages in Europe produced a similar literature of 
 debates.^ There was the Provencal ' tenso (French ten^n), in 
 which two speakers freely discussed a given subject, each taking 
 the point of view which seems good to him. And there was the 
 joc-partitz or partimen (French jeu-parti or parture), in which the 
 challenger proposed a theme, indicated two opposed attitudes 
 towards it, and gave his opponent his choice to maintain one or the 
 other.' * Again, of the dits and fabliaux dialogues Mr. Chambers 
 says : ' These dialogues naturally tend to become of the nature of 
 disputes, and they merge into that special kind of dit, the dibat or 
 disputoison proper. The debat is a kind of poetical controversy 
 put into the mouths of two types or two personified abstractions, 
 
 1 Chriat-Sehmid, Or. Lit.' (Miinohen, 1908) i. p. 378, givea Epicharmus' date 
 as circ. 550-460. 
 
 2 The Argument to Theocritus connects the origin of Bucolic poetry with the 
 cult of Artemis in Lacedaemon (Karyatis), at Tindaris in Sicily, and at 
 Syracuse. It describes contests of peasants wearing wreaths and staghorns and 
 holding \ay(i,poXa. They had loaves stamped with figures of animals, a wallet 
 full of vautTTT^pfda, and wine in a goatskin. For all this subject see Knaaok, 
 Pauly-Wiss. s.v. ' Bukolik,' who follows up the connections with ritual and the 
 various other forma of iyiiv, ffiyxpms, etc. 
 
 3 See Chambers, Mediaeval Stage, i. p. 78 ff., from whom I borrow the above 
 
 statements. . t i i. 
 
 4 Mr. Chambers adds that these were originally improvised verbal tourna- 
 ments, and have nothing to say to the drama. See, however, hia remarks 
 presently quoted on the ddbats. 
 
118 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 each of wMch pleads the cause of its own superiority, while in 
 the end the decision is not unfrequently referred to an umpire in 
 the fashion familiar in the eclogues of Theocritus. The debats 
 thus bear a strong resemblance to the lyric tenons and jeux-partis 
 already mentioned. Like the chansons, they probably owe some- 
 thing to the folk festivals with their " flytings " and seasonal songs.' 
 
 This last hint is followed up by Mr. Chambers later on.^ Discuss- 
 ing the various ways in which the Spring renouveau may be dramati- 
 cally represented, he says : ' Finally there is a fairly widespread 
 spring custom of holding a dramatic fight between two parties, one 
 clad in green to represent summer, the other in straw or fur to 
 represent winter. Waldron describes this in the Isle of Man ; 
 Olaus Magnus in Sweden. Grimm says that it is found in various 
 districts on both sides of the middle Ehine. Perhaps both this 
 dramatic battle and that of the Coventry Hox Tuesday owe their 
 origin to the struggle for the fertiUsing head of a sacrificial animal, 
 which also issued in football and similar games. Dr. Frazer quotes 
 several instances from all parts of the world in which a mock fight, 
 or an interchange of abuse and raillery taking the place of an actual 
 fight, serves as a crop-charm. The summer and winter battle 
 gave to Uterature a famous type of neo-Latin and Eomance debat. 
 In one of the most interesting forms of this, the eighth or ninth 
 century Conflictus Veris et Hiemis, the subject of dispute is the 
 cuckoo, which Spring praises and Winter chides, while the shepherds 
 declare that he must be drowned or stolen away, because summer 
 Cometh not. The cuckoo is everywhere a characteristic bird of 
 spring, and his coming was probably a primitive signal for the high 
 summer festival.' 
 
 Mr. Chambers might have cited ' the dialogue that the two 
 learned men have compiled in praise of the owl and the cuckoo,' 
 which ' should have followed in the end of the show ' presented by 
 Armado in the last scene of Love's Labour's Lost. ' This side is 
 Hiems, Winter ; this Ver, the Spring ; the one maintained by the 
 owl, the other by the cuckoo. Ver, begin.' Then follow those 
 marvellous songs of Spring and Winter : 
 
 ' When daisies pied and violets blue,' etc. 
 and 
 
 ' When icicles hang hy the wall,' etc. 
 
 1 P. 187. 
 
THE OHOEUS IN AGON AND PARABASIS 119 
 
 Dieterich ^ connects the Agdnes of Comedy, which, he says, were 
 certainly among its oldest constituents, and were probably common 
 to the old ' Satyrpoasen ' of Sicily, Lower Italy, and Attica, with 
 these ancient and modern debats. Having little independent know- 
 ledge of mediaeval literature, I welcome the high authority of a 
 writer so learned and intelligent as Mr. Chambers, in tracing them 
 back to the battle of Summer and Winter. But it is more than 
 a conjecture. Dr. Frazer gives a translation of such a debat still 
 actually in use. ' In some parts of Bavaria the boys who play the 
 parts of Winter and Summer act their httle drama in every house 
 that they visit, and engage in a war of words before they come to 
 blows, each of them vaunting the pleasures and benefits of the 
 season he represents and disparaging those of the other. The 
 dialogue is in verse. A few couplets may serve as specimens : — 
 
 Summer 
 Green, green a?-e the meadows wherever I pass, 
 And tJie mowers are bust/ among the grass. 
 
 Winter 
 White, white are the meadoios wherever I go. 
 And the sledges glide hissing across the snow. 
 
 Summer 
 / 'II climb up the tree where the red cherries glow. 
 And Winter can stand by himself down below. 
 
 Winter 
 With yoii I will climb the cherry-tree tall. 
 Its branches will kindle the fire in the hall.' 
 
 After some more verses in which the antagonists warm up and 
 threaten one another, the dialogue ends thus : 
 
 Winter 
 ' Summer, for all yov/r bluster and brag, 
 You 'd not dare to carry a hen in a bag. 
 
 Summer 
 Winter, your chatter no more can I stay, 
 I'll TcicTi and I'll cuff you without delay. 
 
 Pulcinella, 78. 
 
120 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 Here ensues a scuffle between the two little boys, in which Summer 
 gets the best of it, and turns Winter out of the house. But soon 
 the beaten champion of Winter peeps in at the door and says with 
 a humble and crestfallen air : 
 
 Summer, dear Summer, I'm under your ban, 
 For you are the master and I am the man. 
 
 To which Summer replies : 
 
 'Tis a capital notion, an excellent plan, 
 
 If I am the master and you are the man. 
 
 So come, my dear Winter, and give me your hand, 
 
 We 'II travel together to Summer Land.' ^ 
 
 There can be httle doubt, then, that the dSbat as a Uterary form 
 goes back to these seasonal Agdnes from which we have derived 
 the Agon in Comedy. The rhetorical Antilogy may have had an 
 independent origin or have been based on this popular type. But 
 there is no ground for deriving from it the comic or tragic Agon, 
 though in the latter part of the fifth century the influence of rhetoric 
 may have been felt by the dramatic writers.^ 
 
 57. The Choral Agon : the Parabasis 
 
 The Agon, as we have studied it in the last two sections, is a debate 
 between individual representatives of two abstract principles. As 
 such it flourished in the Sicihan Mime of Epicharmiis, which had 
 no Chorus.^ But we must not forget the Chorus in Attic Comedy, 
 the two parties who support the opposed champions. Besides the 
 Agon between two individuals, there were also, in the fertihty cults, 
 the choral matches in abuse {ala-'x^poXajiai) and set battles of two 
 
 ' O. B.\ The Dying Ood (London, 1911), 255. A dialogue in verse between 
 representatives of Summer and Winter is spoken at Hartlieb in Silesia, near 
 Breslau (Note). 
 
 " Perhaps a, further trace of this influence may be seen in the tendency to 
 regard (1) the speech in the first half as an M8(i.^i.s, (2) the reply in the second 
 a,3an IXeyxo!. (1) Knights, 334 {Katalceleusmos) v On Sei^ov. Clouds, 934,: Koi-yph. 
 d.'SX' iirldei^ai. ai. 949 {Odt), vvv del^eTof. 1333, ?7M7' avoSel^ui. Wasps, 548 
 (opening of Epirrheme), iiroSel^w. (2) Knights, 843 flf. {Antep. ), in SXeyxos form. 
 Clouds, 1043 {Antep.), ani^j/M . . . lis iXiy^w. Frogs, 857 (Dionysus to Aeschylus 
 before the Agon) : iXeyx' i\iyxov XoiSopeiaeai S' oi irpiTvei. 
 
 3 Epioharmus' pieces are called dpi/iara ; there is no reason to believe that the 
 term KUfi^Sla was applied to them. There was in fact no (cu/iot. 
 
THE CHORUS IN AGON AND PARABASIS 121 
 
 bands of people. This brings us to the consideration of a very 
 important feature of the Old Comedy, which we have so far left 
 abnost out of account— the Parabasis. We shall next inquire 
 what grounds there are for supposing that this is a survival of an 
 old choral Agon, which has remained embedded in the structure 
 of the play, alongside of, and normally next after, the individual 
 Agon we have so far dealt with. 
 
 The Parabasis presents a difficult problem, for we may suspect 
 that its form, as we know it in Aristophanes, has been modified 
 and adapted to new uses in the long course of development that 
 lies behind the extant plays. We shall begin by describing its 
 normal structure and contents, and then consider whether we can 
 make out what modifications it must have undergone. 
 
 58. The Form of the Parabasis 
 
 In point of structure, the Parabasis has a strict canonical form.^ 
 In the plays where it is complete, it falls into two parts ; and the ; 
 ^mperfect Parabases of other plays consist of one or more -portions 
 of the same regular scheme. . 
 
 1. The first part opens with a few lines (Kommation) in which 
 the Leader of the Chorus, after wishing good speed to the retiring 
 actors, orders his Chorus to make their 'advance' towards the 
 spectators. When this movement is executed, he deUvers an 
 address to the audience, composed in the long anapaestic measure, 
 and called by Aristophanes ' the Anapaests.' Here the mask is 
 dropt and with it all pretence of dramatic illusion. The Leader 
 delivers a message from the poet to the Athenian people, setting 
 the transcendant merits of the author ia contrast with the ridiculous 
 inferiority of his rivals, and claiming credit for the services he has 
 rendered in exposing those abominable rogues, his poUtical opponents 
 and the prophets of contemporary culture. The speech appro- 
 priately ends in a peroration called pnigos, because it was to be 
 delivered in one breath with increasing rapidity, the voice, perhaps, 
 rising to a scream capable of drowning any demonstrations of 
 disapproval from the adherents of demagogue or sophist. 
 
 2. The second part has the epirrhematic structure already 
 described. The Chorus of twenty-four is divided into two halves, 
 each with its Leader — the Koryphaeus (who also leads the whole 
 
122 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 Chorus when undivided) and the Parastates. The two halves 
 perform antiphonally as follows : — 
 
 An Ode, sung by one half-Chorus, is followed by an Epirrheme, 
 probably recited by its Leader. Then the other half-Chorus 
 responds with the Antode, metrically equivalent to the Ode, and its 
 Leader speaks the Antepirrheme. In this part qf the Parabasis, 
 though Efinheme and Antepirrheme are usually addressed to the 
 audience, the Chorus speak in character. The Knights praise 
 their ' horses ' ; the Clouds complain, on the Moon's behalf, of the 
 irregularities of the Athenian Calendar, and so on. 
 
 When this is over, the actors, without preface, return ffnd 
 the business of the play is resumed as if it had never been 
 interrupted. 
 
 A feature so extraordinary as this, and, as judged by modern 
 standards, so injurious to the conduct of a drama, naturally 
 attracted the attention of critics, and even tended to divert 
 attention from other features no less important. If we are looking 
 out for survivals, for elements of form or content which no dramatist 
 unhampered by tradition would be hkely to invent, here is perhaps 
 the clearest instance we shall find. The Parabasis, moreover, is 
 the first of the formal features of the Old Comedy to decay. Com- 
 plete in the Acharnians, the Knights, the Clouds,^ the Wasps, and 
 the Birds, aheady in the Peace the Parabasis has lost its Epirrheme 
 and Antepirrheme ; in the Thesmophoriazusae, Ode, Antode, and 
 Antepirrheme are omitted ; the Frogs has lost the whole of the first 
 part ; and in the Ecclesiazusae and Pltitus, the Parabasis has 
 vanished altogether. With its stiff canonical structure, it has all 
 the air of a piece of ritual procedure awkwardly interrupting the 
 course of the play. It will be convenient to consider the two parts 
 separately. 
 
 59. The Anapaests 
 
 The introductory Anapaests, spoken by the Leader of the whole 
 Chorus, are not, save for an occasional reference to some objection- 
 
 ^ In the Glouds, of which we possess only a revised edition, a passage in 
 Eupolideans (with no pnigos) replaces the Anapaests : otherwise the form is 
 oomplete. 
 
THE CHORUS IK AGOK AND PABABASIS 123 
 
 able character, ' iambic ' or abusive in tone.^ In the five earliest 
 plays {Acharnians, Knights, Clouds, Wasps, Peace) they contain 
 a eulogy or defence of the author. In the two remaining plays 
 which possess this passage at all {Birds, Thesmophoriazusae) the 
 Koryphaeus speaks in character. The Leader of the Birds recounts 
 their divine origin and boasts of their services to mankind. The 
 Leader of the Thesmophoriazusae says, ' Let us eulogise ourselves,' 
 and delivers an apology for women. The content of thel 
 Anapaests is thus generally eulogistic, either of the poet or of the 
 Chorus. ^ ^ 
 
 It has been doubted whether the poet's oration on his own behalf 
 was an original feature of the Parabasis. Poppelreuter ^ points 
 out that the Anapaests in the earUest extant play, the Acharnians, 
 begin with the statement that Aristophanes has never before come 
 forward to tell his audience how clever he is ; but that now the 
 calumnies of his detractors make it necessary. Again, in the last 
 play which contains a speech of this kind, the Peace, he declares 
 that a comedian who praises himself in the Anapaests ought to be 
 beaten ; though, after observing that, if any poet deserves eulogy, it 
 is Aristophanes, he proceeds in the usual strain. I cannot, however, 
 agree with Poppelreuter's inference. In the former of these passages 
 it does not seem to me that Aristophanes is announcing an innovation 
 in the practice of comedians generally, but rather that he is taking 
 credit for having abstained hitherto from an existing custom. How 
 far back the custom went we cannot say. _ .^ 
 
 The essential character of the Anapaests should, perhaps, be 
 found, not in the nature of their contents, but rather in the practice 
 of directly addressing the audience. Elsewhere in drama this isj, 
 especially characteristic of the prologue ; and it may be that the 
 Anapaests stand in this relation to the second, epirrhematic, part. 
 Whatever sort of performance Ues behind that second part — a 
 question presently to be raised— a short introductory speech, 
 delivered by the Chorus Leader, would be a natural preface. The 
 Anapaest is a marching rhythm; and it is obvious to compare 
 the anapaestic Hues spoken by the Koryphaeus as the tragic Chorus 
 
 1 It is true that the Anapaests of the KnigUs blame the Athenians for their 
 treatment of comic poets ; but chiefly to show what difficulties Aristophanes has 
 faced. The Anapaests of the Wasps also blame the spectators (1016), but con- 
 sist almost entirely of boasting. 
 
 2 De com. att. prim., 33. 
 
124 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 enters the orchestra— a passage which, in the oldest known type of 
 Tragedy, serves the purpose of a prologue. The Swppliants and 
 the Persae of Aeschylus both open with a simple statement in 
 anapaestic dimeters,^ explaining who the Chorus are and why they 
 come.* 
 
 But, if the Anapests are a prologue, they are, of course, not a 
 prologue to the play as a whole, the main action of which is abeady 
 half over. The play, as we have it, has a prologue of its own, in 
 which again the audience is directly addressed by one of the actors, 
 and informed of the necessary facts. The Anapaests give the author 
 a second chance of speaking straight to the spectators, this time 
 without pretence of disguise and on subjects not connected with 
 the action. That this should be done in an epilogue would be 
 intelUgible, and as the epilogue of the oldest form of the play 
 ZieUnski regarded the Parabasis. To this, however, there is the 
 fatal objection that the action which has culminated in the Agon 
 is resumed after the Parabasis, and moves through the other fixed 
 incidents to the Exodos, its necessary termination. 
 
 The conclusion to which our argument points is that the 
 Anapaests represent an originally brief prologue to the second 
 part of the Parabasis. This, however we interpret it, certainly 
 stands in isolation from the action of the play, 'which it simply 
 interrupts.* 
 
 60. The Second Part of the Parabasis 
 
 It is, at any rate, generally agreed that the second, epirrhematic, 
 part is the core of the Parabasis. It survives in cases where the 
 
 1 The Kommation prefacing the (tetrameter) Anapaests of the Knights Para- 
 basis is in anapaestic dimeters. 
 
 " Poppelreuter {op. cit. 34) regards the Anapaests in this light. Of. also 
 Croiset, Hist, de la lit. grecque, in. 507. It has been pointed out that a frag- 
 ment (306) of Kratinus in anapaestic tetrameters, described as iv ipxS rod 
 dpifiaros, resembles Aristophanes' addresses to the audience in the Anapaests 
 (Starkie, Wasps, p. x). 
 
 " The Anapaests have been compared to the introductory lines spoken by the 
 Phallophori as they entered the orchestra (above, p. 42). There is certainly 
 one curious point of resemblance. The Phallophori insist on t\ie freshness of 
 what they are going to say. A similar claim is a commonplace of the Anapaests 
 in Aristophanes. Even the simile of the virgin muse is echoed in the 
 Eupolideans which take the place of the Anapaests in the Clouds, 537, lis Si 
 aiitppuv iarl (p6<ru (<j5e i) Kw/i(fi5(a) cuiypaaBe, etc. 
 
THE CHORUS IN AGON ANB PARABASIS 125 
 
 Anapaests have dropt away.i Its contents have abeady been 
 described in another context, ^ where it was pointed out that the 
 Ode and Antode contain the element of invocation or induction 
 of a benign influence, while Epirrheme and Antepirrheme are 
 normally ' iambic ' in tone, either abusive or more mildly critical 
 or hortatory .3 The two elements, invocation and invective, are 
 those of the Phallic Song ; but the form is not the same. In the 
 PhalHc Song and kindred popular types, we find the introductory 
 invocation followed by an unUmited series of improvised stanzas, 
 punctuated by a choral refrain. This is totally different from the 
 epirrhematic ' syzygy,' a closed system of balanced antiphonal 
 parts, based, as we have seen, on Antichoria, the division of the 
 double Chorus into two halves. If this form is original — and it 
 is strictly adhered to * — we cannot see in the Parabasis a survival 
 of the Phallic Song, the structure of which is rather preserved in 
 the Exodos. 
 
 61. The Parabasis of the Lysistrata 
 
 Now, we have already seen, earher in this chapter, that Antichoria, 
 ' the soul of epirrhematic composition,' almost certainly points 
 back to a time when the Chorus was not merely divided into two 
 halves, but consisted of two opposed companies with different 
 characters or masks. In one of the extant plays, the Lysistrata, 
 this is actually the case. The Chorus consists of twelve Old Men 
 and twelve Old Women. If we accept the strong arguments, 
 which show that this is the original type, it is clear that in the 
 Lysistrata, if anywhere, we are likely to find an earher form of the 
 
 1 Cf. Sohmid, Zur Oesch. des griech. Ditliyramhus (Tiibingen, 1901), 13 : Nur 
 der sweite (Teil) ist in alien Parabasen, volUlamdig odtr wenigstens {in den 
 Thesmophoriaz.) stiickweise, vorhanden, wdhrend der erste in den FrSschen vSllig 
 fehlt. Daraus wird man folgen dilrfen, dass der zweite Teil der ursprung- 
 lichere ist. 
 
 ^ Above, p. 45. 
 
 3 E.g. Ach. 676 {Epirrheme), ti€ij.ip6/j.eirea TJj T6\ei. Clouds, 576 {Epirrheme), 
 ifiiv ij,eii4>6ne(rBa, 610 {Antep.) Bv/Mlveiv ^^aff/ce (^ (reMvv)- Lys. 648, tj iriXti 
 ■wapalveaai. Thesm. 830, ttAXV &y al yvmixet vfieis iv SUr, ne/i^palixed' &v | rolffw 
 dySpAnv. Frogs, 686 {Epirrheme), rbv lephv x"?^" SUaidv iirrt xp^rrd. ry v6\ei | 
 iv/Mirapaiyelv xal diddiTKetv. 
 
 * Sometimes parts are missing, and once {Lysistrata) there are two Epir- 
 rhematic syzygies; but the structure, though in these instances imperfect or 
 repeated, is always the same. 
 
126 THE OEIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 Parabasis than in the other plays. In point of fact, it is unique 
 in structure and in contents.-^ 
 
 In the first place, the Anapaests are wanting. In this respect 
 the Lysistrata is not singular ; but if we are right in supposing that 
 the form of the Parabasis in this play is more primitive, we gain 
 some support here for our view that the Anapaests were not an 
 important part of the original performance. Their absence in this 
 instance is easily accounted for. The two parts of the Chorus are 
 in fierce antagonism to one another ; consequently they have no 
 common Leader who can be authorised to make a long address to 
 the audience on behalf of them all, or of the poet speaking through 
 them. And such a speech would be out of place, as prefacing the 
 quarrel which follows.^ 
 
 The Parabasis consists of two epirrhematic syzygies of the type 
 already described. The men speak in the first half of each, the 
 women in the second. Each half of the first syzygy is prefaced 
 by a Kommation of two fines, in which the Leaders of the men and 
 women bid their followers lay aside their outer garment.^ It is 
 interesting to compare the passages in other plays where this order 
 is given by the Chorus Leader. In the Acharnians it comes in the 
 Komtnation which prefaces the Anapaests of the Parabasis.*^ But 
 
 1 That this passage is a Parabasis was held \>y AVestphal. Its form is the 
 same as that of the Frogs Parabasis, except that it is double. Other authorities 
 have denied it the name, because there are no Anapaests and therefore (it is 
 argued) no ' advance towards the audience' (irapa^aifeiv irp6s to Biarpov). The 
 objection is met by arguments advanced below. The Anapaestic address from 
 the vinited Chorus to the audience can only exist where the Chorus is united, 
 and where there is an audience (Biarpov) towards which they can advance. In 
 the ritual stage neither condition would be satisfied. The use oi ' Parabasis' 
 as a technical term has no authority earlier than the lexicographers and 
 scholiasts. 
 
 ' The Argument of the play notes that the Chorus is not united till the 
 Second Parabasis, -■ passage described as follows : oi Sk yipovres eis Tadrdi' rais 
 yvvat^lv aTOKaTatrrdpTes eVa xop^^ ^k rys dixoptas dTroreXoCo't. 
 
 ' 614 : Kor, ovKir' (pyov iyKadeiiduv Sans iar' i\ei8€pos, 
 
 dX\' ^iravaSviitfied' Avdpes rovrCfil Tt^ irpdypiaTL. 
 634 : Par. oiK &p' elffiivra ff' of/caS' i) TCKOvaa yvtlxrerai. 
 
 &XKh 8il>iJ.e<r8' S> 0IXai ypies raSl irpuTov xiM"'. 
 That this and the similar passages presently quoted refer to the taking ofif of 
 the masic (as suggested by Christ-Schmid, Gr. Lit. i. p. 384, ' mit abgenommener 
 MasTce') is an interpretation quite unwarranted by the texts. Poppelreuter 
 (de com. att. prim. p. 34) pointed out that Zielinski's view of the meaning of 
 diroSCrai was wrong. 
 
 ■* Ach. 627 ; dXK' dToSvvres tois dvairal<rTOis iTla/iev. 
 
THE CHORUS IN AGON AND PARA BASIS 127 
 
 in the Wasps and the Thesmophoriazusae the order is given earUer, 
 in each case at the point where the Chorus are about to attack the 
 protagonist.! The purpose is manifestly to free the limbs of the 
 Chorus for violent action.^ In the two instances quoted, this action 
 is a fight with the protagonist ; in the Lysistrata it is a sort of battle- 
 dance between the two halves of the Chorus. 
 
 After this prelude, the Men sing their Ode. They declare their 
 suspicions that the women, perhaps instigated by Sparta, are 
 plotting to set up a female ' tyranny,' ^ and deprive them of the 
 dearly loved wages they earn as jurors in the law courts. In the 
 Epirrheme the Leader says it is monstrous that women should set 
 up to give political advice. Men will never submit, but emulate 
 the tyrannicides and wear swords hidden in myrtle-boughs. The 
 Koryphaeus in conclusion offers to smite the Leader of the Old 
 Women on the cheek.* 
 
 In Antode and Antepirrheme the Women reply. After the Komma- 
 tion, bidding them lay aside their upper garments, they enumerate 
 their claims to offer advice to Athens. They have taken part in 
 the Hersephoria at seven years old, danced as bears in saffron robes 
 to Brauronia, and gone through other ceremonies — been baptized, 
 as it were, and confirmed into membership of the state. Their 
 Leader in the Antepirrheme continues in the same strain. Why 
 should women be grudged the privilege of advising a state to which 
 they have contributed their quota in producing men ? The service 
 compares favourably with what the old greybeards have done. She 
 retorts the threat by offering to strike the Koryphaeus on the jaw 
 with her boot.^ 
 
 In the Ode of the second syzygy the Old Men complain that this 
 is insolence. Things will go from bad to worse, unless energetic 
 
 1 Wasps, 408 (between the Parados and the Agon, where the Wasps attack 
 Philocleon) : aXKa ealniria Xa^dfres (^aKbvres, suprascr. in B.) iis rdx^CTa, TaiSia, 
 eelre Kal poare. , . . Whether \a^6vTes or ^aUfres be read, the cloaks of the 
 Chorus, not of the boys (who would not wear them), must be meant. Of. 
 Starkie, ad loc. Thesm. 655 (after the Debate and before the Parabasis. The 
 women are seeking the disguised intruder. The seizure of Euripides' kinsman 
 follows) : XPV I ^v!;oJo-afi4vas eH K&vSpelm tCiv 0' l/iaHav &Todia-as | fiyT-eiK. . . . 
 
 2 Of. Peace, 729 (Kommatimi before Anapaests), where the Chorus hand over 
 their agricultural tools to attendants. 
 
 5 The phrase 'IiTTTiou rvpavvlSos is, of course, obscene. Cf. Wasps, 502. 
 * 635 : TTJs Bedts Ix^pcis irard^as (-fai oodd.) TTJ<rde ypabs t't}V yvdOov. 
 5 g5g ; d Si Xinriyireis tI /tie, 
 
 T<?5e y' a,4ii)KTif irard^oi rif KoBbpvif T-ijv yvdBov. 
 
128 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 measures are taken. Pitching their shirts after their cloaks/ they 
 call upon one another to renew their youthful vigour. The next 
 thing, says the Koryphaeus in the Efirrheme, is that women will 
 take to fighting by sea and on horseback like the Amazons. They 
 ought to be seized by the neck and put in the pillory.^ 
 
 The Women respond with suitable threats in the Atvtode, and 
 imitate the men in casting ofi another garment.^ The Efirrheme 
 keeps up the fighting tone. There will be no end of the men's 
 mischievous decrees, till some one catches them by the leg and 
 breaks their necks.* 
 
 So the Parabasis ends. The feud is kept up till the Second 
 Parabasis (1014), where the two parties are somewhat suddenly 
 reconciled, and resume their cast-ofE garments.^ 
 
 62. The Parabasis a Choral Agon 
 
 It is, I think, abundantly clear that this Parabasis is a choral 
 Agon — something between a battle-dance and a debat between 
 Man and Woman on the question of woman's rights. The epirrhe- 
 matic form is justified and explained by the different characters 
 of the two halves of the Chorus. In the Par abases of the other plays, 
 where the Chorus, though it may have quarrelled earlier,® is uniform 
 in character and at one when the Parabasis opens, this epirrhematic 
 form of the second and principal part has not the same motive and 
 justification. The critical or hortatory Epirrhemes are addressed 
 not by one half to the other, but by the Chorus as a whole to the 
 audience. Why should there be two of them, dehvered by different 
 Leaders ? The Odes again are harmonious invocations of appro- 
 priate deities or muses, which might equally well be sung by all 
 in unison, as they would be in Tragedy. The inference seems 
 clear that the Lysistrata preserves the earlier type, and that the 
 
 ^ 662 : dXXa t7]V i^ojfilS' iKSvdjfieSa. 
 
 ' 680 : dXXi Toiirwc XPI" A'Tao-S;' is reTprjuivov ^ffKov 
 
 iyKaBap/jJuTu \a,p6yTas Tovropi rbv aixiva. 
 
 ' 686 : dXX4 x^iMf 's '»' yvaiKes daTTOV ^Kdvii/isSa. 
 
 * 704 : Koix^ nil vaia-qtrBe tuv \j/ri(j>i.<TiJ,iT(i>v Toiruv, irplv &v 
 
 Tov ffxiXovs ifjias 'Ka^iliv tis iKTpa.x'ri^iffri ipipav. 
 
 ' 1021 : The Leader of the Women offers to help the Koryphaeus on with 
 his shirt. 
 
 « As in the Achamians, where the two Leaders fight in the middle of the 
 Agon. 
 
THE CHORUS IN AGON AND PARABASIS 129 
 
 Parahasis is a choral Agon, following immediately after the indi- 
 vidual Agon, where, as we should expect, the role of the Chorus 
 tends to become a merely judicial function, while the two individual 
 adversaries fight out the main issue. 
 
 Some of the Parabases have something of the character of a d6bat. 
 The Old Men in the Acharnians (676 fi.) contrast the helplessness 
 of Age with the cleverness and shamelessness of Youth. The Young 
 Men in the Knights (565 ff .) praise the warriors of the older generation, 
 but maintain that they are not inferior themselves. The Wasps, 
 again (1071), contrast their ancient valour against the Persians with 
 the idleness of those drones of the present day who sit at home and 
 steal the tribute. The Parahasis of the Birds (752 if.) sets forth 
 the advantages of bird-hfe as against human ways. In the 
 Thesmophoriazusae, the Parahasis contrasts the services rendered 
 to the state by women with those of men.^ 
 
 Our hypothesis, then, is that the Agon and Parahasis have 
 difEerentiated out of one original performance consisting of a ritual 
 conflict between two parties, each with its champion. The two 
 bands would spend themselves in a fight with sticks or stones or 
 in a match of abuse, giving rise to the later hterary forms such as 
 the debat. The two champions. Summer and Winter, or the Old 
 Year and the New,^ would be engaged in a dramatic duel, ending 
 in the death and resurrection of one of them. In the Old Comedy 
 as we know it, this duel has itself become a verbal debate, though 
 retaining traces of its dramatic action. The debate being concluded 
 in the Agon and the parties reconciled, there can usually be no 
 further debate in the Parahasis. Accordingly, this feature, while 
 keeping its canonical form, now meaningless, is turned to other 
 uses. The Chorus, like the Phallophori, no longer abuse one another ; 
 so they criticise the spectators. In the invocatory odes we may 
 perhaps see a survival of the appeals made by each of the two 
 parties to its own champion. The Anapaests may represent the 
 
 iaeU S' -fiiMas. ffKer^dixeea di, Ki.VTLTi.eS,iiev irpbs iKaarov, 
 ,rapafldXXou<ra. r^ r^ 7'"'««*' ''«' ^^"5''*' ■"'^'""'' ^''^''"''' ''!^- , 
 2 Numerical speculations are always very uncertain, but at is temptmg to see 
 in the two half-choruses of twelvein Attic Comedy, the ^^^^^^^^'^l^l'}'' ^'^. 
 Lnd the New Years. Usener suggested (Dr.^U^t Rh. Mus 1903), 354 ff.) that 
 the twenty-four choreutae represented the trietenc penod of the Lenaea, ^ 
 
 I 
 
130 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 original prologue to tlie whole performance, introducing the two 
 parties and their leaders, whose conflict in the Agon-Parahasis 
 opens the action and leads on to the Kdmos of the Exodos. 
 
 63. The Second Parabasis 
 
 The seven earUest plays contain a Second Parabasis. This 
 normally consists simply of an epirrhematic syzygy. In the Clouds ^ 
 it is reduced to one Epirrheme, containing an appeal to the judges 
 to award the prize to the Chorus. Similar appeals are made in the 
 Antepirrheme of the Second Parabasis of the Birds, ^ and the final 
 chorus of the Ecclesiazusae,^ a play which has no Parabasis. In 
 the Knights * the Epirrheme contains personal abuse ; the Antepi- 
 rrheme a curious dialogue between the Athenian warships, attacking 
 the pohticians who would send them on an aggressive expedition. 
 The corresponding passage in the Wasps ^ again consists of satire 
 on individuals. The Birds ® demand the instant execution of the 
 poulterer, and promise all sorts of blessings to the judges if they 
 award them the prize. 
 
 In the Acharnians and the Peace, the Second Parabasis is 
 practically a dibat. The Peace, in Epirrheme and Antepirrheme, 
 contrasts the comforts and delights of farm life with the miseries 
 of the campaigning season, when one is ordered about by a swag- 
 gering colonel, hated of the Gods. So again, in the Acharnians,'' 
 the Chorus praise Dikaiopolis for restoring a sort of golden age 
 when war shall be no more, and declare that they are not too 
 old for the enjoyment of peace. They reject Polemos, and hail 
 ' Reconcilement ' {Diallage). 
 
 Finally there is the Second Parabasis of the Lysistrata, where 
 
 the two halves of the Chorus, hitherto at bitter feud, come to a 
 
 i^econcihation. In the Ode and Antode,^ which follow the spoken 
 
 part, the Men declare that they will not abuse any one, and offer 
 
 1 1115 fif. 2 1101 flf. 
 
 3 1154 ff. There are also appeals for victory in the pnigos of the Anapaests in 
 Parabasis i. of the Knights (544), and in the same part of Parabasis i. of the 
 Peace (760 ffi). All these passages, with their promises of reward if the play 
 suooeeda, and threats of punishment if it fails, recall the popular songs (above 
 mentioned, p. 39) usual in seasonal processions. 
 
 ' 1264 flf. » 1265 ff. 6 1072 flf. 1 97J ff. 
 
 ^ 1040: dXXa vwl (Tirhdo/Mal troi Kal rb Xowfo oiK4n 
 
 oSre dpddu (jiKavpov oiSip oi6' v(p' i/j.ut> ireiffo/iat. 
 
THE CHORUS IN AGON AND PABABASIS 131 
 
 to lend any one money, not to be repaid if peace is concluded. The 
 Women ironically offer food and hospitality of other kinds.i 
 
 It seems possible that, as our argument about the Pa/rabasis ' 
 suggests, this reconciliation is the original motive of the Second 
 Parabasis, providing a bridge between the original combat in the 
 Parabasis and the united procession of the Exodos.^ In the other ^ 
 cases, the Second Parabasis appears to be a mere reduplication oT" 
 the first. When that was modified in the way we supposed, the 
 second would no longer be needed for its original purpose. 
 
 64. JEJpirrhematic and ' Episodic ' composition 
 
 It only remains to point out that our theory provides a satis- 
 factory explanation of the fact that epirrhematic composition 
 prevails normally in the first part of the play, and is generally 
 dropped in the second, except where the Agon is postponed to the 
 end. Zielinski's view that two distinct types of composition, with 
 different origins, are simply juxtaposed is by no means acceptable. 
 It is very difficult to believe that any form of drama could arise 
 by such a process, and the supposition is excluded in this case by 
 the unity of plot. We merely require to see that the early 
 part of the play, the kernel consisting of Agon and Parabasis, is 
 epirrhematic because the Chorus was divided into opposed parties 
 until these two contests were over. They were then reconciled 
 and could act as a united whole, hke the Chorus in Tragedy. Hence, 
 the later choriha are generally sung in unison. But the composition 
 is not ' episodic/ The choriha are, as a rule, inserted, not to divide 
 scene from scene, but merely at any point where some interval, 
 covering an action behind the scenes, has somehow to be filled. 
 Between the chorika there may be many scenes following one 
 another without a break. The analogy with the tragic ' episode,' 
 originally always marked by the entrance of a new character, is 
 misleading. It may be noted, as an important point of difierence"^ 
 between Comedy and Tragedy, that Tragedy has no trace of the 
 choral Agon. The comedies end with the procession of the united) 
 Chorus in the victor's Kdmos. Epirrhematic structure has dis- 
 appeared, and the type of composition illustrated by the Phallic 
 Song becomes appropriate to the Exodos. 
 
 1 Further on (1188 £f.) the same strain is continued in an Ode and Antode. 
 
 2 Of. the Argument of the Lysistrata quoted above, p. 126, note 2. 
 
CHAPTEE VII 
 THE IMPOSTOR 
 
 65. The unwelcome Intruders 
 
 There is one more constant motive in Aristophanes' comedies, 
 still to be accounted for — the unwelcome intruders who so often 
 thrust themselves upon the hero in the second part of the play. 
 These impertinents arrive when the victory of the Agon is already 
 won. The scene of sacrifice, cooking, or feasting has no sooner 
 begun than an oracle-monger, a poet, an informer, presents himself 
 to interrupt the proceedings or to claim a part in the good things. 
 Often there is a whole string of them. As they drop from the blue 
 and have done nothing to earn a share, their generic character is 
 that of Impostor [dXai^wv) — an epithet several times flung at them 
 by the exasperated hero. Their common fate is a well-deserved 
 rebuff. When they have made an exhibition of themselves, they 
 are driven off with abuse, frequently seconded by blows. The 
 Impostors are always pitted against the hero, who draws out their 
 absurdities with mocking irony. 
 
 We will begin, as usual, by passing in review the scenes in which 
 these characters appear. We shall consider only those which fall 
 between Parabasis and Exodos. There are a few other scenes m 
 the comedies framed on the same pattern ;i but the great majority 
 fall in the second half of the play. 
 
 1 Achamians (Prologue), 64 ff. Dikaiopolis plays buffoon to the Envoys [tuv 
 dXa^ovevi/.iTtjiv, 87 ; (ri> iJ.h iXa^iiv d fiiyas, 109) ; the scenes with Euripides 
 (interpolated where the ^^om should begin, 393 ff.) and Lamachus (substituted 
 for the Antepirrheme of the Agon, 572 ff.) ; Euripides' Kinsman and Agathon, 
 Thesmoph. (Prologue), 95 ff., similar to Dikaiopolis and Euripides in the Achar- 
 nians. These scenes are plainly mere episodes interpolated in the normal 
 structure, not fixed incidents. The scenes between Strepsiades and Socrates in 
 the Olouds will be discussed in the next chapter. In all these scenes, except the 
 first in the Achamians, the persons derided are characters with historic names, 
 not, like the bulk of the Impostors, typical representatives of a prof ession— ' a 
 poet,' ' a priest,' etc. 
 132 
 
THE IMPOSTOR 133 
 
 66. The Impostors in the Plays 
 
 After the Pwrahasis in the Achaenians, when Dikaiopolis is 
 holding his private market, the action falls into two parallel scenes, 
 in which the Megarian brings his daughters for sale as pigs, the 
 Boeotian his eels and feathered game. In the first scene an Informer 
 comes to denounce this contraband trading. He is soon expelled 
 by the ' market officials ' prudently provided by Dikaiopohs, with 
 a view to such intrusions, in the shape of stout leathern thongs. 
 In the second scene another fellow of the same trade, this time a 
 real person, Nicarchus, comes poking round, just as Dikaiopohs 
 has suggested that the Boeotian should take in payment for his 
 wares some article of export characteristically Athenian. An 
 Informer will do even better than the famous pottery of Attica or 
 the sardines of Phalerum. Nicarchus is tied up and packed in 
 straw, as if he were a jar, and the miserable bundle is tossed from 
 hand to hand before it is carried ofi by the purchaser. Then, 
 Lamachus' servant offers money from his master for a share of 
 Dikaiopohs' game and eels. He is refused, and the hero carries 
 ofi his merchandise into the house. The Second Parabasis follows. 
 
 As soon as it is over, the Herald proclaims the Choes, and Dikaio- 
 pohs comes bustUng out to begin Ms cooking on the stage. Im- 
 mediately a poor Farmer, who has lost in the war the yoke of oxen 
 that were his sole support, begs in vain for a drop of the Hbation- 
 wine that symbolises the peace concluded by Dikaiopolis for himself 
 alone. The Groomsman from a marriage just celebrated is better 
 received, because he brings an offering of some meat from the 
 wedding-feast ; but his request would be refused, were it not for 
 a message from the bride, dehvered in a whisper by the Bridesmaid 
 who accompanies him. 
 
 In the Clouds the two money-lenders, Pasias and Amynias, inter- 
 rupt the feast at which Strepsiades celebrates with his son their 
 short-Uved alhance for the discomfiture of all creditors. Though 
 these two claimants have every right to be paid,i they are treated 
 as ' impostors,' and confounded by means of the sophisms learnt 
 
 I Strepsiades' debts to them are mentioned in the Prologue, 21 and 31. This 
 is the only case where the appearance of ' Impostors ' is prepared for by earlier 
 mention in the play, unless we count Peace, 447. 
 
134 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 from Socrates, backed up in the second instance by the application 
 of a horse-goad, borrowed by the old man from his sporting son. 
 
 In the Wasps the progress of Philocleon in his Kdmos from the 
 dinner-party to the renewed potations at home is interrupted by 
 two claimants for justice. A Bakerwoman complains that the 
 drunken old man has ' ruined her ' by striking her with his torch 
 and spilhng her loaves.^ Philocleon is seeking to distract her mind 
 with a fable from Aesop and other anecdotes none too coherent, 
 when another person, attended by a summoner, appears to tell 
 him of his action of battery. The stream of anecdote is diverted 
 upon this newcomer ; but, as matters begin to look serious, 
 Bdelycleon takes the law into his own hands and carries ofE the 
 aged reprobate bodily into the house, the door banging upon the 
 middle of the story of what happened to Aesop when he went to 
 Delphi. 
 
 In the Peace Trygaeus is cooking after the sacrifice, when a laurel- 
 crowned personage is seen approaching. ' What an impostor he 
 looks ! ' says the slave, taking him for a diviner. ^ It turns out to 
 be Hierocles, the oracle-monger, who claims to share in the meal 
 cooked under his nose. A last and desperate attempt to snatch 
 some of the meat, while his servant simultaneously tries to steal 
 a cushion, leads to both being driven ofi under a shower of blows. 
 
 The next incident is the marriage-feast. This is interrupted by 
 two contrasted pairs of craftsmen. The pruninghook-maker and 
 the cooper, grateful for the restoration of peace, bring wedding 
 gifts and are sent to join the feast inside. The maker of helmet- 
 crests laments that he and his friend, the spear-maker, are ruined ; 
 but this pair and a number of other weapon-manufacturers ^ are 
 derided and dismissed with contumely. 
 
 ^ This incident appears to have been used again in the comedy entitled Old 
 Age, which seems to have turned principally on the motive of the Old Men 
 renewing their youth and behaving outrageously, like Philocleon : Geras, 
 frag. 178, Dind. Athen. iii. 109 F, KpifiavlTriy' toijtov ixyq/xoveiei A. iv Tqpq.- ttoiei 
 3i \^yov<7av aprbiroiKiv diripirafj^^Viav aijr^s rujp dprujif virb Ttov rd y^pm a-Ko^aXbvToiv' 
 — tovtX tI Jiv rh TrpcLy/xa ; — 8ep/i.o6s, S) riKvov. 
 — aXK' fi irapatfipoveh ; — Kpi^avLras, Si riKvov. 
 
 ^ 1045 : us iXa^iiv (palverai. Trygaeus addresses him, Si aXa^Siv (1069), and 
 says, TivBrjs el (tA Kal iKa^Siv avZ/p. | wa? airbv ^tt^xw ''<? {"^XVi '■o" oKa^dva (1120). 
 
 ' How many weapon-makers appear in this scene is disputed ; but the point 
 is of 1)0 importance to us. 
 
THE IMPOSTOR 135 
 
 The Birds has the longest list of Impostors. The Sacrifice,^ 
 immediately after the Parabasis, attracts a priest, who is no sooner 
 got rid of than a poet comes with an ode prepared ' long since ' 
 for the city that has only just been founded. Being a poet, he is 
 less harshly treated than usual ; and, being a frigid poet, he receives 
 a shirt and jerkin, borrowed from a slave. The next comer, the 
 inevitable oracle-monger, is discomfited by an oracle, extemporised 
 by Pisthetairos, which declares in Pythian hexameters that, if an 
 ' impostor ' comes unbidden, he is to be beaten.^ This divine 
 command is reUgiously carried out. The mathematician Meton 
 next appears, armed with an enormous pair of compasses and the 
 scheme of rational town-planning, based on a central market-place 
 with radiating avenues, which is now adopted by the designers of 
 garden cities. But he is before his time, and jdelds to a forcible 
 request to measure himself into the middle of next week.^ An 
 Inspector, who announces himself as duly appointed by lot to an 
 office in Cloudcuckootown, is beaten ; and so is a Hawker of Acts 
 of ParHament, who enters reading aloud extracts from a brand-new 
 constitution for the city. This last pair of intruders are too much 
 for Pisthetairos' patience. He goes inside to finish his sacrifice 
 in peace. 
 
 But the plague breaks out again later. A young man attracted 
 by the morality of bird-life, which, as he understands, allows the 
 young to peck and strangle their parents, appUes for citizenship. 
 Pisthetairos points to a statute which enjoins that the young storks 
 shall nourish their father, and the young man is about to retire 
 disappointed, when Pisthetairos offers to arm him with the crest 
 and spurs of a cock, and sends him ofi to fight in the Thracian war. 
 Kinesias, the dithyrambic poet, next appHes for nightingale's wings 
 on which to soar in pursuit of inspiration. An Informer seeks 
 wings to carry him on his less creditable mission among the islands 
 of the Athenian empire. Pisthetairos lends wings to his flight in 
 another sort. 
 
 In the later plays the traces of this Impostor motive are faint, 
 
 1 983 : airhp eTrjjv S.kK7IT0S li)V di/dponros aKa^iiv, ktK. 
 
 3 Meton comes under the head of ' all these impostors ' : cToS^ty aTavras rois 
 6.\a^6ms SoxeT, 1016. The Inspector is announced as a ^apdapiTraWosJlOSl), 
 presumably as swaggeringly dressed. 
 
136 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 as the plot now proceeds on more complicated lines. The Plxjtus 
 has an Impostor of the old type — the Informer who laments that 
 his occupation is gone, now that wealth goes to just men only. 
 He is evidently ' dying of an ox-hunger,' ^ and he scents the meat 
 roasting for the feast inside. He is stripped of his coat and shoes, 
 made to put on the old cloak which the Just Man has brought 
 as a votive oSering to the God of his new fortunes, while the same 
 person's old shoes are clapt to his forehead, Uke the votive offerings 
 hung on oHve-trees by persons saved from shipwreck. Thus 
 decorated, he is told to run to the baths and get what warmth he 
 can there, as the Just Man formerly had been driven to do. This 
 reversal of the positions of the two men recalls the end of the 
 Knights, where the Paphlagonian, degraded to his rival's former 
 trade, is similarly bidden to go and drink the waste water of the 
 baths.^ Finally, at the end of the Plutus, the two starving appU- 
 cants, Hermes and the Priest of Zeus, are allowed to gain a footing 
 in the new divine establishment. The Just Man and the amorous 
 Old Woman are treated by Karion and Chremylus with the ironical 
 derision regularly accorded to Impostors ; and they may be added 
 to the Kst. 
 
 , r- 
 
 From this review it is clear that the Impostor's standing role is 
 
 to disturb the scenes of sacrifice, cooking, or feasting, between 
 
 Parahasis and Exodos. This motive is so constant in the earlier 
 
 plays that we have as good reason to look for a ritual origin as 
 
 \ in the case of any other fixed feature of the plot. 
 
 Before turning to this problem, we must consider the role of the 
 hero in these scenes. In all the earlier plays it is he who is assailed 
 by the Impostors, and, with few exceptions, he deals with them in 
 a uniform manner, with a mixture of ' Irony ' and ' Buffoonery ' 
 which must now be analysed. 
 
 67. The Eiron and the Alazon 
 
 Aristotle seems to have classified the characters in Comedy under 
 three heads : the Buffoon {bomolochos), the Ironical type {eiron), 
 
 ' 873 : SijXou Sti /3avXi/xi(i. See above, p. 54, note 2. 
 = UOl. See below, p. 151. 
 
THE EMPOSTOB 137 
 
 and the Impostor {alazony The Impostor we already know 
 we shall return to him presently. The Buffoon and the eiron are 
 more closely alhed in Aristotle's view than a modern reader might 
 expect. They stand together in opposition to the Impostor in all 
 his forms. It will be remembered that in the Ethics 2 the Ironical 
 man and the Impostor or swaggerer confront one another in the 
 two vicious extremes which flank the virtuous mean of Truthfulness. 
 While the Impostor claims to possess higher quaUties than he has," 
 the Ironical man is given to making himself out worse than he is. 
 This is a generahsed description, meant to cover all types of self" 
 depreciation, many forms of which are not comic. In Comedy the 
 special kind of Irony practised by the Impostor's opponent is feigned 
 stupidity. The word eiron itself in the fifth century appears to' ' 
 mean ' cunning ' or (more exactly) ' sly.' ^ Especially it meant 
 the man who masks his batteries of deceit behind a show of ordinary 
 good nature ; * or indulges a secret pride and conceit of wisdom, 
 while he affects ignorance and self-depreciation, but lets you see 
 all the while that he could enKghten you if he chose, and so makes 
 a mock of you.^ It was for putting on these airs that Socrates was . 
 
 ^ The evidence ia the Tractatus CoisUniamts, 6 (Kaibel, O. G. F. i. 52; see 
 above, p. 35, note 1) : ■^di] Ku/iifdias rd re /SwynoXix" ^ai toi dpoiviKi. naX ri. tCiv 
 i,\a^6vuy. Cf. At. Mth. Nic. 1108a 21, 17 Si wpoa-iroliia-is ii fxh iiri ri fietj^on 
 &\al^oi/ela Kai 6 ^x"" "■iirijv dXafti)/, ri Si iirl rb IXarTov elpuvda Kal dpoiv. irepl Si 
 rh i]Si rb fiiv iv ttmSi^ 6 fiiv /iiaoi eirpdireXos Kal 17 Sidffeais eirpaweXia, i) Si iirep^oXij 
 PufioXoxia Kal b ^av j3w/io\6x"S, 6 Si iWeliraii aypoMs ris ktX. See also Rhetoric, 
 iii. 18, quoted below, p. 138, note 3. 
 
 ^ N^ic. £/th. 1127a 21, SokH Stj 6 p^if dXa^iov TrpotriroiTjTiKbs rwv ivSb^ujv elvai Kal 
 p.^ virapxbvTiOV Kal pt^ei^bvtujv ^ vTrdpx^t, b Si e'lpojv dydiraXiv dpvHffdai to, virdpxovra ij 
 iXoTTOi woietv, 6 Se p,i<Tos aiOiKaffrbs Tts S>v AXrjBevTiKbs, ktX. 
 
 ^ See on this question 0. Ribbeck, Ueber den Begriffdes dpoiv, Ehein. Mus. 
 xxxi. (1876), 381 ff. The word occurs first in Comedy. Clouds, 449, p.dcBX'ns 
 dpav yXoibs dXa^iSiv in a list of words expressing every sort of rhetorical cunning 
 and trickery ; Wasps, 174, ol'av ■n-pbtl>ai!iv KadTJKet/, us elpwviKus, ' cunningly,' 
 ' slily .' ; Philemon, 89, 6, ofe Ict' aXdir?)^ ri fiiv dpav r-ff ^iirei 17 S' aiBiKaaros. 
 Heaych., elpwveia' dirdTri yXeiri. Photius, KaTeipoiveierai- SoXuviTai. Ribbeck, 
 Alazon, 5, conjectures that Kratinus first introduced the term dXafiiy to the 
 stage, citing Bekk. Anec. Or., 374, 19, AXa^^iiv iirep^(pavos, y/zeva-T^s Kal Kop.irajT'^s. 
 oStu Kparlvos (fr. 380 K.). 'AXa^ovia occurs in Aristoxenus of Selinus 
 (Hephaest. 49, 6), but Kaibel condemns the verse as spurious {G. O. P., i. 87). 
 
 '' Plato, Laws, 908 D : Soldiiav p-iv naBdirep drepos, ei^vijs Si iiriKaXoipievos, SbXov 
 Kal ifiSpas irK^prqi. 
 
 ^ Plato, Krat., 384 A : ip,od ipariavTos Kal wpoSup.ovp.irov elSivai Sti Tori \4yei, 
 oUre i,iro<rait>ei oiSiv elpuveverai re Trpbs pie, irpom-oioip.evbs rt airbi iv iavT(fi Siavoi!<r$ai. 
 lis elSiis wepl airoO. Hence x'^^'^V is given as a gloss on dpwvela by Hesych. and 
 Suidas. 
 
138 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 accused of ' irony ' by his enemies.^ The eiron who victimises the 
 Impostors masks his cleverness under a show of clownish dulness. 
 He is a fox in the sheep's clothing of a buffoon. His attitude is 
 precisely expressed by Demos in a passage of cynical, and even 
 sinister, self-revelation to the Knights, at a moment when the stage 
 is clear of the two impostors who are competing for his favour. In 
 the previous scene Demos has feigned simpUcity almost to the 
 point of idiocy, and when the two rogues are gone, the Chorus 
 reproach him for being so easily deceived by flattery ; his wits 
 must be wool-gathering. Demos replies that his wits are safer than 
 those sheltered by the young Knights' curled locks. He is letting 
 the rascals feed fat before he gobbles them up. ' I play the simpleton 
 
 \ like this on purpose.' ^ Thus, in the concrete character-type as it 
 exists in the Old Comedy, ' buffoonery ' {^m/ioXo'x^La) is only the 
 outer wear of ' irony ' ; and the Ironical BufEoon is in exact anti- 
 thesis to the Impostor, who covers inward cowardice and folly 
 under a vain pretence of bravery and wisdom. Hence, we find 
 Aristotle, when he is thinking of Comedy, speaking as if there were 
 only a minor shade of diSerence between Irony and Buffoonery. 
 In the Rhetoric^ he says that the one is more consistent with the 
 character and position of a gentleman than the other, since the 
 ironical jester makes fun for his own private satisfaction, whereas 
 the buffoon does it to amuse others.* In the Old Comedy, the 
 Impostor's opponent, though it must be owned that he is not, in 
 most senses of the word, a very gentlemanly person, comes rather 
 under the head of the eiron. All the fun he makes is for his own 
 amusement. But it is often fun of the scurrilous sort that, in a 
 dependent character, would be called ' buffoonery.' So he combines 
 both types, and we have, over against the Impostor, one character 
 
 - onl)'^ — the Ironical Buffoon. 
 
 1 Thrasymaohus in Plato, Sep. , 337 A ; and (playfully) Alcibiades, Symp. 
 216 D, dpavevbixevot Si Kal Tal^av iravTo. Thv ^iov irpis to>)s av6piinvovs SiarcXei. 
 
 ^ 1123 : 4yCi 5' eKi^)v ravr' ^Xt^tdfw. 
 
 ' lii. 18, 1419 b 8 : Sffridi i; dpuvda ^u/xoXox'as (\eveepturrepov 6 /liv yci,p oiVoC 
 ^pe/ca TTOtei rb ye'KoioVj 6 5^ ^ojfjio\6xos ir^pov. 
 
 ^ Buffoonery here, no doubt, means specially the scurrilities of the parasites, 
 those unhappy creatures who earned a place at the tables of the rich by allow- 
 ing themselves to be a butt for every sort of joke and indignity. For the con- 
 nection of jSw/ioXox'a with the /ciXa| or vapaairot see Ribbeck, Kolax, 15. Mr. 
 Cook points out to me that Battus and Korydon in Theocritus' pastoral mime 
 {Idyl iv.) are respectively good examples of the eiron and the aijroilcos. The 
 scene belongs to the Mime tradition. 
 
THE IMPOSTOB 139 
 
 68. The Minor Buffoon 
 
 If the hero, as a person of independent position, is more eiron 
 than BufEoon, or at least both at once, buffoonery pure and simple 
 IS the role of a subordinate character, in some way attached to the 
 hero as friend or attendant. A word must be said here about this 
 minor figure.^ 
 
 In the Knights he is a slave, Demosthenes, who resigns the r61e 
 to his master. Demos, as soon as the latter appears. Xanthias 
 has a similar function in the Wasfs. Euelpides, in the Birds, is 
 a friend of the hero, and acts bufioon in the first part of the play, 
 where Pisthetairos has a serious cause to plead. He is then dis- 
 missed, and Pisthetairos deals with the Impostors in the second 
 part. Lysistrata again is a serious character, and remains so 
 throughout the play. Her supporter, Kalonike, plays the clown. 
 In the Frogs we again find a slave, Xanthias, who disappears and 
 gives way to his master, Dionysus, in the second part. Praxagora 
 in the Boclesiazusae holds the same position as Lysistrata — the 
 serious leader of an enterprise, with supporters who play the fool 
 in the Assembly scene. But the principal buffoon is her husband, 
 Blepyrus, throughout the play. In the second part the Neighbour 
 is subtly ironical in his scene with the Miser. The Plutus again 
 has Karion, who is on the way to become the cunning slave who 
 controls the plot of later Comedy. In the remaining plays, the 
 hero himself acts the Buffoon whenever occasion arises, shpping 
 on the mask as soon as any sort of Impostor presents himself to 
 invite derision. Dikaiopolis, Strepsiades, Philooleon,^ Trygaeus, 
 Euripides' Kinsman in the Thesmophoriazusae — all these old men 
 are ready to assume the role of affected simphcity, to tell scurrilous 
 anecdotes, to interject obscene comments and humorous asides. 
 
 In view of these facts, I incline to think that the subordinate 
 buffoon who attends the more serious heroes has, so to say, no 
 independent existence. He is a mere delegate on whom this side 
 of the hero's role is devolved in situations where the hero himself 
 has to keep up a less farcical character. Hence his services are J 
 
 ' W. Siiss {De personarum, etc., pt. iv., and Zur Kompos. d. altattischen 
 Komodie, Rh. Mus. 1908) has studied this figure in an interesting way ; but his 
 general conclusions differ radically from those maintained in this book. 
 
 ^ The Wasps has also the slave-buffoon Xanthias, but his buffoonery is con- 
 fined to the prologue. 
 
140 THE OEIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 generally needed only till the Agon is over, and the hero, released 
 from the arduous part of his action, can play the fool to his own 
 and every one's content. This deputy clown is marked off as a 
 distinct type only in that he is always in a subordinate position, 
 never master of the situation as the Eiron is. Hence he is the 
 Bufioon, pure and simple, as defined by Aristotle — the ungentlemanly 
 person who makes fun for the amusement of others. We may 
 dismiss him here, and confine ourselves to the two principals : 
 the hero as Ironical Buffoon, and his antithesis, the Impostor. 
 
 69. Who is the Impostor ? 
 
 In studying the Impostors and their constant role, we must keep 
 steadily in view two essential points. 
 
 The first is their common characteristic. They are in general 
 impudent and absurd pretenders, and that in two ways. In the 
 first place, they put up a claim to share in advantages and delights 
 which they have done nothing to deserve. In the writings of 
 the philosophers 'Alazon' is almost synonymous with 'liar.'' The 
 two words are constantly coupled in Plato ; ^ and in Aristotle the 
 vice of imposture or swaggering occupies one extreme in opposition 
 [,to the mean of ' truthfulness.' Secondly, the Impostors are 
 distinguished among themselves in a bewildering variety of pro- 
 fessional types, as priest, oracle-monger, petty official, informer, 
 and so on without hmit. Under one or another of these characters, 
 each boasts of his special merits, so that we have a whole gallery 
 of quacks and humbugs standing for various professional classes 
 in society. It is this secondary peculiarity that has attracted the 
 attention of students, to the neglect of another, which, in the hght 
 of our whole argument, will be seen to be at least of equal importance. 
 
 This other essential of the Impostor is that, in all the scenes 
 we lately reviewed, he stands in a fixed relation to the regular 
 course of the action. He is essentially the unwelcome intruder 
 who interrupts sacrifice, cooking, or feast, and claims an undeserved 
 share in the fruits of victory. When we put aside the superficial 
 
 • 1 Cf. Ribbeck, Alazon, who cites (p. 4) Eep. 490 a, 560b, y//evdeis S^ koE 
 dXof6i'es ; Lysis, 218 D, ^o/SoC/iai n^i &<nrep avOpdnrois dXafio-i \6701s ncrl toioAtois 
 eKTerux^fa/iej' ; Gorg. 525 A, viri \(/ev&ovs koX aXa^ovdas ; Hipp. Min. 369, dXtt^i' 
 as synonym of TroXiJTpoTros and \pev5ris. Bekk., Anec. Gr. p. 374, 20, nXdToii' Si 
 dXafiffti/ ifrl ToB ^j/cvaTois. 
 
THE IMPOSTOR 141 
 
 variety of his outward guise, this is the single part he takes in the 
 underlying action; and the constancy of its recurrence suggests 
 that it is integral to the original scheme. No explanation of 
 him can be satisfactory which, does not account for both these 
 characteristics. 
 
 It is because the current view explains only the variety, not 
 the constant role of the Impostor, that it seems insufficient. It 
 is based partly upon an analogy with modern puppet-plays, which 
 we shall presently see to be misleading, partly on certain statements 
 of ancient grammarians, which have been thought to refer to these 
 scenes as ' episodic,' and so not integral to the action of the play. 
 These two grounds must first be examined, before we go on to 
 our own explanation. 
 
 70. The Impostor scenes as ' Episodes ' 
 
 It has been rightly pointed out that, in the usage of ancient 
 scholarship, the term ' episode,' as applied to a scene in Comedy, 
 had a different sense from its more famihar use to denote the ' acts ' 
 in a Tragedy. We find ' episode ' defined as ' properly a scene 
 inserted in a comedy outside the argument of the play for the sake 
 of causing laughter.' ^ On the strength of this definition, and of 
 a somewhat obscure statement in which Tzetzes ^ speaks of the 
 earliest Attic comedians as bringing on their characters ' with no 
 sort of order' (draKTw?), Poppeheuter^ treated the later scenes of 
 an Aristophanic comedy as mere interludes, farcical scenes inter- 
 spersed between the sections of an old choral dance-poem, the 
 Parahasis, Second Parabasis, Stasima, and Exodos. 
 
 This view was, no doubt, also partly suggested by the traditional 
 account of the growth of Tragedy from a choral lyric. Until very 
 lately historians of hterature were content to describe this develop- 
 ment in some such terms as these : ' Gradually the custom arose ' 
 (a phrase consecrated to the concealment of ignorance) ' of a single 
 
 1 See Poppelreuter, who cites Et. Mag., p. 356, iireurSSion Kvplas ftev rh iv 
 KUfiieSltf iin^epdnevop Ty Spi/iarc yi\uros x^P'" ^S'^ ^?s vTroBiirem, and a similar 
 gloss in Suldas, s.v. He does not notice that Aristotle's use of the word 
 iireLffoSiJiSris comes near to implying this sense. 
 
 2 Kaibel, C. G. F., i. p. 18 : rai yap ol h t§ 'AttikS TrpioTOV a-vo-TrijdiJ.evotTb 
 iiri.T'^devp.a T?s ' Ku^t:fi^las—^(ray d^ ol vipl SowapWa— t4 irp6<ru7ra iriKTUs ehfiyov 
 KoX yiXwi p fiSvos T» KaTMKtvaibiievov. On this see below, p. 216. 
 
 3 De Com. Att. Prim., p. 41. 
 
142 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 member of the Chorus delivering a speech in the intervals of the 
 song and dance, to give the performers a rest. Aeschylus added 
 a second actor, thus making dialogue possible/ . . . and so on. 
 We have but just come to see that this is not a conceivable process 
 by which the great tragic drama we know, with its rigid conven- 
 tional forms, could possibly have come to exist. One object of 
 this book is to show that just the same impossibilities confront the 
 corresponding theory for Comedy. The Alazon scenes are not 
 disconnected burlesque episodes. The Impostors, as we have 
 insisted, stand in one definite relation to the main action. So far 
 as action goes, each is the merest reduphcation of the one before. 
 Why should burlesque episodes be framed on this monotonous 
 pattern ? What makes these scenes ' episodic,' in the only sense 
 in which they really are so, is just this reduphcation. The course 
 of the action is interrupted again and again in a series of indefinite 
 length, which might be cut down to one scene, or cut out altogether, 
 without injuring what the grammarians call ' the argument of the 
 play.' The effect is repeated for the best possible reason : because 
 it is funny — ' for the sake of causing laughter.' The scenes are 
 ' episodes ' in the sense of excrescences ; but, if we call them so, 
 we must not be misled into speaking as if the latter half of an 
 Aristophanic play had no plot — no main action on which these 
 excrescences can grow. 
 
 71. The Analogy with the Kasperlespiel 
 
 The second foundation of the current theory is an analogy which 
 may turn out not to bear examination. 
 
 Dr. J. Poppelreuter, taking a walk one day ' in vico Brandobur- 
 gensi,' paused to watch a puppet-show known and beloved in 
 Germany under the name of Kasperlespiel. The drama opened 
 with a short prologue, in which Kasperle himself explained who he 
 was, his circumstances, the scene of action, and how the one thing 
 he wanted was rest and quiet. But no sooner is his wish expressed 
 than his repose is disturbed by a string of troublesome visitors, a 
 , tax-collector, a Polish Jew hawker, and other popular types, who 
 give him not a moment's peace. He amuses himself awhile at 
 the expense of each in turn, with side references, much appreciated 
 by the street audience, to local affairs, and then drives each from his 
 
THE IMPOSTOR 
 
 143 
 
 presence with derision and a shower of blows. As Dr. Poppekeuter 
 looked on, the vision of the Impostor scenes in Aristophanes sprang 
 into his mind, and this conjunction gave birth to the hypothesis 
 that these scenes must be rehcs of popular dramas of the same 
 type m Greece— an hypothesis which he proceeded to develop 
 with much learning and ingenuity in his well-known tract, 
 De Comoediae Atticae primordiis particulae duae, pubhshed at Berlin 
 in 1893. 
 
 H. Eeich, who adopts Poppeheuter's view, gives a similar 
 description of Kasperle's performances, seen by him as a child at 
 Magdeburg.i Kasperle had no sooner appeared and given a short 
 account of himself, than a series of popular types presented them- 
 selves, and ' one short scene followed another, without any story 
 running through to connect them.' 2 A soldier, a Jew, a pohceman 
 successively came, then Kasperle's shrewish wife, and finally the 
 Devil and Death. Each and all were driven ofi by Kasperle's 
 tongue, reinforced by his truncheon. But, last of all, came the 
 wicked Mother-in-law, who proved too much for the hero and put 
 him to flight. 
 
 The Mother-in-law may certainly be cut out as a modern addition. 
 The drama then culminates in the triumph of Kasperle over the 
 Devil and Death. About this chmax there can be no mistake ; it 
 shows that Kasperle is simply the double of a hero whom EngHsh 
 scholars no less tenderly remember. Punch. The presence of the 
 shrewish wife confirms the identification. Now, however dis- 
 connected the scenes of the German puppet-play may have seemed 
 to the eyes of Poppelreuter and Keich, the English drama of Punch 
 and Judy has unmistakable traces of a regular plot, though the 
 traditional incidents have certainly suffered a good deal of disloca- 
 tion, and all manner of new episodes have been, and no doubt 
 still are, interpolated by individual puppet-players. That being 
 so, this drama, in spite of certain resemblances to the Impostor 
 scenes, does not furnish a type consisting solely of 'disconnected 
 burlesque episodes.' As the plot, moreover, is very curious, and the 
 type of drama is, in other ways, instructive, we shall describe it in 
 detail. 
 
 1 Ber Mimus, i. 689. See also W. Siiss, De Personarum, etc. , p. 64. 
 
 2 ' Mne hurze Scene reiht sich an die andere, ohne dass sie durch eine zu Grunde 
 Uegende Fabelmit einander verkniipft wdren.' 
 
144 THE ORIGm OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 72. Punch and Judy 
 
 Punch came to England at least as early as the seventeenth 
 century.^ His greatest days were in the reign of Queen Anne, 
 when he enjoyed such popularity that his attractions thinned the 
 congregations of St. Paul's Church in Covent Garden, and even 
 threatened the receipts of the neighbouring Opera-house.^ Later 
 in the eighteenth century we hear of more serious developments of 
 this puppet-show. It took to representing regular comedies. The 
 master of the puppet-show encountered by Tom Jones and Mr. 
 Partridge on their travels ^ performed " with great regularity 
 and decency the fine and serious part of the Provoked Husband ; 
 and it was indeed a very grave and solemn entertainment, without 
 any low wit, or humour, or jests ; or, to do it no more than justice, 
 without anything which could provoke a laugh.' The master's 
 speech to Jones deserves to be quoted, both for its charm and for 
 its curious likeness to certain passages in which Aristophanes 
 boasts of his own improvements upon the ' vulgar Comedy ' of his 
 predecessors.* 
 
 ' He said, " The present age was not improved in anything so much 
 as in their puppet-shows ; which, by throwing out Punch and his 
 wife Joan, and such idle trumpery, were at last brought to be a 
 rational entertainment. I remember," said he, " when I first took 
 to the business, there was a great deal of low stuff that did very 
 well to make folks laugh ; but was never calculated to improve 
 the morals of young people, which certainly ought to be principally 
 aimed at in every puppet-show : for why may not good and instruc- 
 tive lessons be conveyed in this way, as well as any other ? My 
 figures are as big as the fife, and they represent the life in every 
 particular ; and I question not but people rise from my little drama 
 as much improved as they do from the great." 
 
 ' " I would by no means degrade the ingenuity of your profession," 
 answered Jones, " but I should have been glad to have seen my old 
 
 ' According to E. K. Chambers (Mediaeval Stage, ii. 160) the earliest English 
 notice of Punch in England is in the overseers' books of St. Martin'a-in-the- 
 Fields for 1666 and 1667. Puppet-plays were, of course, well known in the 
 sixteenth century, and are frequently mentioned, under the name of ' motions,' 
 by Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, and other Elizabethans. 
 
 2 Spectator, No. 14; Tatler, No. 115. 
 
 s Fielding, The History of Tom /ones, Bk. xii. chap. v. 
 
 * See below, p. 177. 
 
THE IMPOSTOR 145 
 
 acquaintance master Punch for all that ; and so far from improv- 
 ing, I think, by leaving out him and his merry wife Joan, you have 
 spoiled your puppet-show." ' 
 
 These life-size marionettes do not seem to have had a long 
 career. Punch and his merry but shrewish wife resumed their 
 place, and have held their little stage to the present day. A text 
 of the play was taken down by Mr. Payne Collier ^ in 1828, mostly 
 from the performance as given by ' an old Itahan wayfaring 
 puppet-showman of the name of Piccini,' who had ' perambulated 
 town and county for the last forty or fifty years.' Piccini's version 
 is interpolated with songs and airs from recent operas, but the 
 main outhnes of his plot are traditional, and are guaranteed by a 
 ballad called Punch's Pranks, dating from about 1790, and a sonnet 
 of Lord Byron's. 
 
 The reader who has forgotten his Punch may be glad of a summary 
 of the action, in order that he may judge for himself whether it 
 really does contain traces of an old broken-down plot, or can pro- 
 perly be described as a series of disconnected burlesque scenes. 
 
 Act I. Punch deUvers the prologue. The dog Toby appears and 
 bites his nose. Punch complains to Toby's master, Scaramouch, 
 whose head he knocks clean off his shoulders. He then calls Judy 
 to bring the baby, which, when its mother has gone, he throws out 
 of window. Upon her remonstrating with a stick, he kills her too, 
 and goes ofE with Pretty Polly (a mute person, supposed to be the 
 daughter of the gentleman who quarrels with Punch for his per- 
 formances on a sheep-bell, presently to be mentioned). 
 
 Act II. Punch appears with his horse. Hector, intending to ride 
 and see Pretty Polly. [Here, in the Ballad, follow his travels in 
 foreign lands, where only three females are found to resist him.^] 
 Hector, however, throws him, and Punch, declaring that he is a 
 dead man, calls the Doctor. While this person is looking for his 
 injuries. Punch kicks him in the eye and leaps up. The Doctor 
 applies a dose of the stick, but is made to take his own physic and 
 
 1 Punch and My, fifth edition, London, 1870, p. 62 The scenes are 
 admirably illustrated in twenty-four coloured drawings by George Crmkshank, 
 made from the actual performance recorded. A copy of one of them is repro- 
 duced on the title-page of this book. , c, • ,r> E- 
 
 2 The three chaste females are borrowed from Spenser's Sctuire of Dames, Faery 
 
 I, iii. 7. 
 
 K 
 
146 THE OEIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 killed. Punch then fetches a sheep-bell and rings it violently, 
 while he sings and dances. A gentleman's servant comes to com- 
 plain of the noise. He too is slain. 
 
 Act III. A bUnd beggar, who appears to be dressed as a friar, 
 asks for alms and is beaten off.^ The Constable comes with a 
 warrant to arrest Punch for kilhng Scaramouch. Punch knocks 
 him down, and also his officer. The executioner, Jack Ketch, 
 wearing a tall fur cap like a busby, with the help of the other two 
 minions of the law, succeeds in marching Punch off to prison. A 
 curtain then rises at the back, showing the hero rubbing his nose 
 against the bars. A gibbet and a coffin are brought. Punch 
 tricks Jack Ketch into hanging himself, and the executioner is put 
 in the coffin and carried out. 
 
 Finally, the Devil appears, a terrible figure with horns and long 
 claws and a tail. He appears to be dressed entirely in a black skin 
 and looks very hke a goat. A terrific combat rages for a long time, 
 ending in the defeat of the Devil. Punch v^hirls him round in the 
 air on his stick, shouting ' Huzza ! Huzza ! ike Devil 's dead / ' 
 
 This conclusion perhaps justifies the master of the puppet-show's 
 view that the play was ' not calculated to improve the morals of 
 young people.' It is certainly traditional. Dr. Johnson in the last 
 note on Richard III. in his edition of Shakespeare (1765) records 
 that he has seen ' the devil very lustily belaboured by Punch.' 
 Payne ColUer ^ mentions a marionette-player who had religious 
 scruples about making Punch kill the Devil ; but his audience were 
 so attached to the canonical ending that they hooted and mishandled 
 him. The defeat of the Devil is in striking contrast to the regular 
 termination of the Morahties, in which the Old Vice (in whom some 
 have seen a forerunner of Punch) is, hke Judas and Dr. Faustus, 
 carried off by the Devil to Hell. Magnin^ suggests that the 
 reversal dates from the incident in Ben Jonson's The Devil is an 
 Ass,^ where Iniquity carries off Satan ; but this conjecture may not 
 be meant, and certainly ought not to be taken, seriously. 
 
 The early history of Punch's drama is, unfortunately, lost. But, 
 
 ' This personage is the only unwelcome intruder who corresponds to the 
 Impostor of the comedies, appearing for no reason, and making a claim which the 
 hero treats as impudent. 2 Punch and Judy, 66. 
 
 * HUtoire dea Marionnettes, 251. •* Act. v. Scene iv. 
 
THE IMPOSTOR 147 
 
 whatever be the historic origin of its plot, it cannot be denied that 
 it has surprising likenesses to the folk-plays we reviewed earlier. 
 There is the scene of the hero's simulated death and revival by 
 the Doctor, and a fierce Agon with an adversary dressed as a black 
 goat. These incidents, and perhaps some of the others, appear to 
 be the d&yris of an old fixed plot, oddly resembling a type now 
 familiar to us. At any rate, the performance was not a string of 
 disconnected scenes, all of the same pattern. 
 
 The comparison turns out unexpectedly, fruitful, and, if there 
 is any analogy, it supports our own view of the Aristophanic play 
 as against Poppelreuter's. In both dramas there is, or was, a fixed 
 conventional plot running through the whole. Both have the 
 Agon as a principal incident. Further, in the case of Punch, the 
 mono|;onous repetition of the beating and kilUng of one character 
 after another has probably spread (no doubt, from its inherent 
 pleasantness) from the fight with the Devil to the other episodes. 
 Here the Enghsh Mummers' Play presents an exact, and perhaps 
 not fortuitous, parallel.^ The original Agon in this instance must 
 have been a duel between St. George and a single antagonist, be 
 he the Turkish Knight or Captain Bluster. In the actual plays, 
 the two adversaries have been indefinitely multiphed into a whole 
 miscellany of heroes, and the duel into a series of correspond- 
 ing length, giving rise to the same monotony of structure and 
 incident. When these minor combatants are not named after 
 heroes (Alexander, Hector, King Alfred, etc.) or historical characters 
 (Bonaparte, King of Prussia, Nelson, Wolfe, etc.), they are simply 
 called 'Knight,' 'Soldier,' ' VaUant Soldier,' 'Noble Captain,' 
 ' Bold Prince,' ' Gracious King.' They are manifest doubles of 
 the chief antagonist. Captain Slasher or Captain Bluster, whose 
 names, as Mr. Chambers remarks, 'fairly express his vaunting 
 disposition, which, however, is largely shared by the other characters 
 in the play.' There could not be a clearer illustration of the 
 multiplied Alazon. 
 
 In the puppet-show of the humbler sort, where a single performer 
 holds a puppet in each hand, it is almost impossible to present more 
 than two characters at once. For this simple reason. Punch and 
 Judy consists of a series of duologues. But the reason does not 
 apply to Uving actors ; and the (at first sight) similar monotony 
 
 1 See Chambers, Mediaeval Stage, i. 206 £f. 
 
148 THE OKIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 of the duelling scenes of the Mummers' Play is more probably- 
 due to the process of multipUcation. The Mummers' Play, at any 
 rate, has certainly not passed through the puppet-show stage ; 
 whereas it is by no means certain that the plot of Punch and Judy 
 has not come from a folk-play with living actors. The normal 
 flow of influence sets that way — from the living stage to the 
 miniature scene of the marionettes. Thus we have seen the master 
 of the show in Tom Jones replacing Punch's antics by the fine and 
 serious part of the Provoked Husband. 
 
 Our conclusion, then, is that the Impostor scenes are not to be 
 explained as derived from the puppet-play ; and that they are no 
 more ' disconnected ' than the scenes of Punch and Judy, but a good 
 deal less so, in that all the Impostors have one fixed relation to the 
 action, one function running through all their superficial variety, 
 and one corresponding generic character — swaggering imposture. 
 We may henceforth telescope them into a single character — the 
 Impostor. 
 
 73. The Impostor a double of the Antagonist 
 
 The Impostor in Aristophanes, as we have seen, has three 
 essentials : (1) he interrupts the sacrifice or wedding-feast, and 
 claims a share in the fruits of the Agonist's victory ; (2) he has a 
 vaunting, boastful, swaggering disposition ; (3) he is regularly 
 mocked, beaten, or otherwise mishandled, and driven away. We 
 have also found reason to suggest that he may be in some way a 
 double of the Antagonist. We naturally look for further light to 
 Dionysiac myth and ritual, where, I believe, we shall find the figure 
 we seek to identify. 
 
 The special type we shall turn to, will be that in which the God 
 and his adversary are distinct, and a conflict is fought out between 
 them. But here we must bear in mind the curious confusion by 
 which the enemy of the God is also a double of the God himself. 
 This arises from the very nature of rites which involve the ritual 
 kiUing, dismemberment, and eating of the divine victim, in animal, 
 and earlier still in human, form. This is done by the worshippers 
 themselves in a frenzied enthusiasm which lifts what seems from the 
 outside a cruel and bloody act to the plane of a mysterious rite of 
 
THE IMPOSTOR 149 
 
 communion. As civilisation gains over barbarism, the mystery 
 grows more obscure. Why must the God suffer and die ? Must 
 it not be in commemoration of his passion at the hands of some 
 cruel enemy, some persecutor of his worshippers and profaner of 
 his cult ? The very band of devotees who still celebrate the rites 
 comfort themselves by turning it into a drama, a passion-play that 
 is still a religious service. Year by year they re-enact the awful 
 mystery ; but they transfer the seeming guilt to the soldiery of 
 the wicked tyrant, who is nothing but the God transformed to a 
 devil, that he may lead his own worshippers against himself. Out 
 of this strange evolution of religious experience arise the figures of 
 Pentheus and his Thracian counterpart, Lycurgus ^ ; of Melanthus, 
 the black and treacherous opponent of the Fair God ; of the wicked 
 Titans who tear Zagreus in pieces and eat his flesh, and others of 
 the same stamp. And, because the enemy is the God himself, his 
 fate is the same, the very likeness ministering satisfaction to the 
 desire of vengeance. The Antagonist so conceived has all the traits 
 we noted as essential to the Impostor. (1) He disturbs and outrages 
 the rites which no profane eye should see.^ (2) He vaunts his 
 insolent authority in boasts, whose vanity the power of the God 
 will expose. (3) He is set at nought, beaten, bUnded, slain, torn 
 to pieces, cast out, or, like the Titans, blasted to ashes. 
 
 The case of Pentheus, represented by Euripides in the Bacchae 
 with close fidelity to the tradition followed before him by Aeschylus,^ 
 is a sufiicient illustration. In this play the disturbance of the rites 
 by profane intruders occurs twice over. First, the herdsmen 
 conceal themselves in a thicket to spy upon the worship of the 
 wild women. When they show themselves, and try to lay hands 
 on the Queen and her attendants, they are hunted by the Maenads 
 armed with the thyrsus, and only just escape being torn in pieces 
 {a-'irapayfi6<;), when the women turn upon their cattle instead.* As 
 the women rush with flaming hair through the country, the villagers 
 attack them with weapons ; but they are repelled and wounded 
 
 1 Lycurgus was identified as eiii Bild des Winters in Preller-Robert, Gr.-Myth.'^ 
 688, and connected with the conflict of Summer and Winter. 
 
 2 This trait belongs also to Lycurgus' brother, Boutes, who carried oflf the 
 Nurses of Dionysus on Mount Drios, while they were celebrating the God's 
 orgies. Smitten with madness he flung himself into a well (Died. v. 50). 
 
 3 Cf. for this point G. Murray, Euripides and his Age (London, 1913), p. 181 ff. 
 » Bacch. 734 : iifiels fiev oSv 4>e6yopTes i^iki^aiiev | Baxx"" airapayiJ.bv. 
 
150 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 with the thyrsi^ Pentheus, on hearing it, calls out his army ; but 
 he is beguiled into going alone and in womanly disguise. ' Eager 
 to see what ought not to be seen/ ^ the ' crafty spy ' suffers 
 the fate which his herdsmen had escaped. In another version, 
 preserved in the Lenai attributed to Theocritus, the three thiasoi 
 of women are worshipping at twelve altars — three for Semele, and 
 nine for Dionysus — when the rash intruder is discovered. Autonoe 
 overturns with her foot the sacred objects which no profane eye 
 might see. Pentheus is chased and torn to pieces. 
 
 Throughout the Bacchae Pentheus appears to the eyes of 
 Dionysus' worshippers as the insolent and vainly boastful ' fighter 
 against God.' * He is warned by Cadmus to remember the fate of 
 Actaeon, torn to pieces for vaunting himself superior to Artemis.* 
 The God beguiles him with ironical gentleness, makes a mock of him,^ 
 and lures him to his death. It has been pointed out that, when 
 Pentheus is set aloft on the tree to be the mark of the wild women's 
 missiles, he suffers a sort of crucifixion. The Thebans were bidden 
 by the Delphic oracle to honour that tree on which Pentheus was 
 hanged, ' as if it were a God.' ^ 
 
 1 Bacch. 758. 
 
 ^ Ibid. 912 : ai rbv irpbBvixov 6vd' &, fiJi] -ype^v ofrnv. 956 : S6\ioii /taiviSuv Kard- 
 
 (XKOTOV, 
 
 ' Prologue V. 44, Ilei'Se? ... | 3s 6eoii.axet to, Kar' i/j,i Kal (nrovSdv diro | liBet u', 
 iv e^xa's t' oiiaii.o'i jixdav (x^i, Cf. 325 (Teiresias) ov deotj.ax'qaoi. 374 (Chorus) 
 difis oix offlav O^piv is riv Bpd/juov, 387, dxaXti'Ui' trTO/idTUv kt\. 516 (Dlmi.) rCivt' 
 &iroLv^ v^pLCTfidrtav | /ieTei(7i ^iSvvabs tre. 
 
 ^ 336 : 6/)^s Thv 'Akt^wi'os &d\i.ov fji6pov, 
 
 6v uj/A6(rtrot c/ciiXa/ces A? idpi^paro 
 dieffirdtravTO, Kpeiaffot/' h Kvvayiats 
 ^Aprifiidos eXvat KoixirdffavT' ^ h ipydaiv. 
 '' 616 : Dion. ravTCL kclI Ka66^pia^ aiirbvy 6rL fi€ deafiei^eiv doKuv 
 oOk ^dtyei^ oW ^'^ad^ ^/Ac5j/, iXiritnv S* ipdffKCTO. 
 854 : Dion, xpsf" 5^ viv YAura Oriffatois i<p\c!v. 
 " Cf. Farnell, Cults, v. 168, who also explains the epithet ai'70;86Xos, 'goat- 
 shooter,' of Dionysus at Potniai by the theory that ' the animal was hung up as 
 a mark to be shot at, just as the figure of Pentheus served as a target for the 
 Maenads.' We are reminded, too, of Euripides' Kinsman, tied up to a plank by 
 the infuriated Thesmophoriazusae, whose rites he had profaned. The elaborate 
 dance and song which accompany the search for this intruder (655 ff. ) have a 
 sort of ritual air, as if a formal search for the profane had preceded the mystical 
 service. The language is serious, and recalls that which the Bacchae use of 
 Pentheus. Cf. Thesmoph. 668 : ^v ydp /xe XdO-y dpdaas dv6a-i.a | Silxrei t6 SUriv Kal 
 Trpbs Toiruf \ Tois (SXXois dvSpdaiv ^ffrai, \ irapdSiiyn' S^piuf idlKiav i-' fyywv \ ddiuv re 
 TpbTraV I 0i)(rei S' ilvai re fleois <j>avepi^s, \ Seffci t' ijSri \ raatv &v0piI>Tois ae^lletv 
 dal/iovas, ktX, with Bacchae 373, 537, and many other passages. 
 
THE IMPOSTOR 151 
 
 There is yet another aspect in which the Antagonist-Impostor 
 is seen to be ultimately identical with the suffering God. In dis- 
 cussing the expulsion of the PharmaJcoi at the Thargelia we called 
 attention to the undoubted fact that these miserable victims at 
 once represented the beneficent powers of fertiUty and the adverse 
 influences of famine, death, and impurity. We have seen, too, 
 how more than one Antagonist in the plays, notably Cleon in the 
 Knights and Poverty in the Plutus, are treated as PharmaJcoi and 
 hounded off the scene with execrations. The treatment of the 
 Informer in the Plutus is closely analogous. He is dressed in the 
 symbols of poverty cast off by the Just Man, as if he were visibly 
 to carry away upon his person the evils that Wealth has come to 
 expel, as a personification of that ' Ox-hunger ' which he is said to 
 show signs of.^ In the dying representative of fertihty and life,' 
 who also bears upon his head, as a scapegoat, the sins and evils 
 of his people, we have throughout had before us the same funda- 
 mental combination of ideas— induction of good and expulsion of 
 evil— that lie at the root of Comedy with its two elements of invoca- 
 tion and invective, abeady impUcit in the PhalUc Songs. The\ 
 reviling and expulsion of the Antagonist-Impostor is the darker 
 counterpart of the Kdmos which brings in the new God, victorious 
 over him in the Agon.^ 
 
 We have thus found a place for the Impostor in our supposed 
 ritual plot. In a serious form of the old passion-play the fate of 
 
 1 873 : SriXov Sti ^ouXi/iip. See above, p. 54, for Kern's suggestion that the 
 reference is to an actual 'Driving out of Ox-hunger' at Athens. According to 
 the Encyd. Britannica, ed. U s.v. 'Punch," the older Punchinello . . . fought 
 with allegorical figures representing Want and Weariness.' This statement 
 bears out our view that Punch and Judy reflects popular Agdnea of the type we 
 
 are considering. ,, , , ,i,fln\ 
 
 2 Compare the end of the Bacchae where Agave, after the KaUs d^wv (116^), 
 comes in the Jc6mo8 of the 'Victor' Dionysus: d^a/caXoO<ra Bd/cx'o" • • ■ rbv 
 KoXKlvcKO., V SdKpvcc vrnvPope-i aU5) ; riv KaWiv^KO. K^e^i'b. i^ewpdkuree, <rT6j>ov Is 
 Mkdvo. (11611 ; d^x^<r8e kQ,xov eilov B^ov (1167) ; S^fo^c" <riyKU,iio:' (1173), and calls 
 on the Chorus to share the feast: M^exe vS. Bolva, (1184), before the horrible 
 truth breaks on her that the victim is Pentheus, the disturber of the rites. 
 
 It is perhaps, not accidental that the last anecdote with which Philoc eon 
 puts off his Impostors in the Wasps (1446) is the story of how Aesop stole a 
 phiale at Delphi. Aesop was stoned for this offence, or flung from a rock 
 Su de sera num. vindU^I A, and Schol. on Wasps, 1446). The story is an 
 obvious double of the Pharmakos' theft of ^phiale at Athens, cf. Parnell, Cults, 
 iv. 274, 281. 
 
152 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 the disturber of the rites might well be perpetuated as a warning 
 to the profane to keep clear of secret mysteries and as an example 
 to all enemies of the God. Where the drama degenerated into a 
 popular mummery, the incident would give an iuAdting opening 
 for horseplay. Passing into the inheritance of Comedy, the mask 
 of the Impostor neatly fits all those pretenders whose conceit of 
 cleverness or of any outstanding quality marks them out as butts 
 for what the Greeks called fhthonos — the jealousy of the average 
 man for whatever, truly or falsely, sets up to be above his level.-^ 
 
 74. The Impostor in the Dragon-slaying myths 
 
 In the long series of stories examined by Mr. Hartland in his 
 Legend of Perseus, the Impostor plays a constant role. When 
 the modest young hero has slain the monster, and so earned the hand 
 of the princess he has dehvered, there regularly appears an impostor 
 who claims to have performed the deed, and is only confuted when 
 the hero pulls out an indisputable proof, very commonly the tongue 
 or tongues of the slain monster, which he has kept in his wallet. 
 The story of Alkathoos of Megara is typical. ^ Alkathoos, son of 
 Pelops, banished from Elis for kilKng his brother Chrysippus, 
 came to Megara, and there slew the Lion of Cithaeron which had 
 terrorised the country and torn to pieces the king's son, Euippos. 
 The king's servants sent on the hunt claimed the honour of the 
 victory. Alkathoos, however, produced the beast's tongue, and 
 put the impostors to confusion. Thenceforth the king, after 
 sacrificing to the Gods, placed the tongue last on the altars. 
 
 In the story of Perseus himself,^ the impostor is PMneus, the 
 broj;her of Kepheus and uncle of Andromeda, to whom he had been 
 betrothed. He plotted against Perseus, but he and his fellow 
 conspirators were turned to stone by the Gorgon's head. Ovid * 
 adds a long description of how Phineus broke in upon the wedding 
 feast to claim the bride. He ensconced himself behind an altar, 
 and a bloody battle raged between his supporters and the party 
 of Perseus, in which two hundred were slain and two hundred 
 more turned to stone when Perseus showed the Gorgon's head 
 
 ' For this iraiSi/cis 096i'os, see below, p. 209. 
 
 2 Dieuohidas, frag. 8, ap. Sohol. ApoU. Rhod. i. 517 ; Paus. i. 41, 3 ; Hartland, 
 Legend of Permus (London, 1896), ili. 172. 
 ' ApoUod. li. 4, 3. * Metavi., v. 1 ff. 
 
THE IMPOSTOR 153 
 
 and ended the fray. Whether this story is based on Euripides' 
 Andromeda or not is disputed, but the figure of Phineus is older than 
 Euripides.^ „, 
 
 It is a curious fact that out of 101 stories classified by Mr. Hart- 
 land,^ in which the Impostor appears, he is in 25 instances in some 
 way a black man — a charcoal-burner (16), a negro, or moor (7), or 
 a chimney-sweep (2). Add to this that ' in some versions of thej 
 story the hero is murdered by the villain, but brought to Ufe again 
 by some beasts, his faithful friends, who apply to the corpse a 
 certain healing herb or the water of life.' ^ When we remember 
 the black-masked Antagonist of the northern Greek plays, who 
 breaks in upon the wedding celebrations, molests the bride, and 
 kills the hero, it is hard to resist the conclusion that the Impostor 
 motive in these stories has been influenced by the folk play. In 
 the Mdrchen of the Dragon-slaying he temporarily triumphs over 
 the hero, whose exaggerated modesty and humble exterior often 
 set him in contrast to the swaggering impostor, as the eiron is con- 
 trasted with the alazon. Even when the hero is not slain by the 
 impostor, the recognition of his true character at his final triumph 
 is analogous to the recognition [dvajvwpiai'i) of the tragic hero, in 
 which we have learnt to see the epiphany of the risen God.* This 
 motive passed from Tragedy to the New Comedy, and thence 
 into the long tradition of romance, where the hero of high birth 
 is exposed or lost in infancy, brought up in humble circumstances, 
 persecuted by the villain, and finally restored to the exalted rank 
 which brings him within reach of his bride. 
 
 1 See Jessen, s.v. 'Phineus' in Roscher, Lex. Myth. col. 2355. 
 
 2 Ibid. vol. iii. pp. 203 ff. ' Frazer on Paua. i; 41, 3. 
 ^ See above, p. 59. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE STOCK MASKS OF THE OLD COMEDY 
 
 75. The, major Impostors 
 
 In dealing with the Impostor we have so far considered only those 
 minor grotesques who flit across the scene in the second part of 
 the play ; and we have conjectured that they are doubles of 
 the Antagonist. In this chapter we have to study the alazones 
 of the higher order, that is to say, those characters, other than the 
 hero, who play a leading part in the action. These too are all of 
 them touched with some form of pretentiousness, swagger, conceit, 
 which makes them ridiculous and incurs the irony of the hero- 
 bufioon. But, besides being, in this wider sense, alazones, they 
 can be more closely defined under specific heads. What we shall 
 try to bring out is that these characters — especially certain very 
 important ones, who bear historical names — are made to wear 
 one or another of a definite set of stock masks. They are, to the 
 almost complete sacrifice of realistic portraiture, conformed to the 
 traditional traits of these masks, which we shall seek to define. 
 When we have completed the collection, we shall turn to the question 
 how these masks came to be fixed in the convention of the Old 
 Comedy, and what bearing their presence there has upon our main 
 hypothesis. 
 
 The characters we shall first examine are Lamachus, Socrates, 
 Euripides, Aeschylus, Cleon, and Cleon's adversary, the Sausage- 
 seller Agoracritus. This is a complete hst of all the characters 
 with historic names who play a leading part in the extant comedies 
 of Aristophanes. ■'^ All of them, with one exception, figure as 
 
 ' Lamachus [Ach.) ; Socrates {Oloiuis) ; Euripides (Thesm., Frogs; and, as 
 minor impostor, Ach.); Aeschylus (i^Vogrs); Cleon and Agoracritus ( &jgrAjs). The 
 hero of the Thesmophoriazusae appears in many editions as 'Mnesiloohus,' but 
 there is no good authority for the name. Van Leeuwen points out that no 
 definite person is intended, only ' a Kinsman ' of Euripides. The minor historical 
 characters are the 'Impostors,' Theorus, Nicarchus (Ach.); Pasias, Amynias 
 (Knights) ; Hierocles {Peace) ; Meton {Birds), Kinesias {Birds, Lys.), Kleisthenes, 
 Agathon (Thesm.) ; the Slaves, Demosthenes and Nikias {Knights) ; and Socrates' 
 pupil, Chaerephon {Clouds). 
 
THE STOCK MASKS 0¥ THE OLD COMEDY 155 
 
 adversaries in the Agon of one or another of the plays. The excep- 
 tion—Socrates—proves the rule; for Socrates, as we saw, is in 
 effect the principle of evil in the Clouds, that principle which, in the 
 abstract form of the Unjust Eeason, actually takes part in the first 
 of the two Agdnes in the play. We shall find that all these characters, 
 not excepting Aeschylus, belong to the general class of alazones ; 
 and, further, that they can be classified under several subordinate 
 heads, the stock masks we spoke of. 
 
 76. The Miles Gloriosus : Lamachus 
 
 In Lamachus, the Antagonist who stands for the war-party in 
 the Acharnians, every one recognises a figure familiar throughout 
 the whole history of Comedy — the Swaggering Soldier. Ivo Bruns ^ 
 has pointed out that Lamachus, at the date of this play, was not 
 an important member of the war-party. He was very young, and 
 his poverty made him obscure.^ He appears to have been picked 
 out for the sake of his name, which might be rendered ' VaUant 
 Soldier,' and lends itself to puns on /ta%i?. Such character as he 
 has belongs entirely to the miles gloriosus,^ the ancestor of Pyrgo- 
 pohnices and of Ancient Pistol, the Capitano of Itahan Comedy. 
 In the fourth century this alazon * took on traits borrowed from the 
 wandering condottieri who sold their swords wherever they were in 
 request, and came back from their travels in distant countries with 
 tremendous stories of their prowess and of their conquests of female 
 hearts. The campaigns of Alexander must have made them only 
 too familiar in every Greek city. But their prototype in extant 
 literature is Lamachus, who comes blustering in to crush Dikaiopolis' 
 plea for peace with the tragic bombast inherited by all his descen- 
 
 1 Das literariscTie Portrat, Berl. (1896), pp. 152 S. 
 
 2 Plut. Alcib. 17 and 21 ; Ar. Acham. 601, veaflas. 
 
 3 Bruns, op. cit, p. 153: Nichts lamachisch ist als der Name. Im Orunde 
 liegt die grotesJce Fratze des Eenommistm im Mend, des hungernden und siohnenden 
 Prahlhaiises, ein Wesen so unwirUich wie sein Pendant Dihaeopolis, etc. The 
 Son of Lamachus is brought into the Peace, to be rebuked by Trygaeus for 
 singing of war : 1293, 6,vipbt ^ovXoiidxov Kal K\m(niidxou tivos vl6s. \ dveppe koI 
 Tois \oyxo<pl>poi(rii' ?«' i'iv. Schol. ad v. 1290: Aa/idx""' roO del pov\o/ihov 
 tidX^aBai.. hraiie Si vapd, to tAos toO Ai£;UOXos dvSnaTos. Peace 304 : Tj/iipa yap 
 ^JAaju^eK TJSe luaoXd/rnxos. 
 
 « Aristotle, Mth. N. iii. 7, 8 : SoKeT 5k Kal dXofiy eTyai 6 Bpaais Kal TrfioffToii/Ti/cds 
 dvSpetai- lis oBv ixeivoi (o dvSpiiOs) iripl ra 4>opepd ?x"> "iiras ^oiXerat (PalveaBai.- ii> 
 oTs oSk Sivarai. (/.tueTTM- SiJ Kal eMv ol iroXKol air&v BaaffiSeAoi.. 
 
156 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 dants. A terrific crest of plumes (' boastard's feathers ? ' queries 
 Dikaiopolis ^) nods over Ms helmet, and the emblem on his shield 
 is the Gorgon's head, as if he posed as a second Perseus and would 
 strike his enemies to stone. What is especially interesting to us 
 is that, while Lamachus is properly the Antagonist in the Acharnians, 
 in place of the Antepirrheme of the Agon is substituted a duologue 
 of the regular pattern, in which DikaiopoKs plays Buffoon, and uses 
 his ' irony ' to discountenance this bragging Impostor, and beat 
 him from the field of argument. In Lamachus, then, we have our 
 first instance of the same person playing the part of Antagonist 
 in the general scheme of the play, and treated in the way in which 
 the Impostors are regularly dealt with.^ The Antagonist, in a word, 
 is here an Impostor of the major type ; and this may be taken to 
 support the view that the minor Impostors of the last chapter are 
 only doubles of the Antagonist. 
 
 77. The Learned Doctor: Socrates 
 
 A second stock mask, at least equally important, is that of the 
 Learned Doctor, ancestor of the scholasticus of later comic anecdote ^ 
 and kinsman of the Dottore in Itahan Comedy. Shakespeare has 
 him as the schoolmaster Holophernes, to whom, with his friend 
 the parson Sir Nathaniel, Goodman Dull, the constable, plays 
 buffoon.* In the Merry Wives he is Doctor Caius, whose extra- 
 ordinary lingo is supposed to be the dialect of a ' French physician.' ^ 
 In fifth-century Athens he is the ' Sophist.' This word had a wide 
 sense. Its very form (o-o^jo-tj;?) may imply the man who makes a 
 profession of any sort of exceptional skill or learning, including the 
 artist, the 'artiste,' ^ the poet, and, above all, the higher teachers 
 of Greece, the professors of culture. These were not commonly 
 
 ^ 589 : &pa KOiiiraKaKiOov ; 
 
 ^ At Adi. 959 Lamachus' servant offers money for a share of Dikaiopolis' 
 feast, and is refused. Lamachus here figures as an Impostor of the ordinary 
 type. 
 
 ' See Reich, Der Mimus, i. 454 ff. on Philistion's Philogelos, 
 
 "^ Love's Labour's Lost, iv. 11, a good example of the BuSoon- Alazoji scene. 
 
 » The physician who talks dialect is, as we shall see (p. 181), a very ancient 
 figure in the Mime tradition. 
 
 " Pindar uses croipla seriously of his own art of poetry, and (ro^io-TiJs later 
 came to denote what we call ' artistes,' professional entertainers, etc. See 
 Athen. xiv. 621 v, where it is a general term applicable to the Italian mimes 
 called Phlyakes and the Phallophori, Autokabdali, etc. 
 
THE STOCK MASKS OF THE OLD COMEDY 157 
 
 distinguished from the men we now call ' philosophers ' ; indeed, 
 any serious students, such as the great medical school of Cos, would 
 come under the name.i There is, accordingly, nothing surprising 
 m the fact that this mask of the learned pedant is worn in Aristo- 
 phanes' plays by Socrates and also by Euripides, the two great 
 symbolic representatives of all that Aristophanes thought dangerous 
 in the culture of the younger generation. The same mask also fits 
 minor impostors hke Meton the mathematician, 2 the ragged poet 
 of the Birds, and so on. These are professed exponents of Sophia. 
 The glaringly unhistorical picture of Socrates in the Clouds has 
 excited the wonder of many generations. Not only does the poet 
 attribute to the philosopher many opinions and forms of speculation 
 of which the historic Socrates was notoriously innocent, but — 
 what is equally surprising, though less often noticed— he does not 
 avail himself of many real traits which would seem to ofier most 
 attractive material for satire and caricature.^ The famous dai- 
 monion, the midwife mother and the obstetric theory of education,* 
 the Silenus-like figure and countenance with its prominent eyes 
 and snub-nose ^ — all these are left untouched. It may, perhaps, 
 
 ^ Of. the list in the Clouds, 331, irXetffTOUs aSrai ^bcKovai. a-o^/urTd^ \ dovpio/iipms 
 (Lampon, who founded Thurii at the bidding of an oracle), laTpoTix""-^ 
 (Hippocrates and other physicians), o-(f>payidovvxapyoKo/jiTiTas (philosophical dilet- 
 tanti), KVuXiijiv Sk xo/aw" q-aiMTOKiixirras (dithyrambic poets), di/Spas /j,eTcwpocfihaKa5 
 (natural philosophers). Of. also Meineke's note on Kratinus, ArchilocM frag, ii., 
 oTov aotpitTTuv fffiijvos aveStcjiTjaare (of poets and musicians). Compare Aristotle's 
 third class of aka^oves in Eth. N. iv. 7, 13 : oJ nipSovs {Ivena 6,\a^ovev6/j,eyot) &p Kai 
 dirdXavffis icm Toh ir^Xas Kal & dLaXaSelp ^ffrt fj.7j 6vTa, oXov fiaPTiv, ao<pbv, larpov. 
 
 ^ Plutarch, vit. Alcib. xvii., records the legend that 'Socrates the philosopher 
 and Meton the astronomer ' both augured ill of the Sicilian expedition, Socrates 
 being warned by his familiar spirit, Meton either by reasonable forecast or some 
 kind of divination. Meton feigned madness, and, taking a torch, made as if 
 he would burn down his house, or, as others say, actually burned it. 
 
 ' This is pointed out clearly by W. Siiss in his excellent dissertation De 
 personarum antiq. com. Att. usu atque, origine, Bonn 1905, from which I have 
 borrowed freely here. 
 
 ^ Unless we count e^-fifi^XwKas (137) and Toi^Ti/j.^Xufn.ii'ov (139). Professor Taylor 
 (Varia Socratica, 1911, Essay iv.) seems to me to make far too much of a few 
 points like this. I differ altogether from his conclusion that ' the Glouds is a 
 historical document of the first rank ' (p. 174). 
 
 = Siiss {op. cit.) disputes the use of portrait masks in the Old Comedy, arguing 
 that the conventional grotesque masks of the Comedy of Menander could not 
 have been invented for realistic plays of that type, but must have been 
 traditional on the Attic stage. Anyhow, the above-mentioned features are not 
 referred to in the text of the Clouds. For the general point see below, 
 p. 169. 
 
158 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 be inferred from various passages that Socrates was actually 
 represented as a pale and emaciated skeleton like his disciple 
 Chaerephon.^ 
 
 The secret of these curious facts was found when it was shown 
 that the Socrates and Euripides of Aristophanes have several 
 traits in common which the two actual men certainly did not share, 
 and that these traits belong to the stock mask of the Learned 
 alazon.^ The epithet 'Impostor' is twice in the play apphed to 
 the philosophers,* who, in striking contrast with the real practice 
 of Socrates, are supposed to dispense mysterious doctrines inside 
 their Cave of Trophonius. The mask worn by these lean and 
 unwashed ascetics is not individually characterised : it belongs 
 to all philosophers on the comic stage,* as well as to the other types 
 we have above enumerated. 
 
 With regard to the portrayal of Socrates in the Clouds, there 
 is one special consideration which ought to put us very much on 
 our guard against errors due to mistaking this representation for 
 a likeness. It is more than possible that the mask of the learned 
 sophist, as we see it in this play, is influenced by some corresponding 
 figure in the SiciUan Mime of the school of Epicharmus. Now, 
 in Sicily and Lower Italy, the most famous exponents of secret 
 wisdom were the Pythagoreans, a mystical and religious school 
 not clearly distinguishable from the Orphic sectaries. The founder, 
 Pythagoras, is said to have been the first man to call himself a 
 philosopher, a ' lover of wisdom," disclaiming the title of ' wise 
 man ' {ao<p6';) with what must have seemed to his enemies an 
 ' ironical ' mock modesty, flattering a secret pride.^ The austerities 
 of the Pythagorean Ufe made their school the constant butt of the 
 
 1 Ll. 1112, 1011-1018 may imply this, as Siiss thinks (p. 11). 
 
 - The Scholiast on Clouds, 363, where the Chorus praise Socrates, Sn Ppeveia. 
 r' iv raiffiv oSoTs, is explicit : (Mv iari tvv aXal^dvoiv. Cf. Schol. on Lysistr. 8S7, 
 ^pevdieTai.' dXafoi/i/fws epi-KTerai. See for this subject Ribbeck, Alazmi, pp. 11 ff. 
 
 3 102 ; Pheid. roils dXafiras 
 
 Toi>s uix/3iu»'i'as Totis dvvirod/iTovs X^eis, 
 dv KaKoSat/uov XwKparrjs /cai Xaipeipuv. 
 Schol. ad loc. : 6.\(il;6vas- . . . eUlrras S^ Tois <f>i.\o(r6^ovs dXafivas /caXei, iwel 
 X^yeiv iwayy^Woi/Tai. irepl i&v oix {(raaif. ij Sri ae/xvci ^ovtes ijfl9i; dXafixf s SokoOo-iv. 
 
 1492 : Streps, sei <r^6dp' etc' aXa^6ves. 
 
 * Siisa, p. 28, omnes enim philosophi scenici secundum regtilam certae cuiusdam 
 normae mutati sunt. 
 
 = See F. M. Cornford, From Religion to Philosophy (1912), p. 186, note 3. 
 
THE STOCK MASKS OF THE OLD COMEDY 159 
 
 writers of the Middle Coinedy,i who laughed at their pallor, their 
 vegetarian diet, their alleged dishke of washing, and above all their 
 priggish pietism. Theseus in Euripides' Hippolytus expresses the 
 plain man's distrust of this form of alazoneia, as it showed itself 
 in the Orphic.^ If we are right in suspecting that the traits of the 
 ' Sophist's ' mask were partly made up in the Sicilian Mime,* it 
 follows that the Clouds gives no support whatever to any theory 
 that the real Socrates was tinged with Orphism or Pythagoreanism. 
 The special features borrowed from these schools or sects belong 
 to the mask itself, not to any of the historic characters who are made 
 by Aristophanes to wear it. 
 
 Some ancient critics saw clearly enough that ' Socrates ' is a 
 mask, and not a portrait. The author of the scholium on Clouds, 
 96, puts the whole point in a nutshell. Commenting on the hne 
 where Strepsiades speaks of the philosophers as ' the men who say 
 the sky is an oven ' ; he says : ' This was anticipated by Kratinus 
 in his play, the Panoptai, who says it in satirising the philosopher 
 Hippon.* Hence some conjecture that Aristophanes was not led 
 to compose the Clouds to satisfy any enmity, considering that he 
 has not merely put in no individual or appropriate trait, but has 
 not even taken up any accusation which appUes to Socrates. The 
 two accusations he does put forward are : calling the sky an oven, 
 and professing to be able to teach the weaker as well as the stronger 
 argument. The former of these might be brought against any 
 
 c 
 
 1 The passages are collected in Diels, Fragmente d. Vorsokrr (1906), 
 
 i. p. 291 S. 
 
 2 948 : a-i Sti Beounv lis irepiafftis S>v &v^p 
 
 ^ivu ; ail aii}(j>poiv KoX KaKwv dKriparos ; 
 ovK &v viffol/xr]'' ToitTi aois Kd/nrois ^7(»i 
 deoiai, TpoffSels &iia$lav tppoveiv xaKus. 
 fijdri vvv otfxet Kol Si' d^ix"^ ^"P^s 
 o-iToist KaTT^Xcu', 'Op^ia t' HvaKr' (xuv 
 pdKxeve TToXXSc ■ypa/ji.iJidTiiiv ti/j-Qv Kairvovs' 
 iirel y' ^\7}09i)S. Tois Sk Taioirovs 4yii 
 <peiyuv irpocpavSi irdffi. Bripeiovcn ykp 
 cefivois \6yoi(ny, alaxp^ fxrixaviiiievoi.. 
 
 3 Aristotle, Poetics, 5, tells us that the influence of Epicharmus and Phormis 
 affected Attic Comedy in a very important way in the days of Krates, a genera- 
 tion earlier than Aristophanes. See below, p. 217. 
 
 * Probably, then, the Learned Pedant was akeady familiar to theoomic 
 stage of Kratinus. The Chorus in the Connus oi Ameipsias, produced m the 
 sanie year as the first edition of the Clouds, consisted of 0^o.n^ra.. Cf. Starkie 
 on Glovds, 94, (ppavnaT-fipiov. 
 
160 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 philosopher ; the latter does not touch philosophy at all. The philo- 
 sophers do not profess to make able speakers ; that is rather the 
 speciahty of rhetoric' This is a very enUghtened piece of criticism. 
 It may safely be said that, if the name ' Socrates ' did not occur in 
 the text of the play, so far from our being tempted to identify the 
 philosopher of the Clouds with Socrates, any competent student could 
 convincingly prove, first, that no individual sophist or philosopher 
 was here portrayed, and second, that while Protagoras, Prodicus, 
 Archelaus, Diogenes of ApoUonia, and others have all contributed 
 something to the mixture, the real Socrates has contributed hardly 
 anything. If the hst of dramatis personae in the MSS. had con- 
 tained the name Socrates, some editor with universal approval 
 would have substituted 'A Sophist.' 
 
 This casting of the Sophist or Philosopher for the role of Learned 
 Impostor helps to explain the pecuUar economy of the Clouds. 
 The two Agdnes in this play (between the Just and Unjust 
 Eeason, and Strepsiades and Pheidippides) are both postponed 
 to the second half, after the Parabasis. The main bulk of the 
 earher part is constructed on the lines of the duologue of Bufioon 
 and Impostor. Its theme is the instruction of Strepsiades by the 
 Dottore, Socrates. For nearly six hundred hnes^ these two are 
 (apart from the Chorus) the sole interlocutors. Strepsiades plays 
 Buffoon with all the regular accompaniments of this role — the 
 afEected stupidity, the broad jokes and asides, and so forth. Socrates 
 has the pontifical airs of the pedant, and the intolerable conceit 
 of superior wisdom, which, when disclosed, turns out to be either 
 blasphemous or absurdly trivial. Just as in the idea of the play 
 we have already pointed out an inversion of the New Zeus motive, 
 so its structure too is an inversion of the regular plan, the Agon 
 being kept to the end. This exceptional arrangement is dictated 
 by the subject. The struggle between the elder and younger 
 generation, the father and son, cannot be fought out till the pre- 
 tensions of the sophist have been completely exposed ; and for this 
 exposure the Bufioon-Impostor type of scene is appropriate. In 
 form, then, the Agon is not between Strepsiades and Socrates ; 
 but, as we have said before, Socrates is in spirit the Antagonist 
 
 ' The last scene of the Prologue (221 ff.), the Parados, the long scene in 
 Anapaests (314-456), an iambic scene (478-509), and two iambic scenes after the 
 Parabasis, down to 812, where Pheidippides enters. 
 
THE STOCK MASKS OF THE OLD COMEDY 161 
 
 or principle of evil. So, here again, we have a case in which the 
 arch-Impostor and the Antagonist are identical. The destruction 
 of his house, if not of himself, by fire, is an appropriate 
 ending, if we think of the Antagonist-Impostor as, in a sense, a 
 Pharmakos. 
 
 One of the most curious things in all literary history is the way 
 in which Plato, writing philosophy in dialogue form under the 
 influence of the SiciUan Mime as practised by Sophron, exactly 
 reversed the role of Socrates, and spent his early life as a man of 
 letters in setting his master before us in the opposite character of 
 the eiron.^ Socrates was to him the one man in the Greece of 
 Aristophanes' days who really practised the Delphic precept ' Know 
 thyself — that precept which, in his analysis of the spectator's 
 emotion in witnessing Comedy,^ he says is violated by every type 
 of impostor. Socrates alone did not profess to know what he did not 
 know, and his devoted follower wrests the weapon from his enemies' 
 hands and turns it against themselves. They had attacked Socrates 
 for his ' irony,' in which their meaner spirits could only read the 
 hidden pride that apes humihty. Plato would show them what 
 this irony really was ; and as a consequence of his treating S.:5Crates 
 in this light, the word ' irony ' lost its necessarily bad association 
 with cunning of a low sort and came to acquire the meaning it 
 has to-day. A dialogue such as the Euthydemus is simply a farcical 
 mime, exposing the alazoneia of the two sophists, Euthydemus and 
 Dionysodorus, in a spirit not far removed from Aristophanic Comedy.^ 
 
 ' Xenophon already has Socrates as the converter of all sorts of cUazones to 
 better ways {Memorabilia, i. 7 : ivivice^iineffa S^ el koX dXafoveias iTorpitTuv Toit 
 trvp6iiTas ApeT^s ^Tri/icXetirflai irpoiTpeirev), but his tone, as usual, is the evangelist's, 
 not the mime-writer's, and he sees Socrates as a preacher, not as an Eiron. 
 
 2 This'passage is quoted at length below, p. 209. »*| 
 
 ' It is worth noticing that Socrates in the Euthydemus (277 d) represents the 
 sophists as initiators, executing a. preliminary dance of dialectic round the 
 bewildered young Kleinias, as the Korybants dance round the novice in the 
 ceremony called 6p6vuffis. This is taken straight from the initiation scene of the 
 Clouds, where Socrates puts Strepsiades through this very ceremony. Still more 
 curious, in the same connection, is the later passage (285 A £f. ) where Socrates 
 says that if the sophists know how to ' destroy ' (i^oWiyai) men in the sense of 
 turning them from foolish rogues into wise and good people— and evidently they 
 do possess this art of destruction {(peSpov riva rat S\eepov)—theii, if the young 
 men shrink from the ordeal, he himself, being old, will ' submit to Dionysodorus, 
 as if to Medea the Golohian. Let him destroy me, and if he pleases boil me, 
 provided he will turn me out a good man ! ' This motive of regeneration by 
 cooking an old man into a youth we have also seen in Aristophanic Comedy. 
 
 L ^ 
 
162 THE OBIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 The Socrates who will live for ever is the Socrates of Plato, a figure 
 as different from the hero of Xenophon's well-meaning and dull 
 gospel as the philosophised Christ of St. John is from the Christ of 
 the synoptics. He is a work of art, the creation of a great dramatic 
 genius. How much is due to the creator we shall never know ; 
 but we shall do well to think sometimes of Plato as a mime-writer, 
 casting Socrates for the role of eiron. At any rate, it is not hkely 
 that we can add anything whatever to our knowledge of the historic 
 ^l^ocrates from the Clouds. 
 
 78. The Learned Doctor : Euripides 
 
 The mask, then, to which the name ' Socrates ' is here attached 
 is that of the pretender to more than ordinary wisdom or cleverness 
 {(To^ba). It fits just as well that other archpriest of cleverness, 
 Euripides, whose dialectics filled the common man with suspicion 
 tinged with awe — a feehng that they were altogether ' too clever 
 by half.' We can, indeed, never be sure that our picture of Euripides 
 as the austere hermit of the cave on Salamis is not, like almost all 
 the anecdotes of his career, an invention of the same comic tradition 
 which shows us Socrates as the pale and lean mystagogue of the 
 Cave of Thought. ' It is not for nothing,' says Socrates in the 
 Republic, ' that Tragedy in general is regarded as sophon, and 
 Euripides as pre-eminent in Tragedy.' ^ To later ages Euripides 
 was known as ' the philosopher of the stage.' ^ The ancients called 
 him, after their manner, ' the pupil of Anaxagoras, Prodicus, and 
 Protagoras, and the companion of Socrates.' ^ When the moderns 
 add Diogenes of ApoUonia, we have very much the group of sophists 
 who go to make up the ' Socrates ' of the Clouds. Perhaps it was 
 this ' Socrates ' who never went to the theatre except to hear a 
 new piece by Euripides.* 
 
 This other great example of the Learned Impostor comes before 
 us as Antagonist in the Frogs. Euripides has there some of the 
 
 ' Rep. viii. 568 A : ovk irbs ... ^; re rpayifiSla iXus (To<t>bv SoksT clmi Kal 6 
 Ei5/)i7rf5i/s 5La<p4pti>i' iv adTjj. 
 
 ^ 6 (TKiji'i/cJs tj)i\6<ro<l>o!, Atheu. iv. 158 E, where Euripides, Socrates, and Diogenes 
 are all quoted as recommending a sparing diet ; xiv. 561 A, Euripides is quoted 
 for the philosophic doctrine of Love. Sext. Emp. Math. i. 288. 
 
 ^ Vita, i. 10, Sohw. : dxouo-TJjs yeyijicnos 'Ava^aydpav Kal UpoSUov Kal UpuraySpov 
 Kal XuKpirov! iratpos. * Aelian, V. H. ii. 13. 
 
THE STOCK MASKS OF THE OLD COMEDY 163 
 
 traits of the same stock mask. To mention one instance : his 
 pedantic (and false) objection to the prologue of the Choephori: 
 that 7]Km and Karepxofiai are two words for one meaning, and the 
 same cavil against the phrase icXvet,v uKova-at. These are of a 
 piece with his disquisition to his Kinsman in the Thesmophoriazusae 
 on the difference between seeing and hearing/ and again with the 
 grammatical subtleties of Socrates, who complains of the use of 
 the same word in Greek for cock and hen.^ 
 
 79. The Miles Qloriosus : Aeschylus 
 
 Euripides' adversary in the Frogs, Aeschylus, though of course 
 more sympathetically treated, still wears, like all these other 
 historical personaUties, a stock mask. It is the visage surmounted 
 by the dreadful crest of the Soldier. The untranslatable chorus 
 which precedes the entrance of the adversaries is full of the thunder 
 of war, ' the strife of words with glancing helmets and plumes of 
 horsehair,' and the bellowing of the champion ' whose mane bristles 
 to a crest on his shaggy neck.' * He enters literally bellowing 
 threats of destruction, and is with difficulty quieted down into 
 inarticulate rumbUngs. Euripides, at the beginning of the Agon 
 proper, at once opens fire by offering to prove that Aeschylus is 
 an alazon and a cheat,* who bluffed his audience with effects stolen 
 from Phrynichus. Then he stuffed his plays with ' phrases Uke 
 shields made of twelve thicknesses of ox-hide, with terrific eyebrows 
 and crests and bogey faces, Scamanders and trenches, and bronze- 
 wrought griffins upon shields.' Dionysus admits he has lain 
 awake at nights wondering what kind of bird a ' horse-cock ' 
 
 1 Thesmoph. 5 flf. This instance is taken from Suss, op. cit. p. 21. Of. also 
 Mazon, p. 126. 
 
 2 Clouds, 659. I take this opportunity of suggesting a restoration of the lines 
 which must have been lost after 661, as follows : 
 
 Streps. iXk' olS' iymye T&ppev', el p,T] iMivo/ia.!.- 
 
 Kptis, rpAyos, ravpos, Kiav, oKeKTpiav . . . 661 
 <Socr. ivlaxes ' aKSa ttus to, d'^Xe' aB (caXefs ; 
 Streps, rdye e-rjKe', ots, at^, /Sous, Kiuv, aXeKTpiav . . .> 
 Socr. opfs S x<£(rx«s ; i"^'' ''£ BifKuav KaXets 662 
 
 iXeKTpiova Kara raiirb Koi rbv (ippeva. 
 
 3 818 : ^o-rot 5' IttvoU^uv re Xbyuv KopvBaloKa vekri crx^pSaKdiiuv re Tapa^6na 
 a^CKiinara. t' ipyuv . . . Ml^^^' 2T7ro/3<i^o;'a . . . ^ptfaj S' airoKS/iOV Xo^mj 
 
 XoiriaiJxeco X"'™'') 'f'^- „ «,„..., v , 
 
 * 908 : rovToi' Si Tpwr' iUy^a \ uis ^v dXafuic Kal (jihai. 919, i/tt dXafoyeias. 
 
164 THE OBIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 (Mppaledryon) might be.^ Euripides next brags of having exercised 
 the arts of the Learned Doctor on the body of Tragedy, ' swollen 
 as she was with vauntings and indigestible language.' He put her 
 on a spare diet to take down her weight, and then fed her up again 
 with monodies and a simple democratic style of dialogue.^ 
 Aeschylus in his reply boasts that the audience he bequeathed to 
 Euripides ' breathed spears, and shafts, and white-plumed crests, 
 and casques, and greaves, and seven-oxhide courage,' because he 
 showed them the Seven against Thebes, a drama ' full of Ares,' and 
 the Persians. He was the successor of Homer, who taught the 
 arming of men and produced so many heroes, Lamachus among 
 them, 
 r To us the plays of Aeschylus do not seem so exclusively warhke. 
 The explanation is that we have here the Vahant Soldier breathing 
 scorn upon the Learned Doctor. The economy of the Frogs is like 
 that of the Knights. Each play shows us two alazones of different 
 types competing for the favour of the Athenian pubhc of the theatre 
 L(Pionysus) or of the Pnyx (Demos). The rivals try to outdo one 
 another in boasting, while their judge plays the parenthetic part 
 of Bufioon, and makes a mock of both. 
 
 80. The Cook : the Sausage-seller, Agoracritus 
 
 We turn next to the two adversaries of the Knights, whose title 
 to the epithet alazon will not be disputed. We have already 
 pointed out that the Sausage-seller is essentially a Cook, his trade 
 being chosen that he may exercise his art in the rejuvenation of 
 Demos. Here it must be added that, throughout the tradition of 
 the SiciUan Mime and of the later Comedy of Greece and Eome, 
 
 ^ The hippalectryon oonies again in the description of the triple-crested officer 
 n the Peace (Parah. II. ), 1177, fcSra <j>eiya irpSros Siawep |ou96s iTToXem-pviiv | roiis 
 X60OIIS ffeluv. \6<t>os is of course used both of the cock's comb and of the 
 horse's mane ; and the helmet crest was made of horse-hair (i)r7r4Xo0os). 
 
 ^ 939 (Eurip. ) : aXK' ilis -rrapiXa^ov t^v t^X""!" vapk ffoO rb Trpuror eiBM | 
 o/5oCiro>' iirti KoinraffiiotTUji Kal prffiaTav iirax6tip, | tcxvara /ih TpumcTov airrjv Kal 
 rb pdpos d0erXov | iTuWlois Kal irepi.TaTois Kal TCVTMottn Xewois ■ . . | elr' avirpe^ov 
 fiovifSlaii ktK. 
 
 This cathartic treatment may be compared with the cathartic method of 
 Socrates, whose purging of the false conceit of wisdom is compared to the 
 methods of the physician in Plato, Sophist, 230c. In the 'Apology of 
 Protagoras ' (in Plato's Theaetetus, 166 b), which is probably based on what 
 Protagoras actually said, the sophist as educator is a physician of the soul, 
 compared to the doctor who gives health to the body. 
 
THE STOCK MASKS OF THE OLD COMEDY 165 
 
 the Cook is one of the principal species of alazon.^ An exponent 
 of the art in a play of Alexis ^ claims that the Cook should be enrolled 
 among the ' sophists,' alike as professor of a learned subject and as 
 artist. Others assert that the Cook must needs be a philosopher 
 and a psychologist, and indeed that the culinary art embraces the 
 whole catalogue of human sciences. Like the Doctor, he dehghts 
 in using archaic and unintelhgible terms, and draws on the Homeric 
 vocabulary — fiepo'ire<; for ' persons,' BaiTvfji,eov for ' guest,' /^ijXa for 
 ' sheep,' ovXoxvTai for ' salt,' etc.^ There are evidences in the •' 
 fragments of Epicharmus that the mask of the Learned Cook 
 belongs also to the Sicilian Mime, and he has an ancestor in the 
 Maison of the Megarian farce, who must have figured in scenes of 
 heroic travesty with the glutton Heracles. ._ \ 
 
 The scheme of the Knights demands that the Sausage-seller shall 
 be a cook of the lowest possible station. He is not a cordon-hku, 
 and his culture is deficient ; but he makes great play with the 
 technicalities of his trade,* and exhausts the unpleasant part of its 
 vocabulary in threats of what he will do to his opponent. At any 
 rate, we have the same grounds as in the other cases to suppose 
 that he is primarily the Cook, and only secondarily Agoracritus. 
 Ivo Bruns ^ points out that the historic name is not given till the 
 whole contest is over (v. 1259) ; up to that moment he is nothing 
 more than ' a Sausage-seller.' Then, as the agent of the great 
 metamorphosis of Demos that follows, he himself is transfigured 
 to the height of his new dignity. 
 
 1 Athen. vii. 290b : aXa^oviKiv S' iarl irav rb tCiv /iayeipav (jtOXov. Poseidippus, 
 Xopeiovffai. frag. 24 M : twv T]Smii.aT<jiv \ iravTOiv KpaTia-rSv ianv ex fiayeipiKr; | 
 dXa^orela. See Ribbeok, Alazon, pp. 18 ff. ; Legrand, Daos (Paris, 1910), 125 S., 
 where the references are collected. 
 
 ° Frag. 146, 14 : els rois ao(pi.ctTa.s top /iiycLpov iyyp64>a. 
 
 3 Alexis, frag. 140, 16. Athenaeus ix. 377 F : oiSh ^ttuv twv larpuv ei's 
 a\a^ov€i.av Kal 6 Trapa 7,i>nr6.Tpif fiayeipos. These magnificent pretensions of the 
 Cook explain the prominence of the art of Cookery, as an analogue of Rhetoric, 
 in the Gorgias, where, by the way, Plato may have some actual mime or comedy 
 in view when he suggests an Agon between Doctor and Cook : iri p,h otv rriv 
 larpiK^v ii d<poTrouKT, vTodiSvKe Kal TpaawoidTai. rd ^iXriCTa atria tv cibiiari. eldivat, 
 &(tt' d Uoi iv TTOiffi Siayoivli^creaL i^oirothv re Kal larpbv ^ h dpSpdnp olirto, dvo'^Tots 
 &ffwep oi waTSe, irbrepos iTalei nepl rHy xPVrrQy <riTlwy Kal voPVPV, o larpbs ^ o 
 di^oTTOiis, Xi/i.? &y dToeaveh rhv larpbv. The metaphor in i«5^5v« ('impersonate ) 
 is taken from the stage : cf. W. H. Thompson, Qorgia.^, ad he. (464 d). 
 
 * This is repeatedly pointed out in the ScUlia, vv. 289, us fidyapoi \iyei, 294, 
 301, 315, 345, 370, 372, 414, 708, 919-22, 1083, 1236. 
 
 5 Lit. Portrdt, p. 169 ff. 
 
166 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 81. The Parasite : Gleon 
 
 Cleon, the Paphlagonian (' wind-bag ') in the Knights, is nothing 
 if not an impostor and a braggart.^ His special type seems to be 
 that of the Flatterer (Kolax).^ In the prologue the slave describes 
 him as follows. Demos has bought ' a slave, a Paphlagonian 
 tanner, a slanderous rascal of the deepest dye. This windy hide- 
 bag, as soon as he had mastered the old man's weaknesses, began to 
 lick the boots of his lord and master, to fawn, and wheedle, and 
 flatter, and humbug him with scraps of the subtlest leather-parings.' 
 He induces Demos to sit down to dinner, sets before him deUcacies 
 prepared by the other slaves, and takes all the credit ; for instance, 
 the Spartan cake which the speaker (who represents the General, 
 Demosthenes) had kneaded at Pylos. Then he drives away the 
 other slaves, and will suffer no one else to attend to his master, 
 but ' stands over Demos at his dinner with a leather fly -flap to scare 
 away the pohticians,' ^ He croons oracles to soothe the supersti- 
 tious old fellow ; and, when he has reduced him to a state of imbecil- 
 ity, mahgns his fellow-slaves and gets them whipped, not forgetting 
 to blackmail them under promise of his protection. 
 
 It is not clear whether the mask of the fawning Parasite is native 
 to Attic Comedy. More probably it took shape in societies of a 
 more aristocratic type. The word for Flatterer {kolax) originally 
 meant simply a courtier or attendant, and was appUed in an honour- 
 able sense * to the companions of princes in the East and in Asia 
 Minor. Thus, we hear from Klearchos of Soli ^ that all the princes 
 of Cyprus entertained holakes of good birth — ' a possession very 
 suitable to a tyrant.' All these kolaJces were descended from two 
 
 1 He ia called dXafuK by the Chorus in the Parados (269), and himBelf 
 threatens to harass his adversary with his swaggerings : wepteXtf a' dXofoj'eiais, 
 290. 
 
 ^ Schol. on KnigMs, is : xiKaWeV . . iKoXdKcve ydp. 50, toDto, 07;(ri, KoXaicciJwv 
 ^Xeye t6v Atj^iov, etc. 
 
 ' 59: ^vp<rLvr]v l^w I SeiTrcoOi/Tos Ferris Airocro^iT rois pijro/jas. Athen. vi. 257 b, 
 describing the xiXa/ces in attendance on a yonng man, speaks of one as scaring off 
 the flies. Cleon is said to perform the same service to the old jurymen in the 
 Wasps, 596 : KXiuv 6 XfKpaJiSd/uos . . . ^vXimi. Sid x^'P^s ^X^ '"'' ^as p^vlas 
 
 * For TrapdiriTos as an honourable title Athenaeus (vi. 234 c ff. ) cites various 
 authorities including a decree of Aloibiades in the Heraoleum at Kynosarges, 
 referring to the irapdiriroi who figured in Aristophanes' AoiroXeir. 
 
 ^ Athen. vi. 255 f. Cf. Eibbeck, Kolax, p. 5 ff. 
 
THE STOCK MASKS OF THE OLD COMEDY 167 
 
 families at Salamis, the Gerginoi and the Promalanges, of whom 
 the former acted as the King's Ears, picking up whatever they 
 could hear in pubUc places, while the latter sifted their reports.^ 
 From such base occupations the Max acquired his menial humiUty^ 
 of character, which shrinks from no dirty work, as it ministers to 
 the pride and vanity of its royal patron.^ 
 
 At Athens, Eibbeck ^ remarks, the term kolax seems to have 
 been introduced not long before Aristophanes' time. Prominent_^ 
 citizens of great wealth, like Kimon and the Syracusan Kephalos, 
 kept open house, and no doubt were surrounded by a miniature 
 court of dependants, who had some of the character of the eastern 
 parasite. The type seems to have been fixed on the stage of Old 
 Comedy in the Kolahes of EupoUs (422 b. c), which had a whole 
 chorus of them, dancing attendance on the notorious son of 
 Hipponicus.^ In the Knights, the Athenian Demos is emphatically 4, 
 warned of its resemblance to a tyrant, and represented with traits 
 that might be borrowed from those Cyprian and Asiatic princes 
 described by Klearchos. Where the sovereign people is tyrant, 
 there the demagogue plays the mean and fawning part of courtier. 
 Aristotle * draws out the comparison at length. In the extreme 
 type of democracy, he says, where the decrees of the people, and not 
 the written constitution, are the final authority, demagogues make 
 their appearance, and the Demos becomes a monarch. Hence 
 kolakes are held in honour. The position of the Demos is analogous 
 to the tyranny of a sole ruler ; the demagogue is the counterpart 
 of the flattering courtier.^ This passage brings out that the figure^ 
 of the kolax comes from a monarchical and aristocratic type of 
 society. The mask is transferred to the flattering demagogue by^ 
 way of analogy. Probably it came into Attic Comedy from the 
 
 ^ Klearchos says : Trii> KoKaKelav ravreici woulv to, ijOr] tSsv koKAkuv Kara^povriTtKuv 
 6vTuiv tQv irepl airoifs . . . ffTjfieiov d^ rd Taz^ {jTO/z^veiv elddras oTa ToXfJLWffi. Td d^ 
 Tuv KoKaKevoiUvuv ifupvaoinivuv Tjj'/coXaKeijt, xaiii/ous koX Kevois ttoiowto (?), irivTOiv 
 iv {jirepoxv ""a/)' airoh iiroXa/i^dveaSai, KarajKevdl^cadai, Athen. vi. 255 D. 
 
 " Kolax, p. 9. 
 
 3 Mein., Comici, i. 135. 
 
 * Politics, Z (A), iv. 3ff., 1292a, 4ff. Ribbeok, Kolax, p. 10. 
 
 5 i d' odv ToiovTos S^/jlos, &t£ /xdvapxes &v, fT/rei jiovapxelv Sia rb jxtj &pxe(T6ai. iirb 
 vifiov, Kal yberai 5£0-n-OTi.K6s, liVre ol KdXaKes IvTi/wi, xal itrTtv 6 Srip.os oBtos iviXo-^ov 
 Tuv novapxiSiv T-T? TvpavvlSi. Sib Kal rb ^Bos rb airb . . . Kal 6 dvp.ayoyyb<: Kal 6 
 K6\ai ol airol Kal&viXoyov. Knights 1111, ffi A^/ie /caX^i' 7' ?xets | i-pxiv, bre irAvra 
 &v\ep(»Troi. SeSlaul a' (ba\irep &vSpa Tipavvov. \ dXV eiirap&yayoi d \ eaTrcvbficpis tc 
 Xai\peis KiiawaTdi/ieyos. ... 
 
168 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 stage of Epicharmus and the courtly society of Syracuse. Epi- 
 charmus, in his Hofe or Wealth,^ has aheady a full-length picture 
 of the Parasite, that humbler variety of kolax who earned a place 
 at the tables of the great by making fun and submitting to every 
 sort of indignity. 
 
 The passage quoted above from the prologue of the Knights refers 
 to the great instance of Cleon's alazoneia — that boast which the 
 sober Thucydides calls ' mad,' though he has recorded its success.^ 
 When Cleon undertook to capture the Spartans at Sphacteria 
 within three weeks, and did so, he was bitterly attacked. Thucy- 
 dides makes out that his success was due to luck ; * Aristophanes 
 represents him as stealing the palm of victory from Demosthenes, 
 who had done all the hard work.* In this respect he is like the 
 Impostors who claim an unmerited share of the feast in so many 
 Aristophanic plays. His fate at the end of the Knights, as we have 
 seen, is r.lmost identical with that of the typical Impostor of the 
 Plutus.^ 
 
 82. The absence of individual characterisation 
 
 Of all these major Impostors with historical names — Lamachus, 
 Socrates, Euripides, Aeschylus, Agoracritus, Cleon — the only one 
 represented by anything Hke a recognisable portrait is Cleon. It 
 is just in this case, too, that Aristophanes expKcitly says that the 
 mask worn by the actor was not a portrait of the demagogue's 
 real features.* Why not ? The excuse that no costumier could 
 be found who was willing to make anything so terrific as a portrait- 
 mask of Cleon, is a joke and not to be taken Kterally. As Aristo- 
 phanes says, Cleon ' will be recognised anyhow.' The identity 
 
 ' Frag. 34, 35, Kaibel. Athen. vi. 235 B. 
 
 ^ Thuc. iv. 39, 3, Kal toO KX^wcos Kalirep /iai>i.iiSr}s ottra ^ lnr6(7x«ns iriptj. Sohol. 
 on Knights, 76, ird\iv ttjs XliiXov /i^ynvrjTai, iird 6 KWwc iv air-j s-vvex^s ^XafoveiJtTo. 
 ' Cf. F. M. Gornford, Thucydides MytUsloricm (London, 1907), chaps, vi. and 
 vii. 
 * Knights, 54, 1200, etc. 
 
 ' See above, p. 151. Knights, 1401, kIlk tuv ^aXavelav tUtiu t6 "KoirpLov. Plut. 
 951, Just Man: Kal ix-qv, iveiSii rijp jroi'OTrXfoj' rijv in^v \ fxw /SaSffets, els ri 
 ^aXaveiov rp^e, | lireir' iKct Kopv(pam iffrriKi^s 64poV | Kal iyOi yap eCxov ttJi- a-Taa-tP 
 Tairriv vori. 
 ° Knights, 230, Kal ii^ SiSid'' oi yip iariv i^riKaaixAvos. 
 iirb ToS S^oi;s y&p airbv oiBels ij6e\e 
 Tuv CKsvoiroidv ehdirai, Tivnis ye /x^i/ 
 yvu(rffi^(TeTai' t6 ykp Biarpov Se^iliv. 
 
THE STOCK MASKS OF THE OLD COMEDY 169 
 
 of the Paphlagonian is transparent ; indeed,, he is actually named 
 later in the play (976). The addition of a portrait-mask could 
 add nothing whatever to any danger there might be to the author 
 or producer of the Knights. I unders"tand this passage to mean, 
 not that portrait-masks were usual in the Old Comedy,^ but that 
 the Paphlagonian's character is so exceptionally Uke the real Cleon 
 that the audience might expect to see Cleon's actual features. They 
 are reassured by being told that nothing so frightful is to be 
 anticipated.^ 
 
 If Cleon's features were not reproduced, much less would there 
 be any point in having a portrait-mask for any other of these 
 characters with historical names ; for, as we have seen, the 
 individual characteristics of the actual men are not brought upon 
 the stage. The clearest case is ' Socrates.' Is it likely that the 
 actor would be dressed in the well-known Silenus-like visage and 
 figure of Socrates, when almost everything he had to say and do 
 was notoriously foreign to the real philosopher's nature and pur- 
 suits ? So again is it with Euripides. Nearly all the personal 
 jokes at his expense — his greengrocer mother, his unfaithful wife, 
 
 ^ That the Old Comedy had portrait-masks is alleged by Pollux, iv. 143, and 
 PlatoniuB v. Siacfi. KOifj,. 13, iv fih yap ry irdXaig, eficafoc ret Trpoa-airela rots KUfUfi- 
 SoviJ.ivoi.1, Xva irplv n xal Tois iiwoKpiTO-i elTeiv o Kup,ifSoiiievoi ex ttjs o/iOiirT/Tos riji 
 6\j/eus KardS-riXos ■»• But this statement is coupled with the absurd remark that 
 in the Middle and New Comedies the masks were specially made not to look 
 like any human beings at all, for fear that they should by chance resemble some 
 'Macedonian official.' The New Comedy masks, as any one can see, represent 
 certain stock characters with definite traits of temperament, conventionally 
 expressed by exaggeration of feature. No 'Macedonian official' could have 
 been such a fool as to think that any individual was pointed at in the irate 
 fathers, prodigal sons, pandars, etc., of this Comedy of manners ; or, if he had 
 thought so, the distorted features of the mask would not have protected the 
 author. 
 
 2 Cleon's mask may have been specially copied from representations of 
 Typhon, to whom he is repeatedly compared : Knighta, 511, the Chorus say of 
 Aristophanes yeyyaiws vpbs rbv Ti;0S xapfl Kal tt)v ipiii\r,i>. Typhon causes bad 
 winds ; so does 6 Ua4>Uta<' (Paphlagon) ; Knights, 430 ff. {Ckon), ?|eiM' y^P <"»■ 
 \ap.Trpbs ■fjSr; Kal ptiyas KaBUis, \ opioO Taparroiv ttjv re yw ical TW BdXaTTav eiKTJ 
 kt\., where the metaphor is drawn out at some length. He bursts ont m 
 thunder {iXatrl^povr' dpappr,ypt,s iirr,, 626), and raises a wave before him {CiBCv 
 KoKbKviia Kal Tap&TTWv Kal kvk&v, 692) ; his 'smoky boastings' {■^oXoKoi^i^lai, 696) 
 might recall the ^oUa^ Kepavvh or the volcano. The conqueror of Typhon was 
 either Zeus or Heracles, to whom Aristophanes likens himself m his conflict 
 with Cleon, at Wai>ps, 1030 ff., where Cleon is a complicated monster with a 
 'hundred flatterers' heads,' like snakes curling round his head. As flatterer, 
 Cleon is compared to the dog. KnigUi, 416, 1017, 1023, 1030 fi'. 
 
170 THE OEIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 and so forth — were false and known to be false by every one in the 
 theatre. If Aristophanes had meant to put the real Socrates or the 
 real Euripides on the stage, he would have drawn the character 
 with that amount of distorted resemblance which is necessary to 
 caricature. Then the visible features might or might not be added, 
 according to the prevaihng convention of the stage. But, in point 
 of fact, his Socrates and Euripides are not caricatures at all : so 
 far from there being an exaggerated likeness, there is no likeness 
 ^whatever. The names are affixed to stock characters with tradi- 
 j_tional traits. It is incredible that the visible masks should have 
 been reahstic ; particularly if we remember that the original purpose 
 of the mask was probably to disguise the performer's face,^ and its 
 later use was to express the traits of the stock character represented. 
 The whole history of ancient portraiture, which hardly presents 
 a single reahstic hkeness before the end of the fifth century, is against 
 the portrait-mask in Old Comedy. 
 
 Shakespeare's treatment of Sir John Falstafi is a parallel case. 
 Of the real Sir John FastoM, the ' magnificent knight ' who 
 bequeathed estates to Magdalen College, Oxford, Fuller ^ writes : 
 ' To avouch him by many arguments vahant is to maintain that the 
 sun is bright.' He adds that ' the stage has been overbold with 
 his memory, making him a thrasonical puff, and emblem of mock 
 valour.' The truth is, of course, that this great comic figure owes 
 his character and features, his wit, his cowardice, his devotion to 
 sack and to Doll Tearsheet, even his baldness and round belly, 
 not to the valiant benefactor of Magdalen but to the stock mask 
 of the Bufioon, with some borrowings, jjarhaps, from that 
 thrasonical puff, the Boastful Soldier.^ Shakespeare did not send 
 his property man to study portraits of Sir John Fastolf. Neither, 
 we may be sure, did Aristophanes tell his mask-maker to copy the 
 features of Euripides, or Aeschylus, or Lamachus. We must imagine 
 all these historical characters wearing masks conventionally belong- 
 
 1 Cf. Demoath., Falsa Legal., 433 : toO Karapirov Kvpij^luvos, Ss ey rais TrofiwaU 
 &vev ToO vpocilnrov KUiidj^ei, 
 
 2 Worthies of England (1811), ii. p. 131. 
 
 ' Cf. Eeich, Der Mimas, i. p. 863 ff. I do not know whether the analogy has 
 been noticed between the scenes in Henry IV. where the Chief Justice 
 expostulates with Falstaff, and the episode in some versions of Punch and Judy, 
 in which the Chief Justice appears, after the discomfiture of Jack Ketch, to 
 arrest Punch, and is derided in the usual way. See Payne Collier, p. 89 note. 
 
THE STOCK MASKS OF THE OLD COMEDY 171 
 
 ing to the stock types they severally assume— the Boastful Soldier, 
 the Learned Doctor, the Cook, the Parasite. 
 
 83. The Age and Sex Types : the Old Man and the Young Man 
 
 When we look at the remaining stock characters of the Old 
 Comedy, four other types emerge, forming a group characterised 
 not by profession, but by sex and age — the Old Man, the Young i 
 Man, the Old Woman and the Young Woman. We must consider 
 the members of this group in turn. 
 
 We have already seen how the hero of an Aristophanic play is 
 normally an old man at the beginning, who turns at the end into 
 a young man, the radiant bridegroom of the Exodos.^ We have 
 also explained this extraordinary rejuvenation motive by reference 
 to our supposed ritual in which the Old Year is transformed into the 
 New. The ritual and the corresponding legends show us that, accord- 
 ing as the symbolism varies, the Young Man may either be the Old 
 Man restored to youth, or a distinct person, his successor. In the 
 latter case, the Young King (Pelops, Oedipus) kills the Old, and 
 takes the throne with the hand of his wife (Jocasta) or daughter 
 (Hippodameia). In the plays of Aristophanes, besides the normal 
 type with the rejuvenated Old Man, we also find in the Clouds 
 and Wasps the other possibility, the Father and Son. Even here 
 the rejuvenation motive is still prominent. Strepsiades tries to 
 assimilate the culture, Philocleon the manners, of the younger 
 generation. A further interesting point is that in both plays the 
 principal Agon is between Father and Son. The son beats his 
 father in the Clouds, and all but kills him in the Wasps. 
 
 What here concerns us, however, is that the Young Man is, so 
 to say, identical with his reformed and rejuvenated parent. He 
 ia everytHng that his old father is not at the outset, and tries to^ 
 become at the end. The Young Man has not, in fact, a distinct 
 traditional mask, but is made up of traits opposed to his father's^ 
 In one of the two cases, the very names-Philocleon, Bdelycleon 
 -are coined to symboUse the contradiction. If Strepsiades is 
 
 1 As the hero always leaves the stage before this transformation, it is probable 
 that an actual change of mask was usual. It seems certain m the cases of 
 Demos and Pisthetairos {Birds, 1723), whose entries are announced beforehand, 
 so that they may be instantly recognised with their new features. 
 
172 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 a stingy rustic, Pheidippides must be an elegant spendthrift.^ 
 PLilocleon is a morose old boor ; so Bdelycleon is haughty ^ and 
 fashionable. The traits of the Old Man, on the other hand, recur 
 _^ so regularly as to show that we have to do with a stock mask. The 
 description of Demos in the prologue of the Knights is typical.' 
 ' Our master,' says the slave, ' is a boor in temper, who Uves on 
 beans, a testy and morose old man, and rather deaf.' He is super- 
 stitious and easily deceived by his cunning slave, whose slanders 
 cause him to beat the other slaves unmercifully.* The Old Men 
 in the remaining plays are substantially the same type, with one or 
 another trait thrown into reUef as the subject demands. 
 
 Rusticity and boorishness (arypoiKLu) are a constant feature. 
 Dikaiopolis is a countryman, hating the town to which the war 
 has confined him. His boorishness is softened for the sake of 
 contrast with the Acharnians, who have all the more rough and 
 unpleasant features of the mask. Strepsiades, Uke Georges Dandin, 
 is the rustic who has married a city madam.^ His son complains 
 of his moroseness.® He is thrifty to the point of stinginess — 
 another fixed trait of this mask— and wished to call his son Pheido- 
 nides, on the principle of the Shandean Hypothesis. He beats 
 his slave for putting too large a wick in the lamp.'' His superstition 
 
 ' Cf. Arg. I. to Clouds : vpe(r0uTTis yip iaTiv AypoiKO! ix^ofievoi TritiSi dcmicoD 
 ^povy}Htt.Tos yefiovTi Kal t^s eiyevelas eh Tro\vTi\eiai> dTToXeXovjcoTi. 
 - Wasps, 135 : ^uv rpiirovs ippvcLy}xotxeiJ,vi,Kovs ti,v6.s. 
 ^ 40 : vi^v yap iaTi deaTrorris 
 
 dypoiKos ipyrfv, Kuo/iorpiif, i,Kp6,xo\o!, 
 Arjfios irvKviTris, SidKoKov yepbvnov 
 
 * 61: fSci Sk xp^l^ovs (o UaifAaydiv)' 6 Si yipav mfivWiq.. \ 6 5' aurov us opq. 
 liep-UKKoaKdra, | t^xov TeiroiT/rai. Tois yap li/Sov diyriKpus \ 'pevSrj SiapdWei. K^ra 
 IMSTtyoineea \ i]ficTs. The word irnKKoav is used again where the Paphlagonian 
 says he ia not afraid so long as ri toC S^/iou irpda-airov /i,aKKo$ KaBi)iJ.evov (376). 
 Neil remarks {ad loc.) : ' The look on the mask of Demos is foretold.' 
 
 ^ Glouds, 43 : Streps, i/iol yap Jjv iypoiKos tjSiittos /3(os . . . 
 
 lireir' ly-qiia M.eyaK\iom rod iieyaKXiovs 
 d5eX0i5^i' S.ypoiKos &v 4^ Atrreois. 
 
 * 35 : Pheid. irebr, ffl Trdre/p, 
 
 tI dvcTKoKaheiS ; 
 ' 56 : Servant. ^Xaioi' ijiuv ovk lve(7T' iv rtp Xi'xi'V. 
 
 Streps, ot/ioi' tI y&p /ioi rbv irbTTjv ^ttci \ixvov ; 
 
 3eDp' A9' IVo »c\di)S. 
 Servant. 5ia t( S^ra KXaiaofxai ; 
 
 Streps. Sri rSiv vaxeidv hcriBd.! BpvaWlSav. 
 This little episode seems designed to bring in the slave-beating motive. It is 
 repeated in the Parados of the Wasps, 248 ff. Cf. Silas, de Pcrsonarum, 113. 
 
THE STOCK MASKS OF THE OLD COMEDY 175 
 
 and credulity need no detailed illustration. Philocleon is the same 
 type, with the moroseness i and quick temper exaggerated to 
 waspishness. The bean-soup which he so enjoys in his private 
 law-court is a link between him and Demos, the ' eater of beans.' 2 
 It is the countryman's favourite diet. Trygaeus is more like 
 Dikaiopolis, a comparatively genial countryman,^ though capable 
 of hurUng strong language at Zeus for ' sweeping Hellas with the 
 besom of war.' Pisthetairos is DikaiopoUs again, only still more 
 genial and witty. 
 
 We need not pursue the series further. As we follow this 
 character through the plays, we see clearly enough why Demos 
 is the only old man who keeps nearly true to type, as the 
 morose, testy, old boor. In all the other plays we have traced him 
 through, the Old Man's part is the one which Aristophanes has 
 written for himself, no matter whether he acted it or not. Hence 
 it breaks through the traditional mask, and flowers with much 
 of the charm and genius of its creator, like the parts that MoUere 
 wrote for himself in his hghter plays. In the same way, Falstaff 
 and Mr. Pickwick, who were originally cast for the mask of the 
 Bald Fool, and designed to be no more than the cause that wit is 
 in other men, became witty in themselves, lovable, and even wise. 
 Instances hke these are the best measure we have for creative 
 genius. The stock mask can be defined in half-a-dozen adjectives, 
 which no more make a living character than half-a-dozen clothes 
 make a man. Any dullard can put a dummy inside them and make 
 it walk and talk upon the stage. In Aristophanes we can see the 
 dummy touched into life, and the features behind the mask working 
 with a play of expression very different from the traditional angry I 
 glare of the morose Old Man. 
 
 The Young Man, in the plays we possess, is a minor character. 
 He is never the hero. Overshadowed all through by his father, 
 he is eclipsed at the end, where the old man becomes the bridegroom 
 
 ^ 106, iirb SvaKoXlai, 942 ovk a3 ffi iraijet x^'^fris fi" Kal SiffKoXos, 873 
 (7Tpv<t>viv KOl Tpivivov ^8os, 883 iravffdfict'ov t^s SvaKoKlas aTrb riji dpy^s t^v &Ka\-q(l>r)v 
 
 2 Knights, 41 : Kva/wrpd^, of course, refers primarily to the beans used as 
 counters at elections ; but Dieterioh sees a secondary reference to the 0a/f^ of 
 Wasps, 814, and points to the analogy of Jean Potage, Hans Wurst, etc., and 
 other interesting associations, Pulcinella, p. 90. 
 
 ^ Pax, 190. He introduces himself to Hermes as Tpvyaios 'A$p.ovei!, &fjnrc\- 
 ovpyis 5ef lis, | o6 aVKOtfi&vrrii oiS' ipaariis irpayfiira;!. 
 
174 THE OEIGnsr OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 and enjoys the final triumph. The Young Man, of course, has a 
 long and brilliant future before him in later Comedy, where he will 
 have his revenge and throw his morose and stingy parent into the 
 shade. Into that tradition he will carry on his traits of superior 
 manners, fashionable tastes, and prodigahty. But in the Old 
 Comedy he seems to acquire these as the antithesis of his parent, 
 rather than to have a long tradition behind him. 
 
 84. The Old Woman and the Young Woman 
 
 The Young Woman, as we have seen, hardly appears at all in 
 Aristophanes, except as the mute person introduced to be the 
 bride at the end. She starts into being to pair off with the hero, 
 as suddenly as her bridegroom is transformed into a suitable mate. 
 A marriage there has to be, because it is the canonical ending 
 essential to the ritual of fertility ; but, as nothing in the plot leads 
 up to it, this female figure has to be conjured into existence just 
 in time to take her place in the Kdmos. We have indeed one hint 
 foreshadowing the romantic heroine, in the ' Young Woman ' of 
 the Ecclesiazusae who disputes the new legal claims of the Old 
 Woman to the attentions of the Young Man. But this incident 
 arises necessarily out of the plot. The Young Woman is no heroine, 
 and has no further part in the action. 
 
 In the two Women plays, the heroines, Praxagora and Lysistrata, 
 and their companions are married women, apparently in the prime 
 of life ; for Praxagora, disguised in male costume, is described by 
 an unsuspecting witness As ' a handsome youth with a fair skin.' ^ 
 They do not appear to be stock characters, but owe their existence 
 to the scheme of the plays, which demand a female protagonist. 
 The most that can be said is that they contribute some hints for 
 the shrews and termagants of later drama. 
 
 The Old Woman, on the other hand, though not a prominent 
 person in Aristophanes, is ruthlessly caricatured on conventional 
 lines. 2 Besides her wrinkles and other unpleasant physical traits, 
 she is regularly drunken and amorous, as well as shrewish. The 
 Paralasis of the Clovds gives us definite evidence that she was a 
 
 1 Eccles. 427. Lysistrata (591) speaks as a woman still young. When she 
 is called ypavs (506), it is only an insult, which has misled Suss, De Personarum, 
 125. 
 
 ^ See Siiss, De Personarum, 121 ff. 
 
THE STOCK MASKS OF THE OLD COMEDY 175 
 
 stock figure. Aristophanes there accuses Eupolis of having dragged 
 the ' drunken old woman ' into his Maricas in order that she might 
 dance the Jmrdax. He adds that EupoUs had stolen her from 
 Phryniohus, who had put her in the place of Andromeda in a 
 parody of the Perseus story. She seems to have figured in another 
 Comedy as the mother of Hyperbolus.^ 
 
 85. The list of Stock Masks in the Old Comedy 
 
 We have thus collected a Uttle gallery of stock masks : 
 
 Aa Old Man, a rustic, testy, morose, stingy, given to beating his 
 slaves. 
 
 An Old Woman, wrinkled and hideous, amorous and drunken, 
 who dances the kordax. 
 
 A Young Woman, a mute person, who appears only as bride in 
 the final marriage. 
 
 A Learned Doctor or Pedant, lean, pale, remote from the world 
 (Socrates, Euripides). 
 
 A Cook (AgoracrituS). 
 
 A Parasite (Cleon), probably borrowed from the Dorian tradition, 
 and the Mime of Epicharmus and his school. 
 
 A Swaggering Soldier (Lamachus, Aeschylus). 
 
 A Comic Slave, or pair of slaves (the two slaves in the Knights, 
 Wasps, Peace, etc. Xanthias in the Frogs, who offers in the prologue 
 to go through the traditional antics. The minor Bufioon (Euelpides, 
 etc.), of other plays may take his place, as attendant of the hero). 
 
 [The Impostor can hardly be called a stock mask. He is multi- 
 plied into an indefinite variety of professional types. These, again, 
 are not stock masks, but generalised from life. They all fill suc- 
 cessively one fixed role in the main action.] 
 
 Before considering this list further, we will glance at the masks 
 in the New Comedy and observe how this group of types Uves on in 
 the more compUcated and refined drama of ordinary life. 
 
 86. The Masks in the New Comedy 
 
 Pollux 2 has preserved a long Ust of the masks worn in the New 
 Comedy. They are classified under five heads: Old Men (9), 
 
 1 Clouds, 555 : irpoa-eels airrv ypaOv fiediai^v rod K6p5aKos otvex', ft" 
 ipiviX"^ iriiXai irewoliijx' , ^v Ti ktjtos HcrBicv. 
 and Schol. ad loe. ^ iv. 143. 
 
176 THE OEIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 Young Men (11), Slaves (7), Old Women (3), Young Women (14). 
 In each group there are minor gradations of age, and varieties of 
 complexion and feature, which conventionally represented differences 
 of temperament and character. If we look through this list and 
 pick out those that are also distinguished by their profession, we 
 shall find nearly all the stock masks we are now familiar with — all, 
 in fact, except the Learned Doctor. 
 
 Old Men. — There are two varieties of Pappos. The only old man 
 with a specified profession is the Pandar {nropvo^oa-Ko'i), who has 
 a bald forehead or pate, with crisp, curly hair, a long beard, the eye- 
 brows drawn together and one of them raised, a slight grin on his 
 lips, and the expression of a busybody. This figure, of course, 
 belongs to the romantic plots of New Comedy. 
 
 Young Men. — The Rustic youth (dypoiKo<i) has a dark complexion, 
 broad lips, snub nose, and hair cut in a ring. Next to him comes 
 the Swaggering Soldier (a-TparidTrj^ koI aXa^cov), whose special 
 characteristic is the hair which nods in a crest over his brow, giving 
 the mask its technical name, ' Shaken-over ' (eVto-eta-ro?).^ Oddly 
 enough (if we remember Xanthus and Melanthus), there are two 
 varieties : one dark {fii\a<;) with black hair, and one fair (^av66<i) 
 and more dehcate. Then come the Flatterer {Koka^) and the 
 Parasite {irapdaLTO';), both dark-skinned, hook-nosed, and luxurious. 
 They are only sUghtly distinguished : the Parasite by his crushed 
 ears and more cheerful expression, the Flatterer by brows drawn 
 up with a more malignant look. The Sicilian parasite makes a 
 third. 
 
 Slaves. — Among these are mentioned the two old Dorian masks 
 of the Henchman {Oepdiroav) or Coolc, Maison and Tettix. Both 
 are bald, but Maison is fair, Tettix dark, with a few black locks. 
 
 Old PFomew.— These are distinguished simply as the Lean, the 
 Fat, and the snub-nosed Housewife. 
 
 Young Tf omen.— Apart from the Maidservants, the only profes- 
 
 ^ The earlier meaning of iwia-eUiv is to ' shake something at or agaiiist some- 
 one,' to scare them. 11. iv. 167 : Zeis . . . avrbs Iffuro-elijcrij' IpefivTiv ai^Wa Troo-ii'. 
 Luc. Dial. Dear. xix. 1 : iinirelovaa rbv \b<j>ov iKirXJiTTei, /ic. We are reminded 
 of the apotropaic Gorgon masks, the oldest in the series of masks found in the 
 Artemisium at Sparta (Brit. Sch. Arm. xii. 1905-6, p. 338 and PI. x.-xii.). The 
 later masks are indubitably dramatic. It is quite possible that the terrific mask 
 of the Soldier developed directly from the Gorgon mask. Lamachus has the 
 Gorgon on his shield. If the Soldier is the Antagonist, he stands for the 
 apotropaic side of the ritual. 
 
THE STOCK MASKS OF THE OLD COMEDY 177 
 
 sional designation is that of the Courtesan, of whom there are six 
 varieties. 
 
 The only omission we noted — that of the Learned Doctor — is 
 made good by the fragments of the actual plays.^ The physician 
 can be traced through several poets of the Middle Comedy to the 
 Doctor {'larpof) of Philemon, the Parasitus medicus of Plautus, and 
 a fragment of Diphilus,^ where he promises his patient a speedy 
 cure — or death. We see him at his best in the Menaechmi of 
 Plautus, where he arrives after a studied delay; questions his guide 
 by the way with a parade of technical expressions ; is confident 
 of saving his patient before he has seen him ; when he does see 
 him, declares it to be a difficult case ; asks absurd questions for 
 his diagnosis ; looks solemn at the answers, talks much and does 
 nothing. He has lost no symptom of alazoneia. 
 
 The long-bearded and austere Philosopher, whose profession of 
 despising the world is consistent with a discriminating palate, also 
 figured in the New Comedy. The various minor types of quack 
 and charlatan, the diviners, sorcerers, and mendicant priests, are 
 known from the titles of plays in which they must have taken 
 a leading role. 
 
 Thus we can trace our old group of stock masks among the more 
 varied figures of the later Greek and Koman stage. We must now 
 turn back to Aristophanes and the evidence he suppUes which may 
 throw light upon their origin. 
 
 87. Aristophanes on ' Vulgar Comedy ' 
 
 In several passages Aristophanes, in the course of pointing out 
 his own superior merits, refers to certain stale tricks and characters 
 of what he calls ' vulgar Comedy ' {<j)oprLKr) Kajj^mUa).^ He makes 
 it clear that the Athenian pubHc was getting tired of these stereo- 
 typed antics, and he claims credit for giving Comedy a wider range, 
 a larger construction, and newer themes. 
 
 The first is from the speech of the Koryphaeus in the Parabasis of 
 
 the Clouds— a passage which is in substance a preface to the second 
 
 edition of a play unsuccessful in its original form. He maintains 
 
 that the Clouds is the wittiest {oro^mraT exeiv) of his comedies and 
 
 1 The evidence is collected by Legrand, Daos (Paris, 1910), p. 127 fl'. 
 
 ' Erag. 98. 
 
 » On the meaning of <l>opTiK6! of. Meineke, Comtci, i. 223. 
 
 M 
 
178 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 cost him the most pains ; yet it was defeated by a crew of 
 vulgarians.^ So much the worse for the wit of his audience ; but 
 still he will not desert the cause of the clever. So, like Blectra, 
 his Comedy comes now to seek the lost brotherhood of wit. 
 
 ' And see how modest she is. To begin with, she comes before 
 you not decorated with that broad, red-tipped thing of stitched 
 leather (the phallus), to raise a laugh among the children ; then, 
 there is no jeering at the Bald-head, no high-kicking Kordax ; and 
 the old man who speaks his lines shall not beat the bystander with 
 his stick to conceal the badness of his jokes. My Comedy does 
 not rush upon the scene with torches in her hands, screaming " lou ! 
 lou ! " ; she comes with full trust in herself and her verses. 
 
 ' Yet, for all that I am a poet of this stamp, I do not put on airs ; 
 I do not seek to cheat you by bringing the same old thing on the 
 stage again and again. No ; I show my wit by the fresh notions 
 I continually introduce, no two of them alike and all of them clever.' 
 
 The prologue of the next play, the Wasps, is in the same strain : 
 ' Come then,' says the slave Xanthias, ' I had better explain the 
 plot to the audience, with just these few hints by way of preface. 
 They must not expect from us anything so very tremendous ; but 
 still it shall not be laughter thieved from Megara. We have not 
 a brace of slaves scattering nuts from a basket to the audience ; 
 not Heracles cheated of his dinner ; nor again, yet another mauling 
 of Euripides ; nor shall we make another mincemeat of Cleon, 
 even if he has to thank pure luck for an aureole of victory. Ours 
 is a simple plot with a moral to it, not too clever for the likes of 
 you, but still wittier than Comedy of that vulgar sort.' 
 
 In the Parabasis of the Peace (734 fl.) the Leader claims blessings 
 on the poet : 
 
 ' For he alone has put an end to his rivals' everlasting jokes 
 about rags and warfare upon fleas ; he was the first to depose 
 and drive off the stage that Heracles of theirs, who kneads his cakes 
 or goes hungry ; he dismissed those runaway slaves, and deceitful 
 slaves, and slaves who get beaten on purpose that their fellow-slave 
 may crack a jest at their stripes and then ask : " Poor wretch, 
 what is the matter with your skin ? Has the whip invaded your 
 
THE STOCK MASKS OF THE OLB COMEDY 179 
 
 ribs in full force and devastated your back ? " He made away 
 vdth all this rubbish and vulgarity and low tomfoolery, and 
 created for you a. noble art, building high its towered walls with 
 fine verses and fine ideas and jokes not of the market-place.' 
 
 He adds that his satire did not fly at small game, but attacked 
 no less a monster than Cleon. 
 
 88. The Peloponnesian Mime and its derivatives 
 
 We here enter upon difficult and disputed ground, to traverse 
 which would lead us too far from the main purpose of this book. 
 The reader will have noticed the reference in the Wasps prologue 
 to ' a laugh stolen from Megara.' Similar expressions occur in 
 fragments of two other poets of the Old Comedy. Bcphantides ^ 
 says he is ' ashamed to make his play like a product of Megara.' 
 Eupohs, 2 Aristophanes' rival and qontemporary, speaks of a joke 
 as being brutal and dull, like a joke from Megara, that would only 
 draw a laugh from a child. Add to this Aristotle's statement that 
 the invention of Comedy was claimed by the Dorians. The 
 inhabitants of Megara in central Greece asserted that it arose 
 among themselves when their city became a democracy (about 
 600 B.C.) ; and their colonists in Sicily alleged that their poet 
 Epicharmus was a good deal earher than Chionides and Magnes, 
 (the great poets of the first generation of officially recognised 
 Comedy at Athens).' In support of this claim a tradition some- 
 where arose that Susarion, the reputed founder of Comedy, came 
 from Tripodiskos in Megara ; but Clement of Alexandria speaks 
 of him as belonging to Ikaria in Attica, and this is supported by the 
 Parian Marble.* Susarion, therefore, had better be left out of 
 account. If the Dorian claimants of Comedy could have pointed 
 
 ' Frag. 2 K : Me-ya/jiK^s | Kw/Ujidias gir/i' <oi)> SUi/j,' • -Qaxwhix-qv \ to Spdfia 
 MeyapiKiy iroety. See Kaibel, G. G. F. , i. 75 ; Meineke, Comici, i. 18 ff. 
 
 2 Tipo<xiri.\Ti.oi, frag. 244 K (Sohol. Wasps, 57) : rb irKanii! iaO^yks xai M^yapiKov 
 Kal tr(p6dpa \ tj/vxpi" ' yeXgi yap as op^s ra iraidla, 
 
 ■* Poetics, 3, 1448a, 29, 5i6 Kal ivrnroioOi'Tai. ttjs re rpayifiSlas Kal Trjs KoifUfdias 
 ol Aapieh' TTJs /iiv ykp KU/MiiSlas ol Meyapets o'i re ivraOBa (is M ttjs irap' avrois 
 dv/iOKparlas yevoiiivrii Kal ol ex SiKeXlas, ^KeWev yap fjv 'Eirixap/ios 6 ttoiijt^s ttoXXij; 
 irpdrepos &v Xiuvldov Kal MAyvTiTOS. 
 
 * For this point see Kaibel, G. G. F., i. p. 77. Marmor Parium, 39 (ed. 
 Jacoby, pp. 13, 105), d0' oi5 iv 'kB[,iv']ai.i Ka^ulMv xoM^s iTliBt, [arriJffivlTwv 
 wpii]Tui/ 'Ixapiiiav, eufidvTos 2ov(rapiavos, Kal S.e\ov MBri irpuTov IcrxiSulf] Aptnxob'] 
 Kal otyov fielTjptiT-fis. 
 
180 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 to him, they would not have had to fall back on Bpich^mus and 
 a very dubious etymology of the word ' Comedy.' ^ 
 
 The question whether the ' vulgar Comedy ' referred to by 
 Aristophanes came to Athens from Megara, or existed at both places 
 independently, is not of much importance here.^ What we can 
 make out from Aristophanes' own description is that it had certaic 
 stock masks and other pecuharities which are common to a burlesque 
 form of drama traceable at Megara, in the Peloponnese, and in Magna 
 Graecia. This variety of Mime flourished under the name of PhlyaTt 
 at Tarentum, whither it may have been originally imported by the 
 pre-Dorian settlers from Sparta.* It appears to have existed foi 
 centuries on the humble level of popular farce, probably extempo- 
 rised by the actors, and first reaching the height of written litera- 
 ture in the hands of Ehinthon, in the days of the first two Ptolemies, 
 
 The Tarentine Phlyax can certainly be affiliated to the type ol 
 performance known as Deikelon at the parent-city, Sparta. Oui 
 knowledge of this drama is very scanty. It was an early form 
 of Mime,* and evidently of a crude and popular character. Sosibius," 
 
 ^ Poetics, ibid. 
 
 '' In the next chapter we shall argue for an indigenous origin of Attic 
 Comedy. 
 
 ' Of. Bethe, Prolegomena, 49. Mr. Cook reminds me that one of the vases re 
 presenting scenes of the Phlyakes' drama (Wieseler, Denkm. ix. 14=Baumpi6ter 
 fig. 1828, figured also in Haigh's Attic Theatre, p. 155), shows an Agonhetyreei 
 Daidalos and Eneualios (both inscribed) who are fighting with spears anr 
 shields, in the presence of Hera (inscr.) seated on a throne and evidently to b( 
 the bride of the victor. Eneualios has the high-crested helmet of the Valiant 
 Soldier ; while Daidalos, the prince of ' Sophists,' may be taken as the Learnec 
 Doctor. Pauly-Wiss. s.v. Daidalos, 1995. 
 
 * Hesych. SlKr}\ov : irapd AdKwffi SlKrjKov, (pd^na, S^is, elSuXov, filiiyjiia, iBev xai 
 fjiifJioK6yos Trapd Ad/cwtJt deLKTjXUras^ Id. deiKTfKiKTai' fiLfnjral Trapa AdKojffL 
 Suid. Si/o)Xi(7TOV, Kal /u/niXSiV e1S6s iffri xai/iySfas, lis ip^<ri 2<ii<rtpws 6 AiKav. 
 Plut., Lac. Apoph., 212 7, KaWiirirtSas 6 deiKrjXlKTas' oStoi Sk AaKeSai/j^vtoi Toi: 
 fil/ious /caXoOo-t. This last passage makes it clear that the SclKriKoy was not a 
 puppet-play. 
 
 ^ Athen. xiv. 621 D : irapd 5^ AaKeSai/jiovloi! kiji/uktjs iraiSias tJk tis rplnro'. 
 TToXaiis, fit 07)(r4 Suirl/Sios, oiK 8,ya,v a-n-ovdtuos, itre 5<j Kav Toirots to Xirbv t^s ZirdpT?)! 
 /iETaSiwKO^Jirrjs. i/ufiuro ydp tk iv eiireXei tJ X^fei KX^WTOvris nvas irilipav i 
 ^tviKov larphv tommtI Xiyovra, u>s "AXefis iv HiavSpayopiionivrj . . . ^KaXoCi/To S^ o 
 Hendvres tt)i/ ToiaiTrfV ttoiJioi' Trapd to?s Ad/cwcri 5iK»;Xiff7-o(, ws &ii ris ax^voToioii eftri 
 KoX /u/itiTis. This passage has recently been discussed by Reich, Der Mimm 
 i. 231 ff. ; G. Thiele, Anfange d. griech. Komiidie, N. Jahrb. ii. (1902), 405 ff. 
 Schnabel, Kordax, 51 ff., whose theory of ritual theft is criticised by C. Frankel 
 Rhein. Mus. Ixvii. (1912), 94 ff. The further study of the masks found a 
 Sparta in the Orthia Sanctuary (B. S. A., xii. 3SS ff., and Plates x-xii) ma; 
 throw some light on the deikelon. 
 
THE STOCK MASKS OF THE OLD COMEDY 181 
 
 a Laconian writer of about 300 B.C., describes it as ' an ancient 
 form of comic entertainment of no very dignified character.^ ' A 
 performer/ he says, ' would represent, in vulgar language (dialect 
 may be meant), people stealing fruit, or a foreign doctor saying 
 the sort of things that Alexis, following this tradition, puts in his_ 
 Mandragorizomene.' In the speech which he goes on to quote from 
 Alexis' comedy, some character remarks that we will never listen 
 to a doctor who calls his drugs and implements by their names 
 as pronounced in our own dialect ; but if he puts on a foreign accent, 
 we all think him a wonder. It has often been remarked that here 
 we seem to have our earliest ghmpse of the stock mask worn by the 
 Learned Doctor, the remotest ancestor of the Italian Dottore, of 
 Doctor Caius, and of the Medecin malgri lui?- 
 
 Another branch was established as early as the sixth century 
 at Syracuse. Here the creator of the literary Mime was Bpi- 
 charmus, a contemporary of Aeschylus, who achieved such fame 
 that in Plato's time he could be called the Eng of Comedy.^ 
 This brilhant tradition undoubtedly affected Comedy at Athens. 
 Aristotle seems to date its influence from the time of Krates, 
 about a generation earUer than Aristophanes. But this highly 
 developed literary Mime is not now in question. It is certainly 
 not what Aristophanes means by ' vulgar Comedy.' To study that 
 we must go back behind literary developments to the popular 
 farces, and first of all see what Aristophanes' own expressions 
 imply. 
 
 89. The Stock Masks in ' Vulgar Comedy ' 
 
 One thing is transparently clear. This ' vulgar Comedy ' possessed 
 stock masks. There is the Comic Slave in two varieties : the stupid 
 slave whose function is to get beaten, and the cunning slave who 
 passes on to him the beatings he himself has deserved, and makes a 
 mock of his writhings. There is the Bald-head— the stupidus calms 
 —a mask under which I suspect that Aristophanes himself, whom 
 
 1 Of Siiss, De Persmarum, 29. The imitation of dialect also appears in the 
 dance of the KoCpa. A,X.d5es, who mimicked the speech of the pilgrims at Delos, 
 hvmn Apoll. 162. The most delightful specimen of the Learned Doctor s ]argon 
 is the final Intermedt of the Mala.de Imaginaire: ' SavanUss%rm Doctore^, \ 
 medicvnae Profesmres, \ qui hie assemblaii esHsj \ M vos, altri mess^ores, etc. 
 
 2 Plato, Theaet., 152 B : rwv ttoi^tSp o! S.Kpoi rr,, ,roi^<re«s e/car^pas, /cc;/t<i>5ms 
 fiiv ''ErlxapiiO!, rpayii-Slas d^ "O/xripo^. 
 
182 THE OKIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 Nature had afflicted with baldness at a very early age, was ridiculed 
 by Eupolis. Baldness is a fixed trait of the Parasite.^ There is 
 the glutton Heracles, cheated of his dinner — a constant figure in 
 Dorian Mime and in the Satyr plays, the two forms in which travesty 
 of the heroic saga flourished all through their history. He figures 
 in the Alcestis of Euripides, where, precisely because he is not 
 cheated of his dinner, he saves the situation. Aristophanes uses 
 him in the Birds. ^ Finally, there is the irascible Old Man, who 
 beats any handy bystander with his stick. To these we may add 
 from the Megarian tradition the Cook or Henchman {depaTrmv).^ 
 The name attached to this mask was ' Maison.'' Tradition also says 
 that this was the name of an actor. There is here no contradiction. 
 In the history of the Italian Commedia deW arte there are famous 
 instances of celebrated actors who went throughout life by the 
 name of the mask in which they played.* Other obscurer masks 
 are Myllus, Acco, and Macco.^ This, then, is one essential trait 
 common to the ' vulgar Comedy ' which Aristophanes professed 
 to shake off and the popular farces of Megara, the Peloponnese, 
 and Magna Graecia : they all possessed a set of stock masks. 
 Analogy warrants the supposition that they started with a small 
 group of these fixed types, to which others were then added by the 
 genius of individual actors, as we know to have happened in the 
 Commedia dell' arte. 
 
 Aristophanes also mentions two other features which Unk the 
 ' vulgar Comedy ' to the Peloponnesian Mime — the Kordax and 
 the leathern phallus worn by the actors. As these are not relevant 
 to our present discussion we shall pass over them briefly. The 
 Kordax has been discussed at length by Schnabel,* who has identified 
 certain figures in this dance, described in hterature, with the poses 
 of three actors pictured on a red-figured amphora found in an 
 Etruscan grave at Corneto. He has further identified the roles 
 
 1 Dieterioh, Pukinella, 38 ; Sohnabel, Kordax, 21. 
 
 ' Also in the lost Aiolosikon, and probably in the Daitahis. Cratinus also 
 (frag. 308) complains that the repetition of this motive made life not worth 
 living. The Scholiast on Peace 740, who records this, mentions as other tedious 
 motives Ai6m<ros deL\6s (used in the Frogs) Kal /uoix^s Zeis. 
 
 ' Athen. xiv. 659 A. Kaibel, C. O. F., i. p. 76. 
 
 * There is also the well known case of T. Maccius Plautus, whose name is 
 borrowed from Maccus, the buffoon of the Atellane farces; Leo, Plautin. 
 Forsch. 71. Dieterich, Pukinella, 84 and 86 gives other parallels. 
 
 = See Dieterioh, Pukinella,, 38 ff. « Kordax, 1910. 
 
THE STOCK MASKS OF THE OLD COMEDY 183 
 
 of these actors as the Parasite, the Baldheaded Fool, and the Comic 
 Slave. The dance itself is linked with the Peloponnesian cult of 
 Artemis, the ancient Goddess of fertiUty. 
 
 The question whether the actor in fifth-century Athenian Comedy 
 wore an artificial phallus as part of his uniform dress has been the 
 subject of a long controversy .^ Without going into all the argu- 
 ments for and against, I shall be content to express my own view. 
 Aristophanes' professed renunciation of this article of costume 
 seems to imply definitely that it was familiar on the Attic stage, 
 and that the public were getting tired of jokes about it. His 
 professions must not be taken too seriously, for not only does he 
 in the extant plays use all the other ' vulgar devices ' which he 
 condemns, 2 but the use of the phallus itself seems to me certain 
 in the case of some of his own characters.^ The probable con- 
 clusion seems to be that it had been a traditional part of the actor's 
 dress, as it is of the Phlyakes', and that Aristophanes, and perhaps 
 Eupolis too, were trying to get rid of it, but did not altogether 
 succeed. No doubt it was still popular with the less refined part 
 of their audience, and it had behind it a religious tradition. Our 
 own hypothesis that the first protagonist was Phales himself 
 squares well with these conclusions. 
 
 90. The Stock masks in the Atellane farce 
 
 The group of stock masks is likewise an essential feature of the 
 Atellane farces, performed in the old Oscan dialect by the citizens 
 of Atella in Campania, and transplanted in the third century B.C. 
 to Kome. So far as we know, the characters in these plays never 
 had personal names, but were always called after their mask. 
 The chief character was Maccus, a name not to be separated from 
 
 ^ The dispute may be followed through the writings of Korte, Loeschoke, 
 Bethe, Thiele, and C. Frankel mentioned in the Bibliography. I wish here to 
 protest against the deliberate omission of the artificial phallus in the illustra- 
 tions in Haigh's A ttic Theatre,^ 257, though it is mentioned in the text. This 
 garbling of soientifio evidence (in the interests of whom or what ?) seems to me 
 indefensible. 
 
 a So explicitly Sohol. on Glouds, 542, lariov Si Sti irdpra S(ra Slv \iyv els iavrbv 
 retvei. rois ixh yd-p <j>a\riTai elfffyayev iv rri Avffi<rTp6.TTi, rbv 5k xSpSaKa ii> toii 
 2<pri^l, rois 5k 0oXok/)oi>s iv Wp'^vv, -r^" ^^ vpea^driiv iv 'Opvin, rhs 5k S?5as Kal t5 loi 
 iv Ne^^Xois roirpuToy. The note is not well-informed, but the genera! point is 
 true. 
 
 3 See above, p. 20. 
 
184 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 the Greek Mukku).^ He is the stwpidus of the Mime. A second 
 was Bucco, whose large cheeks betokened, it would seem, folly- 
 even more than greed. ^ Third comes the Old Man, Pappus (in 
 Oscan, Casnar),^ a name borrowed from Greek Comedy or from 
 the Silenopappos, who is the constant stock mask in the Satyr plays. 
 The fourth is Dossennus, the ' hunch-back," who is none other than 
 the Learned Doctor. He played a chief part in the Philosophia of 
 Pomponius, and appeared as a schoolmaster in the same author's 
 Maccus as a Virgin. The passing stranger is bidden to read his 
 ' wisdom ' in his epitaph quoted by Seneca.* 
 
 To these four Dieterieh, by an ingenious combination, has added 
 Cicirrus, the ' cock.' At a dinner-party on Horace's journey to 
 Brundisium, the guests of Cocceius were entertained by a match 
 in abuse between a scicrra, Sarmentus, and an Oscan, Messius, 
 who is called a cicirrus.^ Hesychius ^ glosses this word as meaning 
 ' cock.' Now, the cock lent its features — its comb, its hooked 
 beak, its feathers — to various types of Alazon : it symbolised, 
 in fact, any type of ' coxcombry.' But, above all, the cock was 
 a fighter. The Agon of Greek Comedy is several times compared 
 
 ' The derivative jiaxKoav is twice used in the Knights, once of Demos (62), 
 once of the people whom he personifies, 395, Paph. oi diSoix ijicii, ?io! cLv ^ rb 
 pov\e\n-/ipiov \ Kal rb toS S^q/xov TrpbffUTOV /laKKoq KaBiiixevov. For these masks see 
 Dieterieh, Pulcinella, 84 if., and Marx in Pauly-Wissowa, s.v. Atdlanae fabulae. 
 ^ Apul. de mag. 81 (Helm) omnes isti quos nominaui . . . si cum hoc una 
 Eufini fallacia contendantur, macci prorsus et huccones uidebuntur. Plaut, 
 Bacch. 1088 stvlti ttolidi fatui fungi iardi blenni biKcones. Script, physiogn. i. 
 412, 7 (Forster), al Se Xiav fiaxpai {Tapeiai) ip\vi,puv Kal /iOTaioX67u;'. The fat 
 cheeks are borrowed from the pig, who in Greece stands for stupidity (a/iaSla). 
 
 ^ Varro, Ling. Lat. vii. 29, item significant in Atellanis cdiquot Pappum senem, 
 quod Osci Casnar appellant. 
 
 * Ep. xiv. 1 (89), 7 : Sapientia est quam Graeci ao<l>lav uocant. hoc uerho 
 Eomani quoque utebantur . . . quod et togatae tibi antiquae probabunt et inscriptus 
 Dossenni monumento titulus : 
 
 Hospes resiste el sophian Dossenni lege. 
 '■ Hor. Sat. i. 5, 51 ff. : 
 
 nunc mihi paucis 
 Sannenti scurrae pugnam Messique cicirri 
 Musa uelim memores, et quo patre natus uterque 
 Contulerit litis : Messi clarum genus Osci . . . 
 Dieterieh,' Fu^cineKa, 94, adds that if Cicirrus is a name, it must have been a 
 cognomen from the stage, as Maoous and Dossennus were names of historical 
 persons (ibid. p. 84). 
 ^ Hesych. ; Klxippof iXeKrpiiay. KiVica' dXexropfs. kIkkos' iXcRTpviiv, kX^ttjs. 
 
THE STOCK MASKS OF THE OLD COMEDY 185 
 
 to a cock-fight : i a cock-fight is sculptured on the chair of the 
 priest of Dionysus in the Athenian theatre. A vase from Lower 
 Italy 2 shows us two comic actors, armed with spear and shield, 
 marching one behind the other. The leader is a handsome youth, 
 crested with what looks like an enormous cock's comb ; his follower 
 is a hideous dwarf with the prominent belly and phallus of the 
 Phlyax. He too has huge feathers standing upright on his hehnet. 
 The youth is manifestly a miles gloriosus, and he reminds us of the 
 terrific crest of Lamachus.^ Putting all these facts together, we 
 may perhaps conjecture that the Oscan Cicinus figured in this 
 character in the Atellane plays. At any rate we may be sure that 
 he was some kind of Impostor. It is curious that he should be 
 pitted against a Buffoon {scurra) in the after-dinner dialogue at 
 the house of Cocceius. 
 
 91. The Affinities of these forms of drama 
 
 If we now tabulate the lists of stock masks in the ' vulgar Comedy ' 
 repudiated by Aristophanes, Aristophanes' own plays, and the 
 Atellane farces, the results show a verv close resemblance : 
 
 Vulgar Comedy. 
 
 Aristophanes. 
 
 Atellane Farce. 
 
 Comic Slave. 
 
 Comic Slave and minor 
 Buffoon. 
 
 Maccus [buffoon). 
 
 
 Learned Doctor. 
 
 Dossennus. 
 
 Cook (Megarian Maison). 
 
 Cook. 
 
 
 
 Soldier. 
 
 (Cicirrus t) 
 
 Baldhead (Parasite). 
 
 Parasite. 
 
 Bucco (?) 
 
 Old Man. 
 
 Old Man. 
 
 Pappus. 
 
 Old Woman. 
 
 Old Woman. 
 
 Young Woman (mute). 
 
 
 ' E.g. Knights, 496, and the two Reasons in the Clouds (Schol. ad v. 889, 
 inroKeivTUt iTl r^s ffKTjvijs iv ttXcktois oIkIckols o! A6701 SIktiv ipvWuv yuaxi/ifoi). 
 Cf. Dieterioh, Ptdcindla, 242. 
 
 " Figured by Dieterioh, Fulcinella, 2.39, after Tischbein, Colleciion of 
 Engravings from Ancient Vases of Sir W. Hamilton, ii. Plate 57. Compare also 
 Mt^e. Birds, 1364, where Pisthetairos arms the young man with the spur and X60os 
 of the 000k and sends him oflf to fight in Thrace. 
 
 3 Ach. 575 : a h-i-ii^arx! fl/'"'. ''"'' Xi^wK koX twv X^xw. Dikaiopolis borrows a 
 feather, asking if it comes from a ' Boastard ' : Spa KOfiTa\a.Kieov ; Sohol. ad v. 
 589 : /iaTMOKdiiirov xal KO/iTriiSovs if rip Kavxa<x9<ti. Tapeirolniire di Kal irapiTr'Kaa-ev 
 Si/0/J.a SpviSos, Sia to KO/iiraa-TTiv etvai top Ad/mxov. 
 
186 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 Many writers have speculated as to the possibility of an historic 
 connection between the Atellane plays and the Commedia dell' 
 arte of modern Italy, especially the Neapolitan plays which are 
 still in vogue in the very district which contains Atella.^ Cautious 
 scholars limit themselves to pointing out the extraordinarily close 
 resemblance of the two forms. Among the bewildering variety of 
 local personages in the modern ItaHan plays, some of the principal 
 stock masks of our list emerge : 
 
 The Buffoon : Pulcinella, Arlecchino, etc. 
 
 The Dottore. 
 
 The Capitano : Capitan Matamoros, Capitan Fracassa, etc. 
 
 The Old Man : Pantalone. 
 
 In this form of drama also we have the phenomenon on which 
 we have laid stress in this chapter : a group of stock masks, the 
 members of which appear in all sorts of comic situations, and take 
 on the traits of appropriate professional or social types. Thus the 
 plays of Carlo Sigismondo Capece (born in Eome 1652) included 
 Pulcinella podestd, Pulcinella negromante, Pulcinella gravida, 
 Pulcinella finta statua, which are exactly Uke the titles of Atellane 
 plays : Maccus miles, Maccus sequester, Maccus virgo, Bucco aucto- 
 ratus, Bucco adoptatus, Pappus praeteritus, etc.^ The plays of 
 Aristophanes are, of course, not to be classed under the same head 
 — the presence of a Chorus is a marked point of difference — but 
 it should now be clear that they have strong affinities. Some of 
 the comedies would not be unrecognisable, if we re-named them 
 with titles on the same pattern : 
 
 The Old Man as peacemaker (Acharnians). 
 
 The Parasite and the Cook as demagogues (Knights). 
 
 The Doctor as philosopher (Clouds). 
 
 The Old Man as juryman (Wasps). 
 
 The Old Man as Bellerophon (Peace). 
 
 The Old Man as founder of a city (Birds). 
 
 The Soldier and the Doctor as poets (Frogs). 
 
 This nomenclature would, of course, overemphasise the stock 
 masks ; but it serves to bring out the unquestionable fact that 
 Aristophanes' plays are deeply imbued in the tradition of a type 
 of drama which closely resembled the Greek farces of the Peloponnese 
 
 ' See Soherillo, La commedia dell' arte in Italia ; Dieterich, Pulcinella, 251 S. ; 
 Reich, Der Mimu^, i. QH^ ff. ^ Dieterich, Pulcinella, p. 262. 
 
THTD STOCK MASKS OF THE OLD OOMEDY 187 
 
 and Magna Graecia and their ItaUan congeners, and which appears 
 to be nothing else than that ' vulgar Comedy/ whether Megarian 
 or indigenous, which Aristophanes so ostentatiously repudiates. 
 He certainly protests too loudly ; but all that he really asserts is 
 consistent with the truth about his own plays. He has not broken 
 with the tradition altogether : the stock masks still obUterate the 
 real features of his Socrates, his Euripides, and the rest. But he 
 has got beyond the stale antics and lazzi, the wearisome jokes about 
 fleas and beaten slaves ; not that he cuts these out altogether, but 
 that he has added an astonishing wealth of ' new notions, no two 
 alike and all of them clever.' 
 
 92. How does such a set of stock masks originate ? 
 
 What are we to make of this ' vulgar Comedy ' ? It is now 
 universally assumed that it consisted solely of disconnected farcical 
 scenes, interspersed between the choral songs. I have aheady 
 questioned this current opinion, which hangs together with a false 
 view of the second part of the Aristophanic play. Partly, too, 
 it is suggested by the later development of the literary Mime, 
 those short realistic scenes which we find in mimes of Theocritus 
 and Herodas, and no doubt in their predecessor, Sophron, who gave 
 Plato the idea of writing philosophy in mime form. The ' vulgar 
 Comedy ' was evidently something much cruder — not a psycho- 
 logical study of social types in dramatic form, but a primitive 
 popular farce, no more subtle and refined than Punch and Judy. 
 Above all, the characters in it were not drawn direct from life, but 
 were stock masks, belonging, moreover, it would seem, to a definite 
 group with fixed relations to one another. 
 
 The question how such a group can originate is one that I have 
 never seen discussed. In the modern instances the origin appears 
 to be unknown ; and the question of their derivation, through 
 channels now only to be guessed at, from ancient types, is still 
 unsettled. It was possible for Marx, writing on the Atellane plays 
 before 1896,^ to dismiss any historic connection of the Commedia 
 dell' arte with the Oscan plays on the ground that similar figures 
 occur in the Turkish puppet-play, Karagoz. But since the publica- 
 tion of Eeich's researches in 1903 this consideration cannot be 
 
 1 In Pauly- Wisiowa, vol. ii. s.v. ' Atellanae fabulae.' 
 
188 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 taken as final, for Reich looks to Byzantium as a centre from which 
 the late Greek Mime could have spread to Italy on the one side 
 and to Moslem countries on the other. If, therefore, we are con- 
 sidering the independent origination of such types of drama, we 
 must leave the modern instances out of account. 
 
 How, then, is the existence of this group of stock masks to be 
 
 explained ? The analogies we have pointed out show us that they 
 
 are not a casual assemblage, but a definite set of six or seven 
 
 characters, each sharply distinct from every other. The same 
 
 set, moreover, recurs in different places, though, of course, with 
 
 local modifications and additions : The Buffoon, the Doctor or 
 
 Cook, the Soldier, the Parasite, the Old Man, the Old Woman. 
 
 This group furnishes the stock masks for the major characters in 
 
 Aristophanes' plays, who carry on the main business of the plot, 
 
 [ if we add to them the Young Man (in two plays), and the Young 
 
 ', Woman, the mute bride of the final marriage. The Parasite may, 
 
 i perhaps, be ruled out as borrowed from the Dorian tradition. 
 
 But what of the remainder ? 
 
 For my own part, I cannot conceive how such a troupe should 
 come to exist, in the first instance, except as actors in a fixed plot 
 — a definite action which demanded just those characters, and in 
 which each had his proper place and function. This proposition, 
 if true, is very important for our subject. It seems to be so 
 obvious that its not being a commonplace makes me think I may 
 have overlooked some other possibility. The troape of English 
 Mummers, the similar set of characters in the Northern Greek 
 festival plays stare us in the face. By this time, moreover, it must 
 have occurred to the reader that they are fundamentally the same 
 troupe as we have made out behind the Aristophanic play, lending 
 their masks to one or another of the major characters. They 
 are the set required for the fertiUty drama of the marriage of the 
 Old Year transformed into the New, that marriage which is inter- 
 rupted by the death and revival of the hero. 
 
 In that drama we can distinguish their original functions, and 
 set each one in his due relation to the constant action. The Old 
 Man and the Young Man are the Old and New Year : they may 
 both appear and fight one another, or the Old may be turned into 
 the Young. The Swaggering Soldier is Captain Bluster, the 
 antagonist who kills the bridegroom. The Doctor recalls him to 
 
THE STOCK MASKS OF THE OLD COMEDY 189 
 
 life, or the Cook transmutes him from age to youth. This magical 
 process of regeneration, as we have seen, is only a special variety 
 of death and resurrection. The Cook is a magician, a dealer in 
 enchanted herbs, a medicine-man. As such, he is not, in origin, 
 distinct from the Learned Doctor. These two characters are 
 alternative. The Young Woman is the mute bride of the marriage. 
 The Old Woman is properly the Mother, who appears in the opening 
 scene of the Thracian play, nurses her miraculous child, and dis- 
 appears. In most of the versions this prehminary scene has dropt 
 out, leaving the Old Woman without a function : and accordingly 
 we find that she does not figure as a major character, either in 
 Aristophanes or in the Atellane plays. This incident of the 
 miraculous birth was, from its nature, sure to drop out in the 
 transition from the childish make-believe of folk drama to Uterary 
 Comedy.^ In a comedy the hero cannot always be born in the first 
 act and married in the last. Nor can the miraculously rapid growth 
 to maturity, which recurs so often in legend, be represented on the 
 stage. It can only be described, as in fact it is in the newly dis- 
 covered Satyr-play, the Ichneutae of Sophocles. Clearly this old 
 ritual induction is bound to disappear, and with it fades the figure 
 of the Old Woman, whose function is gone. She remains only 
 as the drunken and amorous hag who dances the Kordax. The 
 rest of the play from the Agon at the beginning to the Marriage at 
 the end requires just those other dramatis personae that we have 
 enumerated. It can hardly be an accident that, with the addition 
 of the Parasite, they provide the stock masks for Aristophanes' 
 historical characters. wj 
 
 1 The Old "Woman is missing in several of the northern Greek festival plays 
 recorded by Mr. Waoe. See above, p. 63. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 COMEDY AND TRAGEDY 
 
 93. How did Comedy and Tragedy differentiate ? 
 
 If the conclusions to which so many converging lines of argument 
 have led us are in substance true, Athenian Comedy arose out of a 
 ritual drama essentially the same in type as that from which Professor 
 Murray derives Athenian Tragedy. The case for this origin of 
 Comedy seems to me the clearer and more convincing of the two ; 
 and it reinforces Professor Murray's hypothesis. That the traces 
 of the old ritual motives should be easier to make out in Comedy 
 is just what we should expect ; for, as we shall see, the type of 
 drama which is the more careless of form and structure, and 
 interested rather in character than in plot, naturally has less reason 
 to obliterate its primitive outhnes. The two theories help one 
 another, and, if either could be regarded as proved, it would be in 
 a fair way to carry the other with it. For, that the two types of 
 drama which were presented to the same audience at the same 
 festivals of Dionysus should have had their origins in different 
 cults, is a thesis so paradoxical that only the most cogent proof 
 could recommend it to serious attention. We cannot, at this stage, 
 enter upon the whole difficult problem of the beginnings of Tragedy. 
 Here, as hitherto, I shall provisionally assume that Professor 
 Murray's hypothesis is, in the main, true, and pass on to a question 
 which I may reasonably be required to answer. It is this : Given 
 that Tragedy and Comedy have come from the same type of ritual 
 drama, how and why did they part and take their divergent routes 
 towards forms of art so widely different ? 
 
 Before I attempt to answer this question, a word must be said 
 about certain factors in any such problem which have so far been 
 left out of account. Any one who states a theorv of the historic 
 
 190 
 
COMEDY AND TRAGEDY 191 
 
 origin of any form of art is sure to be attacked for neglecting the 
 creative power of individual men of genius, and-something that 
 lies deeper still— the common impulse obscurely felt by the men 
 of a certain society at a certain time, the common need that their 
 apprehension of life, its laughter and its terror, shall find some 
 expression in art. Such a criticism may be just. This book 
 would deserve it, if I were for a moment to delude myself or the 
 reader with the suggestion that there is nothing in the Agamemnon 
 of Aeschylus or the Birds of Aristophanes, of which the germ is 
 not akeady present in Punch and Jtidy. If it is necessary to 
 disclaim anything so absurd, it shall here be set down that" our 
 argument does not suppose the original ritual drama or the 
 degenerate folk-play which may have followed it to have contained, 
 even in germ, either the wit of Aristophanes or the wisdom of 
 Aeschylus, either the comic or the tragic perception of life. It 
 admits, moreover, that all these factors were needed, as independent 
 and original forces, to shape fifth-century drama. But there is a 
 good reason for excluding them, so far as possible, from a scientific" 
 discussion of historic origins. To admit them is to offer the 
 unknown in explanation of the known. That Aeschylus was a 
 genius is patent enough ; but to say that Tragedy owes its exist- 
 ence to that genius and its creative or inventive powers is to leave 
 us no wiser than we were. It is certain, indeed, that such a state- 
 ment must be in great measure true; but in what measure, we 
 can only find out by discovering what Aeschylus did not invent. 
 It may be true, again, that the tragic apprehension of life was 
 astir in men's minds and ready to be brought to birth. But 
 sociology has not yet discovered what conditions favour the growth 
 of a tragic or a comic drama, though we might vaguely indicate 
 a few special causes ; and it is conceivable that there may be 
 movements of spiritual life which the most complete sociology 
 will never describe in general terms. We may, therefore, put 
 these considerations aside, and confine ourselves to those rude 
 beginnings whose existence we have inferred from features of the 
 comic drama which no individual genius could have invented. 
 All that we are bound to do is to indicate how Comedy and 
 Tragedy, if their sources lay so close together, could have become 
 so different. 
 
192 THE OEIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 94. The ritvMl was probably indigenous 
 
 That the ritual which lay behind Tragedy was native to Attica, 
 in the sense that it existed as ritual in that country before the 
 drama grew out of it, is generally admitted. I can see no serious 
 reason to doubt that the same holds of Comedy. The Dorian 
 claim is not supported by Aristotle : on the contrary he points 
 to the PhalKc Songs still existing ' in many Greek states,' and 
 certainly existing in Attica, as we know from the Acharnians. 
 So far as ancient tradition is concerned, the theory of Dorian 
 origin rests on little more than the unquestioned fact that Epi- 
 charmus was writing mimes in Sicily before Comedy was officially 
 recognised at Athens ; Aristophanes' reference to ' laughter stolen 
 from Megara ' and the similar allusions in other Old Comedy poets ; 
 and a few statements of later grammarians which lie under strong 
 
 •"suspicion of having been invented to explain those allusions. As 
 for the works of Epicharmus, we now know them to belong to a 
 different species of drama, clearly distinguished from Attic Comedy 
 
 ! by the absence of any Chorus. That they influenced the Athenian 
 writers from about the middle of the fifth century is asserted by 
 Aristotle and is no doubt true. But few would now look to the 
 Sicihan Mime as the main source of Attic Comedy. There is, 
 however, the Peloponnesian farce, from which the Mime in Sicily 
 and Southern Italy was derived. Was the laughter of Attic 
 Comedy stolen from the Peloponnese by way of Megara ? 
 
 It must be admitted that we do not know what is meant by the 
 references to the bad quality of Megarian jokes. Perhaps Megara 
 was despised because her Comedy never grew out of the ' vulgar ' 
 stage which the Athenian writers boasted of having left behind. 
 It must be remembered that Megara is the nearest Dorian city 
 to Attica, and had actually belonged to Athens for nearly the whole 
 of the fifteen years preceding the birth of Aristophanes (460/59 — 
 446/5). The loss of the two Megarian ports under the treaty of 
 Thirty Years' Peace was a severe blow to Athenian commercial 
 relations with western Greece ; and it is with a series of drastic 
 measures against Megara that the Peloponnesian war opens. 
 When the comic writers of this generation refer contemptuously 
 to Megarian humour, it is more natural to take them as meaning 
 ' jokes good enough for those stupid Dorians anywhere south and 
 
COMEDY AND TRAGEDY 193 
 
 west of Eleusis/ than to suppose that they allude to any importa- 
 tion of Dorian Comedy into Attica a century or more before their 
 time.i The references were quite enough to set the late gram- J 
 marians upon the tale that Susarion ' invented ' Comedy at Megara"" 
 and brought it to Athens. This legend is refuted by the consid^a- 
 tions that the Dorian farce never had a Chorus, whereas the Chorus 
 is integralin Attic Comedy, and that, as we have shown, the whole 
 structure of the plays hangs together, so that the parts in which 
 the Chorus plays an important role cannot be separated from the 
 rest. The modern beUevers in Megarian influence are generally 
 disposed to see it only or chiefly in what we have called the Impostor 
 Scenes, and to regard these as borrowed from a different type of 
 drama. Our own hypothesis regards the Impostor as integral, 
 but could very well admit some degree of influence from the 
 Peloponnesian farce, traceable, perhaps, in the multiphcation of 
 the Impostor into professional types. In the main, however, the'' 
 theory we have put forward is against the wholesale importation 
 of undigested fragments from an ahen tradition — a process which 
 in any case is difficult to conceive. The unity of the plot in Comedy, 
 if it be estabhshed, is almost fatal to such a view ; and our whole 
 argument tends to support the supposition that the ritual drama 
 out of which Aristophanic Comedy grew was native to Attica. \ 
 
 95. The Dionysiac festivals at Athens 
 
 Friendly critics, to whom I have communicated the argument^ 
 of this book, have urged that I ought to investigate the thorny 
 question of the Dionysiac festivals at Athens, and identify the 
 ritual basis of Comedy with the actual rites of some one of them.^ , 
 But I am not convinced that any such demonstration is required. 
 In the first place we have no ground for supposing that the folk- 
 play which lay behind Comedy took shape in the city of Athens 
 at all. The best tradition that we have connects both Susarion, 
 
 1 It must be noted also that, where Aristophanes names any writers of 
 ' vulgar Comedy ' who used the stale antics he repudiates, these writers are his 
 own predecessors and contemporaries of the ^ttic stage : Phrynichus, Lykis, 
 Ameipsias (Frogs, 13); the &vSp€^ (popriKol who defeated the Clmds (524), 
 Eupolis, Phrynichus, Hermippus {Clouds, 553). 
 
 2 The sources are collected and discussed by Nilsson, Studia de Dion, atticis. 
 The most reoeut treatment of the subject will be found in Mr. A. B. Cook's 
 ZeuK, vol. i. (Cambridge, 1914), pp. 665-718. 
 
 N 
 
194 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 the reputed founder of Comedy, and Thespis, the founder of 
 Tragedy, not with Athens, but with Ikaria, an outlying centre of 
 Dionysiac worship. The phalhc ceremonies of DikaiopoUs in the 
 Acharnians, again, take place at the Country Dionysia, though I 
 am willing to believe that this festival was no more than the rustic 
 equivalent of the Lenaea. Such processions and rude mummers' 
 plays are more likely to survive in country villages than in cities. 
 It will be remembered how St. Augustine speaks of the corre- 
 sponding Italian Libemlia as celebrated ' in the fields ' and later 
 brought into Rome itself. The Enghsh Morris Dance and play of 
 St. George must be sought in the remotest hamlets ; in the larger 
 centres of population they are only now beginning to exist as 
 dehberate importations. Why should we not accept' the tradition 
 that Comedy was imported from Ikaria to Athens ? 
 
 The ritual of the Lenaea itself hved on as ritual ; it never, so far 
 as we know, sank to the plane of a degenerate folk-play. The natural 
 inference is that Attic Comedy did not arise directly out of that 
 actual festival, which maintained its ceremonies at the rehgious 
 level. The Great Dionysia, again, has not the air of a primitive 
 feast at all. It was probably the artificial creation of Peisistratus' 
 desire to have a great musical festival at a season of the year when 
 it was possible for foreigners to be present and see the glories of 
 Athens.^ At the Anthesteria there is nothing to show that either 
 tragedies or comedies were ever performed. Everything seems 
 to point to a country origin of Comedy, in a folk drama like the 
 modern festival plays of Northern Greece, which somehow became 
 important enough to claim official admission to the Great Dionysia 
 in the time of the Persian wars. If it first took shape in the 
 Country Dionysia (say) at Ikaria, its many points of resemblance 
 to the Lenaean ritual are explained.^ 
 
 Leaving the question of the Dionysiac festivals, then, to more 
 
 > Mr. Cook urges that the performance of the Dithyramb may be the original 
 nucleus of the Great Dionysia and older than Peisistratus. I am willing to 
 admit this possibility. 
 
 ^ The Dorian claimants of Comedy would not have argued from a derivation 
 of the word from Kii/iri, ' village ' ( Arist. Poet. 14:48a, 35), if Comedy had not been 
 thought to have had a rural origin. Probably no independent value is to be 
 attached to the strange stories told by later grammarians of the farmers who 
 oame into the town to avenge themselves on the citizens by lampooning them, 
 Sohol. in Dion, Thrac, p. 747 (Kaibel, O. G. F. i. p. 12). 
 
COMEDY AND TRAGEDY 195 
 
 competent hands,^ we will go back to our problem of the divergence 
 of Tragedy and Comedy, with the assumption that the ritual drama 
 behind each was essentially the same in content, though not 
 necessarily performed at the same season of the year, 
 
 9j6. Plot and Character in Tragedy and Comedy : 
 the primacy of Plot in Tragedy 
 
 There is a very wise sentence in the Poetics,^ in which Aristotle 
 speaks of Tragedy as growing, like a Uving thing, through many 
 changes, into the fulness of its perfect form, and then coming to 
 a standstill. Of the inner principle of this growth, the tragic 
 vision of life and the impulse driving the dramatic artist to seek 
 ever a more complete expression for it, we have decided to say 
 as little as possible ; but, for our present question of the diverging 
 tendencies of Tragedy and Comedy, it becomes important to look 
 at the general course taken by each, so far as we can observe it. 
 Here Aristotle will help us again, with another observation which 
 goes deeper, perhaps, than he knew. 
 
 In discussing the general characteristics of Tragedy, Aristotle ' 
 insists at some length on the fact that the action, or plot, is primary, 
 the characters secondary. ' The persons in the play,' he says, ' do 
 not go thTough the action in order to give a representation of their 
 characters, but they include the representation of character for the 
 sake of the action. Accordingly, the events or plot are the essential 
 thing for which Tragedy exists— its end ; and the end is always 
 the most important thing.* A tragedy cannot exist without an 
 action ; it can exist without characters. The tragedies of most 
 of the moderns are characterless. . . . One may string together a 
 series of speeches which exhibit character, excellently composed 
 both in style and thought, and yet not produce the true tragic 
 effect. A play which is inferior in this respect, but has a plot or 
 
 1 Mr Cook's brilliant reconstruction of the Lenaean ritual and the light he 
 has thrown upon it from kindred cults {Zeus, vol. i. pp. 665 ff.) has been of the 
 greatest service to me. I am not, however, convinced by his ingenious theory 
 of the mutual relations of the four Dionysiao festivals. 
 
 2 1449a, 14, Kal ttoXXAs /lera^oUi fi^rapaUOffa v Tpay^Sta imvcaro, eTrei fox^ 
 
 s Poetics 6 1450 a, 20 : otf/cow Sttws to ^dv l>.iH.M<->^ra<. irpArrovinP, aWa ra ^e-q 
 
196 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 combination of events, may be^ much more successful. . . . Be- 
 ginners attain precision of style and exactness of character-drawing 
 sooner than success in plot-construction. The same might be said 
 of nearly all the earUest dramatists. The first essential, then, the 
 soul (as it were) of Tragedy is the plot ; the characters come second.^ 
 It is much the same as in painting : an artist may lay on the most 
 beautiful colours at haphazard, and not give so much pleasure as 
 if he drew a portrait in mere outhne. The very essence of Tragedy 
 is to be a representation of action ; it is, above all, for the sake of 
 the action that the persons concerned in it are represented.' 
 
 It is the fashion now to sneer at Aristotle, largely because certain 
 general statements in which he formulates the actual practice of 
 Greek tragedians have been injudiciously quoted as if they were 
 rules intended to bind all future writers of serious drama. If we 
 avoid this elementary mistake, we shall find his observations of 
 the facts of ancient Tragedy extraordinarily acute. But the piece 
 of criticism just quoted has a wider application. That action is 
 primary, character secondary, seems to be true of any drama, 
 ancient or modern, that can be called tragic. 
 
 Tragedy must represent the way of the world, the movement of 
 Uf e, the worlnngs of destiny, the end that grows inevitably out of a 
 given beginning, as a plant or animal grows out of its germ.^ The 
 sense of internal structural necessity seems indispensable to the 
 
 ' ApX^l /i^" oHu Kal oiov ^vxh o /'■OBos ttJs rpayiiiSlas, deiirepoi/ d^ to. ijSi). 
 
 ^ I believe that this metaphor of development into the 'full-grown' form 
 (0i}(ris TeXeia) is in Aristotle's mind vpheu he says that the action represented in 
 Tragedy must be reXeia Kal SXt; {Poetics, 7). S\ov is defined as t6 ?xo'' °-Px¥ ™! 
 fi^<rov Ka.1 Te\evTi/iii. In the same chapter, discussing the question of magnitude 
 (lJ.4yeeos), he compares a plot to a living creature (fifJov). He is there following 
 Plato, Phaedrus, 264 C : Sdv irdi/ra Xiyoi/ flffi-ep jT^ov irweffTdviu <rCi/j.d n ^X""''''"- 
 alirbv airov, &<rre fi-fir' dfc^tfiaXop etpai. li-qr' dirovv, dXXa iii<Ta r' ^fi!» koX dxpa, 
 irpiirovT' dXXiiXois /cai ru 6\(f yeypafifiha. The last phrase is repeated with 
 reference to the structure of the tragic plot, Phaedrus 268 D : Sophocles and 
 Euripides would laugh, ef tis oi'erai TpayifSlav iSXXo ti flvai fi t^v tovtuv irvffTaa-iv, 
 ■7rp4-iroviTai> a.X\-/j\oi.s re Kal rep «X(j) avviiTTaiiivriv. At Poetics 23 init. Aristotle 
 repeats the comparison to a living thing with reference to Epic : ' The plots 
 should be constructed as in a tragedy, and deal with a single action that is whole 
 and cdmplete— 7re/)l /xlay irpa^m S\r}v khI reXelav (xovaav dpx^v Kal ixiaa Kal t^Xos, 
 W (liaircp ^op iv &\ov ttol-q tt)v olKetav ijdov^i>. In an animal the seed is the dpxi),' 
 the full-grown form the TeXeuriJ or riXos. Similarly, the end of the tragic plot is 
 related to its beginning as fruit to seed: Aesch. Pers., 821, Oppts ydp HafSoCa' 
 iKdpiruxrev iTTix"" | "Attjs, SBev TdyKapwov i^a/j.^ Oipos. The end is implicit 
 {Svyd/J.ci) in the beginning and unfolds out into its fulness. 
 
COMEDY ANB TRAGEDY 197 
 
 tragic effect. It is not really absent even where the fatal moment 
 is a clash between the unaccountable spontaneity of will and the 
 stroke of bUnd chance. There is still the feeUng that such things 
 must be ; ^ and chance itself no sooner ceased to be a power of 
 malignant purpose than it was resolved into inexorable law. 
 There is no room for accidents that are insignificant, in other 
 words, pa/rticular accidents, without what Aristotle calls a 'uni- 
 versal' meaning. 
 
 Among such particular accidents we must reckon all the richness 
 of individuality which any real person has, in so far as it is irrele- 
 vant to the action. The weaker a tragedian is, the more he will 
 be tempted to make his characters look real and life-like, by admit- 
 ting these casual traits. The stronger he is, the more his characters 
 will possess the inner coherence, or rather the indivisible unity, 
 which belongs, not to the hfe-Hke, but to the living ; and, by virtue 
 of this unity, his characters may be indefinitely rich without 
 irrelevance, or any sacrifice of the sense of necessity. Still, it 
 remains true that the character is dominated and dictated by the 
 action or ' experience ' — the Greek language is happy in having 
 one word {trpa^L's) for both these meanings. 
 
 97. The primacy of Character in Comedy 
 
 Nothing of all this applies to Comedy. It is true that the 
 spectator may have an exquisite dehght in foreseeing some turn of 
 events to which the characters in the play are advancing bUndly ; 
 but, in general, the most unexpected incidents are the most amusing. ^ 
 Fortune was the acknowledged divinity of the New Comedy ^i 
 and accident has always been allowed a large place in the comic 
 plot. In the construction we may demand neatness and a lightlxi 
 balanced symmetry; but no one wants a sense of closely knit 
 necessity. In proportion as this is present. Comedy approaches the 
 borderland where it can no longer be clearly distinguished from 
 Tragedy, and both terms lose their application and had better be 
 
 1 Marcus Aurelius, xi. 6, ' At first tragedies were brought on the stage as a 
 means of reminding men of the things which happen to them, and that it is 
 according to nature for things to happen so, and that, if you are delighted with 
 what is shown on the stage, you should not te troubled with that which takes 
 place on the larger stage' (Long's Translation). 
 
 » On this subject cf. Legrand, Daos (Lyon, Paris, 1910), pp. 392 fl. 
 
198 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 dropt. The earliest Comedy is the furthest removed from this 
 stage. The Attic comedians learnt the lesson of plot-construction 
 from the tragic poets, with some help from the SiciUan Mime. 
 The intrigue plot of the New Comedy is an inheritance from 
 Euripides, not from Aristophanes or any of his predecessors in the 
 fifth century, with the possible exception of Krates.^ The Old 
 Comedy in general is content with a much laxer construction. It 
 is not primarily the representation of an ' action ' or ' experience,' 
 to which character is secondary, but its bent is always towards 
 the representation of a set of characters, turned loose to bring 
 labout the action by their interplay. In the still laxer form of 
 the novel, great writers have often described how their characters 
 seem to come alive and take the action into their own hands, carry- 
 ing it to conclusions undesigned by their creator. 
 
 The extreme of this concentration on character is found in the 
 Mime, which stands at the opposite pole to Tragedy. As practised 
 by the Alexandrian writers, the Mime has no action at all ; it repre- 
 sents a few characters in a situation which does not change. The 
 interest is entirely focussed on the study of character, and no 
 preoccupation with larger issues stands in the way of extreme 
 realism. It seems to be an essentially Dorian product, holding 
 up to the absurdities of Nature the mirror of a commonsense 
 Sophrosyne — a mirror which can faithfully reflect the actual, but 
 distorts the heroic into the grotesque ugUness of travesty. These 
 two traditions — the imitative representation of real life and 
 burlesque of the heroic saga — run through the whole history of the 
 Mime. Outside those Umits it never moved ; inside them it reached 
 its peculiar glory of reahstic character-study. It has no background 
 and no perspective. In our own hterature the most perfect expo- 
 nent of this sort of art is Jane Austen. Her amazingly close 
 observation; her sceptical distrust of the romantic; her resolute 
 avoidance of any lapse into tragic moods or into that moralising 
 from which no male English novelist can refrain ; the narrowness 
 of her stage, on which English Uf e at the turn of the eighteenth and 
 nineteenth centuries goes forward as if the French Eevolution 
 had never happened and Napoleon never been born — all this is 
 characteristic of the Mime, though she may never have read 
 Theocritus, and Herodas had not been discovered. 
 ' ^or Krates, see below, p . 217. 
 
COMEDY AND TRAGEDY 199 
 
 98. The tragic Myth and the comic Logos 
 
 The Old Comedy stands somewhere between Tragedy, with its 
 all-important plot, and Mime, where the interest is solely in 
 character. As contrasted with Tragedy, it is indifferent to plot^' 
 construction, and for that very reason Comedy keeps nearer to 
 the old ritual outhne. The tragedian had to take some traditional ■ 
 story (' myth ') with its quasi-historic characters, and, although 
 he might modify details and even invent new characters, he could 
 not alter the most important incidents. The treatment of such 
 a myth necessarily obUterated the sequence of incidents which 
 formed the primitive ritual scheme. These survive, in general, rather 
 as conventional motives, or ' fixed forms,' such as the messenger 
 speech or the theophany. -In Comedy, on the other hand, the 
 plots were not ' myths,' but -'were freely invented. The proper ' 
 term for the comic plot is not mythos, but logos} The term seems 
 to mean the ' theme,' or ' idea,' of the piece. There is no suggestion 
 of a closely spun web of incidents running all through. Whereas 
 the Euripidean prologue will foretell the whole general course of 
 the action to the end, the prologue in Aristophanes only states 
 the main idea. In the Peace, for instance, Trygaeus' slave tells 
 the audience no more than that his master is mad and has procured 
 a dung-beetle to carry him, hke Bellerophon, to heaven. Aristo- 
 phanes repeatedly boasts of the novelty of his ideas.^ His method 
 is to take some general theme {logos), such as the notion of a strike 
 of women in favour of peace, and to illustrate it by the most 
 amusing incidents he can devise. For such a purpose no well- 
 knit intrigue is required. Consequently, the traditional framework 
 of the ritual plot serves well enough. Any artist— above all a 
 Greek artist— will sooner adapt a conventional scheme to his own 
 ends than exercise invention where it is not wanted. Hence__it) 
 
 1 Kg. Wasps, 54 (Prologue), (pepe vvv KaTsiwui toIs e^aruls rby \6yov, 64 dX\' 
 ecTTLV -iiiuv \oylSi.ov yvi^" ^o"- -P««<:e, 50 (Prologue), ^7"^ Si rby Uyoy ye . . . 
 4>pd(T0>. Cf. Lysistrata, 119, -Kiyo^/i' df oi yhp Sel KeKpi<l>Bai. tov Uyoo. Kratinus, 
 Odysses, 144. Antiph. frag. 191. ,„,,., . 
 
 2 Glouds, 547, oW v^Las f^Tui •kawaTS.y dls Kal rpU raOr' daiyi^v, \ a\\ &d rai.ds 
 idias elaif^i^v <ro0ifoMa', I oiSkv 6.\\-h\o.^<nv d,.oias Kai iri^as Be^iis. Wasps, 1044. 
 KCLiVOTirais Smvola^s, 1053 rS;- 7roi7,rfi^ . . . roi, fnroSyra, KaLv6y tc X^e^p Kdfeu- 
 pf-rKei.- Scdes. 578. Plato, Laws, 816 E, mentions this novelty as if it were a 
 recognised principle in Comedy, Ka^vbp Si id tc irepl aura ^at^-caffa. rw, p.ip.viUro,v : 
 it is not relevant to his own point in the context. 
 
200 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 "comes about that the very freedom of the comic plot left standing 
 the old soafEolding which Tragedy, bound to its epic sources and 
 itself requiring the utmost internal coherence, was obliged to 
 break up.^ 
 
 99. Character in Tragedy 
 
 Turning from plot to character, we find again that Comedy 
 alike enjoys a greater freedom than Tragedy, and, as a consequence, 
 departs less from the old tradition. In Tragedy, as Aristotle says, 
 ' the persons in the play do not go through their action (or ' experi- 
 ence ') in order to give a representation of their characters ; they 
 include a representation of character for the sake of the action." 
 The tragic poet starts with a given action, the experience of a 
 certain group of legendary persons. These persons generally have 
 only that one context, in which their whole being moves : they 
 are the people who went through just that great and significant 
 experience (ot irpaTTovre';). Their very names — Agamemnon, 
 Clytaemnestra, Aegisthus, Cassandra^bring that action at once 
 before us, and nothing else.^ They come (so to say) as supporting 
 this action, which is itself the primary thing. It dictates their 
 characters, demanding that these shall be moulded to fit the 
 experience they must carry through to its traditional end. Hence, 
 the tragedians were forced to create characters capable of doing 
 and suffering what the story relates. The action requires certain 
 
 ' These remarks, of course, apply chiefly to the earlier plays of Aristophanes. 
 In some of the later, the beginnings of a new tendency appear, ultimately to 
 triumph in the New Comedy, of whose poets it can be truly said, KaTa^xoXoCcTai 
 TtivTss irepl ras iirod^ffeis. Anon, de Com. (Kaibel, O. G. F., i. p. 9). (This state- 
 ment is actually made of the writers of the Middle Comedy. ) 
 
 ^ The comedian Antiphanes {Uolijo-n ii. 90 K) complains that tragedians have 
 this very advantage : 
 
 IJ.a.Kiipi6v ^anv tj Tpay^dla 
 TToi-qfj-ti Kara wdvT\ d ye irpQiTov ol \6yoL 
 uwd TUiv dearuiv elffiv iyvo^pifffi^voij 
 irplv Ka.1 Tiv' elirelv ujff0' inrop.VT}iTai p^bvov 
 5ei Thv iroi-qT-r)v. OtSitrovv yap + 0a) . . . f 
 Tct 5' ctWa Trdir' iffactv' 6 Tarrjp ^Vdtos, 
 p.r}T'i)p 'loKdaryj, duyar^pe^, TrarSes rives . 
 Tjfuv d^ raDr' oi)/f ^(Tth/, dXXct trdvra Set 
 eipeTf, (!v6/aaTa Kai.i>d . . . 
 
 . . . Kdirttra to. 8npKr]p,^va 
 ■jrpdTepoVj rd uup TrapbvTO., t^v KaTaaTpo(piijv^ 
 
COMEDY AND TEAGEDY 201 
 
 motives ; the characters must be such as can have those motives, 
 and, further, such that those motives will be the characteristic 
 motives. So the tragic poet must work from action to motive, 
 and from motive to character. These causes led to the creation 
 of types which had never before appeared in Uterature, and could 
 not have been conceived except by a man of genius working under 
 these stern necessities. We may instance the heroic maiden, 
 Antigone, and a whole gallery of women in Euripides. These 
 are not taken from the Epic, still less from ordinary Athenian 
 life ; for we know from Aristophanes how they startled and scanda- 
 lised Athenian society. Once invented, these characters, of course, 
 became types for the imitation of inferior artists. But originally 
 they were imaginative creations. The effect was to enlarge and' 
 deepen knowledge of human nature, by discovering possibilities 
 of character and motive that lie within its compass, but are 
 rarely shown in common life, and are beyond the power of observa- 
 tion of ordinary men, who, indeed, not seldom remain unable to 
 conceive them, even when the artist has put them before their 
 eyes. 
 
 100. Character in Comedy 
 
 The comic poet had no such impulse driving him to explore the 
 rarer possibilities of noble and heroic natures. His eye is fixed, 
 not on what towers above the ordinary man and often escapes 
 his comprehension, but on what hes beneath him, so that he can 
 look down upon it and see all round it, with an amused contempt 
 and a flattered sense of superiority. The characters can take the 
 primary place and shape the incidents as they please. Human 
 nature is so complex and infinitely various, that, wherever writers 
 are not bound by the demands of a given plot, they always tend 
 either to group people in certain classes of stock types, or to copy 
 individual characters from the life and let them bring about the 
 action as they will. Aristophanes inherited, as we have seen, a 
 small group of stock characters or masks, and there were no 
 exigencies of plot to force him to abandon them. Accordingly, he 
 used them again and again. Advance could only take place in the 
 direction of realism. It is interesting to trace its stages. ^ 
 
 The general formula of progress for Comedy is a steady drift 
 from Mysterv to Mime. We saw how the original group of stockj 
 
202 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 masks were the characters required for a certain unvarying ritual 
 action. They were at first serious, and even awful, figures in a 
 religious mystery : the God who every year is born and dies and 
 rises again, his Mother and his Bride, the Antagonist who kills him, 
 the Medicine-man who restores him to hfe. When the drama lost 
 its serious magical intent, probably the Antagonist and the Doctor 
 were the first to become grotesque. The Antagonist, because he 
 was the villain, was a fit mark for contempt : his idle vaunts and 
 final discomfiture could easily be made ridiculous. In the same 
 way Pontius Pilate soon turns to a comic character in the mediaeval 
 Mysteries. The Medicine-man, again, as his power declines and 
 his own faith begins to fail him, has always fallen back on the 
 pretentious trappings of his art, while to others he becomes more 
 and more obviously a humbug and a quack. His unintelligible 
 spells begin to sound like gibberish ; his paraphernaUa of herbs 
 and magic implements begins to look hke a pitiful collection of 
 rubbish ; his wild gesticulations become the hocus-pocus of a con- 
 jurer. These two figures gave rise to two professional types, the 
 Swaggering Soldier and the Learned Doctor, the false pretenders 
 to superior courage and more than mortal wisdom. The medicine- 
 man, moreover, combined a number of arts that later become 
 distinct. His magic herbs pass into the remedies of the physician ; 
 his hocus-pocus lives on in the ceremonials of the priest ; his incanta- 
 tions and carmina make him the ancestor of the oracle-monger 
 and the poet. He generates, in fact, many of those minor pro- 
 fessional types we find as the alazones in Aristophanes' plays. So 
 we pass from the stock mask of ritual to the gallery of professional 
 types, whose special traits in the literary stage of drama are, of 
 course, filled in from observation of ordinary life. Their appeal 
 depends on their generalised likeness to the impostors who walk 
 the streets of the city in the common light of every day. 
 
 A further step is taken when the age and sex types undergo a 
 similar subdivision. This leads to a classification, not of profes- 
 sional types, but of types of human character in general — what 
 the Greeks called ethology. We have seen how in the New Comedy 
 the Old Man is subdivided into nine varieties, each with a mask 
 conventionally featured to express a certain character. There is 
 the harsh father, the benevolent old gentleman, the old miser, 
 distinguished by his close-cropped hair, and so forth. The Young 
 
COMEDY AND TBAGEDY 203 
 
 Man, again, includes eleven types — the boorish youth, the delicate 
 youth with a soft white skin, the swarthy and black-haired youth 
 who perpetuates the Swaggering Soldier, etc. The beginnings of 
 this sort of differentiation can be traced in the latest plays of 
 Aristophanes. The Ecclesiazusae, for instance, has four elderly men : 
 Blepyrus, husband of Praxagora ; Chremes ; Blepyius' whimsical 
 neighbour ; and his suspicious and parsimonious friend.^ These 
 persons are, of course, necessarily discriminated into types of 
 character. The last-named, in particular, might stand for the 
 portrait of the Parsimonious Man. Aristotle ^ holds that Comedy, 
 when it deserves the name of poetry, represents universal types 
 or abstracts of human character. The statements of poetry are 
 universal, ' and by a universal statement I mean the sort of things 
 that such and such a hind of man will probably or necessarily say 
 and do, which is the aim of poetry, though it affixes proper names 
 to the characters. ... In Comedy this has now become clear 
 {i.e. since the New Comedy superseded the Old) ; they first compose 
 a story with probable incidents, and then give it a basis of any 
 proper names that come to hand, instead of writing Uke the old 
 iambic poets about particular persons.' The characters, in fact,' 
 have personal names only because people have them in real life. 
 Their true names would be descriptive of character, as indeed they 
 often were in the New Comedy (Thraso, PyrgopoUnices, etc.), and as 
 they were again in EngUsh plays and novels from the seventeenth 
 century onwards (Mr. Allworthy, Sir Courtly Nice, etc.). 
 
 Along this channel we reach the literature of ' Characters,' which 
 has a long history starting from Theophrastus. Even Theophrastus' 
 master gave the name of Ethica to the philosophical treatment of 
 morals, as if the analysis of character-types, to which he devotes 
 so large a part of his treatise, were the central interest. Aristotle 
 borrows much, and Theophrastus still more, from the comic stage.^. 
 Beyond this point Comedy in ancient times did not move ; nor, 
 indeed, can it ever really pass out of that stage. The difference 
 between a great comedian and a small one is not that the former 
 puts real individual characters on the stage, the latter mere types. 
 
 1 The corrector of R calls this last &\\os 0«S«X(5s. See Van Leeuwen on line 
 B.g " Poetics, 9. 
 
 » See Reich, Der Mimm, i. chap. iv. pp. 305 ff. ^9oX67os, dpera\6705, ^loXiyos 
 are all terms applied to the mimes. 
 
204 THE ORIGIN OP ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 It is that the lesser man puts together a bundle of qualities which 
 never coalesce into a personaUty, while the genius creates a per- 
 sonality from within. But that personality remains what Aristotle 
 calls ■ universal.' It is a permanent possibility of human nature, 
 independent of its accidental trappings of time and country. It 
 is only the vulgar and corrupt realism of the modern stage that 
 could ever disguise this fact for a moment. The ancient drama 
 wisely preserved the mask, which suppressed so far as possible the 
 individuality and the accidental features of the actor, and repre- 
 sented in a conventional language of signs what the poet wished 
 to be represented — the universal character. The masks, which 
 modern writers wonder at,^ were retained, not because the theatres 
 were so large as to make it impossible to follow the play of feature 
 on a Hving face, but because the Greek spectator was trained in a 
 tradition of art which taught him, when he went to the theatre, to 
 look for something more important than the damnable faces of 
 the celebrated Mr. So-and-so. It is no pedantic archaism, but a 
 profound understanding of drama, that leads the greatest artist 
 now interested in the production of plays to revert to the use of 
 masks, and even to hanker after substituting the marionette for 
 the living actor.^ It might be well if the revival of Greek plays 
 in the modern theatre could be prohibited until the pubUc had 
 learnt to tolerate nothing more reahstic than the masked and 
 styUsed, puppet-hke, figures that trod, with stilted gait, the stage 
 of Aeschylus and Euripides. 
 
 101. Why Tragedy represents ' exalted persons ' 
 
 Such, then, are the general tendencies whose drift carries Comedy 
 and Tragedy along their divergent ways. Comedy is, in the main, 
 bent upon character, and becomes, in the hands of Menander, the 
 mirror of society. Its end now, though not ' at the first,' is ' to 
 show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very 
 age and body of the time his form and pressure.' The mirror is 
 no magic mirror, capable of reveaUng far distant times and unknown 
 regions. The scene is commonly Athens ; the time, the present.^l 
 
 ' See, for instance, Haigh, Atlic Theatre,''' 262. 
 
 2 E. Gordon Craig, The Art of the Theatre, London, 1911. 
 
 ^ Schol. in Dion. Thrac. (Kaibel, C. O. F., i. p. 11, 1. 25), ha^epa Si 
 KUjX'fiSla rpayifiSlas Sti 17 rpayifSla l(rTopla.v ?xf ' ("li i.Tra.yy€\lav Tr/adjt ui/ ytvop.ivav, 
 T) Si Kui;n(j)(5£a irXiaixara irepi^x^i ^MTiKiv irpayn&Twv. 
 
COMEDY AND TRAGEDY 205 
 
 The atmospliere must be in the broad hght of common day. When 
 Comedy touched the figures of heroic legend, it was to shatter their 
 subUmity and degrade them below the level of decent human beings 
 — to make Ajax as vulgar as Thersites, and much more stupid. 
 --The Gods in Aristophanes, again, are always inferior to the human 
 protagonist. These figures that might threaten to trail some clouds 
 of glory from above and beyond the mortal scene, must be not 
 merely brought down to the same footing with the human characters, 
 but thrust still lower. The part of Dionysus in the Frogs is a good 
 illustration. The effeminate coward of the first half of the play 
 becomes the almost idiotic buffoon of the second. Yet, there is 
 just one moment where we are in danger of recalling that he is, 
 after all, a God — the hnes in which he forbids Pluto's servant to 
 torture him at his peril, ' for I am an immortal, Dionysus, son of 
 Zeus.' ^ The impression is gone again in a flash ; but it serves to 
 show how assiduously Aristophanes has watched against this risk 
 elsewhere, and to make us feel one reason why Comedy must either 
 avoid the Gods and heroes altogether, or set them at a heavy 
 discount. ■"■ 
 
 Tragedy, on the other hand, is anything but the mirror of con- 
 temporary society. On the stage of Aeschylus all the principal 
 characters are in a greater or less degree divine, Olympian Gods 
 and Kings and Queens of the legendary past, who were either 
 divinities that had come to be thought of as heroic men and women, 
 or men and women who had come to be worshipped after death as 
 demigods. The interval which separates these august persons from 
 the Olympians above them is hardly greater than that which 
 separates them on the other side from the minor characters, who 
 have not the divinity of rank. These last have no personal names : 
 they are 'a Herald,' 'a Nurse,' and so on. Further, they are 
 definitely marked off by a considerable degree of reahsm, and often 
 by comic touches. They stand at the hmit beyond which Tragedy, 
 as conceived by Aeschylus, will not move towards holding a mirror 
 up to ordinary life. They are human types, caught up on to that 
 
 1 628 : Dion. dyopeiu, t.W 
 
 ifik ixTi ^aaavl^eiv AddvaToy 6vt'- el di /ii), 
 aurJs (reavriv airiw. 
 Servant. '^^T"' Sf tI ; 
 
 Dion. Addvaros dval 4>-niu Ai6i'i/ffos At6s. 
 
206 THE OBIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 higher plane, where their haK-divine masters and mistresses can 
 \_jv^alk in the company of undying Gods. 
 
 Why does ancient Tragedy require this heroic atmosphere ? 
 Why was it, in Aristotle's words, ' a representation of exalted 
 persons ' (/it'/iT^cri? a-jrovSaicov) ? When the French critics of the 
 seventeenth and eighteenth centuries interpret this phrase to mean 
 that ' Tragedy represented the life of princes ; Comedy served to 
 depict the actions of the people,' ^ we are disposed to set them 
 down as snobs or, at the best, courtiers. But we may reflect that 
 Shakespeare, who was not troubled by Aristotelian canons, followed 
 the rule ; and Shakespeare, though he accepted contemporary views 
 of the divinity that hedged a king, was neither a courtier nor a snob. 
 The French critics were not entirely wrong, even as interpreters 
 of Aristotle's meaning. The persons in Greek tragedy are royal 
 for a better reason than any secondary cause, such as Peisistratus' 
 encouragement of the Epic at Athens. They are royal because 
 at one time to be a King was to be half a God, and these divine 
 princes can therefore tread the same stage with the higher Gods, 
 whose will directs the course of human life and is itself immediately 
 overshadowed by the ultimate power of Destiny. 
 
 Here the argument connects with our previous point — the 
 primacy of the plot in Tragedy. Tragedy does not seek to ape 
 the manners or portray the characters of everyday society ; its 
 function is to represent the destiny of man, the turning wheel of 
 Time and Fate. To accomplish this, it must roll away the parti- 
 coloured screen, the motley surface of social custom, the fashions 
 and accidents of the place and the hour, and open to our sight a 
 vision of man's life and death, which the bravest can hardly endure 
 to contemplate until it is redeemed by art.^ Greek Tragedy, thanks 
 to the pecuHar genius of Greek religion, had the great advantage 
 of being able to bring upon its stage in visible form the divine powers 
 at work behind the screen. Only the innermost mystery is never 
 unveiled, whether it be called ' Zeus, whoever he be,' or Destiny, 
 Moira, to whom Zeus himself had once been subject. With this 
 reservation, however, we can be allowed to see the figures of the 
 
 ' D'Aubignao, La pratique du thidtre, ii. oh. 10. This, and Daoier's notes to 
 the same effect (on Poet. v. 4 and xiii.), are quoted by Butoher, Aristotle's 
 Theory of Poetry^ (hondon, 1S98), p. 2,38. 
 
 ^ Cf. Nietzsche, Oebnrt der TragSdie. 
 
COMEDY AND TRAGEDY 207 
 
 Gods themselves ; and the human actors, whose experience we 
 read in the awful hght thrown upon it from those supernatural 
 forms, must be magnified to the scale of those heroes who held 
 converse with Gods and fought with them on the plains of Troy 
 and Thebes.^ 
 
 — 7 
 The above contrast between Tragedy and Comedy is based upon 
 observation of the course they actually followed on the way to 
 what Aristotle calls their ' perfect forms ' — the fully reahsed 
 possibilities of two species of dramatic art, starting from a given 
 convention and growing up in a given environment. The nature 
 of the impulses which were the inner principles of this growth we 
 shall not here try to analyse. We must be content to infer their 
 existence from their effects, without asking the further question, 
 what it is that drives men, at certain times and places, to seek and 
 find expression for the tragic or the comic vision of life. All that 
 we have tried to indicate is an effect of the inherent difference 
 between these two visions — the consequent divergence of the two 
 species of drama. What remains to be shown, in the interests of^ 
 our hypothesis, is that the original dramatic ritual we have supposed 
 to lie at the root of both, contained the germs, however imphcit 
 and undeveloped, from which both might spring. To some degree 
 we have done this already ; but we can now set the matter in a 
 more general light. 
 
 102. The germs of Tragedy and Comedy in the original ritual 
 
 Professor Murray has pointed out the affinity between the re- 
 current hfe-story of the Year Spirit, the theme of our supposed 
 ritual, and that deep-rooted doctrine of Huhris, of the Insolence 
 that brings vengeance on itself as the wheel of Time and Judgment 
 inexorably turns, in which the Greek found the tragic philosophy 
 of life. He savs : ^ 'The hfe of the Year-Daemon, as it seems to 
 be reflected in^Tragedy, is generally a story of Pride and Punish- 
 ment. Each Year arrives, waxes great, commits the sm of Hubris, 
 
 1 On this whole subject much light is thrown by an aclmirable study of 
 ■"Psychi=-1 Distance" as a Factor in Art and anesthetic Prmciple, by 
 E BuUough, The British Jourml of Psychology, v. (1912), p. S7. 
 
 ^^Fo^rsLges of Oreelc migim (New York, 1912), p. 47. Of. the same 
 author's Euripides and his Age (London, 1913), chapter iii. 
 
208 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 and then is slain. The death is deserved ; but the slaying is a sin : 
 hence comes the next Year as Avenger, or as the Wronged One 
 re-risen : " they all pay retribution for their injustice one to another 
 
 '' according to the ordinance of time." ' ^ Our supposed ritual, 
 accordingly, as a representation of the cycle of seasonal life, of the 
 annual conflict of Summer and Winter, provides the essential 
 structure of the tragic plot, the fundamental conception of the 
 
 {tragic reversal or peripeteia. 
 
 Turning from this abstract scheme of action to its inner, psycho- 
 logical aspect, we have the doctrine of Hubris, the fatal pride or 
 Insolence that provokes the Jealousy (Phthonos) of superhuman 
 powers, and brings about its own destruction. This theory is the 
 product of rehgious reflection. It suggests a tragic analogy between 
 the succession of life and death in Nature and the rise and fall of 
 the great ones among mankind. The kings of the earth whose 
 dizzy exaltation upsets their moral balance are, like those old divine 
 kings of fertility, cut off lest their waning strength should bring 
 famine upon their people. 
 
 In Tragedy, the hero's enemy is his own Hubris ; the conflict 
 between this disastrous passion and its opposite, Sophrosyne, is 
 fought out in his own breast. Thus, in the developed form of the 
 tragic art, the two adversaries in the Agon are united in one person ; 
 though outside and above him there is always the watching Jealousy 
 of immortal powers — Zeus, who abases the proud and exalts the 
 lowly. But, in our review of the various forms of the ritual drama, 
 we saw how the God comes to be doubled into the two adversaries 
 — the suffering and triumphant Dionysus, and Pentheus, who, 
 
 I after insolently threatening his worshippers and breaking in upon 
 
 1 their secret rites, himself endures the fate of the God. In this type, 
 the element of Hubris, which brought the Year to its wintry ruin, 
 is detached from the hero to become the characteristic of his double, 
 the Antagonist, carrying with it the penalty of injustice, while the 
 God triumphs as his own avenger. Further, we were led into this 
 subject by our study of the Impostor, the impertinent intruder 
 who molests the comic hero, and in whom we recognised a dupUcate 
 
 ' As this quotation from Anaximander reminds us, the war of hot and cold, 
 wet and dry— the conflict of Summer and Winter, conceived in a more abstract 
 form as a feud between the elements — lies behind a great deal of Greek scien- 
 tific speculation. This point is elaborated in F. M. Cornford, From T!ili[iion to 
 Philosophy (London, 1912). 
 
COMEDY AND TRAGEDY 209 
 
 of the evil adversary in the Agon. The common note of all the' 
 Impostors was Alazoneia. What now becomes clear is that Alazoneia 
 is the comic counterpart of the tragic Hubris.^ That the two 
 conceptions were associated in the Greek mind is evident from an 
 interesting discussing in Plato. 
 
 Analysing in the Philebus ^ those pleasures which are ' impure ' 
 in the sense of being mixed with pain, Plato takes, among other 
 illustrations, the pleasures of the theatre. In witnessing Tragedy 
 we enjoy our tears. The admixture of pain in the pleasure of 
 Comedy is more obscure, and leads him into an analysis of the 
 Ridiculous. _ 
 
 The Ridiculous derives its essence from the failure of some vice 
 or defect to obey the Delphic precept, ' Know thyself.' ^ Three 
 principal types are those who overvalue themselves in respect of 
 external fortune, bodily advantages, or mental virtues, and think 
 themselves richer, handsomer, or wiser than they are.* (We may 
 note in passing that this is only a more exact statement of the 
 definition of the Alazon, given by Xenophon's Cyrus : ' The name 
 of Alazon should, I think, be given to those who affect to be richer 
 or braver than they are, or undertake to do things beyond their 
 powers.' ^) 
 
 Such persons, continues Plato, when their conceit is not backed 
 by power so as to make them formidable and hateful, are merely 
 ridiculous. The pleasure we feel in laughing at absurd pretensions 
 is, however, mixed with a painful element of phthonos ; ^ (there is 
 
 1 If, with Suidas (fort, rede, van L.), we read at Birds 824, IV ol $eol rois 
 77)7e;'ers | d\afoyeu6/teyous (-;'oi Codd. ) KaBvTeprjKivTia-ai' , iXa^oiiela is used to 
 describe the Hubris of the Titans in their war with Heaven. 
 
 2 P. 47 flf. 
 
 = This is, of course, the tragic failure also, the blindness that goes with 
 insolent presumption. 
 
 J This is based on the philosophic distinction of {a) external goods from 
 internal, whether (b) of body or (c) of soul. 
 
 = Xen. Cyrop. ii. 2, 12 : 6 lih yap dXccfui' ^fjioiye SoKet Syo/ia Keia-eai iirl roU 
 wpocriroiov/ihois Kal TrXovaioiripois ehai ij el<n Kal dvBpeioT^pois, Kal voiiiaav ft ii.^ 
 Imvol d(Ti.v in(TXvoviJ.hois. Ar. K N. ii. 7, 1108 a : v di wpoirTrolriais i, i>.h M 
 Tb pi.eT^oi' iXa^opela. Mag. mor., 1193 a : 6 t'.^i' y^p dXafiiy iirrii' 6 jrXeiu Twf 
 iwafyxbvTuiv air^ ■Kpc^TOioifie^os dmi. ^ elSi.a, & ^^ otSev. Note this last Socratic 
 
 touch. ,-.,-. ^„ 
 
 6 Phileb. 49 a : rby mdiKby (pBifov. 50 A : TeXS^ras S.pa riiJ.as £7ri tois twv <l>l}.av 
 yeXoiois <t>yi<rlv i XiTos, Kcpdvyvpras vSov7,y ,pBbi,v, Mirv A» ¥oAv avyK^pavvivu. 
 That <j,eivos is painful has beeu admitted at 48 B. 
 
 
 
210 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 a tinge of bitterness that is found also in envy and jealousy and 
 what the Germans call Schadenfreude). The pleasure of Comedy 
 is, thus, no less mixed than the pleasure of Tragedy, where we enjoy 
 our tears. 
 
 It will, I think, be clear that the analysis which takes this 
 somewhat unexpected form, is suggested by the now familiar 
 antithesis of Eiron and Alazon. What is particularly curious ^s 
 that Plato finds, in the spectator of Comedy that phthonos which 
 is similar in more than name to the feeling excited by the tragic 
 Hubris.^ 
 
 ' We saw how, in Comedy, Alazoneia finds its match in the mocking 
 
 / Irony of the hero, who draws out the Impostor's absurdities and 
 seta them at naught. If, with that antithesis in mind, we read 
 
 '■ Pentheus' examination of Dionysus in the Bacchae,^ we shall find 
 there the tragic counterpart of the ironical hero confronting the 
 
 ' boastful Impostor. The calmness of Pentheus' prisoner ; his 
 modesty in claiming a divine mission and a miraculous birth ; ^ 
 the exasperating coolness with which he speaks of a secret wisdom 
 not to be profaned to the dull ears that can hear only the 
 wisdom of this world {a-o<f>i,a) * ; the secure contempt, veiled under 
 an almost gentle demeanour, — all this makes a masterpiece of 
 ' irony,' which seems prophetic of two more famous scenes still 
 to come in history : Socrates in presence of his Athenian judges, 
 and Christ before Pilate. Pentheus is reduced to blustering 
 threats, and the scene ends with a warning that he will pay for his 
 Hubris.^ 
 
 The relation of the two actors in this scene is the unmistakable 
 analogue of the relation of Eiron and Alazon. In general, however, 
 as we said, the tragic adversaries. Hubris and Sophrosyne, fight 
 
 1 i)/3/)is and dXafoveia are coupled in the comparison of the soul to a two-horsed 
 chariot. The bad horse is S^peus Kal dXafoyetas ^raipos, the good is niiijs IpaffTTji 
 /ierA troiippoffiprjs Kal aldoDs {Phaednis, 253 D e). 
 
 2 434 ff. 
 
 ''' 461 ; Dion, oi K6fi,iro! oMe/s' pq.Siou 5' diruv rdSe. 
 
 * The Bacchanals disclaim the vulgar form of ^66vos towards <7o0/a : rd 0-004^ 
 oi; ^eoi/u, 1005 J but elsewhere they speak of <70<pla in the same breath with 
 Hubris : 395 rb a-o^6v 5' oi <ro:pla, t6 re |Ui) BvTjTa. ippovew. 427 ffo0d>' S' dTr^x^iK 
 TTparlSa ippha re wepiaoSii/ rapa (jtaruv' t6 ttX^Aos ti Tt to /pavXdTepov i»6iua-e XPVTa.l 
 re, t6S* Av Sexolp.av. 
 
 * 516 : drdp roi twi'5' iSiroii'' v^pi(xp,6,T{av | /xirufft Ai6>'ii(r6s it'. . . . 
 
COMEDY AND TRAGEDY 211 
 
 their battle within the hero's breast. Here is a point of difierence 
 from Comedy. The Sophrosyne of Comedy is the spirit of genial 
 sanity, in all its range from the flicker of Ughtning reason and the 
 flash of wit, through the large humour of common sense, down to 
 the antics of the fool, making ironical play with every form of 
 absurdity. Its antagonist is pretence, assumption, arrogance, 
 conceit, all the less serious and tragic species of imposture. The 
 adversaries here are incompatible and must remain distinct. The 
 duel of Comedy is everlastingly fought out between them. 
 
 This difference between Tragedy and Comedy leads to a furtheT 
 consequence. Tragedy, bent on reveahng the working of human 
 destiny, keeps to the fundamental conception of the old ritual plot. 
 The stories it borrows from heroic legend are such as illustrate 
 this conception ; ^ the characters are created to fit the ' experience ' 
 they must undergo. Comedy, on the other hand, has no concern 
 with the course of destiny. The substructure of the old plot is 
 kept, just because it is a matter of indifference, and, when its 
 serious element is toned down and its happy conclusion emphasised, 
 it serves well enough. Comedy is bent on character, and fastens 
 on those stock masks which Tragedy was bound to discard. It 
 is in this Uttle group of Alazones that she finds her legitimate 
 prey. Progress consists in subdividing them into minor species 
 of absurdity by that way we have traced, through a study, first 
 of professional types, and finally of types of human character in 
 general. 
 
 To sum up. The old ritual drama provided Tragedy with the 
 abstract conception or movement of its plot, and the philosophy 
 of Hubris. It provided Comedy with the stock masks which could 
 serve as a basis for its ever subtler classification of all that is 
 ridiculous in human character ; while the outhnes of the ritual 
 plot were retained in the Old Comedy, because they were sufficient 
 for its purposes. It appears, then, that, if the inner impulses of 
 the two kinds of drama are such as we described, the supposed 
 ritual did contain the essential germs out of which each could grow 
 to its full form. 
 
 1 Aristotle [Poetics, 14 fin. ) notes that ' Tragedies are restricted to a small 
 number of (heroic) families ... in which such horrors have occurred,' but he 
 could not know the reason. 
 
212 THE ORIGIN OP ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 103. Tragedy or Comedy, a difference of emphasis 
 I Not only did our supposed ritual drama provide Tragedy with 
 its essential conception, and Comedy with its opportunity for 
 character-study; it is also true that its central incidents could 
 be given a sad or happy turn, according as emphasis were thrown 
 on the conflict and death of the hero, or on the jojrful resurrection 
 and marriage that followed. This difference of emphasis was already 
 present, at the rehgious stage, among the various local forms of the 
 ritual. Thus, in the Asiatic cults, the sorrowful element seems to 
 have predominated. We remember those untimely lamentations 
 for Adonis which cast a shadow of ill omen over the departure of 
 the Sicilian expedition. ' They were commanded to take ship 
 on the day of the celebration of the feast of Adonia, on the which 
 the custom is that women do set up in divers parts of the city, 
 in the middest of the streets, images hke to dead corses which they 
 carry to burial, and they represent the mournings and lamentations 
 made at the funerals of the dead, with blubbering, and beating 
 themselves, in token of the sorrow the goddess Venus made for 
 the death of her friend Adonis.' ^ From the Babylonian Descent 
 of Ishtar to Bion's Elegy and Shelley's Adonais, the name and 
 fate of Adonis or Tammuz have always kept their solemn and 
 mournful associations. If any form of literary drama had arisen 
 in this cult, it would certainly have been tragic in tone. Yet, 
 in the ritual there is only a difference of emphasis. The resurrection 
 and epiphany of the risen God with his divine bride is the necessary 
 conclusion, as surely as the spring must follow the winter.^ If 
 the death, instead of dominating the story, had dwindled, as it has 
 in the Thracian folk-drama and the Mummers' Play, to a piece of 
 frivolous pantomime, while the marriage and the triumphal K6mos 
 of the reunited lovers had become the prominent features, we 
 should then have the basis for Comedy of the Aristophanic type, 
 with its strongly marked sexual element and its riotous conclusion, 
 jdrowning any serious note that is still to be heard in the Agon. 
 
 It must not be forgotten, too, that, though for us the word 
 ' tragic ' has come to possess an atmosphere of pervading sadness, 
 the happy ending was normal in the trilogies of Aeschylus ; and 
 
 1 Plutarch, rii. Alcib. xviii. North's version expands the Greek : 'A.Siiivlav 
 yap eh ros 7ifi4pa,s cKslvas KaBriKbvrav efSuXo TroXXaxoO viKpois iKKoiu,^oiJ.ivoii S/xoia 
 ■wpoliKeiMTO rats yviia,i.^l, Kal roc^as i/unoOvTO KOTrTA/ieKai Kai Bpifvovt JSoc. 
 
 " On this point see Frazer, Adonis Auis Oairii (1906), chap. i. 
 
COMEDY AND TRAGEDY 213 
 
 in Aristotle's time it was still debatable whether a tragedy should 
 not end happily, the critics blaming Euripides for his preference 
 of what Aristotle, like ourselves, regards as the truly tragic close.^ 
 What historic causes made Tragedy take the serious turn is a 
 question that cannot be followed up here. One thing is evident : 
 that Tragedy is the exceptional phenomenon that calls for some 
 special explanation. The Indian drama, which is said to have 
 had a religious origin in the cult of Krishna,^ the youthful favourite 
 of shepherdesses and victor over the demons, dehberately pro- 
 hibits the tragic ending. The plays of Kahdasa and of the other 
 writers of the Sanskrit classical drama are romantic in atmosphere, 
 full of tenderness and pathos, as well as of humour, but the tragic 
 tone is absent, and the ending happy. True Tragedy has very 
 rarely made its appearance at all. In the modern world, it has 
 been always, directly or indirectly, influenced by Greek and 
 Eoman drama. There seems to be no parallel to its independent 
 growth in Greece ; and this fact makes the problem of its origin 
 there pecuharly difficult to solve. _ 
 
 It is certain that, in general, the type of dramatic ritual we have 
 studied, where it has passed into the phase of folk-drama, has lost 
 its seriousness and degenerated into buffoonery.^ There is reason 
 
 1 Ar. Poetics, 13, 1453a, 23, 5i6 xal ol KvpLirlSrj iyKaXoOvres aiirb ajxapTdvovaiv 8t(. 
 TOVTO 5/)f iy raij Tpaytfidiais Kal voWal avrov ds Svarvxlav Ti\nnSi<!i.v. 
 
 2 S. LiSvi, Le tUdtre Indien (Paris, 1890), says that the first positive document 
 attesting dramatic representations in India associates them with Krishna ; and 
 that the Classical drama (Kalidasa, etc.) was due to a revival of Krishnaism. 
 We must, however, allow for the ritual dramas detected by Schroder in the 
 dialogue hymns of the Eg-Veda (Mysterium und Mimus, Leipzig, 1908). 
 Fragments of Indian palm-leaf MSS. found in Central Asia prove that dramatic 
 literature of substantially the same chief characteristics as the Sanskrit classical 
 drama flourished in the first, or first and early second centuries a.d., 
 three or four centuries before Kalidasa (Rapson in Hastings' Encycl. of Belig^ 
 and Ethics, s.v. Drama). The 'processional' folk-plays called Yatras,\ 
 celebrating the life of Krishna and especially his love for Kadha, more resemble 
 what we have supposed to lie behind Greek Comedy. 
 
 3 Cf. an excellent discussion in Doutte, Relig. el Mayie dans I'Afriquedu 
 nord, p. 533 ff., and especially the following: Le drame poignant du sacrifice 
 d'un'dieu, si la foi a disparn, n'est plus [qu'} nne cirimonie ridicule: Venterre- 
 ment grotesque d'un personnage fantaisiste. M nous avons dans les camavals 
 I'exemple le plus typique de ce que devient une cirimonie rehgieuse, vidie de sa 
 croyance: die tombe dans le burlesque, a cause de ce contraste de joie et de 
 tristesse et d cause aussi de son caractire inexpliqui, c'est-A-dire diraisonnable ; 
 et elk devient unjeu, parce qu'elle n'est plus qu'une activitd inuhle, ce qui est la 
 definition dujeu. JDes lors, tile pent se surcharger et se ccmphqutr mdifimment, 
 comme toute manifestation estMtiqiie. 
 
214 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 to believe that the same holds true of the stage of development 
 that lies behind the Tragedy of Aeschylus. Aristotle ^ quite clearly 
 states that Tragedy had emerged from a phase which he calls 
 ■ satyric/ in which the plots were ' slight ' or trivial, and the style 
 was ' ludicrous.' The metre used was the trochaic tetrameter, 
 * because the poetry was satjTic and more connected with dancing ' 
 than it was later. He implies also that this phase had lasted for 
 a long time ; for he says that it was ' late ' in its progress that 
 Tragedy acquired its proper tone of stateUness and dignity. 
 
 Without going further into the historic problems, I will here 
 express the opinion that, if ' Tragedy ' had declined to this level, 
 its dignity and stateliness can only have been conferred upon it 
 by the deliberate and conscious effort of individual poets, probably 
 under the direction of Peisistratus. The process may have involved 
 the expurgation of that side of the drama which was most obviously 
 connected with fertility. 
 
 ^^^ On this point, however, it may be noted that if the emblem of 
 fertility round which Tragedy centred was the goat, the human 
 sexual element could not be so strongly marked as in Comedy, 
 where the emblem was the phallus. A deity in goat form can be 
 torn to pieces, mourned, sacramentally eaten, and resurrected ; 
 but the drama will not end with a marriage. ^ For that we require 
 a representative in human form, a Phales. Moreover, once the 
 protagonist is human, he cannot, when civilisation has come, really 
 be killed and torn to pieces as a goat can. The death and resur- 
 
 ' Poetics, i : '4ti. Si rb fifyeOos' ck ixiKpQiv ixiOoiv Kai Xefeois yeXolas Sii. t6 ix 
 (rarvpiKoO /MTa^aXeiu d^^ air^aeixvivOT], to -re iihpoii iK Terpaiiirpov laix^iiov iyiviTO. 
 ri fiiv yap irpCiTOV Terpafiirpip expuvTo Sia to aaTvpiK^ii Kal dpxri<TTi.KoiTipav ctvai 
 rijp irol-ri<nv. As fUKpwv fiidwv immediately follows the term fiiycBos, which means 
 'amplitude,' 'grandeur,' rather than mere length, fiiKpSv probably means 
 'petty," slight," trivial,' rather than 'short,' as it is commonly rendered. I 
 am convinced that ck caTvpiKoO /iera/SaXe?)' does not mean that Tragedy developed 
 out of a form like the Satyric dramas known to us, a century later, from 
 Sophocles' Ichneutae and Euripides' Cyclops. This form, on the contrary, appears 
 to be modelled on Tragedy. I take Sia rb h a-arvpiKoS /ieTapaXelv 6\pi aireae/ivOvev 
 to be nearly equivalent to saying, ' it changed from satyric to dignified,' as it 
 Aristotle had written iK traTupmov eis aep-vov fi.cTi^a\ef (cf. Phys. y 5, 205 a 6, 
 irdvra yci.p ficTafidWei e| irnvrlou eh ivavTiov, otov « BepnoO eh ^vxpiv). 'Writing in 
 his compressed way, Aristotle substitutes i.wcireiji.viii'eri to convey the additional 
 idea that it reached the seriousness appi-opriate to it in its fined form {d?ro-). I 
 doubt if the phrase (as contrasted with iK toS crar. /lera/S.) can have any other 
 meaning. 
 
 ^ Except possibly at an extremely primitive stage of ritual. 
 
J 
 
 COMEDY AND TRAGEDY 215 
 
 rection must become a mummery, and this — the solemn and 
 mournful part of the performance — will inevitably decay and lose 
 its serious meaning. The marriage, on the other hand, can be 
 retained and cast its joyful and licentious atmosphere over the 
 whole proceedings. We seem here to make out one of the con- 
 ditions which led to the Song of the Goat becoming tragic, while 
 the mummeries of the Phallic procession found their natural issue 
 in Comedy. ^._] 
 
 But we cannot, I believe, dispense with the supposition of a 
 conscious rescue of Tragedy from its ' satyrio ' phase — a deliberate 
 expulsion of those elements which distinguish the satyric drama 
 from the tragic plays to which it was so closely linked. The 
 conclusion that concerns our present argument is that there is 
 good reason to believe that, if we could see a ' tragedy ' of the time 
 before Aeschylus and Peisistratus, we might find that it was a 
 performance not much more serious and dignified than the Old ^ 
 Comedy. 
 
 The various considerations we have put forward have, perhaps, 
 removed any objection that may have been felt to the derivation 
 of Comedy and Tragedy from similar ritual performances. All 
 that remains is to point out that our theory of the descent of 
 Comedy is consistent with such literary tradition of its history as 
 we possess. 
 
 104. The History of the Old Comedy 
 
 In the case of Comedy we have not to suppose any such violent 
 break with the popular tradition of the folk-play as I conjecture 
 to have been deUberately effected for Tragedy. The history of 
 Comedy down to the appearance of Aristophanes (427 B.C.) may 
 be divided into three periods.^ 
 
 I. The first, or prehistoric, period ends at 488-7, the date at 
 which the archon first granted a Chorus to this form of drama. 
 Aristotle ^ must be right when he says that this date falls at a 
 ' late ' point in its development. We cannot guess for how many 
 centuries the Phallic processions had wound through the villages 
 
 1 This sketch, of course, omits many important facts and details which are 
 not relevant to our theme. 
 
 2 Poetics^ 5, 14496 1, xop^v KWi^^gSdv 6fi tot( o Apx"" ««"«"- 
 
216 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 of Attica, pausing in the market-place or before the house doors, as- 
 tkey still do in Northern Greece, to perform their rude Mummers' 
 Play. Behind that again lies the period during which the ritual 
 drama was still a serious religious ceremony, annually performed 
 for the fertility of man and beast and crop. At some time 
 faith in its magical efficacy died out, perhaps under the influence 
 of some new incoming system of belief, just as Christianity in its 
 day brought about the degradation into folk-plays and May games 
 of many an ancient pagan rite. How long Comedy existed on 
 this lower level of folk-drama we cannot say. The examples still 
 lingering on in modern Europe show that no Umit can be set to 
 the persistence of such survivals ; but, on the other hand, it may 
 have been only for a comparatively short time. What Aristotle 
 tells us is that the performers were ' amateurs ' {edeXovrai), and 
 that Comedy ' already had certain definite forms (o-i^?7/i,aTa) when 
 the record of its poets begins." He also seems to imply that in this 
 first period it had a plurality of actors, masks, and a prologue.^ 
 
 The word translated ' definite forms ' is somewhat vague, but it 
 appears to mean ' outHnes,' ^ and it may fairly be taken to include 
 conventional features such as the Agon, the Parabasis, the Kdmos, 
 etc. The ' pluraHty of actors ' and their ' masks ' we have tried 
 to identify. 
 
 II. To the second period belong the first generation of officially 
 recognised poets, of whom we know not much more than Aristo- 
 phanes himself tells us in the Knights.^ The fragments attributed 
 to Chionides, Magnes, Ecphantides, if genuine at all, are too slight 
 to give us any idea of the form of their plays. If Tzetzes means 
 this generation of poets by the ' School of Susarion,' we can interpret" 
 his statement that ' they brought their characters on the scene 
 
 ^ Poetics, 5, 1449& 2, -fjS-r] S^ crx^jM^Tci rtva auTrjs ixo^<n]S oi \ey6fievoL ai)r^s TroLTjTal 
 fivrjfioveuovTOiL. ris d^ irpbaonra air^dojKsv ij irpoXdyovs ^ itXtj^t; viroKpiTtov Kal Haa 
 Toiavra ■fp/vbTjrat. Since the details of external representation must have been 
 recorded from the date of official recognition, we may inffer that the features 
 named are older. Of. Starkie, Wasps, p. ix. The statements of later writers 
 who profess to know what Aristotle says was not known in his day may be 
 ignored. 
 
 ^ See Bywater on Poetics, 14486, 36, rh t^s KufiifiSLas o-x'JM'"'" Tpwros vTriSei^cv, 
 'marked out for us the great outlines of Comedy.' Plato, Lmos, 737 D, (tx-Zi/uitos 
 'iveKa Kal iTroypa(l>rjs. In the text above discussed Bywater renders ax^p'^o-Ta 
 ' definite forms.' 
 
 ^ V. 520 £f. If the Scholiast is right, Aristophanes refers to plays by ilagnes 
 entitled Bap(3i7i(rTaI,"0pi'iSes, \v5ol, S['^i'ts, BarpAx"'- 
 
COMEDY AND TRAGEDY 217 
 
 without orderly arrangement ' ^ as implying that in the Comedy 
 of this date the old plot was broken down and so interpolated with 
 episodes as to appear plotless, like Punch and Judy. 
 
 Ill, In the third period the greatest names are Kratinua and 
 Krates, both of whom first appeared about the middle of the 
 century. The only play of Kratinus about which we have enough 
 information to allow of any reconstruction of its form is the Jlvrivi].^ 
 The poet, replying to attacks upon his drunkenness, represented 
 himself as the husband of personified Comedy. She threatened 
 him with divorce and a process for ill-treatment. Implored by 
 the poet's friends not to act too hastily, she stated her case against 
 him and complained that he gave himself up to her rival. Drunken- 
 ness. (Here there was evidently an Agon.) After hearing the 
 oration of Comedy, the friends take counsel how to cure Eaatinus, 
 who urges that good poetry cannot be written by a water-drinker. 
 Whether he was cured, and how, we do not know ; but we may 
 conjecture with certainty that the play must have ended with a 
 reconciliation and re-marriage of Comedy and Kratinus.^ The plot 
 fits neatly into the same scheme that we have traced in Aristophanes. 
 ^ Of Krates Aristotle* makes the important statement that he 
 was the first Athenian poet to drop the ' iambic ' element of invec- 
 tive and compose plots or fables of a ' universal ' character. He 
 took this step under the influence of the Sicilian poets Epicharmus 
 and Phormis. It has often been observed that the fragments of 
 Krates and Pherekrates are hardly distinguishable from the manner 
 of the New Comedy ; and there is no trace in Krates of personal 
 attacks upon individuals. Aristotle seems to assert two things. 
 
 The first is that Krates dropped that element of invective 
 in which Aristotle found the distinguishing mark of the Old Attic 
 Comedy. This point specially interested the philosopher, because, 
 
 1 Tzetzes, tt. K^u^v^io^^ (Kaibel, C. G. F., i. 18), iii. 16, oi iv ri? 'ArTui? ^pSnov 
 
 ArdKTO,, dariyo. Kal yi\o>s fiv ixbvos rd Kara^KevaHi^evov. Poppelreuter {De Com. Mt. 
 Prim , p. 32) argues that the author must mean the poets of Magnes generation, 
 and that the words ^o-ax . . . So«™p(«^a may be interpolated. 
 
 2 See Meineke, Comici, i. 48, whose reconstruction I quote. 
 
 ^ Cf. Croiset, Hist, de la lit. grecque, iii. 480 : sans doute Vaffaire jimisa^t fa, 
 
 Ka.e6\ov iroieTv 'K6yovs Kal /iidovs. 
 
218 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 in his view, the representation of the ' universal ' (' not what 
 actually happens, but the sort of thing that may happen ') is the 
 special function of poetry, as contrasted, for instance, with history. 
 Hence, the Old Comedy, in so far as it consisted of invective against 
 real persons, was not poetry at all, or, as we should say, not art. 
 As a piece of aesthetic theory, this is an interesting judgment ; 
 but from our own standpoint in this book it is of minor importance. 
 We must certainly not be misled into supposing that Comedy 
 before Krates consisted entirely or mainly of personal invective ; 
 and we must remember that this element is still prominent in 
 Aristophanes' earlier plays. The Sicilian influence is less marked 
 in the younger poet, and it is quite probable that the structure of 
 his plays is nearer to the old pattern. 
 
 Aristotle's second statement about Krates seems to be that he 
 introduced the custom of inventing or ' composing ' plots (-Trooeiv 
 Xoyovi KoX /Mvdov;). This is generally assumed to imply that 
 Comedy before Krates must have had no plot at all. But it is 
 equally consistent with our own view that Comedy then had still 
 in broken outline the old ritual scheme with its constant features. 
 When Krates began to compose new imaginative plots, he may 
 have been doing for Comedy something analogous to what Thespis 
 or Aeschylus did for Tragedy, moving away from the old ritual 
 formula towards a fresh variety of subjects and characters. But 
 though Krates, under Syracusan influence, Hfted the ' vulgar 
 Comedy ' of his predecessors to a higher plane, he did not banish 
 the old stock masks and farcical incidents from the comic stage. 
 The tradition of them was still alive in the next generation ; for 
 Aristophanes can boast of expurgating them, while in reality he 
 kept them all, though in a very subordinate place. In this respect, 
 again, Aristophanes is not the successor of Krates, but goes back 
 to the older tradition. Krates, in fact, seems to stand outside 
 the direct line, as one who attempted to import the Sicihan Mime, 
 which already had a long history of independent development.^ 
 
 ' The Scholiast on Knights, 538, remarks that Krates aimed especially at 
 giving pleasure. : afUKpa iiroici xoi irepve tovs aKpoaTa^, ypaipuv rjSia. Aristotle 
 uses the same expression in contrasting the New with the Old Comedy, Eth. 
 Nic. IV. viii. 7, 1128a 25, iroTipoii ovu rbv eUaKilnrTODTa bpuTriov rif \4yav fi^j awperri 
 i\ev9eplij> ^ T(f fir) XuTreij' rix a,Ko6ovTa ^ koi WpTrfiv ; so also Euanthins, ii. 6, r^ar 
 KUnipSiav . . . quae minus amaritudinis spectatorihus et eadem opera multum 
 delectationia afferret. 
 
COMEDY AND TRAGEDY 219 
 
 The attempt was premature, and only bore fruit later, when 
 Aristophanes had shown the best that could be made of the old 
 indigenous form inherited from ritual. We are told that in the 
 Cocalus, which is conjectured to have been Aristophanes' last play, 
 he introduced the new plot motives (including the ' Eecognition,' 
 borrowed from Tragedy) that were later used by Menander.^ 
 
 That Aristotle should have said nothing of that primitive religious 
 drama we have hypothetically reconstituted, is in no way surprising. 
 In the Poetics he was not concerned with ritual origins. His 
 mention of the Dithyramb and of the Phallic Song comes in a 
 parenthesis ; and to the cult of Dionysus he makes no further 
 reference. Treating analytically the plays he had read or seen, 
 he fixes upon the ' iambic element ' as the differentia marking 
 off the Old Comedy from the Comedy of his own time, which was, 
 in his view, a higher form of art, just because it eschev.cd personal 
 invective and was purely a universal representation of human 
 character. How much more he knew or might have inferred 
 about the earliest stages of Comedy we cannot tell. He may 
 have known as little as Boileau knew of the beginnings of the 
 modern French theatre. This celebrated critic could write : 
 
 ' Chez nos devots Ayeux le TMdtre ahhorrc 
 Fut longtemps dans la France un plaisir ignore, 
 
 and represent the Mysteries and Miracles as played by une Troupe 
 grossi^re de Pelerins, who were expelled for their devote imprudence. 
 If Boileau could be so ignorant of two centuries of ecclesiastical 
 drama, of which tens of thousands of lines were in existence, we 
 need not wonder if Aristotle did not know that the plays of 
 Chionides and Magnes retained traces of a broken-down ritual 
 plot, and that yet fainter traces survived in Aristophanes. And, 
 if he did know it, he had no occasion to mention it. There is, 
 so far as I can see, nothing in Aristotle's positive statements that 
 is inconsistent with the hypothesis of this book, which I now 
 commend to the reader's judgment. 
 
 1 Vita Aristoph. (Dindorf, Poetae Scenici/' p. 25), Trai/TdTrao-ic ^/tXeXoiiri/Us 
 rrii aXris tSiv KaiJ.vStSii> Sid, TO&rav airwv (iSiOV y&p KO>ix(fSlas rb aK<iirTei.v Twi.s) 
 typafe KiiKdXov, iv y ela&yei <t>Bopb.v Kai &ya.yi'wpi(rtil>f Kai t&XM vdi/ra & ^fiiAuo-e 
 'M.ivaySpos. 
 
220 THE ORIGIN OP ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 Many literary critics seem to think that an hypothesis about 
 obscure and remote questions of history can be refuted by a simple 
 demand for the production of more evidence than in fact exists. 
 The demand is as easy to make as it is impossible to satisfy. But 
 the true test of an hypothesis, if it cannot be shown to conflict 
 with known truths, is the number of facts that it correlates and 
 explains. The question left for the reader's consideration is whether, 
 after following our argument, he understands better the form and 
 features of this strange phenomenon, Aristophanic Comedy. 
 
SYNOPSIS OF THE EXTANT PLAYS 
 
 ABBEEVIATIONS 
 
 (£.iS.)=Epirrhematio Syzygy. 
 
 {AL.)=Alazon (Impostor), Scene of the type described above in § 65. 
 
 The ritual motives are indicated by capital letters : FIGHT, AGON, 
 SACRIFICE, NEW ZEUS (KING), COOKING, FEAST, MARRIAGE 
 (COURTESAN, BRIDE), KOMOS. 
 
222 
 
 SYNOPSIS OF THE EXTANT PLAYS 
 
 ACHARNIANS (425 B.C. Lenaea) 
 
 DRAMATIS PERSONAE 
 
 Adversaries in Agon : Dikaiopolis (Old Man, Buffoon). 
 Lamachus (Soldier). 
 
 Chorus : 
 Impostors : 
 
 Minor Characters : 
 
 Mute Persons : 
 
 Acharnians (Old Men). 
 
 An Envoy. 
 Pseudartabas. 
 Theorus. 
 Euripides. 
 
 An Informer. 
 Nicarchus. 
 A Farmer. 
 A Groomsman. 
 
 A Herald. A Megarian and his 
 Amphitheos. Daughters. 
 
 Dikaiopolis' Daughter. A Boeotian. 
 
 Euripides' Servant. Messengers. 
 
 Courtesans (Exodos), etc. 
 
 Prologue. Dikaiopolis, alone in the Pnyx, complains that 
 every one is late for the Assembly. He will obstruct any dis- 
 cussion except proposals of peace with Sparta. 
 
 The Assembly meets. Amphitheos declares his divine commis- 
 sion to make peace. He is ejected, Dikaiopohs protesting. 
 
 (AL.) An Envoy, returned from Persia, introduces a bogus 
 Persian official, the King's Eye, Pseudartabas. Dikaiopolis 
 derides them. 
 
 Dikaiopohs sends Amphitheos to make a private peace for him 
 with Sparta. 
 
 (AL.) Theorus, returned from an embassy to Thrace, introduces 
 some sham Thracians. Dikaiopohs exposes them. 
 
 Amphitheos brings back three samples of peace-hbations. 
 Dikaiopohs choses the thirty years' brand and retires to his farm 
 to celebrate the Country Dionysia. 
 
 204. Parodos. (E.S.) The Acharnian charcoal-burners hunt for 
 the traitor Amphitheos, whom they have sighted on his way from 
 Sparta. 
 
 Dikaiopolis comes out of his house, leading the PhalHo Pro- 
 cession. The PhalUc Song. 
 
 (E.S.) The Acharnians pelt D. with stones (FIGHT). He 
 pleads for a hearing, and brings out a coal-basket, which he 
 threatens to SACRIFICE. The Chorus relent. 
 
 (E.S.) D. offers to plead with his head over a chopping-block, 
 which he fetches. Still frightened, he asks leave to get a pathetic 
 costume. 
 
 (AL.) D. begs from Euripides the stage-dress of Telephus. 
 
ACHARNIANS 223 
 
 490. AGON {Ef.). Dikaiopolis pleads for peace with Sparta. He 
 converts Half-Chorus i. Their Leader FIGHTS with the other 
 Leader, whose party call for Lamachus. [AL.^Antef.) Lamachus 
 is mocked by D., who converts the Chorus and declares he will 
 open a private market with the state's enemies, Megara and 
 Boeotia. 
 
 626. Parabasis (Anaj).). Aristophanes' candour a benefit to Athens. 
 {E.S.) Muse of Acharnae invoked. Grievances of old men, 
 harassed by young lawyers. 
 
 719. Scene. Dikaiopolis opens his market. A Megarian offers his 
 daughters for sale as pigs for SACRIFICE. 
 
 {AL.) An Informer who comes to denounce the contraband 
 traffic is driven away. 
 
 Chorikon. Dikaiopolis is congratulated. He will not be vexed 
 by various objectionable persons (satirised by name). 
 
 Scene. A Boeotian brings game and eels. 
 
 [AL.) Nicarchus, an Informer, is seized and packed up like 
 pottery. 
 
 Lyrical Dialogue, during which Nicarchus is beaten or 
 tossed from hand to hand. 
 
 {AL.) Lamachus' Servant asks for a share of D.'s purchases 
 for the Choes Feast, and is refused. D. carries his purchases 
 inside. 
 
 971. Parabasis ii. (E.S.) Contrast of Peace and War. (Prepara- 
 tions for FEAST within.) 
 
 1000. Scene. A Herald proclaims the drinking competition of the 
 Choes. Dikaiopolis begins COOKING. 
 
 {E.S.) {AL.) A Farmer is refused a share of the peace-libatioo 
 wine. 
 
 {AL.) A Groomsman ofiers meat from a wedding feast. The 
 Bridesmaid is given some wine for the Bride. 
 
 Messenger i. summons Lamachus to go on duty. 
 
 Messenger ii. invites Dikaiopolis to FEAST with the priest of 
 Dionysus. 
 
 Lamachus arms himself ; Dikaiopolis packs his hamper. 
 {Exeunt.) 
 
 1143. CHORiiiON {Anaf. dimeters). The Chorus bid them farewell. 
 Abuse of Antimachus, a stingy choregus. 
 
 1174. Scene. Lamachus' Servant announces his return, wounded. 
 Lamachus enters hobbling between two slaves; Dikaiopolis, 
 with two COURTESANS, claims the wine-skin won in the Choes 
 competition. He calls on the Chorus to salute him as Victor 
 
 (KaXkiviKOi). . . 1 o ± 
 
 ExoDOS. The Chorus escort Dikaiopobs, singing the Song of 
 Arcbilochus (KOMOS). 
 
224 SYNOPSIS OF THE EXTANT PLAYS 
 
 KNIGHTS (424 b.c. Lenaea) 
 
 DRAMATIS PERSONAE 
 
 Adversaries in Agon : A Sausage-seller, Agoracritus (Cook). 
 
 A PapUagonian Slave, Cleon (Parasite). 
 
 Chorus : Kniglits ( Young Men). 
 
 Judge in Agon ii. : Demos (Old Man, Buffoon). 
 
 Minor Buffoon : First Slave, Demosttenes. 
 
 Second Slave, Nikias. 
 
 Mute Persons : Libations (Courtesans in Exodos). 
 
 Prologue. Tte two slaves, Demosthenes and Nikias, com- 
 plain of the PapUagonian. A Sausage-seller, destined by oracle 
 to oust him, is persuaded of his mission ; but frightened when 
 he appears. Demosthenes calls the Knights to the rescue. 
 
 242. Parodos. The Knights rush in and beat the PapUagonian 
 (FIGHT). He and the Sausage-seller threaten one another. 
 
 303. AGON I. The PapUagonian and Sausage-seller accuse one 
 another. The PapUagonian is again beaten. 
 
 Scene. He declares he will go to the Council and denounce 
 the conspiracy against him. The Sausage-seller follows Um. 
 
 488. Parabasis (Ana-p.). The merits of Aristophanes, and the 
 ingratitude of the Athenians to the comic poets. 
 
 (E.S.) Poseidon invoked. Praise of the men of old ; the young 
 Knights will do as well. Pallas invoked. Praise of the Knights' 
 ' horses.' 
 
 611. Scene. (E.S.) The Sausage-seller, in a messenger-speech, tells 
 of Us victory over the PapUagonian at the Council. 
 
 The PapUagonian returns. They wiU appeal to the people. 
 Demos comes. 
 
 756. AGON II. With Demos as judge, they compete for Us favour. 
 The Sausage-seller is declared victorious. 
 
 942. Scene. Demos transfers his seal-ring to the Sausage-seller. 
 Both rivals go to fetch oracles. 
 
 Chorikon. The Knights exult over the PapUagonian's defeat. 
 
 Scene. The rivals quote their oracles. Again the Sausage- 
 seller prevails. . They go to get a feast for Demos. 
 
 Chorikon. Demos tells the Knights he is playing the fool 
 on purpose. 
 
KNIGHTS 225 
 
 Scene. The rivals race to provide Demos' FEAST. They 
 serve various dishes. The wreath of office is transferred from 
 the Paphlagonian to the Sausage-seller, who is saluted as 
 
 KaXXlVLKOI. 
 
 1264. Paeabasis ii. {E.S.) Personal abuse. Dialogue of the 
 warships. 
 
 1316. Scene. The Sausage-seller announces his success in COOKING 
 Demos to a new life. Demos hailed as KING. The Sausage- 
 seller produces COUETESANS (' Libations '), and is invited to 
 FEAST in the Prytaneum. The Paphlagonian is degraded. 
 ExoDOS (wanting). 
 
226 SYNOPSIS OF THE EXTANT PLAYS 
 
 CLOUDS (423 b.c. Dionysia) 
 
 DRAMATIS PERSONAE 
 
 Adversaries in Agon ii. : Strepsiades {Old Man, Buffoon). 
 Pheidippides {Young Man). 
 
 Chorus : Clouds (Women). 
 
 Socrates {Learned Doctor). 
 
 .Adversaries in Agon i. : Just Reason. 
 Unjust Reason. 
 
 Impostors : Pasias. 
 
 Ainynias. 
 
 Minor Characters : Strepsiades' Servant. 
 
 Disciples of Socrates. 
 
 
 Prologue. Strepsiades and Pheidippides in bed. Strepsiades 
 i^akes complaining of his debts incurred by his son's prodigality, 
 
 and his mistake in marrying a city lady. Ph eidippides refu ses 
 OjlWlA'5 to go to the Philosophers and learn how to plead, the uiiJUBt' 
 ^ I 'T^a.iisfiT' ^/repRia^es decides to go himself. A Disciple admits . 
 (^f him. Socrates is seen, hanging in a basket. Socrates initiates 
 ^v^ag^£_Strepsiade3. 
 
 263j^]PARopos. {E.S.) Socrates invokes the Clouds, who are heard 
 ^ •<!^mgmir /^t/^l'S 
 
 L^e*'''' ■-'Scene. The Clouds appear. Socrates expounds their nature. 
 V ^ They are the only Gods : ZEUg does not existy ^ The Clouds 
 
 y^^ ^ make rain and thunder. Dinos is JUIJNU. ' litrepsiades abjures all 
 ■^ other Gods. He is bidden to lay aside his cloak and enters the 
 ' Cave of Trophonius.' 
 
 Paeabasis {Eupolideans). Rebuke to the audience for not"/ 
 approving the first edition of the Clouds. 
 
 {E.S.) I nvocation of Zeus^P oseidonj Aether, Helios. The 
 Clouds complam that tney'axenot worshipped. Invocation of 
 Phoebus, Artemis, Athena, Dionysus. The Moon's complaint 
 of the irregularity of the calendar. -J 
 
 Scene. {E.S.) Socrates calls out Strepsiade^ into the Ught. 
 
 He instructs him in metric and grammar, and sets him to think 
 
 1 for himself. Strepsiades invents devices to avoid paying his 
 
 ^y , debts. Socrates refusing to teach him more, he goes to persuade 
 
 ' yj(' Pheidippides to come as pupil. 
 
CLOUDS 227 
 
 Strepsiades brings Pheidippides and tells him there is no Zeus 
 and other things he has learnt. Socrates says the Two Eeasons 
 shall instruct Pheidippides. 
 
 889. AGON I. {Anap. dimeters). The Two Reasons abuse and 
 threaten one another. 
 
 The Just Reason praises the old-fashioned educat ion ; the 
 Unjust attacks it and praises the modern. I'he JusFKeason is 
 worsted and surrenders. 
 
 Pheidippides goes with the Unjust Reason into Socrates' house. 
 
 1113. Parabasis II. (Epirrheme only). The Clouds promise the judges 
 rewards if they give them the prize ; threaten them, if they do 
 not. Jp^rnlle^ /y ^/*Vt^f t^^ 
 
 1131. Scene. Strepsiades is told by Socrates that Pheidippides has 
 learnt his lesson. Pheidippides appears, transformed to a pale 
 sophist. Strepsiades, singing a KOMOS song, takes him in to 
 FEAST. 
 
 {A.L.) Pasias serves a summons for debt on Strepsiades, who 
 confounds him with sophisms. 
 
 (A.L.) Amynias claims payment of a debt. He is driven away 
 with a horse-goad. 
 
 1303, Chorikon {while FEAST goes on within). The Chorus foretell 
 that Strepsiades will repent his son's new training. 
 
 1321. Strepsiades rushes out, pursued and beaten by Pheidippides, \ 
 who undertakes to justify father-beating. 
 
 AGON II. Strepsiades recounts their quarrel at the Feast. 
 Pheidippides proves the justice of chastising one's father. 
 Strepsiades, however, is revolted by his offering to prove that 
 one should beat one's mother. 
 
 1453. Scene. Strepsiades recants his atheism. ZEUS is KING. 
 Advised by the Statue of Hermes, Strepsiades bums and pulls 
 down Socrates' house. 
 
 ^^QDaS:, The Coryphaeus encourages Strepsiades to smite 
 the atheists. 
 
228 SYNOPSIS OF THE EXTANT PLAYS 
 
 WASPS (422 B.C. Lenaea) 
 
 DRAMATIS PERSONAB 
 
 Adversaries in Agon : Bdelycleon ( Young Man). 
 
 PMlocleon (Old Man, Buffoon). 
 
 Chorus : Wasps (Old Men). 
 
 Second Chorus : Boys. 
 
 Minor Buffoon : First Slave, Xanthias. 
 
 Second Slave, Sosias. 
 
 Impostors : A Bakerwoman. 
 
 A Prosecutor. 
 
 Mute Persons : A Courtesan. 
 
 Two Dogs, etc. 
 
 Prologue. Night. XantMas and Sosias watcMng the house 
 to prevent PMlocleon from escaping to the law-court. Bdely- 
 cleon keeps guard on the roof. PMlocleon tries to escape but is 
 shut in. 
 
 230. Paeodos. The Chorus of old jurymen come with lanterns to 
 fetch PMlocleon. 
 
 They serenade him. He replies in a monody. 
 
 (E.S.) Learning that he is imprisoned, they tell him to let him- 
 self down by a rope. 
 
 (E.S.) The Chorus FIGHT Bdelycleon and the slaves, and are 
 beaten off. Bdelycleon induces them to Hsten. PMlocleon calls 
 for a sword, to commit suicide if he is beaten in argument. 
 
 526. AGON. PMlocleon dilates on the kingly power of the old 
 jurors. The juryman is a KING, not inferior to ZEUS ; he 
 thunders and lightens. 
 
 Bdelycleon shows him that he is really the slave of the poli- 
 ticians. The Wasps are converted, and PMlocleon nearly faints. 
 
 729. Choeikon (Anaf. dimeters). The Chorus urge PMlocleon to 
 change his ways. PMlocleon says farewell to Ms soul. 
 
 Scene. Bdelycleon promises Mm a law-court at home, and 
 arranges one. Sosias drags in the dog Labes, who has stolen 
 some cheese. The other dog will prosecute. Fire, myrtle boughs, 
 and incense are brought for SACRIFICE. The Chorus sing a 
 paean of peace, and Bdelycleon prays that the old man's heart 
 may be softened. 
 
WASPS 229 
 
 Scene. The Dog Trial. Philocleon, overcome by Labes' 
 acquittal, is led in by his son, who promises to take him every- 
 where with him. 
 
 1009. Paeabasis (Anap.). Aristophanes' services to Athens. 
 
 (E.S.) The Wasps regret their lost youth, and recall its glories 
 in the Persian wars. How they are hke wasps. 
 
 1122. Scene. Bdelycleon tries to dress Philocleon to go out to 
 dinner and teaches him refined manners. They go to dinner 
 (FEAST). 
 
 1265. Paeabasis ii. (E.S. imperfect.) Personal satire. 
 
 1292. Scene. Xanthias describes Philooleon's outrageous behaviour 
 at the dinner-party. He is coming in KOMOS. Philocleon 
 appears, singing and striking all he meets with his torch. He 
 promises a COURTESAN to take her for his concubine when his 
 son dies. 
 
 (AL.) A Bakerwoman, whose stall he has upset, claims redress. 
 Philocleon derides her. 
 
 (AL.) A Prosecutor summons him for assault. Philocleon 
 tells him anecdotes, till he is carried into the house by his son. 
 (FEAST continued within.) 
 
 Choeikon. The Wasps congratulate the old man on his 
 changed nature. 
 
 1474. Scene. Xanthias describes Philocleon's drunken behaviour. 
 He enters, challenging all tragedians to dance. The sons of 
 Karkinus dance against him. 
 
 ExoDOS. The Chorus join in and dance out of the orchestra. 
 
230 SYNOPSIS OF THE EXTANT PLAYS 
 
 PEACE (421 B.C. Dionysia) 
 
 DRAMATIS PERSONAE 
 
 Trygaeus {Old Man, Buffoon). 
 War {Soldier). 
 Tumult, his attendant. 
 
 Chorus : Farmers {Old Men). 
 
 Minor Buffoon : First Slave. 
 
 Second Slave. 
 
 Hermes. 
 
 Impostors : Hierooles, a priest. 
 
 A Pruninghook-maker. 
 A Cooper {mule). 
 Several Weapon-makers. 
 
 Minor Characters : Trygaeus' Daughters. 
 Two Boys. 
 
 Mute Persons : Peace. 
 
 Opera {Bride in Exodos). 
 Theoria, etc. 
 
 Peologue. Two slaves prepare food for Trygaeus' dung- 
 beetle. Trygaeus starts on its back to go and ask ZEUS why he 
 troubles Greece with war. Deaf to the appeals of his young 
 daughters, he ascends to Zeus' house. Hermes tells him the Gods 
 are away from home ; and War has imprisoned Peace in a cave. 
 War enters with a mortar in which to bray the cities of Greece. 
 He makes a salad of leeks (Prasiai), onions (Megara), cheese (Sicily), 
 and honey (Attica), and sends Tumult to fetch a pestle (Cleon) 
 from Athens ; but Cleon is dead, and so is Brasidas. Exit War. 
 Trygaeus calls the Greeks to bring tools to extricate Peace. 
 
 301. Paeodos. The Chorus of Farmers comes and dances for joy. 
 
 {E.S.) Hermes threatens Trygaeus with death if he digs up 
 Peace ; but the appeals of Trygaeus and the Chorus induce him 
 to help. Hermes ofiers libations, and Trygaeus prays for peace 
 and curses the warUke. 
 
 {E.S.) Led by Hermes, the Chorus drag out Peace, attended by 
 Opora and Theoria. (ANODOS.) They all salute hei-. 
 
 Hermes tells how Peace was lost. Peace asks questions through 
 Hermes about the state of Athens. Hermes gives Opora to 
 Trygaeus and sends Theoria to the Council. Trygaeus departs 
 to return to earth. 
 
PEACE 231 
 
 729. Parabasis {Anap.). The merits of Aristophanes, 
 (Ode and Antode). Invocation of the Muse. 
 
 819. (E.S.) Trygaeus comes to earth with Opora and Theoria. He 
 tells Xanthias what he has seen on the way, and orders him to 
 prepare Opora for their marriage. He gives Theoria to the 
 President of the Council. 
 
 {E.S.) Trygaeus and Xanthias fetch an altar and a sheep to 
 SACRIFICE for the installation of Peace. The sacrifice is con- 
 ducted : barley sprinkled over the audience, lustral water over 
 the Chorus. Trygaeus prays to Peace. The sheep is led in to be 
 sacrificed. Trygaeus prepares for COOKING. 
 
 (AL.) Hierocles, an oracle-mongering priest, is refused a share. 
 He and his acolyte try to steal, but are beaten off. 
 
 1127. Parabasis ir. (E.S.) The pleasures of Peace contrasted with 
 the discomforts of War. 
 
 1191. Trygaeus adorned for his marriage, gives orders for the wedding 
 FEAST, held within. 
 
 (AL.) A Pruninghook-maker and a Cooper bring presents in 
 gratitude, and are sent in to feast. 
 
 (AL.) Makers of hehnet-crests, breastplates, trumpets, helmets, 
 and spears are dismissed with derision. 
 
 Two boys, sons of Lamachus and Kleonymus, come to practise 
 songs for the feast. The former is driven away for singing of war ; 
 the latter sent in to sing of peace. The Chorus eat the rest of the 
 sacrificial FEAST. 
 
 1316. ExoDOS. Trygaeus and Opora are conducted in the 
 MAERIAGE KOMOS, with hymeneal song. 
 
232 
 
 SYNOPSIS OV THE EXTANT PLAYS 
 
 BIRDS (414 B.C. Dionysia) 
 
 DRAMATIS PERSONAE 
 
 Adversaries in Agon : Pisthetairos {Old Man, Buffoon) 
 Hoopoe. 
 
 Chorus : 
 Minor Buffoon . 
 Imfostors : 
 
 Minor Characters . 
 
 Birds. 
 
 Buelpides (Old Man). 
 
 A Dithyiambic Poet. A Hawker of Acts of 
 An Oracle-monger. Parliament. 
 Meton, a mathema- A Youth. 
 
 tician. Kinesias, a poet. 
 
 An Inspector. An Informer. 
 
 The Hoopoe's 
 
 Servant. 
 A Priest. 
 Two Messengers. 
 A Sentinel. 
 A Herald. 
 
 Iris. 
 
 Prometheus. 
 
 Poseidon. 
 
 Triballos. 
 
 Heracles. 
 
 Mute Persons . 
 
 Basileia {Bride in Exodos), etc. 
 
 Prologue. Pisthetairos and Euelpides are seeking the country 
 of the Birds, to found a new city there. They knock at the 
 Hoopoe's door and send his jervant to fetch him. The Hoopoe 
 questions them. Pisthetairos proposes that the Birds shall 
 fortify the air and so control Gods and men. The Hoopoe calls 
 the Nightingale to help him summon the Birds. 
 
 260. Paeodos. Four Birds enter, followed by the whole Chorus, 
 who take alarm at the sight of two men. 
 
 {E.S.) The Birds prepare to tear to pieces the men, who en- 
 trench themselves in their baggage. (FIGHT.) The Hoopoe 
 intervenes and persuades the Birds to make truce and hsten. 
 
 451. AGON. Pisthetairos tells how the Birds were once KINGS 
 before ZEUS, now persecuted by men. They must fortify the 
 air and demand their kingdom back. If Zeus refuses, starve out 
 the Gods ; if men refuse, eat all their crops ; if they consent, give 
 them help. The Birds agree. 
 
 The Hoopoe welcomes the men to his house and brings in the 
 Nightingale. 
 
BIRDS 233 
 
 676. 'Parasasis (Ana/p.). Tke Tteogony of the Birds. Tte benefits 
 they will give to man, if he acknowledges their divinity. 
 
 (E.S.) Invocation of the Muse of the thicket. Advantages of 
 Bird-Kfe over human Ufe. 
 
 801. Scene. Pisthetairos and Euelpides return, winged. They 
 name the new city Nephelokokkygia. Euelpides is dismissed to 
 superintend the building. 
 
 (E.S.) Pisthetairos and a priest conduct the SACRIFICE. 
 The priest is driven away. The Sacrifice is interrupted by— 
 
 (AL.) a Dithyrambic Poet, who receives a tunic ; 
 
 {AL.) an Oracle-monger, driven away ; 
 
 (AL.) Meton, the mathematician, beaten ; 
 
 (AL.) an Inspector, beaten ; 
 
 (AL.) a Hawker of Acts of ParHament, beaten. 
 Pisthetairos, in despair, orders the sacrifice to be finished within, 
 
 1058. Paeabasis n. AH will now worship the Birds. They set a 
 price on the poulterer's head. Dehghts of bird-hfe. Rewards 
 promised to judges for victory ; penalties threatened for defeat. 
 
 1118. Messenger i. describes the building of the walls. A Sentinel 
 announces that a messenger from the Gods has passed the fines. 
 ' (E.S.) Iris, on her way to earth, is arrested. She threatens 
 destruction by the lightning and pick of Zeus, and is turned back 
 with contumely. 
 
 A Herald brings a crown from mankind and announces that 
 crowds are coming to share in bird-hfe. Pisthetairos sends for 
 baskets of wings. 
 1313. Chorikon, while wings are brought. 
 
 (AL.) A Youth, who wants to strangle his father, is armed as 
 a cock and sent to war. 
 (AL.) Kinesias, a dithyrambic poet, derided. 
 (AL.) An Informer, beaten. 
 
 1470. Choeikon. Personal satire. 
 
 Scene. (E.S.) Prometheus tells Pisthetairos that the Gods 
 are starving and will send envoys. He is to insist on getting the 
 sceptre of Zeus and Basileia for his wife.- Satirical Ode. Posei- 
 don, Heracles, and the Triballos come as envoys. Pisthetairos 
 comes out and begins COOKING, and bribes the envoys. They 
 take Pisthetairos to heaven in a wedding garment. Satirical 
 Antode. 
 
 1706. Messenger ii. announces the return of the rejuvenated Pisthe- 
 tairos with his BRIDE Basileia. 
 
 ExoDOS. A Hymeneal song salutes Pisthetairos as the NEW 
 ZEUS, lord of thunder and hghtning, and koAAivikos. KOMOS. 
 
234 SYNOPSIS OF THE EXTANT PLAYS 
 
 LYSISTRATA (411 b.c. Lenaea) 
 
 DRAMATIS PERSONAE 
 
 Adversaries in Agon : Lysistrata, an Athenian wife. 
 A ProboTilos. 
 
 Chorus (double) / Twelve Old Men. 
 
 Twelve Old Women. 
 
 Minor Buffoon : Kalonike, an Athenian wife. 
 
 Minor Characters : Myrrhine, an Athenian wife. 
 Lampito, a Spartan wife. 
 Kinesias. 
 Attenian legates. 
 Spartan legates. 
 
 Mute Persons : Reconcilement (' Bride '), etc. 
 
 Prologue. The Slope of the Acropolis outside the Propylaea. 
 Lysistrata teUs Kalonike she has summoned the women to pro- 
 pound a plan for stopping the war. When they come, she suggests 
 a strike of wives. With Lampito's support she persuades them. 
 They take the oath on a cup of wine. The old women have seized 
 the Acropohs. The rest go in to help. 
 
 254. Parodos. The Half-Chorus of Old Men come with faggots to 
 burn the women out of the Acropolis. They hght a fire. The 
 Half-Chorus of Women bring buckets of water. The two Leaders 
 FIGHT. 
 
 A Proboulos with Policemen, armed with crowbars, is about 
 to attack the gates, when Lysistrata and three Old Women come 
 out. The Pohcemen try to arrest them. The women from 
 inside rush out and FIGHT, putting the Pohcemen to flight. 
 
 476. AGON. The Proboulos questions Lysistrata, who states the 
 women's grievances. At the end the women ofier him grave 
 ornaments, and he goes to show himself so decked to his colleagues. 
 The women retire into the Acropohs. 
 
 614. Parabasis. (E.S.) The Halt-Chorus of Men lay aside their 
 cloaks and threaten the women. The women do the same. They 
 dispute whether women shovdd take part in pohtics. 
 
 (E.S.) Throwing ofi other garments, the two parties threaten 
 and defy each other. 
 
 706. Scene. Lysistrata announces that the women are deserting. 
 Several women try to steal away. Lysistrata produces an oracle 
 of victory and persuades them to re-enter the Acropohs. 
 
LYSISTBATA 235 
 
 781. Chorikon. The two Half-Ctoruses tell satirical anecdotes at 
 the expense of men and women, and threaten each other. 
 
 829. Scene. Kinesias comes for his wife Myrrhine. She comes out 
 and deludes him. He laments. 
 
 Scene. A Herald from Sparta describes the distress of the 
 men there. He and Kinesias agree to get peace legates appointed. 
 
 1014. Paeabasis II. The two Half-Choruses make up their quarrel 
 and resume their garments. The Men offer money, the Women 
 food, to the spectators. 
 
 1073. The Spartan and Athenian legates meet to discuss peace. 
 Lysistrata produces Eeconcilement (' BEIDE ') and brings them 
 to terms. She invites them to feast in the Acropolis and 
 afterwards to take each man his wife and go home. 
 
 1189. Choeikon. The Men and Women renew their ofiers of money 
 and food to the spectators. (FEAST within.) 
 
 1216. Scene. The Athenian legates come out after the feast in 
 KOMOS with torches. The Spartans follow with a flute-player 
 and perform a dance. 
 
 ExoDOS. Lysistrata bids the men and women to pair ofi with 
 one another (' MAERIAGE '). They dance ofi singing to various 
 divinities, including Zeus and Hera and Aphrodite, who has 
 reconciled them. 
 
236 SYNOPSIS OF THE EXTANT PLAYS 
 
 THESMOPHORIAZUSAE (? 411 b.c. Dionysia) 
 
 DRAMATIS PERSONAB 
 
 Adversaries in quasi-Agon : Euripides' Kinsman (Old Man, Buf- 
 foon). 
 Mikka, ivife of Kleonymus. 
 
 Chorus : The Women at the Thesmophoria. 
 
 Euripides (Learned Doctor). 
 
 Minor Characters : Kritylla, an Old Woman. 
 
 Second Woman. 
 ELleisthenes. 
 A Prytanis. 
 A Policeman. 
 Agathon's Servant. 
 A Herald. 
 
 Impostor (in Prologue) :_ Agathon, the tragic poet. 
 
 Mute Persons : Elaphium, a courtesan (last scene), 
 
 etc. 
 
 Prologue. Euripides takes his Kinsman to Agathon's house. 
 The Servant tells them Agathon is coming out to compose in the 
 sun. The women at the Thesmophoria are to hold a meeting to 
 destroy Euripides for traducing their sex in his plays. Euripides 
 wishes to persuade Agathon to go, disguised as a woman, and 
 plead for him. 
 
 (AL.) Agathon is wheeled out on a sofa, composing a pro- 
 cessional song. He is dressed as a woman, so as to sympathise 
 with the heroine of the tragedy he is writing. The Kmsman 
 mocks him. Agathon refuses. The Kinsman, offering to go 
 instead, borrows female dress from Agathon. 
 
 Euripides swears to rescue him, if necessary. The Kinsman 
 goes to the Thesmophorium and sits down among the women. 
 
 295. Parodos. a Priestess recites a prayer. The Chorus invoke 
 Gods. Parody of the ritual curse on evil-doers. 
 
 371. Quasi-AGON. a Herald opens the Assembly. Mikka de- 
 nounces Euripides for exposing the peccadilloes of women. (Ode) 
 The Chorus approve. Another woman seconds. The Kinsman 
 defends Euripides, as not having told a tenth of the wickednesses 
 of women. (Antode) The Chorus protest. 
 
THESMOPHORIAZTJSAE 237 
 
 533. Scene. Mikka demands punislimeiit of the Kinsman, who 
 replies with more charges. They struggle. (FIGHT.) 
 
 Scene. Kleisthenes brings word of a rumour that a Kinsman 
 of Euripides has gained admittance in disguise. The Kinsman 
 is detected. Kleisthenes goes to tell the Prytaneis. 
 
 655. The Chorus lay aside their upper garments and search the 
 orchestra for other intruders. 
 
 (E.S.) The Kinsman seizes a baby from a woman and takes 
 refuge at the altar. He threatens to SACRIFICE it. The 
 women fetch faggots to burn him. The baby turns out to be a 
 winesldn. The Kinsman sacrifices it. 
 
 Kritylla mounts guard, while Mikka goes to find the Prytaneis. 
 
 785. Paeabasis (Anap.). A defence of women. 
 (Efirrheme) Their grievance against men. 
 
 846. Scene. The Kinsman pretends to be Euripides' Helen. 
 Euripides comes as his own Menelaus. Before they can escape 
 a Prytanis arrives with a Policeman. Exit Euripides. The 
 Kinsman is taken in to be tied up to a plank. 
 
 947. Chorikon. A ritual roimd dance and song. 
 
 1001. Scene. The Kinsman, tied to his plank, is brought out and 
 guarded by the Policeman. While the Policeman is gone to fetch 
 a mat for himself, the Kinsman parodies the monody of Andro- 
 meda in Euripides' play. The PoUceman returns. Euripides 
 appears as Perseus, but fails to release him and goes to invent a 
 new plan. The Pohceman goes to sleep. 
 
 1136. Chorikon. Invocation of Pallas and the two Goddesses. 
 
 1160. Scene. Euripides, disguised as an old woman, mak^i terms 
 with the Chorus, promising never to attack women again. He 
 makes Elaphium (a COURTESAN) dance and seduce the Police- 
 man from his watch. Euripides releases his Kinsman and they 
 escape. The PoUceman returning is misdirected by the Chorus 
 and runs the wrong way after his prisoner. 
 ExoDOS. The Chorus march out. 
 
238 SYNOPSIS OF THE EXTANT PLAYS 
 
 FEOGS (405 B.C. Lenam) 
 
 DRAMATIS PERSONAE 
 
 Adversaries in Agon : Aeschylus {Soldier). 
 
 Euripides {Learned Doctor). 
 
 Chorus : Mystics. 
 
 Judge in Agon : Dionysus {Buffoon). 
 
 Minor Buffoon : Xanthias, a slave. 
 
 Minor Characters : Pluto. 
 
 Heracles. 
 A Dead Man. 
 Charon. 
 Pluto's Porter. 
 Persephone's Maid. 
 A Hostess. 
 Plathane, her maid. 
 
 Mute Persons : Women in Dionysiac Procession. 
 
 Policemen, etc. 
 
 Prologue. Dionysus, with honskin and club, and Xanthias 
 go to the house of Heracles, and consult him about going to 
 Hades to fetch up Euripides. A Dead Man refuses to carry 
 their luggage. Charon takes Dionysus across the lake, while the 
 Frogs sing. The Chorus of Mystics is heard singing the lacchos 
 Song. 
 
 354. Parodos. The Chorus sing processional hymns and satirical 
 songs. They point out Pluto's House to Dionysus. 
 
 460. Scene. Dionysus knocks and announces himself as Heracles. 
 Terrified at the threats of Pluto's Porter, he changes dress with 
 Xanthias. 
 
 Scene. (E.S.) Persephone's Maid welcomes ' Heracles,' and 
 invites him to feast. When she goes in Dionysus insists on 
 changing back. 
 
 Ode. The Chorus congratulate Dionysus, and he plumes 
 himself. 
 
 Scene. A Hostess, defrauded by Heracles on his former visit, 
 threatens Dionysus. He changes dress with Xanthias again. 
 
 Antode. Chorus warn Xanthias to be brave. He professes 
 courage. 
 
FROGS 239 
 
 Scene. The Porter reappears and orders slaves to seize and 
 bind Xanthias, wto offers his ' slave ' (Dionysus) for torture. 
 Dionysus declares himself. The Porter beats both to test which 
 is divine (QuASi-AGON). Unable to decide, he carries them ofE 
 to be judged by Pluto and Persephone. 
 
 674. Paeabasis. {E.S.) Invocation of Muse and personal satire. 
 Pohtical advice. Personal Satire. Political advice. 
 
 738. Scene. Dionysus has won the case. The Porter fraternises 
 with Xanthias. Aeschylus and Euripides are heard abusing 
 one another. Euripides has challenged Aeschylus' right to the 
 throne of Tragedy. Dionysus is to judge between them. 
 
 Choeikon. The Chorus forecast the respective styles of the 
 adversaries. 
 
 Scene. Aeschylus and Euripides enter abusing one another. 
 Dionysus quiets them and calls for fire and incense. He SACRI- 
 FICES. The Chorus sing to the Muses. Aeschylus prays to 
 Demeter, Euripides to Aether, etc. 
 
 895. AGON. Euripides attacks Aeschylus as a pompous humbug,, 
 and boasts of his own plainer style and sophistio artifices. 
 Aeschylus boasts of having made Athens warlike, criticises 
 Euripides' love-sick heroines and beggar kings, and accuses him 
 of corrupting youth. 
 
 1099. Choeikon. The Chorus incite the adversaries to further 
 efforts. 
 
 Scene. Euripides criticises the Choephori prologue. Aeschy- 
 lus derides the prologues of Euripides. 
 
 Scene. They parody each other's lyrics. 
 
 Scene. The weighing of lines. 
 
 Scene. Pluto appears. Dionysus asks the poets to give 
 pohtical advice, and gives judgment for Aeschylus. Pluto invites 
 them to FEAST before they start. 
 
 Choeikon. The Chorus approve. (FEAST within.) 
 
 1500. ExoDOS. Pluto gives Aeschylus a sword, a noose, and poison for 
 various pohticians. Aeschylus leaves his THRONE to Sophocles 
 during Ms absence. The Chorus conduct Dionysus and Aeschylus 
 in torchht PROCESSION, singing in Aeschylean style. 
 
240 SYNOPSIS OF THE EXTANT PLAYS 
 
 ECCLESIAZUSAE (1 392 e.g. Lenaea) 
 
 DRAMATIS PERSONAE 
 
 Adversaries in Agon : Praxagora, wife of Blefyrm. 
 Blepyius {Old Man, Buffoon). 
 
 Chorus : Women (Wives). 
 
 Minor Buffoon : A Neighbour (Old Man). 
 
 Minor Characters : Two Wives. 
 
 Chiemes (Old Man). 
 
 A Parsimonious Man (Old Man). 
 
 A Herald. 
 
 Three Old Women (Old Woman). 
 
 A Young Woman ( Young Woman). 
 
 Epigenes ( Young Man). 
 
 Praxagora's Maid (Exodos). 
 
 Prologue. Praxagora, disguised as a man, comes out of her 
 house before dawn. Other women arrive, likewise disguised. 
 Their plot is to pack the Assembly and vote the supreme power 
 to women. They hold a meeting for practice. Praxagora 
 rehearses her speech, and they go to the Pnyx. 
 
 285. Paeodos. The Women sing as they march to the Assembly. 
 (Exeunt.) 
 
 311. Scene. Blepyrus comes out of his house in his wife's clothes. 
 His Neighbour talks to him out of window, and goes to the 
 Assembly. 
 
 Scene. Chremes describes the meeting to Blepyrus. The 
 Women's plot has succeeded. 
 
 478. Paeodos ii. The Women return and take ofi their male dis- 
 guise. 
 
 Scene. Praxagora, about to restore her husband's clothes, 
 meets Blepyrus coming out. He tells her the result of the 
 Assembly. She says she will explain the advantages of female 
 rule. 
 
 571. AGON. Encouraged by the Chorus, Praxagora propounds 
 her scheme of Communism and convinces Blepyrus. 
 She goes to the market-place to organise the new republic. 
 Dance of the Chorus. 
 
ECCLESIAZUSAE 241 
 
 730. Scene. Tte Neighbour marshals his household goods in a 
 Panathenaic PEOCESSION to the common store. A Parsimoni- 
 ous Man declares he wiU not surrender his. 
 
 A Herald summons all citizens to FEAST. 
 
 The two men go, the Neighbour carrying his goods. 
 
 Dance of the Chorus. 
 
 877. Scene. An Old Woman and a Young Woman, leaning out of 
 opposite windows, sing against each other to attract the yoimg 
 men. Epigenes comes. He and the Young Woman make love 
 in song. 
 
 The Old Woman comes out and claims him under the new law. 
 A second and a third Old Woman, each older and uglier than the 
 last, dispute over him and drag him ofE. 
 
 1112. Scene. Praxagora's Maid, tipsy and anointed like a COUR- 
 TESAN, comes to fetch Blepyrus and the Chorus to the FEAST. 
 
 ExoDOS. The Chorus appeal to the judges for victory. The 
 Maid sings and dances out with Blepyrus, followed by the Chorus 
 uttering Bacchic cries (KOMOS). 
 
242 SYNOPSIS OF THE EXTANT PLAYS 
 
 PLUTUS (388 B.C.) 
 
 DRAMATIS PERSONAE 
 
 Adversaries in Agon : Chremylus (Old Man, Buffoon). 
 Poverty (Old Woman). 
 
 Wealtt (Old Man). 
 
 Chorus : Farmers (Old Men). 
 
 Minor Buffoon : Karion, a slave. 
 
 (in Agon) : Blepsidemus (Old Man). 
 
 Impostors : A Just Man. 
 
 An Informer. 
 An Old Woman. 
 Hermes. 
 Priest of Zeus Soter. 
 
 Minor Characters : Chremylus' Wife. 
 A Young Man. 
 
 Note. — ^This classification is only rougli. Thus, Chremylus deals with 
 some of the Impostors, Karion with others. The old distinctions are 
 breaking down. 
 
 Peologue. Chremylus returning with his slave Karion from 
 Delphi, where the oracle has told him to follow the first person he 
 sees, follows a blind old man, who turns out to be Wealth. He 
 has been blinded from his youth by Zeus, that he may not go only 
 to the just. Chremylus persuades him that if he can recover his 
 sight he need not fear ZEUS, whose KINGDOM rests on wealth. 
 Karion is sent to fetch the Farmers to share the new prosperity. 
 Chremylus takes Wealth into his house. 
 
 253. Paeodos. Karion brings the Farmers and tells them that 
 Chremylus will make them rich. He dances with them. 
 
 322. Scene. Chremylus asks the Chorus to help. Blepsidemus, 
 who has heard of Chremylus' new wealth, suspects him of having 
 stolen it, but is convinced that it is Wealth himself. They are 
 going to take Wealth to the temj^ of Asclepius, when Poverty 
 meets them. 
 
 Scene. Poverty indignantly denounces them for plotting 
 to drive her out ; and ofiers to convince them that this would be 
 a misfortune to mankind. 
 
PliUTUS 243 
 
 487. AGON. Poverty argues that equaHty of wealtli would mean 
 universal idleness and tie loss of all the arts of civilisation and 
 virtues. She is driven away with curses. 
 
 Chremylus and Blepsidemus take Wealth to the temple of 
 Asclepius. 
 
 _ P>NCE of the Chorus. 
 
 "627. ■• Scene. Karion announces that Wealth's sight is restored, and 
 describes the cure to Chremylus' Wife. 
 
 771. Scene. Chremylus comes with Wealth, who solemnly re- 
 nounces his" former ways. Chremylus' Wife ofEers to pour the 
 KaTa.xva-fi.aTa over him ; but they go inside for this ceremony. 
 Dance of the Chorus. 
 
 802. Scene. Karion describes how the house is filled with plenty 
 and Chremylus is making SACRIFICE within. 
 
 (AL.) A Just Man comes to dedicate his old cloak and shoes. 
 
 {AL.) An Informer laments that his occupation is gone. He 
 scents the FEAST within. Karion despoils him of his fine 
 clothes and drives him away, decorated with the Just Man's old 
 cloak and shoes. Karion and the Just Man go inside to pray to 
 Wealth. 
 
 Dance of the Chorus. 
 
 959. {AL.) An Old Woman complains that a Young Man, now 
 grown rich, has deserted her. Chremylus derides her. The 
 Young Man comes with torch and wreath for a Komos, and 
 treats her insultingly. They go in together. 
 
 {AL>) Hermes comes, threatening the vengeance of Zeus ; but 
 the prospect of food tempts him to take service under Plutus. 
 
 1171. Scene. The Priest of Zeus Soter, also starving, is told that 
 Plutus is the NEW ZEUS, and joins in a torchUt PEOCESSION 
 to install him in the Parthenon. The Old Woman carries the 
 
 XVTpai. 
 
 ExoDOS. The Chorus join the procession with Songs (KOMOS). 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 This list only includes some of the more important recent works which I 
 have found particularly useful. 
 
 Bethe, E., Prolegomena z. Geschichte d. Theaters in Alierthum (1896). 
 
 Chambers, E. K., The Mediaeval Stage, Oxford (1903). 
 
 Cook, A. B., Zeus, vol. i., Cambridge (1914). 
 
 Dawkins, R. M., The Modern Carnival in Thrace, J. H. S. xxvi. (1906), 191. 
 
 DiETEElCH, A., Pnlcinella, Leipzig (1897). 
 
 Die Entstehung der Tragodie, Arohiv f. Religionswiss. xi. 163 flf. 
 
 (1908). 
 
 PABNEii, L. R., Cults of the Greek States, v. (1909). 
 Fkankel, C, Korinthische Posse, Rhein. Mus. Ixvii. (1912) 94. 
 Peazbk, J. G., The Golden Bough, ed. 3 (1911-1913). 
 
 Harbison, J. E., Themis, Cambridge (1912). 
 
 Kaibbl, G., Art. Aristophanes in Pauly-Wissowa, ii. (1896). 
 
 Keith, A. B., Review of FarnelVs Cults, vol. v.. Classical Quarterly, iv. (1910) 
 
 282. 
 The Origin of Tragedy and the Akhydna, Journ. Royal Asiatic Soc. 
 
 XV. (1912) p. 411. 
 KoKTE, A., Studien zur alten Eomodie, Arch. Jahrb. viii. (1893) 61. 
 
 Leorand, Ph.-E., Daos, Lyon, Paris (1910). 
 
 Loeschoke, G., Korinthische Vase mit d. Biickfiihrung des Hephaistos, Ath. 
 Mitth. xix. (1894) 510. 
 
 Mazon, p., Essai sur la composition des Comidies d' Aristophane, Paris (1904). 
 Murray, G., Excursus on the Ritual Forms preserved in Greek Tragedy, in 
 J. E. Harrison, Themis, Cambridge (1912). 
 
 NiLSSON, M. P., Studia de Dionysiis Atticis, Lundae (1900). 
 Der Ursprung der Tragodie, N. Jahrb. xxvii. (1911) 609. 
 
 Poppelbbuter, J., De comoediae atticae primordiis, Berlin (1893). 
 Peetjss, K. T., Der ddmanische Ursprung d. griech. Dramas, N. Jahrb. (1906) 
 161. 
 
 Reich, H., Der Mimus, i. (1903). 
 
 RiBBEOK, 0., TJeber den Begriffdes e'lpav, Rhein. Mus. xxi. (1876) 381. 
 
 Alazon, Leipzig (1882). 
 
 Kolax, Abhandl. d. K. S. GeseUsoh. d. Wissensch. xxi. 
 
 — ■ Agroikos, Abhandl. d. K. S. Gesellsch. d. Wissensch. xxiii. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 245 
 
 SCHNABEL, H., Kordax, 1910. 
 
 ScheSdee, L. von, Myslerium u. Mimus im Bigveda, Leipzig (1908). 
 
 Vollendung dea ariachen Myateriuma in Bayreuth, Miinohen (1911). 
 
 Starkie, W. J. M., The Waaps of Aristophanea (1897). 
 
 The Achamiana of Ariatophanea (1909). 
 
 The Olouda of Aristophanes (1911). 
 
 St)ss, W., De personarwm antiquae eomoediae atticae uau atque origine (Diss.), 
 
 Bonnae (1905). 
 Zur Komposition der altattiachen Komodie, Rhein Mus. (1908) 12. 
 
 TniEiiE, G., Anfdnge d. griechiaehen EomSdie, N. Jahrb. ix. (1902) 405. 
 
 UsENEE, H., Heilige Handhmg, Arohiv f. Religionswiss. vii. (1904) 281. 
 
 Waoe, a. J. B., Nwth Greek Festivals, Brit. Sck Ann. xvi. (1909-10) 232. 
 
 ZiEiiiNSKi, T., Oliederung d. cdtattischen KomMie, Leipzig (1885). 
 
 [ Quaestionea Comicae, 1886, I have not been able to obtain sight 
 
 of this work.] 
 
ADDENDA 
 
 To § 43. On the question of rejuvenation or regeneration by a 
 magical boiling, an article by E. Maass, Aschylus und Aristophanes, 
 in N. Jahrb. f. d. klass. Altertum, xxxi. (1913) 627 fF., contains a 
 wealth of illustration from very various sources. 
 
 To § 103. Since this book was printed I have come to see more 
 clearly what the significance and the original content of the Satyr- 
 play must have been. If Tragedy and Comedy are based on the 
 same ritual outlines, the Satyr-play at the end of the tetralogy must 
 stand for the Sacred Marriage and its Komos, which form the finale of 
 Comedy. I suspect that Thespian Tragedy was still only emerging 
 from the ' Satyric phase ' and contained the elements of grotesqueness 
 and obscenity which mark the fertility aspect' of the old dromenon. 
 Aeschylus, I believe, deliberately invented the tetralogy, expelling all 
 this side of the performance from the tragic part and relegating it to 
 an appendix, the Satyr-play. The scheme would then be : 
 
 Comedy : Agon. Death and Eesurrection. Marriage K6mos, 
 
 Tragedy : Aeschylean trilogy with happy ending. Satyr-play. 
 
 The Epic heroes, whose connection with fertility was due to a 
 fusion of their cult in many places with that of the old nameless local 
 daemons of fertility, were thus cleared once more of these associations. 
 Tragedy stops short of the Marriage, emphasising the Death and 
 keeping a survival of the joyful Eesurrection in the happy ending 
 and the Theophany. Professor Murray, starting from the fixed 
 forms of Tragedy, naturally overlooked the Marriage; but Comedy 
 supplies this necessary end, and thus explains the original intent of 
 the Satyr-play. 
 
 216 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abusb, Choral matches in, 110 ; at Eleu- 
 
 therae, 113 ; in fertility rites, 118. 
 Acharnians, Exodos, 9 ; Prologue (Phallic 
 Song), 37 ; Agon in, 72 ; Agon in, de- 
 scribed, 75 ; Sacrifice and Feast, 94 ; half- 
 Choruses fight, 109 ; Parabasis, 122, 123, 
 129 ; Second Parabasis, 130 ; Impostors 
 in, 133 ; Lamachus in, 155 ; Old Man in, 
 172. 
 Adonis ritual, 212, 
 Aeschylus, Nurses of Dionysus, 88, 91, 
 
 109 ; as Soldier in Frogs, 163. 
 Aesop, aPbarmakos, 151. 
 Agon, position in the Play, 2 ; emphasised 
 by Zielinski, 5 ; AgSnes of Heracles, 57 ; 
 ajid battle of Summer and Winter, 67 ; 
 form and meaning of, 70 ff. ; characters 
 in, 71 ; structure of, 72 ; as ' dramatised 
 debate,' 73 ; Agones in Comedy reviewed, 
 75 ; as survival of death in folk play, 75 ; 
 in original ritual, 99 ; Chorus in, 105 ff. ; 
 individual Judge in, 105 ; as contest of 
 two leaders of bauds, 110 ; in Euripides, 
 116 ; in Sicilian Mime, 117 ; in Bucolic 
 poetry, 1 17 ; Parabasis as Choral, 120 ; 
 no Choral Agon in Tragedy, 131 ; in 
 Punch and Judy, 147 ; on Phlyax vase, 
 180 ; compared to cook-fight, 184 ; con- 
 flict in Tragedy internal, 208 ; in Comedy 
 external, 210 ; in Kratinus, 217. 
 
 'Agonist' and 'Antagonist,' 71. 
 
 Aiolosikon of Aristophanes, 182. 
 
 Alazon, see Impostor. 
 
 Alazoneia, defined by Aristotle, 137 ; de- 
 fined by Xenophon, 209 ; comic counter- 
 part of Hubris, 209. 
 
 Alcestis, 75 ; Agon in, 78. 
 
 Alkathoos, 152. 
 
 Ameipsias, Gonnus, 159. 
 
 Amphiaraus of Aristophanes, Rejuvenation 
 in, 91. 
 
 Anagnorisis, of modest hero, 153. 
 
 Anapaests, in Parabasis, 121 ff. ; as pro- 
 logue to second part, 123. 
 
 Anodos, in Peace, 73, 86 ; ritual at Lenaea, 
 85. 
 
 — Vases, 86. 
 
 Antagonist, defined, 71; multiplied into 
 Impostors, 147 S. ; as double of the God, 
 148, 208; treated like Impostor, 156, 
 161, 168. 
 
 Antheas of Lindos, 44. 
 
 Antichoria, implied by Epirrhematic form, 
 106, 109. 
 
 Antilogy, sophistic, 114. 
 
 'AToSwai., 126. 
 
 Arohilochos, Song of, 9, 10, 13, 23. 
 
 Aristotle, on beginnings of Comedy, 35 ff. ; 
 his statement incomplete, 46 ; on Irony 
 and Buffoonery, 136, 138 ; on demagogue 
 as Parasite, 167; on plot in Tragedy, 
 195 ; on Satyric phase of Tragedy, 214 ; 
 on history of Comedy, 216 ff. 
 
 Armed Dance, in ancient Thrace, 65. 
 
 Atellane Farce, stock masks in, 183. 
 
 Autokabdali, described by Semos, 41. 
 
 Bacchae of Euripides. See Pentheus. 
 
 Baldheaded Pool, in 'Vulgar Comedy,' 
 178, 181 ; on Corneto amphora, 183. 
 
 BaWrjTis, at Troezen and Eleusis, 110. 
 
 Basile and Echelos, 27. 
 
 Basileia, 12 ; as bride of New Zeus, 22. 
 
 Beans, countryman's diet, 173. 
 
 Bellerophon, armed dance of, 66. 
 
 Birds, Exodos, 12 ; New Zeus in, 21 ; Agon 
 in, described, 80 ; Sacrifice and Feast, 
 97; Parabasis, 122, 123; Second Para- 
 basis, 130 ; Impostors in, 136 ; Old Man 
 in, 173. 
 
 Birth of Wonderchild, 86, 87. 
 
 Black man, in Dragon- slaying stories, 153. 
 
 Boileau, 219. 
 
 Boiling, in primitive sacrament, 90. 
 
 Boulimos, 54. 
 
 Boutes, 149. 
 
 Bucco, 184. 
 
 Bucolic Agon, 117. 
 
 Buffoon, in Agon, 105 ; distinguished from 
 Eiron, 136, 138 ; masks irony in Comedy, 
 138 ; minor, 139 ; minor, in Agon, 71. 
 
 Careyino out of Death, 53. 
 Chambers, E. K., 48. 
 
 247 
 
248 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 Character, historic characters in Aristo- 
 phanes, 154 ; dictated by action in 
 Tragedy, 197, 200 ; is primary in 
 Comedy, 197 ; and in Mime, 198 ; 
 development from stoclc types in 
 Comedy, 201 ; professional types, 202 ; 
 age and sex types subdivided, 202; 
 ' universal ' in Comedy, 203 ; literature 
 of Characters, 203. 
 
 Charila, 53. 
 
 Children's Songs in qiiete, 39. 
 
 Chorus, role in Agon, 105 ; its partisan 
 sympathies, 106 ; comes from ritual, 
 106 ; functions in Comedy and Tragedy, 
 107; its judicial function, 108; double 
 in Comedy, 109 ; cases of two masks, 
 109 ; incite adversaries in Agon, 110 ; 
 abusive, in ritual, 110 ; double in Lysis- 
 trata, 125; of twenty-four in Comedy 
 possibly=2xl2 montlis, 129. 
 
 Oioirrus, 184. 
 
 Cleon, his maslc in Knights, 168 ; perhaps 
 copied from Typhon, 169. 
 
 Clouds, Exodos, 11 ; New Zeus in, 28 ; 
 Second Agon in, 78 ; descent intoPhron- 
 tisterion, 78 ; Sacrifice and Feast, 95 ; 
 attitude of Chorus in, 106 ; Agon i. of 
 two Reasons, 114 ; Parabasis, 122, 123, 
 177 ; Second Parabasis, 130 ; Impostors 
 in, 133 ; Socrates as Doctor in, 156 ; 
 duologue scenes in early part, 160 ; initi- 
 ation scene, paralleled in Euthydevms, 
 161 ; 11. 661-2 restored, 163 ; Old Man 
 in, 171, 172. 
 
 Goccdus. of Aristophanes resembled New 
 Comedy, 219. 
 
 Cock, Cioirrus, 184. 
 
 Comedy, current theories of origin, 3 if. ; 
 derived from K6mos, 20 ; beginnings 
 according to Aristotle, 35 ; date of 
 official recognition, 36 ; Old, its essence 
 invective (Aristotle), 46 ; satire, 44, 47 ; 
 function of Chorus in, 107 ; meaning of 
 ' Episode ' in, 141 ; how differentiated 
 from Tragedy, 190 if. ; probably came 
 from indigenous ritual, 192 ; a country 
 product, 194 ; character primary in, 
 197 ; admits accident, 197 ; has novel 
 plots, 199; keeps ritual outline, 199 ; 
 careless of plot, 199, 211 ; development 
 of characters in, 201 ; represents uni- 
 
 .versal types, 203 ; degrades gods and 
 heroes, 205 ; the comic spirit, Sophro- 
 syne, 211 ; emphasises marriage, 212 ; 
 history of, 215 ; ' definite forms ' of early 
 Comedy, 216. 
 
 Commedia dell' arte, masks in, 182, 186. 
 
 Cook, rejuvenates Demos, 88 ; in Salonika 
 inscription, 89 ; or Doctor, as medicine- 
 man, 90, 189 ; in Geras, 91 ; stock mask 
 in Knighls, 164 ; in Mime and later 
 Comedy, 165; as 'sophist,' 165; and 
 Doctor in Oorgias, 165 ; Maison, 182. 
 
 Cook, A. B. , on opisthodomos, 26 ; on 
 Agones of Heracles, 57 ; on Thrako- 
 Phrygian ritual, 89. 
 
 Cooking, a means of rejuvenation, 161. 
 
 Craig, E. Gordon, 204. 
 
 Croiset, M., 4. 
 
 Daitaleits of Aristophanes, 182. 
 
 Dance, processional and round, 48. 
 
 Death. See Carrying out. 
 
 Death and Resurrection in fertility ritual, 
 58 ; in Agon of Comedy, 75 ff. 
 
 Debats, mediaeval, 117. 
 
 Deikelon in Egypt, 51 ; Sosibius on, 
 180. 
 
 AijAta5es KoOpttL, 181. 
 
 Demos, a 'tyrant,' 167. 
 
 Dialexeis, 115. 
 
 Dinos, as New Zeus, 28. 
 
 DIomeialazones, 44. 
 
 Dionysia, Country, in Achaniians, 37; 
 Dionysiac festivals, 193. 
 
 Doctor, in English Mummers' Play, 61, 87 ; 
 in N. Greek folk plays, 64 ; in Plntus, 
 87 ; in Ftmch and Judy, 145, 147 ; in 
 Kratinus, 159 ; in Ameipsias, 159 ; 
 Socrates in Clouds, 156 ; talks dialect, 
 156, 181 ; mask of Philosophers, 158 ; 
 perhaps influenced by Sicilian Mime, 
 1 58 ; Euripides in Frogs, 162 ; and Cook 
 in Uorgias, 165; in Middle and New 
 Comedy, 177 ; Daedalus on Phlya.\ 
 Vase, 180 ; Dosseunus in Atellane, 184 ; 
 as Medicine-man, 90, 189 ; becomes 
 grotesque, 202. 
 
 Dorians, claim to invent Comedy, 179, 
 192. 
 
 Dosseunus, 184. 
 
 Ecclcsia^usac, Exodos, 15 ; inversion of 
 social order in, 34 ; Agon in, 82 ; 
 Sacrifice and Feast, 98 ; Old and Young 
 Woman in, 174 ; Praxagora in, 174 ; 
 Old Men in, 203. 
 
 Echelos and Basile, 27. 
 
 Eiresione ceremony, 54. 
 
 Eiron. Sec Irony. 
 
INDEX 
 
 249 
 
 Eleutlieiae, Melanaigis at, 66. 
 Epiohannus, 158, 165, 181, 192 ; Ag&nes in 
 
 his plays, 117 ; Hope or Wealth, 168 ; 
 
 influence ou Old Comedy, 217. 
 Epiphany on 6th day, 87. 
 Epirrhematic structure, implies Anti- 
 
 choria, 106, 109 ; in Parabasis, 121 ; 
 
 explained, 131. 
 Epirrhematic Syzygy, form of, 45. 
 Episode, applied to Impostor scenes, 141 ; 
 
 meaning in Comedy, 141. 
 Episodic Composition, a misnomer in 
 
 Comedy, 107, 131. 
 Ethology, 202. 
 
 Eupolis, Kolakes, 167 ; Maricas, 175. 
 Euripides, as Doctor, 162, 163, 164. 
 Exalted persons in Tragedy, 204. 
 Exarohos, of Komos Song, 9, 24 ; iu 
 
 popular songs, etc. , 33. 
 Bxodos, meaning, 8 ; Exodoi of plays, 9 ff. 
 
 Faistakf, as Bald Buffoon, 170, 173. 
 
 B^rnell, on Tragedy, 67. 
 
 Feast, a fixed incident, 3, 93 ; its original 
 meaning in the ritual, 99. 
 
 Fertility Ritual, dramatic forms of, 53 ff. ; 
 abuse in, 110 ; combats in. 111, 118 ; 
 source of stock masks, 188 ; and doctrine 
 of Hubris, 207 ; contains germs of both 
 Tragedy and Comedy, 207 ; degenerates 
 into buffoonery, 213. 
 
 Fesoennine, 60. 
 
 Folk plays, 60 ff. ; in N. Greece, 62 ; as 
 degenerate ritual, 74, 213. 
 
 Frogs, Exodos, 14 ; Parodos, 40 ; Agon in, 
 described, 81 ; trial scene in place of 
 Agon, 82 ; Resurrection motive in, 85 ; 
 Sacrifice and Feast, 98 ; Parabasis, 122 ; 
 Euripides as Doctor in, 162 ; Aeschylus 
 as Soldier in, 163 ; Dionysus in, 205. 
 
 GSras of Aristophanes, rejuvenation in, 
 
 90, 134. 
 Oerytades of Aristophanes, resurrection 
 
 in, 85. 
 Golden Age, and Women Plays, 33. 
 Gorgon mask, 176. 
 Great Dionysia, 194. 
 
 Hegemon of Thasos, 102. 
 
 Heracles, Ag6nes of, 67 ; the Glutton, 178 ; 
 
 in Mime and Satyr plays, 182 ; in Alcestis, 
 
 182; in Birds, 97, 182. 
 Iiippalactryon, 164. 
 
 Uippolytus, 159. 
 
 Hubris, 207; tragic counterpart ol Ala- 
 zoneia, 208. 
 
 Iambic Element, dropped by Krates, 
 217. 
 
 Iambus, and invective, 36, 42. 
 
 lamos (Find. 01. vi. 53), 87. 
 
 Ichneutai of Sophocles, 87. 
 
 Ikaria, 194. 
 
 Impostor (Alazon). as fixed motive, 132 ; 
 in the plays, 133 ; essential traits of, 
 140 ; variety of types, 140 ; multiplica- 
 tion of, 147 ; a double of the Antagon- 
 ist, 148 ; treated like Pharmakos, 151 : 
 iu Dragon-slaying myths, 152; types 
 derived from medicine-man, 202. 
 
 Indian Drama, 213. 
 
 Irony (Eiron), of Socrates, 137, 161 ; 
 of Demos in Knights, 138 ; of Dionysus 
 in Bacchae, 150, 210 ; Eiron distin- 
 guished from Buffoon, 137, 138 ; defined 
 by Aristotle, 137 ; as feigned stupidity, 
 137. 
 
 Ithyphalli, described by Semos, 41 . 
 
 Jane Austen, 198. 
 
 Kalidasa, 213. 
 
 Karasa and Krsna, 67, 112. 
 
 Karpaia, 65. 
 
 Kasperlespiel, 142. 
 
 Katakeleusmos in Agon, 72. 
 
 Karaxi(riMTa in Plutus, 100. 
 
 Keith, A. B., on origin of Tragedy, 67. 
 
 Kid, fallen into milk, 89. 
 
 King, New, in seasonal festivals, 20 ; in 
 Knights, 31 ; in Frogs, 31 ; battle of 
 Young and Old, 67. 
 
 Knights, Exodos, 9 ; Ag&nes in, 76 ; Phar- 
 makos in Exodos, 77 ; rejuvenation of 
 Demos, 87 ; Sacrifice and Feast, 95 ; 
 hint ofdouble Chorus in, 109 ; Parabasis, 
 122, 123; Second Parabasis, 130; end, 
 compared with Plutus, 136 ; Cook as 
 stock mask in, 164 ; Cleon as Parasite 
 in, 166 ; Demos, a 'tyrant,' 167 ; 1. 230 
 (Cleon's mask), 168 ; Old Man in, 172. 
 Kolax. See Parasite. 
 Komos, a fixed incident, 3. 
 Kordax, 182. 
 
 Kore and Pluto at Eleusis, 26. 
 KpaSlrii fofios, 77. 
 
 II 
 
250 
 
 THE OEIGIK OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 Krates, position in history of Comedy, 217. 
 Kratinus, Odysses, 109 ; Panoplai, 159 ; 
 TIvtIvti, 217. 
 
 Lamachus in Acharnians Agon, 76 ; as 
 Miles Gloriosus, 155. 
 
 Lenaea, 194 ; Anodes Ritual at, 85 ; Rend- 
 ing of Dionysus, 86. 
 
 Liberalia, 50, 194. 
 
 Logos, =plot in Comedy, 199. 
 
 Aoi5op)jcr^6s, before Agon, 113. 
 
 Lycurgus, 149. 
 
 LyHstrata, Exodos, 13 ; inversion of social 
 order in, 33 ; Agon in, described, 80 ; 
 SacriBce and Feast, 97 ; double Chorus 
 in, 109 ; Parabasis discussed, 125 ; 
 Second Parabasis, 130 ; Lysistrata in, 
 174. 
 
 Macco, 182 ; and Maccus, 184. 
 
 Maccus, 183. 
 
 Maison, 165, 182 ; mask in New Comedy, 
 176. 
 
 Margoliouth, 49. 
 
 Marionette, hieratic, 51. 
 
 Marriage, as fixed ending, 3, 8 £f. ; of Zeus 
 and Hera, 13, 14, 19, 22, 25; of Zeus 
 and Demeter, 19 ; not romantic motive, 
 16 ; Sacred, 18 ; of Dionysus and Queen, 
 24 ; at Bleusis, 26 ; still end of Comedy, 
 68 ; and Satyr-play, 246. 
 
 Masks, changed in course of play (Clouds), 
 79 ; no portrait masks in Old Comedy, 
 157, 169 ; in New Comedy, 169, 175 ; 
 original purpose of, 170; stock, list 
 of, in Old Comedy, 175 ; found at 
 Sparta, 176 ; stock masks in ' Vulgar 
 Comedy,' 181 ; in other forms of 
 Mime, 182; created by actors, 182; 
 in Atellane farce, 183 ; in ' Vulgar 
 Comedy,' Aristophanes and Atellane, 
 compared, 185 ; in Commedia dell' arte, 
 186 ; stock, traceable to fertility ritual, 
 187 ; Age and Sex types subdivided, 
 202 ; wisely kept in ancient drama, 204. 
 See Soldier, Doctor, Parasite, Cook, 
 Old Man, Young Man, Old Woman, 
 Young Woman, Slave (Comic). 
 
 Medea rejuvenates old men, 88. ; 
 
 Medicine-man becomes grotesque, 202 
 See Doctor, Cook. 
 
 Megara, 'laugh stolen from M.,' 179, 192. 
 
 Melampus, 48. 
 
 Melanaigis, 66. 
 
 Meton, 157. 
 
 Mime, Peloponnesian, 6, 179 ; Sicilian, 
 Agon in, 117 ; at Syracuse, 181 ; stock 
 masks in, 182 ; essentially Dorian, 198 ; 
 primacy of character in, 198. 
 
 Mimesis in Sacred Marriage, 19. 
 
 Miraculous growth of divine Child, 86, 
 
 Morris dance, 60. 
 
 Mummers' Play in England, 61 ; multi- 
 plication of incidents, 147. 
 
 Murray, on origin of Tragedy, 59, 246. 
 
 Myth, in Tragedy, 199. 
 
 New Comedy, stock masks in, 175 ; sub- 
 division of types in, 202. 
 
 Oedipus, 58. 
 
 Old Man, stock mask of, iu Old Comedy, 
 
 171 ; Aristophanes' favourite part, 173 ; 
 
 in New Comedy, 176 ; in ' Vulgar 
 
 Comedy,' 182 ; subdivided in New 
 
 Comedy, 176, 202. 
 Old Woman, in Thracian folk play, 87; 
 
 stock mask in Old Comedy, 174; in 
 
 New Comedy, 176 ; as Mother, 189. 
 Oleiai at Orchonienos, 112. 
 Olympic Victor, as Exarchos, 9, 24 ; 
 
 Victors as Zeus and Hera, or Sun and 
 
 Moon, 22 ; feasted in Prytaneum, 32 ; 
 
 sacrifice and feast of, 99. 
 Osiris, and phallic processions, 48 ; sufier- 
 
 ings of, 51. 
 OvKoxira.!., 102. 
 
 Pappos, 184 ; in New Comedy, 176. 
 
 Parabasis, position in the Play, 2; re- 
 garded as nucleus, 4 ; as ' epilogue,' 5 ; 
 contains invocation and invective, 45 ; 
 undramatic character of, 47 ; as survival 
 of Choral Agon, 114, 120 ff. ; form of, 
 described, 121 ; Anapaests, 121 ff. ; not an 
 epilogue, 124 ; Epirrhematic part of, 124 ; 
 in Lysistrata, 125; sometimes like a 
 debat, 129. 
 
 Parabasis, Second, form and contents of, 
 130 ; appeal for victory in, 130 ; as a 
 di'bat, 130 ; reconciliation in Lysistrata, 
 131. 
 
 Parasite (Kolax), and 'buffoonery,' 138; 
 Cleon in Knights as, 166 ; as courtier, 
 166; as mask on Attic stage, 167; and 
 demagogue, 167; perhaps from Sicilian 
 Mime, 168; mask iu New Comedy, 176 ; 
 baldness of, 182 ; on Corneto amphora, 
 183. 
 
 Parthenon, Opisthodomos, 26. 
 
INDEX 
 
 251 
 
 Peace, Exodos, 12 ; New Zeua motive in, 
 27 ; why no Agon in, 73, 86 ; Anodos 
 in, 85 ; Sacrifice and Feast, 96 ; scatter- 
 ing of barley-grains to spectators, 101 ; 
 Parabasis, 122, 123 ; Second Parabasis, 
 130; Impostors in, 134; Old Man in, 
 173 ; Parabasis, on ' Vulgar Comedy,' 
 178. 
 Peisistratus, as husband of Athena, 26. 
 Pelops, and Hippodameia, 22, 58 ; boiling 
 
 of, 89. 
 Pentheus, in Bacchae, 60 ; double of 
 Dionysus, 149, 208 ; crucified by 
 Maenads, 150. 
 Pericles, as Zeus, 32. 
 Phales as first protagonist, 19, 61, 183 ; 
 
 =Phallus, 42. 
 Phallic rites, their essence, 48. 
 Phallic Song, in Poetics iv. 36 ; in .4 char- 
 nians, 37 ; form and content of, 38 ; with 
 N. Greek folk play, 64 ; form not that of 
 Parabasis, 125. 
 Phallophori, described by Semos, 41 ; not 
 
 actors, 43, 47. 
 Phallus, = Phales, 19 ; worn by actors, 20, 
 182 ; and Phallophori, 43 ; as charm 
 against evil, 49 ; mentioned in Clouds 
 Parabasis, 178. 
 Pharmakos, in Knights Exodos, 10, 77, 
 151 ; in 1 Cor, iv. 6 ff . , 11 ; ceremony 
 at Thargelia, 55 ; Poverty as, 151 ; 
 Antagonist-Impostor as, 151 ; Aesop as, 
 151. 
 Philosophers, in mask of Doctor, 158. 
 Phineus, 152. 
 
 Phlyax, 180 ; Soldier in, 185. 
 Phthonos, excited by Hubris and Alazoneia, 
 
 208 ; in spectator of Comedy, 209. 
 Pickwick, Mr., as Bald Fool, 173. 
 Plato, as Mime writer, 161 ; Buthydemus, 
 161 ; on tragic and comic emotions, 
 209. 
 Plot, with fixed incidents, 3 ; Romantic, 
 16 ; primary In Tragedy, 195 ; secondary 
 in Comedy, 198 ; = Logos in Comedy, 
 Myth in Tragedy, 199 ; novelty of in 
 Comedy, 199 ; ritual plot survives more 
 in Comedy than in Tragedy, 199 ; dic- 
 tates character in Tragedy, 200. 
 Plutus, Exodos, 15 ; New Zeus in, 25 ; 
 expulsion of Poverty, 56 ; Agon in, 
 described, 82; restoration of Plutus' 
 sight, 87 ; conversion of Plutus, 90 ; 
 Sacrifice and Feast, 98; scattering of 
 sweetmeats, 100 ; Impostors in, 136 ; 
 Informer treated as Pharmakos, 151. 
 
 Pnigos, 121. 
 
 Poverty, in Plutus as Pharmakos, 56. 
 Protagoras, Antilogies of, 114. 
 Punch and Judy, 143 if. 
 Punch fights Want and Weariness, 161. 
 Pyrrhic dance, 60, 65. 
 Pythagoreans, typical philosophers in 
 Magna Graeoia, 158. 
 
 Realism, growth of in Comedy, 201 ; of 
 modern stage, 204 ; in minor character.s 
 in Tragedy, 205. 
 
 Regeneration rite by boiling, 89. 
 
 Rejuvenation, of Pisthetairos, 23 ; of 
 Demos in Knights, 87 ; by Medea, 88, 
 91 ; in Qtras, 90 ; in AmphiaroMs, 91 ; 
 in Was'ps, 91 ; in Clouds, 92 ; in Peace, 
 92 ; in Bacchae, 93 ; a constant motive, 
 93; in Plato, Euthydemus, 161; mask 
 probably changed for, 171. 
 
 Resurrection, as finale of Frogs, 16 ; motive 
 in Comedy, 84; in lost plays, 85; ritual 
 of boiling, 89. 
 
 Rhinthon, ISO. 
 
 Ridiculous, the, analysed by Plato, 209. 
 
 Ritual Combats, 111 ; in modem Europe, 
 118. 
 
 Saceed Mabeiage. See Marriage. 
 
 Sacrifice, as fixed motive, 3, 93 ; its original 
 meaning in the ritual, 99, 
 
 Salmoneus, 23, 28. 
 
 Satyric drama and Tragedy, 68, 246 ; phase 
 of Tragedy, 214. 
 
 Semele, Anodos of, 85. 
 
 Semos of Delos on Phallophori, etc. , 42. 
 
 Sheppard, J. T., 24. 
 
 Silenopappos, 184. 
 
 Slave, Comic, stock mask in Old Comedy, 
 175 ; in New Comedy, 176 ; in ' Vulgar 
 Comedy,' 178, 181 ; on Corneto amphora, 
 183. 
 
 Socrates, Doctor in Clouds, 156 ; not a 
 caricature, 157 ; position in Clouds, 
 160; turned into Biron by Plato, 161 : 
 cathartic method, 164. 
 
 Soldier, stock mask of, 155 ; Lamachus, 
 155 ; Aeschylus in Frogs, 163 ; mask iu 
 New Comedy (iirlau(TToi), 176 ; Gorgon 
 mask, 176 ; Eneualios on Phlyax Vase, 
 180 ; on Lower Italy Vase, 185 ; the 
 Antagonist become grotesque, 202. 
 
 Sophist, meaning of, 156. 
 
 Sphragis in Agon, 72. 
 
 2<p!)pa and <r(pvpoK6TOi, 86. 
 
252 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF ATTIC COMEDY 
 
 Summer and Winter, battle of, 20, 56, 113, 
 
 114 ; and debats, 118. 
 Susariou, i, 179, 193, 216. 
 Sweetmeats, scattering of, 100. 
 Sword-dance, 60. 
 
 Thahoelia, 54, 77. 
 
 Tlieophrastus, 203. 
 
 Thesmophoriazwsae, Exodos, 14 ; Agon in, 
 72 ; Agon in, described, 81 ; Sacrifice 
 and Feast, 97 ; Parabasis, 122, 123. 
 
 Thessalian folk plays, 62. 
 
 Thracian folk play, 62, 86, 189. 
 
 Tityroi, as Rams, 19. 
 
 Tragedy, Murray on ' fixed forms ' of, 59 ; 
 origin of (Farnell), 67 ; function of 
 Chorus in, 1 07 ; Chorus pacify adver- 
 saries in Agon, 110 ; no traces of Choral 
 Agon, 131 ; usual account of its growth, 
 141 ; primacy of plot in, 195 ; sense of 
 necessity in, 196; has mythical plot, 
 199 ; survival of 'fixed forms,' 199 ; new 
 characters invented in, 201 ; represents 
 'exalted persons,' 204; minor charac- 
 ters (comic) in, 205 ; not the mirror of 
 life, 205, 206 ; germ of, in fertility 
 ritual, 207 ; tragic conflict internal, 
 208 ; emphasises death, 212 ; happy 
 ending in Aeschylus, 212 ; the excep- 
 tional phenomenon, 213 ; Satyric phase 
 of, 214 ; the goat, 214 ; and Satyr-play, 
 246. 
 
 Tragoi, 19. 
 
 Triballi, 44. 
 
 Trophonius, Cave of, 78. 
 Tug-of-war, 57. 
 
 Veiovis, 87. 
 
 Vulgar Comedy, scattering of sweetmeats 
 
 in, 101 ; Aristophanes on, 177 ; stock 
 
 masks in, 181. 
 
 Wasps, Exodos, 11; Agon in, described, 
 79 ; Sacrifice and Feast ; 96 ; Parabasis, 
 122, 123; Second Parabasis, 130; Im- 
 postors in, 134 ; Old Man in, 171, 173 ; 
 Prologue on ' Vulgar Comedy,' 178. 
 
 Winter, Expulsion of, 20. Ste Summer 
 and Winter. 
 
 Xakdika, 56, 67. 
 
 Xanthus and Melanthus at Eleutherae, 66, 
 113, 149. 
 
 Yarilo, 53. 
 
 Young Man, not itock mask in Old 
 
 Comedy, 171 ; a minor figure, 173 ; in 
 
 New Comedy, 174, 176 ; subdivided, 
 
 203. 
 Young Woman, in Old Comedy, 174 ; 
 
 in New Comedy, 176 . 
 
 ZAQKEtJS, 149. 
 
 Zeus, pick of {Clouds), 30. 
 
 New, in Birds, 13, 21 ; in Pluius, 
 
 25 ; in Peace, 28 ; in Clouds, 28 ; and 
 
 Pericles, 33. 
 Zeus Soter in Plutus, 16 ; and Athena 
 
 Soteira, 26. 
 Zielinski, 1, 2, 5 ; on Agon, 105. 
 
 Printed by T. ami A. Constabi.r, Printors to His Majesty 
 at the Edinburgh Univtraity Frees 
 
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 No. 1883 Mayfair. February, 1914. 
 
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 SPRING 
 
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 to discuss principles and see what adaptations of these principles 
 are necessary to meet modern conditions. The book should 
 prove of great interest and utility to all who are concerned with 
 the religious tendencies of our times. 
 
 ESSAYS ON FAITH AND 
 IMMORTALITY. 
 
 By GEORGE TYRRELL. 
 
 Arranged, with Introduction, by M. D. PETRE, his 
 Biographer. 
 
 Ont Volume. Crown 8vo. 5s, net. 
 
 This volume comprises, for the most part, matter hitherto un- 
 published which existed in the form of notes and essays amongst 
 the MSS. which Father Tyrrell left behind him. To this have 
 been added a few articles already published, either in England or 
 abroad, in various periodicals, but which are not now easily 
 obtainable, and which possess a certain importance. One of these 
 latter essays, in particular, has attained considerable celebrity, 
 and is yet almost unprocurable — namely, the one entitled " A 
 
Mr. Edward Arnold's Spring Announcements. y 
 
 Perverted Devotion," which played so large a part in the drama 
 of Its author's hfe. 
 
 The essays have been divided into two parts, of which the first 
 may be said roughly to deal with problems of faith, the second 
 with the ever-recurrmg problem and mystery of personal immor- 
 tahty. This second part is specially characteristic of George 
 Tyrrell's mind, with its spiritual tact and delicate power of 
 intuition. Some of the many to whom this question is the ques- 
 tion of all questions will find in these essays, not a scientific 
 answer to their difficulties, but illuminating hints and suggestions 
 to help them in their own search. The essays, in fact, as a 
 whole, are not definite treatises, but the musings and gropings of 
 a deeply spiritual mind in its quest of truth. 
 
 NEW NOVEL 
 BARBARA LYNN. 
 
 By EMILY JENKINSON, 
 
 Author of " Silverwool," " The Soul of Unrest," etc. 
 
 Crown 8ot. 6s. 
 
 In " Barbara Lynn " the author returns to the English Lake 
 District — the scene of her novel " Silverwool "; and from the first 
 page, where the reader is taken to the " Lonely Steading in the 
 Dale," right on to the end, he is not only surrounded by the 
 mighty hills and vast solitudes of Nature, but made to feel the 
 pulse of romance and tragedy. " Barbara Lynn " shows a distinct 
 advance in the work of this gifted young writer. The style, as in 
 her earlier books, is powerful, individual, lucid. There is the 
 same love of wild and majestic scenery, and power to convey 
 impressions of it to others ; the same knowledge of human 
 character and of sympathy with country folk, and capacity to 
 enter into their lives and experiences. But with these gifts, 
 which have already given distinction to Miss Emily Jenkinson's 
 work, we hear a deeper chord struck in " Barbara Lynn." It 
 comes out especially in the presentation of the character of the 
 girl whose name gives the title to the story. Barbara Lynn is a 
 splendid creature ; and the picture of her spiritual victory, her 
 mysticism and self-sacrifice, is something unique in current works 
 of fiction. In our judgment this is a book, not merely to delight 
 readers for a season, but to remain a notable contribution to our 
 literature for a long time to come. 
 
8 Mr. Edward Arnold's Spring Announcements. 
 
 3mportant Boohs IReccntl^ Jesucb. 
 
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