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 since the poet continued to exhibit during a space of nearly forty years, and since for more than twenty of those years he had in Eschylus a contemporary and a rival, his own experience and the improvements of such an opponent would give to the later plays of Phrynichus, a character, an expansion and a refinement, in which his earlier and unaided attempts were so deficient. The Capture of Miletus, which he composed at least seventeen years after his own first appearance as a dramatist, and five years after the first victory of Æschylus, was, 3to judge from its effects τοὺς θεατάς ἐξηπάτα, μωροὺς λαβὼν παρὰ Φρυνίχῳ τραφέντας. Ranæ 907. o Upon which the Scholiast remarks, ἀπατεῶν γὰρ, ὡς αφελέστερος ὁ Φρύνιχος. The same fact is also forcibly declared in the address of the Chorus to Eschylus in the same comedy, ἀλλ ̓ ὦ πρῶτος τῶν Ἑλλήνων πυργώσας ῥήματα σεμνά Phrynichus, considered as the predecessor of the poet, concerning whom this is said, could not have ranked high as a dramatist, however excellent in dances and choral songs. To the same conclusion lead the equally strong terms in the epigram of Dioscorides, ...... τάδ ̓ ἀγροιώτιν ἀν ̓ ὕλαν Παίγνια και κώμους τοὺς ἀτελειοτέρους Αἴσχυλος ἐξύψωσεν, κ. τ. λ. 1. Phrynichus began to exhibit B. C. 511: he was victor with the Phonissæ B. C. 476, after an interval of thirty-five years. Eschylus first exhibited B. C. 499, and therefore at the time when the Phoenissæ appeared, he had been a dramatic writer twenty-three years. It is not improbable that the Drama owed much of its succeeding magnificence to the glorious results, which the overthrow of the Persians brought especially to Athens. The achievements of her arms furnished a subject for the Dramatist, not only most noble in itself and most potent to evoke the whole strength and soul of the poet, but one of such thrilling interest to every Grecian spectator, as to throw at once over infant Tragedy a splendour, a dignity and a feeling, which no mere mythologic legend could possibly have produced. And then, to second the efforts of native genius and art, the rich spoils of the East furnished in profusion all that the theatre could require to bring forward in fitting grandeur the triumph of the conquerors. When such was the impulse given to the developement of the Drama, it is not surprising that its advance to perfection was almost instantaneous. 2. Miletus was taken by the Persians, Olymp. lxxi. 3. B. C. 494. 3. ̓Αθηναῖοι μὲν γὰρ δῆλον ἐποίησαν ὑπεραχθεσθέντες τῇ Μιλήτου αλώσει, τῇ τε ἄλλῃ πολλαχῆ, καὶ δὴ ποιήσαντι Φρυνίχῳ δράμα Μιλήτου ἅλωσιν, καὶ διδάξαντι, ἐς δάκρυά τε ἔπεσε τὸ θέητρον, καὶ ἐζημίωσαν μιν, ὡς ἀναμνήσαντα οἰκηΐα κακα, χιλίησι δραχμῇσι· καὶ ἐπέταξαν μηκέτι μηδένα χρᾶσθαι τούτῳ τῷ δράματι. Herod. vi. 21. a piece of no inconsiderable merit. 'Eighteen years after this, he won the Tragic prize for his Choragus Themistocles with the Phænissa, a play perhaps little inferior in dramatic excellence and arrangement to the Perse, which, four years afterwards, Æschylus produced on the same subject. Indeed, the poet, whose odes were characterized, even in the days of Aristophanes, as reaped from the sacred meadow of the Muses3, 'sweet as the ambrosia of the bee; the poet, whose dramas were by the same admirable judge styled pieces of singular beauty; the poet, who so long and sometimes so successfully competed with an Æschylus-must, beyond all doubt, have been no ordinary composer; and the charge of plagiarism, which that great tragedian is represented as so studiously rebutting, is another high compliment to the powers of Phrynichus. Still we must remember, in tracing the inventive improvers of Tragedy, that the real claims of Phrynichus are not to be measured by what he finally achieved through imitation of others, but by the productions of his own unassisted ingenuity and talent. 1. See the Chronological Table at the end of Chapter ii. 2. Ενίκησε δὲ [Θεμιστοκλῆς] καὶ χορηγῶν τραγῳδοῖς, μεγάλην ἤδη τότε σπουδὴν καὶ φιλοτιμίαν τοῦ ἄγωνος ἔχοντος. Καὶ πίνακα τῆς νίκης ἀνέθηκε, τοιαύτην ἐπιγραφὴν ἔχοντα· — Θεμιστοκλῆς Φρεάριος ἐχορήγει, Φρύνιχος ἐδίδασκεν, Αδείμαντος ἦρχεν. Plutarch. in Themist. v. 3. Eschylus is thus made to speak by Aristophanes respecting his own odes, ἀλλ ̓ οὖν ἐγὼ μὲν ἐς τὸ καλὸν ἐκ τοῦ καλοῦ ἤνεγκον αὔθ', ἵνα μὴ τὸν αὐτὸν Φρυνίχῳ λειμώνα Μουσῶν ἱερὸν ὀφθείην δρέπων.-Ran. 12941296. The reader will however remark, that Æschylus is here referring to his choral songs (μέλη), which Euripides had been parodying, and to no other part of the Drama. Here lay the merit of Phrynichus. Whereas, when the allusion is to the plot, dialogue and arrangement of the piece, no excellence, but much deficiency is always implied in the forerunner of Eschylus. 4. See above, p. 19, note 1. 5. The commendation is put into the mouth of the effeminate Agathon; who in attempting to prove that, as the man is in person and manner, so are his poems, proceeds καὶ Φρύνιχος, τοῦτον γὰρ οὖν ἀκήκοας, αὐτός τε καλὸς ἦν καὶ καλῶς ἠμπέσχετο διὰ τοῦτ ̓ ἄρ ̓ αὐτοῦ καὶ καλ ̓ ἦν τὰ δράματα· ὅμοια γὰρ ποιεῖν ἀνάγκη τῇ φύσει.-Thesmoph. 164. 6. See above, note 3. It seems that such a charge did actually exist. Glaucus of Rhegium, who flourished about 400 Β. C., is said to have affirmed, that Æschylus, in composing his Persa, borrowed largely from the Phænissæ of Phrynichus.Argum. ad Pers. 2 1 In this view, those claims must almost entirely be restricted to the combination of the poetry of the Cyclic with the acting of the Thespian chorus; the conversion of Satyric gaiety into the solemnity and pathos of what was thenceforth peculiarly styled Tragedy. In all succeeding alterations and additions, Phrynichus seems to have been simply the follower of Eschylus. iBetween Phrynichus and Eschylus two other tragedians, Chorilus and Pratinas, intervened; of whom very little is known. ? The dramas of Chorilus appear originally to have been of a Satyric character, like those of Thespis. In his later days he naturally copied the improvements of Phrynichus, 3 and we find him accordingly contending for the tragic prize against Phrynichus, Pratinas, and Eschylus, Olymp. LXX. B. C. 499; the time when Eschylus first exhibited. His pieces are said to have amounted to a hundred and fifty: not a fragment however remains; and, if we may trust 5 Hermeas and Proclus, the commentators on Plato, the loss is not very great. 4 3 6 Pratinas was a native of Phlius and a poet of higher talent. He too attempted the new style of dramatic composition, and once obtained a tragic victory. But the manifest preeminence of the youthful Eschylus probably deterred the Phliasian from continuing to cultivate the graver form of the art; and led him to contrive a novel and mixed kind of play. Borrowing from Tragedy its external form and mythological materials, Pratinas added a chorus of Satyrs, with their lively songs, gestures and movements. 7 1. Suidas and Eudocia. Vit. Anonym. Eschyli. See Nack's Dissertation on Chorilus the Samian Epic poet, Chap. i., where he treats of his namesake, the Athenian and dramatist. 2. Hence he is thus spoken of in a line from some old but unknown poet ἡνίκα μὲν βασιλεὺς ἦν Χοιρίλος ἐν Σατύροις. 3. Suidas, Pratinas. 5. Herm. ad Phædr.-Procl. ad Tim. 7. Πρατίνας, Φλιάσιος 4. Suidas. 6. Suidas. πρῶτος ἔγραψε σατύρους.—Suidas in Prat. See Casaubon de Satyr. Poes. p. 122, &c. Pratinas, according to Suidas, exhibited fifty dramas, of which thirty-two were Satyric. Athenæus (xiv. p. 617.) relates the following anecdote of Pratinas; which, with the accompanying address of the poet, is perhaps curious enough to deserve transcription. Πρατίνας δὲ ὁ Φλιάσιος, αὐλητῶν καὶ χορευτών μισθοφόρων κατεχόντων τὰς ορχήστρας, ἀγανακτεῖν τινας ἐπὶ τῷ τοὺς αὐλητὰς μὴ συναυλεῖν τοῖς χοροῖς, καθάπερ ἦν πάτριον, ἀλλὰ τοὺς χοροὺς συνάδειν τοῖς αὐληταῖς· ὃν οὖν εἶχε θυμὸν κατὰ τῶν ταῦτα ποιούντων ὁ Πρατίνας ἐμφανίζει διὰ τοῦδε τοῦ ὑπορχήματος Τίς 1 This new composition was called the Satyric Drama. The novelty was exceedingly well-timed. The innovations of Thespis and Phrynichus had banished the Satyric chorus with its wild pranks and merriment, to the great displeasure of the commonalty; who retained a strong regret for their old amusement amidst the new and more refined exhibitions. The Satyric Drama gave them back under an improved form the favorite diversion of former times; and was received with such universal applause, that the tragic poets, in compliance with the humour of their auditors, deemed it adviseable 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 2. Æschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides were all distinguished satyric composers; and in the Cyclops of the latter we possess the only extant specimen of this singular composition 3. Τίς ὁ θόρυβος δε; Τί τάδε τὰ χορέυματα; Ἐμὲ δεῖ κελαδεῖν· Ἐμὲ δεῖ παταγεῖν, Αν ̓ ἄρεα θύμενον Οἷα τε κύκνον, ἄγοντα Ποικιλόπτερον μέλος. Τῶν ἀοιδῶν Κατέστας σὺ Πιερὶς βασίλει Ὁ δ ̓ ἀυλὸς ὕστερον χορευέτω. Καὶ γὰρ ἔσθ' ὑπηρέτας κώμων μόνον, Θυραμάχοις τε πυγμαχίαισι Νέων θέλει παρ' δινον ἔμμεναι στρατηλάσας.. Παῖς τὸν Φρυναίου ποικίλου προανέχοντα, Φλέγε τὸν ὁλεσίαυλοκάλαμον, . Λαλοβα ρυπαραμελορυθμοβάταν Ευπατρυπάνω δέμας πεπλασμένον, ἢν ἰδοὺ "Αδε σοι δεξιά, καὶ πόδος διαρριφα, 1. See above, p. 14. note 2. 2. See below-Theatrical Contests. Chap. iii. § 1. 3. The other principal Satyric poets were Aristias, Achæus, Xenocles, Philocles, Astydamas, Astydamas, Iophon, Plato the Comedian, Lycophron, Bion and Demetrius. See Casaub. de Sat. Poes. i. 5.-Upon the early history of Tragedy and the Satyric Drama, the German reader would do well to consult Welcker's treatise on the Trilogy of Eschylus, with its Appendix ;-two volumes of much learning and ingenuity, however dubious some of the speculations they contain may appear. |