THE GRECIAN DRAMA: TREATISE THE DRAMATIC LITERATURE OF THE GREEKS. BY THE REV. J. R. DARLEY, M.A. FRTNCIPAE OF THE ROYAL SCHOOL OF DUXGANNON. DUBLIN : HARDY & WALKER, LOWER SACKVILLE-STREET j LONDON : RICHARD GROOMERIDGE, PATERNOSTER -ROW, 1840. ^ x%\ ADVERTISEMENT The following Treatise will be found to contain a greater quantity of well-arranged matter than any single work hitherto published on the same subject. Nothing has been left undone to render it a complete manual of the Dramatic Literature of the Greeks. The first chapter is composed of extracts from Bentley's Dissertation on Phalaris, divested of all extraneous and useless matter. The second is a History of the Origin, Development , and Decline of the Greek Tragedy and Comedy. The third gives a detailed account of the Dramatic Contests, the Actors, the Chorus, the Audience, the Theatre, the Scenic Dresses, and concludes with a Tabular View of the Chronology of the Greek Drama. The fourth contains important observations of a miscel- laneous nature, which could not be embodied in the regular and historical course of the second and third chapters. VI ADVERTISEMENT, The fifth is a reprint of T wiring's Translation of Aris- totle's Treatise on Poetry. The sixth is a very full and accurate Treatise on Greek Prosody and Greek Metres. The seventh is an Analysis of Hermann's Treatise on the Doctrine of Metres, and of Porson's Preface to the Hecuba, and Supplement. The eighth is the most extensive compilation yet pub- lished on Canons of Criticism, The ninth is composed of a most copious collection of Questions for Examination. The Table of Contents is ah accurate analysis of the entire work. Every work bearing on the subject has been consulted, and nothing has been omitted which would tend to elucidate this interesting branch of Grecian literature. Ddngannon College, May 16, 1840. 1 < £ • /^ / //r • y/r„A, ,/y//„rr/„,„/. ///, ^ /rom &erfc77i LLL „ ^.^.Portico adorned with statues. XX _ ~&;xi£u)y.%TiX. rrr. ~~~~^^,„^ ^Kipxi^zs. GDCBCEG v~.~~>'' Opy^TTfx. „~„ 0U/ASX^. GDCOCEG._ ^~„ — Apo,«,os. CDGF. CEGF.„ ■v-v.-vs^n«/;o^o(. D.E _ „v~E laodoi. HFmmFH._ r^^^r^LnriVYi. ono — ~~Double flight of steps. mFFm . *^~~.Ao:tjy/o< xX/^aKsf. b. ,~ ,__ ~+~-~~ h.voiv'nfffj.a. p. ____ — . — A second 'Ayar/sr^a. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I, EXTRACTS FROM BENTLEY's DISSERTATION ON PHALABIS. Original metre of tragedy and comedy— Sources of tragedy and co- medy — Susarion, Epicharmus — Five Iambic verses incorrectly attri- buted to Susarion— Rule for converting the date in Olympiads to the year B.C.— EiSaaKoKtat — Original prizes for tragedy and comedy — Arundeiian marbles — Sannyrio — Ten testimonies in favor of Thespis being the inventor of tragedy — Epigenes — Five objections against Bentley's opinion that Thespis published nothing in writing — Answers to these objections— Foundation on which the answers rest — Age of Thespis — Threefold proof of — Four Phrynichuses — Only one of them a tragic poet — Thespis younger than Phalaris — Plutarch incorrectly asserted that Thespis acted plays in Solon's time— Tragedy not older than Thespis — Contrary opinion illogi- cally deduced from passages in Aristotle, Laertius, Plato, Hero- dotus, and Plutarch — Bentley, from the derivation of the word, concludes that the name of tragedy was not older than Thespis— He argues, from the Arundel marble, from Dioscorides, and from Horace, that the goat was first constituted the prize in the time of Thespis — His argument answered — The satyrical plays of the Greeks different from the satire of the Romans — 'Ef apa%ns Xt-yeti', nonveveiv, teipvpi&iv — Nature of the Dithyramb — Especially cultivated in the Doric cities — Lasus, Arion, Simonides, Archilochus — Tragic cho- ruses in Sicyon — Xopog Kwnmbg, rpa-tiKoc, k6k\ioo — Prize of the "dithy- ramb, derivation Of name — K«juy3/a, rpay^ia, Tpi/7-yd/a~K 4 0apy3o/-- Ylll CONTENTS. TpaY^a/a not used metaphorically for sumptuousness until after the time of Demosthenes — Expenses of, the tragic chorus, x°p*£ &vdpu>v, irvppi X «T>rai, cyclian chorus, chorus of boys, comedians, young Pyr- richists — Source of the materials of tragedy—Only two Historic tragedies 1 CHAPTER II. HISTORY OF THE GREEK DRAMA. History of Tragedy. — Principle in human nature to which the Drama owes its origin — The Drama originally connected with religion — Bacchus a modern divinity in Greece — The Dithyrambic hymn— The Phallic song — The first stage of the Drama — The Satyric chorus — Distinct prizes assigned — The Satyric chorus particularly cultivated at Phlius — The addition of this chorus formed the se- cond stage of the Drama — The Satyric chorus and Dithyramb pro- bably found a footing in Attica during the remote times of kingly rule — Susarion— Epicharmus — Thespis, the author of the third stage of the Drama— His inventions and improvements — Difference of opinion as to the subjects of his Dramas — Phrynichus, the author of the fourth stage of the Drama — His improvements — Indebted to Homer — His Drama a serious opera of lyric song, and skilful dance —His excellencies and defects— Cumberland thinks that Thespis may have written some tragedies, whose subjects were taken from Homer — Opinion in Aristotle's Poetics as to the origin of the Drama — The Drama owed much of its magnificence to the overthrow of the Persians — Origin of scenic entertainments at Rome — Fabellse Atellanae— -Chcerilus — Pratinas — The Satyric Drama— Orchome- nian inscriptions — Lyric tragedy — iEschylus, author of the fifth stage of the Drama — History of the life of iEschylus, the improve- ments he made in the Drama, his philosophical sentiments, &c. — Opinions of Aristophanes, Aristodemus, Longinus, Dionysius, and Quinctilian with respect to the relative merits of iEschylus, So- phocles, and Euripides— Comedians and philosophers contempora- neous with iEschylus — Sophocles, author of the sixth and perfect form of tragedy — History of the life and works of Sophocles — Dis- tinction between the choral odes of iEschylus and of Sophocles— CONTENTS. IX History of the life, writing?, philosophical sentiments, &e. of Euri- pides—Opinions of Aristophanes, Menander, Quinctilian, Cicero, Socrates, Archelaus, Aristotle and Longinus, with respect to the character and merits of Euripides — Comparison of the three great tragedians — Inferior tragedians — Last recorded Greek tragedy — Comparison of the Clytaemnestra of iEschylus with the Lady Mac- beth of Shakspeare — Vittorio Alfieri — The Dithyramb the source of tragedy as to form, the Homeric poems as to matter — The Gre- cian mysteries derived from Egypt — The Dorian drama lyrical — The Athenians, though the inventors of tragedy, borrowed the ma- terials from others — Euripides, in his estimation of the chorus, sup- plies a link between the ancient and modern tragedy — Two causes of the deficiency of the Greek drama in the development of human nature — The Choric odes merit especial regard for two reasons — Greek tragedy flourished and declined with its native country — Tragi-comedy— Greek tragedy a simple, unequal, and imperfect thing — Unities of action, time, and place. History of Comedy. — Origin — Progress— Homer's Margites — Grecian comedy threefold— Distinction between each species — First and last writers in each — Epicharmus — Phormis— Dinolochus — Chionides— Magnes— These five the Fathers of comedy— Quinctilian recom- mends the old Greek comedy as the best model (Homer excepted) for the orator—Cratinus — Crates — Phrynichus — Eupolis— Aristo- phanes— Mode of ascertaining the dates of his birth and death — I History of his life and writings — Eleven of his comedies extant— Pherecrates— Thirty-four writers of the middle comedy — Principal writers of the new comedy— Philemon — Menander — Diphilus— Apollodorus — Six selected by the ancient critics as the models of the new comedy • . . .27 CHAPTER ILL DRAMATIC CONTESTS — CHORUS — THEATRE, &C. Dramatic Contests History of their origin, progress, and duration— AiovvaiaraKar uypoi'Q — Ti Ativcua — Tct Kar aaiv — • AaK\ia — Oeolvia — Ut9oiyia — Xoeg— Xvrpoi — Tu ev Iletpaiei— u"f(ovo9eTt}£ — enifxeXtntlQ — X°Pnyo tj/jLixopta, avrtxopta — VTroKoAiria, 7paft,ucu— xopodfcK~>i£ — x o P 0l ^<<5ucrKaA(H — Stl'Ophe, antistl'Ophe, opode — Dramatic dances— Lyric dances — Doric, Phrygian, Ionic, and Mixo-Lydian Modes — Odes of two classes, of the former, two species, of the latter, three— Training of the chorus— Gradual ex- tinction of the chorus. Audience. — Theatre — Scenic dresses. Admission money — Whence supplied — ^Apx^e/n-wv, Oearpwvng, cvn/3o\o v — >Mode of expressing appro- bation and displeasure — Whether females formed part of the au- dience — Occasion of the erection of the Dionysiac theatre — Its si- tuation—Its three principal departments— Form of its outline— Aia&tiaTa, Ktpm&ec, povXevrmov, h(pt)(3tK(!>v, npoedpiai — Poi'ticOS— "Opxriorpa, 9i>/j.eX>j, bpofxoQ, nap65oi, elcobot, o-k^vij, \07eZ0v, TrpOGKtjviov, fiacriXtiog, vrapa.- CKrjvia t Kara^Xr}/J.aTa i wepiaKTOi, OeoXoye'iov, a'iiopat, unxavij, yepavog, fipovruov, KepavvoffKonelov, CKonij, tetx°£> nvp'iOg, ']via,dio- vudiaKoi rexvirai — Three lands of scenes — Scena versilis, ductilis— Echoea— Cases in which the eccyclema was used — Barpaxetov, irpoox. vreXov, /uLop/jioXiiKetov, ^opyoveiov, e/j./3ajog t koXtt-wjuci, x tru)V nod>iptj£, cvp/xa, x ilffTt £> t[xdrtov, fc'fw/.uf, 6in\ov, KOjujua, hovSkwXov fiov6crrppo cording to Dawes, Tate, and Dunbar— Dactylic metre— Dactylic rhythm termed JVov, trochaic Zitz\£.' ov lv cnri'waiQ KWfiipSiai EcpopiOrjcrav vtto tCov iKapdwv ivpovTOC Souo-a/Hwvoe, Kat aOXov IriOrj TrpwTOv, l(r%adwv apai^oq. kcli 6'ivov afjKpopevg. From this it appears that comedies were carried in carts by the Icarians, Susarion being the inventor, and the prize was first pro- posed, a basket of figs, and a small vessel of wine. Horace also testifies, that in the beginning plays were carried about in carts — " Ignotum Tragicse genus invenisse Camcenae Dicitur, et plaustris vexisse Poemata Thespis." A. P. 275. 11. From a passage of Plutarch also, it appears that the vessel of wine and basket of figs were the prize for comedy, and the goat the prize for tragedy; we cannot then suppose that Susarion made regular and finished comedies, when he contended for such sorry prizes. These were afterwards laid aside, and to carry the day from the rival poets was an honor not much inferior to that of a victory at Olympia, THE GRECIAN DRAMA, 5 12. A brief account of the Arundelian marbles may be useful. They were so called from Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, who lived in the time of James and Charles the First, and employed men of learning, particularly Mr. Petty, to explore the ruins of Greece and Asia-Minor, for the purpose of collecting monuments illustrative of the arts and history of Ancient Greece and Rome. Mr. Petty pro- cured above two hundred relics of antiquity, among which were those denominated after their noble collector : they arrived in England in 1627; the inscriptions were inserted in the wall of the garden at the back of Arundel House, in the Strand, where they were examined by Selden, who succeeded in decyphering twenty-nine of the Greek and ten of the Latin inscriptions, which in the following year he published, under the title of " Marmora Arundelliana." During the civil wars, the mansion was abandoned to the parliament, who suffered the marbles to be plundered and defaced, not more than half escaping destruction ; the re- mainder were presented by Henry Howard, Duke of Nor- folk, grandson of the collector, to the University of Oxford. Humphrey Prideaux, afterwards Dean of Norwich, pub- lished the whole collection in 1676; they were again re- printed by Maittaire in 1 732, and again by Dr. Chandler in 1763. Some of these inscriptions record treaties and public contracts ; others are memorials of the gratitude of the State to patriotic individuals, but by far the greatest num- ber are sepulchral and entirely of a private nature. One has deservedly attracted more notice than the rest, it is called the Chronicon Marmoreum, or Parian Chronicle, because it is a chronological table of events, on marble, and appears to have been made in the Island of Paros. This stone was in Selden s time two feet seven inches in THE GRECIAN DRAMA. height, and six feet six inches in breadth, containing ninety- three lines, arranged in two columns : it contained a chro- nological account of the principal events in Grecian, and particularly Athenian history, during a period of 1318 years, from the reign of Oecrops to the Archonship of Diognatus, B.C. 264 ; but had not Selden transcribed it with peculiar care, much of it would have been lost, for no less than thirty-one out of seventy -nine epochs, legible on it in his time, have been knocked off, for the purpose, it is said, of repairing a fire-place ; so that it now terminates with the Archonship of Diotimus, B.C. 354, about ninety years earlier than the period to which it originally extended. The epochs are all dated retrospectively from the Archon- ship of Diognatus, 264 B.C. and briefly record the most important events, in the order in which they took place. 13. Sannyrio is not the same as Susarion, for Sannyrion in his Danae, burlesqued a verse of Euripides' Orestes, which was acted Olymp. 92-4 ; he must, therefore, have lived between Olympiads 92 and 95, but Susarion in Olymp. 54. 14. There are ten testimonies in favor of Thespis being the inventor of tragedy : — First, the Arundel marble, which was made Olymp. 129, in the time of Ptolemy Philadel- phus, above 260 B.C. ; second, the Epigrammatist Dios- corides, who, whilst he gives JEschylus the honor of im- proving tragedy, (^ui^wo-e, he exalted its style by vwcr/uiiXe vra ypafXfiaTa, new-carved words,) attributes evptjuia, the in- vention of it to Thespis ; and in another epigram says, Qiawig TpayLKrjv aviirXaaE irpCjrog aoiSrjv, BaK\og ort rpirbv KarayoL xopbv — by the three choruses of Bacchus, Dios- corides means the Trina Dionysia, the three festivals of Bacchus, the Aiovvcna — ra fear' aypovg, to, Iv Ai/xvaig, ra KaT acrrv, at which times, that answer to January, March, THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 7 and April, both comedies and tragedies were acted ; (af- terwards they added these diversions to the II a vaOrivata^ which fell out in the month of August, but because this last was an innovation after Thespis's time, the poet takes no notice of it) — or the triple chorus may mean the tragic, comic, and cyclian chorus. Third, Horace in A. P. 275, before quoted. Fourth, the old Scholiast on Horace, who tells us that Thespis was the first inventor of tragedy. Fifth, Plutarch, " that Thespis gave the rise to the very rudiments of tragedy ." Sixth, Clemens of Alexandria, who makes " Thespis the contriver of tragedy, as Susarion was of comedy. Seventh, Athenseus, who says, "that both comedy and tragedy were found out at Icarus, in Attica, for Thespis was born there ;" and again, that, " the ancient poets, Thespis, Pratinas, Carcinus and Phrynicus, were called 'OjO^anfcot, dancers, because they not only used dancing so much in the choruses of their plays, but were common dancing-masters, teaching any one that wished to learn." Now, if we compare with this what Aristotle says, that tragedy in its infancy was opxrjaTiKojr^pa^ more taken up with dances than afterwards, it will be plain, that Athenseus knew no ancienter tragedian than Thespis, for if he had, it had been to his purpose to name him. Eighth, Suidas says that, " Phrynicus was scholar to Thespis, who first introduced tragedy ;"" ninth, and Donatus says, " if we search into antiquity, we shall find that Thespis first in- vented it." Tenth, Plato tells us that it was the universal opinion in his time, that tragedy began with Thespis or Phrynichus, and though he himself was of a different sen- timent, yet he proposes his own opinion as a paradox, and it is one, in which none of those mentioned above (all of whom followed him) agreed. 8 THE GRECIAN DRAMA, 15. The only person that can contest the honor of being the inventor of tragedy with Thespis, is Epigenes the Sicyonian ; but Suiclas is the only witness in his favor, and he only tells us a hearsay, which he himself does not seem to believe. " Thespis," says he, " is reckoned the sixteenth tragic poet after Epigenes, some say he was second after him, and others, the very first of all." The Epigenes men- tioned by Athenseus was a comic poet, and quite a different person. 16. Bentley goes still further, and holds, that even Thes- pis published nothing in writing ; against this opinion there' are five objections. First, the Arundel marble mentions the "AAfc)j<7nc of Thespis ; Julius Pollux, his HzvOtvg, and Suiclas four or five more ; and Plutarch, with Clemens Alexandrinus, produce some of his verses. The founda- tion of Bentley's answer to these is, that, on the authority of Aristoxenus, the musician, Heraclides Ponticus, his fel- low pupil to Aristotle, put forth his own tragedies in Thes- pis's name ; now before the date of this forgery of Hera- clides, we have no mention of any of Thespis's remains. Aristotle speaks of the origin, progress, and perfection of tragedy ; criticises the fables of the first writers, and yet does not mention any piece of Thespis. But first, the Arundel marble mentions his "AXicJicrrtc — (1) this is most uncertain, as the word is now wholly defaced. (2.) The names of plays are never set down in the marble, not even those of iEschylus, Sophocles, or Euripides. (3.) Suidas tells us that Phrynicus was the first that made women the subject of tragedy, his master, Thespis, having introduced only men — there could be, therefore, no play of Thespis with the title of Alcestis. From Zenobius, Suidas, Ohameeleon, and Plutarch, it appears, that at first the subject of all the plays was Bac- THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 9 chus himself, with his company of satyrs, on which account those plays were called ^arvpuca, but afterwards the poets went off to fables and histories, which gave occasion to the saying, "this is nothing to Bacchus," ovSlv wpog Alovvcrov ; and Plutarch tells us that Phryniehus first introduced serious tragedy; hence, it is evident, that the true Thespis's plays were all satyrical (i. opj3ac, and 'hpeig, and 'Hifleoi, but these titles show that they cannot be satyrical plays, and consequently not Thespis's, who made none but of that sort. The YlzvOtvg seems to promise fairest to be satyrical, but the old poets never brought the satyrs into the story of Pentheus. Fourth, Plutarch quotes a fragment from Thespis, which he says differs not from that saying of Plato, " that the Deity is situate remote from all pleasure and pain • 11 truly it differs not at all, and no other proof is necessary that it could not belong to a satyrical ludicrous play, such as all Thespis's were. This is not the language of Bacchus and his satyrs, nay, it is too high and philosophical a strain even for Thespis himself; but the thought, as Plutarch himself tells us, was Plato's, and to whom then should the fragment belong, but to Heraclides, the counterfeit of Thespis, who was at first a scholar of Plato's, and might borrow the notion from his old master. Fifth, Clemens 10 THfi GRECIAN DRAMA, ' Alexandrinus quotes a fragment from Thespis, which con- tains four artificial words, which comprehend exactly the twenty-four letters of the Greek alphabet ; now if these twenty-four letters were not all invented in Thespis's time, this cannot be a genuine fragment of his ; but the long vowels, double letters, and aspirates were not introduced into the alphabet, until a long time after the use of writing, even of writing books, and the alphabet clearly was not completed until after the death of Thespis, for Simonides, Epicharmus, or both, invented some of the let- ters, and Epicharmus could not be above twenty-seven years old, nor Simonides above sixteen, in 61st Olympiad, which is the latest period of Thespis : this passage is, therefore, probably taken from one of the spurious plays, fathered on Thespis by Heraclides, and similarly Hera- clides' forgeries imposed on Pollux, Suidas, and Plutarch. 1 7. The age of Thespis is proved, first, from the Arun- del marble ; second, from the testimony of Suidas ; third, from the age of Phrynicus, his pupil. 18. The Arundel marble deserves credit, because its author is the most ancient writer that speaks of the age of Thespis, most accurate in his performance, most curious into the history of poetry and the stage ; and we have the original stone among us, so that his numbers are genuine, and not liable to be altered (as books are) by the negli- gence or fraud of transcribers. The year in which Thespis invented tragedy cannot be now known from the marble, as the numbers are effaced, but it may be known - from the preceding and following epochs : the preceding epoch is Cyrus's victory over Croesus, and the taking of Sardis, Olymp. 59.1 — the following is the beginning of Darius's reign, Olymp. 65.1— tragedy, therefore, was invented by Thespis between the Olympiads 59 .1, and 65,1, THE GRECIAN DRAMA, 11 19. This is confirmed by Suidas, who says that Thespis made his first play, Olymp. 61, which falls in between the two epochs before and after Thespis. 20. The age of Phrynichus, his pupil, confirms that of Thespis. Now, the age of Phrynicus may be deduced from his play Ml\i)tov clXucrtg ; the taking of Miletus was in Olymp. 70, Phrynichus then must have been alive after Olymp. 70. Again, his Phcenissae (from which JEschylus borrowed his Persee, published four years after it) was written on the defeat of Xerxes, which took place Olymp. 75.1 : in 75.4, he gained the victory by a play, to which Themistocles was Ohoragus, which, therefore, most pro- bably was the Phcenissse ; Suidas tells us he got his first victory Olymp. 67, which gives thirty-six years between his first and last, a reasonable time, and corresponds with Olymp. 61, for Thespis, allowing about twenty-five years between master and scholar ; all these coincidences place Thespis about Olymp. 61. 21. But it has been thought that there were two Phry- nichuses, both tragic poets ; it is necessary to examine this point, else the argument for the age of Thespis, from the date of the Phcenissae, will be very lame, as it may be said that the author of the Phcenissse was not the Phrynicus who was Thespis's scholar. The only pretence for asserting two tragic poets of that name, is a passage of Suidas, who, after he had named Phrynichus, the son of Polyphraclmon, or Minyras, or Chorocles, the scholar of Thespis, and that his tragedies are nine, giving their titles ; under a new head, gives Phrynichus, son of Melanthas, an Athenian tragedian, and mentions three of his plays different from the nine. This latter place is taken word for word from the Scholiast on Aristophanes, who adds, that the same 12 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. man made the tragedy called "the taking of Miletus." Now, in answer to this, it may be observed, that the dif- ferent fathers assigned to the two is an argument of small force, for we see that one of them had three fathers as- signed to him, so uncertain was the tradition about the name of the father ; some authors, therefore, might relate that his father was Melanthas, and yet mean the very same Phrynichus, who, according to others, was son of Poly- phradmon : the argument from the different plays assigned to the two is still weaker, for the whole twelve mentioned in Suidas might belong to the same Phrynichus ; he says, indeed, Phrynicus, son of Polyphradmon, wrote nine plays, because the author he here copies from knew of no more ; but there might be more, though he did not hear of them, as we see there really were two — " The Taking of Miletus and the Pho^niss?e, ,, not mentioned by Suidas. Having shown on what slight ground the tradition about two tra- gedian Phrynichuses is built, it may be observed, that all the authors who speak of the play called " The Capture of Miletus," or who quote Phrynichus on other occasions, merely style him Phrynichus the tragedian, without adding 6 vsojTspog the younger, as all, or at least some would have done, if this person had not been the famous Phrynichus, Thespis's scholar; besides, the very Scholiast on Aristo- phanes, and Suidas, the sole authorities for this opinion, do in other places, plainly declare, there was but one. There were four Phrynichuses in all, says the Scholiast : 1. Phrynichus, son of Polyphradmon, the tragic poet. 2. Phrynichus, son of Ohorocles, an actor of tragedies. 3. Phrynichus, son of Eunomides, the comic poet. 4. Phrynichus, the Athenian General, who was engaged in a plot against the government. THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 13 From this catalogue, it appears there was but one tragic poet of the name ; and it is no wonder, if in lex- icons and scholia, compiled out of several authors, there be several things inconsistent with one another. Thus, in another place, the Scholiast and Suidas make Phrynichus, the general, to be the same with the comic poet ; and iElian makes him the same with the tragic poet, adding, that in his tragedy livppixai, he so pleased the people with the warlike songs and dances of his chorus, that they chose him as a fit person to make a general ; but the general was stabbed at Athens, Olymp. 92.2, which is too late for the tragedian, who began to make plays, 01. 67, from which till 01. 92.2, there are one hundred and two years ; and even from his Phcenissse, 01. 75.4, the last time we hear of him, there are sixty-six years to the death of Phrynichus, the general ; and it is too early for the comedian, for we find him alive five years after, contending with Aristophanes in 01. 93.3. Again, from the Vespse of Aristophanes, it appears there was but one Phrynichus, a tragic poet ; it is there said, that the old men at Athens used to sing the old songs of Phrynichus, ap\aiopiXy\(nZwvo(ppvvi\y)paTa, a coined word, in which aiduvo relates to the Phcenissa?, (the Sidonians,) a play of Phrynichus; here we see the author of the Phcenissse (whom they suppose to be the latter Phrynichus) is meant by Aristophanes ; but he also must have meant here the Scholar of Thespis, from the words juIXij apxala, " ancient songs 1 ' — ancient, because that Phrynichus was the second, or as some thought, the first author of tragedy; and " songs, 11 because he was celebrated for his songs and tunes ; hence it appears, they were one and the same. The Scholiast says that Phrynichus, son of Polyphrachnon, had a mighty H THE GRECIAN DRAMA. name for making songs, and he, according to Suldas, was Thespis's scholar ; it is a problem of Aristotle, " why did Phrynichus make more songs than any tragedian nowa- days?" And he answers it — "Because at that time the songs sung by the chorus were many more than the verses spoken by the actors V — Does not Aristotle's very question imply that there was but one Phrynichus, a tragic poet ? Finally, the very passage in Aristophanes, where the Scholiast, and Suidas from him, tell us of this (supposed second) Phrynichus, son of Melanthas, concerns the one and true Phrynichus, the scholar of Thespis. It has been already stated from Athenseus and Aristotle, that the an- cient poets, Thespis, Pratinas, Carcinus, and Phrynichus, were called opx^artKol, dancers ; now, in this passage, an old man is introduced as dancing, and his dancing is com- pared to that of Thespis and Phrynichus : the Phrynichus, therefore, here spoken of by Aristophanes, was, as well as Thespis, famous for his dancing, and consequently, by the authority of Athenseus, he must be 6 apxalog Qpvvixog, 6 opxnomKOQ, the scholar of Thespis. On the whole then, there was but one Phrynichus, and if so, from the dates of his plays, it is plain, that his master Thespis ought not to be placed earlier than 01. 61, which is fourteen years after the death of Phalaris. 22. By another argument, it appears that Thespis was younger than Phalaris : the earliest date claimed for Thes- pis would make him contemporary with Pisistratus ; now from Pisistratus to the battle of Marathon are but two generations, for his son Hippias was in that battle, but from Phalaris there are four — Telemachus, (who having deposed Phalaris, got the government of Agrigentum,) Emmenides, iEnesidamus, and Theron, who was made governor three years after the battle in 01. 73.1 ; the battle in 01. 72.2. THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 15 23. But from Diogenes Laertius and Plutarch, it has been inferred, that Thespis acted plays in Solon's time, who died 01. 55.1 ; they say, that when Pisistratus had wounded himself, Solon said — " Aye, this comes of Thespis acting and personating Ulysses in his tragedy, but he wounded himself to deceive his enemies, you to deceive your own countrymen." But Plutarch contradicts himself, for in another place he says, that Phrynichus and iEschylus were the first who introduced MvQovg kol UaOrj, the stories of disasters and heroes, on the stage, so that before them all tragedy was satyrical, and its subject nothing else but Bacchus and the Satyrs ; but if this affair about Thespis, Solon, and Pisistratus be true, then Thespis must have re- presented Ulysses and other heroes in his play, so that this latter passage of Plutarch refutes his former. The case seems to be this: — Plutarch having heard this invented story about Solon, deeming it a good one, thought it a pity to omit it, though it did not exactly hit with chronology. 24. So much for the age of Thespis. Tragedy is not older than Thespis — those who think so, ground their opi- nion on passages from Aristotle, Laertius, Plato, Hero- dotus and Plutarch. Laertius and Aristotle say, " that of old, in tragedy, the chorus alone performed the whole dance, afterwards Thespis introduced one actor." Now, this does not prove tragedy older than Thespis, for Thespis might be the first introducer of one actor, and yet be the inventor also of that sort of tragedy that was performed by the chorus alone ; at first his plays might be rude and imperfect, some songs only and dances by the chorus, the Hemichoria or two halves of the "chorus answering each other ; afterwards, by the experience of twenty, thirty, or forty years, he might improve on his own invention, and 16 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. introduce one actor, to discourse, while the chorus took breath. Plato, in his Minos, tells us that tragedy did not commence with Thespis nor Phrynichus, but was very old at Athens (this dialogue of Minos, though falsely ascribed to Plato, was the production of one Simon, a contemporary of Socrates, and is to be esteemed good authority) ; but Plato himself relates this as a paradox, and nobody that comes after him seconds him in it ; he might be excused by this distinction, that he meant auroo-xe^iacrjuara, extemporal songs in praise of Bacchus, which were really older than Thespis, and gave the first rise to tragedy, were it not that he affirms that Minos, King of Crete, was introduced in these old tragedies before Thespis's time, which cannot be allowed, for the old tragedy was all ^arvpiKri kcu opxnGTiKrj, and had no serious and doleful argument, as Minos must be. Herodotus says, the Sicyonians honored the memory of Adrastus with tragical choruses, (jpayiKoi x°P 0i ->) anc ^ that these choruses existed previous to the time of Clisthenes, (grandfather to Clisthenes, the principal agent in expelling the sons of Pisistratus,) who was senior to Thespis by a whole generation. Themistius also says, that the Sicyonians invented, and the Athenians perfected, tragedy ; and when Aristotle says, that some of the Peloponnesians claimed the invention of tragedy, he must mean the Sicyonians ; there is, however, no more to be inferred from these passages, than that before the time of Thespis, the first grounds and rudiments of tragedy were laid ; there were choruses and extemporal songs, avTovx^aantca, but nothing written or published as a dramatic poem ; nay, the very word tragedy was not then heard of at Sicyon, though Herodotus names rpayiKovg x°pwg : the tragical choruses, which he does by prolepsis. THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 17 Julius Scaliger, mistaking a passage in Plutarch, con- cludes that tragedy was very ancient, as tragedians acted at the tomb of Theseus : but first, the passage, correctly translated, says nothing about tragedies being acted at Theseus's tomb ; and, secondly, the tomb of Theseus was not erected at Athens, until Cimon brought his bones from Scyros, eight hundred years after his death, 01. 77.4, sixty years after Thespis, in the time of ^Eschylus and Sophocles. 25. Bentley makes the name of tragedy not older than Thespis ; he rejects the derivations, quasi rpvyofita, and Tpax^o. cjJSt), and derives it from rpayog the goat, (th.Q prize and not the sacrifice) and w'S//. The goat, he concludes, was first constituted the prize in the time of Thespis ; from the Arundel marble in the epoch of Thespis, kol aOXov IrtQri 6 rpayog ; from Dioscorides, in his epigram on Thes- pis, w rpayog a9\ov; and from Horace, " carmine qui tragico vilem certavit ob hircum ;" he also quotes Eusebius, Dio- medes the grammarian, and Philarg}Tius, to prove that this is the true derivation of the name, and concludes that it cannot be more ancient than Thespis's days, who was the first that contended for this prize. With regard to the tragic choruses in Sicyon, the subject of which was Adras- tus ; he says, that Herodotus, who lived many years after Thespis, when tragedy was improved to its highest pitch, made use of a prolepsis, when he called them rpaytKovg ^opovc, meaning such choruses as gave the first rise to that which in his time was called tragedy. To this it is an- swered, that the Arundel marble .and Dioscorides merely say, that the goat was the prize in the time of Thespis — nothing from which we can conclude that it was not so before — the same may be said of the line from Horace ; besides, the qui may not mean Thespis, for Thespis was o 18 THE GRECIAN DRAMA, the curtailer of the old satyric chorus, he was not the in- ventor of the new satyric drama (who was Pratinas). Herodotus and Plato, (before quoted,) Diodorus Siculus, Diogenes Laertius, Athenseus, Aristotle and Themistius, (who speak of the claims of the Peloponnesians to the inven- tion of tragedy,) and Suidas, are all quoted, to prove that the term TpaywS'ia was of early origin, and given, before the time of Thespis, to the choral exhibitions of the ancient Dionysia. The very testimonies which Bentley adduces in support of his opinions, may more justly be arranged on the opposite side. The words of Plutarch (Solon), ap\o- fizvu)v rwv TTEpl QidTTiv TYjv Tpaywdiav klvuv, imply rather change in rpayto^la, as a thing already in being, than, as Bentley would have it, " the beginning of the very rudi- ments of tragedy ;" the expression of Horace, " Ignotum tragicse genus," &c. (Epist. ad Pis. 275) means that Thes- pis was the inventor of a new kind of song, and not that he was the* first inventor of tragedy ; and Dioscorides calls the composition which Thespis improved TpayiKriv aoi&'iv. On the whole, it appears, that long before Thespis, the term TpayqSia was formed, and employed as the name of the choral performances in the Dionysia, but from not dis- tinguishing between TpayqSla, in its original signification, and the tragedy of iEschylus, Sophocles, &c. many ground- less difficulties have arisen. 26. The satyrical plays of the Greeks must not be con- founded with the satire of the Romans ; they were only a jocose sort of tragedy, consisting of a chorus of satyrs (from which they had their name) that never reproved the vicious men of their time, their whole discourse being di- rected to the action and story of the play, which was ge- nerally on Bacchus ; the only play of this kind extant is the THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 19 Cyclops of Euripides, but this no more concerns the vicious men of Athens in the poet's time, than his Orestes or Hecuba does. As for the abusive poem or satire of the Romans, it was an invention of their own — " Satira tota nostra est," says Quintilian — and if the Greeks had any thing like it, it was not the satyrical plays of the tragic poets, but the old comedy of Eupolis, Cratinus and Aris- tophanes, or the Silli made by Xenophanes, Timon, and others ; it was after the time of Lucilius, that the Roman satire became abusive ; for the satire of Ennius and Pacu- vius was quite of another nature. 27. The expressions 1% ajia^q Asyav, to. e£ afxa^wv, which became proverbial for satire and jeering, were not taken from Thespis's cart, (which, if true, might afford some foundation for believing that the satyrical plays of the tragic poets were abusive, like the Roman satire,) but from the carts used in the processions, not only in the festivals of Bacchus, but of other gods, and particularly in the Eleusi- nian feast, from whence the women abused and jeered one another (hence the word ttoiattzvuv, has the same meaning); they particularly did so at a bridge over the Cephissus, where the procession used to stop a little ; hence, to abuse and jeer was also called yrfvpiZuv — these Eleusinian carts are mentioned, G-eorg. i. 163, "tardaque Eleusinse matris volventia plaustra," which most interpreters have mistaken ; the poet means, not that Ceres invented them, but that they were used at her feasts. Demosthenes uses the word tto/jlttzveiv in this sense, also the phrase 1%, a/j.a%r}g jue vfipive, so that this passage of the orator is not meant of the carts of the tragedians; it is true, Harpocration and Suidas understand it of the pomp in the feasts of Bacchus, but even there, they were not the tragic, but the comic poets 20 THE GRECIAN DRAMA, who were so abusive. The comic poets (says the scholiast on Aristophanes) rubbing their faces with lees of wine, that they might not be known, were carried about in carts, and sung their poems in the highways, whence came the proverb, wg 1% afxa%r}g XaAav, to rail impudently, as out of a cart. 28. Besides the arguments brought forward by Bentley to prove that the name tragedy was not older than the time of Thespis, he states that those Bacchic hymns, from whence the regular tragedy came, were originally called by another name ; not tragedy, but dithyramb ; so Aristotle teaches — "tragedy (says he) had its first rise from those that sung the dithyramb ;•" AiQvpapfioQ (says Suidas) vpvog clg Alomcfov. The first inventor of the dithyramb, as some re- late, was Lasus of Hermione, who lived in the time of Darius Hystaspes ; according to Plutarch, he made great improvements in dithyrambic music, and he is represented by Aristophanes, as the rival of Simonides. Others make Arion, of Methynnrae, in the time of Periander, King of Corinth, six hundred years B. C. the inventor ; Hero- dotus, however, who is their authority, seems only to say that Arion was the first who exhibited at Corinth a certain modification of the old Bacchic hymn, arid that he gave to this new form the name dithyramb, the general term for that class of compositions. The Dithyramb, in its full per- fection, was not a mere simple hymn, but a composition of much artful interior arrangement, as well as of much ex- ternal splendor ; such was the precision and unity of sub- ject, such the dramatic tone given by the divisions and sub • divisions of the choristers, now alternately questioning and responding, now narrating by their coryphaeus, and now joining in one general chaunt ; and such the spirit of their THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 21 mimetic dance and gesticulation, as almost to claim for the Dithyramb the name of a Lyric Tragedy ; and from Hero- dotus it appears, that as early as 600 B. 0. it was matter of scientific composition and regular exhibition in the largest and most opulent of the Dorian cities. Simonides of Cos, also cultivated the Dithyramb ; he was the friend of Pitta- cus of Mitylene, Hipparchus, Pausanias King of Sparta, Themistocles and Hiero, and the instructor of Pindar ; his poems, like those of his pupil, were various ; victory-odes, dirges, &c. and particularly dithyrambs, in which he gained sixty victories (or fifty-six, according to his own epitaph) ; he died at the age of ninety. But Archilochus of Paros, 700 B. C. seems to have been the inventor of the Dithy- ramb ; he settled in Sparta, from whence he was expelled for the violence of his satyric poems ; he wrote elegies, epi- grams, satires, dithyrambs, &c. ; he has the word dithyramb in two of his verses still extant — it hence appears, that the Dithyramb was cultivated especially in the Doric cities ; the Doric forms in the choruses of the Attic tragedians, bespeak an origin from a Doric Dithyramb ; and from this cultivation of the Dithyramb, the claims of the Pelopon- nesians to the invention of tragedy may, perhaps, have arisen. Sicyon, where the tragic choruses about Adrastus were exhibited, and where Epigenes was born — Sparta, Corinth, Cos, Hermione, were all Doric Cities or Islands. 20. The Dithyrambic chorus was also called by all writers, Ku»cXfoc, not KvicXiKog — cyclian, not cyclic — from their danc- ing in a ring round the altar of Bacchus ; the number of the Cyclian Choristers was fifty ; there were three choruses belonging to Bacchus, the kwiukoq, rpayiKog, and the kvkXioq ; the last had its prize and its judges at the Dionysia, as well as the others-^ancl its expenses were the greatest of 22 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. the three ; a bull (which was sacred to Bacchus) was the prize for the Dithyramb, hence Pindar gives to the Dithy- ramb the epithet of fioriXarriQ. 30. The most common etymology of AiOvpajufioQ, is SiOvpafiog, double -doored, a name of Bacchus, alluding to his double birth, having passed through two doors ; it is objected that the first syllable in diOvpa/nfioQ is always long, whereas all compounds, with &, implying double, have the Si invariably short ; it has been answered that the sin- gularity arose from the requirement of the trochaic metre of the Dithyramb ; since only by such variation could this term of continual occurrence be introduced into a trochaic line — a license frequently required by the writers of Hex- ameters to bring names, inadmissible from the natural quantity of their syllables, into the dactyls and spondees of heroic verse — perhaps, like the Phallus, its origin must be referred to an Eastern clime. The words ta/.ij3oe, 0/na^j3oc, and St^UjoajujSoc, seem to be related to one another — per- haps they are corruptions of Sanscrit terms ; for the wor- ship of Bacchus was unquestionably of Indian origin. It is very remarkable, that the Hindoos apply the term Triampo to Baghesa, who almost exactly coincides with the Greek Bacchus, as the Greeks did the term Qplanfiog to the latter deity. 31. The Dithyramb did not always preserve a simplicity of style consistent with its rural origin or sacred charac- ter ; in later ages it too often exhibited a tissue of extra- vagant conceits, turgid metaphors, and bombastic expres- sions, and whilst the Paean of Apollo, whether before the altar, on the battle field, or in the private feast, always preserved its calm and elevated character, (though this is denied by some,) the Dithyramb was frequently the noisy accompaniment of a drunken Symposium* THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 23 32. Kwjuw&'a was most probably the old and common name both for tragedy and comedy, till they came to be distinguished by their peculiar appellations ; its etymology (lv Kwfiaig tpSfj) a song in the villages, agrees equally to both, as they were both first invented and used in the villages ; and Dioscorides calls the plays of Thespis Kojfiovg, and says that his plays were an entertainment to the KWjUfjrai ; so that even Thespis's plays might at first be called comedies, a word already in use from the time of Susarion ; but when men understood the difference between the two sorts, and a distinct prize was appointed to Thespis, it was natural to give each sort a particular name taken from the several prizes, and the one was called rpaycodia from the goat, and this name is never applied to comedy ; even in a passage of Aristophanes, where Tpayqdwv, seems to be used for come- dians, it is a corruption of the text for TpvyqSwv ; and the other was called TpvywSia, from the cask of wine, rpvZ, or from rpvyri, vintage, and this word is never applied to tra- gedy ; the only distinction between rpvywdbg and Kup-coSog being, that the former is the less honorable name : it is true, that Aristophanes calls Euripides's tragedies, Tpvyudia, but in this consist the wit and sarcasm of the passage, that he calls Euripides's plays, comedies, for Euripides de- based the majesty and grandeur of tragedy by introducing low and despicable characters, and a mean and popular style, but one degree above common talk in comedy — whereas iEschylus and Sophocles aspired after the sublime character, and by metaphors, and epithets, and compound words, made all their lines strong and lofty. 33. The prize for the Kidapqddi, or harpers, was a calf, Hoayps* If the bull and the calf, the prizes for the dithy- ramb and the harp, continued to the time of Aristophanes, 24 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. it is probable that the old prizes for tragedy and comedy, viz. (the goat, and the vessel of wine and basket of figs) also continued, though they are not taken notice of. 34. Different reasons are assigned for the derivation of rpaytpSla from rpayog, either from the goat -skin dress of the performers, or from its being the song sung at the sacrifice* of the goat, or sung over the goat, or for which the prize was the goat ; the latter is preferable. So also Ktofii^ia from /cw/aj, fJS//, or KwpaZu), to revel; and Tpvyudia from rpvyri, vintage, or rpv^ wine, either because the actors smeared their faces with lees of wine, or because the cask of wine was the prize. 35. The laws of Zaleucus, the lawgiver of the Locrians, who must have lived before Draco, (who made his laws 01. 39,) and of Charondas, the lawgiver of the Thurians, in Italy, who made his laws, 01. 84, and is supposed by some to have been the Scholar of Zaleucus, must have been commentitious or forged ; for in both the word rpaywdia is used for pomp ; whereas it could not have had that meta- phorical use so early as 01. 84. In the infancy of tragedy there was nothing pompous ; no scenes, pictures, machines, or rich habits — the first scene -f- is supposed to have been made by Agatharchus, a self-taught painter, for one of iEschylus"' plays, and the other ornaments were first brought in by iEschylus ; now iEschylus made his first play, 01. 70, and his last, 01. 80 ; his first victory was gained 01. 73.3, and we may suppose that he had not in- * The goat was sacrificed to Bacchus, being obnoxious to him because it browsed on the vines — Virg\ Georg, 2, 380 — Ovid Fast. 1.353. f Aristotle (Poet. S. 10.) attributes the introduction of painted scenery to Sophocles. THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 25 vented scenes and other ornaments before that period. In 01. 84, JEschylus was newly dead, Sophocles in his prime at the age of fifty-four, and Euripides had just en- tered on the province of tragedy. Now, Euripides was so far from giving occasion to this metaphor by the rich orna- ments of his scenes and actors, that he was noted for in- troducing his heroes in rags ; and Aristophanes reckons up five of his shabby heroes, that gave names to as many of his tragedies — QEneus, Phoenix, Philoctetes, Bellerophon, Telephus ; it is true, the others were not guilty of the same fault, but still their characters were not clad so gorgeously as to make tragedy become a metaphor for sumptuousness ; for money was at that time scarce in Greece, and the people were frugal ; nay, even one hundred years after, in the time of Demosthenes, the expense of tragedy was moderate ; for he tells us that the charge of a tragic chorus, was much less than that of a chorus of musicians, avArjrai, which even he, whose fortune was small, voluntarily undertook — and Lysias, another orator, a little ancienter than he, has given us a punctual account of the several expenses of the stage ; the tragic chorus, thirty minse — the x°P°c avdpwv, twenty — the -irvppixiGTcu, the Pyrrichists, eight — the chorus of men, together with the charge for the tripus, fifty — the- cyclian chorus, three hundred — the chorus of boys, fifteen — the comedians, sixteen — the young Pyrrichists, seven. — Now, the Attic mina being equivalent to three pounds, the whole charge for a tragic chorus amounted to about ninety pounds, and for a comic, little more than the half of that ; some years after a reduction took place in the choral ex- penses, for the charges of a tragic chorus are then stated to be twenty-five mina?, or seventy-five pounds. When such then was the expense of a tragic chorus in the time 26 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. of Lysias and Demosthenes, the word rpayw^ia could not, in 01. 84, signify sumptuousness ; it is true, when tragedy- was propagated from Athens into the courts of princes, the splendor of the tragic chorus was extremely magnifi- cent, as at Alexandria and Rome, which gave occasion to that complaint of Horace's, that the show of plays was so very gaudy, that few minded the words, Ep. 2, 1, " Tanto cum strepitu," &c, and, A. P. "Regali conspectus," &c. ; in those ages, it is no wonder, if rpaywdia metaphorically signified splendor, and so Philo and Lucian use it. 36. The materials of tragedy were taken from the Greek Mythology, which was revered as an appendage to Religion, and as a prologue to History — there are only two Historic Tragedies, the " Capture of Miletus 1 ' of Phrynichus, and the " Persians" of .ZEschylus, certainly the most imperfect of his plays. The royal families, which, by a chain of self- requiting crimes, offered the most abundant materials for tragedy, were the Pelopids in Mycense, and the Labdacids in Thebes, families which were foreign to the Athenians ; the Attic Poets never laboured to make the ancient kings of their country odious. The Homeric Epos is in poetry what the bas-relief is in sculpture ; Tragedy is the out- standing group. CHAPTER II. HISTORY OF THE GREEK DRAMA, SECTION I. History of Tragedy. 1. The Drama owes its origin to that principle of imitation, which is inherent in human nature ; hence its invention, like that of painting, sculpture, and other imitative arts, cannot properly be restricted to any one specific age or people ; in fact, scenical representations are found among nations so totally separated from one another, as to make it impossible for one to have borrowed the idea from another; in Greece and Hindostan (for the Hindoos* have a rich dramatic literature, which ascends back upwards of two thousand years) the Drama was at the same time in high perfection, whilst Judaea, Arabia, and Persia, the in- tervening nations, were utter strangers to it ; the Chinese, from time immemorial have possessed a regular theatre ; the Peruvians and even the South-Sea Islanders have had * Of the plays of the Hindoos, called Nataks, we have but one specimen, the Sacontala, which is very similar to the drama of Shaks* pcaie, 28 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. their plays ; each of these people must have invented the Drama for themselves, the only point of connexion was the sameness of the cause, which led to these several indepen- dent inventions, sciz. the instinctive propensity to imitation, and the pleasure arising from it when successfully exerted. 2. The elements of the Grecian Drama must be sought for in those annual festivals, which were connected with re- ligion, and amongst which those of Dionysos or Bacchus, the inventor of wine and the vineyard, and joint patron with Ceres, of agriculture, must have been very prominent : a passage in Horace, Epist. 2, 1, 139, &c. "Agricolseprisei, fortes, parvoque beati, condita post frumenta" &c. would lead us to think that the vintage was the season for these festivals, but certainly all the Athenian Dionysia were held in spring ; from the title of the first day in the Lensea, ra UiOoiyia, or the tappings, the feast might have been fixed to celebrate the first use of the last year s wine — at Rome also the Liberalia were held in March. 3. Bacchus seems to have been a modern divinity in Greece ; in Homer he is seldom mentioned, and takes no part in the action of his poems among the inhabitants of Olympus — his rencontre with Lycurgus, prince of Thrace, (II. 7, 130,) and his persecution by Pentheus, king of Thebes, bespeak opposition, at no very remote period, to the claims and rites of a newly-introduced Deity ; Herodo- tus tells us that his worship was imported from Egypt, where he was venerated under the name of Osiris— he would also seem to be the same as the Baghesa of the Hindoos. Melampus first introduced his rites into Greece, not directly from Egypt, but through the intermediate in- struction of Cadmus. 4. Music and poetry are invariably employed in the . THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 29 services of divine worship ; in Greece, that fondness for poetry and music for which they were remarkable, combined with their keen relish for joke and raillery, naturally in- troduced two kinds of extemporaneous effusions, viz., the hymns addressed immediately to the Deity (by bands of choristers, accompanied by the pipe) around the altar dur- ing the sacrifice — grave, lofty, and restrained — called the Dithyramb, (which we have already considered, and of which the hymns of Homer and Orpheus are specimens,) and the songs during the banquet and the Phallic procession- coarse, ludicrous and satyrical— -the Phallic songs. Hero- dotus derives the procession of the Phallus from Egypt, and the walls of the Egyptian temples are still covered with paintings representing sacrifices to Osiris, with processions of priests and devotees in masquerade attire ; the religion of Egypt was generated farther in the East, and we still find a trace of the Phallus in the Lingam of Hindoo wor- ship : Bacchus or Baghesa, was regarded as the first ge- nerating principle and author of all increase, and accord- ingly the Phallus was exhibited in these festivals as his most conspicuous emblem. 5. In the first rise of the Bacchic festivals, the peasants promiscuously poured forth their own extemporaneous strains; afterwards the more skilful performers were formed into a chorus, which, with the accompaniment of a pipe, sang verses precomposed by those peasants who had a natural talent for versifying ; emulation was excited, con- tests between the choruses of neighbouring districts speedily arose, and an ox was assigned as the prize of superior skill. This was the first stage of the Drama. 6. The next advance was the invention of the satyric chorus. Fawns and satyrs were the regular attendants of SO THE GRECIAN DRAMA. Bacchus ; the goat, an animal injurious to vines, and there- fore obnoxious to Bacchus, was the appropriate sacrifice ; in the horns and hide of the victim all that was requisite to furnish a satyric guise was at hand ; the manners of these sportive beings would, of course, be adopted along with the guise ; crowned with ivy and violets, they bandied about jest and sarcasm, and thus a chorus of satyrs was formed, and thenceforth became an established accompaniment of the Bacchic festival ; it is here we first discover something of a dramatic nature ; the singers of the Dithyramb were mere choristers, they assumed no character, they exhibited no imitation ; the performers in the Satyric chorus had a part to sustain, to appear as satyrs, and represent their character ; their duties were two-fold ; to sing the praises of the Grod, and to pour forth their ludicrous effusions, which, to a certain degree, were of a dramatic nature, but avTO(7x^ta(jfxara, uttered without system or order, and ac- companied with dancing, gesticulation and grimace ; more- over, in these extemporaneous bursts of remark, jest, and repartee, a kind of dialogue was introduced : here then, in this acting and dialogue, we have the essence and the ele- ments of the Drama. The lofty poetry of the Dithyramb, (the source of the chorus,) combined with the lively exhibi- tion of the Satyric chorus, (the source of the dialogue,) was at length wrought out into the majestic tragedy of Sophocles ; the Phallic song was improved into the comedy of Aristophanes. It was now probably that a distinction in prizes was made ; the goat was probably at first the or- dinary reward of all the victorious choristers, and the term Tpaywdia (or goat-song) comprehended the several choral chantings in the Dionysia (unless Bentley's opinion be cor- rect, viz., that the goat was not the prize, or the term THE GRECIAN DRAMA, Si Tpayqdta invented until the time of Thespis) — but now the bull was assigned to the Dithyramb, as a nobler meed for its sacred ode, the basket of figs and vessel of wine to the Phal- lic, whilst the goat was left to the Satyric chorus. (Subse- quently, when the Drama was perfected, the name of the poet was proclaimed before the audience ; he, his choragus, and performers were alone suffered to wear the garland of ivy, which all wore during the contest ; the victorious cho- ragus in a Tragic contest dedicated a tablet to Bacchus, inscribed with the names of himself, his poet and the Archon ; in Comedy, the choragus likewise consecrated to Bacchus, the dress and ornaments of his actors ; — the victor with the x°j°oe avdpuyv, received a tripod as his prize, which was also dedicated in the Lensean temple to Bacchus, in- scribed like the dramatic tablets ; and from these tripods and tablets, chronological tables of the various theatric contests were formed, stating the names of the three poets placed first, according to their rank, the titles of their dra- mas, and the name of the Archon for the year ; these tables were called AtSao-fcaXfat.) The Satyric chorus differed from the Phallic chorus in this, that the former was bound down to the exhibition of Satyric manners and adventures alone, the latter directed its observations, jests,- and sarcasms, to the persons and occurrences of present time and place. The Satyric chorus, like the Dithyramb, found an early entrance into the Dorian cities, and was particularly cultivated at Phlius, a town of Sicyon. The first principles of music introduced into choruses of all descriptions, those divisions and subdivisions of the choristers, which tend so much to add diversity and interest to the whole ; the leader of the Satyric chorus (originally the poet) sometimes performed a solo chaunt and dance, (a practice which Aristotle expresses by 32 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. the phrase t^apZai rbv di9vpaf.ij5ov) sometimes, with respon- sive verses, the leaders of the subdivisions, sometimes the choristers of the several divisions engaged in this alterna- tion, and then the whole body united in one general burst of song and movement. The addition of the Satyric chorus formed the second stage of the Drama. 7. In Attica, there is no direct record of these Dionysian representations till the time of Susarion and Thespis ; it is evident, however, from the manner in which the improve- ments of Thespis are mentioned, that the Satyric chorus had long been established in Attica, and probably also the Dithyramb — and from a passage in the oration against Neaera ascribed to Demosthenes, in which certain rites of Bacchus formerly performed by the wife of the king, are said to have been transferred to the wife of the king Archon, it is clear that his mysteries had found a footing in Athens during the remote times of kingly rule ; and probably also the choral exhibitions. In 01. 54, B.C. 562, Susarion, a native of Icaria, presented himself and his comedy at Athens, rehearsing it on a moveable stage or scaf- fold ; this was the first drama there exhibited ; it was not committed to writing, as the author was the actor of his own piece, Epicharmus being the first writer of Comedy, who, choosing his plots from the Margites, and rejecting the mummeries of the Satyrs, would naturally compose his Drama on a more regular plan ; but in 01. 61, B.C. 536, Thespis, also a native of Icaria, was the author of the third stage in the progress of the Drama, by adding an actor distinct from the chorus ; when the performers, after sing- ing the Bacchic hymn, were beginning to flag in the extem- poral bursts of satyric jest, and the spectators to be wearied, he contrived a break in the representation by coming for- THE GEECIAN DRAMA. 33 ward himself, and from an elevated stand, describing, in gesticulated narration, some mythological story ; when this was ended, the chorus again commenced their performance; these dramatic recitations, termed lirucroSia, from being in- troduced between the parts of the original performance, en- croached on the extemporal exhibitions of the chorus, and finally occupied their place. The next step was to add life and spirit to these monologues by making the chorus take part in the narrative, through an occasional exclamation, question, or remark; this was readily suggested by the practice of interchanging observations, already established among the members of the chorus ; and thus was the germ of the dialogue still further developed. " He is said first to have smeared his face with vermilion, then with a pigment prepared from the herb purslain, and lastly, to have con- trived a rude mask made of linen ; the invention of the re- gular mask is assigned by Aristotle to iEschylus. Thespis first gave the character of a distinct profession to this spe- cies of entertainment. He organised a regular chorus, which he assiduously trained in dancing, and invented dances which continued through four generations, to the time of Aristophanes ; though more energetic than graceful, their protracted existence proves their excellence ; all the advantages of music were added ; the metre of his recita- tive was trochaic tetrametre, which was particularly adapted to the lively and sportive movements of his satyric chorus ; he probably reduced the whole performance to some kind of unity, causing this mixture of song and recitative, to tend to the setting forth some one passage in Bacchic History. The introduction of an actor with his episodic recitations was so important an advance, as leading directly to the for- mation of dramatic plot and dialogue, and his improvements 84 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. : of the chorus were of so influential a description, that Thespis is generally considered the inventor of the Drama ; of Tragedy, properly so called, he had no idea ; the lan- guage of his actor and choristers was light and ludicrous ; the short episodes were jocose and humourous ; stories more or less ludicrous, generally turning on Bacchus or his fol- lowers, interwoven with the dance and the song of a well- trained chorus, formed his Drama ; it resembled a wild kind of ballet-farce more than any thing else. Bentley^s opinion, that all the Dramas of Thespis were confined to Bacchus, Fawns, and Satyrs, is far from being incontrovertible ; though the story of Solon and Thespis may not be true, yet we may allow that in his later days, the instructor of Phrynichus might have adopted mythological stories less connected with Bacchus. It has been argued, that, allow- ing the plays which went under his name, to be forgeries of Heraclides Ponticus, it cannot be supposed the scholar of Aristotle would be so ignorant as to publish, under the name of Thespis, a series of plays of such a character, and with such titles, as would at once discover the imposture ; hence some contend, that Thespis did exhibit pieces of heroic and elevated character ; but, (according to Bentley) first, supposing Heraclides to have framed his plays with exact attention to what he believed to be the nature of the Thespian Drama, and therefore to have interspersed them with didactic gnomse, still it would no more follow that the plays of Thespis were of a serious nature, than that the comedies of Epicharmus or Plautus are so, because they also are full of moral maxims and sentiments ; and, secondly, Heraclides might not have thought it necessary to observe this exact conformity ; none but the learned few would be able to detect the forgeries (and they did so) ; and among THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 25 the generality of readers, the pieces would long pass with- out suspicion, until the declaration and proofs of their spuriousness had been slowly communicated. 8. Phrynichus, son of Polyphradmon, the pupil of Thes- pis, was the author of the fourth stage of the Drama. He began to exhibit, B.C. 511, 01. 67.2, one year before the expulsion of the Pisistratidse, two before that of the Tar- quins. Up to this period, the performance called Tpaytj^ia had more the semblance of comedy, than tragedy ; the ele- ments of tragedy, though so prepared, as to require only a master hand to unite them into one whole of life and beauty, were still in a separate state. Phrynichus com- bined the Dithyramb, which presented a rich mine of choral poetry, with the regular narrative and mimetic character of the Thespian chorus ; he also dropped the light and ludi- crous cast of the Thespian Drama, dismissed Bacchus and the Satyrs, and formed his plays from the grave and ele- vated events recorded in the mythology and history of his country ; as appears from his " Capture of Miletus and Plwnissce ;" he thus was the author of the serious Drama. The tragic choruses at Sicyon, however, the subject of which were the woes of Adrastus, show that in the Cyclic Chorus, at least, melancholy incident and mortal personages had been long before introduced ; and there is also some reason for supposing that Phrynichus, was indebted to Homer in the formation of his Drama. Aristotle says, that Homer alone deserves the name of Poet, not only as being superior to all others, but as the first who prepared the way for the introduction of the Drama ; his jutjuqcrac dpajmctTiKai on grave and tragic subjects, in the Iliad and Odyssey, affording subjects, and a dignity of tone and character to Tragedy, when it had cast off Bacchus and the Satyrs; and his 36 THE GRECIAN DRAMA, Margites, which was written in Iambic metre, and which substituted ridicule for invective, suggesting the idea of Comedy, properly so called, to Epicharmus. Now, the Homeric Poems had been collected, arranged, and pub- lished, a few years before Phrynichus began to exhibit, by the care of Pisistratus ; such an event would naturally draw his attention to the study of Homer, whose juifxricreig SpafiaTucai would strike a mind acute and ingenious as his was ; at any rate these two facts stand in close chronolo- gical connexion, the first edition of Homer, and the birth of Tragedy, properly so called. (iEschylus, the successor of Phrynichus, avowed his obligations to Homer ; he mo- destly declared his tragedies to be but Ttfiaxn rwv 'Ofihpov fxtyaXwv dz'nrvGJv.) Thus, taking the ode and tone of the Dithyramb, the mimetic personifications of Homer, and the themes which national tradition or recent events supplied, Phrynichus combined these several materials, and brought them forward under the dramatic form of the Thespian Exhibition. The recitative was no longer a set of dis- jointed humourous episodes, separated by the dance and song of a Satyr choir, but a connected succession of serious narrative or grave conversation, with a chorus composed of personages involved in the story, all relating to one subject, and tending to one result ; this recitative again alternated with a series of choral odes, composed in a spirit of deep thought and lofty poetry, themselves turning more or less directly on the theme of the interwoven dialogue ; — the actor and choristers assumed a different aspect ; the per- formers now representing not Silenus and the Satyrs, but heroes, princes, and their attendants ; the goat-skin guise was laid aside, and a garb befitting the rank of the several individuals employed in the piece, assumed ; it is probable THE GRECIAN DRAMA, 3? also, that the one actor, changing his dress, appeared in different characters during the course of the play, a device afterwards adopted, when the increased number of actors made it less necessary. Phrynichus also is stated to have first brought a female actor on the stage. Thus did Tra- gedy at length appear in her proper, though not her perfect form ; much yet remained to be done ; the management of the piece was simple and inartificial ; the argument, some naked incident from mythology or history, on which the chorus sung and the actor recited, in a connected, but de- sultory succession ; there was no interweaving or develop- ment of plot, no studied arrangement of fact and catastrophe, no contrivance to heighten the interest of the tale and work upon the feelings of the audience ; the odes of the chorus were sweet and beautiful, the dances scientific and dexterous, (as appears from the drunken Philocleon in Aristophanes, exhibiting a figure dance of Phrynichus, and defying the tragedians of his day to match it,) but those odes and dances composed the principal part of the per- formance ; they narrowed in the Episodes of the Actor, and threw them into comparative insignificance ; frequently the chorus left to the Performer little more than the part of a speechless image ; in short, the Drama of Phrynichus was a serious opera of lyric song and skilful dance, and not a tragedy of artful plot and interesting dialogue. Such was Phrynichus as an inventor, but as he continued to ex- hibit during nearly forty years, (from B.C. 511, to his Phoenissse, B.C. 476, and probably longer,) during twenty- three of which he had iEschylus as a rival, (who first ex- hibited B.C. 499,) his later plays must have been much im- proved; his Capture of Miletus (01. 71.3, B.C. 494, in which year also it was taken by the Persians) must, to 88 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. judge from its effects, have had much merit. Miletus was a colony of Athens, founded by Neleus, son of Codrus, her last king, the capital and pride of Ionia, the birth place of Thales, Anaximander and Anaximanes, Hecatseus, the his- torian, Histiseus and Aristagoras ; such was the city on whose deplorable fate Phrynichus founded his Tragedy; the spectacle dissolved his audience into tears ; the magis- trates forbade him to touch on that subject in future, and fined him in a thousand drachmas ; his Phoenissse was little inferior to the Persse of iEschylus, exhibited four years after it — and in composing which, iEschylus is charged by Glaucus of Rhegium (400 B.C.) with having borrowed largely from the Phcenissse. The odes of Phrynichus are characterised by Aristophanes, as being reaped from the sacred meadow of the Muses, and sweet as the ambrosia of the bee ; in these, however, lay his merit ; in plot, dialogue and arrangement he was deficient ; his claims as an inven- tor must be restricted to the combination of the Poetry of the Cyclic with the acting of the Thespian chorus, and the conversion of satyric gaiety into the solemnity and pathos of proper Tragedy. 9. Before we proceed to the consideration of the fifth stage of the Drama, of which iEschylus was the author, a few matters may be stated. Pisistratus died 01. 63, B.C. 527. Thespis first acted 01. 61, B.C. 536. Susarion 01. 54, B.C. 562, one year before Pisistratus established his tyranny; thus Comedy was acted at Athens several years before, and Tragedy before or at the time of the compilation of Homer's Poems. Phrynichus and Epicharmus, however, the authors of real Tragedy and Comedy, evidently bor- rowed from those Poems, and Thespis and Susarion might have resorted to them before they were compiled by Pisis- THE GRECIAN DRAMA. tratus. If Solon disapproved of Tl^pis 1 plays, it must have been before Pisistratus established his tyranny, which was in 01. 54, and they must have been satyrical, for Solon would not have objected to a drama formed on the model of Homer, whom he so much admired. Hence, Cumber- land deduces, that satyrical tragedy was never committed to writing, that Thespis 1 first tragedy, disliked by Solon, was satyrical, and that he afterwards wrote Tragedy and acted it, 01. 61 (and this in opposition to Bentley's opinion, who contended that Thespis never committed any thing to writing) ; in proof of this, he deduces the authorities al- ready quoted for Thespis being the inventor of Tragedy, particularly those of Donatus, who says, " Thespis primus hasc Bcrifta in omnium notitiam protulit ;" and Horace, in his art of Poetry, and more particularly in 2nd Epist.l, 168, " et post Punica bella quietus qugerere ccepkV "quid So- phocles et Thespis et iEschylus utile ferrent;" and he thinks the reform of Thespis in introducing an actor could not be made, much less, recorded by Aristotle, unless Thes- pis had written and published Tragedies. 10. Aristotle wrote his Poetics about two centuries after Thespis, after he had quitted the service of Alexander, to whom he sent a copy of that treatise ; as his work is chiefly critical, he dates his account of the Drama from iEschylus and Epicharmus, loosely observing that " the Megarians claim the invention of Comedy — both those of Attica (al- luding to Susarion) and those of Sicily ; that it probably took its origin in a democracy, as Megaris then was ; and that Epicharmus was far senior to Chionides and Magnes, the first Athenian writers of Comedy ;" but the celebration of the Bacchic mysteries was too closely connected with popular superstition to be checked by the most jealous 40 THE GRECIAN DRAMA, tyrant, nor was the old satyrical mask of the Athenians in Pisistratus"' time less licentious than that of the Megaren- sians in the freest state, though it soon happened that the republic of Megara became an oligarchy, and the monarchy of Athens, a republic ; he says also, that the Peloponnesians claim the invention of the Drama, from the etymology of the words Comedy and Drama, that the Peloponnesians use the words KU)jxai, and Spav in their dialect, whereas the Athenians use SiJ/xoi and -Kparruv ; he might as well have given the invention of Comedy to the Megarensians for their being notorious laughers, yektoQ j^eyapiKog, being a proverb among the Athenians ; and of tragedy from the proverb " Megarensian tears," as common as the other (from their country abounding in onions), for the use he as- signs to Ktofxat and $pav, has no foundation in fact ; Aris- tophanes in his comedies frequently putting the verb Spav in the mouth of the Athenian speakers, and icio/iai also. 11. The Drama owed much of its magnificence to the overthrow of the Persians. This furnished the Dramatist with a subject most noble in itself, and most potent to evoke the whole soul of the Poet, and one of such thrilling in- terest to every Greek, as to throw at once over infant Tra- gedy a dignity and a splendour, which no mere mythologic legend could produce. The rich spoils of the East also fur- nished all that the theatre could require to bring forward in fitting grandeur the triumph of the conquerors. 12. The origin of scenic entertainments at Rome is given by Livy in his 7th B. chap. 2, they were introduced from Etruria, to expiate the anger of the Gods in the time of a pestilence ; the Etrurian actors merely danced to the sound of the flute ; then the youth imitated them, at the same time pouring forth on each other extemporaneous THE GRECIAN DRAMA, 41 jesting verses; slaves then became actors, called "histriones," from the Tuscan " hister," an actor, who did not use alter- nate extemporaneous verse, but continued satyrical verse, with dancing to the sound of the flute. Livius (who acted his own verses) first dared to turn from the satires and to insert a fable with a plot ; he, when his voice became fa- tigued, placed a boy to sing before the flute-player, whilst he himself went through the gestures ; after the Drama was thus changed from jesting to the acting of fables, the youth, leaving it to regular performers, after the ancient manner threw out ridiculous and jesting verses on each other, which kind of play was called a farce, received from the Osci, used chiefly in the "Fabellse Atellame," and not suffered to be performed by common actors ; hence the actors of the Atellanse were not removed from their tribe, and were suf- fered to make military campaigns, which was not granted to common actors. 13. Between Phrynichus and iEschylus, two other Tra- gedians, Ohoerilus and Pratinas intervened ; the Dramas of Choerilus were satyric, like those of Thespis ; in his later days he copied the improvements of Phrynichus, and was a candidate, as Pratinas also, when JEschylus first exhibited, 01. 70, B.C. 499 — of one hundred and fifty pieces which he wrote, not a fragment remains. Some improvements in theatrical costume are ascribed to him by Suidas. Pratinas was a native of Phlius,* and once obtained a tragic vic- tory ; but the clear superiority of iEschylus in tragedy led him to contrive a novel and mixed kind of play ; borrowing from tragedy its external form and mythological materials, * The Phliasians erected a monument in honor of " Aristeas, the son of Pratinas, who with his father excelled all except iEschylus in writing Satyrical Dramas." Pratinas also wrote Hyporchemes. 42 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. lie added a chorus of satyrs, with their lively songs, ges- tures and movements— this new composition was called the Satyric Drama. The novelty was well-timed — the banish- ment of the Satyric chorus, with its pranks and merriment, had displeased the people ; the Satyric Drama gave them back under an improved form the favorite diversion of former times — and was so acceptable, that the Tragic Poets deemed it advisable to combine this ludicrous exhibition with their graver pieces. One Satyric Drama was added to each Tragic trilogy, as long as the custom of contending with a series of plays, and not with single pieces, continued. ^Eschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, were all distinguished satyric composers ; the only extant specimen is the Cyclops of Euripides. Pratinas also struck out a considerable im- provement in the orchestral part of his Drama, by revoking the custom of allowing the minstrels to join in the chant with the chorus, and suffering them only to accompany with their pipes ; the recitative was thus given more distinctly to the audience, and the clamorous confusion of voices avoided. It was at the exhibition of one of his Tragedies that the scaffolding broke down, (plays having been up to this time, exhibited on scaffolds, or in booths, where both spectators and performers were placed,) and in consequence, the Athe- nians set about building a theatre of stone. He wrote fifty tragedies, of which thirty-two were satyric. 14. From two inscriptions found at Orchomenus in Boeotia, the first of which is written in Boeotic, and is sup- posed to be older than 01. 145, B.C. 200, and from a Thes- pian inscription, graved in the later age of the Roman Em- perors, and relating to the same subject, Professor Bockh of Berlin concludes, that there existed among the Dorians, to a very late period, a style of Drama, essentially differing THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 43 from the Athenian tragedy in its composition, form, and ex- hibition — a modification of the ancient Dithyramb — in fact, a Lyric tragedy. 15. The fifth form of Tragedy owes its origin to iEschylus. He was son of Euphorion, and born at Eleusis in Attica, 01. 63.4, B.C. 525. Pausanias tells a story of his boyhood, which shows that his mind was very early struck with the exhibitions of the infant Drama ; he was watching* grapes in the country, and fell asleep, when Bacchus appeared to him and bade him turn his attention to the tragic art ; when he awoke, he found himself possessed of the utmost facility in Dramatic Composition. At the age of twenty- five he made his first essay, 01. 70, B.C. 499, Pratinas and Chcerilus being his antagonists ; the next notice we have of him is in 01. 72.3, B.C. 490, when, with his three brothers Ameinias, Euphorion and Cynsegirus, he was graced at Marathon with the prize of pre-eminent valour, being then thirty-five years of age ; like Alcseus and Archilochus, he held his military character more dear than his literary one, and directed to be engraven on his tomb-stone, a distich in long and short verse, in which he appeals to the field of Marathon and the long-haired Mede, to witness to his valor; the inscription was engraven on his tomb by the Geloans. Six years after that battle he gained his first victory, 01. 74, B.C. 484 ; four years after this he took part in the bat- tle of Salamis, with his brother Ameinias, to whose extra- ordinary valour the apiarda were decreed ; at one of his plays, the people enraged at an attack he made on their su- perstitions, were going to stone him to death, when * To this early employment of the Poet were probably owing his habits of intemperance, and his introduction of drunken characters on the sta°re. 44 THE GRECIAN DRAMA, Ameinias* exhibited his amputated arm and turned aside their fury ; — the year after the battle of Salamis, he served at Platsea ; eight years after, when he was above fifty he gained the prize with a tetralogy composed of the Persse, Phineus, Grlaucus, and Prometheus ignifer, a Satyric Drama. In his later years he retired to the Court of Hiero, where he found Simonides, Epicharmus and Pindar — this must have been before 01. 78.2, B.C. 467, in which year Hiero died. The reasons assigned for his doing so are various ; probably fear of and indignation at the multitude for the treatment he received, joined to feelings of jealousy at the preference given occasionally to Simonides, who gained the prize from him in an elegiac contest, and to Sophocles, who defeated him, 01. 78.1, B.C. 468 ; as he won the prize with the Orestean Tetralogy, consisting of the Agamemnon, Choephorse, Eumenides and Proteus, 01. 80.2, B.C. 458, two years before his death, either this latter reason must be untrue, (for he must have passed into Sicily immediately after his success,) or this tetralogy was composed in Sicily, and acted at Athens under the care of his friends. Schlegel says, that the chief aim of his Eumenides was the support of the Areopagus against Ephialtes — that he gained the victory, but that Ephialtes was found immediately after murdered in his bed, and that iEschylus, fearing the people in consequence, retired to Sicily ; this account is inconsistent with chronology ; he must have gone to Sicily before B.C. 467, and the Eumenides was not performed till B.C. 458. Hermann endeavours to reconcile the jarring accounts of * Others tell us he was saved from the people by taking refuge at the altar of Bacchus: and was acquitted of a charge of impiety, before the Areopagus, in consequence of the services of his brother Ameinias, according to some, of his brother Cynsegeirus, according to others. THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 45 his emigration by saying that he visited Sicily three* or four times. In Sicily he resided at Oatana, which Hiero having rebuilt, called iEtna ; on Hiero's death he removed to Gela, where he died, set. 69, 01. 81, B.C. 456 ; his death was sin- gular, an eagle mistaking his bald head for a stone, let fall a tortoise on it, and the blow killed him ; this probably was an allegory, emblematical of his genius, age, and decay. His residence in Sicily would seem to have been of consider- able length, as it affected the purity of his language : many Sicilian words (as wedaopot for [izTswpoi, wedapcFiog for fiZTcipcnoQ) being found in his later plays ; — his appeal to posterity would seem to show that his rivals were unjustly preferred to him : — "I appeal to posterity," said he, "in the assurance that, my works will meet that reward from time, which the partiality of my contemporaries refuses to be- stow." This appeal was soon verified, for after his death, the Athenians made a decree for furnishing the expense of representing his tragedies out of the public purse, a statue was erected to his memory, and a picture painted descrip- tive of his valour at Marathon, in which he was represented by the side of Miltiacles. Quinctilian assigns a different reason for the decree just mentioned; he says it was for the purpose of having his plays corrected, which were rude and unpolished. He is said to have composed seventy Dramas, of which five were satyrical, and he was thirteen times victor ; seven are still extant ; Sophocles composed, accord- * He probably yisited Sicily but twice; first in 468 B.C., according- to Plutarch's testimony, immediately after his defeat by Sophocles ; secondly, in 458, B.C. (having returned in the mean time) immediately after the exhibition of the Orestean Tetralogy : his fondness for the Dorian Institutions, his aristocratical spirit, and adoption of the politics of Aristeides had long before made him obnoxious to the demagogues. 46 THE GRECIAN DRAMA, ing to Bockh, seventy; according to Suidas, one hundred and twenty-three, seven are only extant ; he was twenty times victor. Euripides composed seventy-five plays; eighteen, and one Satyric Drama, the Cyclops, are extant ; he was only five times victor ; the extant plays of iEschylus in chronological order, are the Supplices, Persse, Prometheus vinctus, Septem contra Thebas, Agamemnon, Choephori, Eumenides ; those of Sophocles, are the Ajax, Electra, (Edipus Tyrannus, Antigone, Trachinise, Philoctetes, GEdi- pus Ooloneus. JEschylus was in reality the creator of Tragedy. He added a second actor to the locutor of Thespis and Phry- nichus, and thus introduced the regular dialogue. He abridged the immoderate length of the choral odes, making them subservient to the main interest of the plot, and ex- panded the short episodes into scenes of competent extent; he introduced a regular stage with appropriate scenery (Hor. Epist. ad Pis. 279); by him the performers were furnished with appropriate dresses, and this he did with such taste, that the priests did not scruple to copy and adopt his fashion in their habiliments; he invented the cothurnus, and the mask, which was so contrived as to give power and distinctness to the voice ; it is thought, that, like Thespis and Phrynichus, he did not disdain to come forward in per- son as an actor : he paid great attention to the choral dances, and invented several figure-dances himself — the dances he composed for his " Septem contra Thebas" were particularly apposite to the scene, and greatly applauded ; declining the assistance of the regular ballet masters, he himself carefully instructed his choristers, one of whom, Telestes, was such a proficient, as distinctly to express by dance alone the various occurrences of the play ; Telestes THE GRECIAN DRAMA, 47 had the honor of a statue decreed to him, which was placed conspicuously within the theatre, whilst those of the most celebrated Poets were not admitted nearer than the steps or portico ; — these dances were finally laughed out of fashion by the parody of the satyrical comedy. iEschylus introduced a practice, which afterwards became a fixed rule, sciz. the removal of all scenes of bloodshed and murder from public view (Hor. Epist. ad Pis. 185) ; he introduced drunken characters on the stage, a practice, says Athenseus, which accorded with his own habits ; his writing, however, under the influence of wine, with which he is sometimes charged, may only signify that he wrote under the inspira- tion of Bacchus — under the true inspiration of poetry. So* many and so important were the additions and im- provements of iEschylus, that he was considered by the Athenians as the Father of Tragedy. In philosophical sentiments he was a Pythagorean ; in his Dramas, the tenets of this sect may be traced, as, deep veneration for the Gods, high regard for the sanctity of an oath and the nuptial bond, the immortality of the soul, the origin of names from imposition and not from nature, the import- ance of numbers, the science of physiognomy, and the sacred character of suppliants. Aristophanes, in his Frogs, has sketched his character ; he depicts his temper as proud and impatient, his sentiments noble and warlike, his genius inventive and towering, even to extravagance ; his style bold and lofty, full of gorgeous imagery and ponderous expressions ; whilst in the dramatic arrangement of his pieces, there remained much of ancient simplicity and even of uncouth rudeness ; the spectacle which his Drama exhi- * He first introduced the custom of contending with trilogies. 4$ THE GRECIAN DlUMA. bits, is that of one sublime, simple scene of awful magnifi- cence : there are some passages of so figurative and meta- phorical a sort, that they would lead one to think that his campaigns against the Persians tinctured his language with something of the Oriental tone of expression. No Poet introduces his characters on the scene with more dignity and stage-effect ; he is in the practice of holding the spec- tator in suspense, by a preparatory silence in his chief per- son, which is amongst the most refined arts of the Dramatic Poet. In the Frogs of Aristophanes, three entire acts are occupied in a contest between iEschylus and Euripides for the tragic chair among the departed spirits ; Bacchus is judge, who decides in favour of iEschylus ; the decree is also decisive against Sophocles, for he declares his acquies- cence under the judgment, if it should be given for ^Eschy • lus, but if otherwise, he avows himself ready to contest the palm with Euripides; thus Aristophanes ranks iEschylus superior to the dignified Sophocles and the philosophic Euripides ;-— this opinion, however, was not held by all ; Aristoclemus the Little, gives the first rank in Epic to Homer, in the Dithyramb to Melanippides, in statuary to Polycletus, in painting to Zeuxis, and in Tragedy to So- phocles. Sophocles seems also to be the decided favorite with Longinus. Dionysius praises the splendor of the talents of iEschylus, the propriety of his characters, the originality of his ideas, the force, variety and beauty of his language. Longinus speaks of the bold magnificence of his imagery, whilst he condemns some of his conceptions as overstrained. Quinctilian praises the dignity of his sen- timents, the sublimity of his ideas, and the loftiness of his style. Such, in the eyes of Antiquity, was the Shakspeare, or the Dante of the Grecian Drama. At his death, Sophocles THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 49 wag in his thirty-ninth year, and Euripides in his twenty- fourth. Chionides and Dinolochus, writers of the old Comedy flourished in his time ; as did the philosophers Zeno Eleates, Anaxagoras, and Parmenides. Socrates was in his twenty-second year when jEschylus died, and Pindar died two years before him. 16. Sophocles, by the addition of the third actor, in- troduced the sixth and perfect form of Tragedy. Colonus, a village about a mile from Athens, gave him birth, 01. 71.2, B.07495. (^Eschylus B.C. 525, Euripides B.C. 480.) He was thus thirty years junior to iEschylus, and fifteen years senior to Euripides — his father Sophilus, an opulent man, gave him the best education his country could afford; he was instructed in the principles of poetry and music, and in the exercises of the Pakestra, in all of which he gained the prize ; a proof of his beauty and accomplishments is given in this, that at the age of 16, he was selected to lead* with dance and lyre the chorus of youths, who performed the psean of their country's triumph after the victoiy of Salamis: his first victory was gained in his twenty-fifth year, B.C. 4<68, on the occasion of the bones of Theseus being transferred from Scyros to Athens by Oimon : — iEschylus, now for thirty years the master of the stage, was also a candidate ; party feeling excited such a tumult among the spectators that the Archon Aphepsion had not balloted the judges, when Cimon advanced with his nine fellow generals to offer the customary libations to Bacchus ; they, taking the re- quisite oath, seated themselves as judges of the perform- ance : Sophocles was pronounced victor : from this exeni, * He was thus the Exarchus, and possibly, therefore, composed the Ode. E 50 THE GKECIAN DRAMA. B.C. 468, to his death B.C. 405, during sixty-three years, he continued to exhibit : twenty times he gained the first prize, still more frequently the second, and never sank to the third ; his powers, so far from becoming exhausted by continued efforts, contracted nothing from labour and age but a mellower tone, a more touching pathos, a more gentle character of thought and expression ; — in his fifty- seventh year he was one of the ten Generals,* with Peri- cles and Thucydides among his colleagues, and served in the war against Samos ; at a more advanced age he was ap- pointed priest to Alon, one of the ancient heroes of his country, an office more suited to his peaceful temper ; in extreme age, 413 B.C. he was one of the ten irpofiovXoi, appointed in the progress of the revolution brought about by Pisander, to investigate the state of affairs, and to re- port thereon to the people assembled on the hill of Colonus, his native place ; and there, he assented to the establish- ment of oligarchy under the council of 400, "as a bad thing, but the least pernicious measure which circumstances al- lowed ;" his sorrows arising from the reverses of his country were aggravated by domestic trials; his son Iophon, (by his first wife, Nicostrata,) also a tragic Poet, jealous of his father's affection for his grandson Sophocles, son of Ariston, (by his second wife, Theoris,) endeavoured to de- prive him of the management of his property, on the ground of dotage : Sophocles merely read before the court his CEdipus at Colonus, which he had just composed, or ac- * This appointment, it is said, was owing to the political wisdom exhibited in his Antigone, performed 440, B.C. in which play also he conciliated the favor of the popular party by the way in which he speaks of Pericles, V. 662. A similar distinction was conferred on Phrynichus. THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 51 cording to some, that beautiful chorus only, in which he celebrates the loveliness of his favourite residence ; the ad- miring judges instantly arose, dismissed the cause, and ac- companied the aged Poet home with the utmost honor and respect :* he was spared the misery of witnessing the utter overthrow of his country ; early in the year 405, B.C. (for he was not alive at the exhibition of the Banse, during the Lensean festival in that year) 01. 98.4, at the age of 90, some months before the defeat of JEgospotami put the finishing stroke to the misfortunes of Athens, death came gently on the old man, full of years and glory. (Euripides died shortly before him, B.C. 406.) The accounts of his death are various; some say that he was choked by a grapestone, which the actor Oallipides brought him from Opus, at the time of the Anthesteria ; others from exertion in reading aloud-f- a long paragraph of the Antigone ; others from joy at gaining a poetical prize at the Olympic Games; others from joy at gaining the prize on the exhi- bition of his (Edipus Coloneus ; he died when the Athenians were besieged, and the Lacedaemonians in possession of Decelea, the place of his family sepulture : Bacchus (it is said) twice appeared to Lysander, the Spartan General, and bid him allow the interment, which took place with all due solemnity. Ister states, that the Athenians passed a decree, to appoint an annual sacrifice to so admirable a man. In his younger days he was addicted to wine and * This beautiful story is a mere fabrication, for the (Edipus at Co- lonus must have been acted, at least for the first time, before the breaking out of the Peloponnesian war. •j* As <v, in the fourth century after the Christian sera- published under the name of Gregory Nazianzenus — it was composed of disjointed lines and phrases gathered here and there from the old Dramatists, and so arranged as to give the History of the Passion. To return to the great Trage- dians: 29. Of iEschylus it has been said by Scholefield, " Tra- gediam lateritiam accepit, marmoream reliquit." The prin- ciple which reigns through his compositions is the tyrant- hating principle ; his dramas owe their chief interest to the powerful developments which they contain of passions and incidents growing out of the efforts of injustice and arbi- trary rule ; for instance, the Prometheus, the Agamemnon, and more particularly, the Persae. His mortals are dis- tinguished for their vigour and mind, seldom for amiable- ness of character and sweetness of disposition ; in his com- position, the lyrical animation preponderates over the epic gravity, and therefore in the dialogue, where each of these should stand in juxta-position, his genius seems to be clogged with fetters; even here, however, his ships speed their way on wings, helms see and hear, smoke claims brother- hood with fire, and the deep bends its neck to the yoke ; but no sooner has he entered with a choral chant into his peculiar element, than his unfettered imagination abandons itself to its wildest flight ; here he is like a prophet exempt from ordinary restraints, intelligible to the initiated alone ; he indulges his contemplations rather to intimate than ex- press, and hence he becomes obscure and enigmatical ; this enigmatical style is most conspicuous in his character of Cassandra ; in proportion as he seeks out the lofty and ma- jestic, he labours to express it in the rhythm of his verse, THE GKECIAN DRAMA. 65 this may be seen by comparing his long-protracted, heavy- labouring senary with the measured verse of Sophocles, the volatile of Euripides, and the almost dancing of Aris- tophanes. The intense richness of his thought is mirrored in his profuse accumulation of synonymes. In his Agamem- non, which is the finest effort of his genius — and in other plays, he represents Destiny as controlling all, from the Ruler of Olympus, to the weakest who own his dominion, and thus in his mythology he diners from Homer, who makes Destiny identical with the will of Jove. The Cly- tsemnestra of iEschylus (in his Agamemnon) is compared to the Lady Macbeth of Shakspeare ; they are similar in this, that they are both led away by an absorbing passion to the deepest criminal atrocity ; but Clytsemncstra is influenced by revenge for, and love to, her sacrificed daughter, and guilty love for her paramour ; Lady Macbeth by the exclu- sive selfishness of high-vaulting ambition. A modern poet— Vittorio Alfieri — has composed a Drama — the Agamem- none — very similar to that of JEschylus in its incidents and catastrophe, but differing in the delineation of particular characters; his Clytsemnestra is more feminine than that of iEschylus, he omits the character of Cassandra, and in- troduces that of Electra. 30. From the Homeric Poems, the subject matter and the inspiration of the Athenian tragedy were derived : = this appears from the titles of the ancient tragedies; as the Andromache, Helena, Troades, Rhesus, Hecuba, Orestes, and Cyclops, of Euripides ; the Ajax and Philoctetes of Sophocles ; the Agamemnon of ^Eschylus ; " Troja mate- riam dedit Homero, ceteris autem ille omnibus poetis." This he was well calculated to do, from his energy of thought and feeling, richness of language and vividness of F 66 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. description, grandeur of events, majesty of versification, and from his containing the heroic legends of his country, and thus forming a bond of connexion between the world of heroic life, and the ages of improvement which suc- ceeded ; the Dithyramb was the source of tragedy as to form, the Homeric Poems as to matter. 31. The chorus being the offspring of the dithyramb shows that tragedy was originally connected with religion ; this appears from the choral chants of Euripides, which are for the most part detached from the main piece, and con- sist of philosophical or moral reflections. Those of iEschy- lus also, whose exposition of the recondite doctrines of the priesthood subjected him to the charge of having divulged the secrets of the mysteries, are of the same character. It is interesting to trace the subject through its several bear- ings ; the Grecian mysteries were derived from Egypt ; a species of scenic spectacle, termed the Search of Isis, formed a prominent feature in the Egyptian rites of Osiris, and the story of Ceres' wanderings after Proserpine formed the groundwork of a similar representation in the mysteries of Eleusis; the chief performer (juvgt ay uyybg) in these sacred spectacles, either in person or by the intervention of a chorus, accompanied the progress of the action with an ex- planation ; these mysteries were accompanied with the per- fection of scenic portraiture ; the actors in them used the mask, and a species of sandal was used by the priests of Osiris; and to all this may be added the orchestral movements, which formed a part of these religious ceremonies ; hence it appears that the origin of the drama was religious, and that the Pagan hierarchy was the Lucina, who presided at its birth. In our own literature also, the efforts "bf our early dramatists were directed to subjects derived from religion ; THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 67 even the Paradise Lost is composed of a series of minor pieces originally cast in the dramatic form, of which the Creation and Fall of Man, and the several Episodes, which were introduced subordinately to these grand events, were the subject matter. 32. The Dorian Drama, after which the Poems of Pindar were modelled, and which preceded the Thespian, was lyrical, divided into strophes and antistrophes, and recited with music and dancing ; Thespis conjoined the actor and chorus in one piece ; his moving stage forming the first par- tition between the two. 33. Though the Athenians were the inventors of Tragedy, properly so called, they borrowed its different materials from others ; its chorus from the dithyramb — the iambic, trochaic and anapsestic measures from the Ionians ; their chorus moved to Dorian, Lydian, and Phrygian harmonies ; the girdle which the heroes wore on the stage was of Per- sian origin ; and the sandal was derived from Crete. 34. An excuse for the ampullae and sesquipedalia verba of iEschylus may be had in the circumstances under which he wrote, (viz. the period of the Persian wars,) and the peculiar vehemence of his genius. 35. The introduction of the precepts of philosophy and religion (such as the providence of the Supreme Ruler, the immortality of the soul, a future state of retribution, &c.) into the choral odes of Euripides, while it interfered with the choric unities, i. e. the mutual connexion of the choral odes and their respective pieces, amply atoned for this by the air of sublimity and the loftiness of expression it dif- fused all through them, and by the ample store it has given us of the learning of the period, as distinguished from its literature: besides his desire to introduce these ■ precepts, 68 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. his conduct of the Drama would lead to this want of con- nexion ; the sources from which he derived his catastrophes, and the situations of his dramatic personages, were as ma- nifest and various as the passions of the human heart, whereas in those of Sophocles and iEschylus, particularly the latter, a simple principle directed all, viz., the influence of destiny conflicting with and overpowering human will ; the chorus was considered by Euripides rather an impedi- ment, than an aid to the progress of the action; he seems de- sirous to remove it from the drama altogether, and thus he supplies a link between the ancient and modern tragedy ; his friend Agathon carried out this desire farther ; it was commenced by Sophocles, who made the chorus no longer the principal personage. 36. It has been objected to the Greek Drama, that it is defective in freedom and fulness in the development of hu- man nature; this arises, first, from the totally different groundwork of situation and catastrophe in iEschylus and Sophocles, and in the modern drama ; that groundwork,, viz., the influence of Destiny over the human will, admitted not of such a development of the passions of our nature, as is exhibited in modern tragedy. Euripides was differ- ent ; his was the poetry of pathos, which laid open to view the workings of the human heart, and it made use of these, independently of a controlling power, as generating causes of action, situation, and catastrophe. Secondly, the ac- cessary embellishments of music and dress, which the Greeks made use of in their representations, were calculated to re- move them from the individuality of common life; the countenances of their actors were concealed behind masks, and the stature and dimensions of the principal personages were greatly augmented — both rendered necessary by the THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 69 size of their theatre — their pieces were accompanied with vocal and instrumental music and with imitative movements ; and thus it appears to have been one great part of the plan of the tragic writer to impress the senses of his auditory forcibly and with effect, and while dwelling so much on ex- ternals, he was compelled to forego the more solid advan- tages resulting from a closer approximation to the world of real life. 37. The Choric Odes merit especial regard, not only as constituting the individuality or peculiarity of the Grecian drama, but as being the representatives of a most import- ant department of Grecian literature, viz. the lyrical, which has been almost wholly lost ; many of them breathe the true fervor of lyrical inspiration, and some even approach to the wildness and sublimity of the Dithyramb — for in- stance — that passage in the Bacchse of Euripides, com- mencing v. 64 ; the chorus is composed of Bacchanals — the chant accompanied with all the instruments of music they used in the orgies— the subject, the praises of Bac- chus. 38. The auroffxcSiaa^uara, or extemporaneous effusions, of the primitive chorus in the Dionysian festivals, were not unlike the improvisamenti of the Italian literature ; the practice was not confined to those festivals, but also was extended to the sacred rites of Apollo at Delphi, 39. Sophocles diminished the number of the chorus; there having been no fewer than fifty in the Suppliants of iEschylus, a number which served only to embarrass the scenic representation ; particularly as the chorus was ge- nerally selected from the lower classes of society. 40. Euripides, as well as Sophocles, looked on the chorus as sustaining the part of an actor (according to Aristotle 70 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. and Horace's rule) but in a less connected way ; two causes of this want of connexion have been assigned already ; a third is this : that in Euripides, the connexion of the chorus with the chief persons of the Drama was in general but incidental, and consequently the interest they felt in their circumstances was but secondary, and merged for the most part in their own private solicitudes ; these personal an- xieties imparted a character of isolation to their effusions. This is particularly apparent in the Iphigenia in Aulide, in which the chorus is composed of women of Clialcis, who had crossed over to the opposite coast for the purpose of viewing the Greek Armament. 41. iEschylus had but three Episodes or Acts ; Sophocles increased the number, without laying down any precise law for himself in this respect ; Euripides limited the num- ber to five, and observed a more exact uniformity than Sophocles in the introduction of the lyric part at the end of each Episode. 42. Greek Tragedy kept pace with the place of its birth, and flourished and declined with its native country ; the rise of Athens from obscurity to power may be dated from the battle of Marathon, soon after which JEschylus formed his plan of ancient Tragedy ; Athens then gave laws to Greece ; the treasure which she had seized in the temple of Delphi, enabled her not only to carry on her wars success- fully, but also to encourage her heroes, philosophers, poets, painters, architects, sculptors, &c. ; during this happy period, Tragedy flourished; Sophocles succeeded and ex- ceeded iEschylus ; and then Euripides, born ten years after the battle of Marathon, followed ; whilst these great writers flourished, Athens also flourished, for above half a century ; the superiority of the laws and constitution of Athens was THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 71 extolled In their writings ; those of Sparta and Thebes were condemned ; Euripides was fifty years old when the Pelo- ponnesian war began, from which period Athens declined, and was soon destroyed by Sparta, in confederacy with the Persian monarch ; Sophocles expired one year before the taking of Athens by Lysander, when the sovereignty of Greece devolved to the Laeedsemonians. 43. Aristotle says, " it was late before Tragedy threw aside the ludicrous language of its Satyrical origin and at- tained its proper dignity," indeed it cannot be said that even in the hands of iEschylus, Sophocles, or Euripides, it ever attained its proper dignity — such a dignity as excludes the jocose, the coarse, the comic : this is particularly observable in the short dialogue of the Greek tragedies, which is car- ried on by a regular alternation of single verses. If that be tragi-comedy, which is partly serious and partly comical, the Alcestis of Euripides is a tragi-comedy ; — in the first scene of the Ajax v. 74 — 88, the dialogue between Minerva and Ulysses is perfectly ludicrous ; also the scene between Xerxes and the chorus in the Persse of iEschylus ; thus we see, even in the improved Tragedy, strong marks of its tragi-comic origin ; the true praise of iEschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, is the praise of Shakspeare, that of strong, but irregular, unequal, and hasty genius ; what meditation, and " the labor and delay of the file" only can effect, they too often want. The incredible number of Tragedies written by these, the best authors, affords a strong presumption that their tragedy was, in many respects, a simple, unequal, and im- perfect thing. - 44. Its earliest language was of a low and burlesque kind, the Ai&c yeXoia of its satyric origin, conveyed in the 72 THE GKECIAN DEAMA. dancing tetrameter: — iEschylus, taking Homer for his model, raised the tone of tragedy, not only to the pomp of the Epic, but to the tumid audacity of the Dithyrambic — so that as extremes will meet, the XtZig 7^X010, he so much avoided, came round and met him in the shape of bombast, as when he called " smoke, the brother of fire," and " dust, the brother of mud." Sophocles reduced the language of his dialogue to a more equable and sober dignity — taking Homer still as his model ; and thus his diction was epic, though his measure was iambic. Euripides first brought down the language of tragedy into unison with the measure, so that the one bore the same resemblanee to the common speech in its expressions, as the other did in its rhythm. 45. The Greek Tragedians have often been extolled for a strict observance of the unities of action, time, and place, and the moderns censured for not following their ex- ample ; from this charge the latter have been vindicated ably by Schlegel. The first unity, viz. of action, is admit- ted to be of high importance ; it seems essential that there should be a continuity of feeling or interest — a pervading emotion, an object, and a design — which, on its develop- ment, should leave on the mind a sense of completeness. Those of time and place, in the sense in which they are recommended by their French advocates, were never scru- pulously observed by the Greek Tragic Poets. In the Agamemnon of JEschylus, the watchman, appointed by Clytsemnestra, sees the signal lights which announce the fall of Troy, and shortly after the Hero enters, having, since the commencement of the play, performed the voyage from Troy to Argos ; in the Supplicants of Euripides, an entire expedition is arranged, leaves Athens for Thebes, and ob- tains a victory, during a short choral ode, at the close of THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 73 which the messenger arrives with an account of the events of the field. In the Trachiniae of Sophocles, the voyago from Thessaly to Eubcea is three times performed during the action. That the events of the play do not oftener occupy a longer time, is probably owing to the stage never being left empty by a division into acts, but being con- stantly occupied, during the pauses of the business, by the chorus. Nor is it true, that no change of scene ever took place during the representations of the theatre at Athens. In the Ajax of Sophocles, a removal of the place of action necessarily occurs, and in the Eumenides of iEschylus, it is actually transferred from Delphi to Athens; that this variety did not more frequently occur, may be traced rather to necessity than system ; the decorations of the Athenian stage were excedingly massive and costly, and could not be removed, during the course of a play, without great delay and confusion, but, for purposes of convenience and effect, the back scene was so constructed that it could be opened, and the interior of the palace, or temple, which it repre- sented, be rendered visible to the spectators — hence it may be inferred, that other varieties would have been admitted, had they been regarded as possible. 74' THE GRECIAN DRAMA ♦ SECTION II. History of Comedy. 1. The early History of Grecian Comedy is enveloped in still more obscurity than that of Grecian Tragedy. Its ori- gin is referred by Aristotle to the Phallic Songs ; he ac- knowledges his inability to trace its progress downwards. Its first shape was probably that of a ludicrous, satyrical song, the extemporal effusion of a body of rustics, while accompanying the procession of the Phallus ; in emerging from these disorderly ai>roco5Ata and Btoivia) held in the country towns and villages throughout Attica in noo-ct&aw, the sixth Attic month, answering to the latter part of December, and be- ginning of January. Aristophanes has left us a picture of this festival in the Acharnians ; about to offer a sacrifice to Bacchus, Dicseopolis appears on the stage with his house- hold marshalled in regular procession, his daughter carries the sacred basket, a slave bears the Phallus, he himself chants the Phallic song, while his wife stationed on the house-top, looks on as spectatress ; the number of actors is here limited to one family ; in times of peace the whole po- pulation of the A»)/ioc joined in the solemnity — though plays were exhibited at this festival, prizes were not contended for at it. (2). Ta Arivata or tcl Iv Aifxvaig, so called from Ai/xvai, a part of the city near the Acropolis, in which was a sacred 7rept(5o\oQ, or enclosure of Bacchus, called A^vaTov, from A^voe, a wine press — this festival was celebrated on the 11th, 12th, and 13th days of ' AvOtaTripiuv, the 8th Attic month, originally called A»?vcuwi/ ? answering to part of February and THE GRECIAN DRAMA. " 87 March — the festival itself in later times went by the name of ra AvOecrrripia ; each day's ceremonies had their particu- lar name ; on the 11th was the IhOoiyia, the broachings — on the 12th, the Xotg, the cups, or drinking-bout — on the 13th, the Xvrpoi, the messes of pottage — these days seem to have been seasons of social feasting and entertainment. It was at these second Dionysia that the Comic contests were more particularly, though not exclusively . held, as sometimes the rival Comedians exhibited their new pieces at the great Dionysia — so also the Tragic poets sometimes contended for the prize at the Lensea, though, in general, they reserved their dramas for the more extensive audience of the succeeding festival ; this appears from the Didas- calise, from which we learn, that of the eleven plays of Aris- tophanes, four were represented at the Lensea, two at the great Dionysia, and of the remaining five nothing is re- corded ; we find that Eupolis exhibited one piece at the Lensea, and another at the great Dionysia of the same spring ; a law too, cited by Demosthenes, expressly men- tions the joint exhibitions of Tragedy and Comedy at both Dionysia. (2). Ta lv aya,) or vice versa, (Kara (jToi\ovg,) in tragedy, and 4 x 6 or 6x4 in Comedy ; its first entrance was called irapodoQ) which probably made one of the most splendid and popular parts of the o\pig, or show of the ancient tragedy ; there are not more than four or five Tragedies, in which THE GRECIAN DRAMA- 107 the chorus is present from the beginning. The term 7rapodog is also, and more correctly, applied to the ode sung by the chorus on its entrance ; its occasional departure was called jUETavaoTacrte, its return, iTrnrapodog, its final exit, a V ^£ %va StT vtto\o.(3uv tujv virGxpiTcuv kcu fioptov dvai tov oAou, kg! and * We meet in Plutarch with a tripartite division of the chorus (*p w'a)» 108 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. their responsive songs, avTiy/)pia,) each with a Coryphgeus stationed in the centre, who narrated some event, or com- municated their plans, fears, or hopes ; and sometimes, on critical occasions, several members of the Chorus, in short sentences, gave vent to their feelings ; between the acts, the Chorus poured forth hymns of praise, moral precepts, la mentations, or predictions — all more or less interwoven with the course of the action. 10. The inferior stations in the Chorus were called viroKoX-rria ; to guide the movements of the arolxot, lines, called ypamfiaii were marked out along the floor of the orchestra ; the person, who arranged the choristers in their proper places, was called ^opooYKTrjc, or xoponoioQ ; the trainer of the Chorus, was called xopodilauKaXog — the first tragic Poets were their own \opo%ic)aKAMA, 18. The prolixity of the Tragic chorus was sometimes trying to the patience of an Athenian Audience ; this is ri- diculed by Aristophanes in his opviOzg, v. 758, where the chorus of birds, descanting on the convenience of wings, tell the spectators, that if tliey had wings, whenever they were hungry, and tired of the tragic chorus, they might fly home and eat their dinners, and fly back again when the chorus was over. 19. The Prologues of Euripides, inartificial, consisting of explanatory narration, addressed directly to the spectators, remind us of the origin of the Drama, when it consisted only of a story told between the acts of the Dithyrambic chorus, which was then the main body of the entertain- ment; almost all his Tragedies open in this manner, (as his Hecuba, Iphigenia, Bacchse, &c.) reminding us of the sin- gle actor of Thespis announcing his own name and family, and telling the simple tale of his achievements or misfor- tunes ; of all the openings of Sophocles, that of the Tra- chinise resembles most the manner of Euripides ; and of iEschylus, that of the Persse ; in two plays only, (the Persse and Supplices of JEschylus) the chorus itself performs the part of the prologue. THE GRECIAN DRAMA:. 113 SECTION III. -4 udience,— Theatre,— Scenic Dresses. Audience — 1 . Originally no admission money was demanded ; the Theatre was built at the public expense, and therefore was open to every individual ; the consequent crowding and quarrelling for places amongst so vast a multitude was the cause of a law being passed, (501, B.C.) which fixed the entrance price at one drachma each person : this regulation, debarring as it did the poorer class from their favorite en- tertainment, was too unpopular to continue long unrepealed; Pericles, anxious to ingratiate himself with the common- alty, at the suggestion of Demonides of CEa, brought in a decree which enacted that the price should be reduced to two oboli ; and farther, that one of the magistrates should furnish out of the public funds these two oboli to every ap- plicant.* From a passage in Demosthenes, in which he defends himself for procuring seats in the theatre for the Macedonian ambassadors gratis, it would seem that the price for an ordinary seat was then still two oboli, whilst a drachma was demanded for the best places. Some of the ancient Scholiasts state the admission-price to have been only one obolus, and that the other was added to procure the poor spectator refreshments ; this idea, how- ever, seems incompatible with the words of Demosthenes. The sum thus spent was drawn from the contributions ori- * Provided his name was registered in the book of the citizens {>.r,%ictpyjxlv yf'tfA/AvTiTov) ; the admission money was called Ojwpocov. i Il# THE GRECIAN DRAMA. ginally paid by the allies towards carrying on war against the Persians. By degrees, the expenses of the festivals engrossed the whole of this fund, and that money which ought to have been employed in supporting a military force for the common defence of Greece, was scandalously lavished away on the idle pleasures of the Athenian people. This measure proved most ruinous to the Athenian republic ; yet so jealous were the multitude of any infringement on their theoric expenses, that, when an orator had ventured to propose the restoration of the fund to its original purpose, a decree was instantly framed, making it death to offer any such scheme to the general assembly ; Demosthenes twice cautiously endeavoured to convince the people of their folly and injustice, but finding his exhortations were ill-received, he was constrained reluctantly to acquiesce in the common resolution. 2. The spectators hastened to the theatre at the dawn of day to secure the best places, as the performances comn menced very early. After the first exhibition was over, the audience retired for a while, until the second was about to commence ; there were three or four such representations in the course of the day, thus separated by short intervals : during the performance the people regaled themselves with wine and sweetmeats. Athenseus tells us, that having breakfasted they went to the theatre and sat crowned, that wine and sweetmeats were handed round to them, that they gave wine to the Chorus, as they entered, and to the actors when they were going out ; this account does not agree with that of Aristophanes, who tells us that they came to the theatre " impransi," and had nothing to eat while sitting there. (Aves, 785.) The richer spectators had cushions placed on the marble benches for their accommodation. THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 115 8. The two oboli each paid at the entrance seem to have gone to the apxirtKTuv, called also OtarpwvriQ and Qzarpo- 7ra>Ar?c, who in return for this engaged to keep the theatre in repair ; he paid also a certain rent to the state, and per- haps furnished the machinery, for the choragi appear to have supplied little more than the dresses. This master of the works, or lessee of the theatre, used sometimes to give an exhibition gratis, and sometimes to distribute tickets which entitled the bearer to free admission. Among the relics from Pompeii and Herculaneum, in Naples, is an ob- long piece of metal about three inches in length and one in breadth, inscribed 'Atcrx^Xoc, which probably was a ovufioXov, or ticket* for free admission. 4. The number of spectators in the Athenian Theatre amounted occasionally to thirty thousand ; this immense assembly were wont to express in no gentle terms their opi- nion of the piece and actors ; murmurs, jests, hootings, and angry cries, were directed in turn against the offend- ing performer. They not unfrequently proceeded still fur- ther, sometimes compelling the unfortunate object of their dissatisfaction to pull off his mask and expose his face, that they might enjoy his disgrace ; sometimes^ assailing him with every species of missile, they drove him from the stage, and ordered the herald to summon another actor to supply his place, who, if not in readiness, was liable to a fine ; on the other hand, when they happened to be grati- fied, the clapping of hands, and shouts of applause were as loud as the expression of their displeasure. In much the * Any citizen might buy tickets for a stranger residing- at Athens. f Even in the time of Machon, 230, B.C. it was customary to pelt a bad performer with stones. 116 THE GRECIAN DRAMA, same manner the dramatic candidates themselves were treated. •5. It has been a question whether women were present at dramatic representations. That they formed a part of the tragic audience is a point sufficiently established; what- ever may be the truth respecting the story of the Furies in JEschylus, the story itself could not have been invented, had Grecian females never visited the theatre. Pollux has recorded the term Ocarpta, a spectatress ; Plato says ex- pressly that women composed part of the audience in tra- gedy ; Aristophanes and his Scholiast say the same ; these testimonies are sufficient to prove the presence of females at the tragic exhibitions. Whether the same was the case at the comic is doubtful ; Aristophanes, on one occasion, and one only, (Pax. 963,) speaks as if part of his auditors were females; it has however been suggested, "that their pre- sence might possibly be feigned to give a handle for the coarse joke contained in the passage ;" at any rate, this single passage, exceptionable as it is on the score of posi- tive evidence, will scarcely outweigh the argument on the other side of the question, which is drawn from the general silence of Aristophanes with respect to the presence of women at his representations. In his jparabases, accus- tomed as he is to distinguish his audience according to their several ages, and otherwise, we never remark any mention of females ; in his numerous side-blows at individuals anion »• the spectators, not one is aimed at a woman ; yet he would not have been likely to neglect the many opportunities for raillery and witticism which the presence of females would have given him. It is then certain that females were present at the exhi- bition of Tragedy, most 'probable that they were not at the exhibition of Comedy. THE OSECIAN DRAMA. 117 6. The Greeks suffered the real to play its part with the fictitious in the illusion ; thus, in the Eumenides, the spec- tators are twice addressed as an assembled present multi- tude, once by the Pythia, where she calls upon the Greeks to come forward to consult the oracle ; and again, when Pallas by the Herald commands silence during the trial about to be held — so also the frequent addresses to the Heaven, Sun, &c. were probably directed to the real Heaven, Sun, &c. Theatre — 1 . In the first stage of the art no building was required for its representations ; in the country the Diony- sian performances were generally held at some central point, where several roads met, as being most easy of access, and convenient in distance to all the neighbourhood ; in the city the public place was the ordinary site of exhibition. But when, at Athens, tragedy began to assume her proper dig- nity, and dramatic contests were becoming matter of na- tional pride, the need of a suitable building was soon felt. A Theatre of wood was erected. This edifice fell beneath the weight of the crowds assembled to witness a represen- tation, in which iEschylus and Pratinas were rivals. It was then that the noble theatre of stone was erected within the Arji/aTov, or enclosure dedicated to Bacchus. In this theatre the master-pieces of iEschylus, Sophocles and Eu- ripides were exhibited ; here too did Aristophanes pour forth his wit and sarcasm ; and here were seen the splendid contests of the Cyclian choruses. 2. The only detailed accounts left us on the Athenian Thea- tre are two — that of Vitruvius, the architect of Augustus, and that of Julius Pollux, his junior by two centuries ; from these accounts, aided by incidental hints in other authors, 118 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. and a reference to the several theatric remains in Greece, Asia-Minor, Italy, and Sicily, Genelli, an able scholar and architect of Berlin, has drawn up a very satisfactory state- ment, from which the following sketch is taken : — Writers of antiquity have thrown obscurity on the subject, by not handling it with that degree of accuracy and precision, which were necessary for the information of posterity, though not so for their contemporaries, to whom it was so well known ; and modern critics have done the same by con- founding together the Greek and Roman Theatres, which differ most essentially in many parts. 3. The Dionysiac Theatre of Athens stood on the south- eastern side of the eminence crowned by the noble build- ings of the Acropolis; this situation on the slope of a hill obviated the necessity of those immense substructions, which amaze the traveller in the remains of Eoman Thea- tres ; this was the reason for selecting this situation, and not* for the purpose of commanding a view of fine rural scenery, since the height of the stage wall must have shut out the prospect beyond it from one-half of the spectators. That this was the site of the Theatre of Bacchus, is strongly attested by the choragic monuments still existing in that quarter, and Stuart was mistaken when he thought he had discovered its ruins in those which are now judged to have belonged to the Odeion of Herodes. The hollow in the slope of the hill still indicates a place where the seats of the spectators must have been excavated. Though the seats however rose on a hollow slope, it is impossible to * And yet they sometimes took pains to select a beautiful situation ; thus the Theatre of Tauromenium in Sicily was so situated, that over the back ground of the scenes there was a view of ^Etna. THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 119 imagine the orchestra, the dromos, and the stage, with its flanking walls, to have been situated any where but on even ground at the bottom. 4. To have a proper idea of the theatre, we may conceive it to be divided into three principal departments ; one for the actors, which they called the scene ; another for the spectators, under the general denomination of the theatre; and a third called the orchestra, allotted to the music, mimes, and dancers. To determine the situation of these three parts, and consequently the disposition of the whole, we may observe, that the annexed plan consists on one side of two semicircles, drawn from the same centre, but of dif- ferent diameters, and on the other of a rectangle of the same length, but of half the breadth ; the space between the semicircles was allotted to the spectators, the rectangle at the end to the actors, and the intervening area in the middle to the chorus : thus the entire outline of the build- ing must have been that of a semicircle with its arch up- wards, joined to a pretty broad parallelogram at its base. Between the apex of the semicircle and the rocks of the acropolis above it, some communication must have been opened; yet it must have been very narrow, in order to pre- vent the escape of the sound from below. 5. Thus from the level of the plain a semicircular exca- vation gradually ascended up the slope of the hill to a con- siderable height ; round the concavity seats for an audience of thirty thousand persons rose, range above range, so formed that a line drawn from the top to the bottom would touch the extremities of every one of them, each seat being at such a distance from that placed over it, that the feet of the persons above could not touch those who were below : these seats thus descended from the top in concentric semi- 120 THE GRECIAN DRAMA, circles, which diminished as they approached and embraced the protruding crescent of the orchestra : the curvature of the seat-rows thus inclined the faces of all the spectators towards the centre of the building, so that the terminating; seats on the right and left were duly opposite to each other, like those of our boxes nearest the stage. The tiers of benches were divided into two or three broad belts, by passages termed ^mSw^uara, (called in the Roman theatres " preecinctiones,") and again, transversely into wedge-like masses, called ndpa? &C, (in Latin, " cunei,") by several flights of steps radiating upwards from the level below to the portico above ; the lower seats, as being better adapted for seeing and hearing, were considered the most honorable, and therefore appro- priated to the magistrates, priests and senate ; this space was named BqvXsvtikov ; the body of the citizens were pro- bably arranged according to their tribes ; the young men of distinction sat apart in a division, entitled ' EQvfiiKov ; there were also some npozcpiai, or first seats allotted to those who had distinguished themselves by any signal ser- vices to the common-wealth ; such in process of time be- came hereditary, and were appointed for particular families; all these were very near to the orchestra. The sojourners and strangers also had their places allotted them, and were admitted at only one of the festivals. 6. The spectators 1 or upper part of the theatre was in- closed by a massive semicircular wall, and within it a portico, or rather two or three porticos, (according to the number of stories, the most magnificent theatres always having three,) one raised above another, where the women were admitted, being the only places covered from rain and heat; the rest were entirely open, (as the amphitheatres in Spain,) not even covered with an awning as in the Roman theatres, THE GRECIAN DRAMA, 121 and all the representations were in the day time ; these por- ticos were adorned with statues, and surmounted by a balus- traded terrace ; they also served as a station for the ser- vants attending their masters to the play, and together with the Eumenic portico afforded a ready shelter for the audience during a sudden storm. Behind the whole mass of stage-building was an open space, covered with turf, and planted with trees ; around this ran the Eumenic portico, which had an open walk in the middle of it, and was the place of rehearsal for the chorus. 7. Twelve feet beneath the lowest range of seats lay a level space, partly enclosed by the sweep of the excavation, and partly extending outwards right and left in a long paral- lelogram; this was called the "OpxnaTpa. In the middle of the basis line of the orchestral crescent, stood a small plat- form, square, and slightly elevated, called GujueA?/,* which served both as an altar for the sacrifices that preceded the exhibition, and as the central point, to which the choral movements were all referred ; it was so called, because in shape it resembled an altar ; that part of the orchestra, which lay without the concavity of the seats, and ran along on either hand to the boundary wall of the theatre, was called Apofiog — the Roman iter ; its shape was that of a rectangle ; the wings, as they may be termed, of this ojoo^oc, were named UapoSoi, and the entrances, which led into them through the boundary wall, were entitled Elaodoi — the Roman aditus. The Thymele was sometimes made to re- present a tomb, as in the Persae and the Ohoephoroe of * As the Thymele lay in the very centre of the whole building-, it was very significant, that the chorus, which was in fact the ideal repre- sentative of the spectators, had its place in the very spot where all the radii from their seats converged into one point. 122 THE GRECIAN BBAMA. iEschylus. In the Roman theatre, the senators and chief magistrates sat in the orchestra, where, finding the incon- venience of the level, it was remedied by raising the seats a little above each other. 8. After enclosing the spectators and the interior orches- tral crescent in one vast semicircle, the walls of the theatre ceased to describe a curve, and ran on straight to join the right and left extremities of the Paraskenia, or flanking buildings of the stage ; of course they thus formed the two ends of the dromos, and the continuity of the masonry was interrupted only by the two grand entrances to the theatre ; those entrances were covered above. On the side of the orchestra opposite the amphitheatre of benches, and exactly on a level with the lowest range, and so twelve feet above the orchestra, stood the platform of the 2(ajt»i, or stage, in breadth nearly equal to the diameter of the semi- circular part of the orchestra, and communicating with the Sfjo/uioQ by a double flight of steps. The stage was cut breadthwise into two divisions. The one in front called the Aoystov, (in Latin, pulpitum,) was a narrow parallelogram projecting into the orchestra. This was the station of the actors when speaking, and therefore was constructed of wood, the better to reverberate the voice ; the front and sides of the Aoyaov, twelve feet in height, adorned with columns and statues between them, were called TaYiro^Krjvia; the term to vkogk^viov, was sometimes applied to the room* beneath the stage ; the Roman pulpitum was wider than the Greek AoycTov, because all the performers were obliged to act on it, the orchestra being given to the sena- tors ; on the other hand, the Grecian orchestra was larger * Here, probably, were placed the instruments that accompanied the actors throughout the drama, THE GRECIAN DRAMA, 123 than the Roman ; the Greek actors were called Scenici, and the Choristers, Thymelici, from the places where they performed. The part of the platform behind the Aoyuov was called the npoaKi'iviov, and was built of stone, in order to support the heavy scenery, which was placed there. The Proscenium was backed and flanked by lofty buildings of stone- work, as high as the wall on the outside of the highest benches, representing externally a palace-like mansion, and containing within withdrawing-rooms for the actors and receptacles for the stage-machinery ; a saloon in the first floor of the stage-house contained the actors, whilst they stood ready to enter on their parts ; their dressing-rooms lay at its extremities; and adjacent to and in front of those, the apartments for the stage machinery. From the building behind there were three entrances to the stage, and the rank of the characters was marked by the door from which they entered ; the highly-ornamented portal in the middle, with the altar of Apollo on the right, was assigned to roy- alty, and called (3aGi\ziog ; the two side entrances, called by Vitruvius, hospitales, to inferior personages ; the 7rpwTa- yiovLGTriQ entered through the centre door, the SevTspayw- vtaTriQ through the right door, and the rpiTaywvioTr\g through the left door. In a similar way, all the personages who made their appearance by the Ewodog on the right of the stage, were understood to come from the country, whilst such as came in from the left were supposed to approach from the town. On each side of the Proscenium and its erections ran the UapaaKrjvia, high lines of building, which contained spacious passages into the theatre from without, communicating on the one hand with the stage and its con- tiguous apartments, on the other, through two halls, with the flapoSot of the orchestra, and with the portico which ran round the topmost range of the seats. 124 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 9. Such was the construction and arrangement of the great Athenian Theatre ; its dimensions must have been immense ; if thirty thousand ^persons could be seated on its benches, the length of the Apo/xog could not have been less than four hundred feet, and a spectator in the central point of the topmost range must have been three hundred feet from the actor in the Aoyziov. 10. The scenery of the Athenian stage corresponded with the magnificence of the theatre ; the age and city which witnessed the dramas of a Sophocles, the statues of a Phidias, and the paintings of a Zeuxis, possessed too much taste and talent to allow of aught mean and clumsy in the scenery of an exhibition so highly valued. The massive buildings of the Proscenium were well adapted for the generality of tragic dramas, where the chief characters were usually princes, and the front of their palace the place of action ; but not unfrequently the locality of the play was very different ; out of the seven extant pieces of Sophocles there are but four which could be per- formed without a change of Proscenium ; the OEdipus Coloneus requires a grove, the Ajax a camp, and the Philoc- tetes an island solitude. In Corned}', which was exhibited on the same stage, the necessity of alteration was still more common. To produce the requisite transformations, deco- rations were introduced before the Proscenic buildings, which masked them from the view, and substituted a pro- spect suitable to the play ; these decorations were formed of woodwork below — plastic imitations of objects in wood ; above were paintings* (Kara/3A/j,uara) on canvass, resembling * As in the Prometheus, where Caucasus is represented; anil in the Philoctetes, where the scene was the desert island of Lesbos, with its rock and cavern. ^HE GRECIAN DRAMA. 125 our scenes, and like them so arranged on perspective prin- ciples, as to produce the proper illusion. If Genelli be right, they spared not even the introduction of natural trees, to adorn the landscape of GEdipus Coloneus. Vitru- vius says there were three kinds of scenes — the Tragic, Comic, and Satyric — the Tragic was ornamented with co- lumns and statues and other regal things — the Comic had the appearance of private houses — the Satyric was orna- mented with trees, caves, mountains, kc. 11. The stage machinery appears to have comprehended all that modern ingenuity has devised, and the dimensions of their theatre were favourable to illusion. At the back of the stage, at the three entrances, were the triangular machines for the scenery, called by the Greeks, UspiaKrqt, which, as they turned on their own axis, might be shifted on any occasion, and exhibited three different views or changes of scene ; these were not used in Tragedy, which required but one scene throughout, but probably at the end of it, to prepare the exhibition of the Comedy or Mime, which frequently succeeded each other, perhaps two or three times on the same day. The scene, according to Servius, was either versilis or ductilis, the change being effected either by re- volution, or by withdrawing ; the versilis would be turned by the iripiaKToi. The echeea were round concave plates of brass, placed under the seats of the spectators, so disposed, by the most exact geometrical and harmonic proportions, as to carry the words of the actor in the most distinct manner to the farthest part of the building — the size of the theatre rendered them necessary. The* QtoXoyuov was a platform? * ^Eschylus in the Prometheus introduces Oceanus riding on a griffin through the air, and the whole chorus of the Oceanides, consist- ing of fifteen persons, in a winged chariot. 126 THE GRECIAN DRAMA, surrounded and concealed by clouds, where the Deities were shown in converse. The Aiwpai were a set of ropes, sus- pended from the upper part of the Proscenic buildings, which served to support and convey the celestial beings through the sky. The Mrixavri was a crane turning on a pivot, with a suspender attached, placed on the right or the country-side of the stage, and employed suddenly to dart out a God or a Hero, before the eyes of the spectators, there keep him hovering, till his part was performed, and then as suddenly withdraw him. The Vepavog was some- thing of the same sort, with a grapple hanging from it, used to catch up persons from the earth, and rapidly whirl them within the circle of scenic clouds; — Aurora was thus made to carry off the dead body of Memnon. The Bpovrslov was a contrivance in the vttqgk{}viov, or room beneath the AoysTov, where bladders full of pebbles were rolled over sheets of copper, to produce a noise like the rumbling of thunder. The liepavvoGKOTruov was a place on the top of the stage buildings, whence the artificial lightning was made to play through clouds, which concealed the operator. When the action was simply on earth, there were certain pieces of frame-work, the Skott^, Taxoc, Uvpyog and v 7rQ§r7p//e. Slaves wore the IjjLariov, a kind of short shirt, or the £?Qipa, a goatskin tunic with- out sleeves. Hunters had the Ifxanov and a short horse- man's cloak of a dark colour. The palla or mantle for heroes was ample enough to cover the whole person ; so large also was the ladies 7rt7rAoy, of fine cloth embroidered; matrons wore this peplum fastened veil-like on the head ; virgins, clasped on the shoulder. The peplum of a Queen was like that assigned to Juno, decked with golden stars, and fastened behind the diadem ; warriors wore every variety of armour, with plumed helmets. The dress of the Gods was particularly splendid ; Bacchus, for instance, was re- presented in a saffron-coloured inner vest, rich with purple figures and golden stars, and falling in many folds to the ground ; over this inner robe was thrown the Palla of pur- ple also, and such was the colour of his buskins. There were also broad embroidered girdles made use of (navxaXio- rriptg) — sitting high on the breast — the head-dress was called oyKog. As in the Dionysian ceremonies, so also in Tragedy, there was but little distinction between the male and female apparel. In speaking of heroes, the Tragedians very often call their dress ntirXoe, a garb never worn at that period by males in common life. In the ancient Mosaics, one is constantly in danger of confounding Heroes with Heroines, unless where the old equestrian chlamydes are thrown over the long, bright -coloured tunics, or weapons added, or masks characterised by some marked difference. The Comic dresses were, of course, chiefly those of ordi- nary life, except during an occasional burlesque upon the Tragic equipment. THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 133 6. From the splendor of the dresses, &c. &c. furnished by the \opr\yoi, the words xopriyiio and xopriyia were used to denote splendor of equipment and liberality of expen- diture, and this extended application of the words passed to the inspired writers ; thus in 1 Pet. iv. 11, we meet with a fine application of the verb to the Divine source of spi- ritual strength, supplying those with it who set themselves apart for the office of the ministry — u rig diaKovd, wg 1%, laxyog^ rjg ^opriyu 6 Seog. The compounds lin\opr]yiii) and tmxopriy'ia, occur also with special emphasis in particular cases, and in none more so than when they are used to ex- press the all-powerful operation of Divine grace, as in 2 Cor. ix. 10, where St. Paul borrows an image from Isaiah, the fertilizing influence of moisture on the earth, whereby it is enabled to supply nourishment in abundance {l-rriyopr\- yiiv) to the husbandman : or again, advancement in spiri- tual graces, as in the well-known exhortation of St. Peter, 2 Ep. i. 5, lTTi)(opr]yi]l£, Aiaivg, QtpHTTdi. Hermippus, the comic poet, ridiculed Pericles. Eupolis exhibits— Born B.C. 446. Euripides 'InnoKvrog . Aristophanis ^anaXeTg. i Arktophanis BafivXwvioi* Contemporary Persons and Events. Birth of Herodotus, also of Achasus, a tragic writer, Thermopylae, Salamis— Leonidas, Aris- tides, Themistocles— Pherecydes, the historian— Gelon of Syracuse. Hiero succeeds Gelon, B.C. 478. Simonides, zet. 80, .'gains the prize ' Av6pwv Xopw. Birth of Thucydides, B.C. 471. Socrates born ; Mycensa destroyed by the Argives ; death of Simonides, B.C. 467. Anaxagoras— Birth of Lysias. Herodotus at Olympia. End of the Messenian and Egyptian wars— EmpedoclesandZeno— 1'ericlcs Bacchylides, the lyric poet flourishes— Archelaus the philosopher. Death of Cimon, B.C. 449. Battle of Coroncea. Herodotus and Lvsias go with the colonists to Thurium, B.C. 413. The Samian war, in which Sophocles is colleague with Pericles. Isocrates bom, B.C. 436. Sea-fight between the Corinthians and Corcyrasans. Andocides, Mcton, Aspasia, Callias. Attempt of the Thebans on Plataaa — Hippocrates. Aristomenes, the comic poet. Plague at Athens. Siege of Platrea— Birth of Plato. Anaxagoras dies— Plato the comic poet Surrender of Platcea— Gorgias of Leon- tium. Tanagra. C'HEONOLOGY OP THE DRAMA* 137 B.C. 425 424 423 422 421 420 419 416 415 411 414 413 412 411 Olym 83.4, 89.! 398 89.4. 90.1. 90.2. 91.1. 91.2. 91.3. 91.3. 91.4. 92.1. 92.2. 92.4. 93.1. 93,3. The Drama. 405 93.4 405 93.4. 404 94.1. 401 94.3. 95.2. Aristophanes first with the 'Axapvelg, Cratinus second with the Xet/j.aC6fj.evoi, Eupolis third with the Noi//a»ji/6£, 'AXc^dvdpog, UaXaniidnc, and Zicrvcpcxj. Aristophanis 'Apt\oKT»;Tn£. Euripidis 'Opearng— Aristophanis U\ov- rog. Euripides dies, aet. 75— Expense of the dramatic exhibitions divided between two Choragi. Sophocles dies, aet. 90 — before the Le- nsean festival. Aristophanis hdrpaxoi, first; Phrynichi Movaai, second ; l'latonis K\eo]vaca—T(\ kv aarei — at this time the expense of tragic exhibitions less than that of the x°P"£ uvdpwv 318 106.1. Heraclides, the comic poet. Demosthenes against Midias— Philip and the Olynthian war. 342 109.3. Birth of Menander— lived 51 years. Timoleon at Syracuse— Isocrates— Aristotle. C37 110.4. Lycurgus, the orator, restored the cre- dit of comic exhibitions at the Le- nasan festival, and enacted honors for the three great tragic poets. 336 111.1. Amphis, the comic poet, still exhibits, viz. the Kovpig. Philip assassinated. 335 11!.?. Philippines, the comedian, one of the six selected as standards of the new comedy. 3:3 111.4. Theodectes was dead when Alexander visited Phaselis, where he honored his memory. 332 112.1. Stephanus, the comic poet. Siege of Tyre. CHRONOLOGY OP THE DRAMA, 139 B.C. Olym 327 324 321 320 316 307 304 291 2 SO 283 230 200 112.3. 113.2. 114.1. 114.4. 115.1. 116.1. 118.1. 119.1. 122.2. 122.4. 124.2. 125.1. 137.3. 145.1. The Drama. Philemon exhibits, a little earlier than Menander— -lived 97 years. 'AyJ/v, Spuria traTupJKov, exhibited in Alexander's camp, on the banks of the Hydaspes, after the revolt of Har. palus. Timocles still exhibits — ridicules the leading orators for taking bribes from Harpalus. Menandri 'Op7>j— with which he was successful, a?t. 21. Diphilus of Sinope. Alexidis"l7T7ro£. Demetrius, the comic poet. Archedippus/ Philippides, Anaxippus, comic poets, flourished — Philippides ridiculed the honors paid to Deme- trius Poliorcetes, through the in- fluence of Stratocles the demagogue. Death of Menander. Posidippus begins to exhibit, the last writer of new comedy. Rhinthon flourished. Sopater of Paphos still continues to ex- hibit comedy, flourished more than forty years. Sotades.J Macho the comedian. Apollodorus the Carystian. Contemporary persons and Events. Darius 6lain. Alexander dies- B.C. 322. •Demosthenes dies, Epicurus— Agathocles. Arcesilaus. War with Pyirhus. Plautus dies. CHAPTER IV. MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 1. The CEdipus Rex and Philoctetes of Sophocles have been most admired by modern critics, the former for the ar- tificial complication of the plot, the latter for the masterly delineation of character ; but each of his tragedies is re- splendent with its own peculiar excellence. In the Anti- gone, we have heroism exhibited in the most purely femi- nine character ; in the Ajax, the manly sense of honor in all its strength ; in the Trachinian women, the female levity of Dejanira is beautifully atoned for by her death, and the sufferings of Hercules are worthily depicted ; the Electra is distinguished by energy and pathos ; and the CEdipus at Colonos by a touching mildness and peacefulness. Schlegel prefers the last, because it is most expressive of the personal character of Sophocles. 2. The difference between the characters of JEschylus and Sophocles is strikingly seen in the Eumenides, and the CEdipus at Colonos, as these two pieces were composed with similar intentions ; in both, the object is to set forth the glory of Athens, as the holy habitation of Justice and Humanity ; in the patriotic and free-spirited iEschylus, this is effected by a judicial procedure ; in the pious Sophocles, by a religious one, even the death-devotion of CEdipus ; the Furies are very prominent in the Eumenides, in the THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 141 CEdipus they are kept in the back-ground, and only men- tioned by euphemistic designations. 3. The Antigone and Ajax of Sophocles refer to the sacred rites of the dead and the importance of burial ; in the former, the whole action turns upon this ; in the latter, this alone gives a satisfactory conclusion to the piece. 4. The Trachinian women is the most imperfect of the plays of Sophocles. 5. Schools of Dramatic Art were formed at Athens, the pupils in which used to assist their masters in composing their plays ; thus Euripides was assisted by Cephisophon. 6. Sophocles mourned for the death of Euripides, and on the exhibition of one of his plays, shortly after that event, did not allow his actors the usual ornament of the wreath. 7. Euripides abolished the essence of Tragedy; that essence consisted in the prevalence of the idea of Destiny, in the ideality of representation, and the significance of the chorus. In Euripides, Destiny is seldom the invisible spirit of the Poetry, in his hands it degenerates into chance. The mutual subordination of ideal elevation, character, and passion, which we find observed by Sophocles, and also in the sculpture of the Greeks, he has exactly reversed ; to hirn passion is the most important, then he thinks of cha- racter, then occasionally he seeks to add grandeur and dig- nity, though he frequently makes his characters needlessly vile, for instance, his Menelaus in the Orestes ; and thus Sophocles said that " he himself formed men as they ought to be, Euripides as they are. r The Chorus, in his treatment of it, becomes for the most part, an extra-essential orna- ment ; its odes are often quite episodic, without reference to the action, with more glitter than sublimity. He fre- 142 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. quently made use of the Parabasis, or address of the chorus to the audience, a privilege enjoyed only by the old Come- dians, and in so doing, so much forgot himself, that in the Danaides, he made the chorus, consisting of women, use grammatical inflexions which belong only to the male sex. 8. In the accompanying music he adopted all the inno- vations of Timotheus, and chose tunes which were most suitable to the softness of his poetry ; in the same manner he proceeded in his treatment of the metres ; his versifica- tion is luxuriant, and flows over into anomaly ; and the same dissolute and unmanly character reveals itself in the rhythms of his choral odes. 9. His object is always to be touching, and for this he not only violates propriety, but sacrifices the connexion of his piece ; with much parade of moral apothegms, the scope of his pieces, and the impression which they produce are sometimes very immoral ; thus his praise of riches in the mouth of Bellerophon, " if Aphrodite be glittering as gold, she well deserves the love of mortals" — this, as also the blasphemous language he makes Ixion use, he justified by saying they were both punished at the end of the piece ; his verse, rt y\(W bjiuiiox, v & pr)v avivfiorog, expresses the " reservatio nientalis" of the casuists ; and another verse of his, " for sovereignty's sake it is worth while to do wrong," was frequently in the month of Caesar. Whilst he was the first to give importance to female characters, by making the wild passion of a Medea, and a Phaedra, the main subject of a Drama, he is notorious for his hatred of females. As he varied with much caprice from the commonly received mythology, there was a necessity for explaining this varia- tion in his Prologues, which makes the opening of his plays yery monotonous ; the alternation of single verse and verse THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 143 he carries to an immoderate length ; and by the introduc- tion of long speeches, he sought to make his poetry enter- taining to the Athenians, by its resemblance to their fa- vorite occupation of pleading or hearing causes ; hence Quinctilian recommends him to the young orator. In the familiar tone of some of his speeches, and in his approx- imation to the ludicrous, as, for instance, in his description of the voracity of Hercules, he is a forerunner of the new comedy, the principal writers of which, Menander and Phi- lemon, admired him much, whilst Aristophanes on the other hand as much despised him ; he is, however, excellent when the subject leads mainly to pathos, and when the pathos it- self calls for moral beauty ; whilst inferior to Sophocles and and iEschylus, he is superior to those who followed him. The relative merits of the three Poets may be seen by com- paring their three plays which are extant on the same sub- ject, the avenging murder of Clytsemnestra by Orestes, viz. the Choephoroi of iEschylus, the Electra of Sophocles, and the Electra of Euripides ; the Electra of Sophocles is decidedly the best of the three ; that of Euripides is the worst even of his own extant plays. 10. The Hippolytus is the best of Euripides 1 plays; the Bacclue holds the second place ; the Alcestis is the most moral. In the Hecuba and Hercules furens there are two wholly distinct actions carried on throughout each play ; in nine out of his eighteen tragedies a God must descend to untie the knot ; such pictures of universal woe, of the fall of flourishing families and states from the greatest majesty into the deepest distress, as those presented in the Troades, has probably obtained for Euripides from Aristotle, the name of the most tragic of poets. In his works we have three instances of ^ women sacrificed, who become affecting 144 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. from their self-devotion, Iphigenia, Polyxena, and Macaria; the voluntary death of Alcestis and Evadne belong, in some measure, to the same class. The most amusing of all tra- gedies, and more like a comedy, is his Helena ; it is founded on the idea that Helen was left in Egypt, whilst the Greeks and Trojans fought for a phantom ; the Rhesus is disputed to be his, but it would seem to belong to Euripides, from the accurate description given in it of the starry heavens ; the chief value of his Cyclops is its rarity, it being the only Satyric Drama extant. 11. Agathon was the first who forsook mythology, as the material of the Drama, and wrote Tragedies with purely fictitious names (one of which was called the Flower) ; which formed a transition to the newer Comedy. 12. The Tragedies of the Alexandrine literati (if we may judge from the Alexandra of Lycopbron, the only one ex- tant) were very wretched. 13. The old Comedy is the thorough antithesis to Tra- gedy — the parody of Tragedy, not merely of single pas- sages, but of the whole form of Tragic Poetry, even of the music, dance, and scenery. Tragedy is the highest earnest- ness of Poetry, and so directs the mental powers to one end ; Comedy is altogether sportive, and so consists in the seeming absence of purpose ; in Tragedy, the monarchal constitution is in force ; Comedy, on the contrary, is demo- cratic poetry ; in Tragedy, the animal nature of man is subordinate to the spiritual ; in Comedy, the spiritual to the animal ; Tragedy loves harmonious unity ; Comedy lives in chaotic confusion. Whilst the modern Comedy never rises above private and family life, the old Comedy was po- litical throughout, and therefore the Chorus, as representing the public, was essential to it ; the Chorus also serves to THE GRECIAN DRAMA, 145 complete the parody on the tragic form, and contributes to the expression of festal mirth. The most remarkable pe- culiarity of the comic chorus is the parabasis, or address from the chorus to the spectators in the name of the Poet, and without the least reference to the subject of the Play ; the parabasis is at variance with the essence of dramatic representation, for, according to this, the Poet ought to disappear behind his characters, and these ought also to speak and act as though there w T ere no spectators ; its in- vention was probably occasioned by the circumstance, that the Comedians had not the abundant materials of the Tra- gedians for filling up the intervals during which the stage was empty, by odes full of sympathy and enthusiasm. The object of Tragic and Comic Poetry may be thus expressed: Tragedy, by painful emotions, elevates us to the most dig- nified views of human nature ; Comedy calls forth the most unrestrained mirth from a degrading contemplation of hu- man nature. Tragedy, being quite exhausted, died a natural death ; Comedy a violent one, being robbed by a sovereign, decree of its unbounded freedom ; it flourished as long, and no longer than Athenian freedom. 14. The old Comedy being the intoxication of Poetry, the Bacchanalia of mirth, we may see why the Dramatic art was dedicated to Bacchus. The language of Aristo- phanes is pure Attic ; he observes the laws of metre no less strictly than the Tragedians ; he at first exhibited his Comedies in another person's name, and first appeared in his own character in his "Knights, v in which he attacked Cleon ; with the exception of this attack on Cleon, and of those on Euripides, his other plays are not directed against individuals ; his " Birds" is the most purposeless of all his plays, and therefore one of the most delightful ; he declares 146 THE GEECIAN DRAMA. his " Clouds" to be his most elaborate composition, and yet it was twice unsuccessful ; he changes the scene in his " Peace" and in his " Frogs," even whilst the actors are on the stage ; the " Wasps" is the weakest of his plays ; of his plays, the " Knights" is most in the style of Cratinus, the " Birds" in that of Eupolis. 15. The peculiarity of the Middle Comedy is made by some to consist in the abstinence from personal satire, and from the introduction of real persons ; though in many of the plays of Aristophanes the personages are fictitious, and there is no personal satire ; by others, in the omission of the Chorus ; perhaps, however, an accidental circumstance led to the omission of the Chorus ; it was a great expense to furnish the Chorus, when then Comedy ceased to be poli- tical, and was confined to private life, and thus lost its festal dignity, and was degraded into a mere amusement, the Poet no longer found any rich patrons who would furnish the Chorus. Platonius makes the Middle Comedy to be a parody of all serious poetry, whether epic or tragic, and gives as instances the CEolosicon of Aristophanes, and the Ulysses of Cratinus; but parody was much used by the authors of the old Comedy. The truth is, there may have been many intermediate degrees between the Old and New Comedy, but a transition from one species to another does not itself constitute a species. 16. Euripides lowered the tone of Tragic Poetry from its ideal elevation, and came nearer to common reality, both in the characters and the dialogue ; he also aimed at conveying useful instruction on the proper conduct of civil and domestic life ; he was the forerunner of the New Comedy; apothegms of Euripides are even ascribed to Menander and vice versa. The New Comedy borrows a touch of earnestness d?HE GRECIAN DRAMA. 147 from Tragedy ; it is a mixture of sport and earnest ; the place of Destiny in Tragedy is, in the New Comedy, oc- cupied by Chance ; its morality is the morality of prudence ; the old Comedy is fantastic, purposeless, and resolves itself into nothing ; the new Comedy has in common with Tra- gedy a formal complication, and unravelling of the plot ; like Tragedy, it connects the incidents as cause and effect, except that it takes the law of this connexion, as it exists in experience, whereas in Tragedy, it is referred to an idea ; Tragedy moves in an ideal world ; the old Comedy in a fan- tastic ; the new Comedy is a true picture of existing man- ners, a strict copy of reality. 17. Versification would not seem to be essential to Co- medy ; that the Greeks wrote Comedy always in verse would seem the result of accident, sciz. from the great extent of their stage, in which, verse, from its more emphatic delivery, was more audible ; but the Mimes of Sophron, which were pictures of real life, in dialogues, were written in prose, and even in the versified Comedy, the language must, in its choice and combination of words, be, not at all, or very lit- tle, removed from that of common conversation. 18. The new Comedy, being a composite species formed out of tragic and comic, poetic and prosaic elements, may include a variety of subordinate species, according as one or the other element preponderates in them ; if the Poet plays in sportive humour with his own inventions, the result is a farce ; if he confines himself to the ludicrous in situa- tions and characters, avoiding all serious matter, we have a pure comedy ; in proportion as the earnest tone prevails, it assumes the character of the instructive or affecting comedy; and from this but a step remains to the tragedy of common life ; thus, there are many touching passages in Terence, particularly the first scene of the Heautontimorumenos. 148 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 19. A distinction is made between plays of character and plays of intrigue; a good comedy must always be both, otherwise it will either want intrinsic value or interest ; sometimes the one, sometimes the other may preponderate. In the characters of Comedy, there prevails either the Comic of observation, or the knowingly and confessedly Comic ; the former prevails in the finer Comedy, the latter in low Comedy or farce ; there is also a third, viz. the Comic of caprice. 20. The morality of Tragedy is the morality of motives, the only genuine morality ; that of Comedy is the morality of prudence or utility. 21. Although the new Comedy flourished only in the short interval between the end of the Peloponnesian war, and Alexander's first successors, the stock of plays cer- tainly extended to a thousand ; of these, only a few frag- ments remain in the original language; and in the Latin, twenty translations of Creek originals by Plautus, and six by Terence. The fragments are distinguished in versifica- tion and language by extreme purity, polish, and accuracy ; the Latin Comedians, on the contrary, are careless in their metre ; and their language, at least that of Plautus, wants cultivation and polish. 22. The Epicurean Philosophy was best suited to Comedy, the Stoic Philosophy to Tragedy ; thus Menander greatly admired Epicurus. 23. As the Creek stage lay under the open sky, and showed little or nothing of the interior of the houses, (except through the aid of the encyclema,) it necessarily had the street for its scene. The chief disadvantage of this arrangement was the restriction of the female characters of the drama ; the exclusion of the unmarried and virtuous THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 149 women was inevitable, by reason of the retired life led by the female sex in Greece. 24. The Cocalus of Aristophanes, his last play, was in every respect similar, and a prelude, as it were, to the plays of Menander. 25. Whilst the new Comedy was a closer resemblance of real nature than the old, the masks of the new Comedy de- viated more widely from nature than those of the old ; loss of liberty was the occasion of this. Partial masks, cover- ing a part only of the face, and which must have had a very ludicrous effect, were used in Comedy. 26. The ancient Tragedy and the older Comedy are now unattainable — cannot be imitated ; the new Comedy may be surpassed. 27. A pestilence and not taste occasioned the introduc- tion of theatrical entertainments into Koine ; the Histriones, who were merely dancers, they borrowed from Etruria ; then oldest spoken Dramas, the Atellane* Fables, they borrowed from the Oscans, the original inhabitants of Italy; these Dramas were also called Saturse, or medleys ; Livius Andronicus, a Greek by birth, more than five hundred years after the building of the city, introduced Tragedy and the newer Comedy ; the old, from its nature, being inca- pable of being transplanted. The Eomans showed more genius for Comedy than for Tragedy. 28. Xoble Eoman youths exhibited performances similar to the Atellane Fables, hence the regular actors in those Dramas were exempted from the disgrace attached to other actors, and also enjoyed an immunity from military service. 29. The Eomans had also their Mimes; the Greek Mimes were dialogues written in prose, and not intended for the * From Atella, a town of the Osci. ISO THE GRECIAN DRAMA. stage ; those of the Romans were composed in verse, were exhibited, and often delivered extempore ; the most famous in this department were Laberius,* a knight, who was com- pelled by Julius Caesar to act publicly in his own Mimes, and Syrus, the freedman of Laberius ; Horace disparages the Mimes of Laberius. 50. The regular Comedy of the Romans was mostly galliata, that is, was exhibited in the Grecian costume, and represented Grecian manners ; such were the Comedies of Plautus and Terence : they had also a Comcedia togata, so called from the Roman garb, which was used in it ; Afranius is mentioned as the most famous author in this way; nothing of these Comedies remains, and it is uncertain whether they were original Comedies, or only Grecian Comedies, remo- delled to Roman manners ; the latter is more probable. 51 . The management of the borrowed Greek Tragedy was much disarranged by the circumstance, that the Chorus had no place in the orchestra, but on the stage : Livius Andronicus also, in the Monodies, or those lyric parts which were to be sung by a single person, and not by the Chorus, separated the song from the Mimetic dance, so that the latter alone was left to the actor, the song being per- formed by a boy stationed beside the flute-player ; hence arose their pantomimes, the art of which attained to great perfection in the times of Augustus ; in this art, Pylades, Bathyllus, and Roscius were famous; Roscius frequently played without a mask, which the Greeks never did. * Laberius, in a prologue, which is still extant, complains touchingly of the disgrace thus inflicted on him. Though Caesar gave him a large sum of money, and invested him anew with the equestrian rank, which he lost by appearing as an actor, yet he avenged himself for the pro- logue, by awarding the prize against Laberius to Syrus, his former slave. THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 151 32. In the Tragic literature of the Eomans, two epochs may be distinguished; the older epoch of Livius Andronicus, Naevius, and Ennius, also of Pacuvius and Attius, both which last flourished awhile later than Plautus and Terence ; and the polished epoch of the Augustan age. The former produced none but translators of Greek w r orks ; the latter, original authors of Tragedy, one of the chief of whom was Asinius Pollio. S3. Only one specimen of the talents of the Romans for Tragedy has come down to us, viz. the ten Tragedies which pass under the name of Seneca, though most probably not composed by him ; they are very wretched productions, and never take a higher flight from the anapaests, than to a sap- phic or choriambic verse, the monotonous reiteration of which is very disagreeable. 34. The modern division into acts, which was unknown to the Greek Tragedians, was occasioned by the omission of the chorus in the newer Comedy. 35. The presence of the Chorus in Tragedy, officiating as no part of the Dramatis Persona?, but merely as spectators, involved this inconsistency, that when a deed of violence was to be acted, the chorus, instead of interfering to prevent the atrocity to which the perpetrator had made them privy, could only, by the rules of the theatre, exhaust their sorrow and surprise in lyric verses ; Bentley ridicules this in his farce called the Wishes. 36. It was during the representation of a play composed by Hegemon, that the Athenians received intelligence of the defeat of their army at Syracuse ; spreading their mantles before their faces, they commanded the representation to proceed, and, thus veiled, attended till it was concluded. 37. The Grecian Drama never lost its original devotional 152 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. character ; when the audience were assembled, they under- went a religious lustration, and the Archons paid their public adoration to Bacchus ; the subjects of their Dramas were frequently religious; nor can we, should we disconnect it from religion, account for the emotions and terror excited by the apparition of the Furies in the Eumenides of iEs- chylus ; to prevent the recurrence of such tragical conse- quences, the magistrates passed a decree limiting the num- ber of the chorus. The Drama being religious, the actor wore a mask and dress exactly representing the God or Hero he personified ; this gave the appearance of reality to their performances. Moderns go to the theatre to be amused, to see and hear and admire the actor himself, rather than the character he sustains. 38. Aristophanes is called the Father of Comedy. He resembles Rabelais in personal invective, indecent jests, and fanciful fictions ; his Comedy of the Birds may have sug- gested to Swift the idea of Gullivers Travels. 39. By order of the oligarchy which ruled Athens, after the Peloponnesian war, Anaxandrides, a comic writer, was capitally punished, for parodying a line of Euripides, so as to infer a slight of the government; he was starved to death. The use of the chorus was also prohibited to Comic Authors, as their stanzas chiefly contained the offensive satire. 40. We can better enjoy the Tragedies than the Come- dies of the ancients; the circumstances which excite sub- lime or terrific sensations are the same in all ages and coun- tries ; the force of Comic wit and humour much depends on time, circumstance, and manners. 41. St. Paul is said to have borrowed a moral sentiment from Menander, viz. — " evil communications corrupt good THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 153 42. The diminution in the size of the theatre, and the proximity of the audience in the orchestra to the actors, occasioned the disuse of the mask on the Roman stage : that the Roman theatres were small, appears from the fact of two theatres being placed back to back, and then wheeled round, with their audiences, so as to form an amphitheatre, in which the games of the circus succeeded the play ; actors were held in honor by the Greeks, in contempt by the Ro- mans ; this may have arisen from their confounding plays with the games of the circus, which were performed by gla- diators and slaves ; also from their contempt for Grecian literature and for foreigners of every description, as appears from the fact, that the Roman youth, who performed the Fabulse Atellanse — the farces of Italian* origin, were not rendered infamous by doing so. Some few actors rose to eminence at Rome, as Roscius, and Paris who was put to death by Domitian. 43. The Trochaic tetrameter was originally the metre of the Greek Drama, as best suited to the saltatorial genius of the Poem at that time ; but when the dialogue was formed, the Iambic was used, being most colloquial ; as is clear from our common conversation falling frequently into Iambic verse : A. P. 79 ; as, however, the Trochaic measure was still occasionally admitted even in serious tragedy, particularly in Euripides, we might suppose it would be still more fre- quently used in the Satyric drama, an improved form of the old Trochaic Tragedy, with its chorus of dancing Satyrs ; it is therefore remarkable, that in the Cyclops, the only Satyric drama extant, written also by Euripides, not a sin- gle trochaic tetrameter is to be found. The plays in which * It is remarkable, that the Etruscan term for actor, histrio, has sur- vived in living languages even to the most recent times. 154* THE GRECIAN DRAMA. the greatest number of Trochaic lines are to be found, are the Persse of JEschylus, and the Iphigenia in Aulide of Euripides. 44. The union of superhuman beauty with human truth, and of interior freedom with exterior necessity, forms the essence of Greek Tragedy. 45. Not only the Drama, but all Poetry, and all the fine Arts, as Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, &c. &c. are tli8 results of idol worship, of that principle, which degraded men into the worshippers of the works of their own hands. This principle is generally called the love of imitation ; it might rather be stated as that desire to express the abstract in the concrete, that wish to render the conceivable per- ceivable, which is the characteristic of an uneducated mind. The first abstract idea which presented itself to the mind was the idea of God ; unable to entertain the abstract notion of divinity, they called in the aid of art to bring under the controul of their senses the object of their thoughts ; the divinity thus anthropomorphized would need a dwelling place, hence the early improvements in architecture ; his worshippers would then attempt some outward expression of veneration, hence poetry arose ; the same feeling would suggest an imitation of the imagined sufferings or gladness of their Deity, and to this we owe the mimic dances of an- cient Hellas, and the first beginnings of the Drama. And hence it is that the fine arts attained to the highest excel- lence in those countries in which idolatry and polytheism have most prevailed, and were generally neglected by those ancient nations, whose religion was monotheism ; so much so, that when Solomon wished to build a temple, he was obliged to call in the aid of his idolatrous neighbours, (1 Kings vii. 13,) and probably there was some connexion THE GEECTAN DEAMA. 155 between Solomon's patronage of the arts and his subse- quent idolatry. The Hindu Drama was also derived from, and formed a part of the religious ceremonies of Hin- dostan. 46. In every Attic Tragedy there are two distinct parts, viz. — a set of choral songs, written in the Doric dialect, including almost every variety of metre ; and dialogues written in the ordinary language of the country, and con- fined to staid and uniform measures : these parts had dif- ferent origins and sprung up in different countries. 47. In the earliest times of Greece, it was customary among the Doric states, viz. the Cretans, Spartans, &c. for the whole population of a city to offer thanksgivings to the Gods by singing hymns and dancing in the public places ; (hence perhaps the derivation of xopoq, viz. from yupog). The maintenance of military discipline was the principal object of the Dorian legislators, hence these hymns and dances were of a martial nature; the God they worshipped was a God of war, of music, and of civil government ; a Dorian political Deity ; his name 'AttoAAwv, (i.e.) 'AttIXXmv, the defender ; the inventor of the lyre, the original accom- paniment of choral poetry; and whose oracle at Delphi (the injunctions of which were called 6tf.uGTEg,ov ordinances,) was the regulator of all the Dorian lav/ systems. 48. This intimate connexion of religion and war among the Dorians is shown by a corresponding identity between their chorus and their army ; they were drawn up in the same order, and the different parts in each were distin- guished by the same names. Good dancers and good fight- ers were synonymous terms ; those whose station was in the rear of the battle-array, or of the chorus, were in either case called \pi\eig, from not being so well dressed as those 156 THE GRECIAN DEAMA. in the front-row ; and the evolutions of the one body were known by the same name as the figures of the other. It was owing to this conviction of the importance of musical harmony, that the Dorians termed the constitution of a state — an order or regulative principle, (koTr)Tripe)i shew that they were hyporchematic dancers. This branch of choral poetry being Cretan, was also connected originally with the worship of Apollo, though subsequently introduced into the worship of Bacchus by Pratinas, and into that of Minerva by Bacchylides. These three sorts of choral dances had each its representative in the dramatic poefcry of a later age, as has been before stated ; the pyrrhic corresponding to the satyric, or g'iklvviq, both being rapid ; the gymnopsedic to the tragic or ejujuiXeia, both being solemn ; and the hyporchematic to the comic or KOjoSa^, both being merry. This similarity, combined with the evidence given above of the employment of these three dances in the worship of Bacchus, shews that in them we are to look for the origin of the lyric element of the Attic drama ; it may next be inquired how the worship of Bacchus was introduced into the Dorian states, and how choruses instituted in honor of Apollo came to be used in the celebration of religious rites consecrated to another Deity. THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 159 51. The Dorians, an essentially warlike people, were not likely to invent an elementary worship, which is the usual idolatry of tillers of the soil ; it therefore, at first sight, appears strange, that Apollo, their national deity, should be so often represented as the god of the Sun, and, therefore, the chief of a system of elementary worship. The fact, however, may easily be explained. The Dorians, as before stated, were used to incorporate with their own the religion of a conquered country ; examples of this have been given; another is the Hyacinthia, an ancient festival connected with the elementary worship of the iEgidse, of which Apollo was made the object ; now the Dorians worshipped along with Apollo, a female form of that god, called by the same name (but with a different termination) and invested with the same attributes ; this may have arisen from the division of the nation being originally two-fold, for they were not always fpt%aineg, but at first consisted only of the two branches of the family of JEgimius, the Dymanes, and the Pamphylians; and the Heracleids were not till afterwards incorporated among them. In the elementary worship of the Pelasgians and Achseans, there were also two divinities similarly related ; these were the Sun and the Moon, wor- shipped under the names of "HAajuj3ov ; from the exarchi or coryphaei of the Dithyramb, who re- cited the ode in the first person, whilst the chorus danced around the blazing altar to the tune of his song ; the body of the dithyramb was not written in any regular measure, but, like all other odes, in lines of different length, and therefore bore no resemblance to the dialogue of the Attic Tragedy ; the exarchus, however, recited in trochaic metre, one of the ordinary measures of the dialogue, and it is in this sense that Aristotle refers to the exarchi of the Dithy- ramb the origination of Tragedy. 57. There are several significations of the Exarchus; he was either the best dancer, who led off the dance, as in the passage of Homer quoted before ; or the best musician, who, before the song began, played a voluntary or prelude, which was called by the same name as the leading-dance of the exarchus in the choral dance ; or he was the chief mourner, • It was always, at least that of Stesichorus, written in antistro- phics : his name, which was originally Tisias, would seem to point to a standing chorus. THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 165 who struck himself the first blow, and the others followed, or if the lamentations were in the form of a Threnus, he re- cited the words of the song of mourning, which the others accompanied with appropriate lamentations ; or the Cory- phceus of the Dithyrambic chorus. 58. The Inscriptions found at Orchomenus have been mentioned before : in the games mentioned in them, we find, first of all, trumpeters and a herald, who began the games contending with one another ; these are followed by the Epic poet, together with the Rhapsodist who recited his poem ; then we have the flute-player and harper with the persons who sang to these instruments respectively ; then Tragedians and Comedians ; then Tragedians and Come- dians with actors ; from this it is plain, that when Trage- dians and Comedians merely are mentioned, we are not to understand a play, but only a song ; as soon as an actor is mentioned, we are to understand by Tragedy and Comedy a dramatic entertainment: for a long time Tragedians and Comedians alone appeared in the Charitesia at Orchomenus, that is, a lyrical Tragedy and Comedy existed there long before the dramatical, and it is only in later times we find there the dramatical Tragedy and Comedy and Satyric drama, which originated from and belonged to the people of Attica alone. 59. In addition to the choruses, which, together with the accompanying lyrical poetry, originated from the Dorians, another species of entertainment, peculiar to the Ionian race, (for it first sprung up in the Ionian colonies,) existed in Greece from the very earliest times. This was the reci- tation of poems by wandering minstrels, called pax^iocol, a name probably derived from the staff (pafiSo?) or branch (epvog) of laurel or myrtle, which was the symbol of their 166 THE GRECIAN DRAMA, office, and toSrj a song ; from ipvog they were called apvq^ol, quasi spvwdoi ; (though other derivations of paiptoSbg and apvcoBbg are given ;) this staff was called aumnoQ, thesesacus, $ia to adeiv rov d^ainevov. Seated in some conspicuous situation, and holding this staff in the right hand, the rhap- sodes chanted in slow recitativo, and either with or without a musical* accompaniment, larger or smaller portions of the national epic poetry, which took its rise in the Ionian states ; their recitations, however, were not long confined to the Epos ; it was soon succeeded, but not displaced, by the gnomic and didactic poetry of Hesiod ; these poems were recited in the same way as the Epos, and Hesiod himself was a rhapsode. The gnomic poetry being by its nature a near approach to the common language of every-day life, the musical accompaniment of the Epos was laid aside as inappropriate for this ; at the same time, the old hexameter metre was dropped, and the iambic verse (which certainly existed in very early times, and was better adapted for the expression of moral maxims,) was formed from it by the de- duction of one time. Aristotle tells us that Homer used this metre in his Margites, but probably, as it is stated by Hephsestion, he mixed it up with dactylic verses, as is the case in the Epodes of Horace. Archilochus, who is gene- rally esteemed the inventor, is first heard of in the year 708, B.C., and Simonides of Amorgus, who was, according to others, the first iambic poet, is placed by Suidas 490 years after the Trojan sera. (693, B.C.) These iambic verses * The rhapsode, as such, could hardly have accompanied himself, as one of his hands would be occupied by his rod ; hence, Stesandrus, who sang the Homeric battles to the cithara at Delphi, could hardly be called a rhapsode. Terpander was the first who set the Homeric Poems to regular tunes. THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 167 were, like their predecessors, written for recitation ; for though the poems of Archilochus were most probably com- mitted to writing, yet the means of multiplying manuscripts in his time must have been exceedingly scanty, and if his opportunities of becoming known had been limited to the number of his readers, he could hardly have acquired his great reputation as a poet ; his poems, therefore, and those of Simonides were promulgated by recitation ; and as they could not be sufficiently diversified in time and rhythm to form a musical entertainment, it is probable that the reci- tation of their pieces, even if they were monologues, must have been a near approach to theatric declamation. This view of the case is not without some evidence ; Clearchus tells us, that " Simonides the Zacynthian recited (ippax^wcei) some of the poems of Archilochus, sitting on an arm-chair in the theatres ;" and Lysanias tells us, that " Mnasion, the rhapsode, in the public exhibitions acted some of the iambics of Simonides" ; (viroKpivE(jQm, this word is very often used of the rhapsode ; it is also applied to the recitation of the Ionic prose of Herodotus, which may be considered as a still more modern form of the Epos). Solon, too, who lived many years after these two poets, and was also a gnomic poet and a writer of iambics, on one occasion com- mitted to memory some of his own elegiacs, and recited them from the herald's bema. It is also very probable that the gnomes of Theognis were recited. The calling of the rhapsodes became a trade, and a very profitable one ; consequently their numbers increased, till on great occasions many of them were present, and recited different parts al- ternately, and with great emulation ; in the case of an epic poem, like the Iliad, this was at once a near approach to the theatrical dialogue, for if one recited the speech of 168 THB GRECIAN DRAMA. Achilles In the first book, and another that of Agamemnon, they doubtless did their parts with all the action of stage- players. It is remarkable that the old iambic poems are often addressed in the second person singular ; these frag- ments then, were probably taken from speeches forming parts of moral dialogues, like the mimes of Sophron, from which Plato* borrowed the form of his dialogues ; for on the supposition they were recited, there is no other way of accounting for the fact. At all events it is quite certain, that these old iambic poems were the models which the Athenian tragedians proposed to themselves for their dia- logues ; (this is expressly stated by Plutarch, whose words convey the idea of a rhythmical recitation by the exarchus, followed by a musical performance by the chorus ;) they were written in the same metre, the same moral tone per- vaded both, and, in many instances, the dramatists have borrowed not only the ideas, but the very words of their predecessors. The rhapsode was not only the forerunner of the actor, but he was himself an actor (v-okpiti']q) ,and it is more than probable that the names of the actors, 7rpioTayti)viGrrig, &c. were derived from the names of the rhapsodes who recited in succession. If, therefore, the difference between the lyric Tragedy of the Dorians and the regular Tragedy of the Athenians consisted in this, that the one had actors (viroKpiTcu) and the other had none, we must look for the origin of the complete and perfect Attic drama in the union of the rhapsodes with the chorus : returning to the discussion on the word i^apxuv m section 56, we may re- member that the leader of the Dithyramb used the trochaic * Plato is sa'd to have had Sophron under his pillow when he died. THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 169 tetrameter, which is a lengthened form of the iambic tri- meter ; if this was the metre always used by the exarchus of the Dithyramb, and we collect from Aristotle that it was, for certainly the Dithyramb itself was not written in any regular metre — the exarchus was to all intents and purposes, either an acedus or a rhapsode, and therefore an actor, in the Greek sense of the word, even though he car- ried on no dialogue. We may now perceive the full truth of Aristotle's statement, that Tragedy arose from the exarchi of the Dithyramb. The Dithyramb was a mixture of recitation and chorus song ; and therefore readily sug- gested an union of the epic and gnomic elements, which had been for centuries approximating to a dialogue-form, with the old Dionysian goat-song, which had already assumed the form of a lyric tragedy. The two parts were ripe for a more intimate connexion ; each of them had within itself the seeds of an unborn drama, and they only needed blend- ing in order to be complete. This union was effected by Thespis in the time of Pisistratus. This account varies a little from that given in Chapter 2, where it was stated that the Dithyramb was the source of the chorus, and the Satyric chorus the source of the dia- logue ; here the Dithyramb in its two-fold character of re- citation and song, is stated to be the source of both ; they may, however, be reconciled by the circumstance, that the Dithyramb in the improved form which it received from Arion was performed by a chorus of satyrs. 60. The worship of Bacchus was probably the religion of the oldest inhabitants of Attica, who, on the invasion of the country by the Ionians, were reduced, like the native La- conians, to the inferior situation of ireptoiKo^ and cultivated the soil for their conquerors. In the quadripartite, or, ac- 170 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. cording to some, tripartite division of the people of Attica, they formed the tribe of the iEgicores or goat-herds, who worshipped Dionysus with the sacrifice of goats. Their religion, at first despised, was afterwards adopted by, and they themselves raised to an equality with, the other tribes. This is indicated by the freedom of slaves at the Dionysian festivals, by the reference of the origin of their religion to the town Eleutherse, and by the marriage of the king Archon's wife to Bacchus. It was natural, therefore, that the iEgicores should ascribe their freedom from political disabilities to their tutelary Grod, whom they therefore called 'E\zv6epog ; and in later times, when all the inhabitants of Attica were on a footing of equality, the God Bacchus was still looked upon as the patron of democracy. When the Athenians recognized the supremacy of the Delphian ora- cle, the Dorian choral worship was introduced into Attica, and was applied to the old Dionysian religion of the coun- try with the sanction of the oracle ; thus the Dithyramb found its way into Attica, and most probably, the Dorian lyric Drama, perhaps with certain modifications, accompa- nied its parent. The recitations by rhapsodes were a pe- culiarly Ionian entertainment, and, therefore, were common in Attica from the very earliest times ; at Brauron, in par- ticular, the Iliad was chanted by rhapsodes ; now the Brau- ronia was a festival of Bacchus, and at this festival, we are told by Clearchus, the rhapsodes came forward in succes- sion and recited in honor of Bacchus ; thus by a combina- tion of these particulars a connexion is at once established between the worship of Bacchus and the rhapsodic reci- tations. 61. At the time the Thespian tragedy arose, the people of Attica were divided into three parties ; the Utdiatoi, or THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 171 the landed aristocracy of the interior, who were for an oligarchy ; the Uapa)t.aXoyog or Spapa, and 186 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. if he had the intentions attributed to him, he would na- turally expand each of these SiaXoyoi into a complete play, and break up the chorus into three parts, assigning one to each dialogue, and subordinating the whole chorus to the action of the piece. This view is favored by the analogy, that as the npoXoyog of Thespis was subordinate to the priaiQ, so the first play in a trilogy of iEschylus was sub- ordinate to, and had a prophetic reference to the second, the third was little more than a finale, whilst all the stirring interest was concentrated in the second : this principle is the key to his trilogies. 75. The leading distinction between the iEschylean Tra- gedy, and the Homeric Epos, is, that the latter contains an uninterrupted series of events, whereas the former exhibits the events in detached groups. 76. As the trilogies were acted early in the year, it is probable that the night began to close in before the last piece and the satyrical drama were over ; this may account for Prometheus, the fire-kindler, (which was probably a torch-race,) being the satyrical drama of the Perseis ; for the torch-procession at the end of the Eumenides ; and for the conflagration at the end of the Troades. 77. .ZEschylus sometimes nearly quotes the words of Solon, whose maxims were engraven on his memory. His Poems abound with military, political, and nautical terms, betoken- ing his mode of life ; he often alludes to Zeus Soter, the God of Mariners ; and though he had not much relish for the Dionysian rites, he was strongly attached to the Dorian idolatry, on which Pythagoras founded his more spiritual and philosophical system of religion. 78. When Cimon and his colleagues awarded the prize from iEschylus to Sophocles, the decision did not imply any THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 187 disregard of the iEschylean Tragedy on the part of the Athenians ; the contest was not between two individual works of art, but between two species or ages of art. The Tript olenitis was probably one of Sophocles 1 plays on that occasion; for Pliny says, (H.N. 18.7.) Sophoclis Tripto- lemus ante mortem Alexanclri annis fere, 145. But Alex- ander died 323, B.C. and 323 + 145=468, the year in which the contest took place ; the subject of this play, an old national legend, would be in favour of Sophocles, whilst the anti-popular politics of .ZEschylus would weigh against him. 79. According to one account, an image of a Siren was placed over the tomb of Sophocles, according to another, a bronze swallow. Ister informs us, that the Athenians de- creed him an annual sacrifice. He wrote, besides Trage- dies, an Elegy, Paeans, and a Prose work on the Chorus, against Thespis and Choerilus : only seven of his tragedies are extant, but an ingenious attempt has lately been made by Gruppe to shew that the Rhesus, which is generally at- tributed to Euripides, was the first of the plays of So- phocles. 80. Aristophanes of Byzantium tells us that one hundred and thirty plays were ascribed to Sophocles, of which one hundred and thirteen were genuine, seventeen being spu- rious ; as we have a list of one hundred and fourteen names of dramas attributed to Sophocles, of which ninety-eight are quoted more than once as his, it is very probable that the statement of Aristophanes is correct. From the names it would appear that about twenty-seven were satyrical dramas, this would give twenty-seven tetralogies, or one hundred and eight plays, and there would remain five single plays to satisfy the statement of Suidas, that he contended 188 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. with drama against drama. It is very likely that the cus- tom of contending with single plays, which Sophocles thus occasionally adopted, arose from his having given to each of the plays in his trilogies an individual and independent completeness, which the connected plays of an JEschylean trilogy did not possess. The Tragedy of Sophocles was not generically different from that of JEschylus ; it bore the same relation to it that a single statue bears to a connected group : for when he added a third actor to the two of JEs- chylus, he gave so great a preponderance to the dialogue, that the chorus, or the base on which the three plays stood, was unable any longer to support them ; in giving each of them a separate pedestal, he rendered them independent, and destroyed the necessary connexion which before sub- sisted between them ; so that it became from thenceforth a matter of choice with the poet, whether he represented with trilogies or with separate plays. 81 . Though the private character of Sophocles is stained with many blemishes ; his Tragedies are full of the strong- est recommendations of religion and morality ; to charac- terize the man and his works in one word, calmness is the prominent feature in his life and writings : in his politics an easy indifference to men and measures ; (thus in his earlier days he supported Pericles and the popular party, in his later, Peisander and the aristocratical ;) in his private life, contentment and good nature ; in his Tragedies, a total absence of wild enthusiasm ; are the manifestations of this calmness and rest of mind. 82. The infidelity of his two wives may have occasioned the misogynism, for which Euripides was notorious ; this also may have partly occasioned his exile to Macedonia ; besides this, he was very intimate with Socrates and Alci- THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 189 biades, the former of whom assisted him in his Tragedies, and when Alcibiades won the chariot-race at Olympia, Euripides wrote a song in honour of his victory. Now even at the time of Euripides 1 exile, Socrates was becom- ing unpopular, and Alcibiades was a condemned exile, per- haps, then, Euripides wisely withdrew from a country where his philosophical as well as his political sentiments exposed him to continual danger. Sophocles received many invita- tions from foreign courts, but loved Athens too well to ac- cept them. 83. The talent of Euripides for rhetorical display has, in all ages, rendered him a greater favorite than either iEschylus or Sophocles ; it is this which made the invention of tragi-comedy by him so natural and so easy ; which re- commended him to Menander as the model for the dialo- gue of his new Comedy, and to Quintilian as an author to be studied by young orators and advocates ; and to the learned of the middle ages, who mistook scholastic subleties for eloquence, and minute distinctions for science. How he became so unlike his two great predecessors is easily ex- plained. The connexion between the actors of IEschylus and Sophocles, and the Homeric rhapsodes has been stated ; the rhapsodes were succeeded by a class of men called sophists ; since then Euripides was nursed in the lap of so- phistry, was the pupil and friend of the most eminent of the sophists, and to all intents a sophist himself, it was na- tural that he should turn the rhapsodical element of the Greek Drama into a sophistical one. But was not Euripides assisted in Dramas by Socrates, and does not Plato repre- sent Socrates as the great enemy of the Sophists ? This is true, and yet Socrates was himself a sophist, though the best of them, and no disagreements are so implacable as 190 THE GRECIAN DRAMA, those between persons who follow the same trade with dif- ferent objects in view. 84. In his political opinions Euripides was attached to Alcibiades and the war-party, and was opposed to Aris- tophanes, and to the best interests of Athens. He was united with Alcibiades and the sophist G-orgias, in urging the disastrous expedition to Sicily; for he wrote the trilogy to which the Troades belonged in the beginning of the year 415, B.C. in which that expedition started, clearly with a view to encourage the Athenians to the war, by reminding them of the success of a similar expedition ; and most pro- bably Aristophanes wrote the " Birds'' in the following year, to ridicule the whole plan and its authors. 85. Were it not for the exceeding beauty of many of his choruses, and for the proof which he occasionally exhi- bits of really tragic power, Euripides might be considered only a second-rate poet ; fifteen of his Tragedies, or sixteen, if the Rhesus be his, two Tragi-coinedies, viz. the Orestes and the Alcestis, and a Satyrical drama, the Cyclops, have come down to us. 86. From the first exhibition of Epicharmus to the last of Posidippus, the first and last of the Greek Comedians, is a period of two hundred and fifty years : and between those two poets one hundred and four authors are enu- merated, who are all said to have written Comedy. The claims of some of these, however, to the rank of Come- dians are very doubtful, and two of them, Sophron and his son Xenarchus, were mimographers, and as such, w T ere not only not Comedians, but hardly Dramatists at all. 87. Epicharmus, the son of Helothales, whom Theocri- tus calls the inventor of Comedy, and who, according to Plato, bore the same relation to Comedy that Homer did THE GRECIAN DRAMA, 191 to Tragedy, was a native of Cos, and went to Sicily with Cadmus, the son of Scythes. Besides being a Comic Poet, and a Pythagorean, he was also a physician, which has been considered an additional proof of his Coan origin; his Comedies were partly parodies of mythological subjects, and as such, not very different from the dialogue of the satyrical Drama ; partly political, and so may have furnished a model for the dialogue of the Athenian Comedy : he must have made some advance towards the Comedy of Character, if the Mensechmi of Plautus was founded on one of his plays. It seems probable that he had choruses in his Co- medies from the title of one of them, the K^fiaaTcu. Aris- totle charges him with using false antitheses. 88. Cratinus, the son of Callimedes, was born at Athens, B.C. 519 ; he was a very bold satirist, and so popular, that his choruses were sung at every . banquet by the comus of revellers ; in imitation of Sophocles he increased the num- ber of comic actors to three. 89. Phrynichus, the Comic Poet, was attacked by Her- mippus, another Comedian, for being a plagiarist, and was ridiculed by Aristophanes in his Barpaxoi for his custom of introducing grumbling slaves on the stage. 90. Different countries are assigned to Aristophanes as his birth-place, viz., Ehodes, Egypt, Naucratis, iEgina ; this confusion may have arisen from the action brought against him by Cleon, with a view to deprive him of his civic rights. The very charge proves the contrary, for Cleon attempts to prove that he was not the son of Philip- pus, his reputed father, but the illegitimate offspring of his mother, and some person who was not an Athenian citizen. His nominal parents are thus tacitly admitted to have been citizens, and as Cleon failed to prove his charge, he must 192 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. have been one also ; his efforts for the good of Athens, his ridicule of those who did not belong to the old Athenian (pparpiai, his purely Attic language, all prove him to be an Athenian ; with regard to the statement that he was a Rhodian, he was often confounded with Antiphanes, who was one ; the notion that he was an Egyptian may have arisen from his many allusions to that people and their customs ; when Heliodorus states that he was from Nau- cratis, he may be alluding to some commercial residence of his ancestors in that city ; his iEginetan origin has been presumed from a passage in the " Acharnians," which, how- ever, refers to Callistratus, who was the nominal author of the play, and not to Aristophanes. A method of ascer- taining the date of his birth before given placed it B.C. 456 ; his first Comedy, the ■* Banqueters," in which he exposed the injurious effects of sophistry on education, was exhi- bited in 427, B.C., and if, as the Scholiast on the Ranse says, he was then but a youth, or about seventeen, he must have been born about 444, B.C. The " Babylonians" and " Acharnians," were exhibited 426, B.C., both under the name of Callistratus ; the former was an attack on the de- magogues, for which Cleon brought an action against Cal- listratus ; the latter is the earliest of his Comedies which has come down to us entire. When the " Clouds," the most beautiful of his plays, was first exhibited, 423, B.C. the plays of Cratinus and Ameipsias, his competitors, gained the first and second prizes. In the " Wasps," which was brought out in the name of Philonides, at the Lensea, 422, B.C. he ridicules the love of litigation, so prevalent at Athens. The subject of the " Peace," as well as of the " Acharnians," is the evils of the Peloponnesian war. The " Birds" came out at the great Dionysia, under the name THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 193 Callistratus ; it Is one of the most wonderful compositions in any language, and was designed, as also the " Amphia- raus, r> exhibited in the same year, to ridicule the Euripidean trilogy, which came out the year before. The " Lysistrata," which appeared in the name of Callistratus, is a recom- mendation of peace. The " Thesmophoriazusse" is an attack on Euripides. The object of the " Ecclesiazusse," and of the "Plutus," is to divert the Athenians from the prevalent adoption of Dorian manners. The two last Comedies which he wrote were called the iEolosicon and Oocalus ; they were brought out by Araros, one of his sons, and both belonged to the second variety of Comedy, viz. that of Criticism. The former was a parody and criticism of the JEolus of Euripides ; the name is a compound of the name of Euri- pides' tragic hero, and Sicon, a celebrated cook ; and for this reason, the whole Comedy was full of cooking terms : the latter was a criticism of a tragedy whose hero was Cocalus, the fabulous king of Sicily, who slew Minos; it was so near an approach to the third variety of Comedy, that Philemon was able to bring it again on the stage with very few altera- tions. The names of forty-four Comedies ascribed to Aris- tophanes are recorded. 91. Menander imitated Euripides ; his Comedies differed from the tragi-comedies of that poet only in the absence of mythical subjects and a chorus. He was a good rhetori- cian, and Quintilian, who recommends him as a model for orators, attributes to him some orations published under the name of Charisius : the mode of his death is alluded to by Ovid, " Comicus ut mediis periit dura nabat in undis," a statue was erected to his memory in the Theatre at Athens. 194 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 92. As Plautus borrowed his Oasina from the K\r)/>oujU£voi of Diphilus, so Terence tells us that he introduced into the Adelphi a literal translation of part of his 'SvvaTroOvricrKov- tsq. Diphilus wrote prologues to his Dramas, which were like the prologues of the Latin Comedians, though they were originally borrowed (like all the new Comedy) from the Tragedies of Euripides. 93. The Greek Comedy properly ended with Posidippus, but there are some writers of a later elate called Come- dians: Ehinthon of Tarentum is called a Comedian by Suidas, but his plays seem to have been rather phly-acogra- jp7ries, or tragi-comedies ; Sopater of Paphos was a writer of the same kind; and Sotades of Crete, who lived about 280, B.C. and wrote in the Ionic dialect. Macho wrote Comedies at Alexandria about 230, B.C., he was the in- structor' of Aristophanes of Byzantium. Apollodorus of Carystus was a contemporary of Macho ; he is often con- founded with Apollodorus of Gela, from whom Terence borrowed his Hecyra and Phormio. 94. It has been stated in Chapter 3, that there were but three Dionysian festivals; some authors separate the Ar\vaXa from the AvQeaTripia, and thus make four, held in the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth months of the Attic year, viz. — The ra kclt aypovg, the festival of the vintage, held in Po- seideon, the sixth month. The to. Arivaia, held in Gameleon, the seventh month, which corresponded to the Ionian month Lenseon, and to part of January and February; it was also a vintage festival, but differed from the former, which was held in the country, in being confined to the Lenseon, a place in Athens, where the first wine-press (Arjvoe) was erected. The ?d AvOeaTrjpia, or ra Iv Aifivaig, held on the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth days of Anthesterion ; this THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 195 was not a vintage festival ; the new wine was drawn from the cask on the first day of the feast, and tasted on the second ; on the third day much banqueting went on ; on the Choes, or second day, each citizen had a separate cup, a custom which arose, according to the tradition, from the presence of Orestes at the feast, before he had been duly purified ; it has been thought, however, to refer to a differ- ence of castes among the worshippers at the time of the adoption of the Dionysian rites in the city ; the Anthes- teria are called by Thucydides, the more ancient festival of Bacchus. The to. lv aaru held between the eighth and eighteenth of Elaphebolion. At the first, second, and fourth of these festivals, theatrical exhibitions took place : the exhibitions at the country Dionysia were generally of old pieces ; there is no instance of a play being acted on those occasions for the first time ; at the Lenaea and great Dionysia, both Tragedies and Comedies were performed ; at the latter, the Tragedies, at least, were always new pieces ; it is probable that repetitions were allowed at the Lensea, as well as at the country Dionysia. The month Elaphebolion may have been selected for the representa- tion of new Tragedies, because Athens was then full of the dependent allies, who came at that time to pay the tri- butes, whereas the Athenians alone were present at the Lensea; hence iEschines reproaches Demosthenes with not being satisfied with the applause of his fellow-citizens, since he must have the crown decreed him proclaimed at the great Dionysia, when all Greece was present. It does not clearly appear that there were any theatrical exhibitions at the Anthesteria ; it is probable that the Tragedians read to a select audience at the Anthesteria, the Tragedies which they had composed for the festival in the following month, 196 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. or, perhaps, the contests took place then, and the inter- vening month was employed in perfecting the actors and chorus in their parts. 95. Choruses were originally composed of the whole po- pulation ; in process of time, the duties of this branch of worship devolved upon a few, and ultimately upon one, called the Choragus, who bore the whole expense ; he was considered as the religious representative of the whole peo- ple, and was said to do the state's work for it (At iTovpyttv*), hence his person and the ornaments which he procured for the occasion were sacred. The Choragia, the Gymnasiarchy, the Feasting of the Tribes, and the Architheoria, belonged to the class of regularly recurring state burthens (hyicvKXioi Aarovpytat), to which all persons whose property exceeded three talents were liable. It was the business of the cho- ragus to provide the chorus for all plays, whether tragic or comic, and also for the lyric choruses of men and boys, Pyrrichists, Cyclian dancers, and others ; being selected by the managers of his tribe (tTn^fArjral (pvXrig) for the cho- ragy which had come round to it, his first duty, after col- lecting his chorus, was to provide and pay a teacher (x<>po- &Sa(TKaAoe), who instructed them in the songs, dances, &c. The choragi drew lots for the first choice of teachers ; they were allowed to press children for the chorus, if their pa- rents refused to give them ; they lodged and maintained the chorus till the time of performance, and supplied the singers with such aliments as strengthened their voice. The actors were the representatives not of the people but of the poet, hence the choragus had nothing to do with them ; if he had paid for them, the dramatic choruses would have been more * Hence the word " Liturgy," THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 197 expensive than the chorus of men, &c. &c. whereas they were less so ; besides, the actors were not allotted to the choragi, but to the poets, and were, therefore, paid either by these or by the state. The choragus attended to the chorus, and the poet to the actors ; on the day of trial they united their efforts, and endeavoured to gain the prize by a combination of the best-taught actors and best dressed and trained chorus; hence the beauty of the poem in itself did not always insure success. The successful choragus received a tripod ; this he was at the expense of consecrating, and sometimes built the monument on which it was placed ; thus the monument of Lysicrates, still at Athens, was surmounted by a tripod ; from the inscriptions on these monuments, the didascalias were probably compiled ; the choragus in Comedy consecrated the equipments of his chorus ; the successful poet was crowned with ivy, as also his choragus and performers, and, as we see from Plato's " Banquet," he commemorated his victory with a feast. 96. If we would not confound the manner of representa- tion of the Ancient with that of the Modern Drama, we must recollect the military origin of the chorus, its employ- ment in the worship of Bacchus, the successive adoption of the lyre and the flute as accompaniments, the nature of the cyclic chorus, and the invention of Stesichorus. We must also remember that the actor was originally a rhapsode who succeeded the exarchus of the dithyramb, that he was the representative of the poet who was the original exarchus, and as such, a narrator, that he acted in a huge theatre at a great distance from the specta- tors, and that he often had to sustain more than one part in the same piece. The first remark, with regard to the chorus, will explain the order and manner in which the 198 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. chorus made their entry : the chorus was supposed to be a lochus of soldiers in battle-array; in the dithyrambic or cyclic chorus of fifty, this military arrangement was not practicable ; but when the original choral elements had be- come more deeply inrooted in the worship of Bacchus, and the three principal Apollonian dances were transferred to the worship of that God, the dramatic choruses became, like them, quadrangular, and were arranged in military rank and file. The number of the tragic chorus for the whole trilogy appears to have been fifty ; the comic chorus consisted of twenty-four ; the chorus of the tetralogy was broken into four sub-choruses, two of fifteen, one of twelve, and a satyric chorus of eight; (this arrangement differs somewhat from that given before from M tiller ;) when the chorus of fifteen entered in ranks three abreast, it was said to be divided Kara %vya ; when it was distributed into three files of five, it was said to be /caret aroiyovQ ; the same mi- litary origin explains why the Anapsestic metre was gene- rally, if not always, adopted for the opening choral song ; for this metre was also used in the Greek marching songs. The muster of the chorus round the Thymele shows that the chorus was Bacchic as well as military ; the mixture of lyric and flute music points to the same union of two wor- ships ; and in the atrophic and anti- atrophic form of most of the choral odes, we discern the traces of the lyric tra- gedies of Stesi chorus. Again, with regard to the actor ; when we remember that he was but the successor of the exarchus, who in the improvements of Thespis spoke a iTfiokoyoQ before the chorus came on the stage, and held a prioLQ, or dialogue, with them after they had sung their choral song, we shall see why there was always a soliloquy or a dialogue, in the first pieces of the more perfect tra- THE GKECIAN DEAMA. 199 gedies, before the chorus came on. His connexion with the rhapsode is also a reason for the narrative character of the speeches and dialogues, and for the general absence of the abrupt and vehement conversations which are so common in modern plays. Another peculiarity which distinguished the Grecian from the modern manner of acting, was the probable neglect of every thing like by-play, and making points, which are so effective on the stage. The distance at which the spectators were placed would prevent them from seeing those little movements, and hearing those low tones which have made the fortune of many a modern actor. The mask too precluded all attempts at varied expression, and probably nothing more was expected from the performer than was looked for from his predecessor the rhapsode— namely, good recitation. 97. The three principal kinds of poetry in general are the epic, lyric, and dramatic. All the other subordinate species are either deducible from one of these, or may be explained as a mixture of them. It is remarkable that in epic and lyric poetry, no such divergence into two con- trasted species has taken place, as that in the Drama, of Tragedy and Comedy. It is true, the ludicrous epopee (as it is called) has been erected by some into a proper spe- cies, but it is in fact an accidental variety, a mere parody of the epos, and consists in applying to insignificant circum- stances that solemn staidness of development, which pre- vails in the proper epopee, and which seems to be appro- priate only to grand subjects. In lyric poetry there are gradations, as the song, the ode, the elegy, but no proper contrast. The spirit of the epic poem, as it appears in its father Homer, is clear, transparent collectedness of mind. The 200 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. Epos is a quiet representation of a march of events. The Poet narrates either serious or cheerful incidents, but he narrates them with equanimity of spirit, and withholds them, as already past, at a certain remoteness from the view. The lyric poem is the musical expression of mental emo- tions by means of speech. The essence of the musical tone or affection of mind is when we seek to retain an excite- ment, be it in itself joyful or sorrowful, with complacency, nay, to perpetuate it in the soul. The dramatic poet, in common with the epic, deals with exterior incidents, but then he exhibits them as actual and present. In so doing, he lays claim to our sympathy, in common with the lyric poet, but he is not so easily satisfied as the latter, and insists upon affecting us with joy or sorrow in a far more immediate degree and manner. Standing in close proximity to real life, and seeking to transform his figments into its realities, the equanimity of the epic poet would in him be indifference ; he must decidedly avouch him- self a partisan of one or other of the leading views of hu- man life, and must constrain his hearers also to come over to his pirty. 98. Tragic and Comic are related to each other as earnest and sport; earnest belongs more to our moral, sport to our animal nature ; earnest, in its most extended sense, is the direction of the mental powers to an object or purpose ; as earnest, carried to the highest degree, is the essence of Tragedy, so sport is of Comedy. The eider Comedy of the Greeks wa3 altogether sportive, and thereby formed the most complete contrast to their Tragedy. 99. The best means of winning one's way into the spirit of the Greeks, without acquaintance with their language, is THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 201 the study of the antiques, which, if not in the originals, at least in the casts, now so common, are in some degree ac- cessible to all. All intelligent artists, nay, all men of feel- ing, bow with entranced veneration to the master-works of ancient sculpture. Two of the best keys to open to us into this sanctuary of the beautiful, are "Winkelmann's History of Art,'" and " the Travels of Anacharsis the younger. 11 100. The three famous Unities, which have given rise to a whole Iliad of battles among the Critics, are Unity of Action, of Time, and of Place. The French Critics par. ticularly lay great stress upon these Unities. The validity of the first is admitted by all ; its meaning is not so easily ascertained. Aristotle has been enlisted, without ceremony, to lend his name to these three Unities, and yet it is only of the Unity of Action that he speaks at any length, while he merely throws out a vague hint about the Unity of Time, and says not a word about the Unity of Place. It has been remarked before that the Greek Dramatists did not scru- pulously observe those of Time and Place. Aristotle han- dles Unity of Action in a very imperfect way: he says that Tragedy is the imitation of a perfect and entire action having a certain magnitude or extension ; that the greater the extent, provided it be perspicuous, the more beautiful it is ; that a whole or entire action is that which has a begin- ning, a middle, and an end, and that thus the exhibited events must be connected as cause and effect. It may be remarked, that these expressions are favourable to Shaks- peare and other romantic dramatists who have taken into a single picture a more comprehensive sphere of life, charac- ters, and events, than are to be found in the simple Greek Tragedy, and have also observed unity and perspicuity. Aristotle understands by action merely something that is 202 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. going on ; now, action, properly considered, is a procedure dependent on the will of man ; its Unity consists in the tendency towards a single end ; to its completeness belongs all that intervenes between the first resolve and the execu- tion of the deed ; but there may be a plurality of subordi- nate actions in the Drama ; Oorneille felt this difficulty, when he said, " I assume that unity of Action in Comedy consists in unity of intrigue, and in Tragedy, in unity of danger ; but I do not mean to assert that there may not be several dangers, and several intrigues," &c. &c. The distinction here assumed between tragic and comic unity is quite unessential, for the manner of putting the play together is not influenced by the circumstance that the incidents in tragedy are serious, and in comedy not so ; Unity of Action may be better defined : "a continuity of feeling or interest — a pervading emotion, an object, and a design, which, on its development, leaves on the mind a sense of completeness." On the Unity of Time Aristotle merely says, " Tragedy endeavours as much as possible to restrict itself to a single revolution of the sun-;" here, however, he does not lay down a precept, but only mentions a peculiarity in the Greek ex- amples, which he had before him. Examples have been given of violation of this unity of time, or identity of the imaginary with the material time; and that it was frequently observed, arose from the presence of the chorus ; where the chorus leaves the stage, the regular progress of time is in- terrupted, thus, in the Eumenkles of iEschylus, the whole space of time which Orestes needed for going from Delphi to Athens is omitted ; and between the three plays of a trilogy, which were intended to compose a whole, consider- able gaps of time often occur ; the moderns, in the division THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 203 of their plays into acts, have found a convenient means of extending the compass of the imaginary time without incon- gruity. Aristotle says nothing on the Unity of Place ; the an- cients did not observe it invariably, only in general ; thus in the Eumenides and Ajax it is violated ; its observance arose from the presence of the chorus, who must first be got rid of before there could be any change of place, and from the difficulty of moving their scenery. The objection to the violation of the Unities of time and place is, that it would wrest the illusion of reality from us ; calculated verisimilari- ties, however, do not contribute one iota towards that il- lusion ; that demand of illusion in the literal sense, pushed to the extreme, would make all poetical form an impossi- bility, for we know that the persons represented did not speak our language, that passionate grief does not express itself in verse, and so forth. Theatrical illusion is a state of waking dreaminess, to which we voluntarily surrender ourselves ; to produce it, poet and actor must powerfully captivate the mind, and then the imagination passes lightly over the times and spaces which are presupposed and inti- mated, but which are omitted as being marked by nothing note -worthy, to fix itself solely on the decisive moments and prominent places. Voltaire derives the Unity of Place and Time from the Unity of Action ; thus, he says, " there must be Unity of Place, for a single action cannot be in progress in several places at once ;" he forgot that there may be a number of subordinate actions, and what should hinder these from proceeding in several places? " The Unity of Time," continues Voltaire, "is naturally con- nected with the two first. If the Poet represents a con- spiracy, and extends the action to fourteen days, he must 204 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. give me an account of all that passes in these fourteen days." Certainly, of all that belongs to the matter in hand : but all the rest he passes by in silence, and it never enters into any one's head to wish to have such an account. Next to the structure of the ancient theatres, which na- turally led to the apparent continuity of time and fixity of place, the general observance of these unities was fa- vored by the nature of the materials on which the Greek Dramatists had to work. These materials were mythology, which in itself was fiction, and the treatment of which, in the hands of preceding poets, had collected into continuous and perspicuous masses, what, in reality, was broken and scattered about in various ways. Moreover, the heroic age, which they depicted, was at once very simple in its manners and marvellous in its incidents, and thus everything of its own accord went straight to the mark of a tragic decision. But the principal cause of the difference, in this respect, between the ancient and modern Dramatists, lies in the plastic spirit of the antique, and the picturesque spirit of romantic poetry. Sculpture directs our attention exclu- sively to the group which it sets before us, and indicates as slightly as possible the external circumstances ; Painting, on the contrary, delights to exhibit not only the principal figures, but the detail of the surrounding scenery, and all the secondary circumstances ; hence in the Dramatic art of the ancients, the external circumstances of place and time are in some measure annihilated, while in the romantic drama their alternations serve to adorn its more varied pictures. CHAPTER V. aristotle's treatise on poetry, ( Twining s Translation.) My design is to treat of Poetry in general, and of its several species — to inquire, what is the proper effect of each — what construction of a fable, or plan, is essential to a good poem — of what, and hoio many, parts, each species consists ; with whatever else belongs to the same subject ; which I shall consider in the order that most naturally pre- sents itself. Epic poetry, tragedy, comedy, dithyrambics, as also, for the most part, the music of the flute, and of the lyre — all these are, in the most general view of them, Imitations^ (ovaai fxifit](Tig to avvoXov) ; differing, however, from each other in tlivee respects, according to the different means, the different objects, or the different manner, of their imitation. For as men, some through art, and some through habit, imitate various objects, by means of colour and figure, and others again, by mice ; so with respect to the arts above- mentioned, rhythm, words, and melody (pv9/j.6g, \uyog, apfxo- vlci), are the different means by which, either single, or va- riously combined, they all produce their imitation. For example : in the imitations of the flute, and the lyre, and of any other instruments capable of producing a simi- 206 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. lar effect — as the syrinx, or pipe — melody and rhythm, only are employed. In those of dance, rhythm alone, without melody ; for there are dancers who, by rhythm applied to gesture, express manners, passions, and actions. The Epopoeia imitates by words alone, or by verse ; and that verse may be either composed of various metres, or confined, according to the practice hitherto established, to a single species. For we should otherwise have no general name, which would comprehend the Mimes of Sophron and Xenarchus, and the Bocratic dialogues ; or poems in iambic, elegiac, or other metres, in which the epic species of imita- tion may be conveyed. Custom, indeed, connecting the poetry or making with the metre, has denominated some elegiac poets, i. e. makers of elegiac verse ; others, epic poets, i. e. makers of hexameter verse ; thus distinguishing poets, not according to the nature of their imitation, but accord- ing to that of their metre only. For even they who com- pose treatises of medicine, or natural philosophy, in verse, are denominated Poets : yet Homer and Empedocles have nothing in common, except their metre ; the former, there- fore, justly merits the name of Poet ; while the other should rather be called a Physiologist than a Poet. So, also, though any one should chuse to convey his imi- tation in every kind of metre, promiscuously, as Chseremon has done in his Centaur, which is a medley of all sorts of verse, it would not immediately follow, that, on that account merely, he was entitled to the name of Poet. — But of this enough. There are, again, other species of poetry, which make use of all the means of imitation, rhythm, melody, and verse. Such are the dithyrambic, that of nomes, tragedy, and comedy : with this difference, however, that, in some of these, THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 207 they are employed all together, in others, separately. And such are the differences of these arts, with respect to the means by which they imitate. II. — But, as the objects of imitation are the actions of men (tird ds /j.ijliovvtcu ol fjLifxovfxzvoi irpaTTOvTag), and these men must of necessity be either good or bad (for on this does character principally depend ; the manners being in all men most strongly marked by virtue and vice), it follows, that we can only represent men, either as better than they actually are, or worse, or exactly as they are : just as, in painting, the pictures of Polygnotus were above the com- mon level of nature ; those of Pauson, below it ; those of Dionysius, faithful likenesses. Now it is evident that each of the imitations above-men- tioned will admit of these differences, and become a differ- ent kind of imitation, as it imitates objects that differ in this respect. Tins may be the case with dancing ; with the music of the flute, and of the lyre ; and also, with the poetry which employs toords, or verse, only, without melody or rhythm : thus, Homer has drawn men superior to what they are ; Cleophon, as they are ; Hegemon the Thasian, the inventor of parodies, and Nicochares, the author of the Deliad, worse than they are. So, again, with respect to dithyramUcs and nomes : in these, too, the imitation may be as different as that of the Persians by Timotheus, and the Cyclops by Philoxenus. Tragedy also, and Comedy, are distinguished in the same manner ; the aim of Comedy being to exhibit men worse than we find them, that of Tragedy, better. III. — There remains the third difference — that of the manner in which each of these objects may be imitated. For the poet, imitating the same object, and by the same 208 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. means, may do it either in narration — and that, again, either personating other characters, as Homer does, or, in his own person throughout, without change . — or, he may imitate by representing all his characters as real, and employed in the very action itself. These, then, are the three differences by which all imita- tion is distinguished ; those of the means, the object, and the manner (lv ole re, kcu a, kcu fag) : so that Sophocles is, in one respect, an imitator of the same kind with Homer, as elevated characters are the objects of both ; in another respect, of the same kind with Aristophanes, as both imitate in the way of action ; whence, according to some, the application of the term drama [i. e. action\ to such poems. Upon this it is, that the Dorians ground their claim to the invention both of Tragedy and Comedy. For Comedy is claimed by the Megarians ; both by those of Greece, who contend that it took its rise in their popular government ; and by those of Sicily, among whom the poet Epicliarmus flourished long before Chionides and Magnes ; and Tragedy, also, is claimed by some of the Dorians of Peloponnesus. — In support of these claims they argue from the words themselves. They allege, that the Doric word for a village is Kw/x*?, the Attic, Arifiog ; and that Comedians were so called, not from Kwwd- &iv< — to revel — but from their strolling about the KWfiai, or villages, before they were tolerated in the city. They say, farther, that to do, or act, they express by the word §pav ; the Athenians by irpaTruv. And thus much as to the differences of imitation (jui'junwc) how many, and irfiai they are. IV. — Poetry, in general, seems to have derived its origin from two causes, each of them natural. 1. To Imitate is instinctive in man from his infancy. By THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 209 this he is distinguished from other animals, that he is, of all, the most imitative, and through this instinct receives his earliest education. All men, likewise, naturally receive pleasure from imitation. This is evident from what we ex- perience in viewing the works of imitative art ; for in them we contemplate with pleasure, and with the more pleasure, the more exactly they are imitated, such objects as, if real, we could not see without pain — as the figures of the mean- est and most disgusting animals, dead bodies, and the like. And the reason of this is, that to learn is a natural pleasure, not confined to philosophers, but common to all men ; with this difference only, that the multitude partake of it in a more transient and compendious manner. Hence the plea- sure they receive from a picture : in viewing it they learn, they infer, they discover, what every object is : that this, for instance, is such a particular man, &c. For if we sup- pose the object represented to be something which the spec- tator had never seen, in that case his pleasure will not arise from the imitation, but from the workmanship, the colours, or some such cause. Imitation, then, being thus natural to us ; and, 2dly, Melody and Rhythm being also natural, (for as to metre, it is plainly a species of rhythm,) those persons, in whom, ori- ginally, these propensities were the strongest, were naturally led to rude and extemporaneous attempts, which, gradually improved, gave birth to Poetry. But this Poetry, following the different characters of its authors, naturally divided itself into tivo different kinds. They, who were of a grave and lofty spirit, chose for their imitation the actions and adventures of elevated characters ; while Poets of a lighter turn, represented those of the p 210 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. vicious and contemptible. And these composed, originally, Satires ; as the former did Hymns and Encomia. Of the lighter kind, we have no poem anterior to the time of Homer, though many such, in all probability, there were ; but from his time, we have : as, his Margites, and others of the same species in which the Iambic was intro- duced as the most proper measure ; and hence, indeed, the name of Iambic, because it was the measure in which they used to satirize each other (\afifiiZ,uv). And thus these old poets were divided into two classes — those who used the heroic, and those who used the iambic verse. And as, in the serious kind, Homer alone may be said to deserve the name of poet, not only on account of his other excellencies, but also of the dramatic spirit of his imita- tions ; so was he likewise the first who suggested the idea of Comedy, by substituting ridicule for invective, and giving that ridicule a dramatic cast : for his Margites bears the same analogy to Comedy, as his Iliad and Odyssey to Tra- gedy. But when Tragedy and Comedy had once made their appearance, succeeding Poets, according to the turn of their genius, attached themselves to the one or the other of these new species. The lighter sort, instead of Iambic, became Comic poets ; the graver, Tragic, instead of Heroic : and that on account of the superior dignity and higher es- timation of these latter forms (o-xr/juara) of Poetry. Whether Tragedy has now, with respect to its constitu- ent parts, received the utmost improvement of which it is capable, considered both in itself, and relatively to the theatre, is a question that belongs not to this place. Both Tragedy, then, and Comedy, having originated in a rude and unpremeditated manner — the first from the leaders THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 211 in the Bltliyrambic hymns, the other from those Phallic songs, which, in many cities, remain still in use, — each ad- vanced gradually towards perfection, by such successive im- provements as were most obvious. Tragedy, after various changes, (woXXag peTafioXag /x£ra- fiaXovcra i) Tpaycpdia) reposed at length in the completion of its proper form. JEschylus first added a second actor : he also abridged the chorus, and made the dialogue the prin- cipal part of tragedy. Sophocles increased the number of actors to three, and added the decoration of painted sce- nery. It was also late before Tragedy threw aside the short and simple fable, and ludicrous language of its satyric ori- gin, and attained its proper magnitude and dignity. The Iambic measure was then first adopted : for, originally, the Trochaic tetrameter was made use of, as better suited to tho satyric and saltatorial genius of the poem at that time (dta. to crarvpiKriv koX 6p)(r]<7TiK(i)Tipav hvcil ttjv TroiijGiv) ; but when the dialogue was formed, nature itself pointed out the proper metre. For the iambic is, of all metres, the most colloquial (uaXiara yap Xcktikov %gti) ; as appears evidently from this fact, that our common conversation frequently falls into iambic verse ; seldom into hexameter, and only when we depart from the usual melody of speech. Episodes were also multiplied, and every other part of the drama successively improved and polished. But of this enough : to enter into a minute detail would perhaps be a task of some length. V. — Comedy, as was said before, is an imitation of bad characters : bad, not with respect to every sort of vice, but to the ridiculous only, as being a species of turpitude or de- formity ; since it may be defined to be — & fault or deformity of such sort as is neither painful nor destructive (to yap 212 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. yeXotov ianv apaprrifia ri — kcu ov (j)OapTiKov). A ridiculous face, for example, is something ugly and distorted, but not so as to cause pain. The successive improvements of Tragedy, and the re- spective authors of them, have not escaped our knowledge ; but those of Comedy, from the little attention that was paid to it in its origin, remain in obscurity. For it was not till late, that Comedy was authorised by the magistrate, and carried on at the public expense : it was, at first, a private and voluntary exhibition. From the time, indeed, when it began to acquire some degree of form, its poets have been recorded; but who first introduced masks, or prologues, or augmented the number of actors — these, and other parti- culars of the same kind, are unknown. Epicharmus and Phormis were the first who invented comic fables. This improvement, therefore, is of Sicilian origin. But, of Athenian poets, Crates was the first who abandoned the Iambic form of comedy, and made use of invented and general stories, or fables. Epic poetry agrees so far with Tragic, as it is an imitation of great characters and actions, by means of words ; but in this it differs, that it makes use of only one kind of metre throughout, and that it is narrative. It also differs in length : for Tragedy endeavours, as far as possible, to con- fine its action with the limits of a single revolution of the sun, or nearly so ; but the time of Epic action is indefinite. This, however, at first was equally the case with Tragedy itself. Of their constituent parts, some are common to both, some peculiar to Tragedy. He, therefore, who is a judge of the beauties and defects of Tragedy, is, of course, equally a judge with respect to those of Epic poetry : for all the THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 213 parts of the Epic poem are to be found in Tragedy : not all those of Tragedy in the Epic poem. VI. — Of the species of poetry which imitates in hexame* ters, and of Comedy, we shall speak hereafter. Let us now consider Tragedy ; collecting, first, from what has been al- ready said, its true and essential definition. Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is important, entire, and of a proper magnitude — by language embellished and rendered pleasurable, but by different means, in different parts — in the icay, not of narration, but of action — effecting, through pity and terror, the correction and refinement of such pas- sions. ("Ecrnv ovv rpaywBla uiur\Gig irpa^ewg (nrovdalag kcu rtXtiag, fiiyeOog £\ov(jr}g' rjdvafxivi^ Xoy^, \tjjp\g kKaarov tljv tldwv Iv Toig fiopioig, cpu)VTb)v, kcu ov Si aTrayysXtag, St' tAtov Kai (pofiov TTtpaivovGa ti)v twv tolovtwv 7ra0r)ixaT(i)V Kadap- OLV.) Hy pleasurable language, I mean a language that has the embellishments of rhythm, melody, and metre ; and I add, by different means in different parts, because in some parts metre alone is employed, in others, melody. Now as Tragedy imitates by acting, the decoration, in the first place, must necessarily be one of its parts : then the melopceia (or music), and the diction; for these last include the means of tragic imitation. By diction I mean the me- trical composition. The meaning of melopceia is obvious to every one. Again : Tragedy being an imitation of an action, and the persons employed in that action being necessarily cha- racterized by their manners and their sentiments, since it is from these that actions themselves derive their character, it follows, that there must also be manners and sentiments, as the two causes of actions, and, consequently, of the 214? THE GRECIAN DRAMA. happiness or unhappiness of all men. The imitation of the action is the fable : for by fable I now mean the contexture of incidents, or the plot. By manners, I mean, whatever marks the characters of the persons. By senti- ments, whatever they say, whether proving any thing, or de- livering a general sentiment, &c. Hence, all Tragedy, must necessarily contain six parts, which, together, constitute its peculiar character or quality; fable, manners, diction, sentiments, decoration, and music, (jjv9og, Kai ?}0»j, kmiov). Of these signs, some are natural ; as the lance with which the family of the eariliborn Tliebans were marked : others are adventi- tious ; (liriKT-qra') and of these, some are corporal, as scars; some external, as necklaces, bracelets, &c. or the little boat by which the discovery is made in the tragedy of Tyro. Even these, however, may be employed with more or less skill. The discovery of Ulysses, for example, to his nurse, by means of his scar, is very different from his discovery, by the same means, to the herdsmen. For all those dis- coveries, in which the sign is produced by way of proof, are inartificial. Those which, like that in the Washing of Ulysses happen suddenly and casually, are better. Secondly, — Discoveries invented, at pleasure, by the poet, and on that account, still inartificial. For example ; in the Iphigenia, Orestes, after having discovered his sister, discovers himself to her. She, indeed, is discovered by the letter ; but Orestes, by [verbal proofs :] and these are such as the poet chooses to make him produce, not such as arise from the circumstances of the fable. This kind of discovery, therefore, borders upon the fault of that first mentioned : for some of the things from which those proofs are drawn are even such as might have been actually produced as visible signs. 230 THE GRECIAN DRAMA, Another instance, is the discovery by the sound of the shuttle in the Tereus of Sophocles. Thirdly. — The discovery occasioned by memory ; (77 $ia fivrifxr}g') as, when some recollection is excited by the view of a particular object. Thus, in the Cyprians of Dicosogenes, a discovery is produced by tears shed at the sight of a pic- ture : and thus, in the Tale of Alcinous, Ulysses, listening to the bard, recollects, weeps, and is discovered. Fourthly. — The discovery occasioned by reasoning or in- ference ; (f) k avWoytafiov') such as that in the Choephoroe: " The person, who is arrived, resembles me — no one re- sembles me but Orestes — it must be he !" And that of Polyides the sophist, in his Iphigenia ; for the conclusion of Orestes was natural — " It had been his sister's lot to be sacrificed, and it was now his own P That, also, in the Thy dens of Theodectes—" He came to find his son, and he himself must perish !" And thus the daughters of Phineus, in the tragedy denominated from them, viewing the place to which they were led, infer their fate — " there they were to die, for there they were exposed !" There is also a com- pound sort of discovery, arising from false inference in the audience, as in Ulysses the False Messenger : he asserts, that he shall know the bow, which he had not seen ; the audience falsely infer, that a discovery by that means will follow. But, of all discoveries, the best is that which arises from the action itself and in which a striking effect is produced by probable incidents. Such is that in the (Edipus of So- phocles, and that in the Iphigenia; for nothing is more na- tural than her desire of conveying the letter. Such dis- coveries are the best, because they alone are effected with- out the help of invented proofs, or bracelets, &c. Next to these, are the discoveries by inference. THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 231 XVII. — The poet, both when he plans, and when he writes, his tragedy, should put himself, as much as possible, in the place of a spectator ; for, by this means seeing every thing distinctly, as if present at the action, he will discern what is proper, and no inconsistencies will escape him. The fault objected to Carcinus is a proof of this. Amphiaraus had left the temple : this the poet, for want of conceiving the action to pass before his eyes, overlooked ; but in the representation, the audience were disgusted, and the piece condemned. In composing, the poet should even, as much as possible, be an actor : for, by natural sympathy, tliey are most per- suasive and affecting, who are under the influence of actual passion. We share the agitation of those who appear to be truly agitated — the anger of those who appear to be truly angry. Hence it is that poetry demands either great natural quickness of parts, or an enthusiasm allied to madness. By the first of these, we mould ourselves with facility to the imitation of every form ; by the other, transported out of ourselves, we become what we imagine. When the poet invents a subject, he should first draw a general sketch of it, and afterwards give it the detail of its episodes, and extend it. The general argument, for in- stance, of the Ipldgenia should be considered in this way — " A virgin, on the point of being sacrificed, is imperceptibly conveyed away from the altar, and transported to another country, where it was the custom to sacrifice all strangers to Diana. Of these rites she is appointed priestess. It happens, some time after, that her brother arrives there." But why ? — because an oracle had commanded him, for some reason exterior to the general plan. For what pur- pose ? This also is exterior to the plan. " He arrives, is 232 THE GRECIAN DKAMA. seized, and, at the instant that he is going to be sacrificed, the discovery is made." — And this may be either in the way of Euripides, or like that of Polyides, by the natural reflec- tion of Orestes, that " it was his fate also, as it had been his sister's, to be sacrificed :" by which exclamation he is saved. After this, the poet, when he has given names to his cha- racters, should proceed to the episodes of his action ; and he must take care that these belong properly to the subject ; like that of the madness of Orestes, which occasions his being taken, and his escape by means of the ablution. In dramatic poetry the episodes are short ; but in the epic, they are the means of drawing out the poem to its proper length. The general story of the Odyssey, for example, lies in a small compass : " A certain man is supposed to be absent from his own country for many years — he is perse- cuted by Neptune, deprived of all his companions, and left alone. At home his affairs are in disorder — -the suitors of his wife dissipating his wealth, and plotting the destruction of his son. Tossed by many tempests, he at length arrives, and, making himself known to some of his family, attacks his enemies, destroys them, and remains himself in safety ." This is the essential ; the rest is episode. XVIII. — Every tragedy consists of two parts — the complication, (S«ne,) and the development, (Kiaiq). The complication is often formed by incidents supposed prior to the action, and by a part, also, of those that are icithin the action ; the rest form the development. I call complication, all that is between the beginning of the piece, and the last part, where the change of fortune commences : — development, all between the beginning of that change, and the conclu- sion. Thus, in the Lynceas of Theodectes, the events an- THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 233 tecedent to the action, and the seizure of the child, con- stitute the complication : the development is from the accusa- tion of murder to the end. There are four kinds of Tragedy, deducible from so many parts, which have been mentioned. One kind is the com- plicated, (7T£7r\Eyf.i£vti') where all depends on revolution and discovert/: another is the disastrous, (iraOriTiKiy) such as those on the subject of Ajax or Ixion : another, the moral, (riOiKii) as the Phthiotides and the Peleus : and, fourthly, the simple, (ohv) such as the Phorcides, the Prometheus, and all those tragedies, the scene of which is laid in the infernal regions. It should be the poet's aim to make himself master of all these manners ; of as many of them, at least, as possible, and those the best : especially, considering the captious cri- ticism to which, in these days, he is exposed. For the pub- lic, having now seen different poets excel in each of these different kinds, expect every single poet to unite in himself, and to surpass, the peculiar excellencies of them all. One tragedy may justly be considered as the same with another, or different, not according as the subjects, but rather according as the complication and development are the same or different. Many poets, when they have com- plicated well, develope baclly. They should endeavour to deserve equal applause in both. We must also be attentive to what has been often men- tioned, and not construct a tragedy upon an epic plan. By an epic plan, I mean a fable composed of many fables ; as if any one, for instance, should take the entire fable of the Iliad for the subject of a tragedy. In the epic poem, the length of the whole admits of a proper magnitude in the parts ; but in the Drama, the effect of such a plan is far 234 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. different from what is expected. As a proof of this, those poets, who have formed the whole of the destruction of Troy into a tragedy, instead of confining themselves (as Euripides, but not JEschylus, has done, in the story of Niobe^) to a part, have either been condemned in the repre- sentation, or have contended without success. Even Agatlio has failed on this account, and on this only ; for in revolu- tions, and in actions, also, of the simple kind, these poets succeed wonderfully in what they aim at ; and that is, the union of tragic effect with moral tendency : as when, for ex- ample, a character of great wisdom, but without integrity, is deceived, like Sisyphus ; or a brave, but unjust man, con- quered. Such events, as Agatha says, are probable, " as it is probable, in general, that many things should happen contrary to probability." The chorus should be considered as one of the persons in the Drama ; should be a part of the whole, and a sharer in the action : not as in Euripides, but as in Sophocles, As for other poets — their choral songs have no more connexion with their subject than with that of any other tragedy : and hence, they are now become detached pieces, inserted at pleasure : a practice introduced by Agatho. Yet where is the difference between this arbitrary insertion of an ode, and the transposition of a speech, or even of a whole episode, from one tragedy to another I XIX. — Of the other parts of Tragedy enough has now been said. We are next to consider the diction and the For what concerns the sentiments we refer to the princi- ples laid down in the books on Rhetoric ; for to that subject they more properly belong. The sentiments include whatever is the object of speech ; as, for instance, to prove, to confute, THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 235 to move the passions — pity, terror, anger, and the like ; to amplify, or to diminish. But it is evident, that, with re- spect to the things themselves also, when the poet would make them appear pitiable, or terrible, or great, or proba- ble, he must draw from the same sources ; with this differ- ence only, that in the drama these things must appear to be such, without being shewn to be such ; whereas, in ora- tory they must be made to appear so by the speaker, and in consequence of what he says : otherwise, what need of an orator, if they already appear so, in themselves, and not through his eloquence I With respect to diction, one part of its theory is that which treats of the figures of speech ; such as commanding, entreating, relating, menacing, interrogating, answering, and the like. But this belongs, properly, to the art of acting, and to the professed masters of that kind. The poefs knowledge or ignorance of these things cannot any way materially affect the credit of his art. For who will sup- pose there is any justice in the cavil of Protagoras — that in the words, " the wrath, goddess, sing," the poet, where he intended a prayer, had expressed a command : for he in- sists, that to say, do this, or do it not, is to command. This subject, therefore, we pass over, as belonging to an art dis- tinct from that of poetry. XX. — To all diction belong the following parts : the letter, the syllable, the conjunction, the noun, the verb, the article, the case, the discourse or speech. 1. A letter is an indivisible sound, yet not all such sounds are letters, but those only that are capable of forming an intelligible sound. For there are indivisible sounds of brute creatures ; but no such sounds are called letters. Letters are of three kinds — vowels, semivowels, and mutes. The 236 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. vowel is that which has a distinct sound without articulation; as A or 0. The semivowel, that which has a distinct sound with articulation, as S and R. The mute, that which, with articulation, has yet no sound by itself ; but joined with one of those letters that have some sound, becomes audible, as G and D. These all differ from each other as they are pro- duced by some different configurations, and in different parts of the mouth ; as they are aspirated or smooth, long or short ; as their tone is acute, grave, or intermediate : the detail of all which is the business of the metrical treatises. 2. A syllable is a sound without signification, composed of a mute and a vowel ; for GR, without A, is not a syl- lable ; with A, as GBA, it is. But these differences, also, are the subject of the metrical art. 3. A conjunction is a sound without signification, * * * * * * * of such a nature, as, out of several sounds, each of them significant, to form one significant sound. 4. An article is a sound without signification, which marks the beginning or the end of a sentence, or distinguishes, as when we say, the word (pri/m, the word7T£/of,&c. ****** 5. A noun is a sound composed of other sounds ; signifi- cant, without expression of time, and of which no part is by itself significant: for even in double words the parts are not taken in the sense that separately belongs to them. Thus, in the word Theodorus, dorus is not significant. 6. A verb is a sound composed of other sounds ; signifi- cant, with expression of time, and of which, as of the noun, no part is by itself significant. Thus, in the words man, white, indication of time is not included ; in the words, he walks, we walked, &c. it is included ; the one expressing the present time, the other the past. 7. Cases belong to nouns and verbs. Some cases express THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 237 relation ; as of, to, and the like : others number, as man, or nun, &jC. Others relate to action or pronunciation ; as those of interrogation, of command, &c. for IfiaSicrs ; [did he go ?~\ and fiaZfe, [go,] are verbal cases of that kind. 8. Discourses, or speech, is a sound significant, composed of other sounds, some of which are significant by themselves: for all discourse is not composed of verbs and nouns : the definition of man, for instance. Discourse or speech may subsist without a verb : some significant part, however, it must contain ; significant, as the word Cleon is, in " Clem watts" A discourse or speech is one in two senses ; either as it signifies one thing, or several things made one by conjunction. Thus the Iliad is one by conjunction : the definition of man, by signifying one thing, XXI. — Of words some are single, by which I mean, com- posed of parts not significant, and some double ; of which last some have one part significant, and the other not sig- nificant ; and some, both parts significant. A word may also be triple, quadruple, &c. like many of those used by the Megaliotce, as Hermocaicoxanthus. Every word is either common, or foreign, or metaphorical, or ornamental, or in- vented, or extended, or contracted, or altered. By common w 7 ords I mean such as are in general and es- tablished use. By foreign, such as belong to a different lan- guage : so that the same word may evidently be both com- mon tind foreign, though not to the same people. The word myvvov, to the Cyprians is common, to us foreign. A metaphorical word is a word transferred from its proper sense ; either from genus to species, or from species to genus, or from one species to another, or in the way of analogy. 238 >THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 1. From genus to species : as> Secure in yonder port my vessel stands. For to be at anchor is one species of standing or being fixed. 2. From species to genus : as, To Ulysses, A thousand generous deeds we owe • For a thousand is a certain definite many, which is here used for many in general. 3. From one species to another : as, XaXKty awo itjjvx^v apvaag. And, Tap arupu X^Kty* For here the poet uses Tafxuv, ft cut off, instead of hpvaai, to draw forth, and apvaai instead of rafxuv ; each being a species of talcing away. 4. In the way of analogy — when, of four terms, the second bears the same relation to the first, as the fourth to the third ; in which case the fourth may be substituted for the second, and the second for the fourth. And sometimes the proper term is also introduced, besides its relative term. Thus a cwp bears the same relation to Bacchus, as a SM0M to Mars. A shield, therefore, may be called the cup of Mars, and a cup ^ shield of Bacchus. Again — evening being to day, what old age is to life, the evening may be called the old age of the day, and old age, the evening of life; or as Empedocles has expressed it, " Life's setting sun." It sometimes happens, that there is no proper analogous term, answering to the term borrowed ; which yet may be used in the same manner as if there were. For instance — to sow is the term appropriated to the action of dispersing seed upon the earth ; but the dispersion of rays from the sun is expressed by no appropriated term ; it is, however, with re* THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 239 spect to the surfs light, what sowing is with respect to seed. Hence the poet's expression of the sun — > Sowing abroad, His heaven-created flame. There is, also, another way of using this kind of metaphor, by adding to the borrowed word a negation of some of those qualities which belong to it in its proper sense : as if, instead of calling a shield the cup of Mars, we should call it the wineless cup. An invented word is a word never before used by any one, but coined by the poet himself, for such it appears there are ; as tpvvTai for Kspara, horns, or ap-qriqp, for hpzvg, a priest. A word is extended when for the proper vowel a longer is substituted, or a syllable is inserted. A word is contracted when some part of it is retrenched. Thus iroX^og for ttoXwq, and Ilri\r)Lct$£(*) for UriXuadov, are extended words: con- tracted, such as Kpi, and do), and 6ip : e. g. pia yiv£Tca ajii(j)OT£pii}v oip. An altered word is a word of which part remains in its usual state, and part is of the poet's making : as in A&Tepov Kara fJiaZov. S&Ttpog is for $£%10Q. Farther — nouns are divided into masculine, feminine, and neuter. The masculine are those which end in v, p, s, and others — > by which he has diversified his poem. Other poets take for their subject the actions of one person or of one period of time, or an action which, though one, is composed of too many parts. Thus the author of the Cypriacs, and of the Little Iliad. Hence it is, that the Iliad and the Odyssey each of them furnish matter for one tragedy, or two, at most ; but from the Cypriacs many may be taken, and from 244 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. the Little Iliad more than eight ; as, The Contest for the Armour, Philoctetes, Neoptolemus, Eurypylus, The Va- grant, The Spartan Women, The Fall of Troy, The Re- turn of the Fleet, Sinon, and The Trojan Women. Again — the epic poem must also agree with the tragic, as to its kinds : it must be simple or complicated, moral or disastrous. Its parts also, setting aside music and decora- tion, are the same ; for it requires revolutions, discoveries, and disasters ; and it must be furnished with proper senti- ments and diction : of all which Homer gave both the first, and the most perfect example. Thus, of his two poems, the Iliad is of the simple and disastrous kind ; the Odyssey, com- plicated (for it abounds throughout with discoveries,) and moral. Add to this, that in language and sentiments he has surpassed all poets. The epic poem differs from tragedy, in the length of its plan, and in its metre. With respect to length, a sufficient measure has already been assigned. It should be such as to admit of our com- prehending at one view the beginning and the end : and this would be the case, if the epic poem were reduced from its ancient length, so as not to exceed that of such a number of tragedies, as are performed successively at one hearing. But there is a circumstance in the nature of epic poetry which affords it peculiar latitude in the extension of its plan. It is not in the power of tragedy to imitate several different actions performed at the same time ; it can imitate only that one which occupies the stage, and in which the ac- tors are employed. But the epic imitation, being narrative, admits of many such simultaneous incidents, properly related to the subject, which swell the poem to a considerable size. And this gives it a great advantage, both in point of mag- THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 245 nifcence, and also as it enables the poet to relieve his hearer, and diversify his work, by a variety of dissimilar episodes : for it is to the satiety naturally arising from similarity that tragedies frequently owe their ill success. With respect to metre, the heroic is established by expe- rience as the most proper ; so that, should any one compose a narrative poem in any other, or in a variety of metres, he would be thought guilty of a great impropriety. For the heroic is the gravest and most majestic of all measures ; and hence it is, that it peculiarly admits the use of foreign and metaphorical expressions ; for in this respect also, the narrative imitation is abundant and various beyond the rest. But the Iambic and Trochaic have more motion ; the latter being adapted to dance, the other to action and business. To mix these different metres, as Chwremon has done, would be still more absurd. No one, therefore, has ever attempted to compose a poem of an extended plan in any other than heroic verse ; nature itself, as we before observed, pointing out the proper choice. Among the many just claims of Homer to our praise, this is one — that he is the only poet who seems to have un- derstood what part in his poem it was proper for him to tak© himself The poet, in his own person, should speak as little as possible ; for he is not then the imitator. But other poets, ambitious to figure throughout themselves, imi- tate but little, and seldom. Homer, after a few preparatory lines, immediately introduces a man, a woman, or some other character ; for all have their character — no where are the manners neglected. The surprising is necessary in Tragedy ; but the epi« poem goes farther, and admits even the improbable and in- credible \ from which the highest degree of the surprising re- 246 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. suits, because, there, the action is not seen. The circum- stances, for example, of the pursuit of Hector by Achilles, are such, as, upon the stage, would appear ridiculous ; — the Grecian army standing still, and taking no part in the pur- suit, and Achilles making signs to them, by the motion of his head, not to interfere. But in the epic poem this es- capes our notice. Now the wonderful always pleases ; as is evident from the additions which men always make in re- lating any thing, in order to gratify the hearers. It is from Homer principally that other poets have learned the art of feigning well. It consists in a sort of sophism. When one thing is observed to be constantly accompanied or followed by another, men are apt to conclude, that if the latter is, or has happened, the former must also be, or must have happened. But this is an error. * * * * For, know- ing the latter to be true, the mind is betrayed into the false inference, that the first is true also. The poet should prefer impossibilities which appear pro- bable, to such things as, though possible, appear improbable. Far from producing a plan made up of improbable inci- dents, he should, if possible, admit no one circumstance of that kind ; or, if he does, it should be exterior to the action itself, like the ignorance of (Edipus concerning the manner in which Laius died ; not within the drama, like the nar- rative of what happened at the Pythian games, in the Electra ; or, in The Mysians, the man who travels from Tegea to Mysia without speaking. To say, that without these circumstances the fable would have been destroyed, is a ridiculous excuse : the poet should take care, from the first, not to construct his fable in that manner. If, however, any thing of this kind has been admitted, and yet is made to pass under some colour of probability, it may be allowed, THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 247 though even in itself absurd. Thus, in the Odyssey, the im- probable account of the manner in which Ulysses was landed upon the shore of Ithaca is such as, in the hands of an ordi- nary poet, would evidently have been intolerable : but here the absurdity is concealed under the various beauties, of other kinds, with which the poet has embellished it. The diction should be most laboured in the idle parts of the poem— those in which neither manners nor sentiments prevail ; for the manners and the sentiments are only ob- scured by too splendid a diction. XXV. — With respect to critical objections, and the an- swers to them, the number and nature of the different sources from which they may be drawn will be clearly understood, if we consider them in the following manner. 1. The poet, being an imitator, like the painter or any other artist of that kind, must necessarily, when he imi- tates, have in view one of these three objects : he must re- present things, such as they were, or are ; or such as they are said to be, and believed to be ; or such as they should be, 2. Again — all this he is to express in ivords, either com- mon, or foreign and metaphorical — or varied by some of those many modifications and peculiarities of language which are the privilege of poets. 3. To this we must add, that what is right in the poetic art, is a distinct consideration from what is right in the political, or any other art. The faults of poetry are of two kinds, essential and accidental. If the poet has undertaken to imitate without talents for imitation, his poetry will be es- sentially faulty. But if he is right in applying himself to poetic imitation, yet in imitating is occasionally wrong — as if a horse, for example, were represented moving both his right legs at once ; or, if he has committed mistakes, or 248 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. described things impossible, with respect to other arts, that of physic, for instance, or any other — all such faults, what- ever they may be, are not essential, but accidental faults, in the poetry. To the foregoing considerations, then, we must have re- course, in order to obviate the doubts and objections of the critics. For, in the first place, suppose the poet to have repre- sented things impossible with respect to some other art ; this is certainly a fault. Yet it may be an excusable fault, pro- vided the end of the poefs art be more effectually obtained by it ; that is, according to what has already been said of that end, if by this means, that, or any other part of the poem is made to produce a more striking effect. The pur- suit of Hector is an instance. If, indeed, this end might as well, or nearly as well, have been attained, without de- parting from the principles of the particular art in question, the fault, in that case, could not be justified, since faults of every kind should, if possible, be avoided. Still we are to consider, farther, whether a fault be in things essential to the poetic art, or foreign and incidental to it : for it is a far more pardonable fault to be ignorant, for instance, that a hind has no horns, than to paint one badly. Farther — If it be objected to the poet, that he has not represented things conformably to truth, he may answer, that he has represented them as they should be. This was the answer of Sophocles — that " he drew mankind such as they should be ; Euripides, such as they are."' And this is the proper answer. But if the poet has represented things in neither of these ways, he may answer, that he has represented them as they THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 249 are said and believed to be. Of this kind are the poetical descriptions of the gods. It cannot, perhaps, be said that they are either what is best, or what is true ; but, as Xeno- phanes says, opinions " taken up at random ;" these are things, however, not " clearly Mown" Again — What the poet has exhibited is, perhaps, not what is best, but it is the fact ; as in the passage about the arms of the sleeping soldiers : fixed upright in the earth Their spears stood by.. For such was the custom at that time, as it is now among the Illyrians. In order to judge whether what is said, or clone, by any character, be well or ill, we are not to consider that speech or action alone, whether in itself it be good or bad, but also by whom it is spoken or done, to whom, at what time, in what manner, or for what end — whether, for instance, in order to obtain some greater good, or to avoid some greater evil. For the solution of some objections, we must have re- course 1 . to the diction. — For example : Ovpriag p.ev irpwrov " On mules and dogs th* infection first began. — Pope. This may be defended by saying, that the poet has, perhaps, used the word ovpriag in its foreign acceptation of sentinels, not in its proper sense, of mules. So also in the passage where it is said of Dolon — EtSoe fjizv lr\v KaKog ... Of form unhappy. ........ The meaning is, not, that his person was deformed, but, that his face was xigly ; for the Cretans use the word o;«$ec— « " well-formed"'— to express a beautiful face. 250 THE GRECIAN DRAMA, Again— Zwporspov $£ KEpaips Here, the meaning is not, " mix it strong" as for intem- perate drinkers ; but, " mix it quickly" 2. The following passages may be defended by metaphor — " Now pleasing sleep had seal'd each mortal eye ; " Stretch'd in the tents the Grecian leaders lie ; " TV immortals slumber* d on their thrones above." — Pope. Again — " When on the Trojan plain his anxious eye « Watchful hefix'd." And— Av\(jjv crvpiyyiovO' ofxadov ... For, all, is put metaphorically, instead of many; all being a species of many. Here also — < " The Bear alone, " Still shines exalted in th' ethereal plain, " Nor bathes his flaming forehead in the main."— Pope* Alone, is metaphorical : the most remarkable thing in any kind, we speak of as the only one. We may have recourse also, 3. To accent: as the following passage— ■> AlBo/jlev $e ol £i»xoc apecrQai.,. And this — to fxev ov KarairvdzTai bixfipq — were defended by Hippias of Thasos. 4. To punctuation ; as in the passage of Empedocles : — Atya Sc Ovr\T Icjivovro ra irpiv [xaOov aOavar tlvai, 7uWpa re ra irpiv aK/)ijra things, before immortal, Mortal became, and mix*d before, unmixed. 5. To ambiguity; as in — irap^^r\K^v & ttXswv vv% — where the word wXwv is ambiguous. THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 251 6. To customary speech : thus, wine mixed with water, or whatever is poured out to drink as wine, is called olvog — wine : hence, Ganymede is said — All oXvoxpzvuv — to " pour the wine^to Jove :" though wine is not the liquor of the Gods. This, however, may also be defended by metaphor. Thus, again, artificers in iron are called xaAicac, literally braziers. Of this kind is the expression of the poet — KvrjJLlig VtOTZVKTOV KaaCTLTtpOLO. 7. When a word, in any passage, appears to express a contradiction, we must consider, in how many different senses it may there be taken. Here, for instance — ... TTj p e fdpi^dvg^a, are short in composition. llav in the beginning of compound words is short : as, irava\aiu)v ; vjg, avg, and irvp are short in composition : as, ovfid)Tr]g ; A privative is generally short. 13. The Doric a for rj or ov is long; the iEolic a is short; as, vvficpa , increasing 262 THE GllECIAN DRAMA. short in the genitive, lengthen the penult, as 'Apcjnwv, &c. increasing long, shorten it : as, AwkoXlwv ; the penult, is common in Kpoviuv, 'Qpiwv. 15. The penult, of verbals in vmg is short; as, \vcrig ; also of polysyllable nouns in vvq, and of some in urrje, as, yriQoavvri, (3pa§vTv,g : also of diminutives in vXop, as, [iikkv- \og : in most adj. in yvog and vpog ; as, 7T£zvyvvpi, Zzvyvvai ; but in dis- syllables it is long throughout ; as, SvQi, eSu7w. Verbs of the fourth conjugation, particularly those in vco and pw, have the doubtful vowel before the liquid generally long in the presents and imperfects, and in the first aorists active and middle, and short in the futures and second aorists. The quantity of all tenses generally remains the same as in the tense, from which they are formed ; as, Kplvo), eiepivov, k/)Tvw, KUpiKa. If the first future is long by position only, the penultima of the perfect is short, as, ypaipw, y£ypaa£, %wpa%„ Hpal$, KOjoSa£, TTacrcra^, pa^, GTopfya^, ovp accusatives in a from nouns in cue, generally in the Attic dialect ; vocatives from proper names in ag, as, riaXXa ; the Doric a, as, iraya for ir-qyrj ; but the iEolic a is short, and hence the Latin nominative in a is short ; the word evXana has the a long. The names of the letters have i long, as, £7, 7r7, as also the word Kpl ; contracted words, as, ^ri for ^ru ; the Attic paragoge, as, ravT~L, ovToai, except the dative plural, as, golgl. The imperfect, second aorist, and imperative of verbs in v/u, have v long, as, ev, ojlivv ; vocatives from vg, as, p.v ; the names of letters, as, jxv, with ypv ; avriKpv is generally lengthened by the arsis. 19. AN, IN, YN final are short, with the following excep- tions — Av long : words circumflexed, as wav. Oxytons masculine, as Ttrav. These adverbs, ayav, zvav, Xiav, iTEpav. The accusative of the first declension, whose nomi- native is long, as, (piXiav. \v long : words of two termina- tions, as, dz\6pKw, and p(ap, try p. 21. AS, IS, YS final are short : except Ac long; nomi- natives of participles, as rirfiag ; all cases of the first de- clension, as Taftlac, povaag, (but the Doric accusative is short, as vvfji(j)ag ;) plural accusatives in ag, from the long a in the accusative singular of nouns in zvg, as liriT^ag ; nouns in ac, avTog, as A'tag ; with piXag and roXa^. Ic long: words of two terminations, as, ScA$ie and dtX^iv ; hyper- dissyllables, with two short syllables before the last, as, KaXafTig ; nouns in ig increasing long, as, Kvrifiig ; with kic, Kiog ; opvig, which makes opviog and opvlOog, has the termination common. Yg long: words of two termina- tions, as, (popKvg and opKvv ; monosyllables, as, pvg ; with Ku)p.vg ; oxytons making the genitive in og pure, as, wXriOvg, but these are sometimes short ; imperfects, second aorists, and participles of verbs in vp.i, as, t(pvg, Zsvyvvg. 266 THE GRECIAN DRAMA, SECTION II. Greek Metres. 1. A long syllable consists of two times ; two short syl- lables are considered equal to one long. 2. Metre, in its most extensive sense, means an arrange- ment of syllables and feet in verse, according to certain rules ; and applies not only to an entire verse, but to part of a verse, or any number of verses. But a metre, in a specific sense, means either a foot, or the union of two feet ; it is applied to two feet, because the person who beat time during the dramatic recitations raised his foot but once for each pair-of feet pronounced. Rhythm respects the time only, and is a general name expressing the proportion that subsists between the parts of time employed in the pronunciation of different feet ; the least division of which is that which is employed in the pronunciation of a short syllable. This is Quinctilian's sense. The term is sometimes used in a more compre- hensive sense, and is synonymous with harmony. Metre respects both the time and order of the syllables. The Rhythm of a Dactyl and Anapaest is the same, the Metre different. The distinction is similar to that of Combina- tions and Permutations in Arithmetic. 3. A foot consists of two or more syllables, connected and arranged according to established rules, and forming THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 267 part of a verse. A verse* is a certain number of connected feet, forming a line of poetry ; it is derived from "Vertere," because at the close of each line, the reader necessarily turns to the beginning of another. Scanning-f- is the di- viding of a verse into the feet of which it is composed, and the assigning of their proper quantity to the constituent syllables in each foot. A certain number of connected syllables is called a foot, because by the aid of these feet, the voice steps along through the verse in a measured pace. The metaphor is taken from dancing, which by Simonides was called silent poetry, and poetry speaking dance ; a poetical foot has also been compared to a bar in music. 4. Table of Feet. Pyrrich Iambus Trochee Tribrach Spondee Anapaest Dactyl - Amphibrachys Proceleusmaticus Cretic or Amphimacer Bacchius Antibacchius - 1st Peeon 2nd Peeon 3rd Pa?on 4th Pason \ Two times i From the p y rrhic dance— a lively / i wo times, | m0V e m ent . . V v* "*\ /-From \dnru, to abuse. Archilocus used it in satire - . w !► Three times i From T P fc 'x e ' v > to run — ' f inret, nines, < rhnri>11 fr .„ ta lls _ in J 1 also called Choree, from its use in the chorus ■f So called from its quantity - kj \j \j | Because used \v roug a-novbatg - - - From avairaieiv, being struck con- trary to the dactyl - - wy " Four times, «* From SdnrvXos, a finger - - v v Also called Scolius, from its use in _ Scolia or catches - - " From TrpoKeXeuoTidjthe word of com- . mand - Because invented or used by the _ _ Cretans - - - "" UsedinDithyrambic Hymns, in ho- _ _ nor of Bacchus - - Or Palimbacchius, the converse of the Bacchius > Five times, So called from their use in the Pas- onic Hymns. - - k.' — \j v \j \j \j \j - * The Greek term for verse is ari^o^, a rank, or row, on account of the arrangement of the words; hence V'<""'X' 0V > a hemistich, or half a verse, and SsVn^ov, a distich, &c, f From " Scandere," to climb. 268 THE GRECIAN DRAMA, Molossus • - Choriambus - - Antispast - Ionic a Majore - ► Six times, Ionic a Minore - Diiambus - Ditrochasus - - d 1st Epitrit - 1 2nd Epitrit 3rd Epitrit : y Seven times, | 4th Epitrit - J Dispondeus » Eight times, From the Molossi, who used it - •- — — Compounded of a choree and an iambus - _ - — \s \j — From drawing opposite to a Cho- riambus - . - \s - — \j The favorite foot of the lonians Ditto The Iambic Syzygy \J Vj» - - w - u- The Trochaic Syzygy - — \j r v^ - f The Epitrits are so called because J they have three long syllables, and "~ w | -rpiTov a thiid short one, knl in _ _ I addition. Two Spondees - - - - - - - 5. Though it might be supposed, that all feet in which the number of times is equal, are isochronous, and therefore capable of being used for each other, yet it is not so ; an Iambus, for instance, cannot be substituted for a Trochee. Those feet only are considered isochronous, in which the isochronism is similarly posited. Thus- 1 — _ „ \J _ «. are v^ - - are isochronous ; =_ \J \J - v not \J\J \J\J yj \j\j - 6. Verses are termed Monometer, Dimeter, Trimeter, &c. as they consist respectively of one, two, or thre metres. In Anapaestic, Iambic, and Trochaic verse, a metre consists of two feet ; in other species of verse, one foot constitutes a metre. In Anapaestic, Iambic, and Trochaic verse therefore, a Monometer contains two feet, - a Dimeter four feet, &c. ; in the other species, a Mono- meter contains only one foot, a Dimeter two, &c. As a general rule, it may be said, that when the predominant foot (the foot from which the metre derives its name,) consists of four times, we scan either with or without THE GEECIAN DRAMA. 269 Dipodise ; (thus Dactylics are scanned without, Anapsestics with Dipodise ;) if of less than four times, always with Dipodise ; if of more, always without them. Thus Iambics and Trochaics always with Dipodise, but Choriambics, Antispastics, &c. always without them. 7. A Metre, in its signification of two feet, is otherwise called Syzygy (<7u£uym), or Dipodia. By some, the term Syzygy is applied to the combination of two simple but unequal feet, as a Trochee and Iambus ; the term Dipodia to the combination of two simple and equal feet, as two Iambi ; it is then otherwise called Tautopodia : most usually, however, the combination of two disyllabic feet is called a Dipodia, and that of two trisyllabic, or of a disyllabic and trisyllabic, a Syzygy. 8. The metrical Ictus, occurring twice in each Dipodia, seems to have struck the ear in pairs, being more strongly marked in the one place than in the other. Accordingly, each pair was once marked by the percussion of the musi- cian^ foot : " Pede ter percusso" is Horace's phrase when speaking of the Iambic Trimeter. 9. Verses are denominated Acatalectic, Catalectic, Bra- chycatalectic, Hypercatalectic or Hypermeter, and Acepha- lous.* An Acatalectic verse, derived from a priv. and KaraA/jysiv, to cease or stop, is one which contains its exact number of feet and syllables. A Catalectic verse, derived from tcaTaXyiyuv, to cease, is one which is deficient by a syllable, or in some cases by * Thus the complete name of every verse necessarily consists of three terms — the first referring- to the species, the second to the num- ber of metres, the third to the apothesis or ending i for instance, an Iambic Trimeter Acatalectic. 270 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. two. Thus in Dactylics, a verse ending with a Trochee would be termed Oatalectic on a disyllable, and if it wanted two syllables, it would be Oatalectic on one syllable. It is a general law of Catalectics, that the foot before the Oatalectic syllable should be pure, i. e. be the foot from which the metre is named. The last metre of a Oatalectic verse, especially in Trochaics and Iambics, is called Kara- k\uq. A Brachycatalectic verse, from fipaxvg, short, and KaraXrjyuv, is a verse which is deficient by a whole foot. An Hypercatalectic, (from virsp and KaraArryav), or Hypermeter, (from vtrep and julrpov, a measure,) is a verse which is redundant either by a syllable or an entire foot. An Acephalous verse, (from a priv. and KrfaXrj, a head,) is a verse which wants a syllable or more at the beginning. 10. A part of a verse in which the metres are complete, or which consists of entire syzygies, is called ku\ov ; that in which they are incomplete, or which does not consist of entire syzygies, is called KOfifia. 11. A composition in verse, which consists of only one kind of metre, is called by grammarians, carmen /jlovoku)- Xov, (from fiovog, solus, and k£Xov, membrum ;) if it contain two kinds of metre, it is termed SIkwXov ; if three, TpUojXov ; if four, TtrpaiuvXov. So again, if it consist of independent verses, which form no stanza, it is called fiovooTpofyov, (juovoc, and (rrpo^?), versus;) if it consist of stanzas, containing each two verses, it is termed diarpocpov ; if of stanzas of three verses, Tpiarpofyov ; if of stanzas of four verses, TtrpaaTpofyov. 12. Where a verse of a given species consists of two feet and a half, it is called a penthemimer, as consisting of five half-feet; if of three feet and a half, a faptfomimer, as consist- THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 271 ing of seven half-feet ; if of one whole metre and a half, it is called hemiholius, as being the half of a whole Trimeter. IS. Caesura, called by the Greeks rofii], signifies either a division in the feet of a verse, whereby a foot is divided between two words, or a division in a line, by which a line is divided into two commas or colons. Of the former, there are three species, viz. the syllabic,* in which the first part of the divided foot consists of the last syllable of a word; the trochaic, in which the first part of the divided foot consists of a trochee, either part of a word, or an entire word ; and the monosyllabic, in which the first sylla- ble of the divided foot is a monosyllable. Of the latter there are four species, viz. the triemimeral, occurring at the third half foot ; the penihcruimeral, at the fifth ; the hejpthe- •rainier al, at the seventh ; and the ennemimeral, at the ninth half foot, 14. Synapheia signifies such a connexion between verses, that the last syllable cannot be considered common, i. e. that a short final syllable cannot be considered as long, nor a long one as short. This connexion likewise does not allow an hiatus between two vowels, one of the vowels being at the end of one line, and the other at the commencement of the subsequent. The most remarkable instances of such a connexion are Anapsestics and Ionics a ruinore, but as a general rule it may be laid down, that it occurs in all Dimeters. 15. A stronger notation, or marking of some one time, is called the Ictus. According to Bentley and Hermann, that time in which the Ictus is, is called the arsis, and those times which are without the ictus, the thesis, also the debilis * The syllabic csesura is also called masculine, and the trochaic feminine. 272 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. jpositio ; because in those syllables at which the musician struck the ground with his foot, the actor elevated his voice. Foster, and some others, deducing the terms from the fall and rise of the foot or hand, call that thesis which Bentley calls arsis, and that arsis which he calls thesis. Hare thinks that the Ictus is the measurement by the motion of the finger or foot of the whole time, which is occupied in pronouncing an entire foot, and that the arsis and thesis are the two parts of the Ictus. Bentley's opinion is to be preferred. According to Dawes, in Iambic metres, the Ictus falls on the last syllable of the Iambus, Spondee, and Anapaest, and on the middle of the Tribrach and Dactyl — in Trochaic metres, on the first syllable of each foot — in Anapaestic metres, on the last of the Anapaest and Spondee, and on the penultima of the Dactyl, and the Proceleus- maticus. Dunbar places the Ictus, in Iambic verse, on the last of an Iambus, Spondee, and Anapaest, on the first of a Dactyl, and not any on the Tribrach. In Trochaic verse, on the first of a Trochee, Spondee, and Dactyl, and the last of an Anapaest. In Anapaestic verse, on the last of an Anapaest, and on the first of a Spondee and Dactyl. Dunbar thinks that Dawes confounded the Ictus and the Accent, two things totally distinct. He says the Tribrach can have no Ictus or lengthened tone on any one of its sylla- bles, nor the Dactyl and Anapaest on any of their short syllables. The Anapaestic verse so nearly resembles the Hexameter, that with the exception of the Anapaest itself, it requires the lengthened tone on the first, both of a Spon- dee and Dactyl, as in the Hexameter. The Anacrusis is that part of the series which is neither arsis nor thesis, but is independent of the ictus, preceding and introducing it. This term is borrowed from the THE GRECIAN- DRAMA. 273 ancient music, it is derived from avcucpovio, " canendi initimn facere," and expresses very well the idea assigned to it of a prelude time, that which is antecedent to the regularly ictuated series, as the introductory chant was to the regular harmony. It has the nature of a thesis. 16. Metre, as "an arrangement of feet and syllables according to certain laws," differs (as was observed in sect. 2.) from rhythm in this, that it refers to both time and order, whilst rhythm refers merely to time. There are nine principal species of metre, *deriving their names from the predominant foot in each, viz. Iambic, Trochaic, Ana- psestic, Dactylic, Choriambic, Antispastic, Ionic a majore, Ionic a minore, Pseonic. There are also Cretics, Bac- chiacs, &c. &c. 1 7. Iambic Metre. The most noted of Iambic verse is the Trimeter Acata- lectic, which the Latins call Senarius. Grammarians men- tion four forms of it : Pure Iambic, in which all the feet are Iambi ; Tragic, remarkable for the alternate spondees ; Comic, full of trisyllabic feet ; Satiric, between the Tragic and the Comic. The old writers, Archilochus, Solon, Simomdes, &c. wrote in pure Iambic. The tragic writers, from the necessity of lessening the labor of composing under such restrictions, introduced certain licenses; first, the admission of a spondee into the uneven places; * The causes which have given rise to other names, instead of the proper name of the species, are chiefly three : 1. The invention or frequent use of any species by a particular poet, in which case it is called after his name, as Glyconic after Glycon, Sotadic after Sotades ; 2. Its being used in some particular civil or religious ceremony, as the Versus Prosodiacus ; 3. Its having been appropriated to some parti- cular subject or sentiment, as the Versus Paroemiacus. T 274 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. secondly, the substitution of a tribrach for an iambus in the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth feet ; thirdly, the reso- lution of the spondee in the first foot into a dactyl or anapaest, in the third into a dactyl only, but in the fifth into neither. Thus a tragic senarius admits an iambus into any place except the sixth ; a spondee into the first, third, and fifth ; a dactyl into the first and third ; and an anapsest into the first alone, except in the case of proper names, when an anapsest is admissible into any of the first five feet. The anapsest in the first foot, in the more an- cient tragedy, to the time of the 89th Olympiad, could not consist of ^several words, nor be produced by the augment in verbs ; afterwards it might ; and up to the same time an anapaest was admitted in those proper names only, which it was impossible otherwise to adapt to the verse ; after that Olympiad, it was admitted even in those names, which by a different collocation, or a different orthography, might have been brought into the verse, without the neces- sity of an anapaest. The restriction of the anapsest to the first foot applies to the choric, as well as to the diverbial trimeters. The initial anapsest of the trimeter is hardly perceptible in its effect on the verse ; in shorter iambic verses it produces a livelier movement. The initial ana- psest should be comprehended in one word, except where the line begins either with an article, or with a preposition, followed immediately by its case. The anapsest of the proper name should also be comprised in one word. Elmsley considers that the names of places similarly formed * The reason of this is given by Hermann : it would argue much unskil fulness on the part of the poet not to be able so to distribute these words as to avoid the anapaest. He, contrary to Porson's canon, holds that the augment was omitted, and thus an iambus formed. THE GRECIAN DRAMA, 275 had the same license as proper names, but is doubtful with respect to patronymics. He has also observed that the plays of ^Eschylus afford' only one instance of the anapaest of the proper name. In two cases he introduced a proper name by substituting a choriambus for the first dipodia, but these passages have been corrected by Blomfield. The following is a Scale of the Iambic Trimeter Acataleciic. 1 2 o P3 r 4 5 6 \J — \j - \J - \j - \j — \j — \S \J v-/ \j \J \j \J w \J KJ \J V \j \J \J \j - - - \j — - w - \J \J vy — \J _ - \j - V - - ^- \J \J - \J V - \J \j ■= \j -= Proper Name. 18. The process by which Porson infers the inadmissi- bility of an anapaest beyond the first foot is this : If true with respect to the third, it must be so with respect to the fifth ; for the fifth does not even admit of a dactyl, to which the third has no antipathy ; therefore a fortiori, if the latter refuses admittance to an anapaest, the former must also. But the instances in which an anapaest is found in the third place are so few in number, and either require or admit of emendation, (as Porson has shewn by collect- ing and criticising them,) that no doubt can remain on that point. The second and fourth feet, being more pure in their nature, must of course be subject to the same re- strictions. 19. As the anapaest of the proper name should be con- tained in the same word, so also the two short syllables of the anapaest were generally inclosed between two long syl- 276 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. lables in that word, and they were slurred over, or very rapidly pronounced, as though they formed but one syl- lable, thus, 'AvnyovriQ was pronounced 'Avr'yovrje ; the same mode of pronunciation was used in the anapaests of common words in *comic verse. 20. The reason assigned for the non-admission of anapaests into the third foot is, that by injuring the caesura, it would render the verse dixr/uiovcTov ; and for the exclusion of the dactyl from the fifth, that it would confound the termination of the iambic with that of a lame hexameter. 21. The tragic poets do not often admit more than two trisyllabic feet into the same verse, never more than three. The second syllable of a tribrach or of a dactyl ought not to be either a monosyllable which is incapable of beginning a verse, or the last syllable of a word. 22. From the rules concerning the admitted feet, it is evident that no word is admissible into a tragic senarius which has two short syllables between two long, nor can more than three long syllables be consecutive ; the diffi- culty is avoided in the case of proper names, either by using a choriambus instead of the first dipodia, or by making the first long syllable terminate one foot, and then having an anapaest as the next foot. 23. Porson has observed that the second and third feet are seldom comprehended in one word, and that the third and fourth feet seldom consist of entire words, or parts of words, and are never comprehended in the "(-same word. 24. The last syllable in each verse appears to be indif- * This accounts for their admission into every foot but the last in comic verse. f Otherwise both the penthemimeral and hepthemimeral csesurai would be excluded. THE GRECIAN DRAMA, 277 ferently short or long ; and even where one line ends with a short vowel, a vowel is often found at the beginning of the next. Sometimes, however, one verse with its final vowel elided passes by scansion into the next ; the case is thus restricted by Porson — " Vocalis in fine versus elidi non potest, nisi syllaba longa praecedat." 25. An iambic verse has two principal caesuras ; *the penthemimeral, and the hepthemimeral ; the former di- viding the third, the latter the fourth foot. Of the first caesura there are four kinds ; (1) When the first syllable of the third foot is a short syllable ; as, Kivdvvog £ iyivSTQ Krav&Vi THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 28.' 86. In the tragic trimeter the ictus occurs on the second syllable of the iambus and spondee, on the middle syllable of the tribrach and dactyl, and on the last syllable of the anapaest. As the structure of the iambic trimeter is deci- dedly trochaic, the correspondency between it and a certain portion of the trochaic tetrameter may be advantageously employed to illustrate the common properties of both ; thus, to any trimeter, (except those very few with initial ana- paests) let the cretic beginning SrfAacYj or aXXci vvv be pre- fixed, and every nicety of ictuation, more clear as it is and more easily apprehended in trochaic verse, will be imme- diately identified in iambic ; the correspondency of the iam- bic trimeter with that portion of the trochaic tetrameter is then only quite perfect, when the former verse has the pen- themimeral caesura. In the comic trimeter, as in the tragic, the *ictus occurs on the last syllable of the iambus, spon- dee, and anapaest, and on the middle syllable of the dactyl and tribrach. 37. The iambic tetrameter catalectic, peculiar to co- medy, consists of eight feet all but a syllable, or may be considered as two dimeters, of which the first is complete in the technical measure ; the second is one syllable short of it. This tetrameter line, the most harmonious of iambic verses, is said to have its second dimeter catalectic to its first : the same mode of speaking prevails as to trochaic and anapaestic tetrameters. According to Porson it differs in two respects from the comic senarius ; 1st, that the fourth foot must be an iambus or tribrach ; 2nd, that the * Dunbar makes the ictus fall on the last of the iambus, spondee, and anapsest, on the first of the dactyl, and not at all on the tribrach. He says, that the middle syllable of the dactyl and tribrach, being- short, cannot be pronounced with a lengthened tone. 286 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. sixth foot admits an anapaest : but the foot preceding the catalectic syllable must be an iambus, except in the case of a proper name, when an anapaest is allowed ; which license is also conceded to the fourth foot ; Elmsley contends that Porson is mistaken in restricting this license to the case of proper names, and argues successfully for the admission (but very rarely) of an anapaest of a common word in the fourth foot. In the resolved or trisyllabic feet one restric- tion obtains ; that a dactyl or tribrach cannot precede an iambus, a rule which even in the freer construction of the trimeter is always strictly observed from its essential neces- sity. The caesura generally takes place at the end of the fourth foot. The following is a table of scansion of the iambic tetra- meter catalectic. 1 2 3 4 5 G 1 8 \S — V.' - vy — \-/ — \j — \J- \J- w w^/ v/v/w W\J vw \J\JKJ \J\J\J - - - - " " -w - vv ~W vv- \J\J- Elmsley vu- \J\J- recipit. v/v- Proprii v^w- nominis. \J\J — From the first appearance of this table, it might be sup- posed that the varieties of this verse would be exceedingly numerous ; Elmsley, however, assigns two reasons for the actual number of these varieties being comparatively small * 1st, all the trisyllabic feet which are admissible into comic iambics are employed with much greater moderation in the catalectic tetrameters than in the common trimeters ; 2nd, the comic poets admit anapaests more willingly and fre- quently into 1st, 3rd, and 5th places, than into 2nd ? 4th, THE GRECIAN DRAJIA. 287 and 6th of the tetrameter. The structure of the tetrameter catalectic generally agrees with the scansion, and divides the verse into two dimeters; in the Plutus those lines which have this division are to those lines which divide the verse in the middle of a word or after an article, &c. nearly as four to one ; and very often the verse is even so construc- ted as to give a succession of iambic dipodias separately heard. As the tetrameter of comedy admits no feet but those which are found, and with more frequency, in the trimeter, the ictuation on the feet in each verse is the same. The Latins call this verse septenarius and comicus quad- ratics, and would have it to be asynartete. 38. Aristophanes occasionally introduces a very elegant species of verse, which may be mentioned here, because it differs from the tetrameter iambic, only in having a cretic or pseon in the room of the third dipodia, and because it is frequently corrupted into a tetrameter iambic by the in- sertion of a syllable after tho first hemistich. In technical language it is an asynartete, composed of a dimeter iambic and an ithyphallic. It is called EvpiiridHov TtacrctpzaKaiSe- Kajutu | ; ttoi 7ro I pzvOu). Hec. 1082. 63. Dimeter catalectic, hepthemimer (Euripidean) ; rwv a \ TTopOf) J tlov 7ro | Xig. Hec. 894. So in Horace, non e | bur ne j que aure [ urn. 64. Dimeter brachycatalectie (Ithyphallic or Hemiho- lius) ; ^ktv j XoTc £ | XTo-ae | . Or. 1430. 65. Monometer hypercatalectic, or peDthemimer ; tl ttot av | aari \ velg. Hec. 183. 66. Monometer acatalectic, or basis trochaica ; aari j VCIKTOQ. Trochaic monometers are usually found in systems ; which, as in most other numbers, so in the trochaic also, it is the custom, especially of comedians, to form of dimeters. These systems are continued in one unbroken tenor, con- cluded by a catalectic verse, or by one of a different species ; on which account there is no place for hiatus at the end of each verse, nor is it held necessary to conclude a verse with an entire word, but the whole system is as one verse. 67. The ictus in trochaic verse, both in tragedy and comedy, falls on the first syllable of the trochee, and of its equivalent tribrach ; also on the first syllable of the trochaic spondee, and of its equivalent anapsest. Dunbar makes it fall on the first of the trochee, spondee, and dactyl, and on the last of the anapaest. 68. Anapaestic Metre. Anapsests are a metre, from their nature, adapted to accompany a firm vigorous step. The equality, in respect of quantity, between the arsis and thesis in this metre, between the stronger and the weaker portion of the rhythmical beat, gives it a staid and measured character. The reason why the arsis follows the thesis is, because by 296 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. the natural law of the human pace, in advancing a step, the stronger foot remains stationary, in order to propel the body : when the impulse is given, the foot follows after it, and does this with the more weight and force, the more the body is accustomed to depend for its motion on that foot principally. For this reason the march-songs of the Greeks were in general anapaestic ; and agreeably with this arrangement, it is found, that wherever anapaests occur in Greek tragedy, they accompany a steady pacing or march. This may be proved to be the case, almost without ex- ception. It is in anapaests that the chorus sings at its entrance, at its exit, and when it moves towards a person or accompanies him. Every where they remind us of those marches or battle-songs of the old Dorians Qfifiarripioi waiaveg), the very acclamation in which (eXtA^ l\s\tv), accorded with the anapaestic rhythm in which they were composed. In those long series of anapaestic systems, which we find at the beginning of the Persians, Suppliants, and Agamemnon of iEschylus, we may perhaps see the original form of the Parodos, strictly so called ; that is to say, of the entrance of the chorus into the orchestra, drawn up in regular form by rank and file. 69. There are two kinds of Anapaestic verses, one, which proceeding by dipodiae, has the full measure of the arsis, whence it admits a spondee, a dactyl, and a proceleusmatic rarely ; the other, of the anapaestics, called cyclii, which has a disproportionate arsis, does not proceed by dipodiae, does not admit a dactyl, admits an iambus in the first place, and is without caesura. 70. Of those which proceed by dipodiae, the acatalectic monometer is often met with ; it is frequent in systems of dimeters, where it is called an anapaestic base. Synesius has written three hymns in this metre. THE GRECIAN DRAMA, 297 71. The dimeter acatalectic is the measure most frequently used. The regular systems, which not unfrequently occur, consist of dimeters acatalectic, mixed with monometers acatalectic, and dimeters catalectic ; the admissible feet are the anapaest , dactyl, and spondee, which may enter any place ; but in the dimeter catalectic, it is better to have the anapaest before the catalectic syllable. Sometimes, a pro- celeusmaticus is found in anapaestic verse, but never in legitimate systems. The caesura almost always falls after the first dipodia ; however, there are instances in which it does not fall so, but on the short syllable which begins the second dipodia. The dimeter catalectic is called parcemiac, from Trapoifiia, a proverb, as that was the metre in which they were sometimes composed. 72. Scale of the Anapaestic Dimeter Acatalectic : 1 2 3 4 KJKJ- \ Scale of the Parcemiac, or Dimeter Catalectic : \J\J- \J\J- w — - -w -vv/ """ ~~ Scale of the Anapaestic Base, or Monometer Acatalectic — \JKJ 73. The anapaestic systems, peculiar to the dramatic poets, are sometimes antistrophic, sometimes not ; written 298 THE GRECIAN DRAMA, sometimes in the Doric dialect, sometimes in the common, sometimes in both promiscuously. Those systems are legitimate which are concluded with a paroemiac, and in which each dipodia is terminated with a word. The ille- gitimate systems are for the most part written in the Doric dialect. 74. In dimeters, a dactyl is very seldom placed before an anapaest, lest there should be a concourse of four short syllables : this never occurs in the same dipodia. In tetrameter anapaestics, no genuine instance of this license occurs. In both kinds of anapaestic verse, dactyls are admitted with much greater moderation into the second. than into the first place of the dipodia. The anapaestic dipodia may be composed of a tribrach and an anapaest, for the purpose of admitting a proper name, which could not otherwise be introduced into the verse. In the predominant or anapaestic dipodia, the anapaest and spondee are combined without any restriction. In the occasional or dactylic dipodia, the dactyl most usually precedes its own spondee ; sometimes the dactyl is paired with itself; very rarely, and perhaps not agreeably, in the dactylic dipodia, the spondee is found to precede the dactyl. It was mentioned that a dactyl is seldom placed before an anapaest ; this combination is not often found even between one dimeter and another, it is very rare where one dipodia closes with a dactyl and the next begins with an anapaest, and never occurs in the same dipodia. 75. The first dipodia generally ends with a word ; this, however, is not always the case, and of such verses as want that division those are the most frequent, and the most pleasing also, which have the first dipodia after an anapaest (sometimes after a spondee) overflowing into the THE GHECIAN DRAMA. 299 (second, with the movement anapaestic throughout: as, iTTEpvywv epeTfiotaiv tptvaofjizvoi. Agam. 52. 76. The Synapheia (awa^ta), that property of the ana- paestic system, which Bentley first observed, is neither more nor less than continuous scansion : that is, scansion continued with strict exactness from the first syllable to the very last, but not including the last itself, as that syl- lable, and only that in the whole system, may be long or short indifferently. The synapheia is also observed in di- meter iambics, dimeter trochaics, ionics a minore, and dac- tylic tetrameters. 77. In this species of verse one hiatus alone is permitted, in the case of a final diphthong or long vowel, so placed as to form a short syllable ; as, iroOiovcrai Idstv apTi%vyiav. Pers. 548. 78. When the monometer or anapaestic base occurs, it generally precedes the parcemiac ; it is seldom found at the commencement of a system. The parcemiac generally occurs at the end of a system, but it is often met with before the end, and then the sentence generally concludes with it ; a dactyl seldom occurs in the first place of a parcemiac, and never before an anapaest in the second. In the common dimeter those dipodias form the most pleasing verse which end in entire words ; but this law does not equally obtain in the parcemiac, which then comes most agreeably to the ear when it forms the latter hemistich of the dact}dic hexameter. 79. Elmsley remarks that the rhythm is violated, when the three last syllables of a word, which are capable of standing in the verse as an anapsest, are divided between a dactyl and the following foot, since it thus becomes rather dactylic than anapsestic. 300 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 80. There are four circumstances which excuse an hiatus, and a short syllable in place of a long one at the end of a line, viz. exclamation, address, change of person, and the end of a sentence. 81. It happens very rarely that a word is made to reach beyond a verse by one short syllable. The shortest systems appear to consist of one dimeter and a paroemiac. In reciting verses which contain several dactyls, it is necessary to beware, lest by giving the ictus to the first syllable of a dactyl instead of the second, which ought to have it, they be converted into dactylic. When the systems are anti- strophic, foot does not answer to foot, but yet the division of the metres is usually alike. 82. The illegitimate systems differ from the legitimate in these five respects. First, in measure, for they not only admit a proceleusmatic, but have sometimes nearly whole verses constructed of proceleusmatics : in other places the verses consist almost wholly of spondees. Secondly, in the caesura, which is not only allowed to be neglected, but is often neglected on purpose. Thirdly, in continuity, for they are sometimes either connected with other numbers, or are interrupted by them. Fourthly, in the use of the paroemiac, for it may even begin a sentence, and many of those verses are often put in uninterrupted succession. Fifthly, in the catalexis, for they have no certain manner of conclusion, but are terminated, sometimes by one paroemiac, sometimes by more, at other times by none, and at others even by different numbers. 83. The dimeter, having the elevations resolved, was by some called the Aristophanean proceleusmatic tetrameter ; but by the better skilled, anapaestic ; as, rig opta fiaQvKOfjia rao" IrriavTO j3porwv. THE GRECIAN DRAMA. SOI 84. Those spondiac verses, among which several successive catalectic verses are inserted, are, as being grave and suited to sorrow, employed principally by the tragedians, and mostly as antistrophic. Neglect of the caesura is peculiar to these. Although these catalectic verses have the last syllable doubtful, yet it is commonly contrived that it may be long. If ever a hypercatalectic monometer occurs joined with these verses, it appears more probable that it is a dochmiac. 85. The laws respecting dimeter anapaestics are in gene- ral accurately observed by comic writers. Aristophanes has, in two or three instances, neglected the rule of making each dipodia end with a word. 86. The anapaestic tetrameter acatalectic was used by the Latins only. The tetrameter catalectic, (anapaesticus Aristophanicus,) peculiar to comedy, was used by both Greeks and Eomans. It may be considered as made up of two dimeters, of which the second is catalectic to the first. In the three first places, besides an anapaest and spondee, a dactyl is used ; so also in the fifth, but not in the fourth or sixth ; the proceleusmatic is excluded ; caesuras are accurately observed, subject to the same restrictions as in the tragic trochaic, even so far, that they must not take place after a preposition or an article ; a dactyl imme- diately before an anapaest is unlawful ; so also when pre- fixed to an ionic a minore at the end of a verse. The rule of making each dipodia end with a word is sometimes vio- lated ; yet in this case, supposing the second foot a dactyl and the third a spondee, the last syllable of the dactyl can- not commence a word, whose quantity is either an iambus or bacchius. The most frequent license is that in which a long vowel or a diphthong is shortened before a vowel, but 302 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. Aristophanes, (who from his frequent use of this verse has given it his name,) rarely lengthens a vowel before a mute and a liquid, except when he introduces a passage from Homer or other authors, or in the case of a proper name. Dact)ds are admitted much more sparingly into the second than into the first place of the dipodia. In the twelve hun-r dred tetrameter anapaestics of Aristophanes, only nineteen examples occur of a dactyl in second, the only second place of a dipodia which it can occupy ; in thirteen of those verses the preceding foot is also a dactyl ; in the remaining six of those verses four have the dactyl after a spondee ; of all those nineteen verses one only is destitute of the caesura after the first dipodia. The transition from anapaestic movement to dactylic, and vice versa is very rare. Those lines are most harmonious which exhibit, besides the one necessary division after the first dimeter, that after the first dipodia also ; of one hundred and ten verses of the Plutus, one hundred and four observe both division, of the remain- ing six, three differ only by having the dactyl in quinto, and the other three, though wanting the division after the first dipodia, yet present the continuous flow of anapaestic move- ment throughout. 87. The logaoedic anapaestics are cyclian, generally ter- minated with a bacchee. 88. Besides the dimeter acatalectic, parcemiac, and base, the following varieties are used in Greek tragedy : Monometer hypercatalectic or penthemimer : dopt drj \ Sopt 7T£p I aav. Hec. 897. Dimeter brachycatalectic : KpTvu \ rplaGag \\ jua/capwv. Hec. 641. Dimeter hypercatalectic : ot>0' o ira \ pa tov A%i || povra U | og avaa || ttoXv | kXcivtZ <£i | XoiGi 6a | vibv ; Pers. 680. Dunbar excludes the spondee from the third place ; Heath admits it. 100. Tetram. cat. on two syllables; (palvofit | vov kcl- kov | otfcaS' a j yeaOal. Archilochus wrote epodes, and Ana- creon whole poems in this verse. 101. Tetram. acat. §i£ici | juii>, Kara | fiofitya ci | v vtto | /cAr?£o/.i£ | vav. Aj. 224. 103. Pent. cat. on two syllables : x a ~ l P* " I v ®% *™ I P* ZaO% | ag /maicap | ?} flag ; this verse is called Simmieus, be- cause used by Simmias. 104. The elegiac pentameter, similar to the Latin, but ad- mits a trisyllabic word at the end ; as, Odfxov a \ irony ft \ ovt J aXKifiov j Iv kovl J v. Some have thought that the elegiac pentameter is composed of two dactyls, a spondee, and two anapsests. The caesura, which must be inviolably in the third arsis, removes all doubt that it is composed of two dactylic 7rzvdii}iifAzpr\ ; but it is not asynartete, for the third arsis, in which is the csesura, neither admits a hiatus, except such as in the dactylic poetry of the Greeks is accounted no hiatus, nor a doubtful syllable ; so that it happens very seldom indeed that a short syllable in that place is made long by virtue of the csesura and arsis. Nothing but the necessity of a proper name, and that too a compound one, can excuse neglect of the csesura. Elision obstructs not the csesura. Spondees are admitted in the first part, but not in the second, because the numbers at their conclusion ought to run more freely and easily, instead of being retarded by the THE GRECIAN DRAMA, SO? sluggishness of spondees. A verse of which every foot Is a se- parate word is inelegant. The first part of the verse is more elegant when a dactyl precedes a spondee, than when a spondee precedes a dactyl. Of all verses one terminated by a trisylla- ble is the least approved, one terminated by a word of four or five syllables is esteemed better, but the best verse is one ending in a word of two syllables, the feet ending in the middle of words. If the last syllable be by nature short, care is taken that it may be terminated by a consonant, be- cause it is thus more easily lengthened ; if terminated by a short vowel, it is not elegant. This verse is usually subjoined to the heroic hexameter, thus making the most ancient kind of strophes, having (he name of elegies. It has been once used in tragedy ; Eurip. Androm. 103. sqq. On account of the equality of its numbers the elegiac pentameter cannot well be often repeated alone ; it is thus repeated by Yirgil in that sportive effusion, " sic vos won vohis" In this verse the Romans surpassed the Greeks in elegance, chiefly by apt disposition of words, especially in the latter part. In the pentameter a syllabic caesura generally takes place at the penthemimeiv: and a trochaic in the foot preceding the final syllable in the second hemistich. There is some- times a monosyllabic caesura at the penthemimeris, when the preceding word is a monosyllable. The trochaic caesura is sometimes neglected in the foot preceding the final syllable, and the verse is concluded by a word of four or more sylla- bles. A sentence is generally completed in each distich. A monosyllable is seldom found at the end of a pentameter or hsz; meter, unless it is elided or preceded by another mc ■" .-.syllable. 105. Hexameter cat. on two syllables; of which there are two species ; the one is the heroic ; the other is used by 308 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. the tragedians, and differs from the heroic in proceeding by dipodise ; it consequently has not that caesura which is usual in the heroic. The heroic is so called, because in this verse the deeds of heroes were celebrated. The first four feet may be dactyls or spondees, the fifth generally a dactyl, the sixth always a spondee, the last syllable being con- sidered common : in the fifth foot a spondee is sometimes admitted, when the verse is termed spondaic. *This is of all metres the most ancient and celebrated, and from its endless variety may be repeated for ever without dis- agreeableness, and be adapted to the expression of the most different things. Four caesuras are mentioned by metricians, TTEvOrifiifitprig, Kara Tptrov rpoyaiov, l(j)Orif.ufxeprjg^ Ttrpairodia fiovKoXiKTj, viz. — 1st — vw/- w-'lvyv—vv/- w-\j 2nd, -w-w-v]< 3rd, 4th — vu-w-w-vu — vv^ — vy Of these the most in use are the two first ; the third, which is more vehement, is not so frequent ; the bucolic is almost always employed by the Greek bucolic writers, but at the same time accompanied by one of the two first, and where it appears suitable, is [often admitted by other poets also. Several csesuras are often made in one verse, and the ex- cellence of a long poem appears in a well-managed variety of caesuras. Of these, such as are in arsis are more mascu- line, and except where the softness and effeminacy of the subject rejected them, were universally preferred till the time of Nonnus. To Nonnus and the succeeding poets, * The dactylic hexameter " Panditur interea domus omnipotentis Olympi," becomes anapaestic trimeter catalectic, by taking away one [syllable: " Patet interea domus omnipoteniis Olympi." -\J\J - \JV — \J \J - i \J\J— \J\J - \J THE GRECIAN DRAMA, 309 those softer or more feminine caesuras which are made in a trochee, by leaving the last syllable of a dactyl in the fol- lowing word, were more agreeable, joined with frequent use of dactyls, by which a great volubility of numbers is pro- duced. Since a caesura may be made thrice in every foot, if the feet be dactyls, the number of all the caesuras is sixteen. Homer has allowed himself a trochee for a spon- dee in some few passages, and that in the first and fourth feet, II. (5. 731, o. 554< : Od. k. 493, ju. 267. Since a pause is made at the end of every verse, the poets preferred those forms of words which might end a verse with a long syllable ; on that account they both added the paragogic v, and chose to put uvm, ah\, in the end of a verse, rather than ifip.iv, adv. The Greeks always end a heroic verse w T ith a whole word ; whence many words are curtailed in ancient poetry, as, Sw, Kpl. In bucolic or pastoral hexa- meters, the verses of most frequent occurrence are those in which the fourth foot is a dactyl ending a word, or in which the bucolic caesura occurs. The hexameter fxdovpog, is that in which the last foot is a pyrrich or iambus ; this metre is, on the whole, inelegant ; but rather less so when the caesura is made at the end of the fourth foot. The syllabic caesura may take place in an hexameter at the triemimeris, penthemimeris, hepthemimeris, and sometimes at the ennehimeris. The trochaic caesura may take place in either of the first five feet of a verse, but two successive trochaics must not occur in the second and third, or in the third and fourth feet. The syllabic and monosyllabic caesuras are seldom introduced after the fourth -foot, but the trochaic often occurs at the ennehimeris, and generally conduces to the harmony of the line ; the caesura is not so frequently omitted at the penthemimeris as it is iu the other 310 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. feet ; and when it is omitted in the third, it always occurs in the fourth, and generally in the second foot. When there is but one caesura in a verse, it is generally in the third foot, sometimes in the fourth, but never in the second. The elegance of hexameters is increased when each line through several successive verses is begun with one or more words, connected in sense with the preceding line ; when one word only is thus carried on to the next verse, it is mostly either a dactyl, or a polysyllable of sufficient length to complete the first foot, and leave a ccesura ; it is seldom or never a monosyllable only, and unless the word is re- markably emphatic, it is not often a spondee. A hexameter frequently ends in a dissyllable or trisyllable, but very seldom in a polysyllable ; a spondaic hexameter commonly ends in a polysyllable, sometimes in a trisyllable, and always has its fourth foot a dactyl. 106. The acatalectic hexameter is used by the tragedians in systems of tetrameters, and sometimes separately. The lyric poets of the middle age, Alcman, Stesichorus, &c. used also heptameters catalectic on one and on two syllables, also octameters catalectic on one and on two syllables, the latter of which is probably the union of two tetrameters. 107. Those verses are called Logawdics which commence with dactyls and end in trochees ; they are so called, because they appear to hold a middle station between song and common speech ; spondees are not admissible ; those terminated by two trochees are termed Alcaic. 108. Pure dactyls preceded by a foot of two syllables (otherwise called abase), are called iEolics. 109. Choriamlic Metre. A choriambus consists of two short syllables between two long ; of the latter the first is sometimes resolved into two THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 311 short, the last seldom. Instances are very rare in which the two short syllables are contracted into one long, so that a molossus might stand for a choriambus, and this contrac- tion occurs only among the tragic poets. A choriambic verse sometimes begins with an iambic syzygy, as, TrifypiKa tclv || wXzaiol — kov. S. c. Tli. 7l 7, and generally ends with one, either complete or catalectic ; it also sometimes ends with a trochaic syzygy. An iambic syzygy may be substi- tuted for the choriambus in any place, according to Her- mann ; according to Brunck, with this restriction, " ut in secunda sede sit choriambus, si ultra dimetrum excrescit ; in alterutra vero, si sit dimeter ." The catalexis of choriambic verse is various ; the close is made very seldom indeed by the choriambus itself ; the most usual catalexis is the logacedic ; next, that which is made on two dactyls ; that which is made with a cretic is more rare ; the most rare of all that with a trochee ; that with an iambic or trochaic syzygy is more common. 110. Monometer acatalectic; this is a choriambus, as, to jj.oX tyib. Hec. 1039. 111. Monom. hypercat. or penthem. This contains a choriambus and a syllable ; it is the same that in dactylics was called an Adonic ; it may likewise be called an antis- pastic monometer, as, ravde yvval \ kcuv. Hec. 1053. 112. Dim. brachycat. consists of a choriambus, and an iambus or spondee, as, aXtog av \ yaZft^ Hec. 634 ; we often meet with lines which might be referred to this, but which from their situation near antispastics, should more properly be called dochmiacs, or antispastic monom. hypercat. 113. Dimeter cat. or hephthem. This is formed of a choriambus and a catalectic trochaic or iambic syzygy ; it may also be considered a logacedic, composed of a dactylic SI 2 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. monometer and a trochaic clipodia; in this point of view it occurs sometimes among the dramatic poets, repeated in systems, resolutions being rarely admitted. It is sometimes better to consider verses which have this form, as dochmiacs hypercatalectic ; the following are examples : — iropOfiov aifi | a> raXac, Hec. 1088. ^eljuaroc aX | Xo ju?l>(ap, Ag. 192. So in Horace, " Lydia, die per omnes. r ' 114. Dim. acat. This, when pure, is formed of two cho- riambi ; as, a/uKJn kXaSoTc | i£o/xEva ] , Phoen. 1532 ; an iambic dipodia may be substituted for either. Hermann gives an instance, in which the choriambus is followed by a trochaic dipodia ; acatalectic dimeters occur in systems concluded with catalectic dimeters ; acat. dimeters, when the first syllable is cut off, resemble ionics a minore, and may easily be confounded with them, especially when verses of both kinds are conjoined. There is another form of the acat. dim. in which an antispast is used in either the first or second places ; when used in the first with a choriambus in the second, it is called a Gly conic Polyscliematutic ; those verses also get this name which are composed of a diiambus and choriambus, but why not refer them to dimeters acat. ? If a ditrochee precede it, we may consider it as used for the ionic a majore, and call the line Prosocliac. 115. Dim. hypercat. as, rav o fityag \ fivOog ae% | til Soph. Aj. 226. 116. Trim, brachycat. as, ttoXlov a^avtg \ cuQ^pog stS | wXov, Eur. Ph. 1559. This form consists of two choriambi, and an iambus or spondee. According to Hermann, an iambic dipodia may be substituted for either choriambus. Brunck's canon limits the use of the iambic dipodia to the first place. 117. Trim, cat, This consists of two choriambi, and a THE GRECIAN DRAMA. SIS catalectic iambic dipodia ; of course the iambic dipodia may be substituted for the first choriambus, as, av S 1 Ik juev ol \ K &c. ; and Bentley, Teucerque et ; in the second, Pergameas has been substituted for Iliacas on the authority of Mss. He also makes a caesura at the end of each choriambus, except the last ; as, Maece J nas atavis | edite re j gibus, Nullam, | Vare, sacra | vite prius | severis ar [ borem. Once only, and that in a compound word, he has neglected the caesura, viz. I. 18, 16 : Arcanique fides prodiga perlucidior vitro : Alcaeus and Theocritus were careless of such matters ; as, jurjSlv aXXo (pvTevayg wporspov SivSpwv afjnrtXw ; In this they have been followed by Catullus. 132. The choriamhic metre, called polyschematist, or anomalous, seems not to be such in reality ; it consists of a choriambus, an iambic dipodia, a choriambus, and an amphibrachys or bacchee. Except disregard of the caesura, the comedians kept these numbers so pure, that they did not even put a spondee in the beginning of the iambic dipodia, nor did they admit resolutions ; as, "2ifjLa\ov el s Sov Iv %°P ( i\ twiS' i\ovja Ka\r)v. Anacreon. 133. When any foot of four syllables, except the ionics and paeons, is united with a choriambus, the verse is called Epichoriambic ; as, UriTroT ui Sicr \ ttqiv Itt* tfibi | . Med. 632. Kat 0twv 7rcu | degfxaKapwv \ . Med. 821. Gaisford refers these to the Glyconic polyschematistic. The 316 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. sapphic is a species of epichoriambic, consisting of a ditro- chee, or the second epitrite, a choriambus, and a bacchee ; as, Jam satis ter,ris nivis at que dirse Grandinis m^sit Pater ac, rubente Dextera sa,cras jacuia/tus arces Terruit urjbeni. Antispastic Metre. 134. An antispast consists of an iambus and a trochee, (v^-|-^). To lessen the labor of composition, in the first part of the foot any variety of the iambus, in the second, any variety of the trochee, is admitted ; hence we get the following kinds of antispast : 1 Instead of an antispast, an iambic or trochaic syzygy is occasionally used ; these likewise may be represented by the different forms resulting from the union of their equivalents ; in other words, the diiambus may be represented by the various compositions of V- V- \J\J\J \J\J —\J\J And the ditrochee by those of \J\J\J THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 317 The following scale then represents the varieties of the pure antispastic mon meter acatalectic. 1. v— 5 . www — w 9. -- -w 2. \s- uw 0. C»cO wwvj 10. www 3. V- 7. www -- 11. -- -- 4. V — ww- O. www Vv^- 12. ~ ww- 13. \j\j- -v 17. -w -w 14. \j\j- www 18, -ww uuv 15. v/w- 19. — WW -- ] 6. ww- yO r 20. -WW ww- 135. Burney calls those lines which contain iambic, or trochaic dipodise, impure antispasts. Hermann condemns the ancient metricians for having referred to antispastic numbers several species of verse which are not antispastic ; such as choriambics with a base ; a glyconean joined with a pherecratean ; a phalsecean, &e. &c. He excludes the iambic and trochaic syzygy, also the anapoest from the first part, as well as the dactyl from the second part of the an- tispast ; in fact, if all the varieties of antispast above- mentioned be admitted, there is scarcely any verse which may not become antispastic. Choriambics with a base are much more agreeable and smooth than antispastics. 136. Antisp. monom. to ttotvi "Hpa' : w tyiX "A7ro\Aov : S. c. Th. 141, 147. In all antispastic verses, the prior arsis is oftener resolved than the posterior, which, being near the end, should be stiller. An antispastic verse rarely ends in an antispast. 137. Antisp. dim. brachycat. tjioi \pr\v £uju | (jiofwv : Hec. 627. 138. Antisp. dim. cat. This consists of two metres, the first acatalectic, the latter catalectic. It is likewise called 318 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. pherecratean, but then there are restrictions of the varieties of the antispast ; Its second foot is a bacchius. Scale of Pherecratean. - VW Dim. cat. alwva Q'iXwq | hifxa : Agam. 238. Pherecratean. avpa wovtl | ag avpa : Hec. 444. Hermann refers this verse to the choriambic metre, with a base ; he scans the above line thus> avpa \ irovriag av \ pa : 139. Dim. acat. This is formed of two antispasts; it is called glyconic, when it assumes any of the following forms, admitting in the second place only an iambic syzygy. — — — V/ -V/-V/ According to its commencement, it is called glyconic with an iambus, spondee, or trochee : Hermann considers this, also, as a choriambic with a base ; thus — KJ- \s -\J - w- \J~ VVVV Dim. acat. vofiov avofiov, 61 \ a rig ZovOa: Agam. 1111. Glyconic. l7nrev(javTog, \ ev ovpavta : Phoen. 219. 140. Dte hyper. (Hipponactean.) This differs from the preceding only in having an additional final syllable. tfxol XP^ V W V I povav 7£vi(T | 0a7. Hec. 628. 141. Trim, brachycat. This is formed of two antispasts, admitting all the varieties, and a half antispast ; rakalval tcl | Xaivaljcopai 1 typvyuv : Hec. 1046. It is called Praxil- lean. THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 319 142. Trim. cat. (Phalsecian, or hendecasyllable.) This differs from the preceding only in having an additional final syllable. Hermann considers it as a choriambic hendeca- syllabic : fyaaiv 'A m \ Bavbv yvag \ Xiwaivuv : Hec. 453, according to Hermann, fyaaiv \ ' AmSavdv \ yvag\nrai \ vuv. 143. Trimeter, acat. (Alcmanic.) This is composed of three antispasts, which admit all the varieties. Burney, as he admits the diiambus to represent the antispast, refers to this species those iambic trimeters acat. which some- times occur interspersed through the choral odes, rig olcsv ; ?i | tol Ottov lor | tl fxr) ipvOog : Ag. 462. Euripides appears to have used a trimeter in the Here. Fur. 919, followed by a verse composed of two dochmii : Aeyg, TLva TpoTrov j £aracataloge ; which seems to have been that kind of sing- ing, or chanting, which we now call recitative, and which, as it has a more lax contexture of numbers, is aptly ex- pressed, at one time by the uncertain tripping of these short syllables, at another by the slow relaxation of dochmiac numbers into a spondiac conclusion, at another by the un- steady movement of a dactyl, or trochee, before dochmiacs. 155. Of the Latin poets Plautus only, and he but seldom, appears to have used dochmiac verses. 156. Ionic a major e ( ~ - ^ ^) . An ionic verse a majore admits a trochaic syzygy promis- cuously with its proper foot, the second peeon into the first THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 3Zo place, and a molossus* into the second place of a trimeter whole or catalectic. The long* syllables may be resolved, and the final short syllable is common. When the defi- ciency of time in one foot is compensated by the redundancy of the following, an avaK\a>?ig is saidi jo take place, and the verse is called civc::^ixevog. Thus, when the second paeon is joined to the second or third epitrite, there is an avafcXactc, for they taken together are equal in time to two ionics a majore. WV W' If the three remaining paeons, or the second paeon, in any place but the first ; or, if an iambic syzygy, or an epitrite be found in the same verse with an ionic foot a majore, the verse is then termed epionic a majore. There is no instance of a pure ionic at the end of a verse, but it ends with -- or -^. 157. Hermann makes the ionic foot a majore to consist of an arsis and a dactyl 1 | _.w ; he admits two trochees not cohering in one periodic order, ~w | -^, but excludes the second paeon from the first place ; he says, if several ionics a majore are in one verse, each should stand separate and independent, not having the numbers continuous ; for otherwise, they would be changed into choriambi, thus, _L | _L VW 1 1 j l W vy | - j -w would become - | -w- \ — w- ( -vy ; from this it came to pass, that in each ionic the last syllable was doubtful, which in choriambics ought to have a nxed and certain measure. The various resolutions of the ionic foot and of the trochaic syzygy produce twenty-eight forms ; but all these were not used. * The molossus is generally followed by a trochaic syzygy, which prevents the concurrence of too many long syllables. 324 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 158. Monom. hypercat. or penthem. TTTwaoovai pv \ x<*>v; Hec. 1048. This might be scanned as an anapaestic mono- meter. 159. Dim. brachycat. (Hipponactean). koI aCo(j>pova \ nu)~ \o7g; Phcen 182. 160. Dim. cat. ij UaWZSog \ Iv iro\u. Hec. 465. This is called Cleomachean. 161. Dim. acat. no Sov\og : Antig. 614. This, according to Hermann, may be choriambic. 165. Tetram. brachycat. (Sotadic), consists of three ionics and a trochee. This is the most noted of ionic verses ; it was constructed for recitation only, and not for song ; av Xpvoprjg tovto Tv^rjg lariv twappa. 1 66. Among the Latins, Terentianus Maurus made ele- gant ionics ; Plautus, also, used them, and, as it seems, not only the sotadic, but other shorter. He put a molossus in the first place of the sotadic, and, what was not lawful to the Greeks, resolved the arsis of the last trochee. The Greek comedians, (and much less the tragedians), used not the sotadic verse. 167. Ionic a minor e (v^--). An ionic verse a minore admits an iambic syzygy promis- cuously ; and begins sometimes with the third paeon, some- times with a molossus,* which is admitted in the odd places. * The molossus is preceded by an iambic syzygy, to prevent the con- currence of too many long syllables* THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 325 Resolutions of the long syllable are allowed. When the second or third paeon is followed by the second epitrite, there is of course an avaKXaaig. The choruses in Euri- pides^s Bacchse are principally in this metre. It is once used by Horace in Od. iii. 12, " Miserarum est" &c. An epionic verse a minore is constituted by intermixing with the ionic foot, a trochaic syzygy, an epitrite, the second or fourth paeon, or the third in any place but the first. 168. Hermann makes an ionic a minore foot to consist of an anapaest, and an arsis, ^/v- [ — ; each foot has its own separate numbers, and is not connected continuously with other feet, because they would otherwise run into choriambi ; thus yjyjL | _1 | kjkjL \ _ would become ^v/1 | -^v— | — ; to vary the numbers, two iambi are employed, the arsis being changed into one of them, and the following anapaest into the other, so that the times may remain the same, This method is termed avaK\a | fxiya vatijjv Ohoeph. 804. 188. Tetram. catalectic on three syllables, w 7roXT (ft | \rj KiKpowog | avTotyvig \ Attlkt}. Arist. Vesp. 1275. This is chiefly found in comedy ; the last foot may be a dactyl or cretic. 189. Pentam. cat. on three syllables : iravr ayaOa | Sf/ 7£yov£V | avSpaaiv e \ fxrjg airo avv \ ovaiag. This has been used by Theopompus. 190. Pseonics cat. on two syllables, and having an iam- bic anacrusis, are rarely met with. Aristophanes has some examples in Lysistr. 781. 191. Hermann says, that resolutions of the arsis, though allowed in pseonic numbers, are seldom used, and, that no contraction of the thesis can be admitted without destruc- tion* of the pseonic numbers. He admits those only to be pseonics which are pure, and those, in which cretics are mixed, he calls cretics. 192. Cretics. According to Hermann, a cretic is nothing but a catalec- tic trochaic dipodia, which consists of arsis, thesis, and arsis again ; and since this order is periodic, the thesis cannot be doubtful, but consists always and necessarily of one short syllable only ; each arsis may be resolved, whence it comes to pass, that both the first and fourth pseon, and even five short syllables may be put for the cretic. When several cretic feet are conjoined in one verse, no one coheres with another in a periodic order, and the last syllable of the last foot is doubtful, and cannot be resolved, except in systems, * By the introduction of a new arsis. THE GRECIAN DRAMA, 329 in which the last foot of the verses, unless it be the last of the whole system, is subject to the same law as each inter- mediate foot. Resolutions render the cretic so like paeons, that it cannot be distinguished from them except in that the paeons (not admitting a contraction of the thesis) are wholly averse to the cretic. And, in truth, the numbers of the two kinds are most different, for the paeons have only one arsis joined with a thesis of three short syllables, whereas cretics have an arsis on each side of one thesis of one syllable ; wherefore a paeon, which is truly a paeon, is very different from that paeon which is produced by resolu- tion of a cretic ; for the latter has, like the cretic itself, two elevations and a thesis of one time, the former one eleva- tion, and a thesis of three times ; besides, cretics do not cohere among themselves in periodic orders, whereas paeons always do, and that, for the most part, in dipodiae, after the manner of trochaic numbers. Wherefore it must be laid down that ail verses, in which a cretic is found mixed with paeons, are cretic verses, but, that such as consist of pure paeons, are either paeonic or may be so ; for the cretic, since it cannot be put for a paeon, is always an indication of numbers not paeonic, whereas a paeon, which can be put for a cretic, remains in itself ambiguous, whether it be in reality a paeon, or a resolution of a cretic. Cretics are used by lyric poets, tragedians and comedians ; the first paeons, a very lively kind of numbers, by the comedians principally ; the fourth paeons, which have great vehemence, chiefly by the tragedians. Since the cretic foot is by itself a catalec- tic order, cretic verses are mostly terminated by that same foot, and have no other catalexis ; some, however, are found terminated by a single trochee, and these may be called catalectic ; or by a trochaic dipodia, and these may be called 330 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. hypercatalectic. Resolution is much more frequent in the second arsis of each foot, than in the first, which seems at- tributable to that confusion with pseonic numbers, which has been mentioned above : the resolution of each arsis is extremely uncommon. 193. Dimeter cretics are very much used both in tragedy and comedy, and commonly conjoined in systems, so that the last syllable of the verses is neither doubtful, nor admits an hiatus, and may be resolved. In these systems a mono- meter too is assumed. (pOOVTlGOV kcu yzvou \ TravciKOjg tvatjSrjg \ irpb^vog' rav (pvyaSa \ jut) Trpobqg tciv EKaOev | ifcj3oAaIc SvvOzoig | bpjiivav. iEsch. suppl. 425. The antisystems mostly correspond in every foot, and reso- lutions are employed in the same places ; for the most part, also, of every two feet the first rather than the last is a pseon. 194. Trim. acat. fivrianrij \ julwv irovog | /cat trap a — . Again. 173. vavg oniog \ irovrioig \ irdcrpLaaLv \ . Hec. 1063. 195. Tetram. acat. {ulutso gj | ttotvio. j kXvOl vv/jl | av afipav. used by Simmias. 196. Hexam. cat. (Alcmanian). ' ArppoSl \ ra \x\v ouk | fart pap | yog S' "Epug | ola ircug \ iraiaSei. Ale. 197. Cretics are found beginning with an iambic anacru- sis ; Sia §£ OvzWa oiracrai- Euiip. Sup. 830. Care must be taken not to confound these with dochmiacs preceded by an iambus ; those are to be accounted dochmiacs with an iambic anacrusis, which are so inserted in the midst of doch- miacs, that no doubt can be had about the numbers. THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 331 198. Oretics are used by the Roman dramatists, with the same license as to prosody as the rest of the metres ; hence they use a molossus for a cretic, as, u Aut solutds 'sinat, quds argento emerit." Plant. They mostly used the tetrameter, either acat. or cat., and often joined with it other numbers,, as the trochaic hypercat. monom., and that either by intermingling one or more of such verses with cretics, or by compounding verses of a cretic dimeter and that trochaic verse. Aristophanes had led the way. Ran. 1358. 199. Bacchiacs, The ancient metricians referred bacchiac numbers to the pseonic kind, as having arisen from the contraction of the second or fourth paeon. Hermann, on account of the iam- bic anacrusis, has joined them with trochaic numbers, though in reality they are spondiac with an iambic anacru- sis ; for the numbers of the amphibrachys, if repeated, were displeasing on account of their too great weakness ; where- fore, to give them strength, they changed the trochee into a spondee. The palimbacchiac numbers are not much bet- ter. Both were used but seldom by the Greeks. Bacchiac dimeters, trimeters, and tetrameters are to be found ; but they might be all referred to dochmiacs hypercatalectic. Dim. airoGTa \ aa k\kjjj,ov | . Orest. 1439. Tetram. rig ayw, \ Tig ofym | irpoaiirTa \ fi azyy{ig | . Prom. 115. 200. The Roman tragedians and comedians made great use of bacchiacs, sometimes continuing them in systems, sometimes inserting a dimeter in the midst of tetrameters, sometimes intermixing cretics, sometimes using catalectic bacchiacs, having the last foot an iambus. 332 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 201. Versus Prosodiacus. This appellation is given to a verse in which choriambics are mixed with ionics, molossi, or paeons. It is so called, otl lv ralg topralg, lv cug npoaodoL lytvovTO, 70iovroig pirpotg lyguvro. Dim. acat. a <& Aivov | f)Xav \ irapol | Qtv | tvy%vt \ tuv trt — pog. Phcen. 1525. Dactyl, dim. ■+• Anap. monom. cuXivov, dlXtvov \ ap\av Qavarov. Eur. Or. 1404. Dact. dim. + Troch. ithyphallic. 1} [xarpoKTuvov \ cupa X*~ioi OlaOat Or. 824. Anap. monom. + Iamb, penthem. tmcljivtov wg \ irecroifx' tg tvvav. Hec. 915. Iambic penth. + Anap. monom. Krvirrjat Koarci | fxeXtov xXayav. Or. 1471. Dact. + Troch. has been considered under the appella- tion of logacedic. Troch. monom. + Anap. monom. a70t/o afxirra \ jjievog ovpaindv. Hec. 1083. Anap. monom. + Troch. monom. Ovyariip AXog tv | wwa vlf46v. GEd, T, 198. 834 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. Oretic. monom. -f Troch. penth. ovk *a | tlq &iovg j3porwv. Agam. 361. Troch. dipenthemimer. fxl^oirapOtvog \ dcuvov rtpag. Phcen. 1037. The following are instances of asynartete verses from Horace. l)act. tetram. 4- Troch. dim. brachycat. " Solvitur acris hyems grata vice | veris et Favoni." In this verse Horace abstains from the license of the doubtful syllable and hiatus. Dact. trim. cat. + Iamb. dim. " Scribere versiculos | amore perculsum gravi." In this verse the final syllable of the dactylic part is com- mon, and elision is sometimes neglected. Iamb. dim. + Dact. trim. cat. " Occasionem de die | dum- que virent genua." The same license occurs in this verse, which is the last reversed. Archilochus is said to have been the inventor of asynar- tete verses. Among the asynartete may be reckoned the Satumian verse, which was the only one used by the most ancient Homan poets ; in it both inscriptions and poems were writ- ten. Livius Andronicus translated the Odyssey in this metre, and in it Naevius wrote the first Punic war. It is composed of an iamb. dim. cat. and a troch. dim. brachycat. as, " Dabunt malum Metelll | Nsevlo poetee." The last of the Romans who used this metre was Varro in his satires. 204. Concrete numbers are those which are so mixed, that the weaker precede the stronger, and in which, consequently, a new arsis takes place. The arsis of the posterior must be stronger than that of the anterior, because it must be THE GRECIAN DRAMA. S35 augmented with a new force for generating an order, which is greater than that order which it would otherwise have produced. There are two principal kinds of concrete num- bers ; the one increased from the dactylic kind to the pa?onic, the other from the trochaic to the spondiac. 205. A system is a coherence of continuous numbers formed of connected verses. A strophe, numbers composed of verses however consociated. A system and a strophe, therefore, agree in both consisting of many verses ; they differ in this, that whereas in a system the verses are con- nected, and cohere in one continuity of numbers, in a strophe it is not necessary that they should be connected ; but they may be connected, or unconnected, or half connected, or partly connected, partly unconnected, partly half connected. If all are connected in one continuity, the strophe consists of one system, and diners not from a system ; hence it follows, that a strophe may contain several systems, but not a system, also, several strophes. Both every system and every strophe are to be finished with the whole of the voice ; but the verses contained in a system need not be finished with the whole of the voice ; those contained in a strophe ought, then only, to be finished with the voice itself, when they are unconnected. 206. The kinds of strophes are four. The first, and most ancient, consisted of two verses, the one longer, the other shorter ; of these, the most ancient is the elegiac poem : the anterior verse was called irpo^dbg, the posterior tTnodog. The second kind of strophes is that used by the JEolic poets, Alcseus, Sappho, and among the Ionic poets by Anacreon. This is short, and ordinarily composed of four verses alike in numbers ; the poems of these authors being mostly mono- strophic. In the third kind of strophes there is a greater 336 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. variety of numbers, and a more artificial composition ; more verses, than was before the custom, being joined in one stro- phe ; this kind was cultivated by Alcman, Stesichorus, &c. The fourth kind comprises those strophes, in which, because they were sung by choruses, the greatest art and variety, both of metres and of musical modulations, was employed ; such are the strophes of Pindar, Simonides, and the trage- dians : Pindar and Simonides generally made two strophes in the same metres, and a third, or epode, in a different metre, and continued the same succession in the same metres throughout the whole poem, in this manner : A-A.B. A.A.B. The tragedians rarely employed epodes, and commonly only one in the end of the song ; and they usually make only two strophes in the same metre; thus, A.A.B.B.r.r.A.A.E. When the words lircodbg and npowSog are applied to single verses, they are in the masculine gender ; when to several verses, in the feminine. 207. The fourth kind of strophes was used in the more perfect lyric poetry, and in tragedy, for expressing the more serious and vehement emotions of mind. Its numbers have partly a severe grandeur and magnificence, partly a varied inequality and rapidity ; and both the grandeur and variety are perceived, not only in the nature of the numbers, for they are either slow and severe, or quick and brisk, but, also, in their proportional relations; for they are either equally divided, or short members are intermingled with long. Such strophes 'are usually long, and consist not so much of verses, as of systems having various numbers. There are three classes of them, the Doric, iEolic, and Lydian, so called from the harmony or music used for each. The Doric are grave in numbers, equal in the proportion of their members, and commonly consist of epitrites, tempered by THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 337 dactylic numbers, and ere tic, some forms too of trochees, iambi, and antispasts being admitted. The iEolic are vehe- ment in their numbers, have their members unequal, and are remarkable for their multitude of short syllables ; the chief in this kind are dithyrambics. The Lydian hold a middle rank ; they have neither so much gravity as the Doric, nor so much briskness as the JEolic. 208, Metricians divide poems with respect to repetitions of numbers into two kinds, which are called Kara gti^ov, and Kara avtirtyuia or avGr^fxariKa. Those Kara crri^ov are such as are composed of verses only, consisting throughout of one kind of metre, as the Iliad of Homer ; those Kara ovaTr\fia such as are composed of systems or strophes. When these kinds are so conjoined in one poem, that part is written Kara ori- \ov, and part Kara (ruarrj/xa, such poems are called julikto. yevtKcu as tragedies, and the ancient comedies ; and when they may be taken indifferently to be written either kclto. ari^ovf or Kara owrrjjua, they are called Koiva yzvuca, as many of the Anacreontic poems, . which may appear to be composed either of verses only, or of strophes. Those which are written Kara arlxov are divided into juiKta, which have different verses in different parts, as the comedies of Me- nander had, and afiiKra, which have the same kind of verses in every part, as epic poems. Of the (juorrijjuariKa there are six classes : 1. Kara gx^iv, 2. airo\e\viuiha. 3. arctKTa. 4, 15 Ojuoiwv. 5. fxtKTa. 6. KOtva. (1) Those Kara G\ia comprehend iTrKpwvrjfiara, or exclamations, as $£u, \d) ; l(j>vfxvia^ which consist of certain words, as, 'Ift'e Ilatav ; these, when not in the end, but in the middle of a strophe, are called fie^vfivta ; and lirt^OeyfiaTtKa, such as have the length of a whole verse. The arpocjuKd are either fiovoaTpo^a or iroXvarpotya ; the fxovoaTpofya are such as consist of one strophe only ; if the length of these exceeds that of a strophe, and yet they cannot be divided into seve- ral strophes, they are then called arfxriTa ; the irokvaTpofya are such as consist of several strophes ; if they have dissi- milar strophes, they are called avojioioGTpo^a, if similar, 7rapofxoL6(TTpo(j)a ; and of these the avofmoioaTpoQa, if they contain only two strophes, are called Jrepocrr/oo^a. (3) otokto consist of verses determinate indeed, but inter- mingled at pleasure, and without repetition ; the Margites of Homer was thus written. This whole species ought to have been ranked under the genus Kara arixov. (4) To !£ QfAoiuv also do not properly belong to this divi- sion, since in them the kind of metre, and not the relative parts of systems, is regarded. For this name is applied to those which run out without interruption, in one kind of foot or numbers, (i. e.) those usually called systems, as of Anapsests, Ionics, &c. They are either airspiopiGTa, which form one system of similar verses, or koto Trspiopivfiovc avieovQ, which consist of several systems of the same kind, but differing in length, as in the parodi of tragedies many anapaestic systems of different lengths occur; thus A.B.r. A.E. (5) juffcro are formed of different systematic kinds con- joined, such, e. g. as are partly Kara a^i^v, and partly airoXeXvfxeva. (6) Kotvo are those which may seem to be of one or ano- THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 339 ther kind indifferently, as Hor. Oarm, iii. 12., which to an unskilful person will seem to be t£ 6/xocwv, to a skilful one Kara vyiaiv. Of those called Kara axwv there are these species : (1) fiovcxTTpocpiKci, in which the same strophe is still re- peated once or more ; A. A. A. as frequently in lyric poetry ; or A. A. as frequently in the choral odes : when repeated but once, it is called avTiaTpofyiKov. (2) tirtodiKa, in which a dissimilar combination of verses is added to similar systems ; when at the end, they are £7rEpodica. Epodus. f Mesodica. Strophe. > Proodica- Epodus. J Antistrophe. ) Antistrophe. } Epodus. 1. -\ Strophe. "\ Strophe. ( peri0dica . Epodus. ( Palinodica . Antistrophe. ( Epodus. I Epodus. 2. J Antistrophe. J (3) Kara TnpiKoirr\v avouotojuejorj, in which after one series of systems, dissimilar to each other, another series follows, each respectively similar to each of the preceding species. A.B.r.A., A.B.r.A. (4) avri0£riKa\ where the first of a combination corres- ponds with the last, the second with the penultimate, and so forth. Hermann classes the avTiOtTucd under iraXiv^BiKa, which he says are then called avrSmm, when single verses, 340 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. and not strophes, correspond to each other in that manner, as, a.j3.y.y.j3.a. (5) fxiKTct Kara cr\t(Tiv, in which some of the preceding species are conjoined, as epodic and mesodic, thus, A.B.A.r. or palinodic and mesodic, as, A.B.T.A.r.B.A. (6) Koiva tccnd axlaiy, which may, according to different divisions, be referred to different species; thus, those called Kara TrepiKOTTYiv avojuLoiojiJiipri, A.B.A.B. become fJiovoaTpoQiica F.r. by joining A.B. in one strophe P. There are none of these kinds of which there remain not many examples even now, but the most uncommon are the TSTpdg and irevrdg fVw&ja/. The most in use is the rptdg, as in the greatest part of the poems of Pindar and Shno- nides. The fuovovrpofyiKa were used chiefly in the poetry of the more ancient lyrics, who were followed by the Roman poets. Those lyrics wrote many poems, also, /cara an^ov, of which the shortest form is perhaps that which Sappho constructed of Adonic verses. Alcman joined two forms of monostrophic poetry in one poem ; to seven strophes of the same metre subjoining seven others in a different metre but all alike. The tragedians put, for the most part, in their choral songs, two strophes only in the same metre, then two others in a different metre, and so on. Sometimes they add to these one epode, either at the end or in the middle of the song; without an epode, thus, a.a.|3.j3.y,y.o.§., with an epode, thus, a.a.j3.j3.y.y.S.c5.£., or a.a./3.y.y.S.§. 209. So much did the tragedians delight in the equal proportion and correspondence of parts, that they employed them even in the diverbia or dialogue, when such equality and counterbalancing of speech were not excluded by some vehement emotion of the mind. These colloquies are THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 341 usually so disposed, that each person recites one verse ; and for the most part, to obviate the tiresomeness of equality, a speech of some length both introduces and concludes the dialogue, as Agam. v. 276 ; sometimes each person recites two verses, as Eumen. v. 714 ; sometimes one person has always one verse, and another always two, as Prometh. v. 39 ; sometimes each person now pronounces two verses, now one, as CEdip. R. v. 543 ; &c. &c. &c. 210. In the ancient comedy, the jparahasis, which is an address of the chorus to the spectators, is particularly re- markable ; a parabasis, which is entire, consists of seven parts, viz. KOfijianov, irapafiacnQ, fxaKpbv, aTpcHpr}, eTrippr^jua, avri(jTpo(f>OQ, avr^TTLppTi]}xa^ the three first of its parts being unequal, and the other four answering to one another alter- nately, in this manner : a. KOfifiaTiov. j3. irapafiamg. y. fxaKpov. E. arpo(pi]. £. lTTippK]f.ia. £. avTidTpofog. €. av-E7rippr]ixa. The first three parts, and the Imppmia and avr^ippriixa, are recited by the coryphaeus. The Kofjifianov is a song composed of dimeter, or tetra- meter anapaestics, not having antistrophes. The Ilapaf3a(Tig consists mostly of anapaestic tetrameters, though sometimes of another metre ; but is always composed Kara gt'ixov, i. e. in the same verse still repeated. The MctKpbv commonly consists of anapaestic dimeters, and is such, that it ought to be recited hirvsvar}, i. e. in one breath ; on which account it is also called Trvlyog. 342 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. The Srpo^, which is also called ydi), is a song written in melic verses, to which, when the Imppnfia has been recited, the avTiaTpocpog, called also avrtydri, answers in the same metres. The "'Empp^fia consists usually of trochaic [tetrameters, which the coryphaeus recites when the strophe has been sung. To this, when the antistrophe has been sung, the avTzmppniia answers in the same number of verses of the same metre. Great diversity is found in the use of the parabasis ; for some comedies have none, as the Plutus ; others two, as the Nubes ; in some the parabasis is entire, as the Nubes, v. 510 ; in others some of the parts are wanting. Other parts of comedies also, and those sometimes very long ones, have often a conformation like that of the para- basis, the parts answering to one another. 211. The parodus and stasimum have been described before ; as the stasimum excludes anapaests and trochees, so also from the parodus, anapsests, trochees, and iambi are excluded, (since they are not sung by the chorus, but recited by the coryphaeus) ; they also have this in common, that they are antistrophic ; moreover, the strophe is followed immediately by the antistrophe, and the strophes differ from one another, thus, a.a.j3./3.y.y. The proodus seems not to have been used in either kind : the epode is not necessary. The parodus differs from the stasimum in the use of the epode ; for the stasima have no epode except at the end of the whole song, and it may be the same in the parodus, but the parodi have sometimes an epode in the middle. 212. The duple and triple division of the chorus have been mentioned ; a quadruple division, also, may be ima- gined ; for either all was sung by the whole chorus, or all THE GRECIAN DRAMA* 343 by parts of the chorus, or parts of the chorus sang the stro- phes, and the whole chorus the epode, or the whole chorus the strophes, and part of the chorus the epode ; but the chorus was often divided into a still greater number of parts ; nay, sometimes even every one of fifteen singers sang sepa- rately, as in the parodus in the Sept. ad Theb. 213. What the distribution of the chorus in each passage was, may be collected, either from the subject, according as it is suited either to the whole or to a part ; or from the disposition of the strophes, thus, when an epode occurs in the middle of the parodus, it would seem that the chorus, being at first divided into separate parts, began by singing strophes, antistrophes, and an epode ; and afterwards, when collected into one body, other strophes, which may truly be called the parodus of the whole chorus ; or, lastly, from the numbers, a change in the numbers betokening a change in the disposition of the chorus. 214. Besides the parodus and stasima, other songs, also, of the chorus occur, by which tragedies are sometimes con- cluded ; these resemble the parodus more than the stasima, they consist of antistrophics, and are sung by parts of the chorus. Sometimes both the tragedians and comedians employ another kind of song consisting of one strophe, the antistrophe of which follows not immediately, but after some verses of the actors, and occasionally after the intervention of a considerable part of the play. Such strophes are some- times longer, as in the Philoct. v. 391 and 507 ; sometimes shorter, composed for the most part of dochmiacs, as in Sept. ad Theb. ; they were sung by parts of, and not by the whole chorus. 215. In tragedy the song of the chorus very seldom con- sists of a solitary strophe, without any antistrophe^ and 344 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. never, except upon occasion of some unusual commotion of mind, as in the Trachin. v. 205 ; this song was sung by parts only of the chorus. Those songs also were sung by parts of the chorus, in which each antistrophe does not follow its own strophe ; but the disposition of the antistrophics is more artificial, as in the Choep. v. 781, where the order of the strophes is this : a. j3. a. y. fieaofiog. y. 8. ]3. 8. 216. That artificial copulation of strophes, on which the dramatists bestowed such wonderful pains, is peculiar to those songs, which are sung either by the actors alone, and which are called to, airo crKrjvTjc ; or which are divided be- tween the actors and chorus, called ko/*/xoi ; or which are sung by certain parts alternately of the chorus alone. The rd airb aicrivriQ are sometimes a7ro\e\vfiha t but more fre- quently antistrophics artificially disposed. It is seldom that the chorus alone, divided into parts, has the antistrophics involved in an artificial order. 217. The following canon is generally observed by JEschy- lus and Sophocles, more accurately by Euripides, viz. : when the third foot of the tragic senarius* is contained in one word, and the verse is at the same time divisible into two equal hemistichs, the second hemistich for the most part is either preceded by an elision, or begins with a word which cannot begin a verse; as av, yap, Si, jutev, and all enclitics. This rule applies not only to those cases, in which the third foot is an entire word, or part of a word, in the strictest sense, but also to those in which it is composed of two par- ticles, which, on account of their frequent union, are com- monly represented as one word ; such are drjirov, zlwep, kuitoi, * Lyric senarii are not taken into account ; in these the canon is less generally observed. THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 845 offne, Toiydp, Toivvv, &c. &c. The following are instances of this canon : Elg raade yap fiXixpaa \ lTrr)viafxr]v rctSe. Suppl. 8. "EvtGTi c, are short or long, according as they occur in the first or last syllable of an iambus. Several prosodians have observed that a short vowel in iambic verse is sometimes lengthened before tho inceptive*}* />, because the pronunciation of that letter seems to retard the sound of the vowel ; there are, however, seve- ral examples in which p has no such power, when a short vowel precedes it in the first syllable of the foot. The ictus metricus affords the true solution of the difficulty. Dawes 1 first rule was intended to apply to the comic poets alone ; it is, however, violated by them also, though not so fre- quently as by the tragic poets. The ictus affords the solution * The Greek poets almost universally lengthened a short vowel before these mutes and liquids ; the few exceptions may be remedied by transposition of the words. f If the inceptive p has this power, p should also have it in compound words, in which, however, they inconsistenly double the p , as nrtpippvrov ; they similarly err in inserting a sigma in such words as QovkofAtoba, inas- much as the Greeks particularly exclude from before consonants the hissing sound of sigma ; thus they wrote xfauv foot. THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 347 in both cases. The natural quantity of the short vowels is more frequently preserved in comedy, both in consequence of the less solemn and stately nature of its language, and because the comic poets were less restrained in the use of the tribrach, dactyl, and anapsest, which enabled them to bring the tone of their language nearer to that of varied and genteel conversation. There is a singular instance of the power of the ictus in a curious line of the Plutus of Aristophanes, viz. : vv\vv\vv\vv\vv\vv. Also another in his Equites, viz. : flV fXV | fJLV LIV | LIV LIV | LIV fXV | fJLV LIV | LIV LIV \ . (2) In trochaic verse the first syllable of the trochee re- quires to be pronounced with a lengthened tone, whether that syllable be naturally short, or whether it consist of a short vowel before any of the mutes and liquids. The Attic poets, however, applied this power of the ictus more spar- ingly in trochaic than in iambic verse, and only resorted to it when the versification compelled them. They seldom used it except in the following words, naTpog, oicvog, juaicpoQ, TtKvov, daicpv, 6)(\oq, 7T£7rXoc. The same violation of the orthography of the language, arising from ignorance of the power of the ictus, is found in trochaic as well as in iambic verse. (-3) In anapoestic verse (which derives its origin from the hexameter), the ictus has the same power in lengthening the last syllable of the anapaest, and the first of the dactyl and spondee, when otherwise they would be short. Dunbar s observations on the ictus, and the rules he has established thereon, though they may seem at first sight to account for a few anomalies only, really comprehend some of the fundamental principles of criticism on poetry both 348 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. ancient and modern. They not only show in what the har- mony of the versification consists, but become the safeguards of the language itself, by clearing it of all those useless ad- ditional letters, which deform its beauty and simplicity, and by making the practice of the ancients themselves, not the fluctuating opinions of the moderns, our guides and in- structors in examining and imitating their works. 219. On syllabic quantity, and on its differences in heroic and dramatic verse. (1) By syllabic quantity is here meant the quantity of a syllable under these circumstances : the vowel, being un- questionably short, precedes a pair of consonants of such a nature, that it may anywhere be pronounced either distinctly apart from them, or in combination with the first of the two. If the vowel be pronounced apart from those conso- nants, as in Tre-rpag, that syllable is said to be short by nature ; if in combination with the first of those consonants, as in 7rf r-joac, the syllable is then said to be long by position. (2) The subjoined list comprises all the pairs of conso- nants which may begin a word, and also permit a short vowel within the same word to form a short syllable. i. wp, KjO, rp : p, XP> @P : /3j°5 yp-> fy>. ii. tX, kX, rX : (p\, xX, OX. hi. ?ry, kv : y(y, Ov. iv. Tfx. The only remaining pairs, j3X, yX : Efi : and fiv, which are at once initial, and in a very few cases permissive, may, on account of that rarity, be passed over for the present. But the following pairs, Kfi : ^ju, fy* : Tv: $ v -> though not initial, yet within the same word are permissive. (3) More than twenty other combinations of consonants, (along with £, £, i//), though qualified to be initial, are foreign to the purpose, as never being permissive also ; these combinations may be called non-permissive, and for this THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 349 reason, that neither within the same word, nor between one word and another, (of verse at least) do they permit a pre- ceding short vowel to be pronounced distinctly apart : it seems to be coupled with them always by an irresistible attraction. (4) The difference of syllabic quantity in heroic and dra- matic verse, may be seen from a comparison of Aristophanes and Homer. Homer seldom allows a short vowel to form a short syllable before any of those permissive pairs just de- tailed, and only before some few of them ; and such concep- tions within the same word are more uncommon than between one word and another. Aristophanes (with very few exceptions in anap?estic verse), never allows a short vowel cum ictu to form a long syllable with any permissive pair, even within the same word. Homer, on the other hand, not only in the same word cum ictu, but in the same word extra ictum, and even between two words in the same debilis 2)ositio> makes the syllable long. A. 345, H. ]89. Even the loose vowel of the augment, when it precedes 7rX, kA, k/j, r/>, &c. initial of the verb, not only cum ictu, but even extra ictum, he makes to form a long syllable. A. 46, 309. No dissylla- bic word like irarpbg, tekvov, &c, which can have the first syllable long, is ever found with it otherwise in Homer ; in Aristophanes those first syllables are constantly shortened. In a word, in Homer, whatever can be long is very seldom short ; in Aristophanes, whatever can be short is never found long. (5) If we compare the syllabic quantity in comedy and tragedy, it will appear, that Aristophanes, even in the same word, and where the ictus might be available, never makes a long syllable ; Euripides, who excludes the prolongation even cum ictu between one word and another, within the 350 THE QRECIAN DRAMA. same word readily allows it. In Euripides, even those dis- syllabic words tIkvqV) &c, wherever, from its position, the syllable is decisively long or short, exhibit that syllable thrice short to one case of long. The prolongation of the augment, or of a short vowel in a compound word before a mute and liquid, though not altogether avoided, is exceed- ingly rare in Euripides. One great cause of the many mistakes about syllabic quantity seems to be involved in that false position of S. Clarke's, (ad II. B. 537), that a short vowel preceding any two consonants with which a syllable can be commenced, may form a short syllable. Dawes was the first who im- proved this department of prosody ; Porson followed up his improvement, and Dunbar still farther, as appears from last section. 220. The tragic writers in iambic, trochaic, and ana- paestic verse, never admit irepl before a vowel, either in the same, or in different words. 221. The Doric dialect is occasionally used in anapaestic verse. 222. 0\arbg is always a dissyllable with the Attics : Otbg- /ur) ov-?j ov, are mostly monosyllables. CHAPTER VII. SECTION L 1. The poetry of the Greeks was adapted either to singing or recitation ; the construction of their verses informs us of the numbers which they made use of in the latter ; but much doubt exists whether they observed the same law in the former, or introduced a different style of numbers suited to the diversity of modes that constituted their harmony. It appears by no means improbable, that modulation in- fluenced very much the numbers of the verse ; as we find from Plutarch's Treatise " Be Musical chapters 23, 28, that feet of a particular rhythm were invented to suit each harmony, according as it was introduced. No persuasion, however, as to the matter of fact, can be of much avail, unless we knew in what particular verses this took place ; as also, when, on what condition, and in what manner it did so, points concerning which we cannot arrive at any certain information in consequence of our sources of know- ledge being so few, and of the acquaintance we possess with the musical rhythms of any collection of verses extant, being so extremely imperfect, We know that epic poetry was 852 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. * connected very closely with the science of music during the period that the poetry of the Greeks was developed in its several forms, but it has unfortunately happened, that the writers who have come down to our times, and have treated of the elements of harmony, have left untouched those parts of their subject, an accjuantance with which would have been of essential service to us, viz. : the rhythmopceia and the melopceia, or the doctrine of rhythm, and the science of modulation. In consequence of this omission, we know scarcely any thing more than this, that the first of the doc- trines above-mentioned was essentially distinct from the science of metres — that rhythm appertained to music and singing, metres to poetry. We are left, therefore, very much to ourselves in forming our estimate of number, or indeed any conception of what it consisted in ; the chief origin of which difficulty is mainly attributable to this, that the grammarians considered metre alone without reference to number, and in their elucidation of it adopted the mode of measuring verses, as far as it could be done, by repeti- tions of the same foot. Hermann, in treating of this sub- ject, makes use of a comparison to express his sense of so preposterous a mode of proceeding ; he looks upon orders as being to verse what members are to the human body, and accordingly he asserts, that we might as well hope to derive our knowledge of the constitution of that body from an ac- count of its stature, as seek to understand the nature of verse by a resolution of it into feet of three or four syllables. Bentley was among the first to perceive the inadequacy of the method in use among the grammarians, and in his Treatise on the Terentian Metres laid down his views on the subject with much clearness and precision, contenting himself, however, with little more than barely hinting at the THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 353 rhythmical doctrine. Brunck also paid attention to the doc- trine of numbers, to the neglect, in a great measure, of the older guides. Hermann, Porson, Gaisford, and Seidler, have largely contributed to the advancement of Greek learning in this, as well as in other departments. Hermann's efforts are directed throughout to a restoration of what he conceives to have been the primary basis of Greek versifica- tion, viz. : the doctrine of number or rhythm, to which he considers that of times and feet— ^prominent parts in the old metrical systems — -as subordinate. This he regards as two-fold, namely, in detached words, as well as in assem- blages of words, constituting whole verses or clauses ; and the chief artifice in versification he conceives to be the as- sociation of these two in a consistent union and harmony. This introduces, as is evident, a new species of scansion into metrical combinations, and one to which it is most impor- tant to students of Greek composition to attend, as it will save them from degenerating into mere servile copyists of long and short quantities, and thus producing verses, which present any thing but the character of those after which they profess to be modelled. We pass from these prelimi- nary notices to the analysis of Hermann's Treatise, which is intituled " The Elements of the Doctrine or Science of Metres." 2. Metre is a series of syllables which has rliythm or nam- lers. Numbers are a fitly disposed succession of times-* To this, in space, symmetry answers, which is a fitly dis- posed continuity of spaces. ■ So that to numbers times and their succession are proper ; to symmetry, spaces and their continuity. To both order is common, which is an arrange- ment made according to some law. 3. That law must necessarily be objective not subjective ; A A 354 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. formal, not material ; innate, not empirical ; it must be objective, i. e. founded in the very nature of succession and continuity ; because a subjective law, i. e. one depending on the perception of observers, could not, since it would be in- consistent with itself, be even accounted a law ; it must be formal, i. e. apparent in the times and spaces only ; not ma- terial, or founded in the things themselves which succeed one another, or which are comprehended in continuity of place, as in sounds or bodies ; because in rhythm and sym- metry, what is regarded is, not the things themselves which succeed one another, or are conjoined, but, by what law they succeed one another, or are conjoined ; lastly, it must be innate in us, i. e. denned and certain a priori ; because it is known, not by being learnt, but of itself ; for were it empirical, i. e. made by any one, it would be known only to those who had learned it, and might be both altered and abrogated. 4. The objective cause of succession is efficiency ; the ob- jective cause of continuity is coherence ; rhythm, therefore, or numbers, is a series of causes and effects, or, an image of efficiency represented by times ; symmetry is a series of cohe- rent parts, or, an image of coherence represented by spaces ; but no image of efficiency, or of coherence, can appear ex- pressed in the times and spaces themselves, except in times and spaces disposed in that proportion which subsists either between causes and effects, or between parts conjoined by coherence. Now, that proportion depends on equality, for cause is equal to effect, and coherent parts of space com- pose the whole ; numbers, therefore, are efficiency represented by equality of times, and symmetry is coherence expressed by equality of spaces. The universal nature of numbers and symmetry being thus defined, when we speak of particular THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 355 numbers and symmetrical figures, numbers are an image of a series of effects, expressed by equality of times ; and symme- try an image of a series of coherent parts, expressed by equality of spaces. 5. From this definition of number, the following infer- ences are deduced : first, that its primary law is equality of times ; secondly, that number cannot be said, in its abstract meaning, to have either beginning or end, inasmuch as no cause can be assigned as being the first, nor any effect as the last ; thirdly, that it admits of both in a relative sense, inasmuch as experience teaches us, that in the series of effects of which number is the representation, in the same manner as in figures, something absolute and complete in its nature exists, which circumscribes each within certain limits, signifying in number an end and a beginning, as in the descriptions of space, that there is neither deficiency nor excess. Now whatever produces change in, or defines, such a series in number and description in figures, by being super- added thereto, must be accounted absolute, that is, the first cause of change in time, and the rule of the constitu- tion of boundaries in space. But if any absolute cause is found in numbers, it must of necessity be one which appears as a cause only, and not as an effect also. Now a cause, which is a cause only, is nothing else than a force effecting somewhat. An absolute cause, therefore, in numbers, must be contained in the expression of some force which may begin some series of times. And that, by which such force is expressed, cannot but consist in a stronger notation, or marking of some one time ; and this is called the ictus. The ictus, then, is a greater force in marking some one time, and indicating the absolute cause of a series of times. 356 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. Again, the absolute part in symmetry is the centre., or that point which in any figure is common to all the parts, and this from the circumstance of its defining these parts, but not being defined by them in turn. 6. An absolute cause is then the beginning of rhythm or numbers ; an absolute part the middle of symmetrical figure ; but the end of numbers, and the bounds of figure, cannot be defined by notions taken from the nature itself of numbers and of symmetry, because they are wholly mat- ters of experience. There are, however, two kinds both of numbers and of symmetrical figures, the one simple, as in numbers the following, ^^, w vv vuvu ; (which consists of a homogeneous series of times, the first of which is ictuated, and which presents no iteration > excepting that of the simple times), in symmetrical figures, a circle, a square: the other compounded of an iteration of the same numbers or figure ; as in numbers the following, -Uy-w | — w-^/ | -v/-^ j — v/-v | ; (which is measured by dipodes), in figures, the interchanges of pyramids, columns, trees, disposed according to certain proportions. In all these an empirical or arbitrary rule is perceived, one part being taken as a model or prescript. Whence, if the last part be dissimilar, somewhat is thought in one case to be deficient, in another case to be redundant. 7. That time in which the ictus is, Hermann, after the example of Bentley, calls the arsis, and those times, which are without the ictus, the thesis. The ictus, which is a mark or indication of an absolute cause, may take place even in a series already commenced, as Ovv, When this happens, that time in which is the ictus, is accounted, be- cause of its coherence with the preceding time, to be pro- duced from that time, and so far forth is without ictus, and is a thetical time ; but the same time, by the accession of THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 357 an absolute force, of which the ictus is the indication, be- comes an arsis as well, and the cause and beginning of the following times ; in the same manner as when a body in motion is driven by a new force, that force does not origi- nate the motion, but increases the motion already origi- nated. Now the time, or times, which precede the arsis, are evidently parts of a series infinite from its beginning. Those times Hermann calls anacrusis, a term borrowed from the ancient music, because they are, as it were, a kind of introduction, or prelude, to the numbers which the ictus afterwards begins, as the introductory chant was to the regular harmony. After the same manner, among figures some may be marked which are not bounded on either side by any lines, and are therefore infinite. Further, the ana- crusis has the nature of a thesis, i. e. a time produced not from an absolute cause, but from other preceding times. For it is to be assumed, that other times have preceded, since, not being produced from an absolute cause, it must necessarily have been produced from other causes preceding it in infinitum. But when we say, that times sure produced from times, we so speak for the sake of brevity, transferring an expression from causes and effects to times, which are the images of them. 8. Numbers are either unlimited, consisting wholly of thetical times, which kind of numbers, because it wants variety, is not used in arts which employ numbers : or limited, being those which have arsis, and which have, therefore, a beginning and an end. This latter kind of num- bers we call an order. Orders are either simple, which con- sist either of arsis alone, as i, or of both arsis and thesis, ^w, lw ; or periodic, which are composed of several orders comprised in one rhythm, or number, i. e. produced from 358 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. one common cause. For as in a succession of single times, so also in a succession of whole orders, the series of causes and effects can be represented without transgression of the law of equality, so that, as in simple orders single times are equal to one another, in periodic orders the orders them- selves may be equal to one another, as v..^, w v, ^vw, wv/vfi 9. As the arsis is distinguished from the thesis by a greater force, indicating the absolute cause, so, also, the first arsis of periodic orders, as containing the absolute cause of every following arsis, is stronger than they ; for each following arsis is absolute with respect to that order, or those orders which proceed from it, but not absolute with respect to the preceding arsis, whereof it is itself an effect. This is the fundamental law in periodical orders. Hence it comes to pass, that the arsis may effect some change in the order of which it is itself the commencement, and that order, as far as it depends on its own arsis, is exempt from the law of equality which has been mentioned. Now that force may refrain or express itself, and then we call the orders diminished ; as ^^w, ^wiv : of which kind are those termed catalectic and logaoedic. In these the arsis, which changes the condition of the orders, although it is not stronger than the first arsis, nor can be stronger, as being produced from it, nevertheless could not even refrain itself without some peculiar effort of resistance. Hence, whoever observes attentively will easily perceive, that the arsis of periodic orders, which changes the condition of these orders, is, although not stronger, yet endowed with a peculiar force, as the last arsis in these numbers ~v^-w- -lv/v-vv/-v/, and the third in this -^vy-w^-v-^. 10. The force of the arsis in periodic orders may increase also ; but when this happens, that arsis which is stronger THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 359 than the preceding, and generates from itself a greater order, is nothing but a new absolute cause, and not pro- duced from a preceding arsis, falling upon the secondary arsis of the foregoing order ; in this manner, by the conjunction of which orders the following rhythm is produced, -Lviw ; which evident!}' cannot be altered with- out giving a more forcible expression to the second arsis, as being not produced by that which precedes : e. g. Rex Olympie coelicola. -u-uv-luw, On the contrary, by inversion of the orders, the force of each arsis is diminished, as being produced by one arsis : Pinifer Olympus et Ossa, lvuv-w-v. These periodic orders, in which a new arsis takes place, are called concrete numbers. In those periodic orders, which have equal or diminished orders, we mark with the ictus the first arsis only ; but in concrete orders the new arsis also. It must be observed, however, that the following disposi- tion of numbers, — V — \J\J — W\J may be taken in two ways ; for it is either a periodic order, of concrete numbers, in which the two first orders proceed beyond their thesis, or it is composed of simple orders not cohering, 1^, -lw — WW. 11. The times of orders which are in thesis must all be necessarily equal, because they represent a series of causes and effects unbroken by any foreign accession. And so, 860 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. also, are the times of the anacrusis; for that differs from the thesis, only in having no arsis before it. Should it hap- pen, therefore, that any inequality should occur between these respective times, it will be necessary to form an arsis of the one of greatest length either next before, or next after the time on which the ictuation takes place. A time in arsis cannot be shorter than the times of the anacrusis, because the arsis, following the anacrusis, is a part of that series, of which the anacrusis too is a part; the following rhythm, therefore, would be faulty, -C : but these are correct, vw, - -. Neither can the arsis be shorter than the thetical times ; for, being the cause of these times, it cannot be shorter than its effects ; wherefore this rhythm i,- is faulty, but these are regular v w, --. But there is no incompatibility in the arsis being greater than the ana- crusis ; for the arsis, in respect of its being produced by an absolute cause, is exempt from the law of equality, provided that, in respect of its being an effect of preceding times, it be not less than they ;. these numbers, therefore, are just, v/J. ? w!. Nor is there any incompatibility in the arsis being greater than the thetical times ; for it may be so constituted as to produce the thesis not by its entire self, but by some part only of itself; and that part must indispens- ably be equal to the thetical times, in this manner, -WW —WWW ^|w \s\y wjw So a superstructure cannot be supported by a foundation too small for it, but by one greater than necessary it may. 12. From the consideration of times in their abstract nature, we proceed to that in their relation to each other, and hence results the idea of measure, which is the compa- rison of times, or the relative proportion of syllables, with- THE GRECIAN" DRAMA, 361 out rhythm or numbers. Metricians use only two measures ; the single, or short, called by the Greeks y^povog and cfjjjueTov, by the Latins tempus and mora ; and the double, or long, which is compounded of two short. The ancient musicians used a quadruple and an octuple measure also. Modern music has many measures. 13. A Foot is a certain composition of times, without re- gard to the rhythm or numbers in it. There are four dis- syllabic, eight trisyllabic, and sixteen quadrisyllabic feet ; they are the same as those given by other prosodians. 14. A doubtful measure, called in Greek adiafyopog, is one which uiay be indifferently either long or short. There is also another measure, called in Latin irrationaMs, in Greek aXoyog (disproportionate), which is shorter than a long, and longer than a short ; it is used in some dactylic numbers, and also in the iambics and trochaics of come- dians. 15. Numbers are in their own nature unchangeable ; for they cannot contain within themselves a cause for their being other than what they are. If, then, any numbers are inter- changed, it is done at the will of those who use them ; not, however, in an arbitrary way, but according to a certain rule, which is two-fold, one part respecting the measure, and the other the conformation of the number ; it is this, the numbers commuted ought to be both equal, i. e. consist of the same number of times ; and similar, i. e. such as may appear to effect the same thing with a moderate varia- tion. 16. This permutation is made in five ways. First, by the introduction of irrational times. This seems to be done in some trochaic numbers, admitting a disyllabic instead of a monosyllabic thesis, or anacrusis, such as are the trhne- 362 THE GRECIAN DRAMA, ters of the Greek comedians, and all the trochaic and iambic verses of the Latin, at least of the more ancient Latin ; in which, a dactyl and anapaest, being put for a trochee and iambus, have two short syllables nearly equal to one short one, which is the due measure. 1 7. Secondly, iy resolution of the arsis, or contraction of the thesis, of which the first commonly takes place in tro- chaic numbers, the tribrach being substituted for the tro- chee ; the second in dactylic, the spondee being substituted for the dactyl ; the substitution of the feet above mentioned is warranted, both by their isochronism, and their similarity in point of rhythm. 18. Thirdly, hy resolution of the arsis conjointly with con- traction of the thesis ; which takes places in those dactylics which metrical writers are accustomed to class as anapsestic, in which not only these three numbers are commuted, WW but a combination also of the second and third is added vv-^ which would be contrary to the law of numbers, were it not that two different numbers are perceived at the same time ; of both which the half only is expressed by sounds, syllables, motions, and the other half is noted with tacit ob- servation ; in the same manner as in modern music, what is called tact is perceived together with the numbers of musi- cal sounds, although most different ; in this manner, KCITT — KCLT — KCU -1 6a '_ \j\j 7T£(T£ \j\j Save w> Kara w t/>o/.i£V. Thus it is clear, that in a dactylic dimeter, composed of pure dactyls, this combined resolution and contraction con- verts the metre into anapaests ; but in order to preserve the THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 363 subordination of the thetic times to the arsis, the arsis must be transferred to the long syllable ; from this, by contract- ing the anacrusis, results a system of spondees, or by resolv- ing the ictuated times we convert the metre into the pro- celeusmatic. 19. Fourthly, ~by transposition of a time ; which mostly takes place in choriambic and ionic numbers, which, in like manner as the anapaestic, are classed by Hermann under the general name of dactylic. It consists in cutting off a part of the thesis or anacrusis, and prefixing it, in the one case, to the arsis as an anacrusis, in the other, as a thesis ; in this manner, —\JV —\j\s —Iv^vy — \.'—\J \A—\S \J—\\J — whence, the doubtful times being marked, the numbers will appear thus, -^v- Choriambi. U— v/- — |— w Ionics a majori. vw4|-l|yy— 1-1 Ionics a minori. This change amounts, both in choriambics and ionics, (re- spect being had to the syllables alone), to a substitution of the amphibrach for the dactyl, which may assume the form of the palimbacchius also, when it is considered that a mo- nosyllable anacrusis, as also the end of the order, are of doubtful quantity. This position is exemplified by a dime- ter ionic a minori ; this measure consists of four ictuated times, with the short ones preceding each as anacruses ; if now we retrench from the anacrusis that precedes the third arsis one of its times, and prefix it to the second arsis, by preserving its quantity we introduce an amphibrach into the 364 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. middle of the line, and by augmenting it one time more, a palimbacchius. 20. Fifthly, by transposition of part of the numbers ; this is peculiar to those species of polyschematistic verses, termed Grlyconean and Pkerecratean, and such as are de- rived from them. We. may select for illustration of this a dimeter choriambic, consisting of a choriambus and an iam- bic dipodia ; the concluding number of this being prefixed to the choriambus produces the ordinary form of the glyco- nic, or a verse consisting of iambus, choriambus, iambus, admitting also the variety of the trochee in the first seat. A farther transposition, namely, of the concluding iambus, produces a line composed of a ditrochee and a choriambus, which admits of a similar variety, viz. : the iambus in the first seat ; the second preserves the trochee invariable on account of the choriambus that comes after. Thus, — V \J — I \J — \J — .. ..\—\J\J -\\J - .. .. |— \^j_W- Both these metres are classed by Dr. Maltby under the head of antispastic, the glyconean being acatalectic. 21. A verse is a number composed of one or more orders. Grammarians have assigned the limits within which the extent of each should be comprised, viz. : three and six syzygies. Parts of verses, if they consist of entire syzygies, are called » ^ ov " £ X W - ^ * s found also in a verb and pronoun, as, yevrjaofiayib, for yevrj- aofxai tyw, which, although it occurs in Iphig. Aul. 1 406. is properly a form peculiar to comedians, who contract the first person of the future, of the passive termination, with other nouns also, as TrspioxpoficnrEXQovTa. Further it is to be understood in general, that the long vowels a, 77, 7, the derivative of Tvirrriai, underwent the same change, the subjunctive would lose the vowel which analogy requires it should retain. The question, therefore, as it re- gards the indicative is, what analogy permits, not what it demands : the subjunctive, on the contrary, allows of no al- ternative. Porson replies to this criticism, by merely re- marking, that the Attics would certainly prefer the ortho- graphy which served for the distinction of moods, when in one of them they had the choice of both. 5. The fourth canon, which respects the non-omission of the augment in Attic Greek, is founded by Porson on the extreme paucity of the examples which occur of its rejection, and the greater number of these, viz. three, being found in the Baechse of Euripides, the text of which is in a most S02 THE GRECIAN DRAMA, corrupt state. In the supplement he afterwards modified his conclusion on this point, making an exception in the in- stance of \pr\v, which was used as well as lxpn v on ^ le Attic stage, by both tragic and comic writers. With re- gard to a few other words which appear to drop the augment, it may be said, that they cannot drop that which they never had. Thus, the Attics always say avtoya, not yvwya, but resume the augment in the pluperfect ; similarly, to icaOe- Zofxrjv, Ka6f)/uir}v, KaOevdov, the tragic writers do not prefix the augment ; the comic prefix or omit indifferently. The Attics sometimes admit a double augment, as in ^v£(t^oju»?v, avri^xofJinv, both of which are in use in tragic writers. Hermann thus replies to Porson on this point. First, it is very improbable that the tragic poets, who borrowed so largely from the ancients, for instance, in the introduction of Doric forms into the choruses, and in certain cases even into the senary, should have refrained from their practice in the case of the augment, the omission of which might prove on occasion a matter of much convenience. Secondly, the rarer the instances are of undoubted omissions of the aug- ment, the more we are bound to ascertain that this has not been done unadvisedly, or without regard to some fixed law or condition. Thirdly, he notices a certain inaccuracy of expression in Porson's announcement of this canon, who, while he holds the non-exclusion of the augment from tragic composition, as demanded by the genius of the Attic dia- lect, has forgotten that the same argument is not available in the case of the choric parts, which are composed in the Doric. He cites various instances confirmative of this from Sophocles, and iEschylus supplies not a few. As far as regards the senary he partly assents to the opinion of Por- son ; he holds the possibility of dispensing with it to be THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 893 undoubted, but limits it to those cases which could not be introduced into iambic verse accompanied with it, such as are words that exhibit in their augmented form an antis- past, or other feet not in unison with that measure. This he confirms by several examples from .ZEschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. But wherever the addition of the augment opposed no obstacle to the admission of the word into the verse, he holds it as certain that it was never dispensed with in the senary. A principle of emendation, which Hermann lays down, and applies to the present case, may be re- marked ; it was suggested by Porson's corrections of two passages, one in the Hecuba, (578.) and the other in the Persee, (311.) and is this ; as in each dipodia, the first arsis is more vehement in its ictuation, so in the third, it is to be preserved more especially in those words, the sense of which was to be conveyed with distinctness and emphasis to the hearer. 6. In the second and more important part of the preface, Porson investigates the laws of iambic, trochaic, and ana- pwstic verse. The process by which he infers the inadmis- sibility of an anapaest beyond the first foot has been stated in chap. 6. sect. 2. subsect. 18. He reasons, from an induc- tion of particulars, with the view of establishing the point that this foot was inadmissible into the third seat of the trimeter ; this induction is grounded on an examination of seven passages in iEschylus, and four in Sophocles, all ap- pearing to contradict the canon, yet capable of being made consistent with it by easy emendation. These emendations are worth consideration on account of certain grammatical rules laid down by Porson. The following are the verses, which seem to violate the canon. 394? THE GRECIAN DRAMA. iEsch. Prom. 246. Kat fxrjv i\6%,zv §yw. He grounds this extension on the practice of the Attic poets, which was never to shorten diphthongs in iambic verses, nor tolerate hiatus, unless in the instance of a long and ictuated syllable, and even then only in epiphonemata. 296 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. the aether, but one where the watery clouds are converted into snow !" the chorus of Danaids thus restraining its wish, lest it should seem to aspire to the lot of the Gods. Por- son, however, gives another correction, from which the particle is excluded, and which Scholefield adopts, viz. : Upbg ov \i(i)V v$pr}\a yiyv&Tai vl$r\. IS. In the seventh passage, read p£y' 1st lafxa, as Gro- tius has corrected it ; or, "Oantp piyioTov^apfiaKov iroWiov KdKwv, as, probably, the word iap,a belongs to a later age, and was unknown to the old tragic writers. 14. The eighth verse may be corrected by transposition in several ways : vk av 7TQU ovtoq tvyevrjQ ytvoir avrip. Ovjc av yivoiT avr)p ttoO^ ovtoq evyzvriQ. Ovtc av yzvoffi ovtoq ttot evyevrJQ avrjp. But a MS. of Suidas in the library of Corpus Christi Col- lege, Oxford, removes every difficulty, by reading, with the exception of ov-iru) for ovttotz, a common error, Ourrore yivoiT av ovtoq svyevriQ avnp. Hermann has produced from the Codex Augustanus another reading, viz. : 0{/k av yivoiT*W* ovtoq evyeviJQ avi]p. 15. The ninth passage may be corrected by expunging, as Burton does, the pronominal enclitic viv, which is not ne- cessary to the sense ; Porson, however, considers the pleo- nasm of viv, so elegant, and so expressive of individuality, that he prefers retaining it, and introducing a tribrach in- stead of an anapaest, by reading apopov. This pleonasm of vi v may be paralleled with that of oye in Homer, the addi- tion of which marks a more exact individuality than would have been the case without it ; for instance, y, 409. 16. In the tenth passage, for ovk apa read ap"* ov, or erase the negative particle ovk. The former correction he THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 897 thinks nearer the truth, though in such interrogative for- mulae the tragedians add or omit the negative indifferently, whereas in English it is necessarily retained. 1 7. The eleventh passage is corrected by reading vo/jiov 18. The license of introducing an anapaestic proper name into any seat of the senary, excepting the last, is converted by Porson into an argument, that they abstained from ana- paests in the third and fifth seats in all cases but that now mentioned ; for if these feet could legitimately be introduced into such places, they should have been distributed so as to avoid the even ones, whereas it is certain that proper names were admitted into all the seats both even and odd. The same conclusion also follows from the practice they ob- served of distributing the syllables of anapaestic or dactylic proper names over different feet, so as to avoid the obnox- ious measures, at least in all cases where no absolute neces- sity existed for their admission into the verse. 19. Porson's argument for the exclusion of the anapaest from the fifth seat of the senary, as also the exception to his general rule, in the case of proper names, have been stated. His argument is this ; if it be excluded from the third, it must from the fifth, for the fifth does not even admit of a dactyl, to which the third has no antipathy ; therefore a fortiori, if the third rejects an anapaest, the fifth must also. Without essentially impugning his doctrine on these points, Hermann objects to the conclusiveness of the argument ; 1 st, because it is founded on a presumed analogy between the anapaest and dactyl, which does not in fact subsist ; 2dly, because the constitution of iambic verse is still more adverse to the introduction of anapaests into the third than into the fifth seat. 898 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 20. Hermann establishes the first of these points, by showing that any argument from the dactyl would prove too much, for the relation subsisting between the dactyl and tribrach in iambic verse is such as to make any conclusion respecting the anapaest from the former lead by necessary inference to a similar one with regard to it from the latter of those feet, which, considering their evident diversity, would be absurd. This relation between the dactyl and tribrach results from the adiaphorous nature of the first syllable of the former, by which it is possible to regard it as short ; and is confirmed by the fact that whilst numerous examples occur both of dactyls and tribrachs in the third seat, no instance of the dactyl occurs in the fifth, and ex- tremely few of the tribrach ; and all these he easily corrects, confining, however, his corrections to the diverbial parts of the dramas, leaving untouched those trimeters which occur in the choruses, on the principle of their admitting a less restrained metre. This rareness of the occurrence of the tribrach in the fifth place strongly confirms the analogy between it and the dactyl, and more particularly so, as a similar reason can be assigned for their non- admission, which is, that in trimeters which exhibit a resolution of the arsis of the fifth foot, the concluding word is mostly one of four syllables. The rule in such cases generally is, that the last syllable of the preceding word should be short, and with this the introduction of a dactyl would be inconsistent. — This relation between the dactyl and tribrach is additionally confirmed by the consideration that the principle which excludes them from the fifth seat ceases in both instances to exert that power in the third. The voice, in recitation, being more vigorous at the commencement of the verse, admitted a resolution of the long syllable with greater fa- THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 399 cility than at the end, where, in consequence of its being weaker, it is much more difficult to augment the rapidity and force of the number. It is indeed a general rule, that, in all kinds of verse, much less license is allowed at the end than at the beginning in the* interchange of long and short syllables. That there is no analogy between the dactyl and anapaest is evident from this, that the dactyl is substituted for the spondee assimilated in time to the iambus, that is, with its first syllable adiaphorous, and consequently capable of being accounted short ; whereas the anapaest can never be substi- tuted for the spondee, otherwise we should be forced to allow of the essentially long quantity of the first syllable of the spondee, and therefore that it never could be a repre- sentative of the corresponding one of the iambus ; inasmuch as it could not be adiaphorous, and so capable of being reckoned short, and at the same time be resolvable into two short syllables. His second point, viz., that the constitution of iambic verse is still more adverse to the introduction of anapaests into the third than into the fifth seat, he proves from the circumstance of the third seat being generally that of the caesura, and thus an anapaest in that seat would introduce two short syllables into the verse instead of the caesura, or, to express it in his own language, would close the first order of the trimeter with a resolution of the doubtful syllable. 21 . Hermann considers the anapaest as the representative, not of the spondee, but of the base foot itself, or the iambus, with which, though it disagrees in absolute quantity (and thus is essentially repugnant to tragic verse, and is, with the exception of some special instances, excluded from it,) it may yet agree in rhythmical, or that which is relative to the 400 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. number of the verse ; and thus it is admissible into every seat of the senary but the last, as is proved by the practice of the comic poets, and, in particular instances, by that of the tragic also. Its exclusion from the last seat he attributes to a cause the opposite to what warrants its introduction into the remaining ones, namely, the weakened energy of the number, which would render the admission of any mea- sure not in unison with it disagreeable to the ear, as well as unfit for enunciation. Thus it appears, that in this part of his. metrical theory Hermann differs from Porson in three important respects : first, in regarding the anapaest as a sub- stitute for the iambus and not for the spondee ; secondly, in rejecting the analogy of the dactyl, on which analogy Porson's argument is grounded ; thirdly, in esteeming the anapaest as admissible into all seats of the trimeter, excepting the last. Hephaestion also admits the anapaest into the third and fifth places. 22. With regard to the doctrine itself \ Hermann's opinion is, that the anapaest is injurious "gravitati numerorum,'" by which he means the proper rhythmical character of the verse, and therefore, whilst there is not any absolute viola- tion of the iambic metre in its admission, its introduction is only to be sanctioned by the necessity of the case, in words the use of which is unavoidable. These are, in the first place, proper names, and in the second, such classes of terms as contribute to the energy of expression, the rejec- tion of which, therefore, would be too great a concession to the more rigid laws of versification. It is allowed, however, that examples of this license, though they occasionally occur, are exceedingly rare, in consequence of the richness of the language, which enabled the poet to select that amongst many synonymes which was best suited to the measure. THE GRECIAN DRAMA, 401 23. We have seen that Hermann differs from Porson with respect to the non-omission of the augment : thus he looks upon the initial anapaest, that results from the addi- tion of the augment, as illegitimate, and decides that the augment should give place to the more regular structure of the verse. As he is at issue with Porson on this point, he lays down explicitly his heads of argument, which are, the more graceful march of the verse, the consent of the more ancient copies, the superior effect it imparts to the enuncia- tion, and more especially, a comparison of those passages, in which, from synapheia taking place, the augment may be dispensed with by elision. The last is his principal argu- ment ; he concludes from the numerous cases in which the augmented word is preceded by a long vowel or diphthong in the verse immediately before, that this was a provision for eliding the augment, as in such cases the elision falls upon it, and hence, that the augment was dispensed with in those cases also, which admitted of no elision, that is, when a consonant ended the preceding verse. 24. In the case of proper names, the anapaest, according to Hermann, should not only be comprised within one name, but should have a long syllable going before it in that name, as 'AvTiyovrji 'Ityiyivua ; were it distributed over two words, it would argue great unskilfulness on the part of the poet, who could not, by a proper disposition of them, avoid the injurious measure ; were it composed of the first syllables of the name, it might have been avoided by placing a short syllable before, and thus introducing a tribrach ; were a short syllable to precede it in the same name, that again is preceded either by a long or a short one, in the first of which cases nothing is more easy than to free the verse from the faulty measure, and, in the second, either a dactyl or a D D 402 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. tribrach must precede an anapaest; if either take place, according to Dawes' canon the law of the iambic trimeter would be violated. 25. The extension of the anapaest to other cases, besides proper names, is, though very rare, not unwarranted by ex- amples, of which Hermann cites four, viz. : three from JEschylus, and one from Euripides, The reason he assigns for allowing the license in these cases is, that the trimeters occur in the midst of melic systems, and admit in cOnse- sequence a greater freedom in the distribution of the num- bers. This is demonstrated by the frequent occurrence of the tribrach in such verses, which makes it not improbable that the anapaest, a foot of like rapidity, may have been admitted also. But in the instances cited from ./Eschylus, there seems to be an additional reason, which may be termed a poetical necessity, that is, the obligation the writer was under to select among many words that were similar in meaning, and not wholly destructive of the regular metre, that which conveyed his sense with most emphasis, or was best adapted to the circumstances of the persons of the drama, even though the exacter rhythm of the verse were injured by it. 26. The three canons which Porson has laid down for his guidance in the arrangement of the choric systems, are, first, to reduce them, as far as it was possible, to those kinds of verse which are most frequently used by lyric poets ; secondly, to prefer those arrangements which exhibit the most frequent recurrence of the same, or of similar species of verse ; thirdly, to effect, as far as possible, an accurate correspondence between strophe and ah tistrophe^ He ad- duces examples of this from the Hecuba^ (9^1. 2. 5.) which are ionic a majore, each being composed of a THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 403 third epitrite and a choriambus with the base foot inter- posed. 27. On these canons Hermann animadverts. The con- sequence of observing the first would be, in very many in- stances, a corruption of passages which require no emen- dation whatever, by adjusting them to the standard of other metrical types, on the integrity of which no certain decision can be pronounced, in consequence of our possessing no certain knowledge, at least in the majority of instances, of the kinds of verses which were most in use amongst the lyric writers. As to the second canon, he objects to it cate- gorically as quite useless, unless accompanied with others that may aid us in determining where the beginnings and endings of verses are to be placed. With respect to the metres of Euripides, which are much less regular than those of the other tragic writers, he thinks that his practice Was defined by certain peculiarities, which it would be necessary to investigate before our attempting any arrangement of his melic systems. With regard to the third canon, Hermann lays it down as a principle, that antistrophes were absent from those parts of the drama in which action and emotion were predominant, whilst, on the contrary, those that exhi- bited the gentler Orders of feeling were composed according to the laws of the antistrophica. He also expresses it as his opinion, that no passage of any length occurs in the tragic poets or Aristophanes, wherein melic metres appear, which is not written in antistrophic verses. Matthise charges Hermann with a violation of his own rule, in emend- ing passages, for the purpose of reducing them to antistro- phica, which present a display of the more vehement affections, and consequently should be exempted from antis- trophic numbers. 404 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 28. Matthiae also disapproves of a rule of emendation which Porson especially recommends as the safest to adopt, viz. : the transposition of words. Perhaps, in pronouncing this opinion, he refers to such changes as are of no benefit to the construction, or are purely arbitrary ; as Porson as- signs a very satisfactory reason for its adoption, viz. : the frequent mistakes of copyists in the arrangement of the parts of sentences. 29. With respect to the license which tragic writers al- lowed themselves in the use of dialects, Porson observes, that ionic forms are admissible, .but those only of certain kinds, and rarely, such as, Zuvog, /novvog, yovvara, Kovpog, Sovpi ; that caution should be used in this particular, as the ignorance of transcribers introduced more from Homer ; that, with respect to the Doric dialect, which is most usual in choruses, there is less difficulty, but no certainty ; for no MSS., not even the best, are consistent in retaining the Doric forms in the melic portions of the drama ; that his rule has been to restore them to the text, whenever any one MS. of respectability sanctioned it. 30. Hermann objects, with much reason, to any such compliance with the caprice of copyists as Porson's rule would authorize, and lays down the following canons for our guidance. (1). In melic verses, dactylic, and dochmiac, the tragic writers always make use of the Doric dialect, but of a pecu- liar kind. This is observed in consequence of an injudicious admission of the forms of this dialect by critics, and from which those writers usually abstained. (2). In the legitimate anapaestic systems, the use of the Doric dialect depends on their connexion with other verses in which that dialect is used, or the reverse. If these sys- THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 405 terns stand separate, and unconnected with parts of the drama to which that dialect is appropriated, the common language is to be preferred ; but if a close connexion subsist between them and such portions, the forms to be selected are the Doric. (3). In the anapsestic systems which are considered not legitimate, that is, in which dimeter catalectic lines com- posed of spondees are the leading metres, the Doric dialect is always found. But the Attic is the one made use of in cases wherein but a few catalectic verses are interposed in a legitimate system. (4). The rule with respect to iambic trimeters which occur combined with dochmiac, or other melic verses, varies in the same manner as that for the anapsestic metres. The common dialect prevails in them whenever they are allotted the prominent place, and form the basis of the dialogue : but in cases where these iambic lines are so combined with the melic parts as to form one whole with them, the Doric is the one preferred. The general principle on which those rules of Hermann are founded is, that the presence of the Doric dialect in tragic compositions is to be accounted for by the excitements of the speakers, which are incidental to the several pieces, and which demand, in proportion to their intensity, a loftier and more unusual form of expression. In illustration of his rule respecting trimeters, he adduces the passage in the Hecuba, commencing at the 675th verse, in which they occur with melic lines interposed, namely, dochmiac, tro- chaic, &c. He considers Dorisms to be inadmissible into these, in consequence of their forming a principal part of the dialogue, and accordingly he replaces dUa in v. 706. by Sucrj, as the reading appears in Cod. A. On the contrary 406 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. he admits them into those of the Trachiniae, 828. 833. sqq. where the trimeters are subordinate to the melie parts, and form with them one system. CHAPTER VIII. EXCERPT A CRITICA. I. Dawes* Eleven Canons: with Tate's Notes. 1. "*Af cannot be joined to 7r£jo«H& ,v \ [Miscell. Crit. p. ii. Ed. B. p. ii.] The particle av, giving the idea of a contingent or condi- tional event, goes with the past tenses only of the indicative mood ; out of which number Trepioldz is excluded, as being strictly what Clarke calls the present perfect tense. (Vid. ad Iliad. A. v. 37). (1). ltvtttov av — I should have been striking. (Sometimes translate, I should have been stricken). (2). htTv(f>zLv av — I should have done striking. > '' * rw ^ a [ av — I should have stricken. ZTV7TOV J The same, mutatis mutandis, for the past tenses ofOvijaKoj. 2. " The word ovy and the like, when accompanied with av, are construed with the subjunctive, not with the opta- tive." [M. C. p. 79. Ed. B. p. 82.] The passage itself, from which this remark arises, may easily be found in the Anabasis of Xenophon. (Lib. I. 5. 9.) AriXog r\v 6 Kvpog (tttbvSwv itaaav tt\v oSov — vo/ii'£a)v, ocry 408 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. fllv CIV OaTTOV sXOot, TOGOVTCO UTTapaGKEVaGTOTEpt^ j3avyoi. An optative verb following wot, woOev, wov, wwg, and similar interrogative particles, requires av; a subjunctive verb rejects it." [M. C. 207. Ed. B. 207.] The meaning of Dawes will be best understood, perhaps, if 410 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. we take three ways of expressing nearly the same ideas by three different moods of the verb. a. 7rot Tpepojxai ; whither shall I betake myself? j3. not TpaTrtofjLai ; whither must . I betaJce myself? y. ttoX ng av rpairoiTO ; whither should one betake himself? [M. C. 75. 341. Ed. B. 78. 333.] (1). Under the class (j3) may be placed, 'Eya> Se n nOlQi : Plut. But what must I do? 'Eyib mojirCo t(£$£ y ; Ban. where iEschylus of Euripides, Must I hold my tongue for this coxcomb ? 'Gig o^vOvfjLog ! <^£jO£, tl aoi AQi KaTCKfrayuv ; Well, what must I give you to eat ? DawesV account justly exhibits the first and second verbs thus used, not as of the present indicative serving instead of the future ; " but of the subjunctive, which has often the force of a future, but is more properly to be referred in its own proper sense to iva or xpv Iva understood." (2). So^wc kz\ev£Lq. firi rpiar^g (JLtadfiaTog Tov/nov [i£Tai\wv BAE^EIEN olismm Sl/iac, EKAAIEN n SvtjTYivog. Soph. Trach. 924, And wandering up and down the house, whenever she saw a favorite domestic, so oft the wretched dame woidd iceep. The particle £7r£t occurs in a similar construction. Kat ol jj.lv ovoi, £7T£t 7rArj(xta£ot 6 i7T7roc, TavTa. liroiow. Xen. Anab. p. 45. ex emend atione Porsoni ; quern vide ad Eur. Pharn. 412. 5. " Verbs of the form of adaoi are never used in an opta- tive sense, or joined with k€v or av ; but are always put after past tenses in a future sense. 412 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 'Eyw yap wv fitipaKiov HnEIAHS* ot(. Elg tovq Sucaiovg kcl\ aopa, /uir), can only be subjoined to preterite verbs, and answers to the Latin Amarem ; the subjunctive on the other hand is subjoined only to verbs of a present or future tense, and answers to the Latin Amem? [M. C. 85. 268. 321.] Generally speaking, where a purpose, end, result, is denoted by the help of the particles, Iva, 6uAa£cu, oiT(x)Q fir) TV(p9$g. And the following forms, amongst others, are not legiti- mate : (7). Ov fir) XrtpijGrjQ. Read, Ov jiir) \yip{]lr]fxi ai. fjitOUfiaL aov. injtUfiat aov. I part — myself from you. (2). tXafiov ai. l\a(56f.ir\v gov. I caught — myself ai you. (3). atya §' E^ofitv aro/ua. j3/0£T£wv £\zadai. To hold — ourselves by the statues. (4). f3f)6)(ovg airreiv. a^fi Tri-n-Xwv. You tvill fasten — yourself on my robes. (5). cvpt^s rr]v kvXlkcl. ov ttcllZoq opi^aro. He stretched —himself for his son. 9. " If a woman, in speaking of herself, uses the plural, she uses also the masculine, and if she uses the masculine, she uses also the plural." [M. C. 317.] The strongest exception against this rule is in Hipp. 1107. Ed. Monk. Whoever will turn to the passage itself, and the note upon it in Monk's edition, will find that it is all a mere inadvertence of the poet,^ who either mistook himself at the moment for the Coryphsea, or hastily transferred from his loci communes a fine train of reflection, without considering in whose character it must be uttered. 10. " In Iliad. Z. 479. ILal irori Tig uttoi, ' Uarpbg §' oye ttoXXov afxdvuv? 'Ek 7roXijj.ov avtovTa the commentators make aviovra to depend on iSwv under- stood, but it really depends on zliroi, and the sentence is to be thus construed. " And one shall hereafter say o/him as he returns, or after be has returned." I will here add Aristoph. Nub. 1147 : THE GRECIAN DRAMA, 417 Kai /not tov vlov, u fiepaOriKS tov \6yov ^Eksivov, ti(p\ ov apTicog tlarjyayeg : " And tell me concerning your son, whether he has learnt." Kuster is wrong in saying here that vldv is put for the no- minative after the Attic form; 1 [M. 0. 149.] (1). This remark on what, for distinction s sake, should be called the Accusations de quo, has a range of great use- fulness, especially in the Attic poets. The following in Homer, Iliad. Z. 239. is rather unique : Elpo/uBvai naXdag re, KcuriyvriTOVQ re, ztclq re, Keu iruaiag. " h. e. irepl iraid(ov" Heyne. The Attics generally use the Accusations de quo, with what is technically called an indefinite sentence after it, as in the passage quoted above from Aristophanes. (2). But another syntax, less noticed, may be mentioned here, the Accusations rei oel facti, where the governing verb would otherwise require the genitive case. Mei£ov ti XPV% H £> tcu&ic f) azGwafjiivovs ; Phoen. 1226. — lav QvijGKOvrag rj TtTpivpivovg UvO^ee S. Theb. 228. 9. "Do you desire a greater blessing, than that your sons should be alive ? If you hear that any of ours are dying or wounded." Perhaps it may add some illustration to a matter not commonly remarked, if I refer to a correspondent class of expressions in the Latin language. Spretseque injuria formse. iEn. i. Ob iram interfecti ab eo domini. Livy, 21. s. 2. Injuria tov formam spretam fuisse. Iram IVekci tov interfectum fuisse ab eo dominum. That is, not injuria forma?, not iram domini; which words taken alone would convey _ ideas very different from those intended by Virgil and Livy, E E 418 THE GIIECUN DBAMA. (3). Nor has it been duly noticed, that the neuter pro- nouns in Greek are favorable to a government in the accu- sative case, where the masculine or feminine would require the genitive. jauZov n xpyZzig affords an instance of what I wish to suggest. 11. (j)tia\v «$' uvai 7ro\Xtov ayaOiov atZiog vfxlv 6 ttqiyityiq. " 'AyaOiov a^iog vjuuv is to me an unintelligible expression. Read ahtog for aZiog." [M. C. 254.] This appears to be an error of Dawes. The following are instances of the construction : f Hjuii> S' '-AxiWtvQ a^iog rifxrig, yvvat. Hec. 313. " Dignus Achilles, qui a nobis honorem accipiat." -r~ apoicrOe — - kvSqq TOiaSs TroXiTaig. S. Theb. 304, 5. Such is the happy emendation of Dr. Blomfield, who sup- ports it by Iliad A. 95. Ila<7t §c ke Tpibsam \aptv kcu kvBoq apoio. A similar passage occurs in the Iliad, 1. 303. vid. Heyn. in loc. 'Q? a%iog uy] OavaTov ry iro\u. Xenoph. Mem. ad init. Xioaov irpiwixai aoi ra ^oijot'Sia ; Aeye. Acharn. 812. 'QivritrofJiai ooi. Ibid. 815. Vide also Iliad. B. 186. E. 115. X. 119. In all these instances the proper rendering is, at me, of me, at my hands. It is a mode of speaking, to which the old English and .the- modern Scottish afford parallels in plenty. (1). Shall we receive good at the hand 'of God? &c. Job. ii. 10. (2). Ask at Moses and the Prophets. Logan. Sermons. Before concluding, I would suggest, that from what has been stated above, Brunck's translation of the passage in THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 419 the Electra of Sophocles may derive some support. I am inclined to adopt it as right. Tlvi yap ttot av, w (j>i\ia yzvWXa, rrpoacpopav aKOvaatfi £7TO£, tivi (ppovovvTi Kct'ipia ; " A quo enim unquam, cara progenies, audire possim ali- quod conveniens mihi V [Mus. Orit. No. 4, pp. 519-535. J 420 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. II. Por sorts Critical Canons, from the Classical Journal, vol SI, p. 136-142. 1. The tragic writers never use pp for per, nor tt for oa. Thus they never said Xzppov^mav for Xepaovriaiav, nor wpdrTO) for 7rpatT(T(jj. 30. Hec. 8. 2. In systems of anapaests they do not always use, nor do they always discard, the Doric dialect. Hec. 100. 3. They are partial to the introduction of the particle tol in gnomes, or general reflections. Hec. 228.- 4. The forms dvva, Sdpvq, in the 2nd pers. sing. pres. indie, from verbs in afxai are more Attic than Svvy. &c. Hec. 253. 5. Dawes has too hastily asserted that no syllable can be made short by a scenic poet, in which the consonants /3X, y\, yp, yv, $fx, Sv, concur. This rule, though gene- rally true, is sometimes violated by iEschylus, Sophocles, and Aristophanes, but never by Euripides. Hec. 298. 6. The Homeric -h§e is sometimes found in the tragic writers, contrary to the assertion of Valckenaer, Phcen. 1683. See Here. Fur. 30. Hec. 323. 7. The tragic writers loved the harsh and antiquated forms of words — they therefore preferred the first to the second aorist passive ; and the second aorist passive is con- sequently very seldom used : cnrriWdynv sometimes occurs. Hec. 335. 8. The participle wy is seldom found in conjunction with another participle. Homer has iTnarapwov ntp lovra. Hec. 358. THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 421 9. "Ottwq and uttmq fju) are generally joined with the 2nd person of the fut. tense, sometimes with the third, seldom with the first : bpariov laA, or some similar expression, may be conceived as understood in this idiom ; as Hec. 398. 10. Ft fitv tol : these three particles are very frequently met with together in Sophocles and Euripides : yi rot ti never. Hec. 598. 11. Nejcooc is masculine, when it signifies the corpse of either a male or a female. Where vexpbv occurs in the neuter gender, Bos would understand crwfia. Hec. 665. 12. The accusative singular of Attic nouns in cue has the last syllable long. There are three exceptions to this rule in Euripides. Hec. 870. Electr. 599. 763. Also a vowel cannot be elided, unless it be short. Hec. 870. 13. nou denotes rest, iroX motion: ira is used in both senses. Thus irov otckju, ttoT §1 j3acra ; Phil. 833. Hec. 1062. 14. Instead of ydzifxe v, $3hte, ydiaav^ the Attics used the contracted forms, $o/«v, $ dpofiam fi\e£ SvaTroTfjiLOTEpa ; where Creon's question is an implied affirmation, that the messsenger's previous remark was not true. But iriog kcu asks some additional informa- tion ; as> 7T(i)c kcu Tri-n-paKTcu ^itttv^wv iraiSwv £i>£ and vso£uyoe, evicpag and wKpciTog, and such others, are both Attic. Med, 1363. 428 THE GRECIAN DRAMA, III. BlomfielcVs Canons and Remarks, from the Classical Journal, vol. 37, p. 275, 39. 141. PROMETHEUS VINCTUS. 1. The ancient Greek poets sometimes lengthened the a privative, and in addvarog always. 193. 2. ^Ev-i6i)g, not evTreidriQ, is the proper form in the tragic writers. It is formed from the second aorist, as svyzvrjg, £u vqTrtvOrjg for avairzvQrig, vrifjitpTrig for avafizprijg, (Hesych.) by eliding a, and changing a into r\ lonice. ''AvaXnrog occurs Theocr. vi. 36. for which there is vr}\nrog, Apoll. Eh. iii. 646. Gloss. 248. 26. OaKog is the form used by the Attic poets : Omkoq seems to be Ionic. Gloss. 288, 432 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 27. M&to, in composition signifies change or alteration. Gloss. SI 7. 28. 7jY)X(o <7£, invidendum te puto ; I think you enviable. This is a form of speaking which congratulates with some admiration. MaKapiZio is frequently, 6Xj3t'£w but seldom, used in this sense. See Valcken. Theocr. Adoniaz. p. 415. Gloss. 338. 29. Uapa in composition very frequently conveys the idea of weakness or uselessness ; as iraprjopog and 7raparovoe, Alcest. 400. Gloss. 371. 30. "AVc, orcus, the same as AtSrjc, but with the soft breathing ; the Attics said li'ig, but Ai'3i]c, olarbg, alaau), &c. Gloss. 442. 31. oc, ardent issimus. In some words a is intensive, and is said by grammarians htvratnv §r\Xovv : so aSaKpvrog for TToXvdaKpvTog, in Soph. Trachin. 106. Antig. §81. a%v\y i)Xrj, Homer, II. A. 135. anvpog, in the sense of sine igne, is used, Agam. 71. Gloss. 905. PERS.E. 1. The tragic writers made the first syllable of 'laog short ; but in IfToQeog they necessarily lengthened the iota, in order that the word might be adapted to verse,, The same thing took place in aOavarog, aKafiarog, cnrapafivdog. They said 6erj(j)6pog, a<7mdr)(j>6pog, EAa<£rj/36Aoc, and the like : rather than 0eoiv 1 £$ tKeivwv, oi fi airujXXvTr}Vy 6avto» (658.) 10. From (j>a(*> is formed 7rt^ao-Kw, as from Saw, &$ao-ica>, from /3aw, )3ij3avetog. Gloss. 3. 14. IleSoGTifirjg, terra incedens, walking on the ground. This word frequently occurs in Euripides. Compounds in. oTifirig sometimes have a passive signification ; as 'riXioari- fifc P- V. 816, o the same. Gloss. 166. 17. 20aSa£w, factor, to struggle ; properly said of those who are in the agonies of death. Gloss. 199. 18. <£auAoe and (pXavpog are used in the same sense ; but avXog is more frequently applied to persons, and (pXavpog to things. Their derivations are different. That is pro- perly called fyXavpov which is light, and of no weight. From its parent word a is nothing else but the iEolic form of Sea, which has an intensive force, like per in Latin. Thus Alc^eus said Za$r)Xov for diadi]Xov : Sappho, ^atXe'ted/uav for oteAcSa/XTjv. Therefore we find %d9eog, Z>aixzvr\g, %a7r6~ trig, ^a^e-yy^e, ^>d\pvaog, £axp*joe. Gloss. 321. 48 G THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 22. "Ewe, in the sense of donee, until, requires the aorist [indicative]. Sometimes, but seldom, it is followed by the aorist optative. But when it signifies dum, quamdiu, whilst, as long as, it requires the present or imperfect. Gloss. 432. 23. NojU(^£«v signifies to believe in the existence of. He who believed in the gods was said absolutely Otovg vofxiZziv or fiyiiaOai. Gloss. 504, 24. UifjLTTpr^fii, incendo, to burn. Perhaps the first p. was inserted by the later Greeks ; and the ancients wrote mirp^pL and 7riir\rif.u, according to the usual form of verbs in pi. 'JEjU7n7r/>r)/.u occurs in Aristot. Hist. Anim. v. 1. as also frequently in Herodotus,— ipiriir\ri[u, Homer, II. <£. 311. Nor is the quantity of the syllable any objection. See Er- furdt, Soph. GE. ft. p. 414. Gloss. 815. 25. In the tragic writers the plural of iTrmpiov is used, not the singular. Gloss. 828. 26. From the ancient word ttvvio, the first syllable of which is long (and its perf. pass, frequently occurs in Homer), is formed wivvokw, in the same way that jiviogkcj is formed from yvww. Gloss. 835. 27. ' kvkyppai, sustineo, to bear or endure, is joined with a participle. See Dr. Monk's Hipp. 354. Gloss. 843. SEPTEM CONTRA THEBAS. 1. 'E7ti, in the sense of contra, is sometimes used with a dative case by iEschylus. See Sept. Theb. 711. Agam. 60. P. V. 1124. though with the genitive more generally. V. 1. 2. The article is frequently used for the relative : rove for ovg Pers. 43. Tovirtp for ovirep ibid. 780. roOev for 86sv ibid. 780. r^v for i]v Agam. 644. &c. V. 37. THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 437 3. The tragic writers used the Doric forms, Kwaydg, Kvvayiio, tcvvayirrig, Aoxcn/Errje, EJ5dofiayirr]g. V. 42. 4. Brunck and Schutz prefer as more Attic ttXzvuuv in- stead of 7rv£vfMi)v, but the latter is the more recent Attic form. The grammarians indeed side with Brunck, but then it is well known that they derived their rules for the most part from iElian, Libanius, Aristides, and other sophists, sometimes from Lucian, more rarely from the historians or Plato, and very seldom indeed from the scenic poets. V. 61. 5. The Ionic vt)bg for vabg was not used in the iambic senary. V. 62. 6. Eu^ojucu is frequently omitted before an infinitive mood. See Sept. Theb. 239. Choeph. 304. Eurip. Suppl. 3. V. 75. 7. Tioj has the first syllable common in Homer, but short in iEschylus and Aristophanes. The first syllable of riacj is always long. V. 77. 8. The first syllable of "Apyg is sometimes long, as in w. 125. 336. 465. 9. Adjectives compounded of nouns in oc generally retain the termination og ; thus words compounded of \6yog, rpo- Xog, &c. in the tragic writers never end in ag ; that termi- nation being more modern and less agreeable to analogy. V. 109. 10. Some adjectives have the three terminations, nog, tog, iKog, as tinrsiog, 'iirmog, 'nnriKog ; BovXziog, SovXtog, SovXiKbg, &c. The first of these three forms is used only on account of the metre. V. 116. 11. The last syllable of norna is always short. V. 141. 12. The probable orthography of \voa is Kvoa. From Kviuj is derived Kvovg and kvoci, as from piw, povg and poa ; from xeu), x°*'C anc ^ X° a * V. -^^. 438 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 13. M?) sometimes forms a crasis with a and tig* V. ,1.93. 14. The tragic- writers never join $1 and te. V. 212. 15. The words Su roi are never construed except with the indicative. V. 220. 16. OvTL no where begins a sentence, unless /my), 7rou, or irwg follows, or when there is an interrogation, and then a word is always interposed between them. The formula «XX' ovtl is frequent at the head of a sentence. V. 222. 17. Nvv is always an enclitic when it is subjoined to the particle. ju#. % 228. 18. 'ATroAfcyw is a word unheard of by the tragic writers. V./259. . 19. The Attics wrote Sri'iog and Syog, not Saiog and Saoc, as is clear from the compounds drfiaXcjTog, ■ aByog, and the verb Srjow. Aaiog, however, is the proper orthography, when it signifies aOXiog. V. 264. 20. . Nerie is a monosyllable. V. 316. 21. f 0c ? in the sense of adeo Ufa is only found with the infinitive. V. 361. 22. x Y7r£pKC7rog, not vTripKop-irog^ is the form used by the tragic writers ; for there is no passage in them where the metre requires the latter form ; some where it rejects it. A later age, as it seems, inserted the p.. V. 387. 23. "A vota, and similar compounds, very rarely produce the last syllable ; in ^Eschylus never. V. 398. 24. *A fjti) Kpavot Oeog. In prayers of this kind the aorist is more usual than the present. V. 422. 25. 'lug in the tragic writers has the first syllable com- mon, but oftener short. V. 489. 26. Tw is never put for rovrw with a substantive. V. 505. 27. EWe yap is scarcely Greek Utinam is expressed % d or a yap, never by u&e yap. V. 563. THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 439 28. Uo\£]uiftpx o Zi no ^ ndXsnapxag. That the Attics ter- minated compounds of this kind by ^oe may be inferred from the circumstance that their proper names were "lirirap- Xog, ISiiapx^g, KXiap\og. V. 828. 29. In the Attic poets probably pi\toi in the vocative is always a dissyllable. V. 945. 30. Uoayog is a more tragic word than irpayp,a. Gl. 2. 31. "Words compounded of poOog were favorites with ^Eschylus, as TroXvppoOog, raxvppodog, IrrippoOog, aXt/o- podog, iraXippoOog, &c. Gl. 7. 32. From oipoi is derived olpwZu), as from juu, juu^gj ; from o>, oj^d) ; [from at at, ata£co '•> from ot ot, oi£gj ; from IXeXeu, eXcXt^b) ; from ototoT, ototvZu) ; from av, auw and aiirgoj ; from <£eu, <£su£a> ; from cvoc, £iia?w]. Otjuwy?) is more frequently used than oip.toyp.a. Gl. 8. 33. When 'EXXeiVw signifies dejicio, abmm, it requires a genitive ; when it signifies omitto, it is followed by an accu- sative. Gl. 1 0. 34. Ylvpywf-ia is a fortification, or a collection of nvpyoi : just as ^curto/ia and rpixtofia are a collection of x aLTaL an( i Tpix^Q' Gl. 30. 35. navwXeflpoc has both an active and a passive signifi- cation. Gl. 71. 36. The tragic writers use both \abg and its Attic form \e&g. Gl. 80. 37. WjLiaxtroQ is used but rarely for afia\0Q and ajuiaxn- Tog. Gl. 85. 38. Avkhoc, an epithet of Apollo, is derived from Xvki), dxluculum^ whence the Latin lux, Gl. 134: 39. From the obsolete verb X?'/kw are derived the perfect \z\aKa and the second aor. cXczkov. Gl. 141. 40. BpiOoj sometimes, though rarely, has an active signi- 440 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. fication, i; to load.' 1 It is more generally used intransitively, ■" to be heavy." GL 141. 41 . The tragic writers frequently used nouns in ac, as Xidag, a heap or shower of stones ; vi6poQ, and the like, instead of 9avaTo XP l L ia '■> fr° m koviw, Kov'ijua ; from fiY\viw, fxrivlfia. V. 93. 4. Adjectives compounded of the dative Sojoi, or Sovp), retained the iota in composition, as SojOtKTrjroc, dovpiaXcorog, Sop/ArjTrroCj ^ovpnnrrig, SoptiLiavrjg, SopiOi'iparog, dopfjiap- yog. But those which are formed from the accusative retain the v, as $oov(p6pog, Sopvuaovg, Sopu^ooc, SoovKpa- vog. V. 115. 5. Diminutives of animals terminate in idtvg. V. 117. 6. Toiovtov and tooovtov are the Attic forms of the neu- ter gender ; tolovto and togovto the Ionic ^ . 306. 7. The Attics said Sicikovuv rather than SiijKovtTv. V. 310. 8. Ev aifitiv Ocoiig, and tvmfitiv ug Ozcvg differ : the former signifies, duly to worship the gods ; the latter, to conduct oneself piously towards the gods : the latter cannot 442 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. have an accusative after it except with a preposition. V, 329. 9. The Attics used aXfoicojuat in the present, and adopted the other tenses from aXow, whence also avaXow. Where- fore the optative should be written aX?»'rjv, as j3ii^i>, Sqnv. and the like. V. SSI. TO. w O?rwc av does not precede the optative, except in the sense of quo maxime modo. -When'o7rwe signifies ut, it re- quires the subjunctive with, or the optative without av. V. 357. ' 11. "Hroi is not used by the tragic writers for sane^ un- less followed by apa or av. V. 462. 12. In solemn appeals, such as Horn. II. E. 116. Ei 7TOT£ juoi KaX 7rarpt (pi\a (ppoviovaa rrapiaTr\q Ar}ioj Iv TToXifji^, vvv avr lp.1 £Ka.Zov, e/unredov (tlvoq 'Err^ijjuarwv, rSivng EvOrjpbv Tpi\a. Here the young scholar will remark that the masculine par- ticiple tl6£vt£q agrees with the feminine noun Spocroi ; of which anomaly perhaps no other instance can be found in the Attic poets, except in the case of animals. V. 544. 14. II wc av with the optative frequently signifies utinam in Euripides, much more rarely in the other tragic writers, perhaps never in iEschylus. V. 605. 15. Tap is frequently used in interrogative sentences [and may be translated by, what ?]. V. 613. 16. Ami, a7rai, and v7rat, occur in the Greek poets for the more common forms Sia, curb, and virb. V. 865. 17. Qvpcuog is said of a person even in the feminine gen- der :". Qypaia of a thing in the same gender. V. 1022. THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 443 18. The penult, of 7rXrj0i;w is short ; of ttXhQvvi^ long. V. 134.1. 19. The primary meaning of oi\iog, Ziviog or t, whence ttcit£io, and pasco : iraaaadai, vesci, has the first syllable short ; naGaaOai, possidere, has the first syllable long. Gl. 1380. 42. "Ewe, when it signifies quamdiu, and is joined to the perfect, or when with the present it signifies dum, does not take the particle av : as often as it means donee, it requires av and the subjunctive mood, or the optative without av. Gl. 1410. 43. The plural number [when used for the singular] in- 446 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. creases the force of the sentence, whether it be sarcasm or panegyric. Gl. 1414. 44. There is frequent mention of stoning in the ancient writers ; which species of punishment was employed by the people when excited by sudden indignation, because stones always lay at hand. Gl. 1606. 45. Moyew is an Homeric word, less frequently used by the tragic writers, with whom the more common word is lxo\di(x). The primitive root was juo&> (whence moveo, by an increase in the number of syllables, and the insertion of the digamma). Hence fioepog, fiwpbg, mobilis, (whence lofjuo- pog, lyxt from dpyfAi, yiyvoxiKU) from yvwju* ; [x«ctkw from 448 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. Xau,] and the like. The termination (new denotes repeti- tion of the action. Gl. 87. 20. To£a in the plural almost always is put for a single bow in the tragic writers. Gl. 155. 21. 'Efca sometimes signifies, apud inferos. GL 353. 22. -ZEschylus was partial to words compounded of Kapvto, as dopiK^g, av^poKpi)g. &C, GL 359. 23. Feminine nouns ending in rpia are derived from mas- culines in 7jc, as 7ro\£iJ.l(7Tpia from TroXe/nKTTrjg, ayvprpia from ayvprrig, (fraiSpvvrpia from (paidpvvTiig. Gl. 418. 24. Xaiptiv is construed with a participle of the verb ex- pressive of the action with which one is delighted. Gl. 442. 25. Ovdap) uber, peculiar to the other animals ; fxacrrbg was applied to women. GL 526. 26. "Ow^a denotes any kind of instruments. Gl. 537. 27. IlocWoc, cujas, is formed from the ancient pronoun nog, and the substantive Sa~og, the ground. GL 567. 28. Ulopai is the ancient future for Trtcrofxai from tt'kjj. Aristophanes has ttUtm, the first syllable being long, Eq. 1286. 1398.. The more recent form is Triovfiai. Theocri- tus, vii. 69. has the first syllable of TriofxaL short. GL 570. 29. K/w, vado, is an Homeric word, not used by Sopho- cles or Euripides ; and from it is derived kivbm. Gl. 668. 30. "'QmaQotrog, pedissequa, for omaOoTTovg, as asWoirog, OiSnroe, 7rouXu7roc, for atWoirovg, Oldlirovg, TroXvwovg. GL 701. 31. The Attics said with the Dorics Siiprjv and irsivyv for §t\pav and ttuvclv : but this did not extend to the third per- son singular of the present indicative [probably because there would have been a confusion between the indicative and subjunctive moods]. GL 744. THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 449 32. "Avw, perfi-cio, has the penult long in the present, and short in the second aorist. Gl. 786. S3. Avocfrepog, tenehricosus. Except Svofyog, Svo7raXi£w, and 8vb\p, no Greek word begins with 8v. Gl. 797. 34. Eustathius, II. A. 467. 44. derives cXeyx ? fr° m ^^ lv %y\og, because most subjects of dispute were decided by arms. This etymology is much more probable than another given in the same place, curb tov cXotv $y\og. For tktyxpg, the grasping of the spear to decide a dispute, was the same as the proof by battle with the Teutonic nations, and hence it signified any proof; and, by an easy transition, it denoted argument, reproof, insult. Gl. 838. 35. Of words ending in arsprig, some have a passive sig- nification, as TraTpOGTeprjg, bfifxaTOGTzpr\g, fiioareprig, ijXtCNX- Ttpi]Q ; and some an active, as apyvpovTtprjg, dfi/jLaTOGTsprig, (Eum. 933.) ftioareptg (CEd. C. 314.) Gl. 989. and 247. 36. Names of winds ending in lag are formed from other names, GL 1054. G G 450 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. IV. Canons and Remarks In th$ Higpolytus and Alcestis of Professor Monl\ from the ClassicalJoumal, wl. 37, p. 124. 1. KlicX?}juai is frequently used by the tragic [and other] writers in the sense of elfiL Hipp. 2. 2. npecrfovio sometimes signifies irpoTifiaw, to honor or respect. So Ghoeph. 486. rovde 7rp£ signifies to advance ; and is taken metapho- rically from those who cut down wood and other obstacles in a road. Hipp. 23. 7. The future of divea) is alvri&oj in Homer, and cuveW in the tragic writers. Hipp. 37. THE GRECIAN DRAMA, 451 8. "Aprepiv rifiujv Beav] Not Osbv, as Aldus edited and Valckenaer preferred : 17 Ozbg occurs frequently in the tragic writers in the sense of a goddess, but never when joined with the name of the goddess, as here. Hipp. 00. 9. 'A&ooj sometimes occurs in the sense of audeo, to dare, as in Heracl. 950. Pers. 335. and elsewhere. Hipp. 74. 10. "QariQ in the singular is frequently followed by and referred to a plural. See Antig. 718. 720. Androni. 180. Ban. 714. Hec. 359, 360. II. r. 279. Hipp. 78. 11. Qav/ia^u) signifies to pay homage to, or honor. Hipp. 105. 12. IloXXa \aipuv is sometimes used for the middle. See Phcen. 714. Heracl. 811. Pers. 888. 19. $>i\og in the poets has frequently the sense of £p.6g* Hipp. 199. 20. nponoXog signifies either a male or a female attend- ant ; afi(j>'nro\oQ only a female attendant. See Eustath. II. T. p. 394, 31 = 299, 1. Hipp. 200. 21. Uiog av denotes in almost all the tragedies of Eu- ripides, utinam, I wish, or, oh that ! but much more rarely in the other tragic writers. See however (E. R. 765. Aj. Fl. 388. and Philoct. 794. Hipp. 208. 22. The iota at the end of the dative singular is very rarely elided by the tragic writers : perhaps there are not more than six instances of such elision in all the remains of Greek tragedy. Hipp. 221. 23. The last syllable of k\itvq is short in the tragic writers, but long in Homer. Hipp. 227. 24. IlapaKOTTTeiv plvag signifies to pervert the under- standing ; but napaKOTTTuVi as also irapairaluvi is more frequently used in a neutral sense, to be mad. 25. Mala is said of a grandmother, a midwife, a nurse* The last sense is the more frequent meaning of it. Hipp. 243. 26. 'OSwaw, though used in Hipp. 247. does not occur: in any other passage in the Greek tragedies. 27. The last syllable of Aiav, ayav, iripav, and tvav, m always long in the Attic poets. Hipp. 264. 28. r OptJ fxlv . . . aatifia §' i7jutv. The enallage or change from the first person singular to that of the plural, stud versa vice, is very common in the Greek tragedies. Hipp, , 268. THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 453 29. The neuter plural 'adjective is frequently used instead of the singular, aar\p.a for acrjj/zov, %vyy vmgtcl (Hec. 1089. Phoen 1008. Med. 491. 701. &c.) for Ivyyv uhttov. Hipp. 269. 30. "Ar»j in the tragic writers is said of any calamity, but especially of some severe dispensation of Providence. Hipp. 276. 31. The prepositive article, 6, 17, to, followed by julv, §c, yap, is frequently used by the tragic writers in the sense of ovtoq and tKUvog. Even without these adjuncts, the article, though less frequently, possesses this signification. Hipp. 280. 32. Both the forms irXdvog and vrXdvi} occur in the tragic writers. In JEschylus the feminine form generally, perhaps invariably, is found, whereas Euripides always uses ifXdvog : from whence it may be inferred, that the latter form prevailed after the time of iEschylus. Hipp. 283. 33. ETev is an exclamation employed where the subject under discussion is abandon ed, and a new topic of conver- sation started. Hipp. 297. 34. The verbs olcJa, yiyvioaKW, jmavOdvb), alaOdvofiai, &c. and their compounds, are joined to participles of the pre- sent, perfect, and future — seldom, and yet sometimes, to those of the aorist : as &voiSa ootpog wv. *i GTtppbg* yevvalog, Sitcaiog, fizXtog, fipvxiog, and some other adjectives are declined, 6 tca\ fi &c ; and also (j>av\oc, rj, ov. Phil. 437. 44. The interposition of the words irug SokeTc ; gives ad- ditional spirit to a narrative. See Hec.jll50. Ran. 53. Eccles. 399. Hipp. 448. 45. ^ripyuv in the sense of acquiescing ; is frequently found— for the most part with an accusative, sometimes with a dative case. Hipp. 460. 46. "AvOpwirog is used sometimes to denote a woman. See Theocr. Adoniaz. 106. and Valckenaer's note. Homo in Latin has the same meaning. Hipp. 474. 47. Examples of (1) the double comparative, such as juaXXov a\yi(Dv, and (2) of the double superlative, such as fxiyiGTov I'x&oroe, are frequent in the tragic writers. See THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 455. Hec. 381. Sept. Theb. 679. iEsch. Suppl. 287. Med. 1320. Alcest. 802. Hipp. 487. 48. The forms tKXyaa, icAr^e, icXyOpov, for %K\et(ra,K\u^tg, icXaiOpov, are of tke more recent Attic, and introduced into the writings of the tragedians by grammarians. Hipp. 500. 49. A short vowel at the end of a preposition, preceding another word commencing with the letters $p, remains short ; but if that other word begins with j3A, the short vowel is made long. Hipp. 513. 50. The prepositive article 6, 17, to, is frequently put for the relative og, ??, o, not only in Homer, but in the writings of the three tragedians. Hipp. 527. 51. IlwXoc was said by the Greeks of either a young un- married man or woman. [The same remark applies to aKVfjLvbg, fxoayog, and other names of the young of animals.] Hipp. 547. 52. The participle of the present tense [as also the pre- sent tense itself] denotes the attempt to effect the action contained in the verb. Hipp. 592. 53. In solemn adjurations and appeals, such as o» irpog the pronoun is always placed between the pre- position and the noun which it governs ; and the verb on which the pronoun depends, avrojucu, itcvovfxai, tK€srstJO% or some similar word, is frequently omitted. Hipp. 603. 54. Fa^pbg seems to denote any relation by marriage ; but in the tragic writers it generally signifies a son-in-law . Hipp. 631. 55. When the Greeks wished to express any thing future, on which something else was contingent, then they prefixed the conjunctions, "va, wg, ov is said of one who is exempt from punish- ment, and may be rendered, with impunity, KXacuv is op- posed to it, and may, in the second person, be rendered, to your cost See CE. R. 363. Antig. 759. Med. 399. Androm. 756. Hipp. 1098. 74. The Attics used the Doric form apape, not apvpe : as also, besides the instances given by Porson, Orest. 26. (see Class. Journ. No. lxi. p. 137.) they said daicog, and its com- pounds ; yanovoQ, 'yaTTtrrje, ya7redov, yap,opog, yairoTog, yaTOfiog, Kapavov and its compounds. Hipp. 1093. 75. The futures ^ev^o/nat and (pevZovfiat were both used by the tragic writers. Hipp. 1096. 76. The ellipsis of the preposition Qrivyuv, KL^uvy Xayuv, Tvxzivt SctKtlv, Xafiuv, fxaOelv, 7rv0£(j6ai, by the insertion of the letters v or p.. To these may be added avMvuv from aduv. Hipp. 1442. 83. Kat never forms a crasis with, nor suffers elision before, ?%. Hipp. 1445. 84. The Greeks had four forms of the future with a pas- sive signification, (1) Tipricropat, (2) (5tfi\r) irviit), have the futures atcovaofim, myfiaoficu, auorrriaonai, qaofiat, j3o/i- aofim, ap.aprriaopLai^ Oavovfiai, 7T£(tou/ucu, K\av0avu) is long in Homer, but always short in the Attic writers. Alcest. 638. 462 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 108. The tragic writers were partial to compounds, such as al$6(f>pit)v, aXKitppwv, m<$rip6(j>p(*>v, &c. Alcest. 678. 109. Ofoc is frequently said of the sun, and generally without the article. SeeOrest. 1023. Eur. Suppl. 208. Med. 353. Alcest. 738. 110. The chorus very rarely quits the stage after its first entrance till the conclusion of the tragedy. A few instances however occur where it does. Alcest. 762. Aj. Fl. 814. and Eumen. Alcest. 762. 111. The form oTSac, for the common olvOa, is not very frequent. Alcest. 796. 112. 'A XXa gov to pfj Qpaaai. This construction is ex- pressive of indignation or admiration. See Nub. 818. Aves 5. Ran. 741. Alcest. 848. 113. The following are instances of verbs transitive governing a genitive case, /xipog tl being understood : Ale. 861. Hec.614. Herod.iii.il. Alcest. 861. 114. Tfov vtto yaiag, not yalav: the accusative in such expressions is then only used, when motion is denoted. Alcest. 921. 115. Several active verbs are used in a middle sense, the personal pronoun being understood ; as ptym, Cycl. 165. KpvTTTovra, Phoen. 1133. KpvTTTovmv, Soph. El. 826. ttoX- W, CE. R. 153. tcariaxov, CE. R. 782. Alcest. 922. 116. The Greeks said viicav fia\r)v, vucqv ayiova, viKav asOXov. Alcest. 1048. 117. EI yap frequently occur in an optative signification ; but in this usage there is a difference between the indica- tive and optative moods. El yap ax ov means > °h th&t ^ had ! u yap £X 0£ f"> on tna ^ I ma y nave • Alcest. 1091. 118. The quantity of the enclitic vvv is sometimes long and sometimes short both in the tragic and comic writers, Alcest. 1096. THE GRECIAN DRAMA, 4b3 119. The iota at the end of the dative singular is some- times, though seldom, elided by the Attic poets. Alcest. 1137. 120. The ancients were accustomed to attribute heavy reverses of fortune to the envy of the gods. See Pers. 867. Orest. 963. Eur. Suppl. 347. Iph. A. 1049. Herod, iii. 40. Alcest. 1154. 464 THE GRECIAN* DRAMA, V. Canons and Remarks Collected from Elmsley ^ Porson, Datves, Matthice, Major^ $c. 1. Tlarptya teal p.r]Tpioa irfi/jiaO' a-iraOeg. H. Stephens doubts how the a in airaOeg can be length- ened. It is made long in this place on account of the crasis of two short vowels, a and e, coalescing into one long a ; in the same manner as the a in rafxa, for to. tya, in aiceov for acKGJv, &c. &c. is lengthened. Elmsley in CEdip. Col. v. 1195. 2. When the article ends in a vowel, and the following word begins with a vowel, the first syllable of that word is not elided, but coalesces by crasis into one syllable with the article. Thus, for rov 1/j.ov, rovfiov should be written, and not tov ''fiov. So also we should write ra&Ujofyxara, rovm- ovTOQ, TajjLa, twjuw, T??/iavrou, not ra '^v/or/juara, rov V(ov- toc, ra '/ua, rtj> 'juej>, rp 'fiavrov. In every crasis of two syllables, the iota of the former syllable is elided ; thus rav and rajoa, for rot av and rot apa. So also, for ot sjuloi and at ljuat, not ot '/not and at "'fiai, but ovfxol and ajwai should be written. Elmsley Prsefat. in CEdip. Tyr. 10-11. 3. Nothing is more rare among the Attic poets than the elision of the vowel e before av ; eypmfr 9 av scripsissem is found more than ten times as often as typaip' av scripsisset* Elm. Med. 416. 4. The diphthong cannot be elided in rot, but it renders THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 465 the vowel long by crasis ; as, 'YiroeTtvoi fiivT av 6 BpavirriQ Xewg. This occurs especially in tol apa and tol av. 5. The Attics, according to Porson, do not omit the augment. In the melic portions, however, according to Monk, the augment may be omitted. The following rules on this point are given by Hermann in his Praefat. ad Bacch. pp. 50-55. (1). A verb of consequence, in which the addition of the augment makes an anapaest, placed in the beginning of a verse, requires the augment added : as, lyivovro Ai]$a 0£c, ottwq, take after them the indicative, provided the discourse be concerning a thing present or past ; for concerning a future event the subjunctive or optative is used. Elmsley in CEdip. Tyr. v. 1389. 7. Porson has remarked that the tragic writers have not H H 466 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. universally observed Dawes' well-known rule, viz. il that the optative with the particles wg, ha, orrojg, of pa, fxrj, is sub- joined only to verbs of a past signification ; the subjunctive only to verbs of a present or future signification." Some- times indeed, though a verb of the past time precedes, yet the effect, which was aimed at, is either present or future ; and therefore the subjunctive is demanded. Monk. Hippol. 1294. And, on the contrary, the optative in certain combina- tions is put after verbs of the present time, e. g. when the present (Ustoricum) is put for the aorist, as in the Latin also, the conj. imperf. follows the present. Matth. Gr. Gr. S.518. 8. Ov ixavtiq, with a note of interrogation, is the same as ftlve; will you not stay? that is, stay ; ov fir) fievztg, will you not not stay ? i. e. will you not go away f same as jurj /ueve. Ov [xrj fievug is not to be confounded with ov f.irj fizivyg ; the former is the same as fxrj fiivs, the latter the same as ov fAsvtig. Ehnsley in Med. v. 1120. 9. Dawes says that the particles ov fir) are construed either with the future indicative, or with the second aorist subjunctive. Elmsley says, that they may also be con- strued with the first aorist subjunctive. Ov fxrj with the future belongs to one who forbids, with the subjunctive to one who denies. Thus, ou jarj ypaxpsig is equivalent to firj ypa(f>s, but ov [xrj ypd\pyg to ov ypaipug. Ov fxrjis construed with the future indicative either of the active or middle form. Elmsley in (Edip. Col. vv. 177. 1024. 10. The tragic writers frequently join irplv with the sub- junctive, omitting av, which is always required in familiar discourse. This is Person's observation. They do not however use the subjunctive, unless the signification of deny- THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 467 ing, or of prohibiting, be in the former member. The same rule holds with regard to the optative. It ma}' be re- marked, that the infinitive is frequently used for the sub- junctive, though the subjunctive is never used for the infini- tive. Elmsley in Med. v. 221. 11. After an oath, such as, vrj Ata, vr) rdv Ata, julcl Ata, ov /no. Ala, vi) tqv 'AttoWu), &e. the particle ye never follows, unless after the interposition of another word. Porson. Adversaria, p. 33. 12. It was usual for the Greeks, in an oath, to insert a word between the preposition and its case. Thus Eurip. in Hippol. v. 605. Nat irpoQ &l Tr)g ar)g de%iag evuikevov. And Virgil, imitating them. iEn. 4. 314. Per ego has lacry* mas. Elmsley ad (Ed. Col. Addend, p. 361. 13. When a second person confirms or corrects the senti- ment of a former, the particle ye follows after $e, another word being sometimes interposed, and sometimes not. Por- son. Orest. 1234. 14. The conjunctions real and $£ do not occur in the same member of a sentence, in the writers of the tragic age. Porson. ad Orest. 614. 15. The Attics never conjoin ye re, re ye, ye fiev, a\\a Ufa. Porson. ad Med. 863. ] 6. In tragic iambics, the second syllable of a tribrach, or of a dactyl, ought not to be either a monosyllable, which is incapable of beginning a verse, such as av, yap, §e : fiev, re, rig, or the last syllable of a word. Elmsley. 1 7. Sophocles alone shortened the second syllable in fjjiuv and vfXiv. That he did forty-two times in the diverbial parts of all his plays. It is found long in seven verses, which Porson tliinks require to be corrected. Elmsley 468 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. thinks it occurred by chance rather than by design, that he so seldom lengthened the last syllable. Euripides never shortened the last syllable of these pronouns. When it is shortened, they may be written either rj/xtv, vfxiv^ or ^juiv 9 vfxiv ; the latter form is preferred by Brunck, and the more modern editors. Elmsley. Prsef. ad (Ed. Tyr. p. 10. 18. The verbs aTroAavw, clkovu, ot'Sw, &c. &c. want the first future active, but have the first future middle ; on the contrary they want the first aorist middle, and have the first aorist active. Dawes. 19. The verb ^|kw signifies, not venio, but vmi, or adsum* Dawes. 20. The middle verb XiirsaBai does not admit an accusa- tive after it. Dawes. 21. There is no second future active or middle in Greek. Tvtto) and tvttoi/u are the second aorist subjunctive and optative ; Tvirovfxai is not to be found, The difference of the Ionic and Doric futures has occasioned the mistake. The Ionic futures terminate the active form in aaio, *orw, fw, Tcra», and otrw, and the middle in aaofiai, eaofiai, £opai, itro- juat and oaofiat ; as, eXdacj, aytoviaofiai, &c. which forms are adapted to dactylic verse, which the Ionians preferred : the Attics, after a short syllable, in place of ao-w, £, «w and ocw, write w; for aaofxai, w/mai ; for saofiai, zofiai ; for oaofxm, ovfxai ; for Xau), iw ; and for Xaofxai, lovpai ; as cXw, aywviovjjLaL ; which forms are adapted to iambics and tro- chaics, which the Attics preferred : after a long syllable no change was made ; thus xopraaw, apiraaofjiai, &c. &c. are common to both. Dawes. 22. uAa<7(7w, in the active voice, signifies sermre, custo- dire ; in the middle, cavere. Dawes. 23. The verbs ot/ragw and j3aXXo> are more frequently THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 469 joined with only one accusative of the person ; as also the verb ciKtoficti ; sometimes with two accusatives, one of the person, the other of the word zXkoq ; but never with the dative. II. E. 361. Dawes. 24. The verb apiaraw, with all its family, always makes long the first syllable. Dawes. 25. In forming patronymics, the termination og or ov of the genitive is changed, after a short syllable, into idr]g, after a long into ia^g. Dawes. 26. Neither Xuireiv, nor IkXuttuv, in the Attic writers, signifies to be deficient ; but IWuttuv. Dawes. 27. Not the active verb cnroSidovai, but the middle cnrodi- SoaOm, signifies to sell. Dawes. 28. Not the active verb evptlv, but the middle tvpiaOai, denotes what is expressed by the Latin nancisci, adipisci. Dawes. 29. The first aorist active or middle of the verb zvpiGKU) is not in use. Dawes. 50. The Attics express the Latin quodlibet by irav, not by to -rrav. Dawes. 51. 'EjcKaXety signifies evocare ; eKKaXuaOai^ ad-se-evocare. Dawes. 52. It was not lawful for the Attic poets to elide any diphthong, or to use the verb t'Sov without an augment, or to employ the verb iazrai at all. Dawes. 33. The Attics used no future active of the verb ofxwfii ; they used the middle 6 ( uou/xat. Dawes. 34. Though 7TEvojucu in Homer, sometimes signifies parare, in the Attic writers it never signifies any thing but paupe- rem esse ; nor does it ever govern the accusative. Dawes. 35. The Attic writers never used Suw, always §vo. Dawes. 36. The pronoun oSe is generally used on the appearance 470 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. of a new character on the stage, and has the force of wSc or Ssvpo. Elmsley. 37. When $tu, eTcv, 's'a, and similar interjections, are in- dependent of the verse, I put a full stop after them ; when they form part of the verse, a smaller one or none at all. Porson. 38. The vowel in 6n never suffers elision in the comic writers. Porson. 39. E'/Sr?c comes from aSw video, eldyg from a Sao scio. Major. 40. Instead of the adjectives being considered, as in other languages, as epithets of the substantives, and put in the same case with them, in Greek the substantive is often con- sidered as the whole, and the adjective as the part ; and then the substantive is put in the genitive. The adjective has the gender of the substantive. The cases are very com- mon in which the substantive is put with the adjective in the plural ; as, ajxiyapra kqkiov, ot T^orjcrroi rCov avOpioTrwv* Matthiae. 41. The particles koX fjirjv are of constant occurrence in announcing the entrance of a new character ; particularly in connexion with the remarks of the preceding speaker : and are usually put in the mouth of the chorus. Major. 42. The imperative is used not unfreqnently by the Attic poets, in a dependent proposition after olaO^ o ; as, olaO'' ovv o dpavov ; the phrase seems to have arisen from a transpo- sition, for dpaaov, olaO'' 6. Matth. 43. Adjectives which have an active sense, and are mostly derived from verbs active, or correspond to them, express their relation to an object, which with the verbs would be in the accusative, by the genitive ; as, icapSiac StiKTripta, (SaKvuv ti)v Kapdiav) that afflict the heart. Matth. THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 471 44. T&w TtOvrjKOTcov a\ig. Hec 278. Dawes has re- marked that a\ig is never construed with a genitive in Homer. 45. The Greek term (juXoTrciTpig was nearly synonymous with (j)i\677o\iQ, signifying merely attachment to a particu- lar commonwealth, or more frequently only to a party in that commonwealth ; to express the more liberal patriotism, extending to the whole nation, the Greeks used the term (j>i\£X\r}v. Mitford. 46. When the Greeks express a person by a circumlocu- tion, they return as soon as possible to the person itself ; thus Homer says /3/ij 'HpajcArjarj, oairep. Porson. 47. Avrog without the article does not mean idem, but ipse ; Stephens cites tovrbg, but I have edited avrbg from the rule laid down by Dawes, and from analogy. Porson. 48. A negative frequently usurps the place of an interro- gative ; as in Hec. 296. zhv frequently precedes an interro- gation. Porson. 49. The relative is frequently in the singular, when the antecedent is in the plural. This takes place when it re- fers not so much to a determinate person or thing, as to all of the species to which the preceding substantive belongs, or when a word of general import, as nag, precedes. Hence also, in this case, oang, or og av is commonly put. Vide II. n. 621. Hec. S59. Matth. 50. The future for the conjunctive is the regular con- struction after oirwg, which indeed takes the present, the aor. ] . pass, and aor. 2. in the conjunctive, but instead of the aor. 1. act. and mid. requires the future, and this, whether it be governed by a verb preceding, or that opa, cave, is omitted. In the passages where the aor. 1. conj. still remains after o-rrwg, 6ne or other of the MSS., or edi- 472 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. tions, generally has the future. But ottuq av, that, takes the conj. and aor. 1. act. Matth. 51. El/ni and its compounds have always a future signifi- cation, not only in the Attic writers, but also in Homer. II. A. 169. Dawes. 52. In Greek, the plural is often used for the singular, for the sake of greater emphasis, as in the Hec. 403. TOKtvcnv, the mother. Matth. 53. When any one wishes to dissuade another from any thing by entreaties, jut) av ye is very commonly used with the omission of the verb preceding. Hec. 408. Matth. 54. The Greeks always said x^P^y an( ^ no ^ X^'p /**"* Hence xaipoficu for x at ?> w is & solecism, to which they gave the name of Datism, from Datis, the Persian general, who, on the reduction of Naxos, made use of the following line : r QiQ rido/iai, Kol TtpTTOfiai, kcu \aipofxai. Porson. 55. Avuj has the first syllable common in Homer ; long in the tragic writers. The first syllable of ko\6q is long in Homer, common in Hesiod and Theocritus, and short in the tragic writers. Major. 56. If a woman, speaking of herself, uses the plural num- ber, she also uses the masculine gender ; if she uses the masculine gender, she also uses the plural number. Dawes. 57. The use of the article for the relative is frequent in Homer, and in Ionic and Doric writers ; of Attic writers the tragedians only use it in this sense, not the comic and prose authors ; and these only in the neuter and oblique cases. Matth. 58. Nouns masculine in wv make feminines in aiva ; as, Oepcnrwv, Otpcnraiva. Major. 59. The first aorist in Greek, and the perfect in Latin, frequently have the force of soleo. Hec. 596. Hor. Od. 1. 34. Major. THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 473 60. The word iri-rrXog is applicable both to the t/xartov, the outer loose and flowing garment ; and to the x f ™v, the inner and close-fitting vest : but more peculiarly to the former, which the Lacedaemonian virgins alone wore. See Virg. JEn. 1. 315. In the festival of the TIava6{)vaia, the sacred irzirXog was carried to the citadel, and put upon Mi- nerva's statue. This 7riir\og was woven by a select number of virgins called "* Epy aaTiKai, from ipyov, work. On it were described the achievements of Minerva. Jupiter also, and the heroes, who were famous for valiant exploits, had their effigies in it ; whence men of true courage are said to be aZiot 7T£7rXou, i. e. worthy to be pourtrayed in Minerva's sacred garment. Potter. 61. In prohibitions with pi), or an adj. or adv. com- pounded with firi, the aor. is put in the conjunctive, and not the present. Hec. 959. Matth. 62. For tig, when it expresses a proper motion, wg is often put, generally with living objects, seldom with inani- mate things. This usage probably arose from the circum- stance of d)g and dg being often joined. Matth. 63. In negative propositions, the conj. is used after fxrj or ov firj for the future, but only the conj. aor. 1. pas. or aor. 2. act. and mid.; instead of the aor. 1. act. the future is used. Matth. 64. r) and jur/ before ov always form a crasis in iambic verse. Major. 65. The Attics frequently add ye after kcu firiv, ov firiv, icaiToi, etc., but with something intervening. Porson. 66. The Attics sometimes use ju/]7to> for fxt]iroTe, by the figure \iTOTt}g. Kal and Se cannot stand in the same clause of a sentence. Porson. 474 THE GRECIAN PRAMA. VI. A Sketch of the Principal Usages of the Middle Voice of the Greek verb, when its signification is strictly observed* QUI BENE DIVIDIT, BENE DOCET. The first four may be called usages of reflexive : the fifth the usage of reciprocal signification. I. Where A does the act on himself, or on what belongs to himself, i. e. is the object of his own action. 1. 'A7nry£a7o, he hanged himself, 2. ' £ltp,w%zv S' 6 yipwv, K£v\a%a and riOrifu, for in- stance, are requisite, to indicate the tahing or considering of any object in such or such a light, &c. ; some other verbs, such as ayw, Xajuj3ava>, in the active form so called, are found with a similar acceptation. Iph. Aul. 607. "OpviOa jj.lv roS 1 alaiov iroiodfieOa, k. r. X. We taJce this as an auspicious omen, fyc. Phoen. 872. 'Chwvov ld£fir\v KaWivitca era &ri(pri. I consider as a good augury the victorious garland you wedf* Antigone, 34. to irpayfi ayeiv \ ov\ we Trap* ovZiv. Thucyd. B. §. 42. ttjv twv Ivavriojv TtjAwptav TroQeivori- pav avrwv XafiovTzg. — Having regarded the humbling of their adversaries as a far more desirable object, fyc. VIII. It is a distinction well deserving of remark, that while several verbs in w are used of matter and actions con- nected with it, those in o/xcu have the province of mind and its concerns instead. 478 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. Thus II. A. 607, 8. Swjua— 'Rqcikttoq wotriaev. But Thucyd. B. §§. 42, 4. avafioXrjv rov detvov liroiriaaro. lie thought of delaying or eluding the danger. So too, II. A. 433. iaria fjilv ardXavTO, Qiaav c Iv vr\i jucXaivr?. Prom. V. 247. Ovyitovq & Iv oikt^ TrpoOipevog. IX. 1. The tenses (apparently, originisvi, whatever that be) most decidedly passive in use, are the two aorists and two futures passive so called. 2. While the first future middle frequently occurs (it is well known) with a passive use, the first aorist middle on the other hand hardly ever seems to lose its proper acceptation. Thus, Xl£u, thou shalt be reckoned ; but never ripZapriv, I was ruled, nor lypaxparo, it was written, 3. The idea of a preterite middle with a reflexive signifi- cation is now rejected (Glasgow Greek Grammar, p. 65) ; and the separate form when it does exist, is more aptly de- signated second preterite or falso-medium. When the tense of any verb is wanted to express that notion, the preterperfect passive is adopted, de persond ; while its common use prevails more, de re. II. A. 238, 9. . . . . SikcktttoXoi, ol re Oe^iarag irpbg Aibg ilpvarai. A. 248 tvOa T£ vwq tlpvar' ivirpvjuvot. i. e. tlpvarai = slpvvrai. X. Verbs in the passive voice when indicating the affec- tions of mind, or the facts of motion, are frequently so used without any reference to external cause, or agent whatso- ever ; that is, are not meant to signify any thing about action, or the modus operandi, but the effect or state only, as it regards the subject of the verb, THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 47$ Thus, II. A. 531. rwy' wg fiovX&ixravTS SiirfiayeV' Hecuba, 1090. irot Tpcnrtofiai ; irol iroptvdio ; Medea, 1241. jutjc)' avafivnaQrig tUvwv. In other words, then, the passive form on occasions like these is employed, when the middle voice might naturally else be expected. Such, at any rate, is the best account we can give of this matter in particular. But upon the whole, may we not generally remark, that the ways in which things take place, and the relations to one another, in which they require to be spoken of, seem to defy definition or number ; while the voices of the verb (essential as that is to discourse), even in Greek amount to three at the most? No wonder it should happen, that words, only in a loose manner, often very rudely, hint, that some connexion exists betwixt certain ideas, without any pretence to mark the precise mode of it. The occasion is individual : the forms of language are universal. And yet to the context with its circumstances rightly apprehended and to the vis-directrix of common sense, the rest of the operation may very safely be left. 480 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. VII. On the Greek Dialects, From the Classical Journal, vol. 17, p. 84. The Grecian dialects are, strictly speaking, three : (1). The Ionic, spoken by the inhabitants of Attica, Achaia, and Ionia. [The Athenians and Achaians are called by Homer 'Iaovfc. 'laovcc is applied to the Athe- nians by iEschylus.] (2). The Doric, spoken in the mountainous parts of Greece, particularly those in Peloponnesus. 1 (3). The JEolic, which was the oldest, (and similar to the Doric), spoken by the Thessalians and Boeotians, who in- troduced it into the Peloponesus. (1). The Ionic was carried into Asia by Neleus, the son of Oodrus — was there spoken in its original form — but in Attica changed into a more refined and elegant state, called the Attic — which, in fact, is nothing but contracted Ionic. The Attic is divided into three classes : The Old. Under this, ThucydideSj iEschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, The Middle. Aristophanes, Plato, The New. Xenophon, Menander, Philemon, Isocrates, Demosthenes, JEschines, and the other orators. THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 481 The tragedians used an older'east of language than was employed by the Attics in their common writings. Hence we find the Ionic forms, /novvog, fialvog, Sovpi, OvXvfnrog, &c. iEschylus, of the three tragedians, has the most of these forms ; Euripides, the fewest. More of these are to be found in the choruses than in the dialogue. The Attic, as we have said above, is a contracted kind of Ionic ; because the Ionians delighted in the dactylic or heroic measure, while the Attics were more partial to the iambic and trochaic. Ionic. Attic. ivuj-oow acw £> KaXieu) k, 7rH ; for £, k(t ; for £, $a ; and for \p, wa. Latin* Greek. ambo, ajUHJib) nebula, vt(j)£\ri alibi aX\o)(l guberno, KvfispVU) angulus, ayKvXov Deus, Oedg inde, svOev lateo, ZXaOov [\aO!u>] misceo, Efiioyov fremo, fipifJLO) triumphus, Oplafxfioc purpureus, 7TOjO^V/0€0C« THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 485 The retention of the F in the Latin, shows the traces of the iEolic in that language. In some degree it supplied the place of the aspirate. It is expressed in Latin by D, sometimes by S. Latin. uffloMc. sylva, KAF n sevum, CuFiUV avernus, aFopvog boves, &6Feg divus, SiFog video, Fldov viginti, FIkotl (old form) venter, FfiWe/ooe vestis, FlaOrjg vesper, F'icnrepog ver, (tap) Frjp vesta, Fiarla See Dr. Valpy's Greek Grammar. Other forms are deduced by interchange of consonants, &c. Latin. Greek. vulgus, oyXog [oyXog, oXyog, FoXyog] num, fXWV forma, fxoprj lac, yaXa dulcis, yXvKvg tener, TEpTJV ab, awo sub, FviTO super, Fvrrep tunica, \IT0)V animus, avsfxog liearfs Hood.) mens, fjJvog (used in Homer for 486 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. somnus, Fihtvoq veni, 7jv6ov (riXBov) quattuor, [cattuor, ut cottidie pro quotidie.] kettopsq, iEolic for TtaaapzQ. fallo, G(j)aX\(jj unus, tvog legunt, \iyovTi (XeyovGi) legimus, A£yojU£c sunt, / * >f \ V (ovaiy eovTi) ovtl Principal changes are : Latin Greek terminations. terminations. us from oc um ov am av THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 4S£ Dialect of the Tragedians. From the German of C. G. Haupt : VORSCHULE ZUM STUDIUM DER GRIECHISCHEN TRAG1KKB. § 1. IN THE DIALOGUE. As there are two leading elements in ancient tragedy, so there is a corresponding division in its dialect. The lan- guage of the lyrical portions is usually named the Doric. In the portion embracing the dialogue we should naturally expect to meet with the pure Attic dialect. Yet still we do not meet with the language of actual life, as it exists in Aristophanes ; nor, on the other hand, the language of the lyrical writers, but such as may rather be denominated the old Attic or the Epic language. As the tragedians borrowed from the ancient epic poets not merely their subject-matter, but also their mode of expression and representing objects ; hence they used in the dialogue, 1. many epic w^ords and forms of words, as, i£uvog, alet, jmovvog, Kuvog, OprJKeg, ixiaaog, roaaov, 7T/oo(t, Kovig, and kowv, is worthy of observation. [Blomf. iEsch. Prom. 1120.] The short v in daicpvu) in the present and imperfect, is doubtful, (see Porson on Med. 1218 ;) but less uncertain in vr\&vv. (Eur. Androm. 356, Cycl. 571.) It is usual to shorten the diphthongs of one and the same word before vowels in 7roiuv, ToiovTog, SdXaiog, ytpatbg, olog (when the last syl- lable is long), TraXcuoe, k. t. X. [Porson, Ph. 1319.] 2. Letters — Consonants — Vowels. The attempt to fasten on the tragedians whatever is of a pure Attic character, or approximates to it, has given rise to many alterations of the original text, as well as many controversies among the learned. Concerning 7rvevf.uov and TrXEvfiiov, Kvairrio and yvaiTTO), Z,vv and aw, jutoXig and fioyig, tig and Ig, Trpaaoii) and TrpaTTU), Oapvio and Oappu), yiyvcjcnca) and yivwcrKU), tXicreu) and slXlcrorto, airXaKuv and afnrXaKuv, our decision can be regulated only by the authority of Mss., and must rest on surer grounds than the preconceived notion, that whatever is pure Attic must at the same time be also THE GRECIAN DRAMA, 491 tragic. With respect to such forms (for instance juoyic, yva^inruv) as have been considered of a more Attic charac- ter — a more accurate observation of Plato, Thucydides, Xenophon, and other contemporary writers has proved quite the reverse. Porson and Elmsley have been equally erroneous in uni- versally writing aerbg, kcuo and k\6.u) : Hermann's Preface to Ajax, p. 18. " Falli puto, qui, quod icaav, kXclhv, aerog Attica esse accepimus, continuo tragicis hsec obtrudenda esse existimant." The same writer defends ndOov against the Atticizing wiOov, (Mectra, 1003.) as others do fiiKpdg against crfiiKpog, &c. With respect to the Diaeresis, we must observe IXeuvog and at'o-o-w, for which we usually have IXuvbg and aicrGw ; other words appear almost always contracted, as olZvg. Elmsley writes Trota instead of 7roa ; so also poia, GToia, Xi° ot «? though not 7rvom, but irvod. In reference to tcXsioj (kX^w), icXdOpov (KXrjOpov), and all their derivatives, the researches of Poppo would lead us to adopt the rj gene- rally, especially in the fluctuating KEKXeifievog (which in other passages is also written kekA^usvoc) and iKXdeOrjg. The omission of the v in o-^iv, irpoaOtv, inrepBev, &c, is doubted by Elmsley (Med. 393.) ; but see Matth. (Androm. p. 131. Add.) S. Substantives. Along with (dcKJiXug (Nom. and Ace.) we have jdamXrjg, IwiFtjg ; also the Doric vaoe, Ionic vt]6g, with noXetvg and ttoAeoc, aareojg and aareog ; ' AnoXXuva and 'ATroXXuj^'Ap^v/Apr} and"AjO£a (thus "Apeog) ; yovvara, according to Porson also yovva ; Sopbg, dop\ ; to Kpara with rbv KpaTct, Gen. upardg. PI. Kparwv. On the tragic dative Sopei, see Herm. Aj. 1035. On the vocative Oldiirovg, Elmsl. (Ed. C. 557. The accusative of words in evg is rj and la ; in the latter form we have sometimes the short a 492 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. in (povEvg, KZGTpzvg, and some proper names. (Porson, Hec. 876.) The vocative of words in ig varies in the Mss., NifjLEcnQ and Repeat, Porson, Ph. 187. The Mss. also fluc- tuate in Heteroclite and Heterogeneous nouns, between ir\avr\ and irXavog, Secrfiol and deapct, ol yvat and al yviai, 7r\evpai and wXevpa. It is certain that o\oig y o^ouc, oaatov, oggolq occur only in this form, and to \P smv oiuv as inde- clinable. 4. Adjectives, Adverbs, Pronouns. In reference to adjec- tives, those require the most particular attention which we meet with as common although they have three termina- tions. This is the case however with some in the ordinary language. We remark 17 areppog, r\ opfyavhg, 77 yevvcuog, 17 BiKmog, eXevOepbg, OriXvg, fiaralog, , Svuv and SvoTv are in use. Elms. Med. 1250. Of pronouns we adduce rjarivoc, $nvi, Wev, aidtv (Ale. 52. 206.), viv and afe Ace. sing, and plur. a$i as dat. sing, (ei) Herm. GEd. 0. 1487. 5. Verls. If we have already found it difficult to dis- tinguish with accuracy those irregular, or particularly fre- quent forms of inflection, which occur in the dialogue-por- tions of the tragedians, from those which are partly confined in some measure to the choruses, and are partly to be met with in other Attic writers ; — the task now becomes alto- gether impracticable. We shall therefore content ourselves with collecting remarkable forms without every where indi- cating whether they occur in other places, or whether they merely occur in the lyrical portions. a. Augment. In the Attic language the use of the aug- ment is regular in the historical tenses. The epic poets frequently omit it. This is done even by the tragedians in the lyrical portions. [See Monk. Ale 599.] But the opi- nions of learned men are very various as to how far this liberty of omission extends in the dialogue. According to Beidler the omission of the syllabic augment in the dialogue is confined to the narrations of messengers, which, being composed at first after the similitude of Epic poetry, obtained the same license. But Reisig (Conject. in Aristojpli. lib. i. p. 78, 79.) limits it still further : " ubi res magna qusedam et gravis aut admirabilis vel nova narratur ; quse et vocis intentione et gestuum motu auditorum animis inculcetur." Others banish entirely the omission of the augment, consi- dering the passages where it occurs, partly as corrupt, and partly as having received a crasis. The crasis is particularly urged by Elmsley, who distinguishes three cases where the 494 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. omission of the augment occurs: 1. in commissura duorum versuum, ubi per crasin tollitur : ISoph. Elect. 714. aw — 9 optiO\ 2. in quibus sine metri dispendio addi augmen- tum potest : Pers. 375. rpoirovTo, 487. kvkXovvto. 3. quae neutra ratione augmentum admittunt, corrupta sunt. Pers, 313. £K fxtag iriaov. Ant. 403. *ldov (Idtov). The principles which Hermann lays down for the omis- sion of the augment are somewhat different ; but, as they are contradicted by internal evidence, and, at the same time, leave many passages (where the augment is omitted) without illustration — we shall forbear stating them. The tragedians are rather guided in the omission of the augment, partly by the authority of the Epic poets, partly by an unconscious sentiment, partly by the necessity of the metre ; and it would therefore be difficult to find out and prove any fixed laws by which they might be guided. The temporal augment must be considered separately, as even the Attic prose writers regularly omit it in many words : for instance in zvpfoKuv, and in very many words beginning with ev. For as the r\ did not exist in the ancient mode of writing, so nv appears to have arisen first in the new Attic dialect, being retained by later writers, and sub- stituted by grammarians and transcribers for the proper e v. Yet here we must be careful to distinguish the words not compounded with the particle tu, or at least consisting of the particle sv, 'and a derived verb commencing with a con- sonant (vuxzaQai, zvvaZt(jQai, and of the second species ivrpsiriZuv, zvtvxzlv,) from those verbs compounded with ev, particularly with a vowel immediately preceding. Many of the verbs of the first sort have the augment more frequently than they omit it; for instance tvypiiai, Soph Track 610. nvywv, (166.) Karr^e™, (Antig. 1336.) THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 495 lirrivZafjLriv, (Eur. Hec. 540.) ^v^dfxnv, Elmsl. Heracl. 305. In like manner some verbs beginning with ol have seldom or never the augment, even not in pure prose, for instance, oivow, olxojucu. According to Hermann, the augment is only ex- hibited by those verbs in 01, which are of seldom occurrence. Of the verbs which commence with u (for instance EiKa£&>) neither this nor any other has the augment in the Mss. of the tragedians with regularity and certainty ; nor even in Thucydides. (Poppo de Elocut. p. 236.) It is an erroneous opinion, that the tragedians omitted the temporal augment on account of the metre (Hermann Jph, T. 53, vdpaivov). We, however, remark particularly that the augment is wanting in xP% v -> &v<*>y<*, Ka6zZ6fjir}v, KaOii/xriv. KaQtvdov. From avaXiGizu) we have avaXwaa more frequently than avrjXwcra ; the latter form is seldom to be met with in the prose writers. From avixofiai we have i)vezv%- oujue^a, for which Porson writes (psv^ofxeaOa (Or. 1610.) ; so irtvaovfjizQa, ibid. 1362. Concerning al vw, apKio, &c. see Brunck ((Ed. It. 138. 232). Perfect: eouca, ioiyp.Ev, zijiqai ; apapa, Porson, Or. 1323. and the aorist apapov in lyric verse (Herm. on Soph, El. 144.) The Ionic perfect oiruira occurs, Antig. 1127. ; otSa plusquam-perf. $077, but more commonly ySuv, plur. 5 [a doubtful reading for irTaiaag, in iEsch. Ag. 1637.] Ktag and Kf/avrfc from kcu'w. As the tragedians have generally a fond- ness for ancient and full-sounding forms, they generally prefer the Aor. 1 . pass, to the otherwise more ordinary Aor. 2. Still we meet with cnniX\dyr)v, iZvyriv, Kpvfiug, piivT£g, &c. [rat, (Pers. 50,) lirayyiaaa, (Agam. 147,) a^jS/jcrr?, (Ear. Hec. 1263,^ Karflavtiv, mcjuevo?, (see Biittmann on Philoct. 494.). Apocope, Kpza, (Eurip. Cycl. 126,) with a short a instead of Kpiara ; ai>a instead of av£$ and avaarqdc, /xa and j3a only in the lyric portions, nap, iEsch. Suppl. 556. Diceresis occurs in otu), evJ»&, aiMl and is particularly frequent in anapaests. Tmesis in t/7T£p — arivtj, and in other verbs compounded with prepositions. Thus lv §1 KArJtrrirf. Epenthesis in i]Xv6ov, kzlvov for kevov, ay and tlvaXiog for f y, IvaA., yovva, &c. Diplasiasmus in aSS^v, and adjectives in croc, for which o-c-oe, fxicraog. Metathesis in Kajortoroe, a5paKoi>. Paragoge in the poetic forms, Ivt, Stat. § 2.— -IN THE CHORUS. Though lyric poetry chiefly employed for its purposes the Doric dialect, and belonged in general to the Doric tribes ; yet many lyrical writers employed it with great freedom, and exhibited a particular attachment for the epic forms. The Doric dialect appears the most limited in the choruses or the impassioned speeches of the Greek tragedy. In these the Doric expression extends chiefly to the use of a instead of 17, and to some forms ; vlv, OldnroSa for Ol^tirodov ; and we no where meet with Xiyofieg, r^vOev, fXEXiardifiev, Mwo-a or Motcra, infinitive in ev and ijv, accusative plural in wg and oc, &c. Some Doricisms were generally common to the ancient language, and are to be met with in the more ancient prose- writers and in tragic dialogue : dapbg, kmfioXog, 500 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. wart, Xoxayog, &c. ; and others existed already in the epic language : SdirtSov, Ocucog. Besides these we also remark in the choruses the following Doric forms : MzveXag, gen. MevlXa, dat. MeveXa. Thus 'AiSa, UeXia ; the genitive Alatcicav, Qr\pav, ravds yvvaiKxtv, (see Porson, however, Hec. 1061 ;) accusative, lvkXecl ; the vocative with the apocope : pa. instead of paTtp, and j3a instead of fiaaiktv, (JEsch. Suppl), Id for yrj, (Prom. 567 ;) further, vag, vabg, vat and vaeg, paaawv instead of paiZwv, wotX instead of irpog, even in the Senarius. Finally, ava. with a dative instead of avv, iv for tig. In verbs : uaotxvvuoiv, ypvevaai, avTtvv. As /Eolic forms in the choral odes, we may cite ir^apmog for fAETCLpaiog, TreSaojoot for ptriupoi, TreSaixfAioi for piTai^- pioi ; (see Blomf. Prom. 277,) yvofyzpbg for Svocpzpbg, hacpzv for Ira^aav, ayvpig for ayopa, &c. Many are at the same time epic, as apbg for lp.bg, not for -qptrtpog, as in Homer. Other forms in the lyric portions are Epic or Ionic, parti- cularly those with the double c, as toggov, oXzacrag, KTiaaag, and the datives, pspoirtGGi, fiap'idtGGi, &c. ; to which we may add the resolved forms, as 'HpajcXtr/c, aSzXfytog, p&Opov, vfipeog, tvpu, Nrjps'oe, TraOea, j3peraov. Here we may cite also eovaa, kcu Ik for Kcnr\ kcu clkovtigtoi, l\zzivog, irereEivbg, aeitcrig, as well as a£vvog, which others consider lyric. We have Ncjofje, Iphig. A. 1061, and j3apvytg (Eur. Or. 1415.) and SpofiaSi kwAw (Hel. 1317.) — lv Travel GMjuaTt (Eur. El. 372. in Senar.) ; also in Sophocles, a/itynrXriyi fyaaydvq (Trach. 932.) The adjec- tives, which are generally connected only with substantives of the masculine gender, are to be met with in the trage- dians also in feminines and neuters : Rhes. 550. wai^oXlriop andqvlg, Or. 1305. rav XenroiraTopa, Phceniss. 681. irpojid- ropog 'love? Here. Fur. 114. TtKta airaropa. Of adjec- tives in rje, rjroc, we adduce the following examples : av<$- poKfxr)g Xoiybg, (iEsch. Suppl. 681.) and in Senar. Trjg irar- po(j)6vTov fxrirpbg (Soph. Trach. 1127.) With respect to inflection, we may also notice u> fiaicap wap9h>z (Hel. 381.) and Tv^ag fiaxapog, (Iph. T. 616.) nvoal vfjari^sg, (Again. 201.) SovaKOxAoa Eiipwrav, (Iph. T. 400.) eicrjfioXyai x*P aiv (Ion 213.) In the lyrical portions, the tragedians take very great liberty in using adjectives as common which have only a feminine form. We also remark the adjectives in ouc, ovoaa, ovv, particularly in the feminine irTspovaGa, alOa- Xovaaa, and a SecrTriiireta Trirpa, (CEd. T. 463.) iroXv^iv- SpsvGL OaXapaig (Bacch. 560.) Poetical adjectives of rare occurrence, or a somewhat dif- ferent inflection of the ordinary ones, are frequently resorted THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 503 to by the tragedians in lyrical passages. We merely cite in this place the vocative of fxiyag in iEsch. (Sept. Theb. 824.) jusyaXe Ztu, and the poetical form of adjectives in rjg ; for instance, rdXjLirjg, apyag (Doric for apyyg, Agam. 116.); or in t/c and ag for pc, as 7ro\qjiapxaQ (Sept. Theb. 791.) The freedom and the boldness of iEschylus in the forma- tion of new adjectives and verbs, has been illustrated by numerous examples in the annotations of the critics. The juxtaposition of adjectives and substantives, as vazg avazg (Pers. 677.), jusyaXa juizyaXriyoptov, (Sept. Theb. 539.) &c, is worthy of notice. Among the forms of comparison we also remark peXrspog, j3Araroc, in iEsch. ; /jwcporepog, 7r\iovg, in Sophocles. Pronouns : ujujus in Soph. Antig. 846. ; viv belongs ex- clusively to the tragedians. The reflective pronoun ou, ou &c. stands as a pronoun of the third person for avrog in all the three genders ; oSe, and account for the dif- ference. Mark the difference of accent, according to the different significations, in irovripog, Qzav, koXojq, Sidofitv ; and of accent and breathing in ae, airXoog, tjv, zvi. 50. Mention by what moods and tenses the particles ov fir) are necessarily followed. Show generally the difference of construction between xpw an ^ St? ; and illustrate particu- larly the Attic usage of the latter word. 51. Distinguish between history, epic poetry, tragedy and comedy. In what do they agree I In what do they differ ? 52. In tragedy what are the instruments, the manner, and the objects of imitation ! In what order of importance does Aristotle place these last ? 53. Was the law of the three unities a law of the Greek school 1 State your opinion, and with it examples, either confirming that opinion, or exceptions to it. — Did the Roman school admit the law ? What modern school has most strictly conformed to it ? State the inconveniences of a rigid adherence to the law. What does Corneille mean by la liaison des scenes ? 54. In what manner, and by what funds was the Athe- 512 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. nian stage supported I What is the greatest amount on record of their theatrical expenses in one year ? Were these funds ever infringed \ What was the difficulty in in- fringing them \ Give the meaning of the terms : XuTovpyiai tyKvicXioL, yppi\yia, \opr}y6v Ivsjkuv, \opr}yuv TpayigSolg, avri^oprjyoi, ■\opodidcKTKa\oi, ap-%iQ&topia. 55. To whom do the Arundel marbles ascribe the inven- tion of tragedy ? Between what two events is the epoch of its invention placed I Approximate by this means to the date of the invention. Does the authority of Plutarch or of Plato coincide with the marbles \ When, and under what king, were the Arundel marbles engraved? Why called Arundel I On what subjects are they most particular I 56. To whom has the invention of comedy been ascribed ? What is the opinion of Theocritus ? of Aristotle I Who is named by the Arundel marbles as the inventor I Which way does the etymology of certain scenic words lean 1 What is the reason that so little is known of the progress of comedy 2 57. Explain the expressions, ovdlv irpbg tov Aiovvctov, BaK^og or£ rpiTrov Karayoi \opov, wairzp is ajua^g, ytu)g, wg ? 90. State the rules laid down by Dawes and Elmsley as to 'tva, 6(j>pa, &c. ; when do they govern the indicative ; when the optative ; and when the subjunctive ? What are the moods and tenses governed by oirug ? 91. Derive the names paroemiac, logaoedic, dochmiac, prosodiac ; and define these different metres. 92. What were the changes in the quantity of the penul- timate of KaXbg at different periods? and what argument was thence derived by Clarke as to the date of Hesiod ? 93. What feet are admissible into a pseonic line ? 94. What variety does the hypercatalectic syllable of a dochmiac admit of ? This is rendered probable by an usual licence allowed in ionics a majore. 95. Is there any way of admitting a proper name into a tragic senarian, when it contains an anapaest, besides that assigned by Porson ? 96. Enumerate the cases in which the fifth foot of a sena- THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 517 rius may be a spondee. Porson's Canon concerning the fifth foot ! 97. Is any foot besides the equivalents of the anapaest ever admissible into an anapaestic line I 98. What is the rule concerning the final syllable of di- meters, and how is this rule to be understood I 99. There are two different acceptations of the words apaiQ and diaig ; which is the most received \ 100. In what manner does Hermann state that Sophocles usually avoided an anapaest in the beginning of a senarius, when the first word began with an anapaest I 101. On what principle does Hermann get rid of such anapaests as 61 tyuj I 102. How does he explain the admissibility of the dac- tyl in preference to the anapaest into iambics \ 103. In what case does he think it unnecessary that the anapaest in the first place should be contained in one word I 104. He reasons as to the anapaest differently from Por- son ? 105. What illustrations of the laws of the iambic sena- rius does Porson derive from the trochaic tetrameter cata- lectic I 106. In what sense was the word " imitation " applied by Aristotle ? Whence was his view chiefly derived I What are the means of poetic imitation ? 107. Of the different species of poetic imitation, that by dramatic personation is more strictly applicable to poetry than imitation by fiction or description ? 108. Distinguish between the imitation produced by de- scription, and that produced by fiction. How do mental objects admit of descriptive imitation I 109. The Dorians claim both tragedy and comedy ; on 1)18 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. what grounds, respectively ? The claim of the Megarians is supported by certain proverbial expressions, and by the testimony of Ecphantides ? 110. Derive the words, viroKphriQ, Spafxa, Kiofiqdia, SiBv- pafifiog. 111. What change took place in the dithyrambic poetry after it became imitative ; and give the reasons of the change ? 112. What is meant by the avajSoXat of the dithyrambic poets ? What style of prose diction does Aristotle compare to the two styles of the dithyrambic poetry \ 118. Poetry derives its origin from two causes? Distin- guish rhythm from metre. 114. Mention some of the arguments used to show that Thespis was the author of tragedy. Mention others to whom tragedy has been ascribed. To whom is comedy as- cribed ? 115. To whom does Aristotle attribute the primary suggestion of both tragedy and comedy ? 116. Who first introduced a female actor on the stage? Give the circumstances of the first dramatic victory of Sophocles. 117. Aristotle uses cttekto&ov in two senses, each differ- ing from the modern episode. What were the two parts of tragedy originally \ 118. Give examples of avayvwpKrtQ and irspnrtTtia from Shakspeare. What species of tragedy would you reduce Hamlet to I And what Othello ? Mention the Simg and \vaig in Macbeth, the Merchant of Venice, and Richard II. I 119. What was Dacier's error as to the Unities? State Johnson's arguments to show that the Unities of time and place are not essential to a just drama. THE GKECIAN DRAMA. 51Q 120. Distinguish ir^nreTeia from jU£Taj3ai ; ovkovv, ovk-ovv ; &O, Sm ? 160. W r hat are the distinctive features of the old, mid- dle, and new comedy? Who was the first comic poet among the Athenians? Where was Aristophanes born, and at what period ? How is this nearly fixed by the clouds ? 161. When was the Nubes exhibited? What proof have we in the extant play that it was twice represented ? How does it appear that it was not regarded as a personal attack by Socrates' friends ? 162. How do the tragic and comic senarius differ? What 524* THE GRECIAN DRAMA. are the rules of the iambic tetrameter cat. as used by Aris- tophanes ! How do tragic and comic tetrameter trochaics differ ? What is Porson's observation as to the second foot of a tragic trochaic tetrameter 2 163. What is the anapaestic measure peculiar to Aristo- phanes ? What its rules, and what restriction as to caesuras common to it with the trochaic tragic tetrameter ? 164. How does Porson account for the apparent viola- tions of prosody in Aristophanes, and what examples does he give I 165. Assign the respective origins of the chorus and dia- logue of Greek tragedy, and state wherein the dithyrambic and phallic choruses differed essentially from the satyric. 166. Whether was the satyric or tragic drama the more ancient \ By whom was the former devised, and to whom do we owe the successive improvements in the latter ? 167. A third species of Grecian drama has been traced as existing at a remote period ; among what people ? How was it denominated, and what form of the modern drama did it resemble ? 168. What magistrate presided at each of the dramatic festivals ? How were the actors and choruses appointed ? Who decided at the contests? What rewards were given originally ? What in after time ? Were they confined to the successful author ? 169. How was the rank of the personages on the Grecian stage indicated, and the quarter from whence they were supposed to come ? 170. Euripides has been censured on two grounds re- specting the conduct of his dramas 2 Even in the dialogue he is at times chargeable as in his choruses. 171. How often might the chorus be introduced, and THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 525 what were the denominations of these several inter- ludes \ 172. What reason has been assigned by Hermann for the rules which Porson detected, respecting the admission of a spondee into the fifth place of a senarius ? 173. From what principle does Hermann derive a reason for the admission of spondees into the odd places of iambic verse, and into the even places of trochaic I 1 74. From the same principle he shews why the ithy- phallic verse differs from the analogy of other trochaic verses in this respect ? 175. In anapaestic systems, is there any other indication of continuous scansion besides the synapheia I What is the only limitation of concurring feet in parcemiacs ? ] 76. How do you account for the effect that $ initial produces on a short vowel preceding it ? 177. The choral odes in Sophocles may be divided, in re- ference to their subjects, into four classes, according to Heeren ? Those of ^Eschylus into how many \ 178. Show that the accenting of words is in general in- dependent of their relative positions? What exception must be made to this rule in the case of prepositions and adverbs \ specify the instances. 179. From what general rule regarding the acute accent* may we infer that the penultimate should be accented if the last syllable be naturally long, and that the ante-penulti- mate never can be circumflexed ? 180. When does a contracted syllable admit the circum- flex accent, and what are the exceptions to this rule 1 181. What, according to Schlegel, is the peculiar cha- racter of the Greek tragedy, and what of the old Greek comedy ? 526 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 182. Name the first and last writers of the middle and new comedy. Who first used invented and general sub- jects ? Whence, according to Schlegel, the introduction of the parabasis into comedy, and not into tragedy ? 183. What is the difference between lvixvpa£uv, lvt\v- piaZtiv ; vvv, vvv ; apa, apa ; iSou, Idov ; Tnpirvyuv, kirtrv- \etv ; avafizrpuaQai, fiETpuaQai ; kcu wtoe, ttwc kcii ; Si$6vat, cnrodiSovat. 184. What is Dawes' rules as to the tenses with which ov jut), o7rwc /u?7, may be connected ? What is the differ- ence of government between xpi) and Sa ? How do tragic and comic poets differ as to the use of 7T£jot before a vowel \ Is i paragogic shortened or lengthened ? 185. What other god is said to have had similar choruses to those in honour of Bacchus ? State the place and the authority ? 186. What is Bentley's opinion about the word rpayio- $ia ? What are the authorities against him, and how does he reply to them ? Bentley's opinion partly confuted by the evidence of inscriptions more recently discovered : What are they, and how do you argue from them ? 187. Prove that SchlegeFs opinion upon the subject of iEschylus'' visit to Sicily is inaccurate. How does Boeckh reconcile the several opinions I State his opinion as to the acting of the Eumenides. 1881 What is the tetralogy of the Orestiad 1 When was it acted ? Who is said to have first contended with single plays ! 189. With what character of the modern drama is Cly- tsemnestra usually compared? How do the authors of these respective characters endeavour to soften the almost uniform ferocity of their heroines ? THE GRECIAN DRAMA 527 190. Under what restriction as to proper names, accord- ing to Elmsley, is the anapaest admissible into senarian verse ? Does the same rule hold with regard to dactyls of proper names in the troch. tetram. cat. ? When must the second foot of such a line always be a trochee \ 191. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the chorus of the ancient drama S What instances have we in the modern drama of its successful revival ? 192. What is the meaning of Kara &x^iv, fiovogrpo^tKa, t7T(^BtKa Kara. TrtpiKoirriv ££ ofioltov ? What is Canter's divi- sion of the choric odes ? 193. Explain the phrases, »cara Zvya, kuto, aroixovg, ■tljiiyppla, $i\opia, avrt^opta, rpi^opta, fj.£GV](opoQ. 194. What is the number of plays that have been attri- buted to Sophocles I Boeckh thinks the number greatly overrated — What are his arguments ? State any counter- acting ones that may occur to you \ 195. Mention the tenses of \ar\\\xi that have a transitive, and those that have an intransitive signification. What is the difference of jurj before an indicative, and [irj before a subjunctive mood I When may different moods be connected together ? 196. Eicojueu differently derived by the Ionic and Attic poets ? Give instances of the former from Homer. Whence arises the construction called nominatims pendens I When is the genitive absolute to be used ? 197. ( Hq is sometimes put for slg — Mention the usual limitation, and give an example from Thucydides to the reverse, that is quoted by Matthise? Whence does this substitution arise I 198. What does the participle signify when put with nai \ The future is sometimes put for the imperative — What is the construction \ 5Z» THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 1.99. Give the Doric and Ionic variations of the personal pronouns, and of the verb d/ul. Write clown the enclitics and atonies. When do enclitics retain, when lose, and when transfer their accents ? 200. What is the rule for the accentuation of contracted syllables, and what for that of words whose last accented vowels have experienced elision I 201. State the general rules for accenting the penulti- mate or antepenultimate in Latin and in Greek, and wherein they differ. What are the caesuras of an iambic senary ? 202. What evidence is there in favour of the claims of the Megarians to the invention of comedy? What was the metre of the mimes of Sophron, and what Latin poet is said to have imitated them ? 203. What was the nature of Homer's Margites ? What is the source of our information on the subject ? and what influence had it on comedy ? 204. Give the names and order of the plays of Aristo- phanes before the ".Clouds." What is the first extant, and what were his two last plays \ What was the political scope of the " Knights." and of the " Acharnians V 205. How was the change brought about from the old to the middle comedy ? Quote the passage from the Art of Poetry, in which that change is described. What did Aristophanes compose in the style of the middle comedy I 206. The play of the " Clouds" has been considered as one of a tetralogy : What were the others, and the general scope of them ! What was the probable occasion and sub- ject of the Trvrivr\ \ 207. What was the legal age for exhibiting a dramatic piece ? How is this point doubtful I THE GRECIAN DRAMA, 529 208. The choral odes of JEschylus are divided into two classes, by a distinction which does not occur in Sopho- cles 1 209. Mention the principal Doric dithyrambic poets, and their countries. What was the nature of the ancient choral poetry of Sicyon and of iEgina \ 210. What was the iraXaia rpayojdia of the Boeotian inscriptions, according to Boeckh I How is this distin- guished from the scenic tragedy in the Orchomenian and Thespian inscriptions, respectively I 211. Distinguish the iroiriTng, 4 , uywSoc, and viroKpLTrjg from each other ; and point out the difference in the mode in which the ancient inscriptions employ these words with respect to the new and old tragedy ? 212. What praise does Quinctilian confer on Euripides, as compared with Sophocles? What are the peculiar merits and defects of Euripides l What metre is called Euripidean \ 213. What instance may be given of the chorus in Euripides allowing immoral acts I What immoral sentiment in one of his plays excited the indignation of the audience \ 214. How was the ancient tragedy divided for the most part into five acts \ What distinction was there in the names given to the choral songs in the tragedies ? 215. General rule of the Paeonic system? What feet are ordinarily admissible into the epichoriambic, and what jcar' avTiiraOeiav I What is meant by the avaKXwfisvov ? What metres used by Horace may be referred to the antispastic class % 216. How does Hermann account for the mixture of cretic feet with dochmiacs I What rule does he lay down concerning the caesura in dimeter anapsestics, occurring in M M 530 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. regular systems? In such systems can a dactyl be followed by an anapaest 1 217. Of the improvements in tragedy, which Horace asserts to have been introduced by iEschylus, some have been ascribed to an earlier tragedian ? 218. Is there any thing in English dramatic literature corresponding with the construction of trilogies I 219. To what cause may be ascribed the confusion res- pecting the birth place of Aristophanes ? This indictment of Zevia has been confounded with another accusation brought forward by the same person ? 220. In what year did Aristophanes first exhibit in ihis own name, what was the object of the play then produced, and what success did it meet with ? 221. How did the absence of the Trapafiamg become a distinguishing mark of the middle comedy ? What were the component parts of a Trapafiamg \ What was the num- ber of the comic chorus I 222. During the period of the old comedy there was but one restriction upon the poets, which we know of with his- torical certainty I 223. What canon does Porson lay down respecting the use of such words as iaodov ;by the comic writers ? State the laws of the Aristophanic anapaestic metre. What li- cences are allowed in it ? 224. Trace the gradual changes which the chorus under- went from its origin till its final extinction. 225. Which of the tenses is almost uniformly excluded from the Greek tragedians, and why ? 226. Distinguish between onwg av with the optative, and with the subjunctive ; between ov ju?} with the future indi- cative, and with the aorist subjunctive. THE GRECIAN DRAMA, 531 227. There are five modes in which the permutation of numbers is effected. What does Hermann understand by irrational times ? 228. How does he define polyschematistic verses ? He reduces to this class verses which former metricians con- sidered as antispastic. 229. What are the laws of the verse called Eupolidean polyschematistus ? What rules apply both to the tragic and comic senarius ? 230. A distinguished modern poet has made Agamemnon the subject of a tragedy, which, though nearly the same in its incidents, differs materially from that of iEschylus in the delineation of some of the dramatis personse. 231. Hurd and Schlegel hold opposite opinions as to the effect produced upon the mind by the thought of a personal and actual reality in the catastrophe. 232. M tiller does not admit the truth of Aristotle's as- sertion, that Epicharmus and Phormis first invented comic fables. He conjectures that comedy was transplanted from Megara to Syracuse. By whom, and at what time I 233. Of what nature does Bentley suppose the comedies of Susarion to have been \ And how does he endeavour to prove the spuriousness of some iambic lines attributed to Susarion by Diomedes I 234. Silvern points out a close affinity between the play of the " Clouds; 1 and that of the " Frogs." How is it inferred that Aristophanes commenced a second edition of the " Clouds," but never completed it ? To what did he himself attribute its failure ? 235. What were the opinions of ancient writers on the comparative merits of the three great tragedians ; and how will you account for the peculiar difference of character observable in their compositions I 532 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 236. Of what number did the chorus consist, in its im- proved state ? In what order was it arranged, and what part of the theatre did it occupy ? Explain its use and importance. 237. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the chorus ? And what other differences are observable be- tween the Greek and English drama, as to plot, moral, passion, and character ? Compare iEschylus with Shaks- peare in the last mentioned particulars I 238. What kind of events and character of a hero is the most proper for tragedy, according to Aristotle, and for what reasons ? 239. What are the characteristics of the Ionic and Attic dialects as to augments, and contractions ? And what is the probable origin of them f 240. What is the difference between ■ epeiv, \£ytiv, ytyur vtiv, and between tjjcw, epxopm, %\0ov, slpt. 241. Into what feet of a senarius can anapaests and dac- tyls be admitted ? Does the rule hold with respect to proper names \ Why cannot the third and fourth feet be included in the same word ? In what cases only can the fifth foot of a tragic senarius be a spondee I 242. What is the caesura ? In a senarius, where must it fall to be most harmonious f How many kinds are there of this caesura ? 243. Explain the quasi-cwsura, and in what manner the harmony of lines is improved by it, where the caesura is wanting ; also the pause, and the reason for it. In lines which have neither cwsura nor quasi-cwsura, what may the omission be intended to denote ? 244. Where a tribrach is admitted into any place, or an anapaest into the first place of a line, are these feet usually comprised in one word, or divided between different words f THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 533 245. State the rules for the construction of the trochaic tetrameter catalectic, and of the anapaestic tetrameter catalectic. In the former is an anapaest admitted ? In what even feet of the latter is a dactyl admitted, and where it is admitted, what foot usually precedes it ? 246. In what kind of metre originally were the satyric verses, and what is the reason given by Aristotle I Which of the extant plays contains most of this metre 2 247. Who was the inventor of the regular satyric drama I How many of this species have been preserved, and what reason may be assigned for the number being small I 248. At what time of the year was the Athenian vintage I Does it correspond with the time of the festivals at which tragedies were acted I 249. Mention the regulations adopted with regard to the appointment of the judges, of the choruses, and of the actors ; and the time allowed to each poet. 250. How often in the day was the theatre filled, and what number of people was it capable of containing ? Ex- plain the terms, eo-KEua, fiiXog, vjuvog, TrapoSog, aramfxov, KOfifiog, SiSacncaXog tov xppov, Siaig, \vgiq, airepyama, hr- uaoSiov, t^oSoe, iiZTafiamg, TtapafiaaiQ. 251. Determine the usage of the tragic raters in the following particulars. (1). The omission of the aug- ment. Mention some verbs which are singular in this re- spect, or in the formation of it. (2). The admission of an hiatus, and the quantity of the diphthong, if it be admitted : also the elision of vowels, or non- elision in any words and cases, and at the end of aline. (3). The duplication of ava7J7£(7jua, av\aia, wpotdpiai, irepiaiiToi, dicpifiag, irgoawiruov, p.opfJLo\vKtiov, yopyovetov, (5aTpa\tiov t tfifiarog Kokirwjia, -\itwv Trodriprjg, avpfxa, "xyaTig, luartov, I'Sw/xtC* $i(j>0ipa., 7T£7rXov, oyKog, jna(T\aXtaTrip£g. 254. Explain the terms c/ijulXfia, Kop<$a%, aUivvig, v irvp- pi%r], rj yvfivoiraiBiKrit r) v7rop\7)paTi\r}. Give the difference between the Doric, Ionic, Phrygian, and Mixo-Lydian modes. 255. Define anastrophe, metaphor, trope, personification, simile, and allegory. 256. To poets of what dialect is synizesis peculiar I and how is it limited in Homer ? 257. What o% you mean by dialect ? Give a full account of the Greek dialects, the ages and principal writers in each, and the countries in which they prevailed. 258. Mention the different powers of the adverb av, with the indicative and optative moods. What is the construc- tion of prj with the imperative and subjunctive moods in a prohibitory sense ? 259. How do you account for the two forms of the future THE GRECIAN DRAMA. of SoKtto \ Which is the more modern, and which the more poetical \ 260. What plays, extant, lost, or of which fragments only remain, were written on subjects connected with GEdi- dipus and his family by .ZEschylus, Sophocles, and Euri- pides \ 261. How is the Doric dialect in the choruses to be ac- counted for I Give a list of words which retain the Doric form in the Attic dialogue. 262. What Ionic words are found in the tragedies, and how may their introduction be accounted for I Was the same licence in this respect allowed to the comedians I 263. What are the expressions for utinam in Greek ? Give instances of the imitation of the Greek mode of ex- pression from the Latin poets. 264. Give the rules, with the most material exceptions, for the quantity of the final syllable of feminine substantives ending in a. 265. What is the quantity of a short vowel followed by a soft, or aspirate mute, with any of the liquids A, jjl, v, p, or by a middle mute with p, in poets of different ages ? What rule may be given for its quantity in prose writers ? 266. Give a brief summary of the most important critical discoveries of Bentley, Dawes, and Porso.n. 267. Shew from Horace, (1). Who was the inventor of iambic verse ? (2). What is its peculiar fitness for drama- tic poetry ? (3). Why, and with what limitation, the spondee was admitted into it ? 268. Give a chronological abstract of the events, which, during the lifetime of iEschylus, occurred in Persia, Ionia, Greece and Italy. 369, Institute a brief comparison between iEschylus, 536 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. Sophocles, and Euripides, in style, in sentiment, in ma- nagement of plot, in the conduct of the drama, and in their choral odes. 270. What are the chief uses of the middle voice ? Dis- tinguish between irpauoui and Trpaacrofiai, (j>paZu) and (jtpaZo- fxaiy Ipvu) and Ipvofiai, tiu) and tiojucu, OiuOau vofiov and Oelvai vojxov. 271. What are the general significations of verbal sub- stantives in tjoov, (as KOfiiaTpov), of adjectives in rticoc, and of verbs in gku) and o-f iu ? What Latin terminations cor- respond to the two last ? 272. When is irplv av with the subjunctive preferred to irpXv with the infinitive ? Can av be joined with the indi- cative present ? 273. Distinguish between fxrix°Q ana fimoQ — riK/iiap, av\x- j3oXov, cr///X£toy — ev aifieiv, evcrtfitlv — ^oXoc, kotoq — (jceri}?, 7T/oooTp07rat6c — TtTwyhq, tt£vx\q — ovap, virap — viraiOpog, viral- Opiog — rpoTrata, Tpoirata — jurjrpoicrovoc, fi^rpoKTOvog — ovdl, ovte — firidt, /i//r£ — &a> Sta — ttou, irot, 7rf), 7rou, irot, ttij. 274. The beacons which announced the destruction of Troy were stationed on the following mountains : Ida, Her- mseus (in Lemnos), Athos, Macistus (in Eubcea), Messa- pius and Oithseron (in Boeotia), yEgiplanctus (in Megaris), Arachnseus (in Argolis). Draw such a map as will enable you to mark out the situations of these mountains ; and in the same map place Troy, Tenedos, Athens, Thebes, Sparta, Mycenae, Delphi, and Delos. 275. What was the motive of iEschylus for introducing Agamemnon on the stage in a chariot ? How is Pallas brought on in the Eumenides, Oceanus in the Prometheus, and Hercules in the Philoctetes ? 276. What is \6yog in the early Attic draina ? What THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 537 should we infer from analogy to have been the original meaning of TpiXoyia ? Could it have been applied in its primitive sense to any three plays of Sophocles ? What is the earliest instance we find of the use of the word ? 277. What was the ordinary number of the tragic and comic chorus ? What is meant by x°9 OL Tsrpaywvot ? De- scribe the modes of entering, Kara £vya, and Kara otoi- \ovq ? 278. What tragedies remain from the Greek stage relat- ing to the family of Agamemnon ? Place them in the order of the circumstances on which they are founded, and men- tion the subject of each. 279. Give a short account of the plots of the Electra of Sophocles, the Electra of Euripides, and Ohoephoroe of iEschylus ; compare them, and shew in what respects the economy, beauties, and defects of each are characteristic of the genius of their several authors. 280. What was the court before which Sophocles is said to have recited one of his poems, (mentioning the occasion, and the poem) ? When, and by whom, was that court founded ? What peculiarities marked its sittings ? 281. In what consists the superiority of the Greek lan- guage over the Latin ? How do you account for the exist- ence of the dual number in the Greek, and for its absence from the Latin tongue ? 282. What are the respective meanings of Tuy^arav, according as it is, or is not, followed by a participle ? Dis- tinguish accurately lirofiau fxireifii, duoKU), in their general usages. 283. Explain the usage of wp\v with different moods. Distinguish between irg\v dtiwvuv, irplv cenrvriaai, irp\v $£- 2«7rvrifcc-vcu. Mention the distinction between yaXrivri and 538 THE GRECIAN DRAMA, vr)V£juiia, fiaoiXmq and Tvpavvog, Oapaog and Opaaog, rafyog and KoXwy)], 0?jkij and Trvpa. 284. Define " a word," " a sentence." What is the most comprehensive distinction, 1. of sentences, 2. of words ? What species of words do you include, severally, under each denomination ? What are the origin and uses of the arti- cle strictly so called ? 285. What are the several species of verbs ? Define each. What is the proper idea of present time ? What is the most natural division of tenses, in general ? 286. With what exceptions did a century or a little more comprehend the golden age of Grecian literature ? By what events on either side was that period bounded ? State the same points in regard to Roman literature. 287. Ba.K\()Q ors toittov Karayoi %op6v. Explain rptrrov ^opov, and mention what the three were. In what months were they celebrated ? What were the UiOotyia, Xosg, and Xvtqol ? Which was the greatest feast ? Who pre- sided at it ? Who at the others ? 288. Schlegel characterizes the mimetic art among the ancients as ideal and rhythmical. Explain his meaning, and illustrate it as he has done by an appeal to their sculp- ture. 289. How were the expenses of exhibition and admission provided for ? What was the admission money ? How was the law regarding it rendered unalterable ? 290. What is the most striking difference between the dress of the actors of the Greek theatre and our own ? Why could not we adopt it ? 291. Explain by Latin words the difference between og, oVy£, oang and oore, and also of koX and t£. 292. Mention instances of the great inconveniences to THE GRECIAN DRAMA, 539 which the ancient tragedians were subjected by the perpe- tual presence of the chorus. 293. Mention the difference between oaiog and SUaiog, yviofir} and p6vr)iia, tepov, vabg, Ttfxevog and or)icbg, also Ov/uloq, (pm)v, vovg and t/>i>x»'j- What is the usual force of iraga in composition with verbs ? 294. In what cases may the article be used as a pronoun in Attic Greek, (1). in poetry, (2). in prose ? 295. Distinguish between \apiv and tvtm — (paivzrai and Soku — rpiTog and TpiTcilog — ratyog and ra^r] — eXirig and $6%ri — TrapBevog, vv/uKpr] and yvvrj — SovXtvtx) and SovXoto — - dtbg and Safyiwv — rnoXig and acrrv — tievog, l\og and eral- pog. 296. Explain the following idiomatic expressions : 1. vvjul- (j>r)v avvfxtyov. 2. olaO' ovv o Spaaov ; 3. ou -yap otoa ctaTto- rag K£KTr)/iizvog. 4. wepuxra Tvyyavu. 5. Tvyag xoc and ttLv^q, icaipbg and yoovog, yaimuv and yapeioOai. When was rvoavvog first used in a bad sense ? What is Dawes's canon respecting a woman speaking of herself in the plural number ? What is the effect of two negatives in Greek ? What of three ? 301. To what period does Porson refer the subscription of the iota ? State the principle of the orthography ob- served by him in /can, Kara. 302. What is the measure of the verse termed EvpnriSuov j£ and yeuo/ucu, irpog tovtqiq and 7rpoc Tavra, avvno and avvo>, a7rrtt> and cnrropai, Kr\pv%at and KT)pvtiai. 315. What is the construction of rvy\avw^ Xayxavio*, and Kvptio ? State the construction of $0ovew, and give a parallel instance of inmdeo from Horace. 316. How are juljuvrjjua/, ciiodavofiai, and similar words construed with participles ? Give analogous instances from Latin writers. 317. What cases does Ikwq^wv take after it? What peculiar force frequently belongs to the pronoun o& in the tragedians ? Is ifis altogether a Homeric word ? 318. Define the force of ttots in interrogations. What Latin word corresponds to it ? In what case are the tra- gedians partial to the particle tol ? 31 9. What is the rule respecting the use of the Doric dia- lect in anapsestics ? 320. Which is the Attic form, 'A-xaacde, or 'AxauKog ? Does Homer say /3trj 'H/wncAW*?, rnrep, or otjirip, and why ? 542 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 321. What is the quantity of comparatives in twv in Attic and Ionic writers ? Compare the usage of QavpaZw and miror. 322. Explain the force of pr\ ov ye. What meaning do KOifjiiZto and koijulcloj sometimes convey ? In what sense is Kt/cXrjjuat frequently understood ? 323. Define the term Datismus. Compare the construc- tion of aXkaavby and muto. Compare the usage of i\vog and vestigium. 324. To what figure is the expression vvp$r\v avvp pij THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 543 jut/i^p, fxi) fJit/jLipy are correct ? Give instances of the figure termed by Lesbonax to and cp^o/iac, airsifii and cnripxofiai, artyicTog and aTeXEurjjroe, aXriQzg and a\r}0lg in interrogative sen- tences, yvwrbg and yvuxrroQ, Siaropog and diaropog, kcu nolog and Trotog kcu, irepovr} and iropirri. 339. What does the particle Srj denote in interrogative sentences ? Explain the difference between ypaxpag s^w and typa\pa. 340. What is the meaning of ouroc when it denotes the person spoken to, and of ode avijp when it denotes the per- son speaking ? 341.. Give the different usages of the middle voice. Is the middle ever used for the active, and the active for the middle, where both voices exist ? Give instances. 342. When is the particle av joined with the subjunctive, 544 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. and when with the optative mood ? What effect does p initial produce upon a short vowel preceding ? 343. Explain the meaning of cikoucu when joined with the adverbs Mnftfoi?, zv, &c. and show by instances that audio was used in the same sense by the Latins. 344. What is the meaning of irpog with a genitive case ? Explain the meaning of aoi and icoi when said to be redun- dant. 345. Explain the force of the prepositions in the words £7rocArjjua, irpocrKUpat, htyaivw, jU£ra7rtjU7rcu, TrspnroTaopai) iraoTrovtOfAai, avaictvriaig, KaTcucrrivu), avvTOfiog. 346. What is the quantity of the penult, of the following words in Homer and the tragedians, ivw, aei : the quantity of the first syllable of mart*;, crjccc, Ovyarrjp, aBavarog : and the last of fxiyag and raXag. Quote autho- rities. 347. In what cases may the article be omitted, and in what not, before the infinitive used as a noun ? 348. Under what circumstances is cue used for tig in the Attic and in the Ionic dialect ? 349. Distinguish between rfco/iev jmavQavstv and ^KOfitu f,iadr]a6fihvoiy ottov and ottol, (hu£w and fWcu£cu, bdbg and udog, dXaaOai and TrXavaaOai, aarv and ttoAcc, ov prj \aj3ijg and oi> Xqipsi, tl difug and § Bifitg. 350. What is the general meaning and usage of verbal adjectives in ifiog ? What is the signification of the article with an adverb ? 351. What is the meaning of iypa with an adverb, or the accusative neuter of an adjective ? Give the distinct mean- ings of 0uXa<7v- \ciGdU), pvii), XP® C0 -> Si^olgkW) aiv(ij, iroptvii), cltttw, t\(D^ 7rav(jj. 367. What is the force of the prepositions in the compo- sition of the following words : i2eurla>, irapapzifiopai, irpoa- Tidr)m, p.zviaTr\pi, avarXrif.il, 7rpo0aivaj, Kartell), £7T£{, vTrepcjjtpit), TrpoXaijipavoj, £^av£^w, TrapauTrau), KaTariOepaij cHpoppan), aUju|3dAXw 5 psrip^opai, i^yiopai, 7rpoSt8w/.(f, £7Tl(jiiOv£lx), ciaxu)\vii). 368. Under what restrictions may a plural noun be joined with a verb dual ? 369. When two verbs, or a verb and a participle, gov- erning different cases, refer equally to the same noun> by which of them must the noun be governed ? 370. With what words do pi) and i) form a crasis in scanning ? What is the accentuation of pera, lm, irapa, &c. when used for piTtari, Ittzoti, &c. f 371. W T hat are the different forms of the future passive, according to Monk ? And what are the futures middle used passively, which occur in the tragic writers ? 372. Distinguish between ilpyziv and tlpytiv ; also be- tween tpyov and ttovoq ; and give the Latin words corres- ponding to the two latter. 373. What is the rule for subjoining the iota when icai forms a crasis with another word ? When is pr) ov used before an infinitive mood f 374. What are the different forms and quantity of ad ? Explain and illustrate the usage of aAAa yap. 375. What is the quantity of the second syllable of aviatA) and aviapoQ? Also of the third of aviapoq in the different Greek poets ? 376. What was the formula used by messengers in con- THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 547 eluding their narrations ? How is M firjv with or without SSe used f 877. Is ujg in Attic Greek ever used for ug, except in the case of animate objects 9 878. What tenses of the middle voice have a strict medial signification ? 379. What is the accentuation of disyllabic prepositions when placed. between a substantive and the adjective be- longing to it ? 380. Can the iota of the dative case be elided ? State the various opinions on this point, and the reasons for your own. 381. What moods with and without av does twg require when it signifies " until ?" 382. What is the meaning of kXvoj with an adverb ? Give instances of a similar usage of audio. 383. In what cases may a long vowel be elided ? What is the Attic distinction between Svolv and Svtiv ? 384. What is the meaning of derivative adjectives ending in tfiog ? Give instances of nouns media? significationis. 385. What is expressed by nouns ending in njpiov ? What is the meaning of words in 6zv ? 386. In what different senses does rvfyXog occur ? Give instances of a similar usage of coccus. 387. Show how the position of the accent alters the meaning of the following words : Ota, ayiov, kciXiov, a\\a, v£/io>, vuv, zifii, [5iog, Sikcucl, avSpwv, Ittu, Kparog, tlcng, <7r/a, wjLiog, Oviiog, i\kix)v. 388. State the difference between fiwfiog and orjuog ; also between rpofyog and rpoyzvg. 389. Of the expressions ^r) SiafiaWe, /uli) StafiaWyg, and jur} §caj3aXpc, which is the incorrect one ? 548 THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 390. Of the forms Svvy, Svvq, Svvai, which did Elmsley and Porson respectively prefer ? 391. Give Hermann's definitions of metre, rhythm, sym- metry, and order. The nature of the law of order ? 392. Numbers are either unlimited or limited ; orders are either simple or periodic ; periodic orders are either diminished or concrete — Define each. 393. Hermann's definition of measure ? What does he mean by doubtful measure ? What by disproportionate measure ? 394. The permutation of numbers is made mfive differ- ent ways ? What is the EpiploTce ? Its three species ? 395. Hermann's definition of asynartete verses differs from that of Heath ? He advances two other objections to the metrical nomenclature of the grammarians ? 396. What is meant by catalexis, cnroOtcrig, aywy// ? There is a threefold conjunction of musical with metrical numbers ? 397. There are three instruments by which the rhythm of the words is adapted to the rhythm of the verse ? Her- mann's definition of csesura ? Species of caesura according to Hermann ? 398. The substitution of short syllables for long, or con- versely, can be effected in only two places ? 399. What four artifices, by which the numbers of lan- guage are adapted to metrical numbers, does Hermann rank under prosody ? 400. The convenience of the metre lies in elongation and correction of syllables, hiatus, elision, crasis, and synizesis ; give Hermann's views on each. 401. Metres are either simple or not simple; of the former there are three species ? Of the latter there are THE GRECIAN DRAMA. 549 two ? Mixed metres are twofold ? Compound metres are twofold? Give Hermann's reasons for the identity of iambic and trochaic verse. THE END. tf? ,