Phlius, a town of Sicyon. In Attica, the future scene of the perfected Drama, there remains no direct record of these Dionysian representations until the middle of the sixth century before our æra. At that time Thespis, a native of Icarius, an 3 2 1. It is evident, however, from the manner in which the improvements of Thespis are mentioned, that the Satyric Chorus had been long established in Attica, and probably also the Dithyramb. From a curious passage in the oration against Neæra, ascribed to Demosthenes, we learn that the Dionysia had been introduced into Athens at a very early date:καὶ αὕτη ἡ γυνὴ ὑμῖν ἔθνε τὰ ἄῤῥητα ἱερὰ ὑπὲρ τῆς πόλεως, καὶ εἶδεν ἃ οὐ προσῆκεν αὐτὴν ὁρᾷν ξένην οὖσαν, καὶ τοιαύτη οὖσα εἰσῆ λθεν οἳ οὐδεὶς ἄλλος Αθηναίων τοσούτων ὄντων εἰσέρχεται ἀλλ ̓ ἡ τοῦ βασιλέως γυνή, ἐξώρκωσέ τε τὰς γεραιρὰς τὰς ὑπηρετούσας τοῖς ἱεροῖς, ἐξεδόθη δὲ τῷ Διονύσῳ γυνή, ἔπραξε δὲ ὑπὲρ τῆς πόλεως τὰ πάτρια τὰ πρὸς τοὺς θεούς, πολλὰ καὶ ἅγια καὶ ἀπόῤῥητα*. The orator then goes on to state, that at first, whilst the Athenian government was monarchical, the wife of the king used to perform the rites alluded to; and that, when the constitution became democratic, these sacred duties were transferred to the wife of the king Archon. Without attempting to guess the meaning of this singular marriage of the king Archon's wife to Bacchus, we ascertain so much at least, that the Bacchic mysteries had found a footing in Athens during the remote times of kingly rule. Whether the choral exhibitions were equally ancient is uncertain; yet this is not altogether improbable. 2. The sixty-first olympiad, or 536 B. C. is fixed by Bentley from the Arundel Marble, as the time when Thespis first exhibited; a date which will make him contemporary with the latter years of Pisistratus. 3. Athenæus, evidently merging in the improvements of Thespis the invention both of Tragedy and Comedy, tells us that—ή τῆς κωμῳδίας καὶ ἡ τῆς τραγῳδίας εὔρεσις ἐν Ἰκαρὶῳ τῆς Ἀττικῆς εὐρέθη. ii. p. 40. Suidas distinctly fixes Icarius as the birth-place of Thespis. Θέσπις Ικαρίου, πόλεως Αττικής, τραγικός, κ. τ. λ. Welckert has attempted to make out a connexion between the introduction of the Satyric chorus into Athens and the public factions of that day. Pisistratus, he thinks, patronized the Dionysia and their exhibitions, because Bacchus was the favorite deity of the mountaineers, whose good will he was courting. This notion is perhaps more fanciful than certain. It may not be amiss however here to transcribe the curious passage from Plutarch, in which he brings Thespis and Solon into contact; a passage nevertheless on which little credit can be placed. See Bentley, Dissert. p. 273, &c. ̓Αρχομένων δὲ τῶν περὶ Θέσπιν ἤδη τὴν τραγωδίαν κινεῖν, καὶ διὰ τὴν καινότητα τοὺς πολλοὺς ἄγοντος τοῦ πράγματος, οὔπω δ ̓ εἰς ἅμιλλαν ἐναγώ νιον ἐξηγμένου, φύσει φιλήκοος ὤν καὶ φιλομαθὴς ὁ Σόλων, ἔτι δὲ μᾶλλον ἐν γήρᾳ, σχολῇ καὶ παιδιᾷ καὶ τὴ Δία πότοις καὶ μουσικῇ παραπέμπων ἑαυτὸν, ἐθεάσατο τὸν Θέσπιν αὐτὸν ὑποκρινόμενον, ὥσπερ ἔθος ἦν τοῖς παλαιοῖς. μετὰ δὲ τὴν θεάν προσαγορεύσας αὐτὸν, ἠρώτησεν, εἰ τοσούτων ἐναντιόν οὐκ αἰσχύνεται τηλικαῦτα ψευδόμενος, φήσαντος δὲ τοῦ Θέσπιδος, μὴ δεινὸν εἶναι τὸ μετὰ παιδιᾶς λέγειν τὰ τοιαῦτα καὶ πράσσειν, σφόδρα τῇ βακτηρίᾳ τὴν γῆν ὁ Σόλων πατάξας· ταχὺ μέντοι τὴν παιδιὰν, ἔφη, ταύτην ἐπαινοῦντες καὶ τιμῶντες, εὑρήσομεν ἐν τοῖς συμβολαίοις. Επεὶ δὲ κατατρώσας αὐτός ἑαυτὸν ὁ Πεισίστρατος ἧκεν εἰς ἀγορὰν ἐπὶ ζεύγους κομιζόμενος, καὶ παρώ ξυνε τὸν δῆμον ὡς διὰ τὴν πολιτείαν ὑπό τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἐπιβεβουλευμένος καὶ πολλοὺς εἶχεν ἀγανακτοῦντας καὶ βοῶντας, προσελθὼν ἐγγὺς ὁ Σόλων καὶ παραστάς. * Orat. Att. Bekker. Tom. IV. Par. iv. pp. 1486 and 1487. + Nachtrag, p. 248. 1 3 Athenian village, was struck with the possibility of introducing various improvements into the Satyric chorus.-He saw that an incessant round of jest and gambol and grimace became in the end exhausting to the performers and wearisome even to the spectators. Accordingly the Icarian contrived a break in the representation, 2by coming forward in person, and from an elevated stand describing in gesticulated narration some mythological story. When this was ended the chorus again commenced their performances. 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 farther developed. 4 In order to disguise his features, and so produce a certain degree of histrionic illusion, Thespis is said first to have smeared his face with vermilion, then with a pigment prepared from the herb purslain, and lastly to have contrived a kind of rude mask made of linen. Beside the addition of the actor, Thespis did much for the παραστὰς Οὐ καλῶς, εἶπεν, ὦ παὶ Ἱπποκράτους, ὑποκρίνῃ τὸν Ομηρικὸν Ὀδυσσέα· ταὐτὰ γὰρ ποιεῖς τοὺς πολίτας παρακρουόμενος, οἷς ἐκεῖνος τοὺς πολεμίους ἐξηπάτησεν αἰκισάμενος ἑαυτόν. Sol. xxix, xxx. Diogenes Laertius thus alludes to the same story: Θέσπιν ἐκώλυσεν [ὁ Σόλων] τραγῳδίας ἄγειν τε καὶ διδάσκειν, ὡς ἀνωφελῆ τὴν ψευδολογίαν. ὅτ ̓ οὖν Πεισίστρατος ἑαυτὸν κατέτρωσεν, ἐκεῖθεν μὲν ἔφη ταῦτα φῦναι. Solon. i. 1. Ὕστερον δὲ Θέσπις ἕνα ὑποκριτὴν ἐξευρεν ὑπὲρ τοῦ διαναπαύεσθαι τὸν χορὸν. Diog. Laert. Plat. lxvi. 2. Ὁ Σόλων ἐθεάσατο τὸν Θέσπιν αὐτὸν ὑποκρινόμενον, ὥσπερ ἔθος ἦν τοῖς παλαιοίς. Plutarch. Solon. xxix. Ὑπεκρίνοντο αὐτοὶ τραγῳδίας οἱ ποιηταὶ τὸ πρῶτον. Arist. Rhet. iii. 1. Livy mentions the same custom amongst the early Latin dramatists, when speaking of his namesake, Livius,—idem scilicet, id quod omnes tum erant, carminum actor. vii. 2. 3. These dramatic recitations were termed επεισόδια from being introduced between the parts of the original performance. 4. Καὶ πρῶτον μὲν χρίσας τὸ πρόσωπον ψιμμυθίῳ ἐτραγῳδησεν· εἶτα ἀνδραχνῃ ἐσκέπασεν ἐν τῷ ἐπιδείκνυσθαι· καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα εἰσήνεγκε καὶ τὴν τῶν προσωπείων χρῆσιν ἐν μονῃ ὀθόνῃ κατασκευάσας. Suidas Θέσπις. With respect to the latter invention, we may perhaps allow Thespis to have introduced a kind of simple linen covering for the face, without militating against the assertion of Aristotle, who positively assigns the mask to Eschylus as inventor; since compared with the artistlike construction of the Eschylæan mask, the contrivance of Thespis was too rude to advance any claim to such a name. 3 improvement of the chorus itself. He invented dances, which were handed down through four generations to the time of Aristophanes. They were, as might be expected from the chorus for which they were devised, of a nature more energetic than graceful. Yet their protracted existence proves them to have possessed popularity and comparative excellence. In these dances he assiduously trained his choristers. Whatever advantages could be derived from the sister art of music were no doubt added; and care extended to the general organization and equipment of the chorus. The metre of his recitative was apparently trochaic; the measure in which amidst frolic and dance the Satyric chorus gave vent to its ebullitions of joke and merriment. Indeed from its formation the trochee is peculiarly adapted to lively and sportive movements. Thespis probably reduced the whole performance into some kind of unity, by causing this intermixture of song and recitative, as a whole to tend, however loosely, to the setting forth of some one passage in Bacchic history. But the language of both Actor and Choristers was of a light and ludicrous cast; the subject of the short episodes were handled in a jocose and humorous manner; and the whole performance with its dance, song, story and buffoonery, resembled a wild kind of ballet-farce. was 5 The introduction of an actor with his episodic recitations was important an advance, as leading directly to the formation of dramatic plot and dialogue; and the other improvements, which 1. Ορχούμενος τῆς νυκτὸς οὐδὲν παύεται τἀρχαῖ ̓ ἐκειν ̓ οἷς Θέσπις ἠγωνίζετο. Aristoph. Vesp. 1470. Φασὶ δὲ καὶ ὅτι οἱ ἀρχαῖοι ποιηταὶ, Θέσπις, Πρατίνας, Καρκίνος, Φρύνιχος, ὀρχηστικοὶ ἐκαλοῦντο, διὰ τὸ μὴ μόνον τὰ ἑαυτῶν δράματα αναφε ρειν εἰς ὄρχησιν τοῦ χοροῦ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἔξω τῶν ἰδίων ποιημάτων διδάσκειν τοὺς βουλομένους ὀρχεῖσθαι Athen. i. 22. 2. See the whole passage in the Vespæ referred to in the preceding Note. 3. See Aristot. Poet. iv. 17. below Note 5. 4. Ο δέ τροχαῖος κορδακικώτερος· δηλοῖ δὲ τὰ τετράμετρα· ἔστι γὰρ τροχερὸς ῥύθμος τὰ τετράμετρα. Arist. Rhet. iii. 7. 5. We may derive a general idea of the Drama at this time from a most important passage in Aristotle's Poetics, where he manifestly refers to a period not long antecedent to Eschylus and Sophocles : Ἔτι δὲ τὸ μέγεθος ἐκ μικρών μύθων καὶ λέξεως γελοίας, διὰ τὸ ἐκ σατυρικοῦ μεταβαλεῖν, ὀψέ ἀπεσεμνύνθη· τό τε μέτρον ἐκ τετραμέτρου ἰαμβεῖον ἐγένετο· τὸ μὲν γὰρ πρῶτον τετραμέτρῳ ἐχρῶντο, διὰ τὸ σατυρικὴν καὶ ὀρχηστικωτέραν εἶναι τὴν ποίησιν. Poet. iv. 17. imparted skill, regularity and unity to the movements of the chorus, were of so influential a description, 1that Thespis is generally considered the Inventor of the Drama. Of Tragedy, properly so called, he does not appear to have had any idea. Stories, more or less ludicrous, generally turning upon Bacchus 1. The author of the Platonic dialogue, in opposing the notion which referred the invention of Tragedy to Thespis, distinctly declares that such was the general opinion of the contemporaries of Socrates: ἡ δὲ τραγῳδία ἐστὶ παλαιῶν ἐνθάδε, οὐχ ὡς οἴονται ἀπὸ Θέσπιδος αρξαμένη. Plato, Vol. III. p. 82. Dioscorides assigns the origin of the Drama to Thespis in two of his Epigrams; And again Παίγνια, καὶ κώμους τούσδε τελειοτέρους Αἰσχύλος ἐξύψωσε κ.τ.λ. Θέσπις όδε, Τραγικὴν ὡς ἀνέπλασε πρῶτος ἀοιδὴν, Horace, to whom, as having been a student at Athens and well versed in the Dramatic Ignotum tragicæ genus invenisse camænæ Dicitur, et plaustris vexisse poemata Thespis, Plutarch gives the same testimony to the claims of Thespis:-Αρχομένων τῶν περὶ Θέσπιν ἤδη τὴν Τραγωδίαν κινεῖν. Solon. Clemens of Alexandria says of Thespis ἐπενόησε Τραγωδίαν. Strom. i. Donatus declares that 'retro prisca volventibus reperietur Thespis Tragœdiæ primus inventor.' 2. Bentley's opinion, that all the dramas of Thespis were confined to Bacchus, Fauns and Satyrs, is far from being incontrovertible. It is chiefly founded upon the following extract from Plutarch, supported by a passage in Zenobius and one in Suidas. In his opening Symposiacal disquisition Plutarch thus speaks, Ὥσπερ οὖν, Φρυνίχου καὶ ̓Αισχύλου τὴν τραγῳδίαν εἰς μύθους καὶ πάθη προαγόντων, ἐλέχθη τὶ ταῦτα πρὸς τὸν Διόνυσον;οὕτως ἔμοιγε πολλάκις εἴπειν· παρέστη πρὸς τοὺς ἕλκοντας εἰς τὰ σύμποσια τὸν κυριεύονταὮ ἄνθρωπε, τὶ ταῦτα πρὸς τὸν Διόνυσον ;-Sympos. i. 1. Zenobius gives this explanation of the phrase Οὐδὲν πρὸς τὸν Διόνυσον:-Τῶν χορῶν ἐξ ἀρχῆς εἰθισμένων διθύραμβον ᾄδειν εἰς τὸν Διόνυσον, οἱ ποιηταὶ ὕστερον ἐκβάντες τῆς συνηθείας ταύτης Αἴαντας καὶ Κενταυρους γράφειν ἐπεχείρουν. Ὅθεν οἱ θεώμενοι σκώπτοντες ἔλεγον, Οὐδὲν πρὸς τὸν Διόνυσον. Δία γοῦν τοῦτο τοὺς Σατύρους ὕστερον ἔδοξεν αὐτοῖς προεισάγειν, ἵνα μὴ δοκῶσιν ἐπιλανθάνεσθαι τοῦ θεοῦ. P. 40. Suidas, in his explication of the same saying, after mentioning the opinion by which it was referred to the alterations of Epigenes the Sicyonian, adds Βέλτιον δὲ οὕτω· Τὸ πρόσθεν εἰς τόν Διόνυσον γράφοντες, τούτοις ἠγωνίζοντο, ἅπερ καὶ * Welcker (Nachtrag, p. 247.) controverts this ascription of the wain to Thespis; and maintains that Horace erroneously tranferred the waggon of Comic revel to the incipient Tragic and his followers, interwoven with the dance and the song of a well trained chorus, formed the Drama of Thespis. 1 The Satyric chorus had by this time been admitted into Athens, contests were set on foot, and the success, which attended the novelties of Thespis, sharpened, no doubt, the talents of his competitors. This emulation would naturally produce improve καὶ Σατυρικὰ ἐλέγετο· ὕστερον δέ μεταβάντες εἰς τό τραγῳδίας γράφειν, κατὰ μικρὸν εἰς μύθους καὶ ἱστορίας ἐτράπησαν, μηκέτι τοῦ Διονύσου μνημονεύοντες —ὅθεν τοῦτο καὶ ἐπεφώνησαν. Καὶ Χαμαιλέων ἐν τῷ περὶ Θέσπιδος τὰ παραπλήσια ἱστορεῖ. π Now the term poayovTwv in Plutarch does not by any means negative the previous adoption of such subjects. It may well imply the existence of some rude and imperfect attempts at introducing these graver themes, which Phrynichus and Eschylus carried on to the fulness of Tragic tone. This view is in accordance with the story, which right or wrong, *Plutarch and Diogenes Laertius record of Thespis and Solon; and agrees with the expression in Suidas κατὰ μικρόν εἰς μύθους καὶ ἱστορίας ἐτράπησαν; where the ioTopias may seem to hint at such plays as the Capture of Miletus and the Phanissa of Phrynichus. And the words Χαιμαιλεων ἐν τῷ περὶ Θέσπίδος τα Taрanλnoia iorоpei-do certainly seem to point, as Schneider and Welcker think, to Thespis as the beginner at least of the change. We may allow then, that in his later days the instructor of Phrynichus might have turned somewhat away from his first Satyric subjects, and adopted mythological stories less connected with Bacchus. So far we may go, and authority seems to lead. But we cannot assent to the notion, which certain scholars have maintained, that the dramas of Thespis were of a serious cast and a high grade in style and representation. It has indeed been argued from the Tragedies, which appeared in later times as the productions of Thespis, that, even allowing them to be the 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 at once to have discovered the imposture. Hence there are some who still contend, that Thespis did exhibit pieces of heroic and elevated character. Now with respect to Heraclides it may be observed, that, supposing him to have framed his plays with exact attention to what he believed or knew to be the nature of the Thespian drama, and, on this very account, to have interspersed his forgeries with didactic gnomæ ; still it would no more follow that the exhibitions of Thespis, "lugubria tristiaque argumenta habuerunt" (Schneider, p. 54), than that the Comedies of Epicharmus were of a serious and pathetic nature, because we know, from the fragments of them still extant, that they were full of such moral maxims and sentiments. His imitator, Plautus, has in like manner dashed his broad farcical humour with many a grave precept and sententious remark. But further we are by no means authorized to assume, as matter of course, the scrupulous conformity of these forgeries in style, subjects, and arrangement to Heraclides' own idea of the real Thespian drama. The nature of this drama appears to have become, at this time, an object of antiquarian research: consequently none but the learned few would be able to detect the forgeries, from their inconsistency with what was ascertained concerning the genuine productions of the supposititious author. That they did so we know to have been the caset. Meanwhile, among the generality of readers, the pieces would long pass without suspicion, until the declaration and the proofs of their spurious ness had been slowly communicated; for in those days literary information was neither so speedily nor so extensively transmitted as in modern times. This temporary credit was probably all the writer expected for such jeux d'esprit. 1. See below, Chapter iii. § 1. *See p. 11. note 3. † See Bentley Dissert. p. 238, &c. Bentley, Ib. |